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Stephen “AI vulnerability” Cobb

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22 Feb, 5 tweets, 3 min read

https://twitter.com/Classicbritcom/status/1361127722878201862

Can't believe I missed this last week: #Decimalday, the 50th anniversary of a massive change in British life. The pound (£) went from being made up of 20 shillings, each worth 12 pennies, to 100 pence per pound. Did confusion reign? Yes it did! I wuz there 1/5

https://twitter.com/Classicbritcom/status/1361127722878201862

On #DecimalDay 1971 it was my job, as a milkman who delivered 640 pints of milk a day to families in a low income part of town, to explain to my customers, all of whom paid cash, that a pint of milk now cost five pence, not one shilling.
npr.org/2021/02/15/968… 2/5

Back in 1971, when UK currency went from pounds, shillings, and pence to just pounds and pence—with 100 pennies to the pound instead of 240—collecting the week's cash from customers on my milk route was a trial by fire in education, maths, and doorstep diplomacy.
3/5 #DecimalDay

The response of my customers to #DecimalDay varied widely. Some little old ladies handed their purses to me—their milkman—and said: "Just take what I owe you." One very burly builder would shove a handful of coins at me and say: "That should cover it." 4/5 historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Hist…

One weird upside of #DecimalDay for Milkman Steve was the chance to end the scamming of welfare mums in which my predecessor had engaged (a "fiddle" based on government tokens worth one free pint of milk per child per day). But that's another thread. telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/0… 5/5

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More from @zcobb

Stephen “AI vulnerability” Cobb

@zcobb

22 Feb

Fifty years ago this month I had my own milk round, and was a fully trained member of the farm products supply chain, doing daily delivery of milk, yogurt, eggs, potatoes and more; all from a zero-pollution, all-electric vehicle like the one seen here. flic.kr/p/9rFzX3 1/9

To get your own round with Unigate Dairies you had to complete training and a trial period helping on other rounds. I started in January, 1971, having left school in December after securing a place at university for the following October (see Gap Year en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_year#…) 2/9

Taking time out between secondary education and university was a relatively new thing back in 1971 (I don't recall it being referred to as a Gap Year back then). To get my milk round I had to let the company assume it was a possible career choice, not just a short term gig. 3/9

Read 9 tweets

Stephen “AI vulnerability” Cobb

@zcobb

1 Feb

Really struggling with the word ‘retired’ right now. Yes, I retired from the corporate world of cybersecurity, but I’m still very much in the world, spending my time on other things: caregiving, independent research, personal reflection, documenting my affairs, and so on. 1/5

The “affairs” I’m trying to document are not those of the heart. I’m referring to things like financial accounts, email accounts, and all that digital stuff we have, i.e. everything that will need to be dealt with when I die. And let me tell you friends, ain’t no small thing. 2/5

My father died when he was 50 and I was 20. It was very sudden. There was no will and no set of instructions. His affairs were handled by me and his brother and my mum. We coped okay, but that was nearly five decades ago. Things have changed. Let me count the ways. 3/5

Read 5 tweets

Stephen “AI vulnerability” Cobb

@zcobb

29 Jan

The morphing of QAnon into a religion has me flashing back to my earliest days as a researcher. It was 1967, the Summer of Love, The Beatles were hanging out with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and I began my study of non-Christian belief systems. (See (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatl…) 1/10

Although I was raised by a church-going family, I am not, and never was, a Christian. Theologically-speaking my parents' church was very liberal and believed in adult baptism based on informed choice. My interest in other faiths was not discouraged. 2/10

In fact, when a former minister of that church visited my folks in 1968 and heard of my interest in different belief systems, he suggested I read "Mysticism Sacred and Profane" by R. C. Zaehner (1957). He and Zaehner were students together at Oxford! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ch… 3/10

Read 11 tweets

Stephen “AI vulnerability” Cobb

@zcobb

29 Jan

This may be a thread: "Flu in a time of COVID"
If you "experience flu-like symptoms" today, it's a much bigger deal than it used to be, you know, before we had #COVID19 in our world.

Before #COVID19:
1. Feel really sick, think "could be a cold or flu."
2. Take something for it, curl up in bed.
NOW:
1. Feel really sick, think "could be deadly virus."
2. Isolate, order test.
3. Feel much worse, like this could be it.
4. Ponder death while awaiting results.

How many people are experiencing the psychological impact of "I might have Covid, but it could be the flu"?

During this week in 2018, about 28,000 people visited their doctor with flu, just in England. I think this has to be part of the "Compound Impact of #COVID19" calculation.

Read 6 tweets

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