"How the mighty have fallen"

Finis: these last two posts on the perils of AI infrastructure here, and social commentary on AI below, close this blog on lessons-learned from my recent travels starting in Kuwait. They are indexed on my AI blogpost here, the featured banner post of my main blog here.

Update 1: just in time, Pope Leo XIV's first major Encyclical on AI & two counterpoints at the bottom.

Update 2: "one more for the road" on an important topic here.

Update 3: speaking of important topics, another dire warning here about what AI is doing in light of this year's AIs going rogue...

So this is how dystopia starts... in great silence

Update 4: two deep dives into data center perils & promises as 'last post 1 & 2'

Update 3: someone of consequence echoed my last point at the bottom.

Update 2: added the Tinkerbell Effect in the middle (HT the US Independence's 250th Anniversary).

Update 1: my next post looks at it from the other end of the looking glass, starting with looking in at an influencer's provocative yet mistaken take on AI.

Roma(ni) stories

Update: the series on mores follows here, after two on AI social impact next here.

It all started with an online chat among Hungarian diaspora, where I noticed English 'chav' & magyar 'csávó' sounded similar; sure enough, Perplexity said:

"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet"

 In the literary commentary The Nobel and the Booker remind us of the apocalyptic and absurd in Central European fiction, the author says:

"I felt – and this could very well be personal – that the only country that can truly be described as Central European is Hungary. Just over a couple of hours by train from Vienna, the gateway too Western Europe, Budapest, with its scattering of Turkish thermal baths and eclectic blend of art nouveau, gothic, baroque, and communist architecture, is far less of a Western city than its Austrian neighbour. Budapest remains outside of Western Europe not only geographically but also historically and culturally. But while it is touched by some of the major historical narratives of Eastern Europe, Budapest stays on their fringes too, as does Hungary on the whole. Lacerated by both Nazism and Communism, submitting to Hitler and “saved” by the Soviets, Hungary defines that space that is both misunderstood and hybridised – Central European."

My car story in Kuwait

 

click to enlarge, AI generated 

About exactly 15 yrs. ago, I returned from Kuwait City for good. I sought a job 15 mo. prior at the local ESRI distributor: my visits the previous 15 yrs. to Muscat Oman, Al Khobar Saudi Arabia, and  Bahrain (see here) w a quick jump to Doha Qatar, had left an impression on me; I also learned that my contract written in Arabic held no water,  thru the language itself not thru any misdeed (see also here). I must thank a red-haired Liverpuldian who went native - learned Arabic, converted to Islam & married a local girl,  now in Qatar telecom I think - for intro to local customs. Did six mo. in Milan and over a year here presage a similar restlessness to his, and my eventual departure from England & my 30 yr. marriage?