Robot Companions, This SOTU Shall Pass
Last week, while answering a question about the energy consumed by artificial intelligence models, OpenAI’s Sam Altman countered by explaining how much energy is consumed by a human. “It takes, like, 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart. And not only that, it took, like, the very widespread evolution of the hundred billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to, like, figure out science and whatever to produce you, and then you took whatever, you know, you took. The fair comparison is, if you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question, versus a human?” This answer made me think that some humans might need to put a little more energy into their opinions before they speak them out loud. It made The Atlantic’s (Gift Article) Mateo Wong ask whether Sam Altman Is Losing His Grip on Humanity.
+ The question of whether or not humans (megatech CEOs in particular) have lost their grip on humanity seems too obvious and depressing a place to start this edition. Instead, let’s focus on a less settled question. How much humanity can computers develop? One place where that question is being asked is in the homes of people like Jan Worrell, older humans who are getting some computer companionship. In the case of the 85-year-old Worrell, who is determined to live alone in her own home as she ages, the companion is a robot called ElliQ. “A few thousand ElliQs have been shipped to seniors across the United States since 2023, which means some of the first people living alongside artificially intelligent robots are octogenarians who came into a world without color television. The robots are available for purchase from the Israeli start-up Intuition Robotics, but so far they have mostly been provided to older adults by nonprofits and state health departments as an experiment in combating loneliness. As A.I. works its way deeper into daily life, ElliQ is designed for the most human act of all: to become a roommate, a friend, a partner. ‘A robot with soul,’ the company’s founder sometimes said.” With an aging and increasingly isolated American population, the question of how much soul ElliQ can show is a pressing issue. And you, like Jan Worrell, might be surprised at the answer. The always must-read Eli Saslow in the NYT (Gift Article): To Stay in Her Home, She Let In an AI Robot. (It went better than it would have if she had let in an AI CEO…)
This SOTU Shall Pass
“There’s a problem with the idea that Trump can simply rerun his 2024 campaign and expect the same result: Over the past two years, many of his most popular issues have turned into political liabilities.” The Atlantic with an overview of Trump’s Suddenly High-Stakes State of the Union. Of course, the media always obsesses over these speeches, even though they have little impact beyond the evening they’re delivered, and it’s hard to imagine a lot of undecided voters in swing states will be tuning in for what political insiders view as the Speech Super Bowl. It’s notable that the speech is getting a lot more coverage than the massive buildup of US military might in the Middle East. More than 150 additional aircraft just arrived, adding to the largest force of warships and aircraft in the region in decades. It’s rare for the military to create this much of a buildup just for show. It’s worth paying attention to what Trump says on this issue. But it’s probably not worth watching any of the speech in real time. Leave that to the fact checkers, for whom this really is the Super Bowl. I’m following the lead of the US women’s hockey team and declining to attend.
Training Daze
“For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training program. Cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584-hour program — classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms training, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention and the limits of officers’ authority … New cadets are graduating from the academy despite widespread concerns among training staff that even in the final days of training, the cadets cannot demonstrate a solid grasp of the tactics or the law required to perform their jobs.” Training for New ICE Agents Is ‘Deficient’ and ‘Broken,’ Whistle-Blower Says.
Vegas Nerve
“Users of Kalshi and its primary rival, Polymarket, can bet on events major and minor, from politics to sports to culture to the weather. Recent markets on Kalshi have included whether certain words would be used during a Palantir Technologies Inc. earnings call, whether Elon Musk would win his court case against OpenAI and whether the highest temperature in Seattle on Feb. 4 would be within a certain range. Polymarket users have bet on whether the US would strike Iran on a particular date, whether a given Trump cabinet member would be the first to leave office and whether Jesus Christ would return before 2027.” Bloomberg (Gift Article): How Polymarket and Kalshi are gamifying truth. (What they’re really doing is gamifying gambling; deploying the most addictive tricks of technology, casinos, social media, and AI, to hook as many people as possible. If Jesus Christ does return before 2027, he’ll be right in their target market.)
Extra, Extra
Lording Over Mexico: “A day after the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a study in contrasts. Children whose classes had been suspended by the outbreak of violence played in cobblestone streets and tourist shops were open on Tapalpa’s main plaza Monday. But gunshots also rang out, and just outside the town a dead man lay on the road next to a Jeep sprayed with bullets.” Soldiers keep up clash with cartel gunmen a day after Mexico’s military killed top drug lord.
+ On Strikes: U.S. strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean kills 3. No, this is not an old headline. These killings have continued. “More than 40 such strikes have been carried out in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 137 people.”
+ Refund?! “FedEx filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, seeking a full refund plus interest for what it paid in trade duties stemming from President Trump’s tariffs enacted last year.” (I’m guessing the reaction in the White House is going something like this…But it’s interesting that FedEx filed the suit, as it suggests there’s a decreasing level of fear of the administration in corporate America.)
+ The Bliz Fo Shiz: The great blizzard of 2026 caused a lot of travel issues and local headaches. But it sure made for some amazing photos. What the Snowstorm Looked Like Across the Northeast.
+ Hit the Saks: “Richard Baker wanted to create a retail empire when he combined Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. About a year later, it filed for bankruptcy.” NYT (Gift Article): Saks Owner Says He Saved Department Stores. Never Mind the Bankruptcy. “According to Jared Kushner … ‘He is very creative, always coming up with new ideas, always thinking about what the next thing is.'” (Bankruptcies tend to force one to do that…)
+ The Puck Stops Here: Here’s a headline that could only exist in this era: Mom of Jack and Quinn Hughes addresses viral video of President Trump joking about women’s hockey team. (I wonder if we’d be better off focusing our ire on Trump and his enablers and just let the hockey teams – and their mothers – enjoy the victories…)
+ Visual Aide: “Just after midnight on May 9, 2024, U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales begged an employee, Regina Santos-Aviles, to send him a ‘sexy pic.’ When she pushed back, saying the conversation had gone too far, the married San Antonio Republican persisted, saying he was ‘just such a visual person.'” Texts show Rep. Tony Gonzales asked for explicit photos from aide who later died by suicide. (In normal times, Gonzales would have immediately resigned in shame or been shamed into resigning by his colleagues.)
+ Choc Full of It: “The grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has lashed out at The Hershey Co., accusing the candy company of hurting the Reese’s brand by shifting to cheaper ingredients in many products.” (Yeah, we miss that natural flavor!)
Bottom of the News
“Despite the prevalence of digestive-health issues, flatulence researchers have been limited to either invasive laboratory studies or self-reporting, which has proven unreliable. Most of us just don’t know how often we pass gas, or how much.” Until now! It’s Called the ‘Fitbit for Farts’—and It’s No Joke. (Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s not funny.)
