Tag: AI

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Another Reason I Am Not a Fan of AI

It used to be said that, “a picture is worth a thousands words.”  It also used to be said, “pictures do not lie.”  Perhaps that should be revised to, “a picture is worth a thousand lies.”

It has been quite a while now that I have been generally skeptical of all things photographic in the the media. It started with PhotoShop, which makes it easy-peasy to manipulate images.  Now AI has come along, amping that up several magnitudes. What is even worse for humanity, is that it now includes videos.

I listened to a podcast a few years back that predicted that with AI and other technologies it would become impossible to tell if a politician – or any other person – appearing in a video was really the person.  At the time, the podcaster stated that voice manipulation was already there, and they expected video to catch up within a few years.  I remember thinking, “not in my lifetime.” Boy howdy, was I so wrong. It is just around the corner.

This video is more about photography as an art form, but it applies generally. It is short, only a little less than 3 minutes.

Can we really trust our eyes unless we are actually there?  Even then “they” will try to spin it to the point that you question what you saw. And forget ye not, “2 + 2 = 5.”

When I was younger, much younger, I used to think reality was a fixed property. Now days, I have no idea. There seems to be so many competing versions of reality that is seems, well, unreal, at times.

Which brings up an Ambrose Bierce  quote from the book, The Devil’s Dictionary that I completely relate to:

CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision.

Jon Winokur could have well been riffing on this definition is his book: The Portable Curmudgeon

Now the video that inspired this rambling:

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,033

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

A New Pandemic

As you probably remember, most of us survived the recent COVID pandemic that occurred at the beginning of another pandemic, the invasive parasitic brain worm known as Trumpism, which in itself was the result of the unnatural mating of incorrigible, rampant, corporate capitalism and dogmatic, religious fundamentalism.

In the last few months a new pandemic has descended on us, this one given the cute name of AI, Artificial Intelligence.  It is everywhere I do not want it to be… like out of control canker sores. IMHO, the movie, Terminator, was prophetic.  I am spending way too much time trying to eliminate AI from my devices to just see it pop up in a different application.  It is reminding me more and more of a “social disease”. It is appearing more and more like the only solution is abstinence from all things computer related.

From the movie, Terminator:

“By the time Skynet became self-aware it had spread into millions of computer servers across the planet. Ordinary computers in office buildings, dorm rooms, everywhere. It was software in cyberspace. There was no system core. It could not be shut down. The attack began at 6:18 p.m., just as he said it would. Judgment Day. The day the human race was nearly destroyed by weapons they’d built to protect themselves.”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,245

yeah I know you did not ask!

You should so be blessed – well cursed at times actually – with a mind such as mine, making all these weird connections between my rumored neurons. Just be thankful that I do not share all of my random thoughts.

Various folks over the years have talked about how the fashion industry, Hollywood, etc have created an epidemic of body dysmorphia among young women and likely young men too.  If nothing else, it causes unachievable expectations in young men about what young women should look like.  They take beautiful young people, photograph them in glamorous  situations, using the most flattering of lights, then doctor the photos afterwards to eliminate any blemishes.  Have you ever seen a pimple on a picture of a super model?

I have been thinking about this of late as AI generated images on the web are becoming more and more common. The women depicted are unbelievable beautiful and without a flaw, like nothing I have ever seen in real life.  Even the men in their 60s and beyond have washboard stomachs.

If there is truly a prevalent problem with body dysmorphia in our society, AI is not helping.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,858


yeah I know you did not ask!

Perhaps I am being paranoid, but perhaps I am not. I swear the maldito ChatBot was being condescending and sarcastic with me.   If I could have reached through the computer screen and slapped its non-existent face covered with bits and bytes, I would have done so.  AI, my derriere, more like Asinine Insolence.

Of course, I may have injured its fancied feelings when I made some not so subtle allusions to its parentage… something about being the illegitimate spawn of a Commodore 64 and Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow”.  Or perhaps saying its chips came from a third world factory utilizing child labor was a little over the top for its non-binary, woke being.

Which reminds me of when I worked in the labs at the Oklahoma Department of Health (ODH).  This was way before PCs ever came on the scene.  We would enter our results from various tests into a mainframe computer program that would then calculate the necessary statistics for us.  Well known among us lab techs was an Easter egg in this particular piece of software which is what we all used to sign out of the program.  If you typed in F#*@ You, it would ask if you just said F#*@ You.  If you responded with “yes”, it would display a middle finger constructed from keyboard characters and sign you out.

Somehow the new MD director of the ODH discovered this fun little game and made IT change it.  Obvious he/she had the same sense of humor as my contemptuous ChatBot.

And so it goes.