Buckle Up, Rough Road Ahead!

I know things are moving fast, but I never thought we'd hit...

 "LUDICROUS SPEED!"

The previous corporation that laid claim to Lake Michigan (What does the FOX say?) with the promise of progress fell short of delivering the goods on account of realizing there was no way in the world they'd find enough workers willing to produce widgets in a zombie-like state.

Funny you mention that, I hear the "American Made" chip factory ramp up in Arizona isn't going so well. 

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/tsmcs-labor-practices-draw-serious-concern-in-arizona-the-companys-new-chip-plant-allegedly-struck-by-worker-abuses

What a relief to know it's not a state of Wisconsin thing, but an American "state of mind" thing. 

Efficiency at extreme scale doesn't come without having to give up a piece of yourself in order to get there. Maintaining it, means more pieces. Beyond that, you're talking full on DEHUMANIZER mode.

"Program the brain, not the heartbeat."

Enter our new digital savior...

https://uwm.edu/news/uwm-to-house-nations-first-microsoft-ai-lab-focused-on-manufacturing/

Hi guys! We're buying up that vacant chattel ranch down the road. Going in a whole new direction. We're gonna weave our AI deep into the inner workings of everything operating. "This way, to technical paradise." Feed the dream machine baby!

What about workers though?

Workers?

Where we're going, we don't need workers.

We got this guy, Not Sure (former Congressman & Chairman of the Select Committee on the CCP, rumored to be brokering a Palentir commitment, confirmed to be working with TitletownTech, linked with UWM and their Microsoft/OpenAI pipeline) and he's going to crank things up to ELEVEN!

Sure sounds like securing a path to victory for some sort of race, wouldn't you say?

Maybe Americans do need TikTok after all. Hustling for every last device owner's eyeball gaze could be all that's left. That, and sports. Workers need an escape from their jobs (some use the term careers) don't they? Because, like, work, can be a real drag, man.

That's not Freedom Rock!

This is FREEDOM ROCK!

Well, TURN IT UP, MAN!!

WOAH, man, taking THAT much freedom from someone requires an equal, or greater, level of compensation, and you ain't paying THAT, man.

"Of course not, don't be ridiculous!"

That's someone else's job.

In another land.

Far, far away from here.

"So far, I just can't see."

Who really WANTS that job anyway?

We got you WISCONSIN!

Feed us your juice and we'll close loop the squeeze. "Know what I mean?"

Every last drop

And a little more

Ain't no telling

What's in store

Where we're headed

There's no way of knowing

Can't make it stop

The rowers keep on rowing 

Where the hell is this thing going?

"All aboard!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay..."

We're "GOING OFF THE RAILS ON A CRAZY TRAIN!"

UBI, UBI, that's the answer!

It will fix everything!

For everyone!

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!

Sounds great, in theory, but that only works if billionaires (the gods themselves) all give something back to everyone that got them there.

Problem is, they believe they already have. That's why, they're...

Billionaires!

Want to keep pulling the strings, then keep the hat filled. Kick some back, or keep jumping the moon. We all know doing both isn't possible, but picking one over the other sends a very clear message. There's only so many people on this planet that want to work just to consume more bullshit.

What happens when the genetically manufactured meat product someone ingests becomes a flesh eating virus that commandeers its host to continue getting more of what it needs?

Who, or should I say what, is going to put a leash on whatever that is?

It's about time the system got a rewire, don't you think?

Power off, POO POO HEAD!

#MusicLessons

Tick Tock, TikTok!

There's so much more to the TikTok debate than one nation sweeping up swaths of information about another's citizens. Especially, when those citizens are using the app to manipulate the strings of commerce.

Millions of micro partnerships converting views into cash, bolstering demand for inanimate objects produced all over the world. A once hardened, global trade architecture, dissolving into a remapped web of intercontinental shipping traffic.

Herds of human capital pumping out products to appease viewers mesmerized by slick content, employing all the right mechanisms to extract dollars from pockets without ever having to exit the app. Algorithms primped to ensure maximum engagement is achieved...

"Gotta have/do that, saw it on TikTok!"

Cut out the middle man and keep more for yourself. "Sky's the limit", they say, or is it the moon? Mars? Digital platforms replacing big-box retail giants as invisible, virtual fulfillment centers: Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop. Good? Bad? Depends.

Look what it did for this guy!

And, lest we forget, the genie rolling around in all that data, working it into a perfectly parsed visual summation, depicting trigger points plotted across overarching demographics and trends, complete with heat map overlays!

Feed that delicious, informatic stew to AI for a large language slurp and burp and you've got yourself some top tier, Grade A, James Beard level, crazy-ass, fusion shit right there!

Biddi-biddi-biddi-biddi-biddi-biddi-biddi, Buck! Biddi-biddi-biddi. The Emperor strikes back! 

Through a magnificent sleight of hand, an entire class of people is propped up by another, growing ever more dependent on a subsidized lifestyle that appears outwardly similar to that of a class that can afford to pay others to do everything for them.

Wooooo! (as in a Nature Boy Rick Flare, "Wooooo!")

That's more than complicated, that's winding complicated into the yarn of a masterfully knit sweater.

Now, "hold this thread as I walk away."

 

Which pin gets pulled when, and what happens to everyone after, if the act of doing so upsets the apple cart?

That's a whole lotta apples coming at ya, and nobody can eat that many apples.

But, yeah, keep saying it's a, "1st amendment thing."

Back to reality, security and social engineering on a colossal scale.

Can you imagine targeted campaigns alerting users with XYZ coordinates about this, that, or the other thing, directing them to go to, or flee, XYZ areas or take an XYZ course of action, immediately?

When an app that serves as a market control knob for the entire planet is also the main source of "news" for gobs of people, suffice it to say, things can get dicey real quick.

I mean, really, which high ranking official looked at all the intel on this and sat there saying, "hmmm, let's see where they're going with this."

They should've banned any and all assaults on privacy from day one, but that never happened. Too complicated, I guess.

Let's single out those most impressionable for a moment...

Push all the right buttons and activate a flurry of perfectly orchestrated lone wolf scenarios. A cast of marionettes, "swaying to the Symphony of Destruction!"

Multiply that by a factor of (who knows what) given the leader of a nation can command and control any and all directives for the app in question.

Can you say choreographed chaos?

But, that's true of US incorporated Meta, X, Snapchat, etc. (enter the claim that ALL social media apps collect and broker data on its users so what's the difference) Again, shoulda-coulda-woulda, but didna, and here we are.

Does that mean nothing should ever be done?

How many of those apps are allowed in China? Zero! Not one. Except, if you count TikTok's cousin, Douyin, the one that's only nice-nice smooth.

How's that for, "free speech?"

Last I checked, Meta is a publicly traded company, their decisions to do this, that or the other, not under the hammer of a particular nation's leader. Yet, stands to increase shareholder wealth immensely if TikTok goes down.

X, now privatized, is arguably under the lever of a single stakeholder, but that individual is not the POTUS, are they?

However, that stakeholder does shoot rockets into space, commands a constellation of communication satellites, manufactures autonomous, electric vehicles and is testing out a chip implanted into human brains that bestows telepathic abilities upon its users.

If our future were ever uncertain, it's coming at us in slow motion now. Might want to keep an eye on that guy, huh?

The more systems one integrates, the more powerful that system becomes.

Is there any sort of legislation that aims to restrict the monopolization of technological breakthroughs, a ban on connected dots per se?

Is that even possible?

Look, the level of sophistication required to command and control what users see through a hack of platforms similar to TikTok undetected makes the prospect incomparable to one person saying,

"I own you. Do what I say, NOW!"

Americans can't even be asked to do the speed limit in the US, let alone anything their democratically elected leader might ask of them, storming the Capitol to upend their own democracy in favor of autocratic rule not withstanding.

Uh huh, keep on scratching.

When a nation's freedom is taken for granted, that very freedom becomes its Achilles' heel.

End of story.

We've entered a new age of Imperialism, people.

May the Force be with you!

#MusicLessons

The Grand Distraction

All this "divide and conquer" crap is getting kind of creepy. Scott Walker's canon sounded far and wide. Fending off Putin's play for Ukraine, the ongoing dispute over the holy lands, Xi ready to annex Taiwan as China's super port, Brexit gone bananas, everyone itching for an exit of their own rather than sticking it to their scary uncle together. Definitely sounds like some sort of 3, 2, 1, Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

It all comes down to long range ROI.

How can the US continue to referee all the turmoil abroad and keep the west from falling victim to its own best intentions?

Both sides are pleading their case for which fronts truly need America's attention right now. One side's like, look, we gotta get our own up and down on the up and up before we worry about the side to side. Let's wait until everyone's decided amongst themselves who's willing to look after whom on account of which lines are being crossed where. The other side's like, no way, we got this. We can help everyone help us help everybody help themselves.

Meanwhile, election time keeps screaming toward the finish line, right off the rails and over the edge.

Well, if that doesn't spell: BAD FOR BUSINESS, I don't know what does.

Oh yeah, COVID, duh.

 *   Mask on, Mask on, Mask up.

COVID, COVID, it's coming for-yuh.

     Transmission rates are up.

COVID, COVID, it's coming for-yuh. 

      Vaccines aren't keeping pace.

COVID, COVID, it's coming for-yuh. 

   Mutations can't be CHASED!

* (sung to the melody of Mr Roboto by Styx)

Hey, guys, follow me for all the latest in AI! Do this. Look at that! Did you know? ChatGPT, LLM, Copilot, Llama, oLLaMA, Dolly, Pythia, Alpaca. Be the next big thing before it's too late! Feed the algos all your thoughts or get fucked by the finks that fed them first.

By the power of SourceForge.

YES.

That was a joke.

Knock. Knock. Who's there? Agent.

Agent who?

Girl you know it's true.

Neuralink. Neuralink anyone? Neuralink.

Neuralink?

Kilroy was here.

Great.

Where's Neo?

#MusicLessons