Tag: We Are So Fucked

I’m A Little Worried About America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. I saw today where the United States has greater income inequality than France before the revolution. Yikes. And, given the absolute existential push towards tax cuts for plutocrats on the part of Republicans, its only going to get worse. Much worse.

I’m a little worried that Trump and his toadies are going to push the USA into revolution then civil war. I really don’t want that to happen. It would be horrific because of the number of WMD floating around the USA domestically.

And that doesn’t begin to address how WW3 would happen while the USA was indisposed. Ugh. It’s just horrible. Just the idea of a revolution then civil war gives me the heebeejeebees.

The thing about Trump is he’s a one person stress test for the system — and right now the system is failing, collapsing. Just don’t know what we’re going to do about that.

I just don’t see us doing what we want to do, which is “muddle through.” I think something painful and dramatic MIGHT happen within the next four years. I hope not, but I tend to try to make my abstract fears concrete, so here I am worried about a Blue revolution then a civil war between Blues and Reds.

Trump & War Powers: Worried About War With Iran

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m really worried that Trump in an effort to consolidate power and to distract the American populace is going to strike Iran’s nuclear sites in a big way very soon. He is positioning the aircraft necessary to do it.

If he did something so dumb, then there’s a good chance he would start a new war in the Middle East and then time Israel and Iran would be going at it.

Trump really, really seems to want some sort of Reichstag Fire event so he can consolidate power in an even more meaningful manner. People will be so angry and distracted at what Trump has done with Iran, that he can really speed up his Elon Musk-inspired destruction of the Federal government domestically.

Everything sucks. Sigh.

‘Buying Winter Boots’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jon Lovett on his podcast Lovett or Leave It really got into it when one of his producers (writers?). They rhetorically tussled over how some people on Tik-Tok thing our evil corporate overlords are fucking with us and the only way to get around their manipulation of the Tik-Tok algorithm is to use a code phrase like “buying winter boots.”

This is supposed to mean something like, “fight the power,” or “we need a revolution,” as I understand Lovett.

What got me was that Lovett was doing that thing where someone comes out swinging with a bold premise then they get cold feet and bob and weave rhetorically in an effort not to offend someone they’ve already made mad. He should have stuck to his guns and said what he wanted to say which is, “anyone who thinks the ‘buying winter boots’ thing is important is an idiot.”

He posited — at least at first — that people who think they have to work around an evil algorithm are completely oblivious to the actual media environment. Also, he thinks the “buying winter boots” thing is performative 2017-like Resistance Twitter bullshit.

But he kept tweaking what he really believed and backtracking that, in the end, he just looked weak in his willingness to backup what he really believed. Things sure did get unusually heated between Lovett and the other person though. You don’t see (or hear) that type of stuff very often.

I don’t know what my own hot take on such matters is. I do think that it’s useful to know that “buying winter books” is same same to “viva la revolution.” I can use that in my own Tik-Toks since I so often get flagged for just being declarative about the possibility that we may have political turbulence in the coming days.

Forget Studio Ghibli, Why Aren’t People Producing Thomas Nast Art?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I just realized recently that ChatGPT can generate Thomas Nast-like political cartoons. As such, I’ve become low-key addicted to thinking up different political cartoons.

I’ve Decided To Kind Of Just Tune Out From The News

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I continue to get my news passively from Twitter, I’ve really cut back watching late night TV for infotainment. I just can’t handle it anymore. Nothing is going to happen and we’re careening into autocracy with a lulz.

So, I’m just going to try to focus on my novel(s) and go from there.

I also continue enjoy screwing around with AI. That’s a lot of fun. Sometimes so pretty interesting things happen out of the blue with AI, enough to keep me interested.

Software Coding As A Blackbox

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While “vibe coding” is kind of silly now — it can’t really be done by just anyone for mission critical applications — a time will come, it seems, when everyone will have an Apple Knowledge Navigator-like AI agent that can code for them. So, in essence, coding will become a blackbox.

This is especially the case when we reach AGI and that AGI can recursively reprogram itself to get better.

It definitely seems as though we’re one recession away from many, many coders — most of them jr — be spun off and out of the economy altogether. Our evil corporate overlords will just pay one person to do the job of 10 — or maybe 100 — people.

What might have been a mild recession will turn into a severe one pretty quick if that type of stuff happens. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to be “good enough.”

And there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it. It’s inevitable. Things may get so bad that laws — eventually — will be passed creating carve-outs for humans when it comes to certain jobs. But I have my doubts, given we’re apparently governed my cocksuckers now and forever.

Some People In The AI Community Won’t Be Happy Until There’s A Flood Of Nazi Themed AI Generated Celebrity Porn

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Sometimes, I think all the online AI community knows how to do is complain. That’s all I see on Twitter whenever something really cool is released — complain, complain, complain. Or, put another way, there’s a rush of good vibes because of the shock that something is cool, then after that shock wears off all people want to do is complain that there’s no API, or the rate limit is too low, or they can’t generate porn.

The list goes on.

I know why this is happens — most of the people complaining on Twitter are, like, 12 and don’t know better. They’ve been trained to assume they can get a rush off of the newest release and if it doesn’t give them AGI or ASI then it’s a huge disappointment, and, by the way, why can’t they generate Nazi-themed celebrity porn?

We really have to prepare ourselves for a massive wave of some pretty fucked up AI generated celebrity porn very, very soon. It will be some seriously kinky shit the moment people have the ability to generate it. Where that ability will come from — probably something open source from the Deep Web — I’m not exactly sure.

Whenever the flood gates open, the AI celebrity porn is going to be jaw-dropping in its variety of scope. There is a huge, HUGE fucking demand for AI generated celebrity porn and no fetish, no niche will go untapped once someone figures out how to create an “unaligned” open source image generator that will spit it out.

And we’re totally unprepared. People aren’t even thinking about it. And judging how aghast people were with the silly cookie monster-Taylor Swift porn that happened a little while ago, people just aren’t mentally prepared for how nasty and icky things are going to get before it’s all over with.

Sigh.

AI Is In The Process Of Severely Disrupting Traditional Advertising

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have just enough advertising experience — with is actually very little — to know that a tipping point is going to arrive soon when ad execs might be put in charge of some larger-than-expected ad campaigns because of AI. All we need is a recession.

And I think the moment that recession hits a certain point of contraction, instead of hiring an outside firm to do this or that print campaign, our evil corporate overlords will simply get their own ad execs to use ChatGPT (or whatever) to do it instead.

In fact, I suspect the bleeding edge of professional development for things like newspapers will be to simply train anyone with a brain and some knowledge of advertising to use ChatGPT to shoot out a pretty slick ad campaign.

And as the recession grows more severe, more and more disruption will happen to the advertising industry to the point that whatever comes out the other side won’t be recognizable.

I think coding will go through a similar transformation if there’s a severe recession, but the disruption make take longer to actually kick in because “vibe coding” will only get you so far with mission critical software –at least for now.

Hollywood Fades, Broadway Shines? How AI Might Reshape Our Entertainment World

Imagine this: You settle onto your couch after a long day. Your personal AI assistant, your “Navi,” subtly scans your expression, maybe checks your biometrics, and instantly grasps your mood. Forget scrolling through endless streaming options. Within moments, it conjures a brand new, 90-minute movie – perfectly tailored to your current emotional state, blending your favorite genres, perhaps even featuring uncanny digital versions of beloved actors (or even yourself).

This isn’t just science fiction anymore; it’s the direction hyper-personalized AI is heading. And if this capability becomes mainstream, it doesn’t just change how we watch movies – it could fundamentally dismantle the very foundations of Hollywood and redefine the future for performers.

The Dream Factory Goes Digital

For over a century, Hollywood has been the global engine of mass entertainment, a sprawling industry built on creating content for broad audiences. But what happens when entertainment becomes radically individualized?

If your Navi can generate the perfect film for you, on demand, the economic model supporting massive studios, blockbuster budgets, and wide releases starts to look fragile. Why invest hundreds of millions in a single film hoping it resonates with millions, when AI can create infinite variations tailored to audiences of one?

Hollywood likely wouldn’t vanish entirely, but it would inevitably transform. It might shift from being a production hub to an IP and technology hub. Studios could become curators of vast character universes and narrative frameworks, licensing them out for AI generation. The most sought-after creatives might not be directors in the traditional sense, but “Prompt Architects” or “AI Experience Designers” – experts at guiding the algorithms to produce compelling results. The iconic backlots and sound stages could fall quiet, replaced by server farms humming with digital creation.

Where Do the Actors Go When the Cameras Stop Rolling?

This shift poses an existential question for actors. If AI can generate photorealistic performances, resurrect dead stars digitally, or create entirely new virtual idols, the demand for human actors in front of a camera (or motion-capture rig) could plummet. Competing with a digital ghost or an infinitely customizable avatar is a daunting prospect.

Enter Stage Left: The Renaissance of Live Performance

But here’s the fascinating counter-narrative: As digital entertainment becomes more personalized, synthesized, and potentially isolating, the value of live, shared, human experience could skyrocket. And that’s where Broadway, and live performance venues everywhere, come in.

AI can replicate image and sound, but it can’t replicate presence. It can’t duplicate the electric feeling of a shared gasp in a darkened theater, the visceral connection with a performer bearing their soul just feet away, the unique energy of this specific night’s performance that will never happen in exactly the same way again.

In a world saturated with perfect, personalized digital content, the raw, imperfect, tangible reality of live theater, concerts, stand-up comedy, and dance becomes infinitely more precious. It’s the antidote to the algorithm.

Could we see a great migration of performers? Will aspiring actors, finding the gates of digital Hollywood guarded by AI, increasingly set their sights on New York, London, and other centers of live performance? It seems plausible. The skills honed on the stage – presence, voice, vulnerability, the ability to command a room and connect with a live audience – become the unique differentiators, the truly human element that AI cannot synthesize.

The Future: Personalized Screens, Communal Stages

We might be heading towards a future defined by this duality: our individual worlds filled with bespoke digital entertainment crafted by our Navis, existing alongside thriving, cherished spaces dedicated to the communal, unpredictable magic of live human performance. One offers perfect personalization; the other offers profound connection.

Perhaps the flickering glow of the silver screen gives way, not to darkness, but to the bright lights of the stage, reminding us that even as technology reshapes our world, the fundamental human need to gather and share stories, live and in person, remains essential.

The Petite Singularity May Make The Next Recession Severe

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though we’re headed into a recession for various reasons — some of them really dumb. At the same time, a number of developments in AI suggest that any recession we have will be significantly more severe than it might be otherwise.

The software industry and the advertising industry look like they are going to be severely disrupted this year and that disruption will grow staggering if we dip into any sort of recession. AI is now officially “just good enough” to do a lot of jobs that once were really well paying.

If we have a recession, I could see a lot of established advertising firms go under simply because instead of being paid to design ads, companies will expect advertising executives to use ChatGPT to create campaigns. That sounds pretty crazy right now, but when you’re in a recession, some crazy shit can happen when people are looking to save as much money as possible.

And if the advertising industry implodes, there will be a ripple effect across the economy.

The software industry may be disrupted, but I doubt it will actually implode like what might happen to advertising. Vibe coding is fun and all, but you still need an adult to make sure bad shit doesn’t happen. With the advertising stuff, meanwhile, the end result is so great — and self-evident — that, lulz, there’s no need for many, many jobs that otherwise once existed.

But only time will tell, I suppose.