• UP TO THE 21ST CENTURY, ALL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES WERE ORGANIC NETWORKS based on the organic brains of humans, but AI which is able to learn, change and come up with decisions & ideas that we can’t anticipate, is becoming less Artificial and the acronym may be more accurately used for Alien intelligence. With capacity to change all our social, economic and political structures, we’re seeing the rise of a new type of information network which is inorganic, always on and watched 24/7, making decisions by itself, and no longer managed by human bureaucrats. It’s no coincidence that democratic conversations are breaking down all over the world because algorithms have hijacked them. If AI continues to develop without some living organic brains to identify, react and correct dangers and threats as they arrive, without bots involved in those conversations, our systems will eventually collapse and die. [HARRARI – bigthinkmedia+the-big-think-interview@substack.com]

 

  • IMPULSIVE BEHAVIORS ARE ACTIONS FOCUSED ON SHORT-TERM PLEASURES OR BENEFITS with little regard for longer-term consequences. Examples are overeating, overspending, risky sexual behavior, gambling, excessive social media, misusing alcohol or drugs – behaviors often driven by desire for instant pleasure or excitement, but also by attempts to stifle unpleasant or distressing emotions or situations. With repeated behavior, the brain automatically associates and responds with an urge to act impulsively when experiencing any uncomfortable emotions, which can then result in negative consequences such as guilt, health issues, judgement by others, and so forth. A fascinating article on controlling those impacts: https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-resist-everyday-temptations-and-take-back-control

 

  • THE POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF USING A ‘SIT-TO-STAND’ DESK has been the subject of dozens of studies which report varying degrees of benefit. (1) Of four studies looking at mental health, three found reduction in anxiety; (2) Another four studies focused on back pain, found only one revealing significant reduction, but 17 papers looking only at lower back pain report significant reduction in nearly half the participants; (3) Another focused on cardiovascular impacts found weak evidence of improvement, but support in maintaining lower blood pressure; (4) Analysis of other health-related biomarkers – glucose/ insulin/ cholesterol/ energy levels/ attention span/ or influence of mood – showed no difference in most studies. Nonetheless, all studies confirm that no significant harm is associated with use. [ECONOMIST]

 

  • “WILL WASHINGTON’S DEBT-ADDICTION SPARK THE NEXT GLOBAL CRISIS? For much of the past quarter century, the rest of the world has looked in wonder at the U.S. ability to borrow its way out of trouble to fight wars, global recessions, pandemics and financial crises… Net debt is now nearing 100% of national income, and as the world’s premier safe and liquid asset, global bond market investors have been happy to digest another huge pile of dollar debt… But the past few years have cast serious doubt on those assumptions… With long-term interest rates up sharply, foreign investors are becoming more skittish and politicians showing little appetite for reigning in fresh borrowing, the possibility of a once-in-a-century U.S. debt crisis no longer seems far-fetched… In the long term, a severe debt or, more likely, an inflationary spiral could send the economy into a lost decade, drastically weakening the dollar’s position as the dominant global currency and undermining American power.” https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/americas-coming-crash-rogoff

 
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

  • The Federal Work Study Program, funded during the last Administration, was “meant to provide students opportunities to gain real-world experience that prepares them to succed in the workforce.” Instead, the Dep’t of Education has been effectively paying students who are engaged in political activism on college and university campuses, in direct violation of federal law disallowing taxpayer-funding of political activism. 16 Attorneys General raised this issue in Spring 2024, but it took until last month for the program to be stopped.

 

  • “Fact-checking was once a noble profession, serving as the last bastion of gatekeepers in a world where politicians and the media that cover them are at an all-time low in trust, predominantly because they’re hopelessly biased.” META CEO Zuckerberg has even acknowledged that “what started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far,” announcing that the social media giant is now eliminating fact-finders. It’s a start, but inconceivable that the lies and propaganda won’t worsen before our next elections. [WASHINGTON EXAMINER]
  • “Comfort in having the ‘Courage of your Convictions’ is a very popular error; Rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack upon those convictions.” – FREDRICH NIETZSCHE

Large-language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT get their source factual information from internet sites. The major risks of relying on user-generated content are: Misinformation and rumor propagation, since content isn’t always moderated by domain experts and AI can inadvertently repeat incorrect or biased statements. Echo-chamber amplification, since popular yet unverified narratives may get repeated if they gain traction, masking less visible but more accurate sources. Lack of authority, especially for consequential topics (health, law, finance), user generated sites lack the editorial oversight required for reliable guidance.

From Where AI gets Facts