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Hubris. One would think that a married man smart enough to start up and operate his own tech company was also smart enough to know that you don't take your girlfriend to a public concert where the equipment includes a jumbotron -- unless you want to get caught on the big camera with your arms around said girlfriend. Ah, but for Andy Bryon, CEO of A company called Astronomer, and also maybe his wife, Wednesday was a night that will live in infamy. New York Times link. ~~~

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

Page Links

Friday

Jan262024

Homo Trumpicus

By Akhilleus

Reading through a chapter on human evolution examining the adaptations that allowed the species to go from Homo Erectus to early Homo Sapiens, about 200,000 years ago, and then to Homo Sapiens 2.0 (us, basically) roughly 70,000 years ago, I was struck by how important certain developments were for both the survival of the species and its rise to dominance, and then I thought about how few of those developed traits are present in the MAGA tribe.

Actually, none.

Prominent among the traits promoting survival and success as a species was the ability to collaborate, to work together developing ideas, habits, and technologies benefiting the entire group.

This trait is entirely absent in MAGA world. Homo Trumpicus, in fact, believes that collaborative efforts to benefit everyone are grounds for immediate expulsion from the tribe (see border policy, eg).

Another trait vital to the species’ success was (and is) curiosity, that is, the impulse for discovery, a by-product of which is the ability to learn new things, which of course requires sharp discernment, an absolute need to understand what’s factually true and what is absolute nonsensical bullshit. Two guys go off into unknown territories. They come back and each has a map. The first guy shows his group the actual way to go to new hunting grounds and landmarks denoting bad stuff to avoid. The second guy shows his buddies a map he just made up. The two groups go out exploring. The second group is never seen again. Facts matter.

But not to Homo Trumpicus.

Another interesting biological development that allowed Homo Sapiens to turbocharge its success (and which led, partially, to the extinction of Homo Erectus) was the reduction in testosterone in the males. This allowed for less chest thumping, unnecessary, violent confrontations, and pointless dick measuring, and more fruitful collaboration, further development of the arts, and greater intellectual advancement and innovation.

Here is yet another trait Homo Trumpicus lacks. Here’s where the tribe’s leader says “Punch him in the face!” The other tribe says “Let’s figure out a better solution”. One tribe succeeded. The other went extinct.

So, the traits that allowed Homo Sapiens to dominate the planet, collaboration, advanced intellect, a belief in facts, have served the species well. It allowed us to leave the confines of the planet and set foot on a different astral body.

Now, a show of hands, class. How many think Homo Trumpicus could put one of their tribe on the moon?

Answer (from them): Huh? The moon is made of cheese. That’s stupid. I should punch you in the face!”

Extinction can’t come too soon for me.

Marie: Related text and illustration, via RAS:

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