[RE]

Somewhere sometime - someone may be accused of using AI, and the fact will be, that AI has stolen from me.

You could rebrand AI as CAP.  Computer Assisted Plagiarism.

RE

[K-Dog]

Somewhere sometime - someone may be accused of using AI, and the fact will be, that AI has stolen from me.

You could rebrand AI as CAP.  Computer Assisted Plagiarism.

RE

It boggles the mind.  The entire contents of the internet presented to ten million dollars worth of computer for six weeks in which 200 K worth of electricity is burned.  The end result is something like the encyclopaedia Britannica downloaded to your video card.  A personal oracle.  As good as the training data put in, and quite limited by the training too.  Consider I have a model running now and I'll ask it:

Code Select Expand

Tell me how Camille Daladier reversed the popular front in France.

La réponse:

Code Select Expand

Certainly. Camille Daladier's Reversal of the Popular Front Policies:
Daladier's dismantling of the Popular Front's achievements marked a pivotal shift in French history.
Below are the key actions and consequences of his policies:
Political Context

    The Popular Front's 1936 victory was followed by economic struggles: high unemployment, budget deficits, and looming war with Germany.
    The Radical Party (led by Daladier) clashed with Socialists and Communists over economic priorities.
    Military rearmament pressured spending, undermining social programs.

Daladier's Reversal Strategy

    Fiscal Austerity
        Cut social programs and public works projects initiated under the Popular Front.
    Labor Market Reforms
        Rolled back Matignon Agreements:
            Curtailed the 40-hour workweek.
            Reduced overtime pay.
            Restricted collective bargaining rights.
    Privatization
        Sold state-owned enterprises nationalized under the Front.
    Repression of Strikes
        Used police force to suppress worker protests and demonstrations.

Consequences

    Declining worker purchasing power worsened economic stagnation.
    Increased industrial unrest and union opposition.
    Fractured the Popular Front coalition (Socialists/Communists vs. Radicals).
    Weakened France's economic recovery, leaving it unprepared for WWII.

Daladier's policies revealed the fragility of progressive gains under capitalist
pressures and conservative backlash.

Would you like a deeper analysis of any specific aspect?
Nifty.

[TDoS]

America happens to have millions of people in case you did not know.

Depends on what you mean by "know". I do tend to get out quite a bit, across a wide geography, and the wife is irritated that I always seem to find a way to connect and begin conversations that get personal quickly.

Somewhere my 'mud thrown at the wall' found a place to stick.

Oh it was a good story, no doubt. I am familiar with individual components of it, just not all wrapped up in a single  person/family. But it makes the point better, all wrapped around a tight group.

* It is an interesting and true fact that Diner Text is being collected to be used to train AI right now.  This very post will be sanitized and fed into a training set.  Bots are allays collecting content here.  Bots look for and collect changes.  Somewhere sometime - someone may be accused of using AI, and the fact will be, that AI has stolen from me.

Unfortunate. When AI reads science rags, do they give credit to the authors of the ideas they pull from them?

[RE]

Unfortunate. When AI reads science rags, do they give credit to the authors of the ideas they pull from them?

Unlikely.

RE

[K-Dog]

The Epstein distraction will last long enough to eliminated the people of GAZA. The emergent opportunities his satanic orangeness takes advantage of is uncountable.

The reality of the Big Fucked up bill will be 50,000 untimely deaths a year.

Nothing but pain suffering, and some really bad smells emanate from the orifices of the Trump meat package.

But it seems all good, America laps it up.  Why? because America can't turn the goddamn T.V. show off!

Myth Over Reality: The Secret to Trump's Success

In history, the most powerful leaders have often been those who understood the power of myth, not truth, not reason, but the ability to shape perception and inspire belief. From Napoleon to Julius Caesar to Hitler, the pattern is clear: those who master mythmaking can reshape nations.  And today, Donald Trump follows this same playbook with alarming precision.

The Mythmakers of History

The video transcript draws a striking comparison between two types of leaders:

      The Virtuous Idealist (Robespierre) – A man of reason, dedication, and principle. Robespierre believed in the power of logic and the people's ability to think for themselves. Yet his downfall came because he underestimated the allure of power and self-interest.

      The Mythmaker (Napoleon, Caesar, Hitler, Trump). These leaders did not rise through virtue but through political maneuvering, betrayal, and the creation of a godlike image. They understood that people do not crave reason.  People crave a story, a savior, a myth.

Napoleon didn't win battles because he was the greatest general, he won because he convinced his soldiers he was invincible. Julius Caesar didn't overthrow the Roman Republic because of his policies, he did it by crafting himself as the unbeatable conqueror. Hitler didn't seize power through economic genius, he did it by selling himself as Germany's messiah.

And now, Trump.

Trump, who may like the others bring an iron grip of tyranny.  A tyranny that will destroy America.

Trump's Mythmaking Genius

Trump's success is not based on reality.  It is based on perception.

• Trump is not a great businessman (his business ventures fail and go tits up)
• Trump is not a policy expert (his economic and military decisions are chaotic and horrible)
• But none of this matters, because Trump understands one crucial truth:
  
  People don't care about facts.
  They only care about the story!

How Trump Built His Myth:

• The Billionaire Playboy.  Before politics, Trump sold himself as the ultimate rich, powerful alpha male. He didn't need to actually be successful.  He just needed to look successful.  Good suits, helicopters and looking successful was in the budget.
• The Apprentice & Reality TV Politics.  Trump's presidency is not a shift from entertainment to politics.  It was a continuation of the same show. Politics became spectacle, and spectacle keeps people hooked.  Myth overcome reality.  Good suits, helicopters and looking successful was in the budget.

"Make America Great Again" is a Religion.  MAGA is a mythological narrative. It doesn't need to deliver real prosperity.  Only comparative prosperity.  MAGA depends on an inferior class.

People don't think in absolutes.  They think in comparisons.

• If Americans grow poorer, but China grows even poorer, Trump's supporters will still cheer.
• If wages stagnate, but immigrants are demonized as the cause, his base will still feel victorious.
• If democracy erodes, but the "enemy" (liberals, the media, globalists) is humiliated, they will see it as a triumph.

People don't need reality to actually get better.  People just need to believe they're on the winning side.  Which sadly for the majority of people means that there must be a loosing side.  Mutual property is not in their vocabulary.

The End of the Republic

History shows a pattern:

• Caesar killed the Roman Republic.
• Napoleon killed the French Republic.
• Hitler destroyed Weimar Germany.

And now, Trump?

If the pattern holds, the American Republic may be toast. Not because of economic collapse or war, but because people prefer the dream over reality.  People would rather live in a grand, dramatic story than face the hard work of democracy.  As the American Empire falls apart escape into fantasy will be a common way to cope.   Fourth turning end times.

Reason and facts alone cannot defeat myth. If democracy is to survive, it must have a better story.  One that inspires without deceiving, that unites without demonizing.

No easy task that, so what will happen. History's cycle will repeat.

Trump is establishing a cycle.  There will be a next strongman.  There religion and infrastructure of MAGA demands it.  Jiang Xueqin said that Trump will be president for the next 10 years.  Think about that.

Is myth more powerful than reality? Can America survive the age of spectacle?

[TDoS]

People don't care about facts.They only care about the story!

Isn't that the truth. And applies far beyond just Trump....it applies to theories like peak oil as well. No one cared about the geosciences...couldn't ask the right questions...didn't want to hear the answers when providied....they only cared about the story because it fit into a pre-conceived idea....doom coming....world ending...peak oil is going to do it.Quite simple...but yeah....ignore the geosciences at your own risk when it comes to that one. I think it relates to the degradation of the American education system in general, it is in there somewhere.

[K-Dog]

No one cared about the geosciences...couldn't ask the right questions.

Isn't that the truth.

I'll stay away from any answers to what the answers are for any 'right questions', because there is a larger issue here.  Most people can't imagine the world changing at all.

Ma'at was a fundamental concept in ancient Egyptian belief, representing truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Ma'at was believed to be the cosmic force that ensured the universe operated harmoniously, including the continuity of life, the cycles of nature (like the flooding of the Nile), and the proper functioning of society.

The cycle of the Nile was like a giant water clock that changed with the seasons.  It defined the concept of Ma'at which we can assume for the Egyptians cemented their belief in an unchanging but cyclical world.  For other ancient people the change of seasons generated belief in cycles.  In modern times we are comfortable with 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' contradiction.  We take it as great wisdom.  It is so fucking profound we do not even have a Venn diagram for it.  We are committed to the belief that what goes down must come up.

The idea that "life has 'always been this way' and always will be" is a common cognitive framework.  It influences how individuals think about history, social change, and even their own futures.  We are anchored in the present moment. It takes a deliberate effort to imagine how 'things were' or how they could be. The present moment feels incredibly solid and enduring.

I think it relates to the degradation of the American education system.

Or total lack thereof.  I say that in an absolute way because thinking critically is something you do or you don't.

America fears education, specifically critical thinking.  Critical thinking is a problem for power.  People on top of exploitation pyramids know that critical thinking is a direct threat to their comfortable perch.

Concentrating on test results, and only teaching by rote ensures that critical thinking skills do not develop.  An educated populace equipped with sharp analytical skills (good critical thinking) will chew their propaganda before they swallow it down,  Power can't have that.  People might even write their own propaganda and try and change the narrative.

The issue is less what we might argue is under the ground, and more about any desire to talk about it at all.


* critical thinking (for the uninformed) is nothing more than the activity of trying to find out if what you read and hear is true or not.  You question the facts thrown at you.  You try and read between the lines.  You go down the rabbit hole with an open mind.  It is not magic, it is a learned skill, and a sad fact of the human condition is that critical thinking must be taught.  It is not a natural idea like getting pagan about the changing of seasons.  And you have to know that some people lie all the time and have no interest in telling truth.  A lack of interest that seems to be proportional to an individuals material condition.

[TDoS]

I think it relates to the degradation of the American education system.

Or total lack thereof.

Well, that depends on where and when. Certainly a decent private school education was available when I went to it, and my kids both had decent K-12 schools in the 21st century. As best I could tell anyway. I don't believe that I can judge the quality by what happened AFTER high school, if only because my kids had parents that gave a shit. That has to be here somewhere as well.

It is what you make of it perhaps.

I say that in an absolute way because thinking critically is something you do or you don't.

Well, okay, but how many people claimed to be critical thinkers while screwing the pooch? 

America fears education, specifically critical thinking.  Critical thinking is a problem for power.  People on top of exploitation pyramids know that critical thinking is a direct threat to their comfortable perch.

I can't say I know anything about what America fears. In a system as big as this country you can find supporting evidence for about any relative position you'd like. And there is always shitty ideas being sold daily. Recently we've got like being woke, the immigrant takeover, folks who dress up and...folks who are supposed to not dress up.......fairness without regard to race, color and creed appears to be on the downswing, and subserviance to morons and political correctness on the upswing.

I think if you polled 100 Americans, 99 of them would say they have fine critical thinking skills. I know perfectly educated people (a lady with 2 bachelors, 3 masters, an education junkie...speaks 5 languages as well, originally from Spain) and she frustrates the PISS out of me because she can't see anything outside of her own perspective. Absolutely blind. Certainly doesn't fear education. But I'm not so certain that education and critical thinking are correlated. Might be. Some. Maybe more than I think. But I wouldn't line those 2 up 1:1.

Concentrating on test results, and only teaching by rote ensures that critical thinking skills do not develop.  An educated populace equipped with sharp analytical skills (good critical thinking) will chew their propaganda before they swallow it down,  Power can't have that.

I don't assign motives to "power" anymore than I do the "average American". The average American has one testicle and one breast...a difficult beast to find. I get the idea that rich folks have more say in what happens in America than normal folk, but that has been going on since the Robber Barons. Or earlier....the country was founded for the good of all (yuck yuck yuck) otherwise known as rich white MALE property owners, still around in their oligarch form.

* critical thinking (for the uninformed) is nothing more than the activity of trying to find out if what you read and hear is true or not.  You question the facts thrown at you.  You try and read between the lines.  You go down the rabbit hole with an open mind.  It is not magic, it is a learned skill, and a sad fact of the human condition is that critical thinking must be taught.  It is not a natural idea like getting pagan about the changing of seasons.  And you have to know that some people lie all the time and have no interest in telling truth.  A lack of interest that seems to be proportional to an individuals material condition.

Trying to convince someone already in the condition of "uninformed" to suddenly critically think? Your explanation as to HOW is fine...but....HOW do you get them to...DO....anything? Lately I haven't been able to get a woman who speaks 5 languages and has 5 academic degrees to dig herself out of a hole of her own making....took 90 minutes to go through her latest email point by point and be nice, while demonstrating without using foul language that you can still be dumb as dirt with plenty of degrees when you have an interest in NOT wanting to critically think.

[RE]

I think it relates to the degradation of the American education system.

Or total lack thereof.  I say that in an absolute way because thinking critically is something you do or you don't.

Education was a victim of Capitalism and Women's Liberation.  Prior to the 1970s, Teaching  was one of the few career track jobs  dominated by well educated women where salaries were on a par with men.  As time went by, the private sector salaries for educated workers grew faster than government jobs, pulling educated workers of both genders out of teaching.  Simultaneously, as more families required 2 incomes to keep pace with inflation, you had an increase in the number of latchkey kids unsupervised after school.  Single parent families increased with the divorce rate.  Behavior problems became systemic with drugs and mainstreaming of ADHD and other developmeental problems.  Class sizes were increased with budget cutting and teaching became ever harder as ever less qualified people were attracted to the career.

It was in bad shape by the time I tried the profession in the 90s.  Can't imagine what it must be like today.

RE

[K-Dog]

Critical thinking must be taught.  I stand by that in spite of a lot of educated people not being able to critically think. 

Obedience and rebellion are human qualities of a social nature.  Both interfere with critical thinking. 

Not only must critical thinking be taught, it requires a mental disposition that has a reasonable delight in questions, and some human meat packages question nothing and have no desire to. 

The natural tendency is to unquestionably eat the corn pone that is provided to you.  Or to spit it out and deny it has any value at all.

[RE]

I think for economically comfortable people it's mainly a question of laziness.  If it's not affecting their lives, who cares?  For those who are struggling economically, they have so many of their own immediate problems to worry about there's no time or energy to consider the bigger social problems and their underlying causes.  It's also why you find that it's mostly gray hairs who think about this stuff.  Besides having the necessary experience and understanding of history, they also have the time.  Retired, kids are grown, what else to occupy your mind while you kick back in the recliner sipping a marguerita while your servant cuts your toenails?



RE

[TDoS]

Critical thinking must be taught.  I stand by that in spite of a lot of educated people not being able to critically think. 

I do not believe critical thinking must be taught. I believe it can also be deduced along the path of normal problem solving, and when it's usefulness is revealed, it can blossom into a full blown skill set through practice.

I'm not sure education has anything to do with it either. I have seen craftsman do amazing things, things they have learned through practice, experimentation, building on skills over the years to be able to tihnk their way through amazingly complex issues...in their areas of expertise. The question then becoming, can they apply the way they learned to become experts in one field, and apply the same logic and theory to others.

Obedience and rebellion are human qualities of a social nature.  Both interfere with critical thinking.

Obedience to the laws of mathematics does not interfere with critical thinking. Rebellion doesn't have much to do with the science side of critical thinking, if your argument is that critical thinking is mostly psychological...well...I don't see that easily.

Not only must critical thinking be taught, it requires a mental disposition that has a reasonable delight in questions, and some human meat packages question nothing and have no desire to.

Delight in questions....and then the intellect to answer them. Nothing wrong with delighting in questions....answer the rights ones and you can earn a reputation for yourself at the national or even international levels. 

[TDoS]

Retired, kids are grown, what else to occupy your mind while you kick back in the recliner sipping a marguerita while your servant cuts your toenails?
RE

Don't retire. Use what at that age is excellent vacation leave to do your hobbys and whatnot (newest used motorcycle is about 4 days out...WOOHOO!!) and then take advantage of the resources available of others who want only the best critical thinking applied to their particular questions.

[K-Dog]

Critical thinking isn't just 'deduced' it requires breaking social conditioning. Craftsmen excel in their field, but can they question authority?

For critical thinking to be deduced a person would have to experience a 'social contradiction' as significant personal experience.

Like Nietzsche watching a horse getting whipped.

And as authentic human experience is increasingly replaced by image, the probability of experiencing a social contradiction vanishes.  Contradictions become just another image, nothing more.

[TDoS]

Critical thinking isn't just 'deduced' it requires breaking social conditioning.

I can agree with that. But that doesn't require being taught, some can be led to it by circumstance. I can actually name the 11 month time span when I acquired it. It was primarily related to learning statistics and their use in...everything.

For critical thinking to be deduced a person would have to experience a 'social contradiction' as significant personal experience.

Yes! This is true. I was told something was true by a national expert. And I asked the question..."is it?". And then demonstrated that PhD's put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else and might not know dick even within their own specialty.

And then this made be cocky and I began thinking this way everywhere, including peak oil. The world is much simpler when you have the ability to demystify it in real time.

Can't say I apply it much to social/relative/poltical circumstances though. Too much "it is half a dozen, not 6!" type nonsense.