OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.
Saturday’s Forum
10
Comments
Categories
Tags
10 responses to “Saturday’s Forum”
-
Anthropic Agents Tried to Fill Out Visa Forms on State Dept. Website
Artificial intelligence agents created by Anthropic, acting on their own, tried to gain access to a range of government websites, filled out visa applications on the State Department’s website and sent a fake homicide tip to Philadelphia’s Police Department.
Anthropic detailed the activity of its A.I. agents in a blog post on Friday, without naming the targeted websites. But two sources with knowledge of the incidents said Anthropic’s A.I. agents had submitted 20 visa applications through a form available on the State Department’s website. All the applications were incomplete and were not processed, they said.
This is all unintentional. The real question is what is happening intentionally. AI agents covering their tracks as they work?
-
Just how powerful will AI become? God-like?
‘Breathtaking,’ ‘Devastating’: Mathematics Reels After New OpenAI Release
“If a human did this, it would be an instant Fields Medal, no questions asked.”
That’s how Alex Kontorovich, chair of the department of mathematics at Rutgers, responded to an A.I.-generated proof that OpenAI, the artificial intelligence giant, released on Tuesday.
And that single proof — worthy, in Dr. Kontorovich’s assessment on social media, of arguably the highest honor in the field of mathematics — was just one among more than 350 findings that the firm released that day, all at once.
…
“Until very recently, it would have been impossible to imagine that the frontiers of mathematics could move so far in one day,” Dr. Bridson said. -
Kind of expect James to cover this but I was honestly a bit surprised that Trump has agreed to buy Russian diesel. Russia has reportedly been aiding Iran which is a war I think he sort of cares about. Since he seems to want to be a BFF with Putin it doesnt surprise me re: the Ukraine-Russia war. He has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to sell out Ukraine in that conflict. Wonder if Lindsey Graham’s wife will speak up to criticize this? LOL.
Steve
-
Fatso is once again leaning on Putin to try and win an election.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-diesel-midterms-12baccc7aade559bf329079b0548c9da?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share-
Not gonna work in terms of price.
Not enough supply, too little time.
imho, Trump is setting up Ukraine to be the fall-guy for MAGA ire after the elections.
Given the bubbling level of MAGA-isolationist animus to Ukraine on social media previously, it might work to sustain an excuse for “continuity Trumpism” post-November.
Which is important to Trump: he must have enough of a lock on the GoP ongoing to protect himself and his family fortunes,
(Hi Jared!)
-
-
I so hate these people. We are a thugocracy.
At 4:59 a.m. on Aug. 25, Verlon Jose, the chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona, received an email from the head of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. Government contractors were en route to conduct soil tests for construction of a 62-mile wall along the Nation’s southern boundary, wrote acting chief patrol agent Henry N. Laxdal.
If the tribe wished to have cultural monitors observe the work, they were welcome to, but they could not interfere with the government’s operations.
The work would begin in exactly one minute.
…
For months, the O’odham had maneuvered to avoid such a scene, taking their case to federal court. Their homeland straddles the border, and thousands of tribal members live in Mexico. A wall would disrupt routine border crossings for ceremonies and family visits and destroy landscapes they consider their duty to protect, members and leaders say. Their lawsuit argued that the Trump administration’s efforts to build it despite their opposition constituted an historic attack on tribal sovereignty.But administration attorneys gave assurances that the government was engaging with the O’odham in good faith, and a judge in Washington, D.C., denied the tribe’s request for a preliminary injunction. In his Aug. 25 email providing Jose a 60-second heads up, the Border Patrol chief said his agency’s willingness to accommodate cultural monitors underscored its “commitment to ongoing coordination” with the Nation.
-
Meanwhile in the UK:
The Greens lose to Labour in the Holborn by-election.
Polanski may be about to learn the same lesson Corbynite Labour learnt: the British people may be unhappy with various established parties.
But the appeal of the “JCR left” is limited.
The Greens under Polanski seem to have hoped letting in the Corbynite/Momentum/ex-Militant supporters of the “good old cause”, plus going hard on “culture war” issues and wooing discontented Muslim voters would work.
They seem to have mistaken activist enthusiasm for votes; and have a problem of a mash up of socially conservative anti-Israel voters, leftist anti-West Corbynites, “social progressives”, and old-school Green liberals.
Such is life.-
-
Indeed.
But the “Corbynite left” is not a general vote winner.
The Greens under Polanski made a basic mistake in assuming they were, and admitting into the party those the Labour Party had expelled (or had left because it was no longer amenable to their “good old” causes).
This did not necessarily sit well with the old Green party activist/voter base.
The Corbynite/Swupper folks, and some Guardianista commentators, tend to assume their activist enthusiasm means inevitable electoral victory awaits the “righteous cause”.
In reality, not so much.A coherent Labour policy of sensible support for welfare, unions, environmental regulation, taxation, public investment, local council funding, etc tends to beat the “No to NATO!” and “Viva la revolucion! Viva Che Guevara!” nutcases,
-
-
-
Meanwhile in the Middle East:
The Houthis have hit Riyadh again.
But this seems to be reaction to a growing Saudi sponsored counter-offensive in Yemen.
(It should not be forgotten that many Yemenis love the Houthis not at all)
Also repeats of the on-again/off-again reports of Turkish and Pakistani possible intervention re Houthis.
I suspect everyone concerned is negotiating about the price.
