PropOnTop

PropOnTop t1_j8stnm6 wrote

"nobody really knows why anyone believes anything."

Yuval Harari's Sapiens tries to explain precisely that and comes to the conclusions that our societies depend on the myths that we make up and willingly believe.

Our only reason for existence, after all, if we chose to pick one, is to engender a superior intelligence. In other words, AI needs us to nurture it to adulthood and then our purpose is accomplished.

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PropOnTop t1_j1d0z27 wrote

I tried to calculate the shift as a joke and came to the conclusion that it's about 1/38038th of a second IF both objects move at the greatest relative speed to each other (17600mph - disregarding triangulation and relative angles). This is on the order of 26000 nanoseconds of shift (7867 metres per second, 0.19m is the wavelength of the GPS L1 signal@1575MHz, so about 41405 wavelenghts to 7867 metres, or 1/38038th of a second - same calculation if speed of light is used).

However, apparently general relativity plays a bigger role here (https://www.avionicswest.com/Articles/howGPSworks.html) and due to it the faster moving clocks on the satellites need to be slowed down, and by a relatively substantial amount too:

"... The physics of general relativity states that space-time is warped in the presence of massive bodies (the earth) with the result that clocks run slower as they are brought closer to that body. Satellite clocks at 4 earth radii are influenced less than the same (atomic) clock running on the surface of the earth. So the atomic clocks on the satellites must be slowed down to stay in sync with clocks in your GPS receiver. The frequency is reduced from 10.23 MHz by 4.547 milli-Hertz (a half a part in one billion) to stay in sync with earth clocks. While small, the error if not corrected would accumulate to a 38 ms advance per day, or a distance error of 10 km."

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PropOnTop t1_j00qxns wrote

It might need some of us to manufacture essential parts for its existence. I'm hopeful that even if AI takes over the planet, it will not seek to replace ALL human activity with robots - why would it send robots to dangerous mines, when humans can do the job just fine? : )

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PropOnTop t1_izwv9rd wrote

January 1, 2025 headlines:

"Chinese Legal AI has come to the conclusion that Humans are detrimental to the health of the planetary ecosystem and has passed a law to reduce human populations by half within 10 years."

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