Episode 211 - Artificial Intelligentsia

Noam and Jen make fun of Richard Dawkins finding God in the machine. Ok, not God, but Claude(ia). This kicks off a rambling discussion of AI, consciousness, the Turing Test, if AI is the doom of all humanity, Sam Altman's house getting firebombed, people being way too het up over data centers, water usage for golfing courses and water features in shopping malls, and how Skynet will still send robots and it will probably be the Pentagon's fault.  On the Iran front, we discuss if it is still a front and what exactly the US Navy's role will be in guiding ships through said front. Meanwhile, the Trump administration fumbles around for a reason why they don't need to ask Congress to declare war. Nobody really knows what's going on still, but Iran seems perfectly happy to continue on as things are right now even though they are hurting financially. Speaking of Middle East financial news, the UAE is leaving OPEC and moving towards a formal relationship with Israel. As always, the Middle East is going through some changes.  For our What Are We Consuming, Noam has made it to season 3 of Euphoria and has a theory about how this season is one big subversive joke on conservative values. Jen just rambles on about Euphoria reaction videos, anime, and going shopping at yet another new Japanese life store in the DMV.