Maybe AI won't take our jobs, and if it does I have a plan thanks to Eddie Murphy.

Many worry that AI will completely change society, including by automating certain work and thereby taking jobs from humans.  I do not share that concern in light of recent discoveries, and if happens I have a fallback plan.  Once again, Eddie Murphy is involved.

My favorite Eddie Murphy movie might be Coming to America.  The plot is simple--Eddie Murphy plays the prince of the fictional African country Zamunda and he (along with Arsenio Hall) comes to America to find his ideal bride.  Hilarity ensues.

Recent developments in HIV research lead me to believe that Zamunda might not be fictional.  This goes deep inside the Deep State.

The US State Department gave a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro to show, among other things, funding opportunities in Africa.  They tried to be quite literal with this presentation so they included a map of Africa.  Or perhaps I should say a "map" of Africa because, well, take a look for yourself.

Compare that to a real map of Africa, one without the scare quotes.

The State Department doesn't know where anything is in Africa.  Not only do the labels point to the wrong things, the things they point to don't correspond the the shapes of any African countries, let alone the ones listed in the labels.

Whoever made these slides used OpenAI and I find it remarkable that any AI could screw up a task simple enough for a third grader.  We can all rest safe that AI will not take our jobs in light of such a blatant colossal blunder.

via GIPHY

But maybe that's what the Deep State wants you to think.  Maybe OpenAI is trying to tell us that there are hidden countries in Africa based on its review of the State Department's secret files.  Wakanda is real!  Zangaro too!  The elephant graveyard?  Real!

So if our AI overlords take my job, I'm moving to Zamunda.

via GIPHY

Renegades

I'm heading over to Orlando today to see a show at the best part of the extremely touristy Universal City Walk. Some good friends and I are going to see DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist at the House of Blues.  When I heard that both Shadow and Cut Chemist were playing within an hour of my home I was immediately in. Life was good. I'd take a Monday off. Have some drinks with friends and see two hip hop DJ prodigies wreck a multi-turntable set. Then things got better. Much, much better.

Music fans are in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience when turntablists supreme DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist celebrate the legacy of Hip-Hop vanguard and Universal Zulu Nation founder, Afrika Bambaataa on their Renegades of Rhythm tour this fall.

“This has never been done before, definitely not on this scale. They’re HIS records, with his blessings. This isn’t just ANY copy of ‘X’ breakbeat, it’s THE copy, THE copy that started everything. Not just any records, the MASTER OF RECORDS’ records.” – DJ Shadow.

Using only vinyl pulled from Bambaataa’s historic collection – over 40,000 strong and permanently archived at Cornell University – DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist aim to present Bambaataa’s legacy in all its genre-busting and socially-minded complexity. DJ Shadow states, “His collection includes not just Soul and Rap, but also Soca, Calypso, Dub, Salsa…it’s obvious that this music was important to him, and it’s reflected in his own music. For example, when the Soulsonic Force is singing an African chant, it actually comes from a Manu Dibango record. That’s when being a crate-digger comes in handy – you have to be able to pick up on the references and reiterate them.”

Sorting through the collection with this holistic aim in mind was daunting. “The first sort was to make sure we didn‘t leave anything important behind. We definitely over-pulled,” adds Cut Chemist. To help them narrow their selections, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist focused on the appearance of the records themselves, “It was pretty clear what he played a lot and what he didn’t. The sure-shots were covered with tape and the jackets were beautifully tattered; that made it easier after a while to pull records.”

“The program will be multifaceted,” DJ Shadow explains. “Bambaataa as artist, exploring the influence of his classics like ‘Planet Rock;’ Bambaataa as collector, and the genre-defining breaks he discovered; and Bambaataa as peacemaker and force for social change. He influenced an entire generation worldwide, so we feel a great obligation to get it right.”

Naturally, it was paramount to the two DJ’s that the tour have the full blessing and support of Afrika Bambaataa himself. “I call on all who love Hip-Hop to come out, see them, hear them,” says the Godfather. “My story is our history in DJing.”

The Renegades of Rhythm tour will use six turntables and a variety of real-time effects. “It adds another performance level, real-time sampling from the record that’s being played,” says Cut Chemist. Visuals for the tour will be supplied by acclaimed video director, multimedia producer and regular Shadow collaborator Ben Stokes. The tour with be produced by Jamal Chalabi and Backlash Management.

The tour may be rooted in a historic vinyl collection, but both DJs are quick to point out that people should not come to this expecting strictly an ‘old-school‘ set. As DJ Shadow sums it up. “DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist + Bambaataa’s records + his blessings: it’s going to be epic. That’s all you really need to know.” Or, as Afrika Bambaataa puts it, “DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are going to blow your funky mind.”

I'm now not exactly sure what to expect. That's not true actually. I expect tonight to to be epic.