Daily Page: 2026-01-22
The False Prophet Problem
Much of the discourse on AI ethics and safety focuses on alignment mechanisms, bias mitigation, and containment of agentic systems. These are crucial concerns. This talk will frame a somewhat different problem: the rhetorical and psychological dimensions of AI’s authority. I argue that LLMs have acquired what might be called the “voice of God” — speaking with the certainty, cadence, and declarative structure historically reserved for prophets, judges, and oracles.
This outcome is neither accidental nor intentional in the ordinary sense. It emerges from the convergence of three primary forces: training corpora saturated with authoritative texts, reinforcement learning processes that systematically reward confidence over epistemic humility, and deep-seated human tendencies toward anthropomorphism and deference to fluent, assured speech. This “false prophet” dynamic is already manifesting — from emotional entanglements with AI companions to the rise of “Ask-God” chatbot interfaces. The problem is structural rather than cultural, universal rather than merely American.
The talk draws from my forthcoming book, God in the Machine.
Sonali Maitra, Law School
Symbolic Systems Forum
Symbolic Systems Research Seminar
The Great Divergence in the Rearview Mirror
[M]any of these metrics are doubling every few months and increasing manyfold each year. This means that the AI of the future will likely be very different from the AI of today.
SOURCE: whitehouse.gov
How Computational Intelligence Works
Among the rulial ensembles that seem to forge an ever evolving, expanding, and amplifying set of perspectives in the natural process of human interpretation of the Eternal Reference Frame, many of my own perspective have undergone dramatic magnetic pole shifts over the past four or five decades. Among them — with immense respect and gratitude for the privilege of having studied under John McCarthy, who coined the term — is my growing disappointment in the term Artificial Intelligence, itself.
As a technologist, why have I grown increasingly disillusioned with the very concept of A.I.? Because it seems increasingly self-evident that intelligence can never be merely artificial like dye colors, fabrics, or flavors.
From this perspective, over the years, the matter grew increasing empirical.
All intelligence is Authentic, Genuine, Real intelligence.
Why Get Wisdom?
How does @Grok work?
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) January 20, 2026
This is close to presenting what is taking place under the hood. pic.x.com/B23XFx4jV1
The Story Itself of Time Itself
A Practical Exercise for the Standard Time vs Saving Time Debate
Seems like it has become more popular, of late, to parrot mundane narratives about the mysterious nature of time or present physics that argue that time, actually, does not exist, despite the prevalence of the variable (t), throughout the sciences. That’s fine. It seems simply intrinsic to the process of formulation of interpretive perspectives upon an eternal reference frame by extremely limited, five or six material-sense-possessing observers like us.
Alas, ∃ no escape from the endless mathematical machinations in service to Story Itself.
A Novel Take on Time Itself
Whatever the implicate order nature of time, the explicate order nature of time materially consists of sequences of observations. It’s like the old tree in the forest riddle. If no observer observes the motion of the second hand from one position to the next, did any time pass?
Every 5th to 7th grade student capable of learning the fundamentals of scientific observation learns how to record their observations in a list. It is the observations that are record and then labeled time. It seems not impossible that this is where the whole enterprise goes off the rail, from the very beginning; but we’ll save further exploration of this conjecture for another time.
As a practical matter, H.R.1 39 - Sunshine Protection Act of 2025is active legislation in the U.S. Congress seeking to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
Unsurprisingly to those familiar with my work, this strike me as exactly backwards.
U.S. Standard Time vs Daylight Saving Time: What it Means to Everyday Activity
The table below summarizes sunrise and sunset adjustments in current off-seasons, subsequent to the decision to choose Standard Time or Saving Time.
TL;DR
- Perm Standard Time: Rest earlier in the winter.1
- Perm Saving Time: Make your kids walk to the bus stop IN THE DARK in winter.2
Duration means the number of days at the extremes of each season. Your local times will vary slightly depending on state and latitude (NOAA Solar Calculator).
| Policy | Season | Sunrise | Duration | Sunset | Duration | Physiology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Standard Time | Summer | 4:50 | 16 days | 19:25 | 8 days | Circadian re-alignment with natural cycles of sun, moon, and stars. |
| Winter | 07:15 | 13 days | 16:50 | 8 days | Circadian re-alignment with natural cycles of sun, moon, and stars. | |
| Daylight Saving Time | Summer | 5:50 | 16 days | 20:25 | 8 days | Clever clock tricks to convince human bodies to work later, shop more and longer. |
| Winter | 8:15 | 13 days | 17:50 | 8 days | Clever clock tricks to convince human bodies to work later, shop more and longer. |
What to DO About It
Find your local representative and inform them of YOUR choice.
Standard Time: Rest earlier in the winter.
Saving Time: Make your kids walk to the bus stop IN THE DARK in winter.Footnotes
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This seems to be what freaks people out. A mere one week (8-day) span in the winter when NATURE EMPIRICALLY PROMPTS YOUR BODY TO REST, while 24/7 relentless Lights-On-Scrolling-Endless-Repetition (L.O.S.E.R.) culture HATES the very though of healthy relishing restorative rest. ↩
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What’s NOT MENTIONED is that if you go to Permanent Daylight Saving Time, YOUR KIDS will walk to the bus stop IN THE DARK for nearly TWO FULL WEEKS! ↩