cyberpunk007

Test scores across OECD countries peaked around 2012 and have declined since. IQ scores in many developed countries appear to be falling after rising throughout the twentieth century. Nataliya Kosmyna at MIT's Media Lab began noticing changes around two years ago when strangers started emailing her to ask if using ChatGPT could alter their brains. She posted a study in June tracking brain activity in 54 students writing essays. Those using ChatGPT showed significantly less activity in networks tied to cognitive processing and attention compared to students who wrote without digital help or used only internet search engines. Almost none could recall what they had written immediately after submitting their work. She received more than 4,000 emails afterward. Many came from teachers who reported students producing passable assignments without understanding the material. A British survey found that 92% of university students now use AI and roughly 20% have used it to write all or part of an assignment. Independent research has found that more screen time in schools correlates with worse results. Technology companies have designed products to be frictionless, removing the cognitive challenges brains need to learn. AI now allows users to outsource thinking itself.

CEO Sam Altman says OpenAI had made ChatGPT "pretty restrictive" to make sure it was being careful with mental health issues, though that made the chatbot "less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems."

I'm kind of surprised I've struggled with this so long. Right now I've been using nextcloud camera upload, and mostly it works ok but shits the bed once in a while without me noticing and I need to spend time fixing it and it's never as simple as turning it off and on again.

I recently tried syncthing, and while it works, it frequently crashed and got stuck in a state where it says it's on and working by my destination folder is shown as disconnected, and the options to restart syncthing from the side menu are greyed out and the only way to make it work again is by force closing it and reopening it.

I'm running vanilla stock Google Android and truenas, does anyone have a better solution?

The president is set to meet with corporate leaders on Tuesday, as concerns over his protectionist trade policies weigh on markets and the economy.

A group of young tech industry workers between 19 to 25 years old have been recruited by Elon Musk to carry out the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency’s goals of cutting trillions from the federal government - and now have access to numerous sensitive systems.

Among them is a recent high school graduate and a Matt Gaetz defender who claims he quit a “seven-figure salary” to join DOGE and “save America.”

The group has little to no experience working in government, and yet some of them have been given central roles within Musk’s DOGE, including access to the U.S. Treasury’s internal payments system, according to WIRED.

Musk’s young crew have been unmasked as Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger and Ethan Shaotran, WIRED first reported. As their names were published, the group rushed to disable any trace of their social media profiles.

After the names of the engineers became public, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, said he was working with Musk over the alleged “threats” made against the DOGE workers.

“Don’t mess with @DOGE,” Musk stated. Marko Elez, 25

Elez is a former X and SpaceX engineer who now has direct access to Treasury Department systems responsible for dispersing almost all payments made by the federal government, according to WIRED.

The 25-year-old Rutgers University graduate can reportedly access and write code on the most sensitive systems within government — The Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, according to WIRED.

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Members of Elon Musk’s secretive team reviewing federal agencies for cuts are refusing to reveal their full names to civil servants, federal employees say.

Several government workers who have been interviewed by Musk’s team about their work say the billionaire’s representatives declined to give their surnames and refused to answer any questions themselves, according to the New York Times. The lack of transparency surrounding the work of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is only adding to mounting anxiety within the federal workforce, the report says. Unmasked: Elon’s Secret DOGE Goon Squad—Every One Under 26 BEST PEOPLE Josh Fiallo A photo illustration of DOGE Akash Bobba, - 21 / Edward Coristine, - 19 / Luke Farritor - 23 / Gautier Cole Killian - 24 / Gavin Kliger - 25 / Ethan Shaotran 22

Musk’s aides described the meetings with civil servants as “one-way interviews,” according to the Times. Some federal workers who have been interviewed were reportedly asked what they are working on and which of their colleagues should be fired.

“My impression was not one of support or genuine understanding but of suspicion, and questioning,” one General Services Administration staffer wrote in a message to colleagues about the interview process, according to the report.

Trump and his allies have taken over what was previously the United States Digital Service, now renamed the United States DOGE Service, which is being run by Musk and his team with the aim of radically reducing government expenditure.

DOGE has already taken over the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, which contains sensitive data including social security numbers. Musk Shuts Out Senior Government Workers in HR Takeover IT’S NOTHING PERSONNEL Emell Derra Adolphus Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s also gained access to the Treasury’s payment system which distributes trillions of dollars of government spending. Treasury officials say that any mistakes in managing these systems could lead to damaging consequences as severe as a federal default.

Musk has already targeted USAID, the federal agency that distributes foreign aid, for closure.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” he posted on X on Monday.

We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.

Could gone to some great parties.

Did that instead. https://t.co/0V35nacICW — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025

Musk, the world’s richest man, has brought about 40 people into government to carry out the work around the clock, even moving beds into offices near the White House to allow his team to sleep there and work on weekends, according to the Times.

The team includes several youngsters—including a teenager—none of whom have experience in government work. Some have previously worked or interned at Musk’s companies X or SpaceX.

Musk has previously lashed out at people online who identify members of the team, accusing people posting on X of undefined “crimes” for mentioning their names.

At least five people who have previously worked with Musk reportedly now have formal roles at the Office of Personnel Management, which runs the government’s personnel database, sources told the Times.

Last week, the agency sent emails to about two million federal workers inviting them to resign, using the same “Fork in the Road” subject line as an email previously used by Musk to fire employees in his takeover of Twitter in 2022.

Musk has also been seen visiting the General Services Administration, which manages billions of dollars worth of federal properties, with his son “X Æ A-12″ and a nanny, where he talked with the agency’s administrator about cutting half of its expenditure.

Members of the civil service have taken to using encrypted messaging apps to try and understand what is going on, expressing shock about the speed and breadth of Musk’s actions.