AI appears to have peaked

Ludic Mataora recently blew up with a piece on AI. It's not exactly clean speech, but the vulgarity is entertaining. But there is one part of his rant that I will expound on:

When I was out on holiday in Fiji, at the last resort breakfast, a waitress brought me a form which asked me if I'd like to sign up for a membership. It was totally free and would come with free stuff. Everyone in the restaurant is signing immediately. I glance over the terms of service, and it reserves the right to use any data I give them to train AI models, and that they reserved the right to share those models with an unspecified number of companies in their conglomerate. [1]

The AI companies are now scouring hotels in Fiji for training data. This is a problem, because AI needs data. There is no such thing as 'generative' AI. Just like machine learning before it, the AI is all about refactoring and collating existing data, created by something or someone else. A few years ago, I was involved with using machine learning algorithms to understand the language of DNA. We had the same thing, where we needed clean readouts of a lot of DNA to feed the model. Any algorithm is only as good as the quality and quantity of the input data.

And the AIs are out of data. At the very least, they are out of human data, which is why they are getting creative. Allegedly, they occasionally fail to ask the owners of said data. This assumes that their product contains actual AI algorithms to begin with. [2] [3]

Now, this does not mean that new features will not hit the markets here and there. We will certainly a fair few AI-integrated products hit the shelves for a while, as every industry figures out if AI can help them move product. We may also see some technological leaps in a few years. But these things take time, and the breathless interest of the masses seldom contributes more than money. After all, the current AIs started their groundwork in 1953. [4]

As an aside, this means that it is a good time investment to figure out if and how to use the current level of AI tech, because that level will not be surpassed anytime soon. Much Love!

[1] https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/

[2] https://apnews.com/article/openai-chatgpt-scarlett-johansson-voice-her-532c849ccae3ca9e9325dacfe88e0436

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLvFc_24vSM

[4] https://infogalactic.com/info/Machine_learning#Overview

The Two-Platform Rule

The Kurgan recently wrote a post about the Substack platform [1], in which he points out one issue that many communications platforms have. And it's not just communications platforms, it's also an issue with things like cars, computers, even the power grid. The problem is that these things can get taken down/out without their users, like you or me, having any say in the matter.

These outages and crashes do not even have to be the result of enemy action. Sheer incompetence is often enough to make things really fragile [2]. Most systems are neither stable nor secure, and they are getting worse. The two-platform rule exists for things that you cannot go without for a while. Here is said rule:

If you need something, get it twice. 

For example, I have two computers and two phones. If one of either fails, I can use the other one to try and figure out a fix. If the fix takes a while, I have most of the functionality on the backup. For financial reasons, none of these four devices are state-of-the-art, but they all get the job done. Most importantly, all the key functions are covered redundantly.

Back to the Kurgan's example: if you need access to a specific content creator / geographically distant individual, connect with them on two platforms, preferably more. This way, any cancellation or just plain server outage cannot sever the lines of communication.

All of this applies twice as much to actual necessities, such as food, energy, and defense. It is better to have two mediocre guns than a really good one. Some kind of electrical generator, or a heater, and a bunch of fuel are also an extremely good investment. For food, it is prudent to have at least some of it in a different part of the house, so that a kitchen fire cannot destroy all of the supply.

In general, the backup only makes sense if it is reasonably well protected from things that can happen to the primary thing. Case in point, my second computer and phone are not plugged in when I don't use them, should there be a power surge. There may be surge protections in the building and/or power strip, but I don't know, so I'm not about to find out.

Those are all the necessities that I can think of on the fly, but there are certainly more. People who cannot walk to any grocery store, for instance, should have two cars. If you can think of more, leave a comment. Much Love!

[1] https://www.gfilotto.com/substack-suspect

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2gJdbb3Pec

Guest post: Of Scrawny Nerds and Meatheads

The impetus for this post is two fold. In an ethics class I had to read some writings by Immanuel Kant for an assignment. His writings already being insufferable, my irritation was magnified when he was presented as “the greatest thinker since Plato and Aristotle”. I’ve read Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Ethics. Comparing this Enlightenment hack to the greatest thinkers of the old world and ignoring the great thinkers of Christendom, is crazy.

And then I discovered Immanuel Kant was 5’ 2”.

Let’s talk about strength. There’s an old adage by Thucydides that contained such a wisdom that it’s been overused to the point of cliche and meaninglessness. It goes as follows: “The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.” The wisdom is obvious. If your thinking is done by velvet-handed dwarves, then you get the drivel Kant put out. If your fighting is done by muscle-bound retards, then the inevitable banzai attack will be defeated by anyone with a remote understanding of tactics. However, I much prefer the company and integrity of these hypothetical muscle-bound retards; the company of scrawny nerds has been known to cause Tiny Heart Syndrome by mere proximity.

The solution is, as always, simple and difficult.

Seek Strength.

Why seek strength? Why not just be strong? If you decide to be strong you’ll have only summitted the first molehill of a mountain range greater than the Himalayas. It’s certainly a start, but if you stop there you’ll never discover the depths of your own weakness to be driven from your soul nor the heights your strength can reach. The pursuit of strength is the journey toward a goal that likely cannot be reached in a lifetime, or ever.

Pray to God for strength. Without his aid this pursuit will whittle away at you until you break. Without his grace we are nothing. With God, Christ tells us, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove from hence hither, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.” Our God is the All Mighty Lord of Hosts. The only strength to be sought comes through him.

Seek God. Seek Strength.

The pursuit of strength starts out easy, the road is little more challenging than a path in the woods. As you go further it will get steeper. It will get so steep that it will require constant effort just to maintain your current position, any thought of ascent will appear to be madness. This is where only the courageous can continue, because this is where your weaknesses are revealed. The cowardly turn back and seek comfort in lies. Only through truth can reality be accepted, weakness be faced, and weakness ultimately be overcome. Cry to God for help, for he is The Truth.

Seek God. Seek Truth. Seek Strength.

What are the steps that make up the path to strength? I don’t know, I haven’t found it yet. I do know the first couple of steps. Strength begets strength. Physical strength is the first step. Truth and pain are the gates to strength. Become physically stronger and never stop pursuing physical strength. I don’t care what training modality you choose. There’s a reason the SDL is fond of promoting lifting. The list of things is very small that will immediately benefit your life more than lifting.

The second one is social strength. Don’t be pushed around. Don’t be walked on. And don’t tolerate evil in your presence. It’s not about how comfortable you are; it’s about what is right.

If you’re German and trying to develop your social strength, developing a sense of humor, while genetically impossible, if achieved will transform you into an ubermensch among your people. I suggest intensive research into chickens and roads as your starting point.*

The rest is up to you. No one’s ever escaped mediocrity with someone else holding their hand.

What is this strength we seek? Strength, in its simplest form, is the ability to impose and to not be imposed upon. There are many kinds of strength: physical strength, mental strength, moral strength, financial strength, social strength, etc. Moral strength is the most important; physical strength tends to lead to the others.

For what ends do we seek strength?

If you seek strength for the sake of women, that motivation is sufficient enough to get your blood moving, but it also means you’re still insufferably weak. Use it if you need to. If you never graduate from that motivation you eventually won’t be able to continue. Why? When you have a purpose, you subordinate yourself to that purpose. A high level athlete forgoes comfort to serve the cause of athletic victory. As Christians we forgo our worldly desires to follow Christ. Women are a potent motivation for men to become strong; again use it as you need. However, the desire to become strong and being strong are entirely different and having women as your ultimate ends inverts the hierarchy established by God. It also won’t be as successful at getting you laid as you would think. Subordinating yourself to the weaker sex and failing to achieve their attention anyway is a great way to kill your pursuit of strength.

We seek strength because it’s a necessity and the means to subdue the Earth in the name of Christ. Strength is not our end; we subordinate ourselves to Christ.

Kade, the resident old man (who am I kidding, you’re all old to me), had a post about the right wing path to power a while ago that you were sorely underserved if you missed it. It’s shared below (ignore the papism rant, it’s not relevant to this conversation):

https://kadewilkinson.com/how-to-rule-the-world/

Power is not given to the weak. People do not follow those weaker than them. Muscles that do not work atrophy.

Be Relentless.

As much as he struggles with his secularism and allegiance to the empire, there’s wisdom to be found in Jocko’s Extreme Ownership. Take ownership over all you have dominion over and those dominions close to you that others refuse to rule. For the particularly weak this may be relegated exclusively to vices you’re trying to purge, for others it may be a job site, a department, a company, or something greater. When you fail to take ownership and hide in excuses and scapegoats, you will fall and your dominions will rot or be given to someone more worthy. Be relentless in your pursuit of strength.

Strength is ultimately found through morality. Not that whole “be nice” nonsense, but actual morality. The ultimate form of “be nice” is the smiley bobble head pajeet eating cow dung. The routing of sin and vice through God’s Law with the strength only acquired through God’s Grace is how Christendom is built. Conquer your weaknesses. Seek strength.

To the scrawny nerds who believe in the false dichotomy of knowledge vs strength: strength is sought through attributes like hard work, courage, and determination. However, with only attributes like these you will plateau. These plateaus are surmounted with exploration and with the mind. The best athletes in the world will be very knowledgeable about training and about their sport. The best businessman will have a deep understanding of leadership and of their trade. You’re not weak because you’re smart. You’re weak because you’re a coward. Go lift.

In between when I started writing this to when this gets posted, I’ve finished the ethics class and was forced to read the works of a monster known as Peter Singer, a contemporary ethicist lauded as noble by the Satanic elite who presents the ultimate, evil conclusion of the rebellion that was the Enlightenment. Y’all don’t need to bother looking; your guess about his opinions and the most prominent feature on his face is correct. Reject the words of the weak and the evil, and trample evil under your heel wherever you can.

This is some of the little I’ve managed to learn in the little amount of time I’ve been around. I know I ain’t got the wisdom that comes with gray hairs and bad backs, but I’ve learned a little. I know we’re woefully unprepared for the tasks ahead of us. We don’t match the strength of the men a century ago, and we can’t afford to content ourselves with just matching their strength. They got us into this mess; we have to be stronger.

Seek God. Seek Truth. Seek Strength. Be Relentless.

God Bless.

Well that’s all the informational content for this post; I’m gonna spend the rest of however long I write just insulting Immanuel Kant. If you want to know more about the particular lowlife that is Immanuel Kant check out this darkstream https://unauthorized.tv/video/362e6b/.

That he is the height of Enlightenment intellectuals shows how short their ideas are. If he hadn’t rejected tradition and instead stood on the shoulders of giants, he may not have died single and alone, or at the very least been able to reach the top shelf. Instead, he’s dwarfed by the most meager wisdom of an illiterate peasant and resorted to telling tall tales. His ideas merit little stature. He shortchanged the achievements of his predecessors giving low blows of sophistry. He can’t reach their heights. He used his short life to attack the foundations that held western civilization high for millenia. Now with the quality of our civilizations lowering to almost eye level with Kant, Gen Z was brought into the world, and thinking we’ll stand by his nonsense is the height of folly. The fruits of Kant’s little madness wrought the insane world me and my generation grew up in. So I’ll answer madness with madness and lay him low. Below is a diss track written for me by ChatGPT.

https://suno.com/song/dc74b890-909f-4c52-8456-28d1b5691a11

Verse 1: Yo, Immanuel Kant, you think you're so wise,
With your Critique of Pure Reason, but it's all just lies.
You claim we can't know the world as it truly is,
Stuck in your categories, man, what a diss!

Chorus: Kant, you think you've got it all figured out,
But your philosophy's a maze, filled with doubt.
We see the world, we feel, we touch, we know,
Your noumenon concept, it's gotta go!

Verse 2: You say our minds shape reality, that's your grand view,
But to me, it sounds like you're just confused.
Your Ding an sich, what a cryptic spiel,
Come down from your ivory tower, let's keep it real!

Chorus: Kant, you think you've got it all figured out,
But your philosophy's a maze, filled with doubt.
We see the world, we feel, we touch, we know,
Your noumenon concept, it's gotta go!

Bridge: You talk about duty, categorical imperative,
But your moral law feels so damn narrative.
Where's the room for love, for passion, for fire?
In your cold, rigid world, who can aspire?

Verse 3: You built a system, so complex and grand,
But practical life, you don't understand.
While you're lost in thought, in metaphysical flight,
We're living, we're breathing, in the world's daylight.

Chorus: Kant, you think you've got it all figured out,
But your philosophy's a maze, filled with doubt.
We see the world, we feel, we touch, we know,
Your noumenon concept, it's gotta go!

Outro: So here's to Kant, with his theories so grand,
But in the real world, they don't stand.
Your philosophy's a cage, not the key,
Time to break free, see the world as it be.

* Editor's note: This suggestion is unclear. One can readily observe that chickens do not need roads. First of all, their land speed is sufficient over rough terrain. Second, they have yet to figure out any kind of hand-cart or other vehicle that would need some sort of road. Perhaps this "humor" thing works by mixing completely unrelated concepts. Further research seems in order.

Sunday Sampler 5: The Spring Cleaning Edition

 Good afternoon all, and welcome to the fifth Sunday Sampler. The theme for today is spring cleaning, which my immune system appears to be doing by way of a cold. That same cold has also told me about the awesome medicinal properties of coffee*. Enough about me, let us get to it.

First, Didact has an excerpt from the Book of Chronicles, about Israelite king Ada, son of Odo, who did some spring cleaning with idols in the temples. Good on him. Here is Calvary Chapel's sermon on the same passage:

Rev. Matt,  our favourite upside-down preacher, wonders how much divorce has to do with decadence in clown world. What other sins might get cleaned out by impending economic hardship? I think most of the sins you don't have to get up for, since people will be struggling to sit on the couch all day and still pay the bills.

Last but certainly not least, Fr. Mark Goring lets off a broadside against Canada's euthanasia program:

As it happens, yours truly needs to get better at choosing topics, because that's it for spring cleaning content, we are now moving on to other stuff that people posted. First, we have a sermon from Rev. Matt, which he uploaded to his very own YouTube channel:

Finally, Frank Luke discusses what appears to be a chronological issue in the story of King David. Ironically enough, he dissected the Hebrew notion of years, and how it may differ from ours, a week before. Have at it, Bible nerds.

And that's a wrap for today. Have a blessed Sunday!

*This may only apply to those of us with severe coffee addictions.

Why all your tools are fragile garbage

Behold, my recently expired kitchen knife. Cause of death was the first quarter of a fairly boring soft cheese that I had for dinner. You read that right: soft cheese. Today, I will narrate the life story of this knife, and many like it.

Our tragic tale of consumerist usury starts on the drawing board. An engineer of some description was asked to come up with a cheaper and lighter kitchen knife. Now, this engineer was not the top of his class. If he had been, he would be designing fighter jets or something, not household tools. This guy is a ways below the spatial reasoning prodigy that his job title used to be associated with. Furthermore, he's anything but happy to be working this job. Regardless of his professed faith, he is highly unlikely to try being 'faithful in little things'. In short, he's neither competent nor motivated.

So here he is, asking to cut weight and costs out of the previous design, in a way that prototyping won't notice. Since prototyping and design testing is going to be done by people of comparable skill, they won't notice too much. In mass production, plastic is cheaper than metal every time. Therefore, he makes the blade socket as short as he can get away with. The cheapest production material of all is air, so the plastic grip is hollowed out. Maybe the CAD has a button to automatically insert some ribs into the hollow, that will make the FEA guys happy, while saving weight. [1] [2]

Here is where the problems start to show up: neither CAD nor FEA are particularly handy, because so few of my generation are. Especially the nerdier guys, who constitute the bulk of engineering students, grew up in the gaming chair, not in dad's garage. Ergo, their structural requirements and tests are fairly inaccurate. To save weight and cost, they always err on the side of too litttle material. After all, the worst that could happen is that the knife breaks sooner, giving them an easy sale in six months time.

A third way to cut costs is to use lower grades of material. The stuff will break sooner, but it's cheaper, lighter, and probably easier to work with. Now we have an under-strength design of inferior materials, so let's go to the actual manufacturing of our short-lived knife.

As we already saw, nobody's trying to spend any money whatsoever on this thing. So the cheapest manufacturer gets hired. You get three guesses where this manufacturer is and how much he cares about training his workforce, but you'll only need one. These guys do not care to make the end product one iota better than their QC forces them to. Here's an audio of their QC guy looking at bad production runs. I have heard stories about QC getting pressured to pass a certain amount of product, to make their toxic manager look good. The effect of that is the same as curves and affirmative action in academics. [3]

Finally, we get to the last culprit of this tragic knife, the customer. You and I share some of the blame. See, we're also not as handy as our forefathers. So we use the underspecced cheap knife in ways that it should not be. For instance, the tragedy up there was not a cheese knife. And when it did not want to cut, I just pressed down even harder.

This is one of the ways in which nothing works anymore. Looking on the bright side, consider the benefits of teaching your children the universally attainable virtues of thoroughness and humility. If they don't think of their work as beneath them and pay attention to it, they will outperform a lot of people.

[1] Computer Aided Design: drawing stuff on a computer.
[2] Finite Element Analysis: a way to stress test a design on the computer, without having to make a prototype and then smash it up.
[3] Quality Control: the people who are supposed to stop bad product from hitting the market.

Sunday Sampler No.4: The dragons edition

Welcome to the fourth Sunday Sampler. Today is Mothers Day, and the topic at hand is dragons. It is for you to decide whether or not these are related.

We start with regular feature Rev. Matt's Writings, who draws a connection between dragons, dinosaurs, and the Behemoth that Job heard about. Again, I invite you to draw your own conclusions, mostly because I know less about dinosaurs than normal people know about computational fluid dynamics.

Comrade Didact has the same Job verses up, with a sermon for interpretation. We also have his Sunday Scripture from last week, with Micah foretelling the Lord Jesus and a sermon.

Rev. Matt also writes about a topic that I sincerely hope none of y'all have to associate with Mothers Day: dealing with emotionally unhealthy people.

Finally, we have Fr. Mark Goring, who closes us out on a high note by showing us what mothers and angels have in common.

Tis a short one today, which leaves more time for our mothers. Happy Mothers Day!

Sunday Sampler No. 3: the you edition

 Good morning everyone, and welcome to the third Sunday Sampler. This installment's theme is you. Yes, you specifically. Now you may say that I do not know very much about you specifically. This is correct. Therefore, let me pass the mic to the one who does know you specifically, and His Word.

We begin with the three readings from Mass earlier, and some musings from yours truly to accompany each of them. First: from the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, or the Book of Acts, depending on which Bible you read.

 1 And in those days, the number of the disciples increasing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, for that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.  2 Then the twelve calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.  3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.  4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.  5 And the saying was liked by all the multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.

 6 These they set before the apostles; and they praying, imposed hands upon them.  7 And the word of the Lord increased; and the number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly: a great multitude also of the priests obeyed the faith.

There are ministers of the word of God and ministers of the food, among many others. It matters not how any two compare to each other, it matters that the same person doing both requires neglecting one. In some way, it seems a microcosm of 'one cannot serve two masters' from Jesus' own mouth. What is your ministry, dear reader, and what is it not?

The second reading is from St. Peter's first letter:

  4 Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and made honourable by God:  5 Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

 6 Wherefore it is said in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. And he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.  7 To you therefore that believe, he is honour: but to them that believe not, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner:  8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of scandal, to them who stumble at the word, neither do believe, whereunto also they are set.  9 But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

You are chosen, and purchased. By whom and to what end?

The third, Gospel, reading is from St. John:

 1 Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.  2 In my Father's house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you.  3 And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.  4 And whither I go you know, and the way you know.  5 Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

 6 Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.  7 If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him.  8 Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.  9 Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?  10 Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works.

 11 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  12 Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do.  13 Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14 If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do.

God both knows and loves you, more than any human ever could. And he's had forever to prepare your mansion in His house. What does it look like? What is worth sacrificing to spend eternity in it?

Now onto more recent authors. Rev. Matt is writing a book, and this paragraph is promising.

Frank Luke has a sermon up on Judas' betrayal. Call this the dark side of today's sampler: you too betray Jesus with your sin. As do I, much as I can relate to the sons of Zebedee in the garden. 'Resting in the Lord' is probably my most frequent form of prayer, if you catch my drift.

Finally, Fr Mark Goring urges you to be gentle with yourself. Especially on Sunday, which is a day of rest.

And that's a wrap for today. I hope you have a good Sunday!