A lot of this is not the kind of stuff I would expect coming from Glenn Greenwald. This is not an endorsement of this media shill, just curious.
Tag: death
Karen Hao on AI tech bosses: ‘Many choose not to have children because they don’t think the world is going to be around much longer’
The author of Empire of AI: Inside the Reckless Race for Total Domination discusses the cost of Big Tech’s huge investment in technologies that may do more harm than good
Zombie Time
Modern day addictions — drugs and screens
Many people seem to be mesmerized by small, portable screens and can’t take their eyes from them for long. Yesterday, in less than a two-block radius from where I live, I saw three bodies, still breathing, but pretty obvious ODs. Out cold, each missing a shoe, lying in the street.
Top AI Experts Concerned That OpenAI Has Betrayed Humankind
“OpenAI is currently sitting on both sides of the table in a closed boardroom, making a deal on humanity’s behalf…”
In a scathing open letter, luminaries from the AI industry and beyond are calling on OpenAI to prove that it hasn’t betrayed humanity in favor of profits.
LINK: https://futurism.com/openai-open-letter-experts-humankind
Mexico makes biometric identifier mandatory for all citizens
Mexico has officially introduced a digital identification system by signing a law that turned the previously optional biometric-based citizen code into a mandatory document for all citizens.
Last month, legislators approved amendments to a law related to the 18-character personal identifier, known as Unique Population Registry Code (Clave Única de Registro de Población – CURP), with the change formalized on Wednesday through a decree.
The mandatory CURP will contain personal and biometric information, including a photograph and a QR code containing biometric fingerprint and iris data. The identifier is expected to be introduced gradually to all Mexicans by February 2026.
The government has also allowed the consolidation of the citizen codes into a single identity platform that will be connected to other state databases and administrative records. According to the decree, the Ministry of the Interior and the Digital Transformation Agency must create a Unified Identity Platform within 90 days, while public and private institutions will be required to update their system to recognize the identifier.
The country also plans to kick-start a national program to collect biometric data from children and adolescents within 120 days, according to news outlet Mexico Business.
READ MORE: https://www.biometricupdate.com/202507/mexico-makes-biometric-identifier-mandatory-for-all-citizens
Tech Billionaires Accused of Quietly Working to Implement “Corporate Dictatorship”
“Instead of democracy, we will have basically tech feudalism — fiefdoms run by tech corporations. They’re pretty explicit about this point.”
LINK: https://futurism.com/billionaires-corporate-dictatorship
Is AI Apocalypse Inevitable? – Tristan Harris
In this episode, Tristan Harris explores the 2 most probable paths that AI will follow, one leading to chaos and the other to dystopia. He explains how we can pursue a narrow path between these 2 undesirable outcomes. Tristan Harris is a prominent technology ethicist known for his influential critique of the attention economy and persuasive design in tech. Tristan is Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to align technology with humanity’s best interests. He regularly briefs heads of state, technology CEOs, and US Congress members, in addition to mobilizing millions of people around the world through mainstream media. Tristan has explored the influences that hijack human attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs, from his childhood as a magician to his coursework in Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab to his leadership as a Design Ethicist at Google. Today, he studies how major technology platforms wield dangerous power over our ability to make sense of the world and leads the call for systemic change. In 2020, Tristan was featured in the two-time Emmy-winning Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. The film unveiled how social media is dangerously reprogramming our brains and human civilization. It reached over 100 million people in 190 countries across 30 languages. As a co-host of the top-rated technology podcast, Your Undivided Attention, he explores the drivers behind social media’s race for attention, its destabilization of society, and potential solutions. Learn more about Tristan’s research at https://www.humanetech.com/
The pharma CEOs aren’t safe in new trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia
The dark comedy is set to hit theaters on October 31st.
CEOs would be nothing without the labor of their (typically) underpaid employees, and the unfairness of that reality seems to be what’s causing all the chaos in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming film, Bugonia.
A remake of South Korean director Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 feature Save the Green Planet, Bugonia zooms in on the life of Teddy (Jesse Plemons), a conspiracy-minded beekeeper who works for a massive pharmaceutical company run by Michelle (Emma Stone). As one of the company’s many workers who spend their days laboring to make a fraction of Michelle’s salary, Teddy sees a lot of parallels between himself and the bees who live only to serve their queen.
Teddy knows that he, like a beehive’s drones, is expendable in the grand scheme of Michelle’s plans as a CEO. Teddy’s frustrations and delusions about an alien invasion convince him that Michelle probably isn’t a human. And that’s enough for him to hatch a plot to kidnap his boss under the auspices of saving the planet.
Though the trailer skews a little whimsical, it’s fairly clear that Lanthimos and writer Will Tracy are telling a dark story about people pushed to the edge by economic inequality. The movie also seems like it’s going to touch on how people not having proper access to quality mental health care is a very real societal problem, which is probably going to make Bugonia feel timely as hell when the film hits limited theaters on October 24th before its wide release on October 31st.
AI Scams Are the Point
Propaganda and deceit are a feature of AI, not its downfall.
Why does it matter how we talk about artificial intelligence? Some, mainly tech firms and their useful idiots, maintain we are about to immanentize the eschaton (which translates roughly as: dissolve all of society’s problems). Others insist we are summoning a false god in the form of an artificial general intelligence that will destroy civilization. Those feelings of awe and terror aren’t particularly assuaged by the numbers: Tens of billions of dollars are raised each year by startups in this sector—incumbents hope to raise trillions more.
Elon Musk Built an Al Super Computer in our Backyard
Elon Musk’s massive xAI data center is poisoning Memphis.
It’s burning enough gas to power a small city, with no permits and no pollution controls.
Residents tell us they can’t breathe and they’re getting sicker.