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Tuesday’s Forum

Steven L. Taylor
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9 responses to “Tuesday’s Forum”

  1. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    For the first time since November 14th, I’ve neither a market price study nor a Hell Week proposal to assemble.

    I may even take the weekend off, should our luck hold out.

    2
  2. Gregory Lawrence Brown Avatar
    Gregory Lawrence Brown

    Today’s History Lesson
    December 30, 1922
    USSR established

    Castro couldn’t even go to the bathroom unless the Soviet Union put the nickel in the toilet.
    Richard M. Nixon
    “Richard M. Nixon Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2025. 30 December 2025. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/richard_m_nixon_402959

  3. Kylopod Avatar
    Kylopod

    If Trump wants to see food prices drop, he has one past president he can emulate. Here is the percentage decrease for the following commodities during that president’s term:

    Bread: 23%
    Milk: 50%
    Beef: 53%
    Coffee: 63%
    Pork: 63%
    Eggs: 75%
    Sugar: 78%

    Bonus that this president implemented the best-known tariffs in US history. He and Trump should get along splendidly.

    4
  4. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    The Daily Beast has invented a great new nickname for FBI Director Patel: Keystone Kash.

    5
  5. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    Tatiana Schlossberg Moran, JFK’s granddaughter, has died of leukemia, age 35. RIP.

    3
  6. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    So, now there’s a serious discussion on granting rights to AI?

    I hate to quote that movie: the ability to speak doesn’t make you intelligent.

    If you don’t pay attention and take a lot for granted, sometimes talking to an LLM feels almost like talking to a person. But a few seconds of thought shows otherwise. Just ask the LLM what it likes, what it feels, what it does with its time, etc. Not only aren’t any of them sentient, most aren’t particularly intelligent.

    The there’s this bit:

    Robert Long, a researcher on AI consciousness, has said “if and when AIs develop moral status, we should ask them about their experiences and preferences rather than assuming we know best”.

    That’s actually good advice.

    How about applying it to humans first?

    We may develop real artificial intelligence with real sentience. Who knows. But we’re not even in the same galaxy as there yet.

    4
  7. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    @Kathy:
    LLM’s are about as “sentient” as insects, at best.
    The Cockroach Liberation Front marches on!
    (With occassional bouts of hopping.)

    otoh, at times on a Monday morning, I suspect I’m little smarter than the average ant myself. 😉

    3
  8. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @JohnSF:

    I won’t say the old text-based games like Zork seemed sentient, but the range of useful and context-appropriate responses did make them seem more aware than they could possibly be.

    They also had more personality than today’s LLMs. Granted, ti was the personality of the game writer(s), but it was there. LLMs all sound so much alike at all times, they seem, well, robotic.

    2
  9. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    @CSK: That nickname has been floating around social media for at least a month now.

    1

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