I had another go-round with AI, which I found interesting. I’ll spill it beneath the fold. It is not terribly long, and has a twist or two in it. I wonder what it would be like if we had real AI, that is, something that is objective and not part of the propaganda system. For instance, I could suggest that the existence of viruses was not proven. As it is, AI comes down completely on the side of virology and dismisses critics. That sort of talk has to be programmed in. Were it not, AI might say something like …

Yes, the subject has inspired both advocates of the existence of viruses, and detractors alike. In fact, most holding the title “virologist” cling steadfastly to their being real. However, detractors point out that while it is claimed that viruses enter human cells and reproduce, thereby creating disease, this has never been proven to be the case. Further, detractors claim that the very experiments that “isolate” viruses have done so merely by changing the definition of the word “isolate”, and that further, Koch’s Postulates have never been satisfied. Virologists dismiss this criticism, citing, for instance, Rivers’ postulates as having replaced Koch.

Just one example. Note in my idealistic example above, AI would not be an advocate for either side. It would merely spell out the facts of the debate. As it is, AI is just another cog in our massive propaganda machine.

But it is useful. We must get used to it, and use it to its best advantage. If people learn to use it properly, they will easily do their own taxes, prepare household budgets, fill out resumes, repair their vehicles, and maybe (longshot) assemble Ikea furniture. Schools would have to change their teaching methods, as all of the answers to multiple choice and true/false questions would be a click away. They would have to line the walls of the classrooms with lead.  Better yet, they could start discussion subjects in give and take forums, inviting students to explore on the own. As Chomsky said once offered (he's quotable on many things), the job of a teacher should be to throw out a rope, and guide the student along as he follows it to places known and unknown*.

But that’s not what we have, and we have to get used to the propaganda system still front and center in our lives. Just use it for good, ignore the bad.
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*I once listened to a private tutor, a student of John Taylor Gatto, who had a young boy as client. The kid was caught up in space travel, aliens, flying saucers and ETs. The tutor’s attitude was “Fine. I won’t tell him he's wrong or off on a tangent. He'll figure that out for himself eventually." Or not.
Continue reading “Close encounters of the ethereal kind” →

 

 

While in Washington, DC, we had a couple meals at a restaurant called Busboys and Poets. What a trip! It was right out of my life years ago, when freshly sprung from my right-wing Catholic conservative upbringing, I did what I called “the bounce”. Assuming my prior life had misled me about everything, I discovered there was a left, and assumed I would find some truth over there.

Continue reading “Stumbling into the past: A left wing enclave in a DC restaurant” →

That’s the best I can do for a photo from the back set of our Uber. How unfortunate! We are in Washington, DC for one day, and it happens to be at the same time as a two-day visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. That’s not something we care about, but it means that they have blockaded side streets in the area of Reagan Airport down to where we are staying. Our poor Uber driver was patient, but totally frustrated at almost standstill traffic. It took 90 minutes to get to our hotel, a trip that should have lasted 30. Each intersection was blockaded to prevent side street traffic, and had high barrier fences across to allow only one car at a time. What nonsense! Such a frightened way of life.

Continue reading “Guess where we are …” →

 

Of all the instruments in an orchestra, my favorite is the oboe. Its sound haunts me, and perhaps as in the screen grab above, has the same effects on the clarinetist sitting next to the oboist in the London Symphony Orchestra. And, perhaps as you read this and think I am going to write about classical music, you’ve decided that you’ve better things to do.

I’ll be brief. The oboist is playing part of Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, second movement, a beautiful haunting piece.  I recognized it instantly as I flipped on my iPad this morning. I tried to save it but could not. It only wants to show the entire video, and take you to Facebook in the process. You’re on your own.

I first came upon this piece of music years ago in a piano piece by Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, used by the producers of the TV series Bosch. In the episode a young boy had died before his time, and as the piano music, called “Goin’Home“, played, two detectives were informing the mother of her son’s death, and Harry Bosch uncovering the body at the morgue. The emotion that the piece invoked was overwhelming. I sent away for the CD on which Haden and Jones*** played it, and a couple of months later it arrived from England. The entire CD consisted of that piece and familiar religious compositions, none of which appealed to me. But I hung on to Goin’ Home piece because of its powerful evocative quality. Later I learned that the piece was played at FDR’s funeral, during a time when the whole nation was in mourning. (Have I ever written about FDR faking his death? All of the hallmarks of a fake presidential death are there, but I’ve never had the energy to write it up.)

I put the lyrics to the piece at the end here for anyone interested, as it was written to be a Negro spiritual. Lovely though they are, I think the lyrics ruin the music.

Continue reading “Musings, what is to become of this blog, and other more important stuff” →