> The Darkener's Console

Bloodstains and deep scratches (perhaps made by an axe) mar the walls.

Memory #9272748 —

My grandparents on my mother’s side had a hearing aid business/office when I was little. I remember my parents dropping me off there on occasion to “work”, my grandparents assigning me some duties such as sorting the small glossy brochures for different products. I remember sorting through them as quickly and efficiently as possible, to see how fast the big pile of paper could be organized into smaller specific piles of each type. I felt proud of myself for the work I did there, even if it was partly pretend and to keep me busy while I was there.

I feel like this memory has really stuck with me throughout my life, in the context of optimizing tasks. It comes up frequently still. Pretty funny how the brain can assign visuals and memories to mundane everyday life, to be recalled each time you do a thing.

I’m glad to have had grandparents that did things like this with me. They really cared, even if we were a big family with many siblings and cousins, about all of us. They were always so selfless and nurturing, hardly ever a bad or tense moment with them that I can recall.

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WTF Musk —

Musk has apparently gone full-on troll against Wikipedia.

It’s really sad to see somebody who has done so much for scientific progress stoop so low in his public interactions. I’m honestly ashamed I ever looked up to him as an entrepreneur and cheered my son on years back to write a school report on of his achievements and all of the good he was (at the time) doing in the world. I mean, nobody’s perfect but there’s been something really wrong with him since Covid and 45.

These are my predictions of Musk – his recent actions tell me he’s likely to do one of the following:

  • Drive Wikipedia into the ground like he did Twitter
  • Run for (R) POTUS
  • Blow the rest of his money on stupid shit he has no business with, for the lulz
  • Continue to covertly build an army of his enemies, unbeknownst to them, and ultimately direct them all off a cliff Lemmings style

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Heels —

You’re pathetic
But to your credit
You’re the main character

I don’t get it
Sucks up your debt
For all it’s worth

Dig in your heels
Big in the feels
You don’t see what’s real
You don’t see what’s real

Win one over, nothing is colder, but you’ve got a coat
So far ahead, but when you go to bed, that’s not all she wrote

It’s not all she wrote

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14th Amendment —

Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection and Other Rights

Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

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Luddites vs. Loom Machines —

There’s a lot to be worried about in this late-stage of capitalism and humans.. AI infiltrating art itself, for example.

What humans need is a universal agreement that technology != art. We need to separate art and technology. We’ve got to understand again that the value of art is that it is created by humans as a self-expression; something to relate to as a species, something to ponder, to digest, to appreciate.

AI is a creation of humans, yes. So in a way it may be seen as an extension of a human’s artistic expression. I guess I can see it as something similar to creating an algorithm that generates fractal style artwork based on mathematical equations. It’s nice to look at.

But on the other hand, my example above is far removed from generative AI based art. Mathematical equations != calculating a mean/average of what has been fed as input, from human-based art, and outputting an approximation which is *technically* unique, but 100% derivative… and not only derivative, but a derivative generated by a non-human. I don’t agree with this. It is timely taboo. I’m uncomfortable with it. We humans haven’t grasped or fleshed-out (no pun intended) the psychological differences between digesting art made by a human vs. software.

Of course, there are similar situations of past – let’s take drum machines, or perhaps Luddites vs. loom machines for example. Technology has always tread upon the shores of art and craftsmanship. This time it’s a bit more interesting as it’s the art itself that’s generated by non-humans, not just augmented or simplified by it.

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45 —

He’s currently shifting posture to include even more calls for violence and more general focus on weaponry (guns specifically). This guy is desperate. Be aware, to those who easily hear his dog whistles (everybody?).

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Two sides —

Don’t you come around here
No don’t you come ’round here
Don’t you come around here
No don’t you…

Think you know it all
Yeah think you know it
Think you know it all
Yeah think you know it

Take a step back, and see…

There’s two sides to every story
Come on there’s two sides to every one
Yeah, there’s two sides to every story
There’s two sides to every one
But you know you’re just one and done

Just one and done
Just one and done
Just one and done

You’re all done

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Tom Tucker..I mean, wait —

“Begin with criticism, then you go to protest, then you go to impeachment, now you go to indictment, and none of them work. I mean what’s next?“

Uhm, I’m sorry – “none of them work” ? It’s working. You’re just fucking scared because we haven’t given up yet, and things are finally coming to a head.

Don’t cloud all of this with the idea that all of this is in vein, that it’s political (like what you’re doing). You’re fucking pathetic.

If you want to prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that what’s happened between 2015 and 2021 in America was a massive con job, you have to do the work. You have to get things right. You have to play by the rules that you’re trying to uphold. Otherwise, just like how we got here in the first place, the guilty will spin it to make it seem politically motivated. Like it’s a witch hunt. Like he’s the victim.

He’s a conman. He always has been. Wake up and smell the swamp – you helped create it. We’re waiting…

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Adults and Responsibility —

Here’s a good quote about adults who fail to take responsibility in their lives. Pay attention to the last paragraph – it’s telling.

“Some people are good at being responsible adults. They make conscious, informed decisions about their lives and as a result are confident, secure and productive.

Some people prefer to abdicate their personal responsibility, leaving it up to others to take on the adult role in their lives.

Some of these individuals are holding on to their young-child identity, hoping to compensate for the care that was lacking in their early life and not understanding that this can’t be done.”

(From Moving Beyond the Victim-Role – Taking Personal Responsibility)

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Actual Prejudice —

Listening to David Bowie’s “China Girl” this morning reminded me that I wanted to make a post about prejudice.

I have a pretty simple explanation as to why prejudice is such a trigger/hot topic these days. It wasn’t such an issue not that long ago, right? People at least *somewhat* freely joked about it to some capacity without fear of being outed as a racist/sexist/etc. One good example I can think of is how Family Guy handles it.

The reason there is such extreme backlash today is because, at least in the U.S., when 45 became POTUS he actually *meant* the things he said. He wasn’t joking. It became real, serious. This behavior by the “leader” of such a nation enabled countless others with those same tendencies to open their stupid mouths because they felt he had their back. Then those being spoken against reacted (as they should). The pendulum started swinging back and forth, and that’s where it all got out of control and we lost our minds in a fight to simply justify our own dispositions.

Actually, I’d like to think that with the events of the past 3 years things have settled things down a bit, but the damage had already been done to set progress back significantly. I hope we get back to the point where a joke can be treated as such: a harmless observation made in jest with absolutely no offense intended. As a white American male I can definitely laugh at jokes aimed at my heritage and culture as long as there is no underlying notes of lurking actual hatred. The absence of that hate is what makes all the difference, I believe, whereas we can simply acknowledge the uniqueness of different cultures, ethnicities, sexual orientations, etc. again without fear of being “cancelled”.

For one to think they’re “better” than any other living thing in this universe is simply ignorant. Variety is the spice of life, it’s what makes us individuals, what makes us so special. We need to celebrate our differences.

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Dude —

What if the whole AI narrative is just a cover for a psyops campaign to ensure mass acceptance of systems where people voluntarily conduct seemingly “private” or “confidential” conversations with a computer/service, where the data is stored indefinitely to hold in your digital “file” and be used as an ever-growing databank of leverage with you…just in case “they” need it/could benefit from it?

Hmm?

HMM?

;)

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AI Generated Art —

AI isn’t human. It’s software.

Art is works of self expression authored by humans. One feels connected to a piece by experiencing it with emotional honesty and vulnerability and genuineness, just as the creators did as they created it. Maybe not the *same* emotions; art is generally interpretative; but in it’s truest form it is honest and vulnerable and genuine none the less.

When software (read: generative AI) outputs “art” it loses that validity. It’s fake. Emulated. Approximated by the application of algorithms.

Generative AI isn’t sentient. It has no capacity to feel emotion, so it’s output is not self expression. It may be based on the templates of countless works ripped off scraped from the Internet, but it’s not art in and of itself.

This thought reminds me of a children’s book on (then early 1980’s) computers I read when I was about 6 years old. The one line I remember from that book was, “Computers do not have feelings.” At least as of right now, I think that statement still holds true. But….change my mind.

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