[LarryL]

I find this story disturbing & the implications are frightening (many are addressed in the article).

But one thing strikes me as REALLY worrying: they call it the "MAGIC" box.

IMO, if there is ONE thing that you DO NOT WANT in serious such matters, it is the propagation of the -common- belief that science/technology == MAGIC.

This is already a problem with computers, as people accept plenty of nonsense "because the computer said so", and to be fair technologies like computers have become so complex, it's difficult to NOT have a "magic" feeling to some extent (let's not get into sciences which are IMO even worse).

Relying blindly on something that you don't really understand (its limits, its strengths & weaknesses, the context in which it should be used), is a RECIPE FOR DISASTER.

[renholder]

I have a tongue-in-cheek joke about this: "Data doesn't lie."

The problem with most people is that they agree with that notion and never second-guess it. ...but anyone who's ever modified anything in code or a database or the like will know that to not be the case.

Considering it "magic" also proves the following posit: The result of the use of that technology is potentially as faulty as the operator whom doesn't understand it.

Case in point: "Tides go in, tides go out. You can't explain that."