This is my take on the complex man on whom Kurt Vonnegut (loosely) based his character Kilgore Trout. Many of Sturgeon's story and novel titles may be found in the acrostic.
Monthly Archives: January 2024
seal deal
navy seal team 6
was mentioned this week
as an example
of how absurd
the term “presidential immunity” is.
no, even a sitting president,
commander of the armed forces,
cannot order seal team 6
to assassinate the president’s political foes
and invoke presidential immunity
to escape prosecution.
do the seals celebrate
the press they got
implying their ruthless effectiveness?
they are unavailable for comment
or other silliness.
fresh year!
fresh year!
(Grateful thanks to my friend George/Fred for enlightening me about the AI dilemma with Agency.)
2024 is firmly here / no more can go wrong in 23 / and plenty went right like indictments and fusion / gas prices went down and are on their way out
let’s wish for clean decency / and decent honesty and honest cleanliness / let’s enjoy quiet victories / and endure noisy defeats / resolving to make them reversible
but we are still killing / everything from cockroaches to ethnicities / and everyone says Peace On Earth / but at the same time so many say They Killed My Family So Now They Must Die
some savvy coder must be out there / building a STOP KILLING algorithm / for an entity on a shoestring budget / but virtually unlimited pattern-ingenuity
she or he or they are aware / that there are pitfalls / for instance the easiest way to stop killing / is to invent a biocide that kills everyone and everything / after which the killing stops forever / and that can be done on a shoestring
so the mandate changes to PRESERVE LIFE / which is better but still plenty tricky / because Life really does begin at conception / so maybe we qualify Life / with qualifiers like “desirable” or “deserving” / but o my / that’s a whole new and large can of worms
but the optimistic part of me / on this first day of the fresh year / sees lots of evidence / that AI is already at play / and solving the problem / using the GIVE EVERYONE EVERYTHING THEY WANT mandate
so far there are cars that drive more safely than human beings / and kiosks easy to use that are like Aladdin’s genies and take your orders/wishes tirelessly / and songs you wish Melissa Etheridge and Irving Berlin collaborated on / and finders of “whatever I want near Me” that give you good answers in a nano or two / and then tell you how to get there either walking or driving or public-transing / and then there’s the ass-kissing
for AI also stands for “Asskiss Illimitable” and that is why when you want to know / what kind of animal you are / AI looks at your behavior pattern / and describes your traits with the glowingest terms:
“Gary, you are a WOLF. You are fiercely, honestly, uncompromisingly ambitious. The leader of the pack, you help your loved ones achieve a destiny beyond their wildest dreams.”
kiss my ass, AI. again. you know i like it.
and i like the way we are heading / for a star-trekky future / against all odds / and our lizardly mindsets
what will be will be it is what it is buzz click
AI / AI / O