19 responses to “Ruminations – 12jul23 (updated 13jul23)”

1. 

   Scott O

   12 July 2023

   Well – there’s this –
   https://nevadacountyassembly.org/
   I’m sure the Nevada County Right-Wing watch group has already infiltrated them.
   The Fibbies will be next.

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2. 

   Gregory

   13 July 2023

   Life, liberty and property was set by Locke nearly two centuries before Bastiat, but not to quibble. The Declaration of Independence lists life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness formulation of the same thing which is good enough for me’n mine.
   The Nca certainly have their lips flapping. The guy with all the modified flags and symbols strikes me as queer as a clockwork orange (in an Anthony Burgess, not a Bud Lite sense)… strikes me as an escaped Klansman. I hope not.
   And then there was Ms. Senum.

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3. 

   scenes

   13 July 2023

   “And then there was Ms. Senum.”
   Hopefully there was much talk of chemtrails and 5G. Serious business, those.

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4. 

   scenes

   13 July 2023

   Estonia! I’ve heard of that.
   https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/dilbert/images/5/5b/Elbonia.jpg

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5. 

   Scott O

   13 July 2023

   re the WSJ article on ChatGTP (paywalled for me) – I did get the “explainer” line under the headline:
   “FTC is examining whether artificial-intelligence app harmed people by publishing false information”
   But not the false info the fed govt put out about COVID and the so-called vaccine.
   About the only thing the FTC can do is try to have a mandate of some sort that will require a disclaimer for any output from AI that watermarks it as coming from AI.
   Although the problem of how that would be enforced would seem to make that a non-starter.

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6. 

   scenes

   14 July 2023

   re: Scotto@9:38PM
   Here ye be:
   (although it’s your typical super-short content-free article that is the norm anymore. ChatGPT might as well write the things).
   https://archive.is/zxXwY
   There should be an enjoyable ruckus from here on. All them copyright attorneys producing zinc wire by fighting over a penny, uproars about hatefacts, the gubmint’s need to drive narratives and censor, the enjoyment some people have in writing new regulations (it’s for the children!), offshoring as our increasingly authoritarian environment cranks up, lotsa money potentially being made. The perfect maelstrom.

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7. 

   scenes

   14 July 2023

   “About the only thing the FTC can do is try to have a mandate of some sort that will require a disclaimer for any output from AI that watermarks it as coming from AI.”
   That’s an interesting idea that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere.
   Naturally, it can’t work. It’s like attempting to enforce privacy by statute.
   Cracking the problem of trustability, by that I mean things like identity and ownership, reproducibility, etc, is a harder problem than I want to think about. I’m afraid the world is going to get more loosey goosey, not less, regardless of all the handwaving from cryptographic people and the like. Maybe people need to think more about biological models than brittle digital ones when they design things.

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8. 

   scenes

   14 July 2023

   just one of those things you run into.
   From 2017.
   Russia (from Newsweek).
   “The police raid on Markin’s home came amid Russia’s escalating crackdown on social media activity. Agora, a Russian human rights group, says law enforcement has opened 411 criminal cases against internet users in Russia in 2017, compared with 298 cases in 2016.”
   Great Britain.
   “More than 3,300 people were detained and questioned last year over so-called trolling on social media and other online forums, a rise of nearly 50 per cent in two years, according to figures obtained by The Times.”

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9. 

   Scott O

   14 July 2023

   scenes – “I’m afraid the world is going to get more loosey goosey, not less,…”
   Well – yes and no. For people not on the “correct” side who own property or are otherwise tied to a responsible life – the controls will continue to tighten. For the “victim” class, it seems anything is allowed.
   As for the trustworthiness of the info stream around us – and the govt’s ability to control it – ha! Despite all the hand waving and hand wringing by the officials, we will be pretty much on our own to figure out reality.
   And that’s a big plus for the power-hungry. As it does get more out of control, it gives the govt a greater license to put the screws on us.
   Think how it works with “commonsense gun control”. Gun violence gets worse and worse and the govt continues to make potential felons out of folks they don’t like. It has no bearing on the actual problem.
   And so with the “controls” on AI and so-called dis and mis info. It won’t do anything about the problem – just provide an excuse for increasing the controls on our lives.
   Look at what Canada did last spring:
   https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/c11-is-now-law-and-the-internet-is-under-government-control
   It’s for the children.

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10. 

    scenes

    14 July 2023

    re: Scotto@7:54AM
    Of course, you’re right. Surveillance + improved parsing = more control.
    I was thinking more in terms of glass-to-glass fidelity. It ain’t just scooching around pyramids on National Geographic anymore.
    As far as ‘truth’, it probably was never worth much. Everyone thinks in analogies and stories (or Team Blue clickbait like Mr. Psul), glares at the tea leaves, and swirls in a bit of their own (un)common sense. MAGA signs or the Nuremberg Rally appearance of Pride Month Nevada City are each their own reductio ad sloganum. We all know what the other guy really means.

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11. 

    Scott O

    14 July 2023

    re my post above about Canada –
    Boom!
    “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Muslim parents who object to their children being taught about gender identity issues in schools are being fed “misinformation and disinformation” by “the American right-wing” and the “far right.””
    Hence, the need for govt “controls”.
    https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/goldstein-trudeau-says-muslim-parents-who-object-to-gender-identity-education-misled-by-far-right
    Stop believing your own eyes and just follow the instructions on your govt controlled viewing screen!

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12. 

    Scott O

    14 July 2023

    “I was thinking more in terms of glass-to-glass fidelity.”
    Yep – techno-progress marches on. Used to take a skilled guy in a dark room hours to phony up a photo – now grade schoolers can send out on the inter-web videos of their teacher in a porn video. Is that really the teacher?

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13. 

    scenes

    14 July 2023

    re: Scotto@8:13AM
    hah. I spy ‘goldstein’ and my first thought was that Emmanuel Goldstein was on the loose.
    An article I ran into this morning from several years ago has a lot to like and explains who the truly dangerous ones are.
    “How the ‘Karen Meme’ Confronts the Violent History of White Womanhood”
    “If we’re thinking about this in a historical context where white women are given the power over Black men, that their word will be valued over a Black man, that makes it particularly dangerous and that’s the problem,” says Dr. Apryl Williams…”
    https://time.com/5857023/karen-meme-history-meaning/
    So, there you have it. The scary ones are white wimmen.
    lol. Can you imagine this sort of feelz-based identity politics trash being printed in Time magazine 50 years ago? These truly are the End Times.
    In the meantime, that clever ol’ fox did his thing.
    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/14/biden-forgives-39-billion-in-student-debt-for-some-800000-borrowers.html
    Excellent. I needs me some of that sweet sweet gubmint cash. I’ll vote for whoever they say.

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14. 

    scenes

    14 July 2023

    and sometimes the jokes just write themselves.
    “A recent report from student loan refinancing company Laurel Road suggests that a major reason for this disparity is because women are less likely to understand how student debt works. ”
    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/13/american-women-hold-two-thirds-of-all-student-debt-heres-why.html

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15. 

    fishanthrope

    14 July 2023

    Posted by: scenes | 14 July 2023 at 08:37 AM
    ….what do you mean I have to pay this back???

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16. 

    Scott O

    14 July 2023

    re the CNBC article –
    “but some students are shouldering more of the burden than others.”
    WUT? “some”?
    Ah, the collective plural.
    And just like that, a whole passel of Evil White Karens are folded into a victim group!

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17. 

    🐠

    14 July 2023

    ….And just like that, a whole passel of Evil White Karens are folded into a victim group!
    See …..good things happen to you if you’re on board with Team Fringes!

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18. 

    Scott O

    14 July 2023

    re 9:47 – Aren’t Venn Diagrams a beautiful thing?
    Funny how the MAGA circle can just never, ever overlap with a single victim group.

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19. 

    scenes

    21 July 2023

    By golly, sometimes Estonia shows up in the news.
    https://news.err.ee/1609040312/estonian-interior-ministry-wants-ban-on-non-personalized-pre-paid-sim-cards
    re: ChatGPT comes under investigation.
    What a royal mess all of this is going to be. Anyone facing too many restriction will simply move overseas, all them copyright attorneys need to feed on something, folks are scared they’ll lose their jobs to those new looms, and, most importantly, there’s a lot of money to be made and all the animals want some of the Little Red Hen’s bread.
    One value I can see is that this might just do a thing that’ll force something that needs forcing. It seems to me that copyright/patent/IP law generally needs to be blown up and replaced with something else or abolished.

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