Tag: Duane Jones
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Noticing the problem
For a long time I’ve been hammering on the fact that academic “social science” is totally disconnected from reality. It operates on a standard set of weird preconceptions about ordinary people. The real social scientists are advertisers and marketers, who understand real people deeply and use their understanding for profit. The rule seems to have…
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Which way is the endorsement?
Rob Lowe’s latest little podcast discusses the increasing need for side-gigs as the entertainment industry fades into AI oblivion. An actor’s main asset is his face. (Or her tits, but Lowe didn’t say that.) When an actor wants to argue with a director, his main case is “It’s my face up there.” Lowe mentions a…
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Party LAN
Thinking about Wincharger and rural electricity, it occurred to me that phones were common on farms LONG before electricity and automobiles and mail service. Started looking through old sources, easily verified the proportion: The rural free delivery carrier’s route rarely exceeds 24 miles in length and serves on an average about 70 farms. A rural…
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Batya’s point again
Substack’s new Twitter-clone Notes immediately turned into the standard social media rats-nest, dominated by the Engagement Seekers. Batya: Every time you fire back hatred at a perfect stranger online, somebody makes a whole lot of money. Localizing: Who makes money? The perfect stranger, who knows exactly how to weaponize your hatred for profit. New thought…
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Massive and instant
The academic side of social science has not produced any good knowledge in at least 100 years. It produces lots of evil (training CIA torturers, assisting NSA surveillers) but mostly churns out trivial and blatantly wrong nonsense. A fine example of the latter is circulating this week. Some “scientist” has declared that most people don’t…
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Old joke
Old joke: “Day 19 of the experiment, I have successfully conditioned my master to give me food, smile, and write in his book every time I drool.” – Pavlov’s Dog The free-play phase of Altman’s AI attack seems to be standard sales practice, which can be benign or not. Duane Jones calls it Sampling. Send…
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Zit?
Elon has renamed Twitter to X, and adopted a new logo for X. More proof that he’s intentionally driving the company into the ground for an LBO. Brands that can’t be pronounced are guaranteed to fail. Remember “the artist formerly known as Prince?” Remember Latinx and Womxn? What’s the verb form? Instead of tweeting, will…
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Debs and Gompers would be proud
Franny the Nanny delivers a classic stemwinding labor speech. She knows how to sell. She doesn’t sidetrack into cultural crap or fine details. Pure labor vs capital, workers vs Wall Street. Gompers approved of women leading labor unions 100 years ago, so he wouldn’t be shocked at all. = = = = = The folks…
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Making the case, fucking the case
Perfect contrast between two pieces on the writers strike and AI and such. (1) The Ankler flawlessly makes the case that AI is worth worrying about, and a strike to control it is worth supporting. He rigorously avoids all politics and religion and cultural crap, following the oldest persuasive advice to perfection. Fairness Doctrine all…
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The Jones not taken
American Radio Library has added a few issues of Radio Topics from the early ’20s. One article was highlighting services provided by radio. First a bakery was using one-way radio to dispatch its electric trucks: More importantly, businesses were using radio as a premium in the Duane Jones sense, and sometimes a self-liquidating premium, paying…
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Balkanic eruptions
We used to iconize the Balkans as the home of unending unforgiving disputes over tiny points of doctrine or loyalty, incomprehensible to outsiders. The disputes are still there, as US learned when it tried to take one side in the tangle of Serbia vs Kosovo vs Albanian Kosovars vs Albanian Kosovars Who Like Serbia vs…
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Narrowly true
Nikki’s latest pullquote: China has been preparing for war with the US as it has built up its military over the last few years. While China had been expanding its military presence America has been complacent and ‘taking gender pronoun classes’. Technically true but misses the point. China already owns us COMMERCIALLY. Nixon invited them…
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Hall of one-way mirrors
Krystal is shocked that a behavioral researcher was caught faking data in a study on honesty. Krystal thinks that the government agencies who use such research will be misled. Nope. Government agencies conduct their own research, which is always VASTLY more thorough and accurate than the research allowed in academia. I saw a shadow of…
