I like it long - I read the text and go back to the voice notes and video at the end. But I worry that I’m old school - in my 70s with several degrees from the pen and paper years and a speed reader. Also someone who has been seething with rage since the Profumo affair Shared one of your articles with someone I thought would leap at reading it and they ‘didn’t have the bandwidth’. We’re fighting meme-based Nazis with rationality - maybe some shorter pieces, tasters or even repeats, that your supporters can share on Zuckbook and Zuckagram to those who are giving up or have headaches? Keep fighting.
The broligarchs positioning themselves as the 'leaders' and 'innovators' are looked up to with such stargazy eyes, but they are nothing more than middlemen scammers. This huge Ai industry financial and natural resource 'investment' is largely a massive swindle. You know this because all you have to do is consider the model: financial investment wants financial return; that financial return will come direct from us and indirectly via government through our taxpayer money; our own innovation and output is being stolen and re-synthesised; not their output, because their output is largely just throwing ill-gotten money at Stargate-like 'projects'; these broligarchs are laughing up their silk sleeves because their grand plan is to sell us back to us.
Such a strong and important piece, Carole and Ai Carole - I thank you both. You make a great team, knowing as you both do the entirety of Carole Cadwalladr's work. And the embedding voicenotes within the article idea is so simple and a very good one for several excellent reasons. Also including key text from it in articles/essays/long notes is important as well.
Dumb and Dumber is a supremely appropriate phrase to describe what is occurring as it is the greater fool who follows the fool. And I suspect this particular line of yours will represent a spiralling future we all come to recognise only too well due to the increasing pace of supercharged dumb:
"That’s the helpful thing about covering the news a week late: it already looks completely different."
I’m very impressed, Carole. As a naturalized American citizen but a former British subject (so you know I’m heading for 80 this July), you have given me much to digest this morning. I loved watching the House of Lords in action, and now I have a new role model in Baroness Kidron. So glad I found your post to start another day of resistance.
+1 for the voice note. It's a nice way to get some background on something without either following a link to a long article or reading an inline summary that doesn't give enough detail. Also, as a dyslexic (and lazy) reader, I find the mixed media breaks things up nicely. I'm much more likely to "stick with it" with this style of article. Hence me subscribing just now. Thanks for all your journalism over the years.
No thanks to "feedback. I had the idea of using voicenotes". It is quicker to read than to listen. Otherwise and excellent article. No need to be shorter.
I do sympathise with you, Steve, and anyone who has difficulties with reading for whatever reason. Have you considered using a screen reader? That's something AI actually should actually be good at and useful for. If your interested there's a guide to seven of them here:
Fabulous read and the AI part with Roger's comments is enlightening really, I suspected myself AI was a fallacy and this seals it for me. A mention of Lucie, the failed AI launch from France could have mentioned too as it shows how Countries are going head first into the wall trying to all have their own AGI without a clear view on what we will use it for... Voice note a yes from me!
Ed Zitron has been warning of the absurdity of AI propaganda (its limited use cases, cataclysmic environmental impact, and nonexistent path to prosperity under current models) for years.
He predicted the inevitable economic meltdown when the reality of the limitations of AI pierced the propaganda bubble.
He calls the Silicon Valley's credo of growth without innovation (cutting jobs to the bone, degrading services into pure advertising platforms, or propping up AI because of a dearth of innovation to fix real-world problems)...the "rot economy".
I continue to be completely baffled by what the Brolarchy (and their alt-right acolytes) actually want. Is it just more money? Is it power (and if so to do what with it? Make more money?). I see nor sense any vision, purpose or value in any of it for anyone (including those who are promoting it). Or is it just about tearing everything down as if we are all living in a Bond movie or a dystopian box-set?
What is clear to me is that there is little point in pursing individual success in a wider system that is collapsing (and especially if, in the pursuit of that success, you are accelerating the collapse).
We are collectively all over the place when it comes to technology generally and AI in particular in my view. LLMs and AI are conflated in the easy speak of content creators seeking clicks but such conflation doesn't help our understanding of what is and what is not happening. Your insights are hugely helpful here. And Deep Seek is clearly a huge threat to the US tech bro orthodoxy and the capture of technology by those whose motives seem to boil down to making more money so that they can.....make more money?
It feels to me that we, collectively, are Prisoners of the System we have created; mainly the economic system (and the accompanying financialisation of everything) but also the political systems that have become servants to rather than in control of mammon.
The greatest threats to humanity are, clearly (to me at least), the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss and crippling inequality. That is where we should be directing our attention, our innovation and our resources. But instead we fiddle with our phones, struggle with psyops waged against us and struggle to see ourselves as citizens rather than as consumers (with all the implications of the arrival of retail politics and the elevation of grievance as motive for change).
I am angry and despairing in equal measure. But we must keep going.
Exactly how I feel every day, but then I dig deep and find at least one way to make a difference, however small. The butterfly effect gives me hope. I also remind myself that, as far as I know, this is my one life. I refuse to let the bastards suck all of the joy out of it!
Long is fine and the multi-modal media use is great - tweets, photos, clips, voicenotes and AICarole - it's not too much to read and you break it up well. Keep going!
Brilliantly illuminating as always, and no problem with the length. I read so much faster than I can listen I tend to slip audio - but that's just me being over 70 and you need to reach the podcast generation - so you'll know best. Keep up the great work, so crucial in these bewildering days 💜
Brilliant, Carole, thank you for this incredible latest analysis. I'm in awe of your ability to bring to light the hidden manoeuvres and manipulations behind the Broligarchy. I love your steely determination in exposing them, you show them for the egomaniac men toddlers that they are. The Rebecca Solnit quote is exactly what I needed to remind me that we must not give up and feel powerless. The voice note was an excellent addition and works very well in my opinion.
Excellent as always Carole. I really appreciate your work. I think the voice memo opinion is a. great idea, and something which doesn't detract from, but enhances the read. It's something we do anyway in our heads when we re-explain things to ourselves to make sure we've understood them correctly, so having an expert opinion do just that is of great benefit to the learning experience. Thank you. Keep fighting.
I like how you send out your email currently. I tend to skim over ones I receive regularly (daily or weekly) whereas, when yours arrive, I make time to read them thoroughly. Always informative and enlightening.
I like it long - I read the text and go back to the voice notes and video at the end. But I worry that I’m old school - in my 70s with several degrees from the pen and paper years and a speed reader. Also someone who has been seething with rage since the Profumo affair Shared one of your articles with someone I thought would leap at reading it and they ‘didn’t have the bandwidth’. We’re fighting meme-based Nazis with rationality - maybe some shorter pieces, tasters or even repeats, that your supporters can share on Zuckbook and Zuckagram to those who are giving up or have headaches? Keep fighting.
What Andrew said!! Ditto. Except no worries about “old school” which now means “more wise”. Cheers
The broligarchs positioning themselves as the 'leaders' and 'innovators' are looked up to with such stargazy eyes, but they are nothing more than middlemen scammers. This huge Ai industry financial and natural resource 'investment' is largely a massive swindle. You know this because all you have to do is consider the model: financial investment wants financial return; that financial return will come direct from us and indirectly via government through our taxpayer money; our own innovation and output is being stolen and re-synthesised; not their output, because their output is largely just throwing ill-gotten money at Stargate-like 'projects'; these broligarchs are laughing up their silk sleeves because their grand plan is to sell us back to us.
Such a strong and important piece, Carole and Ai Carole - I thank you both. You make a great team, knowing as you both do the entirety of Carole Cadwalladr's work. And the embedding voicenotes within the article idea is so simple and a very good one for several excellent reasons. Also including key text from it in articles/essays/long notes is important as well.
Dumb and Dumber is a supremely appropriate phrase to describe what is occurring as it is the greater fool who follows the fool. And I suspect this particular line of yours will represent a spiralling future we all come to recognise only too well due to the increasing pace of supercharged dumb:
"That’s the helpful thing about covering the news a week late: it already looks completely different."
I’m very impressed, Carole. As a naturalized American citizen but a former British subject (so you know I’m heading for 80 this July), you have given me much to digest this morning. I loved watching the House of Lords in action, and now I have a new role model in Baroness Kidron. So glad I found your post to start another day of resistance.
Oh that’s great, you clicked on that link. Yes, it was a great intervention. I’m just worried about when it goes back to the Commons…
Exactly. I’ve been spending a lot of time watching the Senate hearings here. Learning how governments work is quite eye-opening.
Love it. Keep up the good fight.
The Rebecca Solnit quote is great. We need to keep our heads up and fight those attacking our democracy.
This is happening in Hampshire (and other English counties) at the moment
https://www.change.org/Let_Hampshire_Vote
Voice notes from experts, excellent. Fresh and immediate.
+1 for the voice note. It's a nice way to get some background on something without either following a link to a long article or reading an inline summary that doesn't give enough detail. Also, as a dyslexic (and lazy) reader, I find the mixed media breaks things up nicely. I'm much more likely to "stick with it" with this style of article. Hence me subscribing just now. Thanks for all your journalism over the years.
No thanks to "feedback. I had the idea of using voicenotes". It is quicker to read than to listen. Otherwise and excellent article. No need to be shorter.
Listening is optional!
I do sympathise with you, Steve, and anyone who has difficulties with reading for whatever reason. Have you considered using a screen reader? That's something AI actually should actually be good at and useful for. If your interested there's a guide to seven of them here:
https://www.cyberlink.com/blog/the-top-audio-editors/3295/ai-text-reader
Note that some AI Text-to-Speech tools just use the AI to generate their voices, which I would have thought is the least consideration.
Fabulous read and the AI part with Roger's comments is enlightening really, I suspected myself AI was a fallacy and this seals it for me. A mention of Lucie, the failed AI launch from France could have mentioned too as it shows how Countries are going head first into the wall trying to all have their own AGI without a clear view on what we will use it for... Voice note a yes from me!
(subjective note on wording)
"robot machines" may be better as "plagiarism machines"
Chomsky said so, and he knows a thing or two about this subject.
(objective note on spelling)
protogee > protégé
thanks for an excellent piece - like the voice notes +1 from me and keep up the invaluable work
Thanks Ronald. Still finding my feet here and trying out different things....thanks for the feedback
Ed Zitron has been warning of the absurdity of AI propaganda (its limited use cases, cataclysmic environmental impact, and nonexistent path to prosperity under current models) for years.
He predicted the inevitable economic meltdown when the reality of the limitations of AI pierced the propaganda bubble.
He calls the Silicon Valley's credo of growth without innovation (cutting jobs to the bone, degrading services into pure advertising platforms, or propping up AI because of a dearth of innovation to fix real-world problems)...the "rot economy".
Yes. Someone sent the link to his On The Media interview this week which is on my to listen list…
And his newsletter "Where's Your Ed At".
He refuses to be hosted by Substack, but he has a free newsletter, which is well worth reading.
Have you touched base with Sarah Kendzior? You should, she kept the receipts.
Useful and important piece Carole. Thank you.
I continue to be completely baffled by what the Brolarchy (and their alt-right acolytes) actually want. Is it just more money? Is it power (and if so to do what with it? Make more money?). I see nor sense any vision, purpose or value in any of it for anyone (including those who are promoting it). Or is it just about tearing everything down as if we are all living in a Bond movie or a dystopian box-set?
What is clear to me is that there is little point in pursing individual success in a wider system that is collapsing (and especially if, in the pursuit of that success, you are accelerating the collapse).
We are collectively all over the place when it comes to technology generally and AI in particular in my view. LLMs and AI are conflated in the easy speak of content creators seeking clicks but such conflation doesn't help our understanding of what is and what is not happening. Your insights are hugely helpful here. And Deep Seek is clearly a huge threat to the US tech bro orthodoxy and the capture of technology by those whose motives seem to boil down to making more money so that they can.....make more money?
It feels to me that we, collectively, are Prisoners of the System we have created; mainly the economic system (and the accompanying financialisation of everything) but also the political systems that have become servants to rather than in control of mammon.
The greatest threats to humanity are, clearly (to me at least), the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss and crippling inequality. That is where we should be directing our attention, our innovation and our resources. But instead we fiddle with our phones, struggle with psyops waged against us and struggle to see ourselves as citizens rather than as consumers (with all the implications of the arrival of retail politics and the elevation of grievance as motive for change).
I am angry and despairing in equal measure. But we must keep going.
“I am angry and despairing in equal measure”…
Exactly how I feel every day, but then I dig deep and find at least one way to make a difference, however small. The butterfly effect gives me hope. I also remind myself that, as far as I know, this is my one life. I refuse to let the bastards suck all of the joy out of it!
Long is fine and the multi-modal media use is great - tweets, photos, clips, voicenotes and AICarole - it's not too much to read and you break it up well. Keep going!
Brilliantly illuminating as always, and no problem with the length. I read so much faster than I can listen I tend to slip audio - but that's just me being over 70 and you need to reach the podcast generation - so you'll know best. Keep up the great work, so crucial in these bewildering days 💜
Brilliant, Carole, thank you for this incredible latest analysis. I'm in awe of your ability to bring to light the hidden manoeuvres and manipulations behind the Broligarchy. I love your steely determination in exposing them, you show them for the egomaniac men toddlers that they are. The Rebecca Solnit quote is exactly what I needed to remind me that we must not give up and feel powerless. The voice note was an excellent addition and works very well in my opinion.
Excellent as always Carole. I really appreciate your work. I think the voice memo opinion is a. great idea, and something which doesn't detract from, but enhances the read. It's something we do anyway in our heads when we re-explain things to ourselves to make sure we've understood them correctly, so having an expert opinion do just that is of great benefit to the learning experience. Thank you. Keep fighting.
Thank you Carole for all you are doing.
I like how you send out your email currently. I tend to skim over ones I receive regularly (daily or weekly) whereas, when yours arrive, I make time to read them thoroughly. Always informative and enlightening.