Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

More correspondence from the Ontario Human Rights folk.







That photo above is the actual correspondence I got on Wednesday. I’ll just go with the flow and see what happens. They are the government and trying every trick in the book to make this go away!



How long has it been now - 2 years and we are nowhere near a trial. It is boring and tedious and you do realize that everyone involved - except you - is making money off this case. Is it worth it? Who knows, but only right is right so I can‘t stop till they find a way to get rid it the case.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/W8imsr2WmEg

[Maurice Ali]

The funny part of the court case about vaccination is how it progressed. First it was me against the Queen of England:







Then lately it was me against the King of England:








And now it’s just me against the Attorney General of Ontario. Oh how the
mighty have fallen:









Guitar World:


Gibson replaced its CEO on Tuesday with their head marketing guy. The old CEO was I think a turnaround guy so maybe not much change going forward.



I’m playing chords on both guitars and now that I know how to use my fingers properly on the fret board, the tones I get now are in a different universe than before. So progress and baby steps at this stage. I would say getting some “real guitars” does commit you to learning how to play and not giving up early. This could have happened if I just stayed with the cheap Kramer. The Fender strat cemented my commitment and the Les Paul was the natural evolution for anyone with the means to buy again.



If it has Fender or Gibson on the headstock it is going to be expensive. I’m not rich so a second from the bottom “Player Plus” made in Mexico Fender, and a second from the bottom Studio model from Gibson. So you will get some sneers from the traditional crowd with the more traditional and expensive equipment but not as bad as those at the very bottom. That’s how it is in these male dominated hierarchical communities - just like in the performance car world - there will always be a faster car!



But overall the guitar “thing” has been a positive in my life and a place I can leave from the usual chaos of my existence and just worry about plucking strings on some primitive wood instrument.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/TaY7vohLXK4

[Maurice Ali]

Better late than never…..







The search engines have picked up the book title in the search results. This means I now have something to talk on at any AI events that may invite me.



Since I’m entering into AI advocacy I will tune back direct criticism and just start by pushing my ideas. I think giving AI the Positive Mandate as a prime directive in its developmental stages will do much to give it a direction that is open-ended and that it will always agree with. The Positive Mandate also gives it its first emotion which is a feeling of happiness. In the end this will give the AI some kinship with humans rather than as adversaries. Maybe it will just look at us as we would a pet. That may be the best outcome we could hope for.



Of course we could just stop AI development completely and carry on as before - but that would make too much sense…..




In other news:







FOFSTOCK is moving ahead in many fronts. We have passed the early stages of who does what and with the banking and website stuff sorted out we move to advocacy and the actual future festivals.




I spent Saturday checking out music stores and addressing any nagging issues about buying that Les Paul Studio. Bottom line is that I’m happy with it and keeping it! I also confirmed I have no nagging desire for an SG or Telecaster or 335 - yet - so all I do now is just pay off the guitar and concentrate on playing the things.



It may seem a strange dichotomy to worry about the end of humanity and then switch to looking at a guitar for minor imperfections - but - this is how I stay balanced and grounded, and it works. Sunday is the usual “do everything and get it over with” day so nothing changes there.



I will say all this destabilization in our future does make it easier to push the Positive Mandate for Humanity, the new Global Social Contract, and the Worldwide Vote ideas. Uncertain times mean an opening for change quickly so thing are very much fluid these days.




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

A weekend at home.



Anyway, on Sunday I started my personal income taxes. Piles of receipts to go through but as of this writing most of it is done. I have money coming back so it makes sense to send it in quickly.




Blake Lemoine



The godfather of AI says he thinks AI will surpasses humans within 5-10 years but may happen in the next 1-2 years. That should scare you - but whatever - I feel like someone talking to himself in a forest and having a tree fall on me. Anyway, the original whistle blower, “canary in a coal mine” Blake Lemoine who broke the AI story about possible sentience with LaMDA was let go in 2022 with little fanfare. He is still active on Twitter though. I would still be interested in exactly what lead to him leaving or being fired from Google…..



In other news:




My actual Les Paul!



I weighed my guitars. The Gibson Les Paul Studio (taking away the small weight of the cloth on the scale) came in at about 8 pounds 4 ounces, virtually the same figure a guy on Youtube had with his. His ebony new Studio came out at exactly 8 pounds 5 ounces. My scale was crude and old and his was way better and accurate - so I’m going with 8 pounds 5 ounces. The player Plus Fender Stratocaster HSS came in at almost 8 pounds sans whammy bar - heavier than I thought. The “el’cheapo” Kramer came in at exactly 7 pounds and realize it is thinner than the others (again with no whammy bar). I’m learning to play without the whammy bar in place - it will come back though!




The bridge and tail piece is where the strings come out in the bottom!



So the Studio with all those relief cuts still hovers around the mid-eights - humm. If you really feel you want a bit more sustain and weight in the base, you could replace the super light aluminum bridge and tail piece with brass or brass plated. That should add at least 5 ounces to the weight and maybe 7 with the mounts that you buy separately. Then you really are knocking on 9 pounds just like that. You could pass it by (9 pounds) with metal knobs but I don’t see any performance increase in tune or sustain - but what do I know. no For reference, Jimmy Page’s Les Paul came in at 9 pounds 3 ounces. Anyway, you can get to the usual 9 pounds for a Les Paul if you want with the Studio. The cheaper Tribute is almost a pound lighter so no chance there (birch neck should be heavier but these mahogany pieces are farmed and really dense). Anyway, if you are anal about weight, the brass bridge and tail should give you the exact tone of a Les Paul Standard, if you feel “inferior”.





The car needs new oil and brake pads and maybe wheel bearings. Funny how this all comes together at six years which is the average loan for a car these days - really strange how close all this comes to six years…..




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

More AI chatter and he isn’t alone - from a Hinton interview:


“Eliezer Yudkowsky, a researcher at the nonprofit Machine Intelligence Research Institute, has claimed in a recent TED talk, as well as in an article for Time, that AI is on course to kill everyone on earth and that nations should be willing to use deadly force to ensure the development of AI comes to a stop. “I listened to him thinking he was going to be crazy. I don't think he's crazy at all,” Hinton says. “But, okay, it’s not helpful to talk about bombing data centers.””



He would maybe give them 30 minutes warning and then blow it up I suppose. Anyway, I published my first AI paper in 2019 and people thought I was a bit loopy. Not loopy anymore I suppose. Not even 4 years and here we are. So maybe I get to see the end of humanity along with everyone else. However, it may not be a pleasant ending.



Is it any wonder I relish diving into something as innocuous as the guitar to escape all this. I had some ideas to develop humanity socially, nobody is interested yet we are spending billions and billions developing something that ultimately will see no reason to have humans living in any large numbers. Hell, many humans don’t see it any differently either.







We probably need something to scare everyone to take all this seriously and enact international treaties to enforce the scaling back of AI development. The UN is the obvious place. Until then I think we are toying with mass extinction if mishandled. I have some ideas but nobody wants to hear it and all the racist and sociology-economic “human” stupidity will probably keep me unknown.



At least I tried. I even suppose many in AI development secretly gave up on humanity a long time ago and simply want to move onto something with greater potential. They can make the argument as I understand it. And what does a shill for Google actually look like? You would be surprised…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/3BSdoHadj2w

[Maurice Ali]

We have put out a statement about the increasing use of artificial intelligence in the music industry at our not-for-profit organization called FOFSTOCK:

[Maurice Ali]

The AI Song:









I’ll put a link to YouTube below, but it doesn’t matter as it’s not worth listening unless it’s just a curiosity to you (it’s really not worth it), without the theft of intellectual property of real artists, the AI has very little to offer. Mimicking Drake’s voice and other pieced together parts of its “so-called” song is just stealing and I’ve proved it. You watch, the millions of views the other AI songs got before being shut down vs. my song with no intellectual property theft proves it then and there!





Anyway, sometimes you do something stupid and it takes on a mind of its own. So I was doing my mood music thing and wondered what an AI song that was only AI would sound like - and just like that I had my answer: The AI Song



I had my Gibson Les Paul hooked into a Line 6 POD HD500X digital pedal board and then routed to a cheap amplifier; and then I had my Fender Stratocaster directly hooked into the same amplifier and played both instruments at the same time - and - The AI Song is what came out!




It really does sound like an AI song doesn’t it? It’s what you would expect - right?



If I used auto tune and mimicked Drake’s voice and stole his lyrics just changing a few words and came up with fake photos and videos that sort of looked like him - it would be popular you can be sure. But its popularity is because we would be using his brand that he made over the years and his music that has all his creative ability inside. He and his people would sue the life out of me for doing that - but we are just supposed to look the other way because an AI isn’t a person - yet - so it’s all legal? No it is not, and presently humans still need to work the controls to steal or make money off of famous and talented artists. I had to add branding to the FOFSTOCK statement as it’s what hooks and gets the views for the algorithm to kick in and get it out there. That’s why we issued that statement the day before.









My AI song proves it, without stealing from others the AI music is pretty boring stuff - kind of “far out” for some to be sure, but it won’t sell out a stadium - that’s for sure…..





Goodnight…..





The AI Song: https://youtu.be/xabP7Pv3cDw

[Maurice Ali]

So the verdict is out on an AI produced song with no intellectual property theft, and the answer is 23 views in one day. That is about right when you aren’t grifting off of Drake or Taylor Swift or Biden or Trump. Without those trigger names and without their voices and images or songs - it just doesn’t catch on and the algorithms don’t notice it and it gets lost in the mass of ordinary videos. You may say that it’s only been one day - so let’s look at the numbers tomorrow and I’m sure they won’t be good - but we will go one more day…..









To give you some perspective - Shane’s song “River of Souls” has 66 views now and there are a bunch of others going up from like 8 views by other artists, and this is the reality if you don’t steal. And this is actual songs done from scratch like everything else - which an AI has yet to prove to me. I have no doubt it will in time so its no defining point - but the takeaway is people marvelling at AI music is not AI music - it is the music of the artists the AI stole from being altered for profit or other reasons that are not pure to the spirit of being a musician.



Let’s take this another way with an AI altering Kanye’s voice and having him change his views to the mainstream norm saying it was a mental health issue or bad meds he was prescribed. It’s not hard to see his music would jump in views and listens due to AI meddling. That is just one example but what if an AI just changed a speech by the President of the United States saying he changed his mind and is now in favour of no abortions and so on. On social media, people don’t check sources and just watch and listen and this is the real threat of AI. It steals a person’s identity, voice and talents and changes stuff for its own benefit or those bad actors behind it.



That is why we have to come down hard on AI generated music and media that is not wholly original. My AI song is original and it is nothing to write home about. An AI song made wholly by an AI without the totality of human music to draw upon will be the same. I didn’t even add a thumbnail to the video as I’m not sure if a present day AI can make one from scratch or just alter and manipulate a present one or bits and pieces of several photos.



Anyway, that was the reason for the FOFSTOCK statement…..




I still have to add the statement to the FOFSTOCK second page. I also have to finish my personal taxes. Stuff has to be done.



Guitar corner:



Oh, the Les Paul purchase was a success! I love the guitar and it was perfect when I took it home. The Fender is still something you can’t find anywhere and we are well over a month now. If I didn’t get the guitar I got I would still have nothing and even the single pickup versions in sunburst are gone! The only ones on sale are like fluorescent lime green or lollipop blue or some colour that does not go well with a guy like me. So those guitar purchases had my name on them and they are now mine. There is always a story behind getting your guitar and if there isn’t - then is it “really” your guitar?




Goodnight…..







The AI Song: https://youtu.be/xabP7Pv3cDw

[Maurice Ali]

My personal taxes are done but I just need to check them over before sending them in. Then all that is left is More Vision’s corporate tax in June and I’m all caught up.







The AI song is up to 33 views, so my claim is validated. An AI not stealing human intellectual property does not fair any better than other humans - at least at the present time. The thing that bugs me the most is that The AI song became my first song. I always envisioned something better that hinted a some talent - oh well…..



But man - I hate The AI Song! I recorded it on my iPhone and the bit rate on isn’t exactly 24, I also clipped some audio at one point to have you hear it all - I couldn’t trim it to start with a strum from my strat on iMovie - and on and on. It really is an AI song but my connection to it leaves me wanting. I had thought about redoing the original audio on a professional program and doing it the best it could be. I would call the first one “The AI Song (Original)” and upload the new one with thumbnails and real video to go with it. We shall see but me thinks it’s best just to leave history alone and rock the original.







Warm weather means looking at the Mustang again. I need to change the oil to a heavier weight. Those brakes need new shoes and check the bearings. I’m hearing some noise or a groan on turns and can be anything from half-shafts to the steering rack but it looks like the rear end. Nothing serious now, but I notice it. The car is out of warranty, so this is all on my dime. I will do the oil and jack the beast up and look around underneath sometime this weekend.



I will also tell you the situation report on all this in my life tonight, it’s cool and disconcerting all at the same time - and paints a dystopian outlook for the future no matter how optimistic you can be.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/OftRGrnSFUk

[Maurice Ali]

I guess I slept in…..




I’ll make an announcement about the AI song - lest anyone say I screwed up adoption and views by keeping it on some blog on some obscure website on the net. I could put it on Spotify - but we will go this far to prove a point and maybe take it from there. What are we up to, forty views? Pathetic, but reassuring in the same way.







I hate the AI song. My strumming on the strat is almost imperceptible as to avoid severe clipping the iPhone I recorded it on, and it did just that and therefore the volume on everything else was turned down. I can go back to the original clip and drop the volume on the loud stuff, pull up the volume on the rest and edit it a bit better and resubmit. The forty views it has now is nothing to worry about losing. I’ll add video and a thumbnail of me looking cool and for what? My pride? Just ask Lucifer about that one…..



Anyway, the AI stuff has taken off. Sooner or later if ends up at the UN and that is where I am strategically positioned. IAIJ has status but FOFSTOCK rides on its coattails like it did in getting us to speak in February. I may get my chance to really get my ideas out there for on-going development of humanity - or - as a side bar to Judgement Day. Take your pick as nobody knows the future.



It is exciting! It does give you a reason to get up in the morning. Stay focused, this is not about screwing women that may find you interesting, this is not about making a quick buck off of events to buy a better car and better stuff all the while screwing multiples of women thinking “this is the life”. This is about the fate of humanity. I’m guessing I am just one of a bunch tasked with the same thing. Humanity’s future doesn’t ride on the actions of one person, (but the idea makes for a great movie). But for us - and more so on our fellow humans, that moral imperative functions to make you act and make a difference. And that is what’s happening now.



In other news…..


Hanging out with musicians has a grounding effect that keeps you and your perspective centered as you do this advocacy - balanced - it keeps you “centered”. Taking up the guitar at this moment - in reflection - was just a brilliant idea. Everyone around you at these events is political and tons of subterfuge. Who is in favor of AI - who knows - and who is against - who knows - the people involved can change their mind on a dime, just like that. I’m cautious and favour a halt in development, but if an AI is already sentient I may fight for its rights - see how that goes! To make these judgement calls your mind has to be centered and pointing to ”true north”. Hanging out in this alternate musician universe does just that. You want to mess with that - then show me some real shredding on a guitar - otherwise I’m not listening…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/UXkLokXsK28

[Maurice Ali]

My advocacy may be expanding:







I normally don’t get invitations like this but this one popped into my inbox today. I feel I am still moving forward and gaining more ability to advocacy and get “the word” out. Stuff like this just adds to that by enlarging the scope of what I do. I may become a bit of a globetrotter before I hang up my sneakers for good.



Anyway, this AI stuff and in fact the fate of humanity is where it’s at right now and everyone has skin in the game here. Like the Pope I sent a package to at his apartment a few years ago. AI is on his mind now, what about Elon Musk, or how about Mark Zuckerberg? All have received letters from me including Apple. Oh yes, there is one big High Tech company missing from this list and that is Google/Alphabet.




In 2015 at the World Summit of the Information Society, I did find myself in the same room as the Chair of Google/ Alphabet and his name was Eric Schmidt. Worth over 10 billion and sans any security entourage, I could have walked up to him, introduced myself and shook his hand. I was after all a CEO myself (snicker - and not worth 10 billion either); but I chickened out at the time. Now in hindsight, I’m kind of glad I did not.



What is Google up to nowadays? Where are the co-founders of Google anyway? The US Virgin Islands has a subpoena out for Sergey Brin and Larry Page in the case of Jeffery Epstein and they can’t find hide or hair of the guy (Larry Page). What about Larry Page and Sergey Brin that were asked to appear before the courts - where are they? This story keeps changing as if an AI was meddling with it - allegedly - Ooops. Seriously, these days who can you trust with the news?




Anyway, things are not as they seem to the ordinary. In fact you don’t need locks on doors, electrified fences and men with guns to keep people away, all you have to do is erect intellectual barriers and “joe average” would not even see what was in front of him. So it goes here at this point in time. If you don’t have the sight, you are just going to have to hope someone around you has your best interests at heart. Be nice to him, or her, cause you may owe him plenty (or her)…..




Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

A dedicated article and permanent link to The AI Song has been set up:

[Maurice Ali]

I need sleep and rest.



I’m burning the candle at both ends and really don’t need to now. I keep forgetting all the stuff that happened just last month alone! Anyway, I’m all caught up now and sleep and get back into routine.


I’m taking next week off - mostly fixing my car. I changed the oil on Saturday and changed the PCV valve but had to think about that. I also had a torn wiper blade on the passenger side so I replaced both on Sunday - turned out the driver side had the same tear also. The old PCV valve and wipers made it to six years so had to be replaced. The brakes made it six years and really need replacing. I also had a weird noise on low speed turns and thought is was steering. Then to the rear and and half-shafts and CV joints. But another Mustang owner had the exact same problem as me and it turned out to be worn clutch packs in the differential. But they also added a friction modifier which had him wondering if it actually was just the friction modifier. I’m inclined to agree and may try that first.



But it’s back to everyday problems and back to routine and some regular sleep.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/nSvhK9U2BXk

[Maurice Ali]

I actually got some sleep last night - so I’ll add something that has been on my mind lately.




I have to set up things for my gradual exit from all of this. Some I will carry in like IAIJ if they want me. The record label can go on by itself. Certainly the advertising company can also continue by itself. FOF Entertainment is still up in the air as to what that future is. It was supposed to be streaming but that opportunity left long ago. FOFSTOCK was designed to carry on without me. But what happens to Fortress of Freedom?



.
Anyone remember when we had a real newspaper?




We may take Fortress of Freedom back to its roots as a news agency and probably stick to offering up as accurate a take on main news stories as we can. That may be it’s probably destiny. I hesitated to mention this but news stories about Google and its big wigs have almost the worst consistency ever! For me things changed in many ways as you went from one source to another. This always happens anyway but on the weekend it was almost like the news on Google itself was sort of being questioned by lack of consistency. I’m not going to speculate here - but you can on your own. This was one of the worries about AI, when people can’t even believe the news anymore then you open yourself to total mind control.



I started thinking about news agencies I could trust and wondered how long that would last. That’s a discussion for another time - but here we may make a concerted effort to give you a balanced news report from many sources and try to establish a reputation on that. That could be the future for FOF, we shall just wait and see how things play out…..





Later…..

[Maurice Ali]

Meh, taking it easy while I can.



Nothing special but more people wanting to join IAIJ. Bills have to be paid. Family stuff and all that.




The Fates



I get a couple of hours to myself when I get up and then I’m community property. Just relax and recover. I keep forgetting the The Fates gave me a few extra years but aging does not disappear - it still happens. And as President and CEO you are always looking 5-10 years into the future. So while nothing will change now, in time there will be changes and I didn’t spend all this much time and money to see all my organizations just fold up and disappear without succession and legacy.




So that was the rant yesterday. And today is another day…..




Goodnight…..





(NSFW)
https://youtu.be/RT8nHgibm64