AI-assisted fake porn are being used by people on Reddit for self-completion

And the experts you cite that say it is real are in on it.

It's the Establishment trying to suppress the truth. That's what they say today. With more technology, the underdog with AI can beat the Establishment in a few weeks. And there will not be any way to distinguish what's true anymore than you can distinguish a chess line played by AlphaGo vs any other really good chess line.

One of these is a simplification of a bunch of benefits into something called "Universal Credit". It's a good idea, with some nice points. It's being implemented terribly, and is causing significant harm.

When someone makes a claim there is a minimum wait of six weeks before they get any money. In the England a landlord can apply to the courts to resposses a rented home if the tenant misses 8 weeks of rent. So the rollout of UC is causing some people to be evicted from their homes.

The old benefits were paid fortnightly. UC is paid monthly. People have to budget very carefully to last all month. Poor people tend to be bad at budgeting, and being poor makes it harder to budget.

There is a very strict, punitive, sanctions regime in place. You'll see people being given sanctions because they attended a medical appointment or had to look after a child. People are expected to spend 35 hours a week searching for work, and they have to provide evidence that they've done so. That could be ok, but it means a claimant will send very many applications to unsuitable jobs, rather than spend a couple of hours polishing an application for a more suitable job. There's a lot more about sanctions and suspension: the rules are very strict; there are very many rules; the DWP and JC+ don't know what their own rules are and sometimes give incorrect advice. So sometimes a claimant will ask DWP or JC+ what to do, and will follow that instruction, and end up being sanctioned because it was the wrong thing to do.

Benefits are paid by the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions. That person is busy being a government minister, so they employ "decision makers" who look at the various acts of parliament, statutory instruments, and case law and apply those to the details of the claim. The quality of decision making is particularly poor at the moment.

Two judges (who are involved in appeals) have said this. Here's a useful article: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/872276-ai-assisted-fake...

Note here they're not just talking about UC, but also about PIP and ESA. (PIP and ESA are disability benefits. ESA is an out of work benefit.)

To get PIP or ESA the claimant will need an independent medical. This is provided by a nurse, a physiotherapist, or an occupational therapist. These people are employed by private companies. Those companies have said that over 30% of the assessments they do are not acceptable. https://twitter.com/CommonsWorkPen/status/942773136390590465

Imagine that - imagine if fully one third of everything you did was not acceptable.

Finally, because the claim is about suicide: https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/shocking-nhs-stats-sho...

We have to be a bit careful with these figures. (We'd expect the population claiming benefits for a disability to include more people who've had suicidal thoughts).

FWIW, I've been that primary source for some major news stories, and the final story usually bears just a passing resemblance to reality as I experienced it. Assuming good faith on the part of the reporter, I have to assume that reality as I experienced it bears only a passing resemblance to reality as other primary sources experience it, which is congruent with other known facts like the difficulty of communication, the existence of cognitive biases, and the field of psychology. Objectivity is a myth; it's oftentimes a useful myth, but it's worth remembering that the reporter has his own biases and preconceptions as well, and as the person choosing what to report upon, these will necessarily make it into the final piece. The audience has their own biases as well, so they won't be reading exactly the same piece that the reporter wrote.

However, that's still interesting; isn't it possible that each light sensor has certain watermark-like characteristics arising from the manufacturing process?

My comment was not intended to absolve America. Parse it more carefully and you will see its meaning.

Because, yes, America's record is imperfect. At times, unsavory things have been done for the "right" reasons, and at other times for the wrong by those abusing power. Even when well-intentioned, championing certain ideals in a hostile world can be a messy business. We can debate the morality around those trade-offs but, in any case, we should all wish for America to live up to its ideals.

Yet, there's a tipping point at which you realize that there are some who are not interested in highlighting America's missteps for the purpose of perfecting it, but instead for the purpose of diminishing it and elevating other actors. Snowden and Greenwald come to mind. How is it that they so consistently focus on America's misdeeds while promoting the narrative of actors with far more dubious track records, wherein dissidents are not just smeared, but actively "disappeared" and more?

Today, America is being destroyed from within and without. It goes beyond a failing to live up to its ideals to a direct attack on the ideals themselves. So, I would simply urge caution. America is not perfect, but the alternative on-offer is far worse.