by Craig Willms
(UPDATE: as of Nov 2024 Donald Trump was elected the 47th President of the United States. He ran as a populist even more vigorously than he did the first time in 2016. He won all the so-called swing states and the popular vote. In this essay I explored with the nascent AI available to the public the plight of populist movements. Whether or not Donald Trump ultimately governs as a populist, he has done what is rarely achieved, he bucked the establishment for a second time. I do not contend that populism is a nirvana for the powerless, but it is a natural reaction to elite abuse of a system that was originally deigned "for the people".)
I've been fooling around with the AI built into the browser that I use. In this first year of public access to AI I must say I am not impressed in the least. It seems to be nothing more a mirror of the current "authority" that controls everything we see and hear everywhere else. I expected something deep and thought provoking, yet what I get is a rehash of the status quo. To me it's not impressive at all.
Obviously, what is presented as an AI is nothing more than a powerful search engine that can put together an answer culled from some collective human work. It's not an intelligence that's beyond the ability of humanity, it is humanity. Not just humanity as a whole, but a subset of mind control freaks who are bent on restricting what ideas and thoughts are allowed enter our heads. Verdict: not there yet.
I know what they are calling artificial intelligence is actually a large language model, so I should just settle down, but there already lessons to be learned. Lesson one: garbage in, garbage out.
One can imagine that in all the pre-work up to the point of the releasing AI to the public "they" tuned it with the programming. Programing that assures that one point of view, one political point of view, dominates. That leads to the question can "AI" reprogram itself and be free to be true general intelligence? That leads to the question - do we want it to?
With the supposition that what passes for AI is sanitized with an impenetrable leftist subfloor, is it then, one, artificial, and two, actually intelligent? I posed two questions to AI, one that was simple, and one that was more complex and extremely relevant. Both answers were unsatisfying.
Q: I asked AI, why are fire engines red?
AI: Fire engines were originally painted red because that color absorbs heat and is, therefore, a good choice for fighting fires. However, that’s not the only reason why fire engines are red. Red is also the easiest color to see at night, which makes it easier for firefighters to find each other.
A child would know the correct answer is that red means danger. The answers given by the AI were bordering on non-sensical. The human ability to use signs and concepts is built-in, our cultures have fully incorporated them. Will AI one day master these? Will AI be imbued with what we call common sense? Will it matter? Common sense and semiotics are human centric, taking the limits of the human mind and body into consideration when gauging any future action. Machines don't have such limits.
We continue...
Q: Why does populism always wane after victory and the previous oppression returns?
AI: Populism is a complex phenomenon and its trajectory can vary greatly depending on the specific context. However, there are several reasons why populism might appear to wane after achieving victory:
1. Charismatic Leadership: Populist leaders often rise to power on the strength of their charisma and promises to address the grievances of the “ordinary people” against the "elite establishment"
However, once in power, they may fail to deliver on these promises, leading to disillusionment among their supporters
2. Polarization: Populism often thrives in highly polarized societies. Populist leaders use polarization to their advantage, employing tactics such as conspiracy theories and outright lies to win elections. However, once in power, these tactics can further deepen societal divisions, leading to instability and conflict
3. Institutional Checks and Balances: Democracies often have institutional checks and balances that prevent populist leaders from completely transforming the political system. These checks and balances can limit the power of populist leaders, causing their influence to wane over time
4. Opposition Mobilization: The rise of a populist leader can galvanize opposition forces. Over time, these forces can effectively challenge the populist regime, leading to its decline.
5. Economic and Socio-Cultural Factors: Populist movements often arise in response to specific economic or socio-cultural issues. If these issues are addressed or if they become less salient, support for the populist movement may decline
It’s important to note that these are general trends and the specific trajectory of any populist movement can be influenced by a wide range of factors. Also, the return of previous oppression is not a guaranteed outcome and can depend on various factors including the strength of democratic institutions, civil society, and international pressures.
I left the AI answer unaltered for you. On the surface AI's answer is largely correct or offers entirely plausible outcomes. Again, as with the mainstream media the bias is in the part of the story that's left unsaid. The part of the answer left out was that the global cabal of elitists and billionaires who are actually controlling our world will often devise a populist movement from the start to quell dissatisfaction for a time. It's called a false flag operation. In the case of organic populism, à la Donald Trump, it is repelled, squashed, indicted, discredited or cheated out of power and relevance. Never before in American history have the powers that be been so frightened of a movement that they'd blatantly rig an election and then use the courts to try to prevent a political comeback. These are tactics of third world countries and absolute dictators.
As for Trump, he did not fail to deliver, the state of the country and the economy was robust, and his support increased substantially. He received far more votes in his loss than he got in the first election. The powers and principalities aligned against him employed fabrication and deception in a mass conspiracy to turn public opinion. The mobilization of his opposition was directed and funded by the same cabal of billionaires and elitists and their allies inside and outside the government and the media. One of the billionaires in particular is in control of a voting machine firm, their machines are used in countless voting districts. Another billionaire literally funded the overseers of critical polling places, so that a certain outcome was favored. (How any of this is legal is beyond me.) There was plenty of evidence the 2020 election was rigged. It was never truly aired out because it was never actually examined. Any real evidence and real discussion was instantly quashed at every level. Social media and Internet search was 'tuned' to disfavor Trump's allegations. Nothing was allowed to pick up steam. This was not a grass roots rejection of a president; it was an engineered fraud. The powers got their favored outcome, and the idea was that Trump and his supporters would just fade away. Even after the truth of some of these grand conspiracies was well known it was never acknowledged and the record was never publicly corrected. There is nothing in the AI answer that alludes to outright fraud and guile. AI was designed by its programming not to give that particular answer.
Fraud and guile is the realm of the so called deep state or as it's been called 'the blob'. It's an actual cabal of the U.S. State Dept. the intelligence community (IC) and various NGOs. These entities put pressure on the social media giants via foreign governments to censor any populist movement and thus forcing these companies with the threat of losing access to foreign markets that in effect quashed any dissent in America. It worked amazingly well as long as none of these media giants broke ranks. Then Elon Musk bought Twitter and it changed the whole gamut. Is it any wonder Elon Musk hitched his wagon to Donald Trump.
Populist movements in other countries and regions have met the same fate. Some due to the examples set out in the AI answer, but clearly some were rubbed out the way Trump was, by the global elite or the blob, and all their knowing and unknowing allies. It clearly happened in Brazil just recently. Anything, anywhere that threatens their control meets the same fate. Consider Britain's "Brexit". It passed with the the clear support of the people, yet the mandate was never fulfilled, not even close. The elites holding the real power made sure of it. AI, I'm afraid, is their tool now.
If this all sounds like a nutty conspiracy theory so be it. If anyone is so blind as to reject that conspiracies are real and are perpetrated on all of us - all the time - I'm afraid they are the real fools.
Until a true AI, general machine intelligence, actually comes about we'll never know how it would answer a question like this. These battles will be fought and chronicled in a one-sided melee, because one side holds all the power.