The hungry I.

"AI development could be slowed by a huge demand for electricity," reports WSHU in Connecticut, and it's an interesting development in this weird new world of artificial intelligence. 

Connecticut and other states would have to significantly improve their energy infrastructure to keep up with the electricity needed for AI computing, said Chetan Jaiswal, a computer science professor at Quinnipiac University and an AI researcher.

“For example, a single chip running for nine days uses more than 27,000 kilowatt hours. An average household uses approximately 10,000 kilowatt hours annually,” Jaiswal said.

And that's a report from tiny Connecticut, far from the fantasy land that is California, where so many high-tech companies dwell, and where the government thinks that medieval tech like sun and wind will somehow cough up enough power for all of this. 

I have done some work in the last year looking at business startups, and many of them are pasting AI on their business plans the way Dot Com was bandied about in the nineties. It was the special sauce necessary to bring in the investor lettuce; then on to the IPO; then on to the giant bubble. Will that happen again? Yeah, probably. 

I don't even know that most of us are that impressed with artificial intelligence to date -- it seems to be a little crazy and even stupid. Is it worth all the hullabaloo? It's already helping lazy students get by, but worse, it's literally destroying science publishing. Science publisher Wiley is closing nineteen journals in its Hindawi subsidiary because of manuscript fabrication by so-called paper mills using AI. This is a terrifying development in the field. 

At least in the Dot Com revolution, when things shook out we had the Internet -- not an unmixed blessing, no, but for most people something of value. What will the AI revolution yield? Garbage research and a bottomless hunger for energy seem to be the whole of its useful product to date. 

What first popped to my mind with that energy-hungry-AI story was this unnerving quote from the third book of C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, which takes place in England: 

"It is the beginning of what is really a new species--the Chosen Heads who never die. They will call it the next step in evolution. And henceforward, all the creatures that you and I call human are mere candidates for admission to the new species or else its slaves--perhaps its food."

--The Director, That Hideous Strength 

In Lewis's 1945 novel, the monsters are organic; in our time, the "new species" is electronic. But what are we to be, but its slaves? Either by maintaining it technically where it can't maintain itself, or by providing its energy. It won't eat us, but it doesn't have to -- it will eat our energy, which we also need for food and homes and transportation. The more idiot humans cut back on our means of generating power by fossil fuels and nuclear energy, the less there is all around, and AI will need a bigger cut every year. Our energy costs will skyrocket yet more, because the wealthy investors will demand that AI get all the power it needs. 

It's a sneaky path to Doomsday that I wouldn't have expected, although in a way C.S. Lewis did. He was well aware of the kind of scientists who revile humanity and see it as an impediment to a better world. He knew that these were the very modern geniuses who could lead to our destruction, congratulating themselves as they too were fed to the fire. 

Living the dream.

The American Dream has become one of the most misunderstood parts of the American Mythos, nearly always represented as selfish, soured, a nightmare hiding beneath a shiny gloss.  

The term dates back to 1900 and is described aptly by Webster's as "an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity." So let's have a look at what the dream is really all about. 

1. Prosperity 

Often the American Dream is stated as "Work hard and you'll get rich," but that's twisting it, either to benefit those who sucker you or those who know that riches are rare and so disappointment will follow. 

Prosperity, on the other hand, is nothing more than a good living, a fair reward for one's work. Since so many people who came to the United States came from places that still had a feudal mindset, in which the efforts of the many only really meant prosperity for the few, this was and is a big deal. Even today, in places where slavery and serfdom are supposedly banished, people still can't achieve prosperity from their own labor because they live in crooked kleptocracies, low-trust societies that are all about theft, bribery, and using the law to steal from everyone. Corruption is the only means to rise from poverty.

We're supposed to be a nation ruled by laws, not men, and this is why. No one ever gets a fair shake when the law is merely a tool for those in power -- which is quite what many people in America are trying to do today.

2. Freedom

Prosperity means freedom from the tyranny of need. Noted French jerk Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously wrote, "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains."

Oh, really? 

"Okay, baby, you're free! Here you go!" [chucks baby on lawn]

The chains to which all people are born are nature and necessity; only a baby born able to walk and eat grass and survive naked could be free as Rousseau demands. I never met a baby human yet who fit that description. 

But the American Dream promises a chance to not have to live under the shadow of terrible need, of hunger and exposure lurking daily outside the window. This is a far cry from promising mansions and yachts to everyone, but to my family who came over here from Europe, it was a huge improvement. They never expected Uncle Sugar to provide them with ease and comfort, just protection from lawbreakers and a chance to earn a fair wage. That was plenty to keep the wolf well away from the door. 

3. The Wealth Trap

The other proposed downside to the American Dream is meant to be the awful people who achieve it. Well, there we have to concede a point, if by those who achieve it we mean only the very wealthy, not the prosperous middle class. And yes, and they say on Instapundit, we currently have the worst ruling class in our history. Noblesse oblige is not considered their obligation for honor and generosity, but rather their responsibility to order the rest of us around. 

The rich are not usually concerned with the little people. We get in their way of them focusing on the ones they really hate -- the richer people. The guy a little farther up the hill who looks down on them. 

And if you are one of these moneyed mooks, you have a lot of incentive to hate everyone. People are always looking to separate you from your dough; you have no peace. For the type who holds the keys to the kingdom -- say, a repulsive, horrible creep who produces movies -- it must seem natural to demand humiliating services from those hoping you will unlock the door to fame and fortune.

And even if the rich can avoid all these temptations of pride, lust, envy, and so on, there's something about avarice that takes on its own life -- the hunger grows with the eating. 

Notice how well all these descriptions jibe with those in America's entertainment industry, the source of much disparagement of the middle class and the American Dream. They like to make the American Dream look bad, in their own actions and in their media, then take it out on the rest of us. It's America's fault! 

4. The Dream Is Good

The American Dream is still good, still right, and not to be disparaged because it sometimes fails, or because we fail it. It is not a promise, far less a guarantee. It is aspirational. It ought not to consume us, but encourage us. It ought not to be the whole aim of society, but a society that is rightly ordered makes it possible. It is still a dream wherein a people with no tribe more important than being Americans can look one another in the eye; where, as Joseph says in the series Jesus of Nazareth, "A man who's skillful in his work will stand before kings." 

The shifting battleground.

Yesterday being the celebration of Memorial Day, I was thinking about our nation and those who live in her embrace and yet despise her. For one thing, as I've said here in the past, it's become abundantly clear that Leftists only admire Americans who fight other Americans; there is no place in their admiration for Americans who fought foreign enemies. How can there be? If all foreigners are superior to us in this blighted country, there's no foreigners that we should defeat. 

That calculation seemed to start as defending the Native Americans, then moved on to others who were believed to have been unjustly at the sword point of the American military -- the Mexicans, the Spanish, and so on. Pretty much anyone who could be classified as Not White fell under that umbrella. Certainly we should not have been fighting the Vietnamese; it's not like they attacked us! That worked backward as well, that in retrospect we shouldn't have been fighting the Koreans. 

Admiration for the Confederates was swept away early, but then for the Union military too, as they most assuredly were not fighting to end slavery but for some selfish cause. The military in World War I were suckers and eventually dropped beneath notice. 

Holding out to the very end were the American warriors of World War II, and they mostly hung by a thread because of Pearl Harbor and the Final Solution. But Hiroshima eventually made us turn on America's fight against Japan, and now apparently the Left hates Jews, so the Nazis are not as bad as they used to be either. 

Now we're able and encouraged to despise all American fighters, unless they fought America herself. What a relief it must be to no longer wonder if one would have had the sustained courage to go to war for the nation, the sheer guts to stand firm in the heat of battle! Discarding respect for America's military means you never have to look up to them for anything anymore.   

It's easy to do this kind of thing when you don't teach genuine history. The younger generations literally know nothing about anything other than what Leftists choose to teach, and they certainly don't want to teach anything that shows America in a good light. 

But that's not even what I wanted to write about. I set out to write about the American Dream and how the idea has been mangled, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. 

May calling.

It's been a rainy and very buggy May, but I'm still glad I'm not freezing out there anymore. I still have not put away my winter coat, which hangs on the rack by the door. I don't trust this weather. 

But as I say, buggy as hell, with many skeeter bites and gnat encounters already. I caught some yellow jackets up to no good. Every year they find some place on the house they've never nested before, and proceed to nest there. This year it was under the second-story gutter. Well, I and my hose took care of them hive turkeys. 

I am a Cat 5 hurricane on wasps' nests. 

Been a really great year for the creepy-crawlies too, like these ninjas, rappeling from the trees:

"I'm going to land in your hair!"

On that note, I had the world's smallest grasshopper land on me, playing "My Heart Bleeds for You" on his world's smallest Cricket-in-Times-Square violin: 

I guess it's been good for the birds, though. And on that note, the dog and I got a couple of visitors while sitting on the porch a few days ago. I have seen plenty of birds perch on the porch rail, but these two were flying all around the porch itself. I thought we were getting dive-bombed. 

Well, turns out they were house hunters, and now every evening we see this: 

This has been going on for the better part of the week. I've had to hose off the planks under their preferred bedroom, but otherwise they are ideal tenants -- for squatters. I'm thinking it's their house now; I may have to move. 

Finally, big ups to the highway department on this one: 

To be fair, it's on a dead-end street. On the other hand, I've seen one driver fly through it recently. And on the other other hand (may I borrow yours?), the taxes we pay around here should guarantee concierge service for our road signs. 

It's for the boids, I tell ya! 

Ooh, I'm DYIN' AGAIN!

Apologies for not looking through comments the other day, especially about the book launch. (I have since replied as needed.) Work ran me over like a diesel train, but worse, I got a cold. 

I usually power through colds with Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, but this is literally the worst cold I've had since I quit smoking many years ago. That one was weird. The wife of a work buddy surmised that it was so bad because all the toxins were leaving my body, which didn't and actually still doesn't make sense to me. For one thing, I was not off nicotine supplements yet, so I was still enjoying some toxins, in the form of gum or lozenges. For another, I lived with a smoker, so I was getting secondhand toxins. For a third -- shouldn't I feel better if the poison level is dropping? I felt like 100% hot garbage. How does reducing the poisons result in feeling worse? 

Well, haven't seen that chap in years, so I have had no opportunity for a follow-up consult with his wife. 

This cold started Sunday as a head cold, got a little worse, then yesterday it dropped like a rock into my chest. Well, that's not pleasant. Suddenly I felt a ton worse, and started sounding like Froggy Laughlin from the Little Rascals. In fact, I announced to the public that Froggy would be taking my calls that day, so I wouldn't scare anyone. If I start feeling better, I might upgrade to Andy Devine. 

Since that awful bout mentioned above, I've barely gotten sick at all. I do believe that one good thing that came out of the COVID fiasco was that the public got an education in handwashing, the #1 way to stop the spread of viruses. However, since another good thing that arose was deserved skepticism about our political and public health leaders, who knows if the public is bothering anymore? 

It was nice, not getting sick, but I suspect my wife picked up the cold in church -- lots of kids, you know, those cherubic little petri dishes -- and I, failing maintain proper form, managed to get it from her. She tried to protect me, but it only takes one slip and wham! Hello, virus. 

Well, if it hasn't killed me by now, I think I'll pull through. Meanwhile, I thank you for your continued patronage and concern. People who read my blog are the finest in the world, and good-looking, too! 

The rules of the game.

Bernard Suits (1925-2007), a philosopher of sports and games (nice work if you can get it, right?), wrote in 1967 that “playing a game is simply the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” And that's an interesting way to look at it. 

People who play for money, either gamblers or professional athletes, may pooh-pooh such a flowery description. Winning in those instances may yield a gusher of money -- as well as the rush of defeating an opponent -- so their game may hardly seem to be something as ordinary as voluntary attempts vs. unneeded obstacles. I would hesitate to put that description to either Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk, who fought a brutal boxing match last week to decide the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years. Usyk, the winner of a split decision, was unable to speak to the press afterward, as apparently he also won a split jaw. 

And yet Suits is correct all the same. Whether it's a brutal boxing match or a game of Crazy Eights with your kids, no one has to play, but if you do play, you must overcome the obstacles imposed by the rules. If I'm playing poker for funsies, I still can't reach over and grab the deck and find the cards I want. At that point I may be doing something, but I'm not playing poker. The rules are intended to be obstacles to surmount and a definition of victory over them. 

Of course, there are always those who have the attitude that pro sports is war, and all's fair in love and war. It's not cheating if you don't get caught. If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying. 

We love our rascally rogues, but only if they’re our rascally rogues. When the other guys are deflating footballs and stealing signs, we squeal like pigs. It's satisfying to think that the only reason they were winning was their wickedness. 

We instinctively know that if everyone is cheating, the game is ruined. Major League Baseball's steroid scandal shows that. None of those proven juiced-up muscleheads are going to make the Hall of Fame. (On the other hand, steroid use is no impediment to election to the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, because that's not a game -- it's theater.)

I want everyone to play by the rules, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the temptation. If I were a player getting my behind handed to me on the field, seeing my dreams of wealth and glory dwindle, and I thought I could get away with some kind of illegal edge, what would I do? I honestly don't know. But I fear what I would do is talk myself into believing everyone else was doing it, so why not?

One last thought: I think it's kind of excellent that a guy who made a living as a philosopher of games was named Suits. Too bad his first name wasn't Dex. 

Dragon breath.

I've mentioned before that I get tired of minty toothpastes -- that burn first thing in the morning, that reminder that my desperately needed coffee will taste of mint. Toothpaste does come in other flavors, mainly bubble gum or (from Colgate) watermelon, that are targeted toward kids. They usually have the same active ingredients as adult toothpastes in the same amount, so I can use them. Still, I'm always hoping to see something new in the mint-alternative toothpaste space. 

Well, here's one. 

Dragon Dazzle is a -- well, it's not a flavor, and it's not the brand, the brand being Hello. The flavor is blue raspberry, which is only slightly less mythical than dragons, dazzling or otherwise. 

This uncaps a number of questions that I hope to answer, including:

1) What's Hello? 

2) What's in this stuff? 

3) Is it any good? 

So here we go:

1) What's Hello? 

Ah, thereby lies a (dragon) tale. Nine years ago on this very blog I wrote about a couple of products from the Hello line, products from the supermarket's bargain bin. Back in those carefree, innocent days of 2015, I noted that Procter & Gamble had attacked the company on one of its claims, and it looked like it was goodbye for Hello. 

But it was not the end yet. Hello struggled on until 2020, when toothpaste magnate Colgate bought the brand. You will look in vain to find the world "Colgate" on the box, though. As I noted in the slightly less innocent age of 2016, huge corporations have been making bank on companies that look like plucky startups for a while now. 

Anyway, it appears that the Hello division of Colgate has stuck to its woo-woo ways of all natural and stuff, to the point of offering fluoride-free toothpaste along with the regular kind for those who fear their essence will be drained. 

2) What's in this stuff? 

Have a look: 

They're much more interested in telling you what's not in it than what's in it, but what is in it is sodium fluoride 0.24%. Interestingly, the toothpaste also contains xylitol, a powerful sweetener, listed as an inactive ingredient. And yet, maybe it ought to be considered an active ingredient.

Wrigley's Orbit gum was introduced as being the first in America with the miracle sweetener xylitol, a sweetener that had already been linked to reduced cavities in children. This has been a matter of some contention in the decades since, but more recently a dentist started a company called CarieFree, which in addition to other tooth-protecting ingredients uses xylitol proudly. (The company does have toothpaste in flavors like grape and orange, but at $18 for a 2.4-ounce tube, it can keep them.)

The description of the Dragon Dazzle is twee to the point of irritation. "Tastes like adventure and glory"? I'll be the judge of that. And that brings us to...

3) Is it any good? 

It doesn't look like much -- the lack of wacky artificial coloring yields a bluish white, sort of a cross between mother of pearl and a worm that never sees the light of day. 

It has a fruity flavor that is inoffensive and very sweet -- hello, xylitol! I guess it's a berry flavor. It's fine. It's mild enough to not insult my taste buds right out of the gate, which is what I was looking for. I'm okay with the taste. How good can it be? It's toothpaste. Neither adventure nor glory detected.  

All this said, there is a kind of Pride-Monthy quality to the product. Maybe coincidence -- after all, in that community grown men are now obsessed with the things that used to obsess seven-year-old girls: rainbows, unicorns, sparkles, pink, purple. It's a little rough on the children, I guess, to have their stuff appropriated, but you know -- eggs, omelets.