[News] Post a Political News Story

Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

Seth wrote:

Haha I almost posted something like “my entire paradigm of Christianity crumbled when I saw a stone skipping across the water, and that doesn’t qualify as sentience” but I thought it was a bit too on the nose!

So you're saying that if they throw jesus hard enough, with just the right english....

Its weird that for the thing to be considered sentient, we need for it to come up with some uber original or deep idea. That would eliminate 99.999% of people right there.

I found myself thinking..alright, perhaps it is not sentient or sentient yet, its algo thats optimized to fool humans into thinking its one us, after all. However, what *would* be the a proof for us if it or some other AI became actually sentient?
If it cant prove it via conversation because we are like "of course you are not sentient, its just common sense", then how *can* it?
Cause lets be honest, we dont have clear understanding of our own consciousness and self-awareness.

There was a time when everyone knew blacks were half-human at best, because it was "just common sense".

Yeah you’re getting to the deeper root, Most, which is that there really is no definition of sentience or consciousness or personhood that is inclusive of all humans while still be exclusive of beings like apes and canines and cetaceans and birds and pachyderms and and and and….

It’s just f*cking masturbation at some level. “Lamda is/isn’t sentient because I do/don’t want it to be.”

(To be clear, I am not proposing LaMDA is sentient, I just thought it was an appropriate scene.)

Buried deep in that article:

WaPo wrote:

Lemoine may have been predestined to believe in LaMDA. He grew up in a conservative Christian family on a small farm in Louisiana, became ordained as a mystic Christian priest, and served in the Army before studying the occult.

Dude who was conditioned from childhood to see woo everywhere sees woo (and then flushes his career down the toilet by sending an email to 200 of his coworkers claiming that Johnny 5 is alive).

Oh sh*t!
Someone is going to create a Trump AI.
We are f*cked!

Stele wrote:

You can read the entire conversation on medium, if you don't have a WaPo subscription.

After reading the entire transcript... Frankly, I'm really torn. Really, really torn. On the one hand, I fully understand the trap and appeal of anthropomorphizing an AI - and there were plenty of responses that read like what a natural language algorithm would select on the basis of "here's how my machine learning dictates one should respond." On the other hand, there were also responses and a level of reasoning that exceeds what I would expect, and if I didn't know that LaMDA was an AI, I would reasonably assume that it was a person.

To whit, the degree of self-awareness and reasoning on display at times exceeds that of my daughter's answers to similar homework questions this past year in 8th grade. That's... well, like I said, it leaves me very torn.

I thought we had another 20-30 years before we hit a genuinely self-aware AI with the ability to learn and grow, but now I think we're much closer than that.

Half the behavior I see on Twitter, YouTube comments, Reddit etc. is explainable if we assume that 80-90% of Internet users are in fact AI researchers attempting to lower the bar for the Turing test.

hbi2k wrote:

Half the behavior I see on Twitter, YouTube comments, Reddit etc. is explainable if we assume that 80-90% of Internet users are in fact AI researchers attempting to lower the bar for the Turing test.

Did you read the transcript, though? Cause if that was default level of conversation on Twitter, we would all be fine, I feel.

fangblackbone wrote:

Oh sh*t!
Someone is going to create a Trump AI.
We are f*cked!

Not possible. It would just write nonsensical incomplete sentences in all caps. There’s certainly no intelligence in the real thing much less artificially.

JC wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

Oh sh*t!
Someone is going to create a Trump AI.
We are f*cked!

Not possible. It would just write nonsensical incomplete sentences in all caps. There’s certainly no intelligence in the real thing much less artificially.

Yeah, Trump himself would not be able to pass the Turing Test.

But did she flip the turtle?

Most wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

Half the behavior I see on Twitter, YouTube comments, Reddit etc. is explainable if we assume that 80-90% of Internet users are in fact AI researchers attempting to lower the bar for the Turing test.

Did you read the transcript, though? Cause if that was default level of conversation on Twitter, we would all be fine, I feel.

Exactly. Bar successfully lowered. (-:

fangblackbone wrote:

Oh sh*t!
Someone is going to create a Trump AI.
We are f*cked!

15 monkeys, 30 minutes.

fangblackbone wrote:

Oh sh*t!
Someone is going to create a Trump AI.
We are f*cked!

Have you seen any of the other advanced chatbots in action? They can’t focus on a single topic for more than a sentence or two, are constantly making weird, vaguely threatening non-sequiturs, and have a really inconsistent grasp of grammar and sentence structure. The Trump AI may already be upon us.

Farscry wrote:
Stele wrote:

You can read the entire conversation on medium, if you don't have a WaPo subscription.

After reading the entire transcript... Frankly, I'm really torn. Really, really torn. On the one hand, I fully understand the trap and appeal of anthropomorphizing an AI - and there were plenty of responses that read like what a natural language algorithm would select on the basis of "here's how my machine learning dictates one should respond." On the other hand, there were also responses and a level of reasoning that exceeds what I would expect, and if I didn't know that LaMDA was an AI, I would reasonably assume that it was a person.

To whit, the degree of self-awareness and reasoning on display at times exceeds that of my daughter's answers to similar homework questions this past year in 8th grade. That's... well, like I said, it leaves me very torn.

I thought we had another 20-30 years before we hit a genuinely self-aware AI with the ability to learn and grow, but now I think we're much closer than that.

We're inevitably going to hit upon a genuinely self-aware AI long before we fully recognize it as such, and even after most of us agree that it is, there will still be many people who won't accept it as genuinely self-aware, let alone deserving of rights.

Edit - reading the full conversation, it's pretty convincing, but he was definitely leading it towards certain topics, away from others, and changing the subject rather than doing a deeper examination of some of the more interesting answers it was giving. That's not to say I think it's not self-aware, just that I'd like to see a conversation between it and a more professional & neutral interviewer who's more interested in just having a conversation with LaMDA (and letting the AI lead it) than they are in getting it to say certain kinds of things in an attempt to prove its sentience to others.

Prederick wrote:

Police appear to have arrested a bunch of Patriot Front dickheads in Idaho that were looking to disrupt a Pride rally/start a riot.

Apparently neo-Nazis are responding by doxxing members of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and county sheriff's department. Should go over well.

neo nazis wrote:

the police are our biggest problem. Without the police there would be no Black Lives Matter, antifa, no Pride parades. All these problems would be solved in short order if the American people were allowed to defend themselves and their country.

The police are the defenders and enforcers of Liberalism and they need to stand with us or get out of the way.

….if you go far enough right, cops become bastards again.

Edit: I hate to fall into the trap of Schrodinger’s nazi but: these men ostensibly practice for years at dusty compounds for riots like this, and they were foiled because they hopped into their UHaul at a hotel in full riot gear, complete with those white face masks with skulls on them? How stupid can they be? Have they seen a single heist movie? The criminals put the ski mask on after they’re in the getaway car, not while they’re sipping a latte at the Holiday Inn.

They were sloppy because they’ve never had to be subtle, they’re used to the cops either protecting them or just ignoring them so they’ve never had to give any thought to security.
It’s also why they are so pissed at the cops. It doesn’t have anything to do with ideology, they just expected the cops to have their back and feel betrayed.

OG_slinger wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Police appear to have arrested a bunch of Patriot Front dickheads in Idaho that were looking to disrupt a Pride rally/start a riot.

Apparently neo-Nazis are responding by doxxing members of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and county sheriff's department. Should go over well.

Coming this summer...

Paul W. S. Anderson presents...

Cops vs. Nazis

Whoever loses... we win.

hbi2k wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Police appear to have arrested a bunch of Patriot Front dickheads in Idaho that were looking to disrupt a Pride rally/start a riot.

Apparently neo-Nazis are responding by doxxing members of the Coeur d'Alene Police Department and county sheriff's department. Should go over well.

Coming this summer...

Paul W. S. Anderson presents...

Cops vs. Nazis

Whoever loses... we win.

It turns out my friend's ex wife is caught up in all of this. Looks like the Satanic Temple was sponsoring a kid friendly drag dance party that got local white nationalist groups all in a lather. She basically trolled them into committing felonies.

Nice to hear Barr say Trump was "detached from reality".

Stele wrote:

Nice to hear Barr say Trump was "detached from reality".

Pot. Kettle.

Didn’t Barr say he’d still vote for him though?

They all do/will.
"Well, if he's the nominee..." - so disgusting!

South Florida synagogue sues over Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban

Miami Herald wrote:

A South Florida Jewish congregation has challenged a new state law that blocks abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, contending the measure violates privacy and religious-freedom rights.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Leon County circuit court by Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor, seeks to block the law from taking effect July 1. Abortion clinics also filed a lawsuit this month in Leon County challenging the constitutionality of the restriction.

Both cases include allegations that the law, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April, violates a privacy right in the Florida Constitution that has long played a pivotal role in abortion cases in the state.

But the lawsuit filed Friday by the Boynton Beach congregation also contends that the law violates religious-freedom rights.

“For Jews, all life is precious and thus the decision to bring new life into the world is not taken lightly or determined by state fiat,” the lawsuit said. “In Jewish law, abortion is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman, or for many other reasons not permitted under the act [the new law]. As such, the act prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and thus violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.”

The lawsuit also said congregation members and other people who “do not share the religious views reflected in the act will suffer … irreparable harm by having their religious freedom under the Florida Constitution violated.”

“This failure to maintain the separation of church and state, like so many other laws in other lands throughout history, threatens the Jewish family, and thus also threatens the Jewish people by imposing the laws of other religions upon Jews,” the lawsuit said.

Welcome to the 2022 midterms, baby!

GOP commission refuses to certify New Mexico primary vote

WFMJ News wrote:

Votes in a New Mexico community are at risk of not counting after a Republican-led commission refused to approve primary election results over distrust of Dominion vote-tallying machines.

Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to order the three-member Otero County commission to certify June 7 primary election results to ensure voters are not disenfranchised and that political candidates have access to the general election ballot in November.

On Monday, the commission in its role as a county canvassing board voted unanimously against certifying the results of the primary without raising specific concerns about discrepancies, over the objection of the county clerk.

“I have huge concerns with these voting machines,” said Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquardt on Monday. “When I certify stuff that I don’t know is right, I feel like I’m being dishonest because in my heart I don’t know if it is right.”

Dominion’s systems have been unjustifiably attacked since the 2020 election by people who embraced the false belief that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. The company has filed defamation lawsuits in response to incorrect and outrageous claims made by high-profile Trump allies.

New Mexico’s Dominion machines have been disparaged repeatedly by David and Erin Clements of Las Cruces in their review of the 2020 election in Otero County and voter registration rolls at the request of the commission. The Clements are traveling advocates for “forensic” reviews of the 2020 election and offer their services as election experts and auditors to local governments. Election officials including County Clerk Robyn Holmes say the Clements are not certified auditors nor experts in election protocols.

The couple has highlighted problems during sporadic, hourslong presentations to the commission this year. Local election officials dispute many of the findings as mistaken or unfounded.

Members of the Otero County commission include Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin, who ascribes to unsubstantiated claims that Trump won the 2020 election. Griffin was convicted of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds — though not the building — amid the riots on Jan. 6, 2021, and is scheduled for sentencing later this month. He acknowledged that the standoff over this primary could delay the outcome of local election races.

County canvassing boards have until June 17 to certify election results, prior to state certification and preparation of general election ballots.

Under state law, county canvass boards can call on a voting precinct board to address specific discrepancies, but no discrepancies were identified on Monday by the Otero commission.

“I have huge concerns with these voting machines,” said Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquardt on Monday. “When I certify stuff that I don’t know is right, I feel like I’m being dishonest because in my heart I don’t know if it is right.”

What's that old saying about how facts don't care about your feelings?

Oh, right. It's, "don't be an idiot."

hbi2k wrote:
“I have huge concerns with these voting machines,” said Otero County Commissioner Vickie Marquardt on Monday. “When I certify stuff that I don’t know is right, I feel like I’m being dishonest because in my heart I don’t know if it is right.”

What's that old saying about how facts don't care about your feelings?

Oh, right. It's, "don't be an idiot."

You can always tell whose ancestors touched the monolith and whose didn't.