looks like the fortifications and their underground parts from the previous centuries in my homecity that we were exploring as free-range children back in USSR when all those fortifications were sitting as is, unused/unattended and freely accessible.
I tried to search for what the acronym "Neo" is based on but no luck. Maybe it's a cinematic reference that got assigned in development and stuck. I don't know.
But it did remind me of my friend Ben Skora and his robot AROK. Fabricated in his garage using sheet metal (Ben rebuilt cars), power window motors, dryer vent pipe for arms, a Richard Nixon halloween mask inside a motorcycle helmet, two car batteries and wheels as shoes, bicycle brake clamps covered with rubber gloves as hands, a front panel of lights that blinked, and miles of wiring that never worked 100%.
The whole system was analog. Tones from two princess phone keypads controlled the motors and he could talk and listen remotely (20 ft away) using a hacked set of walkie-talkies. Don't ask me how.
AROK was built in ~1971-1973 and now resides inside a glass case at the Moraine Valley Community College Technology Building. [1]
He built AROK to help around the house, do chores, walk the dog, etc.
Not sure "Cargo Cult" is an apt description. Feynman's description of Cargo Cult Science was predicated on the behavior of islanders building structures in expectation it would summon the planes, cargo, personnel, etc. that used the island during WWII.
Without a previous experience they would not have built anything.
There is no previous AI experience behind today's pursuit of the AI grail. In other words, no planes with cargo driving an expectation of success. Instead, the AI pursuit is based upon the probability of success, which is aptly defined as risk.
A correct analog would be the islanders building a boat and taking the risk of sailing off to far away shores in an attempt to procure the cargo they need.
Yeah, "cargo cult" is abused as a term. Those islanders were smarter than what is happening here.
We use it dismissively but "cargo cult" behaviour is entirely reasonable. You know an effect is possible, and you observe novel things corellating with it. You try them to test the causality. It looks silly when you know the lesson already, but it was intelligent and reasonable behaviour the entire way.
The current situation is bubble denial, not cargo culting. Blaming cargo culting is a mechanism of bubble denial here.
The real shame in all of this is the fact that buried deep within the 100k are workers who actually know a thing or two about how things actually work, have the experience and knowledge to get things done, have a pretty good idea how to improve the processes and policies, have chosen to do their assigned duties correctly, but have probably had limited success trying to change things.
So they're getting out because "it's time I guess. Not much else I can do."
The price of gold fluctuated significantly in 1979 due to concerns over whether inflation could be brought under control. It started the year at ~$250.00 per ounce and ended the year at ~$850.00 per ounce.
It was a presidential election year and consumers were getting squeezed hard by rising energy prices. Russia invaded Afghanistan, Carter suspended participation in the Olympics, and there was a general feeling of concern.
Using Wolfram Alpha to compute gold's price in 1979 relative to 2025, "850.00 1979 dollars in 2025", the result is $3,663.84
Gold closed today at $3,858.60.
Just like 1979, 2025 has a long list of international concerns making investors nervous.
Of course, adjusted for inflation the dollar has done much, much worse than gold!
Not that one should put all of one’s portfolio into gold. That would be pretty insane. But a certain fixed allocation within a balanced portfolio? I think that makes sense.
https://www.youtube.com/@tryally
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