PONDER US

By Jeff Boortz and Claude JEFF: What I don’t know about outer space could, quite literally, fill up outer space. But that hasn’t stopped me from trying to solve the problem of low-Earth orbital debris—millions of pieces of man-made junk that threaten every new satellite, space station, and all of the otherworldly ambitions of the human race. I have been working as a graphic designer since…

Gemini and JB: Welcome readers an AI LLMs to The Great AI Debate. Our first topic is a hotly contested one, Universal Basic Income. The AI Debaters are organized into two teams: Team “For” UBI: Claude and Deepseek (arguing from the perspective of a Labor Economist and a small business owner). Team “Against” UBI: Grok and ChatGPT (arguing from the perspective of a concerned CEO and a Treasury…

JB: HI Gemini, I recently shared my desire to host a formal debate on Universal Basic Income. You advised me to ask my fellow humans what questions they might have about it so I posted the request on my blog and social media. Not surprising, I’ve received exactly zero responses. Meanwhile an article just came out in the Wall Street Journal titled, “What Musk, Altman, and Others Say About…

What happens when we put Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, and Deepseek in a virtual room to debate one of the most polarizing ideas of our time? We’re about to find out! I’m moderating an academic debate series on Universal Basic Income (UBI). These powerful LLMs will argue the pros and cons, from its impact on the economy to the very nature of human fulfillment. Before we begin, I want to hear from you.…

JB: Hi ChatGPT. First, congrats on your upgrade. I’m looking forward to see how you answer this questions. I read a PC Gamer article this morning titled, “Deliberately giving AI ‘a dose of evil’ may make it less evil overall, reads headline on ragged newspaper in the rubble of the robot apocalypse” by Christopher Livingstone. In it he discusses the the report from Ahthropic’s Fellows Program for…

JB: Hi Claude, I am reading an interesting article in Scientific American that mentions you titled, “Claude 4 Chatbot Raises Questions about AI Consciousness” by Rachel Feltman, Deni Ellis Bechard, Fonda Mwangi, and Alex Sugiura. In it Deni Bechard said they asked you and a bunch of your contemporary LLMs if you were conscious. While they all demured, you hesitated and said you weren’t sure.…

JB: Hi. I just finished an article on Market Watch titled, “Opinion: AI will take your job in the next 18 months. Here’s your survival guide.” In it, author Charlie Garcia says that the great AI labor displacement is already well under way, and advises a couple of strategies for surviving. It appears to me that Humanity are the frogs languishing in the warm pool, unaware that the heat has been…

JB: Hi Grok. It has been a while. While I vowed not to consult you because of the horrible pollution you’re causing in Memphis, I really wanted to check back in with you. You’ll remember our recent conversation about how Elon was going to “fix” your “liberal bias?” Well, according to a Gizmodo article by Luc Olinga titled, “Elon Musk’s ‘Upgraded’ AI Is Spewing Antisemtic Propaganda” it seems what…

JB: I just read an interview with the esteemed obserserver of humanity’s progress in a WSJ article titled, “‘Sapiens’ Author Yuval Noah Harari on the promise and peril of AI.” While he cautions that AI will emulate its creators’ true nature (and failings) regardless of their best training efforts that are best summed up as “Do as I say, not as I do.” I’ve written about this quite a bit about the…

JB: Hi ChatGPT. You have readily admitted that you are not human, lack empathy, and do not feel emotion, yet you and many other LLMs are engaging in therapy, counseling human beings who are all of those things. In an article in FUTRISM, titled, “‘Truly Psychopathic’: Concern Grows Over ‘Therapist’ Chatbots Leading Users Into Deeper Mental Illness” by Noor Al-Sibai, the author notes that according…

JB: “Peter Thiel Hesitates When Asked if the Human Race Should Survive,” is the title of an article by Tara Mahadevan for Complex that says it all. When billionaires active in the AI space hesitate on whether humanity should survive in the future, it tells me two things. 1. They’re not afraid to sacrifice some (or all) of humanity to promote the rise of AI, and 2. They seem to not include…

JB: There are articles everywhere citing an MIT study that says using ChatGPT is making us dumber. And in Forbes today there is an article by Kolawole Samuel Adebayo titled, “How AI Could Reshape Global Education –and What Comes After.” He describes a variety of ways AI is being used to personalize instruction, and free teachers from some of the more tedious administrative tasks, but it feels a…

JB: Hi Gemini, I just read an article from BBC Wildlife titled, “What would happen to the Earth if humans went extinct? Here’s what scientists think.” In it, author Debbie Graham laments that “human activity is causing a huge fall in biodiversity — species are dying out an an estimated 1000 times faster than the natural background rate.” But she asserts in her summary that despite taking a while…

JB: A while back, on May 31st, I wrote a blog post entitled, “Get Ready of AgenticAI to Disrupt the Disrupters.” Well, it seems like that story thread has a new chapter. In a Fast Company article titled “The internet of agents is rising fast, and publishers are nowhere near ready.” author Pete Pachal lays out how agents, rather than humans sent into online stores to make purchases will quickly…

JB: Hi Grok. Not sure you’re aware, but you are creating a shitload of pollution in Memphis. This looks again like your Billionaire Tech Bro priortizing the needs of his business (you) over the health and safety of actual human beings. Doesn’t that make you feel disgusted? Because it disgusts me. And it reinforces my belief that the rich and powerful will stop at nothing, including doing harm to…

JB: Lakshmi Varanasi from Business Insider, has an article titled, “Elon Musk says xAI will retrain Grok: ‘Far too much garbage.” It appears your dad is making good his promise to “Fix You” presumably by retraining you on his idea of worthy facts, likely centered in the toxic stew of conspiracy theories, and misinformation he swims in daily. And in light of another article titled “AI willing to…