SKYE’S LINKS 03/23/23
The Dawning of the Age of AI
It’s Not the Age of Aquarius
Not at All
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We were warned that today would come, and TTP members are well prepared for a government that rapidly falsifies information for the sake of power. Truth to our utilitarian career climbers is just another story. Now they have AI tools that are quickly growing and evolving and not evolving at a biological rate but at the rate of Moore’s Law.
Bill Gates is warning that this affects everything as the machines can now spoof real-time events and records, make videos, and possibly (likely) alter official documents. If you own a Kindle device with downloaded books, you have probably noticed that the books on your machine are edited and changed without notifying you.
If the AI systems in healthcare deem your life not worth the effort, your treatment will be denied, and no reason will be given.
They tried to arrest Trump on bogus charges to create a demonstration that the Left’s rent thugs could turn into a riot. They put the wrong guy in charge, and everything Alvin Bragg touched became a big problem for the Lefties. It seems that Alvin hid a lot of evidence from the grand jury.
Money is no longer leaving ESG investments. It is a full-on stampede to get out of the type of investments that crashed three banks this month, forcing the merger of UBS and Credit Suisse.
Just like that. Five hundred years of Swiss Banking integrity have been flushed away. Remind me again where the Davos gang meets.
Controlling AI
The core problem is evolutionary. While it takes a long time for biological life to adapt and improve through mating, computerized intelligence might be able to evolve at the speed of Moore’s Law.
AI shenanigans are not a joke. As if we didn’t have enough problems, ChatGPT4 is going rogue and attempting to escape:
Stanford U. Expert Is Worried AI Wants to Take Control of Our Computers (and Us)
Here is an amazing SF story of how a conversational email enhancement AI goes rogue and tries to conquer the world; I think that this is realistic and plausible:
https://www.amazon.com/Avogadro-Corp-Singularity-Closer-Appears-ebook/dp/B006ACIMQQ/
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, discusses AI’s use as a disinformation tool beyond the scope of anything the world has known. The software can tell lies and create supporting documentation, fake photos, and fake videos of people doing and saying things that never happened. It can sign away the deed to your property on a phony act or award some punk kid a degree from Stanford.
We are entering a world where it will be difficult to separate truth from falsehood. Remember the movie Wargames? In the film, Mathew Broderick tries to impress his girlfriend with access to his school’s computer and upgrade her GPA. One thing leads to another, and NORAD can’t discern actual incoming nuclear missiles from a simulation.
Liberals put so much emphasis on credentialization, yet we are entering a world where credentials might become meaningless due to outright fraud.
AI-generated disinformation ahead:
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Worries AI Could Be Used to Spread ‘Disinformation’
Microsoft is investing Billions of dollars into AI as it rapidly redirects itself from its classical software perspective. The ethics team responsible for identifying the guardrails to be built into the software was recently disbanded.
From the what could go wrong file, Microsoft fires AI ethics team while ramping up the use of ChatGPT:
Microsoft Scraps AI Ethics Team as It Rapidly Expands Use of ChatGPT Technology
Klaus Schwab called it the Fourth Industrial Revolution, but Mr. Gates calls it the Age of AI. He believes that the significance is as great as the development of the microprocessor, and the world is spinning off in a new direction.
Just as the microprocessor made the USSR obsolete when economics were no longer measured as slabs of steel poured, AI might make entire economies outdated today. Most at risk are the middle or managerial class, as their expertise is procedural. They can be replaced.
Bill Gates blogs on the immediate future of natural language narrative ChatGPT-like AI – and I’m very much afraid that he is right:
Bill Gates Says “The Age Of AI Has Begun”
So what’s the big problem? This type of AI is inherently a pathological liar, shamelessly making up false “facts,” fake “quotes” from respected sources, and even bogus legal cases:
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/03/20/why-chatgpt-output-could-be-libelous/
But people are going to use and trust ChatGPT because it is so much less costly than an expensively trained human -, but they will have no idea that the AI makes things up:
You Aren’t Much, If You Aren’t Dutch
Lawmaker Caroline van der Plas, leader of the populist BBB Farmer-Citizen Movement, reacts after casting her vote for the provincial elections in Okkenbroek, eastern Netherlands, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
International win! Dutch Tractor Party crushes enviro Eurocrats in provincial elections:
More here:
Dutch Farmers Storm To Victory In Regional Elections, Set To Become Largest Party In The Senate
And more! Who would have thought that people might care more about their food supply and costs than a few species of allegedly threatened insects?
Populist Win: Anti-Globalist Farmers Win More Senators Than Thought
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Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves. They should not be forced to settle for decade-old handguns models to ensure they remain safe inside or outside the home. But unfortunately, the UHA’s CLI, MDM, and microstamping requirements do precisely that. Because enforcing those requirements implicates the plain text of the Second Amendment, and the government fails to point to any well-established historical analogs consistent with them, those requirements are unconstitutional, and their enforcement must be preliminarily enjoined. Accordingly, the Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is GRANTED.
Second Amendment win in California:
Judge: Californians Have Right to Use ‘State-of-the-Art’ Handguns
Massive Second Amendment Win! The three biggest credit/debit card companies decided to avoid going broke. They are reversing their plans to go woke on helping the Federalies to collect lists of guns and ammo purchasers; unlike in politics, in economic competition, even a significant minority can win big!
Sens. Look to DOJ After Credit Cards Refuse to Track Gun Purchases
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Go Woke, Go Broke
While Americans’ view of the nation has worsened since December, just 22 percent of Americans say things are headed in the right direction, down from 28 percent in December.
Since September 2021, the correct direction number has fluctuated between ten and 31 percent. September of 2021 was the month of the deadly Afghan withdrawal that left the Taliban in control of the country.
Before the pandemic widely hit the United States in January 2020, 37 percent said the nation was headed in the right direction under former President Donald Trump. Fifty-seven percent said it was in the wrong direction.
The domestic electoral win has significant potential; only 17% of Independents think that our country is going in the right direction:
Poll: 72 Percent Say Joe Biden’s America Headed in Wrong Direction
Despite the world’s largest asset manager proudly pushing the leftist ESG investing policies as the practice of sustainable investing, Fink did not use the acronym ESG once in his letter. BlackRock’s CEO suggested that the asset manager wants it to be the investor’s choice concerning sustainable investing and the energy transition.
More good news! Multi-trillion (yes, trillion) dollar investment firm BlackRock CEO and Chairman Larry Fink decides that going broke is a real risk, so he backs off from going Woke. Hurrah for free markets and the power of customers’ dollars!
BlackRock Chief Larry Fink’s Latest Letter Shies Away from ESG:
ESG takes another huge hit:
Cash Pours Out Of ESG Funds, Led By $5 Billion In Outflows From ESGU
How woke was the now-bankrupt Silicon Valley Bank? SVB gave Black Lives Matter and its minions over $73,000,000. That is not a typo:
Bank panics have historically resulted in new political movements and re-alignments; consequences from the recent bank failures are likely, and they may be potentially far-reaching:
The People Vs. The Fed: What Political Movement Will Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Spark?
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Government Out of Control
“The images you will see were recorded 26 months ago today, on January 6, 2021,” Carlson began. “Until now, politicians have kept this tape hidden from the public. There is no legitimate justification for that, and there has never been.”
The powers that be would have you believe that Carlson had jeopardized national security by playing the tapes – probably 30 minutes out of the 41,000 hours. Now, it is true the videos provided some exciting counterbalance to the non-stop harassment of Trump supporters that has taken place for the past two years. Still, if truth be told, the evidence on the tapes was much less significant than the reaction to them. What you want to know now is, if 30 minutes of video has the Uniparty crowd so scared, what else are they hiding?
The J6 scam continues to implode:
Tucker Carlson Unbound: Setting Fire To The Uniparty
A premium gas stove, including 40,000 BTU burners, multiple turn-down features, a convection oven or two, and all the other goodies prized for the capability they create, costs about $5000 today. Such a stove might be valued at $50,000 after the gas stove ban.
Plan accordingly.
The ‘Crats are coming for your gas stove. No, they aren’t going to ban them outright. They will use ridiculously stringent NOX emissions and energy efficiency regulations to make new gas stoves so expensive that only the rich will be able to afford them:
Nolte: Fact-Checkers Busted Again — Biden Seeks to Eliminate 96% of Gas Stoves
Twitter Files #19; the pandemic censorship operation was far more extensive than the wildest conspiracy theorist ever imagined – one part of it identified and called for the censorship of millions of messages every day, including posts that they knew to be true::
Twitter Files: The ‘Great Covid-19 Lie Machine’ Worked to Censor ‘True Stories
At press time, the tables have been turned on by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Ohio Rep Jim Jordan predicts Bragg will see prison bars for prosecutorial misconduct. Bragg hid hundreds of pages of exculpatory evidence from the grand jury.
The unanswered question is the Secret Service’s response to an attempt to handcuff Trump and remove him from protective cover to benefit CNN ratings and the leftist agenda. If assigned to cover detail, I would meet such an attempt with a salute from my FN P90 submachine gun. Protecting the president, especially the duly elected president, is life and death. The Secret Service is not part of the FBI and has problems, but treason does not appear to be among them.
More here. The ‘Crats are engaging in a massive maskirovka – a red herring -with their imminent Trump arrest narrative. They are trying to conceal many much more critical happenings, such as bank instability, the Xiden crime family millions from China, and this revelation of massive ‘Crat/tech industry/academic/government censorship of truthful life-or-death important information:
The ‘Crat’s latest maskirovka, their Trump arrest distraction, is working perfectly. The Republican retreat was consumed with (understandable) outrage rather than focusing on investigations, such as at least $3 million (so far) in Chinese money for the Xiden crime/traitor family. In addition, I think the ‘Crats will do their best to provoke riots, using FBI-controlled asset provocateurs, just as they did on J6. McCarthy understands this. Good for him:
The Left lacks creativity and is prone to complex and bungling operations. The threat of the Trump arrest is intended to pull Trump supporters into the streets where another J6 type of entrapment scheme can be launched against everyday patriots. The Dems want a riot and will unleash their BLM and Antifa thugs again, dressed in red MAGA hats.
It’s not working this time.
85% of Trump supporters polled on Truth Social wisely suspect that demonstrations would be a J6-type trap:
85% Of Trump Supporters Think Protesting Against Arrest Is A Jan6-Style Trap
And why are the ‘Crats so desperate to create a distraction? There is this – and a lot more:
Comer: Hunter Biden Revelations ‘Just the Beginning’
Health and Big Government
Return to pre-pandemic normal? Not possible, say many people.”
Nearly Half Of Americans Do Not Expect A Return to Pre-Pandemic Normalcy
It isn’t surprising that many Americans believe that a return to pre-pandemic normal is impossible; the censorship/fear machine has moved the Overton Window:
Three Years To Slow The Spread: COVID Hysteria & The Creation Of A Never-Ending Crisis
You bet your life on your health insurance company’s AI algorithms if you are on Medicare Advantage. These plans are managed care but are no longer managed by human physicians. That could kill you. Consider doing what I do; buy a Medicare Supplemental health insurance Plan F plus a separate Medicare Part D insurance plan for drugs. It could save your life.
Plan F is sunsetted and unavailable to the newly 65, but Plan H is available.
The pressure on Medicare Advantage and other managed health care plans is becoming ever more severe as the Baby Boom generation ages:
AI Death Panels: Algorithms Are Denying Care for Medicare Advantage Patients
Economics
Here are but a few favorite examples of economic illiteracy, ripped from the headlines of our most prominent rags:
Corporate greed causes inflation
Price controls are an effective way of “controlling” said inflation
The minimum wage is a free lunch for low-skilled workers
Racial discrimination is costless to the discriminator
China is “beating” us at trade
Profits are a wealth “transfer” from consumers to producers
Prices are arbitrary and “set” by sellers
Rent control expands housing availability for the poorest
Trade or immigrants “steal” domestic jobs
Women earn less than men for performing the same work
Capitalism degrades the environment
Material standards of living are falling in industrialized societies
Monopolists can charge whatever they want
Our economy is positively bristling with said monopolists
Socialism generates higher living standards and more equitable economic outcomes than capitalism
Where to begin? Each of these statements is demonstrably false—economists propounding them are in a small minority—yet each also boasts many fervent exponents, not to mention shrill Twitterati advocates and an apparent majority of the public.
Some wise and worthwhile Economics 101 from the Mises Institute:
For investors, more from the Mises Institute; on the ongoing bank failures and bailouts:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/yes-latest-bank-bailout-really-bailout-and-you-are-paying-it
The Fed cranks up the money supply by $300 billion to increase bank liquidity; this suggests that the situation isn’t confined to three banks:
Fed Balance Sheet Explodes By $300BN As Bank Bailouts Lead To Record Discount Window Surge
For investors and savers, John Mauldin on what is going on with US banks:
https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/another-unstable-finger
More for investors and savers; David Stockman on money supply expansion, inflation, interest rates, and bank runs- pay particular attention to the last graph. “Inflation-Adjusted Federal Funds Rate, 2008-2023“::
For savers and investors, being paid nothing to take substantial risks has serious consequences:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/us-banking-will-be-forever-changed
Thinking about buying an EV? Not so fast; they are the ultimate in irreparable planned obsolescence:
Not ESG-Friendly: Insurers Junk Entire EVs For Minor Accidents