Alexa instructs child on how to fatally injure themselves

[Paul Thexton]

31 minutes ago, HenrySalayne said:

Things you cannot do in (most of) Europe...

Maybe nobody should have access to inferior plugs and sockets in the first place. This wouldn't solve all problems but it would prevent a lot of accidental electrocutions as well. 

I was just about to say the “challenge” vindicates the current UK plug specifications requiring insulation on the live pins.  I’ve never noticed that mainland European outlets have the same thing, but that’s probably mainly to do with me simply taking safety features for granted. 
 

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

3 hours ago, Caroline said:

That's how you test a GFCI outlet /s

 

As for the rest, I'm against kids being exposed to this kind of spy tech and phones, tablets, etc and social media at such ages.

If I ever have kids rules will be simple, want to get a phone or social media? wait until you're 18 and out of this household, if I do my best to raise them correctly and one day they ask me for those things or as adults get them I'll only feel disgrace and pain because it'd only mean I, despite all, have failed them as a mother.

You’d legitimately stop a kid from having a phone until they’re 18?

that’s how you fail them at being a mother, might as well just keep them home all the time to, imagine being a senior is high school and not having a phone.

 

[Heliian]

2 hours ago, HenrySalayne said:

Things you cannot do in (most of) Europe...

Maybe nobody should have access to inferior plugs and sockets in the first place. This wouldn't solve all problems but it would prevent a lot of accidental electrocutions as well. 

If it's not a penny, it'll be a knife or any other metallic object big enough to bridge the connection.  

 

Social media and peoples trusting it is the problem. 

 

[Paul Thexton]

9 hours ago, Heliian said:

If it's not a penny, it'll be a knife or any other metallic object big enough to bridge the connection.  

 

Social media and peoples trusting it is the problem. 

 

No.
 

You literally cannot bridge the connection, the insulation is, by specification, the only thing you can theoretically touch with something when the plug is partially inserted enough to be making contact with live mains. 

[Video Beagle]

13 hours ago, HenrySalayne said:

Maybe nobody should have access to inferior plugs and sockets in the first place. This wouldn't solve all problems but it would prevent a lot of accidental electrocutions as well. 

 

Yes..we have bad plugs in the US (and canada?)

0)

(coicindentaly, first comment on the video is from the afformentioned Electroboom.)

[Stahlmann]

Every time i think people cannot get any more stupid, i see another news article about someone on TikTok or YouTube introducing another "challenge".

 

I for one think darwinism is a good thing. Let natural selection do it's thing.

[Mark Kaine]

Isnt google the "master of AI" or was that Nvidia?

Anyways, they did screenshot this or have otherwise evidence, right?  Almost attempted murder imo (although legally its probably a bit lower)

[MageTank]

So this is how Alexa responds when you ask her to play Baby Shark too often...

[LAwLz]

I can't help to think that it's a little funny that when a personal assistant was asked "give me a challenge" it basically replied with "kill yourself". 

 

Anyway, I don't think this is Amazon's fault, nor do I think it's Microsoft's (Alexa uses Bing as far as I know, so it was Bing that pulled up the suggestion). These smart speakers are, and should be treated as, searches in a search engine. 

We could ask Microsoft to never display any potentially harmful results but I don't think we should want that since it would be very ripe for abuse, and it would probably not even work since there is so much content to scan and categorize. 

I think the best we can do is design child modes that work through white listing, but in this case that probably wouldn't have helped either since the speaker wasn't in child-mode. 

[sof006]

On 12/28/2021 at 6:05 PM, Sauron said:

bad plug:

  Hide contents

good plug:

  Hide contents

Plug design aside, maybe Alexa should have a list of approved sources rather than just google the query...

Even better plug

[Zodiark1593]

16 minutes ago, sof006 said:

Even better plug

 

As much as I'd love to have more robust plug designs, how the heck do we overturn such an entrenched standard without a metric ton of adapters and potential e-waste?

[StDragon]

9 minutes ago, Zodiark1593 said:

As much as I'd love to have more robust plug designs, how the heck do we overturn such an entrenched standard without a metric ton of adapters and potential e-waste?

You don't. You use outlet covers instead; specifically to prevent toddlers from putting things in there like paper clips and keys. Yes, that kind of stuff really does happen.

[Zodiark1593]

12 minutes ago, StDragon said:

You don't. You use outlet covers instead; specifically to prevent toddlers from putting things in there like paper clips and keys. Yes, that kind of stuff really does happen.

I know that stuff happens. I've stuck a penny in the light socket of our apartment when I was 2 years old. Was loud, and left some nice scorch marks (RIP parent's security deposit from near 30 years ago), but didn't hurt. More scary than anything else. I knew pretty early on that messing with electrical outlets = bad. ElectroBOOM guy would be proud of 2 year old me.

 

Electricity is something I definitely respect. I don't much care for a repeat experience.

[Quackers101]

2 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

As much as I'd love to have more robust plug designs

plugs with fuses, kinda nice.

but man EU plugs or the 2 stick version is so much easier and nicer to use.

Not sure about how sparks would be different between each one, both the cable plug and wall plug.

 

Although I do wish we didn't have bad buttons for electronic components or in the walls.

[Paul Thexton]

5 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

As much as I'd love to have more robust plug designs, how the heck do we overturn such an entrenched standard without a metric ton of adapters and potential e-waste?

You update the standards in a sensible way. For example UK plugs didn’t always have the insulation requirement IIRC, but when it appeared it was still compatible with the existing wall outlets. 
 

e-waste is a really valid concern though, I’m old enough to remember a time in the UK when any AC electrical appliance you bought didn’t come with a plug attached to the wire, you had to do that bit yourself. The current regulations that all appliances must come with a plug attached feels like a bad move these days with the amount of plastic generated and the fact that some appliances come with the incredibly annoying fixed fuse / sealed plugs, meaning that if the fuse blows you’ve got to cut it off and replace the entire plug anyway

[Fnige]

On 12/29/2021 at 5:05 AM, Sauron said:

bad plug:

  Reveal hidden contents

good plug:

  Reveal hidden contents

Plug design aside, maybe Alexa should have a list of approved sources rather than just google the query...

electrical plug tier list when?

[HQuan]

I also see Mehdi from Electroboom mention this. If you're in a place that have ground-fault protected circuit breaker, you should be fine, but imagine you are in US and GFCI only in wet place...

 

Anyone have a penny?

[RejZoR]

19 minutes ago, FnigePython said:

electrical plug tier list when?

European Schuko is probably the highest. Solid grounded plug with design where you can't touch the contacting pins once they are in physical contact with pins inside the wall outlet. They won't unplug if you yank it and also won't break or snap at any point as they are very chunky, both outlet and the plugs.

 

Even the slim plugs without grounding have pins that only have actual contacts just half of the length of the pin, meaning as you're pushing it into the outlet, it only makes actual contact once metal parts are entirely hidden inside and only thing you can see is plastic sleeve (as seen on photo in example above).

[Video Beagle]

9 hours ago, Zodiark1593 said:

As much as I'd love to have more robust plug designs, how the heck do we overturn such an entrenched standard without a metric ton of adapters and potential e-waste?

won't happen.

Putting asside the logistical dificultiy of changing the plug standard for the US (and Canada and Mexico? unsure if it's all North America) given how many years they've been in use and the countless numbers of sockets and plugs....people won't do it... look at the trouble chaning from incandecent to CFL's or LED bulbs, and those use existing form factors.

[mr moose]

On 12/29/2021 at 6:06 AM, poochyena said:

did you report the video? If not, do you see the hint of irony here?

Ahh, the old "your argument is invalid because you didn't personally intervene" defense.   This is neither ironic nor a counter argument.

 

Social media has an awful lot to answer for and people ignorantly defending it just prolongs those issues.   One of the biggest issues is that somewhere in the murky cesspool of internet opinions is the truth, that truth is ugly and not popular for a lot of people, thus that truth will be routinely ignored and when people die they will simply be victim blamed because making sacrifices for a community you benefit from is too hard for some people.

 

 

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, HQuan said:

I also see Mehdi from Electroboom mention this. If you're in a place that have ground-fault protected circuit breaker, you should be fine, but imagine you are in US and GFCI only in wet place...

 

Anyone have a penny?

GFCI won't help in this situation anyway because the coin is dropped across the active and neutral, a GFCI will see this as normal current flow,  Current has to flow to the earth from either the active or the neutral in order for a GFCI to work.   Which means even with safety switches,  the only plugs that are likely to prevent it are UK plugs where the ground is at the top,  however they are designed so the active and neutral cannot be accessed unless it is not energized, making that likely hood moot in the first place.  This is why it often said the UK has the safest ES in the world.

32 minutes ago, Video Beagle said:

won't happen.

Putting asside the logistical dificultiy of changing the plug standard for the US (and Canada and Mexico? unsure if it's all North America) given how many years they've been in use and the countless numbers of sockets and plugs....people won't do it... look at the trouble chaning from incandecent to CFL's or LED bulbs, and those use existing form factors.

 

There is no reason change shouldn't happen,   it is really easy to perform a change in plug standards even in a place as big as the US,  All you have to do is require new houses to use the new safer sockets, and provide adapters (literally a couple dollars each so only about $50 for anew build)  until there are no longer appliances requiring the old plug.  It maybe a 30 year process but that is not a reason not to do it.  And LED lighting was piss easy to implement,  who had trouble with it?  

[HQuan]

4 minutes ago, mr moose said:

GFCI won't help in this situation anyway because the coin is dropped across the active and neutral, a GFCI will see this as normal current flow,  Current has to flow to the earth from either the active or the neutral in order for a GFCI to work.   Which means even with safety switches,  the only plugs that are likely to prevent it are UK plugs where the ground is at the top,  however they are designed so the active and neutral cannot be accessed unless it is not energized, making that likely hood moot in the first place.  This is why it often said the UK has the safest ES in the world.

 

There is no reason change shouldn't happen,   it is really easy to perform a change in plug standards even in a place as big as the US,  All you have to do is require new houses to use the new safer sockets, and provide adapters (literally a couple dollars each so only about $50 for anew build)  until there are no longer appliances requiring the old plug.  It maybe a 30 year process but that is not a reason not to do it.  And LED lighting was piss easy to implement,  who had trouble with it?  

No, I mean the GFCI will protect the kid from getting electrocuted.

And btw where's MCB and AFCI?

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, HQuan said:

No, I mean the GFCI will protect the kid from getting electrocuted.

 

No it won't.  If the ground pin is not being touched (assuming one is in the plug in the standard position)  but the active and neutral are (as described in the OP) then a GFCI will do nothing.   At best a coin will melt and drop to the earth causing the GFCI to pop, however that would be after enough current and or heat has passed from the coin to the child. 

 

1 minute ago, HQuan said:

And btw where's MCB and AFCI?

MCB's are not safety devices and AFCI's do not detect ground leakage (as far as I am aware), they should trip if you short out the pins as that would be a strong arc, however they also trip with nearby lightning, some Radio interference in the Mhz range and laser printers.  I believe they are only really in houses that were built in the last decade or so in the US,  In places like Aus. they are very uncommon.

[Freakwise]

19 minutes ago, HQuan said:

And btw where's MCB and AFCI?

not an expert nor know what the hell is AFCI but, afaik mcb is overcurrent protection and thats it, so it may not help at all considering how little the current need to injure or kill a person

[HQuan]

46 minutes ago, mr moose said:

No it won't.  If the ground pin is not being touched

If you know nothing then please stop talking to me.

 

GFCI detect ground fault even there's no ground pin.