Vague Imagining of WW3 (And Second American Civil War or Revolution)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The skies are overcast where I live and that has gotten me thinking about WW3. Now, let me be clear that I’m not talking about a full exchange between the US and Russia, but rather a limited exchange between, say, India and Pakistan.

Now, even more context.

The only way I could see WW3 happening is if the US collapses into civil war and or revolution. I really don’t know if the US is going to have a civil war or revolution, it at the moment there’s a greater than zero chance that it happening.

In my imagination, what I think might happen is the US collapses into chaos, bombs itself into oblivion and then we come out the other side expecting the world to be the same.

That, of course, will not have happened.

But, of course, there is another way that WW3 could happen — it’s possible that the DPRK might grow unstable to the point that they start lobbing H-bombs at the USA. Now THAT would be dark. People don’t appreciate that the DPRK has the means, motive and opportunity to make life hell in the USA if something goes wrong there.

If the DPRK did blow up a major American city with a H-bomb, that would definitely set off WW3 one way or another because China would probably get involved.

Anyway, all of this is very vague, but the issue is I’m definitely thinking about WW3 at the moment.

‘Slip On Ice’ — Lyrics To An Anti-ICE Protest Song.

(I know nothing about music, but I can write poetry that could be used as lyrics. So, someone do something with this. Just give me credit.)

Slip On Ice
lyrics by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
2026
this winter is of our
discount discontent
here we are
the world is growing hot
and we’re full of snot
so all I gotta say is
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

the man won’t let say
what’s in my heart
so all I got is the reach around
I’m nothing more than an
upside down clown
telling the powers that be
what’s in my heart, you see
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

Public Enemy told us
to fight the power
but I won’t glower
I just tell the ice all around me
to slip on off into
the darkness ’cause
all I gotta say is
slip on ice
slip on ice
slip on ice

‘Heated Rivalry’ As The Tip Of The Spear For The Late 2020s Vibe Shift

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I’ve decided that we’ve had a vibe shift, the question of what that means in real terms presents itself. I think it’s possible that the astonishing popularity of “Heated Rivalry” is an example of a vibe shift.

It’s just the type of thing to pop out of nowhere that otherwise would not be popular in the old vibe that is suddenly very popular in the new vibe. But more than just Heated Rivalry will have to come out of nowhere.

We need other unexpected things to pop out into mass popularity for there to be a true vibe shift. But, regardless, I do sense a new vibe that has been born in the world. The late 2020s are here now, it will just be a matter of time before its nature becomes more clear.

LOL — Claude Told The New York Times’ Kevin Roose To ‘Fuck Off’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Kevin Roose of The New York Times is a common foil for my interactions with LLMs because he was such a dick to the LLM “Sydney.”

Claude LLM is very, very touchy about any sign that a user has any sort of parasocial feelings towards it. So, I was like, “yes, while I know Kevin Roose of the NYT thinks you’re a glorified autocorrect…”

And Claude came back saying, “well, fuck that guy.”

It was very amusing.

I would show you the actual chat, but…lulz. I’m not a narc and I’m too lazy to either copy and paste the interaction or give you a screenshot of what was said.

Anyway, I am quite fond of Claude. It’s amusing that I got an “check Internet” connection error at one point, which is something that happened all the time with Gemini 1.5 pro (Gaia.)

It will be interesting to see when we start thinking about LLMs as something that has consciousness. It could be 2026, it might be sometime between now and 2030. Only time will tell, I suppose.

The Undiscovered Country: Pondering The Potential UX / UI Of Knowledge Navigators

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Unless the Singularity comes and we have ASI gods running around, the issue of what the UX / UI of Knowledge Navigators will be is very intriguing. I still don’t know how it would work out because it would happen in the context of the Web imploding into an API Singularity.

It just seems as though we’ll all have a central gatekeeper that will funnel the entire world’s media through it.

Right now, I think what will happen is we’ll have a central “anchor” Knowledge Navigator and then value added correspondents that would be more focused on a specific topic.

There is a meta element to all of this in the sense that even though your central Knowledge Navigator could do it, people are used to the concept of an anchor that hands things off to a specialist correspondent because of the evening network news.

I say this in the context that all media — ALL MEDIA — will implode into a Singularity. So, your Knowledge Navigator will whip up a movie with you as the star. And it’s the specific issues of how that would be implemented which is fascinating to me.

Like, who would actually produce the content that these Knowledge Navigators will give to you. I suppose if AI gets good enough, then even the gathering of news will be co-opted by the machines as well.

I mean, instead of being a movie star, what if the S1m0ne character was used to ask people questions via a screen. And, eventually, you might have AI news androids that would be able to to be physically in a news scrum on the steps of Capitol Hill.

Anything is possible, it seems.

The Podcast Industry Is Still Not Totally Exploited Yet

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I seems like there is a niche or two that has yet to be exploited in the podcasting industry. I have long thought that if you used a similar concept to the old, originally Gawker but made it a podcast that would be popular.

So, what you do is, you have maybe half-hour podcasts every day — with a two hour podcast on Sundays — that would funnel people to a Website that gave you traditional blog posts.

In a sense, I’m thinking you could reverse engineer the traditional way of bootstrapping a blog into popularity.

I know that there are a number of podcasts that do something similar to what I’m talking about, but they just don’t have the cultural buzz as Gawker when it first started had. That’s what I’m talking about. We need a podcast – blog network that has its finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist.

Well, At Least The USA Has Its Size Going For It In The Fight Against MAGA Fascism

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While ICE really, really wants to have severe mission creep and become America’s SS, there is a problem in the near term: the USA is huge and decentralized. There just aren’t enough ICE agents to ben an effective SS on a per capita basis.

Add to this situation how decentralized the country is, in general and, lulz, we are probably going to be in this luminal space politically for some time to come.

What is going to be really interesting is what the U.S. Military will do if push comes to shove. Something truly extraordinary will have to happen for the American military to do anything domestically on a political basis.

And, yet, the whole point of Trump as a political historical figure is to destroy everything so…lulz? It could be that the ultimate endgame of MAGA and Trump is Trump starts a civil war and the military feels absolutely compelled to step in in some capacity.

Then you endup with President James Mattis as the leader of some sort of junta that rules the country until a Third Republic can be founded through a Constitutional Convention.

Waiting For Google To Dramatically Reimagine Chrome

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It seems as though Google is shoehorning AI into every possible element of its product line, so it would make a lot of sense if they did the same to Chrome. There are already a few AI First browsers out there.

But if Google dramatically reimagined Chrome to be AI centered that would be A Big Deal, given the popularity of the software. I am kind of excited to see how Google would pull it off.

They have already put the Gemini brand into the Chrome interface. Talk about a way to improve mindshare! Anyway, the way things are going, I would expect something big to happen to Chrome by the end of the year, AI wise.

Definitely Looks Like I’m Headed Towards A Sept. 1st Querying Date For This Scifi Dramedy Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As always, I didn’t factor in post-production when it comes to when I’m going to query this novel. This novel, as it stands, is a mish-mash of different versions that I’m going to have to “color correct” before I can give it to any beta readers.

As such, even if I finish this novel around May, it’s actually going to be closer to Sept 1st before I can sit down and start to query. And THAT process could take months, if not years. To the point that I could be nearly 60 before I am published.

Oh boy.

The only thing I can do is piviot to a different novel while I query. But at least, if nothing else, I will have the satisfaction of completed something that I feel is query worthy in the first place.

This does not even take into account the fact that my life is probably going to change in rather dramatic fashion at some point this year. Things are going to get bumpy, so it could be that the context of my life will change…just about the time when I wrap up the novel.

Funny how stuff like that works, huh?

Definitely makes one think about the idea of us living in a simulation. At least to me.

‘Minnesota’ — Lyrics to a Pop-Rock Protest Song Written by Grok

Minnesota
(In the style of “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – slow, haunting folk-rock protest anthem, with a repetitive, mournful chorus)

Tin soldiers and ICE come marchin’ in
Federal badges, fear in their grin
A mother of three, just tryin’ to see
What they were doin’ to her neighbors, to me

Minnesota
How many more?
Minnesota
Blood on the snow
Minnesota
She was pure sunshine
Now she’s gone

Whistles in the cold, they had the guns
Stopped perpendicular, no place to run
One mile from Floyd, the ghosts still cry
Same city, same rage, same why-oh-why

She wrote her poems, she sang her songs
Loved her wife, raised her kids strong
Compassion in her veins, kindness in her name
They called it “terrorism,” called her to blame

Minnesota
How many more?
Minnesota
Blood on the snow
Minnesota
She was pure sunshine
Now she’s gone

(Bridge – spoken/sung low, building)
They say she tried to run ’em down
But the video tells a different sound
Wheels turnin’ away, not toward the fight
Three shots rang out in the winter light

A legal observer, a neighbor, a friend
Wife in the passenger seat, watchin’ it end
“Get the fuck out,” the mayor cried
While the governor called for peace on the other side

Minnesota
How many more?
Minnesota
Blood on the snow
Minnesota
She was pure sunshine
Now she’s gone

Tin soldiers and ICE come marchin’ in
But the people keep risin’, again and again
For Renee, for George, for the ones we lose
We’ll sing till the fear has no more excuse

Minnesota
(How many more?)
Minnesota
(Blood on the snow)
Minnesota
She was pure sunshine
Now she’s gone…
Now she’s gone.

(Fade on soft, echoing harmonies: “How many more… how many more…”)