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Archive for 2024
April 6, 2024
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JIM TREACHER IS TESTING THE UTTERLY TERRIFYING LIMITS OF THE CURRENT STATE OF AI: What If Brian Stelter Had His Own Video Game?
LEADERSHIP MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE, COMPARE AND CONTRAST:
IN THE GRIP OF APOCALYPSE ANGST:
[In Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World, author Dorian Lynskey] quotes so widely that at times the book resembles a megadeath miscellany. One of the perverse pleasures of reading about how humanity deals with calamity is the comically grim vocabulary, some of which was new to me: omnicide, promortalism, Weltuntergangsroman. There are a couple of handy phrases: unaligned AI (‘if AI is not aligned with human values, then it is considered “unaligned” or “unfriendly”’) and its potential consequence, knowledge-enabled mass destruction. How have I come this far without considering the distinction between catastrophic risk and existential risk? Hint: the latter is worse.
Or is it? Bellow is the first novelist Lynskey quotes on the subject of our perverse love of apocalypse but he’s not the last. Here’s a Don DeLillo character arguing that the news has displaced the novel:
This is where we find emotional experience not available elsewhere. We don’t need the novel… We don’t even need catastrophes, necessarily. We only need the reports and predictions and warnings.
And here’s Kurt Vonnegut: ‘Let us be perfectly frank for a change. For practically everybody, the end of the world can’t come soon enough.’ Made-up stories about total annihilation are thrilling, and yet we can’t seem to engage with the reality of an encroaching doom.
In her 1965 essay on sci-fi films ‘The Imagination of Disaster’ (a touchstone for Lynskey), Susan Sontag argues that part of our viewing pleasure ‘comes from the sense in which these movies are in complicity with the abhorrent’. She writes about the ‘peculiar beauties to be found in wreaking havoc, making a mess’, but at the same time acknowledges the enduring effect of the Bomb. In the middle of the 20th century it became clear that from then to the end of human history, every person would spend his individual life not only under the threat of individual death, which is certain, but of something almost unsupportable psychologically – collective incineration and extinction, which could come at any time, virtually without warning. It was Sontag who pointed out that the title ‘Apocalypse Now’ was wishful thinking. What we’re living with is ‘Apocalypse From Now On’.
As James Piereson wrote in Camelot and Cultural Revolution, the death of JFK, combined with the myriad failures of the Great Society, caused once optimistic Democrats to become what he dubbed “punitive liberals” by the mid-1960s. Richard Nixon winning the presidency in 1968 seemed to push them completely over the edge, resulting in a massive number of competing doomsday scenarios by the early years of the following decade. (Which not surprisingly, quickly became fodder for Hollywood’s post 2001, pre-Star Wars eco-obsessed sci-fi movies). Or to paraphrase the late and sadly missed Kathy Shaidle on Trump as Hitler, I’m already on (at least) my fourth apocalypse:
Oh, and:
Lynskey quotes so widely that at times the book resembles a megadeath miscellany. One of the perverse pleasures of reading about how humanity deals with calamity is the comically grim vocabulary, some of which was new to me: omnicide, promortalism, Weltuntergangsroman. There are a couple of handy phrases: unaligned AI (‘if AI is not aligned with human values, then it is considered “unaligned” or “unfriendly”’) and its potential consequence, knowledge-enabled mass destruction.
I got your unaligned AI right here!
This is just two Chat GPTs having a chat on how to destroy civilization on earth… pic.twitter.com/UuUXrDhb4z
— Acknowledge A.I (@acknowledgeai) April 5, 2024
SMALL INJECTIONS OF CAPITAL CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Giving eyeglasses to workers in developing countries boosts income.
TALCUM X GAINS COMPETITION: ‘World’s sexiest albino’ posed as BLM leader to steal nearly $500k through fake charity, prosecutors.
An activist who calls himself the “world’s sexiest albino” is on trial this week after allegedly conning nearly $500,000 from donors through a reportedly phony Black Lives Matter charitable group he established.
The FBI arrested Sir Maejor Page, 35, back in 2020 after a complaint detailed how he fraudulently utilized a Black Lives Matter non-profit organization “by way of misrepresentations and by posing as a Black Lives Matter leader.”
Page, who is also known as Tyree Conyers-Page, began his trial on Tuesday stemming from federal charges of wire fraud, one count of concealment money laundering and two counts of money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to the charges back in 2021 and has seen his trial repeatedly pushed back, including in August, before it kicked off this week.
Authorities detailed that in 2018, Page set up a bank account called “Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta Inc.,” and also set up a social media page, “Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta,” as a supposed charitable foundation and listed the group on GoFundMe, the FBI said in 2020.
Related: Gap CEO: We are seeing early signs of a reinvigorated business.
I’m not at all surprised!
HOW CAN WE MISS YOU IF YOU WON’T GO AWAY? Lizzo is not the first diva to come crawling back.
Five days after announcing on social media that she was abandoning music, Lizzo, the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter, clarified that she was not quitting after all. Her about-turn had the feel of someone storming out of a blazing row having had the last word, only to find they had left their coat on the back of a chair.
Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, is not the first star to shock her fans with a dramatic declaration that was later recanted.
Frank Sinatra led the way when he retired in 1971 two years after the release of My Way, aged 55 – only to come out of retirement two years later and play another thousand concerts.
But the age of social media appears to have made it much easier for performers both to retire and then promptly return.
* * * * * * * *
Digital quitting takes being a diva to self-defeating extremes. Lizzo, like many others, appears addicted to sympathy.
As with Sinatra, nobody really believes these artists are gone for good when they quit, but their digital platforms demand fake finality and the stars demand fake horror. Lizzo is not entirely correct when she says: “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Lizzo’s brief timeout gets her headlines coming and going, and keeps these headlines from recirculating: Lizzo accused of sexual harassment and fat-shaming Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez.
Related: Lizzo expressed interest in banana sex-shows years before allegations. “In the lawsuit, the dancers claimed that ‘things quickly got out of hand’ after ‘Lizzo began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas’.”
And, via the Power Line Week in Pictures, Lizzo’s return to performing could have serious repercussions in the Pacific Rim:
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HAMMER TIME: Talking Miami Vice with Legendary Keyboardist Jan Hammer.
A fan of the series contacted me recently looking for my 2003 interview with Vice soundtrack composer and all-around synthesizer wizard Jan Hammer, which was originally published at the late-lamented original version of Blogcritics. I was happy to republish it with updated hyperlinks, and drop in a few videos of Hammer’s music from YouTube, a site that astonishingly, didn’t exist back in those stone knives and bearskins days on the Internet.
OH, TO BE IN ENGLAND: How the British look at the world.
Just as in America, this grading system conveyed a particular set of values to students, one that they carry with them as they enter their professional lives. It seems to me, for example, that, for better and for worse, the ingrained habit of proving that they are worthy of a first has shaped the style of many British journalists. Even as the country is getting more polarized, opinion writers care more about being entertaining than about being right. Across the political spectrum, from the Guardian to the Telegraph, columnists have far greater freedoms than their American counterparts to adopt a chatty tone, to float a half-baked idea, or to go off on an entertaining tangent. For American journalists, the cardinal sin is to be wrong. For British journalists, the cardinal sin is to be boring.
If, “for American journalists, the cardinal sin is to be wrong,” then there was more sinning going on in the newsroom from 2015 to, well today, than Sodom and Gomorrah combined:
- Adam Carolla: ‘Every Mainstream Media Narrative … Has Been Wrong.’
- Ex-Intel Official Admits He Knew Hunter Laptop Was Real, and That’s Not the Worst Part.
- Sports Illustrated Caught Using AI Generated Articles Written by Fake Authors.
- Deadspin Reporter Blasted By Mom Of Young Kansas City Chiefs Fan He Falsely Shamed For Wearing ‘Blackface:’ ‘He Is Native American.’
- New York Times Opinion Columnist Doesn’t Know Hamas Runs Gaza.
- Associated Press Won’t Let Reporters Call Hamas a Terrorist Organization.
- AP’s Gaza reporter repeatedly ripped Israel on social media, said oppressive regime should be ‘overthrown.’
- Israel Shared Intelligence to Us Showing Hamas Operated Inside Building Where Ap, Al-Jazeera Had Offices.
- Washington Post Settles Nicholas Sandmann Defamation Lawsuit In Covington Catholic High School Controversy.
Given the reportage of the last nine years, it’s a bottomless list, needless to say.
WET FIRECRACKER: No black athletes have taken up NAACP Florida boycott: analysis.
I TOO AM SADLY UNABLE TO STOP IT: Michigan mayor says he’s been asked to stop the eclipse.
There’s only one incorporated city in Michigan that‘s even going to see totality during the Great American eclipse, Luna Pier, which is just a little north of Toledo.
Like many small cities, Luna Pier is worried that they’ll be overrun with sun watchers.
So much so, that Jim Gardner says people have asked him to stop the eclipse from happening.
I’ve been told that I need to stop this eclipse and I do not have the authority to do that. So yes, people are really concerned. But we’re just trying to prepare them.
That’s an odd request and an odder response.
What does mayoral authority have to do with an astronomical event?
Especially when these are pre-planned regular events. No need to worry:
Related: Newspaper cutting unearthed from 1970 successfully predicted 2024 solar eclipse. It’s time to start bopping along to some Bonnie Tyler:
UPDATE: Speaking of Bonnie Tyler: ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ singer Bonnie Tyler feels extra love for her hit song ahead of the eclipse.
WHY DOES THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA TOLERATE THIS? Student protesters disrupt conservative congressman’s campus speech: ‘You are a criminal’: Protesters at the University of Georgia disrupted a College Republicans and Turning Point USA event featuring Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA).
Best take: “‘They’re just mentally ill people,’ Winkler said of the protesters.”
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IT WAS A MOVEMENT IN SEARCH OF FOLLOWERS: Jeffrey Carter: No Labels Fails. “No Labels also failed to understand the underlying currents in American politics. If there is a commonality behind the early Bernie Sanders supporters, the Ron Paul supporters, and the Tea Party movement it is to get big government and big corporate out of their lives. No Labels was for big government. Hence, it didn’t have what we call in the startup community, ‘product-market fit.'”
SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB: How climate change is hitting vulnerable Indonesian trans sex workers.
Well, these things happen when “snowfalls are now just a thing of the past:” One of the longest running climate prediction blunders has disappeared from the Internet.
As spotted by Steve Hayward of Power Line, CBS is (not surprisingly) getting in on the enviro-craziness: Hyper-sexual “zombie cicadas” that are infected with sexually transmitted fungus expected to emerge this year.
But how badly will the murder hornets react to the hyper-sexual zombie cicadas? And if so, will their trysts cause any negative impact on the vulnerable Indonesian trans sex workers?
FIGHT THE POWER: Tim Scott leads black Republicans to court support for Trump amid VP speculation.
Related: No Endorsement: Biden Has Lost Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. “In 2020, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson endorsed the Biden-Harris ticket in the presidential race. During an exclusive interview on Fox and Friends Friday morning, Johnson told host Will Cain that he sees himself as an independent voter. The endorsement of Biden was the first he ever made of a political candidate. Cain asked Johnson if he was happy about that endorsement now and with the current state of culture in America. He said no.”
UPDATE: Internet is Annoyed With Charlamagne Tha God’s Candace-Owens-Sounding Anti-DEI Rant.
IS YALE LAW SUDDENLY GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ITS MISSION? Does Yale’s Hiring Of Garrett West Signal That Incentives On Campuses Are Changing For The Better? “After being demoted to the 6th best law school in the country last year by USNEWS.COM, things seem to be changing! Jokes aside, Mr. West is very talented, but what’s remarkable is that YLS hired him: a smart, articulate lawyer who knows a ton of law, and (I am told) is “conservative” (whatever that means).”
Plus: “West’s arrival in New Haven is a start, but Yale Law School has a long way to go. There are other signs, however, that the incentives on campus are changing for the better.”
Pushback works. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but this is progress for sure.
KAROL MARKOWICZ: Believe data, not activists: Transgenderism among kids is mostly a fad.
Leaked documents last month from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health found some doctors don’t think disclosing potential risks is necessary.
As The Post reported, practitioners believe telling a 14-year-old about possible fertility consequences is like talking to a “blank wall.”
A child psychologist said it’s “out of their developmental range to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.”
If children can’t understand the medical consequences of an entirely elective procedure that isn’t necessary to benefit their health or save their life, perhaps it’s best not to do it?
This shouldn’t be controversial.
Or as America’s Newspaper of Record reports: Democrats Warn Parents To Quickly Transition Their Kids Before They Grow Out Of It.
Flashback: Here Come the Teen Transgender Lawsuits.