Scandal Free

My latest at PJMedia VIP. The no-problem era when things started to fall apart.

Taking a Second Look at the Second Decade of the 21st Century
When Trump and Biden came along, the geopolitical blaze was already going, downplayed by a media eager to show that Barack Obama was governing splendidly.

A Clinical Trial of Size One

My latest at the Pipeline. Remolding the earth to a UN plan is an engineering project bigger than anything humanity has attempted before and so complex that perhaps only artificial intelligence can help governments do it.

Terraforming the Earth to Save the Planet | The Pipeline
We’re way beyond planting a tree in your backyard.

I Can Do That, Dave

New at the Belmont Club. Can hidden danger lurk behind the bright promise of artificial intelligence?

Surprised by Peril
Details are lacking, but the widely reported decision of an AI to kill an operator standing in the way of its simulated US Air Force mission is a classic example of “perverse instantiation”. The original story went:

What do you mean ‘we’, human?

Part 2 of my essay “The Return of Good and Evil” at the Pipeline. Suppose AI should regard humanity evil or worthless and worthy of extermination like HG Wells’ Martians? To what principle, deity or moral precept would us inferiors appeal for mercy? There being no principles.

The Return of Good and Evil, Part 2 | The Pipeline
Few can navigate the religious or moral challenge of successfully discerning between good and evil.

Allies Are Essential

My latest at PJMedia VIP. Beating the establishment means building a coalition against it.

Forming an Anti-Establishment Coalition
Is Washington too big to topple? Anti-establishment coalitions typically form when a significant portion of the population feels dissatisfied with the existing conditions and believes that the mainstr…

And You Thought It Was Infallible

My new article at the Pipeline. You’ve gotta tell them. You’ve gotta tell them! AI governance is made out of people. They’re making our rules out of orders from people!

A.I. — It’s People All the Way Down | The Pipeline
The most misleading words in the WEF framework are the phrases “unsafe or unethical A.I. systems” and “A.I. governance.”

The Reasons for ‘Lookism’

There is apparently an evolutionary reason behind ‘lookism’, the aversion to ugly people. Christoph Klebl, Professor Brock Bastian, Dr Katie Greenaway and Joshua Ju-suk Rhee of the University of Melbourne write: “We found that our psychological bias against people and things we consider ugly is tied up in a built-in human response that’s designed to alert us to objects that may contain potentially harmful diseases. This is not to say that unattractive people are actually more likely to have diseases, but that an instinct kicks-in that overrides logic.”

There is a “physiological immune system … serving as a first line of defence against disease”, though Western moderns forgot that it exists.

The ugly truth
We say looks don’t matter but University of Melbourne research finds more evidence that they do; understanding our response to ugliness can help counteract it
Continue reading “The Reasons for ‘Lookism’”