The Latest Noose
Fox gets caught. And so does everyone else. Plus, a reader question.
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Hey Friends,
Good morning to pretty much everyone except Bing.
I recently joined the waiting list for the new Bing, powered by ChatGPT. When I was invited in, I asked several important questions. For one, I was asking about how to produce a better newsletter. And to be honest, it didn't really seem like it knew much about what makes a newsletter good.
First, all of its answers were in bold, which I thought was rude, and just as I was getting to know it, it said we needed to change the subject.
It's hard to have an intelligent conversation with an artificial one.
More on that in a minute...
First, let's just get to The News.
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Hot Takes
Week 09 of 2023
Fox Noose
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of the entertainment network Fox News, admitted that he endorsed election fraud narratives that they knew to be false. He acknowledged that he knew about it and could have stopped it but did not.
Because of stories they pushed, Fox is facing a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems for up to $1.6 billion. Just to put that in context, that's bigger than the total annual earnings of The Lorem Ipsum and, combined with my net worth, would equal a total of $1.6 billion. The findings don't guarantee the outcome of the suit, but they amount to Fox hanging itself.
Last week, communications between top show personalities revealed they knew their sources were unreliable (With Laura Ingrahm saying privately, “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy."), but leaned into the conspiracies anyway, trading the truth for better ratings. (more)
Lab Leaks
Since 2o20, the theory that the Covid19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak in Wuhan, China, has been derided as a conspiracy theory or a racist thing to say. Well, over the last couple of weeks, the story has become mainstream, with the FBI and The Dept. of Energy saying "most likely" that's what happened. While the theory is not yet confirmed, it now takes its place as the prevailing theory. It's unclear if the theory that Bill Gates was planning to use vaccines to implant microchips in people will rise to prominence as well, but we've reached out to Marjorie Taylor Green for comment. (more)
As an aside, this episode of "Making Sense" from Sam Harris explains why the lab leak theory is probable.
Yellen and Blinken
Initially, we thought Biden was experiencing vertigo when they said he "dispatched Yellen and Blinken" but quickly enough, we realized it only referred to key Cabinet members he sent into the field. Biden's fine.
Like everyone else on earth, Janet Yellen and A.Blinken want Russia to end its war of aggression against Ukraine. Janet made a surprise visit to Kyiv to express US commitment to support Ukraine's economy earlier this week, and on Thursday at the G20 Summit of nations, Anthony Blinken confronted the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in a meeting on the sidelines. At the event, in a speech, Blinken accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine. Russia, at the same event, blamed Western countries of "blackmail and threats." (more)
Student Debt
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding President Biden's loan forgiveness plan, which could value at $500 billion. Some comments from conservative Justice John Roberts seemed to suggest that congress should act on a decision this large. However, Justice Sotomayer seemed to say it already has. Critics say people should pay for their own college instead of taking away tax breaks from the rich. (more)
Eli Lilly
The pharmaceutical company that makes insulin announced it would be drastically reducing prices and capping patient out-of-pocket costs to $35 per month. This comes after Biden called for such price reductions for life-saving drugs in his State Of The Union address. When the company that makes 'Mike and Ike' candy was asked if they would follow Eli Lilly's lead by lowering their prices to make their product more accessible, they declined to comment. (more)
Quickly
- The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into George Santos.
- The justice department said a police lawsuit against Donald Trump should proceed despite Trump's claim of immunity.
That's it for the news. Now for a reader question.
Editor's note: ChatGPT just launched a paid version of their product, which means it's a perfect time to ask The Lorem Ipsum. It's free, and the answers are just as accurate. Drop me a question in a reply anytime.
AI Grocery Baggers
Ask The Lorem Ipsum
Hey Daniel,
What does the rise of AI chatbots say about us, and what do you think it will do to our economy?
With love, Sydney.
Hey Sydney, this is a tough question to answer. Not because the answer is hard to come by but because my fingers are cramping from too much typing. I'm no bot, so these words won't type themselves!
Since the rise of AI, we've all taken a moment to consider whether our job will exist in a few years. Even Google asked if its job as a search engine would exist, and to do its best to stay relevant, it announced Bard, an answer to ChatGPT, which according to ChatGPT, will be out soon.
There's a clear shift in the mood of the workforce. The imbalance in the United States economy is seen most acutely in that one of the most painstaking jobs in America is largely filled by the least experienced workers, who will inevitably smash your bread with a honeydew when they bag your groceries. When ChatGPT can make sure my eggs are always on top, I don't even need a free trial. Just sign me up.
But the information industry is where the real questions live. Will I cease to exist in a year or two? Will The Lorem Ipsum be out ipsumed by a The Lorem Ipsum generator more efficient than my meat hooks? Will it also require less bourbon? When I punch these keys, do I not bleed?
The answer is almost certainly yes, with the exception of the bleeding part. Which means I'll have to grow. Specifically, into something more similar to a person – a creature who creates original ideas, who has feelings (optional), and who doesn't malfunction when bourbon is accidentally poured on him as the bot might. A creature who waits until he's in bed to overheat and doesn't need to be rebooted during an important project. Unless it's just been a really long day.
AI says a lot about us if you ask it, but most importantly, it reminds us that we'll all have to evolve, just like we always have. So bring it on.
That's it for this week.
Thanks for reading and supporting my work.
Have a great weekend!