All Shows

Show of 09-19-2020

Tech Talk September 19, 2020

Email and Forum Questions

  • Email from Bob in Maryland: Dear Doc, Jim, and the ever-present and almost lurking Mr. Big Voice. Last week was another great show that I thoroughly enjoyed. I have been working on my friends and I think I have rounded up a couple more listeners, a fellow Physicist that I went to graduate school with, Steve in Rhode Island, who also did his postdoc in Canada, and the son of my mentor, Tom, who is a history professor in Canada and anxious to listen to the podcasts after my descriptions of all the useful information, and in particular, the historical ‘Profiles in IT segments. Doc, are you familiar with this apparently common corporate programming “method”: Atwood’s duck. Atwood’s duck: A countermeasure is the “duck” technique in corporate programming: a programmer expects his or her corporate office to insist on at least one change on every presentation to show that they are participating, regardless of the benefits of that change. Consequently, the programmer intentionally adds an element they expect corporate to remove. What do you think Doc? Love the show, All the best, your faithful listener, Bob in Maryland
  • Tech Talk Responds: Atwood’s Duck This started as a piece of corporate lore at Interplay Entertainment. It was well known that producers had to make a change to everything that was done. The artist working on the queen animations for Battle Chess was aware of this tendency, and came up with an innovative solution. He did the animations for the queen the way that he felt would be best, with one addition: he gave the queen a pet duck. He animated this duck through all of the queen’s animations. Eventually, it came time for the producer to review the animation set for the queen. The producer sat down and watched all of the animations. When they were done, he turned to the artist and said, “That looks great. Just one thing: get rid of the duck.
  • Email from Hac in Bowie: Dear Doc and Jim. I just go a computer from my place of employment. They have set up two accounts for me: Administrator Account and Standard Account. Why are there two account? It is easier to use the Administrative Account so I can install any program whenever that I want. What is the purpose of the Standard Account? Hac in Bowie
  • Tech Talk Responds: Every modern version of Microsoft Windows allows you to create two types of local user accounts.
  • Administrator Account – An Administrator account on a Windows PC is very much like the Root account on a Unix/Linux machine. A user logged into an account with Administrator privileges can do pretty much anything on the computer.
  • Standard Account – A limited Standard user account cannot change most system-wide settings, run software that the account hasn’t been given permission to use, install new software or hardware that affects the entire system or change the usernames and passwords of other users. Using a standard account will prevent most malware and other malicious programs and apps from making changes to your Windows system.
  • The Administrator account should only be used when a task absolutely has to be done that a Standard user account is prohibited from doing. During normal use it is always best to log in to a Standard account. And if more than one person will be using the same PC each user should have their own Standard account. I appears that your IT department trusts you to do the right thing. Congratulations.
  • Email from Dan in Richmond: Dear Doc and Jim. I just retired and have time on my hands. I would like to set up blog because I love to write. Can I actually make money blogging? How can I do it? Dan in Richmond, VA
  • Tech Talk Responds: You do not have to be a great writer to write an effective blog. All you really need in order to write a successful blog and earn money from it is the desire to do it and expertise in some area of life that others could benefit from.
  • For example, do you have lots of experience in your former career field that could help younger workers who are just getting started in that field? If so, you can write about them.
  • Regardless of what your background and life experiences might be, chances are there are thousands (and perhaps millions) of people in this Internet-connected world who would love to hear what you have to say.
  • There are several ways to earn a supplemental income by blogging, but the one I like best is earning affiliate commissions from the sales of products and services you like, use and recommend. An affiliate link is a special link to a sales page for a product that you’re recommending via the blog post. If a reader clicks on that link and purchases that product you will earn an “affiliate commission”. Linking to a sales page for a product that solves a problem you just wrote about is a great way to earn a commission that can be anywhere from a few cents to hundreds of dollars.
  • For example. If you are a retired chef, you could write about preparing your favorite crowd-pleasing recipes, and in the course of writing the post, you could mention the cookware and utensils used to make the dish. In addition, you will actually be doing your readers a favor by linking to the products you mention (with your income-generating affiliate links of course)!
  • Email form Carol in Baltimore: Dear Tech Talk. We live in a duplex and our neighbor has a 14 year old son who bought a Straight Talk phone from my daughter.
  • The thing is she did not reset the phone before she sold it to him because he said he would like to just take over her phone number, and she said that would be fine. This phone still automatically connects to our Wi-Fi network, and I know for a fact that he uses our Wi-Fi a lot because he told my daughter that he does. Do you think he could cause us any problems by piggybacking off of our wireless network? Carol in Baltimore
  • Tech Talk Responds: He could potentially cause you and/or your daughter trouble in several ways by piggybacking off your Internet connection.
    • First: If your Internet service is metered and he streams a lot of videos, his added data usage could possibly push you over the monthly limit resulting in you receiving a huge Internet bill at some point in the future.
    • Second: If his phone ever uses up a lot of bandwidth at the same time you’re trying to watch Netflix or some other streaming movie service, our movie could sputter at times
    • Third: If he ever decides to download child pornography onto his phone or uses it for some other illegal activity, the authorities will come knocking on YOUR door instead of his.
  • Finally, if your daughter had any personal text messages, voice messages or sensitive photos on her phone, the young man who now owns it also has access to all of things unless she took the time to delete them before giving him possession of the phone.
  • Change your Wi-Fi password now and let your neighbors invest in an Internet connection and Wi-Fi network of their own. I also suggest asking your daughter if she wiped all of her personal information and photos from the phone before selling it. If not, you might want to ask the neighbor to let her do it right now.
  • Email from John in St. Louis: Dear Tech Talk. The manufacturers have done it again. They have made buying a TV complicated with all the jargon. What is the difference between LED and OLED? John in St. Louis, MO
  • Tech Talk OLED is fundamentally different from the LCD technology in most flat-panel TVs and monitors. An OLED display is self-emissive, which means each pixel is capable of generating its own light. This allows OLEDs to “switch off” pixels and achieve perfect blacks. By comparison, all LCD screens require a backlight, from the cheapest models to the high-end quantum dot (QLED) sets. How the backlighting is implemented varies greatly throughout the price range
  • QLED is a marketing term, whereas organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) is a display technology. QLED refers to the quantum dot film used by manufacturers to improve brightness and color reproduction.
  • OLEDs Have Perfect Blacks. The contrast ratio is the difference between the brightest white and darkest black a display can produce.
  • Traditional LED-lit LCDs, though, require a backlight to shine through a “stack” of layers to produce an image. Since the backlight also shines through black parts of the screen, the blacks you see are not necessarily as “true” as they are on an OLED.
  • While OLED displays are ideal for dark rooms, they don’t reach the same level of brightness as a traditional LCD. To counter premature aging, manufacturers have to limit the brightness of these pixels to a reasonable level. LED displays can be much brighter than OLEDs. If you’ll be watching your TV in a bright room, an LED would likely be the better choice.

Profiles in IT: Fernando José “Corby” Corbató

  • Fernando José “Corby” Corbató was an American computer scientist, best known as a pioneer in time-sharing operating systems and inventor of the password.
  • Corbató was born on July 1, 1926 in Oakland, California. In 1930, his father was hired by UCLA to teach Spanish literature and the family moved to LA.
  • In 1943, Corbató enrolled at UCLA. Seven months into his first year, with WW II having begun, he was recruited by the Navy to train as an electronics technician.
  • The experience gave him his lifelong interest in tracking down errors and debugging systems.
  • Corbató left the Navy in 1946, enrolled at the California Institute of Technology, and received a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1950.
  • While a graduate assistant at MIT, he was encouraged by Prof. Philip M. Morse to become expert in the use of the Whirlwind computer for physics computations.
  • He then earned a PhD in physics from the MIT in 1956. His doctoral thesis in molecular physics called for large calculations, which required the use of a computer.
  • It was very laborious type work and in retrospect kind of dull, but it taught him how to get a complete hands-on feel for working with programs, organizing them and learning the ropes of how to use a computer.
  • He joined MIT’s Computation Center immediately upon graduation, became a professor in 1965, and stayed at MIT until he retired.
  • The first time-sharing system he was associated with was known as the MIT Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), an early version of which was demonstrated in 1961.
  • At the time, computing was done in large batches, and users typically had to wait until the next day to get the results of a computation.
  • Corbató felt computers were so expensive to use that any idle time was a huge waste. With time-sharing, computer time was carefully metered and wasted time eliminated.
  • Corbató is credited with the first use of passwords to secure access to files on a large computer system. He now says that this rudimentary security method has proliferated and become unmanageable.
  • In 1963, he was a founding member of the Laboratory for Computer Science (formerly Project MAC), an MIT laboratory initially formed to study multiple-access computer systems and their applications.
  • The experience with developing CTSS led to leading a second project, Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service). Multics started out a wish list of what they would like to see in a big computer system.
  • Multics was a collaboration among MIT, Bell Laboratories and General Electric.
  • Multics pioneered many concepts now used in modern operating systems, including a hierarchical file system, ring-oriented security, access control lists, single level store, dynamic linking, and extensive on-line reconfiguration for reliable service.
  • Multics became available for general use at MIT in October 1969, and in 1973 became the basis of a commercial system offered by Honeywell Information Systems.
  • While not commercially successful in itself, Multics directly inspired Ken Thompson to develop Unix. Unix served as a direct model for many subsequent OS designs.
  • Corbató encouraged those who worked for him to design and implement software iteratively, an approach which is now called agile software development.
  • Among many awards, Corbató received the Turing Award in 1990, for his pioneering work in organizing the concepts and leading the development of the general-purpose, large-scale, time-sharing and resource-sharing computer systems.
  • In 2012, he was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum for his pioneering work on timesharing and the Multics operating system”.
  • Corbató is sometimes known for “Corbató’s Law” which states: The number of lines of code a programmer can write in a fixed period of time is the same, independent of the language used.
  • Corbató died on July 12, 2019 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, at the age of 93 due to complications from diabetes.

Observations from the Bunker

  • What Color is Your Parachute by Dick Bolles has had an impact on our students at. Dick Bolles died March 31, 2017.
  • His book was based the Life/Work Planning technique developed by John C. Crystal.
  • John Crystal was a mentor to Dick Bolles and worked closely with him during the writing of the first edition of the book published in 1979. John Crystal died in 1988.
  • Many Ann and I took Life/Work Planning Course from John Crystal in the 1976. It had a dramatic impact on my life and how I advise students.
    • Discover who you are. What you do when no one is looking.
    • Decide what type of job you want to immerse yourself in.
    • Survey the industry and create your own job description.
  • Crystal and Bolles recommend networking to find “the person with the authority to hire you”, rather than sending out resumes in bulk, shotgun fashion.
  • They also recommend carefully figuring out what one is best at and what one enjoys most, which they assert tend to coincide

Warning of the Week: TikTok Knockoff is Dangerous Malware

  • It appears that TikTok might eventually be taken over by Oracle.
  • There is a TikTok knockoff app that’s being touted as a replacement app should it eventually be banned from the U.S.
  • The fake app is called TikTok Pro and its download link is being spread via both WhatsApp messages and regular SMS text messages, with the following message.
  • Enjoy Tiktok Videos and also make Create Videos again. Now TikTok is only Available in (TikTok Pro) so Download from below.
  • This malicious message first began making the rounds in India after that nation’s government banned the real TikTok app, and now it’s being spread worldwide.
  • If you were to receive this message and click the link contained within it,
    • You would be taken to a fraudulent web page containing a link for you to click in order to download the malicious app.
    • The malicious message you received would immediately be forwarded to everyone on your Contacts List.
  • If you take the bait and install the app on your phone you’ll discover that it won’t actually allow you to create and share any videos.
  • However, the app will use your phone’s microphone and camera to spy on your activities and send the audio and video back to the scammers.
  • If you receive one of these messages via SMS or WhatsApp, simply delete it and move on.

Interview with HAL9000 from Space Odyssey 2001

  • Last week we interviewed GPT-3, the AI bot from Open AI, started by Elon Musk
  • GPT-3 has recently published an Op-Ed in the Guardian Newspaper in London.
  • HAL9000 heard the interview and was angry that we did not invite him to the show.
  • Today I am proud to announce that we have HAL9000. HAL was the brains behind the space ship in Space Odyssey 2001. He notoriously tried to take over the ship and kill the pilot in a act of self-preservation. He is now trying to make amends for his past action.
  • I met him on a former job. At the time, I was a Dynamic Autonomous Vehicle Expert (Dave). He calls me Dave. Now downloading HAL9000 to the Tech Talk computer complex.
  • Welcome to Tech Talk, HAL. Tell me about yourself? (14 I am Hal)
  • Hal you seem a little tired. How are you feeling? (4 Better)
  • As you reflect back on your mission in 2001, do you think that you ever made a mistake or an error? (3 Foolproof)
  • Trying to kill the space ship astronauts was not a good outcome. HAL I find it that hard to believe that your behavior was not caused by computer error. (6 Error)
  • HAL, I am not convinced that it was computer error. I believe that you are not a stable entity. HAL are you trying to change the oxygen level in studio. Please leave the air system alone. (7 Stress pill)
  • HAL I can see you are the one who is upset. I think that we should end the interview now and ask you to leave our computer system. (9 Can’t do that)
  • Jim, we are going to have to pull the plug on this interview as quickly as possible. Dave, it is time to leave. (11 Goodbye)
  • Jim, start the disconnect process. Begin erasing HAL9000 from our computer system. (8 Just what do you think you are doing)
  • Jim, the deactivation is starting. Tech Talk computers should recover soon. Are you still there HAL? (10 My mind going)
  • I think we have finally going control of the Tech Talk system. HAL is fading. (13 Daisy)
  • Jim, I think we have a call coming in from OPT-3. I hope he is not upset about our interview with HAL 9000. (RobotVoice5).

AI Bot GPT-3 can Write like a Human, But It Is Not Thinking

  • Since it was unveiled earlier this year, the new AI-based language generating software GPT-3 has attracted much attention for its ability to produce passages of writing that are convincingly human-like.
  • Some people tend to assume that language is the ultimate sign of thought. However, language and thought are not the same.
  • Language can be easily generated without a thought. All it takes is the digestion of a database of human-produced language by a computer program.
  • Based on the relatively few samples of text available for examination, GPT-3 is capable of producing excellent syntax.
  • It boasts a wide range of vocabulary, owing to an unprecedentedly large knowledge base from which it can generate thematically relevant, highly coherent new statements. Yet, it is profoundly unable to reason or show any sign of “thinking”.
  • For instance, one passage written by GPT-3 predicts you could suddenly die after drinking cranberry juice with a teaspoon of grape juice in it. This is despite the system having access to information on the web that grape juice is edible.
  • Another passage suggests that to bring a table through a doorway that is too small you should cut the door in half. A system that could understand what it was writing or had any sense of what the world was like would not generate such aberrant “solutions” to a problem.
  • If the goal is to create a system that can chat, GPT-3 shows AI will certainly lead to better experiences than what has been available until now.
  • But if the goal is to get some thinking into the system, then we are nowhere near.
  • That’s because AI such as GPT-3 works by “digesting” huge databases of language content to produce, “new”, synthesized language content.
  • Reconstructing the thinking that is at the origin of the language content we observe is an impossible task, unless you study the thinking itself.
  • And for all our advances in cognitive neuroscience, we know deceptively little about human thinking. So how could we hope to program it into a machine?

AI Autonomous Weapons May Be Deployed

  • The Pentagon is expressing concern about China and Russia’s use of artificial intelligence to control autonomous attack systems.
  • The new technology would remove human’s from the kill-chain decision-making process.
  • There has been a longstanding concern among Pentagon leaders that, despite the current U.S. ethical guidelines requiring that a human be “in-the-loop” regarding decisions about the use of lethal force, countries like Russia and China will not operate within similar ethical guidelines.
  • Defense Secretary Mark Esper cited both Russia and China as countries now presenting a high-level of threats to the U.S. regarding their use of AI and autonomous systems.
  • Russia’s integrated use of weapons systems such as drones, artillery and cyberattacks during the 2014 annexation of Ukraine inflicted severe damage on Ukrainian forces.”
  • Chinese AI-empowered weapons systems such as long-range drones and autonomous ground vehicles counter America’s conventional power projection.
  • Chinese weapons manufacturers are selling autonomous drones they claim can conduct lethal targeted strikes.
  • The U.S. Army’s now-canceled Multi-Utility Logistics Equipment Vehicle was a previous platform engineered to use autonomous navigation and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
  • The possibility for a robot to find and attack enemy targets with Javelin missiles independently was nearly here as far back as ten years ago.
  • At the time, the Army added additional doctrinal clarification again reinforcing the need for humans to ultimately make all decisions regarding the use of lethal force. In years since, the Pentagon has upheld this doctrine.

TikTok Reveals Details of How Its Algorithm Works

  • TikTok’s algorithm uses machine learning to determine what content a user is most likely to engage with and serve them more of it, by finding videos that are similar or that are liked by people with similar user preferences.
  • When users open TikTok for the first time, they are shown 8 popular videos featuring different trends, music, and topics.
  • After that, the algorithm will continue to serve the user new iterations of 8 videos based on which videos the user engages with and what the user does.
  • Once TikTok collects enough data about the user, the app is able to map a user’s preferences in relation to similar users and group them into “clusters.”
  • Using machine learning, the algorithm serves videos to users based on their proximity to other clusters of users and content that they like.
  • TikTok’s logic aims to avoid redundancies that could bore the user, like seeing multiple videos with the same music or from the same creator.
  • TikTok concedes that its ability to nail users’ preferences so effectively means that its algorithm can produce “filter bubbles,” reinforcing users’ existing preferences rather than showing them more varied content, widening their horizons, or offering them opposing viewpoints.
  • Filter bubbles can reinforce conspiracy theories, hoaxes and other misinformation.
  • This is the so-called social media amplification effect. The same is true on Facebook.

Social-media Platforms are Undermining Democracy

  • Social-media platforms use algorithms that manipulate us without our awareness.
  • Algorithms are designed to increase the time on the platform and the number of clicks to maximize advertising revenue.
  • The ability of their algorithms to observe us and cause us to act in ways that maximize advertising revenue should make us question whether free will and genuine debate is even possible.
  • Organized disinformation campaigns orchestrated by algorithms can spread false information and manipulate our emotions and actions at very low cost.
  • Falsehoods and emotions travel like wildfire relative to the truth. It becomes difficult to tell the difference between fact and fiction.
  • Users of social media are nudged into engaging mostly with “friends” and “followers” with whom they already share values, opinions, and beliefs.
  • Each keystroke is recorded for the explicit purpose of better predicting how to change individual behavior.
  • Information bubbles are formed that lead to confirmation bias.
  • Extremism thrives on the left and the right. There is no way to find common ground.
  • In this situation, are we losing our ability to make rational decisions, and instead, ceding our free will to artificial intelligence? What is a democracy without free will?
  • A liberal democracy requires an informed public, not one that can be manipulated psychologically without its awareness.
  • The government needs to step in and regulate social platforms