20 Minutes into The Future

Most American who lived through the 1980s are likely familiar with the character Max Headroom. However, that familiarity largely stems from Coke advertisements. This is a real shame because the TV show was excellent. It was one of the few cyberpunk shows to air and like all cyberpunk, the show took place in a dystopian universe. The dystopia in Max Headroom proved to be surprisingly prescient. Episode eight titled "Deities" involves a new religion, the Vu Age Church, promising eternal life by scanning the brains of followers and uploading them into a computer. Loved ones could then go to the church and talk to AI versions of their dead loved ones. The entire thing ends up being a scam. But in light of this story, the episode hit on the nose:

Jim Acosta, former chief White House correspondent for CNN, stirred controversy on Monday when he sat for a conversation with a reanimated version of a person who died more than seven years ago. His guest was an avatar of Joaquin Oliver, one of the 17 people killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

Acosta said in the video segment that Oliver’s parents created the AI version of their son and his father, Manuel Oliver, invited him to be the first reporter to interview the avatar.

Much like the avatars created by the Vu Age Church, the avatar of Joaquin Oliver is nothing more than a program with the virtual face of a dead person. The "AI" that Joaquin's parents "created" is nothing more than a large language model that his parents trained with their biases. At least the Vu Age Church could claim to have scanned the brains of followers (that technology existed in Max Headroom) to create their AI dummies. Since Joaquin has been dead since 2018 and large language models have only recently become accessible to the masses, no such thing could've taken place.

This is honestly one of the most shameful pieces of propaganda that I've seen. It started with two parents exploiting their dead son to push their narrative. It ended with a bone fide reporter (which is now largely synonymous with propagandist) agreeing to interview the large language model. I can only assume he agreed to do so because the model is pushing a narrative with which he agrees. But it's possible he's simply gullible or so desperate for ratings that he'll do anything to get publicity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go setup my pirate TV station for the night. This is Blank Chris signing off.