AI vs Natural Stupidity

 The Colorado legislature, or at least one member of it, has decided that AI represents a threat, or something, to themselves, or maybe someone else, and has offered legislation that would somehow regulate AI development in Colorado, to protect us. Or at least protect the politicians.

Money quote:

“The technology is literally changing on a weekly basis, just like the early days of the World Wide Web. It’s mind numbing how fast it’s moving,” said Kyle Shannon, CEO and founder of Denver-based Storyvine, which is using generative AI to add transcription and summaries to its videos. “I also know from experience how stifling a bill like this would have been in the mid-’90s. And I know that overregulating AI right now is going to put Colorado businesses at a significant disadvantage.”

Warning that letting the famously stupid legislature regulate anything is generally a bad idea. I used ChatGPT to write a bill calling for a top-level audit to be performed on statewide elections, and sent it to my representative, and to the Secretary of State. The rep never answered, and the SOS claimed we already did this, citing the reg that allegedly called for it. I read the reg. It DOES NOT call for any such thing, but rather sets up a checksum count to verify that the original count was correct. 200 ballots mailed in from a "residence" at a gas station is just fine as long as they all get counted. 

Technology Report

 Getting humanoid robots through the "uncanny valley". Here's an article about a company building companion robots. They look very realistic, although they lack human level strength and mobility, they're getting closer, and it looks like newer developments in high power electric motors will go a long way toward getting those 'bots up and running, so to speak.

“They had hired an actress to pretend to be a mannequin — and she was really good at it,” McMullen recalls. “For some reason that stuck with me, I was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have a mannequin that looks so real, that people would think that it was?’ Kind of like an inverse of that experience. I started coming up with this, like, crazy idea of a hyper-realistic, pose-able mannequin.”

To this end, McMullen founded his own company, Abyss Creations in 1996, which is perhaps best known for developing the RealDoll adult companion mannequin, the most deluxe versions of which can fetch over $10,000.

He’s sold thousands of them.

McMullen then founded Realbotix in 2014 to bring a similar realism to robots.

 

Modern Campaigning

An article shows that an aspiring candidate can buy an AI that can work his or her name into daily news releases in a favorable way. The candidate can then do a quick fact check, and pass the releases on to the press, or incorporate them into fliers to be distributed to the constituents. The AI in question is written in Israel, but if that's a problem, others are available. Word is that they turn out workmanlike prose at very little cost.

At the same time, clever programmers can take images of their candidate and make videos of said candidate making speeches endorsing, or condemning, whatever issue is hot in any given district. This makes it possible for U.S. Grant to campaign effectively from his tomb. It also makes it possible for Joe Biden to come out in favor of reinstating slavery. So watch out. Still, it could get Trump out of the courtroom and back on the campaign trail in short order, rendering the Dem interference moot. 

Testing, Hamas position

Hamas says the IDF has killed some unlikely number of civilians in Gaza. The IDF thinks otherwise. Here's a 'toon to help you tell the difference:

 

I'm too lazy to put much effort into drawing this, but I think you get the idea.

Dems Calling For Trump Assassination

 As the lawfare drags on, and begins to look as though it won't work, in spite of the distractions and expense it causes, the Dems are now pretty much actively calling for Trump to be assassinated, and publicly describing exactly how this should be carried out.

James Carville, longtime Dem poo-bah, is calling for "surrogates" to be hired to do the parties "wet work" in the case of Trump.

As a long time friend of Hillary, he could probably farm the job out to her, and just wait to hear of Trumps "suicide" a couple of weeks later. Probably from jumping from a 25th floor window in one of his N.Y. towers about to be stolen by the N.Y. D.A in a "fit of despondency".

Yeah, that sounds plausible. And anyone seen leaving the room from which he "jumped" will be described as cleaning people on their way back home to Russia to visit their families, and the WAPO and NYT will report it as such.

Edit #1: Mike Flynn predicts a "Black Swan" event.

Edit #2: Rep Katie Porter is predicting a heart attack.

The Iranian Gambit

 The FBI has announced that a disgruntled Iranian assassin is running about loose in the country with the avowed intent to whack Mike Pompeo in retaliation for the killing of General Soleimani in Iraq. Just before an election? The conspiracy theories write themselves, so here's my take:

The Iranian assassin gambit:

1. Iranian assassin whacks Pompeo or some similarly positioned figure. Biden expresses outrage and allows U.S. To bomb Iranian assets in Syria and possibly in Yeman. American public miffed.

2. Iranian assassin whacks Trump. Desantis or Ramaswami immediately moves up to the nomination promising strikes on Iran. Gets elected.

3. Iranian assassin whacks Harris. Hillary immediately volunteers to replace her. Biden expresses outrage and allows U.S. to bomb Iranian assets in Syria and possibly in Yemen. American public miffed but figures Biden won't last 2 weeks post inauguration. Election very close, Biden wins by 2% in spite of fires in swing state counting centers which are blamed on Trump supporters. Early Feb. Biden succumbs to heart failure.

4. Iranian assassin whacks Biden. Harris moves up and issues strongly worded letter of protest to Iran. Trump wins election 60/40 in spite of fires in swing state counting centers, which are blamed on Iranian saboteurs.

Modifications to the above:

A. Assassin is killed in the operation. Elizabeth Warren commission investigates and concludes he acted alone with no outside support.

B. Assassin is captured, and whisked off to an undisclosed location. FBI says he's being interrogated, but won't say what they've learned. NYT protests “inhuman treatment and torture of captured freedom fighter”. Email leaks suggest he received substantial assistance from the FBI. FBI announces that he has died of natural causes while in their custody in spite of their best efforts. They denounce the email leaks as “Russian disinformation”. Elizabeth Warren commission concurs.

Biden Walks

The DOJs investigation into Bidens mishandling of classified documents  has ended with no charges. 

DOJ: 

DNC: Also a trial would interfere with his presidential campaign. Can't have that.

Colorado Joins Cali, N.Y., Ill

 For 2022, Colorado joined the abovementioned 3 states in having more people move out than in. The overall population moved up a bid, but the moving stats tell the story.

The story about Denver being swamped with illegals is too new to show up on these graphs, but next years numbers should be eye-popping.

NICS Checks - Dec 23

 Having kept this log for 13 years, I'm out of enthusiasm for it. The big surprise, which surprised no one, would be the 2022-2023 spike when the Dems nearly took the trifecta in Washington but were unable to solidify uncontested 1 party rule.