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Comment by likenesstheft | Hacker News Reader

Do you feel the same knowing that a company can steal your thought patterns, keystrokes, likeness in manner of speech and thought and appearance, and build an AI that codes about as good as you or will one day, without giving you a dime or needing you? Effectively cutting off your legs too since you won't even be able to monetize your own likeness anymore since they can just preempt you in that area too, via alterations to the likeness.

It's not just Hollywood extras who are victims here - it's everyone.

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We need to implement UBI in this country.

I don't think laws requiring that extras in films be real humans is a very effective social safety net.

That's true but what's more simple? Implementing UBI or banning this practice? Right now the latter is more simple and feasible. The former takes more time and investigation into how to do it properly so it scales forever.

I don't think a law mandating human extras will be very effective in guaranteeing jobs. More likely, filmmakers will just change shots so there are less reasons for people to be in the background, because it is mandated to be expensive.

banning non-human extras is completely unfeasable. do you think it makes sense to stop every indie filmmaker with a small budget who can't afford to hire a lot of actors and extras from using computer generated characters? how about a fully computer animated film with a few real human characters?

computer generated characters are not the problem. scanning real humans and keeping the perpetual right to use the data without paying is the problem.

I think the real problem isn't scanning the humans and keeping perpetual rights to use the data without paying.

It's scanning humans without telling them that's what they're being scanned for.

While the stories I've heard may be anecdotal, I've heard people who, as extras on a production, tell stories about being scanned with zero explanation as to why.

If people want to sign away their likeness, fine, but they need to be the ones agreeing to that.

If people want to sign away their likeness, fine, but they need to be the ones agreeing to that.

not until we have laws that make sure that those rights can not be signed away exclusively. no contract should be able to prevent someone using their own likeness to make a living.

it's the same problem as with non-compete clauses.

UBI is just a way for techbros to help quell the eventual calls for their heads. It will effectively be another way to cut off the masses from ever leaving their societal strata. I guess its already rare enough that people escape their parents income level but at least with tech there was some hope because the elites didn't see the technology coming. Now that they are awake they will do everything they can to close that door. UBI is one method. I don't have a good solution to the problem that UBI solves though. :/

> UBI is just a way for techbros to help quell the eventual calls for their heads.

> I don't have a good solution to the problem that UBI solves though

These sentences are at odds, you admit that UBI solves a problem, but since it doesn't end classism altogether is's not worthwhile?

It solves a massive problem while at the same time creating another massive problem. Was my comment really that unclear?

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