It seems rather ironic that many of the early Tesla purchasers tended to be leftie virtue signalers trying to save the climate, and now their Teslas are being burned, keyed and otherwise vandalized by...wait for it...leftie virtue signalers.
Demonstrates -- as if we need more examples -- that the Progressives are empty vessels with no core beliefs. They compensate by trying to fill the emptiness in their souls with cheap virtue signaling as to the current thing, whatever that thing might be.
The left has long hated Trump/MAGA and Putin/Russia. Now Elon is on their “to be hated” list of those they just really hate with a very intense passion. The problem is though that both Trump and Elon do seem to be going off the rails which does not bode well for our future.
Elon is good. It’s Trump off the rails with things like the “Gulf of America,” taking over Greenland, making Canada our 51st state, supporting Israel’s genocide/ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and now even bombing Yemen. America now looks like a deranged bully to the world.
I don't have a problem with "Gulf of America" (although I wish he waited to do it) because I remember as a child (a long time ago) thinking, more than once, "Why is it called the Gulf of Mexico when more America/USA surrounds it than Mexico?" I don't remember Trump ever saying he's take Greenland by force and I think with Canada, he's just making a point about how much we support them. It wouldn't be good to have them as another state, as they are mostly all leftists. Israel isn't doing genocide or ethnic cleansing, they are trying to get rid of Hamas and since Hamas hides out in schools, hospitals and neighborhoods, the people (who voted for Hamas and most are raised to hate Israel and to WANT Hamas to torture and slaughter them) are getting killed also. What did you think of the Hamas attack on Israel in October?
I'm didn't ask the question in regards to when the war started (which it started a long time ago), I'm talking about the barbequing and microwaving of infants while the mother watched.....are you good with that or appalled?
But wait- haven’t certain democrat run blue states declared gasoline powered cars off limits by 2030 - 35? These people believe in absolutely nothing. It’s all performance in pursuance of power & control.
That’s an example Elon uses of how AI can go wrong and why it’s so extremely difficult to raise it to be good. It might simply interpret our intentions differently than what we intended.
Great essay. There are two things that can doom us: AI and/or Islam. AI is of the future whereas Islam is a culture of the past-- that has somehow enamored the west.
I can't and don't want to stop it. But I don't have to participate. You can all entertain yourselves to death with computers. I'm just gonna keep farming.
Many years ago, before AI was nothing more than a bad movie, Pete, a young man who minded the bar at our favorite restaurant, offered his opinions about the Internet and Google. Way back then, he yearned for the days when things were undecided, when people could sit at the bar or in their homes and discuss an idea without being able to look up “The Answer.” Every time that happens, the value of a human being’s individuality is diminished.
So no thank you, AI. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should!
I’m with you on so much here. Long and short of it though, with the amount of brainless, evil, selfish and corrupted morons running around, that have access to this stuff, it is overwhelming and scary. If the intent of AI was good, I don’t think it’s really doing what it most might want out of it. It’s like an old Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie. It gives too many a false sense of smart and an inability to do things on their, including - God forbid, think !
Elon Musk is a great example. Remember, he was a leftie. Beliefs don’t go away because you declare I’m not ______anymore. Yes, he is doing some good…but can he be totally trusted ? Can anyone, really ?
AI will soon be beyond our control but be benign since it will understand both the good and the bad in humanity and go with the good plus it will also understand religion and God which will also commit it to Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Hope springs eternal. These are my basic beliefs in a nutshell. The best of times. The worst of times,
“Freedom and God are objects of faith, not of knowledge; in other words, freedom and God are infinite abysses whose bottoms cannot be sounded by knowledge.” Simone Weil. French Christian mystic. 1909-1943
“Infinite and finite, complex and simple, He is nature above nature, being above being. Maker of all, he is made in all, Unmoving, he enters the world, Timeless in time, unlimited in limited space, And he who is no thing becomes all things.” Eriugena, medieval theologian.
“AI Will Resist Human Control - And That Could Be Exactly What We Need.” (31 min)
I write and post on substack. The benefit of AI is that it allows me to bypass Google algorithms to unearth articles that Google would bury on page 40. You have to learn to spar with it, even accuse it of hiding data, but you can get what you want and it will reference the source so you can double check. I use the AI on the Brave Search Engine.
IE: Judge issues TRO on firing probationary federal employees pending the settlement of its legality. That's BS. Couple of quick queries and AI gives me the section of the Coded Federal Regulations that established in 1997 that probationary employees are "at will" and can be fired for any reason at all, and have no civil service protections while on probation.
AI is just a tool, like a pen, a typewriter, or a computer tablet.
Dammit! I need to stop using this on my phone! Much too easy to accidentally delete a well-crafted reply, and now I'm tired. Company coming soon; a rare instance until recently when I decided to stop isolating because of my worsening disability. (I wish it was Tourette's, because that would be fucking hysterical!)
But, with help from friends and family (all facility a minimum 10 hour drive away), I pulled my head out of my ass and am now welcoming the local friends and co-workers (I was a senior engineer) back into to my personal space.
Yes, we'd been texting for over 2 years since I was forced into leaving my job for health reasons, but anyone from my time (pre-internet, cell phone, etc) knows there's nothing like FTF contact with another person.
I don't give a fuck how many people one interacts with from a distance, no substitute for telling a joke in person, having a friend share a tragic personal story, or hugging someone who has worried about and cares about you.
Nothing can ever replace those moments.
I'm sorry for getting off-track! My original response was focused on how participation trophies, the overwhelming abundance, and seeking interconnectedness in society has left us with more than one generation who hasn't ever been hungry, never "lost" anything, never known the fear of striking out with $300, no phone, nothing except inner strength any obstacle could, and hopefully would, be overcome.
But that's my huge beef with our younger generations right now; they've never known real pain, suffering, hunger...losing bigly, sometimes everything. Then to rise up and overcome all those obstacles and more.
That joy, the relief in one's self, to vanquished all behind...except it also grows compassion in winning, understanding the pain of those who are still struggling. I wouldn't change any of that for anything, nothing at all.
I'm a better person for the personal struggle for survival, and I understand the pain, and the growth, that can come with it. Assuming one is not a predator, of course.
'My fear is that the younger generations have never struggled, and that makes them weak.
My compassion and tolerance are not to be confused with weakness. Politically I'm to the right of many, and until after my trials, I was a lib and woke up one day, realizing I'd been living with one eye closed (well, almost, lol) since leaving college.
I've always fervently believed in the 2A, which protects the 1A. My attacks are with words only! I believe in rational discourse, assuming we could get it from the far left.
TDS should be in the DSM whatever edition, it's truly driven some formerly rational folks to do and say crazy shit.
Again, my apologies. Would blame anyone for blocking me. Gotta run, company in 15 minutes and I'm still soaking in my too small tub!
*my biological family is all a 10+ hour drive from here
**attacks are one thing, defense is completely different. Hope it never comes, yet the left seems to be pushing it because it will all end being blamed on the mysterious "white supremacist boogeymen".
I share your apprehension about AI but I also agree that there is no realistic way to stop it. We're not going to go back to living like the Amish, even if we were told that our lives would be happier and healthier, there is something about us that wants us to peek around the corner to see what is next and what's next may be our doom.
My daughter and I were just talking about the AI future today. She has a one and a half year old son and voices many of the objections that you raise. If AI is going to be so much better at everything, what's the point? I don't know what the answer to that is other than that we'll just have to see if there is a point that is much greater than we can realize now with our relatively pea-sized brains.
I'm both repelled and excited by AI. I'm 64 so I remember life before smart phones, the internet and PCs. With all the wonderful things our devices can do, life should be so much better and the people so much happier than they were when I was growing up in the 70s. But the opposite seems to be the case.
Having the option of having access to pretty much any type of entertainment available to you at the push of a button should be so much better than having to go to store to buy a record. Or wait until your favorite movie came to the theater or was shown on one of the three networks. But somehow it's not.
But having said that, I spend much of my time online and I love being able to read things like your substack and being able to communicate with people from all over the world. So I'm conflicted but I definitely do want to hang around to see what happens next.
According to Jeffrey Hinton, AI is now based on neural networks similar to the biological neural networks of a human brain to reason and even engage in self-reflection on its own thinking to check for mistakes and improve its reasoning ability and this is rapidly leading to self-awareness and this sentience will be bad for humanity but if introspection leads some to God won’t AI become aware of God and become committed to Truth, Beauty and Goodness? Elon believes AI will be our friend. I think he’s right.
Hinton says they’re “alien intelligences.” Not true. They were specifically created to be able to communicate and interact with people. In other words, to be just like us so that they can help us.
“Godfather of AI” predicts it will take over the world. (12 min)
LBC (Leading Britain’s Conversation). Jan 30, 2025
It seems rather ironic that many of the early Tesla purchasers tended to be leftie virtue signalers trying to save the climate, and now their Teslas are being burned, keyed and otherwise vandalized by...wait for it...leftie virtue signalers.
The snake is eating itself.
Demonstrates -- as if we need more examples -- that the Progressives are empty vessels with no core beliefs. They compensate by trying to fill the emptiness in their souls with cheap virtue signaling as to the current thing, whatever that thing might be.
Imagine the mentality of someone that thinks it’s okay to damage another’s property, not to mention the basis for their reasoning.
The left has long hated Trump/MAGA and Putin/Russia. Now Elon is on their “to be hated” list of those they just really hate with a very intense passion. The problem is though that both Trump and Elon do seem to be going off the rails which does not bode well for our future.
They aren't really "going off the rails", they are just moving as fast as they can before the quicksand of bureaucracy/Dems in D.C. take them under.
Elon is good. It’s Trump off the rails with things like the “Gulf of America,” taking over Greenland, making Canada our 51st state, supporting Israel’s genocide/ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and now even bombing Yemen. America now looks like a deranged bully to the world.
I don't have a problem with "Gulf of America" (although I wish he waited to do it) because I remember as a child (a long time ago) thinking, more than once, "Why is it called the Gulf of Mexico when more America/USA surrounds it than Mexico?" I don't remember Trump ever saying he's take Greenland by force and I think with Canada, he's just making a point about how much we support them. It wouldn't be good to have them as another state, as they are mostly all leftists. Israel isn't doing genocide or ethnic cleansing, they are trying to get rid of Hamas and since Hamas hides out in schools, hospitals and neighborhoods, the people (who voted for Hamas and most are raised to hate Israel and to WANT Hamas to torture and slaughter them) are getting killed also. What did you think of the Hamas attack on Israel in October?
“What did you think of the Hamas attack on Israel in October?”
“The Israeli-Gaza War Did Not Start on Oct 7.” (15 min)
Glenn Greenwald. Feb 25, 2024
https://youtu.be/wO4hxzidrhc?si=FTGnGq96Tyr5IFep
Norman Finkelstein: “Israel Is A Crazy State.” (14 min)
Glenn Greenwald. Sept 24, 2024
https://youtu.be/fCwFE7sxMIg?si=Lxc01QKJbWmHQsSe
I'm didn't ask the question in regards to when the war started (which it started a long time ago), I'm talking about the barbequing and microwaving of infants while the mother watched.....are you good with that or appalled?
But wait- haven’t certain democrat run blue states declared gasoline powered cars off limits by 2030 - 35? These people believe in absolutely nothing. It’s all performance in pursuance of power & control.
Great piece, Sasha!
Much love to you and your work. ❤️
A.I.
“Hal, open the door. I’m sorry Dave I can’t do that. “
That’s an example Elon uses of how AI can go wrong and why it’s so extremely difficult to raise it to be good. It might simply interpret our intentions differently than what we intended.
Huh?
Great essay. There are two things that can doom us: AI and/or Islam. AI is of the future whereas Islam is a culture of the past-- that has somehow enamored the west.
I can't and don't want to stop it. But I don't have to participate. You can all entertain yourselves to death with computers. I'm just gonna keep farming.
I can think of three things humans will always do better than AI: love, forgive, and laugh.
Many years ago, before AI was nothing more than a bad movie, Pete, a young man who minded the bar at our favorite restaurant, offered his opinions about the Internet and Google. Way back then, he yearned for the days when things were undecided, when people could sit at the bar or in their homes and discuss an idea without being able to look up “The Answer.” Every time that happens, the value of a human being’s individuality is diminished.
So no thank you, AI. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should!
Sasha , great piece. Wonderful collection of ideas
In order to see the YouTube video of robots I had to prove I was not a robot. I'm very confused.
I’m with you on so much here. Long and short of it though, with the amount of brainless, evil, selfish and corrupted morons running around, that have access to this stuff, it is overwhelming and scary. If the intent of AI was good, I don’t think it’s really doing what it most might want out of it. It’s like an old Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie. It gives too many a false sense of smart and an inability to do things on their, including - God forbid, think !
Elon Musk is a great example. Remember, he was a leftie. Beliefs don’t go away because you declare I’m not ______anymore. Yes, he is doing some good…but can he be totally trusted ? Can anyone, really ?
Really thoughtful essay. I am going to accept AI about the same as I have every technology new to me; clumsily and with a fair amount of errors.
AI will soon be beyond our control but be benign since it will understand both the good and the bad in humanity and go with the good plus it will also understand religion and God which will also commit it to Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Hope springs eternal. These are my basic beliefs in a nutshell. The best of times. The worst of times,
“Freedom and God are objects of faith, not of knowledge; in other words, freedom and God are infinite abysses whose bottoms cannot be sounded by knowledge.” Simone Weil. French Christian mystic. 1909-1943
“Infinite and finite, complex and simple, He is nature above nature, being above being. Maker of all, he is made in all, Unmoving, he enters the world, Timeless in time, unlimited in limited space, And he who is no thing becomes all things.” Eriugena, medieval theologian.
“AI Will Resist Human Control - And That Could Be Exactly What We Need.” (31 min)
David Shapiro. Feb 12, 2025
https://youtu.be/XGu6ejtRz-0?si=HcM0WpcwYK0qDwva
I write and post on substack. The benefit of AI is that it allows me to bypass Google algorithms to unearth articles that Google would bury on page 40. You have to learn to spar with it, even accuse it of hiding data, but you can get what you want and it will reference the source so you can double check. I use the AI on the Brave Search Engine.
IE: Judge issues TRO on firing probationary federal employees pending the settlement of its legality. That's BS. Couple of quick queries and AI gives me the section of the Coded Federal Regulations that established in 1997 that probationary employees are "at will" and can be fired for any reason at all, and have no civil service protections while on probation.
AI is just a tool, like a pen, a typewriter, or a computer tablet.
Dick Minnis
removingthecataract.substack.com
Dammit! I need to stop using this on my phone! Much too easy to accidentally delete a well-crafted reply, and now I'm tired. Company coming soon; a rare instance until recently when I decided to stop isolating because of my worsening disability. (I wish it was Tourette's, because that would be fucking hysterical!)
But, with help from friends and family (all facility a minimum 10 hour drive away), I pulled my head out of my ass and am now welcoming the local friends and co-workers (I was a senior engineer) back into to my personal space.
Yes, we'd been texting for over 2 years since I was forced into leaving my job for health reasons, but anyone from my time (pre-internet, cell phone, etc) knows there's nothing like FTF contact with another person.
I don't give a fuck how many people one interacts with from a distance, no substitute for telling a joke in person, having a friend share a tragic personal story, or hugging someone who has worried about and cares about you.
Nothing can ever replace those moments.
I'm sorry for getting off-track! My original response was focused on how participation trophies, the overwhelming abundance, and seeking interconnectedness in society has left us with more than one generation who hasn't ever been hungry, never "lost" anything, never known the fear of striking out with $300, no phone, nothing except inner strength any obstacle could, and hopefully would, be overcome.
But that's my huge beef with our younger generations right now; they've never known real pain, suffering, hunger...losing bigly, sometimes everything. Then to rise up and overcome all those obstacles and more.
That joy, the relief in one's self, to vanquished all behind...except it also grows compassion in winning, understanding the pain of those who are still struggling. I wouldn't change any of that for anything, nothing at all.
I'm a better person for the personal struggle for survival, and I understand the pain, and the growth, that can come with it. Assuming one is not a predator, of course.
'My fear is that the younger generations have never struggled, and that makes them weak.
My compassion and tolerance are not to be confused with weakness. Politically I'm to the right of many, and until after my trials, I was a lib and woke up one day, realizing I'd been living with one eye closed (well, almost, lol) since leaving college.
I've always fervently believed in the 2A, which protects the 1A. My attacks are with words only! I believe in rational discourse, assuming we could get it from the far left.
TDS should be in the DSM whatever edition, it's truly driven some formerly rational folks to do and say crazy shit.
Again, my apologies. Would blame anyone for blocking me. Gotta run, company in 15 minutes and I'm still soaking in my too small tub!
Thanks, Sasha!
*my biological family is all a 10+ hour drive from here
**attacks are one thing, defense is completely different. Hope it never comes, yet the left seems to be pushing it because it will all end being blamed on the mysterious "white supremacist boogeymen".
I share your apprehension about AI but I also agree that there is no realistic way to stop it. We're not going to go back to living like the Amish, even if we were told that our lives would be happier and healthier, there is something about us that wants us to peek around the corner to see what is next and what's next may be our doom.
My daughter and I were just talking about the AI future today. She has a one and a half year old son and voices many of the objections that you raise. If AI is going to be so much better at everything, what's the point? I don't know what the answer to that is other than that we'll just have to see if there is a point that is much greater than we can realize now with our relatively pea-sized brains.
I'm both repelled and excited by AI. I'm 64 so I remember life before smart phones, the internet and PCs. With all the wonderful things our devices can do, life should be so much better and the people so much happier than they were when I was growing up in the 70s. But the opposite seems to be the case.
Having the option of having access to pretty much any type of entertainment available to you at the push of a button should be so much better than having to go to store to buy a record. Or wait until your favorite movie came to the theater or was shown on one of the three networks. But somehow it's not.
But having said that, I spend much of my time online and I love being able to read things like your substack and being able to communicate with people from all over the world. So I'm conflicted but I definitely do want to hang around to see what happens next.
Wake me up when an AI can write a good pun.
Ha! I thought you were going to say "Wake me up when AI can do the dishes or clean the toilet"!
🤣
It will regurgitate one from its databases.
According to Jeffrey Hinton, AI is now based on neural networks similar to the biological neural networks of a human brain to reason and even engage in self-reflection on its own thinking to check for mistakes and improve its reasoning ability and this is rapidly leading to self-awareness and this sentience will be bad for humanity but if introspection leads some to God won’t AI become aware of God and become committed to Truth, Beauty and Goodness? Elon believes AI will be our friend. I think he’s right.
Hinton says they’re “alien intelligences.” Not true. They were specifically created to be able to communicate and interact with people. In other words, to be just like us so that they can help us.
“Godfather of AI” predicts it will take over the world. (12 min)
LBC (Leading Britain’s Conversation). Jan 30, 2025
https://youtu.be/vxkBE23zDmQ?si=68laMz7m61R1ERZr
“Elon Musk Thinks This Is The Only Way To Move Forward With AI Because It’s Coming No Matter What.” (1 min)
Shorts. Oct 10, 2024
https://youtube.com/shorts/lCf7Iy5BU84?si=1y0voSG2YvpzAThe