Slop and spam, bots and scams: Can personalized algorithms fix the internet?



From the super-spam Google search results loaded with videos instead of web pages to the “paid for by” advertisements heavy in social media feeds these days, it’s hard not to notice the internet morphing into … well, some call it slop (others use another four-letter word). Whatever your taste, or lack thereof, AI is sure to play a major, transformative role. Offsetting the massive and justified concerns are several palliative possibilities for the preservation of our humanity online — one of them in consideration is the so-called individual or customized algorithm.

This is, in essence, a filter on the internet or in parts of it, such as particular websites, whereby you, an AI bot, or another entity (perhaps the operator of certain sites and apps) uses the overlay to curate your feed.

As an example, you’re scrolling the X.com timeline and decide you actually do value, say, the political takes of your ideological enemy but have no interest at all in connecting with or understanding various factions within your own presumed ideology. In terms relative to the “discourse,” it’s sort of a nuanced position. An algorithm tailored to enhance your predilections may be an option. Doesn’t exactly sound like the “town hall of the internet,” much less the “global public square,” but it might keep users engaged, and it might be useful for certain types of searches, engagements, and analysis.

Even as the Trump administration works day and night to unravel decades of graft, fraud, and frankly traitorous activity at society’s many levels, what exactly do we want and need out of the internet so we can thrive?

Continuing with the X.com hypothetical, perhaps the programmers under Elon could, and this is the thrust of the issue, decide to allow for the application of various user-determined control parameters onto your feed, such that it weeds out what you want to ignore and gathers more of what you have determined you value. Seems straightforward, right? Why not roll it out and offer it as a subscriber add-on? Even if it’s not entirely customized, it’s getting close.

There are cost barriers and security considerations. Aren’t there always such barriers, though? Programming, maintaining, and monitoring such tailored algorithms and similar individualization is heavy on the compute. Compute requires energy, which requires money. The relative homogeneity of websites allows for economic, efficient computation — but doesn’t it also work to homogenize us, our desires, and perspectives?

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This seems to be the battleground we find on ourselves on now.

The other major obstacle from the point of view of the internet proprietor relates to the opportunity for scams that might arise if users are granted these tools of curation. The argument is that if individuals are granted or otherwise obtain (perhaps via AI) the technological tools to curate their own feeds more deeply than they do now, those same tools will open opportunities for scams of various sorts.

One such argument points to the use of AI-assisted algorithms deployed into a context like X.com with the objective of gathering intelligence, data, and so forth — to be leveraged later in some separate context? This happens already, as we all know, but evidently supercharging these efforts opens yet more vulnerability online. Or so the argument goes. So it’s hard to say with any certainty how effective or useful or desirable the option for individualized algorithms will be in the absolute aggregate. Does it matter? Well, at a spiritual level, maybe not. However, at immediate survival, social, and viably employable levels of concern, yes, the internet absolutely still matters a great deal. For most people, just walking away isn’t an option.

And so the question many people are asking, even as the Trump administration works day and night to unravel decades of graft, fraud, and frankly traitorous activity at society’s many levels, is what exactly do we want and need out of the internet so we can thrive? It’s going to be more than pure market logic. How can we wrangle this thing to serve everyday Americans, or even mankind, while we’re at it?

Let me offer two basic predictions. One, the internet will continue with the logic of homogenization, of monoculture, which appears to describe and define most of corporate culture, and as a result, the internet may likely stratify more than splinter. Individual algorithms will pass away as just another stab in the dark of cyberspace exploration. Two, the homogenization will nevertheless finally become unprofitable — at least to the point where, beyond pure market operations, some of the more enjoyable and human operations will open up. Perhaps individualized algorithms wind up functioning as an effective stopgap, a Band-Aid, until we can get bigger medicine — wisdom — involved.

Cartel videos, porn, and groomers: Is social media ruining our kids?



Social media can be a great tool, but it can also be a great destroyer — especially considering it's become quite the breeding ground for groomers in search of their next prey.

“I don’t know if I would want to say kids can’t be on social media in general, only because right now I think it’s a good tool because you see all these young men are getting, frankly, radicalized by us and the content that we put on social media,” host of “Heck Off, Commie!” John Doyle tells BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales and BlazeTV contributor Matthew Marsden on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

Doyle notes that it’s a “good way of disrupting” the “liberal narrative predominance.”


However, while there are positives to the exponential growth of social media, the negatives are growing just as rapidly — and can have horrible real-world consequences.

“My old scoutmaster, I won’t say his name, but he was a real man’s man. Great guy. Everybody loved him,” Doyle says. “Now, if you drive by his house, he has on display a Pride flag because his son ended up becoming gay and then eventually discovering that he was actually a girl.”

“And this poor guy,” he continues, “just getting totally blindsided by all these cultural trends which are completely alien to you. You don’t understand it.”

“Because you’ve grown up, and your brain has solidified in a completely different country, and it never would have occurred to you to monitor your son’s internet access,” he adds, noting that while your son may come across "cartel videos" or "porn," what’s even more concerning are the older people who may be attempting to gain access to your children in order to groom them.

“A normal person would not expect that kind of evil to exist in the world,” he says, adding, “By the time everyone understands this threat, 10-15 years from now, like you said, the generation’s already ruined, and now you don’t have sons and daughters anymore.”

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'The internet is a right, sure'

Catholic students push a top-tier university to draw the line on porn



The University of Notre Dame may finally be on the verge of blocking access to pornography on its Indiana campus — and not a moment too soon.

When I was a student at Notre Dame in 2019, I met with then-President Rev. John Jenkins to urge him to adopt a campus-wide porn filter. Our student-led campaign had gained thousands of signatures and drawn national media attention, including coverage from Newsweek, the Daily Beast, and ABC’s “Nightline.”

With major corporations distancing themselves from the pornography industry, Notre Dame has even more reason to follow its students’ lead.

I explained to Father Jenkins, an affable priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, how pornography fuels the trafficking of women and children. But he seemed more concerned about avoiding any attempt to control the behavior of male students who watch porn. His argument? That blocking pornography would deprive students of the chance to build self-control.

Six years later, that argument feels even more out of touch. A growing consensus now recognizes pornography not as a harmless personal vice but as a driving force behind the sexual exploitation of children and the trafficking of women. It’s also bad for the brain.

That change in understanding comes as a new generation of Notre Dame students has launched another effort to convince the university to act. Last month, students introduced a petition urging the university president “to take immediate action to promote a pornography-free campus.” According to the Irish Rover, a conservative student newspaper, more than 600 students have already signed the petition — an impressive showing at a university with only about 9,000 undergraduates.

‘Infested with rape videos’

Public opinion has shifted in recent years thanks in part to a groundbreaking 2020 New York Times article by columnist Nicholas Kristof titled “The Children of Pornhub.” In it, Kristof documented how Pornhub “monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags.”

Kristof’s column shared the stories of young women whose abuse as children had been filmed and profited from by one of the most powerful pornographic websites in the world. Kristof concluded, damningly, that Pornhub “is infested with rape videos.”

The corporate world took notice. In response to Kristof’s exposé, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover all blocked payments to Pornhub to avoid liability for enabling child sexual abuse. Under pressure, Pornhub announced new age-verification policies last year. But the vast majority of pornographic websites still require no such safeguards. Child sexual abuse material remains rampant across “mainstream” platforms.

With major corporations distancing themselves from the pornography industry, Notre Dame has even more reason to follow its students’ lead. Other Catholic institutions already have.

Inspired by our 2019 efforts at Notre Dame, the Catholic University of America passed a student government resolution asking administrators to “prohibit access to the top 200 pornography websites through the campus network.” President John Garvey agreed and honored the request. Franciscan University of Steubenville and Christendom College also maintain similar pornography filters.

Overcoming resistance

Now, with new leadership at Notre Dame, the odds of real action have improved. The Rev. Robert Dowd took office as university president in June.

When I was a student, I had the privilege of learning from Father Dowd. Unlike professors who treat students as interchangeable, Father Dowd made time to meet individually with everyone. His compassion wasn’t confined to the classroom — he also founded the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, which supports research aimed at alleviating poverty in the developing world. Standing against child sexual exploitation would be entirely consistent with both his academic and moral commitments.

But Father Dowd will face institutional resistance. Some administrators fear that blocking porn might make Notre Dame look provincial — unfit to compete with elite secular institutions. Others worry a filter might somehow impinge upon academic freedom.

Both fears are unfounded.

First, Notre Dame can lead the nation by taking a principled stand against an industry that fuels exploitation and abuse. Second, academic freedom can be preserved with basic accommodations. If faculty or students require access to pornography for legitimate research, they can ask Notre Dame’s IT department to lift the filter on their account.

And the technical hurdle? It’s minimal. John Gohsman, Notre Dame’s former vice president for information technology, told Students for Child-Oriented Policy that installing a filter “would be neither technologically difficult nor costly.”

I hope — and fully expect — that Father Dowd will heed today’s students and take meaningful action against the evils perpetuated by the pornography industry.

I’ll end where I began. In 2019, when Father Jenkins refused our request, I said this:

Pornography propagates sexual assault, contributes to the objectification of women, and advances the sexual exploitation of children. I call on Notre Dame to instead stand as a champion for women and children by enforcing the university’s official policy against using pornography on the campus Wi-Fi network.

That call is still waiting for a response. Now is the time.

To thine own self be true — especially in our fake digital world



Every once in a while you hear about these people who build up totally fake identities on the internet.

They devote hundreds of hours to crafting a persona and a story that are completely fabricated. They claim they have eight kids. They claim they have a ton of money. They claim they are something they are absolutely not.

We shouldn’t seek out approval pretending to be someone else. We shouldn’t drift off into the digital abyss, play-acting like little children.

What is that? What can we learn from it? What does it mean for us?

A new kind of delusion

It’s a very modern phenomenon, that’s for sure. It didn’t exist 50 years ago. It couldn’t have existed 50 years ago. There was just no way to do it. There was no internet. No possibility of retreating into the safety of a false digital reality.

And that’s what it is at bottom: a retreat into a more alluring world. A world where you don’t have to ever do anything or be anything. You can just say you are anything, and that’s enough.

It’s a kind of fantasy escapism. Yes, of course, we have had fantasy and escapism for a long time. Books can be just that. But this is very different from books. It’s more interactive, more immersive, more alluring.

We live in an era of parallel worlds. There is the digital world and the actual world. It’s no stretch to suggest that retreating into a false digital identity, living in a false digital world, is a retreat from life itself.

How do you end up claiming that you have 11 kids when you have none? How do you end up claiming you are some wealthy mogul when you are living with your parents? How do you end up claiming you are 27 when you are 49?

The same old escapism

I imagine it happens slowly. It starts with a desire to escape. To leave life behind. To become someone else, someone you see as greater, without doing any of the work to get there.

You don’t leave your life if you are happy. You don’t leave reality if you are fulfilled. Think about drug addicts who zone out every day. Do they do it because they are fulfilled in their lives? No, they want to zone out as far as they possibly can without going over the edge into death.

A similar thing is going on with retreating into the digital. “Life is miserable, but the digital world can be whatever I want.” That’s the logic.

That’s how it all starts. Then it accelerates. The "likes" start coming in. The followers start increasing. Fabricators see what works, and soon enough they are throwing red meat to their mob. The people eat it up.

They see that everyone loves who they are. Well, not who they actually are, but who they pretend to be. “I’m not enough, but my pretend self is.” That must be painful, but it can be overcome for the sake of likes and follows.

Bridging the gap

The examples above are extreme. Most people, thankfully, don’t concoct false parallel lives for internet dopamine hits. But the question of how we bridge the gap between the digital and the actual in a healthy way is a question we all must wrestle with. How do we remain ourselves in the digital world?

Honesty. That’s how we remain ourselves. We just have to be honest, or at least not dishonest. We don’t have to tell the whole world everything about who we are. Strangers don’t have a right to anything that’s ours. We don’t owe anyone any details about how we live our lives.

But we shouldn’t lie to ourselves or others. We shouldn’t seek out approval by pretending to be someone else. We shouldn’t drift off into the digital abyss, play-acting like little children.

Living a parallel life isn’t natural. We haven’t evolved with the internet. We are new to it. Throughout human civilization, we have only lived IRL. Now, we live IRL and online. The dissonance of managing two conflicting identities at the same time is not something we were ever made to do.

Bad for the soul

It’s not good for the soul, either. There has to be some kind of corrosion that happens when you live a parallel life in the digital world. Some kind of deeper self-hatred burns there. The self-deception must eat away at you.

The most fundamental problem of losing oneself in the digital world is the fact that we will never escape the actual one, no matter how hard we try. We can’t upload our brains to the cloud. We can’t get away from the fact that we are stuck here on earth. We can’t escape our bodies, the rooms where we sleep, or the fingers with which we type. The actual world will always remain, as long as we do.

Offloading one’s energy and emotions to a parallel identity in the digital world only prevents us from bettering our actual lives in the actual world. It doesn’t matter how many likes you get or how many followers you have if you hate yourself. It doesn’t matter how exciting your digital life looks if your actual life is miserable.

The internet has given us incredible opportunities, but it also presents us with incredible dangers. We must never lose our way in a false digital world. We must always remain ourselves, both online and offline. This might be one of the great challenges of our time.

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Chuck Schumer's government corruption tip line immediately backfires as it's flooded with complaints against Democrats



Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) launched a tip-line for whistleblowers to report "abuses of power" in the Trump administration. However, Schumer's snitch portal immediately backfired after conservatives bombarded the tip-line with alleged abuses of power committed by Democrats.

On Monday, Schumer and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) announced a new portal for whistleblowers to lodge a complaint about "abuses of power."

'This is rich coming from Senator Schumer.'

“As Senate Republicans refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide a check on the executive branch, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth. We are prepared to issue demand letters, preserve public records, and pursue legal action where necessary,” Schumer and Peters wrote in a letter to "brave public servants and whistleblowers."

The letter described whistleblowers as the "backbone of government oversight and accountability."

"Whistleblowers are essential in helping uncover fraud and abuse in the federal government," the letter continued. "If you have information you want to share about wrongdoing, abuse of power, and threats to public safety, we stand ready to support you in your pursuit of truth and justice."

The portal is hosted on the website dedicated to Senate Democrats.

"Whistleblowers are a vital part of congressional oversight to hold the administration accountable," the site states.

Schumer wrote on the X social media platform, "I’m calling on our brave public servants: I’m launching a new portal for anyone who wants to expose corruption, abuses of power, and threats to public safety with the legal protections of being a whistleblower."

Schumer likely did not receive the internet reactions that he had hoped for as conservatives flooded the tip-line with accusations of wrongdoing by Democrats.

Elon Musk mocked Schumer by telling his 217 million X followers that the responses to the tip-line are "comedy gold." Musk didn't stop there. The Tesla CEO added, "Look into this Schumer guy, he’s definitely done crime!"

Schumer's X post received over 33,000 responses, including no shortage of replies spotlighting Democrats for alleged abuse of power.

Blaze Media Carol Roth said, "I’d like to report Congressional insider trading as an abuse of power. Thanks."

"The Rubin Report" host Dave Rubin told Schumer to report himself.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) replied, "Great! I wanna report: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, and the entire corrupt Democrat party that weaponized and abused the federal government for the past four years."

Conservative commentator Katie Pavlich wanted to report Schumer for previously threatening Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Judicial Network president Carrie Severino added, "'Threats to public safety...' This is rich coming from Senator Schumer, who stood on the steps of the Supreme Court and threatened Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, saying they would 'pay the price' for exercising judicial review."

Libertarian activist Spike Cohen noted, "Hi yes I'd like to report that the NSA has been illegally spying on all of us for decades, even after multiple federal court decisions have ruled that they can't."

Conservative columnist Mollie Hemingway implored Schumer to investigate Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California for his "intimate relationship with a Chinese spy."

Some X users used the portal to file complaints against Dr. Anthony Fauci and his role in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) added, "Whistle blower protection is a joke."

Numerous online commentators jokingly wanted to report Schumer for his 2024 Father's Day social media post where he made a major grilling faux pas.

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Trump’s promised ‘golden age’ collides with a tech revolution



President Donald Trump opened his second inaugural address by declaring, “The golden age of America begins right now.” His new term promises a transformational four years. While foreign policy, economic concerns, and political divisiveness will dominate headlines, a quieter yet far-reaching revolution is underway. Massive technological innovation coincides with Trump’s presidency, setting the stage for societal changes that will shape the coming decades. These advancements offer progress but also demand vigilance as the nation navigates their ethical and societal challenges.

By the time Trump leaves office in January 2029, artificial intelligence, automation, self-driving cars, quantum computing, and other emerging technologies will have reached unprecedented levels. Their evolution and impact on society will likely shape the future more profoundly than the political battles of today.

The next few years will hinge on how society embraces innovation while protecting freedoms, privacy, and stability.

OpenAI, Tesla, and IBM are driving technological advancements, investing billions in research and development to turn science fiction into reality. The AI startup sector alone secured more than $100 billion in global investments last year. Companies pursuing quantum computing, including Google and IBM, are racing toward quantum supremacy, aiming for breakthroughs that could transform entire industries. Tesla and Waymo are investing billions in self-driving cars, positioning themselves to revolutionize transportation.

This surge in investment and innovation highlights the transformative power of these technologies. At the same time, it raises concerns about how society will navigate their rapid evolution. As these breakthroughs accelerate during Trump’s presidency, the stakes remain high — not only for harnessing their potential but also for mitigating their risks

The rise of a new decision-maker

Artificial intelligence has advanced rapidly in recent years, evolving from narrow, task-specific algorithms to sophisticated systems capable of natural language understanding, image recognition, and even creative tasks like generating art and music. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s DeepMind have become household names, demonstrating AI's expanding role in everyday life and business.

By 2029, industry experts expect AI to grow more advanced and deeply integrated into society, influencing everything from health care to legal systems. Breakthroughs in generative AI could enable machines to produce realistic virtual experiences, transforming education, entertainment, and training. AI-driven research is also poised to accelerate discoveries in medicine and climate science, with algorithms identifying solutions beyond human capabilities.

These advancements promise significant benefits. AI could revolutionize medicine by personalizing treatments, reducing errors, and improving access to care. Businesses may see substantial productivity gains, driving economic growth and innovation. Everyday conveniences, from personal assistants to smart infrastructure, could enhance quality of life, relieving people from mundane tasks and fostering greater creativity and leisure.

The rapid integration of AI raises serious concerns. As AI systems collect and analyze vast amounts of data, issues of surveillance, privacy, and consent demand attention. There are automated decision-making risks that could displace workers, worsen economic inequality, and foster new forms of dependency. Misuse — whether through biased algorithms, manipulative propaganda, or authoritarian control — heightens the need for vigilance. Protecting individual liberty and ensuring AI serves society, rather than undermining it, remains crucial.

Redefining the workforce

Advanced robotics and automation are rapidly transforming traditional industries. Robots already handle complex tasks in manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics, but improvements in dexterity and AI-driven decision-making could make them essential across nearly every sector by the decade’s end.

Several companies are racing to develop increasingly advanced robots. Tesla’s Optimus and Agility Robotics’ Digit are humanoid models designed to perform tasks once exclusive to humans. As Agility Robotics strengthens its partnership with Amazon, Elon Musk predicts robots will outnumber people within 20 years.

While automation boosts efficiency and productivity, it also threatens jobs. Millions of workers risk displacement, creating economic and social challenges that demand thoughtful solutions. The Trump administration will likely face mounting pressure to balance innovation with protecting livelihoods.

Who is in the driver’s seat?

Self-driving vehicle technology has long been anticipated, with Elon Musk initially predicting its emergence by 2019. While that timeline proved optimistic, autonomous vehicle technology has advanced significantly in recent years. What began as experimental prototypes has evolved into semi-autonomous systems operating in commercial fleets. By 2029, fully autonomous vehicles could become widespread, transforming transportation, urban planning, and logistics.

Despite these advancements, controversies remain. Questions about safety, liability, and infrastructure lack clear answers. Additionally, concerns about centralized control over transportation systems raise fears of surveillance and government overreach. The Trump administration will play a crucial role in shaping regulations that safeguard freedom while fostering innovation.

A massive computing breakthrough

Quantum computing, once limited to theoretical physics, is rapidly becoming a practical reality. IBM and Google have led advancements in this technology, with Google recently unveiling Willow, a state-of-the-art quantum computer chip. According to Google, Willow completed a complex computation in minutes — one that would have taken the world’s most advanced supercomputers 10 septillion years. That’s more than 700 quintillion times older than the estimated age of our universe.

With the ability to solve problems at speeds unimaginable for classical computers, quantum computing could transform industries like cryptography, drug development, and economic modeling.

This technology also presents serious risks to privacy and security. Quantum computing’s ability to break traditional encryption methods could expose sensitive data worldwide. As the field advances, policymakers must develop strong regulations to protect privacy and ensure fair access to this powerful technology.

Trump’s most enduring legacy?

These technological advancements could drive extraordinary breakthroughs, including drug discoveries, disease cures, and an era of abundance. But they also pose significant risks. Concerns over data collection, job displacement, surveillance, and coercion are not hypothetical — they are real challenges that will require attention during Trump’s term.

The next few years will hinge on how society embraces innovation while protecting freedoms, privacy, and stability. Trump’s role in this technological revolution may not dominate headlines, but it will likely leave the most lasting impact.

Donald Trump Is A ‘Malevolent Coxcomb,’ And Other Deranged Takes From Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr’s new book is like watching Michael Jordan on the Wizards: flashes of a former brilliance but mostly a wish he’d stayed retired.