Another piece of evidence pointing to the necessity of creating non-tech-company driven networks and communities, detaching from dependence on companies like Google, Meta, YouTube, et al. Even Rumble and Substack are vulnerable when examining their own dependence. It's clear this is going to amplify. Trusting and using our human creativity and ingenuity to come up with alternatives to tech-dependent monetization is the imminent challenge. And opportunity. The sooner the better.
Google Gemini lacks self awareness, just like the people who created it. It should be renamed NPC.AI. Let's flag Google's crony monopolistic capitalism for the same issues it is attacking Naked Capitalism with:
See, questioning election results is Bad, Very Very Bad.
Unless *we* question election results. Then that makes it okay. For example the russiagate conspiracy theory is a wackadoodle conspiracy theory so goofy that it would have gotten you laughed out of the 1962-era John Birch Society, but it also has inspired millions of volunteer FBI agents, amateur intelligence analysts and internet Russia experts, and remains a Team D Article of Faith to this day.
For that matter, I am sure that questioning the Russian Sputnik vaccine for COVID is not anti-vax at all.
I used to read naked capitalism daily, but don't bother any more. The site jumped the shark. When the incidence of covid was declining, and there were fewer and fewer people hospitalized, at least half of the site was devoted to endless charts and statistics claiming an imminent threat of an increase. When covid had definitely closed up shop and moved on, when no one was bothering to take the third booster, naked capitalism was ringing th gong all-out, predicting a savage wipe-out of the unprepared population.
In other words, naked capitalism was totally unaware of what it didn't know. It claimed expertise it didn't possess.
Obviously that cast considerable doubt on its other, equally absolutely sure, predictions and evaluations (such as that Uber was a sham and would go bankrupt any day now).
No, naked capitalism never spread conspiracy theories or recommended violence in any form; it just didn't know what it was talking about.
For people who seemingly "hate religion" they sure as hell believe they're gods. Is there no company start-up willing to take on the internet freedom challenge? The black hole is rapidly expanding.
Google Gemini was released with a ridiculous lack of credibility, specifically to give them cover for” oh, Gemini sometimes makes little mistakes “… no way in HELL did they NOT know it would throw the kind of garbage it did. This is the premier focus of development in a company with supposedly some of the most talented developers in the world.
Gemini is just cover for this kind of censorship - “oh sorry, the “system” does what it wants - everyone knows how crazy it is. It did that, so we can’t really change it..”.
People need to seriously start thinking about alternatives to the Google ecosystem and transition themselves. Brave (for browsing, includes a community-driven ad monetization feature), other web3 products in development for alternative delivery and monetization strategy, etc. (encrypted email, the list goes on). Unfortunately none of these compete with the Google Ads network today, but they will. Sadly Google is unwinding the very conditions that made it a trusted platform and thus successful in the first place.
For gawdsakes - let Google kill the advertising-based model. It isn't like there is no alternative. We pay for the content we want here and Google can eat shit and die. And we don't get blasted with corporate slime.
For years Google has proven it is being operated under aegis of the late Joseph Goebbels and the Information Ministry of the Third Reich. Goobles censorship and suppression of info and access to safe effective early treatment remedies and their medical expert advocates, perforce, caused the suffering and death of countless Americans and others around the globe. This FACT needs to be more widely known so that the most arrogant fascist internet presence is subjected to greater scrutiny, and held responsible for the immense damage it has done and is doing to society.
AI is the 'perfect' form of censorship, because intentional acts can be obfuscated by 'the algorithm', and when the 'mistake' is made, the liars simply say 'oopsie poopsie! we promise not to do it again!'
And they're turning their sights on people who actually read primary sources.
eople dedicated to sacred texts and American documents such as “the Bible or the Constitution,” the MIT team said, were more susceptible to “disinformation” because they “often focused on reading a wide array of primary sources, and performing their own synthesis.” Such citizens “adhered to deeper narratives that might make them suspicious of any intervention that privileges mainstream sources or recognized experts.”
“Because interviewees distrusted both journalists and academics, they drew on this practice [of reading primary sources] to fact check how media outlets reported the news,” MIT’s successful federal grant application said.
People who did this were less likely to believe the federal government’s propaganda, making them prime obstacles to government misinformation. Researchers are targeting people in these categories to figure out how to manipulate them into believing government narratives, emails and documents in the House report show.
The Chalmers Johnson book "Blowback" was a real boon to my critical thought in the years after 911, and it's very odd to see it pop up in an article on censorship twenty years later.
What a strange life, having once idolized Noam Chomsky with the caveat that I disagreed with his anarchist leanings in 2001 and now idolizing Ron Paul and finding Chomsky lacking in every arena of thought SAVE his anarchist leanings.
I will (as a 30 year registered independent) be pledging my vote to the libertarian party in the 2024 presidential election unless they run RFK Jr.
I hope they put forward Rectenwald as the candidate. If nothing else he will be an intelligent placeholder until I can vote Dave Smith to get the Ron Paul to more ears.
I'm not sure AI censorship can be stopped, and it will absolutely be problematic for almost every group and demographic at one point or another as we move into this tightly-controlled future.
But I also think instead of fighting that future, we need to focus on simply creating an alternative one. We need to focus on building a world that is more organically connected and informed -- one that relies less on technology. Maybe this means a return to tangible magazines and newspapers, building inclusive community organizations, etc. The answer to all of these problems is bringing humans together.
When I was a young reporter at a daily newspaper eons ago, I would run up against Metro Desk editors who wanted to change or tone down, or rephrase my articles. In most cases, I would simply walk across the newsroom and talk them out of it, more often than not.
But to be edited -- censored, really -- by a frickin' bot?
Two thoughts:
1. This is the result of Google and the other Big Tech corporations being hounded by Democrats in recent years to ban "hate speech" "misinformation" and such, and so now perhaps they want to endear themselves to the Dems by censoring this kind of nonsense.
2. For all their talk about Trump being a "threat to democracy" the Democrats seem incapable of looking in the mirror. They fail to understand that a democracy rests on the old cliché of "a marketplace of ideas".
The Democrats, and their friends in Big Tech, seem to want a monopoly of ideas, not a real, thriving marketplace of ideas.
AI quite obviously is a blunt instrument not to be trusted. But I find a certain irony in Yves Smith complaining about being censored. I was a regular reader, and financial supporter, of Naked Capitalism for a number of years, finding the articles interesting and comments unusually informed. But I was regularly disturbed by what struck me as Yves' dictatorial review of comments, often threatening to block certain posters without, it seemed to me, any legitimate reason. More than that, her tone was typically superior and scolding. Well, I finally got a taste of the treatment myself -- for daring to question NC's almost obsessive opposition to charter schools. My own daughter attended a charter for seven years, and I wrote attempting to point out some of the positives about own experience, some of which contradicted the accepted anti-charter narrative. The response -- first from Lambert, then from Yves -- was immediate and dismissive. I replied, attempting to deal with their objections -- which provoked even more vehement response from Yves -- who speculated that I was probably a troll or, worse, an employee of a charter school. Neither was true. One lone poster came to my defense, saying he'd been away from the site for some time and was distressed now to see the "toxic" treatment being handed out a poster who seemed to have to have a reasonable point of view. I replied to Yves, denying her accusations -- but she blocked me. She maligned me with false accusations, and then censored my response.
For those who say "screw Google et al" I would like to point out that due to our "thriving economy" some of us (I suspect many) have limited funds to subscribe to all of the sites and podcasts we would like to support. I know this is totally old-fashioned but since we're talking community, what if Rumble et al had a group rate - you get so many subscriptions for X dollars - spreading the funding around? It would help newer actual journalists and others to get a start and form a more perfect union.
Google has gotten TERRIBLE in just plain search results since about midway through COVID and especially so after Russia launched the SMO. I imagine it's gotten worse still with the genocide in Gaza, but I stopped using it long before that happened.
Is there any way for sites like NC to get revenue without Google, or is it time to call Google what it is: A straight up monopoly, followed by breaking it up?
FWIW, Google censorship (or SEO de-prioritizing) is nothing new. First they came for the Socialists, but I was not a Socialist, so....
Another piece of evidence pointing to the necessity of creating non-tech-company driven networks and communities, detaching from dependence on companies like Google, Meta, YouTube, et al. Even Rumble and Substack are vulnerable when examining their own dependence. It's clear this is going to amplify. Trusting and using our human creativity and ingenuity to come up with alternatives to tech-dependent monetization is the imminent challenge. And opportunity. The sooner the better.
Google Gemini lacks self awareness, just like the people who created it. It should be renamed NPC.AI. Let's flag Google's crony monopolistic capitalism for the same issues it is attacking Naked Capitalism with:
VIOLENT_EXTREMISM
HATEFUL_CONTENT
HARMFUL_HEALTH_CLAIMS
See, questioning election results is Bad, Very Very Bad.
Unless *we* question election results. Then that makes it okay. For example the russiagate conspiracy theory is a wackadoodle conspiracy theory so goofy that it would have gotten you laughed out of the 1962-era John Birch Society, but it also has inspired millions of volunteer FBI agents, amateur intelligence analysts and internet Russia experts, and remains a Team D Article of Faith to this day.
For that matter, I am sure that questioning the Russian Sputnik vaccine for COVID is not anti-vax at all.
I used to read naked capitalism daily, but don't bother any more. The site jumped the shark. When the incidence of covid was declining, and there were fewer and fewer people hospitalized, at least half of the site was devoted to endless charts and statistics claiming an imminent threat of an increase. When covid had definitely closed up shop and moved on, when no one was bothering to take the third booster, naked capitalism was ringing th gong all-out, predicting a savage wipe-out of the unprepared population.
In other words, naked capitalism was totally unaware of what it didn't know. It claimed expertise it didn't possess.
Obviously that cast considerable doubt on its other, equally absolutely sure, predictions and evaluations (such as that Uber was a sham and would go bankrupt any day now).
No, naked capitalism never spread conspiracy theories or recommended violence in any form; it just didn't know what it was talking about.
For people who seemingly "hate religion" they sure as hell believe they're gods. Is there no company start-up willing to take on the internet freedom challenge? The black hole is rapidly expanding.
Google Gemini was released with a ridiculous lack of credibility, specifically to give them cover for” oh, Gemini sometimes makes little mistakes “… no way in HELL did they NOT know it would throw the kind of garbage it did. This is the premier focus of development in a company with supposedly some of the most talented developers in the world.
Gemini is just cover for this kind of censorship - “oh sorry, the “system” does what it wants - everyone knows how crazy it is. It did that, so we can’t really change it..”.
No way did Gemini flag this account.
People need to seriously start thinking about alternatives to the Google ecosystem and transition themselves. Brave (for browsing, includes a community-driven ad monetization feature), other web3 products in development for alternative delivery and monetization strategy, etc. (encrypted email, the list goes on). Unfortunately none of these compete with the Google Ads network today, but they will. Sadly Google is unwinding the very conditions that made it a trusted platform and thus successful in the first place.
For gawdsakes - let Google kill the advertising-based model. It isn't like there is no alternative. We pay for the content we want here and Google can eat shit and die. And we don't get blasted with corporate slime.
For years Google has proven it is being operated under aegis of the late Joseph Goebbels and the Information Ministry of the Third Reich. Goobles censorship and suppression of info and access to safe effective early treatment remedies and their medical expert advocates, perforce, caused the suffering and death of countless Americans and others around the globe. This FACT needs to be more widely known so that the most arrogant fascist internet presence is subjected to greater scrutiny, and held responsible for the immense damage it has done and is doing to society.
AI is the 'perfect' form of censorship, because intentional acts can be obfuscated by 'the algorithm', and when the 'mistake' is made, the liars simply say 'oopsie poopsie! we promise not to do it again!'
And they're turning their sights on people who actually read primary sources.
Yes, you read that correctly.
https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/07/ai-censorship-targets-people-who-read-primary-sources-to-fact-check-the-news/
eople dedicated to sacred texts and American documents such as “the Bible or the Constitution,” the MIT team said, were more susceptible to “disinformation” because they “often focused on reading a wide array of primary sources, and performing their own synthesis.” Such citizens “adhered to deeper narratives that might make them suspicious of any intervention that privileges mainstream sources or recognized experts.”
“Because interviewees distrusted both journalists and academics, they drew on this practice [of reading primary sources] to fact check how media outlets reported the news,” MIT’s successful federal grant application said.
People who did this were less likely to believe the federal government’s propaganda, making them prime obstacles to government misinformation. Researchers are targeting people in these categories to figure out how to manipulate them into believing government narratives, emails and documents in the House report show.
The Chalmers Johnson book "Blowback" was a real boon to my critical thought in the years after 911, and it's very odd to see it pop up in an article on censorship twenty years later.
What a strange life, having once idolized Noam Chomsky with the caveat that I disagreed with his anarchist leanings in 2001 and now idolizing Ron Paul and finding Chomsky lacking in every arena of thought SAVE his anarchist leanings.
I will (as a 30 year registered independent) be pledging my vote to the libertarian party in the 2024 presidential election unless they run RFK Jr.
I hope they put forward Rectenwald as the candidate. If nothing else he will be an intelligent placeholder until I can vote Dave Smith to get the Ron Paul to more ears.
I'm not sure AI censorship can be stopped, and it will absolutely be problematic for almost every group and demographic at one point or another as we move into this tightly-controlled future.
But I also think instead of fighting that future, we need to focus on simply creating an alternative one. We need to focus on building a world that is more organically connected and informed -- one that relies less on technology. Maybe this means a return to tangible magazines and newspapers, building inclusive community organizations, etc. The answer to all of these problems is bringing humans together.
When I was a young reporter at a daily newspaper eons ago, I would run up against Metro Desk editors who wanted to change or tone down, or rephrase my articles. In most cases, I would simply walk across the newsroom and talk them out of it, more often than not.
But to be edited -- censored, really -- by a frickin' bot?
Two thoughts:
1. This is the result of Google and the other Big Tech corporations being hounded by Democrats in recent years to ban "hate speech" "misinformation" and such, and so now perhaps they want to endear themselves to the Dems by censoring this kind of nonsense.
2. For all their talk about Trump being a "threat to democracy" the Democrats seem incapable of looking in the mirror. They fail to understand that a democracy rests on the old cliché of "a marketplace of ideas".
The Democrats, and their friends in Big Tech, seem to want a monopoly of ideas, not a real, thriving marketplace of ideas.
AI quite obviously is a blunt instrument not to be trusted. But I find a certain irony in Yves Smith complaining about being censored. I was a regular reader, and financial supporter, of Naked Capitalism for a number of years, finding the articles interesting and comments unusually informed. But I was regularly disturbed by what struck me as Yves' dictatorial review of comments, often threatening to block certain posters without, it seemed to me, any legitimate reason. More than that, her tone was typically superior and scolding. Well, I finally got a taste of the treatment myself -- for daring to question NC's almost obsessive opposition to charter schools. My own daughter attended a charter for seven years, and I wrote attempting to point out some of the positives about own experience, some of which contradicted the accepted anti-charter narrative. The response -- first from Lambert, then from Yves -- was immediate and dismissive. I replied, attempting to deal with their objections -- which provoked even more vehement response from Yves -- who speculated that I was probably a troll or, worse, an employee of a charter school. Neither was true. One lone poster came to my defense, saying he'd been away from the site for some time and was distressed now to see the "toxic" treatment being handed out a poster who seemed to have to have a reasonable point of view. I replied to Yves, denying her accusations -- but she blocked me. She maligned me with false accusations, and then censored my response.
For those who say "screw Google et al" I would like to point out that due to our "thriving economy" some of us (I suspect many) have limited funds to subscribe to all of the sites and podcasts we would like to support. I know this is totally old-fashioned but since we're talking community, what if Rumble et al had a group rate - you get so many subscriptions for X dollars - spreading the funding around? It would help newer actual journalists and others to get a start and form a more perfect union.
Google has gotten TERRIBLE in just plain search results since about midway through COVID and especially so after Russia launched the SMO. I imagine it's gotten worse still with the genocide in Gaza, but I stopped using it long before that happened.
Is there any way for sites like NC to get revenue without Google, or is it time to call Google what it is: A straight up monopoly, followed by breaking it up?
FWIW, Google censorship (or SEO de-prioritizing) is nothing new. First they came for the Socialists, but I was not a Socialist, so....
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/08/25/pers-a25.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/31/goog-j31.html