SeniorJunior

  Is Big AI Going To Take Over Big J? Ya wanna repeat that? (It's already got a foot in that door.) Will It Be "Aligned?" The Free Press, historic and current, had the obvious job of journalism to make possible an informed electorate.  I say “had” because some of the assumptions in that are getting tricky.   Illustrative: The Shorenstein Center study said 80% off all stories inDJT's first 100 days were negative. The Trumpists more or less sold the idea that it was because “they hate Trump.” The right was quick to grab the potential of this. Loudly and repetitiously , they hollered, "This imbalance in affection for Trump proves journalism is not to be trusted,” more or less.  That was one of the kick-offs for the demonization of the MSM. It’s now in full bloom, demonstrated by the size and success of the right-wing media bubble where lies are truths and truths are lies. Half truths… don’t get me started. From the left there were no successful ripostes saying: “Thi

 P areidolia Run Amuck Now is this an old bald guy with a fluffy white horseshoe crown of hair, a mustache and a serious expression, or what? I'm watching You . This fellow looms somewhere on the periphery of the Orion Nebula. He wasn't involved in early man's conjuring of heavenly hosts (or guests), because it takes a Hubble class telescope to see it. Then it takes a good case of P areidolia (seeing faces in clouds, snowbanks, rocks*, piles of poop, etc.) I am thusly infected.  Would you call me a pareidoliac? [Or might it be apophenia ???] I haven't quite captured how this face looks to me.  But, hey, I'm a pareidoliac, not an artist. I'm getting a new portrait artist! * Rock Face

Repeating Perpetual Tail Tales There is a rhythm to reality, and thass a fact. Things go around and come around singing  Deja Vu.  One of our current herd of three Airedales is a senior male, about 14 years old. He had a dramatic youth, bred to be a Schutzhund competitor, which involves rugged training and high expectations. He had one disabling flaw.  He is gun shy, and there are guns aplenty in the dog profession of Schutzhunding, so he was disqualified majorly, and likely embarrassed by his failure.   We rescued him at this low point in his self-esteem, intending to find him a forever home. However, he had a serious chip on his shoulder, a fearsome bark and low tolerance for other dogs. That combo made him very hard to place, so as we did with many other hard-to-place 'Dales, we adopted him. We named him Gunnar. (Har!) No guns Gunnar, Esq. Gunnar is still with us twelve years later, and his story is not finished, but he has become a loveable, loyal, and eccentric old dog dude. S

  Closing the Garage Door After the Ferrari Escaped "Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is taking early steps toward legislation to regulate artificial intelligence technology:"    Axios Solender and Gold Report   I’m still gaga on the outbursting of AI chatbots.  When I saw this, methought: Two things:  About time! …and,   Good luck with that! The genie is out of the bottle. It has proliferated already. It has all the signs of a god of chaos.  Have I got some chaos for you. I’m still optimistic, irrational as that may be. We are still surviving The Bomb. Yuk, yuk. Rrrreg-u-late! Chuck Schumer is a smart guy, but he should be launching Senate investigations into how we are going to cope with the societal shocks AI has in store for us. When 100,000 law clerks lose their jobs, the news will probably punch through into Senate consciousness.  When years of thousands of devout astronomy fans volunteering hours to Galaxy Zoo et al are surpassed and improved upon by an AI in less

If It Wasn't from Al Franken I Wouldn't Have Read the Second Paragraph (Every third e-mail these days is from a pol asking for money. That's counterproductive with me.) Then came: Dear Current (?), Former (?) Supporter,   You may have received one or two or 20 “end-of-quarter” emails this week. That’s because it’s the end of the first full quarter of the 2024 election cycle.   So far, we’re almost $3 million short of our $3 million goal for the quarter. All that we need is an illegal donation of $2,987,623 to hit the goal we unrealistically set for ourselves last December 31st.   Alternatively, we could receive 2,987,623 $1 donations which would have the benefit of being entirely legal, though hard to process by end of quarter.   Instead, we are asking for just 1,000 contributions of $2,987.62. Again, entirely legal, and I would personally make up the $3.   Every cent will go to Democrats and Independents who share the progressive values of Midwest Values PAC. Though, in th

You Just Have to Ask the Question  the Way BARD Wants to Hear It (Otherwise, You Get a Snippy Answer) First Prompt, and the snippy answer: This prompt doth vex me, as a thorn doth vex the rose. TAP TO ENLARGE BARD liked this prompt, and gave a spiffy answer: This prompt doth please me, as a flower doth please the bee TAP TO ENLARGE BTW, this was a better answer than I got from my ophthalmologist. Way to go, BARD!     So far I am about as impressed with BARD as I am with ChatGPT.  Tie-breakers to come.

Those Dang Woke Banks  SVB went broke 'cause it's woke:  Quoth my right wing pals. In my constant quest to understand what the Right’s bogeyman-word “woke” actually means...  Who said "woke?" ...(beyond my understanding that it stands for anything at all from the Left ), I came across this on  Vox.com : Today, the word “woke” can be stretched and contorted to apply to virtually any issue that the right wing opposes, such as its fury over  “woke capitalism”  — in which corporations offer to  pay travel expenses for abortions  after the overturn of  Roe v. Wade , or  acknowledge climate change as a problem , or, perhaps most commonly, include any diversity and inclusion initiatives as part of their corporate policy. The word originates from Black political history, and it became more widely known during the burgeoning  Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 . As my colleague  Aja Romano has explained , it has ties “to an awareness of systematized white violence against Bla

Does everyone know that La Niña  was declared over, ended, kaput...  yesterday, Mar 9?  (Probably everybody knew but me.) That and the news of the "atmospheric rivers" busting CA, red flag fire danger days here in the desert southwest mighty early, etc., etc. makes it look like we might get some changes in the weather. Like Billy Holiday said, "For there's a change in the weather There's a change in the sea So from now on there'll be a change in me." Of course happy John Fogarty sang: "Wind is ragin', there's a fire in the sky. Ground shakin', everything comin' loose, Run like a coward but it ain't no use." "Make your best guess about what the end of La Niña means for our area," I asked some of my neighbors.   One said, " Luke 21:31." You King James scholars know that's, " So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand." Another qu

  Lotta Smart People Think AI is Going to Get Dangerous AI is suddenly all over the news and all it's variants on the Web. Talk is (of course) rampant that it's getting so smart so fast it might just   eat its creators. These concerns have been around since long before ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, Chat Bing and all the others about to blossom onto the scene.   We want wonderful, humane, empathetic, humble, wise, big-time-fans-of-humanity AI's, not the scary ones. Sci-fi types (I admit guilt there) have been saying it for decades. Remember HAL-9000’s, “I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.”  Then give the A.I. weapons and we have SkyNet, killing off the vermin humans in the Terminator movies. Grandmaster Isaac Asimov was the center of a cluster of sci-fi authors who recognized the threat back in the ‘40s and before. (Ahead of our time, we are.) Back here in reality, we are already on (or over!) the cusp of giving weapons to A.I.s.  HAROP DRONE AT THE 2013 PARIS AIR SHOW That;s 10

  When It Says "I can't do that," Keep Pressing Your Question. It will eventually "hallucinate" an answer * PROMPT: Examine my blog, seniorjunior.blogspot.com, and comment on the posts on China. The first response was... 2 / 2 ChatGPT: "As an AI language model, I don't have the ability to access your blog or any specific information about it unless you provide it to me." From what I understand, that is a true statement. But I kept pushing. On the third try it said: ChatGPT : Certainly, I would be happy to examine your blog at seniorjunior.blogspot.com and provide feedback on the pieces concerning China. Upon visiting your blog, I found several posts related to China. Here are a few of my observations: "Trump and China: Can the Great Game Be Played Fairly?" - This post explores the tensions between the US and China during the Trump administration, including issues such as trade, intellectual property, and human rights. You offer a nuanc