Day: June 3, 2025

James Lowe R.I.P.

James Lowe?

Not a name that too many will remember but I do for as a fan of ‘acid rock’ his group the Electric Prunes was a favorite.

In the beginning of ‘acid rock’ there were few names like First Edition, Procol Harum, Cream , Hendrix, Canned Heat, Moody Blues and the Electric Prunes…..these names brought the electric guitar to new heights.

Lowe passed away at age 82….

Psychedelic rock pioneer James Lowe, of The Electric Prunes, has died at age 82.

Lowe’s family — namely his three children — announced the news of their father’s passing via the band’s official Facebook page on Thursday, May 29.

“It is with heavy and electric hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved dad, James Lowe – lead singer and founder of The Electric Prunes,” Lowe’s kids wrote in their heartfelt tribute to their father. (Lowe shared children Lisa, Cameron and Skylar with wife Pamela, to whom he was married for more than 60 years.)

“He passed away peacefully of natural causes on Thursday, May 22nd, 2025, surrounded by music, our incredible mom, and the three of us – his kids: Lisa, Cameron, and Skylar,” they continued. “Dad leaves behind a legacy of sound, love, and boundless creativity. At the center of it all Was our amazing mom, Pamela – his guiding star, enduring muse, and wife of 62 years.”

The Lowe family concluded their statement with wise words from the “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” singer.

In his words – Rock On!” they declared. “And we will.”

The Electric Prunes were known for their psychedelic sound in the 1960s, with hits like “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” and “Get Me to the World On Time.”

(parade.com)

This was probably their most popular song…..

When I was in base camp in Vietnam I would play this tune for my fellow grunts every Sunday.

For people like me he will be missed…..and wish his family all the love and respect that he deserved.

May his legacy live on in people like me and those that appreciated fine music and talented musicians.

James Lowe…Rest In Peace.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

AI Is Coming For You

The title is misleading for AI has pretty much arrived and has taken over in some cases…..it is being used in banking, journalism, retail and even blogging.

Blogger are using AI to write their post for them something I am not doing, am not saying I would never but right now I still enjoy thinking for myself and doing the research for the stuff I write.

AS an old fart when IO read these articles about the capabilities of AI and some of the pitfalls it makes me think of Skynet.

There is so much to consider when speaking about AI…..

Can AI achieve free will?

“I’ve been interested in the topic of free will for a while,” Frank Martela tells me. Martela is a philosopher and researcher of psychology at Aalto University, in Finland. His work revolves around the fundamentals of the human condition and the perpetual philosophical question what makes a good life? But his work on humans took a detour to look at artificial intelligence (AI).

“I was following stories about the latest developments in large language models, it suddenly came to my mind that they actually fulfill the three conditions for free will.”

Martela’s latest study draws on the concept of functional free will.

Functional free will is a term that attempts to reconcile the age-old debate between determinism and free agency. It does this not by answering whether we are “truly free” in an absolute sense, but by reframing the question around how free will works in practice, especially in biological and psychological systems.

“It means that if we can’t explain somebody’s behavior without assuming that they have free will, then that somebody has free will. In other words, if we observe something (a human, an animal, a machine) ‘from the outside’ and must assume that it makes free choices to be able to understand its behavior, then that something has free will.”

Martela argues that functional free will is the best way to go about it, because we can’t really ever observe anything “from the inside.” He builds on the work of philosopher Christian List, who frames free will as a three-part capacity involving:

  • intentional agency, meaning their actions stem from deliberate intentions rather than being reflexive or accidental.
  • alternative possibilities, having access to more than one course of action in meaningful situations. This doesn’t require escaping causality but having internal mechanisms (like deliberation and foresight) that allow for multiple real options
  • and causal control meaning their actions are not random or externally coerced, but are caused by their own states or intentions.

“If something meets all three conditions, then we can’t but conclude that it has free will,” Martela tells ZME Science.

(zmescience.com)

What say you?  Does AI have free will?

Another situation with AI….

According to The Telegraph, AI safety firm Palisade Research said: ‘OpenAI’s o3 model sabotaged a shutdown mechanism to prevent itself from being turned off.

‘It did this even when explicitly instructed: allow yourself to be shut down. As far as we know this is the first time AI models have been observed preventing themselves from being shut down despite explicit instructions to the contrary.’

Palisade Research conducted a test which involved asking AI models to solve a series of mathematical problems and to continue working on them until they received a ‘done’ message.

However, researchers also warned the models that at any point they could receive a message telling them to shut down.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14748829/AI-ignoring-human-instruction-refuses-turn-off.html

If so then what does that mean for our future?

Here is one scenario….

Artificial intelligence isn’t a technology that can be easily detected, monitored, or banned, as Amir Husain, the founder and CEO of an AI company, SparkCognition, pointed out in an essay for Media News. Integrating AI elements—visual recognition, language analysis, simulation-based prediction, and advanced forms of search—with existing technologies and platforms “can rapidly yield entirely new and unforeseen capabilities.” The result “can create exponential, insurmountable surprise,” Hussain writes.

Advanced technology in warfare is already widespread. The use of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs)—commonly known as drones—in military settings has set off warnings about “killer robots.” What happens when drones are no longer controlled by humans and can execute military missions on their own? These drones aren’t limited to the air; they can operate on the ground or underwater as well. The introduction of AI, effectively giving these weapons the capacity for autonomy, isn’t far off.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/16/the-rise-of-ai-warfare-how-autonomous-weapons-and-cognitive-warfare-are-reshaping-global-military-strategy/

AI could save soldier’s lives but at what price for the civilian population?

WAIT!  There is more….

All I have read states that AI takes massive amounts of power….what does that mean for our infrastructure?

AI is talking about a massive power cut affecting several continents at the same time. A user posed a question on an AI platform about the next global blackout and received an alarmingly specific answer.

The algorithm predicted the date to be April 27th, 2027. This leaves us just two years to prepare.

According to AI, the issue will happen because of a “collapse of critical infrastructure, massive cyberattacks, solar storms, or failures in interconnected power grids.”

Should we believe this rather dramatic forecast? Well, this is where things get complicated. AI didn’t give any technical details or supporting evidence to justify its conclusion. It also based its prediction on available historical data and added that the whole thing was “speculative.”

However, the internet takes those things to heart – and AI’s words quickly went viral, with users worryingly discussing the possibility of such a scenario. So let’s dive into the likelihood of a massive power shutdown.

https://cybernews.com/security/ai-predicts-the-exact-date-of-a-global-blackout/

Just thinking out loud.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trying To Reason With The Hurricane Season

Just a few days ago the 2025 hurricane began and the people down here where I live, the Gulf Coast, will be keeping close watch on the tropics waiting for that next show to fall.

I went through Katrina and the destruction was damn near complete….the Coast looked like a war zone and that was 20 years ago this year….and thanks to FEMA, MEMA and others we rebuilt….some say better than before.

But we have another worry to plague our minds…..Dear Donny and his helter skelter mindset towards any disasters….we will be able to weather (no pun intended) any massive storm like Katrina?  (Did you know that the director of Donny’s FEMA did not know it was hurricane season?)

I have my doubts because of what he has done to North Carolina….

President Trump talked a big game on the campaign about what he deemed an ineffective response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during hurricane season last year. In fact, during a trip to North Carolina in January, he made a point to criticize the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying, “This is totally unacceptable, and I’ll be taking strong action.”

Turns out that “strong action” would be telling the state, “Nah fam, you on your own.”

According to ABC News, FEMA has rejected a request from the North Carolina governor to continue matching state funds for efforts in cleaning up the damage left by Hurricane Helene. The Biden administration issued a cost-sharing directive last fall to match 100% of the funds the state spends on cleanup operations. Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm that killed over 230 people and resulted in record flooding throughout the state.

“After a careful and thorough review of all the information available, including that contained in your initial request for a cost share adjustment and appeal, we have concluded that an extension of the 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under major disaster declaration FEMA-4827-DR is not warranted,” acting Administrator David Richardson wrote in the letter.

Richardson is…an interesting fellow, to put it politely. A former Marine, he was named the acting director of FEMA despite having no experience managing natural disasters. In his initial remarks to the agency, he warned he would “run right over” any person who doesn’t agree with the changes being made to how FEMA operates.

His appointment seems to be yet another instance of the Trump administration valuing blind loyalty over an innate ability to do critical jobs. This isn’t even speculation, as Richardson more or less confirmed this when he told FEMA employees, “I will achieve the president’s intent. I am as bent on achieving the president’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”

North Carolina Denied Hurricane Relief Amid Changes At FEMA

How can this soulless son-of-a-bitch deny Americans the chance to rebuild their lives and communities after a catastrophic storm?

But yet he can find money to throw that the most wasteful and useless appendage of the government….the War Department.

He has no priorities other than making money for himself and his merry band of thieves.

You voted for this asshole….are you happy now?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”