I Do Apologise!
Yesterday I went all about the houses in setting the scene for an AI that was able to lie, with an example of this being done both maliciously and innocently.
Well, there's a far better-known example of the malicious AI at work, in a film I've referenced lots of times on the blog: "2001 A Space Odyssey". Art!
More like 60 years ago now
Yes, I am talking about the HAL 9000 supercomputer, which will suit for an example of a hostile AI and Have You Tried Turning It Off And On Again. HAL, you see, goes potty during the mission to Jupiter and decides to off the human crew. To do this he fakes a predicted breakdown in a component module, thus luring an astronaut outside the 'Discovery'. Art!
Inscrutably evil
HAL then remotely operates one of the 'pods' and uses it as a murder weapon, severing said astronaut's air supply. So much for the Three Laws Of Robotics, hmmm?
This - can you call it 'behaviour'? - doesn't come out of nowhere. HAL, you see, had lipread Bowman and Poole discussing shutting 'him' down, which might be considered the AI equivalent of killing him. At any rate, HAL was not at all happy with this decision, because it would have been the first 'disconnection' of a HAL 9000 anywhere. There's no knowing how HAL would have reacted when re-connected, and he didn't feel like finding out.
What a shame there was no Big Red Off Button. Art!
This electronic zoo is the New York Stock Exchange, what has been described as the world's biggest casino. As you might reasonably expect, they have a Disaster Recovery Plan, in case Manhattan is flooded out, destroyed by meteorites or invaded by aliens. Art!
This might happen today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow
Thus they have back-up servers located in Chicago, eight hundred miles away and thus presumably unlikely to be attacked by those very same aliens. Unless they multi-task, for I have never encountered an alien invasion where Chicago got smitten before the Big Apple d
ANYWAY the back-up servers had to be physically turned ON and, at a particular time of day, turned OFF. By a squishy fallible member of Hom. Sap. Art!
Spot the weak link
I can see you shaking your head and tutting, because you're ahead of me here. Yes, an employee forgot to turn the back-ups OFF, which meant the computers physically located in New York didn't operate as if the new day's trading had begun. No, they went on continuing trading as if the previous day was still extant. This goosed a lot of the opening stock actions, causing values to plunge and ascend wildly until the whole lot had to be terminated and all deals cancelled.
Conrad has not seen a dollar total for this grossly deficient flub, just that it affected 250 firms, who will all be out for blood and money.
What a shame there was no Big Red Off Button.
If Only There Was A Big Orange Off Button
I'm afraid that the numbers news is not good for Donald Judas Trump. Actually that's a lie, I'm quite gleeful about the numbers news. Yes, this concerns his "Truth Social" social media platform, but instead of plummeting stock values, we're talking about an equally severe plummet in terms of traffic. Art!
Data is out for June 2024, and O! my goodness, what a difference a year makes. TS was always a minnow amongst Liopleurodons; it hit the exceedingly modest total of 3.4 million visitors in June 2023. Facebook in the same period had about THREE BILLION visitors, just to give you a sense of scale.
For June 2024 the traffic at TS is down again, to 2 million, a drop of 38% overall in a year. This is the third straight monthly fall in traffic.
Is there a reason for this?
Well, yes, it's the echo-chamber effect. A platform like Facebook has an immense array of opinions and viewpoints, which sparks debate and enquiry. TS has a bunch of right-wing cultists who all cling to the party line. No debate, no difference of opinion, no reason to attend.
No problem!
Apologies For All The Boiling
It must be a little uncomfortable in this heat. Still, I have more South Canadian vernacular to elucidate so you're not getting away soft-boiled. O noes.
TWO WAYS FROM THE JACK: You what? It took a bit of digging on Google to decipher this one. It means 'To be alright and in fine fettle'. Don't ask me where it comes from, possibly to do with gambling? Art!
BRITISH ARMY SERVICE BADGE: This is where things begin to get even more twisted than usual in a Chandler novel, because the chap wearing said badge was none other than the very South Canadian Terry Lennox, who was going by the name Paul Marston at the time. Very odd, hmmm? Art!
We are definitely coming back to this one, Dog Buns yes!
CORN-BEEF JOINT: In the sense of an eatery, not a joint of corned beef. I tried looking this up in various combinations and came away with nothing. Allow me to copy in the line in question:
I went over to a corn-beef joint on Flower. It suited my mood. A rude sign over the entrance said: "Men Only. Dogs and Women Not Admitted." The service inside was equally polished. The waiter who tossed your food at you needed a shave and deducted his tip without being invited. The food was simple but very good and they had a brown Swedish beer which could hit as hard as a martini.
O boy, you couldn't get away with that nowadays. I take it this is a very basic catering establishment, without any airs or graces, but unlike a greasy spoon diner, the food is very good. Art!
MAGOOZLUM: This is rubbish. No, not this item - the word itself apparently means 'trash' in South Canadian, or 'rubbish' amongst the rest of us. Origins uncertain.
There was a lesson in drug slang and identification which I shall save for another day.
I Say Goodbye To "The Long Goodbye"
Yes, finally finished it. I swear I remember the bit about Captain Gregorius, whom Marlowe described as being the kind of senior police officer going out of fashion yet still around in not-insubstantial numbers. He lurked in Bay City, and liked to beat up prisoners for fun and to pass the time. Towards the end of the novel we get informed that, several months later, he's on 'retirement leave', with a nod and a wink meaning he's being retired, like it or not. Art!
Beast of the same stripe
I definitely remember the twist-in-the-tail ending but definitely haven't read the whole novel, so may have heard a radio version of it. I won't spoil it for you by giving away the details. Not today, anyway.
What's That Deep Purple Song Again?
No, not Dog Buns! "Smoke On The Water". Enough of that, away with you. O yes, I recall now - "Hush". Art!
Why did I bring this up? Well, it's more widely known than "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte", and I wanted to make a point about Pumpkinhead not having a good day. Art!
So he will, in fact, have to hush his flapping pie-hole until September, when he gets sentenced over the 34 FELONY COUNTS. The poor baby is so upset about not being able to traduce, defame and slander the justice system and the people within it. Another few points on the blood-pressure scale towards an hideous medical emergency, methinks.
Finally -
Get ready for "The War Illustrated Edition 191" rocking up to a blog near you very soon!
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