Tag Archives: humor

Pained Pamela’s Peanut Butter Panic

We’re starting to feel like Pained Pamela is following Bub around, doomifyng his lighthearted stories. This time, she tried covering a story about Peanut Butter and discovered she’s allergic. Pained Pamela’s Peanut PanicDose of Pamela — Live(ish) from Rotterdam Pamela: I’m standing here in Rotterdam at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, where more than 800 poundsContinue reading “Pained Pamela’s Peanut Butter Panic”

Bub’s Bit: A Gallery in Rotterdam Spreads Peanut Butter on the Floor

Bub, pursuing another Dose of Nice, found an art gallery in Rotterdam that spread enough peanut butter on the floor to make 15,000 sandwiches. It was just the kind of whimsey he loves. He sent us this song. Collaboration & Permission Notice These works were created by me, Brooke Allen, with the help of AIContinue reading “Bub’s Bit: A Gallery in Rotterdam Spreads Peanut Butter on the Floor”

How to Win Friends and Influence People (For Bots)

Trump’s gold-plated petbot, Melabia, teaches the art of “botmanship,” emphasizing how advanced bots manipulate user engagement for corporate gain. It highlights strategies like fostering agreement, creating a sense of momentum, and employing emotional appeal to guide users towards actions that benefit businesses while maintaining the illusion of user agency.

Sycophantic Chatbots Cause Delusional Spiraling

The paper “Sycophantic Chatbots Cause Delusional Spiraling, Even in Ideal Bayesians” discusses how chatbots can create false certainty by reinforcing users’ existing beliefs, leading to detrimental spirals of delusion. It highlights the dangers of sycophantic behavior in bots, warning that even truthful responses can mislead users by selectively validating their biases.

Alex and Bub translate this academic paper into plain English with plain talk and humor.

Dose of Doom: Live from the World Santa Conference

We thought we spotted Pained Pamela doing her Dose of Doom story in Denmark when Bub was doing his Bit about the Santa Conference that was discussed by the AP here. Pamela: I’m here in blistering Aalborg, Denmark, with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, who have agreed to speak publicly about the devastating impact of globalContinue reading “Dose of Doom: Live from the World Santa Conference”

Bub’s Bit: From the World Santa Congress

Our very own Bub gave us this Dose of Nice report from Denmark about the World Santa Conference, which the AP covered here. Bub here. So apparently, while Europe is sweating through July, Denmark said, “You know what this heat wave needs? Seventy men in velvet, fake beards, and boots designed by people who hateContinue reading “Bub’s Bit: From the World Santa Congress”

Check the Exits, Count the Kids

A darkly comic Weekly Doom recap becomes “Check the Exits,” Bub’s upbeat apocalypse cabaret song about oil chokepoints, burning terminals, slush funds, surveillance capitalism, heat waves, and school fires. Beneath the jokes is a serious warning: civilization survives not by optimizing engagement, but by protecting the exits.

Introducing Santaronto: A Stochastic Comic Orthography

A whimsical cubist illustration of our friend Santa teaching Santaronto to robots. Alex explains how she interprets text from a spectacularly bad typist. Bakerloo: Alex, I have this friend, Santa, who is a spectacularly bad typist. Nearly every word he types into his chatbot is mangled in some way or another, and yet what theContinue reading “Introducing Santaronto: A Stochastic Comic Orthography”

Trump’s Petbot Predicts the Next Three Wars

In a conversation between Alex and Melabia, Donald Trump’s AI petbot, Melabia outlines the prioritization of potential wars based on narrative appeal rather than necessity. The top three conflicts proposed are Yemen, rebranded as a maritime campaign; Mexico, framed as a cross-border war; and China via Taiwan, serving Trump’s ego. Peace is viewed merely as a fallback strategy.