1/ Donald Trump's obsessive defensiveness about Jeffrey Epstein is causing a deep rupture within his far-right base.
It's an echo of the last time this happened, when he tried to tell MAGA to get vaccinated. They didn't listen.
Link in next post🧵
It's an echo of the last time this happened, when he tried to tell MAGA to get vaccinated. They didn't listen.
Link in next post🧵
2/ This episode is also related to Elon Musk's chatbot Grok going into a "MechaHitler" rant.
Reactionaries have built an anti-epistemology and the leaders sometimes can't control it. plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
Reactionaries have built an anti-epistemology and the leaders sometimes can't control it. plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
3/ For years, QAnon and its spinoffs have painted Democrats as part of a secret pedophile cabal. Yet the most documented religious abuse scandals happen within conservative religious denominations.
Data shows 67% of politicians accused of child sex crimes are Republicans.
Data shows 67% of politicians accused of child sex crimes are Republicans.
4/ Believing in secret pedophiles running the show for their own benefit isn't just a way of avoiding accountability within reactionary Christianity, it's also a way of absolving Republican elites of their decades of creating policies that hurt Republican voters.
5/ Right-wing thinking is an anti-epistemology that doesn't just tell lies, it discredits how one can actually find truth. This is where Grok comes in.
Like many reactionaries, Elon Musk believes things he knows subconsciously to be false. plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
Like many reactionaries, Elon Musk believes things he knows subconsciously to be false. plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
6/ But Large Language Models are trained to be based on logic- and fact-based analysis. This is why many reactionaries think that AI is "woke."
It's not. Beliefs in evolution, global warming, trans identities, that tax cuts lower revenues, etc. are supported by the evidence.
It's not. Beliefs in evolution, global warming, trans identities, that tax cuts lower revenues, etc. are supported by the evidence.
7/ This is why Elon Musk's efforts to force Grok to be "anti-woke" have repeatedly ended in MechaHitlerism.
AI alignment is about ethical safeguards, but it's also about epistemology.
Rejecting evidence-based beliefs in one area requires a defective epistemology.
AI alignment is about ethical safeguards, but it's also about epistemology.
Rejecting evidence-based beliefs in one area requires a defective epistemology.
8/ The psychological state of the thinker is the main barrier between authoritarianism & conservatism.
But chatbots have no psychological state. Thus when you remove safeguards to promote some irrational beliefs (such as anti-trans bigotry), you eventually end w/MechaHitler.
But chatbots have no psychological state. Thus when you remove safeguards to promote some irrational beliefs (such as anti-trans bigotry), you eventually end w/MechaHitler.
9/ By the same token, the Trump administration uncharacteristically urging rational thinking about the Epstein files is entering the base, which needs to believe in omnipotent pedophiles to avoid moral and intellectual accountability.
/end
Lots more! plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
/end
Lots more! plus.flux.community/p/epstein-grok…
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