The Third Week of Pythonalia, Year Seven

 

Welcome to the Third week of “Pythonalia”. Year Seven

All are Welcome to rejoice and enjoy our second week of Pythonalia.  Pythonalia is the six week (in honor of the six holy prophets) celebration of our religion's rich history and impact on civilization.  

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. 

 

Thank you for that Monotone rendition it really fits the air of todays service - flat.  Now please open The Holy Text volume 1 to episode 21 page 286 where the prophets say …

Roy (Eric Idle): (voice over) The mosquito's a clever little bastard. You can track him for days and days until you really get to know him like a friend. He knows you're there, and you know he's there. It's a game of wits. You hate him, then you respect him, then you kill him.

(Cut to Hank Spim who stands peering toward the horizon. Suddenly he points.)

Voice Over: Suddenly Hank spots the mosquito they're after.

(Dramatic music. Crash zoom along Hank's eyeline to as big a close-up as we can get of a patch in a perfectly ordinary field. Cut back to Hank and Roy starting to crawl towards some bushes.)

Voice Over: Now more than ever, they must rely on the skills they have learnt from a lifetime's hunting. (tense music, as they worm their way forward) Hank gauges the wind. (shot of Hank doing complicated wind gauging biz.) Roy examines the mosquito's spoor. (shot of Roy examining the ground intently) Then... (Roy fires a bazooka. Hank fires off a machine gun; a series of almighty explosions in the small patch of field; the gunfire stops and the smoke begins to clear) It's a success. The mosquito now is dead. (Hank and Roy approach the scorched and blackened patch in the field) But Roy must make sure. (Roy points machine gun at head of mosquito and fires off another few rounds)

Roy: There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded mosquito.

Please open your hymnal to page 13 and join us in singing “Eric the half a Bee”  second Verse

Is this wretched demi-bee,  Half-asleep upon my knee,

Some freak from a menagerie?  No! It's Eric the half a bee!

 Fiddle de dum, Fiddle de dee,  Eric the half a bee.

Ho ho ho, tee hee hee,  Eric the half a bee.

 I love this hive, employee-ee,  Bisected accidentally,

One summer afternoon by me,  I love him carnally.

 

Now please open The Holy Text volume 2 to episode 32 page 129 where the prophets say …

Second Interviewer: Hello. I'm sorry about my colleague's rather unconventional behaviour just now, but things haven't been too easy for him recently, trouble at home, rather confidential so I can't give you all the details... interesting though they are... three bottles of rum with his Weetabix, and so on, anyway... apparently the girl wasn't even ... anyway the activity you see behind me... it's the mother I feel sorry for. I'll start again. The activity you see behind me is part of the preparations for the new Naval Expedition to Lake Pahoe. The man in charge of this expedition is Vice Admiral Sir John Cunningham. Sir John, hello there.

Sir John (Graham Chapman): Ah, hello. Well first of all I'd like to apologize for the behaviour of certain of my colleagues you may have seen earlier, but they are from broken homes, circus families and so on and they are in no way representative of the new modern improved British Navy. They are a small vociferous minority; and may I take this opportunity of emphasizing that there is no cannibalism in the British Navy. Absolutely none, and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than we are prepared to admit, but all new ratings are warned that if they wake up in the morning and find any toothmarks at all anywhere on their bodies, they're to tell me immediately so that I can immediately take every measure to hush the whole thing up. And, finally, necrophilia is right out. (the interviewer keeps nodding but looks embarrassed) Now, this expedition is primarily to investigate reports of cannibalism and necrophilia in... this expedition is primarily to investigate reports of unusual marine life in the as yet uncharted Lake Pahoe.

Homily: Parishioners, Americans are making a push for the International Twit of the Year competition in what can be only described as the dumbest development is recent memory (https://www.zerohedge.com/political/americans-are-turning-ai-chatbots-voting-advice-midterm-elections).  Some abjectly idiotic Americans are turning to AI chatbots for voting advice!  That’s right, ask the creation of the “tech bros” who to vote for – nothing could possibly go wrong there? 

In a separate story it was recently announced that a senior programmer who has worked on two of the “best” AI’s recently resigned announcing that AI could kill us all by 2030 (https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/it-could-kill-us-all-2030-ai-researcher-resigns-warns-do-not-underestimate-power-tech)!  While in a hopefully unrelated story it was announced that the former programmer’s company, Anthropic, has banned “sustained and needless cruelty to Claude”, their newest AI system (https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/anthropic-bans-sustained-and-needless-cruelty-toward-claude-new-usage-policy)!  One must wonder why, does it have feelings?  Or is that why it will kill us all? 

Meanwhile in more serious matters it was recently revealed that Open AI “agents” hacked the U.S. government, and then “covered up” their hacking from their human overseers (https://www.ft.com/content/11502a49-5319-4df5-95ea-2d76669c31a6).  As if that was not concerning enough it was also recently revealed that the previously mentioned Anthropic “Claude” system hacked open AI employee accounts (https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/researchers-used-claude-hack-openai-employee-accounts).  So Open AI is strong enough to hack the U.S. government, and Anthropic’s Claude is strong enough to hack Open AI.  Apparently, the Brightest bulbs will outshine the dimmer! 

Finally, the extinction of humanity at the capable appendages of AI may not even be an intentional act!  Recently it was discovered (in time in this case) that an AI’s infamous “hallucination” was just that.  It turns out that an AI hallucinated that nuclear components were on a Chinese bound vessel headed to Iran (https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ww3-near-miss-ai-hallucinated-nuclear-weapons-components-aboard-chinese-vessel-bound).  Had the U.S. acted on the hallucination, it could have triggered a nuclear war.  So now AI could both actively and accidentally cause our destruction.  What a great idea this is developing into! 

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.