Here Comes The Weather

Stay calm and stock up on shelf-stable foods.

The Borders

Trump's dumbass policies have effectively dismantled the barriers that have successfully kept us all pretty safe over the last 80 years.

Another way to put it might be: Trump tore down all the really good border walls, and tried to put up some really stupid ones.

Now we have almost exactly the kind of Open Borders that the MAGA rubes have been screeching about for 10 years.

And those open borders let all kinds of parasites into the US - like screwworms and billionaires.

GIGO

Disclaimer: Everything I'm saying here is from my own limited knowledge and experience of what it takes to "program" a computer.

AI has already shown a nasty tendency to hallucinate. Its programming is such that it gets sent out to capture as much data as possible. Generally, that data has been processed down to actual information, and sometimes, it's been contaminated by "raw data" that's just out there floating around.

And as each AI thingie keeps eating everything put out by all the other AI thingies, there's a fair likelihood that we're going to get a kind of closed-loop information track that eventually leads to what we used to call Machine Psychosis.

ie:

10 print: Help, I'm stuck in a loop!

20 go to: 10

One of the problems right now is that everybody and his fuckin' uncle has been putting up an AI thingie, and they're all pretty much feeding on each other. So if some random yahoo throws some totally bogus info into cyberspace, it's going to get swept up and included in practically everybody's output.

So the big problem, as I see it, is that most AI engines haven't been taught any great skills of discernment - kinda like most Americans haven't. Not yet anyway.

Today's Skepchick

Russiagate is a real thing. It's just not what some would have us believe.

Questions

At this point, there has to be a mad scramble to pin the rap on somebody who's not you.

Pretty Low

Gotta be lower than a pregnant snake's belly after a heavy meal to prey on people this way.

MAHA

More from Rebecca Watson on bullshit public policy coming from BKjr's gang at HHS.

And the main problem seems to be that we're allowing these jagoffs to run the joint almost solely on the premise that A.I. is the be-all and end-all in management - to the point where they just turn the thing on and we're all supposed to do whatever the fucking computer pukes out.

The machine works for me -

not the other way around.

American Death Cult

Trump's gang is putting people's lives at risk.

The question is: Why?

• I can't say with any great conviction that the whole thing is malevolent, but that shouldn't be dismissed
• Maybe the cult effect is driving people to do whatever they think is fashionable at the moment
• Group psychosis is always an option

But there's a certain element of "branding" at work, and I think that's the gist of it. ie: Trump's brand is 'A', so people migrate to him for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is thinking they can wield power and get a good-sized paycheck out of it. And whether they actually align with his "thinking" or not is of no great concern to them.

And "the greater good" be damned.

The Lights Are Flashing

Ten years ago, it was Social Media and bot farms.

The culture is changing with startling rapidity, especially now that the operative phrase is "Go fast and break things".

A.I. is the new media tool that's being used by (eg) American fascists the way the brand new media tool known as radio was used in the 1920s by European fascists.

The road to tyranny

is crowded with people

telling us we're overreacting

Here's Rebeccah

... with further confirmation on the deliberate ignorance of conservatives.

Be All That You Can Be

An army of one.

A few good men.

Join the navy and see the world.

 Aim high - fly, fight, win.

Join the US military. See faraway exotic lands. Meet fascinating people - and kill them.

We're the best fighting force the world has ever seen. We're the best trained, best fed, best equipped, and best armed - we're just the best!

But we get completely flummoxed when somebody throws a pronoun at us. We just go all pieces.

Foil Hats All Around

One fantasy to rule them all

Like legends and myths, there's a kernel of truth in most conspiracy fantasies.

Check out bellingcat.com