If a Decision is Sold Before it is Made, does it Make a Sound?
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Let's be Fwends #150:
If a Decision is Sold Before it is Made, does it Make a Sound?

"I have noticed my conscience for many years, and I know it is more trouble and bother to me than anything else I started with."
~ Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Hi, and welcome to number 150 of Let's be Fwends! Today, we talk about an alarming evolution of the surveillance advertising economy, big scale/small scale effects, a clever way to circumvent dumb copyright issues, tech-bros, and the law. Plus, the big question what happened in 1971, and the even bigger question of which country makes the tastiest dishes.
Enjoy!
Selling Decisions Before They Happen
Here's an interesting perspective:
As AI agents are starting to get embedded into your daily workflows, they learn a lot about you, and your intentions. A lot.
For example, you might want to research vacation destinations for your upcoming summer holidays. When you go on the web and start searching for trip ideas or cheap flights, you'll be exposed to ads that are more or less relevant to your search and our ultimate goal of finding a good trip.
This is the surveillance-advertising model we're used to. We call that the "Attention Economy".
But now imagine this: A personal AI assistant knows everything about you, because it's part of many of your daily actions. You consult it for writing emails, it manages your agenda, it supports your internet searches. It knows that in a couple of weeks, you're very likely to book your summer vacation. It also knows that your agenda is always full, and you asked it for some relaxing meditation practices recently.
Wouldn't it be - you know, helpful if your AI assistant would suggest you'd look into your summer vacation soon, and given that you're overworked and very stressed, offer some ideas for the ideal resort for a relaxing time?
They call it The Intention Economy, and I really like the name. Because how big are the chances that said AI agent will work for you, and not the advertising industry?
That's right. Zero. The chances are zero.
Frames of Reference
Some time in the past, the Mediterranean got sealed off from the Atlantic ocean, and it dried out (mostly). Then, a couple million years ago, the Straight of Gibraltar was created and ocean water flooded back into the dried out basin.
This flooding was catastrophic to the ecosystem that developed in the basin. And it took around 10.000 years. Yet, in geological terms (and the ability of the ecosystem to respond to this change), it was instantaneous.
The very same thing happens in organisations.
Intellectual Property and Cartoon Characters

The above screenshot is not from a Wii-style Tennis Game you can play at home on your TV. It is taken from the official live stream of the Australian Open world-class tennis tournament as you can watch it on YouTube.
To be more precise, it's from the game of Emma Navarro against Ons Jabeur.
Why on earth did the Australian Open choose to stream their games in such a style, replacing the players (and only the players) with cartoonish avatars?
It's not because they want to be cute. It's because they sold their broadcasting rights, but still want to have a live stream.
This is both silly and ingenious at the same time.
If you care, Emma Navarro won 6:4, 3:6 and 6:4.
Tech-Bros being Tech-Bros
It's all a farce. AI Accelerationism, Effective Altruism, multi-planetary humanity, longevity ... it's all fake, a comedy, a joke without punchline to add some sort of meaning and mission to a grift. Just to extract more money out of the system and increase individual power.
Tech-Bros care about two things, and two things only: Money, and power. And how they are connected, and how one will enable the other. That's three things, but I will spare you a reference to Monty Python.
And if you wanted to know what OpenAI is really all about (hint: It's money, not the future of humanity), just read through this ongoing drama between OpenAI and Elon Musk.
Sorry about this rant, but I needed to get it off my chest. And here's a comic, because all of these inflated egos are so pathetic that you actually can represent them in six panels.
Why It's so Hard to Understand the Law
Did you ever have to write a contract? What language did you use? Easy to understand, plain, direct language?
Maybe not.
An MIT study shows that legal documents are notoriously difficult to understand, and also uncovers why they are written in this style that is actually diametral to their purpose:
"[The] study on “legalese” suggests this convoluted language acts to convey a sense of authority in legal documents. The researchers also found that even non-lawyers use legalese when asked to write laws."
WTF Happened in 1971?
Yeah, so what did happen in 1971?
Gourmet-Level Rage-bait
Wanna start a fight with the whole world except Greece? Then bring up this 100 Best Cuisines in the World Listing at the dinner table or any other occasion.
I can only speak for the Austrian entry, and all I'm saying that they have no idea what they're talking about. Like, literally, no idea.
But the list is surely a good way to poke fun at your Nicaraguan friends.
That's it for this edition of Let's be Fwends. Don't believe the hype, I'm sure every part of the world has some amazing things to eat. 🌍
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