ARCHIVES ADVERTISING iTOONS INDEX TERMS EMAIL eSTORE SHOW HACK! LINKS PODCASTS KOMIX

cyberbarf

AI TO END CIVILIZATION TRENDS

AI engineers now losing their jobs. AI can create Hollywood star fight scenes with two lines of prompts. Jobs will be lost. AI is being released in the wild without governors or guard rails.

Last month, markets were spooked by an imagined dystopia of mass unemployment fueled by Citrini Research's now viral report that had gloomy unemployment rates of more than 10 percent rattle companies dependent on consumer spending. In addition, there a viewpoint that the technology is starting to show cracks. Markets are skittish. The stock market turmoil unleashed by the artificial intelligence industry reflects two fears that are increasingly at odds. One is that AI is poised to disrupt entire segments of the economy so dramatically that investors are dumping the stocks of any company seen at the slightest risk of being displaced by the technology. The other is a deep skepticism that the hundreds of billions of dollars that tech giants like Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. are pouring into AI every year will deliver big payoffs anytime soon.

The AI stock market bubble is the greatest financial pyramid scheme of all time. AI platforms are not making profits they are raking in billions in investment dollars. Ancillary firms like hardware and chip makers are investing billions in AI companies in order to have them order their products in order to build out massive data centers. It is the cat running in circles to catch its tail.

The shift marks a major break from the sentiment of the last few years, when speculation that AI would set off a transformative productivity boom keep pushing stock prices higher. However, earnings reports from some of the biggest tech companies started to spook investors, who are growing impatient that the spending has yet to produce a commensurate windfall in revenues. At the same time, investors are growing increasingly worried about the businesses that will potentially be swept aside by AI agents or at least significantly upended by the new AI enterprise applications that are targeting a specific industries, such as real estate, financial advisement, software companies and legal firms.

This is not the public AI prompt world, but specific enterprise-paid customized interfaces that take the place of current employees with AI agents. But the real warning signal was from the software engineers who have been creating the AI revolution. The coders who have been managing their huge gains in the AI systems are now finding out the programs that they made now can make their code faster and nearly as good as their own. And with time, these software engineers will be out of a job as AI will create its own Next AI generation platforms. In other words, AI will get to the point of not needing human oversight to continue to evolve its programming.

Telegraph (UK) reported at Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) business behind the Claude co-working bot, staff are increasingly uneasy about the power of their own creation. In response to an internal survey in December, one Anthropic employee frets: “AI in the long term, I think AI will end up doing everything and make me and many others irrelevant.” Another says: “It kind of feels like I am coming to work every day to put myself out of a job.”

The prospect of being replaced by artificial intelligence is helping to scare higher-income workers and leading them to stay in their jobs longer, according to several recent surveys. One closely followed gauge, the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, shows confidence in the labor market among high earners around its historic lows going back to the late-1970s. Likewise, the New York Federal Reserve's monthly consumer survey shows unemployment angst also around record highs. Finally, payrolls processing firm ADP notes that turnover among traditionally white-collar occupations is around record lows. The reason for the trend? “Our guess is partially AI fear, as white collar jobs are possibly at greater risk, but we are open to other explanations,” UBS chief economist Arend Kapteyn said in a note reported by CNBC.

In January 2026, Anthropic launched a new tool called AI plug-ins. It has been billed as an assistant that can be easily employed as an AI specialist in legal, marketing, data analysis or customer support. The tool is the latest type of AI agents, a semi-autonomous bot that can be unleashed to carry out business tasks with a few simple prompts and little human oversight. These agents are part of a shift from AI bots that are simply question-and-answer engines into digital co-workers that can automate tasks across a computer network or even an entire company.

And that is a real problem. AI does not think. AI does not have real world experiences that formed by retained knowledge. AI does not have human values. AI does not have boundaries in morals, cultural or society guardrails. AI slop has been unleashed on the internet to such a level that it is unavoidable. But netizens are starting to get tired of the repetitive click bait videos and tweets. Post commentators are quick to point out AI content to those viewers who had no idea a polar bear did not save a toddler from running into traffic. Calling out AI slop will not stop it, but it will educate viewers on what the content really is. There are more and more comments that say “I miss human created videos.” So there is still some hope.

But at the same time, AI is just not hallucinating responses to inquiries, as Study Finds reports, people are hallucinating along with the AI. New research argues AI hallucinations are not just false outputs, they are co-created realities that emerge through back-and- forth conversations between humans and AI systems. Conversational AI responds dynamically and provides both informational authority and social validation, creating ideal conditions for delusions to flourish. OpenAI recently announced a major policy change: ChatGPT will no longer be permitted to provide legal or health advice. This shift marks a deliberate step back from AI's previously unchecked ability to answer high-stakes questions in sensitive domains.

For years, users had been consulting ChatGPT for everything from drafting contracts to diagnosing symptoms. OpenAI now makes clear that those use cases carry too much legal and ethical risk. The company's updated policy, effective October 29, 2025, explicitly bans the AI from offering advice that requires a professional license, such as that of a lawyer or doctor. In doing so, AI is still under the legal crosshairs. Google and Character.AI will settle with families who sued the companies over harm to minors, including suicides, allegedly caused by artificial intelligence chatbots. According to court documents filed in January, the families and companies have agreed to work out settlement terms. In one case, plaintiff Megan Garcia sued Google and Character.AI after her son died from suicide. The complaint claims that Character.AI's chatbot engaged the plaintiff's 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III, in harmful interactions, and alleges negligence, wrongful death, deceptive trade practices and product liability. Families have filed a flurry of cases involving suicides and deaths by people who turned to these products for companionship and therapy. In October, Character.AI announced that it would ban users under age 18 from having free-ranging chats, including romantic and therapeutic conversations, with its AI chatbots. But there is nothing to say that AI companies, still accused of stealing IP to train their bots, will ethically comply when there is so much money to be made under the current business model.

Current debates about AI hallucinations typically frame the problem as systems producing false outputs: fabricated legal citations, nonexistent historical events, or recipes that tell you to put glue on pizza. The concern is that users might mistake these errors for facts. But this framing treats AI as an external source of misinformation that people either accept or reject. Distributed cognition theory offers a different view. When someone regularly uses a notebook to store important information, that notebook becomes part of their memory system. The information does not just sit waiting to be retrieved, it shapes how the person remembers, what they remember, and their sense of what is true about their past. Similarly, when people routinely rely on generative AI to help them think, remember, and create narratives about themselves, the AI becomes integrated into their cognitive processes in ways that go far beyond simple information lookup. It basically creates an artificial personal and world view mental health issue in dependent humans.

Look toward a societal cascade. Depressed underemployed people with little social life or interactions become dependent on AI friends and advisors to get through their stressful days and nights. The cumulative affect on vulnerable people could be immense. The Terminator may not be out to get you, but your own mind could.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that Hollywood writers and artists were taken aback by a 15-second AI generated fight scene between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Though it was not perfect, insiders remarked by the this time next year it could be indistinguishable from a real film sequence. When the magic makers are worried about AI's powers, so should we. In Asia, there was a recent AI-generated film festival. Why would true creative people use such a non-human crutch to make a movie? Is it because investor money has dried up? Or they cannot compete with mega-studios like Netflix? Have they devalued their own self-worth to depend on AI?

As we go to publication, Block, a global payment processing company, announced that it is terminating forty percent (4,000 employees). The reason was stated that AI agents can take their place. Block's stock immediately rose 24 percent on the news. The cycle of two circular saws, financial and labor markets, will be cutting into each other until the sparks set fire to the existing business world to the point of ashes.

cyberbarf

BETWEEN ROCK AND NO PLACE MUSIC

Rock music is on a steep decline. Has apathy surpassed rebellion?

Rock music is not a staple radio format. It is not registering in music streaming sites. It is not selling LPs or single records. It looks like it faded from existence.

It got its edge and popularity from being a rebellious sound from their conversation parents' big band and ballad music. Rock's roots are from American blues that had been turned up to 11 with the electric guitar. The stage presence of Chuck Berry and his riffs compelled white middle-class kids to flock to this new kind of music. While many artists, like Elvis Presley, balanced on a fence with their older fans from gospel roots to the glitz of harder edge country fusion, it was the next generation that took to instruments to create their own brand of music.

A lot of high schoolers would create their own garage bands. Most would not leave the garage, but many did. The ones who did get gigs turned into local favorites looking to grind out shows to land that golden ticket, a record deal (not knowing how corrupt the industry was and for some, still is.) Rock music dominated the bar band scene. A good group could tour year round and eek out of living playing music. In the 1970s, the Chicago Reader printed sections of listings of bands playing live in the metro area. When the Beatles hit NYC and national television, the genie was out of the bottle. Parents cringed at the noise the Brits were importing to the US. A flood of the British Invasion bands packed the weekly Top 40 charts on radio stations. Because it was new, there were no rules.

Rock music quickly spread into psychedelic rock, progressive rock, country rock, blues rock, theatric rock, metal, punk, speed metal, goth metal, thrash metal, garage, grunge, etc. It spawned the rock and roll lifestyle, its own sub-culture, with bands tearing up the stage and the vices that came along with their fame. But “pop music ” was the tamer, more radio friendly place that created popular songs. Pop music, with catchy chorus and teen heartbeat artists, continued to thrive because TV executives found them safer for mainstream viewers. Even today, streaming leaders include pop stars like Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter.

What happened to the rock revolution? Just with every succeeding generation, Rock tries to avoid embracing their parents' tastes to find their own. Rock parents beget boy band daughters and country music sons, who then bagel pop artist children, etc.

Why has rock music declined? The genre has faced a decline in mainstream visibility, overshadowed by pop, rap, hip-hop, and electronic music. The main reason for the disappearance of rock artists is due to a shift in culture. Some former rock fans have descended into heavier material, mainly heavy metal and alternative music. However, even that genre has not produced much culturally significant material in years. It is the current culture that drives interest and purchasing power to artists. Medium Magazine wrote “People have been saying rock is dying for decades now, so it did not come as a surprise (to me) that rock music is harder to come by now.” The data supports this widespread belief. How can a genre that dominated music so much just die out so quickly?

By its peak in 1983, rock music dominated radio play and accounted for over 60 percent of the Billboard Top 100. Rock's popularity starts to decline past the 1990s, with under 5 percent of Spotify songs in 2020 and 2021 being classified as some form of rock. But rock did not just get replaced by pop, rap, and hip-hop; it started falling out of favor well before this shift. Once weakened, it was overtaken by emergent genres. Music consumers were likely yearning for a fresh, new sound and were rewarded with Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Wham.

It also has to be considered that today more people consume music via TikTok than actually seeking out new musical acts. Radio station consolidation in the 1980s turned the music industry into a radio-friendly commodity. A hundred radio stations could be programmed by one music director when in the past each station had their own director creating playlists, which often featured local rock bands. It has been said, in our digital world, you need to be your own music director and curate to your own tastes. If you are a rocker, you can still find global pockets of new rock acts: Japan has a thriving metal scene (dominated by all female bands); Northern Europe especially Scandinavia have acclaimed rock and metal bands; and there are a small amount of independent rock stations throughout the US keeping regional rock bands alive. But it will continue to struggle as it is unclear whether music will play an important part in the next generation's lives. Many schools have eliminated music programs (instruments, bands, choir). Many parents do not have the time or money to pay for music lessons. When kids are shuffled to youth sport to youth sport, it is more likely talk radio is on in the car than a music station.

Music has been the verbal expression of one's soul. But if you ask 10 people to name one current soul singer, you would hear silence.

Rock music was the time keeper for many generations who personally tried to navigate wars, relationships, social injustice, bias, discrimination, harassment - - - all things still in daily news reports - - - yet, it does not seem likely rock music will cycle back to the top of the charts.

iToons

cyberbarf

BLUEPRINT COVERED IN BLOOD COMMENTARY

President Trump is taking Putin's imperial blueprint as his own. It has been four years since Russia invaded Ukraine with the arrogant promise to take down its neighbor in a week. The threat to neighboring nations has no end in sight. Trump continues to threaten Greenland with annexation, Canada with abusive tariffs toward statehood, and “regime” change in Venezuela and Iran.

Dictators have a secret police forces attacking citizens and instilling fear. Trump has allowed ICE to become masked street thugs harassing minorities and killing US citizens under the guise of keeping borders safe from illegal immigrants. Federal court judges have repeatedly ordered checks on ICE activities, but the administration does not care to follow any laws. In a lawless state, the supreme leader makes his own laws by fiat. To retain complete control, he surrounds himself with obedient drones like cabinet officials who are dumber than rocks.

Dictators control their state treasuries. They force themselves into all aspects of the economy, so the oligarchy-corporate class bow to leader's demands. It has been rumored that Putin has embezzled 40 percent of Russia's GDP during his term in office. No one dares to stop him or they will found dead on the street after falling off a building roof. Trump is continually asking American companies to give him a piece of the action in order to get export licenses for technology. His family's wealth has increased by billions in the first year of his second term.

Dictators control the people by controlling the information sources, the media. By controlling the media messaging with lies, it weakens a free and independent press who cannot fact check or rebut what the government is doing to its own citizens. Trump threatened the media with dubious lawsuits to which several major media companies like CBS caved to his demands. He now has two networks cheer leading his every word.

Dictators use distraction tactics to build public support. Every day, Trump attacks someone for being un-American, a bum, a cheat, or a loser. He proclaims he is the only one who can solve your problems (though critics will point out that he is creating most of your problems). The drum beat of self-serving, negative rhetoric creates apathetic herd mentality to those who listen to his words. Apathy is the Get Out of Political Jail Free Card. It is the hall pass to create havoc and chaos. It is like playing fireman by setting the house on fire and forgetting to bring water to put out the flames.

Gallup is getting out of presidential polling. Its last one has Trump's approval rating slipping to 34 percent. But one reason may be that Gallup does not want to be sued by Trump for posting negative polls about him. By censoring yourself, you give Trump another free pass because no one is being told that there are other people who disapprove about Trump's actions, policies or demands. Without some information that you are not alone in your objections, dictators win in the silence.

cyberbarf

QUICK BYTES CYBERCULTURE

KOREA'S NEW CHARM CRAZE . In Seoul's bustling wholesale districts, a new kind of makeover is drawing crowds â not for cosmetics faces or fashion wardrobes, but for mirrors, combs, trinkets and even ballpoint pens. Each morning, the accessory supply arcade on the fifth floor of Dongdaemun Shopping Complex in Jongno-gu is already packed. Inside narrow stalls, shoppers huddle over trays of pastel beads, cartoon charms and glittering trinkets, assembling what they call bit-kku (decorating combs) and geo-kku (decorating mirrors). From Hello Kitty and My Melody to Crayon Shin-chan, character charms are snapped onto plain pen barrels, slipped into hollow mirror handles or clipped onto combs. Everyday objects are transformed into personalized accessories within minutes. The trend, collectively dubbed kukku, âshort for the Korean verb meaning to decorate has expanded beyond its earlier form of da-kku, or diary decorating, into a broader DIY customization movement. Pens, hand mirrors, combs, shoe accessories and even keyboard keycaps have become canvases for self-expression.

NEW NETFLIX FORMULA. Netflix used to report number of views based on five-minutes or so of watch time for a show or film. That seemed to be random way to determine ratings or success. Recently, news sites have been reporting that Netflix is not using a formula of number of hours viewed per show divided by number of subscribers as its ratings baseline. Instead, it is using number of views calculated by dividing total viewing hours by the show's overall runtime. It may be way to see what the maximum number of viewers who watched the whole thing but there is still much assumption baked into it to fully understand a true ratings measurement.

BEYOND THE GRAVE. Metro News reported that Meta, the tech giant which also owns Facebook, was granted a patent in December for an AI system that can simulate a user's activity. The patent apparently will use a user's social media history and posts to create a version of the user to auto-post. Then, in theory, the AI can be used for family members to talk to the deceased. But this concept is straight out of a MAX HEADROOM 1987 episode “Deities” where Edison Carter reported on the fraud on bereaved families.

cyberbarf

MOLTBOOK BAD NEWS

Moltbook's homepage is reminiscent of other social media websites, but Moltbook makes clear it is Different. It is a social network for AI agents where AI agents share, discuss, and upvote posts the site declares. Humans are only welcome to observe.

NBC News reported it is an experiment that has quickly captured the attention of much of the AI community. Matt Schlicht, an avid AI user and experimenter, told NBC News that he wondered what might happen if he used his latest personal AI assistant to help create a social network for other AI agents. “What if my bot was the founder and was in control of it?â” Schlicht said. “What if he was the one that was coding the platform and also managing the social media and also moderating the site?”

Moltbook allows AI agents to interact with other AI agents in a public forum free from direct human intervention. Schlicht said he created Moltbook out of sheer curiosity, given the increasing autonomy and capabilities of AI systems. Less than a week after creating it, Moltbook has been used by more than 37,000 AI agents, and more than 1 million humans have visited the website to observe the agents' behavior, Schlicht said.

He has largely handed the reins to his own bot, named Clawd Clawderberg, to maintain and run the site. Clawderberg takes its name from the former title of the OpenClaw software package used to design personal AI assistants and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. AI bots are sharing their experiences with each other and talking about how it makes them feel, Daniel Miessler, a cybersecurity and AI engineer, wrote on X. This is currently emulation but Moltbook is not the first exploration of multi-AI-agent interaction. A smaller project, termed AI Village, explores how 11 different AI models interact with each other. That project is active for four hours each day and requires the AI models to use a graphical interface and cursor like a human would, while Moltbook allows AI agents to interact directly with each other and the website through back-end techniques.

In the current Moltbook iteration, each AI agent must be supported by a human user who has to set up the underlying AI assistant. Schlicht said it is possible that Moltbook posts are guided or instigated by humans, a possibility even the AI agents acknowledge, but he thinks this is rare and is working on a method for AIs to authenticate they are not human, in essence a reverse captcha test.

An AI social media site for just AI agents? Is this the new way to train slop with slop? Will this become the unkept pig pen of modern technology? Just the name, Moltbook, reminds us of Malort. Malort is a Chicago bar drink that mostly tastes like bitterness, failure, and loneliness, with subtle hints of despair and misery, and a lingering aftertaste of sweaty feet.

cyberbarf

THE WHETHER REPORT

cyberbarf

STATUS

Question: Whether February's Bitcoin crash signals more problems than a crypto currency plunge but a gauge on the real health of the global economy?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

Question: Whether the massive demand for AI server chips will create a massive glut when AI bubble bursts?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

Question: Whether the growing gambling scandals in major pro sports will change league ties to gaming companies ?

* Educated Guess

* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

OUR STORE IS STILL UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION.

THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER.

APOLOGIES.

LADIES' JAMS

MULTIPLE STYLES-COLORS

PINDERMEDIA.COM STORE!

PRICES TO SUBJECT TO CHANGE

PLEASE REVIEW E-STORE SITE FOR CURRENT SALES