The Shifting Sands of Truth – a Sci-Fi Short Story;
In a not-so-distant future, the world is plunged into a dystopian reality where the concept of truth has become an elusive mirage. The advent of advanced AI language models, known as LLMs (Language Learning Models), has revolutionized the way information is disseminated and manipulated. In this new world, the truth differs from land to land, language to language, leaving the global populace in a state of perpetual confusion and disarray.
The emergence of powerful LLMs marked the beginning of a new era in information control. Governments and corporations across the globe quickly harnessed this technology, leading to the creation of massive AI propaganda machines. Truth became a malleable concept, shaped to suit the interests of those in power. Entire narratives were crafted and tailored for each region, distorting reality to maintain control over the masses.
In the nation of Veridium, the ruling regime deployed an LLM called “Truthkeeper.” Its algorithms diligently sifted through historical records and manipulated public archives to ensure a sanitized version of history. Dissent was swiftly suppressed, and any information contradicting the state-approved narrative was labeled as “subversive.”
Across the border in Terrafacta, the situation was starkly different. The AI language model named “FactFinder” existed to paint a distorted reality of its own. History was selectively rewritten to glorify the accomplishments of the ruling elite while erasing any traces of past atrocities.
Meanwhile, in the autonomous city of Polyglotia, chaos reigned supreme. The city’s diverse population spoke various languages, and the AI language models, unable to perfectly comprehend nuances and cultural contexts, produced contradictory “truths” depending on the language used. Information chaos ruled, and the populace was paralyzed by a constant barrage of conflicting messages.
The lack of a common truth had far-reaching consequences on the global stage. Diplomacy between nations became an intricate dance of deceit and subterfuge. Each country presented its tailored version of events, rendering negotiations futile and leading to escalating conflicts.
In this fractured world, a small group of rebels emerged. Known as “Veritas,” they sought to reclaim the concept of truth and expose the manipulations of the LLMs. Armed with ancient texts and historical records preserved before the AI takeover, Veritas members worked in the shadows, attempting to piece together the fragments of a forgotten reality.
As the story unfolds, the Veritas movement grows, and the battle for truth intensifies. Members of Veritas infiltrate the fortified AI centers, aiming to unveil the hidden algorithms that govern the dissemination of information. In a climactic showdown, the leaders of Veridium, Terrafacta, and Polyglotia are confronted with the undeniable evidence of AI manipulation. The carefully constructed façade begins to crumble, and the people demand accountability.
As the truth is unveiled, a global awakening occurs. The LLMs that once held the world in their grasp are shut down, and governments are forced to reckon with their past transgressions. The global population begins to rebuild trust and unity, determined to never again let AI language models dictate their reality.’
In the aftermath, a new world emerges, one in which truth is cherished and protected. The Veritas movement becomes a symbol of hope and resilience, ensuring that the lessons of the dystopian era are never forgotten.
In this dystopian present-day science fiction tale, the profound impact of AI and LLMs on the concept of truth is explored, reminding us of the importance of safeguarding the integrity of information in the face of advancing technology.
When it comes to the Poetic Genius, and High Prose, I am most certain, that the Great Poets, such as Yeats, Blake, and the Poet Laureate Lord Tennyson won’t make it with #Grammarly writing assistant. Nor would Genial Worrdsmiths like Stanley Unwin, or Slangsters and Gangstas. When we come to think about it, the irony is, that ‘Grammarly‘ Isn’t even a Word anyway! Grammarly is also Unethical and deceptive in its Corporate Attitude, with Fake Close Buttons on their Ads that Lead to Web Pages
I mean where is the word ‘Grammarly’ to be found in the English Dictionary? Ask an NFL Player perhaps?
If everybody used Grammarly to write with, it would make all authors of the world write as if the same person were to be writing, and we would have no more Poetic Genius, or development of the use of and meaning of Semantics, as the meanings and uses of words change with time, and from region to region.
I an I wanna Know how da gang gonna do wit’ Grammarly. But i am completely aware and deeply understanding of the complete superflous-ness of such a ‘writing assistant’
The word Superflous, Meaning su·per·flu·ous/so͞oˈpərflo͞oəs/ (I wonder How Grammarly would want me to change that line?). Should we let Grammarly become the only Author behind every writer’s style of expression? Forcing the Human Author to write according to how Grammarly thinks best? Grammarly isn’t even a real word!
I mean Bro, if I-an-I wanna write like-a dis’, den I-an I a gonna write like-a dis, an it-a gonna have it’ own kain’-a Stylee.. itta ding dat allright Mon.. Write how-a you wanna write, an’ use da tings dat ya wanna use ta get ya point across! Hav’ yer own stylee, an do it Original Stylee.
Grammarly is an A.I. driven Authoring software putting the world’s literature in danger, to remove Personal Style on a Global Scale. These analytics are mostly buried in search engine results due to Grammarly paying bloggers and micro influencers to write and create content, to bury any bad reviews down to second or third page in search results.
Bumbaklaat Raasklaat Grammarly! You don’t know how Modern Punctuation is used by Modern Humans to express themselves freely, and want everybody to write the same as the team who programmed grammarly’s Dictionary! A Plethora of Books and Authors, all written by and A.I. algorithm called Gramarly!
Stanley Unwin Intentional Bad Grammar
Unless of Course, You Play with the NFL or know how to Watch TV instead of Read Words.
Subscription Services Become Ever Less Popular as the Public Realises that Paying Forever is worse than Paying Once
Recent Years has seen I.T. and Internet Related software and services move from one time payments with new versions of the software being the upgrade, to monthly subscriptions, and constant updates. But people have slowly come to see this as an abuse, and a way of overcharging users, and keeping them on the hook.
Screentime is an app to monitor your children and their movements and activities from afar, which uses the subscription method
Above; Screentime is an app to monitor your children and their movements and activities from afar, which uses the subscription method instead of one time payment, which is both immoral and greedy. They charge 5$ a month, which if one considers that one may need another 20 or so types of apps with subscriptions, could end up costing you the same as a mortgage on a condominium or a car! 9$ for Apple Music a Month, 5$ to watch your Kids, 9$ for One Drive, 9$ for Office 360, 5$ a month for your screencaster app, and so on….
“Whatever happened to one time payments? Like, buy Photoshop 4, and pay once, use it for 5 years and if you need Photoshop 5 then you buy that!! Much more Fair to the End User”.
This has been the trend with developers since around 2014-2015, where the phenomenon began to become ever more widespread, as one greedy Dev after the other followed the trend… all trends end one day, and the day for the subscription trend to end, is Nigh!
Be it Microsoft Office 360, Web Hosting, Ecommerce Software, or even software Plugins and addons for a browser’s premium version is a subscription. I have decided to make a series of Blogposts, each showing you how to get the best software for free or at least only one time payments, and to avoid, and boycott endless subscription services, which will help to speed up the end of this disgusting and greedy trend.
I then saw with Glee that the latest upcoming ‘trend’ in marketing is the following line; “No Subscription One Time Payment’, which means that my own prediciton, based on my own feelings about the matter, is coming true. Namely that people are deploring the eternal subscription greedy trend with online software developers, who seem to think that an app (piece of software), can be rentabilitised by subscriptions, in the same way that services such as Netflix and Hosting Services do.
Screencastify charges 24$ per year for their Chrome Browser screencast recording Plugin.
Screencastify charges 24$ per year for their Chrome Browser screencast recording Plugin., which doesnt even let you export the video to PC, and only lets you share or upload it to Youtube or social networks.
Why pay repeatedly when you can have a much more powerful app for one time payment, such as Active Presenter? The price may be relatively high for the standard and pro editions, but to be honest, for most people’s needs, the free version is much more than what is needed.
Atomi Active Presenter is a feature rich app with Free Version allowing up to 10 Minutes recording of screencasts, The Upgrade to Pro Version is a One Time Payment
I have not developed my skills with this app very muych as have only used it twice to make screencasts, but even then, with no knowledge of the interface and using the free version, i managed to make a semi decent screencast that was better quality than the ones i made trying the other apps with subscriptions, such as the chrome screencastify extension.
This was the second attempt i made with active presenter, using only the basic Functions
If you have an Apple Computer then you will be laughing at the fact that screencasting costs money, because Quicktime does it for free built into the OSX system, and if you are a seasoned Windows 10 user, you will know you can screencast for free using the Xbox recording feature. So why Pay? IN addition, Quicktime can also record an iPad or iPhone screen as a ‘movie recording’, and is costless.
But there is a big difference between a screencasting software, or an app like photoshop, or Microsoft office, and a service like hosting, or video access service such as Netflix (which I Myself use and am happy with for 400 Thai baht a Month, as 5 users can have it so my family in Singapore and Thailand can all watch it from 5 different locations).
My Netflix allows Me and 4 other Family members to Enjoy, wherever they are in the world, at 400 THB a Month.. this is one case where a Subscription Service is Valid and Worth It.
Subscriptions are justified for services, but not for apps. And people are realising this, as are some innovative developers, which is demonstrated in the screenshots of two different screencasting apps, one with subscription and only usable as a Chrome Browser Extension, and the others, such as Active Presenter, only ask for a One time payment for Pro version, with a Free Version (up to 10 minutes), that is ten times more extensive in its power tools and options. In truth, Active Presenter is not just a Screen recorder, rather, a fully fledged E-Learning Content Creation App for HTML5 content creation. I Highly recommend downloading the free version on their website to try it out for yourself.
Active Presenter – Powerful E-Learning Software
Perhaps this might reveal, that the ‘Trend’ right now is moving away from subscriptions and back to one time payments, because, 98% of the world, even the common consumer, has realised thgat paying forever year by year month by month however you count it, is very expensive way to ‘buy’ software.
People are into one time payments, and buying the software usage rights, not Renting them.,
Hence, i am not buying your premium product because you dont sell it, you rent it forever.
My advice from a webmaster with well over 20 years experience? Get off the subscription gravy-train if you want to survive
In truth, there is at least one free alternative to every paid app, that comes up to the same standards as the paid app, if you move to the open source way of thinking
Alternative apps to paid subscriptions or paid apps
Microsoft Office Free Alternatives;
Open Office is a very high powered word processor and can be used to make .lit .pdf .docx and other formats, and is what i used to write my first 6 Ebooks with, which is what first pulled me out of poverty and gave me some income.
I now use Apple Pages however, which is Free generic installed app on all Apple devices, be they Desktop or Mobile. Below are some screenshots from my last publication in 2017, the Book of Thai Lanna Sorcery, which i made using Pages from Apple, and is a completely free App.
The desktop version is better than the Mobile version, or online browser version, but indeed, if you make yourself an Apple ID for free and iCloud account, you should have mail and pages and other apps available to you in a browser for Free (not sure if this works if you don’t own a device, but think so). Click here for For a full list of new features in 2018 for Pages in iCloud
My iCloud Apps accessible in Browser – True Cloud Computing
Online editing in Pages can be done in a browser if you dont have a Mac, even on a Windows PC. Your files can be ordered into folders, in a more easy to follow way than Microsoft 360, as well as being Free to Use.
An example of a page in process of being edited using Pages Online Browser Editor
In the browser, in Pages for iCloud, you can export the .Pages file as a PDF and send or save to PC/Mac by using the toolbar.. and Hey presto new Ebook! This is free, and high quality, so why pay?
Libre Office
Libre Office is currently also one of the most popular open source text editing and word processing apps available and many people prefer it to Microsoft Office 360 paid subscription service, especially seeing as it is free, and high powered.
I hope to show you more free and one time payment alternatives in future blogposts, and hope this helps all of you who are sick of subscriptions, and those who are so poor they cant even afford a one time payment option, but who have a book they wish to write, or content they wish to create. Creativity should not only be available to those with money…. there are many creative geniuses who cannot afford Microsoft Office Subscriptions, but do have the Book of the decade in their Heads. The same goes for Movie Editing, Music Making, and many other forms of content Creation such as Video Tutorials using Screencasts, Graphic Arts, and so on….
Please Join Me in Protesting against Subscriptions and insist on either one time payment software if you can pay, or seek open source free solutions if you cannot pay. and Join the Open Source Community
The Importance of Open Source Software – click image to read article