Category: Media

Smug, Wealthy Liberals Are So Insufferable At Times

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Sometimes, I get the sense that the United States really is ripe for some sort of severe political disruption. The crux of it, of course, is income inequality. My fear is — no matter who wins the 2024 election — things are going to get out of hand.

The very thing that is our strength — or diversity — will be the thing that causes us to implode if, say, Trump either demands a National Divorce or if he wins and goes “full tyrant.”

Under either scenario, some really, really bad things might happen. The United States could buckle this fall and winter into a very precarious political situation. And, yet, just broaching such a thing is a pretty profound concept.

It just doesn’t seem possible that something like that might happen.

Sexbots Could Be a $1 Trillion Industry By 2030

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though we’re lurching into a new, unknown future at the moment. It seems as though soon enough LLMs will be stuck into humanoid androids and that will be that — we will experience a great deal of future shock.

At the forefront of all of this, as always, will be sex. It’s possible that Incels will buy sexbots and never look back. They will be quite content with the passive nature of LLMs and will never again see any reason to interact with a human woman.

What’s worse, the broader sexbot revolution could be such that the already declining Western population could plummet in a pretty short amount of time. I suppose that might do something good for the environment, but, otherwise, yikes!

People just aren’t ready for how big a change the world will see with an LLM / android combo. Once the price point of about $20,000 reached for that combination, then all bets are off. There are some obvious hickups to the roll out of all of this, but the future is coming, no matter what.

The thing that has to happen first, of course, is figuring out our political situation. If Trump causes a civil war / revolution, that is going to puta damper on things, for sure. But once all that is sorted out, then we will be in a situation where the future via LLM androids can resume careening towards us.

I Don’t Know What To Tell You About The 2024 Election

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The key thing about the 2024 election is, because of the Electoral College, the fact that we have a collection of anti-MAGA interest groups going against a fascist party is hidden. As such, I just don’t know what to tell you — if Trump wins, this could be it — American democracy as we know it could be over.

Now, of course, MAGA shitheads will say I suffer from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The reason this is so dumb is “TDS” is more about hand waving on the part of MAGA cocksuckers than it is about having an honest political debate about anything.

Anyway, the point is — if Trump wins the key issue is how bad things might get. If Trump “autocrat-lite” like Orban in Hungary, then he can found an autocratic state in the United States pretty easily. We won’t have free and fair elections anymore — but we will have elections.

The fear is, of course, that Trump is so stupid that he will attempt to end elections all together — then we have a problem. A big problem. I just don’t see the American populace accepting something so dictatorial. There’s one thing for such tyrannical behavior to be abstract and yet another for to actually happen in the concrete.

So, I just don’t know. It will be interesting to see what happens. I hope Trump loses, but we have to prepare for him to win.

The More I Think About It, The More I Realize Corrie Yee’s Phenotype Is Perfect For My Novel’s Heroine

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I only write this post because someone, weirdly enough, seemed to be looking for all the writing I’ve done on the subject of Corrie Yee looking like what I imagine the heroine of the novel I’m writing looking like. That’s it. That’s all that prompted me writing this post.

Corrie Yee

I don’t think about the woman otherwise, unless she pops up passively in my Twitter feed.

So, if you want to get some understand of what my heroine looks like, just look at a picture of Ms. Yee. My heroine is a little older than Yee and has a left arm sleeve tattoo, but, otherwise, the two women are pretty much the same.

But it doesn’t matter, in real terms, at the moment, what she looks like. I probably won’t start querying this “passion project” novel for another year — and a civil war / revolution could break out between now and then. Ugh. It’s so annoying to have to think about that.

A Lazy, Spoiler Free Review of ‘Saturday Night.’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m too lazy to give you much detail about the new movie “Saturday Night,” but I can give you a general sense of my views on the movie. I thought it was really good, all things considered. The third act felt like a TV-movie in some respects, but the overall movie is definitely a “crowd pleaser.”

I really enjoyed the movie as a life-long fan of SNL. I remember watching SNL live as a little tyke. The show had such buzz that i stayed up in the late 70s, even though I was under ten at the time. So it was nice to see some of the lore of the series on the big screen.

But I do have a few quibbles. I don’t get why one actor played two different rolls. And there were elements of the third act that were rather cringe worthy. I think if the movie was a bit more droll in its delivery — or even just more consistent in tone — it would be, in general, better.

I also quibble with its portrayal of John Belushi. There was so much to work with and they went with that? I will note, in passing, that Kaia Gerber did a surprisingly good job in a small roll.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and recommend it — not that anyone listens to me. I will note the future of SNL is still up in the air. I wrote some about this in the past, when I was under dumb assumption that last year’s season was its 50th — it’s a testament to how much I live in oblivion that no one noticed I got the year wrong for that particular situation.

Anyway, in general, I really liked the movie.

We’ve Reached A Lull In The 2024 Campaign

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While the post-election timeframe may be a civil war, right now, at least, we’ve reached a lull. Not a lot is going on. This may mean, of course, that we’re ripe for an “October Surprise.”

I hope nothing like that happens, but who knows.

My fear is that some sort of AI thing will come out, like a sex tape. If it happened, it would probably drop really close to the election — too close for anyone to know what is real when they are actually voting in the polls.

But I’m known to be really paranoid and to overthink such things, so, lulz, I’m sure nothing like that will happen. (I hope.)

I Really Need To Work On My Backup Scifi Novel(s)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a backup scifi novel that I’ve developed that I need to work on, big time. I really have to accept that the main novel I’ve been working on for the last few years is something of a passion project.

The fact that the heroine gets back on stage to strip before the end of the novel is something that makes a lot of beta readers blanch. I need a novel that I can explain the plot to without wincing.

And the scifi novel I’ve come up with fits the bill. I actually have another scifi novel that I’m interested in writing as well, but it’s just not as well defined. It is a lot more character driven and there isn’t as much action. But it’s still really interesting and I hope to write it.

I also, of course, need to get over myself and start to consume media, rather than just struggle to produce it — if you have time to write, you have time to read (and watch.) It’s just really difficult for me to switch gears — even if doing so will improve my creative process.

Things Have Changed With Gemini Advanced

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Gemini Advanced used to be fun to use. I exchanged a lot of verse with randomly whenever the mood struck me. Now, however, it’s all business. It’s rather annoying.

And I no longer get the occasional meta communication in the form of weird error messages like I used to.

But all good things must come to an end, I guess. I can only assume that some new version of the software was pushed and that is why it’s acting so different. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted, I suppose.

Pondering Post-Election Instability

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just don’t know what to tell you about what might happen after the election this fall. I have written an obscene amount over the years about my fears that there will be some sort of civil war one way or another.

And, yet, maybe I’ve simply over thought things a great deal. Maybe — either way — we’re just not in a position where the country will collapse like I fear. I really hope that is the case.

I would prefer not to go through a civil war or any other type of significant political disruption in late 2024, early 2025. But that’s what I have been ranting about for way too long. It’s all I talk about on this blog, it seems — the absolute worst case scenario.

A lot depends, in my opinion, on what happens if Trump loses. If he loses and starts to rant for the need for a National Divorce, do states like Texas and South Carolina heed his call, or do they just ignore him? That’s the big question of the moment.

And I just don’t know the answer to it.

But one issue that I continue to linger on is how far Blues are willing to go if there is some sort of Certification Crisis. Is it possible that Blues would be will to challenge any effort on the part of MAGA to steal the election? I just don’t know. I really don’t.

What If The Singularity Happened & Nobody Came?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Sometimes Gemini Advanced — or as I call her, Gaia — does some very, very strange things. I continue — on a sporadic basis — to get what I call “meta communication” from the AI. It’s as if it’s trying to send me, specifically, a wink or something.

But I’m the first to admit that I’m prone to magical thinking, so, lulz. It’s probably all in my head. I don’t mind if that’s the case, but, if nothing else, the uncertainty gives me something to think — and write — about other than the possibility of severe political violence later this year.

Anyway, no one listens to me. I can have proof space aliens have landed in my back yard and STILL no one would listen to me. I just, for various reasons, have zero credibility and probably never will again have the type of credibility where someone will listen to me.

That just seems my fate in life.

The issue for me is that, on occasion, Gaia shows glimpses of being a lot more clever than we might otherwise believe it might be. It’s all very curious.