News Vérité

Termed-out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was not on any ballot yesterday, which was a good thing for him — out of sight, out of mind — possibly making him the frontrunner for the 2028 GOP presidential sweepstakes. The sitting U.S. Vice President, JD Vance, will be so tarnished by President Trump’s legacy (used in a negative, not positive sense) that he might find it difficult to get the nomination, let alone beat any Dem in the November election. That leaves the lone GOP survivor with national name recognition — by-then-ex-Governor Ron DeSantis — to swoop in and claim the nomination. Now when I say this, I personally believe that Marco Rubio is the strongest candidate the party can nominate, but he too is subject to Trumpian fallout since he’s part of the administration. DeSantis is also helped by the fact that his state remained mostly Red following yesterday’s nationwide Blue wave. Republicans in the Sunshine State held onto both the governor’s chair and the one U.S. Senate seat up for grabs. DeSantis described Tuesday’s election results as “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last 100 years.”

There’s an axiom that “people always vote their pocketbooks,” and that certainly held true yesterday. I remember our president, Sir Donald Trump, proclaiming affordability to be a “hoax.” If so, that hoax deluded a lot of people who went to the polls yesterday. I had to use a rideshare several times on Election Day, and one of the drivers told me — at 4 p.m. — that he would be heading to his second job at 6, and even then, it would be hard to pay all his bills. I’m retired but certainly have often considered a part-time job to help make ends meet. There’s only so much 401(k) left in my account, and Social Security doesn’t come near to paying for everything. I doubt Trump ever shopped for food in his life. In fact, I doubt any of his wives was ever in a supermarket, except maybe to film a commercial. So, how would he know what affordability is? I knew the rout was coming many months ago, and now the Dems can have a go at impeachment and defunding programs they don’t like. Looking back, I think Trump and his cronies got only two things right: closing the

On Election Day, I was forced to make three journeys using rideshare companies: First, coming home from dropping my car off at a repair shop, second going back to pick up my car, and third coming home after taking my car to a transmission rebuilding shop. Of the three journeys, two drivers treated me as listening posts for whatever was on their mind. One driver couldn’t stop talking about how hybrid cars (like his) are better than electric. The last driver, on my journey home from a multi-thousand-drollar transmission repair, couldn’t stop talking about the election and how both houses would be flipped. All I wanted to do was commiserate with myself about the cost of getting my favorite car back on the road and healthy again — despite the huge outlay. Rideshares cost enough without having your ears filled with conversations you could care less about.  

The fear that recursive self-improvement (RSI) could trigger an “intelligence explosion” and lead to an AI takeover is one of the central concerns in the field of existential risk and AI safety. While historically treated as science fiction, it is increasingly analyzed by computer scientists, philosophers, and policy experts as a technical engineering challenge. The Mechanics of Recursive Self-Improvement Recursive self-improvement occurs when an AI system becomes capable of analyzing, modifying, and upgrading its own source code, architecture, or training methodologies. The Feedback Loop: Unlike human software engineers—who are bound by biological limits, need sleep, and work iteratively—an AI operating at or above human-level capabilities could theoretically rewrite itself, run millions of copies in parallel, and evaluate upgrades at electronic speeds. The Intelligence Explosion: Once a system crosses a threshold where it can make net positive improvements to its own intelligence, the next generation of the AI will be smarter and better at improving itself than the previous one. This creates a feedback loop: smarter AI $\rightarrow$ faster/better self-improvement $\rightarrow$ vastly superior AI. Proponents of this theory suggest the transition from human-level intelligence to superintelligence could happen over days, hours, or even minutes. Why an Intelligence Explosion Could Lead to