It was quite chilly yesterday and today won't be much, if any, warmer. We had rain so I only got four plants put in pots: the diplodenia and the hibiscus. I just finished putting my three mints (spearmint, mojito mint, and peppermint). Right now it is break time. I might leave the nest plants till this afternoon because it is about 10:30 so it will soon be time to fix supper. I finished the vacuuming before I started the planting so it has been a busy morning.
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Another nice day and another expected for tomorrow. I should get all or nearly all of my plants in pots before the end of the week. I finished a major rearrangement of the planters on the patio, got the area cleared so I could move the trash tote to a space where it won't obstruct the view of my plants. Red veined sorrel, bee balm, stevia, and tricolor sage are all in their places leaving only three petunias, a lavender, rosemary, and chives are yet to be transplanted. After that I will see what spaces I have yet for planting.
Well, The Former Guy has been found liable for sexually assaulting a woman he claims he never met and didn't know (in spite of photographic evidence) and is on the hook for $5million for defaming her. Not a good day for the Mar-a-lago retiree. Unfortunately all of the usual Republican sycophants are squealing like wounded rabbits.
And then there is George Santos who has been indicted and arrested. I haven't read the news reports yet so I don't know what the exact charges are. Another GOP liar's pants are starting to smolder.
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Some more planting and cleanup on the patio. I get a bit irritable when I remember when, not all that long ago, when I could get all the spring work done in, at most, two days. And I had about double the number of containers then.
Caitlin Johnstone put a good article on her site: "This civilization is mentally ill: notes from the edge of the narrative matrix." I agree on so many levels. I would go a little farther though. She doesn't see any kind of capitalism she can support but I would say that the flaws she sees are endemic in every form of human government because governments are composed of people and those flaws exist in us. As Pogo said "We have met the enemy and he is US." All civilizations have degraded their environments creating catastrophic conditions. As far as the industrialization of disinformation goes--again it has happened before, is happening now, and will happen in the future on all sides of any issue. It is worse because so many of us live in informational and social bubbles. And people often choose their bubbles based on what they already believe. A relative told me many years ago he chose to join his church because the doctrine aligned with his beliefs. He didn't expect to conform to the church.
I saw something else somewhat unnerving yesterday. A reporter asked Rep, Donaldson (R-Fl) for his reaction to the E. Jean Carroll verdict. He followed the MAGA line about how much of a witch-hunt it was and all he saw was allegations from 30 years ago. When the reporter reminded him that TFG was found liable for the actions (no longer allegations) by a unanimous jury of is peers Donaldson snorted in derision and said "Don't tell ME about THAT!!" I guess the only legitimate jury is one that gives the verdict he believes. I have seen this attitude grow on both sides of the political spectrum but most strongly and pervasively on the right for the last 40 years.
Tom Englehardt posted this piece on Artificial Intelligence today. The author of a novel I read recently had one of his characters dealing with an AI generated manifesto. He, the character, insisted that it was machine generated to give verisimilitude to the notion of a terrorist manifesto. He raised an interesting question dealing with the students using AI generated homework essays: What are their mother's are no longer doing for them? Answer: homework. He also made the observation that Artificial Intelligence isn't really intelligent--it can only do what its programers program into it. And even if AI could think and draw conclusions on its own what would that look like? Would it really transcend human thought and creativity or would it mere resemble its creators? I have been thinking of all of the science fiction I have read on the subject wondering if any really come up with a human created intelligence that is significantly different from its creators and haven't found any yet. Asimov's robots, Battlestar Galactica's Cylons, 2001: a Space Odyssey's Hal,--none of them transcend the human intelligence that creates them. I think a greater danger in AI is that we come to depend on it and lose the ability to do without it. -
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