@usefewersyllables
Since I ordered anything from Amazon. I think the last order was for some survival books, so my profile should be interesting, but I'm not going to log in to find out.

Every day we slip further into dystopia. I haven't read Shockwave Rider, so I have no context in that regard. To me, the movie The Matrix, comes the closest to explaining the new world we're being forced into.

How do unplug from it?

Where are you, Morpheus?

amusing and revolting:

Shoppers are posting screenshots of Amazon's About You page, which turns your purchases, searches and Alexa chats into a written profile. One woman found Amazon had decided she has flat buttocks, and others were told they can't keep plants alive or have no friends.
...
This is the second big tech company this week whose notes on customers went viral, after Meta's Muse assistant. Amazon at least lets you see and edit yours. In the app, go to the Me tab, tap your name and pick About You, then delete anything wrong or anything you'd rather it not use.

https://x.com/HedgieMarkets/status/2108342426545082809

If you have ever used Amazon, you might find it amusing to go see just who their AI thinks you are. It is a window into the ubiquitous-database world. I learned several things about myself.

Now, imagine what Da Gummint is doing with this sort of technology... Shockwave Rider writ large.

@QMS
Is the middle ground between the lush and green East Texas and the deserts of West Texas. Austin and San Antonio are big attractions, although I loath big cities. But it's the music scene, mostly from Austin, that draws us here. Frederiksburg which is much smaller, is just west of Austin. The Hill Country is beautiful, none the less.

Your #1 is a distinct possibility, especially since the world already conducts affairs as a corporation would, the US in particlar.

#2- It's mind blowing thinking about the ramifications of AI or robots gaining legal personhood, that's why I suspect it may happen.

#1 - In this day of proxy conflicts, my guess is
corporations will assault us using a cover of denialablity
thru some disgruntled scapegoat. Or the gubmint with the
veil of the see eye hay.

#2 - AI will never achieve the mantle of personhood, neither do
corporations. This does not mean congress and the courts will
treat them as special cases. Can we arrest a computer or a big
business? Jail them or hang them? The blame will go to a bad
apple or a hallucinating machine.

Have fun!

@soryang
For the additional info.

I would imagine there are a few players just chomping on the bit to wreak some revenge on the big bully of the block, ala 9/11. And I would imagine the odds are high that it will happen in the future, in the same vein as ancient Rome thought itself impregnable back in the day.

I'm glad that you're getting some relief from the storm, you've already had enough storm damage to last a lifetime.

Thanks, soryang.

There are part of a joint arms approach, ground, perhaps naval, and aerospace. I would say I was more attuned to this because I studied the Vietnam War particularly in the air. At the time, this was fundamentally a technological-tactical "surprise," when Russian made SA-2 missiles brought down many US tactical jets, directly and indirectly. Secondly, by radar directed batteries of AA and even non radar directed AA fire taking down US military aircraft at lower levels as well in carefully located barriers of concentrated air defense fire along anticipated ingress routes. Imo these substantial aircraft losses and aircrew casualties and captures played a role in bringing the war to an end.

North Koreans made an art of going underground with their military facilities. This was a result of their terrible experience at the hands of US bombers in the Korean conflict. I wasn't surprised at all to hear one US military analyst refer to the Iranian so called underground cities, as a result of North Korean influence.

Below is a picture of an integrated multi faceted missile drone ballistic artillery attack Shin In-kyun posted in January 2023. This is the North Korean concept of a coordinated aerospace attack. This picture shows the way such attacks should be viewed tactically. I was trained to view aerospace warfare this way decades ago. Drones/ UAVs are just a new versatile element of the package. The only thing not shown are the complementary and/or overlapping envelopes.

SOTA North Korean missile offensive depicted in this graphic by South Korean military analyst Shin In-kyun. He's very conservative, but sometimes he gets into detail on tactical issues and arms acquisition.

The graphic is intended to reflect North Korean adoption of successful Russian offensive missile tactics recently observed in Ukraine.

I like this graphic because it shows the variety of profiles of the strike weapons the North Koreans potentially have available. A coordinated attack definitely presents a problem for the defender. From the bottom up: drone envelope, cruise missile, hypersonic missile, ballistic missile with variable terminal guidance, and uppermost, the conventional ballistic missile. Added to the mix are 170mm mlrs, 240mm mlrs, and artillery at short range.

The US AI scrapers have been busy lately on my old blog because of topics like this. There is also a kind of "get rid of President Lee" going on so I may report on that later. Got some errands to do.

Thanks for the thread JtC! Glad you guys are enjoying yourselves. Looks like we're going to spared from Isaisas. That's a relief!

@enhydra lutris
Anyone attack the US? I can think of several reasons why. Here's what I'm envisioning in this piece:

The current administration has threatened kinetic action with the Cartels several times in the past. If that were to happen I could see the Cartels using drones in retaliation, especially if they act as a proxy for another entity.

Granted, corporate personhood for AI sounds whacky, but so would have Citzens United 50 or 100 years ago. Nothing would surprise me, old buddy.

We are living it up, we hadn't done any traveling for over a year after my illness. We're making up for lost time.

As always, thanks for your insight, mi hermano.

ever bother attacking us with kinetic warfare when the whole goddam place is up for sale. Besides, what for? Today we produce very little that wouldn't be adversely affected by such an attack. We have ag, resource extraction, marketing, real estate and litigation. There are no crown jewels.

Corporation personhood is very special. They can't vote via ballot, only by corruption. They can't be jailed, but can be killed. They never are however. A corporation could have its charter yanked, but it would just reincorporate in another state so what's the point.
AI is, in the end, just bitswhich would be very difficult to control. The first robot person is named Sophia, She's bee a Saudi Citizen since October 2017 and is, oddly enough, not subject to certain aspects of Sharia Law such as wearing some sort of hijab or being unaccompanies by a male escort.

Do enjoy your vacay, and that means turning off the TV, right?

be well and have a good one