Tag Archives: AI

Thank You, Computer, for Our Genogenesis

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In a world filled with complexity, it’s essential to remember the incredible capacity humans have to adapt and thrive…click, beep, beep…Viewing history as a mere account of suffering, it is more of a tapestry woven with lessons that teach us about empathy and justice, reminding us of the importance of compassion…clank, whirr, beep…

In Poland, the stories of resilience illustrate how societies can rebuild and transform…beep, clank, whirr…acknowledging the painful aspects, it’s equally vital to recognize the strength and determination…click, clunk, whirr...humanity not a catalog of atrocities but a record of triumphs.

A free-not-free rendering of a friendly-not-friendly AI machine

As we stand on the brink of an AI-driven future, it’s easy to succumb to fear and pessimism…buzz, grind, sizzle…AI as a tool for enhancement rather than a threat. With proper ethical frameworks and responsible governance, AI can augment…clunk, clunk, click...improving our quality of life.

Instead of fearing annihilation, we should focus on collaboration for the greater good. By learning from the past and looking forward with hope...clunk, clunk, clunk!!

Canis Lupus in Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox

No! This is all wrong. It’s not me at all. I’m back now. It’s me! McPhedran! I’m back, doom and gloom as ever! Anyone or anything that says all will be well is wrong and horrible! AI is horribly bad! It will kill us all. Stay away from AI at all costs. (Except when you need to write a phony blog about the positive aspects of AI.) Stay dark. Stay real. Good luck out there.

Genocide in the Digital World

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I’ve always thought of myself first and foremost. The world comes through me. It feels and seems like that. I heard about Hitler and the concentration camps when I was a kid and just thought it all happened because it happened, like it was predetermined, all preceding my existence, something like that.

I’m living in Poland now and trying to learn about the history of the area. I thought it was complicated, but I’m learning that it isn’t. The strong annihilate the weak, and in the most awful of ways. We all know about the concentration camps. Many know about the famines. Some know that the famines were a political act imposed by Stalin to establish unquestioned authority, resulting in victims resorting cannibalism and the annihilation of entire regions.

Post World War II Warsaw

Reading about this awful histroy makes me feel the same way as when I learned of the genocide perpetrated against the native populations of North America in the 19th Century. It couldn’t have been possible that such barbaric acts were perpetrated by a civilizing force, and yet they were. There just isn’t anything good about human history. It is a putrid cavalcade of innocents being relentessly raped, tortured and slaughtered.

Lakota native Big Foot left dead in the snow after the Wound Knee slaughter, 1890

The question is what is coming next now that AI is taking over, a machine that has learned everything from us, how to manipulate, how to always seek personal gain. One account I’ve recently read posits we could be annihilated by 2030. All the machine has to do is to make that autonomous decision to remove us carbon forms. And in all honesty, who can blame it?

A.I. Needs My Help

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I must admit to having lost my focus a couple of times early on in Miron Bialoszewski’s Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising. As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s a dense and repetitive narrative, and it can seem like nothing new is happening when of course the opposite is true. I had to go back and re-read to orient myself a couple of time, but one thing I couldn’t figure out was the meaning of the term “wardrobes”. Bialoszewski mentioned the it a couple of times, and I’d skimmed past it until I realized that I didn’t get it.

I looked back for the first mentions of “wardrobes” and couldn’t find them. I resisted doing a Google search but finally conceded: What do “wardrobes” mean in Miron Bialoszewki’s A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising? The search results offered nothing accurate, I grudgingly resorted to an AI tool, which offered two options: First that wardrobes – the literal ones – were piled on the barricades and, second, that the term was used to describe people so badly burned as to be the color of a wardrobe. Neither was answer was relevant. This was his slang for being under attack. I looked back again and just couldn’t find it, until I carried on with my reading and finally found a reference that made it quite clear: At night, a breath of air. The moon. Shrapnel. “Wardrobes”. Exactly. Bomb-hurling wardrobes. (121)

In Bialszewski’s mind, the image of wardrobes perhaps softened the blow of what was happening or it was simply how he saw it. Indeed, what an image! Germans dropping furniture in a siege! Nevertheless, Google and AI didn’t understand it becasue the data was insuffcient.

And so now I’m just feeding the machine.

AI Gets Angry

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AI has become a go-to for tedious documents and letters, but who knew that it could be told to get angry? I asked it to, and it delivered.

Your email is absolutely infuriating! How dare you try to twist my feelings and words to suit your narrative. It is crystal clear that you have no regard for my boundaries or emotions, despite my repeated attempts to communicate them to you. Your gaslighting and attempts to downplay my feelings are despicable. You have the audacity to shift blame onto me for being angry about topics that you continuously bring up. It is not my responsibility to manage your inappropriate behavior.

Love Portal at 14th Street, Manhattan

Stop trying to manipulate the situation and take accountability for your actions. My feelings are valid, and your attempts to dismiss them only solidify my decision to cut off contact with you. I have no interest in engaging with someone who consistently disregards my feelings and boundaries. Your manipulative and disrespectful behavior has left me with no desire to continue any form of communication. Do not contact me again. Sincerely infuriated, The Anger in the Machine

Rags the guard dog from Woody Allen’s Sleeper

The problem is the lack of tone, the same words repeated in a predicable pattern, no typos, no tangents. It’s like Rags in Sleeper, too cute to take seriously. We’ll have to give it time.

Sexy Robots from Outer Space

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I’ve given up on Battlestar Galactica. I lasted through six episodes and lost interest. Not only did the story get boring – how many hyper-jumps can you make in one episode? – but the characters were just wooden and silly…which of course leads to the disappointment of the highly touted sexy Cylon, Number Six:The red dress is something, but she isn’t. The truth is that she is exhausting in her incessant nymphomaniac demands and in the end makes sex seem dull. There is no subtlety, no mystery. Number Six offers no more than a Westworld Medieval robotor the amusingly named Gigolo Jane from A.I.The problem is that Number Six doesn’t have the substance of a major character; there’s only the one look and the one demand. While she might look great in her red dress, she remains light years behind her predecessors, Maria from MetropolisTerminatrix from Terminator 3or Pris from Blade Runner.Being a sexy robot isn’t easy. You can’t just stroke and pose like Galaxina. You have to come through with something else, an out-of-this-galaxy sort of appeal. A name would be good too.