#artificial lift technology | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

river-taxbird · 8 months

Text

There is no such thing as AI.

How to help the non technical and less online people in your life navigate the latest techbro grift.

I've seen other people say stuff to this effect but it's worth reiterating. Today in class, my professor was talking about a news article where a celebrity's likeness was used in an ai image without their permission. Then she mentioned a guest lecture about how AI is going to help finance professionals. Then I pointed out, those two things aren't really related.

The term AI is being used to obfuscate details about multiple semi-related technologies.

Traditionally in sci-fi, AI means artificial general intelligence like Data from star trek, or the terminator. This, I shouldn't need to say, doesn't exist. Techbros use the term AI to trick investors into funding their projects. It's largely a grift.

What is the term AI being used to obfuscate?

If you want to help the less online and less tech literate people in your life navigate the hype around AI, the best way to do it is to encourage them to change their language around AI topics.

By calling these technologies what they really are, and encouraging the people around us to know the real names, we can help lift the veil, kill the hype, and keep people safe from scams. Here are some starting points, which I am just pulling from Wikipedia. I'd highly encourage you to do your own research.

Machine learning (ML): is an umbrella term for solving problems for which development of algorithms by human programmers would be cost-prohibitive, and instead the problems are solved by helping machines "discover" their "own" algorithms, without needing to be explicitly told what to do by any human-developed algorithms. (This is the basis of most technologically people call AI)

Language model: (LM or LLM) is a probabilistic model of a natural language that can generate probabilities of a series of words, based on text corpora in one or multiple languages it was trained on. (This would be your ChatGPT.)

Generative adversarial network (GAN): is a class of machine learning framework and a prominent framework for approaching generative AI. In a GAN, two neural networks contest with each other in the form of a zero-sum game, where one agent's gain is another agent's loss. (This is the source of some AI images and deepfakes.)

Diffusion Models: Models that generate the probability distribution of a given dataset. In image generation, a neural network is trained to denoise images with added gaussian noise by learning to remove the noise. After the training is complete, it can then be used for image generation by starting with a random noise image and denoise that. (This is the more common technology behind AI images, including Dall-E and Stable Diffusion. I added this one to the post after as it was brought to my attention it is now more common than GANs.)

I know these terms are more technical, but they are also more accurate, and they can easily be explained in a way non-technical people can understand. The grifters are using language to give this technology its power, so we can use language to take it's power away and let people see it for what it really is.

#ai #scams #language #semiotics #machine learning

12K notes · View notes

javelinbk · 1 year

Text

Err… what?!

‘Sir Paul McCartney says he has employed artificial intelligence to help create what he calls "the final Beatles record".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the technology had been used to "extricate" John Lennon's voice from an old demo so he could complete the song.

"We just finished it up and it'll be released this year," he explained.

Sir Paul did not name the song, but it is likely to be a 1978 Lennon composition called Now And Then.’

#insert screaming kermit gif #I hate all the ai stuff #but if this is just a better version of the free as a bird tech I’m in #especially if it’s now and then #although george hated that #but if olivia agreed then it might have fixed his concerns #ok I’m waffling now #aaaahhh!!!!#paul mccartney #the beatles #now and then #june 2023 #2023 #beatles in the news

265 notes · View notes

stevebattle · 10 months

Text

“The Intelligent Robot” by Jonathan T. Kaplan (1977). “Mobile, programmable, electronic personal robot; makes electronic noises, lifts approx. 3 lbs.” – The Robot Exhibit, New York, NY.

"Jonathan Kaplan traces his interest in robots back to when he was four and watched cartoons about robots. He built his first robot when he was eight. Today, Jonathan is a graduate student, studying artificial intelligence with the Robotics Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All total he has built around a dozen robots, not all of which are still working. "I keep the complex ones," he explains, "others get recycled for the parts." He also scrounges for parts in electronic supply stores and junk shops." Unlike many homebrew builders, Jonathan does not name his creations. He also does not treat them like pets. As he says, "I am painfully aware that they are only machines." He feels, however, that they can be smart machines! He even built an intelligent robot with sensors to search out an avoid objects. The robot stands about 33 inches tall. His ideas for this and most projects come from reading books and magazines. ... and a lot of trial and error." – The Everyone Can Build a Robot Book, by Kendra Bonnett and Gene Oldfield, 1984.

#cybernetics #robot #1977 #TheRobotExhibit

56 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 11 months

Text

“Barbenheimer”—the collective celebration around the release of the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies—has collided with the wedding industrial complex. That’s not a joke. According to a Variety story this week, people are planning on taking their friends and family, prenuptials, to see the two films as a double feature. People who aren’t getting married are planning similar movie-watching marathons. It’s the kind of viral cultural moment marketing teams dream of. It also feels like a sign of the end times.

This sense of dread doesn’t stem from the public’s collective yearning to absorb stories about a Mattel doll and the development of atomic weapons at the same time. It’s because this weekend promises the kind of “let’s all go to the movies!” hype (and box office haul) that cinemas haven’t seen since before the Covid-19 pandemic shut theaters down—and it’s happening as Hollywood is going on strike.

This week, WIRED rolled out a series of stories detailing what we believe the future of entertainment might entail. The purpose was to look at how all aspects of culture, from books to video games to YouTube, could be impacted by advancements in technology. As we worked on it, though, something happened: Contract talks between Hollywood studios and the writers and actors unions began to break down. One of the major sticking points in those negotiations was the use of artificial intelligence in movie- and TV-making. Suddenly, as Madeline Ashby wrote in her essay this week, the world was in the midst of Hot Strike Summer.

Then, Hot Strike Summer slammed into the Barbenheimer moment. Once the Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, called for a walkout, stars could no longer smile on red carpets without looking like scabs. The stars of Oppenheimer walked out of the film’s London premiere when the strike began. The cast and filmmakers behind Barbie, which premiered before SAG called for a strike, voiced their support. Soon, “This Barbie Is Now on Strike” became the headline, transforming one of the world’s most well-known figurines into Norma Rae. The marquee at my local theater in Brooklyn listed both movies alongside the phrase “Atomic Kenergy,” while The New York Times asked, “Can I Watch ‘Barbenheimer’ Despite the Hollywood Strikes?” (Short answer: Yes.)

To that end, the strikes will not affect Oppenheimer or Barbie’s opening weekend box office numbers. Earlier this week, AMC Entertainment reported that some 40,000 people had bought tickets for both films, and together they’re estimated to make around $150-200 million domestically, with Greta Gerwig’s send-up of the Mattel doll bringing in a bigger chunk than Christopher Nolan’s historical drama about the man behind the atomic bomb.

But what matters is what happens after this weekend. By all accounts, Hot Strike Summer seems poised to last beyond one season. Even before SAG went on strike, studio sources were telling reporters that the plan was to let the strike “drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” In response to that, actor Ron Perlman took to social media to say “listen to me, motherfucker—there’s a lot of ways to lose your house.” He later walked that back, but when Hellboy enters the chat, you know it’s not going to end gently.

The longer writers and actors are on strike, the bigger the hole next summer or the summer after that, when the movies that would be filming right now aren’t ready. (Deadpool 3 and the sequel to Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, for example, are both currently on hold.) Cinemas have been bouncing back in the years since Covid restrictions were lifted and people began feeling comfortable in movie houses again. A lackluster year brought on by a dearth of films could prove detrimental.

Yesterday, Comic-Con International began in San Diego. Typically, or at least before the pandemic, the event has been full of panels with flashy stars promoting their next big movie or TV series. As long as SAG is on strike, those celebs won’t show. Some attendees will likely welcome the event’s return to its comics roots, rather than the Hollywood hype-fest it has become. But no matter what happens, it will be unlike any Comic-Con in recent memory. Maybe a little less plastic, but not fantastic.

37 notes · View notes

octavare · 2 months

Text

Cecil’s brother

Roger Stedman. Around ~5 yrs older than Cecil. Civilian. Single (widower).

So this motherfucker right here looks mostly harmless. Especially considering he is in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. But don’t underestimate him. He is fucking jacked from the waist up. Upper body strength out the window. When you have an excuse to skip leg day, arm day becomes the priority.

How did he get paralyzed? — When he was in his early 20s, he and Cecil (who was in his late teens) were caught within the midst of a supervillain terrorist attack while in the city. They didn’t go to the city much, but on that day they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Traffic was disturbed greatly and the two of them found themselves directly within the collision path of a car. Cecil had quicker reaction time and jumped out of the way, but Roger was less fortunate and got hit, sustaining a spinal injury.

Cecil has regrets from this event because he believes that he could’ve helped Roger. Realistically, he probably couldn’t, but he is blinded by this the idea that he could. This was the turning point event that made him realize that he wanted to work with defense and join the military.

Back to Roger—he’s a big sports fan. Used to play football before his accident, was practically a prodigy. Was depressed for a long while after the accident but eventually came to terms with it. He also enjoys shooting which is a sport that doesn’t strictly require legs so it was something he could do to bond with his little brother. He also lifts like crazy. Dude is like Joe Swanson I guess.

Why doesn’t he use the GDA’s technology to fix his disability? — At the time that it happened, not only was Cecil years away from having any connections to the GDA, but the technology also didn’t exist. It was decades before the technology came into existence and by the time it did, Roger had come to terms with being paralyzed to the point where it was part of his identity now so he opted to not have it fixed. He’s at peace with himself and doesn’t wish to change it.

Why does he look way younger than Cecil?? — Dude doesn’t have a job more stressful than a world leader’s like his brother, nor did he have a field injury that resulted in imperfect artificial skin grafts needing to cover his entire body. The two of these together make him look much younger than Cecil. Also he got lucky and didn’t inherit male pattern baldness lol.

He isn’t meant to be a super developed character or anything, he’s more in existence to flesh out Cecil’s backstory and motivations… but this could change, you never know.

#mp ocs #mp talks #invincible oc

7 notes · View notes

lookinghalfacorpse · 1 year

Text

foreshadowing in ttdtn

i had the ending for the trees deny themselves nothing in mind since i started and i had a great time sneaking in some foreshadowing and exploring how sam could lie and some extra steps he might take to go unnoticed. here’s some of those moments that stand out to me. i probably forgot some.

chapter 3

When [Sam] spoke again, it was with genuine curiosity. “You said you ‘had’ Dream?” he asked, “How did you get him?”

“I talked with him.”

Sam sighed. “Give me two days,” he said, “I’ll meet you at your base at 5pm.”

sam should’ve just asked “what did you do that i haven’t done???”. if he hasn’t already started building the recreation of the cell at this point, he was definitely thinking about it. our first clue that he’s interested in a recapture.

chapter 5

Sam: “...But the upper calf is going to look the same in either design you choose. I’d–” His gaze darted to the side for a moment, “I’d give you more choices if I could. But with padding that thick, and the redstone connection between flesh and the artificial joint, this is all I can offer.”

he’s giving the illusion of choice here. the upper calf has to look the same no matter what because that’s where he placed the failure, but he came up with two legitimately good designs for the lower sections that would sound valid to someone who knows redstone, like philza.

chapter 8

Sam set the bag, which contained the completed prosthetic and some other supplies, on the far wall before dropping the [weakness] potions directly onto Dream’s chest.

he was careful to keep the parts away from the weakness potions. wouldn’t wanna break it too early!

Sam lifted one of the plates between the ends of his tongs to show it off. It had a line of solid red and a line of blackish metal. “When Dream’s nerves fire, it will light the redstone portion. From there, the rest of the prosthetic is bud powered through a small cushion of air, protected by the metal, depending on which nerves fire. This will allow Dream to move the prosthetic with very close precision to a flesh and blood leg. There’s a bit of insulation to avoid mixed signals, and that’s it.”

Phil nodded. He was vaguely familiar with bud powering.

not necessarily foreshadowing per se, but this is where the failure is at. the metal protecting the bud powering is destroyed by weakness potions, the bud powering is broken, and dream can’t control the leg anymore. again, he’s using words that phil would be familiar with and knows are valid.

Phil felt exhausted. His voice, when he spoke, was scratchy. “This better had been worth it, Sam,” he threatened.

Sam met his eyes for a moment, pulling away from his work. His own prosthetic eye shone brightly in the dim lighting of the guest room. “It will be,” he answered.

it’ll be worth it, but it’ll be worth it for SAM.

i can’t choose a specific line here, but i also wanted to include that sam had phil & techno involved in the connection process so they feel partly responsible for the insertion and can see that everything Appears to be in place. they won’t notice what type of metal he’s using.

chapter 12

“You know,” Dream said, “You could’ve designed the leg so I was slower than you.”

“It would’ve been difficult, but yes, technically I guess I could’ve.”

dream also sees that sam was given an opportunity to create a faulty prosthetic, he’s just taken a different approach to the idea. sam counters that it would’ve been ‘difficult’-- making a purposefully slow leg would be harder than the trap he actually built in.

“When Phil approached me with the project, he told me it was an… an opportunity to fix my mistakes. I took the offer seriously.” He raised a hand to the metal plates on his own temple, near the bright light of his fake eye. “It seemed like a sequel, I guess, to the conversation you and I had. That leg isn’t just any old prosthetic. It’s one of the best pieces of technology I’ve ever made.”

the opening part was a lie, obviously-- he isn’t trying to ‘fix a mistake,’ he’s trying to get dream back. he IS, however, legitimately proud of this prosthetic. he designed such a perfect flaw in it!

chapter 15

“I wouldn’t even venture to say we’re on good terms. Never come back to this place. Stay away from Dream, unless he needs you for maintenance, and keep those interactions short and brief. Fail, and I’ll change my mind.” Phil took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf and poured. He passed Sam one of the shots.

Beneath his mask, Sam felt his lips tighten. He nodded.

sam knows he’ll be seeing dream. partly to, uh, be Alone together, which is what any reader would pick up on right away. but also, he’s realizing that he’ll be making an enemy of philza (and, by extension, definitely techno) after his plan is completed. this is an “i fucked up” moment.

#i usually don't post fic analysis type stuff ???#not sure how i feel about it but i felt like sharing this i guess #ttdtn #the trees deny themselves nothing

61 notes · View notes

pb-dot · 9 months

Note

hey!! this is chance and here’s week 5’s prompt. your oc suddenly gets transported to a mall. what store(s) would they go in? would they buy anything? what would they think? tell me about the experience.

Thanks for the ask Chance, as always it is a delight :)

Now, to make this a bit of a group activity, I'm going to say Jake, 13, and One all get isekaied to a mall. I'm also going to assume they have some local currency for spending money. They're all native to a crowded hellscape of capitalism, so the transition will, I suspect, go relatively smoothly.

13 will be confused and overwhelmed at first since he's not as used to the hustle and bustle of the city as Jake is. Jake will do his best to guide 13 through the din but realizes there is no need to worry when they come across a bookstore, and 13 straight up loses himself in the stacks. Bookstores aren't really a thing in The City, as reading fiction and literature is considered a frivolous activity. There does exist a thriving cottage industry of dime novels and serials in printed magazines, but the lack of centralized distribution leaves these struggling for relevance. After briefly being paralyzed by the sheer scale of fiction available to him and the plethora of authors he hasn't even heard of, 13 will no doubt be beset by what I can only describe as a ruthlessly efficient book-shopping mood. At the end of the trip, 13 will carry about 30% more books than a human his size should conceivably be able to carry owing to his superior strength and dexterity.

After leaving 13 to his books, Jake will probably amble around without any clear plans. The mall's hardware store keeps him busy for a while, but he ultimately finds the tools to be of decent quality but ill-fitting for the kind of work he'd need them for. After spending some time being disappointed at how there seems to be no clockwork technology around, Jake buys a pair of decent boots and spends the rest of the time people-watching.

While Jake's unflinchingly practical approach makes him a bit of a boring shopper, it's nothing on One. It hasn't come up much so far, but One does not like crowds at all. Whoever she was before being converted to a Clockman, years of skulking around in the shadows and continously plotting for this or that end has left her badly agora- and enochlophobic. To make matters worse, her first instinct in coming face to face with large crowds is hiding, and the omnipresent lights makes that difficult. To add to it, the presence of muzak and other artificial sources of sound messes with the anti-sound field that One relies on to move silently.

After having a moderate to severe panic attack in the food court, One will likely decide to make the best out of a, to her, objectively terrible situation. One makes an exercise out of it, taking the option to train on her crowd stealth. After getting some more inconspicious clothes than the "nude androgyneous clockwork robot"-look she usually rocks, One gets to work. Knowing One she probably chose to steal the clothes to avoid the social interaction required for the purchase. One then spends the rest of the day getting better at staying outside of notice in the crowd, moving in such a way to throw off potential tails without attracting attention, perhaps lifting a few wallets and dumping them on unsuspecting people for a laugh, that sort of thing.

Tag List:

@ettawritesnstudies @mrbexwrites @teacupsandstarlight @anonymousfoz @wrenofthewords @sm-writes-chaos @dyrewrites @owlsandwich @olive-riggzey

If you want to be put on the Tag List for this project, please interact with my Tag List Post.

#hearts in clockwork #the clockwork boy #writing #writeblr #asks #Noncanonical character shenanigans

15 notes · View notes

crosstheveil · 5 months

Text

Anthroposophy: Lucifer, Ahriman, Christ

"Lucifer" is a spiritualizing force of temptation and distraction that brings higher knowledge, freedom, unrestrained creative exploration, and the dissolution of structure. Following him is a path of depersonalization, foregoing personal history and possessions, spiritual bypassing, overindulging in fantasy and mythology, change for the sake of change, anarchy, delusion, false ideologies, seeing the world as an illusion with no real value, retreating from life, hedonistic confusion of what maximizes enjoyment and states of ecstasy or mania with what is divine; the desires, passions, and aspirations that lend to overreaching ambition or hubris. He motivates us to find bliss (lifted from the weight of physical existence) by chasing anything that excites or voices itself from spirit in spite of lacking the ability to discern (regressing into animal nature) where those impulses are coming from, leaving us in a perpetual state of wandering aimlessly with infinite potential.

"Ahriman" is a materializing force of deception and lies that reduces things into forms and processes of physics that can be preserved in one differentiated state. Following him is a path of developing an overly analytical and mechanistic worldview, scientism, dogma/orthodoxy, reluctance to change, not being able to see beyond genetics, consumerism and commodification, acquisition of wealth, rationalism, weaponized intellectualism, becoming cold and dehumanized with a lack of empathy and compassion or any emotional depth; the fear, doubt, and pessimism rooted in material concerns such as survival, loss, and limitation. He motivates us to keep our essence contained in the physical realm (immortalize the body) by making us more like a machine (transhuman), looking for the solution to every problem through more effective systems of technology and surveillance, developing algorithms to recognize patterns and make predictions on a massive scale (artificial intelligence), and determining your value based solely on social credit.

"Christ" is the harmonizing solar force that balances the Luciferic and Ahrimanic impulse. Jesus himself was an advanced soul that carried the essence of Christ to perform a ritual that changed humanity by his sacrifice. When Christ incarnated to serve this purpose, it allowed for humanity to ascend out of matter into the kingdom of Heaven represented by the soul. Through the essence of Christ, we attain a natural sense of morality and we’re able to evolve by working from within ourselves to develop a conscience and see clearly. This Christ consciousness rests in the heart chakra, a center of truth. Unless we are centered in the heart, we’re not truly participating in life. We find balance by grounding spirituality, refining the knowledge received from spirit, aligning our ego with the truth of our soul and using that to serve others in a more meaningful way, realizing our physical body as a temple of the divine.

Without Christ consciousness, we fall under the influence of Lucifer or Ahriman and worship them as God. These forces then become parasitic and feed on our potential as individuals by draining and misdirecting our essence to serve them.

The names of these entities are ways of identifying forces at play that are higher cosmic impulses which drive and personify through us to greater or lesser extents at different phases of our evolution. Our consciousness is seen as a vessel which carries these impulses but the force itself transcends its personification. We may or may not be aware of the spiritual forces that are acting upon us but it’s only by learning what we can about their essence that we can start using them to transform ourselves.

#lucifer #ahriman #christ #consciousness #anthroposophy #spirituality #meaning #purpose #humility #spiritual evolution #rudolf steiner #heart chakra #truth

9 notes · View notes

stele3 · 6 months

Text

#destiel daily digest

7 notes · View notes

research-analyst · 1 year

Link

#market research future #artificial lift technology #artificial lift service market #artificial lift market size #artificial lifts industry

0 notes

ayz0 · 9 months

Note

Helloooooo I roughly tried catching up on I would say 2 years of your tumblr? Started for fnaf ended with a deep interest in your original characters. Is magic just a widely accepted branch of research like technology in your world? Or does it trump science and people focus on it alot?

Haha! Yeah I saw you taking over my activity log the past day or so! xD

That's so sweet of you to come and tell me though, any interest shown towards my original stuff gets me super giddy :D I'm glad you enjoyed some of it!

Magic and technology are about on-par with one another, even lifting each other up throughout history. The time period in their world is also 2020s (or round about), but technology is far more advanced. Thanks to magic, certain breakthroughs in tech were made far more easily, and far sooner.

All sorts of service robots are commonplace, though they are not often sentient. Military machines are the most advanced form of robot to be on the rise, with a scarce few of them beginning to gain sentient AI. Like Screen! (one of the first to do so)

Although, also through magic, it's also possible to enchant machinery as well as bind souls into machines. So 'sentient AI' might not always be as legitimately 'artificial' as it might look.

#ask #ocs #lorekeeping

13 notes · View notes

chounaifu · 3 days

Text

Kiss Roulette @pr0tur0

22. A kiss with tongue

" I don't think it's fair that you hate me so much, I haven't even done anything to you, " Proton retorts to the android, his eyes hovering over the spot on the machine's chassis where his knife had plunged into it. Tur0 had taunted the repo man, requested-- no-- demanded that he bring the blade to him.

Proton had been able to admire the wound when the incident occurred, marveling over wires and rods, looking at the way that they twisted so intricately beneath an otherwise normal looking body. Built from materials mined from the earth and fashioned into the technology that humans had become so reliant on-- yet alive, and sentient like the ones who had built him. He would consider Tur0 to be a vicious mockery of the man he was meant to resemble-- if, of course, Proton knew or cared about the master. Rather, he's far more invested in knowing this artificial body, and couldn't care less about man the machine was meant to replicate.

" You didn't even let me look closer at my handiwork, that's just so sad, half the fun of wounding someone is being able to check out what they look like on the inside. I didn't even get to see if you bled! 'Course you wouldn't-- you're not human, I'm not human, but even I still bleed. So what's the deal with you? "

Proton takes a step forward, distortion appearing on his body as he seems to twitch, glitch and disappear from reality. He reappears just inches away from where Tur0 was seated, and wastes no time in invading his personal space, and straddling him. One hand grasps onto the faux professor's shoulder with the grip of a Sandaconda, the other lifts up, poised to pry him open like a dentist.

" What are you like on the inside? Are you messed up like me? Do you even get hungry like me? "

Before Tur0 is able to wrestle or shove Proton off of his lap, he shoves a thumb into the android's mouth, and pries him open so that his thumb could feel at teeth and tongue, his eyes surveying him with deranged fascination.

" Oh! " His brows raise, and Proton closes more of the space between them, his thumb pressing into Tur0's tongue to feel the warmth, only to then pull it away, a trail of saliva following it as he dips in and forces their mouths together. A hand touches the AI's throat to search for his jugular, to see if there is a pulse-- there certainly would be a flutter if there WAS one, as the repo man's tongue traces at the teeth forged inside of Tur0's mouth. There's a little sigh as Proton allows this forced kiss to linger a little too long, and he breaks it with a smug, satisfied snicker, wet lips curved into a grin.

" You're even warm on the inside. "

#➤ 《 𝟗𝟎 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭; 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 》 In Character #➤ 《 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐌𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐄𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 》 Answered #➤ 《 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 》 Verse One #pr0tur0 #{ Wow Proton what the fuck. }

4 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 28 days

Text

A major part of U.S. President Joe Biden’s transformational plan for the Middle East—more like a Hail Mary than a real plan—is to see Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize their relations. To make it happen, Washington would have to provide Riyadh, among other things, with a formal defense pact. Israel, per Saudi wishes, would have to take irrevocable steps to help create an independent Palestinian state.

With a prime minister overtly opposed to such an endgame, Israel is unlikely to fulfill its end of this bargain anytime soon. It is not even done with its current war against Hamas. It has threatened to invade Rafah in southern Gaza to go after whatever is left of the militant group’s warfighting capacity—an outcome that would prolong this war, sabotage any hope for a cease-fire and a hostage exchange, and exacerbate the already enormous suffering of the Palestinian people.

When it comes to the creation of a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rarely missed an opportunity to register his opposition. As always, he is singularly focused on ensuring his political survival by appeasing an angry Israeli public with an ongoing war, knowing that when the shooting stops, they will punish him for failing to prevent Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Except that Israeli victory on the battlefield is proving more and more elusive due to Hamas’s staying power, the challenges of urban combat, and growing international pressure on Israel to end its military operations.

Yet, despite Israel standing in the way of a trilateral deal, it seems that the United States and Saudi Arabia have made great progress on their own. There is now talk of a “plan B” that could exclude Israel, the terms of which—according to some of the excited press coverage—include a U.S. defense pact, U.S. help in Saudi civil nuclear energy development, and systematic collaboration on the areas of artificial intelligence and other important technologies. Such a plan B seems promising on the surface, but on closer scrutiny, it is a non-starter.

“We have done intense work together over the last months,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week while in Saudi Arabia. “The work that Saudi Arabia and the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion.” Echoing his U.S. counterpart, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said an agreement was “very, very close.”

Why Washington and Riyadh might want to move forward without Israel is perfectly understandable. After all, what if Israel never agrees to a two-state solution? Yet a bilateral U.S.-Saudi deal, at least in its currently described version, simply will not work. The reason is simple: For Riyadh to obtain a formal defense pact from Washington, Congress would have to be on board to ratify it, and U.S. lawmakers, especially Republicans, will not lift a finger unless the issue of Israeli normalization is on the table.

Indeed, the biggest reason why there is bipartisan consensus on this megadeal with Saudi Arabia, rightly or wrongly, is because Israel would get the ultimate prize of Saudi recognition. Take that away, and the whole thing falls apart, despite the other Saudi deliverables, which include Riyadh distancing itself from China, cooperating on energy output, and jointly investing in technologies that matter to the United States.

Advocates of a bilateral agreement might ask: What if Biden uses his executive authorities and reaches a defense deal with Saudi Arabia without having it ratified by Congress? He certainly could, and it would look like the security arrangement the United States signed last September with Bahrain—called the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement. The United States also could offer the kingdom “major non-NATO ally” status (which Bahrain already enjoys), expedited U.S. weapons shipments, and enhanced cooperation on a range of defense and security areas.

However, that is not what Saudi Arabia wants or at least what it has said it wants. Riyadh has insisted, quite rightly, on an official defense pact with the United States—meaning a treaty alliance similar to what Washington has with Japan, South Korea, or the Philippines—because it would solidify, formalize, and legalize the U.S. security commitment to the kingdom. The Saudis definitely want something more ambitious than what Bahrain got. They also want it in writing and codified in law because they understand that a new U.S. administration, or simply a changed attitude from a sitting president, could easily terminate the deal.

Saudi Arabia also worries about how Iran, its top adversary, might perceive a defense deal with the United States that is not sufficiently robust. For Riyadh to decide to openly bolster its security cooperation with Washington, and as a result possibly alienate and jeopardize its normalization accord with Iran, the reward would have to be worth the risk. In other words, Saudi Arabia seeks a defense pact with the United States that is credible enough in the eyes of both friends and foes.

Such credibility requires political commitment and military power. The former would signal in no uncertain terms to Riyadh, and importantly to Tehran, that the United States would come to the aid of the kingdom should it be attacked, as it was by Iran in September 2019. The latter would bring to bear the necessary military capabilities and consultative mechanisms to support the defense pact.

Saudi Arabia does not want to end up in the worst of all worlds: marginally improving its security relationship with the United States while also drawing the ire of Iran. The whole point of Riyadh pressing for a defense pact with Washington is to prevent a war with Iran or defend against Iranian aggression should it happen again. And the only way to get that from the United States is by guaranteeing a U.S. security commitment.

Which brings us back to Congress and its crucial role. Without Saudi normalization with Israel, Congress is unlikely to endorse a formal defense pact with the kingdom. And without the latter, Saudi Arabia might decide that it is better off staying put than risk provoking Iran.

So long as Netanyahu and his government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, are in power, it is hard to see how this three-way deal, at least the way it has been conceived and advertised, could materialize.

The irony is that by normalizing with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu could achieve the kind of strategic accomplishment he so desperately needs right now: recognition by the largest economy in the Middle East and the leader of the Muslim world—something the Israeli public would celebrate. But he presides over an Israeli cabinet whose views on the Palestinian issue are even more extreme than his own and obstruct any such opportunity with the Saudis.

It is possible that Riyadh and Washington would entertain a more limited deal and enhance their cooperation on issues other than defense, including AI, semiconductors, autonomous systems, and maybe civilian nuclear energy. But it would not be the transformative deal that Biden hopes to sell to the American public or one that Saudi Arabia really covets. Nor would it commit the Saudis to demonstrably restraining their cooperation with China—a challenging proposition given the deep economic linkages between the two countries. It would be just another minimalist bilateral agreement, with none of the strategic effects or benefits that both parties seek.

7 notes · View notes

pomegrnteseed · 5 days

Text

a transfiguration of the internal kind

or, a love letter to transformative justice, and its usefulness for fandom communities for moving away from artificial intelligence use in transformative works

This is not going to be the shortest, but nuanced issues require capacious responses. I'm going to try and keep this as jargon-less as possible, while also using the words that hold importance in transformative justice, because words are important. We all know that, as writers and artists and readers and universe-builders.

I'm also going to ask for a little bit of patience here. Because tensions are running incredibly high. I understand all too well the urge to respond immediately, to unleash the anger in your chest that once again we're having this conversation about the problems of artificial intelligence technologies as they're used for creative purposes. But directionless anger adds fuel to the fire; while anger honed into a tool for change is a useful resource (though change cannot be sought on the coattails of anger alone - this is a surefire way to reach burn out; quick flash and then nothing but errant smoking ashes).

Why do fandoms hate artificial intelligence?

The short version, in case you've not come across anyone talking about this before, is that artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT and Midjourney are trained up by their developers with ungodly amounts of data - data which, often, is scraped from the internet without direct permissions from original creators.

These technologies are great at spotting patterns, but because they don't have human brains, they cannot create. They can only replicate. This means that every time they're used for creative purposes, they're remixing, replicating (copying, plagiarising, stealing) the work of artists and writers and other creators without any acknowledgement, citation, payment, or thanks. When users feed reference images into these technologies, they are similarly stealing.

And, while fandom thrives on transformative works, we are careful to credit where the sandboxes we play in originated.

You'll see from time to time righteous anger as someone lifts an entire fic, replacing character names to fit their preferred ship - and the response is never positive. Stealing, in all its forms, is a huge faux pas in fandom. And not everyone is aware, because people engage in fandom across different platforms, and different fandoms have different rules or etiquettes. But thievery is an overarching Do Not.

Why do people use these technologies?

There's a huge internalised pressure, I think, for many to create. We live in a world where Influencer is a legitimate job. Where a so-called living wages still isn't enough money to actually live on. Where loneliness is rising, disconnect is growing, capitalism is thriving, individualism has us in a chokehold. There are any number of reasons why we want to be good at things, but we're subconsciously (or blatantly) being given tools and latent permission to skip steps and cheat code our way to greatness.

Artificial intelligence technologies are another way to skip steps.

There's also the fact that AI is kind of everywhere - it's increasingly normalised (see Grok on Twitter, Meta's AI in development, Grammarly ads every five minutes on YouTube). Artificial intelligence has been talked about in the media for a long time, but it felt sort of distanced to many because it was mostly used in contexts of analysing massive data sets, or other technologies we don't use every day (facial recognition software, for one). And, if you're not keyed into specific communities talking about the ethical implications of AI and machine learning, if you're not a nerd like me who follows Timnit Gebru and the Distributed AI Research Institute, who has long been fascinated with futurism and the implications of tech on society, then you likely have been subliminally aware of AI for a while without realising that it has much closer touch points to your daily life than you think.

So when these amazing technologies that can complete mindboggling calculations or complete the work of twenty human brains in minutes, that can spot patterns that help with diagnosis or condition management in healthcare, that (thanks to the prison-industrial complexes so many of us live in) are naturalised that facial recognition software is a normalised element of news reporting on crime - when they become available to the average human trying to save their limited time and energy, and are marketed as harmless, as fun, as exciting, as helpful? It's no real surprise that so many reach for it.

And some aspects of AI technologies *are* helpful. Because we have to remember that people use them for different reasons. I have a friend who wrote a book outline using ChatGPT because he's incredibly dyslexic. Some aspects of AI technologies *are* exciting. I have watched How To Drink's 'midjourney chose my drink' episode because it was fascinating and entertaining.

The ethics are complicated. But, fundamentally, these technologies steal and regurgitate the words, work and creativity of others and that is hugely problematic.

But - and this is where I suspect I'll lose people - shouting at people on the internet will not lead to long-term behaviour change.

This is where transformative justice comes in.

Transformative justice is an alternative approach to seeing justice, healing and repair. It's abolitionist in its approach, actively divesting from punitive and carceral responses to harm (e.g. policing, prisons, foster care, psychiatric intervention), instead grounding responses at the community level. Transformative justice is holistic, looking not just at What was bad, but Why it happened. It's often used to deal with the community-impacting wounds of interpersonal violence, drug misuse, domestic violence, etc.

Transformative justice is founded on principles of respect, care, patience, and compassion for *everyone*, including those people who have done harm. Because people won't change without the material conditions to do so.

I see AI use for generative purposes (to create, to skip personal skills development) as a kind of harm for creative communities at large. I think it's fundamentally problematic to use AI when there can be no full oversight of the training data sets (data which is often influenced by unconscious biases from the developers, leading to outputs that are ingrained in racism, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, etc).

I also think, for fandom in particular, this chasing ideas of perfection or greatness does us all a disservice. Fandom is the place for WIPs, for seeking progress not perfection, for charting authentic skills development and celebrating engagement with the universe regardless of skill or talent. I especially think it's unethical to use AI and charge money for your artwork that uses stolen ideas.

I do not think that shouting at those who use AI is conducive to a healthy, thriving community.

Especially as a collective that primarily exists digitally, and for whom meet-ups happen typically either at cons or small, local scales between friends, shouting on the internet is unproductive in changing hearts and minds.

Transformative justice would seek education. The Philly Stands Up! roadmap to accountability is as follows:

Identifying behaviours that harmed others (this can take a really long time!)

Accepting harms done

Identifying patterns

Unlearning old behaviours

Learning new behaviours for positive change

This might seem simple, but it takes an awfully long time in some instance, particularly where people are resistant to holding themselves accountable and taking responsibility for the harm they've done.

It's not impossible, but it requires commitment from the community to stick to the principles set out and agreed upon - something that's hard when you exist in a digitally diverse, dispersed community across multiple platforms around the world with very different ideas of what justice looks like.

But maybe we can, in our micro communities - the spaces where we know people best, where we interact most frequently - begin to set expectations clearly. Maybe we can commit to not immediately letting the rage direct our tweets when we come across yet another AI user in our broader or inner circles. Maybe we can learn to hold patience and compassion (and make good use of our priv accounts, because transformative justice also recognises that this work is resource heavy, and those involved need space to vent/process/protect their peace too).

In my mind, transforming the community standards is an ongoing education project. It's unfair to expect everyone to arrive with the same knowledge or understanding as you. Especially when most AI conversations are so emotionally charged - no one has to read the shouting or snark, and many will scroll right by if it doesn't have a ship tag or NSFW in the first line. You cannot demand full compliance with your ethics and morals and practices when there is no entrance exam to joining a fandom community. But you can keep sharing why these technologies are harmful in the precarious spaces we occupy. You can drop people a message and link them to resources that explain the ethical problems with AI. You can rage on your priv with your likeminded friends, and publicly post your monthly or fortnightly or weekly reminder that AI is not welcome in fandom spaces and here's why.

Expecting the same education and understanding from everyone is ableist and classist and exclusionary. Chasing people out of fandom for making mistakes, for letting their need for validation or their desire to be better than they can currently create or their lack of understanding as to what AI is, how it works, and why it's not a good tool to engage with for creative means is going to gatekeep fandom in ways that do us all a disservice.

Keep the fandom aware of those who monetise their work while using AI technologies to generate the outputs. Ask those people to quit and focus on honing their skill set the old fashioned way. Encourage those who have been missold art to request refunds. But if you're sending death threats to community members for historic AI use and creating an environment so toxic and hostile that others who have done similar don't feel able to speak up, apologise, and assure the community that they've changed without harassment and unnecessary shaming? We'll never foster the sense of supportive, loving community so many of us crave.

There will always be people who seek to profit off of kindness. There will always be profiteering book binders, people selling AI-generated art they pass off as their own. That doesn't mean that we should denounce all who have ever used the tools. That's throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I think.

Shame is a tool for control. You can't force people to stop using artificial intelligence. You can lead the abraxan to water but you can't make them drink. That doesn't mean that creating an environment where it's safe to acknowledge past or current behaviours that are harmful and to learn without total ostracism from the community they want to be a part of isn't a worthwhile endeavour.

Edited to add:

Some practical steps people can take towards holding themselves accountable and taking responsibility for previous AI us. (Writing ideas are more plentiful because I am not an artist, my stick men are questionable at best).

If you've used AI to create anything

Share why - I think it can be helpful to humanise the realities of why AI is attractive and helpful to those who use it (and also we can help as a community give you the support, encouragement, learning resources you need to develop further)

Commit to not using it down the line

Help educate others in how to spot AI-generated content; it's not so obvious to those of us (like me) who are not artists - what do you look for? How can you tell the differences?

Create goals for your creativity skills - what do you want to be able to do, but can't yet? Set yourself challenges or journal activities that engage your creativity while not relying on those technologies

If you used AI for art

keep a diary of your skills development as you learn to create art without generated reference images or skeletons for tracing

share non-AI resources for inspiration/reference images to keep folks away from Pinterest and other less trustworthy sources

follow artists on youtube etc who take you through their processes to pick up tips and tricks

If you used AI for writing

get more involved in online conversations on twitter/discord servers to make connections with people who you could ask to be alpha and beta readers on your work

set goals for yourself - could be tropes, writing styles, word counts, whatever it is you want to achieve, share them with the community and we will cheer you on!

journal or reflective activities can help unlock ideas or inspire work

read, comment, scream about the works you love - and also think about what it is that makes them special, what writing techniques do they use?

check out writing courses or youtube tutorials! they can be so helpful!!

throw your plunnies you don't feel comfortable writing yet into the community and see what ideas people throw back; you might just find that a back and forth with someone sets you off down a path you didn't expect and before you know it you have a couple hundred or thousand words written ready to share with us!

All that is to say, there are ways of maintaining transparency about prior AI reliance, while not being self-flagellating, and also not minimising the extent of the harm done by the use of these technologies - especially if you do so for profit. Nevertheless, I won't shout anyone out of the community, personally, because I have capacity to hold space for those who've done harm and want to set things right, who want to continue creating and supporting and enjoying within our community while no longer using extractive, plagiarising technologies to do so.

#hp fandom #hp fanfic #artificial intelligence #don't use ai kids #create with your minds and hearts #being bad at art is cool here #share your half-formed ideas #shout your plunnies into the community and the community shall sing praises back

3 notes · View notes