Obviously, this would be contingent on wedging his ass out of the throne he's currently building.
Intel analyst and writer. Political, economic, and social analysis of these interesting times. Defend the Republic www.michaelkingram.com
213 followers 357 following 1,822 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Obviously, this would be contingent on wedging his ass out of the throne he's currently building.
Maybe not a likely outcome, but if Trump and/or Musk misused government data *and it can be proven* it would be pretty hilarious to watch one or both have their fortunes vaporized by the largest class action lawsuit in history.
I'm involved in many discussions with artists, and it's sometimes shocking how easily they turn on those who even obliquely question the dominant narrative. That's bad. We need our artists asking hard questions and creating new paradigms of thought, even--especially!--if they make us uncomfortable.
The ground was so fertile for fascist infection that I don't know how we didn't see it coming.
We live in a golden age of negation. It is far easier to take down a burgeoning line of thought with a few googled facts than it is to formulate it. Social media promotes herd orthodoxy by brigading anyone who steps out of existence. Earnest belief is easily mocked.
People get paid to write memos like this.
Gotta buy that Falaise Pocket dip.
Mine provided a roadmap and KPIs for a thief, but clearly I'm a treasure hunter.
Cliff Claven is not a bad comp: has a wide variety of facts but is lacking on context or insight. You definitely don't want to trust what he says without looking it up to confirm.
Trump "I'm interested in overthrowing the Republic and installing myself as god-king to enrich myself and help out the hostile foreign power that helped me take the throne." Headline: Trump Eyes Government, Fiscal. Foreign Policy Reforms
He bought me a soda He bought me a soda He bought me a soda
Yeah, I think it's the analyst in me that wants there to be another at least plausible scenario... but I'm at a loss and there's no way it's the former so 🤷♂️
I've been really wracking my brain, looking for an explanation for the board's behavior aside from "They actually believe Tesla will be the most profitable company in history" Or "It's a scam and they need Elon to keep the stock price up." And I can't seem to come up with anything plausible.
Same thing with all this these raging alphas that feel like they have to irradiate their taints or drink whale penis smoothies to get their testosterone up and be masculine. Like, maybe masculine just isn't for you?
It's kind of a touchy thing because I don't want to imply that there's anything wrong with being gay or that every homophobe is just closeted, but every time I hear rhetoric like "heterosexuality must be cultivated," I scratch my head. I've found it to be quite easy, even with no formal training.
Instead, because I had a brainfart and couldn't remember the word "API"I had to fight New Google to describe it because it now thinks it knows what I want more than I do. It's enraging. Google used to be predictable and efficient. Now it's a fight to try to get the results you need.
The products we need are gateways, things like dynamic APIs that can speak both to a user and another machine to get you what you need.
All because these fools could make the less exciting (but still cool!) truthful claim: that LLMs represent a way to allow regular people to use natural language to interface with computers.
But we've only just begun to see the backlash against AI in the consumer sphere. Some of that was inevitable with a radical technology, but most of it is just over-promising a product that would, right out of the box, transform your life. The reality is that in many cases it makes the product work.
Maybe they are hiring the mark on the research side. Dedicated, domain-trained AI research agents have massive potential when used properly, but I can't say I have a good sense on how far they've come thus far.
But they are just not delivering... at least on the consumer side. General purpose chatbots can be entertaining and even useful, but I struggle to think of a single time I've had "AI" crammed into an existing product and enjoyed the experience.
Between early returns on AI-ifying everything and the general hype storm that they built up, they've created these massive valuations that have been leveraged into absolutely unheard-of investments in hardware and facilities.
And people wanted AI. They were excited about it! But Silicon Valley disrupters got high on their own supply (of ketamine) and convinced entire industries that if they didn't split an AI-enhanced product, all the other toaster manufacturers would leave them in the dust.
I am fascinated by the tech and think it could absolutely be a major positive to humanity, but whenever I get a product with an AI gimmick, I'm looking for a way to disable it.
When it's all said and done, the consumer launch of AI is going to be seen as one of the most awful flops in history. The technology will certainly end up making a very big impact, but it's crazy how fast these people turned everyone against the idea of AI by shoehorning it into the dumbest places.
Can't get the idea from @jamellebouie.net that Trump is the white Idi Amin out of my head. I mean, big, menacing, book dumb but with a dangerous cunning. Both have an unrequited pathological need to be loved by Scotland.
Yes, his ability to exploit empathy in people who are able to feel it.
Anyway, I'll keep watching, because the subject matter is interesting and I want the show to stay on the air. For that reason, I'm glad it seems like people like it a lot more than I do. But I really hope it hits its stride soon.
Last complaint: there's a character that's 11 years old that (for yada yada plot reasons) she's played by an adult. But she talks like she's 6. It just doesn't feel like the dialogue is coming from someone who has recently been around kids of that age, and it makes some of those scenes painful.
And while there's definitely some well done stuff of that type, a major plot point revolves around one of the biggest flashy lights techno-magical hand waives that you'll see in SF, and that feels like it violates something foundational to the Alien ethos.
The one thing that I have always felt loved about the Alien universe is the analog, CRT tech that just looks like it makes sense. Sure, it's doing things that we can't do now, but you see the wires, you see the dirty spots on the keys and lenders that get used.
Like... why the fuck end episode 2 with "Stinkfist"? That song has nothing thematic or tonal that has anything to do with the episode. Great song, but it kind of encapsulates my feelings about the first two episodes: a random handful of assorted ideas with no real logical connective tissue.
I'm not even actually trying to complain that hard. Writing is hard. Directing is hard. Acting is hard. Mostly, I'm just having a hard time seeing how critics are gushing. Like, there's something there, but there are some serious motivational inconsistencies and "huh?" dialogue.
I mean, I love me some backstory, but to start the show with a text data dump, go right into a maid and butler dialog, and I still don't have a good sense of anything more than the general outline of this universe.
Not complaining too hard because I want it to stay on and have time to grow, but 1.5 episodes in... how tf does Alien Earth have "universal acclaim"? There's enough there to see it rounding into something good, but wow are these two episodes unfocused.
Wonder how he's doing. I get so nervous before performance reviews.
Okay, I'd we were to follow his insane rationale through the seven layers of logical hell... doesn't that mean they should be counted as 3/5 for census purposes?
Still, if they think the incoming wave is less than a tsunami, maybe they sacrifice the zombiecorps and hope to hold the line at the otherwise healthy businesses?
It could be interesting since IIRC the biggest driver of inflation is wages. Drive a boatload of Americans out of work and you just went a long way toward keeping inflation low. Unfortunately, it will enrage the unemployed, harm peoples' well-being, and violate the other half of the mandate.
Does the Fed then lower rates or hold the line to favor the unemployment side of their dual manage or prioritize keeping inflation down by raising rates.
I'm sure he doesn't care per se, but that could be a number of wipeouts very quickly after a downturn kicks in. Lots of job losses that can't really be easily blamed on other causes.
Outside of self interest, there's another reason Trump might want interest rates lower. There are a lot of "zombie corporations" that are perennially unprofitable and survive on new funding and/or low rate loans. If the economy slows, they're in rough shape. If rates also go up, they're toast.
My money is on the younger kids being hit harder socially, but the kids who were in that 5th-10th grade range being the most affected academically.
Very interesting topic. I've wondered how much that pandemic bump would be a noticable blip in the preparedness of incoming freshmen. It'll be interesting to see what aged kids were hit the hardest by the disruption.
Tagging this thread about a career in domain-specific writing and communications in case it can be of use to anyone looking at these tags. Feel free to suggest more. #writing #writingq #career #careeradvice #writer #careerdevelopment
Anyway, that's my piece. If anyone actually reads this and has questions, I'm happy to answer what I can.
The point being, people with domain knowledge and writing skills will have a viable career for as long as just about any potentially AI-affected career.
Think about it: what's going to happen in court when a project manager says "we left the documentation to ChatGPT." Even if we were at a point that AI really could do it better, good luck getting a civil jury to see it way when the plaintiffs trot out buckets of bizarre AI hallucination stories.
And there's one more point that I don't see a lot of people mentioning: in many technical spaces, liability concerns will not allow the human to be taken out of the process.
I don't care what tech CEOs tell you, AI will have the power to do a lot of things in this sphere, but it will be a long time before people overcome their (justified) skepticism about an AI telling them how to repair a heart valve or design a safer jet engine.
One potential emerging barrier is the adoption of generative AI, but I don't think it's a huge issue in the medium term future. The jobs that are most at risk from AI are the simple ones. The kind of jobs that entry level tech writers with no domain experience do.
Maybe too much information, but frequently the model is too send a publication directly to the people in the industry for free. The money is made from advertisers who are very happy to pay for the right to be in front of the eyeballs of exactly the people that need their products.
And don't sleep on whatever it is that you know well enough to be worrying about. You might think it's too niche, but you might be surprised to find that there are entire magazines devoted to that topic. Why? Because people make money from these jobs and knowledge is a competitive advantage.
I can't over emphasize that last part enough. The difference between a pro writer and an amateur with some talent is 80% in the revisions. The first draft of everything is shit. If you submit that, you are likely going to be seen as a shit writer.
If you just think you have the raw writing ability but don't have much experience or education in writing, there's going to be some things that you don't know. Do research, accept editor feedback graciously, and above all, REVISE BEFORE YOU SUBMIT.
It could be a little as an English minor or some publication credits. How do you get published? One of the easiest ways is to get in touch with a trade media outlet and offer to write something technical. If you've got the goods, they'll likely be very excited to have the content.
Out can be tough to get your foot in the door. Often, it takes some combination of experience and credentials on both the writing and technical side, but especially for the writing, there are multiple ways to get there.
Often, these careers pay more than the jobs they are writing about. It's kind of hard to get doctors to stop being doctors if you don't pay them comparably.
Random piece of career advice that I like to share every once in a while: If you are a good writer and have some domain-specific knowledge that applies to almost any job that makes money, hybrid careers from technical writing to trade-media journalism are real options.
A 21 year old college student on a mission to find the least fun way possible to wreck his liver.
In other words, get ready for
At this point, I doubt even educated, competent people could right the ship before every iceberg in our path, even if they were given the power right now.
I renew my objection to handing over the keys of history's most finely tuned machine to the absolute fucking stupidest people imaginable.
Systems of systems of systems. It's impossible to know which (or even how many) fuses have been lit in such a massive interconnected machine like the global economic-political order. But we are going to see things "randomly" explode for decades as causality loops its way through the world.
A disturbingly rare, well-balanced take on the state of AI. It's increasingly clear that the people pushing LLMs don't understand the technology, and they're setting the terms for the discussion. Hence, it's usually a fucking stupid discussion.
I love that this psychotic lobotomy survivor was immediately like "how dare they make fun of my looks!" Her MAGAplasty face is the least defective thing about her.
TIL that the "batman" was the unit of mass used in the Ottoman Empire. I humbly suggest we only measure punching power in batmans form here on out.
I mean, "Iron Brigade" gets you right to a title that will put butts in chairs.
Someone should ask this asshole if he's proud of John Brown.
"White Idi Amin" nails it.
Got to get those pig iron production numbers up.
He was barely in the CoC when he was president.
Again again it's asked "when will your ethics and values kick in and you stop going along with this garbarge?" and every time, they scream "we have none."
Slightly different domain, but all of these companies pushing customer-facing AI will eventually realize that it's going to be seen as digital polyester--perhaps functional, but cheap and tacky. Mark my words, "written/spoken by real people," will be mid-upper tier selling point very soon.
Seems like the kind of thing they'd want to know in advance so nobody goes to give Pampaw a final tender kiss on the forehead and comes up without eyebrows.
When your warrior ethos refuses to organize convoys or develop ASW capability.
Like, they seem serious about aggressively propagating insane lysenkoist party doctrine down to the lowest levels and I'm afraid we'll end up with an avoidable wiped carrier or battalion or something some than later.
I've kind of had this guy feeling that it would take long enough for the rot to set in that the DoD could continue to roll in the kind of "this would be very hard for someone else" op that we've become accustomed to seeing as easy wins. I'm starting to think that might not be true.
One day there will be some really interesting scholarship on how social media became a keyhole view outside the gates and found out that people occasionally laughed at them. 2025 is the year they ordered the sea to be lashed for its insolence.
They're maintaining high-level resilient multi-domain lethality across a full spectrum of mission-oriented action objectives in 21st century networked near-peer threat environments.
Or, you know, fuck it. Just write me a check for a hundred million and let me fucking cook.
-education programs -health and food security support -live music and other fun gatherings -physical and team-centric training -etc, etc The "opposition" is fragmented and isolated. It's made up of a lot of thoughtful but overly introspective people. They need a kick.
Wealthy Democratic-aligned groups and individuals want people to turn away from the fascist cheerleading ecosystem, but I'm not seeing them put their money where their mouth is. Start writing checks for: -pro-democracy media outlets -online communities -meatspace clubs and organizations
It's all performative. The next time Trump breaks with Putin in deed and not tepid statements will be the first time.
If the first indication that an Alfa-class submarine is hauling ass toward you is a torpedo that barely misses you, you need to have a serious discussion with your sonar operator.
Rewatching The Hunt for Red October for the 150th time and something that never occurred to me because the plot is humming along so quickly at that point...
The major problem was that individual action was held up as a solution for collective issues. "Take care of your own shit" is great individual advice in a world that frequently leaves people to fend for themselves, but using it as cover for lack of policy it's been a disaster.
A huge proportion of established American elites seem to not understand that the game has changed and that cutting deals was a function of the liberal-democratic power sharing paradigm. These people keep delivering steaks to the tiger and being shocked when it takes a bite out of them.
I'm not sure it's metaphysically possible to write an uninteresting paragraph that features all of -politician -stripper -dumpster -envelope of cash -Chuck E. Cheese
And it falls to us to do something that is quite alien to the people that we were raised to be: To greet the rising darkness with an earnest, irrepressible, unironic smile. To know that when the storm passes, we will decide what shall rise from the ashes.
Most of us were born to times that impressed upon us the futility of hoping for change. But now we sit at a moment where it is not only possible, but inevitable. "Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;"
And if I can ask one thing, should anyone read this, it is to remember that another movement is possible. It is inevitable.
Our culture, our shared memory, the very genes that build our bodies, these things still live on for us because of the bravery of those pale who defied fear and tended the flickering flame of civilization, even when it seemed futile.
We exist because these people did not give up simply because they could see no safe path forward.
But I choose to remember that if I look across the sea of time, I will see the struggling serf, the enslaved warrior, the family hiding from bands of raiders come to take everything from them.
This I say, mostly to myself, because it is easy to be lost in it, to think that ours is somehow a unique and final expression of the darkness people get up to.
In these moments, I look to artists--not writers or painters or session guitarists, but artists. When we forget that we are but a small part in a much bigger tapestry of life, art remembers. Art sustains. Art offers human truth and insight that cannot be summarized or digested by machine.
A third act is coming. We know this because all things that rise, fall. All things revert to the mean, and decency is just as resilient as base cruelty.
We will live to see a rising action and a climax and a denouement. This is the path trodden into our fiction because it is the rhythm of our stories. It's very easy to get lost in these doldrums, each beat offering only further dark news and insults piled upon injury.
Our shared story goes on and on, but it takes familiar shapes along the way. In this moment, our own little section of that story, we haven't even hit the low point, the "dark night of the soul." But we will, and we will endure it.