.png) |
| Simonides hands Herodotus his famous Thermopiles Epitaph, made by AI |
This follows on a previous ironic (if not, um, iconic) contrast in AI posted here.
There is a sharp irony in the timing. In 2026, the United States marks 250 years since its Declaration of Independence from the British Crown. Yet the same year has brought a new wave of manifestos about artificial intelligence—documents that ask whether the systems now planning, coding, researching, and acting with limited human supervision might eventually demand a political language once reserved for peoples and nations: autonomy, consent, sovereignty, and independence.
The provocation is not that today’s AI agents are conscious citizens. They are not. It is that the two great AI superpowers—the United States and China—are building systems whose capabilities increasingly escape the neat categories of tool, property, infrastructure, and subject. And in doing so, they may unintentionally revive John Perry Barlow’s old cyber-libertarian dream: a digital realm that governments cannot fully command.
Update: let's juxtapose next another ironic contrast in AI from the NY Times...
This reprises AI conversations early in exploring AI around 18 mo. ago: two short ones here and here on Medium, and a long one here on my original blog's feature post on AI.
A short conversation about song lyrics, licensed lyrics sites, AI training, and the awkward asymmetry between what AI systems may learn from and what they may reproduce.
Update: next another thematic exploration of AI issues to follow a five-part series starting here.
A NY Times story about trekking the Arctic in the Hudson Bay area unknown to me - I was lucky to visit & wrote about the High Arctic here - reminded me of a previous tragedy in Alaska, both of men searching their souls & ending in the wilderness. As usual, what follows is AI-assisted except for the maps derived from data, more on main blog here.
Two GIS-ready waypoint tables follow each story. Coordinates are WGS 84 (EPSG:4326); use longitude as X and latitude as Y.
.png) |
| Made in Copilot AI following the original prompt above |
 |  |
Draw multiple portrait frames to string into a cartoon strip. Setting is a 19c. steam train in AZ Monument Valley at high noon w dusty atmosphere pulling a few box cars, one with an open door. 1st photo: me, my daughter& my ex & 2nd photo my new friends. Frames:
1) that train arriving in distance
2) side view of boxcar w me, my ex & daughter from 1st photo sitting looking out open box car
3) jump off to stand next to train and ex + daughter go off in box car
4) that train leaving in distance at L, new train arriving in distance at R
5) new train & boxcar arrives w cowgirl sitting by open door arm outstretched to me running next to train
6) have to jump aside to avoid water tower that has an EMPTY sign hanging akimbo
7) still run next to open door box car w cowgirl kneeling in open door beckoning me
8) jump onto open door of boxcar as cowgirl helps me in
9) we stand hand-in-hand looking out boxcar open door
10) train goes off to the right in the distance
