@mcfrank0
Retired from 45 years of clinical and IS/IT in healthcare. Studied Electrical Engineering/Computer Science at Northwestern University Exploring a path not professionally taken: Music (already a trained singer)
For those who have forgotten the past 40 years:
Tax cuts for the rich
...don’t trickle down
Boosting military spending
...doesn’t bring peace
Slashing regulations
...doesn’t create jobs
Folks, we’ve seen this all before.
...but some folks can't see the use or necessity of some kinds of help.
And it seems I have fastened my highjacked tangent properly back in place at BOTH ends.
As someone who lived in Chicago for 35 years, I love how Obama's eulogy recontextualized something for me.
Any time there was a significant issue in Chicago, Jesse Jackson was always there speaking to the TV cameras and it was often seen as publicity seeking behavior instead of offering help...
...and more determination to address what can be done that needs to be done.
Is anyone else seeing the same problem or is it just me?
** End of tangent **
Back on topic...
It appears to me that the current Authoritarian Regime has caused our own authoritarian behaviors to come to the fore (if they weren't already there).
I have made the philosophy of the Serenity Prayer one of my pillars, and we could all do with more acceptance of what can't be changed (the past!)..
I keep pointing out that the side that supposedly supports diversity should be able to understand how to respectfully negotiate different points of view and that in the real world there is no one way to do a thing.
If it works, it's correct. If it doesn't work, do something else.
...Yes, things are bad and will get worse before they can get better thanks to Republicans and Trump.
But if the collective-we can't get our act together and identify common cause and goals and stop treating each other as the enemy, we will never take back control from Trump et al.
I am finding that people are showing their asses in just about every comment section on every political blog and social network I visit.
The pronouncements of doom and hopelessness are balanced by complete ignorance of what is possible and/or necessary along with ever worsening factional attacks...
Let me know if "The Librarian/The Librarians" start showing up.
...non-existent sources, they would have readily recognized another bullshit artist.
.. .create a reliable solution (like a complete military campaign to successfully invade any country and remove its leader) tells me it is probably a combo of wishful thinking and glitchy human nature.
One would think that since all three men get by by making confident statements citing...
...(mostly enforced by a random prompt like "Tell me more about your mother.. "), I assumed people gave it a break because they thought that's how a Freudian analyst behaved.
But Elon, Trump, and Hegseth believed that an LLM is intelligent and can reliably understand a novel problem and...
...though it has no idea what the words actually mean.
*I came across Eliza when I was still in High School and was stunned when I printed out and reviewed the source code in BASIC.Although it didn't take long for a user to notice that the electronic psychotherapist had a limited range...
...To me, one of the biggest roadblocks is the fact we don't truly understand and can't properly describe human intelligence, something you have noted more than once.
However, as the program Eliza demonstrated*, humans are quite gullible when a machine uses conversational human language, even...
When I studied computer science (in the EE Department, there was no CS department yet) at Northwestern in the 70's, I considered AI as a possible career path. But, alas, I learned enough to know that we were nowhere near true AI, and my opinion remains the same today....
I am not aware of anyone creating a successful General AI, let alone one with consciousness and self-actualization
Personally, I think it is more likely, if this Agent actually exists and created an SSH tunnel to hustle crypto, it did so at the behest of a human partner.
@skepchick.org
Rebecca:
I just read an axios article about an AI "agent" that supposedly set up a crypto currency side hustle.
With everything I know about the current state of AI, this doesn't pass the smell test for me
Your thoughts?
www.axios.com/2026/03/07/a...
...
So, how are you?
...that this will be the LAST move I ever make.
Also, I need to figure out what I am going to do with 97,000 miles on American that will expire in June. I am still paying off the credit card that amassed those miles
($48,000 down/$2,000 to go), so I am NOT inclined to let them go.
WPO problems!
...even for someone who was supposed to be dead SIX years ago.
We now have an electric car! A 2020 Chevy Bolt EV. I love it but there was a LOT to learn, with zero education from the dealer.
Unfortunately, our landlords are also getting older and they are selling the townhouse. Can I pretend...
Catching up:
I turned 70 last August and I sang "As if we never said good-bye" from Sunset Boulevard at Karaoke to celebrate.
I'm about to see my oncologist for my SEVEN YEAR follow-up visit and an appointment with my General Medicine MD a couple of days later. I am doing incredibly well...
*I just found out that Barbra Streisand recorded a version of "Cry Me a River" on her first album. And it's great and very Barbra.
But in my heart, Miss Julie London owns this song, especially as filmed for "The Girl Can't Help It".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWAn...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAAq...
So, again thanks for reading this far. I really do need another perspective in this race. And although I can keep up the news here on BlueSky (now with zero childish MAGA content), the range of perspectives here is not as wide as it should be.
...Jasmine was receiving comparatively less coverage in the media to the point when, until she threw her hat in the Senatorial ring, she wasn't even mentioned. It was just the Bernie/AOC show.
So, we know where the hearts of the milquetoast contingent lie.
I do have to mention that I noticed something over the end of last year. Initially when Bernie, AOC and Jasmine were all attending Town Halls to replace the Republican Reps and Senators too afraid to face their constituents, all three were all over the news. But slowly, yet very noticeably...
...open corruption that screams "You must be THIS rich to ride this ride" with generous helpings of abuse and gaslighting on top.
So, thinking that Jasmine Crockett vs John Cornyn is their best shot may just be a tall glass of Wishful Thinking on the part of the GOP as well.
...ALL the crossover votes for Trump in 2024 from Young White Men and Latinos, despite how Trump and his designated cronies basically shouted "Psych!!!" after winning and decided to do only the bad things they campaigned on and in the worst, stupidest ways possible, including a level of...
But it feels like after so many false starts, that it really is possible for Texas to turn Blue enough to scare the shit out of Republicans nationwide.
And we know that the Texas GOP, under pressure from Trump already effed up big time with the redistricting by assuming that they would retain...
...switch the current ads from the GOP PACS from "She's a fighter" to "She's a disrespectful out of control angry Black Woman/Did we mention she's from Dallas?".
I know, I know. "Poor boy. You have TWO highly qualified and LIKEABLE Democrats to choose from. Cry me a river*"