And An Insight Into Conrad's Mind
Tread carefully.
OKAY, I was searching randomly for anything that might make a good Intro, and came across an article about Artificial Intelligence, which I will only use in full the once, because although it bumps up the word count, it takes a lot longer to type than AI.
O look! An evil purple dancing dinosaur!
You see, I remembered a story from the early years of "2000AD" where a human being, accompanied by an alien robot, encounters a group of security robots when they're up to mischief on a building site. Could I remember the title? Could I what! It's been decades since I read it and I wasn't that enthused about it to begin with.
However, having a mind like a skip can be an asset at times. I recalled that the artwork was by 'Redondo', a Spanish artist. His style was only so-so, but he was quick, thus being one of the go-to guys if "2000AD" was falling behind schedule. Art!
That's the artwork of Kevin O'Neill, who was emphatically NOT quick, and on a couple of occasions his strip for "Nemesis" had to be done by Redondo.
Okay, thus armed with the artist's name, a bit more digging revealed the story I was puzzling about. Art!
"Return To Armageddon"
I've had a trawl to see if I can find the scene where our heroic pair encounter the security robots and cannot, and no I'm not going through my Comic Mountain to dig out a single image. Art!
That's them in the background.
The significance is that Amtrack (the hideously deformed dude above) and Seeker (the shop-worn alien robot) ask the security robots what is the single greatest problem in throwing off their yoke of human mastery. "Being unable to lie," replies the head security robot.
Problem solved - Seeker swaps out a bit of his hardware and the security robot immediately declaims "I am Security Droid Num - NO! I am Julius Caesar!" Thanks for dooming Hom. Sap. Seeker. Although, to be fair, he does see humans as merely expendable aliens.
Which brings us to the meat of the matter. You see, AI as it is currently composed is quite capable of lying, accidentally and without intent. Art!
This one, when it arrives, will lie deliberately and with intent. Malicious intent.
The example I'm going to give here is about the South Canadian law firm of Levidow, Levidow and Oberman, who were representing a client suing an airline for personal injury. Doubtless he wanted millions and the airlines didn't, which is usually where these things start.
Enter ChatGPT. Art!
Attorney Steven Schwartz was directed to use ChatGPT to create a brief to be presented in court, which he did. This was his first time using the AI and he must have been primed by watching too many "Terminator" films, since he specifically asked it if any references or cases provided were fake. Art!
Absolutely not, replied ChatGPT; the cases referred to exist on legal databases such as 'Westlaw' and 'LexisNexis'.
WRONG!
The whole brief looked thorough and professional, but it also cited numerous court cases THAT DID NOT EXIST. The presiding judge, who diligently checked the brief, was not very impressed.
"six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations."
The judge is the Big Dog. You do not want to irk, irritate or annoy him, and Mr Schwartz is due to attend a hearing about possible sanctions.
As I said, this was done without ChatGPT being horrid. Just imagine what Skynet or those security robots will get up to .....
Wissant
For your information, this is a commune in France, situated on the coast and part of the Pas de Calais department, and if Art will put down that bowl of coal -
The world's skinniest tourists
Wissant had a long history as a fishing village and as the embarkation and debarkation point for various English and French armies en route to invade each other. It's harbour gradually silted up and Calais supplanted it in commercial importance. There are several artificial lakes in the hinterland that were created by quarrying for sand and gravel, during which the bones of a complete mammoth were dug up.
There you go, a whistle-stop tour of Wissant.
Now, why on earth did it pop up in my mind yesteryon? Answers in the Comments please.
Still On The Boil
All being well, I plan to finish off "The Long Goodbye" tonight, and Dog Buns! what a twist in the tail has emerged and no mistake.
ANYWAY I thought I'd continue with my thankless task of interpreting the South Canadian slang of seventy years ago, so that you don't have to.
PITTSBURGH PHIL: I can't remember the context this was said in, so yah booh sucks to you. Art!
Harry 'Pittsburgh Phil' Strauss by name, worked as a contract killer for Murder Inc. Hey don't knock it, a mans got to have a hobby. Ol' Phil was supposed to have killed over 100 people, possible several times that number. That's putting serious dedication into your occupation. He never carried a weapon, instead using whatever came to hand, or his hand if there was nothing else. What a sweetie.
CHOLO: I've heard this in the lyrics of a song by The Dickies, and I don't think it's particularly complimentary. It is defined as "A young man of American Mexican background who is involved with street gangs", which is a particularly deadly insult when directed at Candy, Roger Wade's servant, who is never dressed in anything less than extravagantly tailored. Art!
Not Candy
WEBLEY DOUBLE-ACTION HAMMERLESS: This, as you may be able to tell, is a gun. A revolver, which the presiding doctor states had a very heavy cocking action but a very light trigger pull. Art!
This makes it easier to carry around in a pocket as there's less pointy metal bits to get hung up on threads or seams or buttonholes and the like.
Oho What's This?
This is quite the coincidence. You may recall that Conrad put up a picture of the XB-70 Valkyrie strategic bomber prototype, because it looks cool as all get out. It's one of those planes that look fast standing still.
Well, who has a new Youtube vlog up about none other than the Valkyrie? Art!
HazegrayArt, that's whom. Yes, it may be less than three and a half minutes long, but guess how much processing power is required for an animation that long and that detailed?
Ol' Hazy's blurb in the accompanying screed states the following:
Alternate concepts for the XB-70 ranged from cargo and personnel transport, supersonic tanker and reusable launch vehicle
Source: A Look Back… NAA B-70 Valkyrie Variants – A Future That Never Was…
Art!
We get a full 360ยบ pan around the jet, above and below, and of course - obviously! - we get "Ride Of The Valkyries" on the soundtrack.
Then - Art!
The ventral doors open and another vehicle emerges. Art!
This is the X-20 Dyna-soar, an experimental concept craft that, as far as I know, never made it off the drawing-board and which has previously been portrayed as being lifted to orbit atop a Redstone rocket. Art!
So, launched from the Valkyrie, already going like stink, it accelerates into Low Eath Orbit.
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