Still at it.

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As Elmo Rusk continues to break Twitter, into an entirely unusable platform, he’s invited back some of the crap that was previously removed from the site. We all know about Trump, but more locally, Piers Corbyn’s cringey singing partner and all around anti-vax wanker, Nick Hudson, has also been granted leave to return.

Twitter has been going downhill for a good long while, but it was still better without the Hudson family’s biggest embarrassment, beardy-weirdy Nick.

But – probably amazed by the success of the nonsense that they have made up and have peddled thus far – those pesky anti-vaxxers are still at it, and they’re getting bolder and more brazen with every given day. We’ve now returned to stuff like depopulation programmes, 5G nanochips (see below), “spike shedding”, graphene oxide and – a particular bugbear to someone that’s been working with [checks notes] viruses for 20+ years – the fact that [checks notes again] viruses don’t actually exist.

And indeed, why would you stop if you are a narcissist with a pathological need for acknowledgement for likes and retweets and all you have to do to get satisfaction is to fabricate some nonsense* and your disciples will feed your needs, lap it up and even demand more.

It’s a sad, sad situation. And it’s getting more and more absurd.

But much as the government really doesn’t want to track you via the “5G chips in your vaccine” or the Covid app on your phone, because you’re actually rather dull and insignificant, if you’re really gullible to believe stuff like this:

… then like Dr Janaway says, you’re probably not really “dangerous” enough to have to be controlled.

More seriously though, the polarisation of society via social media is now very clearly out of control. Maybe that was already the case on January 6th 2022, but I see it each and every day (that I bother to log on). People just don’t think for themselves anymore. And the unscrupulous, batty individuals on whom they are relying for news, information, leadership and opinion are fully taking advantage of that.

It’s not a good thing.

* earlier today it was about “masks being impregnated with bacteria and fungi to cause respiratory illness”, which is a right bummer for those of us who have to wear them each and every day in the lab to protect us from [checks note yet again] er… respiratory illness.

New Belle & Sebastian album is “really good”

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Uh-oh. First (proper) music post of the year, and it marks the unexpected release of a new Belle & Sebastian album Late Developers. As the title of this post suggests, I think that the album is “really good”, with some unashamedly poppy hits like Do You Follow and the deliciously synthy first release, I Don’t Know What You See In Me setting the tone:

The clear standout for me though, is When We Were Very Young, which takes long time listeners right back to the bands’ 90s roots and in which Stuart Murdoch yearns for an existence more exciting than the current mundanity, but instead gets “real life”, which – as we are all well aware – is actually rather rubbish.

Sadly, the band have just cancelled their upcoming North American tour, citing the need for Stuart to recover following illness at the end of last year. But that won’t stop you listening at home to what they made before he got sick.

Spotify link.

ChatGPT: The Pros and Cons of AI-Assisted Communication

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Artificial intelligence has come a long way in recent years, and chatbots have become a popular solution for automating customer service. However, traditional chatbots often have limitations and can’t always provide the level of assistance that customers need. This is where ChatGPT comes in.

ChatGPT (short for “Conversational Generative Pre-training Transformer”) is a state-of-the-art language model developed by OpenAI. It’s a powerful tool that can understand and respond to natural language in a way that mimics human conversation. This makes it an excellent option for businesses looking to improve their customer service.

One of the biggest benefits of ChatGPT is its ability to understand context. Traditional chatbots often struggle with understanding the nuances of a conversation and can provide irrelevant or incorrect responses. ChatGPT, on the other hand, uses advanced machine learning techniques to understand the intent behind a message and provide a relevant response. This means that it can handle a wide variety of questions and requests, making it an extremely versatile tool.

Another advantage of ChatGPT is its ability to generate human-like text. This is important for businesses that need to communicate with customers in a way that feels natural and personalized. ChatGPT can be used to generate personalized responses to customer inquiries, making it an excellent option for automating customer service.

However, as powerful as ChatGPT is, it also has its limitations. One of the biggest drawbacks is that it can still make mistakes and produce inaccurate or nonsensical responses. This can be especially problematic for businesses that rely on accurate information to function. Another drawback is the cost of using ChatGPT, as it requires significant computational power and resources.

Another potential issue is the ethical considerations of using a tool like ChatGPT. It is important for businesses to consider the potential consequences of automating customer service, such as job loss or lack of human interaction.

In summary, ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can help businesses improve their customer service by providing quick and accurate responses. With its ability to understand context and generate human-like text, it is a valuable tool for businesses. However, it is important to consider the potential drawbacks such as inaccuracies, cost, and ethical concerns.

It sounds almost too good to be true: that the future truly is here. I mean, it could even have written this blog post. And of course, it did:

But then, if it really is so perfect, then why is “personalized” spelled with a “z”? Where are the hilarious jokes and throwaway one liners? And why are there no speling erors?

For all that ChatGPT is far, far better than “traditional” chatbots, the content above still sounds stilted and… well… artificial. And for those reasons, I really hope that none of my regular reader was fooled.

19

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Bringing back memories of Paul Hardcastle’s epic 1985 anti-war dance hit… er… 19:

Why? Well, today marks exactly 19 years since I arrived on these shores. OK, I was somewhat older than 19, but that’s beside the point.
Often referred to as “my favourite import” by my South African wife in the early days, more recently, I’ve learned to take a bit a back seat while several packets of Holland and Barrett’s Yoghurt Coated Brazil Nuts do the driving.

Find your place. Settle. It’s all good.

Anyway. It’s been a whirlwind 6940 days with very few regrets along the way. Onward and upward for the next 19, n-n-n-n-19 years.

The race

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Lots to get done today, as we finally settle into the routine of the New Year, several (or more) days after most people have. But I also want to watch some football, so it’s been a case of racing around getting jobs done while there’s some electricity, and leaving the other non-electrical stuff until the power is out.

Talking of, there was this tweet, which has set social media ablaze:

Mpho Makwana being the Chairperson of the Eskom board.

As a rule of thumb, you can multiply the stage of loadshedding by two to work out the approximate number of hours you’ll be without power each day. What seems to be being suggested here is that we’ll be without power for four to six hours every day for until 2025.

And while I get the supposed “benefit” of the “predictability” aspect, even if this is implemented, there’s absolutely no guarantee that there won’t be higher stages than 2 or 3 at any time. And we just don’t know when those will be, because we can’t predict them. And that does kind of rule out the above “benefit”, almost immediately.

It seemingly also removes any actual benefit of lower stages of loadshedding being a possibility.

But this was just a tweet of an alleged quote made at a news conference (foolishly, too: no-one will remember a damn thing of the other important messages from the 2+ hour session), and there are plenty of ifs, buts and maybes to work through before it actually happens – if it ever does.
What it doesn’t say is this:

But then journalist Denene isn’t going to get her clicks without pretending that it does.

Let’s wait and see what happens.