David Stairs
Blackhole visualization by NASA
The first photographic image taken of the super massive black hole at the center of Messier 87 by the Event Horizon Telescope was released in 2019. We finally had verifiable visual proof of their existence, confirming Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Since 2019 the EHT’s imaging has only improved. The latest images detail Messier 87’s shifting magnetic fields in dramatic fashion.
Messier 87 from the EHT
Would that the social media blogosphere were even 1/10 as interesting. Down on planet Earth we have to endure stories about Ashley St. Clair, mother of Elon Musk’s latest child, filing suit against Grok, Musk’s AI app, for ignoring her complaints about it’s algorithm being used to produce sexualized non-consensual deep fakes of her adolescent photos.
Aside from the ironic trope of Musk’s black hole of a company being a bit too appropriately represented by its logo, the culture war over regulation of Big Tech continues unabated. Musk’s transparent efforts to destroy government regulation by first donating hundreds of millions of dollars to reactionary political campaigns, followed by his attack on government agencies through DOGE certainly qualifies as one of the most audacious power grabs since John D. Rockefeller became the world’s first billionaire (1916).
John D. Rockefeller
Yet, if you can stomach the image Musk requested from Grok of himself in a bikini, then you are probably imperturbed by the way this plagiarist steals his every idea from someone smarter. Not only did another person start Tesla, the company named for a much more creative person, but the name of Musk’s AI company was lifted from Robert Heinlein, another much more supple mind.
And while Musk may have been able to elbow his way into the world of social media through his purchase of Twitter, he’s about to pay the price for the libertarian slop generated by his copy-cat AI investment’s inability to respect the rights of other people.
Maybe the “first man on Mars” will actually be the first grifter to be flushed down a black hole of his own making. Crushed it!
David Stairs is the founding editor of the Design-Altruism-Project.
