Stupidity Is The Real Threat

There is an article in today's Star about the threat to Canadian democracy posed by artificial intelligence. However, I can't help but wonder if the real threat is human stupidity.

Raisa Patel writes:

Whether it’s manipulated video, voices or text, Canada is at risk of seriously endangering its democratic institutions if it doesn’t get a grip on regulating artificial intelligence, one of the world’s foremost AI leaders warned Monday.

The use of such tactics — which are becoming increasingly common at a time when high-stakes elections are set to be held around the globe — “can fool a social media user and make them change their mind on political questions,” said Yoshua Bengio, scientific director of the Mila-Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. 

“There's real concern about the use of AI in kind of politically oriented ways that go against the principles of our democracy.”

Bengio, who is also the co-chair of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s AI advisory council, was speaking to the House of Commons industry committee as it studies a bill seeking to reign in and regulate the rapidly developing technology. 

Given that fake videos and voices have now reached the point where they are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, it is sad that there is no inoculation available against human credulity. 

On the other hand, however, is it really too much to expect people to inspect their sources? Surely it is one of the 21st century's greatest ironies that we live in a time when the world's information and knowledge is available literally at our fingertips, yet many people choose to use the internet simply to verify their own ignorance and prejudices. Instead of checking a reputable media source or even Snopes to see whether something is true, there are those that will rely only on their Telegram channels, Q-Anon, Facebook groups and other discredited sources, happy to label and dismiss mainstream media as lamestream media. 

That is capitulation, not critical thinking, and it appears to be endemic. I found myself thinking more about this last night as I watched the news about the latest Trump outrage. Apparently, even though a private citizen, he is giving direction to Congress to block a southern border deal because he wants to make it an election issue. While not a perfect bill, it becomes painfully obvious that a problem near and dear to so many Americans, and a clear Achilles Heel for Joe Biden, takes a back seat to the political machinations of Trump and the gutless Republicans who pay him complete obeisance.

In a normal world where people thought deeply about such things, all of this would be so obvious. Yet the MAGA crowd and others will undoubtedly let weak and corrupt politicians do their thinking for them. 

In Canada, things are not much different. Increasing numbers prefer PP's aphorisms ("Axe the tax", "Jail, not bail") to real policy discussion. Sadly, no legislation regulating artificial intelligence here can do a thing about a dearth of natural intelligence. As I have said many times before, we truly are a deeply flawed species.

For A Few Dollars More

That's all it will take (actually, $12 million more) according to Police Chief Myron Demkiw to keep chaos and blood from running in the streets of Toronto. Reeling from the effort of city council to trim $12 million from what some might say is an already bloated ask of $25 million for a total budget of $1.1 billion, the good chief is warning of slower response times and all manner of disaster if his demands are not fully met.  

Clearly, the chief is engaging in fear tactics to get his way, despite the fact that increasing police budgets does not correlate with safer streets:

A recent University of Toronto-led study found no consistent relation between police funding and crime rates across 20 Canadian municipalities, including Hamilton and Toronto. Lead author Mélanie Seabrook said the key takeaway for legislators is to give community needs and priorities more consideration when setting budgets.

Brighter minds than I offer some strong suggestions about what the chief and his ilk can do with his demands:

City budget spinning from police could be a big problem: Keenan, Jan. 31

Here we go again with all the ballyhoo about the police budget. What I would like to know is how much of the budget is slated to be paid to suspended officers who are sitting on their butts at home while collecting a full pay cheque? It is long overdue for the mayor to ask the powers to be to provide a complete breakdown of the monies paid out to suspended cops over the years and to ask how many inevitably had to leave the service yet walked away with thousands of unearned money from taxpayers.  The police act is long overdue for an overhaul especially in these trying times when citizens cannot afford the basics of life.

I have said it before: if an officer is on paid leave, put their earnings into an interest generating trust account. He or she gets the money if they return to service, and if not, those funds are redirected to the police force. It is a simple solution to a long-standing problem.

Larry Snow, Oakville, Ont.

There was an interesting contrast of articles from columnist Edward Keenan and Police Chief Myron Demkiw regarding the police budget. What struck me was how the chief says how terrible things are in the service and somehow a loss of $12.6 million is a major threat to our safety. If the biggest city in the country is at risk of chaos due to the lack of $12.6 million it is time for the politicians to demand that a third-party independent forensic team review police service spending from top to bottom to see the truth of the matter. 

Len Bulmer, Aurora, Ont.

 Rather than attempting to intimidate the residents of Toronto by writing of facts without nuance, our police chief Myron Demkiw should be looking for the means to make his force more efficient and effective. I suggest Premier Doug Ford, who can always be counted on to have an interest in city spending, be brought in to rout out the waste in the police budget.

Peter Pinch, Toronto

Myron Demkiw, chief of the Toronto Police Service, is misleading us. He points out there are 1.4 million emergency calls to 911 a year, but does not say the majority of 911 calls do not involve violence and can be dealt with by community and social workers. He says that more officers equal less crime, but years of research has shown that the crime rate does not correlate to police spending in any consistent way.

Toronto is one of the safest cities in North America. The key to crime prevention is through reducing inequality. To reduce response times, we need better management of the 911 service, diversion of nonpolice calls and smarter deployment. But no, our police leadership doesn’t want to follow evidence. If they truly cared about our safety and well-being, they would support investment in stronger community and social supports. That is how we’ll get to a safer and thriving Toronto.

Anna Willats, Toronto

Lest you think this is solely a Toronto problem, my observation over the years is that city councils  traditionally rubber-stamp increases requested by police services board. You can be certain that if this practice changes, you will hear even more fear-mongering from forces across the country.  

Good News For Staples

Not sure it is the best for Ontario taxpayers, though.

If you have been following the news here in Ontario, you will know that the government, in its deep wisdom, is relocating some privately-owned Service Ontario sites to Staples. Now, not only will you be able to renew your OHIP card, but you can also pick up that new printer, computer or tablet you didn't know you needed!

The following clips shows reporters, one from City News (Richard Southern) and the other from CHCH (Laverne McGee), asking Business Service Delivery Minister Todd McCarthy some hard questions about the selection criteria for this sole-source contract and the costs to the taxpayer of this new 'synergy'.

If you click on this link, you will see Laverne McGee do a slow, sly walk to the back of the store to show where the service is located. Hard to resist all of the merchandise blandishments on the way, I imagine.

I do like it when reporters serve as more than stooges for government announcements.

UPDATED: The Endless Cycle

Recently, I finished reading a book called The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, by Robert Levine. The American Civil War and its aftermath are topics I find of great interest, not just because of their long-lasting impact on American society, but also because those echoes of history continue to reverberate today.

As vice-president, Andrew Johnson succeeded to the presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Although he showed initial promise in the struggle for Black rights, (indeed, he fancied himself as "the Moses of the Black people") he turned out to be a raging racist who hid his myriad prejudices behind rhetoric that suggested he was concerned about moving too quickly on things like Black citizenship and Black male enfranchisement lest it lead to racial strife and danger for the Black people, 

Johnson revealed his nature in many ways, including how he pandered to Southern fears that enfranchisement of Black males would dilute the voice of white people, making them a 'minority'.

A pity we don't know history better, because if we did, we would know that Johnson's rhetoric was merely an early version of  the Great Replacement Theory, the idea that immigrants are changing the complexion of Western nations, supplanting 'old stock citizens' and thereby disempowering them in pursuit of a political agenda. You may or may not be surprised that it also has some traction in Canada.

If you read David Climenhaga's post, you will know that Alberta premier Danielle Smith recently dined and chatted onstage with Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Fox 'commentator' who was let go because he criticized his bosses. He found open-arms in Ms. Smith, however, pictured below with a couple of other attendees you might recognize:

It was at this gathering that Carlson, knowing he had a receptive audience, vented his spleen, as discussed by Shree Paradkhar:

"They're taking away your voting power by changing the population of your country, but nobody's talking about that," he said. "Canada has the highest immigration rate in the world per capita. ... If you change the population of the country, you change the country. And you dilute the voting power of the people who are vested in that country who have lived there long term. Who understand the history and culture of the country. All of a sudden, their vote means much less."

There are certainly rational discussions one can have about immigration levels, as Paradkhar points out. However, there will be be those Canadians who see the world only in black and white, absolutist terms. They of untutored minds, limited education and a paucity of critical thinking skills will lend a credulous ear to the likes of Carlson's racist nonsense, and without doubt will feel he is speaking their 'truth'. 

And others are listening as well.

Immigration is emerging as a top issue in the 2024 U.S. elections. Donald Trump, who in 2016 so charmingly called Mexican immigrants rapists and said "they're bringing crime," has now upped his toxicity to say immigrants "are poisoning the blood of our country."

In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland expanded its base in recent regional elections, riding on the fear sparked in German voters by the sudden burst of asylum-seekers.

 But as Paradkhar points out, theymiss the poimt that immigration is necessary.

If Carlson had only spoken to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, he would have learnt in 2021 that there was a labour shortage and that "We’re in such desperate need of people from around the world."

But rationality is rarely appreciated, and thus the endless cycle of history prevails. 

UPDATE: Michael de Adder captures Tucker rather nicely, don't you think?

 

There Are Solutions

In my previous post, I mused about how much better society could be if we had fair and progressive taxation, taxation that forced those who make a lot to pay a little more. It almost seems as if such talk today is heretical, given the anti-tax mania that is cultivated by the far-right.

But you get what you pay or don't pay for, and today that means multitudes of homeless who cannot afford the usurious rents being demanded, families lacking support or waiting for years on a list while their children grow up without the aid they need, overburdened healthcare systems that one strives to avoid except in extreme circumstances, etc., etc. - a dystopian nightmare that seems to only be getting worse.

In today's Star, a reader offers a sound suggestion that would help ameliorate our current crises:

If huge wage 'earners' paid their fair share, it could make a difference 

Swelling CEO salaries highlight income inequality, Jan. 22

Sadly, your editorial, truthful as it is, is not breaking news. For more than a decade, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) has been telling its readers that the growing salary gap between the top one per cent and the rest of us is becoming more and more massive.

It is hard to believe, even for a cynical observer of world news, that in 2024, so many CEOs have earned more than $60,000 by Jan. 2, 2024 — more than the average worker earns in a year.

We’ve known this almost obscene fact for all these years, so we can’t plead ignorance. How fortunate that we have the CCPA to prod the consciences of our politicians and business leaders. These people with power do have some means to create a slightly less unbalanced society, smoothing that gaping wage gap even a little — by taxing the rich a bit more — most would not even notice the difference if they paid another $10,000 more in taxes each year. And if all of these huge wage “earners” actually paid their fair share, it could make a difference for the rest of us. Even billionaire Warren Buffett is famous for saying that his office staff pay more taxes, proportionally, than he does.

In this "Theatre of the Absurd" scenario, who will take the first step and raise the minimum wage to $25 or $30 per hour? This radical move might assure that the everyday worker, many with no sick days or health benefits, can at least avoid food banks and clothe their families for the winter weather.

Della Golland, Toronto

Clearly, there are at least partial solutions to the problems people confront on a daily basis. Unfortunately, those we elect to represent us are listening to only a small part of their constituency as they strive to perpetuate political careers that serve, not the common good, but only their own selfish interests. 

A Monday Thought Experiment

As a matter of course, I allow myself one hour of television news per evening, 30 minutes local and 30 minutes of either American or Canadian national news. It is a practice I highly recommend, not simply as a means of keeping up with events in this tortured world, but also as a window into the lives of others.

One conclusion I have drawn from this habit is that we can never know the lives of others, especially the burdens they must bear on a daily basis. In this, I am not talking solely about the very public problem of the homeless, but they certainly count. I am also talking about windows into the often fraught lives of people caring for special-needs children,  elderly parents, waiting in the ER, or any number of other exigencies that comprise life. The common denominator is insufficient funding for the support they need.

In my more wistful moments I imagine a regime of fair and progressive taxation, where those who are more than comfortable pay a little more for programs directed toward the public good. At the very least, some of the aforementioned problems would be ameliorated. Yet we live in times where we have little control over how our money is spent, as, truth be told, we are not the ones calling the shots, political theatre notwithstanding.

This post was prompted by two letters in today's Star, which I reproduce below:

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Dental program leads to inequity

Federal dental care program will exclude 4.4 million uninsured Canadians: report, Jan. 17

Canada’s proposal for expanding health care coverage to dental and medical drugs is flawed. The law would have handsomely fed politicians arbitrarily sitting in judgment over who beneath them can afford dental care unassisted and who cannot. Further the plan cuts out any Canadian currently paying private insurance premiums, under the facile presumption that anyone — let’s say, a retiree struggling to support a live-in parent with dementia, and put food on the table under roof that is beginning to leak, heated by a furnace nearing the end of it’s projected life — who has private health insurance can comfortably afford it.

We live under the rule of governments that take their policy orders from corporate economists and boardrooms. We are told that fulsome public health care would be too costly, in the same breath that we are told the inflated prices corporations charge us for essentials must only be combatted by using interest rates to make those essentials too expensive, and that modest homes must be taxed yearly on speculated values.

Canada can afford universal dental, vision, medical care but taxing all wealth equitably. Level the field.

Darcy McLenaghen, Toronto

 

Health care crisis

No end to the ER crisis without investments and addressing workers’ concerns, Jan. 17

The conclusion of the authors of this article is that we just need to invest $1.25 billion annually to solve the health-care crisis. Where will the money come from? I would gladly pay a reinstated licence plate renewal fee of $120 per year, as would most people I suspect, if the billion dollars saved by cancelling it would be put toward our health care system. If that will reduce wait times, improve worker incomes and boost staffing levels across the province, I don't see a downside. Politicians are the only thing standing in the way.

Ken Beckim, Oshawa, Ont.

The Noble And The Depraved

Most nights, after watching a half-hour of American news,  my presence at the dinner table is suffused with cynicism and disgust. Tales of violence, savagery and complete disregard for other people depicted nightly will do that to a person. However, occasionally amidst all of the mayhem, a light emerges and I am reminded that despite the myriad failures of our species, there are strong, good, even noble people in our midst. 

Such is evident in the following interview of two of the three Palestinian-American students who were shot last November in Burlington Vermont, presumably for being Palestinian. The depraved gunman has pleaded not guilty.

One of the victims, 20-year-old Hisham Awartani, was paralyzed in the assault. It is he who speaks so eloquently about the experience. Although well-aware that racism was the basis for the attack, he expresses gratitude for the medical treatment he has received and a heartfelt concern for those Palestinians in the homeland who have no access to such care. 

As you will see, he is mature and self-possessed well beyond his years.

I very much doubt I could act with such grace under his circumstances.