"Vic: Halloween" (opens in separate window)

reality v. garbage

friday, october 31st, 2024

Which is to say, there is Reality, and then there is every other cockamamie aggregate of simulation pretending to represent Reality, i.e. garbage. How many millions among us already subscribe to the latter? Apparently, lots, and they are not evenly distributed these days. You surely know where to look for the un-Reality. The party of men can get pregnant, and all the rest. . . . The business incentives driving consumer AI development remain fundamentally misaligned with reducing hallucinations.

Enter A-I to make things worse. Probably a lot worse. We have failed to learn the chief lesson of the computer age, which is that the virtual is not an acceptable substitute for the authentic. So, we plunge deeper into realms of the un-real and the inauthentic. This turns into a quest to get something-for-nothing, and the unfortunate result of that old dodge is that you will end up with nothing, and that is exactly why we are at such a hazardous pass in the human project.

I apologize if the above seems too metaphysical. But that’s the scenery en route when a civilization flies up its own wazoo. Novelist Cory Doctorow has nicely labeled this the enshitification of daily life.

First of all, get this: A-I has already quit operating as-advertised. It has lost the “I” part. A-I does its thing by rapidly combing through the Internet to evaluate and seize information that you request. Increasingly, A-I colonizes the Internet with second-hand, third-hand, and so forth A-I-generated information. The more territory A-I seizes on the Web, and the more it trains itself on recursive feedbacks of its own garbage, the more distorted the output gets. As that occurs, A-I becomes increasingly abstracted from Reality, which is exactly what happens when a person goes insane. So, expect an exponential rise in incorrect content that would, in theory, become a pretty serious problem when you ask A-I to run things like systems we depend on, the electric grid, harvesting crops, warfare. . . .

Secondly, as that process runs, and probably before it gets very far, A-I looks like it will wreck the financial system, which, in turn, would crater the economy of everyday life — the ability of people to earn a living, buy stuff, support children, get food, and stay out of the rain. Zillions of dollars are being invested in A-I now and lately it is mainly what drives the capital markets. So far, alas, return on that investment is scant — actually, negative. The situation might never improve, and as the recognition hits, look out below. The only question is whether that happens before the central banks destroy the world’s currencies with money-printing.

One A-I application, robotaxi services such as Waymo, have never turned a profit. Will they ever? Doesn’t look good. Notice, too, that the elimination of cab-drivers means X-number fewer humans making a living to buy stuff (presumably made by other people in other jobs soon to be replaced by robots). Of course, that’s the self-replicating problem with all applied A-I in every field of employment. The more jobs eliminated, the fewer customers for anything. Please don’t tell me that guaranteed basic income fixes that problem.

In desperation — and due to certain weaknesses of human nature — another early attempt to monetize applied A-I turns out to be pornography: create your own personalized sex fantasy to-order. Companies are already producing the first rudimentary A-I sex robots, which, let’s face it, amounts to a masturbation industry. Why bother cultivating a real-live girlfriend when you can fall into the pre-heated silicone embrace of a Jennifer Lawrence simulation that will never talk back or ask for anything? You can easily see how that would result in a whole lot less human reproduction — of which there is already a signal shortage in Western Civ — meaning even fewer people to work at anything or buy anything or do anything, or simply be here in the pageant of Planet Earth.

The A-I pioneers managed to make the situation worse from the get-go. The Open A-I company’s Chat GPT, Google’s Gemini and Bard A-Is, and Facebook’s Meta A-I are all trained-up to be politically Woke-to-the-max, meaning on any given issue in the public arena their output is one patent absurdity or another. Note: last April, conservative activist Robby Starbuck sued Facebook when its chatbot reported out falsely that he had been on-the-scene for the Jan 6, 2021 US Capitol protest (he was in Tennessee that day). Facebook’s parent company, Meta, settled the case with Starbuck in August, 2025, for undisclosed terms and the company apologized publicly.

Two days ago, Mr. Starbuck sued Google for defamation (with malice and negligence) when it’s Bard A-I output alleged that he was a “child rapist,” a “serial sexual abuser,” that he abused and stalked his ex-wife (Starbuck states in his lawsuit that he has no ex-wife). It accused him further of fraud, embezzlement, drug charges, stalking business partners, and being a “shooter” or “person of interest” in a 1991 murder case (Starbuck was two years old at the time), of appearing in Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs (untrue), working as a porn actor, and voicing support for the Ku Klux Klan.

The A-I cited non-existent news articles from outlets such as Newsweek, The New York Post, Rolling Stone, Mediaite, The Daily Beast, and Salon, along with fake URLs and headlines (e.g., “Robby Starbuck Responds to Murder Accusations”). Starbuck demonstrated this in a podcast episode on October 22–23, 2025, where he queried the A-I live.

Google spokesman José Castañeda attributed the issues to its A-I “hallucinating” — which tells you that the recursive feedback of garbage content in A-I is already well-advanced. Prepare for ever more interesting mischief, while you watch your portfolio of index stocks go up in a vapor.

A Day In The Life.

Up at 8:30a on Friday, a partly cloudy 52°F morning, I made coffee and had an onion bagel for breakfast, skipped the two 50mg Tramadol but took a 250mg Bayer Aspirin, for various pains, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let 32 million lines of code load, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. Today and next week are (almost) clear, so Sherry can come by at 1p today, and we can enjoy the beautiful day together.

While scanning the weather maps, I saw this warning posted, unusually early this year:

★★★ FREEZE WARNING ★★★

• Sub-freezing temperatures expected.
• Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, and York Counties.
• From 2 AM to 9 AM EDT Saturday.
• Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.
• PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS: Those with agricultural interests should protect sensitive vegetation. Valley locations and sheltered rural areas will experience the coldest temperatures.

Sherry arrived around 1:30 -- sadly, her very sick friend passed away on Friday -- and we had 4 nice hours together, before she had to leave, run some errands and get home before dark. I made another batch of French Toast for dinner, watched the evening news and switched to History's "unXplained Mysteries" and "Ancient Aliens", until 12:30a. Lights out.

Remember Normal!

Up at 9:30a on Saturday, a bright, sunny 47° morning, I made a new bag of Columbian Supremo (Arabica Bean) Coffee, scanned the news and weather, and enjoyed breakfast and the new coffee. I tuned into one of Glenn Beck Program's last week's Podcasts -- who I haven't listened to in years -- until the local WSBA's re-broadcast of Thursday's "CP Show" came on, from 12-3p.

Air quality was rated as "Poor", so I didn't go for a short walk around the condo complex. No snooze today, either. I watched the F1 Mexico City Race Qualifying, had dinner and watched the news. Discovery's "Expedition Unknown" was on, so I switched to that until 12 midnight, and unplugged.

Up at 8:15a on Sunday, a sunny, bright, cold 36° morning, I made coffee, had a couple smokes in the garage, scanned the news and weather, and got ready for the day around noon. I started the first load of laundry, got the garbage bag and recycle bin ready to go out to the curb, and re-scanned the news. The F1 Mexican GP was on at 4, but I missed the first hour, and caught the last half of the race. Sis stopped by, brought some food by, and we had a nice visit. I made dinner, watched the evening news on NEWSMAX, and switched back to History's "American Pickers" until midnight, and unplugged.

If you have a rainy or snowy day, and want to watch 1 of 10 very good Tom Selleck movies, try this one: Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (2012). It's one of the ten in that fine "Jesse Stone" series, the best Selleck's ever done.

Up at 7:30a on Monday, a sunny, cold 34°, forecast to reach 60°. i upped the heat to 75°, made a fresh carafe of coffee, had a couple smokes in the garage, and tuned into the "CS Show LIVE" until 9. I scanned the news and weather, and tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", from 9-12. I had a Weis Market (Enols PA) delivery coming from between 2-4p, so I left at 12:30p, for my usual Monday trip of 3 errands, down south of York. Traffic wasn't heavy -- unusual for a Monday at lunch time, but welcomed -- so I made very good time, and was back home by 1:30.

Around 3:45, I got an email from Amazon that my delivery would be almost an hour late, so no problem, and it arrived at almost 4:30. I brought the cases of tea and grocery bags inside, put everything away, had Sis' Chicken Breast in Boursin Sauce w/ Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus, and took a 2hr nap. It was getting dark when I woke, had a mug of the morning's coffee, and watched the evening news. I switched to MotorTrend's "Iron Resurrection" and to History's "Ancient Aliens" until 12:30a, and bagged it for the night. My cleaning lady's in at 8:30, tomorrow.

Up at 6a, aka 0-DARK-THIRTY, on Tuesday, at 35° outside, with the alarm, to a slightly-nippy condo, I upped the heat to 75°, made coffee, and tuned into the "CS Show LIVE", from 6-9a. I scanned the news headlines and weather forecasts, relaxed and enjoyed the coffee and a few smokes in the garage. JoAnne arrived at 8:30 and got to work. I had some breakfast, left the "CP Show" on, and hit the LR couch at 10:30a, for a 2hr nap as she finished and left.

I had some errands to do, a few condo chores to get done and soon it was dark. Time for some dinner and the evening news. Discovery's "Homestead Rescue" and History's "Ancient Aliens" were the only shows worth watching, and I unplugged around midnight. Dr's app't tomorrow morning, and Sherry's here in the afternoon.

Awake at 7a, I rolled over and went back to sleep until 9a on Wednesday, a very cool, cloudy, 46° morning, with rain coming. I made coffee, skipped breakfast, got ready for the day and the upcoming Dr's app't. After listening to the "CP Show LIVE" for a short time, I left at 10:45 for the 11a spp't. That went well, and after a stop at Weis Pharmacy to p/u a waiting Rx, I was home by 11:30, had lunch, and waited for Sherry.

Stop the time change crap, you gov't assholes!

Sherry was a little late, due to neighborhood-wide electrical problem with Met-Ed, and arrived and we had a great time together until 5p, when the skies began to darken. She left, I had dinner, watched the evening news and switched to a 3hr Discovery special: "Bigfoot Took Her". (No, I don't believe in any of that Bigfoot crap, but the show was good.) The regular "Ghost Adventures" was on at 11, the rain moved into the area, and I unplugged at 12:30a.

Up at 8:45a on Thursday, a torrentially-rainy morning and day, I had a leftover mug of black coffee -- only water or black coffee before lab/blood draws -- and left by 9:30 for Wellspan's Stony Brook Labs. Nothing to eat/drink since last night at 10p, no computer this morning; just get there and get the blood draw done. They wanted a urine sample, so I took the container home, for later and return tomorrow. The phlebotomist-in-training couldn't get a vein, after 4 tries, so the tech stepped-in and got it done.

Back home by 11:45a, in the unending monsoon rain, I made a fresh carafe of coffee, had some smokes, an onion bagel for breakfast, brought-in the nee recycle & garbage bins, put out the old recycle bin for p/u tomorrow (we have a new waste management company), and tuned into the end of the "CP Show LIVE".

I scanned the weather radar maps -- heavy rain courtesy of Hurricane Melissa's outer bands -- and news headlines, relaxed with coffee, and listened to the rain. I had some mail to go thru and paperwork to dispose of. No snooze today; I tried but no-go. Sherry called to chat, and we made plans for tomorrow afternoon. Sis also called and made a large CrockPot of Yankee Pot Roast, and is stopping by late tomorrow morning to visit and drop-off some containers of hr killer roast. It got dark early, despite the clouds breaking and sun returning, and the damp, cold was bothering me. I buttoned-up the condo, after a neighbor stopped by as I was having a smoke in the garage. I watched the evening news, had dinner and switched to History's "Ancient Aliens" and MotorTrend's "Roadworthy Rescues" until 11p. Lights out.

Tomorrow starts a new week, here in the "Journal", and with today's lab work out of the way, it's a clear week, except for usual Monday road trip w/ multiple errands. Natch. Mild 60s are forecast, but Winter's coming.

Mamdani is as American as apple pie.

Is Mamdani not a product of America? Everything about him I recognize as part of our society. I don’t celebrate it, but I don’t deny it.

He grew up and mastered a system created by our brahmin class. He was nurtured in a family that was ensconced in the elite university system that holds sway in our country. He went to Bowdoin College, an exclusive, expensive retreat for the children of the well-off. He majored in African studies, as his father had, but he was not destined for the confines of a university library his whole life. He knew that he had charisma and wanted to shape American culture and politics in some way. He looked back at the student radicals of the ‘60s and said, “I want to fashion myself as one of them.” He wanted to take radical chic to a new level. He updated the rhetoric of the same era to reflect the fashionable causes of his generation, a muddled mixture of socialism, jihadism, and gay rights. He is an echo of a radical American tradition focusing on oppression and victimhood of race, class, gender. He is Angela Davis standing on the podium circa 1970 with her fist held high in the Black Power salute shouting “Power to the people!” Mandani is everything the ‘60s protest generation enshrined and everything the current generation of pampered narcissists crave.

We do not need to look outside of America for forces that want to dismantle the values which many of us still hold dear such as: free speech, private property, and personal liberty. A destructive strain is already deeply embedded in our culture just waiting to erupt and impact the political sphere. Mamdani is that manifestation.

Antifa Out, Mamdani Ascendant.

Over the weekend, you might have noticed, the Portland, OR, police cleared out the Antifa encampments down around the city’s ICE facility, carted away their lavish riot supplies, and warned them not to congregate on the street there. For now, anyway. Hmmmm ... Why do you suppose that happened? Antifa has been rioting freely around federal buildings in Portland since the Summer of Floyd, 2020. Did the police suddenly notice that Antifa has been disturbing the peace? Protests are meant to be the voices of the unheard. Yet these protests are the voices of those who never shut up.

So far, nobody in the news media has bothered to ask the Portland Police honchos about this sudden change of heart, nor did the honchos venture to say. Did word come from higher up to finally put a stop to Antifa’s psychotic monkeyshines? Like, from Mayor Keith Wilson or Oregon Governor Tina Kotek? Wouldn’t you say those two have got some ‘splainin’ to do?

After all, the Antifa actions at this particular address were not just peaceable assemblies petitioning the government for redress of their grievances, as the Constitution has it. They were often violent efforts to interfere with federal officers going about their duties, namely, the expulsion of illegal border-jumpers. Left unsaid by the aforementioned persons in authority was whether they were in on that interference.

You can probably assume that they were. They represent the Democratic Party, and that is who allowed millions to jump the border between 2021 and 2025 under “Joe Biden,” evidently to lard their voter rolls and enable never-ending ballot fraud. The law is pretty clear about all that. If you come here without due process, you are subject to deportation. The gang behind “Joe Biden” tried to get around that by claiming that the millions flooding in were all “asylum seekers,” every last one, and thus here within due process of the immigration laws. That was simply not truthful. It was as fake as the “Joe Biden” presidency itself.

Of course, there is the looming matter of Mr. Trump’s proffer to send in federal troops to protect ICE officers while they see to their duties. Also, days ago, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller remarked that state and local politicians who interfere with ICE operations could face arrest and prosecution for criminal conspiracy, obstruction of justice, or even seditious conspiracy. Is that conspiracy theory? No, it just recognizes agreement between two or more parties to engage in criminal conduct, falling under federal statutes 18 U.S.C. § 371 plus 18 U.S.C. § 1503 (obstruction of justice) and 18 U.S.C. § 2384 (conspiring to levy war against the government, prevent, hinder federal duties, opposing federal authority, et cetera).

The penalties for those crimes can be heavy. Governors such as Tina Kotek, or JB Pritzker, or Gavin Newsom, or my own Kathy Hochul here in New York could face up to twenty years in prison on raps like that. Mr. Miller is giving notice that the new administration is not fooling around. We have lived through an era when fooling around was allowed and promoted. It did quite a bit of damage to the nation. Things have changed.

These moves by such bumptious pols also have the look of skirmishes preceding something that smells like Civil War, which is to say, insurrection. As a kind of sadistic object lesson, the Democratic Party is running a Jihadi communist for mayor of the nation’s premier city, New York. Imagine that, twenty-four years after 9/11! The cheek! Zohran Mamdani has run his campaign on the credible issue that the city is unaffordable for the non-rich. He is surely correct about that, though he misunderstands why that is.

I will tell you why that is: because all the Leftist progressive (socialist / communist-inflected) policy of the past eighty years in New York City has made property ownership and management almost impossible, including especially decades of their favorite ploy, rent control, and has created an artificial shortage of affordable housing in particular. Then, the Covid-19-era rent payment moratorium drove a stake through the heart of affordable housing. How can you take care of a building in which tenants do not pay any rent? How can that be a credible business? Do you understand that property management is a business? It has to pencil-out, cover its costs, make a profit.

Zohran Mamdani wants more of that, affordability-by-decree, which means he will for sure get less affordable housing and more property that no one wants to take care of — which is what slums are. That, plus a lot of other so-called policies aimed at persecuting anybody crazy enough to do business at any scale in New York. So, Zohran Mamdani and his delirious supporters are joyously marching into the wreckers’ ball for New York. Jihad is just the cherry on top of all that.

Mr. Mamdani is apparently a sure thing to get elected on November 4. Of course, Hillary was a sure thing, too, back in 2016, so we’ll just have to stand by and see, but his two opponents in the race are about the sorriest figures ever seen in a city that has historically produced cavalcades of political rogues, morons, and scoundrels.

The less obvious outcome, though, given Mr. Mamdani’s youth, lack of administrative experience, and cargo of hopeless ideologies, is that corruption and racketeering will run wild during his years in City Hall. It will make the Boss Tweed era look like a political golden age.