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The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

theintercept.com

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Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#41

Post by dm_ »

What I think many of the jaded comments about how "it was ever thus" miss is what it means that American soft power is reduced to AI slop.

During the Cold War, the CIA famously funded all sorts of cultural endeavors, but much of the output (if not directly CIA-created, then at least bolstered by the Agency) is still held to have been culturally relevant: abstract expressionism (https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20161004-was-modern-art-...), the Kenyon Review (https://www.thecollegianmagazine.com/the-kenyon-review-and-t...), etc.

Lots to criticize in the Cold War, but I think you can at least make the argument that this was emblematic of an American cultural power that was self-assured of its own value and legitimacy.

In comparison, now we have...LLMs creating personal finance tips?

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#43

Post by JumpCrisscross »

keybored wrote: post #28
dyauspitr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be capitalist without being right wing in this administration cares more about the latter

Being capitalist (edit: the ideology) implies being right wing.

> Being capitalist implies being right wing

Oh boy, no it does not. Supporting low-intervention markets (i.e. brutal competition among corporations) alongside high taxation of gains (and strong services for individuals) is absolutely coherent and both capitalist and not right wing. (It's a decent description of my politics.)

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#44

Post by bigfudge »

throwaway290 wrote: post #26
wmwragg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a significant difference between socialism and communism, Americans seem to purposely conflate the two, they are not the same.

Smells like "no true scotsman" fallacy because they are nearly synonyms. Nobody in USSR could tell the exact difference or at least there was no consensus, and you are expecting modern Americans to do better huh? This basically sums it up: > According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists' adh…

But this is to privilege 100+ year old origins of these terms over their actual application and development in most of Western Europe. It’s anachronistic and misleading.

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#45

Post by JumpCrisscross »

yanhangyhy wrote: post #42

If the American system is so good, why does it always need to be promoted in such strange ways? LA people should be so eager to be pro-America

> If the American system is so good

Putin doesn't plaster Europe with propaganda because he thinks the Russian system is good. He does it for power. And if your system is that good, propaganda is effective.

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#46

Post by throwaway290 »

bigfudge wrote: post #44
throwaway290 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smells like "no true scotsman" fallacy because they are nearly synonyms. Nobody in USSR could tell the exact difference or at least there was no consensus, and you are expecting modern Americans to do better huh? This basically sums it up: > According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists' adh…

But this is to privilege 100+ year old origins of these terms over their actual application and development in most of Western Europe. It’s anachronistic and misleading.

No, this was true in USSR so like even 40 years ago, I grew up exposed to that a lot and believe me no one can say for sure which is which.

To keep things fun, USSR was not communist either for most of the time, it was sort of socialist I guess. There are a lot of jokes reflecting the confusion between socialism and communism and how we always go to communism but never reach it

Today there are examples of socialist but not communist countries in Europe. But if you compare them to Venezuela or Brazil you would be crazy.

Maybe we need better terminology

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#47

Post by keybored »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #43
keybored wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being capitalist (edit: the ideology) implies being right wing.

> Being capitalist implies being right wing Oh boy, no it does not. Supporting low-intervention markets ( i.e. brutal competition among corporations) alongside high taxation of gains (and strong services for individuals) is absolutely coherent and both capitalist and not right wing. (It's a decent description of my politics.)

Aren't you a venture capitalist? A left wing one?

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#48

Post by petesergeant »

bigfudge wrote: post #39
petesergeant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this where we pretend a bunch of rich market-capitalist European countries are “socialist” or are you talking about China and Vietnam?

You can’t have it both ways though. The policies enacted in Northern Europe would definitely be agreed on as communist/socialist by the majority of mainstream American politicians, Democrats included.

> definitely be agreed on as communist/socialist by the majority of mainstream American politicians

The US has generous social assistance, just less of it than some European countries. It has unions more powerful than many European countries. Meanwhile the most popular Dem-aligned politician in the US has recently introduced a bill to partly nationalise AI companies.

> You can’t have it both ways

You’re responding to my first comment in this thread

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#49

Post by asdff »

boxed wrote: post #7
zekrioca wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems some AI propaganda has already worked on you.

It's strange that people look at the millions dead from starvation from communism, and the quite recent destruction of Venezuela, and still think communism can somehow work this time .

Haiti pulls that off under capitalism too. Wider context is a bigger part of that than who owns the means of production.

Re: The Pentagon is running an AI propaganda mill targeting Latin America

#50

Post by asdff »

ashdksnndck wrote: post #38
geysersam wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of socialist countries in the world that are doing fine.

Pretty much every remotely developed country is capitalist. The wealthiest country with a non-capitalist economy is Cuba or Turkmenistan, depending on where you draw the line.

Uhh, China...
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