Listener comments!
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HUUPE?
This stuff is self-parodying.
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Mark! Techtontrarians!
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hallo hallo
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Evening Mark and all Technoids.
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Greetings all! Looking forward to the show and convo.
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Hi Mark and techtonicians!
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Ai, Ai, Ai... No! It's Mark Hurst! Hi AIsters!
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Mirror, mirror on the wall, why do we need AI at all? 🪞
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Hello Mark and friends! Totally psyched for tonight's show, but that's what I say every week. 'Cos it's true.
:-D
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Hello Mark and all
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Hey Mark! Hum was a great recommendation. Loved it!
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Good evening Mark and pseudocrats
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Can I be a Taco Bell Distinguished DJ? I don't know if I want to be a professor.
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I am starting to think the amounts of electricity and water needed to run large-language-model pseudo-intelligence search engines mean they collectively constitute a giant, inadvertent euthanasia machine for modernity, guaranteeing catastrophic ecological collapse.
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This should be good. Fast forward to Mark’s disgusted, maniacal laughter at the absurdity!
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Mark. Techies.
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Mark! Members of the Technical Diffi-Cult!
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Public Enemy 2024: Don't believe the huupe.
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David (in London) @6:00
David! What's up?
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Thank you for shopping at Minority Report Inc.
Hi Mark
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Greetings Mark and all!
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“AI!” the sound one makes when jumping off a cliff
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I can't wait for this generative-"AI" hype bubble to burst so we don't have to put up with everydamncompany trying to shoehorn some whiff of something they can call "AI" into everydamnproduct.
Please, can the AI-hypebros and sad cryptobros all just pile into a Cybertruck and go for a Thelma and Louise ride?
Strip from @[email protected] :
www.patreon.com...
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Hot off the presses - article just published in the NYT "Will A.I. Be a Bust? A Wall Street Skeptic Rings the Alarm" Head of Goldman Sachs stock research.......
www.nytimes.com...
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I have friends with differing politics, but one thing we agree on is "no one asked for any of this crap"
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I have a nickname for Copilot. I call him "Dory". You know, like Dory from "Finding Nemo".
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Hi all. Re that LinkedIn/AI piece Mark lists on the playlist, here's a WaPo article on how to turn off the AI harvesting:
www.washingtonpost.com...
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the local shoprite stupidmarket here has a roaming customer annoyer that gets in the way and makes juvenile noises a la that idiotic robot in star wars (which was my first clue that there was no reason to ever see that movie) ...like a robot can be cute.
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AI , AI , AI, AI!
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NayI
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So, those stalks are artificial Artificial Intelligence?
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I had to shut down a convo online re: a supposed "unseen" vintage photo of Margaret Bourke White on a ledge of the Chrysler Bldg. It was clearly generated by AI. The "Margaret" in the photo was holding a digital hasselbald! But that didn't stop ppl from thinking it was real. MBW took amazing photos and did shoot from the Chrysler Bldg (popping out of a gargoyle, and I don't know who took that famous 1932 photo of her). But this crappy AI photo wasn't her - and I was surprised that folks fell for it.
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aye?
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Hello
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cosmic matrix @6:10
nay!
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here!
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Hey Peter, how are you my man?
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Art @6:04
Seems quite possible that that is the case.
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Jeff Moore @6:07
"Please fill out this form before talking to me about this any more."
The form is this checklist--
SELECT ALL THAT APPLY:
* PYRAMID SCHEME
* ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE
* LABOR VIOLATION
* MECHANICAL TURK
* ALREADY EXISTS BUT MADE IT WORSE
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Hiihi
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AI in specialized cases is saving lots of time. Don't pretend it can do everything ... but for really boring stuff, like ETL, [
suno.com... ] I bet it's going to keep a lot of living people happier because this super dull boring work will be done by non-humans.
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I'll settle for old school intelligence.
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Funny, Apple seems to think their AI will sell more phones - and it's jammed into their latest OS
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hah tht was supposed to be a Wikipedia link! not a Suno song!
en.wikipedia.org...
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Hi Mark Hurst and all!!!
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Pretty sure I sent Mark an article on this topic. If now, I intended to.
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Webhamster Henry @6:13
many humans would prefer doing boring work to not being able to pay the rent and food bills
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Microsoft wants to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant to run an AI (mis)adventure.
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Ken From Hyde Park @6:17
it's worth the risks.
-and i don't live anywhere near there.
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@Mark... PREACH!
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companies have been looking for free ideas/creative for quite a while. doing advertising shootouts with multiple agencies and only paying the winner, crowdsourcing, using youtube/instagram crap with a lot of views....and now this. i'm sure it translates to any industry.
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Fredericks @6:16
"If not,"
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Ken From Hyde Park @6:17
Yet another thing which just makes me think the timeline we're living in is being written by really hacky writers who can't differentiate between plausible and ridiculous.
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prioritizing money & power∅ @6:18
LOL at your name. I grew up 10 min from there and my dad worked there from before the accident until retirement. Eager to ask him what his reaction to this news was
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dale @6:19
true, i hate pitch work its basically free work for clients. i use AI a lot in pitchwork to spend less time on it since its not paid anyway.
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Okay, I'm going to now mention a good use of AI that I use at work. It might be the only good use, so take note.
One of my jobs requires me to take official minutes for a municipal board meeting. Some changes have happened for the worse on this board, and their meetings are dreadful. I don't attend the meetings; I watch Zoom recordings to take my notes to draft the minutes. Zoom offers a transcript, which I'm sure is AI-generated. It's not perfect, but it does allow me to scroll through and get the gist of the meeting so I can listen to just the parts I need. It's hugely helpful and saves me a lot of time.
But, I still don't think it's worth keeping AI around. It's not the only solution to my problem.
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mndave @6:19
i live close enough to be concerned (upstate)
but even if i didn't. . .
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prioritizing money & power∅ @6:18
All the AI models point to "Yes, go right ahead!"
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mrs.bucci @6:19
it was all of the 90s. one year that's all i did was fodder to get chewed up and spit out but was never intended to be produced. it was frustrating.
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:21
I guess the reason I always opt out of Zoom AI is wondering who else gets to use that transcript. I don't think they'd provide it for free to you if that were its only use case.
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This “AI will fix everything” bit is the best ever!!
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Does anyone have a good instance of AI in medical screening? Asking for a friend..
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Handy Haversack @6:22
Today's wordle should be super easy for you (if you do that thing)
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If anything as expensive as AI agrees with me i must be right.
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Handy Haversack @6:22
I was actually trying to get to the transcript that Zoom's "AI Companion" is summarizing, just to get the transcript. They do a good job hiding it, in fact it's not available.
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fred @6:23
Nope! NYT's privacy policy? Not for the likes of me.
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Let me say that just yesterday I had a technical question about HTML. I was working on my webpage. I tried using a search engine, but got nowhere. It was a hard question.
So I explained my question to Pi (an AI chatbot). He knew the answer and explained it to me. And he helped me with some related questions.
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fred @6:23
Lol, my first 1
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How is it not hoopr.
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I understand tech companies that pledged to become carbon-neutral are going the other way. They're using more energy and other resources with their AI processor warehouses.
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Tomorrow, students in my high school have to swipe into the building and into the bathroom. At least I no longer have to enter it into a spreadsheet with last name, first name, time in, time out. Spreadsheets are fucking horrible!
Next steps, urinalysis a.i.
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Handy Haversack @6:22
Good point. It's definitely an ethical dilemma for me and I think about it a lot. Is there another solution, aside from waiting until one of my other two employers offers me more hours so I can quit this job? I think my solution might be an analogue one I started using many months ago when doing this particular task. It's called "drugs."
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Also, AI is mostly BS, and I work in the field.
There are people studying the ecological impact and trying to reduce energy demands of AI. But why think when brute force is at hand?
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Ken From Hyde Park @6:26
Plutocratic profit-production priorities prevail.
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Let's say you want AI to generate you a ten minute video.
And let's say it costs the AI company $5 of compute power, electricity, etc. to generate just one single instance of that ten minute video.
How many "free tries" does the AI company then give you to get the result you want, and what do they charge you for the for the video you get at the end to actually make a profit?
Even with the relatively simple still image tools available right now, it's all operating at massive losses because the market would not actually pay what it takes AI do the job.
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MarciB @6:23
if the medical mafia...the 3 PARASITIC "pharmacy benefit managers" that control most of the doctors now and virtually all the prices of pharmaceuticals are any indication, i'll say no, none.
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:27
frinkiac.com...
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Blu-Ray players have wifi now...so it, the tv, the cable box, the speakers all streaming....
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coelacanth∅ @6:28
I had a routine screening done recently - and noticed that "AI" has been included in the X-ray. I have to go back for additional screening. We'll see if there's an issue or it's a false positive from AI.
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To all this AI nonsense I say, Feh.
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ultradamno @6:29
Sometimes I hit the wrong button on the remote, and the TV asks me if I want to connect it to the internet, and I always say, "TV, you so crazy!"
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Mark apparently doesn’t want to maximize his round ball game.
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Handy Haversack @6:29
:-D
I definitely feel like Lionel Hutz when I get high and watch these meetings.
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Won't the backboard be taking a beating? Sounds bad for the circuitry.
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Fredericks @6:31
Right? I'm so confused by this
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:30
I love Frinkiac:
themarkup.org...
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This is just crap pretending to be AI.
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Maybe gym owners will buy these smartdumbbells so they can fire personal trainers who help make sure your form is correct.
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MarciB @6:30
so, the "doctors" (who's primary function now seems to be to refer you to other doctors) don't need to know how to interpret an x-ray now?
... if not now, it will be soon. "ai" will do it. flawlessly i assume.
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The Butterman @6:26
Smart turlit. All the higher ups want em. Say it will keep the kids health in check and scan the air for vaporized Ciggaretts
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coelacanth∅ @6:33
Ugh...not looking forward to this. I want a human to read X-rays!
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Handy Haversack @6:33
NICE! Bookmarking themarkup.org now...
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:33
You better believe it!
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Good Old LinkedIn - or some bot using LinkedIn's API, created about a dozen employees for me who all get lots of email offering them jobs and loans. Great names, too! like Elviria Faux, Kia Banks, Cinde Smith, Beryl Samuels , Jamar Woods
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MarciB @6:34
me too. in any case i hope you're okay.
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Thanks, I just switched off that setting on LinkedIn.
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LinkedIn - well Reed Hoffmann is on there touting his digital avatar! To much acclaim too. It's totally bizarre.
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Up, down, up , down, up, down (Arnold voice)
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the funny thing is most of those "LinkedIn influencers" are using AI to write their essay long content anyway, so AI being trained on AI in an infinity loop of blahhh
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coelacanth∅ @6:35
THanks - I'll be ok either way I think! Early detection courtesy of AI is ok by me. But not a false positive!
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Handy Haversack @6:33
WFMU is pretty clean too
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has the reopening of 3 mile island to power microsoft's a.i. power demands been covered
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fred @6:37
The main site is, but the playlist pages have Google Analytics crap on them.
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It's fun to get a little news update instead of the usual interview!
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Mark, 2025 premium idea: T-shirts and membership cards for the John Backflip Society. "Since 1316!"!
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I blatantly refuse AI whenever I can. I think it's dangerous and the unproductivity is because it's basically as smart as a baby.... Right now...
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Count me amongst the Don't ever want AI crowd
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"Fun, Fun, Fun" by "New Riders Of The Purple Sage"
not as good as Carl Stone's version
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AI is not the answer, we should be investing in humanity
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from what's been related on the chat, even if a.i. blankets us, the blanket will fray pretty quickly by not meeting existential needs
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Handy Haversack @6:37
Ugh, they sure do. I just put my own playlist landing page into Blacklight. The response: It's otherwise clean but... "Blacklight detected this website sending user data to Alphabet, the technology conglomerate that encompasses Google and associated companies like Nest. The Silicon Valley giant collects data from twice the number of websites as its closest competitor, Facebook. "
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I found this, from Rob Horning's substack, to be another angle on [the terribleness of] AI that resonated: "we are all now forced to stop taking for granted what the fact of communication used to automatically convey. This means that generative models don’t save any work in aggregate; they at best redistribute it, displacing it onto someone else"
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Smart Can! soon! “You have a magnesium deficiency…”
“you have spent 50% longer on this smart can than the majority of yer peers”
“This smart can is able to analyze yer
Movements and confidently detail yer diet composed predominantly of zagnuts, cyber nuggets and tim Hortons. Please accept these coupons for such and such vegetable at so&o market. Please See coupons on back of teacher’s smart printer”
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So Ellison wants the US to be just like China ?
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Jeff Golick @6:44
right...a.i. doesn;t think
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This sounds just like Dave Eggers' "The Circle"
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And in more news involving that enthusiastic supervillain Ellison:
www.bloomberg.com...
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:43
Time to talk to Ken!
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tom tom the pipers son @6:45
...leaving it up to people to figure out wtf is meant to be communicated by a machine.
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On a happier note the stock DJT closed at an all-time low today.
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Handy Haversack @6:46
That's something listeners should raise with him, for sure.
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Ellison and Project 2025. Seems like a perfect match.
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Art @6:47
I wanna see it hit rock bottom!
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MarciB @6:44
As Mark and his guest Darren Byler have pointed out, it's U.S. tech companies that helped China establish the Uyghir surveillance regimes.
www.wfmu.org...
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Jeff Golick @6:47
yes there is the element of humans working for machines and machines working for super rich
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Just watched the film, Demon Seed, last night. That shit was crazy!
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I took a peek at that Goldman Sachs PDF. It's fairly damning by their standards. It basically boils down to, "Gosh, we're not really going to make any money on this crap, are we?"
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Handy Haversack @6:49
That was a horrifying but important episode. And seems like Big Tech is fine if that's where we're heading.
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even taking a bath while listening to this show is JUST NOT RELAXING
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tom tom the pipers son @6:49
a new feudalism
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omg terrifying
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we need that “freedom-loving” trump base to rally against this kind of stuff
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cosmic matrix @6:52
that would be remarkable but unlikely, sadly.
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MarciB @6:53
i agree, unfortunately.
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Nuclear AI decision-making? What could possibly go wrong?
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Fail safe ring a bell
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en.wikipedia.org...
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OK, I just went and switched off the Generative AI on my little-used LinkedIn account. Thinking about abandoning all networking platforms save for this one.
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Watch the movie
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name the nuclear a.i. HAL
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Jeff Moore @6:54
Also, Cf. "Doctor Strangelove."
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holy sh*t
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Nick K @6:54
Jinx!
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Comiela will save us all
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or The Tommyknockers, on a more Grindhouse/apocalyptic scale.
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Jeff Moore @6:54
On my list! Thanks.
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“Mister president we must not allow a mine shaft gap!….”
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this trajectory is the last stages of cartesianism
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Wait, did you say Russia has put AI in charge of its nukes? Oh good. We are all doomed. Where are the end-of-the-world orgies? C'mon people, we're all going to die, let's have fun before we're vaporized.
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Bring it home, Mark!
Great episode. Many thanks!
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spread the gospel, mark!!!! geez.
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OK, OK. Granted, AI is awesome. AI could bring trouble. But what are you going to do about it? AI is here.
Do you think we can politely ask the whole world to knock it off?
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Good stuff Mark.
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Thanks Mark!
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Thanks for taking us to the brink of apocalypse, Mark!
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Mark thanks
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Thank Mark!
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“You have a magnesium deficiency…”
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“Of course the whole point of a doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!”
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WOPR
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thank you
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Thank you, Mark!
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Thanks Mark!
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thanks mark...
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We definitely don’t want an AI finger on the nuclear button, since AI gets confused about how many fingers there should be on a hand
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Drones with AI technology will fly over future battlefields and identify targets. They'll drop bombs on stuff or call in missile strikes. Terminator predicted this. Thanks, Mark.
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Money stinks!
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joe_rosevear @6:56
AI is not here. It's mostly just a big scam. Listen to the show again, you didn't get it. Read the Goldman Sachs PDF linked here. Even they don't believe in it.
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Because of Mark's show about Google's AI fruit-search debacle, now I keep referring to them as "applums" and "bananums." Coconut remains unchanged.
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MKT in Inwood @6:57
Pooky Park on Youtube gets 3 thumbs up from me. If only all AI was always that much fun.
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Thanks, everyone!
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Wendy del Formaggio @6:59
LOL
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Thanks Mark!
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i̺k̺e̺ @6:58
It's OK to be in denial. This is a big change, somewhat like the death of a friend. I will let you grieve.
Here is a book to read when you are past grieving and ready to go forward. I found it in our San Diego Public Library. It examines AI on many levels including "Chapter 5, Security and World Order" which is about this very problem of "AI pushing the nuclear button":
"The Age of AI, And Our Human Future". The well known Henry Kissinger is one of its three authors.
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"A.I. Is Already Harming Democracy, Competition, Consumers, Workers, Climate, and More"
https://www.citizen.org/news/a-i-is-already-harming-democracy-competition-consumers-workers-climate-and-more/
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joe_rosevear @7:35
Henry Kissinger was a vile, cruel sociopath.