I am gearing up for a series of posts on A. I. The topic has grabbed me by my epistemic shorthairs.
But for now, read this.
Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains
I am gearing up for a series of posts on A. I. The topic has grabbed me by my epistemic shorthairs.
But for now, read this.
AI is the golden calf of the modern age, IMHO.
A current nefarious political use of “AI” is outlined in this article, (below) where “AI” was used to convincingly imitate the voice of Marco Rubio. If this “AI” stuff is not reined in, believability per se will shrink to almost nothing. (link)
https://www.newsmax.com/us/signal-chat-ai/2025/07/08/id/1217987/
epistemic shorthairs.
Nice phrase…
Dave,
Albeit crude. . .
Joe,
Pertinent article. Thanks. Kinetic warfare will increasingly give way to cyberwarfare.
ANother article: The xAI chatbot spews hate against the Jews:
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5462609/grok-elon-musk-antisemitic-racist-content
Joe,
You trust National People’s Radio?
Hi Brother Bill
Well in this case I trust NPR, but only because I have seen this story in quite a few other places. Here it is from “wired” magazine, a nerdy source:
https://www.wired.com/story/grok-antisemitic-posts-x-xai/
This AI stuff will get us into big trouble, and the danger lies in the people who fawn over it.
— Catacomb Joe.
Look at this madness: Musk is going to integrate “Grok” AI into Tesla automobiles. No-one will be safe anywhere near a Tesla.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/07/10/elon-musk-announces-grok-ai-integration-in-tesla-vehicles-very-soon/
Catacomb Joe
AI is being used to generate child porn:
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/07/10/watchdog-ai-generated-child-pornography-is-exploding-in-popularity/
Grok AI issues advice on how to break into a specific person’s house and rape him:
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/watch-local-news-interviews-will-stancil-about-elon-musks-grok-threatening-to-rape-him/
If a person did this, would they be arrested?
— Catacomb Joe
Check this one out, Joe: https://www.wired.com/story/couples-retreat-with-3-ai-chatbots-and-humans-who-love-them-replika-nomi-chatgpt/
Joe @ 5:36. This raises the interesting question of whether AI systems ought to be programmed to self-censor.
You and I were fairly well brought up, so we self-censor: we do not publicly express everything that pops into our heads. For example, we are careful not to incite violence.
I don’t have time now to lay out the intricacies of the question I am posing.
It’s a BRAVE NEW WORLD and FUTURE SCHOCK is upon us. You get the allusions.
Hi Brother Bill
Re your last link at 9:09: going romantic with a computer is a path to human extinction. On the other hand, someone foolish enough to be romantic with a computer will probably not be a good parent to a real child.
— Catacomb Joe.
P.S. If I have to go into the catacombs, it will be in the certain hope of emerging into a much better world. I’m an optimist.
P.P.S. I remember all the letters I wrote, (and received replies) to girlfriends when I was in college. It was quite real, and very much fun. All on paper. Even e-mail is not like a letter on paper. And I saved much of that correspondence.
“Open the pod bay door, Hal.”
Dave shuts down Hal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwCFY6pmaYY
It’s too late to shut it down, Joe.
As for correspondence and love letters, I’ve saved it all. But what now? Read it all one more time, then burn it?
I am going to organize my old letters and put them into binders for future historians.
As for unplugging A”I”, what really needs to be unplugged is the credulosity of millions. But good luck with that. I am beginning to think that a really sane person is a rarity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrvK_KuIeJk
60 Minutes interview with “Godfather of AI.” About 13 minutes.
Joe sez: >>I am going to organize my old letters and put them into binders for future historians.<< I will charitably assume that future historians will be interested in your and my literary remains. But how store and preserve these materials? You may have answered this question before. I have thousands and thousands of pages of journals, notebooks, etc. I don't like the idea of all this being just thrown into the trash. Put it in orbit around the Earth in a space capsule? Pay a local university to host the Vallicella Archives? Bury it in a steel box?
Hi Brother Bill
AI is a tool for evil, parallel to the fortune-tellers that we were warned not to believe, by the good nuns of Saint Therese grammar school.
(link)
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/07/11/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-misleading-ai-chatbots-push-anti-trump-propaganda-masquerading-as-fact/