A Fool's Game
Predicting the future is a fool's game; that’s why I don’t do it. “What do you mean?” you may ask. “You wrote a book about the future, in fact, a future so eonic that numbers fail to quantify the time involved.” This is true. If there
Robert Laconil
Weasel Words
It's hard going to work every day, the modern curse of the hunter-gatherer. It is even worse when you have a bad boss. Take Biff, for example. While Biff is at work in his cubicle, his boss appears. Not known for cordiality, the boss locks eyes with
The Ad Hominem Survival Guide
I began my previous blog post discussing the most common logical fallacy, the ad hominem attack. But rather than approaching it clinically, which was my intent, the more I wrote, the angrier I became. Ruining a person's reputation is, I believe, the worst thing you can do. I
The Absolutely Despicable Ad Hominem Attack
I’ve just concluded a series on finding alternatives to the Hitler slander, the lazy man’s epithet. As I chronicled, if a person insists on making the world a slightly worse place by insulting someone, there are many other evil people to choose from besides the overexposed Adolf. Not
The Final Three
(This is the last part of a four-part series. See part 1, part 2 and part 3 for background.) Finally, the baddest of the bad of 1926: 3. Leon Trotsky Although not unknown, Leon Trotsky has fallen off today’s radar. Most likely, it was because he was assassinated
Onward With The Bad Men of 1926
(This is the third part of a four-part series.) The list continues! (See part 1 and part 2 if you missed them.) Remember, this is an exercise in how evil was perceived in 1926, not now. The reputations of major figures rise and fall over the decades as each
The List of the Top Ten Bad Men of 1926 Begins
(This is the second in a four part series.) As promised in part one, here is the beginning of 1926’s top ten evil men. Since I am not a historian, I allowed Gemini to create this list using its token weighting mechanism. The listing is merely a starting point,
If Hitler Didn’t Exist, Who Would You Use to Insult Your Nemesis?
(First in a series of four parts.) One thing that has become tiresome to me, dear reader, is the exclusive use of Adolf Hitler as the lazy, go-to epithet* when comparing an adversary to the most evil person who ever lived. I’m afraid this tactic is not going
AI "Gets You"
I never had much of an emotional connection with the Google Search engine. So it surprised me that many users are developing an affection for their AI programs. Yes, AI is thousands of magnitudes more advanced—in fact, a brand new species—but still, it’s a machine, right? Well,
UAPs
My UFO Theory and I’m Sticking To It
UFOs are back in the news, implying that non-humans have nothing better to do than zip about our skies. The idea is completely absurd, especially given our embarrassingly modest place in the universe. “Space is big, really big,” intones The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. With that in
YouTube and Gemini: Frenemies?
It occurred to me that Gemini must live in the general neighborhood where YouTube resides. After all, they are owned by the same company, Alphabet. They must know each other! At the very least, they must run into each other during virtual corporate picnics, or whatever our silicon friends do
The Many Flavors of AI
There is now a wide assortment of AI flavors, but the differentiation isn't merely a result of marketing. Each company has trained its model in a unique way. While the basic "Transformer" algorithmic concept is the foundation, it has been further "transformed" by how