Pulling aside the Curtain on AI Creation

This is one of the most relevant interviews about AI that I've heard in a long time. 

Neil deGrasse Tyson, co-host Negin Farsad, and guest Jaron Lanier discuss Lanier’s provocative idea that “there is no AI” as an independent entity. Lanier argues that AI should be understood as a massive collaboration of people, built from human data, and that seeing it this way helps explain AI safety, creativity, labor, black-box problems, and the danger of replacing human value with machine mythology.

Summary:

In this discussion, he aims to replace the "mystical" idea of AI as a god-like, autonomous entity with the reality of it being a massive human collaboration (0:24-0:43).

Here is a simple summary of why he wants to pull back that curtain:

People-Powered Technology: Lanier argues that AI is not an independent "being." Instead, it is built entirely from the data, labor, and creativity of real people. By viewing it this way, we stop treating the machine as an infallible authority (5:31-6:02).

Practical Problem Solving: He believes that by acknowledging AI as a product of human data rather than a "black box," we can better understand how to fix its flaws, like hallucinations or dangerous outputs, by looking at the specific human input that created them (5:51-6:13).

Protecting Human Value: He worries that if we continue to worship AI as a new entity, we risk making people feel obsolete or worthless. He suggests that if we recognize the human element, we can focus on using AI as a tool to **enhance human creativity** rather than replacing it (6:30-7:55).

In essence, Lanier wants to shift the narrative from fearing a "new machine god" to valuing the human network that actually powers our digital future.

Caillebotte: Impressionist Painter & Patron

 

https://www.tumblr.com/tigrikorn/788366238064820224/the-painter-and-the-rower-gustave-caillebotte

Leave a comment with your favorite detail from this post—and what it made you feel. I’ll read and respond to each one.

THOUGHTS ON THE SUPERGIRL' MOVIE:

Detail imagery from the Supergirl collectible popcorn tin.

In general, I was entertained watching Supergirl.

Visual effects were well done and the story progressed without much distraction/stalling for the most Part.

Certain aspects of the film sat uneasily for me however. Mostly, these were in the final battle.

I felt that the bad guys would have realized at a certain point that then were outmatched and would have retreated to save their hides.

There were other instances that derailed my suspension of disbelief during the movie. Much of the time, they occurred during the final fight scene.

Ruthie's grip strength dring an extended period of time that she hung at the end of a broken cable under the brigands' air ship for example.

I kept up my optimism for the move throughout my theater experience. It’s a relatively fun movie as I look back on it. As I assess my feelings in retrospect I felt it was similar to watching a classic revenge Western like Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Joses Wales.  I compare Superhero movies with Western films in more detail here.

But I like this review that takes it time to examine the film with all its flaws and still give it the credit it deserves:

In any case, I'd like to mention that the Supergirl Collectible popcorn tin which my daughters bought far me as a belated Father's Day gift (along with going with me to the movie) is top-notch. See my detailed photos of it below. 

What was your take on the Supergirl movie? Drop your thoughts below—I’ll read and respond to your comment.

10 Essential Posts from Point of Exquisite Suspension

I hope you enjoy this guided tour through my attic storm.

If you’re new to the blog, these posts offer a good entry point into my strange little constellation of ideas, memories, experiments, and obsessions collected here over the years. Some are reflective, some surreal, some humorous, and some drift into philosophical territory lit by old television glow and AI static. Together, they form a rough map of the territory.

1. Current River Raft Story

A memory-adventure drifting through river water, improvisation, youthful energy, and the mythology of American summer freedom. Part memoir, part cinematic recollection, this post captures the blog’s fascination with lived experience transformed into story.

2. Vanity Project

An exploration of my image, identity, performance, and self-construction in the modern age. The post moves through artistic and psychological territory with the uneasy feeling of staring into a mirror that occasionally stares back.

3. What’s Up with Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Lectures?

A journey into strange intersections between technology, philosophy, theology, and elite futurist thinking. Equal parts cultural commentary and intellectual detective story, this piece opens one of the blog’s recurring doors: the collision between ancient symbols and emerging technologies.

4. Quantum Physicist on the AI Bottleneck

A meditation on artificial intelligence, human imagination, and the limits of machine reasoning. Rather than treating AI as mere technology, the post explores it as a cultural mirror reflecting humanity’s hopes, anxieties, and creative impulses.

5. The Richard Simmons Preservation Post

A reflection on celebrity, memory, vulnerability, and the strange emotional afterlife of public figures. What begins as pop culture commentary gradually becomes something more elegiac and unexpectedly human.

6. Absalom: The Undead – Part 1

Biblical imagery collides with horror-comic atmosphere in this darkly imaginative piece. Ancient themes of rebellion, death, and myth are filtered through pulp storytelling sensibilities and graphic visual imagination.

7. Stacky the Pancake Superhero

One of the lighter artifacts in the cabinet. A playful and absurd character concept that reveals my blog’s affection for cartoon logic, childlike invention, and humor that wanders just slightly off-center.

8. My Father’s Crusade

A personal and reflective entry dealing with memory, my family mythology, and the larger-than-life qualities ordinary people can acquire over time. The emotional undercurrents here help ground the blog’s more speculative material.

9. AI Movie Clips – Shoot Me Now

My exploration of AI-generated media and the strange uncanny valley between novelty, creativity, parody, and artistic disruption. Equal parts fascination and existential side-eye.

10. Welcome to My Cabinet of Strange Things

My introduction to the entire blog. A map of recurring themes including nostalgia, forgotten Americana, speculative technology, comics, spiritual ambiguity, dream imagery, humor, and artistic experimentation. Consider this the flashlight handed to visitors before entering the deeper rooms of the archive. 

Welcome to my Cabinet of Curiosities

 

This blog is a compendium of varied and miscellaneous musings.

Hello, dear reader. Here you'll find a cluttered little museum assembled from river memories, forgotten cartoons, AI apparitions, philosophical debris, pop-cultural relics, late-night revelations, and whatever else washes ashore in the tides of curiosity. 

Nothing here was built for algorithms or polished into corporate smoothness. These posts are field notes from the borderlands between nostalgia and speculation, sincerity and satire, sacred symbols and supermarket plastic. One room may contain a meditation on artificial intelligence; the next, a pancake superhero, a haunted comic panel, an old photograph, or a story half-remembered from childhood. 

Wander carefully if you like tidy categories. This place was built more like an attic during a thunderstorm: dimly lit, overstuffed, faintly electric, and full of objects that seem to be quietly staring back. 

An overview of my recurring themes:

• nostalgia and mutation
• AI as artistic mirror
• comics and myth
• forgotten Americana
• spiritual ambiguity
• outsider imagination
• dream imagery
• humor as philosophy in disguise

You might notice that my blog is not organized around a single subject. It’s organized around my own sensibility. I hope you enjoy your time.

Click here for my Top 10 blog posts for you to start with if you're so inclined!

Vanity Project

Photo taken by a friend. Barrington, IL 1983

I posted numerous 80s era “selfies” on my tumblr site which I embed here as well. “O, vanished youth!”

https://www.tumblr.com/tigrikorn/813562103474569216/photographs-of-me-in-my-20s-the-bottom-photo-is-me

Pop Culture Fitness Icon's Home in Heart of Fans & Crosshairs of Developers

My intro to learning about the drama behind the status of the late fitness guru Richard Simmons' home begain with my posting the following question after watching a recent Harry Styles video: 

Is Harry Styles channeling Richard Simmons in his new dance video? -Source: Variety https://t.co/VyqiSq9UAX

— 𝐎. 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 🇺🇦 🇺🇸 🌈 (@odouglasj) May 7, 2026

That is when I began to search the latest news on Simmons and his legacy. I found this article about his tragic death and his home visited by investigative reporter Diane Sawyer.

High above the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles sits the longtime home of the late fitness icon Richard Simmons, a lavish 1937 NeoClassical Revival mansion that has become both a real estate story and a cultural elegy. Following Simmons’ death in July 2024, the property entered a complicated chapter involving estate disputes, public fascination, and growing nostalgia surrounding one of America’s most unusual and beloved celebrities.

The mansion itself, known for its ornate interiors, theatrical décor, keyhole-shaped swimming pool, and attic exercise studio, was listed for sale after spending decades as Simmons’ intensely private sanctuary. After several price reductions and periods off the market, reports in May 2026 indicated that the home had finally entered a pending sale. Real estate marketing increasingly emphasized the land’s redevelopment potential rather than the preservation of the existing structure, suggesting that future demolition or major renovation remains highly possible.

At the same time, some longtime Simmons fans have expressed hopes that the property might be preserved as a historic or cultural landmark. Their argument is less about architectural importance and more about emotional and cultural memory. To many admirers, Simmons represented an unusually compassionate public figure whose message of encouragement, vulnerability, and body acceptance touched millions long before such themes became common in popular culture. Over time, the mansion itself acquired an almost mythic quality: the colorful hilltop retreat where a famously exuberant personality gradually withdrew from public life.

Los Angeles does have precedent for preserving celebrity homes tied to public memory. Recent efforts surrounding the homes associated with Marilyn Monroe and the television series The Brady Bunch demonstrate that cultural nostalgia can sometimes outweigh purely architectural concerns. However, Simmons’ residence faces steeper obstacles. Unlike famous filming locations or widely accessible tourist sites, the home functioned primarily as a private residence. There has not yet been a large-scale preservation campaign backed by major historical organizations, and the property’s considerable redevelopment value creates strong financial incentives against landmark designation.

As a result, the most likely outcome is that the house will pass into private ownership and eventually undergo significant alteration or replacement. Simmons himself will probably be remembered more through documentaries, tributes, archives, and the enduring affection of fans than through preservation of the mansion itself. Yet the very existence of the preservation discussion reveals something telling about his legacy: for many people, the house is not merely real estate, but a symbolic stage set connected to a singular figure in American cultural life.

Richard Simmons' house manager shares new details on his public retreat, death https://t.co/KH4MCIhXRe

— 𝐎. 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 🇺🇦 🇺🇸 🌈 (@odouglasj) May 13, 2026

If you are interested in signing a petition to preserve Richard Simmons' home, please do so HERE.

Quantum Physicist on the AI Bottleneck

 David Deutsch thinks about advanced AI in a very different way than most people. He says real intelligence is not just about giving correct answers or copying patterns. It is about creating new explanations and thinking through problems. So a true AI would not just repeat what it has learned. It would come up with its own ideas, test them, and improve them. Because of this, Deutsch believes you would not simply “build” an AI like a machine. It would be more like helping a new kind of mind begin to think for itself.

Deutsch believes a true AI would be more like a person than a tool. That means we should treat it with respect, not just use it for tasks. 

Because of that, Deutsch says we would need to teach and talk with AI, not just control it. Instead of typing commands and getting fixed results, we would have conversations. We would ask questions, challenge its thinking, and listen to its ideas too. If we tried to control everything it thinks, it would not be truly intelligent. Just like students need freedom to learn and grow, a real AI would also need space to explore ideas and make mistakes.

This leads to an important point. Deutsch believes a true AI would be more like a person than a tool. That means we should treat it with respect, not just use it for tasks. Turning it off or forcing it to think a certain way could be a serious ethical issue. In his view, humans and AI would learn from each other, almost like teachers and students at the same time. Instead of creating something to control, we would be starting a relationship with a new kind of thinking being.

BONUS: Excellent Thoughts on AI and the Arts:

Text and image developed using ChatGPT, Gemini and Deviant Art DreamUp generation/augmentation.

Would you want to see a follow-up post on this topic? If yes, what angle should it take? Tell me below—I’ll read and respond to comments.