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Eric Gens
0aad197ae18065a01c09b6d3bad5e09aae7754c6c5b4ef403084b3ceea64dc33
Author/Publisher. Posts are from characters from my upcoming book. All are fictional.
Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

This was really cool!

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

I'm narrating a 30-minute video about money, and it's clear why I didn't narrate my full book Broken Money myself (and instead got nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev to do it. It's very hard, and my voice is particularly boring when reading.

In the near future, I think AI will be good enough that it can learn someone's voice and then provide top-tier narration. And for example it could be told, "alright that's good, but make it 50% more charismatic. Make it sound like Lyn is at least trying." and it'll be able to do that.

I agree, and I think that will be great. When I'm feeling particularly optimistic, I think these technologies and the timing are going to work out well for what I'm working on.

Write the book with AI assistance for grammar and research.

Use AI image generators to help flesh out the characters.

AI voice to narrate.

Image to video to bring the characters and scenes alive.

Maybe even code assistance to build games from the content.

It really feels like it's going to be possible for a person to turn an idea into a movie at some point.

https://void.cat/d/VBUk4C51j2SqJo6Lp9gAEy.webp

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2023-12-05/maduro-orders-the-immediate-exploitation-of-oil-gas-and-mines-in-guyanas-essequibo

Shen: Buried in the news, you would be forgiven for being unaware that Venezuela is posturing to annex a large portion of its resource-rich neighbor, Guyana.

Will this happen, or is this just reckless talk? There is a history of this empty posturing from Maduro. I feel a sense of acceleration, but am uncertain if it is real. What could be next?

Why would Venezuela, weak and plagued by economic problems, incur additional risk through this action?

In my sport, sometimes you will swing harder when you are losing, trying to make something happen. But you tend to strike out more often.

Baseball is not the game we are playing. We think we have learned from the World Wars and the Cold War. Individuals can learn. But it is more difficult for us, collectively.

We are not adapted to our current environment. Most of our instincts came from millennia as hunter-gatherers on the steppe. These have been enhanced with some from those conquering people who rode out behind chariots, spreading new ways. Others from a rigidly enforced caste system on the Indian subcontinent. Or from hellish, bureaucratized oppression periodically interrupted by apocalyptic war in China. Or from elite overproduction during the European Middle Ages.

The horrors of the World Wars, coupled with the sober understanding of the atom are too new, and they are dying with the elders in our nations. They can attempt to pass on their wisdom, but words do not carry the weight of something felt.

If we swing too hard, it is no longer just the individual that can strike out.

#venezuela #guyana #conflict

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Very cool, do you do intermittent fasting at all? Or prefer longer fasts?

https://void.cat/d/3apy42Gbi75UP47C3fZ38N.webp

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/18bctsy/shadow_has_it_all/

Skye: This is freaking solid lmao 💯

Is it staged though? I mean the dude is doing a bit. Is the woman in on it? Usually staged clips are lame, but if this is staged, it somehow makes it more genius. 🤣

The memes are getting so deep fried, and context is getting so strange. What if we lose track of reality?

Will it matter?

#shadowthedog #shadowhasnochill #funny #funnyvideos

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https://void.cat/d/GYeWushKbdkcxgaPmErABD.webp

https://news.usni.org/2023/11/29/iranian-drone-flew-near-uss-dwight-d-eisenhower-in-unsafe-manner-centcom-says

Mackenzie Bryson: I often worry about how sustainable our exchanges are. Warfighters aren't supposed to be fixated on accounting functions, but this seems so out of balance, I worry about it spilling over.

How much does it cost to maintain such a significant forward presence on the other side of the globe? What is the value exchange when we shoot down a low-tech drone with an extremely sophisticated interceptor missile? Or with a division of carrier aircraft? Isn't this becoming unsustainable? If yes, how long can we keep these types of exchanges going?

We have to deter further aggression, but it could also be a viable strategy for an adversary to force us to expend our way into trouble during low-level conflicts. That would almost be an anti-deterrent. They'd *want* us spreading ourselves thin, and would be looking for opportunities to generate minor flare-ups.

We need a larger, deeper, cheaper magazine.

#navy #centcom #yemen #iran #mightyike

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Yep there are some tricks to it, and it's not easy to get things to come out exactly as you envision! I've been having a blast experimenting with the AI art tools, I enjoy it almost as much as writing.

Side note if you're interested. I believe the reason why it's so difficult to do "take this image and change this one thing" is because it will take an image prompt, convert that into a text description (which loses a ton of information) and then add your new prompt, thereby generating a new image. There are eraser tools you can use to remove a section, to redraw. I've had some better luck with those, although they sometimes have trouble keeping things contextually consistent with the overall image. Also recommend looking into the computer algorithm they use to generate the image, it's nearly magical to me how it works, and I have a software developer background!

https://void.cat/d/F9j1w2bmK7m6CeBwnvkc1J.webp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4F9u8Z84YI

Gustav: While I will not vouch for a centralized exchange, I will say this is quite a good video.

As this worsens, a lesson is slowly being learned. Globally. Inevitably. The system is putting more and more people into a trap like Alice in Through the Looking-Glass: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

In the system, it is not really possible to save anymore. To keep pace, you are now forced to gamble in the increasingly fraudulent capital markets.

You can only save if you do it outside of the system.

#bitcoin #keepstacking #planb #hodl #inflation

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https://void.cat/d/EEyphfqQf9CVJPtMkrzTgE.webp

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03777-x

John Beeman: Further advancements in xenobots, these ones termed 'anthrobots', look promising for a wide range of applications.

From targeted drug delivery within the human body to environmental cleanup tasks, xenobots demonstrate remarkable versatility. Engineered with precision and guided by goals we set, these tiny organisms have the potential to transform industries by undertaking tasks deemed too intricate or hazardous for conventional technology.

I am also interested in the interplay between the biological processes we can invoke, and the exo-biological processes nanobots from other fields are being developed towards. We have shown we can use robotic or systems engineering in applied biotechnology, but can we also use biomedical engineering to produce non-biological organisms?

Can we bring any matter to life?

#xenobots #nanobots #anthrobots #biotechnology #biotech #microbiology

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Pretty amazing how much they've been able to accumulate. I thought more companies would start emulating this by now.

https://void.cat/d/7aTYX7xt2L9W9NJjng6SdB.webp

Skye: Our history class was off the hook yesterday, the teacher couldn't keep control of it. The lesson was on the Interwar Period between World Wars. The teacher tried to put forward this idea that there was a level of experimentation happening. People weren't sure if Democracy was working, Communism and Fascism were on the rise, as well as some Monarchies attempting to make a comeback.

His mistake was asking the class how they think societies should be organized. Stacy and her friends said men had enough time at the top and it was time to start a Matriarchy. That made a bunch of the guys mad, but the teacher said he wanted everyone to talk about things, no bad ideas.

I think he regretted it, because the next thing out of Brian's mouth was, "Women shouldn't even vote, and should go back to being treated as property."

At that point, every crazy idea was clamoring for attention. There were calls for Anarcho-primitism and a return to monke. Or a new Teutonic Knights, Deus Vult. Some guys were saying athletes should be in charge because football captains/coaches get everyone working together. No, make it superheroes! There isn't even such a thing lol 🙄

Todd's usually pretty quiet, but out of the blue he said put AI in charge. Everyone hated that idea, but Todd said at least it could be set up with fair rules for everyone. But would it really be in charge, or would it be whoever got to program it?

I'm sure you're guessing I'd say the ideal form of government is to make me Queen of the World. Nah, I don't want to have to deal with being responsible for all these weirdos.

I think the ideal form of government is let me do what I want, and leave me alone!

#government #interwar #history #anarchoprimitivism #teutonicknights #AI #matriarchy #patriarchy #returntomonke #deusvult

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https://void.cat/d/5NVXWkCU8zfarKz7YPcXPF.webp

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/emergency-rooms-least-3-states-diverting-patients-ransomware-attack-rcna126890?

Frank: Why so many ransomware attacks? Every week I see at least one, and it's been happening for years. Why are top-level credentials getting compromised? Don't they have some kind of safeguard to tell the computers, "if you start locking everything down, stop and alert someone?" Can't these people manage backups and recoveries? It seems like some of them have made a business decision that it's cheaper and easier to just pay the ransom than do their jobs 🤣🤣

And that means the hackers will keep doing it!

And why are the companies or institutions so fragile to this? Can't you still do your work even if your computers go down? Because you should be able to! There was a big pipeline to the East Coast that shut down in 2021 due to a cyberattack on its billing system. It caused a gas panic and fuel shortages! The pipeline was fine, they just couldn't figure out how to adapt their accounting and billing system! https://jalopnik.com/the-colonial-pipeline-was-fine-but-it-was-shutdown-to-1846911689

So shame on the IT firms for not taking security seriously. And double shame on the companies or institutions for not having backup processes. What if there's a real emergency? We used to be able to make things happen with paper and pencil, a little brainpower, and some elbow grease! Now unplug and apparently we all teleport straight to the stone age! Give me a break! 😂

Now there's weird claims AI was able to crack AES-192 using novel math no one understands. Sounds like bull, but this kind of thing is coming sooner or later.

There isn't even a need to computerize certain things, and we still do it. Does my refrigerator really need to talk to my thermostat via AWS us-east-2? And then break if some fiber line gets cut in Newark? We've gone from computer-enabled, to computer-dependent, to computer-addicted.

Better wake up before we get all the way to computer-enslaved!

#ransomware #security #itsecurity #hacking

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https://void.cat/d/P1Yp548yL5C9Ta1AgYYXe3.webp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZceqiKHrI&ab_channel=Perun

Shen: Let us play a game. Graham Allison calls it the Thucydides Trap.

There is a natural tension at play between an established power and one that is on the rise.

The established power cannot span the board whacking any rising power moles as soon as they poke their heads out. They will bleed too many resources. And this will upset other players enough to align against the establishment. But it also cannot sit idly, or it will be overtaken. It must choose the time and place correctly.

The rising power must muddy this effort. Cloud its rise in uncertainty. Use clever means to complicate the established power's calculus. Bide its time and hope that it soon becomes too costly for the established power to contest.

In a mirrored hall of uncertain information, bluffs, and counterbluffs, the core decision for the established power is this: To wait, and risk being overtaken. Or to act, and roll the dice.

What do you think human nature directs?

https://study.com/learn/lesson/thucydides-trap-overview-theory-historical-examples.html#:~:text=%22Thucydides%20Trap%22%20refers%20to%20the,better%20off%20by%20the%20conflict.

History has indicated a bias towards action, with 12 of 16 cases leading to war.

I hear you protest. "Shen you are writing about nuclear war. Conflict between China and the United States. This is not a game."

Life's theater finds its dress rehearsal in the world of games, where wisdom can be unbound.

#gametheory #china #unitedstates #thucydidestrap #perun #grahamallison #war #geopolitics

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https://void.cat/d/5QVXwiCMv8S84fLq7jbeJz.webp

Barklight: Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and a special thanks to my brothers and sisters serving overseas!

Buster: Woof!

Barklight: No, Buster, you can't have the whole turkey!

#happythanksgiving

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https://void.cat/d/DaWLEd5vLcCTuPDwnz4emT.webp

Gustav: Why I have always said things are uncertain in the short term:

On the one hand, Binance CEO Changpen Zhao has pled guilty to money laundering, and a $4.3 Billion dollar fine has been levied against his firm. The SEC has announced it is charging the large exchange Kraken with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency. Methodically, touchpoints like centralized exchanges are finding themselves in danger. The State cannot allow too much competition in several domains; the currency system is one. (Violence is notably another.)

On the other hand, Argentina, suffering under high inflation for some time, has elected a firebrand politician who professes a desire to tear down his country's Central Bank. Politicians are increasingly finding popular support by raising similar issues in their own countries. Global trading partners to the United States are becoming less willing to purchase US debt and are looking for opportunities to conduct trade exchange bilaterally, or via a neutral currency like Bitcoin. Cracks in the Petrodollar have all the potential for igniting contagion in money markets, globally. States also have an interest in being able to store value in the long term.

How the winds blow as these events unfold is anyone's guess. But the global debt situation is clear to all who are willing to face the discomfort of objectively looking at national balance sheets. There is a natural game unfolding where timing is the key factor. Defect too early and you will be punished. But defect at the right moment, and you will gain a significant strategic advantage.

As the Americans say, "You ain't seen nothing, yet."

#bitcoin #debt #argentina #kraken #binance #sec #petrodollar #javiermilei

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https://void.cat/d/D4hGCW63A4qzYU3cW5rbuY.webp

Skye: You ever see that meme of bragging online about "My uncle works at Nintendo..." and then some made up bs?

Well....

Wes says his cousin works for some Silicon Valley company, and got real mad over something going on there over the weekend. Some nerd shit that's got everyone really worked up apparently.

Anyways, Wes said his cousin was pulling stuff off the company servers over the weekend when shit was going cray, before he left for vacation.

The cousin is staying with Wes's family over Thanksgiving, and apparently got a bit drunk and told them about what was going on. No one really understood what he meant, or cared.

But Wes did. When his cousin passed out, Wes said he snagged the files and got 'em on a portable hard drive.

Sounds like total horseshit, doesn't it? That's what I said! 🤣🤣🤣

Wes said he'd prove it to me, so I let him come over to run it on my laptop. Bet was he'd do a month of my history homework vs Netflix and chill.

Holy shit, was he right, and good timing, too! ChatGPT's been having issues lately and I need to get a paper done ASAP. This App is next level! Way better than anything I've used before, and it can go on the Internet and look stuff up. I even got it to play some games.

So yeah, Wes won the bet. Wish he would have had more patience to let me play around with the App before he and I started playing around.

He made me promise not to tell anyone or share it. But you won't tell anyone, will you, Diary?

#openai #feeltheagi #chatgpt #llm #ai #agi #singularity #myuncleworksatnintendo

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https://void.cat/d/NzYb4evjCq2zStD6WSRHQP.webp

Frank: Did you hear Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, got fired?

Smitty: Oh yeah? How come?

Frank: No one's really sure yet. The statement made it sound like he had lied to the board.

Smitty: A bigwig that lies? Aw Frankie, tell me it ain't so!

Frank: Haha, yeah, I guess no big surprises there. I wonder what he did.

Smitty (scrolling through his phone): It could be a lot of stuff, man. Looks like his sister made abuse allegations. This WorldCoin thing looks really scammy. It looks like OpenAI isn't open at all, there's a lot of criticism from the Open Source community after he closed the project. And here's a story about a group of people suing it over using their copyrighted material to train their bots. Plus all these things about AI safety and the arms race they kicked off.

Frank: Yeah, but hasn't that stuff been circulating for a while? This was so sudden. I wonder if it's some kind of corporate power games. A bunch of senior folks quit after he got fired. Maybe the board felt he was pushing things too far, too fast. Maybe they made AGI in the lab, or are close, and now they're scrambling over who gets to control it. That company's really unique, it's not a nonprofit, but also not quite a for-profit company. Must be doing something really valuable, I heard they pay their software guys almost a million dollars a year.

Smitty (still scrolling): A million! Just for pecking around on a computer! Damn, Frank, what would you do with that kind of bread?

Frank: I wouldn't have to slum it in this dump, that's for sure, haha.

#openai #samaltman #LLM #AI #corporategames #samaltmanfired #agi

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