On 17 Oct, 02:49, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Ian Parker wrote:

:
:Nothing. All ET would ever need to do is install strong AI on the Web
:and he could then get us to do whatever he wanted, and elect whoever
:he wanted.
:

This is stupid even for you, Ian...

Let us start with a philosophical question. How do we form our views,
what are our sources of information? How do we know they are right?
Television has played an enormous role in forming our views, the US is
in the business of beaming broadcasts into the Middle East.

Suppose we are in a situation where we have RSS feeds. Television is
now tailored for us and what we want. Anyone with strong AI then can
(in essence) make up the news they want. In short they can create a
world for us. Have television send its message. This is so in fiction
as well. One piece of fiction that made me rather cross was when the
Cuban exiles were portrayed as being freedom fighters. In fact they
are a load of thugs.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...nst+cuba&meta=

You talk about Syria and other ME countries. In fact the biggest
exponent of state sponsored terrorism is far nearer home.

If Assad and other leaders were portrayed as people trying to do the
best for their countries in often difficult circumstances, and the
exiles were portrayed as thugs on television, opinion would be very
different.


- Ian Parker