"Deepfakes" -- if everyone is lying to everyone else all the time ... uhhh ... does that make Trump's "fake news" fake or does it make it true? You might think this is a joke for some novice philosophy student or a mathematician in training (a minus times a minus is a plus ... have I remembered that right?), but lies are insidious and far from smirk-worthy in the end. My social links wither together with "the truth" and I don't like being lonely. On the other hand, maybe this story itself is nothing but a "deepfake," a plot by 'big pharma' aimed at pushing me down the pill-puddled path to the future.New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they’ve never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone’s mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies.
We’re not talking about lip-syncing videos. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it’s hard to spot the phonies. Lawmakers and intelligence officials worry that the bogus videos — called deepfakes — could be used to threaten national security or interfere in elections.
So far, that hasn’t happened, but experts say it’s not a question of if, but when.
The lazy savants may view the advent of this technological deepfake wunderkind as a blessing: "Toldja so! Now the electorate will have to think for itself." But no one really wants that responsibility. Everyone would like to trust someone: After all, there are groceries to be bought and soccer games to attend and eeking out enough money to keep pace with the oh-so-improved economy that never seems to reach my house.... I need to trust someone, as Donald Trump advocates can demonstrate in spades.
"Speak truth to power?" What truth? What power? Who will arbitrate this clusterfuck? Are the oligarchs dancing on our graves? I imagine they might be. Fake-faker-fakest ... when draining the bureaucratic swamp is nothing short of filling it.
Folks seem to rely on belief and eschew the search for fact. The best facts used to be those personally observed, until someone doubts their memory or ponders the intent of what they've heard, perhaps poorly spoken and unclear. In my experience, what seems obvious to me is interpreted differently by others. A case in point would be the Kalama sutra that I took to mean take nothing on faith but see for yourself. And yet I've heard it argued as proof that ol'buddha man was making a case for faith somehow. I have to doubt that what one would call a fact has anything to do with what someone will believe.
ReplyDeleteThe Early 21st Century: The Rise of iBamboozlement
ReplyDeleteI wonder when in history people have had to deal with being lied to so much as we’re being lied to today.
If seen and heard it said that Donald Trump alone lies to the American people an average of just over 6 times a day. Then he has his minions repeat and amplify those lies. Then he repeats and amplifies those lies.
As to who will arbitrate this clusterfuck, we have to be responsible for our own lives.
We need to review and further our notions of critical thought. We need to have discussions about what facts and truth and clear thought are. Now will need to navigate synthetic spokespersons. It probably will not be as hard as we might fear.
We need to motivate and encourage ourselves not to get stuck in our fatigue and laziness.
We need to have faith in ourselves not to get weighed down by our and feelings of cynicism and of hopelessness.
We will need to learn about Con Games and the people who initiate them. We we need to learn how not to be marks.
When it comes to clusterfucks, maybe the word "we" is a good starting point.
ReplyDelete...and starting with “we,” really means starting with me.
DeleteHappy 4th!