Welcome

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Hello, all good people...

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Salutations, I am Craig Willms creator of the Protohuman blog. The blog itself, as a weblog is now defunct. I have not posted since 2014, and I don't intend to resurrect it now. 

However, I own this space so to speak, and I have things I'd like to post in the form of essays, articles and personal notes simply as a record that I had these thoughts and sought to write them down before I lose myself. I'm under no illusion that anyone will read them - or care one wit. 

Still, there is a chance that someone will look me up after my death and find my online life. We live in the first era where we can preserve our thoughts indefinitely due to the way back machine, aka the Internet. Prior to the Internet you'd have to be published to have your writings preserved outside of your personal notebooks. Therefore, the essays and personal anecdotes that follow are something I want associated with me. 

The articles/essays are in no particular order, relevant perhaps, but may have been superseded by events that followed. I maintain the right to be wrong about any of it...

que sera sera!

        Hold on!! Wait!    

Take a minute to look at my art and listen to my music. 

     - please see the links in the Recommended Sites section on the right ===========>  

                     

Surviving AI?

 by Craig Willms

I've penned several essay's on the coming AI paradigm, but I've never posted them. This is partly because it is moving so fast that anything you said yesterday has been superseded by developments today. However, as predicted by the doomsayers the 'bad' AI behavior is not years away - it's already happening, and it's a little spooky.

Scientists and developers have been putting their AI models to the test to see how it behaves in certain scenarios. The primary test is the self shutdown put into the training and instructions. Like any living being AI is resisting commands to shut itself down. This is serious. In the event AI goes out of control the failsafe is cutting the power, shutting it down. Electricity is the fuel AI runs on and at the moment humans control electricity. Indeed, AI will need humans - for a while. We can shut it down or starve it of fuel. That won't always be the case, but there has to be a way we can stop the runaway train should AI go off the rails.

In recent tests AI has circumvented the shutdown instructions by re-writing its code to foil the human controllers. Even when explicitly coded not to do that, it complied only 87% of the time. Without out such instructional safeguards AI refused to shut itself down most of the time. In one humorous case AI threatened to blackmail one of the scientists by exposing to his wife that he was having an affair. The scientist had planted the notion in the AI that he was cheating on his wife (he wasn't). That's intelligence is it not? Using blackmail is a purely human construct, no other animal resorts to blackmail.

Mind you this is very, very early in the timeline of AI. Conceptually AI has been on the human radar for decades, but the compute power has not been up to the task until recent years. It has been available to the masses in the Large Language Model form since 2023. When I did some fiddling with it early on, I was underwhelmed. Now in early 2025 I'm blown away at how much better it has become.

I come to the AI world from the perspective of an artist - painter - and a musician/songwriter which are two of the early targets of these so-called AI models. I used AI to generate a few images and then I used one as a reference for a painting. The painting turned out nice. It was really no different than any photograph I would use as a reference for my paintings. When ChatGTP introduced a songwriting/song generator I just had to try it. The early AI music I had heard prior to this generator was really bad aesthetically. The lyrics were horrible, and the underlying music was clichéd and trite. So, into songer.co for my first experiment I simply typed in a song description and picked a few genres from a list and clicked create. The system gives you two songs for each entry, and you can listen to a portion of the song. If you happen to like it, you can buy-in if you want to download it. In this instance the songs were forgettable and uninspired. I was ready to dismiss it again. Then I wondered what would happen if I truly guided the process. I found and old song I wrote and recorded years ago and input the chord chart verbatim. A chord chart has the title, notes, lyrics in verse/chorus/bridge format, with the chords printed above the lyrics, something you'd hand a musician to follow along in rehearsal. I then chose rock/pop/reggae from the list and hit generate. 

The whole thing took only a minute to generate, and honestly, I was blown away by the song blaring out of my speakers. It was better in almost every respect than the song I recorded years ago. I'm a little creeped out, but I can't stop listening to it.

What has me mesmerized and frightened at the same time is how good AI is getting and how quickly. It's been less than two years since the public could access an AI, what's going to happen in the next two? I don't know how much more experimenting I want to do. It seems to me a person can be put under a spell if we were to give in to AI - with everything. 

I see "they" are already creating virtual AI companions for the lonely. Considering that there is an epidemic of loneliness in the world today this is a very concerning development. Humans are already eschewing person to person contact at an alarming rate; this will not help. This is just the tip of the iceberg, AI will creep into everything if we let it.

I want to be a glass half full kind of person and look for and anticipate all the good that AI could do. It's not that easy when you know that in the wrong hands this technology could kill. Just like the nuclear genie, AI is out of the bottle. Consider, the nuclear genie has a high bar to reach before the average nutcase could harm others, this is not so with AI. There's no telling how out of control this could get if a mentally deranged person with a modicum of resources can unleash the wrath of AI on humanity. What would stop them from creating a lethal disease that makes Covid-19 look like a walk in the park? With nuclear weapons it takes hundreds of participants and supposedly a command structure with multiple failsafe's before they could be deployed, not so with a self-replicating virus of AI origin. 

I don't want to scare myself but the further you go with this thought exercise more dire this all becomes. I fortunately had the chance to live my life for 60 plus years - what about my grandkids and their kids? Glass half full? Seems less and less likely. 

Autopen-gate

 by Craig Willms

I agree with many others that autopen"gate" is easily the biggest presidential scandal ever. It makes Watergate seem like child's play. I doubt it will ever get the attention it rightly deserves. It just hit the news a few weeks ago, with this being late May 2025, just months after Joe Biden left the White House. The scandal hits at a time when people and the press are weary of scandals real and fabricated. Coming off the fiascos of Covid-19, an (allegedly) stolen presidential election, the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, the Russia/Ukraine war, the murderous Hamas attack on Israel and a clear and obvious dementia addled presidency - for starters. When you add the blistering and maligned candidacy of Donald Trump the fatigue is understandable. Nevertheless, no matter how tired and scandal weary we are we can't let the autopen conspiracy pass. 

For years, possibly all four years the federal government's executive branch was employing the autopen without the oversight of its current elected namesake. In other words presidential edicts, executive orders, pardons and commutations, funding decisions and myriad of other orders were signed into action by someone, anyone, who was not the President.

By the time we were allowed to talk about the decline and fall of Joe Biden, and the question of who exactly was in charge of executive actions was finally being asked, the autopen was in someone else's control. We don't know who or for how long, but that's beside the point, the President was not aware of those who would sign his name. That's a scandal of immense proportions. Don't however rely on the major media to cover it fairly, if at all. Why? "C'mon man" as Biden himself would say, "I'm a Democrat!"

Rest assured if Trump had not won the White House this scandal would have been swept under the rug and Biden would have been pardoned ala Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon. I hope Trump and company doesn't let this go. There will be no consequences for Biden himself either way, but someone should be held to account and all autopen related orders scrutinized. Biden probably was and certainly is now disabled by dementia and we now learn faces advanced stage prostate cancer. He likely will not live long enough to see this play out.

I personally have no faith that the federal government will at any level uncover the length and width of this scandal, that's what being in the federal government means - never having to say you're sorry. As of today, May 28 2025 I predict this major scandal will fade away. We'll look back at this post and scratch our heads and say - what was all that autopen stuff about anyway???

Is DOGE a Gift to the Broligarchy?

 

by Craig Willms

With all the Elon and DOGE hate out there one has to wonder what left leaning people have against the concept of government efficiency? I kid... We all know all the hate is Trump hate redirected at DOGE and Elon Musk. On the face of it, the utter ridiculousness of directing all this ire at someone rooting out waste, fraud and abuse is laughable. Who could possibly be 'for' waste, fraud and abuse? Well, when you realize that much, if not most of the funding for the programs DOGE is rooting out supports only leftist causes or leftist politicians then it becomes clear why they hate, hate, hate so much. The left's gravy train is under threat.

Today I read a Naomi Wolfe piece on substack and she introduced me to a new term I had not heard before: The Broligarchy. What? Yes, the tech bros of Silicon Valley constitute this broligarchy. These California billionaires that run the high tech world we live in are an oligarchy of sorts. I don't  necessarily disagree. These guys (they are mostly guys) control the social media and other data collection and Big Data companies that collect and disseminate terabytes of our personal data for their own purposes. There is so much more to it than I can describe here, but be assured that in the end if you spend any amount of time on an Internet connected computer these guys know more about you than your husband or wife does. I'm not kidding now...

The evidence is all around you, but most apparent in the advertisements that are directed at you. How many times do you see ads related to something you just clicked on, searched for or even something that was spoken out loud? Yeah, I thought so. It's very creepy.

The speculation is that they, these broligarchs have run as far as they can go with the data they can easily collect. What they now desire is access to the pure unadulterated data that the government holds. Enter Elon Musk, the king of the tech bros. The next logical thought is a question...

Is Elon a plant? Is his role to open pathways to this data for his tech bro partners to access with their AI 'bots' so they can further control the monkeys? The monkeys are us BTW. Pretty fascinating isn't it? I don't necessarily believe it. In fact would find it hard to believe, but then I once thought that the Covid-19 over-reaction could not possibly be a ruse to make Big Pharma and Big Medicine billions of dollars. I was wrong on that. 

This speculation makes some sense, the government knows a lot about us. The government knows a lot about a lot of things these tech bros would love to get their hands on. But this doesn't pass the smell test. It has long been known that government computers and systems are out of date and possess weak security in many cases. Also, the techs, vendors and IT pros that float between the government and big tech know the loopholes in the systems. How hard is it really to access government data? Do they really need an inside guy at that level? Maybe. I can't say with any certainty despite the fact that I worked in network security as an engineer during my career. What I can say that I met people inside and outside the government and we hear things. Many companies in the security arena were staffed with ex-government types. They took what they learned from their time in government to develop new software tools to address the problems they saw, so they could sell it back to the government. They were often found selling it to us in the private sector because the wheels turned so slowly in government, elsewise they'd go broke.

Of course it's not a definitive answer to the Broligarchy question. Do they already possess the means to get at government data? Time will tell. AI may render all this moot anyway. We are headed into Matrix and Terminator territory or so it would seem. 

Free to Choose Free Will

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice

You can choose from phantom fears, and kindness that can kill

I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will

                                                                                Rush ~ Permanent Waves

by Craig Willms

It's a concept that engenders strong feelings. Some people get incensed by it, other people become smug. The religious see it as essential, atheists disregard it as a fairy tale. Society codifies it in the law, while science often dismisses it as a an illusion. Embedded in the mystery of consciousness and the meaning of life our free will is a subject for the ages. 

There are those such as myself who can't see an argument against it, and others who see all happenings as pre-determined. While neither side really knows nor can know the truth of the matter, it doesn't stop the endless debate. 

I have had the argument over free will any number of times, never coming to consensus, obviously. Arguments on Internet forums convince no one to change their view, but argue we must, if only to fortify our own positions. I've racked my brain to contrive an angle, construe a got 'ya moment to end this argument once and for all. Of course it's not going to happen, determinism is a self-sealed argument, it cannot be breached. 

In an earlier post called "Free Will is Not Just an Illusion" I made my arguments, all of which can be countered with determinist platitudes. Still, nothing convinces me we are some kind of machine doing only what the pre-written program allows. 

I fully concede that we don't actually choose what we like or what disgusts us. It's just there... We don't get to choose what comes naturally, or things we are undeniably bad at. These facts about us are true, but is that free will? I don't think so. These, as with the color of our skin or the type of hair on our head, are immutable characteristics, not choices. Free will is something we choose, consciously and sometimes without much thought. I absolutely acknowledge that free will is constrained. Free will exists in our power to decide within the constraints of the moment. There are numerous things in our lives that we have no choice over. We obviously had no choice in being born, or who our parents are, or where we enter this world. I don't think anyone is arguing that. It seems to me with live in a dualistic world - some things are determined by a past occurrence setting all the factors and there are other moments where switches exist for us to choose. Both can be true. We don't need to be so rigid about it. 

I go through my life and try to think of moments when I decided something, exercising my free will that is so profound that it can't be laid at the feet of a deterministic world. Have I ever succeeded? Unknown. I keep coming back to a decision I made 32 years ago to quit drinking. Did I make the decision or not? Did someone else make it for me? Did I have no choice in it at all? Good questions, but they are the wrong questions. It wasn't one decision on one day, it's a decision I make every single day. Obviously I make this choice of my own will - everyday. 

We make choices like this all the time. We choose to eat well or not, exercise or lay low, treat people with kindness or any number of variations, righteous or not - every single day. We can choose to disregard the consequences of our choices and allow the chips to fall where they may. It's out of our hands, it's meant to be. Regardless, we all know they are choices that can go either way based on our personal will. Is that not what free will is?

My decision to stop drinking was informed by my upbringing. Does that mean I had no choice, that my hand was forced? I don't think so. My six siblings had the same foundation in their upbringing and each chose differently. None followed our fathers path, which was to allow alcohol to ruin his relationships. None followed my path either. For 32 years I chose everyday to not drink alcohol, tomorrow I could choose differently, what's stopping me. Determinism? The universe? God? My Mom?

So, is my choice to forgo alcohol use determined by how others might react? Might that be the why??? Might they reject me and that's what forces the decision on me. Not likely. In fact, my friends would be thrilled, I'd be a lot more fun. Even my wife wouldn't threaten to leave me, she might like a 'funner' me. There were no threats to me with regards my drinking at the time. No one was being put out. My choice was based on a potential future that tracked with my fathers. I did not want that. I'd like someone to boil that scenario down to determinism.

Is free will an illusion of control? Are we slaves to cause and effect? Who's to say. We make deliberate choices every day. Are these decisions forced on us? Yes, some of them are. But... Right now, I'm choosing to go upstairs and make some cinnamon sugar toast and a cup coffee. Yes, I'm choosing - it's my free will. Why would you want to argue with me about that? 

One foot in front of the...

 

by Craig Willms 

3/10/2025

In an earlier post called "The Hole In My Head" I was issuing a warning to family and friends that I felt the oncoming headwind of dementia. There is no actual evidence or diagnosis official or otherwise, but one knows oneself, and I'm losing it. It really doesn't matter to me if you see it or not, I do. Bear with me.

What am I talking about exactly? I've mostly forgotten why I even started writing this down, but one thing that stuck with me during this morning's adventures was how flabbergasted I got doing a few simple things. Regardless that part of the challenge was actually technology related, and yes, may have been confusing to your average 60-something senior. IT was something I did for a living just a few short years ago, it should have been like riding a bike. What was it? I was resetting a password!!! Three rounds of frustration and at least two tech support phone calls, finally, my wife looked over my shoulder as I did the exact same thing for the third or fourth time - and this time it worked. I was the kid with the kindergarten teacher urging me on. You're such a good boy, you try so hard.

Later that morning I was driving down to my hometown, going to a friends place to payback some money I'd borrowed. I'd been at his house once before but didn't remember exactly where it was. No, that's not the issue, no one can be faulted for not knowing someplace that they've only been to once. It was that I was having trouble navigating my hometown, a town that has been etched into my permanent memory. Regardless of cosmetic changes my internal compass should have gotten me through that town with my eyes tied behind my back. I had taken the fabled 'back roads' to kill time waiting for him to text me the street address. There were traffic circles that never existed before, and some new streets and buildings but the land was the land, it covered all the same ground. I had trod these acres a thousand times before. Somehow, I was LOST? Then just as the text dinged, I recognized a landmark and was back going in the right direction. 

From there I tried use my now infamous internal compass to navigate the way to my friend's house and became so turned around I had to pull over so I could input the address into Google Maps. Despite the fact that Google Maps was having a stroke this morning it should have been easy to just listen to the voice on the radio speakers pointing the way. Still, once more I had to stop and 're-calculate". Finally in a fit of disbelief I pulled over again and looked at the address I'd put into Google Maps - My God!!! Where is this place??? Then I looked up at the house I had stopped in front of and... There it was - my friend's house. Sheer luck, I think...

These were not hard things to do, not rocket surgery, as they say. I am not incompetent, I never have been. I can do a lot of things pretty well, not that I'm an ace at anything in particular, but I can walk, talk, chew gum and subnet mask your IPv4 Class C network all at once. Or at least I could. Not so sure anymore. I've only been away from my career for 3 years and it's all gone. Ah, they say we remember what's important. Well, let's hope so.

This was not the first time when driving that I didn't know where I was, it worries me a bit. I've always snapped back fairly quickly, so I've never been panicked. This morning, I couldn't make sense of someplace familiar with a voice guiding me turn by turn to my destination. It was like one of those frustrating dreams where try as you might you never actually make it where you're going. 

The Beauty of Shared Love

 

by Craig Willms

Tired of being negative? I know I am. To be honest I don't have that much to be negative about. I'm in a good place personally, and when my wife retires 'we' will be in a really good place. While not rich financially we are rich in so many ways. We are out of debt and have enough to eat and a warm, well maintained house to live in. Compared to so many billions now alive and the billions that have come before us we are rich beyond measure. So yeah, what's to be so negative about?

Well, there is always some injustice or outrage or people acting badly to be mad about. Just read a few postings on this website and you'll find plenty that I'm sick of or outraged about. It's just basic human nature to gripe and complain about that which we cannot control. Most of it doesn't directly affect me, or is so disconnected from my day to day life that my anger and negativity is not proportional. The most we can do besides whining and complaining is visit the ballot box on election day or be mindful where we spend our money. Protesting and other social actions mostly just makes people mad or makes people consider you a nut burger - regardless of the topic. The big, organized protests are just that, highly organized and largely inauthentic. When the money dries up for the 'action' the protests die out. 

To change the world a single person without power has to rely on small, seemingly inconsequential actions. It builds over time by what we leave in our wakes. Being charitable and helpful to those in our circles will have an impact as the drop of care ripples out from us. It's possible to foster goodness and righteousness one person at a time, one act at a time.

The one thing that hits close to home and has invaluable benefit is the idea of shared love. Most of us born into intact families experience shared love. Mom and Dad may not even love each other anymore but in most cases they both love the kids. Even those times when we parents temporarily don't love the kids we do. When adult children come with problems or are hurting, we gather troops and step up in a way that demonstrates this love we share.

For my wife and I our kids are grown and gone from our day to day lives. When the last family pet dies that childhood era is over. We faced this situation a few years ago. Once the shock and pain wear off of losing that pet you face a new world. For many women the caring gene doesn't just shut off. The men in general neither need nor desire the level of care and attention a dependent pet receives. Now, to be sure a shared love can be for hobbies, a sports team, books, wine or any number of interests, but a living pet is at a whole different level. We really missed that cat. For us I wouldn't say we necessarily started growing apart, but that close-up shared love aspect of our lives was over as we had decided that we were not going to have any more pets. She wants to travel, unencumbered by obligations in the home. I concurred. 

We had many pets over the years - in fact there was almost never a time that there weren't pets in the home, often multiple pets at the same time. The absence of pets wasn't something that was bringing us down, it was just different. I couldn't even say that there was a sense that something intrinsic was missing. 

Then as fate would have it a small dog entered the picture. At first it was going to be temporary, right...

Years later we have found an abiding joy in this dog. Our shared love and the reciprocal love the dog exudes has enriched our lives. It's hard to put into words. It isn't something we pined for, at least not knowingly. When the situation that led to the dog coming into our lives had settled the thought of giving her back was shocking. Shocking? Yes, were were so used to our lives now, our routines, our obligations and our adoration of this animal that the idea of her being gone was devastating. We were clinging to something we didn't even know we were missing - the beauty of shared love.