Outside the Beltway

Comments

1. charontwo says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 08:54

   Donald’s excellent Cuba adventure:

   “Jackie Singh“

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2. charontwo says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 08:54

   Donald’s excellent Cuba adventure:

   “Jackie Singh“
3. Michael Reynolds says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 10:10

   The problem with metaphors.

   If, as we keep hearing, AGI will be to humans as humans are to chimpanzees, then tell me this: how well would a chimpanzee be able to project the course of human development? Not at all? Not even the tiniest bit? Our tech overlords are so arrogant they believe that they – as a superior sort of chimpanzee – can guess where AGI would take us. Because a really smart chimp would have been able to anticipate the human creations in art, music, philosophy, medicine, physics. . .

   Or consider how long a chimp fortress compound would survive a concerted human attack. Fifteen minutes? The flight time of a cruise missile?

   The arrogant chimps who think they’re smarter than all the other chimps are busily stockpiling bananas so that they will be able to defy the humans. That’s totally going to work for the chimps.

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4. Kathy says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 11:36

   Experiment with an AI agent

   TL;DR: It spent some money, failed to buy paper clips.

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5. charontwo says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 11:39

   Really cool video, ingenuity:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTr6qHwngUU

   Ukraine flies YAK-52s. Uses shotguns to destroy Russian drones

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6. Sleeping Dog says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 11:57

   @charontwo:

   Cheaper than a patriot missile

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7. Gustopher says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 14:36

   @Michael Reynolds: The people telling you AI will be amazing are people that haven’t turned a profit and are desperate for more investment money, boosted by people who want workers scared that they will lose their jobs.

   You’re making a mistake if you listen to their predictions of AGI and don’t see it largely as self-serving statements for short-term gain. Some of them have begun to believe their own shit, others are just selling the CEO class on the dream of not having to pay workers.

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8. Rob1 says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 17:15

   @Gustopher:

   others are just selling the CEO class on the dream of not having to pay workers.

   We’ll see how that goes.

   The cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees’: Nvidia executive says right now AI is more expensive than paying human workers

   “For my team, the cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees,” Bryan Catanzaro, vice president of applied deep learning at Nvidia, recently told Axios.

   An MIT study from 2024 backs up Catanzaro’s experience. Analyzing the technical requirements of AI models needed to perform jobs at a human level, researchers found that AI automation would be economically viable in only 23% of roles where vision is a primary part of the work. In the remaining 77% of the time, it was cheaper for humans to continue their work.

   In other instances, AI has proved to be fallible, with one engineer saying an AI agent destroyed his database and network as a result of what he called “overuse.”

   Despite no clear evidence of AI improving productivity and, according to the Yale Budget Lab, no widespread data to support the idea of AI displacing jobs, Big Tech firms have continued to pour money into AI, announcing $740 billion in capital expenditures this year so far, according to Morgan Stanley, a 69% increase from 2025. The magnitude of spending has caused some companies to rethink their budget altogether.

   It hasn’t taken very long to get to the “diminished returns” part of this algorithm.

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9. Rob1 says:
   Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 17:23

   Well! Let’s not stand on ceremony!

   Diplomat reveals glaring issue in Trump’s threat to pull troops from Germany

   “Under the most recent National Defense Act, Trump can’t withdraw troops from Europe unless the commander of our forces there independently certifies to Congress that it won’t hurt deterrence against Russia or U.S. [operations] in the Middle East [and] that allies have been consulted,” Malinowski wrote Saturday on X.

   Malinowski noted that United States European Command (EUCOM) commander Gen. Alexus Grynkewich “will obviously be under pressure from Hegseth to back him up.”

   “But general officers also have a unique legal obligation to answer questions from Congress honestly,” Malinowski wrote. “So this will be interesting if Congress does its oversight.” [..]

   “Oddly, the law doesn’t mention the president’s feelings being hurt as a factor in justifying potential troop withdrawals,” he quipped.

   I think Trump sees the “law” as a personal challenge; a safe to crack. He’s a safecracker. Another virgin to deflower. He’s a — nevermind.

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10. Richard Gardner says:
    Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 17:25

    Not on my Bingo card, from the whitest city in the USA Portland Oregon, suicide bomber (fatality one, the bomber) https://www.foxnews.com/us/1-dead-after-car-slams-lavish-portland-social-club-investigators-uncover-possible-explosives

    Multiple headlines state one dead without mentioning it was the perp.

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11. Kathy says:
    Saturday, 2 May 2026 at 20:48

    @Rob1:

    I wonder how they’ll manage to increase demand for slop, outside of Youtube and social media.

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