Reasonfirst

Joined

• started 7 topics
• posted 105 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Reasonfirst

• 
  54

  Is AI going to change the world?

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

  of one of australia's best universities.

  he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  And, what's at the heart of all this talk??

  Maybe this Bloomberg news video sees the issue clearly-

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbzcZr_Nadc
• 
  54

  Is AI going to change the world?

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

  of one of australia's best universities.

  he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  The Claim: AI masters another facet of human intelligence

  Two artificial intelligences talk to each other

  Date:

  March 18, 2024

  Source:

  Université de Genève

  Summary:

  Performing a new task based solely on verbal or written instructions, and then describing it to others so that they can reproduce it, is a cornerstone of human communication that still resists artificial intelligence (AI). A team has succeeded in modelling an artificial neural network capable of this cognitive prowess. After learning and performing a series of basic tasks, this AI was able to provide a linguistic description of them to a 'sister' AI, which in turn performed them.

  
  

  Link : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240318142438.htm

  
  
• 
  10

  The Sickening Sadism of Christianity

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  burning heretics alive was a common practice in medieval europe.

  i cannot begin to imagine the depravity of the mind that invented this cruelty, let alone the inhumanity and callousness of those who carried out the act.

  sometimes an individual would take pity on the victim and hide gunpowder among the wood faggots to hasten their death.. there is only one way to make this scenario even more depraved, infinitely depraved in fact; and that would require magic powers.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  Cofty: quote-"Christianity is a death cult and its most ardent followers are sadists."

  Agreed, Like this guy:

  Why Do JW's Believe that Hell is Symbolic When the Disciples of the Apostles believed it Was Literal ?

  by Sea Breeze i
  

  
  
• 
  34

  Forget 1914, the 1975 generation are now passing away!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we still have quite a few elderly here that came in as young families in the late 1960's-early 70's because soon, yes very soon they would enter the new system and never grow old.

  it's now one year away from 50 years since 1975. just in the last couple years i've seen them come down with alzheimer's, cancer, brain tumors, becoming invalid etc.

  the children of them that are now around 60 are just so distraught at seeing their parents deteriorate.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  For anyone believing that "one day" Jesus will 'come back' and establish his eternal kingdom, the record of xtianity making predictions of Jesus' return is terrible.

  Check out this long list of failed predictions:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_and_claims_for_the_Second_Coming.

  All the references are listed (in case you demand proof).

  Note: Freddy Franz doesn't seem to be listed, either as Freddy F or the Watchtower or JWs, though I noticed in scanning the references, that Charlie Russel gets a mention. And Herbert W. Armstrong gets a mention.

  So if you're a christian of any or no denomination, and you are still awaiting the day, my prediction is that your end will come without seeing that 'day.'

  Jesus is dead, get over it, he will never 'come back.'
• 
  34

  Forget 1914, the 1975 generation are now passing away!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we still have quite a few elderly here that came in as young families in the late 1960's-early 70's because soon, yes very soon they would enter the new system and never grow old.

  it's now one year away from 50 years since 1975. just in the last couple years i've seen them come down with alzheimer's, cancer, brain tumors, becoming invalid etc.

  the children of them that are now around 60 are just so distraught at seeing their parents deteriorate.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  Yup! and how many 'generations' have come and gone in the centuries since. And yet, untold millions (who made up the generations) have believed that it will happen "one day." Idiot christians !!!!!
• 
  16

  Elder abuser in Sunshine Coast down under (?)

  by carla in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  not sure if this has been posted or not, apologies if it has.

  i did a quick search and did not see it.

  https://archive.md/5zcdi -a sunshine coast jehovah’s witness figure accused of horrific sex crimes has been remanded in jail for fresh offences which allegedly occurred the same day he attended court.. and https://archive.md/r2o6x -a sunshine coast jehovah’s witness figure who allegedly used his position in the church to sexually assault young men has been arrested by police.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  Considering all the accusations, I'm left wondering why this guy stayed associated with the witnesses?

  You'd imagine that he could have found BDSM* groups where he could have had whatever 'satisfaction' he got from his activities.

  * BDSM (if you don't know already) stands for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism
• 
  54

  Is AI going to change the world?

  by Reasonfirst in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had lunch with a friend, whose a lecturer in the accounting dept.

  of one of australia's best universities.

  he told me he expects to lose his job at some point in the next 5 years, as the accounting dept, will disappear, as all accounting will be done by ai programs, so why teach it.. if his fears are correct, that means that any profession that involves the mind, may one day face the same future.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  
  

  
  

  Is it another "end-of-the-world" narrative - it's source is suggestive.

  
  

  
  

  US Warned AI Poses ‘Extinction-Level Threat’ to Humanity – Time

  March 12, 2024

  A new report will claim many AI workers inside cutting-edge labs are worried about incentives driving decision making

  
  

  Global governments including the European Union, United States and China are exploring ways to regulate AI. Image: Freepik

  A US Government report has warned that lawmakers must move quickly to avert the risk of an “extinction-level threat to the human species” caused by artificial intelligence, Time reported.

  The authors of the report spoke to more than 200 government employees, experts, and workers at frontier AI companies – such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and Meta – and, according to the story, came to some unsettling conclusions.

  “The rise of advanced AI and AGI [artificial general intelligence] has the potential to destabilise global security in ways reminiscent of the introduction of nuclear weapons,” the report cautioned lawmakers, recommending sweeping and unprecedented policy actions that, if enacted, would radically disrupt the AI industry.

  Read the full story: Time

  ClIpped from Asia Financial:

  https://www.asiafinancial.com/us-warned-ai-poses-extinction-level-threat-to-humanity-time?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AF%20Daily%20-%20Mar%2012%20%2801HRS4JP6XT9ZQ9WNDRPYQ0SAM%29&utm_content=%E2%80%9Cextinction-level%20threat%20to%20the%20human%20species%E2%80%9D%20caused%20by%20artificial%20intelligence%2C&_kx=FHRLEhs7CpUctQDICsT-perNf3c4-PdRP4kZsPpokeA.JGevqp
  
• 
  56

  Old Greek Daniel's Son of Man

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  again this is large topic, some of which has been discussed elsewhere on this site.

  the basic question i want to discuss is the identification of the 'someone like a son of man" in daniel 7. as we all know christians understood the figure to be the messiah (christ), so the question posed is did the author intend it to be a singular personage or a collective symbol of the holy of israel as jews typically read it?

  or how about the unexpected idea that the "someone like a son of man" was the very same character as the "ancient of days" in another role?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  I decided NOT to enter this discussion, beyond this post,* but if it interests you, you may find Ch.1 of Daniel Boyarin's** book, The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, informative.

  * I hope no arguments are presented that may change my mind - such discussions get tedious and pointless as they discuss an imagined world, far removed from reality.

  ** IF your reading list is still that of an unreconstructed JW, Boyarin is described as follows: (Quote) "Daniel Boyarin is an Israeli-American historian of religion. .... citizenship. He is the Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture in the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley."

  Likely he knew more about the topic, than the late and un-revered Freddy F
• 
  36

  The secret 10 year plan to save the watchtower .

  by gavindlt in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://youtu.be/pszy22hzj8o.

  new light?.

  https://www.dadseekingtruth.com/.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  nowwhat? - ' If my congregation is any indication of the majority of jdubs, the gb can say and do anything and no one would blink an eye.'

  
  

  That's standard for most, if not all, bible based religions.
• 
  10

  "Beast" Memories

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i've been crapping on the wt a lot lately, which sometimes seems a bit unfair to me, especially since i was never in, therefore i don't really have a dog in the fight.

  to provide a bit of balance, i'll reminisce about the rampant prophecy speculation going on in mainstream christianity (i refuse to use the wt's pejorative term: "christendom", especially since by definition, they're part of that classification 🙄) in the 70s and 80s.

  to be fair, the churches themselves had been around long enough to realise that end times interpretations are like arseholes, everybody has one.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Reasonfirst

  Interesting experience, though it all escaped my memory. But what it does tend to support, is the idea that all 'xtianity' is bullshit.