Quackery 0
Farron discusses an editorial from The Lancet about the damage RFK Jr. has done to the public’s health.
Read the news report that led to Farron’s video.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And, as we all know, politeness takes practice.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid,
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you, brother,
You won’t find one without the other.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A wolf in sheep’s clothing? At the Psychology Today website, Mike Brooks explores why many persons don’t see the dangers posed by AI. He makes four main points:
- We laugh at each new AI iteration right up until it’s too late. This is a pattern as old as the steam engine.
- AI agents have already retaliated against humans and disabled their own safety controls unprompted.
- Bad actors are imagining AI-powered schemes that decent people would never think to anticipate.
- There is no enforceable global regulation for autonomous AI agents operating on private computers.
Follow the link for a detailed exploration of each one.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Weaponized? Security maven Bruce Schneir looks at the recent who-shot-john at the Pentagon and concludes that “AI will be used for military purposes, just as every other technology our species has invented has.”
Follow the link for the full article.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Per northjersey.com, veterans of the civil rights mevement are hearing lots of rhymes from those times from the tramps of the American Stasi. Here’s a tiny bit:
“The government is not just repressing Black people,” he said. “Now, they are repressing a broader swath of the population that includes anybody that opposes them. . . .”
________________
*Mark Twain.
The Irrationalization, Reprise 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Leonard Hitchcock tries to figure out why the Trump maladministration wanted war with Iran.
No summary or excerpt will do his piece justice. Just go read it.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And, as we know, a polite society is a clean society.
He reportedly pulled the trigger, firing a single round that struck his pointer finger.
Aside:
If he had just cleaned it, how the heck could he have not known that it was loaded.
For that matter, the first step in cleaning a gun is making sure it’s not loaded.
So many guns. So much stupid.
QOTD 0
Emile Durkheim:
Afterthought:
Methinks we are seeing evidence of the accuracy of this statement every day.
Mullen It Over 0
Seth takes a closer look at Trump’s replacing Kristi Noem with Markwayne Mullen and the chaotic incompetence associated therewith.
War and Mongers of War 0
At the Psychology Today website, Sterlin L. Mosley argues that there is a “clinical link between authoritarianism, narcissism, and armed conflict.” He makes three main points:
- Authoritarian and narcissistic leaders share a root: a fragile ego that cannot tolerate challenge.
- Narcissistic leaders experience political opposition as personal threat, not strategic friction.
- A narcissistic leader’s military becomes an extension of their distorted ego, not a policy tool.
Methinks it a timely article. Follow the link to see whether you agree.