^CategoryPolitics

Digital chatbot, robot application, conversation assistant, AI Artificial Intelligence concept.

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Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 11, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Politics

Tagged
Ben Shapiro, bias, Blake Lemoine and LaMDA, Chatbot failings, Chatbot poetry, chatbots, ChatGPT, ChatGPT and bias, Donald Trump, Featured, Gary Smith on chatbots, OpenAI}

Note to Parents: Grooming and Wokeness Are Embedded in Chatbots

_{With or without tuning, all AI chatbots are biased one way or another. AI without bias is like water without wet} _{Robert J. Marks

January 11, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Politics}

First impressions of a person can be wrong. Further interactions can reveal disturbing personality warts. Contrary to initial impressions, we might find out they lie, they are disturbingly woke, they can’t do simple math, their politics is on the extreme left, and they have no sense of humor or common sense. I have just described Open AI’s GPT3 chatbot, ChatGPT. Initially, users are gobsmacked by the its performance. Its flashy prose responses to simple queries look amazing. But become roommates with the chatbot for a few hours and its shortcomings become evident . It can’t get its facts straight, can’t do simple math problems, hates Donald Trump, and is being groomed to be “woke.” Its performance warts are so numerous that Bradley Center Senior Fellow Gary N. Smith hoists a Read More ›

Military bomb defusing robot with shepherd dog in the background.

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Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
January 6, 2023

Categorized
Law, Politics, Robotics

Tagged
Constitutional carry, Dallas, David Brown, Featured, Hoplophobia, Killer robots, Killer robots in law enforcement, San Francisco, Second Amendment}

How San Francisco’s Gun Fears Prevented Lifesaving Innovation

_{Killer robots in law enforcement would reduce the death toll but they are a bridge too far for many politicians} _{Robert J. Marks

January 6, 2023

4

Law, Politics, Robotics}

In November, 2022, San Francisco voted to allow police to deploy killer robots. Less than a month later, the city reversed their decision. Initially, in an 8-3 vote, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors allowed law enforcement to use robots “as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD.” Sounds like reasonable policy, but protestors held up “NO KILLER ROBOTS!” signs at City Hall and the Board of Supervisors caved. This may be a case of hoplophobia, an irrational fear of firearms. So-called “killer robots” can deploy explosives to allow passage through blockaded doors or, in extreme situations, kill those who put innocent Read More ›

tv studio camera recording male reporter or anchorman. Live broadcasting

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Author
News
Date
January 4, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Politics

Tagged
Alex Weprin, Andy Matrix, Caitlin Huston, Comic books decline, Don Surber, George Winslow, Hollywood decline (2022), Samba TV’s State of Viewership report, Television viewership decline, Woke culture, Woke culture and arts decline}

Trend: Steeper Decline in TV, Hollywood — and Comic Books

_{It’s as if the public has simply lost the sense that the media represent the average watcher or reader — and that’s probably true in many cases} _{News

January 4, 2023

5

Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Politics}

We’ve already noted the significant decline in circulation and collapse of trust in major newspapers (online or in print). But 2022 reported steep declines in other media as well. From the entertainment industry’s Variety mag, we learn that while there were some winners in TV — ESPN, crime shows, and digi-nets — most TV of all types continued to see losses, many of them double-digit losses. As commentator Don Surber noted, “The drop in viewers came despite an Olympics, a popular war and a federal election.” The drop in viewers is reflected in an overall drop in revenue, projected to continue. A highlight from Samba TV’s State of Viewership report: Gen Z and millennials are driving the shift away from Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 21, 2022

Categorized
Ethics, Peer Review, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology

Tagged
Adolph Hitler, Adrian Desmond, Anton Lavey, Charles Darwin, Daniel Gasman, Darwin’s Sacred Cause (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2009), Darwinian Racism (Discovery Institute 2022), Descent of Man (1871 and 1974), Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), George Mosse, Hitler’s Ethic (Palgrave 2009), James Moore, Might Is Right (1896), Nazis and Darwinism, Peter Bowler, Ragnar Redbeard, Richard Weikart, Robert Richards, Was Hitler a Darwinian? (University of Chicago Press 2013), White Evangelical Racism (University of North Carolina Press 2021), Yuval Noah Harari}

When Scholars Simply Don’t Want To Believe Something Obvious…

_{… they are very good at developing clever arguments to avoid seeing it} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 21, 2022

8

Ethics, Peer Review, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology}

This article was originally published in Salvo 62 (Fall 2022) under the title “The Whitewashing.” In Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), University of California historian Richard Weikart demonstrated painstakingly that the Nazis had developed an ethic based largely on applying Darwinian evolution principles to government. Scholars have since tried hard to obscure the connection, most likely because they believe in Darwinism and see it as science. Any suggestion that the Nazis were avid Darwinists too is unseemly and must be refuted by any and all means. With racism very much in current news, Weikart has focusing in Darwinian Racism: How Darwinism Influenced Hitler, Nazism, and White Nationalism (Discovery Institute Press, 2022) on the way Read More ›

press and media camera ,video photographer on duty in public new

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 5, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Media, Politics

Tagged
Declining accuracy in media, Douglas Murray, Douglas Murray at Munk Debate, Malcolm Gladwell, Matt Taibbi, Matt Taibbi at Munk Debate, Matt Taibbi on media, Michelle Goldberg, Munk Debate 2022, Victor Davis Hanson}

Veteran News Hound: Why Not To Trust Mainstream Media Anymore

_{Matt Taibbi and Douglas Murray’s resounding triumph in the Munk debates sheds light on why mainstream media are dying} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 5, 2022

6

Business and Finance, Censorship, Media, Politics}

On November 30, at the prestigious Munk Debates in Toronto, 20-year news veteran Matt Taibbi and author and columnist Douglas Murray faced off against New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell and New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg on the question: “Be it resolved, don’t trust mainstream media. The outcome was remarkable: As Taibbi tells it: A pre-event vote of attendees and listeners showed 48% support for our “side,” versus 52% for theirs. 82% of thousands of audience members claimed to be willing to change their minds. They were telling the truth, as it turned out. In a bitter slugfest that featured tense confrontations, impassioned oratory (especially from Douglas), and several almost unbelievably petty exchanges, Douglas and I swung the vote 39% Read More ›

Scared young girl in mask, coronavirus panic

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 21, 2022

Categorized
Media, Medicine and Health, Politics

Tagged
Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct, COVID-19, COVID-19 fear effect, Featured, Foxconn workers and Zero Covid, Hon Hai Technology Group, iPhone and Foxconn walkout, Jin Dongyan, Nectar Gan, Selina Cheng, Wenxin Fan, Zero COVID policies, Zhengzhou}

China’s Foxconn Walkout: How Fear Messaging Can Backfire

_{Workers were caught in a conflict between unrealistic COVID Zero messaging from the government and seasonal performance demands from the employer} _{Heather Zeiger

November 21, 2022

8

Media, Medicine and Health, Politics}

Around this time of year, the factories that produce Apple’s iPhones hire thousands of additional workers to meet the demand for the holiday season. While Apple is an American company and the electronics are designed in-house, the manufacturing is done overseas where labor costs are cheaper. One of the largest manufacturers for Apple’s iPhone products is Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company with factories in several countries, including mainland China. One of its largest facilities is in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province — dubbed “iPhone City” by the locals. Thus the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory was slated to make 80% of the iPhone 14 models and 85% of the iPhone Pro models before the end Read More ›

futuristic earth map technology abstract background

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Author
News
Date
November 10, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Politics

Tagged
Computer-run world, Eric J. Larson, Featured, Hedgehog Review, Myth of Artificial Intelligence (book)}

So After Big Tech’s Play Worlds Are Played Out… Where Are We?

_{Computer technician Erik J. Larson asks, What have we learned that will help us?} _{News

November 10, 2022

2

Artificial Intelligence, Politics}

Computer scientist and entrepreneur Erik J. Larson, author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do (2021), asks us to look at life in the aftermath of the big new world that computers are supposed to create: But the “bureau of statistics” mindset is now a problem. It dominates thinking everywhere, not just in technology businesses aiming for sticky ads and more captive users. Nearly every institution one can point to today, from government to science, media, medicine, insurance, and many others, embraces a centralized, data-capture model requiring massive computing resources and actively downplaying human ingenuity in favor of number crunching and prediction. More troubling perhaps, is the way this has shaped the zeitgeist. Read More ›

Coronavirus maps disease 2019 situation update worldwide coronavirus spread,World map Coronavirus or Covid-19 Close-up countries with Covid-19, Covid 19 map confirmed cases report worldwide globally.

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
November 8, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Politics

Tagged
China and COVID-19, COVID-19 and international politics, COVID-19 lab leak hypothesis, COVID-19 origin and problem of totalitarian state, Featured, Huanan Market, Jeff Kao, Katherine Eban, Lab leak theory (COVID-19), Pressure suits in virus labs, Toy Reid, Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), Wuhan Institute of Virology and COVID origin}

Lab Leak Theory: A Biohazard Was First Noted in 2019

_{The dispatches indicate a “grave and complex situation” prompting an emergency visit from the director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences} _{Heather Zeiger

November 8, 2022

10

Medicine and Health, Politics}

A US Senate interim report has recently concluded that that “the Covid-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.” The 35-page report, prepared by the minority oversight staff of the of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), used publicly available documentation to justify the findings. However, it did not include the 236-page report submitted by language expert Toy Reid, who analyzed Chinese Communist Party dispatches between scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and their supervisors in Beijing. Katherine Eban of Vanity Fair and Jeff Kao of ProPublica were given advanced access to the Senate researchers’ documents and spent months conducting their own investigation. They interviewed Reid, talked with members Read More ›

The electric chair apparatus in a Death row reenactment.

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Author
News
Date
November 8, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Politics

Tagged
Allen Harris Law, Death penalty for free speech, McLaughlin and Associates, Universities and free speech, University students endorse death for free speech}

Students: Free Speech Should Sometimes Result in Death Penalty

_{An open mind is apparently no longer valued at universities, the way it used to be} _{News

November 8, 2022

4

Censorship, Politics}

People who are used to thinking of college campuses as places where students go to learn about new ideas and the advantages of keeping an open mind might be interested in this recent survey conducted by McLaughlin and Associates: Calls for diversity on campuses and in Main Street businesses and banning hate speech, even that protected by the 1st Amendment, are no longer issues to fight over for American college kids. Now it’s a reason for the electric chair. And when it comes to speech, nearly half believe the death penalty is OK to shoot down hate speech. While the results might please left-leaning college professors, it is stirring concerns on the right who already feel that the left is Read More ›

Fearful young woman with aluminum hat browsing social media. Conspiracy theory about 5g network destroying brain. High quality photo

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 3, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Medicine and Health, Politics, Science

Tagged
Anthony Fauci and virus research funding, COVID and plea for amnesty, COVID-19 as bioweapon, Emily Oster, Fact checking, Fact checking and experts, Fact checking and lab leak theory, Fact checking and science, Jeff Kao, Katherine Eban, Lab leak theory (COVID-19) as conspiracy theory, Nicholas Wade on COVID origin, Tedros Adhanom on lab leak theory, US Senate Report on COVID origin, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology and COVID origin}

How Fact-Checking Can Hide Needed Information From the Public

_{What role did fact-checking play in the suppression of inconvenient but essential facts about the origin of COVID-19?} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 3, 2022

7

Censorship, Medicine and Health, Politics, Science}

Earlier this week, we looked at the recent news that Facebook has a special portal for government to look in and report “disinformation,” — as if government, in a highly charged political atmosphere, were some kind of neutral third party. The assignment of some sort of neutrality to power sources or experts who may not be neutral or have any reason to be is one of the characteristics of fact-checking, as it has developed over the last decade in mainstream and social media. Why was the Wuhan lab leak theory supposed to be a conspiracy? In that context, let’s look at the claim that COVID-19 originated in an accident at a high-level virus lab in the upcountry Chinese city of Read More ›

Excalibur in graduation hat on stone at sunset day. Congratulate the graduates or education congratulation or academic freedom concept. 3D illustration

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 27, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Peer Review, Politics, Science

Tagged
Academic freedom, Academic freedom cnference banning media, Academic Freedom Conference (Stanford 2022), Cancel Culture at universities, Colleen Flaherty, Eric Hedin, Jerry Coyne and academic freedom, Peter Thiel and academic freedom, Science and Cancel Culture}

Stanford’s Academic Freedom Conference Slammed by Academics

_{Opponents are angered by the fact that, although the conference will be live-streamed, it is by invitation only and no media are allowed} _{Denyse O'Leary

October 27, 2022

6

Censorship, Peer Review, Politics, Science}

Stanford Business School’s academic freedom conference, starting next week and headlined by tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, is coming under fire. The organizers argue, Faculty organizers of the conference, from Stanford and several other institutions, promote it as follows: “Academic freedom, open inquiry, and freedom of speech are under threat as they have not been for decades. Visibly, academics are ‘canceled,’ fired, or subject to lengthy disciplinary proceedings in response to academic writing or public engagement. Less visibly, funding agencies, university bureaucracies, hiring procedures, promotion committees, professional organizations, and journals censor some kinds of research or demand adherence to political causes. Many parts of universities have become politicized or have turned into ideological monocultures, excluding people, ideas, or kinds of work Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 20, 2022

Categorized
Media, Politics, Psychology, Relationships

Tagged
Dominick Mastrangelo, Gallup poll on trust in media, Media (changing role), Media (trust in media), New York Times/Siena poll on trust in media, Paul Bedard, Polls on trust in media, Trust (in media), Trust in media and political affiliation}

Polls: Trust in Mainstream U.S. Media Still in Free Fall

_{Both the New York Times poll and Gallup poll illustrated that this week} _{Denyse O'Leary

October 20, 2022

4

Media, Politics, Psychology, Relationships}

A Canadian commentator has noticed a little-publicized fact about last week’s New York Times–Siena College poll of 792 registered voters. While the poll focused on the US mid-term elections next month, the information about how typical voters view mainstream media was most revealing. A majority not only don’t trust media but see them as a threat to democracy: A New York Times-Siena College poll published Tuesday found 59 percent of voters view the media as a “major threat to democracy,” while 25 percent said the press is a “minor threat” and only 15 percent said it poses no threat. The divide fell sharply along partisan lines, with 87 percent of voters who supported former President Trump in 2020 indicating they Read More ›

The zero covid text on china flag 3d rendering

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
October 11, 2022

Categorized
China, Medicine and Health, Politics

Tagged
Absurdity as concept in China under zero-COVID, Addison Sun, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chun Han Wong, David Cowhig, Featured, Lao Dongyan, Moderna and China, Vivian Wang, Xi Jinping and twentieth congress, Zero-Covid policy in China, Zhang Min, Zixu Wang}

China’s Covid Theater: It’s Not Really About the Disease

_{Not exactly. As the Twentieth National Congress looms, the Chinese Communist Party does not want any COVID in Beijing} _{Heather Zeiger

October 11, 2022

9

China, Medicine and Health, Politics}

The Chinese Communist Party’s zero-Covid policy, heralded by Xi Jinping, is killing China’s economy and sinking citizens’ morale. Zero-Covid is viewed as a litmus test for support for the Communist Party, and Xi Jinping in particular. The goal is not saving lives but ensuring that the virus does not spread to Beijing ahead of the twentieth National Congress on October 16. Some hope that restrictions will ease after the National Congress. Others are less optimistic. The CCP under Xi Jinping declared “war on the virus” two years ago but the casualties in the Party’s pathogenic war have been the Chinese people. In the lead-up to the Twentieth National Congress in which Xi Jinping will announce his third term as General Read More ›

Social media concept. Social networking service. Video hosting website. Streaming video.

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Author
News
Date
October 10, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Politics

Tagged
AI Bill of Rights, AI Bill of Rights (various views), Jennifer Conrad, Melissa Heikkilä, Rachael Metz, Sharon Goldman}

Does the White House AI Bill of Rights Amount To Anything?

_{Tech industry watchers aren’t sure} _{News

October 10, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence, Politics}

Recently, the White House has been advertising a blueprint for its “AI Bill of Rights”: “To advance President Biden’s vision, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence.” Summarized at CNN, these principles are That people should be protected from systems deemed “unsafe or ineffective;” that people shouldn’t be discriminated against via algorithms and that AI-driven systems should be made and used “in an equitable way;” that people should be kept safe “from abusive data practices” by safeguards built in to AI systems and have control over how data about them is used; Read More ›

An advanced CPU printed with a flag of USA on a neon glowing electronic circuit board. Illustration of the concept of United States made high-end micro chips.

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post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 27, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, China, Ethics, Politics, Programming

Tagged
China, Chips Act (European equivalent), CHIPS+ Act (2022), CHIPS+ Act (2022) critics, Derek Scissors, Doug Ducey, Featured, Klon Kitchens, Taiwan, Taiwan and advanced microchips, Taiwan and China, Taiwan microchips industry, Taiwan sovereignty, Tsai Ing-wen}

What Difference Has the CHIPS Act Made to the U.S. and Taiwan?

_{We need to first look at the broader picture of what the CHIPS Act is intended to do} _{Heather Zeiger

September 27, 2022

8

Business and Finance, China, Ethics, Politics, Programming}

In a previous article, I discussed the semiconductor industry and Taiwan’s supremacy in manufacturing microchips, the foundry portion of the semiconductor supply chain. Now let’s look at the U.S. perspective on the semiconductor industry and its relationship to Taiwan. In order to do that, we have to talk about the CHIPS+ Act Congress passed a bipartisan bill, the CHIPS and Science Act in July, after a year of negotiations in committee. President Biden signed the act into law on August 9 and the CHIPS Act Implementation Strategy was launched on September 6 through an executive order. CHIPS, or “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors,” is a $250B initiative that incentivizes businesses to bring semiconductor manufacturing, research and innovation back to Read More ›

Crypto currency background with various of shiny silver and golden physical cryptocurrencies symbol coins, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, zcash, ripple

^{Type
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Author
News
Date
September 27, 2022

Categorized
Cryptocurrency, Politics

Tagged
Adam Goad on cryptocurrency viability, Bob Seeman, Coinmen (book 2022), Eric Holloway on cryptocurrency, Ethereum switch to staking, Featured, Gary Smith, Jonathan Bartlett on cryptocurrency}

Is Cryptocurrency Part of the Overall Future of Money?

_{Experts clash over whether crypto could replace government-issued currency} _{News

September 27, 2022

10

Cryptocurrency, Politics}

Recent discussions between WBC director Robert J. Marks and fellow engineers raise a question: Could new technology enable a global private currency to compete with government currencies? While the fact is not always evident in the Western world, government currencies depend on the stability of the government. Stories about people using discredited government banknotes to warm themselves, etc., are not fiction. And today what about the unbanked billions of the world who work and create value but do not have access to financial institutions? So in, for example, a national emergency, would cryptocurrency be any help? The option of private electronic currency is comparatively new and, as we might expect, expert views differ. We present them for your reflection (not Read More ›

A man with the sky surreal painting illustration

^{Type
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Author
News
Date
September 19, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Politics, Social Media

Tagged
Facebook, Facebook and censorship, Facebook and FBI, Facebook COVID controversy censorship, Louisiana-Missouri Facebook lawsuit, Miranda Devine}

Facebook and Government: Working Together for Thought Management

_{A critical distinction between Facebook and traditional media is that Facebook is global and total, not regional and partial} _{News

September 19, 2022

5

Censorship, Politics, Social Media}

In recent years, motivated perhaps by a sense of public duty, Facebook (rebranded as Meta) has turned its attention to fine-grained political reeducation and censorship of the nearly 3 billion monthly active users of its platform. All the instances listed below (plus, doubtless, many others we don’t know of at press time) add up to quite the program of thought management: ● Working closely with the FBI to monitor Americans who questioned the results of the 2020 election: “It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause,” alleged one of the sources, who spoke on condition of -anonymity. “Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena.” These private messages Read More ›

Multi ethnic teenagers smiling outdoor making selfie

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Author
News
Date
September 15, 2022

Categorized
Medicine and Health, Politics

Tagged
Britain and teen transgender medicine, Featured, Michael Egnor, Puberty blockers, Sweden and puberty blockers, Transgender medicine for teens, U.S. and teen transgender medicine}

Egnor: Why More Sex Change Medicine for Teens in US Than Europe?

_{One factor in the difference between the United States and Europe may be less accurate information in the United States} _{News

September 15, 2022

4

Medicine and Health, Politics}

Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor offers a look at the radical trend to medicine and life-altering surgery based on teen identity issues: Despite the logical gibberish, trans-activism has had a frightening impact on medical practice and medical ethics. ‘Gender affirmation’ clinics exist in medical centers across the country, and many clinics offer hormonal treatment and even radical surgery to children and adults. Boston Children’s Hospital — probably the most prominent children’s hospital in the country — has offered mastectomies to girls as young as 15 for “gender reassignment,” and has offered patients phalloplasty (the surgical creation of a ‘penis’), metoidioplasty (cutting tissue to lengthen the clitoris), creation of a scrotum with testicular implants, hysterectomy, vaginoplasty (amputation of the penis and testicles with construction of a ‘vagina’) Read More ›

Macro image of a motherboard with the inscription

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
September 12, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics, Environment, Ethics, Politics

Tagged
China, COSM 2022, Featured, Keith Krach, Technology and environment, Technology dependence on China}

How Safe Is Our Tech If It Depends on Non-Free Nations?

_{Europe’s energy woes, in the wake of the Russia–Ukraine war, should spur us to take the question seriously} _{News

September 12, 2022

4

Business and Finance, Economics, Environment, Ethics, Politics}

Keith Krach, former chairman and CEO of Docusign, the app that enables you to conveniently buy a house in Delaware while selling one in Oregon, is speaking at COSM (November 9–11 in Seattle). Docusign was of immense help during the COVID pandemic when in-person transactions were often impractical, illegal, or just impossible. Go here to get the Early Adopter rate before September 15. Krach, former Under Secretary of State and current Chairman of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University, has been thinking a good deal about our future and new technology. He is committed to the importance of rehoming technology Americans need in the United States, as he told Fierce Electronics recently: Our adversaries, starting with the Read More ›