Huron Expositor, 2009-10-28, Page 4Page 4 The Huron Expositor • October 28, 2009'
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Second career Funding
silentlycut by p
It seems the news has yet to hit the fan.
,:of the Provii> ce of Ontario's best -thought out
that* possiblytoo enerou.s --- ob creea'ion proams
l tly been cut, news organizations everywhere
in on Ontario's $20 -million debt and the os -
g p
:.
::. that `l) n Tiays'---- an allusion to fq l►er pre -
4. e Days' --- are ham-
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1WO
stank rovinee's gnu nd a-
x P
which rovi = # ' g $ 000',:',Iin
unemployed so thattlieYthat t - Y retrain
,Se deemed to be lacking m st f, has been
ear and'a h into the three-year: plan.
official word, all indicators seem to
,,..� too successful and, as such, too
same time, however, the now!
h F .ce ; nt about $1 billion attemp ' do
V .
:titirr
a ; � 1n (3>E r to computerize h e
contracts -----;lone
k is going on up
that .a rogram that was succeeding in
`y whilekeeping food on their respective
f ' les is slit. half way rough its lifespan
�,.
itt any fanfare at, •
ilt.rally, there art arguments on each side of the
question of whether the sound answer to the popular-
ity of the second career progrum was tpilancel it. But,
Dalton McGuhgi'.kty's Liber have camed on a plat-
form of transparency and accountability and, as such,
promoting the fact that this program has come to an
end and acknowledging that Ontario has a r u.-
oloyment problem on its hands would seem a more
rthright course of action than bellyaching about the
$20 -billion deft. After all, in tough times, what orga-
nization -- or family for that matter — isn't carrying
debt?
And, as history has shown, a hand up is what is need-
ed when times are tough and who, if not a duly elected
government body, has the resources and ability to take
the bull by the horns?
•
TeChflOIOgY. is helpful but far from
harmless, especially pesky robots
Sometimes' while daydreaming in
my car at red fights or during a walk
in the park, I like to think about
what life might be like 100 years in
the future.
There'll probably be great innova-
tions in the fields of medicine and
weapons technology, along with a
better understanding of genetics,
physics and the nature of human
consciousness.
Western democracies may finally break free of
corporate influence and usher in a golden age of
true freedom and equality for the marginalized
and privileged alike.
There's one thing I'm not looking forward to
however: robots.
These days, there are robotic devices that mow
our lawns, clean our pools and vacuum our man-
sions. They are relatively innocuous, even cutsy,
and most importantly, they still remain under
our control.
But, according to Moore's Law of 1965, which
(accurately) states that computing power dou-
bles every 18 months, we're in for a robot revolu-
tion over the next couple decades.
Japan in particular seems to have an obsession
with robots and they've built prototypes that can
sing, strut and ride unicycles.
Roy
The glaring question staring
us in the face is: what follows
unicycles? Motorcycles?
Jetpacks?
Recently, University of
Washington researchers
said in PC World magazine
they think it's time to start
paying serious attention to
the potentiality of computer -
hacking a robot.
No joke.
The U of W researchers are worried about un-
desirable characters hacking the robots and us-
ing them for evil reasons (spying and sabotaging
humans), instead of the good reasons (entertain-
ing humans and cleaning up after them) that
they were programmed to do in their original
design.
The research team's paper warns of a few
worst-case scenarios, such as robots frightening
small children or even pushing someone down
the stairs.
The scariest thing is, they may already be
among us.
Stephen Harper's live rendition of a Beatles'
tune at an arts fundraiser earlier this month
was his advisory team's attempt at making him
look human. But I, for one, am not falling for it.
by bavid Lace
Okay...here's the plan. We've got a three hour window to cover five blocks
I've calculated the gross annual income of the neighbourhood,
and this street should be passing out the best goodies.
Don't forget, if you start getting too many healthy treats we pull back to
Third Avenue, then hit the apartment complex where
we should be able to cover more households in a shorter time.
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