this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
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Futurology

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[–] NounsAndWords 31 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I hope we also have a healthcare AI capable of researching the health impacts of 381,000 new materials before they just start showing up all over the world in unexpected ways.

[–] gibmiser 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

We need to just make a materials white list. If it's not already studied and proven safe then we don't need to mass produce it. I

I don't give a fuck if it slows down innovation. We live in a globalized society, a new product can be created and spread across the globe before the health effects start to show.

Think about leaded gasoline. It was a proprietary formulation with deliberately misleading advertising. Regulators failed to act when they knew there was the potential for harm, and then years pass and the globe is contaminated with a heavy metal that is dusted across everything and now just a part of our environment, and we are measurably dumber for it.

And now the same thing has happened with plastics. It won't be identical to lead but we will be dealing with the consequences for at least decades if not centuries.

And the next dangerous material is just around the corner. Shit, it might already be here.

White. List.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And the next dangerous material is just around the corner. Shit, it might already be here.

It already is. It's called PFAS, it's everywhere, and we're only just starting to learn how it affects us.

[–] gibmiser 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, that is just a label slapped on everything that is like that, but yeah, I'm sure they are everywhere.

[–] feedum_sneedson 1 points 11 months ago

Plastic, foam and stuff; PFAS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I mean, it's not like we were surprised that lead is toxic or that plastic doesn't break down, and we did it anyway. I'm guessing they would have gone on the whitelist.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm guessing these are mostly (hypothetical) new ceramics. It's not like these are going to be totally unlike anything we've seen before.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

What do they mean "found"? New formulas for materials? Does it have a recipe for making them? Does it know what properties they have?

[–] gibmiser 38 points 11 months ago

Linguists successfully make a list of every possible combination of letters up to 30 letters long! Research continues into the meaning of these new "words"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, it sounds like these haven't actually been tested, and many would not be stable, so this is typical popsci overhyping something, and leaving out all the "but"s.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Google propaganda. Sounds good, means nothing. Their AI is so quiet it's either bad or not for the public.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Or: "scientists develop new technology that makes a part of their work hundreds of times more effective"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

This is the cool AI stuff I like to see. ChatGPT is fun and all, but applications like these truly have the capacity to transform the world.