Thursday, November 24, 2022

Kitchen Table Kibitzing 11/19/22: Bring out your dead! - Daily Kos

In the latest example of technology progressing far faster than humans are possibly equipped to deal with, scientists and technical experts have begun taking steps to reanimate the deceased through AI (artificial intelligence) chat bots and virtual images, potentially opening the door to realistic and productive conversations between ourselves and the dead, be they dead loved ones, dead acquaintances, or even dead historical figures.
As reported by Caren Chesler, for the Washington Post:

People have always craved post-death contact with their loved ones. Efforts to remain in touch with the dead have existed for eons, such as photographing deceased children, holding seances and even keeping a corpse in the house for posterity. But artificial intelligence and virtual reality, along with other technological advances, have taken us a huge step closer to bringing the dead back to life.
Disclaimer: I’ve always favored the “keeping a corpse in the house,” method, but I acknowledge times can change, and we should all be open to new ideas.

For instance, Hossein Rahnama, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and a research affiliate with MIT Media Lab, has been building a platform called Augmented Eternity, which allows someone to create a digital persona from a dead person’s photos, texts, emails, social media posts, public statements and blog entries that will be able to interact with relatives and others.
Obviously, if there is no online presence to be swept up into the AI’s re-created consciousness, your ability to communicate with dead relatives, for example, will be limited. I would be unable to have a productive discussion with my deceased great-grandmother, for example, that goes beyond what few Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Watchtower tracts from her late 70’s time frame are currently posted online (talking with a reasonable verbal facsimile of my deceased grandmother would be easier, as Marx’s Communist Manifesto is widely available; even so, I suspect the visual images would be rather static as she was a latecomer to Facebook).
As for me, I have a vast pile of journals that I will be able to have to input online (I’ll get on that right away, I promise) to recreate a reasonable facsimile of my verbal and mental self. But predominantly this will be a joy experienced beginning with Millennials and Generation Z, as AI in its current state generally relies on “scraping” existing data off the web or otherwise transcribed on the web or through personal efforts from archived materials. 

But, as implied above, this technology goes well beyond interacting with chat-bots, which already (as you read this) are going the way of the flip-phone. Soon you will be able to access a realistic, animated visual image of your preferred deceased conversation partner, who you may even be able to interact with in a virtual reality environment.







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8 Pre-Built Gaming PCs That’ll Get You Playing Immediately, No Assembly Required - Forbes

The best pre-built gaming PCs give you all of the high performance hardware you can get by building it yourself, without the need to actually do so. You'll have to pay a little premium for having system building experts craft your next gaming machine, but that can be worth it if you're short on time or expertise.
The Corsair One i300 represents the absolute pinnacle of gaming performance, in a sleek and compact ... [+] chassis.
If you just want to start gaming at higher frame rates, resolutions and detail settings straight away, a pre-built gaming PC is a great way to upgrade your gaming experience today. Here are some of the best pre-built gaming PCs you can buy.


Amazon
AMD's latest Ryzen 5000 processors stormed ahead in the gaming performance benchmarks for the first time in many years when they first released. Although Intel's new Alder Lake processors give them a run for their money, AMD's 5800X is still a killer CPU and at this price, helps propel this Asus gaming PC into the top spot as the best pre-built gaming PC you can buy today.
The Nvidia RTX 3070 is a fantastic graphics card to pair it with, delivering greater performance than the last-generation kingpin, the RTX 2080 Ti, with improved ray tracing and DLSS support. The whole system is attractive and accessible, with a clear side panel giving you a look at all your new-generation components, and though the case isn't huge, there's plenty of space inside if you want to poke around and upgrade components in the future.
You also get a half terabyte NVMe SSD for fast game load times and Windows boot times, an additional 1TB hard drive for longer-term storage and 16GB of high speed RAM.
Amazon
MSI's range of miniature, console-like Trident PCs have been a great source of compact gaming power for years now, and the latest-generation Trident 3 is a perfect example of that. Inside its diminutive chassis lies a very capable Intel Core i5-11400F six-core gaming processor, paired with the ITX version of Nvidia's excellent RTX 3060 graphics card. This makes it small, but no-less-mighty, giving you all the power you need for high frame rate 1080p play in just about any game you choose.
Elsewhere in the build, the Trident 3 enjoys 16GB of high-speed DDR4 memory, half a terabyte of SSD storage, and support for the latest Wi-Fi 6e wireless networking, for high speed connectivity, whether you're gaming, downloading big files, or streaming a movie.
It does all this in a case that's less than 5 litres in size, and weighs just seven pounds. This system is barely bigger or heavier than your average gaming laptop, making it a great pre-built gaming PC to stow in your living room, or compact beadroom.
Amazon
Corsair One PCs are very expensive even for being pre-built, but there's no denying that they're the absolute kings of performance and build quality. This model sports some of the most high-powered components you can buy, combining an Intel Core i9-12900K 16-core processor with an Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card—that's about the best combination of gaming components you can buy in 2022.
That alone is more than enough to handle 4K gaming with all settings on their highest and with ray tracing enabled, but the rest of the Corsair One package really makes this gaming PC something special. It's surprisingly compact for such a high-end system, and still manages to fit 32GB of high-speed DDR5 memory, a terabyte of M.2 NVMe storage and an extra 2TB of hard drive space for longer term storage.
The CPU and graphics card are both watercooled, making them whisper quiet even during heavy usage and opening up room for overclocking them both if you want to do so. That extra cooling lets them boost higher than most of their contemporaries already, though, meaning that this is one of the best gaming PCs in terms of raw performance right off the shelf. It looks awesome too, with its vertical design giving it a unique look that really stands out among its more boxy contemporaries.
Best Buy
As graphics card prices are starting to normalize again in 2022, you can suddenly get a lot of gaming power for your money at around the $1,000 mark. In this excellent example from CyberPowerPC, you get the combination of an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G six core processor, and the stellar RX 6600XT graphics card — a potent combination for 1080p gaming at any detail setting.
The 8GB of RAM is a little weak and that would be a good place to focus your attentions for a first upgrade, but it has half a terabyte of SSD storage for fast boot times and even faster game loading. It even comes with its own mouse and keyboard, so you can jump into a game as soon as you've opened the box.
Want to tweak how it looks? There's plenty of RGB lighting in the chassis and on the CPU cooler, so you can customize your color accents to make it stand out from the crowd.
Dell
If you want to live on the bleeding edge of PC performance, there's nothing that can measure up to the new Alienware Aurora R13. It pairs Intel's fastest gaming processor ever, the Core i9-12900KF, with Nvidia's fastest graphics card ever, the RTX 3090. Together, they give you all the power you need for playing at 4K resolution, with every setting turned up to ultra in absolutely any game you want to play.
You'll get good frame rates too, and with 64GB of high-speed memory and a terabyte of high-speed NVME storage, the whole system will feel snappy and responsive whether you're playing a high-stakes game, editing video or just browsing the web.
The CPU is liquid cooled for quiet operation and low temperatures, giving you a little room for overclocking if you want it, and the whole chassis has a unique look that helps it stand apart from the boxier designs of its contemporaries.
Newegg
Who said you have to spend $1,500 to get $1,500 worth of gaming PC? In fact, this ABS Master Gaming PC is specced well above where it should be at its current price with a combination of a potent Intel Core i5-11400F processor and the excellent Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti graphics card. That gives you all the power you need for high-end 1080p gaming or even dabbling in 1440p in less intensive games.
It's built inside a unique-looking chassis that is readily accessible, making it simple to upgrade. The cable management is neat and tidy for an aesthetically pleasing PC inside and out. There are plenty of system cooling fans to keep everything running quiet and cool, and adding to the value is that it ships with a keyboard and mouse, so you're ready to game on day one.
Best Buy
If you're just getting started with PC gaming, you could opt for the most budget option, but it's better to pick something that is both affordable and high-quality. If you haven't got a lot of experience working with PCs, you want something that will work well right out of the box while still giving you some scope for easy upgrades in the future.
This HP Omen 25L isn't the pinnacle of HP's line, but it still has capable hardware that will get you up and gaming quickly. The Intel Core i5 10400 and Nvidia GTX 1660 Super are plenty powerful for Esports and older AAA games, and though the 8GB of RAM is a little lackluster, you can easily upgrade that in this easy-to-access chassis. It's a relatively compact system too, so you won't have to get used to a huge tower in your room.
Dell
It's rare to find a gaming PC this affordable that's actually decent, and though you don't get the swankiest of cases or the best build quality with the XPS 8940, the hardware that actually powers your games is surprisingly decent.
The Core i5-11400 is the kind of CPU you typically see in PCs that are $1,000+, and though the base model GTX 1650 Super is fine for entry-level gaming, you can upgrade it to a 1660 Super for just $50, making this a much-more potent gaming PC. Although Dell "recommends" the 1660 Ti model for $100 more, we we’d advise you not to make the jump. The difference between that and the 1660 Super is negligible.
Elsewhere, it sports 8GB of RAM, has 256GB of super-fast NVMe storage, and has full support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1. There are no included peripherals, but you should have some money lover over to pick your own with these savings.
Definitely. A pre-built gaming PC is a great way to start playing your favorite games straight away without having to build the system yourself. You'll still have to install some games and your favorite programs, but it's a much quicker way to get gaming.
You also get more support, extra warranty coverage and guarantees that mean if your new PC fails for whatever reason in the first year (or more, depending on the manufacturer and warranty you select on purchase) you can have someone fix it for you, rather than having to troubleshoot it yourself. Pre-built gaming PCs are great for those who just want to game and don't care about learning how it all works themselves.
Typically, yes, as there's ultimately little difference between most pre-built gaming PCs and DIY ones you put together yourself. That said, some do feature components, like ITX motherboards, which have fewer RAM slots or storage connectors, which can make upgrading a little more restrictive. Some cases also are difficult to navigate and aren't designed to be opened like more DIY designs are, so be sure to check reviews for any individual gaming PC you're considering if upgradeability is important to you.
Almost always. Since you aren't paying for someone's time to build it for you, you can typically save quite a lot of money by building your own gaming PC. You'll also be able to maximize your budget to focus on the components that are important to you. All of the above pre-built gaming PCs are selected for their quality components, but many pre-built PCs have too powerful a CPU than is really necessary or not enough RAM.
When you build your own gaming PC, you can make sure that the GPU is powerful enough, that you're not overspending on the case or unneeded extras, and that you have enough storage and memory for what you want to do with it.
The only caveat to all of this is that GPU prices are still sky high. If you want a high-end GPU for your next PC build, buying a pre-built can sometimes be cheaper.


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