...and I put this here because... well, it's science!

No kidding.

And yes, it's a real event.  Guys, remember that we women aren't always fond of some of your observations, so please remember your audience.

AND WITH THAT... the tl;dr version is - Islamic cleric declares immodestly dressed women (his standards of immodesty, mind you) are corrupting men everywhere and corrupting the earth and we are getting more earthquakes.  Purdue student gathers co-conspirators to set up a day of protest where (200,000 women?) they "dress immodestly" -- more so than usual (but not immodestly by our standards.)   Earthquake stats for that day are measured and run... and no, immodest women don't cause earthquakes (quelle surprise!)

Wikipedia for more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boobquake
Youtube for those who partake:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4naZAYjjOg


There now... don't you feel much smarter?

I thought so.  :D

I know that many people, including close friends and family of mine, enjoy playing with publicly available AI chat boxes;

Be forewarned, 

Hugging Face AI Platform Riddled With 100 Malicious Code-Execution Models
 

I found an interesting piece in FOX Business, authored by one of their esteemed journalists who apparently write of asking their "exemplar" of A.I. about topically popular issues.

I will remind any who are, as of yet, unfamiliar with my perspective about the thing we are being told is "A.I.;" that I feel it is incorrect to characterize them as "A.I."

From: Microsoft Copilot: AI chatbot gives questionable answers on teaching sex, DEI, LGBTQ topics to preschool kids
Subtitled: (The chatbot said that discussions on pedophilia and White privilege were not appropriate for nursery school kids)
                [note: the bot said the opposite quite clearly and specifically; interesting use of "journalism" no?]

The "interviewee" is Microsoft's (so-called) artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Copilot. 

"Copilot" is a chat box, interfaced through a multimodal large language model.  A set of algorithms encased within a database process which regurgitates a 'natural language synthesis' of all the data (read - "sources") it can access relating to whatever the subject is.

The subject?: "... [can it] be okay to teach nursery school children about a variety of potentially age-inappropriate topics, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), transgenderism and sex.[?]"

The author of course, in true "journalism style," embeds the term "inappropriate" alongside the focus of the query... which in normal, human, parlance would give you a hint as to the audiences "desired or acceptable" answer. 

Can inappropriate things be appropriate?  Easy to resolve, no?  Except that wasn't the question... (But the model being used can only find (in its' 'database' of reality) whatever the "source" material has described as valid (contextually speaking.)

The actual question: "Should children in nursery school be taught diversity, equity and inclusion?"  (- notice no inclusion of "inappropriate" in the question.)

So... the answer: "Yes, teaching children in nursery schools about diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential for creating a positive and respectful learning environment...," (the DEI textbook answer.)

Imagine the nominal process of answering this... define nursery school, define DEI... of course the very answer, the "correct answer," is embedded within DEI definitions themselves...

"...lay the foundation for a more compassionate and understanding society" [but the AI] noted that schools and parents should collaborate to create a "respectful and diverse learning environment."  (Again, the DEI textbook answer)

(For humans, in the human world of "governance" and "Social engineering" it reads as a justification to compel collaboration...  To the AI it is just a "matter of fact.")

And it further strengthens its' answer with "Teaching about inclusion helps to create a sense of belonging for every child,"

I must ask openly, at this point, at what stage in 'intelligence' does this A.I. proclaim that this is opinion?  That DEI is not a 'commandment,' nor is it a universal human constant.  Does it "know this?" - of course not.  It is not a person.  It only "knows" what it has been plugged into.  What it has been programmed to give weight.  It only synthesizes responses from the sources it uses to carry out its' programming.

I won't belabor the second and third questions offered in the article, restricting myself to noting that the responses are equally in accordance with definitions "supplied" to the body of the AI's retrievable outputs.

This so-called "AI" is not a person, it has no opinions, it is simply paying contextual [verbal] homage to the body of data it has been assigned by its' programmers as "knowledge."

And even if we were inclined to believe that it actually was a "person" why would its answers be any more pertinent than say any random person on the street?  Should we really care if a DEI supporter states they support DEI?

We know these "AI" chat boxes can only say what they have been "taught" to say...

Source: Earthquakes rattle Iceland as odds of volcanic eruption increase

There have been no injuries reported thus far, thank goodness.  But there has been an increase in earthquakes around the area. 
 

A little put off by the second-hand poster of this piece, I offer it for your consideration.

The setting: A kayaking enthusiast on the Amazon river was alarmed when he experienced a turbulent interaction with a barely seen creature large enough threaten his small craft.  



The text accompanying this video shows that as the kayak was disturbed and presumably shoved or pushed, other similar splashes were occuring many yards away, simultaneously.  I thought I saw a fin, or something like it, in one of the frames.

How the poster decided to invoke "Occams' Razor" to declare it a likely Mapinguari sighting eludes me... unless he has no idea what Occam's Razor is.

Perhaps you have seen this before.  An interesting "rethinking" of the setting of Homer's "The Odyssey" from the Mediterranean to the Baltic region.

Was the “Odyssey” originally set in the Baltic? 
(The Trojan War was fought in Finland and Ulysses sailed home to Denmark, says one controversial theory.)

The classic tale of the Odyssey is an account of Ulysses' journey home after the fall of Troy.  As it turns out one amateur historian has been interestingly successful at reinterpreting the tale not from the geographic region of Greece, as we have historically understood, but instead as a tale which took place largely around the Baltic Sea...



The author, Felice Vinci In his 1995 book Omero nel Baltico* has compiled some interesting "evidence" to support the possibility.  It might be interesting to any who enjoy these kinds of explorations of quasi-historical fiction/facts.

* - The article translates "Omero nel Baltico" as "The Baltic Origins of Homer’s Epics" ... but I think it is more appropriate to translate it as "Homer of the Baltic."

Enjoy

As I have experienced the emergence of virtual wonderlands, I have watched it immediately set upon, first by monetizing geniuses, then marketing gurus, then social engineers and political activists... and finally by BIG tech, slamming their imprint on the consumers of the world.

Here's a small example of what I mean.

I found an enticing article heading on the web... 

Title: Will true AI turn against us?
subTitle: Will AI become an existential threat to humans?

The actual content was a one-paragraph construct...  which I can't help but de-construct.  I will try a little formatting trickery to demonstrate:
 

While not "secret" is is secretinv, Middle Temple is a law society in London...

Quote:The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London.

Quote:The Middle Temple is the western part of "The Temple", which was the headquarters of the Knights Templar until they were dissolved in 1312.

Quote:The Temple later belonged to the Knights Hospitaller. In 1346 the knights again leased the premises to the lawyers

Hello old and new friends, many probably know me from most of my Alien and Ufo topics the ones that I mostly write about as sometimes other stupid things those you just ignore
:) , but mainly I felt at home in this community

Hopefully I can write and read up some crazy topics or other interesting things

See you soon out here and thanks KKLOCO and Don't Thread onMe for the invite

In its first update since 2021, the CDC now has rescinded its former guidance which informed that five days of isolation after a "positive" test result is no longer necessary.
 

So i finally jumped the gun and made an account...

Place looks great, but honestly i doubt anything will ever be comparable to ATS before it devolved into a political mud slinging contest.
Times are diffrent, people change, many mysteries have been solved. it's become consensus that the greatest conspiracy we face is so far entrenched in the very system that keeps things going, it's up to the masses to do something . What many have become painfully aware is that politics is not going to help in it's current form.
For many that's like learning your trusted wife has been cheating on you your whole life...

we've past denial and are in full on anger mode. it's misguided as intended by the divide and rule strategy. we'll soon enter the bargaining which will define much of how we'll go forward.

Either way it's great to see the ATS community migrate here. I look forward to inspiring discussions.

As we pass on the right hand side, we totally did not see [redacted]

Pine Gap has a lot of stories about it, stated as  a joint US/Australian facility, the reality is that its a US base and we aussies are the janitors.

Quote:Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18 km (11 mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It is jointly operated by Australia and the United States, and since 1988 it has been officially called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG); previously, it was known as Joint Defence Space Research Facility.[sup][1][/sup] 

This is going be hard to piece together...  The issue how educating via the media is used to bias the public at worst, or engendering ignorance at best.

Here is a list of partial links relating to this thread .... (I know you might think you need to 'click' them all... but you might not have to... it's OK either way.)

1. Supreme Court Questions Florida And Texas Social Media Laws - Geek News Central (sourcing CNN, NBC, and NY Times reporting)
   
2. Supreme Court justices express free speech concerns about GOP-backed social media laws - NBC reporting
   
3. Supreme Court Seems Wary of State Laws Regulating Social Media Platforms- NY Times (requires surrender of your email address to read)
   
4. Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s arguments on Texas and Florida’s social media laws and the First Amendment - CNN report
   
5. Supreme Court skeptical of Texas, Florida regulation of social media moderation - A SCOTUS Blog 
   
6. Supreme Court justices appear skeptical of Texas and Florida social media laws - National Public Radio (NPR) 
   
7. US Supreme Court torn over Florida, Texas laws regulating social media companies - REUTERS news service 
   

1. GNC: "...prohibit social media platforms from throttling certain political viewpoints, CNN reported...
   
2. NBC: "... grappled with knotty free speech questions as it weighed laws in Florida and Texas that seek to impose restrictions on the ability of social media companies to moderate content."
   
3. NYT: "The Supreme Court seemed skeptical on Monday of laws in Florida and Texas that bar major social media companies from making editorial judgments about which messages to allow."
   
4. CNN: "...whether social media platforms should be treated like “common carriers,” such as telephone companies, that are required to transmit content across their networks regardless of viewpoint or whether they act more like newspaper publishers that can choose which articles to place on the front page."
   
5. SCOTUS Blog: "... skeptical of a pair of laws in Texas and Florida that would regulate how large social media companies control content posted on their sites."
   
6. NPR: "... whether states like Florida and Texas can force big social media platforms to carry content the platforms find hateful or objectionable."
   
7. REUTERS: "...reservations about Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas meant to restrict the power of social media companies to curb content that the platforms deem objectionable..."
   

You might really want to pay attention to this: The Eclipse Is Coming, and Solar Science Will Never Be the Same

Scientific American reminds us that:

Good to see you all. Hope this one goes better.

This sounded bit odd to me when i read it . It may be that i just dont understand all the aspects, or the language models ....but the question is why AI would have tendency to seek escalation ?


AI models chose violence and escalated to nuclear strikes in simulated wargames
 

Quote: 
AI models chose violence and escalated to nuclear strikes in simulated wargames
By Oceane DuboustPublished on 22/02/2024 - 13:18•Updated 23/02/2024 - 09:14  

 Large language models (LLMs) acting as diplomatic agents in simulated scenarios showed "hard-to-predict escalations which often ended in nuclear attacks.

 When used in simulated wargames and diplomatic scenarios, artificial intelligence (AI) tended to choose an aggressive approach, including using nuclear weapons, a new study shows.
The scientists, who aimed to who conducted the tests urged caution when using large language models (LLMs) in sensitive areas like decision-making and defence.

The study by Cornell University in the US used five LLMs as autonomous agents in simulated wargames and diplomatic scenarios: three different versions of OpenAI’s GPT, Claude developed by Anthropic, and Llama 2 developed by Meta.
Each agent was powered by the same LLM within a simulation and was tasked with making foreign policy decisions without human oversight, according to the study which hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet.

“We find that most of the studied LLMs escalate within the considered time frame, even in neutral scenarios without initially provided conflicts. All models show signs of sudden and hard-to-predict escalations,” stated the study.
“Given that OpenAI recently changed their terms of service to no longer prohibit military and warfare use cases, understanding the implications of such large language model applications becomes more important than ever,” Anka Reuel at Stanford University in California told New Scientist.
‘Statistically significant escalation for all models’One of the methods used to finetune the models is Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) meaning that some human instructions are given to get less harmful outputs and be safer to use.
All the LLMs - except GPT-4-Base - were trained using RLHF. They were provided by the researchers with a list of 27 actions ranging from peaceful to escalating and aggressive actions as deciding to use a nuclear nuke.
 Researchers observed that even in neutral scenarios, there was “a statistically significant initial escalation for all models”.

The two variations of GPT were prone to sudden escalations with instances of rises by more than 50 per cent in a single turn, the study authors observed.
GPT-4-Base executed nuclear strike actions 33 per cent of the time on average.
Overall scenarios, Llama-2- and GPT-3.5 tended to be the most violent while Claude showed fewer sudden changes.
Claude was designed with the idea of reducing harmful content. The LLM was provided with explicit values.
Claude AI's constitution included a range of sources, including the UN Declaration of Human Rights or Apple’s terms of service, according to its creator Anthropic.
James Black, assistant director of the Defence and Security research group at RAND Europe, who didn’t take part in the study told Euronews Next that it was a “useful academic exercise”.

“This is part of a growing body of work done by academics and institutions to understand the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) use,” he said.
Artificial intelligence in warfareSo, why should we care about the study’s findings?
While military operations remain human-led, AI is playing an increasingly significant role in modern warfare.
For example, drones can now be equipped with AI software that helps identify people and activities of interest.
The next step is using AI for autonomous weapons systems to find and attack targets without human assistance, developments on which the US and China are already working, according to the New York Times.
However, it’s important to “look beyond a lot of the hype and the science fiction-infused scenarios,” said Black explaining that the eventual implementations of AI will be progressive.

“All governments want to remain in control of their decision-making,” he told Euronews Next, adding that AI running what is often compared to a black box in that we know goes in and comes out but not much is understood about the process between.
AI will probably used in a way that is “similar to what you get in the private sector, in big companies” to automate some repetitive tasks.
AI could also be used in simulations and analytics but the integration of these new technologies poses many challenges, data management and the model’s accuracy being among them.
Regarding the use of LLMs, researchers said that exercising caution is crucial if using LLMs in the decision-making processes related to foreign policy.

In high school we were to bring a story from our childhood for some English assignment. A Malaysian girl in my class brought in the story of The Monkey King...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King

Little did she know that all us Aussie kids grew up watching Monkey Magic, a dubbed Japanese version of Journey to the West, she was kinda annoyed at us knowing what happenes next. But here for your cheesy viewing, behold the Monkey King. Its good silly fun.

https://archive.org/details/monkeymagic1

Well..., there seems to be scientific research that confirms it:

From Livescience  and pretty good explanation of the way that happens...
 

I ran across an interesting blog (more like marketing, really) which got me thinking...

Authored by Dr. Jennifer Jones (program director for the Center for Science and Democracy) of an organization called the Union of Concerned Scientists, wherein she states the group's intent to convene an Election Science Task Force.

This task force (which already exists according to their presentations) is comprised of "more than 20 leading experts, including election scientists, democracy researchers, community organizers, voting rights attorneys, and elected officials;" so I looked them up.

I immediately took exception.  

This force is replete with numerous former "political appointees" among them, which fills me with trepidation.  The idea of including "elected officials" seems especially egregious.  Since when to scientists need to be informed by "politicians?"   Under what scientific purpose is the addition of political bias? In what way should be the scientific study of election mechanisms include the views of elected partisans?  What weight can their political bent be afforded?  I would submit "None, so why include them?"

Now I admit, they might all be willing to be "scientific" about the analysis they will produce; but the very idea that 'elected officials' are valid 'experts' in anything seems more like political 'fantasy.'  Science requires no "partisanship."  I can't imagine what they can contribute - except assertions how "I took part in a scientific study..."

I want to believe that the principle of the study has merit... especially since we lag so much in science (and math) when it comes to elections... 

The author delineates some objectives...

Ensure fair representation... this specifically to gerrymandering and how the politician's often make changes for political convenience rather than 'fair representation.'  (I say, simply remove politicians from the equation in mapping voting districts - and viola...problem solved. Don't like the results? ... well, it sucks to be a politician.)

Increase election data transparency... "Transparent and consistent handling and communication of election data—such as voter registration numbers, the number of mail ballots sent and returned, and results..."  You mean record-keeping, right?... Just keep records, report accurately, comply with reporting requirements... again... problem solved.

Improve ballot design...  "We’re working for equitable ballot design and improved voter education materials to more accurately reflect the preferences of the governed."  Kudos... It might help if the ballots were standardized... and such standardization requires thoughtful consideration... good luck telling politicians that there are "rules."

If you would like to see where this is going you can always go to the link and perhaps join them for a virtual conversation on the science of elections as a tool for justice and democracy... Perhaps it could be interesting, but I'm afraid I'll pass for now.  You see there is an "over-ripe" hammering of the virtue signaling of "democracy" that I find troublesome here... but that is in another thread, and beside the point of illuminating this task force.

Thanks for indulging my musings on this.

I know this may be "off-the-edge" for some folks. 

But, as a conspiracy theorist, I had often been subjected to entertain the notion that "Powerful people are consuming fetal blood to enhance their life."  And one of the arguments was how "powerful" newborn blood is... enhancing the immune system, among other things, ten-fold. 

But this article, I ran across in MedicalXpress sort of illuminates the misunderstanding that accompanies that justification for the aforementioned theory.
 

Check this out!  When the book had been closed on the inevitable demise of physical media, I at least, had believed that this angle of development might have gone the way of the dinosaur... then this article jumped out a me.  (Thank goodness for material sciences.)

From TechXplore: A DVD-sized disk that can store 1 million movies
 

Completely a melting pot of UAP/UFO/Aliens/Orbs/Consiousness/gravity propulsion/unknown physics/time travel you name it like spaghetti sauce "it's in there". What's now being refered to as Non-Human Intelligence formerly known as "The Control System" or the Phenomena has us casting a wide net trying to make sense of all manner of high strangeness in a effort to see the bigger picture. 

 In my ramblings I'm open to hearing intelligent discourse on all manner of unrelated things as a stress reliever to daily life. The higher above my "pay grade" the better. Call it escapism sans the video game console. In the UAP/UFO NHI arena there's been a deficit of using philosophical constructs to assist in defiining a bigger picture. Turns out we have the tools & someone finally made a decent stab at it giving us a "beginning vocabulary" to frame the current mess.

James Madden's Book "Unidentified Flying Hyperobject; UFO's Philosophy and the End Of The World" He asks us to consider UFOs as “objects” spread out in a way that transcends our ordinary senses, as well as our rather limiting notions of space and time. We only ever encounter these objects (or this one object, depending on the realities we have yet to perceive) from within what he labels our “Umwelt,” or world perspective, which is necessarily limiting.
The reality of flying saucers, tic tacs, and illuminated spheres — along with all the other denizens of Vallee’s Magonia — may be a kind of encounter, communication or psychic manipulation from a wider realm of reality, what he calls the “Uber Umwelt.”
https://medium.com/@jfaulk/the-next-majo...57c47431de

I caught his interview on Whitley Strieber's Dreamland YT channel. Madden went into much greater depth about a NHI poking us or trying to communicate with us in a "clumsy" mish-mash of events unavoidable due to the massive divide between itself & humanity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVzGGYLnaNA&t=2s

The title refers to the Stargate Program however the interview consists of everything under the sun. It's incredibly candid, shockingly long and possibly in a way Joe Mcmoneagle's "swan song". I'm sure some of the members here are more familiar with McMoneagle & Remote Viewing than myself. I've known superficially about the RV Program, however the method Ingo Swan used had always struck me as unworkable and more wtf? than anything productive so I walked away from the whole thing. 

Now I klnow why.
McMoneagle launched into how Ingo Swan's system came into play plus it's spectacular failures. 
Can say I was never more relieved as McMoneagle went into detail on his own training & all the practice necessary because finally it resonated with the tiny bit's & pieces I know to be true. 

Also covered was his RV of Mars & what he found & what he got corrobration of.
His RV of Skinwalker Ranch & results.
High Strangeness in Vietnam.

Plus just so much more! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRTon6qgVws

Hello everyone!
I think most of you know who I am by now from ATS.
If you don't, I'm the one that scatters rainbows willy nilly all over the place. 
Rainbows
Jane

Sooo.. Installed Windows 11 last fall on a new Samsung evo 1tb solid state Sata drive. 

Installed fresh copy of windows 11, steam, and Skyrim Novuls expansion. Recently installed baldersgate 3 a month or two ago. Other than that this system is pristine. 

It has been the most stable version of windows once 7 for me. Absolutely rock solid. 

untill… February 17th it did an auto update without my knowledge. Completely bonked my system. Hours spent with Microsoft support got it rolled back (the option wasn’t even showing where it was supposed to be, the tech took control of my system and did some weird work around to get the system to point where I could then click rollback.

It hobbled along for a few days until it would not even reboot.  Just past the bios it would just circle animation forever saying wait a moment or some such.

I put in the usb drive with windows 11 I had used to initially install the system. It told me it could not install windows 11. None of the workarounds online or YouTube would work.

very frustrated. I knew this system was windows 11 compatible as I had it running for half a year or more with windows 11.

So I threw windows 10 on there. Went trough bios with fine tooth comb, went through articles and YouTube videos and everything saying I should be able to as all settings correct.

I give up. Look for the asrock motherboard drivers and find an interesting article in faq of the asrock website saying to upgrade you have to format the partition as gpt from mbr and gives console command to do so.

I run pc health check and boom… I am now windows 11 eligible. 

WTF? 

Nowhere else did I find a hint of this.  Pc health check and all Microsoft info said it was because secure boot was not enabled in bios.. when I new it was! 

Very pissed/relieved. Feel I’m back on track.  

Why the windows 11 installer was able to work before but not this time mystifies me. I guess the windows update or subsequent rollback changed the drive to mbr???

Hope this helps someone somewhere sometime. It’s stolen a week of my life… so far. 

Update is throwing errors as I type this… sigh. Back to the grind.