June, 2024 archive
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Indiana University law professor Michael Mattioli, reacting to the recent kerfuffle of OpenAI’s attempt to steal mimic Scarlett Johansson’s voice, raises an interesting question:
- Why are Silicon Valley Tech Bros expending so much energy trying to create AI bots that sound human, when other more efficient ways of interacting with computers have worked very nicely for decades?
Here’s a tiny bit of his answer (emphasis added):
There’s also an echo of the ancient quest to commune with eternity, to grasp immortality, woven into AI chatbots like Sky. The pyramids served as eternal vessels for a pharaoh’s spirit; what is lifelike AI if not an attempt to capture and channel a human being’s essential nature?
(Or could it be that they just want to make their fantasies of being Captain Kirk sitting the captain’s chair saying, “Computer . . . .” come to life?)
Aside:
Speaking of AI, security maven Bruce Schneier thinks that AI will make phishing attempts even less fishy and even harder to detect.
The Privatization Scam 0
(David takes two calls. The first is about the privatization scam and is well worth a listen. The second is about China, but it’s still timely.)
So, Who Killed Dead Lobster? 0
I blame the Chicago School, whose theories fed the notion that “return to shareholders” is the ultimate responsibility of a business, greater than maintaining the health and integrity of the business itself. This, in turn, provided a rationalization for looters to claim that, if looting a business increased return to shareholders, then, well, looting a business is a righteous act in the interest of the greater good.
Or, to put it another way, the Chicago School provided Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes for the Gordon Gekkos of the world, who proclaim that “Greed is good.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” exposes a child to politeness.
(snip)
Police said that preliminary investigations revealed the boy had picked up an unsecured firearm and accidentally shot himself.
Thus passeth another day in the NRA’s Garden of Bleedin’.
Republican Thought Police 0
The Editorial Staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune suggests that Republican Thought Police look back on history and shout, “Get me rewrite!”
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Via Rolling Stone, meet one of the New Secesh.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Self-politeness is the politest kind.
According to other information gleaned from Facebook, the incident happened during a girls volleyball game.
Too many guns. Too much stupid.
Republican Thought Police 0
Farron discusses Minnesota’s banning book bans.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Now it is Kimball Shinkoskey, writing at the Las Vegas Sun, who hears a rhyme.
She is responding to “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan’s statement on May 26 that “spreading lies about elections is free speech.” Here’s a bit of what she has to say:
________________
*Mark Twain.
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0
Writing at AL.com, Roy S. Johnson finds (Alabama, since he’s in Alabama) Republicans’ reaction to be ironic, bemusing, and not at all surprising. Here are a couple of snippets from his article (emphasis added):
They were all-in on “rule of law” as long as most rulings tilted in their favor.
Now that one of their own—their big boo-thang—is a felon, justifiably convicted under rule of law by a jury of his peers, Alabama’s top Republicans are wailing louder than the bundled occupants of a neonatal nursery. Call it the big boo-hoo.
(snip)
With the 2024 presidential election looming in November and felon Trump the presumptive Republican nominee, I’m not shocked at the party-line tears shed by the faithful. Even if it exposes their party’s blatant and pitiful hypocrisy about justice and the rule of law.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another child:
And another news writer who is ignorant of the difference between “accidentally” and “negligently.”
Too many guns. Too much stupid.
We are a broken society.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Nick Geir attacks a full ennead of Donald Trump’s lies about events that the U. S.-Mexico border with a most starting weapon: actual data.
Here’s one lies he dissects (emphasis in the original):
83% appear for asylum hearings
Trump pulls yet another figure out of the air: he asserts that only 3% of those who claim asylum show up for their court hearings. I’ve looked at several studies and the number of asylum seekers who do report ranges from 83% to 92%. It is essential to note that migrants who report to authorities are not, under the 1980 Refugee Act, illegal aliens.
Follow the link for the remaining octad.