Empire of AI by Karen Hao - Sharing Special Coverage by Democracy Now! News Site! And More...

 

I have not read this book. What I did do was listen carefully to a special program presented by the Democracy Now! news site yesterday.

What I can tell you is that I learned much more from that program than I ever could have learned by reading the book... Listening to the question and answer discussion was fascinating and very informative. 

The author is one of the most knowledgeable writers about her subject that I've ever heard. In other words, "she knows what she's talking about!" And it was both informative and a support about what I had already learned from other sources. Check earlier info if you need to...

You'll need to listen carefully to at least the first two videos which were what was shown yesterday. She refers to a man in her subtitle. You will see that man with Trump in a special session. All I could think of was my first concern when Musk was given keys to the Treasury and then moved on from there... By now, it is "possible" that all of OUR country's data is now available for this, in my opinion, monster activity... We could be the test datadump for the government AI system! By the way, speaking from experience, I can guarantee that it will take years with VERY knowledgable people to move forward in AI... Our present government officials are not that group... Upon taking office in the second term, Trump deleted the only government's computer systems department. And then brought in Musk and his open door, smash everything, get all information, delete programs...you know, you lived through it too! All without any Congressional approval or oversight...

I want to alert you to listen carefully at one specific point, where the author was interviewing somebody working on AI and how he was so excited... Then Hao asks the question that the majority of Americans want to know... How is this going to affect the middle and poorer workers of the nation? It was "almost" comical because he starts sputtering, trying to think how to ask an question that he has obviously never ever considered!

And that's where we are, isn't it? All of these giant corporation leaders across America have become more and more a part of a major conspiracy and competition as to who is on TOP, or which company can get AI running faster... regardless of what messes they put Americans through in working on this concurrently!

Another issue you need to pick up on is the amount of power and water (which I had never thought of) that it would take to run this much data in multiple installations. They have already moved across the waters to establish sites in the middle east... Consider this, if Google is in the competition, which it is, and you routinely do a google search which brings up thousands of pieces of data, just consider how much more would be placed into computers that provided AI utilization. For instance, say my bank is located across the nation with their own sets of confidential data. However, they use an AI platform upon which we can get our data... Have I mentioned that I couldn't get online for about a month to see/use my account!? So, I then discovered that, by going to a newer bank, they got me in because their equipment was more sophisticated. Yes, you understood me right... From one side of town to another, the newer bank had processes that weren't available at the bank across town at which I'd been banking for about 20 years... Now take that a step further... We now have the giants--Google, Meta and more, just in America, in the fight for top dog...using power and water to test, build, test, build, implement. You get the idea... We are already being forced to pay big bucks for cell phone service... Imagine what would happen to our daily lives if we have less power and water for our personal needs, while big tech cares nothing about its users and proceed on that big race to top dog... Imagine no water for fighting fires... Imagine no power for air conditioning, a basic need for most locations in America... and so much more...  

I'm not saying that we should not move forward... What I am saying is that greater minds which includes a broader perspective than we now see in our government is needed before using the $ sign as the only judgment that is used in proceeding as a race, rather than a nation-wide systems analysis of needs and assessments of the impacts of these plans! AND, a world-wide agreement as to when AI CAN BE fully implemented based upon when a cross-pedagogical set of experts has provided necessary AND required feedback!

I have included several videos that spotlight specific points. I have not listened to them before I post today, in order to get this out. So, you may find duplication if you decide to listen to all of them. Which isn't a bad idea if you are concerned enough to try to gain sufficient information about AI to  develop your own thoughts and concerns about Artificial Intelligence... There are even more videos available on YouTube...

GABixlerReviews

Robert Sells Says of His Latest: "The Story is Fiction, the Nightmare Real..." Prepare to...Run...

"Mary interjected, her question underscoring her own acceptance of the theory,  "You keep referring to this thing as a computer, but it's more than that... it's... well, it's not alive, but it is... what...conscious?" "Steve nodded again. "Yeah. Ever see that old movie 2001...a Space Obyssey? Pretty realistic. A c-c-computer takes over a spaceship going to Jupiter. A computer with self-awareness. They called the computer Hal. Hey, let's give our computer a name. The union computer, the one with artificial intelligence, is now officially named Hal."
~~~
The Story behind Reap the Whirlwind and the Future of Man From the Author

Reap the Whirlwind

By Robert Sells

http://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch8-2.html

Robert Sells tells us about his starting to think about the future of computers in 1985 in his article, linked above, but for some of us who have been around computers for almost 50 years, the picture to the left--
of large mainframe computers-- was what we thought of when computers were discussed. On the West Virginia University campus, I had started in the administrative side in Personnel--I was involved in everything related to getting people hired and paid...

Of course, everything was via paper submission at that time! From then on, I rode the waves as huge computers were being slowly replaced with the new personal computer, networks, and of course, interaction with the institutional computers that continued to be used. For many, it was a nightmare...

But Now? It's well beyond creating nightmares... Robert Sells has provided, in my opinion, a fantastic thriller that puts you right there where it has "already" happened. Person of Interest has become one of my favorite TV programs. I believe that show is also based upon todays realities, albeit perhaps not as flashily sophisticated as "created" for this show...LOL

Whit Emerson was like the average person--his use of the computer was for personal support--banking, basic research for his articles as a journalistic editor--most everything that we all consider as routine day-to-day activities for all of us.

But Whit wrote an article once--something he thought might be interesting for us to consider. Instead of writing about how our lives can be improved by the computers in our lives, he wrote about the negative aspects. My guess is he included things like Identity theft, hacking into personal information, viruses and loss of data surely would have been there, right?

We'll never know because Whit's article never was published...

In fact,  everybody to whom he'd submitted it praised it, but it never appeared.

Then things started happening in Whit's life. Everything for which he used a computer was going haywire.

Pornography, and worse, was discovered on his personal computer of all the sites he had visited. He was caught on the security tape at an ATM where he robbed and killed a woman...

He was, of course, fired from his job, even though his immediate boss knew somebody was framing him, but he had no choice but to let him go. When Whit asked about that one article, thinking he might still be able to use it, his boss promised he would sneak it through and run it...

His boss overdosed on insulin and died...The article did not run...

Whit's lawyer told him to run--he didn't have a chance against whoever had the power to have done all this! And while he moved, every security camera where he could be seen would track him. He ran to the home of a close friend and his sister. But did not get the reception he'd expected!

Readers meet Jimmy Northup in an interesting situation. He had just arrested a man who had been robbing banks, but when his trial came up, Jimmy claimed he wasn't sure that the defendant was the man...

At the same time, he was given the case to track and apprehend Whit!

Humans, like computers, produce good and evil. Jimmy was a good cop and in both of these cases, he worked for the good, no matter what the law said. So when Jimmy finally caught up with Whit, instead of arresting him, he joined him...and later brought in the bank robber to help!

The whole motley crew that finally meets to work together and discover what to do, was one of the best set of characters I've had the privilege of meeting in a novel! Kudos to Sells for making us realize who the good guys were, no matter that the police, the government, and everybody else was after them with a "dead or alive" command! I loved every single action from each member of this group, especially LittleLion who reminded me of a dean of libraries with whom I used to go to the movies...

In fact, this crew also reminded me of the good computers! LOL

"Jimmy succinctly summarized Whit's alleged crimes. "He just doesn't fit the mold of child pervert or murderer. And there's no evidence of either unless you bring in evidence from the computer. So what could computers do to trash someone?"

"John listed the ways a computer could trash a seemingly unimpeachable credit status, remove a person from any job, strangle any government help such as unemployment or Social Security, or plant incriminating photographs on a person's hard drive. Each could easily be achieved from some remote source. Untangling from such a mess could take months or even years...

"Jimmy stared as a pristine Star Wars poster hanging on the wall. Remembering John's passion for the saga, he smiled. In the movie, embedded computer chips gave personalities to robots like R2D2 and C3PO. But this was the present and such entities didn't exist yet. Or did they? "How much could a computer do on its own?"

"John Laughed. "Nothing. But a computer guy could easily program any computer...

~~~

My sister and I have an ongoing disagreement about computers--she thinks they are evil. I think people can use them for evil... Robert Sells started forming his opinion years ago when personal computers were just starting to be used. Before the end of the decade, I was managing a network of computers to inventory and plan for facilities. I had the vision, but the actual implementation took years... No matter what resources I had available, they weren't enough... But if I could have deleted everybody else's files, or murdered the decision-makers, I could have had the entire State of West Virginia University using my information system...

All you have to do it get rid of anything that prevents your total control... You can become god...a god, the god.

But You will also Reap the Whirlwind...

a mUST rEAD!

GABixlerReviews

About the Author

Robert Sells has taught physics for over forty years. He has been a story teller for over fifty years, entertaining his children, grandchildren, and students. He lives with his wife, Dale, in the idyllic village of Geneseo, New York with two attentive dogs who are uncritical sounding boards for his new stories. He is intrigued by poker and history, in love with Disney and writing, and amused by religion and politics.

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