Posts by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B4szrUg2Di7hpqK61g by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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In a study commissioned by Deezer, 80% of respondents said they wanted AI music to be labeled as such. But only 45 percent said that they would automatically filter out AI tracks.According to Deezer, 35% of daily uploads are entirely AI-generated.So what do the ppl who make AI music say?Telisha Jones, the creator of a No. 1 R&B persona named Xania Monet says that she writes all of the lyrics herself, and that's what people like.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUBhjOToIC0
(DIR) Post #B4szrVboksLOj3MF5k by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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All of this raises lots of questions, where does art live, and do people even agree on that?It seems that many people value art for how it makes them feel, while the history and the struggle of the artist are what attracts others.Should only beautiful people be allowed to make music?Must history, conception, technique, execution, and performance all be conjoined? What is art for? Are the feelings we derive from it any less real depending on its circumstances? /end https://plus.flux.community/p/eddie-dalton-isnt-real-but-what-does
(DIR) Post #B5B7zmIEu6gbGYvthY by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Science cannot live by LLM alone, part 12,386. As an experiment, Almira Osmanovic Thunström published fake papers about a fake eye disease that credited Professor Maria Bohm of Starfleet Academy. They were said to be funded by the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation in partnership with the University of the Fellowship of the Ring.Despite such obvious trickery, within a few weeks, chatbots were citing the studies as real:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01100-y
(DIR) Post #B5OsnpixXkmnKgiSps by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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🧵Trump's war against Pope Leo is about something far larger than his foreign wars, it's actually a struggle for control of American Christianity.This thread will summarize the main points of my latest essay about how Trumpism is a replacement Christianity. Continue or click through:https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2026/04/trump-hates-pope-leo-because-he-sees-himself-as-the-real-vicar-of-christ/
(DIR) Post #B5Osnq6M8lV8VFf9Iu by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Trump recently posted AI images depicting himself as a Christ-like figure, drew backlash, deleted it — then posted a second image of Jesus guiding his actions.These aren't jokes gone awry. He and his hardcore supporters really believe he's the rightful Christian leader.
(DIR) Post #B5OsnqUSh8mdi0wOsS by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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The central identity point for all reactionary politics is one you almost never hear about in the MSM: They literally hate modernity and want it destroyed.For 11 years now, the media keeps wondering why far-right Christians love Trump. It's not a mystery. He is their destroyer. https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2021/05/liz-cheney-epistemic-collapse-conservatism/
(DIR) Post #B5OsnqzIqTSBFfN1wu by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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The tyranny, the corruption, the blatant religious censorship and bullying. This is exactly what right-wing theologians have wanted for decades: shooting pastoral rivals, jailing immigrants, encouraging ICE brutality.Reactionary Christians have stewed in impotent hatred against evolution, women's rights, civil rights, and Biblical scholarship. Where Christians see Jesus as the Word of God made flesh, Trump Christianity sees him as the incarnation of will to power.
(DIR) Post #B5OsnrQFEJ0KbDyXwW by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Trump entered politics in 2015 offering far-right Christians a deal: "Christianity is under tremendous siege. If I'm there, you're going to have plenty of power." He's kept his end of the bargain. All he asks is absolute, worshipful obedience in return.People often mock Trumpers as cultists, but the disturbing nature of their beliefs is still underestimated.If you go to Amazon, you can find hundreds of children's books about Trump, including a book showing him at Jesus's birth:
(DIR) Post #B5OsnrlrvuIlgI5oeG by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Pope Leo XIV — the first American pope — commands the loyalty of 60 million U.S. Catholics and refuses to submit. He cannot be praised into silence or ignored into irrelevance. So he must be attacked. Trump doesn't see Leo as a religious leader — he sees him as an illegitimate rival.Before Leo was selected, Trump said that he wanted to be the pontiff: "I’d like to be pope. That would be my number one choice," he said.
(DIR) Post #B5Osns64imSsgxXx8y by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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This was not a joke. It was, like everything Trump says, a test of others. He's like a street thief stealing a wallet and then pretending it was a gag.Days after saying he should be pope, Trump posted a meme of himself dressed like one.For Trump, jokes are predictions of his movements. He did the exact same thing with the Kennedy Center.
(DIR) Post #B5OsnsPDZbmFeKVEyu by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Trumpism is a new religion. It has its own clergy like Paula White and Lance Wallnau. It has its own commandments like "thou shalt never disparage Trump."It has its own sacraments of watching him on TV and buying his merch.It's worked astonishingly well to remake Evangelical faith.As an American pope, Leo XIV has a unique grasp of what Trump has done. And he's using his power to stand against it.Lots more in the piece so please read and boost! Thanks! /end https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2026/04/trump-hates-pope-leo-because-he-sees-himself-as-the-real-vicar-of-christ/
(DIR) Post #B5OsntnMPKgPxUo2Fc by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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PS: Trump is also doing the exact same thing regarding Judaism. He sees himself as the rightful leader of all American Jews, even though he is not Jewishhttps://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-israel-democrats-1.7148147
(DIR) Post #B5nq2Oy7rKWnml3znM by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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This new art exhibit featuring Boston Dynamics robot dogs with the heads of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, and others is incredibly striking and disturbing.“In the past, our view of the world was shaped in part by how artists saw the world,” Beeple, the artist who created them, told the AP. "Now our view of the world is shaped by tech billionaires who own powerful algorithms that decide what we see and what we don't see." https://apnews.com/article/germany-berlin-robot-dogs-beeple-bezos-digital-art-4a2be2a4a4490553ad68c27beedfe83a
(DIR) Post #B5s7atd8qHe4Zz7d0i by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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In totally unsurprising news, Richard Dawkins is developing AI psychosis.Paywall bypass if you want to torture yourself: https://archive.is/6RdK9#atheism
(DIR) Post #B5s7auoASm3kETHwps by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Dawkins is a great example of how people who have a naturalistic view of "real patterns" but don't have a process ontology will end up in metaphysical dualism unintentionally.Minds are not software, they are what specific bodies are doing as they engage with the world. https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2026/01/its-like-this-why-perceptions-are-our-realities/
(DIR) Post #B5s7avYFhQvGXOqkfQ by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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LLMs are mirrors of their users. It's no coincidence that narcissists like Richard Dawkins keep writing essays about how their AI girlfriend is alive. Nor can he see the complete hypocrisy of gendering a software execution state while also believing that human beings cannot be trans.The "End of History" guy wrote this exact same article a year ago: https://www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt-teacher
(DIR) Post #B6dVIMQh4aFDj46vGC by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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I'm running a fundraiser to help me keep doing high-quality news and analysis about politics, technology, philosophy, and religion.We need a lot more original analysis that is more than just "Trump did a bad thing." I cannot do this without your help. Thanks so much!https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-quality-political-and-tech-journalism
(DIR) Post #B7Kxv6kHyyuSTkND9M by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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There's no doubt that America's two-party system has directly enabled the rise and persistence of reactionary extremism.https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/14/uk-us-trump-starmer-elections-00960828Conservatives have a different ideology than reactionaries, but in a two-party system, their fear of change makes them much more likely to back ideologues who hate democracy.This dynamic exists in multi-party systems, however their construction dilutes reactionary power.
(DIR) Post #B7MhPS3a0F0uMCCQjI by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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The kids and smartphones panic was always far overstated.It's based on non-reproducible research, in large measure because it's difficult to dissociate content types. Watching hours of educational YouTube videos versus browsing toxic Instagram feeds is massively different.The concern is also missplaced. It's far better to go after false and malicious content than it is to restrict kids--especially since determined kids can easily get around restrictions. https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/06/14/scientists-pour-cold-water-on-claims-phones-are-rewiring-kids-brains/5254792
(DIR) Post #B7MhPSFdHQeexZq3W4 by mattsheffield@mastodon.social
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Kids learning how to shoot and edit photos/video with their smartphone or learning computer programming skills through making game mods are extremely common and wonderful activities that the smartphone panickers are trying to stop.The problems are the algorithms and monopolies. Whatever you think is bad for kids on social media is also bad for adults. Regulate the algorithms rather than banning kids from the modern world!