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11-09-23 • Algorithms and Us

Deb: What do feminists like Rowling have against trans people? And why does anyone care if a guy doesn't want to date trans women, or what someone's definition of a woman is?

Feminists and gay and trans people have gotten along and been co-activists since the 90s. Mutual respect is not nearly as hard as people make it out to be and I have no clue how it got out of hand like this, other than this toxic political climate.

Part of our problem is that trans people were invisible until recently, so now we have to work out how they fit in. And, some people are shocked by gender divergence, it invokes their outgrouping reflex. That's hard to combat.

But I think the real reasons for the current trans hysteria are social media, and deliberate fracturing. It's only through social media that people's dating preferences or personal definitions are made public to millions in the first place. These aren't even opinions anymore; they are a lure to attract eyes for advertisers, driven by algorithms to elevate the most extreme takes and the most outraged reactions. Umbridge = $$$.

The toxic political climate is also the result of deliberate fracturing. As early as Bacon's rebellion, elites noticed that the plebes had a common cause and much greater numbers. Since then, deliberate government policy divides people by race, religion, class, and political affiliation so they will not notice how much they are being exploited and their environment despoiled, or be able to organize effectively against it. Division also = $$$$$$$$.

The good news is that it would take only a few key realizations to change this a lot. One is that being the product for Musk and Zuckerberg is a bad deal. Another is that there is a massive political center.

E.G.: This is what happens when our children are not taught to think. When free thought is limited to specific political agendas. When children’s critical thinking skills aren’t nurtured and developed. We, general, can blame social media and algorithms all we want but algorithms are nothing more than math, basic algebra. And social media doesn’t force anyone to do or think anything, that’s all on the users.

Was there ever a time when people were really taught to think, apart from limited specific political agendas? Not so far. We're still trying to figure out how to do that. Some people get it eventually; many don't.

Social media does not "force" anything but it is putting a loaded gun in a room full of toddlers. When someone gets shot, the gun is a material cause.

But, we're adults, we should be able to handle a gun, right? Well, the evidence is overwhelming - no, we can't. Not everyone.

Algorithms are not just "algebra," they are systems for sensationalizing the insane. We should not just shrug and say, well, we can't blame the math, it's just numbers. We can hold the system responsible for being a bad system unsuitable for humans at our current stage of development. We can change the algorithms, use different math, to mitigate the damage.

Lindsay: Social media isn’t a gun…It’s a platform that allows people to share their thoughts with more people than ever before.

Some people use thoughts for nefarious purposes, some people share their thoughts to increase support for their chosen cause, some people use it to spread news they herd, some people just use it to talk to friends and family…the same thing the written word has always been used for. The last time we had to deal with this was once books were able to be mass produced…

So how much control should the government- who is in charge of keeping the citizens safe have over what thoughts can be shared and which thoughts should be suppressed?

According to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, there was a massive increase in social and political dysfunction which occurred precisely at the time the Like/Retweet model of social media was introduced.

“What changed in the 2010s?” Haidt asks, reminding his audience that a former Twitter developer had once compared the Retweet button to the provision of a four-year-old with a loaded weapon. “A mean tweet doesn’t kill anyone; it is an attempt to shame or punish someone publicly while broadcasting one’s own virtue, brilliance, or tribal loyalties. It’s more a dart than a bullet, causing pain but no fatalities. Even so, from 2009 to 2012, Facebook and Twitter passed out roughly a billion dart guns globally. We’ve been shooting one another ever since.”

According to Haidt, social media 1) makes people more angry and politically polarized, 2) creates echo chambers where people only hear what they already agree with, 3) amplifies posts that are more emotional, inflammatory or false, 4) increases the probability of violence, 5) allows foreign governments to deliberately increase political dysfunction in the United States, 6) decreases public trust, and 7) strengthens populist movements.

I think our government should allow all of it and more, are you kidding? But just because the government allows it doesn't make it good for society. These systems are consumer driven. What would change them is customers who demand better systems. Not all social media is creating dysfunction; small, mediated systems (like ours) can be pretty good. Consumers could pressure SM companies to make changes. Haidt recommends steps like better user authentication and age restrictions, platform accountability and transparency, architectural changes to reduce virality, changing incentives to reduce trolling and antisocial behavior, changing parameters to reduce the noise/signal ratio, etc.

If you are saying we must simply accept these systems as they are right now, or it's censorship, I disagree.

E.G.: Social media isn’t a gun, it’s a screwdriver. A person can stab another with it, tighten screws or loosen them. People can choose to be supportive or to be unsupportive, they can choose to bully or not, they can choose to connect with others on a larger more diverse level or stay in their little bubbles.

The algorithms are just math. They don’t take 1+1 and make it 5, they maintain 1+1 is 2. Changing them would be censorship, forced assimilation to only the acceptable to some.

The algorithms are being changed every day, mainly in ways to increase revenue. That is not sacrosanct.

E.G.: From what I’ve read it’s less about the algorithms and more about company policies. I think we, as a society keep blaming everything but where the blame really lies, which is humans.

Blaming social media is blaming humans. We programmed it.

E.G.: Most of us were taught cause and effect as well as chaos theory in grade school science, yet it seems many have failed to actually learn these.

Yes. So, that is what we are...simple hunter-gatherers, prone to irrationality and outgrouping, who fail to actually learn cause and effect in sufficient numbers to maintain a peaceful civilization. Instead of lamenting that fact, we should accept it. People, as a group, are not good at this.

That is why, for example, most countries have very strict gun laws. People can't handle unfettered access to guns. It creates terrible death and mayhem to give such power to random hunter-gatherers. Most don't allow it, because it just doesn't work.

Every right and power in civilization is a balance between what works and what doesn't. Right now the balance on digital communication is causing and contributing to social upheaval, mainly because every single mode of communication we have is heavily commercialized. We should change that. It's not a healthy system for people.

11-01-23 • AI Art Scare

Clara I: This was a headline in the news..." New Jersey parent pans school's handling of AI-generated porn images featuring daughter's face." A teen made an AI-generated image of a nude with a classmate's face superimposed on it and then passed it around social media. The school is doing nothing, just because it didn't happen at school. What is the world coming to?! These AI pictures are a real problem.

This has been easily doable for decades; "AI" is neither here nor there in this story.

Clara II: Social Media wasn't what it is today decades ago.

Maybe the headline should blame "social media circulated images" instead of AI. That's just a scare.

Clara II: The new image programs can do things like rotate a head in three dimensions in order to match the pose of a body. That's a step beyond using photoshop to match skin tone and shadows. Effectively, it puts into non-expert hands the ability to make composite images that it would take an expert to prove were fakes.

That's not the issue here. No one thinks these images aren't fakes. And even obvious, clumsy fakes of this kind are just as much of a problem as slick seamless ones. The issue is the use of another's image and that's nothing new.

Clara II: It gives end users with little to no technical or design skill the ability to create high quality content and in larger volumes because it is much faster. It is a million times easier to create a decent fake picture compared to 10-20 years ago.

People said the exact same thing about Photoshop, and they were right - it did change everything. Seeing is no longer believing. I don't disagree with concerns about AI. Like many of our inventions, it is a force multiplier in the hands of hunter-gatherers who are ill-equipped to handle it. I just thought *this* story would have been exactly the same without AI...neither here nor there, as I said.

Clara II: They need to put security measures in place to stop the software from being used to generate child abuse images.

There are already lots of security measures on publicly available AI systems like DALL-E and Stable Diffusion to prevent them from generating inappropriate images, and this causes them to error over all kinds of perfectly reasonable content requests. They are already erring on the side of caution. Of course, people can train private AI systems to generate whatever they want, without these limitations. But, that takes a high level of computer systems engineering and a lot of expensive equipment. So it's really not just something anyone can do. It takes as least as much figuring out as doing something in Photoshop.

10-10-23 • New World Crisis

On October 7, 2023, there was a horrific attack from Gaza by Hamas on Israel, resulting in many innocents killed or taken hostage. I condemn those attacks in the strongest terms.

Nora: Oh no! Hamas has attacked Israel!

I'm so, so sorry for what has happened. I feel deeply sad for for every child born on both sides of this ancient conflict.

The Earth has had enough of this. If humans do not get serious about cooperating, fast, this is how it all goes down...in horror.

Nora: Difficult to cooperate with someone that openly admits that all they want is to annihilate you, don’t you think? How do you negotiate with that?

We do not do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard. What's the alternative?

Lindsay: Go to war.

What sort?

Lindsay: What sort of war? The kind where you kill the opposite side by any means necessary.

To what degree? Take prisoners, or take no prisoners? Quarter, or no quarter? Bomb hospitals, or don't bomb hospitals? To surrender, or to annihilation?

"Go to war" and "kill the opposite side" could mean anything. Real wars have specific objectives and parameters.

Lindsay: Do everything they can to get the non-militant women and children out and then raze the country. There are no hospitals at that point, the object is to take out every target. There’s no surrender, no trust on that level to accept any terms of surrender.

This isn’t treated as country anymore, it’s a den of terrorists that have committed horrific crimes worthy of the death penalty.

Nora: I mean seriously. They don't want land. They don't want peace. How do you negotiate with that?

Negotiate with someone else. Some Palestinians want land, and peace. Those are the people you negotiate with.

Nora: There is no alternative. We deal with the evil as it should be dealt with. They already showed what they’re about - evil, inhuman, savage beasts.

Totally agree, people who do evil should be held accountable for their evil. But, that's not every Palestinian in Gaza, or even every person who ever supported Hamas. So, the response should be strategic, to maximize the effectiveness of anti-terrorist actions, rather than retaliatory, which would harm innocent people. The fewer innocent lives taken, the better for Israel.

I hope they manage this fragile task better than the U.S. did after 9/11.

(Ten Days Later)

Nora: This is who the Democrats are in 2023...they are not standing with Israel! They are calling for a ceasefire, because they know that would destroy us. They are questioning funding the Iron Dome defense system, just hoping to leave us vulnerable. They are nothing but anti-semites, the whole lot of them!

Lindsay: They have become the evil ones. Remember, as a country, the democratic protests have cost this country billions in damages…

Live and Love: For the second year straight, my daughter comes home from school every day with extra stress due to violent peers in her classroom.

She states she has several rude & disrespectful peers. For example, one child was talking, refusing to do assignments, walking around the room, and the substitute teacher after several hours of this, said, “you need to go the principal’s office,” the child lost it — screaming, spit flying out his mouth, throwing the chair, the desk, all the papers and books off my daughter’s and other’s desks.

Like WTH? Is this just the new norm? I feel so bad for the teachers. For a 4th grader, this seems so unacceptable...like either control yourself, or you can not be in the classroom.

What are the answers?

Leya: Target is closing down their stores because of all the stealing. Two stores in Harlem are closing. In San Francisco CVS and Walgreens have closed most stores due to theft. Security people will do nothing to stop theft. We need to be harder on the people stealing or it will just continue and the stores will close.

Note: As before, "Mon Dieu" is Lindsay, from Arkansas, posing as a person from France.

Delta Dawn: So I saw that in France they are banning the abaya, a traditional female Muslim dress, in public schools.

Mon Dieu: Yes, it's true. We don't allow ostentatious religious symbols in France. We have to protect French culture.

Just because America doesn’t have a culture doesn’t mean no where else does. If you have no identity there’s nothing to preserve and any new idea is helpful. But if you have a strong identity, losing it every five minutes is tragic.

Delta Dawn: That's ludicrous, of course the United States has a culture.

Mon Dieu: What part of American culture would you care about keeping safe?

09-01-23 • Roots of Racism Part I - On Atheism

Mary: Here's an article explaining that the roots of racism in the United States stem from a doctrine that became incorporated into Christianity in the 16th century, the Doctrine of Discovery, claiming God intended for all lands inhabited by non-Christians to belong to Europeans because they "discovered" them.

Dinger: No surprise that the idea of white supremacy is heavily rooted in religious doctrine.....maybe it's time to throw out religion as a society.

Nora: Yeah, because Atheist regimes have done much better in terms of discrimination and violence ?????

I know you have your own bias and prejudice against religion. But 1) not all religions are created equal, 2) like everything else, religion has many positives as well, don’t throw the baby away with the bath water, and 3) and most importantly, religion isn’t the cause for these social wrongs.

Your problem with "Atheism" is just as offensive. 1) Not all atheism is created equal, 2) like anything else, atheism has many positives as well, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, and 3) and most importantly, atheism isn't the cause for these social wrongs.

You have a habit of conflating authoritarian state-mandated atheism with organic atheism. Did you know that the countries in Europe with the highest levels of organic atheism also have some of the lowest levels of social problems? It's true.

"Nations marked by coercive atheism -- such as North Korea and former Soviet states -- are marked by all that comes with totalitarianism: poor economic development, censorship, corruption, depression, etc. However, nations marked by high levels of organic atheism – such as Sweden or the Netherlands -- are among the healthiest, wealthiest, best educated, and freest societies on earth."

Article - Zuckerman Study

Lastly, when social ills become doctrine - like the "Doctrine of Discovery" - YES the religion can be responsible for the social ills of the doctrine.

I'm not an atheist, and I love religion, but be fair.

09-01-23 • Roots of Racism in U.S. Part II

Note: "Mon Dieu" is Lindsay, from Arkansas, posing as a person from France.

Mary: Anyway, the article discusses the roots of racism.

Mon Dieu: Ah merde, race again. I’ve never seen race discussed so much as on this site. This intense focus America has in the race of everyone is maybe a reason why America has such race problems. Here in France, it’s considered rude to talk about race. Maybe sometimes it comes up, but it should be kept rare.

As you know, people in the U.S. are still suffering from racial discrimination that severely degrades the quality of their lives. We are supposed to be a society of freedom and equality, but we aren't. Discussion is required, and will be, until the problem is better resolved.

Mon Dieu: You will have discrimination when race is always talked about. Too many people will have opinions on what is none of their concern. What do you think will happen if everyone in America agreed to say Ay, non, no more talking about race and everyone has to be treated totally equal.

You have got the cause and effect in the wrong order.

------(Later)------

And maybe you should be talking about it.

9 in 10 Black people in mainland France say they are victims of racist discrimination

According to a survey commissioned by the Representative Council of France's Black Associations, only a quarter of victims filed a complaint.

Article - Le Monde - 9 in 10 Black people experience discrimination in France

Mon Dieu: We are the number 16 best in the world to avoid racism. You are number 65. Worse than Lebanon. We’re doing things a lot better than you are it looks like.

Yeah, "you" are doing great. But obviously France could be doing a lot better. Almost ALL black people are suffering from discrimination. That means widespread, institutional and ongoing. Ignoring it has not made it go away.

Mon Dieu: Not having race talked about all the time by people who mostly don’t feel racism is making things much better than they could be. If someone is feeling racism, let them talk and listen but no one needs your own opinion on it.

9 out of 10 Black people are experiencing discrimination in France, and yet only a quarter report it. Sounds like silence is furthering the oppression.

This report is from today. I would not be surprised if France drops several points in the next ranking.

Mon Dieu: If someone feels racism let them talk but it’s rude for people who don’t feel it to talk about race all the time.

Well, it's not rude here. Every single stride we have made against racism and other bigotry in this country, every one, has been made by acknowledging the bigotry first, publicly, and then discussing it, protesting it, and raising public consciousness until enough people are convinced to change the laws and norms. That's what works and what has worked.

We still have more work to do, so we should keep talking about it. Your suggestions that it's beneath you are belied by your participation, and your particular focus on race.

Mary: Wait, what? This is a forum for discussing politics and current events.

Mon Dieu: Yes, yes, but if it’s always people who don’t feel racism teaching other people who don’t feel racism about racism you are always going to stay in a circle, that makes it rude. What isnt rude is to hear the ones that feel it and that’s it.

So it's a good thing for you we are here, so you have someone to talk to about the subject you so obviously want to talk about.