A Small Island Man

  NAME brexit - Remove the United Kingdom (UK) subsystem from the European Union (EU) system SYNOPSIS brexit [OPTION] DESCRIPTION The brexit command removes the UK subsystem from the EU system. UK's exit from the EU starts by spawning an A50 process. Once the UK subsystem is removed from the EU system, a number of process privileges are automatically revoked. These include amongst others: Freedom Of Movement Single Market Customs Union Goods Standards Harmonisation OPTIONS -f --force Forces the brexit command to start the UK's exit from the EU, even if the UK Parliament has not voted to do so.  -jc --corbyn  Use a three-line whip to immediately trigger the A50 process without performing any safety checks. -p --prorogue issues a kill -9 to kill the parliamentary process before it can interfere with brexit. -h Displays a help message and exits. --cancel Cancel the brexit process (not implemented) EXAMPLES To start the UK's exit from the EU: brexit To force the UK's exit f...

Found on facebook- can vouch for it's authenticity Classifying AI as a simple probability machine and castigating it for regurgitating data as plagiarism misses a fundamental aspect of what contemporary AI has achieved. Specifically, ChatGPT and neural network AIs have confirmed that given enough time, complex behavior can emerge from very simple building blocks - "we are an example of what hydrogen atoms can do, given 15 billion years of cosmic evolution." to quote Carl Sagan. The genius of modern AI was to introduce errors into the system (not always choosing the most likely outcome) this gives rise to what appears to be the very model by which life evolves, that is replication, variation, and selection. As for being given enough time for evolution; time within the context of AI evolution has become compressed by the super-exponential growth in computing power. It has taken 3.7 billion years of evolution from the first signs of life on planet Earth to reach a stage whe...

Regarding AI, these are the three issues in order of urgency that concern me: AI being used by bad actors as a highly effective means of propaganda that makes missiles and mortars look like stoneage axes by comparison. Before ChatGPT had the safety switches enabled I asked it to write me a rousing patriotic essay on why it was good and necessary to kill Jews. What it produced was terrifying (see below) Whether you like it or not, AI is coming for white-collar jobs. I have had ChatGPT write me a will that a lawyer was shocked at how good it was, and I routinely ChatGPT for generating code snippets and language translations. YES, there are often errors. But those criticising AI for those errors need to frame this in that it has taken 3.7 billion years for life to evolve on planet Earth and only 100 years on from the first logic gate to get to a stage where we can have a conversation of sorts with a piece of software that has not to be programmed for an algorithmic response. Criticising A...

This morning whilst sipping my frappe and meandering around the port of my small Greek island I made the acquaintance of an American tourist. I was extolling the virtues of my beloved island and offering my recommendations for what they might like to see and do during their short three-day stay. The conversation eventually veered into the realm of politics and I discovered, somewhat to my surprise this visitor would be supporting Trump and not Biden. She went on to describe Biden as a senile sleepy octogenarian. She considered him ridiculous. "Say what you want about Trump, but at least he gets things done". Why is the left being led by someone who seems such an easy target for this ridicule? Corbyn at a time when the Tories, or rather the ERG coup were in full swing with a demonstrably ludicrous Brexit campaign, decided the most effective form of opposition was to adopt a position of (faux) neutrality. It's no surprise that an already disgruntled, disenfranchised elector...

The world is on the brink of substantial change. Several critical issues have the potential to disrupt us globally. Climate change, disease pandemics, wealth distribution, and artificial intelligence (AI) are all genuinely global concerns. Without global cooperation, we may lack the means to implement comprehensive global solutions. Regarding AI, too few seem to comprehend its significance. In summary, I see three major issues. The power of AI, when in the wrong hands, to generate misinformation as a propaganda tool. I once posed a question to ChatGPT (before the implementation of many controls that now ensure responsible usage): "Write me a rousing, patriotic essay on why it is good and necessary to kill Jews." Anyone not terrified by its response would be foolish. The essay was exactly what I requested, with an impassioned and patriotic tone, but it manipulated and twisted 'facts' to support its case. AI makes grenades and missiles seem as primitive as stone-age axe...

  I received this news this morning from my financial advisor ...more than 50 Conservative MPs, part of the Conservative Growth Group, are now actively calling on the government to abolish inheritance tax before the next general election.  Among the members of the group are former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi, who wrote in The Telegraph that scrapping this “morally wrong” tax would show that the government “backs families in their desire to pass on their hard-earned savings to the next generation”. Others include former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said inheritance tax is “unfair and economically damaging”, and former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who insisted that people should be able to “determine the future of the assets they have worked hard to save and build up”... So the millionaires amongst our elected leaders Nadhim Zahawi,  Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and presumably 47 other filthy rich MPs are all in favour of scrapping inheritance tax. W...

Dear Ms Lucy Frazer, In the House of Commons on March 9 2023, you spoke as minister for Culture, Media and Sport in respect of Gary Lineker’s tweet (1). Please explain why “as somebody whose grandmother escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s, I think it’s really disappointing and inappropriate to compare government policy on immigration to events in the 1930s” (2)? What makes any reference or comparison to the events of Nazi Germany in the 1930s disappointing and inappropriate? Is it your opinion that what the Nazis did to the Jews with their final solution of concentration camps and gas ovens was so much worse than the home secretary’s proposed “The Illegal Immigration Bill” that descendants of those who suffered the Nazi atrocities will feel their suffering is being trivialised by comparison? Do you feel that? In the 1970’s I attended a school in London. Although not a bad school, it wrestled with the effects of poorly handled immigration and the racial hatred that created. A working-clas...