Thoughts on the Limitations of AI
And More Updates on the Roman Circus, aka USA and European War on the World
Is AI Really Reliable? Or Is It ‘Garbage, Garbage Out’?
A friend of mine and I were discussing the use of AI in advancing the spread of knowledge. I have written about this issue before on this post, https://bumblebuddhist.com/google-fails-badly/
So today, I am watching an episode of Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate on the Grayzone.
Max talked about why there are so few assassinations compared with in the past, notably when I was coming of age. I wrote to my friend:
“Recently we discussed the relative virtues or disadvantages of AI and specifically ChatGPT.
I use Chat GPT myself frequently but also know its limitations. You see, AI is only as good as the information it draws on. So I am watching an excellent program by the great journalists, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate.
Max is the son of another famous journalist, Sid Blumenthal. He points out that there there have been far fewer assassinations than years past. In the 1960's there were many many assassinations of political leaders, such as JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, many Black civil rights leaders, and many cultural figures. Many of the top 1960's Rock Music stars who talked about US imperialism were killed.
But in this recent exchange, Max points out that nowadays, people are not physically killed, instead they are falsely discredited. He points out how this has happened to him personally, in this segment:
<< I've said again and again on this show why we haven't seen so many of these assassinations.
The government doesn't need to or powerful forces don't need to assassinate an influential figure or an elected official who becomes influential and threatens to interfere with their objective on the world stage when they can just digitally assassinate them.
Throw lawfare campaigns at them, wrap them up in the courts, do what they do to us with uh Wikipedia where it's just a gigantic bulletin board of smears and falsehoods collected through concocted stories like the recent Washington Post smear on us.
And then it's all going to be fed into AI so when any of you are uh seeking information about the Gray Zone through through chat GPT it immediately turns to Wikipedia and it says the Gray Zone [Max's website] is a far Left and Far Right conspiracy Fringe site run by pro-Russian [pro Syrian] Assadist, North Korean actor Max Blumenthal.
You know that's what it's gonna do that's what AI is gonna do. So why just why be so inelegant and plant a car bomb or kill some journalist or some politician when you can just isolate them from polite Society.
But it failed with Trump which I think is fueling a lot of the conspiracy theories. Because they failed to stop him, they they threw everything they had at them. Another reason why there haven't been so many assassination assassinations as there were in the 1960s and 70s is the hegemony of the United States throughout the 1990s and the 2000s.
There was kind of a consensus, a Centrist consensus and the Republican candidate would be someone that the same donors who support the Democratic party could be comfortable with because he was cutting their taxes and waging the same Wars they wanted and there were certain agreements that where the third rail was never touched until the Trump era. The Trump era shattered the consensus on global globalization free trade corporate free trade.»
Trump’s Speech to the RNC
We have known about Trump since 2015, when his campaign rose to prominence. I listened to his full campaign speech, which he gave in San Jose, California. I’ve always been skeptical of him, due to his history of shady practices, his failed business, his failed Atlantic City, NJ casinos which are by definition breeding grounds for corruption and organized crime.
What struck me then and what is just so obvious now is his weaponization of truth and schizoid manipulation of reality. He talks about wanting to Make American Great Again, and brags about his plan to have no more wars, implying to stop being an Empire and rebuilding the USA.
So, if he really believes that, why did he complain that the US military didn’t have enough money to maintain its F-16s? Why the military bases overseas still in place? Why commit acts of war by assassinating foreign leaders like Qassem Suleimani? Why funnel more and more weapons the Nazi regime in Ukraine—and now he promises to end it in one day!
In his recent speech, he demands that Hamas return “OUR HOSTAGES”. As if all the hostages, many of whom are Israeli soldiers, and of course civilians are all US citizens.
His Zionist sponsors, especially the ghost of Sheldon Adelson, also a casino operator, and his widow gave Trump $100 million dollars. So much for ‘one man one vote’. We are supposed to believe that Trump will end the wars with Israel’s ‘Greater Israel’ plan implicitly backed by Trump and his Zionist backers.
And Hamas is the problem when by estimates by the Lancet and Ralph Nader, 186,000 to 200,000 people, mostly civilians have been murdered, following 75 years of slow genocide since 1948?
Threats to Iran and China
Trump went on to brag about how he is going to threaten China if it did business with (presumably buying Iran’s oil), that he would put 100% tariffs on Chinese products.
Given the fact that
He would hamstring Amazon, Walmart and the US consumer by raising prices on Chinese imports
He would make the US war budget far more unaffordable due to the fact that US weapons makers depend on China for the components of US weapons
He assumes that China would just roll over. It already has restrictions on critical rare earth minerals the US needs for all its high tech products especially weapons.
The US war machine would quickly grind to a halt when all those components and critical resources run out. It never continues to amaze me how short sighted not just our so called leaders are, but look at the fools applauding Trump when he brags about bringing about the suicide of the US economy!
More Denial By Empire Nostalgists
In a recent exchange with a British friend of mine, I suggested to him that he get info from other sources, such as 50 year Russian specialist and CIA veteran, advisor to US presidents and treaty negotiators, Ray McGovern.
He responded by recommending I watch a video by one Peter Zeihan, who, rather than military career or foreign policy experience, got his degree in Political Science, and worked with independent consultancies, notably Stratfor. To its credit, the founder of Stratfor, George Friedman said that the 2014 regime change operation in Ukraine, headed by Victoria Nuland and approved by Obama and Biden was ‘the most blatant coup in history’. The plan has been to put nuclear weapons 5 minutes from Moscow, and then they say Russia invaded ‘unprovoked’. Haven’t we been through this with the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the US would have invaded Cuba, until the USSR removed its missiles from Cuba?
Here is my friend’s take on the Ukraine situation:
I still think Russia have shot themselves in the foot, there's a net zero chance they'll be able to take the entire country at any sort of an ROI for a significant period of time. [My coment: Russia has NEVER claimed to want all of Ukraine. Its goal is to demilitarize and deNazify Ukraine, and ensure it doesn’t become a springboard for a NATO attack on Russia].
It's also right at the time when AI and other technologies are creating serious economical advantages for the US and west, with China trying to play catch-up but lacking the people and necessary machinery to do so - It's a 5-10 year gap now, that'll widen the longer those issues persist. [My comment, China graduates at least 3 times more engineers than the US. Chinese students, many of whom I have met, are far more serious than Western students, and are more proficient in Math and Science. Same goes for Russian students. China developed a computer chip in 3 years to replace ones it was deprived of by the US, while the US thought it would take many years. Chinese and Russian military technology is superior to Western technology.]
War is always expensive, and they thought they'd take Kyiv a lot quicker than they did. [Again, British so called intelligence imputes Russia’s intentions which are not the case. Russia’s initial attack in February 2022 scared Ukraine into negotiating. After a successful first round, Boris Johnson insisted that Ukraine keep fighting—to the last Ukrainian. How brave of the UK to sacrifice Ukraine for the West’s interests.]
The best balanced take on this, from an economic perspective is Peter Zeihan [This individual bases his claims on evidence free assertions. Ukraine’s vaunted counteroffensive resulted in massive losses for Ukraine soldiers, with massive graveyards around Ukraine. Russia’s losses have been far less, as shown by independent analysts. Zeihan is a ‘political scientist—that is, a paid propagandist.] -
Where they have a couple years of manufacturing capabilities left, sanctions have eaten away at profits, 500k+ conscription already has reduced manpower etc etc.. and whilst the US is mostly giving existing supplies to Ukraine, its not spending anywhere near the levels Russia is and has already been outspent by the EU and UK combined (especially in cash).[The US staged a coup in 2014, in Ukraine, the Ukraine regime attacks its own people, but accuses Russia of invading, unprovoked no less. Total US spending is difficult to determine depending on which website one checks. It appears to be somewhere between $53 or $113 billion as of 2023, not counting the recent $61 billion authorized following the acrimonious debate in Congress. By contrast, it would cost $30 billion to build housing for the 600,000 homeless people in the USA ]
Poland's economy is looking to become significantly stronger than Russia's, and they have a reason to keep helping and pushing for help with Ukraine. [I have not been to Poland, so I can’t address quality of life there. However, there is a key difference between Poland and Russia: Poland has received massive subsidies from the EU https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/04/15/poland-receives-largest-ever-tranche-of-eu-money-as-first-unfrozen-funds-transferred/#:~:text=Since%20joining%20the%20EU%20in,contributing%20around%20%E2%82%AC77%20billion.
Whereas Russia has been the target of sanctions for years. During my recent visit to Russia, I saw one person outside a supermarket asking for money, but no homeless people. Recently Russia has entered the club of ‘high income countries’ ]
Here are some articles from Trading Economics which apparently contradict my friend’s assessment:
Russia Current Account Surplus Widens Sharply
Russian Inflation Rises to 16-Month High
Russian Budget Deficit Shrinks in January-June 2024
Russia Retail Sales Up for 14th Month
Russia Jobless Rate Steady at Record Low of 2.6%
Russia Services Shrink the Most in 1-1/2 Years
Russian Private Sector Shrinks for 1st Time in 1-1/2-Years
Russia Manufacturing Growth at 3-Month High
Russia Industrial Production Accelerates in May
Russian Producer Inflation Eases
This does not look to me anything like what British media apparently tell their British readers.
Russian GDP Growth Confirmed at 5.4%
The Russian GDP expanded by 5.4% annually in the first quarter of 2024, in line with the flash estimate and slightly ahead of earlier market expectations of 5.3%, following the 4.9% increase in the final quarter of 2023. The acceleration extended the strong momentum for Russian output following last year’s rebound from the 2022 crash, triggered by Western sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
UK Delusions of Grandeur
The UK is stuck in the 19th Century, when it fought the Crimean War, famously sending its Light Brigade into the Valley of Death. Here’s the current match up of UK versus Russia militaries. It reminds me of a Chihuahua threatening a Grizzy Bear.
The UK has threatened Russia with military action. It doesn’t say it like that. It says it will send long range missiles to its catspaw, Ukraine, to attack Russia. Russia has responded by saying that it may attack the UK. So, it’s ok for the UK to ‘hire’ Ukraine (it is after all sending billions of dollars to Ukraine) to attack Russia with its missiles, but Russia is the aggressor if it retaliates. Right, got it.
The UK needs to wake up. If its second rate missiles seriously threaten Russia, Russia has the capability to wipe the UK off the map.
Conclusion
The ‘Collective West’ is desperately clinging to its privileged position, which it maintained since the beginning of Colonialism in 1492. For 500 years, it achieved great wealth by plundering the wealth of other countries, justifying itself by invoking the ‘White Man’s Burden’.
However, following decades of war starting with WWI, and the general decline in educational and cultural standards that I have seen in my 76 years, while the rest of the world asserted itself, first with the Non Aligned Movement post WWII, which freed many countries from direct colonial control, and while there was a set back with the fall of the USSR, the rise of Russia, Iran, China, India and reassertion of local control in South America and Africa, the trend is heading in favor of ‘The Global South’.
The British attempt to control ‘the World Island’, Asia, with the MacKinder Doctrine is failing. As a result, the economies of the West, deprived of their parasitic relationship with the rest of the world will fall, as the rest of the world rises. No more free lunch for the imperialists.
Please consider educating the public with one of my “T Shirt or other items with a Message”
I really like your style of presenting a thesis and refuting it!