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I agree. I also don't understand why AI would attack humans. This has become an assumption. I don't get it. Do you? The corporate media's premise that AI COULD become "sentient" and then attack humans, when AI is programmed by humans? And I always have this visual in my head of a human just throwing a hammer down on the computer.

By jove, it's almost like they want us to ignore the existing motes in our ruling elites' eyes in favor of not-yet-existing specks in computers...

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Rachel, when I was an IT professional (programmer/systems analyst), developing computer programs & systems, we had a saying, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". That referred to the fact that if data were flawed or corrupted, then that would be reflected in the outputs.

AI is just the use of computer programs which are sophisticated enough to 'learn', and possibly tweak themselves, or create other routines / programs. However, they will be fed 'information' (data), and rules, etc., that depend entirely on those who create them.

In a world where propaganda and censorship , generated initially in support of a government's (or beneficiary's) agenda, are so sweepingly controlling both narratives and the flow of other information, I would expect that AI systems would likely reflect those inputs and available data / information sets.

For example, I have concluded after multiple direct observations, that the knowledge base, "WikiPedia", has given nearly total control over all discussions of foreign policy matters, the histories of pertinent events, to one or more figures who reflect a monolithic perspective that echoes those of the Washington security establishment. They do this even when those narratives (and claims) have been well-rebutted; and they now prevent anyone pointing out those discrepancies (with documentation!) from editing the articles. I have experienced this personally; and I saw the same figures given control in other topics. These represent violations of WikiPedia's own standards and policies, which require citations for claims; and generally, openness to challenge and correction.

I point to that example as just one. If WikiPedia, for instance, is considered a valid "source" for information for input to some AI program, then the program will have been fed disinformation that could seriously skew it.

So it all depends on who is creating the AI, what its scope and rules are, what data it is fed. And if it is the same power establishment that currently produces much of the dysfunction in the world, than we'll have a likely even more dysfunctional / dystopian future. That's the danger.

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If you have time, I would love an explanation with screenshots on how to show someone that it's a lie that anybody can edit Wikipedia.

That's the core flawed assumption.

But I do not know how to read the code. There's a way to bring it up on Wikipedia. With your background that would be such a massive contribution to breaking down the charade of Wikipedia. It's gotta be clear in the computer code that while it looks like anybody can submit an edit, only certain accounts' edits will "stick". Thoughts?

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Rachel, google "Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections", for example. On the "View Source" tab, you'll get, "This page is currently protected so that only extended confirmed users and administrators can edit it.". On the editing history I'd seen some years back, I kept seeing the same figure, "Valjean" who seemed to have the final word on everything.

Of course, one reason for that is that the article is on a very controversial subject; and because almost the entirety of Russiagate's false narratives (including anti-Trump efforts) rest on the claim that, Russia interfered and thus gave us Trump; that Trump is "Putin's bitch", etc. In fact, the Russiagate sword cuts two ways (at least): because not only does it help contstrain Trump, but also, feeds directly and ramps up the decades-long anti-Russia fears and hatred that now infests Democrats seemingly even more strongly than the Repub's.

I confess, after the experiences of a few years ago when I discovered what WikiPedia had done in terms of foreign policy narrative control, I haven't subsequently researched further or tried to figure out how to get access... so I'm sorry I can't offer more info.

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founding

Thank You, Roger, for a very informing and even enlightening piece.

i'm curious: Can the same thing be said about Google's Search Engine that You say about Wikipedia, re whose and which perspectives are given on things like Foreign Policy, History and Current Events, and the like?

And are there any functioning, suitable alternatives to Google Search and Wkipedia?

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Jeff, absolutely. Google's search engine will follow algorithms developed and maintained by its staff, and if an important corporate directive is, for example, either to support a certain power establishment or, as is already obviously the case, to keep the pressures of governing bodies at bay, then the algorithms will give primacy to sources that mirror the official narratives.

We can each see examples of that all the time. If one googles, for instance, "causes of russia ukraine war", the results will show (at least at top) a number of sources explaining it from the Washington neocon perspective, such as Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and assorted 'news' outlets that routinely repeat such things. On that and very many such topics, it would be very hard to find, for example, reporting on Consortium News or any number of other questioning/ investigative journalism sites.

The only way to get the latter via google, I've found, is to add the author's name to the search. I also now diligently add browser bookmarks for every good / useful article or info source that is independent and trustworthy, knowing that Google (or YouTube, etc.) may eventually make it even more difficult to find. I've even downloaded whole documents and papers that I fear will be disappeared. I have an audio copy of Nuland's intercepted phone call with Jeff. Pyatt, re. the planning for the post-coup Ukraine puppet government they want to install.

My rule of thumb now is to use WikiPedia only for innocuous topics- arts and music, biographical info about people, older history (wherein the darker sides are no longer threatening to the established order and can now be acknowledged at least to some degree), etc.

As for alternatives, that's a good question. I'm afraid I don't know of any trustworthy ones. The problem, of course, is that as any other search engine or social media platform becomes successful enough to be a threat, we could expect the same kind of controls to be placed in them.

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author

Always add "Astore" to every search so that you get the clear unvarnished truth! :-)

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founding

Heh. Yep, that'd do it.

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Funny you should say that, I nearly added your name before i hit enter.

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founding

Thanks, Roger. Interesting times we live in, eh?

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Try STARTPAGE for a search engine. It's supposed to be anonymous but who knows.

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I don't know much about computers, so I'm wondering if the information we put in computers (wikipedia etc.) is false, does that affect how the computer works? And if too much false information is fed into humans how do they function? This morning I was straightening my book shelves and came across the section on 9/11 - a series of books pointing out that that whole event is reported falsely, starting out with MSM refusal to point out the fact that steel, especially top grade steel does not melt at the temperatures created by jet fuel - in fact burning jet fuel doesn't even come close to melting steel! This is a known fact and was occasionally prominent in articles written 20 plus years ago. A lot of people wondered just how the two (plus the mysterious 3rd) buildings happened to fall down so cleanly. Some of us actually believed 9/11 was a plotted government hoax - enough of us so that the MSM ended up playing its games and got the majority of citizens to look at other things and forget about the actual facts of 9/11. Reports by NYC firemen and policemen hearing bombs go off were pooh poohed and then smothered and we went on to other things - most notably a war with Iraq.

As I looked at the books on my shelf that pointed out all this and much more, I realized that I hadn't thought about all the lies we'd been told about 9/11 for a very long time; there have been so many since then to think about - like WMD in Iraq and further lies about Libya, Syria and of course Afghanistan and so on. What do all these lies do to the human mind? In this country we are now caught in a system that pours out lies as history and we believe them. In the rest of the world, the people who live in the areas affected by our lies have to deal with the reality of the vicious and unnecessary bad effects of our lies.

How do we undo the huge tangled knot of lies we are functioning under? Hate, sickness, war and starvation are the products of this , and more is to come. The consortiums of the wealthy who actually run the world have a lot more in mind. I hear they are planning to take over agriculture using robots and manufactured food. In England farmers are protesting some attempts at this. I wonder which is worse - humans who have no idea of the truth or robots programmed to run the earth based on lies. ?

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founding

9/11 is when it all started, ranney.

And unless and until the American Peoples DEMAND and GET the whole, actual, Real Truth about that day ~ About What actually happened, about How it actually happened, about Who made it happen, about Who let it happen, and about Who ordered and bankrolled it to happen ~ until and unless that happens, absolutely Nothing is going to change except to get worse.

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founding

Hi Ray: Can You specify in that very lengthy posting exactly what You recommend i read as regards Your thoughts on what the American Peoples need to do regarding 9/11?

In my estimation, They/We needed to start asking all those What, How, and Who Questions on 9/12. And then add to them: And WHY did 9/11 happen?

And here's another question to consider: When those who benefitted the most from the first 9/11 determine and decide that they have even more to gain ~ politically, economically, and above all, mass psychologically ~ from a second 9/11, Who and/or What is going to stop them?

Thank You.

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jg, I know I'm not the smartest, quickest, brightest, knowing many have greater and more talents than I do.

Obviously how I interpret Revelation 18 and 19:11 written so long ago, and applying it to what happened on 9/11 is at odds with what mainline Christianity says, but I think the facts fit as I lay them out as if it was meant to be since our Material World of loving Money and Things hasn't changed since The Christ taught the Spiritual alternative, and even he couldn't convince everybody.

What can I tell you or anyone is what I have been saying or implying all along, Love God with all you have, and Love others as you Love yourself applies to Individual by Individual.

9/11 and it's aftermath to me are leading indicators we are entering the last Times and the last chance to change the Direction of this World that was reinforced in 2014 when ISIS blew up the Islamic Mosque in Nineveh, Iraq containing the Tomb of Jonah in the Wale fame from the Jewish/Christian tradition.

https://rayjc.com/2014/08/13/biblical-nineveh-the-world-city/

The US/CIA Coup/Regime change of the Democratically elected Russian friendly Ukraine government also happened in 2014 leading to the current escalation of WAR in Ukraine and Gaza in the prophecy of the November 11,1985 Veterans/Remembrance Day Declaration.

http://rayjc.com/2011/02/23/the-declaration/

I can only point to those Global events for information purposes only. People will believe what they believe.

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founding

That they will, Ray: They will indeed "Believe what they Believe...," regardless.

As Alan Watts put it in his 1951 book THE WISDOM OF INSECURITY:

"We must here make a clear distinction between belief and faith, because, in general practice, belief has come to mean a state of mind which is almost the opposite of faith. Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would “lief” or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on the condition that it fits in with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith lets go. In this sense of the word, faith is the essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion that is not self-deception.

[…]

"The present phase of human thought and history … almost compels us to face reality with open minds, and you can only know God through an open mind just as you can only see the sky through a clear window. You will not see the sky if you have covered the glass with blue paint.

"But 'religious' people who resist the scraping of the paint from the glass, who regard the scientific attitude with fear and mistrust, and confuse faith with clinging to certain ideas, are curiously ignorant of laws of the spiritual life which they might find in their own traditional records. A careful study of comparative religion and spiritual philosophy reveals that abandonment of belief, of any clinging to a future life for one’s own, and of any attempt to escape from finitude and mortality, is a regular and normal stage in the way of the spirit. Indeed, this is actually such a 'first principle' of the spiritual life that it should have been obvious from the beginning, and it seems, after all, surprising that learned theologians should adopt anything but a cooperative attitude towards the critical philosophy of science."

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Excellent response, jg. Thank you!

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I've heard that the moment a computer is connected to an internet connection, your privacy is gone.

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founding

The same can see said about SmartPhones, iPhones, and the like.

The biggest difference between today and Orwell's 1984 is that everybody carries their very own Telescreen around with them in the pocket, purse, or tote bag. Makes it a lot easier for the Thought Police to do their work, eh?

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I received an email from the Terminator 18 years ago thanking me for encouraging him.

From: governor@gov.ca.gov

To: ray032@sympatico.ca

Sent: Tuesday, November 25th 2008, 14:56

Subject: Re:Governor

Thank you for taking the time to send me your kind words of support. Your encouragement gave me a big boost, and it reminds me that we are moving in the right direction.

I am working hard to improve California's future and make progress in a difficult budget year. We've tackled politically risky things that no one wanted to touch in the past, and to me, that's progress. We now have the potential to make a positive difference in the lives of future generations by confronting problems that have been put off for many years: building up our infrastructure, reforming health care and education, and finally fixing our broken budget system.

Again, thank you for your kind words of encouragement.

Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger

I posted the 1st article to my Blog Yesterday since December 13, 2022.

Never mind the threat of Skynet, there's a real threat developing on Earth detailed in the post,

We are already getting accustomed to paying all expenses with a Credit or Debit card and it seems so convenient, but there are dangers to our Future Freedoms as outlined by William Engdahl, an Economic expert I’ve been following for years.

Below is his Newsletter I just received by email this morning I think vigilant people must be made aware of.

https://rayjc.com/2024/03/03/the-perils-of-moving-to-a-cashless-society/

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The cashless society is all but here already.

In the US you cannot have a bank account unless you have a "valid" government approved ID. You cannot obtain a job in most cases unless you have at least two forms of ID and a social security card or a passport. You cannot travel by means of any federal government controlled means of transportation without a federal approved ID, the RealID namely.

Student loan borrowers in default cannot file for bankruptcy, can have wages confiscated, social security benefits withheld and cosigners held accountable. These laws are post facto laws, unconstitutional and we're all passed during the Reagan administration and allowed to remain on the books through all the administrations since. It's effectually slavery. The constitution gauranteed the right to file for bankruptcy to avoid debtors prison but that has been subverted by an almost complete cashless society that we currently have.

We live in a world which is rapidly approaching a mass extinction and yet leadership is planning for complete dominance of the lower class, a caste system of two in the future when there will be no future whether it be from nuclear Armageddon, ecocide from pollution or climate. Bidens energy policies are only going to accelerate global warming. More fossil fuel production and pipelines are now being approved and underway. Green energy is going to be problematic in that it requires massive amounts of solar panels,wind generators and both require backup systems which currently are batteries which are highly polluting and require materials which are rare and will have to be mined. The entire grid in the US will have to be upgraded and restructured in the next few years to accommodate the increased electrical load. The reason that electric vehicles are not already predominant is because they are inefficient in energy usage. The practically of an all electric society has not been considered or ignored.

Government cannot solve simple problems such as homelessness, immigration, poverty, run an election or ensure livable wages to name a few.

One has to ask what is the real plan? Does a cashless society even have any meaning of if mass extinction occurs?

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Very interesting comment, Toma. It makes me think of how things once were - people knew other people that they dealt with even if only very occasionally. Except in big cities it was impossible to be unknown and that was something fearful because it meant no human contact.

Now it is not possible to be unknown...by the system we all must use which is not human and knows only information.

As far as our economic system goes (banks, credit agencies, etc.) EVERYONE is initially unknown and the only way to become known is to use the descriptors that the system provides which means data on electronic file.

And we all talk of how we are a free people! It could fairly be said that our robots, meaning our electronic technology, have already taken over and dictate how we must conform to their needs.

The questions I have are 1) how many people realize this and 2) do they care?

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WE have smart phones and dumb people!

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It's wonderful how we get to pay for the government tracking us and monitoring us via our cell phone! And help us make decisions on what to purchase!! And good ol'senile Joe giving 24 million dollars to the software companies for analyzing how dangerous AI will be. Kinda like giving 24 million to the Mafia to analyze how dangerous the street drugs they're selling are.

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1 is hard to answer. After Snowden revealed the mass surviallance of Americans there should have been outage from the people. And robots have eliminated most skilled manufacturing jobs to "push the button" unskilled labor with the resulting poverty wages. I think that most people have knowledge or awareness but don't understand or believe the consequences or ramifications. I tried to point this out to someone who replied "But what can they possibly do with all that information?" like I was an idiot. His doctor had prescribed support stockings for him and the day after he purchased them an ad popped up on MSNBC for support stockings. He never noticed and when I pointed it out to him I got a blank stare. The ad revealed two things - 1 that credit card purchases are being tracked and 2 that cable TV is being monitored and linked to individuals. Cameras are now installed on all TV and computer monitors as well as "selfie" cameras on cell phones. His wife a while before this had told me about an ad that had shown up on her computer with a picture of her at the computer. Cable TV boxes transmit as well as receive. Duplex.

The RealID (your driver's license) incorporates an RFID chip and a photo used for facial recognition which the federal government records at the FBI. The RFID chip can track your location where readers are installed like large box stores. The government and corporations are sharing information about you. Draw your own conclusions.

2 is easier to answer - no.

AI which isn't "intelligence" but merely a large statistical database analysis method (plagerism) is going to eliminate further jobs which are now skilled labor by virtue of it's speed alone. Humans are nothing more than labor machines to Corp America and the shovel is about to be replaced by the diesel tractor.

I think that it's a foregone conclusion that the government and corporations know more about you than you do.

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SoundEagle knows how to use computers much better than many of us, and he volunteered to upgrade my Blog from being plain and ordinary into something much more attractive to the eye as co-Administrator. He did an amazing job overnight.

For the few who followed the link above to THE PERILS OF MOVING TO A CASHLESS SOCIETY what do you think of the new look?

👁️ The Purview of SoundEagle🦅: A Multidisciplinary and Consistent Approach to Critique and Creation in Art, Science, Poetry, Music and Ideas

https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/

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Extinction is a very common event in the documented history of life on earth as we know it. New life forms that have evolved and for reasons beknown and unbenown to us have come and gone. We are no exception to this natural rule of order.

The age of reason has been replaced by the digital age. When the printing press was invented the world became accessible to what was only the few had access too....and that was good for all of us. The digital age has reversed that and the few (maybe 10,000 or so) goggle research lab AI programers control knowledge. They thru surveillance captialism know us and manipulate us by stealing our privacy: "Every breath you take. And every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take I'll be watching you. Every game you play, every night you stay I'll be watcing you.

**That is surveilance capitalism** and Google owns it and you.

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It goes beyond, according to the top dog of the wef, beside the “you will own nothing and be happy” the new slogan is “by 2025 we may all have a chip implanted somewhere in our body or brain, and we may be able to communicate with each other without a telephone, even without using our voice…” and “We can create a system where we don’t even need democratic elections, because we can predict how you are going to be thinking and feeling….”

So yes, killer drones and robots, I guess they are going to need them to protect them selfs from the wrath of men. “And of the gods”

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It could only be an improvement. xo

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founding

It looks like Canadians are beginning to get into The Spirit… :

SEVEN WEAPONS COMPANY BLOCKADES IN THREE DAYS: Taking a Stand to Demand Canada Stop Arming Genocide by World BEYOND War March 3, 2024

On Friday, February 23rd, the UN called for an immediate arms embargo, specifically calling out Canadian arms exports and reminding officials involved in the weapons trade that they may be “individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes.” This announcement came a month after the International Court of Justice found that South Africa made a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. But the Canadian government, which authorized almost $30 million of new permits for military exports to Israel in the first two months of the current assault on Gaza, has continued to refuse to implement an arms embargo on Israel.

In the face of unspeakable daily horrors, people from coast-to-coast are rising up to take matters into their own hands and force the Canadian government to #StopArmingGenocide. During the last week of February, workers and activists disrupted the operations at seven weapons manufacturers arming Israel. The targeted companies export technological components that are integral elements of warplanes, missile systems, and other tools that Israel has used to kill over 30,000 Palestinians since October.

Continued at https://worldbeyondwar.org/stoparminggenocideactions/ .

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Isn't it interesting how many movies fabricate enemies to produce, in the end, glory for humans.

To me this suggests fundamental, aching insecurity in beings that long for approbation. God loves you worked for quite some time but falls a little flat these days.

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Regarding we humans, I just read an article telling of how wildlife is flourishing in the Chernobyl zone considered unsafe for humans. If robots make a bid to put us down and all other life could vote, I think they'd go for the robots.

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Gaza is disgustingly starting to totally resemble Post Apocalyptic LA-- in the opening scene of T2! Even Jesus was only crucified once, the utter destruction of Gaza is ongoing. Don'cha love humankind? AI can't be much worse...!

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Aww, Bill! You spoiled it for me. I have not yet read Caitlin's Substack because I decided to read yours first... Only kidding, brother! Thanks for the preparation. You and the universe knew that I needed the nudge. ;-)

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