Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from September 23, 2024 Favoriting

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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. In our shift to a digital future, we need alternatives to Big Tech. Homepage: techtonic.fm

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Favoriting September 23, 2024: What if no one wants AI?

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Today: What if no one wants AI?

The bubble of hype around AI is showing signs of impending collapse, even as the environmental costs of AI are skyrocketing. What happens when people get tired of AI being jammed into their cars, candy stores, and basketball hoops, and just want to go back to normal life?


1. The AI bubble is ready to pop.

Brands should avoid this popular term. It’s turning off customers (CNN Aug 10, 2024). The term is AI.
A study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management in June found that describing a product as using AI lowers a customer’s intention to buy it. . . .

“We looked at vacuum cleaners, TVs, consumer services, health services,” said Dogan Gursoy, one of the study’s authors and the Taco Bell Distinguished Professor of hospitality business management at Washington State University, in an interview with CNN. “In every single case, the intention to buy or use the product or service was significantly lower whenever we mentioned AI in the product description.”
(Yes, it’s a quote from the Taco Bell Distinguished Professor.)

AI’s Productivity Theater (Cory Doctorow, Aug 4, 2024):
A new research report from the Upwork Research Institute offers a look into the bizarre situation unfolding in workplaces where bosses have been conned into buying AI and now face the challenge of getting it to work as advertised:

The headline findings tell the whole story:

96% of bosses expect that AI will make their workers more productive;
85% of companies are either requiring or strongly encouraging workers to use AI;
49% of workers have no idea how AI is supposed to increase their productivity;
77% of workers say using AI decreases their productivity.
Against the commercial internet (Cory Dransfeldt, May 10, 2024):
We’re pursuing artificial general intelligence — it’ll solve everything. Look at the industry’s track record, right?

They’ve solved all of our transportation woes — oh wait.
They’ve revolutionized journalism — oh wait.
They’ve lifted up musicians and solved all of their problems — oh wait.
They’ve revolutionized and fixed TV and content production — oh wait.
They’ve given everyone a platform for a healthy public discourse — oh wait.
They’ve revolutionized work-life balance and flexibility with gig work — oh wait.
They’ve revolutionized and decentralized the financial system — oh wait.
They’ve created breakthrough medical technology — oh wait.
They’ve revolutionized planning new cities and municipalities — oh wait.
Don’t worry though, it’ll all work out this time.
Ed Zitron on the Goldman AI report (July 8, 2024), referring to a Goldman Sachs report called Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? (PDF June 25, 2024):
The report covers AI’s productivity benefits (which Goldman remarks are likely limited), AI’s returns (which are likely to be significantly more limited than anticipated), and AI’s power demands (which are likely so significant that utility companies will have to spend nearly 40% more in the next three years to keep up with the demand from hyperscalers like Google and Microsoft).

This report is so significant because Goldman Sachs, like any investment bank, does not care about anyone’s feelings unless doing so is profitable. It will gladly hype anything if it thinks it’ll make a buck.

For Goldman to suddenly turn on the AI movement suggests that it’s extremely anxious about the future of generative AI . . .
The Subprime AI Crisis (Ed Zitron, Sep 16, 2024):
I believe that the artificial intelligence boom — which would be better described as a generative AI boom — is unsustainable, and will ultimately collapse.



2. AI is being jammed everywhere.

I visited the huupe, NYC’s 1st public ‘smart basketball hoop,’ in the East Village (Gothamist, Sep 9, 2024):
When the city unveiled its first-ever “smart basketball hoop” last month, a host of television crews and city officials crowded into Tompkins Square Park to herald its arrival.

A week later, the huupe, as the gadget is called, stood alone, quite literally on the sidelines of the court, while two friends went one-on-one at the newly refurbished “dumb” hoops a few feet away.

[It] displayed a “no internet connection” alert and was restricted to counting shots made vs. shots missed.
All for the low, low price of $10,000. The company has received $11 million in funding so far.



Kabata Sets Price for AI-Powered Dumbbells, Plans To Ship This Year (Athletech News, Sep 3, 2024): Kabata is a tech startup making dumbbells with AI jammed inside 4.
[The dumbbells use] AI to count reps, track velocity and analyze form in real-time. The dumbbells send haptic feedback to users as they’re performing movements, vibrating as sets and reps are completed or if a form correction is required.

With the Kabata app, users get access to personalized strength training programs that adapt over time as they use the dumbbells. The app also tracks advanced metrics like velocity and symmetry, giving users unique insights into their strength training performance.
Because regular dumbbells really have never worked well, right?

The company has raised $5 million for this idea.

LinkedIn Is Training AI on User Data Before Updating Its Terms of Service (Joseph Cox in 404 Media, Sep 18, 2024): “LinkedIn appears to have gone ahead with training AI on its users’ data, even creating a new option in its settings, without updating its terms of service.”

There’s an option in LinkedIn privacy settings, already set to ON:
“Can Linkedin and its affiliates use your personal data and content you created on LinkedIn to train generative AI models that create content?” the option asks. The next line says “Use my data for training content creation AI models,” with an off and on switch.
Snapchat Reserves the Right to Use AI-Generated Images of Your Face in Ads (by Emanuel Maiberg in 404 Media, Sep 17, 2024):
Snapchat is reserving the right to put its users’ faces in ads, according to terms of service related to its “My Selfie” tool (formerly “AI Selfies”), which allows users and their friends to create AI-generated images trained on their selfies.

Users have the option to opt out of this by toggling off a “feature” in the app called “See My Selfie in Ads,” but according to 404 Media’s testing this feature is on by default.
And, of course, Google . . .





3. If nothing changes, spreading AI will ruin your day

Billionaire Larry Ellison says a vast AI-fueled surveillance system can ensure ‘citizens will be on their best behavior’ (Business Insider, Sep 15, 2024):
Larry Ellison, the billionaire cofounder of Oracle . . . said AI will usher in a new era of surveillance that he gleefully said will ensure “citizens will be on their best behavior.”

Ellison made the comments as he spoke to investors earlier this week during an Oracle financial analysts meeting, where he shared his thoughts on the future of AI-powered surveillance tools.

Ellison said AI would be used in the future to constantly watch and analyze vast surveillance systems, like security cameras, police body cameras, doorbell cameras, and vehicle dashboard cameras.

“We’re going to have supervision,” Ellison said. “Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times, and if there’s a problem, AI will report that problem and report it to the appropriate person. Citizens will be on their best behavior because we are constantly recording and reporting everything that’s going on.”

Ellison also expects AI drones to replace police cars in high-speed chases. “You just have a drone follow the car,” Ellison said. “It’s very simple in the age of autonomous drones.”
Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse? (Guardian, Sep 15, 2024): “Emissions from in-house data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple may be 7.62 times higher than official tally.” Also:
AI is far more energy-intensive on data centers than typical cloud-based applications. According to Goldman Sachs, a ChatGPT query needs nearly 10 times as much electricity to process as a Google search, and data center power demand will grow 160% by 2030.
• Or as McSweeney’s puts it, The Department of Energy Wants You to Know Your Conservation Efforts Are Making a Difference (Sep 10, 2024):
– By turning off your lights all day every day for a month, you conserved about 1 percent of the energy needed for AI to generate a picture of a duck wearing sunglasses. Isn’t he cute? Aside from the fact that he has the feet of a human man, of course.

– By switching all the lightbulbs in your house to LED, you saved enough energy for a self-driving car to make an unprotected lefthand turn across three lanes of traffic.

– Waking up at 4 a.m. to do your laundry conserved a ton of energy—energy that was used by ChatGPT to help a seventh grader plagiarize his entire essay on George Orwell’s 1984. Who needs to read a book on technology, totalitarianism, and propaganda, anyway?
• And finally . . . How AI is changing warfare (Economist, June 20, 2024):
There is even talk of using ai in nuclear decision-making. The idea is that countries could not only fuse data to keep track of incoming threats but also retaliate automatically if the political leadership is killed in a first strike. The Soviet Union's . . . “Perimetr” system . . . is now rumoured to be reliant on AI-driven software, notes Leonid Ryabikhin, a former Soviet air-force officer and arms-control expert. In 2023 a group of American senators even introduced a new bill: the Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act.


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Artist Track Images Approx. start time
  What if no one wants AI? An argument in three parts.
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Plone  Plock   Favoriting   0:37:07 (MP3 | Pop-up)
New Riders Of The Purple Sage  Fun, Fun, Fun   Favoriting   0:37:08 (MP3 | Pop-up)
The Organizing Committee  The Day Computers Became Obsolete   Favoriting
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Listener comments!

Avatar 5:31pm
Jeff Moore:

HUUPE?

This stuff is self-parodying.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 5:58pm
ultradamno:

Mark! Techtontrarians!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:00pm
cosmic matrix:

hallo hallo
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:00pm
David (in London):

Evening Mark and all Technoids.
Avatar 6:01pm
MarciB:

Greetings all! Looking forward to the show and convo.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
chresti:

Hi Mark and techtonicians!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
Bas NL:

Ai, Ai, Ai... No! It's Mark Hurst! Hi AIsters!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Mirror, mirror on the wall, why do we need AI at all? 🪞
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Hello Mark and friends! Totally psyched for tonight's show, but that's what I say every week. 'Cos it's true.
:-D
Avatar 6:02pm
Triple G:

Hello Mark and all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
JeremyB:

Hey Mark! Hum was a great recommendation. Loved it!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
bleubombersune:

Good evening Mark and pseudocrats
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Can I be a Taco Bell Distinguished DJ? I don't know if I want to be a professor.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Art:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
The Butterman:

This should be good. Fast forward to Mark’s disgusted, maniacal laughter at the absurdity!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

Mark. Techies.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
Handy Haversack:

Mark! Members of the Technical Diffi-Cult!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Public Enemy 2024: Don't believe the huupe.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Peter from Saranac Lake NY:

↳ David (in London) @6:00
David! What's up?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Spikey BXL:

Thank you for shopping at Minority Report Inc.

Hi Mark
Avatar 6:06pm
joe_rosevear:

Greetings Mark and all!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
cosmic matrix:

“AI!” the sound one makes when jumping off a cliff
Avatar 6:07pm
Jeff Moore:

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 @Lubchansky@mastodon.social :

www.patreon.com...
  6:07pm
Kid Kennedy:

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...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
mndave:

I have friends with differing politics, but one thing we agree on is "no one asked for any of this crap"
Avatar 6:08pm
joe_rosevear:

I have a nickname for Copilot. I call him "Dory". You know, like Dory from "Finding Nemo".
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Jeff Golick:

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...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
coelacanth∅:

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.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Webhamster Henry:

AI , AI , AI, AI!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Spikey BXL:

NayI
Avatar 6:10pm
Fredericks:

So, those stalks are artificial Artificial Intelligence?
Avatar 6:10pm
MarciB:

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.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
cosmic matrix:

aye?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
DjLorraine:

Hello
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:10
nay!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
mackeral:

here!
  6:12pm
David (in London):

Hey Peter, how are you my man?
Avatar 6:12pm
Fredericks:

↳ Art @6:04
Seems quite possible that that is the case.
Avatar 6:13pm
Jeff Moore:

↳ 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
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
PaulRobeson1924:

Hiihi
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
Webhamster Henry:

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.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
Bas NL:

I'll settle for old school intelligence.
Avatar 6:14pm
MarciB:

Funny, Apple seems to think their AI will sell more phones - and it's jammed into their latest OS
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
Webhamster Henry:

hah tht was supposed to be a Wikipedia link! not a Suno song! en.wikipedia.org...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
Will thee SG OCNY:

Hi Mark Hurst and all!!!
Avatar 6:16pm
Fredericks:

Pretty sure I sent Mark an article on this topic. If now, I intended to.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ Webhamster Henry @6:13
many humans would prefer doing boring work to not being able to pay the rent and food bills
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Microsoft wants to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant to run an AI (mis)adventure.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
prioritizing money & power∅:

↳ Ken From Hyde Park @6:17
it's worth the risks.
-and i don't live anywhere near there.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
Blobs:

@Mark... PREACH!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
dale:

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.
Avatar 6:19pm
Fredericks:

↳ Fredericks @6:16
"If not,"
Avatar 6:19pm
Jeff Moore:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
mndave:

↳ 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
Avatar 6:19pm
mrs.bucci:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ mndave @6:19
i live close enough to be concerned (upstate)
but even if i didn't. . .
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

↳ prioritizing money & power∅ @6:18
All the AI models point to "Yes, go right ahead!"
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:22pm
dale:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:22pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ 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.
  6:22pm
Andres:

This “AI will fix everything” bit is the best ever!!
Avatar 6:23pm
MarciB:

Does anyone have a good instance of AI in medical screening? Asking for a friend..
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
fred:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:22
Today's wordle should be super easy for you (if you do that thing)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Bas NL:

If anything as expensive as AI agrees with me i must be right.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
Webhamster Henry:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:24pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ fred @6:23
Nope! NYT's privacy policy? Not for the likes of me.
Avatar 6:24pm
joe_rosevear:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Spikey BXL:

↳ fred @6:23
Lol, my first 1
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Jeff Golick:

How is it not hoopr.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
The Butterman:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ 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."
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
fred:

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?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
Art:

↳ Ken From Hyde Park @6:26
Plutocratic profit-production priorities prevail.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
mrdonutsu:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:28pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:27
frinkiac.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
ultradamno:

Blu-Ray players have wifi now...so it, the tv, the cable box, the speakers all streaming....
Avatar 6:30pm
MarciB:

↳ 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.
  6:30pm
Carla in NC:

To all this AI nonsense I say, Feh.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ 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!"
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
The Butterman:

Mark apparently doesn’t want to maximize his round ball game.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:29
:-D

I definitely feel like Lionel Hutz when I get high and watch these meetings.
Avatar 6:31pm
Fredericks:

Won't the backboard be taking a beating? Sounds bad for the circuitry.
Avatar 6:31pm
MarciB:

↳ Fredericks @6:31
Right? I'm so confused by this
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:30
I love Frinkiac: themarkup.org...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
mrdonutsu:

This is just crap pretending to be AI.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Maybe gym owners will buy these smartdumbbells so they can fire personal trainers who help make sure your form is correct.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
PaulRobeson1924:

↳ 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
Avatar 6:34pm
MarciB:

↳ coelacanth∅ @6:33
Ugh...not looking forward to this. I want a human to read X-rays!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:33
NICE! Bookmarking themarkup.org now...
Avatar 6:34pm
MarciB:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:33
You better believe it!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Webhamster Henry:

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
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ MarciB @6:34
me too. in any case i hope you're okay.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Ike:

Thanks, I just switched off that setting on LinkedIn.
Avatar 6:35pm
MarciB:

LinkedIn - well Reed Hoffmann is on there touting his digital avatar! To much acclaim too. It's totally bizarre.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
The Butterman:

Up, down, up , down, up, down (Arnold voice)
Avatar 6:36pm
mrs.bucci:

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
Avatar 6:36pm
MarciB:

↳ 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!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
fred:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:33
WFMU is pretty clean too
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
tom tom the pipers son:

has the reopening of 3 mile island to power microsoft's a.i. power demands been covered
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ fred @6:37
The main site is, but the playlist pages have Google Analytics crap on them.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
Webhamster Henry:

It's fun to get a little news update instead of the usual interview!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
Handy Haversack:

Mark, 2025 premium idea: T-shirts and membership cards for the John Backflip Society. "Since 1316!"!
  6:41pm
R:

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...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:41pm
Richy4619:

Count me amongst the Don't ever want AI crowd
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
coelacanth∅:

↳ Song: "Fun, Fun, Fun" by "New Riders Of The Purple Sage"
not as good as Carl Stone's version
  6:43pm
821:

AI is not the answer, we should be investing in humanity
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
tom tom the pipers son:

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
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:43pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ 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. "
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:44pm
Jeff Golick:

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"
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:44pm
PaulRobeson1924:

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”
Avatar 6:44pm
MarciB:

So Ellison wants the US to be just like China ?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ Jeff Golick @6:44
right...a.i. doesn;t think
Avatar 6:45pm
MarciB:

This sounds just like Dave Eggers' "The Circle"
Avatar 6:46pm
Jeff Moore:

And in more news involving that enthusiastic supervillain Ellison:

www.bloomberg.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:43
Time to talk to Ken!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:47pm
Jeff Golick:

↳ tom tom the pipers son @6:45
...leaving it up to people to figure out wtf is meant to be communicated by a machine.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:47pm
Art:

On a happier note the stock DJT closed at an all-time low today.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:48pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Handy Haversack @6:46
That's something listeners should raise with him, for sure.
Avatar 6:48pm
MarciB:

Ellison and Project 2025. Seems like a perfect match.
Avatar 6:49pm
MarciB:

↳ Art @6:47
I wanna see it hit rock bottom!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
Handy Haversack:

↳ 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...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ Jeff Golick @6:47
yes there is the element of humans working for machines and machines working for super rich
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:49pm
The Butterman:

Just watched the film, Demon Seed, last night. That shit was crazy!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
Ike:

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?"
Avatar 6:51pm
MarciB:

↳ 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.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
cosmic matrix:

even taking a bath while listening to this show is JUST NOT RELAXING
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
tom tom the pipers son:

↳ tom tom the pipers son @6:49
a new feudalism
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:51pm
cosmic matrix:

omg terrifying
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:52pm
cosmic matrix:

we need that “freedom-loving” trump base to rally against this kind of stuff
Avatar 6:53pm
MarciB:

↳ cosmic matrix @6:52
that would be remarkable but unlikely, sadly.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:53pm
cosmic matrix:

↳ MarciB @6:53
i agree, unfortunately.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Nuclear AI decision-making? What could possibly go wrong?
  6:54pm
Nick K:

Fail safe ring a bell
Avatar 6:54pm
Jeff Moore:

en.wikipedia.org...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Dano59:

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.
  6:54pm
Nick K:

Watch the movie
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
tom tom the pipers son:

name the nuclear a.i. HAL
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

↳ Jeff Moore @6:54
Also, Cf. "Doctor Strangelove."
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
cosmic matrix:

holy sh*t
Avatar 6:55pm
Jeff Moore:

↳ Nick K @6:54
Jinx!
  6:55pm
Nick K:

Comiela will save us all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
Dano59:

or The Tommyknockers, on a more Grindhouse/apocalyptic scale.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
The Butterman:

↳ Jeff Moore @6:54
On my list! Thanks.
  6:56pm
kevlicki:

“Mister president we must not allow a mine shaft gap!….”
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
tom tom the pipers son:

this trajectory is the last stages of cartesianism
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
i̺k̺e̺:

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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Handy Haversack:

Bring it home, Mark!

Great episode. Many thanks!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
cosmic matrix:

spread the gospel, mark!!!! geez.
Avatar 6:56pm
joe_rosevear:

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?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Patrick S.:

Good stuff Mark.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Jeff Golick:

Thanks for taking us to the brink of apocalypse, Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
bleubombersune:

Mark thanks
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
coelacanth∅:

Thank Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
PaulRobeson1924:

“You have a magnesium deficiency…”
  6:56pm
kevlicki:

“Of course the whole point of a doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!”
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
Germanium:

WOPR
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
cosmic matrix:

thank you
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

Thank you, Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
chresti:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
tom tom the pipers son:

thanks mark...
  6:57pm
MKT in Inwood:

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
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

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.
  6:58pm
?:

Money stinks!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
i̺k̺e̺:

↳ 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.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Wendy del Formaggio:

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.
  6:59pm
Billybob:

↳ MKT in Inwood @6:57
Pooky Park on Youtube gets 3 thumbs up from me. If only all AI was always that much fun.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Mark Hurst:

Thanks, everyone!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
i̺k̺e̺:

↳ Wendy del Formaggio @6:59
LOL
Avatar 7:00pm
Triple G:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar 7:35pm
joe_rosevear:

↳ 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.
  1:15pm
jbrudolf:

"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/
Avatar Swag For Life Member 3:32pm
Ike:

↳ joe_rosevear @7:35
Henry Kissinger was a vile, cruel sociopath.
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