SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, a further look at artificial intelligence (AI).
AI and the New Kind of Propaganda
Over at Off-Guardian: AI and the new kind of propaganda. Here is a pericope:
“They want to control the formation and reproduction of “social imaginaries”.
So the idea is to use massive data collection and AI pattern recognition to preemptively disrupt the formation of behaviourally significant narratives, discourses or patterns of information.
With these tools of “early diagnosis” of information that potentially could disrupt the power structure and its objectives, it then becomes possible to nip it in the bud incredibly early on, way before such information has even coalesced into something like coherent narratives or meaningful models for explanation or further (precarious) conclusions.”
Gen Zers Trust ChatGPT for Career Guidance
H.L. sent this: Does ChatGPT give better career advice than your boss? Nearly half of Gen Z says yes.
How AI Deepfakes Threaten the 2024 Elections
Rehan Mirza of the Harvard Kenndey School: How AI deepfakes threaten the 2024 elections. An excerpt:
“Deepfakes already have affected other elections around the globe. In recent elections in Slovakia, for example, AI-generated audio recordings circulated on Facebook, impersonating a liberal candidate discussing plans to raise alcohol prices and rig the election. During the February 2023 Nigerian elections, an AI-manipulated audio clip falsely implicated a presidential candidate in plans to manipulate ballots. With elections this year in over 50 countries involving half the globe’s population, there are fears deepfakes could seriously undermine their integrity.”
Texas To Build FOB on Mexico Border
Texas To Build Military “Base Camp” On Mexico Border To House 1,800 Soldiers.
How Many Gun Owners are in America? (2024 Statistics)
From the folks at Ammo.com: How Many Gun Owners are in America? (2024 Statistics).
Objecting to mRNA Injections Has Been Criminalized in France
They just tightened the thumbscrews several more turns, in France: The French government basely maneuvered so that Article 4 was adopted. It is a highly liberticidal article which will not tolerate any criticism of the therapeutic treatments which will be recommended or made obligatory by the state.
California Insurers to Rat Out Gun Owners?
Breitbart reports: California Democrats Push Bill Requiring Insurers to Rat out Homeowners Who Own Guns.
A “Soft Invasion” of Taiwan?
Reader Ed C. suggested this Gateway Pundit piece: What would a “Soft Invasion” of Taiwan look like?
Ransomware Provider Lockbit Taken Down
A CBS news piece linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Notorious ransomware provider Lockbit taken over by law enforcement.
The 2023 Hugo Awards: Somehow, It Got Worse
Patronizing China? The 2023 Hugo Awards: Somehow, It Got Worse. A quote from the article’s fourth paragraph:
“These revelations have naturally unleashed a great deal of uproar and consternation. Not only do they confirm the widely-held theory that Kuang, Weimer, and Astounding nominee Xiran Jay Zhao were removed from the ballot for political reasons, they invalidate the presumed defense of McCarty and his team, that they have been protecting Chinese team members who were under political pressure, and might be endangered by admitting to censoring the ballot. The cack-handedness of the Western Hugo administrators’ anticipation of what might be offensive to Chinese sensibilities—Babel has a Chinese translation forthcoming, and it is anyway hard to imagine the PRC objecting to a novel that criticizes English colonialism in China; Weimer may not have visited Tibet, but Ursula Vernon, whose novel Nettle & Bone not only made it onto the ballot but won the best novel award, did—has given rise to speculation that their entire endeavor was independently undertaken, not in response to Chinese demands or laws at all.”
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