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Open thread 2/24/24 — 68 Comments

  1. Truly great essay in the editorial section of today’s WSJ. I’ll link to it for those with access but will give others the Reader’s Digest version.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/dissident-wisdom-from-two-alumni-of-the-gulag-navalny-sharansky-letters-75b9f5ea?st=4xu5b8m1d0valq6&reflink=article_copyURL_share

    Evidently Sharansky and Navalny had been corresponding though they never met. They saw eye to eye on many things and had very similar experiences. The prisons in Russia are run nearly identically to how they were in the Soviet Union, something that “amused” Sharansky, his word.

    The whole thing is very interesting, but what particularly got my attention was Sharansky’s reaction to a European journalist who is baffled by why Navalny went back. “We all knew that he would be arrested at the airport”, the journalist said. “Does he not understand such simple things?”

    Sharansky’s retort was, by his own admission, pretty rude: “You’re the one who doesn’t understand something. If you think the goal is survival – then you are right. But his true concern is the fate of his people – and he is telling them: ‘I am not afraid, and you should not be either.’ “

    All great stuff, and the piece is so well written that I took note of the author and spent some time looking him up: Gary Saul Morson, who is a professor of Slavic languages at Northwestern. He is clearly a first-class thinker and has several interesting interviews and articles out there. Here is but one example – “Wonder Confronts Certainty”
    https://youtu.be/3byKd1RbMdc?si=Q0s7xZe5MEJQiv-Y

  2. That is indeed a moving essay. Its final paragraph:

    If we could acquire even a bit of dissident wisdom in America, our freedom would be much more secure. And if we lose that freedom, as seems increasingly likely, may we too develop the courage to fight for it.

  3. In case anyone is even partially persuaded by “Biden”‘s Absolut BS WRT Smirnov….

    Turley:
    “This lying witness does not exonerate the Bidens”—
    https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/opinion/this-lying-witness-does-not-exonerate-the-bidens/
    “THE SMIRNOV TURNOFF”—
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/02/the-smirnov-turnoff.php
    “Despite media spin, there’s still overwhelming evidence Joe Biden knew of family’s business dealings”—
    https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/opinion/despite-media-spin-theres-still-overwhelming-evidence-joe-biden-knew-of-familys-business-dealings/
    “The Smirnov Indictment Does Not Vindicate the Bidens”—
    https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/02/the-smirnov-indictment-does-not-vindicate-the-bidens/

    P.S. If “Biden” claims that Smirnov is lying, I would bet that Smirnov is in fact telling the truth (since “Biden” lies about EVERYTHING and has an especial interest in smearing Smirnov at this juncture).

  4. Looks like President Trump soundly defeated Nikki Haley in the South Carolina primary 60% to 39%. But Haley will fight on.

    Reasons or grift?

  5. Vivek spoke a CPAC for 17 minutes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIlEWwip90E

    Speculation at the link is that Chief of Staff might be his best post in a Trump Administration.

    I think reigning in and reforming the spending monster that is HHS might be best. But I’ll bet he’ll have his pick of several posts.

    Thoughts, anyone?

  6. Related to the above video heading this thread, another popular musical prodigy has reached a new threshold: 15 year old Karolina Protsenko (with Ukrainian parents) has given her first concerto performance with an Orchestra, mid-November!

    Protsenko became famous as a lively and enchanting street busking violinist playing pop songs in SoCal, on YouTube and elsewhere. What is in her future?

    After listening and gauging her fitness for the role of soloist, it’s clear she has refinements to gain.

    While she rocks and rolls in the Mendelssohn finale, her bowing attack in the first movement stands out as much too timid, lacking crispness and clarity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApZeGkcuCBA&t=40s

    In related background videos, we the 30-something virtuoso Ray Chen help prep her; very expertly so, since he performed this work last winter.
    Here he conducts a Masters Class with Karolina.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDbT3gFVODg&t=137s

    Takeaway? Your challenge is to FILLL this great big hall with your sound.

    Ray Chen was born in Taiwan, grew up in Australia And now makes his home — conveniently enough for Karolina, also SoCal!

    He gained admission to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia on his second attempt at age 15, and subsequently won the Yehudi Menuhin Violin competition, launching his career at a similarly young age. (American virtuoso Hillary Hahn is also a graduate of the Curtis Institute; the Tonebase channel pianist, with a PhD in piano from Juilliard, says Curtis is even more elite.)

    Ray takes us on a tour, LIFE at the best music school in the world, he boasts! — The Curtis Institute
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0s-zHvfOC0

    THIS is amazing fun, as Ray plays the the finale to Vivaldi’s “Summer” from “The Four Seasons” with pianist Emilio, picked up at a Paris Market store filled with onlookers: Ray warns him, “I play quite fast”! THIS is sensational:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3Ny2VQf7pU

    Ray Chen Ranking 29 Violin Concertos by Difficulty (+show worthiness)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYGaLuL9sb0
    What surprised me here is that by the end, both Beethoven and Brahms’s single concertos remain picks for top difficulty in Ray’s estimation. Is this because of the work itself? Or because of the cadenza’s (solo sections), which frequently feature the contributions of top violinists.

    Karolina and her teacher has a $2 million Guarneri violin to try out, also previously owned by Heifetz.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h27HVQQEBVg

    After the opening warm-up, she rolls into the Mendelssohn concerto finale — and then swaps out her bow for a meaty sounding $60,000 bow!

  7. Open Thread Sunday: Russo-Ukraine War (Vlad’s Infamy)

    The Ukraine Air-War in 2024 – Interviewing Professor Justin Bronk – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R31hMWs25UI

    Who is Professor Justin Bronk?

    RUSI
    rusi.org
    › people › bronk
    Professor Justin Bronk | Royal United Services Institute
    August 7, 2023 – Professor Justin Bronk is the Senior Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology in the Military Sciences team at RUSI, and the Editor of the RUSI Defence Systems

    RUSI Biography – Justin Bronk
    https://www.rusi.org/people/bronk

    Timestamps:

    00:00:00 — Opening Words
    00:00:58 — What Are We Talking About?
    00:01:43 — Prof. Justin Bronk
    00:02:08 — The Evolving Air War
    00:05:14 — The GBAD Transition
    00:08:18 — KIT Systems
    00:12:38 — Patriot Ambush Tactics
    00:18:12 — Friendly Fire And The A-50
    00:25:15 — A-10
    00:29:39 — Sustainability
    00:59:48 — Closing Thoughts & The US Role
    01:01:28 — An Open Mic On Risks And Issues
    01:07:50 — Creativity & Material Limits
    01:09:42 — Channel Update

  8. Every nato country is erasing itself via foreign immigration including our own. Scot ministers are afraid to vote with the foreign mob outside. Why should I care if Ivan joins the party.

    I read recently that Fin reservists are quitting over nato membership. Defense minister calls them unpatriotic and suggests they should be made to stay. Resignations increase. Duh.

  9. Don’t worry, you can trust Vlad and the Russians now.

    Hundreds of years of expansionist foreign policy? Who cares, we are protected by vast oceans! Or so say the isolationists.

    Otay.

  10. You trust anybody on our side smithers the guy from the munsch painting the erotic poetry reader who keep telling us it will be fine

  11. Making Sense of Sam Altman’s $7 Trillion AI Chips Gambit

    Altman’s ambitious $7 trillion fund to create a string of AI chip factories would make him the manager of the world’s third-largest economy. But how would that money be invested?

    https://thenewstack.io/making-sense-of-sam-altmans-7-trillion-ai-chips-gambit/
    ___________________________________________________

    I don’t know how to read this $7 tril tea leaf, but the Big Boys are Thinking Big.

    Things are happening so fast in AI now. I continue to be persuaded this is the biggest story right now.

  12. TJ, there’s an agreeable French restaurant right across the street from that entrance of the Curtis Institute. I ate dinner there on one of my trips to Philly some years ago and happened to sit on the side of the building that faces that very door at which Mr. Chen started that video; that’s how I know about the place. Has the Curtis always been so highly rated?

  13. Recently Sabine Hossenfelder posted this video:

    –Rapid AI Progress Surprises Even Experts: Survey just out
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS_iSrmCH5c

    Hossenfelder, in response to viewer requests on the future of AI, pragmatically handed off the guessing to a poll of AI experts:

    –“THOUSANDS OF AI AUTHORS ON THE FUTURE OF AI”
    https://arxiv.org/pdf/2401.02843.pdf

    These bracket charts of where AI experts land on various AI goals are revealing. Most AI experts are still thinking linearly instead of exponentially. I’ll bet on the left side of the chart, the faster side, every time.

    Sorba, OpenAI’s app which creates video from text prompts, just came out and blew everyone away. This tech was supposed to be decades away.

    The Chat apps we see are already a couple years old. There are big rumors of even more fantastic AI off the charts still in the labs.

    Which may be why Sam Altman, OpenAi CEO, is so bold with this $7 tril chip initiative.

  14. That would be sullivan blinken and haines do any of them evince an understanding of history in the steppes and the caucasus

  15. Mike: thanks for the link to Morson’s piece on Sharansky and Navalny. Morson’s mostly a 19th century Russian lit guy, I used to be a 20th century Russian lit guy, but I’ve been a big fan of his political essays and his based moral commonsense. And his willingness to buck academic trends. In that, he reminds me of Joseph Brodsky, who discomfited the NYC intellectuals who surrounded him with his matter-of-fact comments about the evil and stupidity of communism. Brodsky, by the way, did a spell in a Soviet psychiatric hospital and then worked as a laborer on a collective farm in the 1960s.

    I had the great good fortune to work with, and be tutored by, Soviet emigres when I was in my twenties. The experience of prison or a labor camp was a unifying theme. Either they had done time (“sat”, in Russian parlance), or they had close relatives who had. Nobody was untouched. That’s what I meant when I said on this forum in February 2022 that Russians have been through a tougher school than any of us can imagine, even the “privileged” ones. It’s also why I don’t share the “Russians are evil and we must hate them all” vibe that occasionally surfaces here. And among some of my Baltic acquaintances, alas, although it’s understandable in their case.

  16. Miguel: thanks for spelling it out. I got Avril Haines as the “erotic poetry reader” but the other two references stumped me.

    You’ve got good stuff. You might consider being a little less cryptic. And yeah, some punctuation wouldn’t hurt.

  17. Russian state is not the same as individual Russians. Ukrainians have some Russians fighting against Vlad, the Russian state.

  18. Om: yes, there’s a lot of Weimar-level decadence in our ruling class. Soviet-level too. There was a lot of perviness, sleeping around, and double-dealing in the higher levels of the Cheka and NKVD. See Yurii Trifonov’s “The House on the Embankment”. Or read up on Genrikh Yagoda’s hobbies or the people Vladimir Mayakovsky hung out with.

    One of the characters in Robert Stone’s novel “Dog Soldiers”–an old Lefty, IIRC–says that a secret policeman with a bohemian streak is an especially sinister creature. I think of that line whenever I see the name “Avril Haines”.

  19. It’s just unfortunate that Ukrainians (Anna from Ukraine) often refer to Vlad’s army as “Orcs.” Something about Bucha, the capture of Muriopol, kidnapping of Ukrainian children, and such might explain why Vlad’s forces might be viewed thusly. Inconcievable.

  20. om, I’ve linked to interviews of Dr. Bronk several times. He choice for an airframe for Ukraine was not the F-16, and he’s still tempering expectations.
    Should we have a betting pool on how long it takes Ukraine to destroy their F16’s once they get to the battle?
    Dr. Bronk has a warning that the type of strategies that will make the F16’s successful take time to learn– and they are not the tactics Ukraine’s pilots know.
    I was watching a video from somewhere around 2015/16/17 when the US set up training bases in western Ukraine to train their troops. Listening to Ukrainians, one said “we’re sharing information”– not “we’re learning strategy/tactics to fight the western way”. This will be a problem if Ukraine pilots take that same attitude.
    How long did it take for Ukraine to lose all that shiny, relatively new tech armor?

    Paraphrasing you– time will tell.

    What is the good news in Dr. Bronk’s assessment?

    All the globalists in Congress need to do to get aid to Ukraine is agree to close the border– immediate deportation of those apprehended in the US; restore Remain in Mexico; and quit funding the NGO’s in Panama that are recruiting/funding/transporting migrants to the US border.

    I would suggest you contact your Congresspersons. Good luck getting Murray and Cantwell on that.

  21. The F16 will not be the “gamechanger”.
    The Leopard was not the “gamechanger”.

    One of the messages from Dr. Bronk (though that wasn’t the purpose of his talk) was Russia has recovered from it’s original poor performance.

    They are doing a better job of an integrated military operation. They are a more lethal army. That is not a good thing. And certainly unintended consequence.

    It just highlights how much harder it will be for Ukraine to obtain its stated objectives– return to the pre-2014 borders.

    Here’s an interview of an Australian who recently left Ukraine, interviewed by a podcaster, Willie OAM, an Australian veteran who is sympathetic to Ukraine’s aims, but is not a propagandist.

    The talk highlights some of the systemic problems Ukraine needs to overcome.

    I Had To Leave The Country – Soldier X TELL ALL Interview – Ukraine Foreign Fighter

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GS5LqOBcrc

  22. It’s also why I don’t share the “Russians are evil and we must hate them all” vibe that occasionally surfaces here.

    Hubert:

    Amen. Plus Vladimir Mayakovsky. “In the church of my heart, the choir is on fire.”

    When I was younger I fell in love with the Russians via chess and literature. Now, via neo, Maya Plisetskaya. That’s a hard hand to play

    Sometimes I feel I’m getting my chance in the mew USCCP.

  23. Brain E:

    Who is setting the stage, crafting the narrative, that Ukrainians will squander all that new shiney western ordnance, Brian E?

    It is common knowledge that the west isn’t supplying vast numbers of F16s. It is also known that the Grippen might be better, however, some F16s are better than no (0) Grippens.

    Regarding armour supplied to Ukraine, anti-tank mines stop any and all tanks. If you can’t clear mines and minefieldss are overwatched by arty or KA52s you aren’t getting through. So the Ukrainians stopped the armored attacks through Vlad’s minefields. Your man Vlad just keeps burning up his armor on Ukrainian mines and drones, since your guys have cut the supply of 155mm rounds for arty.

    It seems the Ukrainians have been putting Bradley’s to good use. Time to cut off the supplies of 25mm AP and HEI rounds too?

    No one weapon system will eject Vlad from Ukraine. Cutting off arms to Ukraine or second guessing how they use what the are given for fear of Vlad is pathetic.

    Dan Newhouse is our representative in the House. Murray and Cantrell are indeed our senators.

  24. om, Vlad is not my man.
    If you’re looking for support, insulting the other person isn’t a good strategy.

    I’ve said this many times. I started looking into the events in Ukraine and found them to be counter to the narrative that everything bad that has happened in Ukraine is Russia’s fault. I made a case that Eastern Ukraine had a legitimate claim to separate from Western/Central Ukraine. It was a legitimate movement pre-dating Putin.

    I was talking to a friend you knows Newhouse and when the news about the contents of the Senate bill was first released, Newhouse and Rogers claimed they didn’t know what was in the bill (which I find hard to believe). I think it was deflection. I think Newhouse would have voted for it as agriculture has the most to benefit from using illegal/under the table labor.

    The House should make it clear they’re more than willing provide aid to Ukraine (although as I posted earlier maybe not wasting as much as is in the $61 billion proposal) if Biden closes the border. He could do it tomorrow. I vote to release the money in stages once we see a drop in illegal entries, which is sustained over time. That’s how compromise is supposed to work.

    I’ve been meaning to ask Newhouse what his position is, which I should do rather than assuming he was in favor of legalizing 1.5 million new entries a year with little to no vetting.

    I mentioned the other yahoos because the Dems would have to agree to actually agree to enforcing US law for that proposal to work.

  25. “…in the steppes and the caucuses”

    Might as well throw in the “quieter-than-its-been-in-two-decades” Middle East while we’re at it…

    Oh, and the Pampas….if Blinken decides to muscle Milei (while sweet-talking him to the heavens….)

  26. Speaking of the Maidan, this popped up in my in basket.

    “Court in Kiev has confirmed: Maidan snipers fired
    from the Hotel Ukraina”

    “Ten years ago, a sniper massacre of police officers and Maidan activists created a highly explosive atmosphere on the Maidan in Kiev and triggered the coup against the Ukrainian government that followed two days later. In an
    interview with Multipolar, political scientist Ivan Katchanovski from the University of Ottawa explains the course of events, the available evidence, the questionable role of the german broadcaster ARD and the findings of a recent Kiev court ruling on the mass murder. The judges found that right-wing extremist Maidan fighters fired from the Hotel Ukraina, and other places, and are responsible for the deaths of at least ten people.”

    Interview of Professor Ivan Katchanovski.

    Katchanovski: The massacre started with snipers from the far-right-linked Maidan group breaking a ceasefire agreement and killings 3 and wounding of 39 Berkut policemen and Internal Troops servicemen on the Maidan in the morning of February20. Both my studies and the verdict of the Maidan massacre trial show that as result of this deadly attack, the unarmed Berkut police and Internal troops members rapidly retreated from the Maidan and the Maidan activists chased them, and one policeman was killed and two wounded by a Maidan activist. An armed special Berkut company briefly advanced to Maidan to secure a retreat of the Internal Troops. During the same time, the Maidan activists were massacred.”

    Confirms it wasn’t just the Berkut police killing people.

    https://www.academia.edu/115332558/_Court_in_Kiev_has_confirmed_Maidan_snipers_fired_from_the_Hotel_Ukraina_?auto=download&email_work_card=download-paper

  27. Brain E:

    I’m not looking for your support.

    Over and over you keep falling back on ‘Russia isn’t totally to blame for invading Ukraine’ or grasping at straws to mourn the ouster of Yanukovych.

    A latest example:

    Confirms it wasn’t just the Berkut police killing people.

    Who were the Berkut police working for? NATO or Yanukovych? Any clue how many of the +100 killed were at the hands of Berkut? Your article says 10 KIA by the”right wing snipers.” That leaves more than 90 killed by Yanukovych’s “police.” But, but, but, more straws to be grasped. Kent State Ohio, 4 KIA. Ponder.

    Apologists talk to the crickets.

    Crickets.

  28. om, the Berkut police were working for the legitimately elected government of Ukraine. If the police used excessive force at the order of the Yanukovych government, he should have been impeached.

    The Maidan riots had the express goal of overthrowing the government. Are you suggesting the police didn’t have a legitimate right to protect the government?

    In the 1967 Detroit riots 43 people were killed in nine days of rioting. I’m not saying 43 or 90 are OK, I’m just saying that lethal force is used against rioters.

    The point I have been trying to make is we have accepted a narrative that places all the blame on Putin for these events. He’s the bad guy in all of this. He’s a bad/murderous guy. But the Ukrainians share some of the blame for the events leading up to and following the overthrow of Yanukovych.

    There were snipers on both sides.

    This has nothing to do with apologism. This has to do with reality, not propaganda.

    I’ve tried to make the case that Ukraine would have been better off had they accepted the independence of the Donbas and Crimea.

    The $200 billion (or whatever amount it is) could then have been used to create a standing army and defensive line to protect themselves.

  29. “When antimatter particles come in contact with regular matter, it produces loads of energy.”

    Well, there’s the science of it.

  30. but the trade offs of anti matter production versus the energy needed to create it, the duration of said materials, the safe guards to protect it from inadvertent contacts, contra terrene functions well those are the nits,

    not to mention the scenario spelled out in
    angels and demons, with the illuminati,

  31. Brian E:

    He returns to his Yanuckovych vomit and to excuses for Vlad. Vlad went kinetic by proxy in 2014 and the full Monty in 2022, invading Ukraine with the Armed Forces of The Russian Federation (not proxies Brian E), but Brain E continues to apportion blame to Ukraine.

    But Vlad is not his guy. Oh, something about ambulation and sounds made by waterfowl comes to mind.

  32. With the exception of positrons, it is obscenely expensive to make antimatter. The source for positrons is nuclear decay of specific nuclear isotopes. Other types (more mass than an electron) require a particle accelerator IIRC. Hugely big bucks. Totally impractical except for a Democrat where money grows on trees.

    Even more expensive than funding the Ukrainians in their criminal and unnecessary resistance to mother Russia.

  33. om, no vomit, just facts.

    “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the law on your side, pound the law; if you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table.”

  34. RE: Information Warfare and the “Guerrilla Skeptics”

    As of yet, this is not getting much notice, but I think it’s pretty important; the discovery of a group of around 150 people styling themselves the “Guerrilla Skeptics,” who apparently have far too great a control over Wikipedia, and have, starting a couple of decades ago, been rewriting and manipulating an increasing number of pages (one of their tactics is to originate a page, so that they have control of that page from the very beginning, one example being Lou Elizondo’s bio page).

    As of February 2024 they claim control of over two thousand such pages which, so far, have gotten a total of more than 150,000,000 views–pages which contain anything which these almost entirely anonymous “editors”–most of them apparently laymen and not scientists–deem to be “pseudoscience,” “quackery, “charlatanism,” or “misinformation”–pages on “controversial” subjects like homeopathy, chiropractic, vaccines, UFOs, and many more.

    This group apparently has editors from a number of countries.

    One wonders just how many other such groups are out there, working behind the scenes at Wiki, to ban certain topics entirely, to slant, censor, twist, manipulate, and to dictate what we are allowed know.

    As part of their manipulations, they have also gone after, apparently tightly control, slant, and manipulate the bio pages of anyone who is researching or involved in any of what they deem to be “controversial” subjects to portray them in the worst possible light. .*

    See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ACu-pUSHg

    and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq-GuSs8kX8&t=2528s

    and also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjHqE3GsI9o&t=19s

    and this as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfsyFQqifM0

  35. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences called the harmony of AI and natural intelligence the key to the future

    Alexander Sergeev, scientific director of the National Center for Physics and Mathematics, believes that “we definitely have no other future” than the equilibrium interaction of natural and artificial intelligence

    SAROV /Nizhny Novgorod region/, November 20, 2023
    …and the current young generation will take an active part in this…
    “A lot of things can be seen in our brains that can be implemented in an artificial intelligence system. This is being done now, this is a very interesting modern direction. We can say that our future is in the properly built interaction of natural intelligence with artificial intelligence, this future will come very quickly,” Sergeyev said during the opening ceremony of the first All-Russian School on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Sarov.
    ..
    “How to develop artificial intelligence and how to properly arrange its interaction with natural intelligence so that both develop harmoniously in interaction with each other. We definitely have no other future,” the academician added.

    The National Center for Physics and Mathematics in Sarov is being built on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the flagship project of the Decade of Science and Technology.”

    Artificial Intelligence of the Russian Federation
    National Portal in the Field of Artificial Intelligence

    The National Strategy for the Development of AI for the period up to 2030 was approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 10.10.2019
    Federal Project “Artificial Intelligence”. Approved in 2021 for the implementation of the National Strategy.
    Regulation. In 2020, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the Concept of Regulatory Regulation of AI. This will make it possible to develop technology and respect the rights of citizens, ensure the security of the individual, society and the state.
    AI Assignments. Regulation in the field of AI is carried out on the basis of instructions of the President of the Russian Federation.

    news, 3 of them:
    WEF Names Deepfakes and AI as Top Threats to Elections in Different Countries
    12.01.2024
    Deepfakes combined with phishing attacks could disrupt elections around the world in 2024, WEF experts concluded. There are already examples of such manipulation of voters’ minds…

    Davos experts call disinformation the world’s main problem
    11.01.2024
    In the report of the Davos forum, disinformation took the first place in the list of short-term risks for the first time. The list of long-term threats is dominated by natural threats: climate change, biodiversity loss, and lack of resources…

    Scientists have assembled the first processor from brain cells
    11.01.2024
    In the United States, they created a hybrid processor from electronic components and a brain organoid grown from human stem cells. The system is capable of speech recognition and solving nonlinear equations. Biocomputers have been developed for about twenty years, and this is the first real result…

    [At the moment it refuses me a link to the site: “Mysql connect error [localhost]: (2002) Connection denied (400)” etc., I have no idea]
    —-
    “The head of State participated in the main discussion of the conference on artificial intelligence and data analysis 2021 on the topic “technologies with artificial Intelligence for solving social problems”.
    12 November 2021

    Vladimir Putin:
    “…Artificial intelligence technology has become a part of our lives.[…]And it is important that such revolutionary solutions[…] work not for harm in any way, but for the benefit of people, help save our planet and ensure its Sustainable Development.
    ..
    I repeat: not a product or a service, but a person becomes the center of all economic processes… We need to increase the speed of digital transformation everywhere and move from individual experiments, “pilot” initiatives as soon as possible to launching comprehensive AI implementation projects, primarily in those areas that determine the quality of human life… to form a regulatory and legal environment that meets the level of technological progress… Special attention should be paid to information critical to the safety of citizens. First of all, we are talking about biometrics, which are increasingly being used to carry out financial and other transactions…
    ..
    The issues of personal data protection and digital payments, countering the hidden manipulation of the preferences and actions of citizens, the actions of a person are increasingly coming to the fore, and it is not only about ensuring the cybersecurity of the person himself, but also his virtual counterpart – the Avatar, which will be located in the Metaverse that is now being formed… Even for lawyers who need to develop norms to regulate economic and social relations in a fundamentally new world, this is also a challenge, of course. And in general, the creation and application of artificial intelligence technologies in the interest of society, man, to save our planet, to study the oceans and deep space are truly civilizational, absolutely ambitious tasks. We can and should solve them only by joining forces. …”

    Artificial Intelligence Journey 2023 conference
    The President took part in the plenary session of the Artificial Intelligence Journey 2023 international conference on AI and machine learning titled The Generative AI Revolution: New Opportunities. November 24, 2023

    The President approved a list of instructions following the conference “Journey to the World of Artificial Intelligence” held on November 24, 2023. (January 17, 2024) …

  36. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have some shadowy anonymous group–with an agenda and a particular definition of what the “truth” is–to be able to filter everything on Wiki through their particular definition, and to manipulate Wiki and it’s rules to insure their control over which subjects will even have a Wiki page, and the scope, the entirety of what that page will contain, and how it portrays those subjects, as well as those researching those subjects, and both the proponents and the opponents of these subjects or theories.

    Such deliberate manipulation renders Wiki less trustworthy and, greatly decreases its value and usefulness.

    Why consult Wiki at all, if you now know that you have a great chance of being deliberately mislead, particularly on “controversial” subjects?

  37. Brain E has been schooled by Turtler on Yanukovych many, many times but like a dog he still returns to his …

  38. Another worries me much more – Russia’s Transport Strategy is in question and may have to be redesigned in the near future.

    Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 3363-r dated 11/27/2021 “On approval of the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 with a forecast for the period up to 2035”

    “…
    2. Technological and energy risks and opportunities in the implementation of the Strategy
    ..
    For the period from 2024 to 2030, the risks and opportunities for the emergence of both “disruptive” and breakthrough innovations are increasing, including:
    ..
    The acceleration of the development of virtual (Virtual reality, VR), Augmented (Augmented reality, AR) and mixed reality (Mixed reality, MR) technologies will lead to a decrease in demand for passenger transportation. The pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has led to a long-term transfer of the interaction of company employees to an online format, and further development of digital technologies can accelerate this trend.

    In 2030 – 2035, the risks of the emergence of breakthrough technologies and innovations that can lead to a fundamental revision of the entire paradigm of the development of the transport industry are significantly increasing. Certain categories and parameters of risks on the long-term horizon of the Strategy implementation are formed on the basis of the analysis of scientific literature by the foresight method in relation to existing technological, economic or social trends. These include the following risks:
    ..
    the introduction of neural interfaces-implants will lead to the transfer of smartphone functions to implants, will provide the possibility of unambiguous identification of passengers and operating personnel, integration of geo-positioning systems with implants to create personalized transport products taking into account individual mobility technologies;
    ..
    reaching the point of technological singularity and creating a “strong” artificial intelligence.
    ..

    A big problem if they introduce these implants and government and business strategists have to rework everything. That doesn’t sound fair, I hope they don’t introduce them (and to remain only biometrics and personal digital profiles of travellers, as secure, planned improvements).

  39. om, quit hiding behind Turtler. Give me an example of something I’ve said that is demonstrably wrong.

  40. Don’t worry about “war, if you ask me. The world has never been so united around a common goal. And everything with “war will end once the transition to the new technological order (which cannot be so well accomplished without “war) is over.

  41. Brain E:

    This will be a start to unravel your “facts.”

    ://www.britannica.com/biography/Viktor-Yanukovych

    I still work for a living so it may take time,.

    There is a noticeable history about Yanukovych: Putin-allied, Putin-supporter, you know, your guy.

    Somehow credible sources don’t quite tally up with your “facts”

    It appeared that Yanukovych was attempting to pivot toward the West in April 2013, when he ordered the release of Lutsenko in advance of the signing of an association agreement with the European Union.

    Just days before that treaty was to be signed in November 2013, Yanukovych pulled out of the deal, triggering a scramble among EU leaders and sparking a wave of popular protests in Kiev. Putin pledged billions in financial assistance as the demonstrations in Kiev’s Maidan (Independence Square) continued into 2014. Yanukovych responded by enacting a series of anti-protest measures that were hastily repealed by the parliament after two demonstrators were killed in clashes with police in January 2014. Protests spread to eastern Ukraine, traditionally Yanukovych’s stronghold, and violence in the Maidan escalated dramatically. More than 70 people were killed in clashes with police and security forces in February 2014, as the remaining support for Yanukovych and his administration crumbled. The parliament voted to impeach Yanukovych on February 22; he responded by denouncing the action as a coup and fleeing the capital. His whereabouts unknown, protesters descended upon Yanukovych’s opulent residence outside Kiev, and Ukraine’s interim government issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of mass murder.

    On February 28 Yanukovych reappeared in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, where he delivered a speech that decried members of the acting Ukrainian government as fascists and asserted that he was still the president of Ukraine.

    I’m pretty sure this history has already been discussed here. But you continue with your opinion, or “facts.”

  42. “…Deepfakes combined with phishing attacks could disrupt elections around the world in 2024, WEF experts concluded….”

    Should be:
    “…Deepfakes combined with phishing attacks could disrupt OUR EFFORTS TO DISRUPT elections around the world in 2024, WEF experts concluded….”

    There. Fixed it.

  43. Probably, Barry, but how, I, the humble commentator, could argue with the specialists of the National Portal of Russia about AI, who have transmitted the news in this way (apparently have no objections). And Russia is at war with the elites in Davos, the WEF condemned the “Russian invasion”, the WEF are/serves the Western ruling elites who are (and) democrats. And so on. Interesting, isn’t it?

  44. O Humble Sputnik, you do make an excellent point.
    As for me, I have no trust in nor love for Almost Intelligence.
    As far as I can tell (not that I’m the most trustworthy of opiners) it’s just another bandwagon to climb on; just another way (for some) to make scads of money.
    Just another method by Our Betters(TM)—make that Bettors(TM)—to create more powerful DISTRACTIONS.
    Just another opportunity to destroy stability, hope and HUMANITY (as we—sorta—know it) and SUBVERT (sorry, TRANSFORM) “the last best hope of earth”…

  45. Gemini AI….continued(!)
    ‘ Google’s Gemini AI Tool Equivocates on Hamas Rapes, Claims ‘Competing Narratives’ About Oct. 7th;
    ‘ “However, it is important to note that these allegations have not been independently verified, and there are competing narratives about what happened” on October 7th. ‘—
    https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/02/googles-gemini-ai-tool-equivocates-on-hamas-rapes-claims-competing-narratives-about-oct-7th/

    Wow, this Gemini thang’s certainly cutting edge!

    + Bonus (more “Competing Narratives”)…
    “Shocking moment mob threatens to BEHEAD terrified woman after accusing her of wearing a dress with ‘blasphemous’ text on in Pakistan”—
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13125779/mob-threatens-behead-woman-dress-blasphemous-Pakistan.html
    Coming soon to a neighborhood near you?

    And from the “Heh” Files….
    https://www.foxnews.com/media/ap-report-laken-riley-murder-omits-suspects-immigration-status-focuses-dangers-women-jogging-alone

  46. om,
    You want to ignore the events of the Maidan revolution/overthrow of Yanukovych and justify the actions because he was pro Putin/pro Russian, but that’s not how the rule of law should work. If the protester/rioters were justified because he was reneging on the EU application, so to were the pro-Russian Ukrainians in Donbas and Crimea justified to declare their independence from Ukraine.

    As to the Britannica article, there was a lot more going on than the story reports. I would say the Rada never voted to impeach Yanukovych and even if they had it first would have required the courts to be involved and a 3/4 vote of the Rada. The vote held to remove Yanukovych for abandoning his position did not reach that level.

    MP Hovrilov, speaking to a journalist gave Yanukovych three options on Feb. 21– resign, take the case to court or suffer the fate of dictators and be assassinated.

    Here is a BBC report after the Maidan riots/overthrow of Yanukovych. The article I linked to yesterday from Feb. 23, 2024 is just a confirmation that was suspected at the time, that rioters also had snipers and were shooting at both Berkut and protesters.

    Snipers at Maidan: The untold story of a massacre in Ukraine – Newsnight

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJhJ6hks0Jg

  47. Always excuses for the ouster of a Putin minion.

    You did notice that Yanukivych lost his support in eastern Ukraine (Donbas and Luhansk) after he used the Russian approach to protestors? How could that happen?

    Totes fine Brain E?

    Or was that the US Capitol Police approach?

  48. om,
    this is why all this matters, and why Turtler is defending what happened in the days following the Maidan riots/revolution. If there wasn’t a legitimate transfer of power, using legitimate legal means to remove Yanukovych, then the position Putin has taken that Ukraine is now a new country after the revolution and all pre-existing treaties/understandings between the two are null and void is correct.
    If the transfer of power following Yanukovych’s ouster was a legal transition from one administration to another, then Putin is violating law.

    I think what we’re seeing are the limits of human rules-based order. As much as we try and be consistent, sometimes we just have to use brute force. This is happening in all our institutions– but this war is certainly front and center. It’s one of the central complaints conservatives have with what is happening to the constitution and the lawfare gaining traction in this country, IMO.

    The constitution is a pact we have made with each other and sets the limits of our interactions. We used to have a common understanding of where the limits were. That has changed. The left, stymied for so many years from implementing rules far beyond the limits loosely agreed to, have just re-defined the meaning of the terms. For a time the debate was between a living constitution and a strict interpretation view.

    Now that the world is under a narrative based reality– just change the meaning of a word and presto, a whole new set of rules. Good is bad, bad is good, there are 73 genders– you get the picture.

    The West is never going to agree that Ukraine is a new nation springing from the Maidan revolution. This would expose the failures of what happened.

    Anyway, that’s my view of the event.

  49. Brain E:

    So we have a rift in the space time continuoum in Ukraine in 2014. A Putin minion was ousted, (having lost his support from eastern Ukraine after shooting political opposition) and Vlad retailates by formenting civil war in eastern Ukraine, then 8 years later Vlad takes the war to the entire country. Agree on those facts?

    Now taking the leap that because Yanukovych fled to Russia, Ukraine is no longer a “legitimate” country and therefore all treaties, borders, etc. are up for Russia to disposition as Vlad decides is, ah, preposterous.

    But I am not a historian or diplomat, nor are you. It doesn’t take a Turtler to see it or explain it.

    You do realize that elections and the rule of law are elastic things in totalitarian societies and that in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine under Yanukovych ideals for democratic and representative government and the transfer of power were and are less than optimal?

    You have given others quite a trove to fisk if they have time and inclination. Not my day job.

  50. om, you seem like a clever guy, so I’m assuming your obfuscation is merely a propaganda ploy.

    The Ukraine constitution is very clear under what circumstances the President can be removed from office.
    The Rada did not follow the methods outlined in the constitution.
    Therefore his removal was illegal.

    Can we agree on that?

    Turtler justifies the removal under the pretext that he abandoned his post and the emergency nature at the time, but I still think that’s a stretch.

    Had they removed him under the then current constitution, his power would have reverted to the prime minister– who was also absent.
    So the Rada first had to pass a law reverting to the 2004 constitution which passed the power from the president to the chairman of the Rada. Is that how it works in a democracy? Pass a law and the constitution changes in the matter of a few hours?

    I think it’s a stretch to conclude Yanukovych “abandoned” his office when he was gone for exactly one day. And it was likely had he returned he would have been assassinated, since that was the threat by members of the Rada.

    As I wrote previously, one of the mp’s, talking to a journalist, gave Yanukovych three options: 1. resign; 2. take it to the court (which would have been the legal method; 3. or suffer the Nicolae Ceausescu fate– (executed by firing squad after a summary trial).

    There was already a legal way to transfer power– representatives from EU countries, opposition leaders and Yanukovych had signed an agreement for his ministers to be replaced by opposition parties and early elections to be held. That was rejected by Right Sector leaders.

    The Fight for Ukraine: Last Days of the Revolution

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7e6B64Iqqg&t=1274s

    If you fast forward to around the 10 min. mark.

    There was a survey conducted in April 2014 by Kiev International Institute of Sociology among residents of the Donbas and while only 29% were strongly in favor of separating and joining Russia, 68% were strongly in favor of joining the Eruasian customs union. 68% also thought nationalist/radicals/Right Sector were a threat.

  51. You keep bringing up Turtler but you will but will not accept that he knows more about the situation than you and your twisted justification of Vlad’s aggression.

    You imply that Ukraine ceased to be an internationally legitimatate state when Yanukovych was ousted.

    That is the hill you have chosrn to die on.

    No slight of hand, sophistry, or too clever by half arguments about principles. Your arguments rationalize intentional aggression of a “stronger” empire against a smaller neighbor.

    It is patently absurd, few nations in the rest of the world take this position.

    Plain enough for you?

  52. @ Snow > “Why consult Wiki at all, if you now know that you have a great chance of being deliberately mislead, particularly on “controversial” subjects?”

    The manipulations of Wikipedia have been a topic for debate on the internet for years; I note that the Wiki admins (whoever they may be) sure know about and thus acquiesce to the capture of certain pages, in addition to the biased editing of certain political articles and subjects.

    However, Wikipedia is not the only disinformation racket in town — and maybe not the biggest one.

    https://instapundit.substack.com/p/googles-ai-debacle?r=9bg2k
    Why is Google creating pro-Nazi and pro-Confederate propaganda?
    by Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit, where he also posted a shorter version.

    The viral graphics that Google’s Gemini AI generated have been the subject of mirth and mockery for a couple of days, and he includes a lovely collection of them.

    Glenn cites, and quotes, a couple of his colleagues who expand on the motif of how Google has destroyed the public’s trust in its properties — and not just the Gemini project.
    Both of the references should be read in toto.

    https://twitter.com/TheYootopian/status/1761460491065377023
    Gemini’s Problem: Google’s LACK of diversity
    “There is a broad assumption that Google Gemini’s clearly biased results are an artifact of Artificial Intelligence gone wrong, and that the issues are combinations of bad parameterization, flaws with the algorithms, and other technology root causes. But the fact is: Gemini’s problems are NOT technology related. Gemini is performing completely as expected. This is what it was meant to do.”

    https://twitter.com/mjuric/status/1761981816125469064
    (also linked as a Powerline headline pick)

    “I’m done with @Google. I know many good individuals working there, but as a company they’ve irrevocably lost my trust. I’m “moving out”. Here’s why: …. (excellent analysis)
    …In this brave new world, every time you run a search you’ll be asking yourself “did it tell me the truth, or did it lie, or hide something?”. That’s lethal for a company built around organizing information.”

    I will add that I was very proud of our son who was hired by Google straight out of college, and extremely glad that he left the company a few years ago.

    The Instapundit post also links to an analysis by David Strom at HotAir on the importance of the story as something other than a

  53. @ Snow > “Why consult Wiki at all, if you now know that you have a great chance of being deliberately mislead, particularly on “controversial” subjects?”

    The manipulations of Wikipedia have been a topic for debate on the internet for years; I note that the Wiki admins (whoever they may be) sure know about and thus acquiesce to the capture of certain pages, in addition to the biased editing of certain political articles and subjects.

    However, Wikipedia is not the only disinformation racket in town — and maybe not the biggest one.

    https://instapundit.substack.com/p/googles-ai-debacle?r=9bg2k
    Why is Google creating pro-Nazi and pro-Confederate propaganda?
    by Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit, where he also posted a shorter version.
    https://instapundit.com/633948/

    The viral graphics that Google’s Gemini AI generated have been the subject of mirth and mockery for a couple of days, and he includes a lovely collection of them.

    Glenn cites, and quotes, a couple of his colleagues who expand on the motif of how Google has destroyed the public’s trust in its properties — and not just the Gemini project.
    Both of the references should be read in toto; they are also cited by Strom below.

    https://twitter.com/TheYootopian/status/1761460491065377023
    Gemini’s Problem: Google’s LACK of diversity
    “There is a broad assumption that Google Gemini’s clearly biased results are an artifact of Artificial Intelligence gone wrong, and that the issues are combinations of bad parameterization, flaws with the algorithms, and other technology root causes. But the fact is: Gemini’s problems are NOT technology related. Gemini is performing completely as expected. This is what it was meant to do.”

    https://twitter.com/mjuric/status/1761981816125469064
    (also linked as a Powerline headline pick)

    “I’m done with @Google. I know many good individuals working there, but as a company they’ve irrevocably lost my trust. I’m “moving out”. Here’s why: …. (excellent analysis)
    …In this brave new world, every time you run a search you’ll be asking yourself “did it tell me the truth, or did it lie, or hide something?”. That’s lethal for a company built around organizing information.”

    The Instapundit post also links to an analysis by David Strom at HotAir on the importance of the story as something other than a reason to point and laugh at the Wokerati.

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/02/26/googles-gemini-failure-an-analysis-n3783536
    “You ask one question and get results to another Google decided you should have asked. Google Gemini revealed to all the world just how biased its search engine is…It literally never occurred to Googlers that others might disagree, so when they tested the product out the answers seemed obvious to them….It ain’t no algorithm issue. Google wants to give us its version of reality, not reality itself. ”

    I will add that I was very proud of our son who was hired by Google straight out of college, and extremely glad that he left the company a few years ago.

  54. Neo: sorry about the double post, I didn’t realize I had sent it once before finishing; I’m used to random glitches on my browser and didn’t notice it happened.
    The first one should be deleted if you get a moment.

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