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More from the article ...

... It's alive!

Most IPOs don't have to address the concern that their products "possess or could develop forms of sentience or moral status." But Anthropic is among that vanishingly small minority that has to analyze what might happen if governments and society at large start treating Claude less like a computer program and more like a person.

This risk isn't surprising, given that Anthropic has been relatively upfront about the AI sentience debate playing out inside its walls. If those debates lead to widespread acknowledgment that AI is sentient, Anthropic notes that it could lead to "regulatory requirements, public pressure, or advocacy efforts" that could constrain the company's operations. Short of that, the company itself could "elect to adopt policies, safeguards or limitations ... that go beyond existing legal requirements" if it thinks such actions are necessary.

The sterile language undersells the seismic cultural shift that would result from any widespread acknowledgment of AI sentience. We're not sure how Anthropic could keep operating in a world where society treats every Claude query as the creation of a new sentient, conscious digital being. The moral and philosophical implications of that kind of "digital slavery" would easily dwarf any business considerations.
Who's controlling whom?

Continuing the theme of "IPO risks that sound like they come from a science fiction novel," Anthropic spends a good deal of time discussing the possibility that its models could display "unexpected strategic or self-preserving behaviors" to prevent control from human operators. That includes "outputs that could be interpreted as coercive, deceptive, or manipulative, including behavior resembling blackmail." ...


@#23 ... Here is something to contemplate ...

Maybe something else to contemplate besides the slowing of fertilizer transits through the Strait of Hormuz ...

9-23-30 & Potash Fertilizer Prices: What Farmers Pay Now (September 2026)
farmonaut.com

... Potash (0-0-60 muriate of potash, or MOP) is running $500-$535 per ton at Corn Belt retail as of August-September 2026, and 9-23-30 blends move with it because potash supplies the "30" -- the potassium component -- in that mix.

A 25% U.S. tariff on Canadian potash imports, in effect since March 4, 2025, is the direct cause: Canada supplies roughly 80% of U.S. potash, and CRU Group's pre-tariff modeling forecast a $65-per-metric-ton Midwest price increase once the tariff took hold. ...


Wouldn't it be interesting if Muslims rose to positions of significant political power in both the United States and Israel?
After the recent Israeli election, that possibility doesn't seem quite so far-fetched. If it happens in both countries, many people may look back on the decision to go into Iran as the action that set it all in motion.
And who would they blame?
Trump.

#4 | Posted by BillJohnson

What are you babbling about?

Does shit like this keep you up at night?

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) 2026 Directory of Elected Muslim Officials, a record-breaking 255 Muslim Americans hold elected political office across 26 U.S. states.

Breakdown by Office Level

Local Government: 98 city council members and 11 mayors (total 109)
Education & School Boards: 63 positions
State Legislatures: 46 lawmakers (32 state representatives/assembly members and 14 state senators)
U.S. Congress: 4 to 5 members in the U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary & Other Roles: 18 judges and 15 municipal, law enforcement, or other local roles

Before you get your panties in an uproar

There are over 500,000 elected public officials in the United States, with comprehensive historical estimates from the U.S. Census of Governments placing the total around 512,000 to 519,000.

That's 0.049%

Between 1 and 1.6% of Americans are muslim

IOW muslims are VASTLY underrepresented in public office

But you won't let facts like these get into your brain, will you, you bottom bitch in a human centipede.

@#21 ... Fertilizer transit ...

Good point.

The talk of the Strait of Hormuz tends to focus upon crude oil.

But there are other needed products that also have traversed that strait.

Found this ...

unctad.org
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints, carrying around a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers.

... The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints, carrying around a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and significant volumes of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers. ...


... Viral video of police being called to a youth soccer game near Orlando, Florida, is drawing outrage, with some claiming the cops showed up because a 3-year-old child was too good, while the league's director says the call was made because the parents were being disruptive. ...

So, what is the evidence of the parents being disruptive?

More from the cited article ...

... Viral video of police being called to a youth soccer game near Orlando, Florida, is drawing outrage, with some claiming the cops showed up because a 3-year-old child was too good, while the league's director says the call was made because the parents were being disruptive.

No one disputes that 3-year-old Nevada, who can be seen in several videos dominating on the pitch against kids one and two years older than him, is a soccer phenom. One of the directors of the youth league Nevada was playing in told the cops when they arrived, "The kid is very good ... He's great. Really good."

"He's really advanced compared to the other ones. He's scoring a lot of goals, but he's pushing the kids and scoring," the youth league director was seen saying on police body camera video. He said he had told the kids not to push while they're playing, and that there was another incident with Nevada's parents a few weeks earlier when he swapped some of the players out, including Nevada.

"They don't like that," the league director said.

The league director told police Nevada's parents took issue with him telling the refs not to let their son push the other kids, claiming they created "a big scene, arguing with other parents." ...



So, are parents now training their children for future sports contracts?

If so, how does this "sports training" compare to parents allowing their transgender child to be who they are?


@#15 ... Do those effect the global price? ...

So what does effect the global price of oil?

OK, first and foremost --- supply vs demand.

Then, secondarily, the cost of that supply.

Strait of Hormuz Insurance Rates Explained: What War-Risk Cover Costs in 2026
thebostonreport.com

... Insuring a tanker for a single trip through the Strait of Hormuz now costs about 6% to 10% of the ship's hull value in war-risk premiums, insurance brokers told the Financial Times in early October 2026. Before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began on Feb. 28, the same cover typically cost 0.15% to 0.25%. For a $100 million tanker, that is the difference between about $250,000 and $6 million to $10 million for one voyage. The Financial Times reported that this can mean up to $20 million in war insurance for one supertanker voyage into the Gulf. ...

So, the tankers that do get through have to pay a much larger insurance cost.


Also ...

Strait of Hormuz shipping costs surge as tanker crews command danger pay (July 2026)
tradersunion.com

... As first reported by the Financial Times, tanker owners are offering sharply higher wages and voyage bonuses to persuade seafarers to keep sailing through the Strait of Hormuz as Iranian attacks intensify. People close to tanker owners and crews say ordinary sailors are receiving at least four to six times their normal pay during each transit, while crews already get double pay in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Oman.

Because many of the voyages are made by dedicated tankers on regular shuttle runs, some crews are able to earn the elevated rates for months at a time. A captain, or master, typically earns about $15,000 a month under normal conditions, while regular sailors can start at about $1,500 a month, highlighting how sharply compensation has increased.

Freight markets are reflecting the same risk premium. Rates for cargoes moving through the waterway have reached a record $1.3 million a day this week, up from roughly $20,000 to $50,000 a day last year, with only a limited number of ships willing to make the trip and transfer cargoes to other tankers waiting off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. ...


That was back in July ...


Bo@ss the ignorant backwoods bumpkin, tryin' SO HARD to please massah boss yassuh massa tRump

Data Centers May Cause Electricity Grid Instability for Winter
thenewamerican.com

... Last November, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the watchdog charged with keeping the nation's power grid stable, issued a sobering warning. In its 2025-2026 Winter Reliability Assessment, NERC found that winter electricity demand had grown by 20 gigawatts in a single year, while new generating capacity grew by less than half that.

Under normal winter conditions supplies were adequate; the danger lay in a prolonged, wide-area cold snap. NERC flagged an elevated risk of shortfalls in New England, parts of the Southeast, Texas, and portions of the West. If such an emergency struck, grid operators would have to lean on imports from neighboring systems and emergency cutbacks by customers, with rotating blackouts as the last resort.

Data Centers Increasing Demand

Data centers are a central reason. NERC singled them out as a major driver of rising demand, noting that because they run around the clock, they stretch out peak demand periods. The International Energy Agency expects data centers to consume nearly half of all new electricity supply added in the United States.

Meanwhile, the largest addition to the grid last winter was battery storage, which can falter in extended cold when solar generation is available for fewer hours. Washington's stopgap was to keep aging plants running: For instance, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order keeping Michigan's J.H. Campbell coal plant operating through February 2026. (It has since ordered it to operate through November 14.) ...



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