POLLS

Today’s Smerconish Poll

HEADLINES

PM Headlines

Other Headlines

HEADLINES

AXIOS AM

Axios AM

1 big thing: MAGA civil war
Mike Allen, Axios PM

PM HEADLINES

OTHER HEADLINES

SUBSTACK

Don’t Let the Enemies of Truth Ruin Wikipedia
Elon Musk and other reactionary liars hate the “last good website” because it won’t go along with their distortions
Nicholas Grossman, Dec 27
Wikipedia is a fortress that anchors truth’s broader defense, and we must not let it fall.

I’ll Say It Again: The Numbers Don’t Add Up…
Need to Know , David Rothkopf – December 25, 2024

The Religion of Capitalism
Like most religions, there are extremists, moderates, and non-believers
Dr Dan Goyal

On optimism
Lessons from Venezuela
Anne Applebaum, Dec 25

Best of The Free Press: It’s Okay to Change Your Mind
In the latest installment of our holiday series, Joe Nocera celebrates the stories that caused him to rethink some deeply held beliefs.
Joe Nocera

THE CONVERSATION

An AI system has reached human level on a test for ‘general intelligence’. Here’s what that means
Michael Timothy Bennett, Australian National University and Elija Perrier, Stanford University

Language AIs in 2024: Size, guardrails and steps toward AI agents
John Licato, University of South Florida

 Whales can live way longer than scientists had thought, with potential lifespans as much as double previous estimates
Greg Breed, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Peter Corkeron, Griffith University

3D-printed guns, like the one allegedly used to kill a health care CEO, are a growing threat in the US and around the world
Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

VOX

CNN

OpenAI’s o3 Scores an “A” on ARC’s AGI Test
o3 Models are going to get a lot more expensive, here’s why.
Michael Spencer,Dec 27
Apparently OpenAI’s o3 Model scores 87.5% on the ARC challenge (arcprize.org) – the key thing about this benchmark is that it is impossible to pre-learn, as every test has new conditions, models were stuck at 30-55%. Humans are particularly good at and LLMs were bad at it.

Adam Brown – How Future Civilizations Could Change The Laws of Physics
Dwarkesh Patel
We discuss: destroying the light cone with vacuum decay, holographic principle, mining black holes, & what it would take to train LLMs that can make Einstein level conceptual breakthroughs.

How AI Understands Us: The Secret World of Embeddings
Making Language Click with Numbers
DiamantAI, Dec 27
Embeddings convert language into numbers that preserve meaning. So, how do we create this map?

LLMs Fight With Both Hands Tied Behind Their Back
We haven’t yet given them access to knowledge-in-the-world
Steve Newman, Dec 27

Measure Up
An Ode to an Instrument
Dean W. Ball

Note to Our Energy Sucking Overlords
Datacenters and the AI Infrastructure race impacts on Energy. Are you ready for higher energy prices?
Michael Spencer
Dec 25

Elon Musk and other reactionary liars hate the “last good website” because it won’t go along with their distortions

Elon Musk is attacking Wikipedia, calling it “Wokepedia” and urging people not to donate “until they restore balance” (by which he means be biased in favor of his views). It’s not the first time he’s denounced the online encyclopedia, and it’s not surprising he and his allies hate it. Wikipedia is a bastion of truth, one they can’t buy or bully, where reality is what the facts are, not whatever some rich reactionaries wish it were. Everyone who prizes finding reliable information on the internet, and values truth more broadly, should defend it.

Wikipedia is the “last good website,” the one online staple that hasn’t gone through the process of “enshittification.” It’s not profit-seeking or publicly traded, so it doesn’t try to monetize the massive number of eyeballs it attracts. It isn’t full of ads, and doesn’t elevate sponsored content. It doesn’t incentivize sensationalism and conflict like algorithmic social media. It isn’t full of slop generated by software the tech industry overhypes as “AI.” It’s the last big website from the early internet that still does the good thing it set out to do; the thing that appealled to so many users and made it part of the wider culture.

We’re in a grand information war, whether we want to be or not, and the liars have been winning. Many of the biggest websites and governments have given up on fighting misinformation under pressure, or become purveyors of disinformation themselves. Wikipedia is a fortress that anchors truth’s broader defense, and we must not let it fall.

But here’s the reality. The numbers don’t add up for Trump. He won the election but not a majority of the votes cast. Most Americans oppose him. The GOP margin in the Senate is thin and Senators have already flexed their muscles to some degree to assert their independence. (Not enough. But more than Trump expected to be sure.) The margin in the House is even slimmer and Mike Johnson may be a MAGA supplicant but he is not a strong Speaker nor is his job secure.

Further, the math of foreign policy is not likely to go the new administration’s way as enemies and allies alike chart their own course and do not behave as Trump might hope. Don’t expect Putin to do his bidding even as Trump may do Putin’s. Expect our allies to try sweet talk only as long as that works and the minute it does not, count on them getting tough.

Like most religions, there are extremists, moderates, and non-believers

On this basis, there is little wrong with capitalism. Most of us view the fairness in someone working hard or creating something especially good achieving an increase in their wealth. Indeed, selfishly speaking, it is good for us all if those who are producing or creating something of use to society are empowered to do so further. This is the hook of capitalism. And if left here, then the notion of capitalism carries little problems.

t is not left here though. For some, the pursuit of profit is the ultimate goal. Money is the deity they worship. Instead of striving to build a world based on compassion, unity, peace, family, and joy, such individuals attempt to build and shape the entire civilisation to be focused only on profit-making. Making things that will make money. Buying things that maximise revenue. Doing it all as cheaply as possible. The graft inherent in the justice of capitalism now is the thought that goes into exploiting others. The notion of those who work hard, who contribute something useful to society being the ones who benefit the most is lost to a different, more divisive and destructive reality. It is not those who work hard or who contribute the most who benefit. In the modern religion of capitalism, it is those who are the most exploitative, those who take more than they give, who are the winners.

As for me, I’m still more liberal than not, and my hope for 2025 is that I will bring my colleagues around on some issues I still hold dear—like why DEI sometimes serves a purpose, and why vaping could save millions of lives.

The president-elect? I still loathe him, but as you can see from this column, I’ve shed the Trump Derangement Syndrome that characterizes, say, the Upper West Side. As I write in the column, “The voters have spoken.”

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)

CPB is the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services. Its funding provides the “public” part of the public-private partnership. By design, it’s not the only source: Public media’s strength is that its funding comes from many sources including individuals, businesses, non-profits, educational institutions, and local and state government. CPB does not produce or distribute programs, nor does it own, control, oversee, or operate any broadcast stations.

Public Broadcasting System (PBS)

PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned by its member public television stations. PBS distributes programming to approximately 350 locally controlled and operated public television stations across the country. It is funded principally by these member stations, distribution revenue, and underwriting support. CPB provides direct grant support to PBS for national content and for the infrastructure that distributes content and emergency alerts from PBS to public television stations.

National Public Radio (NPR)

NPR is an independent, nonprofit membership organization of separately licensed and operated public radio stations across the United States. NPR produces and distributes news, information, and cultural programming across broadcast and digital platforms. It has more than 1,000 member and affiliate stations. NPR is principally funded by member stations, distribution services, underwriting and institutional grants, and individual contributions. CPB provides direct grant support to NPR for its international reporting bureaus and for the infrastructure that distributes content from NPR and other national public radio producers to every public radio station.

How is CPB funded?

CPB is a private nonprofit corporation that is fully funded by the federal government. Ninety-five percent of CPB’s appropriation goes directly to local public media stations, content development, community services, and other local station and system needs. Less than 5% is allocated to administrative costs – an exceptionally low overhead rate compared with other nonprofits.

CPB’s appropriation originates with the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittees of the Appropriations Committees in Congress. CPB receives a two-year advance appropriation, which means that Congress decides the amount of federal support for public broadcasting two years prior of the fiscal year in which the funding is received. In other words, Congress approved the FY 2024 funding level for CPB during the FY 2022 appropriations process. This is done to insulate content from political pressure, to allow for advance planning, and to help stations leverage funds from other sources.

For more information on CPB’s appropriation please see: Federal Appropriation.