Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
Wednesday, August 30th, 2023
| Time |
Event |
| 7:03p |
Russia intimidating US consulate staff
*Russia accused of intimidating US consulate staff [Who are Russians]
with Ukraine war spying charges.*
What Shonov is accused of — relaying non-secret information picked up
from the public — is a normal part of the work of staff of diplomatic
organizations.
The US consulate would have trouble functioning without these employees.
But it can't tolerate this repression.
The US could not morally respond by threatening the American citizens
and other non-Russians who work for Russian consulates in the US.
What it could legitimately do is restrict how many local employees the
Russian consulates could employ. If the intimidation goes so far that
the US consulates find it necessary to stop employing local staff, the
US should bar Russian consulates from hiring any local employees.
| | 7:03p |
| | 7:03p |
Using ChatGPT to write essays
Some educators propose that college applicants use ChatGPT to make up for
the lack of a family containing well-educated people who can help them
write the essay in high-quality English. Especially applicants who
are not native speakers of English.
The idea was new to me but I'm not opposed to it. However, when the article
talks about "how students can use AI ethically", it makes a number of important
errors:
- What it intends by that phrase is whether the students are
behaving ethically in their use of a language model. It doesn't raise
the question of whether the language model treats its users
ethically. It starts from the usual attitude that however digital
system developers decide to treat their users can only be accepted —
that they have the right to impose any conditions they like. Unless
they are illegal; but letting laws decide right and wrong is
backwards!
-
It says that these generative tools are "cheap are free", but I think it means
that using them is gratis/ ChatGPT is not free software; it is not even
proprietary software. Its software is unreleased, not available to users.
The only way people can use ChatGPT is as an online disservice,
because it is SaaSS (service as a Software Substitute). See
https://gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html for
why that is an injustice to the user.
-
It is a misnomer to call these things "artificial intelligence",
because they don't know or understand what they are talking about.
| | 7:03p |
Oil spill averted by crowdfunding
An impending disastrous oil spill in the Red Sea has been averted by
crowdfunding.
It is admirable that people stepped up to do this. But avoiding a
disaster should not depend on that. It is governments' responsibility
and they should carry it out. | | 7:03p |
Ex-Alabama deputy sheriff sentenced for rape
*Ex-Alabama deputy sheriff sentenced to prison for [rape of] woman in
his custody.*
I approve of the long sentence of 12 years for rape, but given that
the convict committed the crime on duty as an official thug, that
perhaps calls for a longer sentence.
The article states clearly that what he did was coerce her to have sex
with him. The simple and clear term for that is "rape". But the
article avoids that term entirely and replaces it with the vague term
"sexual assault".
Why do this?
In the antiglossary entry linked to just above, I propose an
explanation for this. | | 7:03p |
Negligence by Hawaiian Electric Co.
The Maui wildfires have been tied directly to negligence by Hawaiian
Electric Co, which failed to put insulation on the wires, or
even to cut the tall vegetation growing near them.
The pylons holding the wires were wooden and decrepit, and did not
comply with the updated standard adopted back in 2002.
I wonder if the company's judgment for damages will exceed its market
value. If so, Maui will get an easy opportunity to take over the
company and make it publicly owned henceforth.
If the company covers all the Hawaiian islands, they should all
participate in owning it. The state of Hawaii could buy the whole
company from Maui, or the other principal islands could buy shares
of the company from Maui.
Splitting up the company is also conceivable. That would be feasible
if the facilities operate separately from island to island, which I expect
is the case. | | 7:03p |
Briefing to Nixon, Sept. 11, 1973
On the morning of September 11, 1973, President Nixon was briefed about
the planning for a coup in Chile.
His briefing told him that the plans were not then ready to be carried
out. But they were carried out that very day. It seems that the
right-wing enemies of President Allende accepted the cooperation and
help of the US, but made their own decisions about how to overthrow
Chile's government. | | 7:03p |
Protesters forbidden from speaking about a protest
Australian climate defense activists who protested a company drilling
for fossil gas have been hit by court orders forbidding them from
speaking about the protest, and demanding they hand over all
communications pertinent to the protest. The company also threatens
to sue them for the cost of expensive precautionary reactions.
I don't know what actually happened in the protest. In particular, I
don't know whether the protesters released a (possibly malodorous) gas
or not. I expect that they are opposed to violence against persons
and would not have considered releasing anything dangerous.
Therefore, I think that we have here an instance of a technique
frequently used by businesses and sometimes governments to repress
protesters: overreacting to the protest in a paranoid way at great
expense, then suing the protesters for the "damages" the organization
did to itself. | | 7:03p |
|
|