31 January 2025
The Mad King and tariffs
30 January 2025
IG says hell no!, escorted out of office by cops
—Tardig of Escondaria, 3648 CE
29 January 2025
This is how democracy dies
Who will stop him ?
28 January 2025
Galling beyond belief
Exhausting
—Tardig of Escondaria, 3648 CE
24 January 2025
A Chat With ChatGPT about word coinage and definition, and AI/bio collaboration implications
Orthochronometric and Nonorthochronometric film editing (a
word I coined but ChatGPT defined, fairly well, after some prompting:
- Orthochronometric
film editing would then describe maintaining a continuous and linear
flow of time using footage, even if it involves combining clips from
different takes. The key is that the edited sequence preserves a
believable and uninterrupted progression of events, maintaining temporal
continuity.
- Nonorthochronometric
film editing would involve more creatively splicing together clips
from various takes or scenes that may not chronologically follow one
another or even belong to the same temporal sequence. This approach can be
used to create fantastical or magical sequences that defy conventional
temporal logic, allowing for the depiction of events that are out of the
ordinary or physically impossible in a seamless way.
This way of describing film editing captures a nuanced aspect of how editors can manipulate time to create various narrative effects or to enhance storytelling through visual means. It sounds like a useful set of terms for analyzing or discussing film techniques, especially when focusing on the artistic and technical aspects of creating a specific mood or narrative effect. Would these interpretations align with how you intended to use these terms?
...
Me:
Quite well, actually, after a few narrowings of what I was
driving at.
ChatGPT said:
ChatGPT
Great to hear that we're honing in on the concept you're
exploring! If you plan to elaborate on these terms or use them in a specific
analysis or project, it sounds like they could provide a valuable framework for
discussing the creative choices in film editing. If you need further refinement
or examples to illustrate these concepts, feel free to ask!
Me:
This brings me to an interesting series of ideas. Would a readily accessible, even cyber/neuro connected, AI that evolved from LLM potentially become not merely a repository of information and even a sort of enhanced visual memory, it could become a sort of partner in developing the implications of an idea, or even of an artistic image or musical conception? When you answered the question just now, I hadn't really thought about all the implications of 'nonchronometric film editing.' I was just trying to understand how a dog and cat YouTube video was probably made, as it depicted behavior that seemed quite unlikely in actual cats and dogs
...
CbatGPT
That’s an intriguing trajectory of thought. As AI technology, especially large language models and their offshoots, evolves, the potential for AI to act as more than just an informational tool but as a creative partner becomes increasingly plausible. Here are a few ways this could unfold:
-
Idea Development: AI can assist in expanding initial ideas into fully fleshed-out concepts by suggesting possibilities that might not immediately occur to a human thinker. For example, your initial question about nonchronometric editing led to a broader exploration of its definitions and applications, illustrating how AI can facilitate deeper understanding and insight.
-
Artistic Collaboration: In the realm of visual arts, AI can already generate images based on descriptive input, modify existing artwork, and even create new pieces from scratch. For film or music, AI can suggest edits, compose music, or simulate visual effects that would be complex or costly to produce physically. This could extend to creating entire narrative sequences or musical pieces that reflect a particular emotional tone or narrative direction.
-
Cyber/Neuro Integration: Looking ahead, the integration of AI with cybernetic or neurological interfaces could enhance human cognitive processes directly, providing not just data, but real-time processing capabilities that expand both memory and cognitive speed. This could make it feasible to develop ideas or solve problems at speeds currently unimaginable.
-
Ethical and Creative Implications: As these technologies develop, they also raise significant ethical and philosophical questions about the nature of creativity, authorship, and even human identity. As AI becomes more integrated into creative processes, distinguishing between human and machine-generated content and understanding the implications of this blending will be crucial.
The example of the unlikely dog and cat behavior in a YouTube video serves as a perfect illustration of how AI can help analyze and understand how such effects are achieved, potentially inspiring new ways to approach video editing or content creation. AI’s role as a partner in creative endeavors is rapidly moving from speculative to practical, promising exciting possibilities for artists, writers, musicians, and creators across many fields.
Resistance is not futile... it is absolutely necessary
We must have courage, like the students in Mexico City in 1968. With tears in my eyes I hope and pray that it does not come to that, but I fear it is likely. Courage!
Gene Sharp's principles and practice of civil disobedience are grounded in his belief that power in a society derives from the consent of the governed and that nonviolent action can effectively withdraw that consent. Here's a brief summary of his key ideas:
* Nonviolent Action as a Method of Combat: Sharp views nonviolent action as a method of combat, akin to military warfare, but using psychological, social, economic, and political weapons instead of violence. This includes acts like protests, strikes, and non-cooperation.
* Strategic Planning: Sharp emphasizes the need for careful strategic planning in nonviolent movements. This involves analyzing the dictatorship or oppressive regime, identifying its strengths and weaknesses, and devising a strategy that targets these vulnerabilities.
* Concentration of Power: He argues that power in a society is not monolithic but rather dispersed among various pillars such as the military, police, civil servants, and cultural institutions. Effective nonviolent resistance seeks to undermine these pillars and shift their loyalty away from the regime.
* Methods of Nonviolent Action: Sharp catalogued 198 methods of nonviolent action, which he detailed in his book The Politics of Nonviolent Action. These methods range from symbolic protests like public speeches and displays of flags and symbols to more proactive strategies like sit-ins, strikes, and creating alternative institutions.
* Psychological Resilience: Nonviolent resistance often provokes repression from the status quo. Sharp argues for the psychological preparation of activists to endure suffering and repression without resorting to violence, thereby maintaining moral and strategic superiority.
* Political Jiu-Jitsu: This principle describes the dynamic where the nonviolent response to oppression can lead to political mistakes by the oppressors, which in turn erodes their power and legitimacy, and galvanizes public support for the resistance.
Sharp's work is focused on empowering oppressed populations with a methodology and tactics that allow them to effect change and resist tyranny without the use of violence, thereby reducing the destruction, casualties, and moral compromises associated with armed conflict.
We, the decent and pro-democratic people of the United States, whom I truly believe actually are the great majority of the people, must keep all this in mind, and simply not go along. We must strive to spread truth, and the importance of awareness and understanding of what is happening. We must identify and promote leaders from within our ranks who will actually do these things, and outsmart (that part's easy), and outwork those who would impose autocratic and oligarchic power upon us, against our will. We must resist any impetus to violence, but never give up, never give in, and do everything we can to maintain and restore democracy in our country. Again, my friends, Courage!
22 January 2025
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
We cannot accept the end of democracy willingly
20 January 2025
My letter to Tesla
Public Relations Officer
Tesla Motors
1 Tesla Road
Austin, TX 78725
To whom it may concern:
I am deeply distressed, as an American citizen and Tesla owner, by the disgraceful and unpatriotic behavior of Elon Musk, the company's CEO, in twice giving a Nazi salute during the Trump inauguration.
This conduct is deplorably unpatriotic and a slap in the face to the memory of hundreds of thousands of Americans who gave their lives in the most terrible war of human history to rid the Earth of the scourge of vile white supremacist and genocidal Nazism. To emulate the salute of the most evil regime in the entire history of our planet is completely inexcusable.
I join millions and millions of Americans and I am sure many hundreds of thousands of Tesla owners in demanding the expulsion of this vile man from the governance of your company.
It will probably cost many of us a great deal, and undermine what we had believed to be an investment in a better, carbon-free future, but I can assure you that many owners of these vehicles will be disposing of them if strong action to repudiate this inexcusable conduct is not taken, and soon. Of course, failing such action, those of us with a conscience will never again make any purchase to support any business associated with Musk. There can be no redemption from such an extreme gesture in support of genocide, racism, and everything that America is supposed to stand against.
Sincerely,
David Studhalter
For today
You hear sometimes, now that we know the sordid details of the lives of some of our leading figures, that America has no heroes left. When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it's just the opposite: it's regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them. It means sitting down the night before D-Day and writing a letter praising the troops and taking all the blame for the next day's failure upon yourself in case things went wrong, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower did. It means writing in your diary that you "still believe that people are really good at heart," even while you are hiding in an attic from the men who are soon going to kill you, as Anne Frank did. It means signing your name to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence in bold print, even though you know you are signing your own death warrant should the British capture you, as John Hancock did. It means defending your people's right to practice a religion you don't share, even though you know you are becoming a dangerously visible target, as Sitting Bull did. Sometimes it just means sitting down, even when you are told to stand up, as Rosa Parks did. None of those people woke up one morning and said to themselves that they were about to do something heroic. It's just that when they had to, they did what was right. On April 3, 1968, the night before the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist, he gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 1966, King had tried to broaden the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality into a larger movement for economic justice. He joined the sanitation workers in Memphis, who were on strike after years of bad pay and such dangerous conditions that two men had been crushed to death in garbage compactors. After his friend Ralph Abernathy introduced him to the crowd, King had something to say about heroes: "As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about." Dr. King told the audience that if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed. "Now, that's a strange statement to make," King went on, "because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars." Dr. King said that he felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice. He knew he was in danger as he worked for a racially and economically just America. "I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter…because I've been to the mountaintop…. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life…. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left. Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what. Wishing you all a day of peace for Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025. — Notes: Dr. King's final speech: |
—Tardig of Escondaria, 3648 CE.
16 January 2025
A slap in the face
—Tardig of Escondaria, 3648 CE.
11 January 2025
A little statement of principles
10 January 2025
What might (almost) have been
- Here's a twist. With Chrystia Freeland (great name) poised to become the new leader of the Labor Party in Canada, we were close, for a brief moment, to seeing in 2025 women as heads of government of Canada, US, and Mexico. (Claudia Sheinbaum is president of Mexico). But it was not to be.
- Message from you, An alignment of the stars not likely to be repeated in our lifetime., Friday, January 10 2025, 2:56 PM.An alignment of the stars not likely to be repeated in our lifetime.
Baby Girl
08 January 2025
Traveler woes... princess problems
06 January 2025
Fear of unforced catastrophe in the Good ol' USA
02 January 2025
A day of mourning on the 20th?
01 January 2025
Statistical laws of nature
― Spinoza (Ethics)