[Aptorian]

I would respect a company that advertised like this

[Malankazooie]

Hey guys, tomorrow/today is May 4th. I'll see you all at 'Wookie Lake'. I'll bring the beer. Can I depend on some of you guys to bring something to eat? Lets strike up the BBQ and have a good time. Deal? #HaveFunAndSmile #TBT

[worry]

https://richmond.cra...6881185958.html

[Slow Ben]

worry, on 24 May 2019 - 03:06 AM, said:

https://richmond.cra...6881185958.html

Oh my god, that was amazing. Thank you.

[Aptorian]

I thought bobcats were a lot bigger than that. Doesn't look much bigger than a main coon.

[Slow Ben]

Aptorian, on 24 May 2019 - 05:40 AM, said:

I thought bobcats were a lot bigger than that. Doesn't look much bigger than a main coon.

That one was basically a kitten.

They’re usually about 20-30 lbs.

[Aptorian]

I was just thinking about the Marvel universe and telepaths. You hardly ever read about "Evil telepaths".

Or more thought provoking, considering you can look into people's hearts and minds, what if somebody like The Punisher got Xavier's powers? How many people would he kill in a day?

[Malankazooie]

Ok, Deepfakes.

It keeps buzzing on my feed. For you forumites who dance on the bleeding edge of technology, can you please explain to me what a 'Deepfake' is - what it is and what it means and why I should be troubled by it. Also, some examples would be great too.

If your explanation is satisfactory, then I might hit you 'thought leaders' again with explaining what in the hell is cryptocurrency / blockchain.

[Aptorian]

Just read the Wikipedia or what ever.

Deepfakes is the animated version of doctored or photoshopped footage in a recording or even real-time. Using a computer you can alter subbtle and not so subbtle elements in a video. You can transplant famous people's faces into porn. Or politicians faces into comprising footage. It's honestly surprising that there hasn't been a viral pee tape video yet with Trump shopped into it.

The more insidious thing about it is that it's easy now to use voice modulation to make people sound like they're saying something they've never said. Couple that with lip syncing and you can pretty much create any kind of fake news you want.


This stuff has been possible gir at least a decade but as technology advances it's getting easier and easier to do.

It's never been more important to educate people about information sources and train their media litteracy.

[Malankazooie]

So, like those snapchat options that put bunny ears or whiskers on your face when you "face time" with your BFF? But a lot more advanced then that?

[Aptorian]

Exactly. Only imagine you're the government of the USA or China Or Russia, etc and you have the budget of NASA to spend on propaganda or political meddling.

[Malankazooie]

Damn, that's . . . . . unsettling.

I can only imagine the morons who get their news from Facebook will propagate this shit to their right wing uncle who thinks Hillary Clinton eats children and that loony aunt who thinks Obama is an Arab. And then just watch it spread from there.

[Obdigore]

Malankazooie, on 14 June 2019 - 04:59 PM, said:

Damn, that's . . . . . unsettling.

I can only imagine the morons who get their news from Facebook will propagate this shit to their right wing uncle who thinks Hillary Clinton eats children and that loony aunt who thinks Obama is an Arab. And then just watch it spread from there.

That is 100% correct.

For instance, the recent Pelosi video where she 'stuttered' and was 'confused' and stuff, was just someone with good video editing software adding pauses and different stuff from different times of a press conference. It was drastically different from the actual conference, but the 'changed' one was shared on Facebook more than the real one. This wasn't even a deepfake, but rather just someone messing with timing during a video.

[Grief]

On the other hand, I'm not sure that morons on the internet really need doctored footage to confirm their biases. I mean, people post cling to paper thin, easily disproven, talking points all the time as it is. It's not exactly an optimistc message, but given the level of wilful delusion online I'm not sure that disinformation is really as damaging as its hyped up to be.

If the people who don't approach their sources critically will buy into these arguments with zero evidence already - like the Obama conspiracy theorists - then is there that much to gain by investing in more sophisticated forgery? It's like... why invest in complex social engineering attacks if millions of people will happily buy emails claiming that you're the Crwon Price of Nigeria?

[Tsundoku]

Maybe it's all a new shiny tool in the survival of the fittest armoury?
If deepfakes merely just add to confirmation bias and sway few, perhaps it's helping to segregate whole streams of population into another demographic alongside race, creed, et al?

And for those demographics to compete, if in less overt ways than previously.

[Malankazooie]

Ok, ray-tracing.

Both Sony and Microsoft have said their next gen consoles will take full advantage of it. For you forumites who walk right up to the bleeding edge of technology and look over, can you please explain to me what 'ray tracing' is? - what it is and what it means and why will it transform video gaming as we know it? Also, some examples would be great too. Supposedly, video game journalists who got to see the latest Cyberpunk 2077 closed door game play demonstration said it's flippin' amazing.

Yeah, I know I said I would ask about cryptocurrency / blockchain, but saving that for another time.

[Tsundoku]

Finally, I'll be the most popular guy in the room!

https://www.news.com...ed0d11fcbb538d2

*Pwaaaaaaaarp!*

*sniff sniff* "Hey that's nice!"

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 29 June 2019 - 11:20 AM

[Aptorian]

Don't roses actually smell like shit?

[Malankazooie]

Malankazooie, on 14 June 2019 - 02:55 PM, said:

Ok, Deepfakes.

It keeps buzzing on my feed. For you forumites who dance on the bleeding edge of technology, can you please explain to me what a 'Deepfake' is - what it is and what it means and why I should be troubled by it. Also, some examples would be great too.

This 'deep fake' really creeps me out. I find this technology worrisome on a lot of levels.

Malankazooie, on 19 June 2019 - 01:23 PM, said:

Ok, ray-tracing.

Both Sony and Microsoft have said their next gen consoles will take full advantage of it. For you forumites who walk right up to the bleeding edge of technology and look over, can you please explain to me what 'ray tracing' is? - what it is and what it means and why will it transform video gaming as we know it? Also, some examples would be great too. Supposedly, video game journalists who got to see the latest Cyberpunk 2077 closed door game play demonstration said it's flippin' amazing.

Yeah, I know I said I would ask about cryptocurrency / blockchain, but saving that for another time.

And regarding 'ray tracing', none of you worthless turds who profess to stay ahead of the bleeding edge of technology, you didn't even give me an attempt, so ima just leave this right here. Not sure what it means - ray tracing is all hype? or it's going to reorganize our thinking about how video games look going forward?

[Aptorian]

It's just more realistic and complex lighting. It's not meant to do anything except sell new graphics cards.