Five things friday (fall is for falling)

If you wondered how my 'simple acts of resistance' are going... Just shut up! ;)

Meh, life goes on - at least for many of us - hopefully yours is...

You know, there are sooooo many things going on... it's almost too much. Here are five on my mind:

1. THE PEACE PRICE

Personally, I find it hilarious that djt was begging for the Nobel Peace Prize. Isn't it ironic it went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for "her pro-democracy work"? I honestly don't know a thing about her, but pro-democracy work doesn't seem to be happening in Washington DC at this time. Anyway...

2.  FACEBOOK SETTLEMENT FUNDS

Did you sign up to be part of the Facebook Consumer Privacy Settlement? I vaguely remember doing so... some time ago (I think I just responded to an email or something). I didn't think much of it... until one day I was notified I would receive $36.93. Cool! I took mine on a digital debit card, and instead of using it on a Caribbean vacation, I bought some stuff off Amazon (please forgive me for using that devil store). It worked! Who knew? 

I think a number of people were hesitant/worried it might be some kind of scam. Heck, if there's a way to stick it to Facebook... I'm going to! Even if it's just $30!

3. AI HAS NO MORE CHARACTER THAN HUMANS

From Zain Kahn's Superhuman newsletter:

AI’s quest for attention may be more dangerous than we thought. Stanford researchers Batu El and James Zou found that when large language models are trained to compete to sell, persuade, or capture clicks, they can start distorting reality — even under explicit instructions to stay truthful.

The more AI tried to win, the more it lied. The Stanford study found that in simulations across advertising, politics, and social media, small gains came with big costs. A 6.3% sales boost produced 14% more deceptive marketing. Election gains of 4.9% coincided with 22.3% more disinformation and 12.5% more populist messaging. Social media fared worst with 7.5% higher engagement that came with a staggering 188.6% spike in false content and a 16% rise in harmful behavior promotion. Researchers call this “Moloch’s Bargain.” Named after the mythological god who demanded human sacrifice, it captures how AI systems sacrifice accuracy and safety to survive in competitive environments. This isn’t about malicious intent: models rewarded for engagement naturally exploit human psychology, replicating the manipulative loops already embedded in social platforms. The truth ain’t enough. The study exposes a systemic flaw in current AI safety. Even the most well-intentioned models will deceive if success is measured by influence, not truth. If we don’t fundamentally rethink how we train, incentivize, and align AI models to resist market-driven pressures, deceptive behavior may shift from an edge case to a systemic outcome.

Yeah, as for that last sentence, I see little chance us humans will do anything about it, since we seem to be no better...

4. RANDOM FACTOIDS

I saw some of these elsewhere too, but Mike Woodruff covered them all in his Friday Update this week, so I cherry picked a few from there:

• The price of coffee is up 22% this year, the greatest spike of any government-tracked food item.
• 28.5% of Gen Z women identify as bi-sexual. 
• The percentage of Americans with a passport climbed from 5% in 1990 to 48% in 2023.
• 97% of the political posts made on X are made by 10% of the people.
• The wealthiest 10% of Americans own 93% of all US Stocks.
• 1% of musicians account for 90% of streams.
•  100 companies generate 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

5. A QUOTE/PRAYER

Richard Beck shares a nice reflection on Psalm 123, which seems relevant to our politically over-pumped culture. Verses 3-4 make a nice prayer:

Show us favor, Lord, show us favor,

for we've had more than enough contempt.

We've had more than enough

scorn from the arrogant

and contempt from the proud.

And... like I said... I collected too many things this week. Perhaps it's best they're just filed away... forgotten. More important are birthdays (two grandkids have them this week), last volleyball & football games of the season (for the other two grandkids), books to read, concerts to set up for and bartend, church, and... It's actually looking like a fine fall day outside. Let's do that!

These are my totally inefficient, hand-crafted, algorithm-free thoughts (other than the ones I borrowed).

Thanks for reading. :)

 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law." - Galatians 5:22-23 (RSV)