Meandering Tour
More things I learned this week: Yacht Rock, Legal AI, Pharaohs, Veterans, and News Items
5) In TOTO
Even if you don’t like Yacht Rock (or don’t know what it is), Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary is worth watching.
One of the revelations (for me at least) is that members of the rock band TOTO, the group responsible for Africa, Rosanna, and 99, among other hits in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and beyond, did session work or otherwise collaborated with stars like Michael Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Seals and Crofts, Paul McCartney, and even Miles Davis. Among other cameos, guitarist Steve Lukather played on Jackson’s Beat It, and keyboardist Steve Porcaro composed Jackson’s Human Nature.
An apparent controversy: Is Steely Dan part of the Yacht Rock universe? “Only a fool would say that,” in my opinion, although some TOTO members often played as session musicians for Fagen and Becker. “Any major dude will tell you.”
4) Better Call COBOL
The AI invasion is accelerating in all corners of our lives. This week, Point72 Private Investments, the hedge fund founded by billionaire and Mets owner Steve Cohen, invested $75 million in Luminance, a start-up that uses a proprietary Large Language Model to help draft contracts, conduct pre-trial discovery, and manage due diligence.
Your witness, HAL.
What could go wrong? In 2023, two New York lawyers were sanctioned by a federal judge for using fake case citations from ChatGPT to draft a brief in a personal injury case. "We made a good faith mistake in failing to believe that a piece of technology could be making up cases out of whole cloth," their firm's statement said.
And it keeps happening. Three days ago, another federal judge, this time in Wyoming, ordered an attorney to show cause why he should not be sanctioned for citing made-up cases.
"Our internal artificial intelligence platform 'hallucinated' [hmmm, “hal”] the cases in question while assisting our attorney in drafting the motion … ," the attorneys responded. "This matter comes with great embarrassment and has prompted discussion and action regarding the training, implementation, and future use of artificial intelligence within our firm. This serves as a cautionary tale for our firm and all firms, as we enter this new age of artificial intelligence."
Somebody should take a fresh look at the Mets’ new $765 million contract with Juan Soto.
3) Pyramid scheme
My friend ‘Mules’ referred me to a BBC report that archaeologists discovered the tomb of Pharaoh Thutmose II, the first burial site of a pharaoh discovered since Tutankhamen’s in 1922.
Thutmose II, who is thought to have reigned from 1493 to 1479 BC, was the husband of Queen Hatshepsut, one of the few female pharaohs, whose name my high school art teacher from Tennessee struggled to pronounce. Worse still was his pronunciation of Amenhotep III, son of Thutmose IV. Not to mention the Florentine painter Cimabue. But I meander.
2) No thank you for your service
Heather Cox Richardson reported that about one third of federal workers are veterans; roughly 25% of U.S. government hires in fiscal year 2023 were veterans; and, consequently, they are being hit hard by the current round of layoffs, especially probationary employees.
These figures struck me as improbably large percentages. But far be it from me to question the illustrious HCR; still, trust but verify, as another famous RIFfer once said.
I started with Stars and Stripes, her cited source, then consulted a profile of the federal workforce published by the Partnership for Public Service. And sure enough, HCR’s account is accurate. Which led me to recall (and confirm) the sobering fact that there are roughly 35,000 homeless veterans in this country.
1) Who cares what I learned this week?
Instead, you should check out
by , a daily aggregation of global technology, scientific, and geopolitical news that is astounding in its breadth (especially the paid version).I recently learned from News Items, for example, that Meta researchers have been able to translate thoughts into typed sentences. Reports Ellis: “The system achieved up to 80 percent accuracy at the character level, often managing to reconstruct complete sentences from brain activity alone. While impressive, the technology still has limitations -- MEG [magnetoencephalography] requires participants to remain still in a shielded room, and additional studies with brain injury patients are needed to prove clinical usefulness.”
MEG, meet Luminance.
Wouldn’t 80 percent of thought be sexual fantasy, by default ? (Meta AI or not) As a respected oncologist once said to me, many years ago, “If you aren’t thinking of sex, your mind is wandering.”
MEG, meet Lumon