Troy

12 hours ago, Delano said:

What happens when as a civilisation we no longer have to think.

what makes you believe we are thinking now

20 hours ago, ProfD said:

For now, in most commercial transportation, a human still sits in the driver's seat. Just in case a manual override is required.

“for now” is the operative phrase for now will probably not be as long as you think.

11 hours ago, ProfD said:

When folks have more free time on their hands, civilization will end up with more thinkers.

That would seem to make sense, but what appears to be happening is we have more followers people who are more easily manipulated by the information they consume rather than using it to develop better and more sound ideas

@aka Contrarian thank you. you are, as people in some circles would say, blessed  

Do you think someone in your position 75 years ago would’ve been less well off? You are old enough to have been able to witness this, a time before personal computers, cell phones, televisions, and maybe even plush recliners.

You are in the last generation of people old enough to have known someone who was formerly enslaved. Did I ever ask you if you did?

@ProfD Transportation: Planes fly themselves (for all practical purposes). The trains I ride in many places are fully automated, and self-driving trucks are on the roads today as well as self-driving taxis.

There are people who will never stop working. I'm one of them. 

People are addicted to their phones.  I have to be very intentional on how I used my phone in order to avoid becoming addicted to it. Itis a great tool, so I'm not getting rid of it but I have to be careful with it.

I OFTEN see men at urinals one hand on their penis and the other on their phone?! These dudes usually leave the bathroom without washing their hands.  How many of us know someone who has dropped their phone in the toliet by accident. People can't even drop a deuce without their phone.

@Delano I don't read a daily newspaper anymore (1) they are very expensive and (2) they are not as widely available as they once were.  You used to be able to buy a newspaper or get a free like the Village Voice or Newsday one in most subways stations, but those days are long gone... 

The idea that these companies are so wealthy (and desperate) for data that buying on of the world's largest publishers is on the table boggles the mind. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/technology/tech-giants-harvest-data-artificial-intelligence.html

"At Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, managers, lawyers and engineers last year discussed buying the publishing house Simon & Schuster to procure long works, according to recordings of internal meetings obtained by The Times. They also conferred on gathering copyrighted data from across the internet, even if that meant facing lawsuits. Negotiating licenses with publishers, artists, musicians and the news industry would take too long, they said."

@Delano that’s true and with AI you can solve even more difficult problems, which is more rewarding.

@ProfD it is artificial intelligence, so while AI can tell you how to do something, Artificial labor will probably take a bit more time, unless you are a truck driver

  you don’t consider graphic novels, literature?

A day or two later, I did put it in the culture section but only because I wanted people to see the video.

4 hours ago, frankster said:

Make me question where you are getting your info.

You just now getting around to asking that question @frankster?

Mecca is a place that draws many people. 

I don't understand how you are defining "non phenotypical racial groups."  By definition races are based upon phenotype.

NYC is becoming a city for the wealthy and most of these people are white.  Middle class and poor people are leaving, and a disproportionate number of these people are Black.

Cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, et al, are becoming a Mecca for Black people in much the same way Harlem was one a century ago.

Sorry in my haste I made a mistake.

@Pioneer1 wrote that the following is sufficient to make you a Christian.
 

On 3/28/2024 at 4:34 AM, Pioneer1 said:

Christian parents or in a Christian society and loosely believing in Christianity is sufficient.

The point I was trying to make is being brought up by Christian parents does not make one a Christian, you have to be “saved.” You must profess acceptance of Christ and be baptized. That is what I was taught in the Baptist church, but of course there are more denominations of Christianity than I can name and they are all practice differently.

But as it’s always the case, it is a waste of time trying to Expose @Pioneer1 to anything different to what he already believes. I don’t think he’s ever changed his position on anything. This makes it impossible for one to learn new things.

It was pointed out that Christianity has a basis in Africa, and despite all the evidence to this pioneer rejects this outright.
 

I know a lot of us grew up with the portrait of the white Jesus hanging in our homes. I bet Pioneer still has his hanging up. and that’s cool with me if he brings him solace.

Harlem was a Mecca for black people but this was fleeting and these sort of things changes over time. 
 

NYC has been a Mecca for write people for a few hundred years now, I don’t see it changing in the next hundred.

NYC’s population is on the decline. The decline in black people, as a percentage of population, is even greater. I see this continuing perhaps accelerating for sometime too. We are in the midst of a reverse migration out of the north to the south.

16 hours ago, richardmurray said:

nyc would be a white mecca to be blunt.

isn’t it though?

If you are an upper middle class white  person in New York City you can take advantage of everything it has to offer live anywhere you like, and benefit from all the explicit and implicit cultural biases.

obviously, they have every intention on maintaining this.
 

they take over of Harlem from Central Park moving north is evidence of this. I think we will see in our lifetime dismantled or privatization of all of the housing projects running from the East river to Lenox Avenue between 112 and 110th St.

I noticed that too @Delano. On some level, that imperfection made her more human 

I know it’s too late to ask because you know the answer but if I didn’t say anything, would you have suspected for a split second at this was all generated by AI?

Delete?! Man with the algorithm in control that is the only way to get traffic nowadays.

@richardmurray I'm not sure what you mean, but I don't think use of the avatar I have chosen will be a problem.  Now if I wanted to get exclusive use of here for branding purposes I imagine I could pay for this too.  Maybe I can even create my own custom AALBC AI generated spokesperson. Thought that would probably be a Black woman around my age.

@ProfD there probably has not been a working day that I have not used AI for one reason or another; writing and editing content, creating social media graphics, generating JavaScript, Phyton, HTML, PHP code. 

I believe the benefits will be relatively short lived. AI has the potential to completely upend the WWW as we know it.  It will allow a small number of ultra-powerful corporations to complete their take-over of the web. 

It saddens me to see this happen; when the web became available to the public it held so much promise. Black media been eviscerated both online and off.

CEMOPTAP is a New York City based grassroots organization that works actively to support Black people. Your probably know some of the revered speakers below:

SANCTIONS MUST BE IMPOSED

When you Attack the Ancestors, When You Attack the Babies, When You Attack the Community

Sanctions must be imposed on Seth McFarland and Netflix.  McFarland got away years ago with that terrible image of Harriet Tubman with a nude white woman draped around her, but not this time.  They can't and don't do this kind of thing to other people, they can't do it to us.  What kind of sanctions must be determined. But if we were to let this type of insult go by and let these images and concepts be consumed by our own children without a response from our people then we have given our historic enemy, permission to exterminate us. Our Elders and Organizations can advise us at the meeting, but we must do something. 

I'm doing an event that directly conflicts with this Zoom call, but if I can get away from it for a few I will try to connect.

My initial reaction after watching this trailer, is not to ban the creation of this type of material, but it definitely should not be made widely available to young people -- of any color. 

Unfortunately, adult material like this, and far worse is widely and easily available to kids.  Near pornographic music videos and actual porn is easily accessible to anyone with a smart phone.  I think this is bad.

The only thing we can do is shield our kids about this type of media and help educate them about the nature of this content, understand why it is created, and why it is damaging. 

16 minutes ago, ProfD said:

Let's hope conspiracy theorists won't keep his memory alive by claiming he was *given* cancer

Well, you know this is how those conspiracy theories often start 

I originally posted this in the Black Literature Forum but am also posting it here, with an expletive (where people will see it )

Anyhow, this is the first AI generated video that I created.  With the learning curve of using the software, it took me all of two to make the following video.  I even let AI write the script.  I picked the young sister from about 20 different avatars.  I don't know if she is real, or AI generated.

When I was picking schools one of my requirements was a school with a D1 Gymnastics team.  No HBCU qualified.  

I have NEVER seen this many female Black female collegiate gymnasts at one time -- Ever!

If you are looking for excellent Graphic Novels featuring Black characters visit the African American Literature Book Club.

It took about two hours to go from discovering this software to creating the video.  I don't know who the sister is in the video.  She may be a generated from AI.    

53 minutes ago, Pioneer1 said:

They'll tell you that all of this was "prophesied"

Does this suggest that things are predetermined?

16 minutes ago, Pioneer1 said:

Most if not all of the so-called prophecies of the Bible concerning the "end of days" has been fulfilled.

Sounds like further proof. 
 

I’m curious @Pioneer1. How many prophecies were made, roughly?

Can you describe three of the most impressive (impossible to predict) that have been fulfilled?

Sounds like you are from my old neighborhood @Wendy Jones I was accepted into Dalton. My daughters went to Nightingale.

On 3/28/2024 at 4:34 AM, Pioneer1 said:

It is widely known that the ONLY qualification for being a Christian is accepting Jesus Christ as your "lord and savior".
So yes...being brought up with Christian parents or in a Christian society and loosely believing in Christianity is sufficient.

Accepting Christ and being brought up by Christian parents are mutually exclusive. 
 

I wonder if there will be a forum in 20 years.

For those of us who live long enough and have our marbles the time will go quickly.

What happens in the next 20 years will be far more interesting than any solar eclipse.

“If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go” —Curtis Mayfield

The only consultation, and it is a fu-ked up one, is that the young man did not die, and he now has $28M.  One can argue that he is better off than he would have been... sadly.  

Interestingly, I never did aggressively promote the book to Booksellers. I do have some in a few stores most notably The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth, Texas, and Community Book Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a few others.
 

You can find copies offered by third parties on Amazon. however, I’m not sure how those copies have been secured.

At the time I created this video I’m sure I was still boycotting Amazon. I not boycotting Amazon today. I got tired of telling Authors I can’t promote their book because it’s only available through Amazon. Besides, they never was a great deal of support for boycotting Amazon.

@Wendy Jones that video is only four years old, but it seems like decades ago.