The reason is something unexpected. It’s been happening in the background and is finally coming into the light. I’m surprised by this one. He’s the last person I would expect to be pushing this. If it has happened before, I don’t remember it, which is embarrassing. You would think this should be big news. It hasn’t been. From Politico via Raw Story:
Donald Trump’s “populist base is starting to push back” against him, according to new reporting. In an article called “Trump loves AI, and the MAGA world is getting worried,” Politico reported, “President Donald Trump’s AI action plan has set off a backlash from some of the biggest figures in the America First movement — a rift expected to shape the next round of arguments in Congress about how to turbocharge the technology.”
Interesting. His base is very uneasy about AI. I hadn’t thought about it too much, because AI is useful for overviews on Google searches. But we are finding out about the disadvantages of AI, and they’re pretty major. AI is useful as help, yes, but further than that? No. Not good.
“Trump’s rush toward AI is exposing an important faultline in the Republican coalition: Many of its voters and leaders deeply mistrust the power of Big Tech, but Trump himself has worked closely with industry CEOs to deliver on their priorities,” the report states. According to the outlet, “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fired off a tirade on X, complaining that AI could create mass poverty by replacing human jobs, and giant AI data centers could have potentially devastating effects on the environment and water supply.” It’s true that Trump has been a more bold ally to the tech titans than many of those in his MAGA base would like.
Well, some of us folks may not like it either. I did read about Elon’s giant AI center and what it’s doing to the town next door. It’s bad. Already, we are seeing the downsides to AI, just from that one installation. I‘m about to say something I never thought I would say. Much as I detest MTG, she’s right on this. The environmental destruction is bad. And it’s not just the AI centers. The power needed, the exhaust from the data centers, and the deleterious effects on the towns anywhere close are all problems for AI power.
But that’s not all, according to the report. “On stage at the National Conservatism conference in Washington in early September, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) criticized the AI revolution as a leap towards transhumanism — a human-machine future that he said is currently against ‘the working man’ and the teachings of the Bible, as well as installing ‘a rich and powerful elite,'” it states.
Yup, there’s pushback from MAGA, and MAGA in *government*. America does not trust the secretive rich elite that Trump also caters to (see: BBB). Trump’s perfect world is cracking. Not all is well in Trumpland. He’s going to have to cater to all sides, and more than one thing at the same time is difficult for him. It should be interesting to see how this all plays out – although we might have to depend on leaks for it. Elon certainly wants to play down the disadvantages of the power plants. We don’t know about others. Yet.
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Supercharged ChatGP, which is what they’ve got, is not artificial intelligence.
It is just a vastly well verbally resourced word processor program, that knows no truths, just relative probabilities. It can’t be creative or invent things, it can just rearrange words but not meanings.
It’s far closer to Natural Stupidity.
I’m pretty surprised to hear MTG cares about the environment. Her Lord and Master certainly never has.
I was about to say pretty much the same thing. Environment, and she specifically mentions water.
Apparently he hasn’t figured this out yet, about MAGAs disliking/distrusting AI. As far as his ability to do two things at once, he can simply lie to the MAGAs and say that he will protect their jobs or whatever and continue to give the rich and powerful what they want. That seems to be his modus operandi.
I’d love to ask Hawley exactly WHERE in the Bible there’s ANY reference to a “human-machine future.” For something that’s not even implied in the Bible, it’s kind of hard to imagine that it can be “against Biblical teachings.” Remember, the current version of the Bible was compiled in the 4th century, a period when only “simple machines” existed (the wedge, the inclined plane, the wheel and axle, the lever, the pulley and the screw).
And, in Hawley’s opinion, does that mean that “artificial hearts” (as well as other artificial body parts, like legs and arms, or things like pacemakers) and “hearing aids” and “glasses” are “against Biblical teachings?” Certainly those would be part of a “human-machine future.” Millions of people around the world rely on those “machines” to live a reasonably normal life–including a bunch who attend churches.
Come on…you and I know Hawley isn’t a deep thinker…he’s a running fool.