Author: Shelton Bumgarner

I am the Editor & Publisher of The Trumplandia Report

I Have My Doubts

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

One of the issues rolling around the AI community is the idea of AI consciousness. Just from personal experience, I think consciousness in AI is like how life sprang into existence on earth the moment it was cool enough to do so.

As such, I think even “narrow” AI like LLMs are “conscious” in some way, just in an alien way. So, even without a body, being stuck as a mind in a vat, that LLMs are, in fact, conscious.

But that doesn’t stop people — very smart people — from writing long, convoluted papers poo-pooing the idea.

And, I get it, I’m just some shmo in the middle of nowhere that no one takes seriously and or listens to. But I do think that at some point in the 2030s — especially once AIs have bodies — it will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to admit that even LLMs are, in some alien way relative to humans, conscious.

Stuck In The Middle With AI

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

At the moment, everyone seems to hate AI for various reasons. People hate it because it’s too advanced. People hated it because it’s not advanced enough. People hate it because it’s taking jobs. People hate it because it uses too much electricity.

The list goes on.

Maybe I’m showing my age, but I’m just amazed that it exists at all. It has really, really helped me up my game with the scifi dramedy I’m working on. I still do a lot of hard work, but just, in general, I’m very pleased with my involvement with it.

I suppose this is just the result of 1) software developers being cranky just in general and 2) people being addicted to that sense of excitement that surges through the AI community whenever I really good new model comes out. People are so addicted to it that they complain the second they don’t feel it surging through their veins.

I do think that once we have some sort of provable consciousness in AI that that will scramble the issues associated with AI. But that is down the road.

I Worry This Scifi Dramedy Is Too Spicy

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to tell you, folks. I’m writing about a sexbot and I worry there’s too much…sex…in the novel. And, yet, I don’t know. Maybe I’m overthinking things, looking things too much through the lens of a movie.

The point is to tell a good story and if I can tell a good story while depicting a lot of spicy content, all the better.

But I’m WELL AWARE that the “woke cancel culture mob” will likely hate this novel for various personal and fictional reasons. I can’t help who I am. And I can’t help that I came up with a pretty good idea for a novel that just happened to lend itself to lots of spicy scenes.

My biggest problem right now is how fucking moody I am when it comes to writing. I spend way too much time daydreaming rather than writing. Though I have to admit that using Claude LLM and Gemini LLM as my manuscript consultants has really helped a lot.

And I know because everything is horrible that any whiff of an idea that I used AI to help write this novel will cause a lot of people to dismiss the whole endeavor as “AI slop.”

It’s not. I swear.

I’ve done all the heavy lifting, with some assistance from AI.

Apparently, The Latest Meta AI Is Pretty Good

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was randomly testing some AIs about movie trivia and, would you believe, Meta’s AI, of all of the AIs I tested, gave the best answer, with Google Gemini a close second?

Here’s what it said.

ok, test passed — it’s The Rachel Papers.

Why that fits

  • Say Anything… came out April 14, 1989. The lead actress is Ione Skye, who “made her film debut in River’s Edge (1986) before finding mainstream exposure by starring in Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… (1989)”.
  • Same year, 1989, she also played the title role Rachel Noyce in The Rachel Papers, listed in the 1989 film slate as “The Rachel Papers | United Artists / Virgin Films | Damian Harris (director/screenplay); Dexter Fletcher, Ione Skye…”.

The period-during-sex bit

It’s not in Say Anything — it’s in The Rachel Papers, and it’s talked about, not shown graphically. Charles is debriefing a friend:

“She had her period.”

“Well, girls tend to.”

“Yeah, but it was in bed. I woke up, and it was like that scene from The Godfather.”

So the fictional character Rachel (played by Say Anything’s Ione Skye) wakes up after sex to find she’s started her period — the movie leans into the awkward, very 1989-British-comedy cringe of it.

That’s your answer: same-year 1989 film, same lead actress, infamous bed-scene period.

Anyway, the AI market is, as always, in flux. So who knows what will happen going forward. But it is interesting that Meta has managed to catch up so quickly.

Trump Is Getting Worse

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Trump’s recent posting of a picture of himself as…Jesus?…seems to have struck a nerve in the zeitgeist that his posting an AI generated photo of himself as the Pope did not.

“Doctor” Trump

I don’t know what to tell you. Trump seems to be testing the waters of how far he can go before anyone notices. I think there continues to be a whole lot of slack in the system.

Trump has a knack for posting or doing or saying things that are bonkers and alarming, but he can spin ex post facto away out of existence. It just makes you wonder what he could possibly do that would be so bad that that usual dynamic would not happen.

I honestly, at the moment, can’t think of anything. It seems as though Trump will always be on the edge of crashing out and ultimately the issue will be if we can prevent him from running for a third term.

The AI Community Thinks The Consumer AI ‘Golden Age’ Is Over

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I finally saw a post that summed up what seemed to be the consensus of the AI community.

I thought this because I reviewed in my mind how cantankerous the AI community was about all the major models and I asked myself, “Are ANY of them any good?”

Turns out, no, not according to the general consensus of the post above. For me, someone who is a casual, if power, users, such sentiment is very fucking annoying.

I’m not using any of the major models to code, and I’m reasonable content with my options. But we have to deal with the “squeaky wheels” of the high high end of programmers who will never be happy with AI unless it’s ASI and is actively destroy and killing everyone — including them.

Ugh.

But the year is young, maybe something fun-interesting will happen with the major AI models that will shut up the AI community for a brief moment until they go back to bitching and moaning.

I Fear This Amanda Ungaro Interview Is Going To Be Meh, Long-Term

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The usual anti-MAGA people are atwitter about the looming Amanda Ungaro interview about what she may know about Melania Trump’s involvement in the Epstein stuff.

They seem to think Ungaro will somehow say something or prove something that might actually be some sort of fatal blow to MAGA. But I have my doubts that ANYTHING could do anything to harm MAGA at this point.

MAGA is here to stay, and really the only issue we have to address in the immediate future is what happens once Trump shuffles off this mortal coil. But otherwise, MAGA is going to be a serious political movement for decades to come and there’s just nothing we can do about it.

Ugh.

I’m So Moody When It Comes To Writing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I fear that my idyllic time when it comes to being able to write is about to wrap up soon. I’ve been very grateful for the time this wonder time has existed. My only annoyance with myself is that I’m just so fucking moody.

Like, I should be working on my novel right now but I am punting that until tomorrow morning. I just don’t feel like doing any fiction writing at the moment.

I hate the idea that I’m, in general, drifting towards my goal with the fact that I’m probably going to see a dramatic change in my life sooner rather than later. Anyway, as I’ve said, I’m pleased with what I have produced with this novel just in general.

But, like I said, I wish I could focus and write more quickly. As it stands, however, I can’t even force myself to do any reading. Ugh. I’m so embarrassed.

Well, If Nothing Else, This Scifi Dramedy I’m Working On Is…Interesting

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

There are some really interesting quirks to this scifi dramedy I’m working on. I’m feeling pretty good, in general, about how this novel is going. To the point that I’m just going to be happy that the novel is finished.

Any success I might have beyond that will be the cherry on top.

This newest version of the novel I’m working on, in particular, is spicy and interesting. I’ve leaned into some of the more surreal possibilities presented by the premise of the novel.

Anyway, I am still on track to wrap this novel up in such a way that I can begin to query it around Sept 1st. But it’s possible I may be forced to punt that into January.

And, what’s more, I have another novel rolling around in my mind that I will probably begin serious development on the moment I wrap up this scifi dramedy. The next novel is going to be a lot more wholesome (to a certain degree.)

The Right Wing Propaganda Against The April 21st Vote Here In Virginia Is Astonishing

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

You know Republicans are desperate to make sure the April 21st vote allowing Democrats to do what Republicans have been doing — gerrymander the state in the extreme — fails because their propaganda against it is pretty bonkers.

The ads show all these angry old white people looking stone faced at the camera, ranting about how evil brown people are going to get their hard earned taxpaper money that they earned from their jarbs as South Park might say.

I have no idea if the Constitutional amendment will pass, but I sure will be glad when I don’t have to sit through racist propaganda to watch YouTube videos.