The Sixth Week of Extra Ordinary Time

Welcome to the Sixth week of Extra Ordinary Time. Year Six

Please open your Hymnal to page 3 and join in our processional  “O Lord Please Don’t Burn Us” Verse 1

O LORD, please don’t burn us,   Don’t grill or toast your flock,

Don’t put us on the barbecue,  Or simmer us in stock,

Don’t braise or bake or boil us,  Or stir fry us in a wok. 

A dear friend has experienced a significant health set back so this has been a depressing week thus I appreciated your “Snoop Dogg” inspired free style in place of the standard processional.   

Please open The Holy Text volume 1 to episode 8 page 96 where the prophets say …

Sergeant	Two civilian gentlemen to see you ... sir!
Colonel	Show them in please, sergeant.
Sergeant	Mr Dino Vercotti and Mr Luigi Vercotti.
	The Vercotti brothers enter. They wear Mafia suits and dark glasses.
Dino	Good morning, colonel.
Colonel	Good morning gentlemen. Now what can I do for you.
Luigi	(looking round office casually)You've ... you've got a nice army base here, colonel.
Colonel	Yes.
Luigi	We wouldn't want anything to happen to it.
Colonel	What?
Dino	No, what my brother means is it would be a shame if... (he knocks something off mantel)
Colonel	Oh.
Dino	Oh sorry, colonel.

Open your hymnal to page 18 and join us in singing “I Like Chinese” Verse 1

The world today seems absolutley crackers,  With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high.
There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger.  It's depressing, and it's senseless, and that's why...
I like chinese,  I like chinese,
They only come up to you knees,  Yet they're always friendly and they're ready to to please.

I like chinese,  I like chinese,
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today,  You'd better learn to like them, that's what I say.

Now please open The Holy Text volume 2 to episode 34 page 156 where the prophets say …

Pither	Excuse me. Is this the British Consulate?
Chinaman	Yes yes... si si...that is correctment. Yes... Piccadilly Circus, mini-skirt and Joe Lyons.
Pither	I wish to see the consul, please.
Chinaman	Yes, yes, speakee speakee... me Blitish consul.
Pither	Oh! (he examines his diary.) You are Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Compton?
Chinaman	No. He died. He have heart attack and fell out of window onto exploding bomb, and was killed in a shooting accident. I...I his how you say...succ...sussor.
Pither	Oh, successor.
Chinaman	I'm his successor, Mr Atkinson.
Pither	Oh.
Chinaman	Would you like drinkee? Or game bingo?
Pither	Well.... A drink would be very nice.
	The Chinaman claps his hands and another runs in and bows obsequiously.
Chinaman	Mr. Livingstone. Go and get sake.
Livingstone	Yes, Boss. (goes)
Chinaman	How is Tonblidge Wells? How I long to see again walls of famous Shakespeare-style theatre in Stlatford-on-Avon.
Pither	Oh well, I'm a West Country man myself, Mr. Atkinson.
Chinaman	Oh Texas - Arizona - Kit Carson Super Scout.
Pither	No. No. West of England... Cornwall.
Chinaman	(with difficulty) Coron... worll...
Pither	Cornwall.
Chinaman	Coronworl...oh yes know Coronworl very well. Went to school there, mother and father live there, ah yes. Go many weekend parties and polo playing cards in blidge club. Belong many clubs in Coronworld.

Homily: Parishioners, the continued AI development seems to be as scattered as ever.  Sometimes it offers positives, sometimes negatives, but always like the Chimera of mythology it is changing.  On the positive side, at least compared to human endeavor, it was recently announced that Open AI actually spotted a recent Canadian mass murdered months before they launched their attack (https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcRyfeGU0sXwlnjnaI2odwwMpBZiAcHQsPBcWGqFJq9hLokhwxEMdc9CeHF3zc%3D&gaa_ts=6999529f&gaa_sig=Tl41O0z99az5aY0DWP1xGOrwiMYvpZ1aXvN2-R2F8-_KaMITSVI9Q_-QwCiAB3zDe7rD77K0fxM_Ki-8wXPjUQ%3D%3D).  Unfortunately the human handlers of the system chose NOT to report the findings to authorities.  Apparently there is some possibility of positive developments from the arrival of AI. 

Meanwhile the stories of AI causing problems also continue to be appearing.  In a recent Zero Hedge article about an advertising company leaning into the AI job loss fears and calling for the end of hiring humans many people should see their own futures in jeopardy (https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/stop-hiring-humans-billboards-are-appearing-us-cities).  However the article goes on to point out three different instances where AI programs went rogue and caused serios damage to the company that was deploying them, so despite the possible positives, the feared consequences are looking ever more likely. 

Finally, in a separate, but related line of inquiry locals in Atlanta Georgia have been noting that Robot dogs are now patrolling some neighborhoods around town (https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/muthafin-robot-dog-muthafin-hood).  The patrols are not the most startling revelation though, the robodogs are being remotely live monitored by what sounds like actual humans with what I think sounds like an Indian accent!  So now we have literal “foreign surveillance” on American soil both allowed and even encouraged by some elements of our government.  The potential problems boggle the mind. 

Amen

Please join us in our recessional on page 3 of your hymnal “O Lord Please Don’t Burn Us” second verse. 

Oh Please don’t lightly

poach us,  Or Baste us with hot fat,

Don’t fricassee or roast us,    Or boil us in a vat,

And please don’t stick thy servants, Lord,  In a Rotissomat.