Before we start: Something is going on with Pete Hegseth.
asserted
Something → start → Hegseth
He did another of his groyper-cum-Oprah routines this week in which he drooled over his new alpha warrior warfighters:
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he → do → warfighters
It’s worth saying again, so that the fake news understands it.
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news → ’ → it
WTF is going on here?
asserted
WTF → go → ?
Why is he obsessed with “trannies” and “fatties” and testosterone testing?
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he → obsess → trannies
All I could think about was Barry Zuckerkorn cruising the city of industry.
uncertain
Zuckerkorn → think → industry
And THEN Hegseth introduced the three men he has tapped to guide the U.S. military into the next century of lethal alpha warrior warfighting dominance:
asserted
he → introduce → dominance
That’s right.
asserted
That → ’ → ?
Is Pete trying to tell us something?
asserted
Pete → try → something
Sometimes I feel like the entire DoD has been turned into gender-affirming care for a single dude.
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DoD → feel → dude
Someone needs to get Secretary Hegseth a good analyst/therapist.
asserted
Someone → need → therapist
This is the stuff you’re missing by not being a member of Bulwark+, btw.
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you → miss → Bulwark+
It’s 24 kt, solid gold.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Like you, probably, I’ve been spending a lot of clock cycles on AI.
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I → spend → AI
I’ve delved into Claude Code and started learning how to use it properly.
asserted
I → delve → it
It is, as everyone testifies, amazing.
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everyone → testify → ?
I’ve also been reading the investigation reports on Hugging Face and the other two rogue AI swarm hacks, RubyGems, and DseWiki.
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I → read → Face
Today I want to talk about something that scares the living daylights out of me, but first I want to show all my cards: I am neither an AI-maxi nor a doomer.
asserted
I → want → cards
I do not believe anyone knows with high certainty how this technology will evolve, and the range of nontrivial-probability outcomes is enormous.
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range → believe → outcomes
Maybe AI will create another economic revolution.
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AI → create → revolution
Maybe it will end life on earth.
asserted
it → end → earth
Which is why I want to talk about something I’ll call the Stuxnet Problem.
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I → want → something
I don’t know how to make this sexy for you.
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this → know → you
I’m sorry.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
Because ultimately this is about understanding what is real and what is not.
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what → understand → ?
It’s about system feedback.
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It → ’ → feedback
It’s about whether or not we can ultimately trust any information that is digital.
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that → ’ → information
Maybe the best way of explaining it is: What if Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning were real?
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Mission → explain → it
If you know anything about the Hugging Face incident, it’s that a number of experimental AI agents broke containment, found one another, and began hacking into outside systems.
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number → know → systems
Depending on your philosophical bent, this episode was somewhere between Not Great and Utterly Fucking Terrifying.
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episode → depend → Great
AI phlegmatics tell me that Hugging Face wasn’t so bad because while, yes, the rogue AIs did go marauding, this was all really user error because:
The containment protocols were insufficient.
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protocols → tell → me
The humans running the experiment should have known the AIs were up to something because they were burning through tokens.
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they → run → tokens
“Tokens” are the units of content AI systems process or generate.
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systems → process → content
Token counts help track model usage: The more work your AI is doing, the more tokens it consumes.
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it → help → tokens
You should think of your token count as something like the electricity meter in your home.
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You → think → home
So yes, it makes sense that if you were one of the humans monitoring the AIs during Hugging Face, when the AIs went rogue and started doing all sorts of stuff, you should have seen the token meter go brrrrrrrrr.
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meter → make → stuff
But this observation got me thinking about Stuxnet.
asserted
me → get → Stuxnet
About twenty years ago, some nerds in the American and Israeli intelligence communities2 got together to build a computer worm that would later be dubbed “Stuxnet.”
asserted
that → get → worm
It was designed to infiltrate systems running supervisory control and data-acquisition systems built by the German company Siemens.
asserted
It → design → company
I covered Stuxnet back in 2010 when it was discovered.
asserted
it → cover → 2010
…and 79 more, not listed.
The Aporia
