I liked, even came close to voting for, TMP in their first incarnation, when Tariana and Pita were running things. Now they are - how can I put this politely? - hardly an enhancement to democracy or making life better for Maori. If NZF hadn't been so stupid about the tobacco lobby or anti-environmental, I might have voted for them again as the least worst option. Now I have the option of TOP, spoiling my ballot or a very, very reluctant vote for Labour.
You had me up until "NZ First could do a deal with Labour". More chance of the sun going supernova tomorrow :D
The whole party dictatorship thing is a meaningless topic when you consider that favoritism, networking and cronyism are core to advancing within any of the major parties. In that context one can try to pretend that having caucus votes means they're running a party democratically, but they'd be a fool to.
You're correct though in that TPM missed a golden opportunity to to explain their position and how it correlates to the real world of politics... just rubbish communication and they're not addressing many genuine concerns people have.
The AI discussion is fascinating... we're in a world where facts mostly take a back seat to confirmation bias and self-interest, not just in elections but in shaping policy. I don't know AI will change that much, but maybe it will depend on who dominates the technology and/or is the most savvy with it.
Grant, here’s something I’ve been wondering as the world becomes more reliant on AI to gather information for us - to advise us - to think for us. Do AI systems have administrative back doors through which whoever owns the system can instruct it to promote certain views, and this instruction will flavour its answers to the generality of users’ questions? That is, will AI be a tool of social control for the tech billionaires and their politician cronies? (Gee, I sound like a conspiracy theorist!) Is there any literature (written by reputable human scholars) in which this question is discussed?
Hi Kai. Short answer: yes there is such lit. Shoshana Zuboff — The Age of Surveillance Capitalism was a good start in 2019. I should probably delve into that political dark side of AI in future. When I've asked ChatGPT and Grok politically difficult contentious questions, they've not be too bad. But ChatGPT admits that a malicious actor could train an AI with deliberate biases, or nudges, which may not be apparent to many users.
One of the unknowns is TOP - you never know what may happen in the next 12 months.
I liked, even came close to voting for, TMP in their first incarnation, when Tariana and Pita were running things. Now they are - how can I put this politely? - hardly an enhancement to democracy or making life better for Maori. If NZF hadn't been so stupid about the tobacco lobby or anti-environmental, I might have voted for them again as the least worst option. Now I have the option of TOP, spoiling my ballot or a very, very reluctant vote for Labour.
You had me up until "NZ First could do a deal with Labour". More chance of the sun going supernova tomorrow :D
The whole party dictatorship thing is a meaningless topic when you consider that favoritism, networking and cronyism are core to advancing within any of the major parties. In that context one can try to pretend that having caucus votes means they're running a party democratically, but they'd be a fool to.
You're correct though in that TPM missed a golden opportunity to to explain their position and how it correlates to the real world of politics... just rubbish communication and they're not addressing many genuine concerns people have.
The AI discussion is fascinating... we're in a world where facts mostly take a back seat to confirmation bias and self-interest, not just in elections but in shaping policy. I don't know AI will change that much, but maybe it will depend on who dominates the technology and/or is the most savvy with it.
Grant, here’s something I’ve been wondering as the world becomes more reliant on AI to gather information for us - to advise us - to think for us. Do AI systems have administrative back doors through which whoever owns the system can instruct it to promote certain views, and this instruction will flavour its answers to the generality of users’ questions? That is, will AI be a tool of social control for the tech billionaires and their politician cronies? (Gee, I sound like a conspiracy theorist!) Is there any literature (written by reputable human scholars) in which this question is discussed?
Hi Kai. Short answer: yes there is such lit. Shoshana Zuboff — The Age of Surveillance Capitalism was a good start in 2019. I should probably delve into that political dark side of AI in future. When I've asked ChatGPT and Grok politically difficult contentious questions, they've not be too bad. But ChatGPT admits that a malicious actor could train an AI with deliberate biases, or nudges, which may not be apparent to many users.