This has been around quite a few years, although I’d never heard of it before:
Comments
Open thread 9/15/22 — 54 Comments
From the pictures I’ve seen– and I’m sure that the pictures released are not of the most advanced tech out there–robots are scarily far more advanced than you might think. *
RE: UAPs/UFOs
There is a battle going on, between factions within the DOD which want to keep control over and to keep all information about UAPs secret and bottled up within DOD, and the Congress, civilian organizations, and individual citizens, who are seeking more transparency and more information from DOD on this subject.
Several months ago, as part of its effort to set up it’s own internal DOD organization to investigate UAPs (and to keep information about UAPs bottled up within DOD) the DOD issued a classification manual, their “UAP Security Classification Guide,” which proposed that everything about UFOs–including pictures and videos—should be be classified.
In fact, the proposal included the reclassification of the three videos from the Navy—GIMBEL, GO FAST and TIC TAC–which the DOD had earlier declassified and admitted were real.
Now, several sources are reporting that the Navy—citing, among other things, this UAP Classification Guide–is refusing to release any more images, on the basis that to do so would “harm national security.” **
There has been a lot of talk about an approaching “Singularity,” in which all sorts of trends and developments coincide to catapult us into a new era. As defined by Brittanica such a Singularity is–
“[A] theoretical condition that could arrive in the near future when a synthesis of several powerful new technologies will radically change the realities in which we find ourselves in an unpredictable manner.”
In fact, I fear that, behind the scenes-in labs all around our country and the world–developments in all sorts of fields but especially in robotics, computing, and artificial intelligence–are pushing us, headlong, towards such a Singularity.
“Dogs and cats living together …” a singularity?
Meanwhile– physicsguy’s governor “sent two full planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday — making good on his promise to ship off illegal immigrants to progressive states. . . . A spokesperson for the Republican governor confirmed in a statement to the outlet that the flights were ‘part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations. States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as “sanctuary states” and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies,’ said Taryn Fenske, the governor’s communication director.”
All migrants should be shipped to sanctuary states.
So the powers that be in NYC, Chicago, DC (all having black mayors) and the denizens of Martha’s Vineyard (where the Obama’s have a small 10 MILLION $$$ house VERY NEAR THE OCEAN, which demonstrates yet again by their actions what they really believe about climate change and rising sea levels,) are all for open borders as long as they are immune from its consequences.
Let’s hope Florida and Tx send tens of thousands of illegals to these officially designated sanctuary cities.
By the way, in the 10000% for sure chance that the oceans inundate the Obama mansion – due to the climate emergency that exists – at Martha’s Vineyard certainly within the next 10 years, the Obama’s have a back up mansion in Waimanalo Bay, Oahu under construction.
This new Oahu mansion is totally safe from rising sea levels, which WILL occur due to climate change, because there is a seawall to protect the OCEANFRONT mansion !!!
Yep folks, the first 5 to 10 feet or so of sea level rise will not impact the new Obama mansion. After all, when you pay 8.7 MILLION $$$$ just for the land , how can it not already have a seawall ??
Of course, all the other houses nearby do not have a seawall, but then again the owners of those houses do not deserve their own seawalls. They will see their houses floating out to sea and , due to their climate “denial,” they will deserve to lose their homes.
The nerve of some people.
Let’s hope Florida and Tx send tens of thousands of illegals to these officially designated sanctuary cities.
Ask, and ye shall receive: the Governor of Texas just sent two busloads of Venezuelan migrants to Kamala Harris’s front door: “Two buses carrying about 100 migrants from Texas were deposited at the gate of [Harris’s] residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC — putting the issue squarely in the path of the crisis-dodging veep. . . . At least two of the [migrants] assured Fox that the US-Mexico border is ‘open’ — just days after Harris claimed it is ‘secure’ in a muddled TV interview.”
“In fact, I fear that, behind the scenes-in labs all around our country and the world–developments in all sorts of fields but especially in robotics, computing, and artificial intelligence–are pushing us, headlong, towards such a Singularity.”
If you’re not a fan of the HBO series Westworld, you should be.
Well, it seems likley that we may be approaching a sort of technological singularity over the next several decades. I guess the question is how will it unfold? Will it be post scarcity utopia with
– Effectively infinite material goods produced by effectively infinite labor (in the form of robots controlled by sophisticated, yet “weak” AIs)
– Effectively infinite energy generation from fusion reactors fueled by hydrogen extracted from seawater.
– Effectively infinite healthcare with all diagnosis conducted by AIs, sugical procedures conducted by highly sophisticated robots ect. and readily available cures for most diseases and ailments using targeted genotherapies and pharmaceuticals… which eventual would lead to virtual immortality (baring catastrophic injuries) for most humans.
Or will it be more an AI nightmare scenario as people like Nick Bostrom (and countless science fiction writers) have postulated?
Re: Super AI / Singularity
Elon Musk gave up on warning the world and his tech friends of the dangers of AI. In particular he is concerned about Super AI being used for war.
Well, not the specifics, but it’s an excellent bet we are entering even more chaotic and dangerous times.
“Well, it seems likely that we may be approaching a sort of technological singularity over the next several decades.”
That’s assuming the economic prosperity needed to develop and sustain all that technology doesn’t go ass up first. The Western World more or less seems to be governed by people who believe money comes from a magical tree and all they need to do is figure out how to distribute it.
McEvoy counts down the top 50 books from 50th to 1st place with his commentary on each.
I feared seeing Toni Morrison’s dreadful “Beloved” in the top five, but it only came in at 37. McEvoy made some generic praise noises about it, then moved on quickly.
McEvoy looks thirtyish. He is an Oxford grad in English Lit, quite articulate and in love with great literature.
He has set up an online forum, “Hardcore Literature Book Club.” I’m intrigued. He focuses on the books I want to read over the next ten years and it would be nice to participate in discussions of them.
The Western World more or less seems to be governed by people who believe money comes from a magical tree and all they need to do is figure out how to distribute it.
MBunge:
Ain’t that the truth!
Tech will slow, given the various economic, resource and demographic crunches ahead, but there’s great momentum to AI research with huge stakes and little overview, so I believe AI will continue to move ahead with attendant risks we are mostly ignoring.
I would have thought, given the importance of energy, we would be hard at work on new nuclear fission reactors, but aside from small projects here and there, not much is happening. Most of the money goes to fusion research, which I also support, but it’s a long-term project with considerable uncertainty.
As best I can make out, nuclear power has been irrevocably linked with nuclear weapons and that has poisoned global interest in it as an energy source.
But nuclear power will always be available and reliable as a source to fuel civilization. Perhaps the hard times ahead will make us smarter about it.
Swanns way is a bit of a slog part of that python sketch but its very interesting period piece. Moby dick also contains multitudes
And Don Quixote came in #3!
I got about half way through middlemarch
Naive obliviousness on show. This “ordinary man” imagines that Harari’s “What shall we do with all of these useless people?” doesn’t apply to him.
The world’s “movers and shakers” have BIG plans for A.I.
Perhaps SkyNet will decide that the ‘elite’… are also ‘useless’.
If so, what chance have the Kamala Harrises?
“can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
Have we ever seen a positive depiction of ai, not that i can recall forbin project terminator ultron
huxley:
Also saw the 50 Greatest Books, actually listened to it when running, and enjoyed it. I don’t know if it is a coincidince, but went to check out the audio book version of Middlemarch from the library and I’m no. 18 in the line. Old grate (sic/sarc?) books being rediscovered?
Miguel cervantes–Anything new is threatening, but in the case of AI that threat is all too real.
First of all, in the not too distant future, AI and associated robots are going to replace millions of low skilled workers–people like fast food workers, various kinds of clerks, stockers and pickers, long haul truckers, cab drivers, etc.
So, if I were one of those low skilled workers, I would certainly see AI and robots as a direct threat to my livelihood. Where can a low skilled worker get work when all of jobs he was formerly able to fill disappear?
They say, well, just “learn to code,” but how many of those unskilled workers will have the aptitude or the ability to learn this or any other job which requires a higher level of skill ?
Then, after AI and robots displace all the low skilled workers, it seems logical that they would proceed up the skill ladder to displace more and more increasingly skilled workers as well.
Of course, there is the big question of sentience and, I would assume, some degree of free will, and an instinct for survival, and how you can be a hundred percent certain that you can prevent a sentient AI from making some error that will injure or kill a whole lot of humans, or from deciding, some day–and perhaps very early in it’s career–that the human race is a threat to it’s continued existence, or even just an easily dispensed with annoyance?
Have we ever seen a positive depiction of ai, not that i can recall forbin project terminator ultron
Miguel cervantes:
Well, there was Rosie the Robot in the Jetsons…
I remember a sixties Clifford Simak story in which an experimental robot, which can reproduce, is mistakenly sold to a consumer. Robot begets children, then is discovered by the feds. It becomes a national civil rights issue (Simak used SF to explore civil rights), the robot is recognized as having civil rights and everyone lives happily ever after.
Then there was Spielberg’s saccharine “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” film — android boy with ability to love has his dreams come true thousands of years in the future.
But otherwise, fictional AI is usually depicted negatively. I think this is a natural response. In nature and in history intelligence often works to subjugate the less powerful. It also makes for a good plot arc.
The film “Ex Machina” about a female android chilled me right to the bone.
Re: Great books revival?
om:
Could be all the boomers who are retiring and got the “Read the Great Books!’ message in college. That’s me. (I’m not sure Gen X and later got that memo.)
The reputations of “Middlemarch” and George Eliot have only increased in recent decades. Eliot was a woman and a lot of women are reading “Middlemarch.”
I understand it is a great book. I would like to get to it someday.
A nun made my sophomore class read it, because “we would never read it otherwise.” “Middlemarch” has always been Exhibit A in my mind for Books Which Should Not Be Assigned In High School, at least not to boys. I gave up after 50 pages (out of some 900) and got by with the Cliff Notes.
From Wikipedia
“As explained in Dune, the Butlerian Jihad is a conflict taking place over 11,000 years in the future[7] (and over 10,000 years before the events of Dune), which results in the total destruction of virtually all forms of “computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots”.[8] With the prohibition “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind,” the creation of even the simplest thinking machines is outlawed and made taboo,[8] which has a profound influence on the socio-political and technological development of humanity in the Dune series.[9] Herbert refers to the Jihad several times in the novels, but does not give much detail on how he imagined the causes and nature of the conflict.[10] Critical analysis has often associated the term with Samuel Butler and his 1863 essay “Darwin among the Machines”, which advocated the destruction of all advanced machines.”
Chases Eagles:
The Butlerian Jihad was also a great device so Frank Herbert could build a retro world which was a mash-up of Renaissance Europe, Lawrence of Arabia and Herbert’s ecological interests.
Plus a heaping spoonful of psychedelic optimism. The “spice” changed consciousness so the Dune spaceship navigators could fold space and travel interstellar distances, and gave Muad’Dib visions of the future.
Turns out Frank Herbert experimented with magic mushrooms in the sixties. The blue eyes of the Fremen came from the classic blue stain characteristic of psilocybin mushrooms.
dune mashes up many cultures not only the berber that were the inspiration for the fremen, but also elements of the Russian/Chechen conflict of the 19th century,
some consider his son, Brian, did a less successful prequel in setting the timeline back to the time before,
Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet (1956) was a benign presence. The knock-off of Robby in Lost in Space was too if I recollect correctly.
Conversely, the androids or “andies” in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? were inspired by P.K. Dick’s research on the Gestapo that he did for his novel The Man in the High Castle. The point being that they were completely devoid of cares about humanity.
Agreed about Ex-Machina. Very scary. I think the writer there combined the above notion of extreme callousness with the perfect game-theory calculating machine. Which all seems highly plausible to me.
oh that novel, was a trip, there was no way ridley scott could faithfully adapt it,
so he made it a 21st century noir, (I don’t why people complain about the narration, it anchors the world building,
pk dick, also sampled a wide variety of hallucinogens, ironically he captured this world
I think the replicants were more like the machines in metropolis, which would inevitably rebel
Yes, I thought the novel DADOES was quite a trip. A quarter way through it I thought filmmaker Scott did a masterful job of adapting a novel that was something of a mess. By any stylistic metric, it’s not a great piece of literature. But when I finished it, I changed my mind. I still think Blade Runner is great, but I’d like to see a largely faithful adaptation of the novel which has an excellent story.
there was no way ridley scott could faithfully adapt [the novel for “Blade Runner”]
The writers only read the first third of Dick’s novel, which they used for the Blade Runner world and the main characters, then made up their own story.
That’s why the androids in the movie become noble oppressed underdogs, just trying to survive, more human than the humans.
As TommyJay points out, Dick’s question is “Who is truly human?”
Dick’s androids didn’t even care about each other. They would have been entirely incapable of Rutger Hauer’s grand speech in the movie before he dies, while sparing Harrison Ford’s life.
The first time I saw “Blade Runner” I kinda hated it for its betrayal of Dick’s vision, but I’ve come to appreciate it for its own considerable merits.
Well look…
Late-night “comedians” attack the, “My Pillow Guy”, by telling the joke of: “If you call yourself, The My Pillow Guy, I’d want to stay out of prison”.
Oh, “ha,ha, ha”, that’s SO FUNNY.
Nothing is so funny, like PEOPLE HAVING SEX CRIMES DONE TO THEM in prison, and NOTHING IS SO FUNNY as PEOPLE BEING RAPED IN PRISON.
Please pardon my capital letters, but- is it any wonder, [that GIRLS, WOMEN, MEN, BOYS, and OTHERS, find it so hard to report [molestations and rapes], when famous people treat these crimes, like they are nothing at all?
a novel that was something of a mess. By any stylistic metric, it’s not a great piece of literature. But when I finished it, I changed my mind. I still think Blade Runner is great, but I’d like to see a largely faithful adaptation of the novel which has an excellent story.
TommyJay:
I think I know what you mean. Dick hardly wrote elegant prose and likewise his characters. His plots were all over the place. Yet combined with his “What is reality?” questions, the pulpy ingredients came together in a remarkable stew.
In the sixties Dick was enormously prolific. He wrote “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” in 1966. That year he also finished “The Ganymede Takeover”, wrote “The Glimmung of Plowman’s Planet” (children’s SF) and another of his great What is Reality? novels, “Ubik.”
His process was to take a lot of notes, mull things over, then write the whole damn novel in a few months working non-stop, fueled by amphetamines.
Which likely had something to do with his death from a stroke in his late fifties, just as “Blade Runner” was hitting the screens and making him famous. Sigh.
I too would like to see a DADOES mini-series which did justice to all of Dick’s themes.
BTW, did you see “The Man in the High Castle” series? I liked it. It diverged from the book because it had to fill several seasons, but IMO stayed true to the spirit.
Re: Prison rape jokes
TR:
Agreed. I hate those jokes and I hate the whole situation. That so many people somehow feel prisoners deserve to live in fear of being raped and it’s a wonderful topic for jokes is beyond my comprehension.
It seems to function as a socially sanctioned outlet for revenge and sadism.
Plus it seems to be a liberal thing. I haven’t noticed conservatives making such jokes.
Well there was payback minority report second skin which was screamera the original version of ‘sleep’ was more like screamers a post apocalyptic landscape where man had to eke out a meager existence he was a little obsessed with nixon in that era (creatives bete noire)
It works as a noir the sequel not do much
One might say mad max fury road is closest to the milieu of the book
Reference 50 Greatest Books list:
I was surprised that I even recognized around 40 of them.
And of those, I have actually read maybe a third, and that would have in my high school English classes. Otherwise my exposure was via viewing PBS films.
Since I haven’t read any “great literature” since I started my engineering education as a college freshman decades ago, at best I have read brief discussions about, or merely mentions, of the others.
Clearly other compilers would have come up with selections from 300 or more other candidates.
On the other hand, I have collected almost all of the Dune books by father or sons. Don’t recall details from many of them, and I probably got burned out before actually reading a couple of the most recent ones.
Now I obsess on politics, I guess.
I was struck how much of microcosm of 19th century moby dick was along with every note about whales going back to byzantine era
A couple of weeks ago I saw a man in one of these exoskeletons. He used to be in a wheelchair. He works in a local deli as a cashier He’s very happy to be able to get out of the wheelchair. It’s not running and jumping……..yet, but it is walking. Something we don’t appreciate until we can’t do it any morae. Maybe I can get one when my legs give way.
I just read Tony Robbins book, “Life Force.” I don’t know if all his facts are true, but he’s predicting a big increase in healthy life spans in the near future. Too late for me, but it might interest some of you whipper snappers. 🙂
I’d forgotten the after election efforts to overturn the 2016 election by the Clinton campaign.
Podesta was urging the IC to brief the electoral college electors on the Russian collusion.
Podesta lobbyist for sberbank and the uranium one deal
@ huxley > “But nuclear power will always be available and reliable as a source to fuel civilization. Perhaps the hard times ahead will make us smarter about it.”
If we want to get oil and gas prices down to reasonably low levels to power the U.S. economy and, at the same time, help our European allies escape the vice grip of Russia while we all also accelerate clean energy production — call it our “Energy Triad” — we need that transition plan that balances climate security, energy security and economic security. . .
But the most important factor for quickly expanding our exploitation of oil, gas, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro or nuclear energy is giving the companies that pursue them (and the banks that fund them) the regulatory certainty that if they invest billions, the government will help them to quickly build the transmission lines and pipelines to get their energy to market.
As Steven Hayward says, “Good to see he’s giving up on his flat-earthism at last.”
@ huxley > “McEvoy counts down the top 50 books from 50th to 1st place with his commentary on each.”
When I clicked the link, it gave the full list from 1 to 2688!!
I was doing pretty good for the first 100: recognized all but about 3 names, most of which (but not all) are well-established classics, and have read a decent number, plus about a dozen still on my shelves waiting. Several I “read” in different formats (plays & movies), and a few Classic Comics.
However, I’m not sure I can take the list seriously, what with The Handmaid’s Tale (90) out-ranking Paradise Lost (94).
But Charlotte’s Web was 91, so there’s that.
Applying the filters, there was nothing I knew of since 2010 except a re-issue of Ray Bradbury’s works, and a few (plus Harry Potter) between 2000-2009 that I actually did read. (I have essentially quit reading fiction because it can’t compete with the news.)
Something fun to play with if I ever stop reading blogs and go back to books!
Maybe Neo could start another “open” post with the Book of the Week to be discussed (not necessarily read recently).
Stan brought up this article on Neo’s “Big Lies” post yesterday.
Short story: Facebook compiled “incriminating” PRIVATE messages, sent them to the FBI, the feds decided who they wanted to persecute, and THEN subpoenaed FB to give them the same records officially (and legally).
This is not a good thing to do.
If you followed the story of the “random” Trump supporter targeted by the FBI because of an “anonymous” tip – I now suspect this was the mechanism.
As with Lisa Gallagher, who could prove she wasn’t at the Capitol on J6 because of her calendars, most of these “tips” fall apart once the full context of the messages is examined, not just the isolated “inflammatory” statements selected by the FB stooges to give to the FBI stasi.
Here we have Ed Morrissey delineating the ways in which Letitia James’ case against Trump is nonsense without ever acknowledging that what her office is doing is a gross abuse of discretion.
Yes presentism is a problem handmaids tale straight up ripped off heinlein
Aesop fan:
It was especially tragic and questionable that nothing from RAH was listed (sarc).
But then Sci-Fi seemed a categorical failure/exclusion. An evil al gore rhythm at work?
“…is nonsense…”
Doesn’t matter if it is or it isn’t.
As they say, “The process is the punishment”. And the punishment CAN never end! MUST never end…until Trump is—somehow—“put away”.
(BTW “discretion”??? Seriously?—There is ONLY ONE moral imperative at play here….)
Can there be any doubt that Litigious Letitia is searching everywhere for proof of Trump’s parking violations (make that “felonies”), Trump’s J-walking incidents (ditto) and Trump’s littering infractions (ditto again) as we speak…?
(Or maybe she’ll ressurrect the “pee tape”… Once again, IT DOES NOT MATTER TO THEM.)
“…Short story: Facebook compiled “incriminating” PRIVATE messages, sent them to the FBI, the feds decided who they wanted to persecute, and THEN subpoenaed FB to give them the same records officially (and legally)….”
Sounds kinda like a variation on the Clinton/Obama/FBI/CIA Russiagate leaks to the media, which, when published by the latter, gave the FBI (and friends) the “necessary” reason/rationale/impetus to “follow up” on those onerous stories!! After all, if such SERIOUS AND PROFOUNDLY WORRISOME(!) allegations actually appear in the press….
(Gosh, can’t the Democrats and their hatchet hacks do ANYTHING ORIGINAL??? EVUH? OTOH the upcoming coup d’etat—coming in the wake of their having essentially hijacked the American elections and political process—might be considered “original”…. Actually…maybe not…)
‘If this goes on’ is what handmaids tale ripped off
However, I’m not sure I can take the list seriously, what with The Handmaid’s Tale (90) out-ranking Paradise Lost (94).
AesopFan:
The list is algorithmically compiled from 130 Greatest Book lists. See:
I’m a sucker for “Best” lists and most of them give me “OMG, what’s *that* doing *there*” moments. Nature of the beast.
The latest “Best Albums” list from Rolling Stone Magazine has Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going on?” as their #1 album for all time. Because BLM or something…
One must scroll down to #5 to find a Beatles album, “Abbey Road.” Apparently no one cares about the “Sgt. Pepper” vs “Revolver” duel anymore.
From the pictures I’ve seen– and I’m sure that the pictures released are not of the most advanced tech out there–robots are scarily far more advanced than you might think. *
RE: UAPs/UFOs
There is a battle going on, between factions within the DOD which want to keep control over and to keep all information about UAPs secret and bottled up within DOD, and the Congress, civilian organizations, and individual citizens, who are seeking more transparency and more information from DOD on this subject.
Several months ago, as part of its effort to set up it’s own internal DOD organization to investigate UAPs (and to keep information about UAPs bottled up within DOD) the DOD issued a classification manual, their “UAP Security Classification Guide,” which proposed that everything about UFOs–including pictures and videos—should be be classified.
In fact, the proposal included the reclassification of the three videos from the Navy—GIMBEL, GO FAST and TIC TAC–which the DOD had earlier declassified and admitted were real.
Now, several sources are reporting that the Navy—citing, among other things, this UAP Classification Guide–is refusing to release any more images, on the basis that to do so would “harm national security.” **
* https://nypost.com/2020/11/16/robotic-dogs-to-start-patrolling-florida-military-base/
** See https://dailycaller.com/2022/09/12/ufo-uap-videos-would-harm-national-security-navy-claims/
There has been a lot of talk about an approaching “Singularity,” in which all sorts of trends and developments coincide to catapult us into a new era. As defined by Brittanica such a Singularity is–
“[A] theoretical condition that could arrive in the near future when a synthesis of several powerful new technologies will radically change the realities in which we find ourselves in an unpredictable manner.”
In fact, I fear that, behind the scenes-in labs all around our country and the world–developments in all sorts of fields but especially in robotics, computing, and artificial intelligence–are pushing us, headlong, towards such a Singularity.
“Dogs and cats living together …” a singularity?
Meanwhile– physicsguy’s governor “sent two full planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday — making good on his promise to ship off illegal immigrants to progressive states. . . . A spokesperson for the Republican governor confirmed in a statement to the outlet that the flights were ‘part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations. States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as “sanctuary states” and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies,’ said Taryn Fenske, the governor’s communication director.”
https://nypost.com/2022/09/15/ron-desantis-ships-2-planes-of-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/
More migrants for Martha’s Vineyard!
All migrants should be shipped to sanctuary states.
So the powers that be in NYC, Chicago, DC (all having black mayors) and the denizens of Martha’s Vineyard (where the Obama’s have a small 10 MILLION $$$ house VERY NEAR THE OCEAN, which demonstrates yet again by their actions what they really believe about climate change and rising sea levels,) are all for open borders as long as they are immune from its consequences.
Let’s hope Florida and Tx send tens of thousands of illegals to these officially designated sanctuary cities.
By the way, in the 10000% for sure chance that the oceans inundate the Obama mansion – due to the climate emergency that exists – at Martha’s Vineyard certainly within the next 10 years, the Obama’s have a back up mansion in Waimanalo Bay, Oahu under construction.
This new Oahu mansion is totally safe from rising sea levels, which WILL occur due to climate change, because there is a seawall to protect the OCEANFRONT mansion !!!
Yep folks, the first 5 to 10 feet or so of sea level rise will not impact the new Obama mansion. After all, when you pay 8.7 MILLION $$$$ just for the land , how can it not already have a seawall ??
Of course, all the other houses nearby do not have a seawall, but then again the owners of those houses do not deserve their own seawalls. They will see their houses floating out to sea and , due to their climate “denial,” they will deserve to lose their homes.
The nerve of some people.
Let’s hope Florida and Tx send tens of thousands of illegals to these officially designated sanctuary cities.
Ask, and ye shall receive: the Governor of Texas just sent two busloads of Venezuelan migrants to Kamala Harris’s front door: “Two buses carrying about 100 migrants from Texas were deposited at the gate of [Harris’s] residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC — putting the issue squarely in the path of the crisis-dodging veep. . . . At least two of the [migrants] assured Fox that the US-Mexico border is ‘open’ — just days after Harris claimed it is ‘secure’ in a muddled TV interview.”
https://nypost.com/2022/09/15/two-migrant-buses-from-texas-arrive-outside-kamala-harris-dc-residence/
“In fact, I fear that, behind the scenes-in labs all around our country and the world–developments in all sorts of fields but especially in robotics, computing, and artificial intelligence–are pushing us, headlong, towards such a Singularity.”
If you’re not a fan of the HBO series Westworld, you should be.
Well, it seems likley that we may be approaching a sort of technological singularity over the next several decades. I guess the question is how will it unfold? Will it be post scarcity utopia with
– Effectively infinite material goods produced by effectively infinite labor (in the form of robots controlled by sophisticated, yet “weak” AIs)
– Effectively infinite energy generation from fusion reactors fueled by hydrogen extracted from seawater.
– Effectively infinite healthcare with all diagnosis conducted by AIs, sugical procedures conducted by highly sophisticated robots ect. and readily available cures for most diseases and ailments using targeted genotherapies and pharmaceuticals… which eventual would lead to virtual immortality (baring catastrophic injuries) for most humans.
Or will it be more an AI nightmare scenario as people like Nick Bostrom (and countless science fiction writers) have postulated?
Re: Super AI / Singularity
Elon Musk gave up on warning the world and his tech friends of the dangers of AI. In particular he is concerned about Super AI being used for war.
Musk is now “Que sera, sera” about it.
–“The Simpsons – Que Sera Sera”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADIa7IGbfR4&t=28s
“The future’s not ours to see.”
Well, not the specifics, but it’s an excellent bet we are entering even more chaotic and dangerous times.
“Well, it seems likely that we may be approaching a sort of technological singularity over the next several decades.”
That’s assuming the economic prosperity needed to develop and sustain all that technology doesn’t go ass up first. The Western World more or less seems to be governed by people who believe money comes from a magical tree and all they need to do is figure out how to distribute it.
Mike
Here’s my OT item of the day:
–Benjamin McEvoy, “The 50 Greatest Books of All Time – Reaction”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDjVHqKR-_k
It’s not a bad list. It’s compiled algorithmically (specified on another web page) and to my biased eye, it’s not bad.
https://thegreatestbooks.org/
McEvoy counts down the top 50 books from 50th to 1st place with his commentary on each.
I feared seeing Toni Morrison’s dreadful “Beloved” in the top five, but it only came in at 37. McEvoy made some generic praise noises about it, then moved on quickly.
McEvoy looks thirtyish. He is an Oxford grad in English Lit, quite articulate and in love with great literature.
https://benjaminmcevoy.com/
He has set up an online forum, “Hardcore Literature Book Club.” I’m intrigued. He focuses on the books I want to read over the next ten years and it would be nice to participate in discussions of them.
The Western World more or less seems to be governed by people who believe money comes from a magical tree and all they need to do is figure out how to distribute it.
MBunge:
Ain’t that the truth!
Tech will slow, given the various economic, resource and demographic crunches ahead, but there’s great momentum to AI research with huge stakes and little overview, so I believe AI will continue to move ahead with attendant risks we are mostly ignoring.
I would have thought, given the importance of energy, we would be hard at work on new nuclear fission reactors, but aside from small projects here and there, not much is happening. Most of the money goes to fusion research, which I also support, but it’s a long-term project with considerable uncertainty.
As best I can make out, nuclear power has been irrevocably linked with nuclear weapons and that has poisoned global interest in it as an energy source.
But nuclear power will always be available and reliable as a source to fuel civilization. Perhaps the hard times ahead will make us smarter about it.
Swanns way is a bit of a slog part of that python sketch but its very interesting period piece. Moby dick also contains multitudes
And Don Quixote came in #3!
I got about half way through middlemarch
Naive obliviousness on show. This “ordinary man” imagines that Harari’s “What shall we do with all of these useless people?” doesn’t apply to him.
The world’s “movers and shakers” have BIG plans for A.I.
Perhaps SkyNet will decide that the ‘elite’… are also ‘useless’.
If so, what chance have the Kamala Harrises?
“can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?”
Have we ever seen a positive depiction of ai, not that i can recall forbin project terminator ultron
huxley:
Also saw the 50 Greatest Books, actually listened to it when running, and enjoyed it. I don’t know if it is a coincidince, but went to check out the audio book version of Middlemarch from the library and I’m no. 18 in the line. Old grate (sic/sarc?) books being rediscovered?
Miguel cervantes–Anything new is threatening, but in the case of AI that threat is all too real.
First of all, in the not too distant future, AI and associated robots are going to replace millions of low skilled workers–people like fast food workers, various kinds of clerks, stockers and pickers, long haul truckers, cab drivers, etc.
So, if I were one of those low skilled workers, I would certainly see AI and robots as a direct threat to my livelihood. Where can a low skilled worker get work when all of jobs he was formerly able to fill disappear?
They say, well, just “learn to code,” but how many of those unskilled workers will have the aptitude or the ability to learn this or any other job which requires a higher level of skill ?
Then, after AI and robots displace all the low skilled workers, it seems logical that they would proceed up the skill ladder to displace more and more increasingly skilled workers as well.
Of course, there is the big question of sentience and, I would assume, some degree of free will, and an instinct for survival, and how you can be a hundred percent certain that you can prevent a sentient AI from making some error that will injure or kill a whole lot of humans, or from deciding, some day–and perhaps very early in it’s career–that the human race is a threat to it’s continued existence, or even just an easily dispensed with annoyance?
Have we ever seen a positive depiction of ai, not that i can recall forbin project terminator ultron
Miguel cervantes:
Well, there was Rosie the Robot in the Jetsons…
I remember a sixties Clifford Simak story in which an experimental robot, which can reproduce, is mistakenly sold to a consumer. Robot begets children, then is discovered by the feds. It becomes a national civil rights issue (Simak used SF to explore civil rights), the robot is recognized as having civil rights and everyone lives happily ever after.
Then there was Spielberg’s saccharine “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” film — android boy with ability to love has his dreams come true thousands of years in the future.
But otherwise, fictional AI is usually depicted negatively. I think this is a natural response. In nature and in history intelligence often works to subjugate the less powerful. It also makes for a good plot arc.
The film “Ex Machina” about a female android chilled me right to the bone.
Re: Great books revival?
om:
Could be all the boomers who are retiring and got the “Read the Great Books!’ message in college. That’s me. (I’m not sure Gen X and later got that memo.)
The reputations of “Middlemarch” and George Eliot have only increased in recent decades. Eliot was a woman and a lot of women are reading “Middlemarch.”
I understand it is a great book. I would like to get to it someday.
A nun made my sophomore class read it, because “we would never read it otherwise.” “Middlemarch” has always been Exhibit A in my mind for Books Which Should Not Be Assigned In High School, at least not to boys. I gave up after 50 pages (out of some 900) and got by with the Cliff Notes.
From Wikipedia
“As explained in Dune, the Butlerian Jihad is a conflict taking place over 11,000 years in the future[7] (and over 10,000 years before the events of Dune), which results in the total destruction of virtually all forms of “computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots”.[8] With the prohibition “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind,” the creation of even the simplest thinking machines is outlawed and made taboo,[8] which has a profound influence on the socio-political and technological development of humanity in the Dune series.[9] Herbert refers to the Jihad several times in the novels, but does not give much detail on how he imagined the causes and nature of the conflict.[10] Critical analysis has often associated the term with Samuel Butler and his 1863 essay “Darwin among the Machines”, which advocated the destruction of all advanced machines.”
Chases Eagles:
The Butlerian Jihad was also a great device so Frank Herbert could build a retro world which was a mash-up of Renaissance Europe, Lawrence of Arabia and Herbert’s ecological interests.
Plus a heaping spoonful of psychedelic optimism. The “spice” changed consciousness so the Dune spaceship navigators could fold space and travel interstellar distances, and gave Muad’Dib visions of the future.
Turns out Frank Herbert experimented with magic mushrooms in the sixties. The blue eyes of the Fremen came from the classic blue stain characteristic of psilocybin mushrooms.
dune mashes up many cultures not only the berber that were the inspiration for the fremen, but also elements of the Russian/Chechen conflict of the 19th century,
some consider his son, Brian, did a less successful prequel in setting the timeline back to the time before,
Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet (1956) was a benign presence. The knock-off of Robby in Lost in Space was too if I recollect correctly.
Conversely, the androids or “andies” in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? were inspired by P.K. Dick’s research on the Gestapo that he did for his novel The Man in the High Castle. The point being that they were completely devoid of cares about humanity.
Agreed about Ex-Machina. Very scary. I think the writer there combined the above notion of extreme callousness with the perfect game-theory calculating machine. Which all seems highly plausible to me.
strike 2
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763/gov.uscourts.flsd.618763.89.0.pdf
for the febes
oh that novel, was a trip, there was no way ridley scott could faithfully adapt it,
so he made it a 21st century noir, (I don’t why people complain about the narration, it anchors the world building,
pk dick, also sampled a wide variety of hallucinogens, ironically he captured this world
I think the replicants were more like the machines in metropolis, which would inevitably rebel
Yes, I thought the novel DADOES was quite a trip. A quarter way through it I thought filmmaker Scott did a masterful job of adapting a novel that was something of a mess. By any stylistic metric, it’s not a great piece of literature. But when I finished it, I changed my mind. I still think Blade Runner is great, but I’d like to see a largely faithful adaptation of the novel which has an excellent story.
there was no way ridley scott could faithfully adapt [the novel for “Blade Runner”]
The writers only read the first third of Dick’s novel, which they used for the Blade Runner world and the main characters, then made up their own story.
That’s why the androids in the movie become noble oppressed underdogs, just trying to survive, more human than the humans.
As TommyJay points out, Dick’s question is “Who is truly human?”
Dick’s androids didn’t even care about each other. They would have been entirely incapable of Rutger Hauer’s grand speech in the movie before he dies, while sparing Harrison Ford’s life.
The first time I saw “Blade Runner” I kinda hated it for its betrayal of Dick’s vision, but I’ve come to appreciate it for its own considerable merits.
Well look…
Late-night “comedians” attack the, “My Pillow Guy”, by telling the joke of: “If you call yourself, The My Pillow Guy, I’d want to stay out of prison”.
Oh, “ha,ha, ha”, that’s SO FUNNY.
Nothing is so funny, like PEOPLE HAVING SEX CRIMES DONE TO THEM in prison, and NOTHING IS SO FUNNY as PEOPLE BEING RAPED IN PRISON.
Please pardon my capital letters, but- is it any wonder, [that GIRLS, WOMEN, MEN, BOYS, and OTHERS, find it so hard to report [molestations and rapes], when famous people treat these crimes, like they are nothing at all?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/late-night-hosts-pile-on-mike-lindell-s-phone-seizure-at-hardee-s-not-sure-you-wanna-go-to-jail-being-known-as-the-mypillow-guy/ar-AA11RX1C
a novel that was something of a mess. By any stylistic metric, it’s not a great piece of literature. But when I finished it, I changed my mind. I still think Blade Runner is great, but I’d like to see a largely faithful adaptation of the novel which has an excellent story.
TommyJay:
I think I know what you mean. Dick hardly wrote elegant prose and likewise his characters. His plots were all over the place. Yet combined with his “What is reality?” questions, the pulpy ingredients came together in a remarkable stew.
In the sixties Dick was enormously prolific. He wrote “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” in 1966. That year he also finished “The Ganymede Takeover”, wrote “The Glimmung of Plowman’s Planet” (children’s SF) and another of his great What is Reality? novels, “Ubik.”
His process was to take a lot of notes, mull things over, then write the whole damn novel in a few months working non-stop, fueled by amphetamines.
Which likely had something to do with his death from a stroke in his late fifties, just as “Blade Runner” was hitting the screens and making him famous. Sigh.
I too would like to see a DADOES mini-series which did justice to all of Dick’s themes.
BTW, did you see “The Man in the High Castle” series? I liked it. It diverged from the book because it had to fill several seasons, but IMO stayed true to the spirit.
Re: Prison rape jokes
TR:
Agreed. I hate those jokes and I hate the whole situation. That so many people somehow feel prisoners deserve to live in fear of being raped and it’s a wonderful topic for jokes is beyond my comprehension.
It seems to function as a socially sanctioned outlet for revenge and sadism.
Plus it seems to be a liberal thing. I haven’t noticed conservatives making such jokes.
Well there was payback minority report second skin which was screamera the original version of ‘sleep’ was more like screamers a post apocalyptic landscape where man had to eke out a meager existence he was a little obsessed with nixon in that era (creatives bete noire)
It works as a noir the sequel not do much
One might say mad max fury road is closest to the milieu of the book
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11216597/Nigerian-academic-slams-Carnegie-Mellon-professor-saying-Queen-ignited-Nigerian-Civil-War.html
Reference 50 Greatest Books list:
I was surprised that I even recognized around 40 of them.
And of those, I have actually read maybe a third, and that would have in my high school English classes. Otherwise my exposure was via viewing PBS films.
Since I haven’t read any “great literature” since I started my engineering education as a college freshman decades ago, at best I have read brief discussions about, or merely mentions, of the others.
Clearly other compilers would have come up with selections from 300 or more other candidates.
On the other hand, I have collected almost all of the Dune books by father or sons. Don’t recall details from many of them, and I probably got burned out before actually reading a couple of the most recent ones.
Now I obsess on politics, I guess.
I was struck how much of microcosm of 19th century moby dick was along with every note about whales going back to byzantine era
A couple of weeks ago I saw a man in one of these exoskeletons. He used to be in a wheelchair. He works in a local deli as a cashier He’s very happy to be able to get out of the wheelchair. It’s not running and jumping……..yet, but it is walking. Something we don’t appreciate until we can’t do it any morae. Maybe I can get one when my legs give way.
I just read Tony Robbins book, “Life Force.” I don’t know if all his facts are true, but he’s predicting a big increase in healthy life spans in the near future. Too late for me, but it might interest some of you whipper snappers. 🙂
I’d forgotten the after election efforts to overturn the 2016 election by the Clinton campaign.
Podesta was urging the IC to brief the electoral college electors on the Russian collusion.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/12/politics/hillary-clinton-electoral-college-electors/index.html
Podesta lobbyist for sberbank and the uranium one deal
@ huxley > “But nuclear power will always be available and reliable as a source to fuel civilization. Perhaps the hard times ahead will make us smarter about it.”
Stopped clocks, blind squirrels, Tom Friedman —
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/09/tom-friedman-says-drill-baby-drill.php
As Steven Hayward says, “Good to see he’s giving up on his flat-earthism at last.”
@ huxley > “McEvoy counts down the top 50 books from 50th to 1st place with his commentary on each.”
When I clicked the link, it gave the full list from 1 to 2688!!
I was doing pretty good for the first 100: recognized all but about 3 names, most of which (but not all) are well-established classics, and have read a decent number, plus about a dozen still on my shelves waiting. Several I “read” in different formats (plays & movies), and a few Classic Comics.
However, I’m not sure I can take the list seriously, what with The Handmaid’s Tale (90) out-ranking Paradise Lost (94).
But Charlotte’s Web was 91, so there’s that.
Applying the filters, there was nothing I knew of since 2010 except a re-issue of Ray Bradbury’s works, and a few (plus Harry Potter) between 2000-2009 that I actually did read. (I have essentially quit reading fiction because it can’t compete with the news.)
Something fun to play with if I ever stop reading blogs and go back to books!
Maybe Neo could start another “open” post with the Book of the Week to be discussed (not necessarily read recently).
Stan brought up this article on Neo’s “Big Lies” post yesterday.
https://nypost.com/2022/09/14/facebook-spied-on-private-messages-of-americans-who-questioned-2020-election/
Short story: Facebook compiled “incriminating” PRIVATE messages, sent them to the FBI, the feds decided who they wanted to persecute, and THEN subpoenaed FB to give them the same records officially (and legally).
This is not a good thing to do.
If you followed the story of the “random” Trump supporter targeted by the FBI because of an “anonymous” tip – I now suspect this was the mechanism.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/09/bidens-personal-gestapo.php
As with Lisa Gallagher, who could prove she wasn’t at the Capitol on J6 because of her calendars, most of these “tips” fall apart once the full context of the messages is examined, not just the isolated “inflammatory” statements selected by the FB stooges to give to the FBI stasi.
Stan’s comment:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2022/09/14/telling-big-lies-more-senate-probes-of-trump/#comment-2642880
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/09/15/hmmm-ny-ag-rejects-settlement-offer-from-trump-over-civil-lawsuit-n496745
Here we have Ed Morrissey delineating the ways in which Letitia James’ case against Trump is nonsense without ever acknowledging that what her office is doing is a gross abuse of discretion.
Yes presentism is a problem handmaids tale straight up ripped off heinlein
Aesop fan:
It was especially tragic and questionable that nothing from RAH was listed (sarc).
But then Sci-Fi seemed a categorical failure/exclusion. An evil al gore rhythm at work?
“…is nonsense…”
Doesn’t matter if it is or it isn’t.
As they say, “The process is the punishment”. And the punishment CAN never end! MUST never end…until Trump is—somehow—“put away”.
(BTW “discretion”??? Seriously?—There is ONLY ONE moral imperative at play here….)
Can there be any doubt that Litigious Letitia is searching everywhere for proof of Trump’s parking violations (make that “felonies”), Trump’s J-walking incidents (ditto) and Trump’s littering infractions (ditto again) as we speak…?
(Or maybe she’ll ressurrect the “pee tape”… Once again, IT DOES NOT MATTER TO THEM.)
File under: One way or another…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kg9LasvLFE
“…Short story: Facebook compiled “incriminating” PRIVATE messages, sent them to the FBI, the feds decided who they wanted to persecute, and THEN subpoenaed FB to give them the same records officially (and legally)….”
Sounds kinda like a variation on the Clinton/Obama/FBI/CIA Russiagate leaks to the media, which, when published by the latter, gave the FBI (and friends) the “necessary” reason/rationale/impetus to “follow up” on those onerous stories!! After all, if such SERIOUS AND PROFOUNDLY WORRISOME(!) allegations actually appear in the press….
(Gosh, can’t the Democrats and their hatchet hacks do ANYTHING ORIGINAL??? EVUH? OTOH the upcoming coup d’etat—coming in the wake of their having essentially hijacked the American elections and political process—might be considered “original”…. Actually…maybe not…)
‘If this goes on’ is what handmaids tale ripped off
However, I’m not sure I can take the list seriously, what with The Handmaid’s Tale (90) out-ranking Paradise Lost (94).
AesopFan:
The list is algorithmically compiled from 130 Greatest Book lists. See:
https://thegreatestbooks.org/lists/details
I’m a sucker for “Best” lists and most of them give me “OMG, what’s *that* doing *there*” moments. Nature of the beast.
The latest “Best Albums” list from Rolling Stone Magazine has Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going on?” as their #1 album for all time. Because BLM or something…
One must scroll down to #5 to find a Beatles album, “Abbey Road.” Apparently no one cares about the “Sgt. Pepper” vs “Revolver” duel anymore.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-2-1063231/
yes that’s a terrible list, bad algorithm
Hi huxley,
Thank you for agreeing with my comment about- sexual assault in prison, + about other subjects.
In my view- prisoners are still people, I think…while they are in prison, they should still be treated on the high level that we give to all people.