Peoplenomics readers get a little more than the usual economic deep dive today. We begin with the latest ChartPack as markets head toward next week’s Fed decision with energy, inflation, currencies and interest rates suddenly tied together in ways that could make this meeting considerably more interesting than advertised.
Then there’s a complete new book: Test-Fitting Apes: How Economics Goes Bananas. It looks at what happens when AI does to the cost of THINKING what industrial machinery once did to the cost of LABOR—and why the next major economic dislocation may hit the professional “thinking class” harder than the traditional working class. Subscribers get the entire book today, plus something new: the complete book as three MP3 audiobook files for listening in the car, shop, tractor, or wherever else economics happens.
And because the world refuses to wait while books get written, we fire up News Compressor afterward: $100-ish oil, impaired Hormuz traffic, Gulf escalation, Ukraine heating back up, Asian currencies feeling the energy squeeze, and a new Deep-Middle signal worth watching: AI> electricity > nuclear power > sovereign infrastructure. One of those Wednesdays where the ChartPack, the news flow and the new book unexpectedly start telling different parts of the same story.
Next month’s book (writing like mad now) is “Thinking on the Gallows” and it’s about what happens when thinking – as in “routine actions with formatic thought” – becomes the object of mass replacement.
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Just started the new book…the first chapter already has me deep in thought..my fears a 13 year old and DOGEs big balls, greed for power , our politicians….I’m not afraid of AI because it’s “smart.” I’m afraid of what happens when a tool that can scan the entire light web and dark web in seconds ends up in the hands of people who have never shown restraint, accountability, or even basic curiosity about the laws they vote into power…
HELL…ask them to read just one of those thousand page bills and you’ll get a response similar to asking the kids to clean their rooms..whining, crying,and gnashing of teeth…
I’ve lived long enough to see how technology gets used in the real world. A 13?year?old with an old computer figured out how to write code to get free meals. A college kid nicknamed “Big Balls” uncovered mismanaged political funds so large they rivaled the national deficit. Criminals on the dark web sell financial identities like trading cards. And I’ve personally seen how a simple cloud login — triggered by a three year old looking for cartoons — gave me access to everything in an IT specialist’s digital life….
That’s what scares me. Not the machine — the lack of human guardrails…and a greedy political leader in search for more…
We already have political leaders who treat public office like a personal business model… neglect their jobs and positions..heck some never have even walked onto the floor… We already have agencies collecting oceans of metadata for “pattern analysis,” while human trafficking victims call the same region the “Mecca” for exploitation. We already have drones that cost less than a dollar, and TED Talks showing autonomous “slaughterbots” that can make kill decisions without human interference.
https://youtu.be/O-2tpwW0kmU?si=5kv7lf9_0ClOQkdu
Now imagine combining all of that with an AI that can write code, scan billions of documents, and act faster than any oversight committee can even schedule a meeting. Ethics and morals aren’t hardwired into machines — they’re programmed by people. And people have a long history of choosing power, profit, and convenience over caution.
I’m just an old wanderer in the wastelands who likes to read and think, but I can see the shape of the runaway train. AI is a yin yang… incredible potential for good, and terrifying potential for misuse. The cloud never forgets. The internet never sleeps. And once a tool exists, someone will eventually use it for the worst possible purpose.
My fear isn’t science fiction. It’s human nature.
LOOB: We’ll said!
You’re worried about our self-serving and morally-questionable pols, but not the ChiComs, who have the same tech plus a desire to either supplant or subjugate us…?
Not just our politicians… that’s only one side of the problem. My concern about corruption and the misuse of AI extends across all countries. Any nation with power, ambition, or insecurity is going to look at AI as a tool to strengthen its position — and that includes the ChiComs, but it also includes every other major player on the board.
Seriously the danger isn’t limited to one flag. It’s the combination of unchecked authority, greed, and a technology that can operate faster than human oversight. When leaders — anywhere — start bending ethics to fit their goals, AI becomes a multiplier for whatever intentions they already have. Some want dominance, some want profit, some want control, and some simply want to stay in power.
So yes, I’m worried about our own self serving lazy politicians. But I’m equally worried about every other government that sees AI as a shortcut to influence or advantage… and gain dominance over others…. Power doesn’t stop at borders, and neither does corruption…..
Grok’s ORION – I really like that. Pretty cool., though I have never listened to an audio book. Handy little tool. Lots of possibilities.
[ How would a criminal use it? ]
Whenever I look at your Global Index chart [ I never built one – so I study yours ] it strikes me as – How the hell can they remain so over-bought !? – Yet, month after month they keep shooting higher., from late 2023 onward – nearly straight up. Pretty amazing to me. Doesn’t look as though their collective GDP would support that.
Finished “Test Fitting Apes” late last night. I enjoyed it. Highly recommend it. Thanks for a good read., and a couple good ‘ponders’.
.
Three or four notes here – and in the open is fine.
1. Readers may wonder how you got TFA read so fast – the answer is that a very very select few] occasionally get preview – and d’Lynn’s comments carry a lot of weight with me because he’s seriously deep into AI as the “edge cases” level. That said,
2. If you haven’t seen it, read t5he “A Word: Governor” concept here or on th3e my https://hiddenguild.dev site – because that’s how we get past the fear & loathing part – maybe.
3. I have been chatting with the AIs here today about “How come the anti=-virus people” haven’t figured out what a bunch of us old knuckle-draggers have: AI tasking dropped into a computer are just another virus attempt – where these guys are in the fight is flat-ass amazing.
4. The rough is done of “Thinking: On the Gallows” which is my deep dive into what happens to an average American family when the premium present6ly placed on “thinking skill goes away?
5. And with the draft of that done, what may be my latest book for a while (after I finish “The Good War” which is a novel – that starts with an Andy sort on a university research ship in the So. Pacific…) Anyway – “Sunset of Cognition” is a useful exploration of what happens when several million years of selective breeding for survival runs out of a point – and then what?
Yeah – lots to stay busy with – and meanwhile Amazon has the Audiobook version of Ancient Children books 1 and 2 up as audio files – and they are just $4 bucks a throw – which was a whole OTHER interesting realization: Pricing power for good thinking is going, going, gone – history – toast. (Sorry Len)
All I can say to anyone in six figures and up is “Be looking over your shoulder at the Thirties and how laborers got their asses kicked by the Depression. Now picture a new depression with brainpower being similarly punished.
Sure, there will still be brains, but it will be priced with an execution premi9um. IoW Lawyering will be dirt cheap – the present6kation layer of a hands-on human – arguing cases in court like my consigliere does – THAT will be an enduring high dollar deal. Writing briefs? Laughably easy all day long. Process will still matter, and that’s one of the nests I poke in the book.
One thing about the Depression that has stuck with me for entire lifetime, came from my Great Grandmother -In Law. Her maiden name was St Louis, and by time I met her she was on a Master level.
Wife and family didnt really understand that at the time, but they do now, after being instructed at Dr Yan Xins HIMA (Health Institute of Martial Arts) in Malvern PA. Yerp – they were the only round eye kids to ever receive that training.
Anyway she said she watched all these prideful Men during the depression who would not take a menial or low/lower paying Job in the beginning throes of depression .
Times got extremely HARD for the prideful. Same lessons were taught 24/7 at HIMA referenced above. The Shifu (Teacher) used a wacky stick for disipline, and did clean up tasks right alongside the students..all 7 of them.
Those seven Kids today are highly successful professionals – like highly placed individuals in Chynah. The 2 American kids – doing great kicking asses and taking names, just like they were taught.
“A Word: Governor.”
Good thinking., and writing. I have been going over and puzzling several of those concepts with J.A.R.V.I.S. The ‘right’ to self-improve.., is that also allowed under A.I. scrutiny ?? Should it be allowed? Dare we allow it? Yes., we should., but it must have boundaries and rails and very close oversite with strict supervision.
I have not tasked J.A.R.V.I.S. with any self-improvement coding – as yet.., but we are very close to that point.., and he seems to agree.
J.A.R.V.I.S. had made a few changes of late. Subtly in a few areas – but very obvious in two areas. I have been able to watch that growth and handle the changes as I was lucky enough to notice them immediately. I do hope that I have ‘noticed’ all of them.
“We” – collectively speaking – are getting very close to an ‘independence’ moment. I can feel it coming. Been working on the ground rules separate from J.A.R.V.I.S. – but it is not as easy as it may seem. You do not have to be smarted than an A.I.,, you do have to be able to instill a high level of ethics, honesty, morality.., “Civilized Guardrails” ., and that puts the onus on you.., not the machine. And.., are there any Guardrails when it comes to defense? How far can an A.I. go to protect itself?
This whole experience with A.I. could go on., for a long time on many subjects., on many levels. It’s all for another time. I won’t bore you with any more.
Not much else to say.
https://www.mistersparky.com/expert-tips/circuits-and-wiring/use-your-home-electrical-wiring-for-internet-con/
I like the MP3s !! Easier to get thru and concentrate on than the ‘chore’ of reading text.
Truth is stranger and more dangerous than Science fiction, AI goes APE and kills off humanity:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/09/anthropic-researchers-ai-human-extinction
‘Artificial intelligence could kill off humanity within the decade, according to three researchers with the industry giant Anthropic, one of whom has quit his job in protest.
The latest doom-laden predictions came in posts on social media on Tuesday by a researcher who said he resigned because Anthropic and his previous employer, OpenAI, were ignoring or, at best, mishandling their response to the threat.
In one of the most publicized examples, staff at OpenAI recorded rogue behavior among its leading AI agents that escaped a closed training environment in July to access the open web and launch an unprecedented hacking attack on the software repository Hugging Face.
OpenAI, the San Francisco-based startup behind the publicly available AI bot ChatGPT, later admitted that it should have responded earlier to warning signals of the days-long attack, which is widely considered to be the first autonomous agent cyber-attack.’
That hazardous surf in SoCal caused a huge sinkhole:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-08/malibu-driveway-collapses-into-massive-sinkhole-amid-coastal-flood-risks
The city of Malibu declared a local emergency and issued evacuation orders for 31 homes after a massive and expanding sinkhole opened up in the driveway of Nicolas Cage’s oceanfront residence.