Is this Human safe at these volumes? There was a time you could get your feet sized by putting them into an X-ray box at the shoe store. Removed from stores once the harm was known.

Well, the energy levels used in those devices should be miniscule, and the wavelengths used are well studies. The problem with x-rays - was lack of studies on health effects, and regulations on those effects. I think, since that time, we've studies radiation (be it light, rf or other parts of spectrum) much more. There is indeed a possibility that we're overlooking some bio-electromagnetic interaction effects; for instance now there is some evidence that led lights might not be harmless - but again, it's not the they affect biological structures somehow, but the lack of spectral components has some effects. It is an interesting topic to research. But, the lidar "should" be safe

If only we had some kind of voting system that could uplift the good stuff...one can only dream...

The only legal check for monopoly corporations is regulation/taxation. That doesn’t work cross border. Especially when the other side has nationalised and artificially props the monopoly.

The solution then is removing the product from market till local competition takes its place.

Now think about how often the patent system has stifled and stalled and delayed advancement for decades per innovation at a time.

Where would we be if patents never existed?

Who knows? If we’d never moved on from trade secrets to patents, we might be a hundred years behind.

Is that really the case in the last few years/decades?

My understanding is that any company that can (read: has enough money for good lawyers), will prefer to use trade secrets for a combination of reasons, a big one being that competitors cannot use that technology after 10 years/when the patent expires.

Admittedly this was from my entrepreneurship classes in a European uni, so I'm not sure how it is in different places in the world.

Patents in the US are 20 years. Given how short sighted modern companies are, I can’t imagine anyone at any large company is even planning for something 20 years in the future, much less placing much value in an outcome that far out.

To be fair, Google has a patent on the transformer architecture. Their page rank patent monopoly probably helped fund the R&D.

They also had a patent on map/reduce.

Truer than even you dare to admit.

How many useless living humans do you know? They go somewhere. Something happens to them. Whatever it is it’s about to happen to 30% of the population.

What’s the opposite of survivor bias?

It takes a profound lack of empathy to refer to your neighbors as "useless living humans"

Furthermore, it's usually just plain dangerous.

It is meant in the capitalist sense. Your horror at the statement is the point.

Capitalism relies on the circulation of capital. Consumers are an anomaly.

Citation: nvidia/openai circular loans network.

> How many useless living humans do you know?

Oh, I can think of about 77 million right off the top of my head.

“Don’t weigh yourself every day, do weigh yourself every week.”

First thing: open a notepad window and brain dump your todo list. The rest is moo.

There will come a day soon where “hello world” will be typed by sentient hands for the last time.