@nprofile1q... okay so the business side of the US government is just hoarding assets for a great dissolution of the US into fragmented "network states". And for the religious part of the US government, there is no need for a plan for after this war, because I'm reasonably sure that for them (including Hegseth) this is the big one that will immanentise the Eschaton, to put it in R.A. Wilson's terms.

@nprofile1q... the US is a net oil exporter. Middle East oil is a competitor, not a supplier. Destroying/disrupting it directly benefits US business and hurts the US' main strategic adversaries that are short on oil/gas: China, India, the EU. Yeah it'll hurt US consumers but honestly, why would we assume the US government cares about that?

@nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... the point is not whether the LLM selected a target that a human wouldn't have selected. The point is that an LLM was used for target selection. Even if the selection had been appropriate that would have been a game changer. The fact that it was inappropriate just highlights the problem, it's not *in itself* the problem, which is the manifestly reduced role of human decision making in lethal strikes.

@nprofile1q... if this can be confirmed this is a pretty massive crime on the US side.

@nprofile1q... "a sacrifice I'm willing to make" is how I remember it.

@nprofile1q... the entire letter with the bees is amazing:

My dear Lubbock

I beg a million pardons. Abuse me to any degree but forgive me— it is all an illusion (but almost excusable) about the Bees.2 I do so hope that you have not wasted any time for my stupid blunder.— I hate myself I hate clover & I hate Bees—

In Haste to catch evening post | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

@nprofile1q... a hint of spring?

@nprofile1q... is there a clearer metaphor of the United States closing itself off from the world and its government closing itself off from any public conversation? Stunning.