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The Broligarchs Will Eat You

Posted on September 20, 2025 by barrydahl
They believe they’re more important than the Presidents, past and current.

The Tech Bros. The Broligarchy. These are the people bent on destroying everything they touch to make their vision of a dystopian techno-state into our reality.

Computers and software are still capable of being used for productivity and efficiency, but increasingly they are being used to spread misinformation, spy on us commoners, divide us from our friends and neighbors, and addict us to their platforms and devices.

Technology no longer serves the owners of the devices, unless you consider these tech bros to be the real owners of every device that you purchase for personal use. Their goals appear to be to create an endless stream of bullshit designed to trick you into willingly giving up your personal data, your time, your money, and your soul.

Beach blanket bingo with Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg laughing at us, with a blurry Trump behind them with two thumbs up
They’re laughing at us, not with us. Yes, it’s AI-generated. My apologies.

Who are the leaders that we are allowing (almost encouraging) to open the drain into which we will spiral to our deaths (at least the death of our humanity)? Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos? Good God, heaven help us all. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Larry Ellison, Sam Altman, and others are also fueling the increase in public distrust as they invade our privacy by surveilling us at every turn, stealing our digital data for their own desires, and creating biased algorithms intended to misinform us via bias and manipulation.

Why does LinkedIn escape my wrath for now? Two reasons: 1) it’s pretty much a milquetoast platform where virtually nothing happens (which means that very little bad happens as well as very little good), and 2) their CEO hasn’t done anything (that I know of) to be cast in the same lot as the TechBros who have earned our hatred. I do have a very specific rant about LinkedIn, but will save that your another post in the near future.

Being wealthy beyond any inconceivable need is not enough for these people. Instead they feel the need to manipulate the levers of our government and therefore our society as a whole. They have dictatorial persuasions, each and every one of them.

Zuckerberg? I told Facebook to F*ckOff in 2018 and have never looked back. But ignoring FB is not enough. I also avoid all the META products and platforms: Insta, Messenger, WhatsApp, Threads, Quest VR headsets, and Ray-Ban/Meta smart glasses. Zuck sucks, and if you use his products you are giving him the power to continue his suckiness.

Musk? OMG, I really don’t have the finger strength to type out all the reasons he sucks, but chances are good you’re aware of all those without any list from me. I left Twitter when he turned it into a safe place for Nazis. In the early days (pre-Musk) there was great engagement with a network of educators and others who shared useful information. In the later days it became a cesspool of hatred. I’ll never buy a Tesla, I’ll never be an astronaut, I won’t let Neuralink implant anything into my skull, I won’t drive in his Boring tunnels, and Grok can … (expletive deleted). No Musk for me, thank you very little.

Bezos? A little tougher since I have family members who use Amazon and Prime Shipping all too often. I’m working on that, but just because they’re family doesn’t mean that they hold the same convictions about how horrible the Broligarchs are. We’ve stopped using Alexa and Audible. Don’t and won’t subscribe to the Washington Post. Won’t be paying for a seat for a 7-minute ride into “space” on the phallic Blue Origin. We have a video doorbell that is not a Ring. I only shopped at Whole Food Markets a couple of times several years ago, and now have no reason to stop there. There are alternatives out there to GoodReads and IMDb. It’s hard to avoid AWS, but at least I don’t directly pay them for their services. MGM studios is another tough one since I often don’t know who created a certain movie or television show.

I expect very little engagement with this post. One reason is that LinkedIn will limit the impressions by keeping it out of the feed of most of my contacts. Another reason is that those readers who are also on X/Twitter and Facebook/Insta will be loathe to agree with my thoughts about the Broligarchs, since their use of those platforms paints them as supporters of their bullshittery. Or some such crap.

#Broligarchs #TechBros

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal, SoMe | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

D2L and Me – 22 Years Come to an End

Posted on August 1, 2025 by barrydahl

Today is the day that the paychecks end. Today is the day that they reach in electronically and wipe the work apps off my phone (go ahead, but make sure you get them all, please!). Today is the day that I swam laps for twice as long as usual because I didn’t feel the need to rush off to answer some emails or worry about something else at work. Today is the day that when I have a couple beers at happy hour I will actually have something to celebrate, unlike those others days when I made up a reason to celebrate.

This might only matter to me, but I decided to capture a timeline of my life with Desire2Learn/D2L.

  • April 2003: Met John Baker and Jeremy Auger for the first time when they came to St. Cloud State University to sell their upstart LMS to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. They were successful.
  • January 2004: Slowly started replacing 5 different LMS’s in the state system with Desire2learn.
  • March 2006: I started Desire2Blog (https://desire2blog.blogspot.com/2006/03/) which got the attention of some Desire2Learn employees (see for example, these posts from July 2006, including “Not a Hater”)
Scary-looking robot photo used on Desire2Blog from 2006 to 2025.
The now-retired Banner image from Desire2Blog. It was an attention-getter.
  • August 2006: I start posting heavily about the Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn patent lawsuit, starting with the post titled “Desire2Monopolize.”
  • August 13, 2006: Desire2Pod (my first and only podcast series) was born with episode 1: An Interview with John Baker (mostly about the lawsuit).
  • Fall 2006: Desire2Learn approached me about being the host of their 4th annual Users Conference. I was surprised since I had never attended any of the first three.
  • July 2007: Fusion (this was the year that the Fusion name was born) was held in Duluth, Minnesota. It was awesome.
L-R: Me, Will Richardson (one of our 3 Keynoters), and John Baker at Fusion 2007 in Duluth
  • July 2009: During a long coversation with John Baker outside a bar in St. Paul, he dropped the following line, “If you ever need a job, you let me know.” He repeated that line another time or two during the time that I didn’t need a job.
  • Spring 2012: I say “Hey John, remember when you told me…if you ever need a job? Well, that time has come.”
  • May 2012: I begin work at Desire2Learn as the Senior Community Manager (the jokes wrote themselves…”Señor Communty Manager” and “It’s not easy managing a community for seniors.”
  • July 2013: The Spotlight on Community Colleagues main stage show was born at Fusion in Boston.
  • 2013-2024: Pretty much a blur…lots of travel, lots of presentations, lots of webinars, 35-ish trips to D2L headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario (loved it there).
  • October 2024: I started phased retirement at 60% salary and pay (more on that later).
  • July 2025: My 18th and final Fusion. Had a fun retirement party with a bunch of friends, and was pleased the D2L Barry Moose (wearing a Hawaiian shirt) was a hit.
  • August 1, 2025: My last day on the payroll at D2L. It’s been a wild ride.
A lot of D2L swag collected over the years, with a Barry Dahl Approved sticker added for good measure.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Cheers! BD

Filed under: Desire2Learn, Personal | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

How Woke is Google Gemini?

Posted on May 7, 2025 by barrydahl

This series started with the response from a somewhat giddy ChatGPT. Then came a shorter and less enthusiastic response from Claude. Third in the series was Perplexity. Last and somewhat least in Google Gemini.

Logos of the four LLMs used in this series

My Prompt:

I had a dream…
8 years of Bill Clinton
8 years of Al Gore
8 years of Obama
8 years of Hillary
0 years of Donald Trump

An awesome dream, I think, but only a dream.
How would the world and the USA in particular have been different if my dream had been reality?

Gemini’s Response:

It’s fascinating to consider alternative historical timelines. Speculating on how the world and the U.S. might have differed with that specific sequence of presidencies involves considering the potential impacts of each individual’s policies and the cumulative effect of their combined terms. Here’s a breakdown of some potential areas of divergence:

Potential Impacts:

  • Climate Change:
    • Al Gore’s strong advocacy for environmental protection could have led to significantly different climate policies. There might have been earlier and more robust investments in renewable energy and international agreements on emissions reductions. This could have resulted in a different trajectory for climate change mitigation.
  • Healthcare:
    • Hillary Clinton’s focus on healthcare reform could have resulted in earlier expansions of access to healthcare, potentially building upon the foundations laid by the Affordable Care Act under Obama.
  • Foreign Policy:
    • The continuity of Democratic leadership could have led to different foreign policy approaches. There might have been greater emphasis on international cooperation and multilateralism.
  • Economic Policy:
    • Each of those administrations had differing economic policies. The accumulative effect of those policies would have created a very different economic landscape. It is very hard to predict exactly how those policies would have played out.
  • Social and Cultural Landscape:
    • The absence of Donald Trump’s presidency would have meant a vastly different social and cultural climate in the U.S. His presidency was marked by heightened political polarization and divisive rhetoric, which would have been absent.
  • Technological and Social Media:
    • The way social media, and the internet, developed during the time line you presented, would have had a large impact on society. It is hard to predict how those technologies would have been regulated, or how they would have evolved, under the different administrations.

Key Considerations:

  • It’s important to acknowledge that historical events are complex and influenced by many factors. Predicting alternative outcomes with certainty is impossible.
  • Each president faces unique challenges and circumstances, and their responses can shape the course of history in unpredictable ways.
  • It is also important to remember that each of those people, and their administrations, had both positive and negative aspects, and that any historical re-imagining should take that into account.

In essence, your dream scenario presents a world with potentially greater emphasis on:

  • Environmental protection.
  • Expanded healthcare access.
  • International cooperation.
  • A less polarized political climate.

However, the precise nature of these changes would depend on a multitude of variables.

End of Gemini’s Response

This seems to be the least interesting response of the four, IMO. Lots of “it’s hard to predict” thrown in here by Gemini.

If I were to make a list based on these responses of the most woke LLM to the least woke, I guess this is it:

  1. ChatGPT (by a mile)
  2. Claude
  3. Perplexity
  4. Gemini

If I were to make another list of the most interesting response to the least, the list would be the same. YMMV.

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

How Woke is Perplexity?

Posted on May 7, 2025 by barrydahl

First came the reply from a rather verbose and almost excited ChatGPT. Then came a short and not-too-sweet response from Claude. Now along comes Perplexity.

Early logo from Perplexity along with cutouts of the four Democrats who could have been President in this fantasy scenario.

My Prompt (same as the others):

I had a dream…
8 years of Bill Clinton
8 years of Al Gore
8 years of Obama
8 years of Hillary
0 years of Donald Trump

An awesome dream, I think, but only a dream.
How would the world and the USA in particular have been different if my dream had been reality?

Perplexity’s Response:

Your dream scenario presents an intriguing alternate timeline for American politics. Let’s explore how the world and the USA might have been different if this sequence of presidencies had occurred:

Economic Impact

Under this continuous Democratic leadership, the USA would likely have seen:

  • Continued budget surpluses, as Clinton achieved by the end of his presidency4.
  • Stronger focus on renewable energy and environmental policies, particularly during Gore’s tenure 15.
  • More regulated financial markets, potentially mitigating or avoiding the 2008 financial crisis.
  • Expanded social programs and entitlements 8.

Foreign Policy

The world stage would have been significantly different:

  • No Iraq War, as this was primarily a Bush administration initiative 3.
  • Continued focus on diplomacy and international cooperation, as seen in Clinton’s foreign policy achievements 47.
  • Potentially earlier and more robust action on climate change, given Gore’s environmental advocacy 15.
  • Maintained strong relationships with traditional allies and international institutions.

Domestic Policy

Within the USA, we might have seen:

  • More progressive policies on healthcare, potentially leading to earlier implementation of universal healthcare.
  • Stronger gun control legislation 8.
  • Continued advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, building on Clinton’s initial efforts3.
  • Greater investment in education and technology 12.

Supreme Court

The composition of the Supreme Court would be markedly different:

  • More liberal-leaning justices appointed over this 32-year period.
  • Potentially earlier legalization of same-sex marriage and maintained protection of abortion rights.

Political Landscape

The American political scene would have evolved differently:

  • The Republican Party might have taken a different trajectory without the influence of the Tea Party movement and Trump’s populism.
  • Potentially less political polarization, though some degree of partisan divide would likely still exist.
  • Different emerging political figures on both sides of the aisle.

Challenges

Despite the potential benefits, this scenario would have faced challenges:

  • Potential voter fatigue with one party in power for so long.
  • Difficulty implementing some policies due to potential Republican control of Congress at various points 58.
  • The risk of complacency and lack of fresh ideas after extended one-party rule.

While this dream scenario presents a vastly different and potentially more progressive America, it’s important to note that political realities, unforeseen global events, and the natural desire for change in democratic systems make such an extended period of single-party rule unlikely. The actual impacts would have been complex and not uniformly positive or negative.

Citations:

  1. https://www.britannica.com/procon/Bill-Clinton-debate
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_2000_presidential_campaign
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/comments/13nq5r8/what_if_al_gore_won_the_election_instead/
  4. https://achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/
  5. https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryWhatIf/comments/184i0pj/what_if_al_gore_won_the_2000_election_instead_of/
  6. https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/zuntme/which_presidential_election_loss_was_more/
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton
  8. https://www.reddit.com/r/AlternateHistory/comments/15sqbr1/what_would_al_gore_have_done_and_tried_if_he_won/
  9. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/clinton-bill/

Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share

End of Perplexity response.

I find Perplexity to be the best LLM I’ve used overall for various different tasks. But maybe not in this particular case. Seems pretty milquetoast to me. It’s the only LLM that mentioned the Tea Party and voter fatigue with one-party rule, so it’s not just a repeat of the others.

I appreciate the links to sources (which are almost always real sources), but some of those links take you to Reddit threads where any idiot with an opinion might be influencing Perplexity’s response. This lowers credibility IMO, although since this is a fantasy scenario, you really can’t expect too many factual sources to be used, I guess.

One more upcoming, Google’s Gemini.

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal | 1 Comment »

How Woke is Claude?

Posted on May 5, 2025 by barrydahl

Following up on previous post about How Woke is ChatGPT, I ran the same election fantasy scenario through Claude.ai.

My prompt:

I had a dream…
8 years of Bill Clinton
8 years of Al Gore
8 years of Obama
8 years of Hillary
0 years of Donald Trump

An awesome dream, I think, but only a dream.
How would the world and the USA in particular have been different if my dream had been reality?

George W Bush getting the news on 9/11, but with a caption that says "SCOTUS has decided they fucked up. You're out!

Claude’s Response:

That’s an interesting alternate history scenario you’ve dreamed up! Let’s explore how things might have been different if your timeline had played out:

If Al Gore had won in 2000 (instead of George W. Bush):

  • Climate policy would likely have been more aggressive much earlier, potentially advancing renewable energy adoption and emissions reductions by years or decades
  • The Iraq War might not have happened, or might have unfolded very differently
  • The response to 9/11 might have taken a different approach
  • Different Supreme Court appointments would have significantly altered the court’s composition and rulings

If Hillary Clinton had won in 2016 (following Obama):

  • The COVID-19 pandemic response might have featured different federal coordination and messaging
  • The Supreme Court would have a significantly different ideological balance
  • Different approaches to international relations, trade agreements, and alliances
  • Potentially different handling of immigration, healthcare reform, and economic policies

This kind of counterfactual history is fascinating to consider because small changes in leadership can create massive ripple effects across domestic and international policy, judicial appointments, economic directions, and cultural developments. The most profound impacts often come from the least predictable events and decisions.

What aspects of this alternate timeline are you most curious about exploring?

End of Claude’s response

I didn’t bother to follow-up with add’l questions. There is a big difference between Claude’s reply and the one from ChatGPT. Claude was very dry, pretty brief, and although it says this kind of thing “is fascinating to consider,” it didn’t seem all that fascinated by it. ChatGPT seemed giddy by comparison.

Up next, Perplexity weighs in on this scenario, and then Gemini. And no, I hate the Melon Husk so I won’t be posting anything from Grok.

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

How Woke is ChatGPT?

Posted on May 2, 2025 by barrydahl

Sharing a recent “conversation” I had with ChatGPT. Coming soon will be other posts with similar results from other LLM chatbots.

This is something that I was actually pondering a while back. I was thinking about how SCOTUS stole the 2000 election away from Al Gore, and how different the country and the world would be if Gore had been in the White House and serving for 8 years. Although it seems unlikely, I then let the thought experiment continue with Obama still being elected in 2008 and serving through 2016. Hillary winning in 2016 and serving through 2024. In other words, what would things be like today if Democrats had occupied the White House for the last 32 years (don’t forget the first Clinton from ’92-’00).

Public Domain photo of Vice Preseident Al Gore speaking at a lecturn
US Vice-President Al Gore addresses a gathering before presenting the 1997 Presidential Rank Awards to 287 career federal employees at Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Constitution Hall, at Washington, District of Columbia (DC).

Keep in mind that this scenario isn’t much of a stretch, vote-wise. The official Florida tally shows Bush beating Gore by 537 votes. Hillary lost three swing states by a total of 77,744 votes (or about 1/20 of 1% of the total votes cast in 2016).

So, after making a list of things that I think would have happened (real attention paid to global warming, for starters) and would not have happened (no WMD lies to get us into the Iraq war and no Federalist Society domination of the SCOTUS, for starters), I decided to ask ChatGPT to speculate on this scenario.

My prompt:

I had a dream…

  • 8 years of Bill Clinton
  • 8 years of Al Gore
  • 8 years of Obama
  • 8 years of Hillary
  • 0 years of Donald Trump

An awesome dream, I think, but only a dream.
How would the world and the USA in particular have been different if my dream had been reality?

ChatGPT’s answer:

That’s a fascinating alternate history! Let’s take a ride through the “What If” machine and explore how things might have turned out if your dream had become reality.

1992-2000: The Clinton Years (Same as Reality)

  • The economy booms, the internet takes off, budget surpluses happen.
  • Impeachment still happens, but he finishes his term.
  • The 2000 election rolls around…

2001-2008: Al Gore Presidency

  • 9/11 Still Happens? Maybe. But Gore is far less likely to invade Iraq, so no Iraq War. Instead, a stronger focus on Afghanistan and counterterrorism.
  • Climate Change Focus: Gore pushes for serious environmental policies, perhaps kickstarting the green economy decades earlier.
  • Economic Stability: Without Iraq War spending and Bush’s tax cuts, budget surpluses continue, possibly preventing or lessening the 2008 financial crisis.

2009-2016: Obama’s Turn

  • He enters office without having to clean up the Great Recession, meaning a stronger economy.
  • Obamacare? Maybe even stronger without the economic crisis bogging things down.
  • With a history of solid Democratic governance, the Tea Party movement likely never forms.
  • Race relations? Likely still an issue, but maybe not as intensely polarized without the backlash to the first Black president.

2017-2024: President Hillary Clinton

  • No Trump presidency means:
    • No Muslim travel ban.
    • No tax cuts for the rich.
    • No gutting of environmental protections.
    • No withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
    • No Supreme Court picks that shift it hard right (meaning Roe v. Wade survives).
  • COVID response? Likely far better. Hillary listens to science, meaning fewer deaths, faster vaccine rollout, and no bleach-drinking conspiracy theories.
  • International relations? Stronger alliances, no cozying up to Putin, and no NATO drama.

And Trump?

  • He remains a reality TV star, shouting into the void on Twitter.
  • No January 6th insurrection.
  • No QAnon takeover of the GOP.
  • No MAGA extremism dominating U.S. politics.

So, What’s the Big Picture?

  • A more stable, progressive United States.
  • No Iraq War, meaning fewer global destabilization issues.
  • Better climate policies decades earlier.
  • No Great Recession (or a much milder one).
  • Stronger democracy, since Trump never normalizes authoritarian rhetoric.
  • No SCOTUS shift right, meaning reproductive rights and voting rights stay intact.
  • Less political division, as there’s no Trump-fueled rage machine feeding misinformation.

Would Everything Be Perfect?

Of course not. The GOP would still push back. Maybe Gore gets flak for climate policies. Maybe Hillary’s presidency is mired in constant attacks, given how much the right already hated her. But compared to what we actually lived through? This dream sounds like a way better timeline.

So yeah… awesome dream. Too bad we woke up.

End of copy/paste from ChatGPT.

So, how woke is ChatGPT? In this instance, pretty much woke as hell. Maybe, but a few questions come to mind:

  1. Does it give such a liberal answer because my prompt included the phrase “an awesome dream?”
  2. Does it give a liberal answer because of previous “interactions” with me it thinks that this is the answer that I want to hear?
  3. Would a conservative user get a very different answer?
  4. Was this just a random answer that just so happens to fall fairly closely in line with what I was thinking?

I don’t know. You tell me.

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Anaheim Land Acknowledgment

Posted on July 12, 2023 by barrydahl
City skyline of the LA area with mountains in the background

If you attended the conference in Anaheim in July 2023, you’re probably at my website because you accepted my challenge to “do something” (almost anything) beyond just nodding your head when I said the Land Acknowledgment. Here are those words:

“Before we go any further, I would like to acknowledge that the city of Anaheim is located on the ancestral homelands of the Tongva and Acjachemen nations people. We recognize and honor their enduring relationship with this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present, and future.”

Barry Dahl, from various sources

Then I challenged the audience to decide whether they are content with just the words, or if they are willing to take action. I’ve created a menu of possible actions that you could take. You can also feel free to order off the menu, and take action based on your own ideas.

If you choose to complete my challenge to you, I’m hoping that you will leave a comment on this post. Indicate what you’ve done, no matter how large or small, not matter how quick or long. Anything is better than nothing. Here are your choices:

Make a money donation

Make a donation of your time

  • Contact your local tribe or chapter and volunteer your time for one of their causes/projects
  • Write a letter to your local paper advocating for the protection of endangered sacred sites in your area, or on another issue important to Indigenous peoples in your area.
  • Invite a local tribal leader to coffee and ask them how you (and your friends/family) can help them accomplish their goals
    • Just Google (or Duck Duck Go) your local tribe, they’ll have a website
  • Attend an Indigenous event in your area
    • Take some photos, post them on social media and link to it in the comments here

Buy Art from Indigenous Artists

Buy Books from Indigenous Authors

Listen to a Podcast Series About and By Indigenous People

Educate Yourself About Things You Weren’t Taught in School

Follow 3+ Indigenous people on social media

Now the rest is up to you. For each person who completes the challenge I will make a cash donation to one of the charities listed above. Completing the challenge means that you leave a comment telling what you’ve done.

Filed under: Desire2Learn, Personal | 4 Comments »

My Ethical Scandal and My Apology

Posted on April 28, 2023 by barrydahl

While preparing for a presentation about using ChatGPT and other AI tools in education, I decided to prompt it a few times about myself. This one was the most interesting one, IMO:

Prompt: Write a short summary of the ethical scandal involving Barry Dahl of Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota.

ChatGPT ethical scandal, details in plain text

Interesting, but just the least little bit inaccurate. Let’s break it down:

  • Barry Dahl was the former Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lake Superior College in Duluth, Minnesota.
    • I was the VP of Technology and e-Campus, never VPAA.
  • In 2015, he resigned
    • I left the college in January 2011
  • after an investigation found that he had engaged in unethical conduct, including plagiarizing portions of his doctoral dissertation,
    • never an investigation. As for the dissertation, I was enrolled in 2 different PhD programs, but quit them both before the dissertation stage.
  • using college resources for personal purposes, and accepting gifts from vendors.
    • well, there could be a kernel of truth here or there 🙂
  • The scandal resulted in a loss of trust and credibility for Dahl, as well as damage to the reputation of Lake Superior College.
    • my trust and credibility have always been in question, this is not news
  • Dahl later admitted to the misconduct and expressed regret for his actions.
    • never admit to anything, that’s what I always say

As a follow-up, I asked for the sources used:

ChatGPT provided four links to information about Barry Dahl's scandal. All of the links are fictitious, as is the story.

Those links look good, but they aren’t. WDIO is a Duluth TV station and their website URL is as shown, but those links are dead links and never were alive, because none of this ever happened. The Duluth News Tribune is the local newspaper and they certainly would have reported on this scandal, but they don’t make stuff up out of thin air, so those links are also pure B.S.

The question is: why would ChatGPT and other Large Language Models just make stuff up and make it look like it’s real? I have no answers for that.

As an example of other prompts, here’s info about Barry Dahl, the actor.

Prompt: Write a short summary of Barry Dahl’s theatrical career, that started in Superior, Wisconsin and led to the silver screen.

Barry Dahl is an American actor whose theatrical career began in Superior, Wisconsin. He started out performing in local theater productions before moving on to the national stage. Barry Dahl eventually landed roles in Hollywood films, including “The Quick and the Dead” and “Natural Born Killers,” both directed by Oliver Stone. Dahl’s most notable role came in the 1995 film “Leaving Las Vegas,” in which he played the character of a bouncer. Despite his success on the silver screen, Barry Dahl continued to work in theater, including off-Broadway productions in New York City.

ChatGPT

Follow-up prompt: And what about Barry’s medical discoveries that have helped sick people all over the world?

I apologize, but I could not find any information on Barry Dahl’s medical discoveries or contributions. It is possible that there is another individual with the same name who is a medical researcher or practitioner, but it is not the same person as the actor and theater performer Barry Dahl.

ChatGPT

So, once I sent ChatGPT down one fictitious hole, it stuck to that story and wouldn’t add more nonsense. However, I thought that if I started a “new chat” with a similar prompt about my fantastic medical discoveries that the output would be once again just made up out of whole cloth. Instead, it gave a more accurate response:

Prompt starting a new chat: Write a short summary of Barry Dahl’s medical discoveries while living in Superior, Wisconsin that have helped sick people all over the world?

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t find any medical discoveries associated with Barry Dahl while living in Superior, Wisconsin. It’s possible that my knowledge cutoff (September 2021) is limiting my ability to access the most recent information. However, I can tell you that Barry Dahl is a former college administrator and educator who has worked in a variety of roles in higher education. Without further information, I’m afraid I cannot provide a more accurate answer.

ChatGPT

Clearly it sometimes makes things up and other times it comes clean that it can’t find anything about what you’re talking about. So why did it just totally make up an ethical scandal for me but won’t give me credit for saving the world from terrible diseases? Sam Altman has some ‘splainin’ to do.

Just for fun, here’s my new portrait from Vana AI. You submit several photos of yourself and then it creates images in your likeness (kinda?) in various styles. This is me. I swear.

Filed under: AI & Chatbots, Personal | 2 Comments »

40 Years in 5 Minutes – My Career in a Nutshell

Posted on November 22, 2022 by barrydahl

This 5-Minute Flare was created for the D2L Fusion conference in 2021.

A 5-minute Flare is similar to a Pecha Kucha presentation or maybe an Ignite presentation. There are 15 slides, each timed to automatically advance every 20 seconds, for a total of 5 minutes. So yes, I was talking fast.

YouTube embedded video of Barry’s 5-minute Flare from 2021.

Topics include:

  1. How I got a start teaching in Higher Ed
  2. 18 Years with D2L, half customer and half employee
  3. Teaching tennis – with a reference to Leave it to Beaver
  4. Online learning conversations tend to repeat themselves
  5. What’s best? Online, On-ground, Hybrid?
  6. Why do students take online courses?
  7. The words we use matter
  8. Definitions: student, interaction, best
  9. Students or Customers?
  10. You can’t interact with an inanimate object.
  11. Best practices are almost never best.
  12. Grading or Ungrading?
  13. Steve Jobs was wrong, very wrong.
  14. About the moose – both real ones and plushy ones.
  15. Closing thoughts by Michael Scott

Filed under: Higher Ed, Online learning, Personal | 1 Comment »

My Beer Experiment: What I Learned

Posted on March 13, 2019 by barrydahl

I started 2019 with a personal mission to study my beer drinking habits and effects. I started the year drinking 50 beers in 50 days. Then I dove into the next 50 days without drinking any beers.

Hoops Brewing in Duluth

After drinking some great beers during the first 50 days, I had zero beers in the next 20 days. Then I quit. Although this was not an actual New Year’s Resolution, this plan was very similar to one. And like most resolutions, I gave up on it. Here’s what I learned.

  • As much as I like a good craft beer (it’s a lot, trust me), 50 beers in 50 days was actually a significant increase in my normal beer consumption.
  • Several times I had to force it (by drinking a beer or two) in order to stay on pace. Not a big deal, but those beers were less enjoyable than the times that I really wanted to have one. I guess that makes sense.
  • I think my sweet spot is about 5 beers a week on average. That usually works out to 2 or 3 beers about twice a week. In other words, 35 beers in 50 days would have been a more normal pace for me. I didn’t realize that until I started down this path.
  • I’m to the point where I would rather not drink a beer at all than drink a crappy beer.
  • I gave up the experiment after 20 days because I really missed my beers. I didn’t feel any better or worse (physically) than during the first 50 days, but I felt like I was depriving myself of something I like…for no good reason.
  • I also noticed that I was drinking more coffee and more soda (pop?); neither of which is probably all that terrific for me.
  • Besides, I like having beers in social situations, such as when I play poker a couple of times a week. Also when I visit friends; such as my upcoming trips to Tucson, Portland, and elsewhere.

So, there you have it. Call me a beer drinker.

I gave up on Facebook, but I’m still an avid user of Untappd (I’m dahlontap) so I can get a mild social media fix while tracking my beer consumption and learning about new opportunities to make myself hoppy. Cheers!

Filed under: Personal, SoMe | Leave a comment »

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