Aye, aye AI

    

   From The Copy Desk: This screenshot demonstrates that computers are indeed imperfect _ a NYT mini crossword cannot be solved in no time. Facts established, we move on to hear what The Boys are complaining about now.

     “So everyone’s talking about AI,” Warren said, “We seem a bit short on genuine intelligence these days, so maybe we could use the help.”

     Marty wholeheartedly agreed with Warren and they went on to discuss the many ways it has already helped science advance across virtually all disciplines.

      “And even Pope Leo has joined in,” Marty said. “His first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, is about AI and it seems that he’s more than a bit worried.”

     Warren, having looked up the encyclical for himself for once, said, “Pope Leo is calling for AI to be ‘disarmed,’ warning of ‘new digital slaveries’ and drawing parallels with the Tower of Babel. It’s a lot to digest and I only skimmed through it, but I did stumble across one sweet tidbit. Deep into Chapter V - The Culture of Power and the Civilization of Love - he quotes a J.R.R. Tolkien character.”

     Marty, surprised to hear this, snarked, “I’m hoping it’s the spiel about how there’s seven meals day. Then we can feast on and really enjoy our dinner, supper and afters.”

     Warren pulled out an iPad and searched down the relevant paragraph, “Here it is paragraph 213, a protagonist describing our responsibilities ‘It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.’”

      Marty listened closely and then paused think about for a bit, …. “I’ll guess the quote is from Gandalf the White. Probably from Return of the King.

     “This fits nicely with our current obsession with AI. … As the flip side of Tolkien’s philosophy. The tech world’s billions pursue the ultimate technology - one algorithm to rule them all. While the answers lay within each …….”

      Hooting, Warren interrupted before Marty got needlessly messianic, “Listen to what I found. It’s Pope Leo again … ‘avoid the ‘Babel syndrome,’ namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language - even a digital one - can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data …’”

     Marty could now see the folly of the AI dream and shuddered at the prospect of the bubble bursting - wreaking havoc on the world economy and increasing all the usual sufferings. 

         

              From The Copy Desk: My precious copies the Lord of the Rings book seem to have gone missing or we could confirm our guess the Pope is quoting Gandalf. Intrepid travelers are free express their opinions on this in the comments. Stay safe, be well. Love and lettuce.

Other shoes

      From The Copy Desk: The dark clouds overhead, both literally and figuratively, are ours to face now that it’s clearly time for monumental events. The vast disruptions across swaths of order, sanity and normality will erode the economic, environmental and social health of our planet. It’s in trying times like these that the inquiring mind asks ….. what does Marty think?

     “Hey Marty, what do you think about Count Binface’s chances in the by-election against Nigel Farage,” Warren asked, wondering if little Clacton-on-Sea would miss being represented by a Euroskeptic Brexiteer facing unresolved financial scandals.

     “Hubris is often its own worst enemy and in this hilarious situation no other political party will stand up a candidate against the leader of Reform UK - leaving just our bin-centric friend facing a very conservative electorate,” Marty said. “Nigel thought he could resign from Parliament, leaving scandal behind, and easily win reelection when Labour, the Torries, Greens and the Lib-Dems etc take their vote shares.

     “But all the big  parties decided to ‘let him argue with a bin all summer’ and declined to stand in the by-election,” Marty said, pausing for moment before noting in 2002 ‘H’Angus the Monkey,’ the mascot of the local football team, was elected mayor of Hartlepool.

     “This is the latest example of what’s coming for us,” Marty said, “And these early traumas are the ripples of tsunamis on the way. The ignorant, illegal and willfully stupid dismemberment of the federal government will bring numerous calamities, disasters and many unforeseen shoes will drop.”

     Warren assumed correctly that his halph-bro was launching into a harangue and quickly grabbed a snack and an extra pillow. “Oxfords, loafers or trainers - what sorta shoes are we talking about here,” Warren said, munching a mouthful of fresh basil pinched off the growing plants in service of bushy-ness and a wry smile indicating he remembers metaphors.

     Marty, un-phazed as usual by these antics, continues “To start with there’s all the ……

     From The Copy Desk: Marty continued for a very loooong time, for it is a vast (reflecting) pool of corruption, incompetence, cruelty and betrayal for him to wade across. As we move forward in time, remember that all the disease outbreaks, senseless street murders by masked federal thugs, disasters linked to incompetence/ignorance and whatever else befalls us - none of it is new, but our best efforts to learn from the past and mitigate future problems are ignored and suffering will follow.

Silver Linings

 

     “What’s all this I hear about straight horseshoes,” Warren asked, “I don’t understand ‘cause I know they’re bendy.”

     Sighing deeply, Marty tried to bury his regrets about never getting his brother’s hearing checked and asked him, “What do you think might really be going on. I’ll tell you ….. it’s the Straight of Hormuz - a critical choke point for the global economy and it’s closed.”

     Warren knew that the shortages of oil, gas and the by-products of their processing would mean trouble: fertilizer becomes more expensive and harvests decline, forcing food prices higher and potentially causing famine; economic hardship hits when fuel costs drain consumers wallets of the funds for dining, travel and entertainment - crashing those industries and triggering higher unemployment; all of which could trigger global recession.

     “Facing us are the risks of inflation, famine, unemployment and recession,” Marty said. “It’s looking bleak but you know what they say about dark clouds …..”

     “They bring April showers!” Warren shouted, interrupting.

     “No, it’s every dark cloud has a silver lining,” Marty said. 

     From The Copy Desk: We don’t believe in absolutes and suggest that some dark clouds might have silver linings, but that’s just us.

     Warren looked surprised and asked urgently, “With all that bleakness you just warned of how can there be anything positive about this looming disaster.

     “Also, why isn’t it a copper lining for dark clouds, after all you’ve heard of pennies from heaven, right?”

     Smiling, Marty looked his brother in the eyes and said just two words, “Demand destruction.”

     With this, Warren slipped into that confused state that Marty recognizes as his cue to teach while the teachin’s good. “I’ll start at the beginning and go slowly for …

     From The Copy Desk: We interrupt Marty’s long rant about how our global warming crisis could be mitigated with ‘demand destruction’ to offer this synopsis:

   ~ Demand destruction is what economists call the effect of supply disruptions which force market changes that into the future reduce the demand for the scarcer/pricier resources. As when a consumer buys a battery electric vehicle (BEV) and never buys gasoline again.

   ~ Since the price spike triggered by Straight of Hormuz closure consumers in the rational portions of the world have flocked to buy BEVs and plug-in hybrids. In the first quarter of 2026 YoY BEV sales in European Union were up 26% to more than 700,000 units - 20% of new auto registrations.

   ~ Governments around the world are acting to reduce demand by promoting remote work, reducing cooling in buildings, promoting public transport, reducing government travel and direct public appeals to cut energy consumption.

   ~ Nations are also investing more in wind, solar and other alternative energy sources.

     We now return you to Marty’s rant ….

    “….. and the combination of all these will speed the transition to lower carbon economy. Pushing fossil fuels to the margins and potentially saving humanity, despite the fossil fuel fools efforts to stymie the transition,” Marty concluded.