CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 155th Edition. AI will kill us all.
The Terminator.
I don't know if it will, but that's the prediction being made by those working on it.
And within ten years.
Frankly, I think AI is wholly negative and that we'd be better off it it was impossible to develop. But it isn't, and we've never been able to restrain anything we've developed. What I think the likely consequences are, however, is that it proves so destructive it may end up undoing much of the computer development that's come to date, as a defense to it.
Trump assures us that whatever comes out of it will be "mostly good".
Nothing good will come out of it whatsoever.
Boo
Ted Cruz was so loudly booed that he could hardly be heard in an ESPN interview from Austin.
Cruz deserves to be booed. He's one of worst examples of Republican toadyism in Congress today.
Big statute
Donald Trump, who was in Ireland when I last checked, has proposed that a 30-foot “Washington Colossus” be built to replace a modernist sculpture outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. He's ordering the institution to put on a Washington exhibition in advance of the late President's 300th birthday.
It's interesting that Trump is interested in Washington. Washington would not have been keen on Trump.
Trump doesn't like the piece of modernist art that's in front of the Smithsonian. It doesn't do much for me either, but I don't hate it.
The odd interesting thing here is that Trump spends so much time messing with the architecture of Washington D. C. A big statute of George Washington wouldn't necessarily be bad, as long as it wasn't gilded, but Trump's taste in things is generally complete crap.
Trump golfs in Ireland. M'eh
Tá Trump ag imirt gailf in Éirinn. B’fhéidir go mbeidh an t-ádh linn agus go bhfanfaidh sé ann.
An opinion that nobody cares about.
Trump ventured an opinion that Ireland should be united, by which he meant that Northern Ireland should be incorporated into the Irish republic.
That immediately brought rebuke from Na hUltaigh, who didn't appreciate the US President making the comment. Southern Irish, who have protested his presence in their country, most likely just ignored it.
At any rate, this isn't something that a US President has any business commenting on in the first place.
And, speaking of comments. . .
Open the North Sea
A reporter asked Trump when petroleum prices were going to go down, which was a veiled way to basically saying when is your stupid war going to end, Donald.
Trump replied that oil prices in Ireland would go down as soon as the Irish opened the North Sea.
Wha?
The North Sea is between Great Britain and Scandinavia.
In terms of water depth, while the North Sea is deep, it is shallow enough to be exploited and the seabed is associated with the continental landmass, which is why there are petroleum deposits there.
And the plan is. . .?
FWIW, the North Sea is reaching its terminal production date pretty quick. Most of the petroleum has already been extracted, at least from the British areas. BP is pulling out.
On this, it was North Sea petroleum that made Norway rich. Norway is expanding its production, but the time is coming.
It's coming for Wyoming too.
The plan?
Well, there isn't one. Screaming at the news seems to be the plan.
Shutting down the supply
It's not only the case that King Donald has not managed to restore pre war shipping conditions to the Persian Gulf, over the past week new hazardous conditions were created in Red Sea by the Houthis, Iranian allies and clients, who further caused Saudi Arabia to shut down a transarabian pipeline. All petroleum is back up over $100/bbl.
And in spite of what the Trump administration would have people believe, Venezuelan oil will take at least four years to hit the market in significant quantities to matter, if not ten.
Inflation
Inflation is clearly decelerating even with this slight uptick.
Keven Hassett.
Um. . .okay.
Chickens.
Chuck Gray and Harriet Hageman are refusing to debate their opponents.
That fact alone should mean that they forfeit any votes in the upcoming election.
Their refusal is arrogant at best.
It's noteworthy that neither one of them is any good at debating under stress, and debates this time would be stressful. Both of them tend to just go hostile when pressed.
Voters shouldn't let either of them get away with this.
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