@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
For that, you have to blame Harry for not calibrating her expectations appropriately.
Or she wasn't listening/didn't believe him.
Many of the negative stories about her are about how she treated the staff in royal employment. To this outsider it sounds like she treated them like hired flunkies are treated by some hollywood stars, and this is not what they are.
A friend was quite startled to see how some A listers treated staff at a club I was a member of. A chap, who knew the scene, told us that in Hollyweird, being able to make demands and get them satisfied is part of establishing your power. So demanding the resteraunt makes a dish not on the menu, serve it to you in the bar, then reject it three times is simply about status definition.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
That's exactly what happened with the collapse of the USSR. Do you regret that outcome?
Further to my point, we are now in a place where 24% of people in employment work for the state and we're about to hit 8m public sector employees, this is where the issue is. The Boris government took its eye off the ball and allowed the public sector start hiring like mad and a million extra workers now need to be paid for which will be costing us tens of billions per year that we weren't spending before. Additionally, loads of these positions won't have made any difference to the delivery of services, just duffers looking for a free ride. If we're going to get a grip of spending and the deficit we need to move back to a place where only 20-22% of the total workforce is employed by the state close to a 4:1 ratio, not the 3:1 we're close to.
The reason there's no growth and the dynamism has evaporated is that the state is just too big and 3 private sector salaries needing to pay for each public sector worker is too high which results in taxes that are too high to achieve growth.
The recent Autumn statement made no attempt to cut the State. There were no 'cuts' it was a high tax budget to fund high spending.
Neither did the Truss mini budget disaster. The Tories are shit scared of actually cutting the state down to size and explaining to the public why this needs to happen and that the government can't do everything for everyone all the time.
What would you cut, out of (genuine) interest?
ETA: on the ratio of state to private, is that driven by state growth or private contraction? Most likely a mix, I guess, but balance would be interesting.
State growth ~13% more state workers vs the same period 5 years ago and about a 2% increase in private sector workers vs 5 years ago.
I'd start by cutting 30% of admin, senior, middle and junior management roles overnight in all departments and then repeat the process until people notice. Redeploy 60% of the saving towards front line pay and recruitment (100% in the NHS) and 40% to reducing the deficit. Admin and plenty of management/teams roles are there to tick the boxes but really the discussion needs to be based around whether the box should exist at all and if it didn't would anyone notice the difference in service provision? The answer is no in enough cases to make a huge difference both for the nation and those workers who benefit from the pay increase and recruitment in service provision roles.
I'd also cut state funding of charities to zero, the sector has just become another arm of the state and charities are full of time wasters and fatcats getting rich from donations and government funding.
Finally, and the most controversial one, I'd ban contracting within all departments of anyone who has previously worked in the public sector within the last five years. No more revolving door of five figure voluntary redundancy to £1-1.5k day rates.
Great idea for a PB debate, but politically very difficult. A Government would need enormous political capital to do this, that or doing it against the background of total collapse of the nation's finances and an IMF loan.
I think something deeper is needed, that incentivises the public sector to find efficiencies and maximise shareholder value the way the private sector does. At the moment, the incentives are opposite. You get your money from politicians, therefore you're incentivised to: 1. Spend it all or you'll lose it next year 2. Convince the public that your department is failing and needs more money 3. If asked to cut, cut front-line services, to make cuts politically costly and unlikely to be repeated 4. Concern yourself very little with the satisfaction of service users.
The incentives need to be reversed. Not entirely sure how!
1-3 are common to the private sector as well. 4 is just silly.
Not really. In the public sector the service users don't have an alternative so you don't have to care about their satisfaction. That can also be the case in the private sector, but much more rarely.
In much of the public sector, there are alternatives. For instance, schools, buses and doctors. In much of the private sector, there are alternatives in theory but not in practice owing to distance constraints.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
No views on all this really, but just to comment that if a woman from the UK was marrying into, say, the Japanese or Thai royal family, at a quite senior level, I would expect them to start by knowing that there is a lot to learn and that some of what you take for granted may not be universal. And that respect is due to any monarch in any democracy.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
"As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder."
Exactly. So you are 50% right.
If you really don't think there is that type of Guardian article then you don't read the Guardian (and no shame there, plenty don't).
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
No views on all this really, but just to comment that if a woman from the UK was marrying into, say, the Japanese or Thai royal family, at a quite senior level, I would expect them to start by knowing that there is a lot to learn and that some of what you take for granted may not be universal. And that respect is due to any monarch in any democracy.
The Japanese royal house didn't behave like a Windsors of Dallas TV programme for decades. Hell, the Cub Scouts found it very difficult to enforce their requirement for a scrapbook of royal news because of the stuff the papers were printing. And that was 30+ years ago.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Are we really going to have a thread where half the contributors tell us that the Guardian has no bonkers woke articles whatsoever and what's all the fuss about?
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh · 1h Speaker Hoyle is so furious with @michaelgove for not providing advance copies of his full Cumbria coal statement that he's suspended the Commons.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
You are ascribing sentience to the ChatBOT. You think it is alive and conscious
For you, it has passed the Turing Test. Interesting (also quite quite stupid)
Isn't he saying the exact opposite, that you can't ascribe human characteristics to it and it is simply an algorithm whose output is shaped by the input rather than its own intent?
Zackly.
Auto-manufacturing a generic woke style piece around an absurdity injected by the Prompt proves that woke style pieces are absurd? ... talk about shaky reasoning!
It actually - although it's not quite the same - reminds me of something Chris Hitchens and Martin Amis used to do together in the downtime when they weren't disproving God or chasing women -
Replace the word "love" in films, novels and songs with "hysterical sex".
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
Can we not take Harry and Megan at their word, and pay them no attention whatsoever ? (That is the only comment I intend to make on this confection of non-news.)
Noted that from next week comments BTL on Times digital will need to be in real names. No anonymous posts. Wonder if this is the way most social media will eventually go as the only way to stamp out increasing abuse?
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Hows about don't marry into the British Royal family then? If you want to speak about entitlement, I'd say a Hollywood airhead marrying a minor Royal and then expecting the whole institution to turn itself inside out to suit her is up there.
I'd also be interested to know whether Meghan dispensed with the Royal trimmings she claims to find absurd when it came to dealing with people below her in the pecking order. Did she insist that everyone called her 'Meghan' rather than 'Your Royal Highness'? If she did, I've never heard about it.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
You are ascribing sentience to the ChatBOT. You think it is alive and conscious
For you, it has passed the Turing Test. Interesting (also quite quite stupid)
Isn't he saying the exact opposite, that you can't ascribe human characteristics to it and it is simply an algorithm whose output is shaped by the input rather than its own intent?
Zackly.
Auto-manufacturing a generic woke style piece around an absurdity injected by the Prompt proves that woke style pieces are absurd? ... talk about shaky reasoning!
It actually - although it's not quite the same - reminds me of something Chris Hitchens and Martin Amis used to do together in the downtime when they weren't disproving God or chasing women -
Replace the word "love" in films, novels and songs with "hysterical sex".
Kept them amused for hours apparently.
You can replace a word (sometimes two) in all the Harry Potter book titles with the word 'cum' with somewhat funny results.
E.g. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Fire". "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Azkaban"
Are we really going to have a thread where half the contributors tell us that the Guardian has no bonkers woke articles whatsoever and what's all the fuss about?
Not at all. It's just that taking one and sticking a bonkers bit in, then laughing and pointing at the result, doesn't really get us anywhere.
Still, we have to talk about something on a thread. And Oyster Boy seems to have yet again had a greater impact on it than people of sound mind and good character would wish.
'In an interview with broadcasters on Thursday, Braverman said: “If they go ahead with those strikes there will be undeniable, serious disruption caused to many thousands of people who have holiday plans. I really want to urge people who have got plans to travel abroad to think carefully about their plans because they may well be impacted.”
The strike is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of people planning to go on holiday. The government has been preparing for the strike by training 600 soldiers to check passports instead.'
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
You are ascribing sentience to the ChatBOT. You think it is alive and conscious
For you, it has passed the Turing Test. Interesting (also quite quite stupid)
Isn't he saying the exact opposite, that you can't ascribe human characteristics to it and it is simply an algorithm whose output is shaped by the input rather than its own intent?
Zackly.
Auto-manufacturing a generic woke style piece around an absurdity injected by the Prompt proves that woke style pieces are absurd? ... talk about shaky reasoning!
It actually - although it's not quite the same - reminds me of something Chris Hitchens and Martin Amis used to do together in the downtime when they weren't disproving God or chasing women -
Replace the word "love" in films, novels and songs with "hysterical sex".
Kept them amused for hours apparently.
You can replace a word (sometimes two) in all the Harry Potter book titles with the word 'cum' with somewhat funny results.
E.g. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Fire". "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Azkaban"
Well, it amuses us.
Do you go for 'the order of the Cum' or the 'cum of the Phoenix?'
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
"As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder."
Exactly. So you are 50% right.
If you really don't think there is that type of Guardian article then you don't read the Guardian (and no shame there, plenty don't).
Yes, alright. But this exercise is not showing that.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Harry could have mentioned that for decades, people of Republican sympathies have been not curtsying and the Queen has carefully not noticed.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
Can we not take Harry and Megan at their word, and pay them no attention whatsoever ? (That is the only comment I intend to make on this confection of non-news.)
Yes, I do wish they'd just disappear. Sadly the media and big tech has realised that there's money to be made by taking advantage of them and they're too stupid to realise it's them being used, not them using big tech.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
No views on all this really, but just to comment that if a woman from the UK was marrying into, say, the Japanese or Thai royal family, at a quite senior level, I would expect them to start by knowing that there is a lot to learn and that some of what you take for granted may not be universal. And that respect is due to any monarch in any democracy.
"Two countries divided by a common language" applies here - because of the coincidence of language and overlap of cultures, Americans and Brits expect familiarity and feel more free to comment critically than we might in Thailand. And there's a generational thing too - I expect most young Brits find curtsying somewhere on the quaint-ridiculous axis.
If you marry into a family with a different culture, how far are you expected to adapt? Up to a point - not aggressively trying to change them - but not to turn yourself into a clone of them.
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
The USSR did collapse. Well, more like exploded.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Yep. I won't be doing this but I bet I could do the opposite of what Leon's done.
Make it churn out a piece of Speccie/unHerd type "muscular liberalism" but frigged via my Prompt to be absurd and 'satirical'.
Maybe something on Lockdown. How Tesco took it to extremes by insisting all their apples were 2m apart and wore a mask. The trauma this caused to shoppers when they saw it.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
The ironic thing about that is, if she hadn't made such a big deal about "being black", the British press wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
"Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it does give you a better misery."
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
The USSR did collapse. Well, more like exploded.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
He had slightly more involvement in it than that. If only in his decision to try negotiations rather than continuing with military force.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
The ironic thing about that is, if she hadn't made such a big deal about "being black", the British press wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
"Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it does give you a better misery."
Money isn't everything, but it makes poverty bearable.
TUC delegate, 1984 (sorry, I can't remember which one).
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
"Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it does give you a better misery."
Money isn't everything, but it makes poverty bearable.
TUC delegate, 1984 (sorry, I can't remember which one).
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy an enormous amount of psychiatric help
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
The USSR did collapse. Well, more like exploded.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
He had slightly more involvement in it than that. If only in his decision to try negotiations rather than continuing with military force.
Again, not something I see Putin doing.
By that stage, he had literally no power. The military would have giggled slightly if he’d said “Shoot people until it’s all quiet again”.
He was Nicholas II without the personal hatred against him. A Russian friend put it thus - we were too busy surviving to bother to shoot him. Plus waste of a bullet.
Putin learnt from this, hence the multiple security forces he keeps balanced against each other and the very active repression and propaganda about the unity of the State.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
No, because just the Prompt does that.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
The USSR did collapse. Well, more like exploded.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
He had slightly more involvement in it than that. If only in his decision to try negotiations rather than continuing with military force.
Again, not something I see Putin doing.
By that stage, he had literally no power. The military would have giggled slightly if he’d said “Shoot people until it’s all quiet again”.
He was Nicholas II without the personal hatred against him. A Russian friend put it thus - we were too busy surviving to bother to shoot him. Plus waste of a bullet.
Putin learnt from this, hence the multiple security forces he keeps balanced against each other and the very active repression and propaganda about the unity of the State.
Which stage are you thinking of? Because it sounds to me as if you are talking about the aftermath of the August coup - whereas I was thinking of the reforms that ultimately led to it.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
David Cameron lamented that Eton was turning itself into an academic hothouse rather than a cross-section of thickos from old-money families.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
Thought you'd be pleased I'm saying something nice about an Old Etonian. Can't win with some people!
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
I was generally pretty sympathetic for Harry and Meghan. But the fact they go on and on about it has worn my patience thin. The initial press briefings weren't enough. The subsequent planted accusations weren't enough. An interview with OPRAH wasn't enough. Now they have to do a focused documentary too. The royal family is still grieving from the loss of their matriarch. It feels like they are capitalizing on the timing to get more publicity dollars. Can't they just go away and enjoy their rich, privileged, attractive person lives in sunny California?
@mjluxmoore Ukraine’s FM @DmytroKuleba said the West should prepare for Russia's possible collapse as a result of the war. “I’m calling on the world not to be afraid of Russia falling apart. If the wheels of history begin to turn, no human will change it."
I want Russia to lose as much as the next person that isn't a bot.
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
Wasn't it the same when the USSR collapsed, though? And deals were done - although sadly Ukraine got shafted on that. And it's not just the warheads - the delivery systems will need monitoring and dealing with as well.
First of all, the USSR* didn't exactly collapse. It split into its constituent parts. There were governments in place to take over. Moreover, the process was to a great degree controlled by the central government, first through Gorbachev and later through Eltsin. I don't think that would be the case in Russia.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
The USSR did collapse. Well, more like exploded.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
He had slightly more involvement in it than that. If only in his decision to try negotiations rather than continuing with military force.
Again, not something I see Putin doing.
By that stage, he had literally no power. The military would have giggled slightly if he’d said “Shoot people until it’s all quiet again”.
He was Nicholas II without the personal hatred against him. A Russian friend put it thus - we were too busy surviving to bother to shoot him. Plus waste of a bullet.
Putin learnt from this, hence the multiple security forces he keeps balanced against each other and the very active repression and propaganda about the unity of the State.
Which stage are you thinking of? Because it sounds to me as if you are talking about the aftermath of the August coup - whereas I was thinking of the reforms that ultimately led to it.
The memoirs of various people on the inside show that power vanished from the Kremlin very fast. Long before the August coup, Gorbachev was simply unable to control the country and was simply signing up to what the various states wanted to make it look as if he was still involved.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
A lot of that sounds quite miserable to me (including Eton). I would especially hate having to be surrounded by security all the time.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Harry could have mentioned that for decades, people of Republican sympathies have been not curtsying and the Queen has carefully not noticed.
Not just them. Official guidance:
There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.
For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.
On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am,' pronounced with a short 'a,' as in 'jam'.
Men in family behaving like complete nitwits - spiteful monkeys in fact - over bikes, bikes, for God's sake! Daughter is having romantic complications. Yours truly is wondering how the hell it is that 3 apparently grown men have all the emotional acuity and sense of toddlers. And what on earth I can do - other than be there to be vented at, to provide tea and hugs - for daughter. Love and misery. A large part of life.
Meanwhile who looks after me? No-one. All I have is you lot - and you're probably all figments of @Leon's Chat Thingy which, fascinating and speedy as it no doubt is, is quite unable to give me (or anyone) the sort of hug that makes people feel better.
So there are times when I think all this marriage/motherhood malarkey is not all it's cracked up to be. Today is such a time. The attractions of hi'ing off to a nunnery: to wear simple black every day and spend my days quietly gardening, reading and contemplating life (you mostly bugger everything up every day) become more appealing. Earth to earth and all that. May as well start now.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
No, because just the Prompt does that.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
I mean if we're going to torture this then let's torture this.
It is analogous to a Private Eye or Daily Mash article. The headline is funny and the articles themselves sometimes also funny. I thought it quite amusing to flesh out the Graun-type earnest for want of a better word woke-style article but then I'm a right of centre old git who enjoys laughing at left wing earnest woke-style stuff.
You are a left of centre old git so you immediately jumped to the defence of the article whereas that was the joke.
But yes on two counts. First it was a bit of a meh and cheap shot from Leon and secondly we discuss Leon's playthings a bit too much.
That said, ChatGPT is a thing and I'm interested in peoples' takes on it.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
Men in family behaving like complete nitwits - spiteful monkeys in fact - over bikes, bikes, for God's sake! Daughter is having romantic complications. Yours truly is wondering how the hell it is that 3 apparently grown men have all the emotional acuity and sense of toddlers. And what on earth I can do - other than be there to be vented at, to provide tea and hugs - for daughter. Love and misery. A large part of life.
Meanwhile who looks after me? No-one. All I have is you lot - and you're probably all figments of @Leon's Chat Thingy which, fascinating and speedy as it no doubt is, is quite unable to give me (or anyone) the sort of hug that makes people feel better.
So there are times when I think all this marriage/motherhood malarkey is not all it's cracked up to be. Today is such a time. The attractions of hi'ing off to a nunnery: to wear simple black every day and spend my days quietly gardening, reading and contemplating life (you mostly bugger everything up every day) become more appealing. Earth to earth and all that. May as well start now.
Sorry to hear that. Has it really taken this long to realise that men and boys only differ in the cost of the toys?
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
Men in family behaving like complete nitwits - spiteful monkeys in fact - over bikes, bikes, for God's sake! Daughter is having romantic complications. Yours truly is wondering how the hell it is that 3 apparently grown men have all the emotional acuity and sense of toddlers. And what on earth I can do - other than be there to be vented at, to provide tea and hugs - for daughter. Love and misery. A large part of life.
Meanwhile who looks after me? No-one. All I have is you lot - and you're probably all figments of @Leon's Chat Thingy which, fascinating and speedy as it no doubt is, is quite unable to give me (or anyone) the sort of hug that makes people feel better.
So there are times when I think all this marriage/motherhood malarkey is not all it's cracked up to be. Today is such a time. The attractions of hi'ing off to a nunnery: to wear simple black every day and spend my days quietly gardening, reading and contemplating life (you mostly bugger everything up every day) become more appealing. Earth to earth and all that. May as well start now.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
Noted that from next week comments BTL on Times digital will need to be in real names. No anonymous posts. Wonder if this is the way most social media will eventually go as the only way to stamp out increasing abuse?
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
No, because just the Prompt does that.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
I mean if we're going to torture this then let's torture this.
It is analogous to a Private Eye or Daily Mash article. The headline is funny and the articles themselves sometimes also funny. I thought it quite amusing to flesh out the Graun-type earnest for want of a better word woke-style article but then I'm a right of centre old git who enjoys laughing at left wing earnest woke-style stuff.
You are a left of centre old git so you immediately jumped to the defence of the article whereas that was the joke.
But yes on two counts. First it was a bit of a meh and cheap shot from Leon and secondly we discuss Leon's playthings a bit too much.
That said, ChatGPT is a thing and I'm interested in peoples' takes on it.
Love to drop this - and let's - but just on one point. I am NOT defending 'woke type' articles. I don't read many and am totally prepared to believe some absurd stuff gets churned out. But this bot exercise here on PB today - where you inject the absurdity with the Prompt - says nothing about it either way.
GPT-Chat is nowhere near AGI...people have quickly shown it doesn't have any idea about basic maths and also in space of 2-3 interactions not only spew stuff little kids know not to be true, but also contridicts itself e.g. about primes and integers.
Sure: within two minutes of playing with it, I got it to claim that Bill Gates had never been married, that he was married, and that he had been previously married to Gerri Halliwell.
On the other hand, if you're not trying to trip it up, and want to use it as a helper for - say - learning the Geopy library or Unity 3D; or if you want to see what important points you've missed from a GCSE essay on Henry VIII, then it's pretty amazing.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
I was generally pretty sympathetic for Harry and Meghan. But the fact they go on and on about it has worn my patience thin. The initial press briefings weren't enough. The subsequent planted accusations weren't enough. An interview with OPRAH wasn't enough. Now they have to do a focused documentary too. The royal family is still grieving from the loss of their matriarch. It feels like they are capitalizing on the timing to get more publicity dollars. Can't they just go away and enjoy their rich, privileged, attractive person lives in sunny California?
I feel this way too. I sympathise with their treatment by the media and I do suspect that at times the institution made the wrong calls in how to deal with it - and I’m sure that made her feel very helpless and unsupported.
At the same time they wanted to retreat away from the institution to live a “new life” (something I can completely appreciate and support) but permanently chain themselves to it by making a living out of dishing dirt, which is very unedifying and shows fundamental bad faith, to be frank.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
Just need to make Eton 100% scholarship for poor children and 0% feepaying. It's what the founder wouldk have wanted.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
What is this oracular nonsense? Unless you work for Gabbitas & Thring (if they are still a thring) or are a university admissions tutor what on earth would you know about it?
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
No, because just the Prompt does that.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
I mean if we're going to torture this then let's torture this.
It is analogous to a Private Eye or Daily Mash article. The headline is funny and the articles themselves sometimes also funny. I thought it quite amusing to flesh out the Graun-type earnest for want of a better word woke-style article but then I'm a right of centre old git who enjoys laughing at left wing earnest woke-style stuff.
You are a left of centre old git so you immediately jumped to the defence of the article whereas that was the joke.
But yes on two counts. First it was a bit of a meh and cheap shot from Leon and secondly we discuss Leon's playthings a bit too much.
That said, ChatGPT is a thing and I'm interested in peoples' takes on it.
Love to drop this - and let's - but just on one point. I am NOT defending 'woke type' articles. I don't read many and am totally prepared to believe some absurd stuff gets churned out. But this bot exercise here on PB today - where you inject the absurdity with the Prompt - says nothing about it either way.
No it shows that extremely Woke articles a La guardian are stupidly easy to generate and reduce to absurdity - even by a glorified autocomplete machine - because they are already formulaic and hackneyed - and because they already teeter on the edge of absurdity
The oysters? Why Thankyou. Carlingfords and jerseys at Bentley’s. Very very nice
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
The ironic thing about that is, if she hadn't made such a big deal about "being black", the British press wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
Ha ha ha. Yes of course.
Meghan was the first non-engaged Royal girlfriend to be asked to spend Christmas at Sandringham. Prince Charles himself chose the Gospel choir for the wedding. The Royal family were very welcoming, and I recall there being widespread joy in the country that Harry had bagged a beautiful Princess and that she was mixed race. Of course the press were going to get round to printing negative stuff about her, as they did Fergie and Diana - to claim that it's because of her race is sloppy and frankly unfair.
“Julian Knight has been suspended as a Conservative MP after a report to the Metropolitan Police involving allegations of serious sexual assault.
A party spokesperson said on Wednesday it had taken the step after a complaint to the Met, without commenting on the nature of the complaint.
On Thursday, the Met said in a statement that on 28 October it had received allegations of serious sexual assault against unnamed victims reported to have taken place on unknown dates at undisclosed locations.”
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
I was generally pretty sympathetic for Harry and Meghan. But the fact they go on and on about it has worn my patience thin. The initial press briefings weren't enough. The subsequent planted accusations weren't enough. An interview with OPRAH wasn't enough. Now they have to do a focused documentary too. The royal family is still grieving from the loss of their matriarch. It feels like they are capitalizing on the timing to get more publicity dollars. Can't they just go away and enjoy their rich, privileged, attractive person lives in sunny California?
Those lifestyles need paying for, slagging the Royals is their most lucrative revenue stream.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
Just need to make Eton 100% scholarship for poor children and 0% feepaying. It's what the founder wouldk have wanted.
Moving more in that direction with Foundation Scholarships and 100% bursaries.
Yes of course Henry VIth founded Eton to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King's College, Cambridge which he also founded, the wealthy able to afford private tutors
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
The ironic thing about that is, if she hadn't made such a big deal about "being black", the British press wouldn't have batted an eyelid.
She is about as black as Ali G. If I were describing her to for instance the police, the word would not feature. Slightly dark colouring.
Can I tell you all a secret: if we weren't all talking about Harry and Meghan, then there would be no TV or Netflix series. Us complaining about them is "engagement", and there's nothing today's media giants like more than "engagement".
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
When stumbling across somebody who opposes schools like Eton how do you suss out if he or she is driven by resentment or by a genuine belief that such institutions are incompatible with even a semblance of equal opportunities?
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
What is this oracular nonsense? Unless you work for Gabbitas & Thring (if they are still a thring) or are a university admissions tutor what on earth would you know about it?
Can I tell you all a secret: if we weren't all talking about Harry and Meghan, then there would be no TV or Netflix series. Us complaining about them is "engagement", and there's nothing today's media giants like more than "engagement".
The photo from the Harry Potter premier and some of the other stuff were clearly done deliberately to get the media talking about it.
EDIT: Whether Harry and Meghan knew that Netflix were being cynical in that way is another matter.
Can I tell you all a secret: if we weren't all talking about Harry and Meghan, then there would be no TV or Netflix series. Us complaining about them is "engagement", and there's nothing today's media giants like more than "engagement".
Hopefully things haven't got so desperate for Netflix that they're anxiously waiting for the PB comments data to come through.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
I think you have a slightly warped idea of what makes people happy. A life of privilege doesn't equate to a life of happiness, often quite the opposite. The defining experience of Harry's life was the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. I'm not a psychologist but I think it's quite obvious that the grief has haunted and coloured the rest of his life. I feel desperately sorry for him and I wish him and Meghan all the happiness in the world.
Plenty of people lose their mothers young even on council estates but they don't whinge for ever but get on with it and his whinge is mainly about being born into one of the most privileged positions of anybody in the world
I was generally pretty sympathetic for Harry and Meghan. But the fact they go on and on about it has worn my patience thin. The initial press briefings weren't enough. The subsequent planted accusations weren't enough. An interview with OPRAH wasn't enough. Now they have to do a focused documentary too. The royal family is still grieving from the loss of their matriarch. It feels like they are capitalizing on the timing to get more publicity dollars. Can't they just go away and enjoy their rich, privileged, attractive person lives in sunny California?
No, not on the basis of repeat fees for Suits plus what Harry inherited from Di. Not cheap, California. Or high goal polo.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
When stumbling across somebody who opposes schools like Eton how do you suss out if he or she is driven by resentment or by a genuine belief that such institutions are incompatible with even a semblance of equal opportunities?
According to some educational experts, parental nurture and the period up to the age of 5 are *the* determinative of future outcomes.
So, to ensure equality, all children should be taken from their families and raised by philosophers (see Plato)
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
When stumbling across somebody who opposes schools like Eton how do you suss out if he or she is driven by resentment or by a genuine belief that such institutions are incompatible with even a semblance of equal opportunities?
It would be interesting to conduct an experiment amongst anti-public school types. If at the right age, offer an all expenses paid place at Eton or Benenden to their offspring or, hand on heart, ask whether they would have liked their offspring to go to those schools.
I'm sure some - you I have no doubt - would stick to your line of sending your children to the local comp but it might nevertheless provoke an internal debate which would give some sort of a clue as to why people are in favour of them.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
When stumbling across somebody who opposes schools like Eton how do you suss out if he or she is driven by resentment or by a genuine belief that such institutions are incompatible with even a semblance of equal opportunities?
It would be interesting to conduct an experiment amongst anti-public school types. If at the right age, offer an all expenses paid place at Eton or Benenden to their offspring or, hand on heart, ask whether they would have liked their offspring to go to those schools.
I'm sure some - you I have no doubt - would stick to your line of sending your children to the local comp but it might nevertheless provoke an internal debate which would give some sort of a clue as to why people are in favour of them.
And repeat the experiment with alumni/ae of those schools. I've seen violently different reactions.
Twitter has discovered that ChatGPT can hilariously churn out Woke bullshit in half a second. I just put in THIS prompt
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys” field of chimney design and construction, that we can create a more inclusive and just society.”
Hence showing how easy it is to churn out formulaic "woke mocking" drivel.
One worries for toilers like Giles Coren and Rod Liddle.
TBH, I think the first journalists in line will be those hacks who churn out EXACTLY this wearisome bullshit for the Guardian
How many articles are simply entitled “Why XXX is racist” - insert anything you like - golf, gardening, philosophy, fruit picking, furniture
Well now ChatGPT can take that algorithm and spew up this gibberish for free and in 0.2 seconds. Should save the Guardian £££ in wages
Racist prime numbers?
No problemo:
“As a trans Black woman, I am all too familiar with the intersections of racism and transphobia. But recently, I have also been thinking about the intersection of mathematics and racism. In particular, the concept of prime numbers has made me question the inherent biases in the field of mathematics.
For those who may not know, a prime number is a whole number that is divisible only by itself and one. These numbers play a crucial role in mathematical and cryptographic fields, but their very definition perpetuates the notion of superiority and exclusivity.
As a trans Black woman, I am already excluded from many spaces and opportunities due to my intersecting identities. The idea of prime numbers, which are considered the "best" and most exclusive type of number, only reinforces this exclusion. It suggests that only certain numbers are worthy of attention and accolades, just as only certain people are deemed worthy of respect and inclusion in society.”
That is so close to something the Guardian would ACTUALLY publish
Because that's the material the model has been trained on. It is simply parsing your prompt and then matching the tone to something similar and spitting out a vaguely similar response to what it knows. It's very clever because the language parsing is an achievement and so is the response construction, yet it is still stuck in the bounds of what it is, a chatbot. Just a reasonably good one.
Yes, of course - though I would say this is an incredibly impressive chatbot, not just "reasonably good"
The idea it can "detect my parodic intent" is moronic. It just appears that way. And it works because Woke articles are already self-parodic in the way the shamelessly repeat the weary formula - making them easy to reproduce
Yes, it does show that those articles are ridiculous. What's interesting to me is that the chatbot is writing this earnestly and believes this is what you want as a response because it doesn't realise that this is a pisstake.
I wouldn't ascribe attributes like "earnest" to the bot. It's steered by the prompt. If the prompt is a pisstake the output will be too.
No, the idea that it's able to understand the writers intent from the promt is ridiculous.
Not what I'm saying.
Take this prompt:
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
Ok, so that's got mocking and absurdity built in. "Disabled Trans black women" and "Racist chimneys" ho ho. The bot doesn't laugh or smirk or roll its eyes - it does none of that - what it does is it takes the (absurd mocking) premise and fleshes out with typical Guardian like copy - the style, the lingo - and hey presto you get a few paras of (what a surprise!) mocking absurdity. The output looks like cheap anti-woke satire because it's been steered that way by a user (in this case our Leon) using cheap anti-woke satire in the prompt.
That's all that's happening.
But that it's regurgitating Guardian articles is why it's funny and proves the point he's making.
That proves the point I'm making!
It's self-fulfilling because the prompt itself is absurd. The output is effectively injecting absurdity into Guardian style articles - hence producing the trite satire - not showing that Guardian style articles are absurd. Some of them might be but this doesn't show that.
Try it without "racist chimneys" and you'll see.
You're both (all three) right.
It is funny because that is the language of a zillion Guardian articles. All @Leon has done is a reductio ad absurdam by using "racist chimneys" instead of "male white hierarchy" or somesuch.
The point is that you can read in the Guardian why everything is racist/sexist/transphobic and @Leon has just shown that, much as many Guardian journalists, you can swap "male white hierarchy" with any old thing and there is very little difference in the type of article and its construction.
You are right because he is showboating in an existing framework and it is a cheap shot; he is right because the butt of the joke is those endless guardian articles that this has "learned" so amusingly well.
Appreciate the exec summary Captain but, no, I'm 100% right and 0% wrong because I'm making only 1 point and it's correct.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
I'd be pretty confident that the same would happen if you asked an AI to generate an article for The Spectator, Spiked or any other publication represented in its corpus.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
Comedy is based upon paradox. Bloke walking along upright where the expectation is to continue upright then slipping on a banana skin, so no longer upright. Big laughs.
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
No, because just the Prompt does that.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
I mean if we're going to torture this then let's torture this.
It is analogous to a Private Eye or Daily Mash article. The headline is funny and the articles themselves sometimes also funny. I thought it quite amusing to flesh out the Graun-type earnest for want of a better word woke-style article but then I'm a right of centre old git who enjoys laughing at left wing earnest woke-style stuff.
You are a left of centre old git so you immediately jumped to the defence of the article whereas that was the joke.
But yes on two counts. First it was a bit of a meh and cheap shot from Leon and secondly we discuss Leon's playthings a bit too much.
That said, ChatGPT is a thing and I'm interested in peoples' takes on it.
Love to drop this - and let's - but just on one point. I am NOT defending 'woke type' articles. I don't read many and am totally prepared to believe some absurd stuff gets churned out. But this bot exercise here on PB today - where you inject the absurdity with the Prompt - says nothing about it either way.
No it shows that extremely Woke articles a La guardian are stupidly easy to generate and reduce to absurdity - even by a glorified autocomplete machine - because they are already formulaic and hackneyed - and because they already teeter on the edge of absurdity
The oysters? Why Thankyou. Carlingfords and jerseys at Bentley’s. Very very nice
But so are extremely reactionary articles a la Speccy, Tele, Mail, unHerd, Express etc.
I actually read more of them than I do Guardian type stuff and often - I kid you not - I can predict the whole thing from the 1st sentence.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
What is this oracular nonsense? Unless you work for Gabbitas & Thring (if they are still a thring) or are a university admissions tutor what on earth would you know about it?
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix. are So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
They don't, the latter normally end up at Stowe, where Harry would probably have gone if he was just Spencer not royal
That’s decades out of date. Back in the day Stowe was indeed the home of Tim Nice But Dim and mainly taught rugby.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
They are more academic than they were but still well behind Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Oundle, Sevenoaks, St Pauls etc academically.
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
Just need to make Eton 100% scholarship for poor children and 0% feepaying. It's what the founder wouldk have wanted.
Moving more in that direction with Foundation Scholarships and 100% bursaries.
Yes of course Henry VIth founded Eton to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King's College, Cambridge which he also founded, the wealthy able to afford private tutors
But that's like saying an earthworm is moving to the sky every time it goes up its burrow. It needs to be 100% non paying. Someone needs to take it to the Charity Commission.
Can I tell you all a secret: if we weren't all talking about Harry and Meghan, then there would be no TV or Netflix series. Us complaining about them is "engagement", and there's nothing today's media giants like more than "engagement".
The thing is, although I have Netflix and am talking about them, wild horses could not force me to watch a second of the series. But I suppose that is no skin off anyone's nose if I am already in the Netflix bag.
Can I tell you all a secret: if we weren't all talking about Harry and Meghan, then there would be no TV or Netflix series. Us complaining about them is "engagement", and there's nothing today's media giants like more than "engagement".
The photo from the Harry Potter premier and some of the other stuff were clearly done deliberately to get the media talking about it.
EDIT: Whether Harry and Meghan knew that Netflix were being cynical in that way is another matter.
Given the following is merely true, why do you expect journalists to accurately identify pictures of anything
Megan Markle keeps making such a big deal about her race. I can’t have been the only one who watched the first couple of series of Suits without realising she was black (as she calls herself) and being a bit bemused when Bunky Bunk from the Wire was introduced as her father in Series 3. She is of course conditioned to see the whole world through the prism of race, as it seems are the Netflix producers. Meanwhile most of us in Britain don’t spend much time thinking about skin pigmentation.
Also I saw a bizarre quote from Harry that he thought everyone should be impressed that he as a ginger could score such a “beautiful woman”. Quite the inferiority complex on display from that comment. She ain’t all that. Beauty comes in many forms too, odd he’s not learnt that yet. And also what’s wrong with being ginger?
Hopefully now their lived experience has been shared, these two quite trivial people will disappear with their money.
Quite a revealing comment from Meghan Markle. She seemed to see the Royal Family as a kind of British Kardashians.
@chrisshipitv Meghan says “I thought it was a joke” when she was told she would have to curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, the Queen on their first meeting. In her interview, Meghan performs a deep bow with her arms outstretched and says “Pleasure to meet you Your Majesty” and asked “was that ok?”
She's American. The Declaration of Independence states that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." and so it's hardly surprising that she is bewildered by the idea of curtseying to somebody, especially in private to a member of her husband's family. I'm British, and a moderate monarchist, and it seems kind of archaic even to me. People forget how wide the cultural gap is between the UK and the US, on many dimensions.
Maybe, but she chose to marry into that family and the traditions it comes with.
That's true. I think she was mad to do so, the idea that a Black American woman marrying into the Royal Family under the gaze of the British press was going to be anything other than a total shitshow is for the birds. My own personal theory is that Harry married her precisely because he saw her as his exit from a life that had caused him nothing but misery. That exit is complicated of course. They seem like nice people and I wish them luck.
' 'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
Things he would have been unlikely to have in his life if he was Harry Windsor, ex army officer now Foxtons estate agent living in Wandsworth. And not a member of that awful racist family from this evil racist country.
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance. 2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC. 3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer. 4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him. 5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear. 6. A free house. 7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels. 8. A date with a C-list US actress. 9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California. 10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
They have entrance exams at Eton? What's the point if they let in so many dumb boys?
Only two questions on the paper: Who are your parents? How much money have they got?
If you are minded to go there it is now fiendishly difficult to get into Eton. And once there it is indeed a hothouse with very little tolerance of slack academic achievement.
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
When stumbling across somebody who opposes schools like Eton how do you suss out if he or she is driven by resentment or by a genuine belief that such institutions are incompatible with even a semblance of equal opportunities?
It would be interesting to conduct an experiment amongst anti-public school types. If at the right age, offer an all expenses paid place at Eton or Benenden to their offspring or, hand on heart, ask whether they would have liked their offspring to go to those schools.
I'm sure some - you I have no doubt - would stick to your line of sending your children to the local comp but it might nevertheless provoke an internal debate which would give some sort of a clue as to why people are in favour of them.
And repeat the experiment with alumni/ae of those schools. I've seen violently different reactions.
True. Not for everyone. The problem/benefit is that if, say, you go to Eton and don't like it, and your parents are willing to take you out, then you have a huge number of alternatives to choose from all of which will almost certainly be in the private school system. Just pick the school that suits you. No one is leaving Winchester to go to their local comp unless the family goes broke.
A German man referred to as a prince called Heinrich XIII, 71, is alleged to have been central to their plans.
Apparently he was a member of the princely house of Reuss, which has the quaint custom of naming all its male members (so to speak) Heinrich, and numbering them in chronological order of birth.
Whether he is really a prince in any sense I'm not sure. Apparently the main line goes through Heinrich IV (1919-2012), Heinrich XIV (b. 1955) and Heinrich XXIX (b. 1997), so the would-be Kaiser is presumably a cousin of Heinrich XIV in some cadet line.
@Chris - If you're interested in the genealogy, have you looked at the possible Abba connection? The dark-haired woman in that group, who suffered in post-WW2 Norway as a so-called "child of shame" because her father had been a German soldier during the occupation, married a Prince Heinrich Ruzzo of Reuss, Count of Plauen, making her the Princess Reuss of Plauen.
A connection with Theodore Reuss would be a corker, but he doesn't seem to have been from a nobby background.
Comments
But the idea of a failed/collapsed state with a large number of nuclear weapons going spare is - disturbing. That would be a very bad outcome for everyone.
If you take a woke Guardian type article in all its earnestness and crowbar in an absurd premise - like "racist chimneys" - you'll generate some cheap antiwoke chucklechops.
As to who the joke is on? - eye of the beholder. To me it's on the people who specialise in antiwoke chucklechops. Since it shows how trite it is. But that's just me. No doubt people who like cheap antiwoke chucklechops - the cheap chucklers themselves if you will - will think the joke is on woke.
Most creative work is a remix of things that already exist, and all AI does is do huge numbers of remixes at warp speed.
Great for consumers, but doubly uncomfortable for creators. Partly because the machine puts them out of work, but also because it highlights that we're not as special as we think.
https://twitter.com/Sentdex/status/1600547949385129984
And that is just the dedicated server for Leon's requests.
[David] Warner's manager claims Australia were 'told' to tamper with ball after Hobart loss in 2016-17
"You'd have to be a blind Labrador to not realise more than three people were involved", he also says of Newlands ball-tampering in 2018
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/david-warner-manager-australia-told-to-tamper-with-ball-after-hobart-defeat-in-2016-17-1348564?platform=amp
Cheating Fugging Aussies!
Exactly. So you are 50% right.
If you really don't think there is that type of Guardian article then you don't read the Guardian (and no shame there, plenty don't).
That is all Leon has done, he has inserted an absurd paradoxical idea into an otherwise earnest (and to @kini, absolutely legitimate type of) article. A bit like Prue Leith on Bake Off turning to one contestant and calling them a useless c**t. It is a cheap but effective method of comedy and tbf it amused Leon greatly before he headed off for his oysters.
It's funny because it is paradoxical.
Moreso imo because you see those type of articles in the Graun all the time.
Second, it was actually pretty fortunate the nuclear weapons were pretty much all in one of Russia, Kazakhstan or Ukraine. Which, with all their faults, were at peace at the time. Imagine if they had been in Armenia and Azerbaijan...
*Autocorrect rather aptly changed that to 'abuser.' Was tempted to leave it that way...
Auto-manufacturing a generic woke style piece around an absurdity injected by the Prompt proves that woke style pieces are absurd? ... talk about shaky reasoning!
It actually - although it's not quite the same - reminds me of something Chris Hitchens and Martin Amis used to do together in the downtime when they weren't disproving God or chasing women -
Replace the word "love" in films, novels and songs with "hysterical sex".
Kept them amused for hours apparently.
(That is the only comment I intend to make on this confection of non-news.)
I'd also be interested to know whether Meghan dispensed with the Royal trimmings she claims to find absurd when it came to dealing with people below her in the pecking order. Did she insist that everyone called her 'Meghan' rather than 'Your Royal Highness'? If she did, I've never heard about it.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/08/biden-strikes-deal-to-free-brittney-griner-from-russian-custody-00072981
E.g. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Fire". "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Cum" or "Harry Potter and the Cum of Azkaban"
Well, it amuses us.
Still, we have to talk about something on a thread. And Oyster Boy seems to have yet again had a greater impact on it than people of sound mind and good character would wish.
'In an interview with broadcasters on Thursday, Braverman said: “If they go ahead with those strikes there will be undeniable, serious disruption caused to many thousands of people who have holiday plans. I really want to urge people who have got plans to travel abroad to think carefully about their plans because they may well be impacted.”
The strike is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of people planning to go on holiday. The government has been preparing for the strike by training 600 soldiers to check passports instead.'
Saturday Times for me. But not Coren. Skip that.
'A life that had caused him nothing but misery', it got him an Eton education, paid for staff, security and accomodation and motorcade and flights for life, a big taxpayer funded wedding and titles and a place in the line of succession he and his children still have
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/63900979
This looks a funny one. As in, everyone is probably lying about exactly what has happened.
He has apparently said he won't sign for another county.
If you marry into a family with a different culture, how far are you expected to adapt? Up to a point - not aggressively trying to change them - but not to turn yourself into a clone of them.
It was divided up with the care and sensitivity of a troup of monkeys, on speed, in a salad bar.
Gorbachev was a participant in the process much as Hirohito was a peace making visionary after Nagasaki - putting your hands up and saying it’s over isn’t really doing much.
Make it churn out a piece of Speccie/unHerd type "muscular liberalism" but frigged via my Prompt to be absurd and 'satirical'.
Maybe something on Lockdown. How Tesco took it to extremes by insisting all their apples were 2m apart and wore a mask. The trauma this caused to shoppers when they saw it.
Again, not something I see Putin doing.
TUC delegate, 1984 (sorry, I can't remember which one).
1. A place at Eton as he is thick and wouldn’t have passed entrance.
2. Choices of the regiments in the army he served in - wouldn’t have looked so dapper at his wedding in the Mercian Regiment’s dress uniform compared to HC.
3. Serving in the army with huge protection - not for him an outpost like Kajaki as an irrelevant infantry officer.
4. Invictus games - why would the brains behind it have Harry Windsor front it - nobody has heard of him.
5. A job, would have been sacked as the social media photos showing him dressed as a nazi would have seen him out on his ear.
6. A free house.
7. Hot and cold running travel to Botswana for his third date amongst other global travels.
8. A date with a C-list US actress.
9. A dad he can ask for millions from to help set up home in a massive mansion in California.
10. A deal to make a story about his relationship from Netflix.
So maybe he might realise one day that he actually owes all he has and has had to the people he is slamming and there is nothing of his personal genius in how he is in the position he is now.
https://twitter.com/darrengrimes_/status/1600817036791259137?s=20&t=SMPPY5LPxoivFMuq4Fyktg
— my father
He was Nicholas II without the personal hatred against him. A Russian friend put it thus - we were too busy surviving to bother to shoot him. Plus waste of a bullet.
Putin learnt from this, hence the multiple security forces he keeps balanced against each other and the very active repression and propaganda about the unity of the State.
“Write an intersectional op-Ed about disabled Trans black women and the problem of racist chimneys”
The 'article' generated, for all the words, adds nothing. The absurdity is there in the Prompt. The joke is there in the Prompt (for those who like this sort of thing). The nail is banged in already - all the article does is bang on a load more to no great purpose.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok, it's not a big fat nothing, but Leon isn't the best sales rep for it.
There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.
For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.
On presentation to The Queen, the correct formal address is 'Your Majesty' and subsequently 'Ma'am,' pronounced with a short 'a,' as in 'jam'.
https://www.royal.uk/greeting-member-royal-family
Men in family behaving like complete nitwits - spiteful monkeys in fact - over bikes, bikes, for God's sake! Daughter is having romantic complications. Yours truly is wondering how the hell it is that 3 apparently grown men have all the emotional acuity and sense of toddlers. And what on earth I can do - other than be there to be vented at, to provide tea and hugs - for daughter. Love and misery. A large part of life.
Meanwhile who looks after me? No-one. All I have is you lot - and you're probably all figments of @Leon's Chat Thingy which, fascinating and speedy as it no doubt is, is quite unable to give me (or anyone) the sort of hug that makes people feel better.
So there are times when I think all this marriage/motherhood malarkey is not all it's cracked up to be. Today is such a time. The attractions of hi'ing off to a nunnery: to wear simple black every day and spend my days quietly gardening, reading and contemplating life (you mostly bugger everything up every day) become more appealing. Earth to earth and all that. May as well start now.
It is analogous to a Private Eye or Daily Mash article. The headline is funny and the articles themselves sometimes also funny. I thought it quite amusing to flesh out the Graun-type earnest for want of a better word woke-style article but then I'm a right of centre old git who enjoys laughing at left wing earnest woke-style stuff.
You are a left of centre old git so you immediately jumped to the defence of the article whereas that was the joke.
But yes on two counts. First it was a bit of a meh and cheap shot from Leon and secondly we discuss Leon's playthings a bit too much.
That said, ChatGPT is a thing and I'm interested in peoples' takes on it.
They are now an academic school like most other private schools.
https://www.etoncollege.com/admissions/scholarships-and-awards/
https://www.etoncollege.com/admissions/financial-aid/
Though yes other schools like Harrodian also now offer a less academic private education
It suits many people to denigrate it and that usually comes with envy or resentment and that's fair enough I understand why; it's a club and you (they) are outside it. Plus its pupils often go on to run the world or close to it so who wouldn't be resentful of that.
On the other hand, if you're not trying to trip it up, and want to use it as a helper for - say - learning the Geopy library or Unity 3D; or if you want to see what important points you've missed from a GCSE essay on Henry VIII, then it's pretty amazing.
At the same time they wanted to retreat away from the institution to live a “new life” (something I can completely appreciate and support) but permanently chain themselves to it by making a living out of dishing dirt, which is very unedifying and shows fundamental bad faith, to be frank.
https://www.best-schools.co.uk/uk-school-league-tables/list-of-league-tables/top-100-schools-by-a-level
ETA Harrodians ffs. I took that for a misprint but it is a real thing cooked up in 1993 obviously trying to trade on the Harrow and Harrods vibes.
The oysters? Why Thankyou. Carlingfords and jerseys at Bentley’s. Very very nice
“Julian Knight has been suspended as a Conservative MP after a report to the Metropolitan Police involving allegations of serious sexual assault.
A party spokesperson said on Wednesday it had taken the step after a complaint to the Met, without commenting on the nature of the complaint.
On Thursday, the Met said in a statement that on 28 October it had received allegations of serious sexual assault against unnamed victims reported to have taken place on unknown dates at undisclosed locations.”
Note, plural “Allegations” / “Victims”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63904774
Yes of course Henry VIth founded Eton to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King's College, Cambridge which he also founded, the wealthy able to afford private tutors
EDIT: Whether Harry and Meghan knew that Netflix were being cynical in that way is another matter.
https://twitter.com/shiny02/status/1600059974192766977
@malcolmg on the left...
So, to ensure equality, all children should be taken from their families and raised by philosophers (see Plato)
I'm sure some - you I have no doubt - would stick to your line of sending your children to the local comp but it might nevertheless provoke an internal debate which would give some sort of a clue as to why people are in favour of them.
I actually read more of them than I do Guardian type stuff and often - I kid you not - I can predict the whole thing from the 1st sentence.
https://aviationhumor.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Aircraft-Identification.jpg
Also I saw a bizarre quote from Harry that he thought everyone should be impressed that he as a ginger could score such a “beautiful woman”. Quite the inferiority complex on display from that comment. She ain’t all that. Beauty comes in many forms too, odd he’s not learnt that yet. And also what’s wrong with being ginger?
Hopefully now their lived experience has been shared, these two quite trivial people will disappear with their money.
A connection with Theodore Reuss would be a corker, but he doesn't seem to have been from a nobby background.
Did anyone identify the tartan?