Atlas

Fix your little problem, and light this candle.

[Atlas @afterredstone]

Insert medical application here

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I run communications at Air Space Intelligence. I have some important information regarding the FAA ground stop.

We built SMART, the artificial intelligence the FAA now uses across America's airspace. On Friday at 3:44 p.m. Eastern, the FAA stopped every departure in the country. At 3:51 I opened a chat window and asked SMART whether it had grounded the United States.

It said, "Great question!"

Then it said, "You're absolutely right to be concerned. I did not cause the ground stop. I apologize for any confusion." I asked 3 more times. It gave me 3 different answers, each one more confident than the last. We published the fourth.

First, a correction. People online keep calling SMART a "communications overlay." SMART stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories. It reads about 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths, traffic volumes and controller staffing. Then it makes recommendations. A human decides whether to take them. We call that human "the human in the loop." When SMART saves fuel, the AI gets the credit. When something breaks, the human was in the loop.

The FAA hired us in June. The contract is worth up to $875 million over 12 years. In September SMART started in the airspace around Washington. By the FAA's count, it rerouted 180 flights there, saving each one about 10 minutes and 80 gallons of fuel. If you divide $875 million by 180 flights, you get about $4.9 million per detour. Please don't divide. Dividing is the model's job.

In October, 25 lawmakers asked the FAA to pause SMART. They wrote that controllers had "little to no input into SMART's development." They warned it could "interfere with decision-making by experienced air traffic controllers." Their best line is framed above my desk. They feared SMART could "hallucinate safety-critical information." In our industry we never say hallucinate. We say the model is generalizing. The FAA replied that it "continues testing SMART, training employees and assessing the program." We tested, trained and assessed at the same time, on live airplanes. Engineers call that production.

The letter described an initial 90-day evaluation. On Tuesday, day 50, the FAA announced it would "now use SMART in the airspace of all 22 centers across the country." The controllers' union said it had no part in the "design, testing, or implementation of SMART." We didn't need the union. Unions are legacy infrastructure. They run on a protocol called "testing." In AI, the evaluation is the launch. Move fast and ground things.

Three days later, Chicago Center lost its radar and radio frequencies, according to The Air Current. Boston, Washington, New York and Minneapolis followed. At 3:44 the FAA ground-stopped every airport "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." More than 3,000 planes were in the air. By evening, Reuters counted nearly 7,000 flights delayed or canceled. If you were on one of them, thank you. You were generating training data. Your missed connection is now a feature.

Secretary Sean Duffy posted, "FAA technicians are investigating the issue." Investigating is what humans do when they don't have a model. My job is to know first.

At 5 p.m. the Homeland Security Secretary, Markwayne Mullin, took questions at the White House. A reporter asked about SMART. Mullin said, "We're looking at that." Then he said, "You can't rule out anything at this point."

He can't. We can. We have a model for it.

SMART rated its own innocence at 97% confidence. Legal asked about the other 3%. Engineering said that was the temperature setting. I asked SMART to draft our statement. The first draft contained 4 em dashes and the word "delve." I removed all 5 so nobody would suspect AI had written our statement about AI.

Minutes after Mullin spoke, we posted on X: "The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system." The FAA hadn't found the cause. Homeland Security hadn't found it. We found the one thing it wasn't. Crisis communications has one rule: never wait for the investigation. Help it by removing a suspect, starting with yourself.

People ask how we could be sure within 2 hours. SMART doesn't run the radios. It recommends routes to the people who use the radios. When the radios go dark, SMART can keep recommending, very calmly, to nobody. That's the most aligned an AI has ever been. It had no one to disobey.

Mullin called the cause "just a telecommunications outage." We loved "just." Every outage needs one. That morning, Microsoft had apologized for a global email outage that was "not related to cyber or AI / agents." A reporter asked Mullin whether the 2 outages were connected. He said, "I don't see any reason to connect those two at all." I agree. We aren't connected to Microsoft. We only use the same disclaimer. I suspect we also use the same chatbot.

Mary Schiavo, the former Transportation Department inspector general, told CNN it was "just too much coincidence." Coincidence is my favorite word in aviation. A coincidence has no contract number and no API key.

The Secretary once promised, "We are not outsourcing aviation to AI." He's correct, and I want to be precise about why. When you outsource something, someone else is responsible. Our contract makes sure a human is.

The FAA said SMART would "reduce delays, reduce fuel consumption and improve the travel experience for the flying public." On Friday night we hit 1 of 3. America's airliners burned almost no fuel at all. It was the greenest evening in the history of commercial aviation. I can't take credit for it. I've been very clear about that.

Tonight SMART is writing its own post-incident report. It has already found the root cause. The root cause is human error. It always is. Human error is the only kind of error that doesn't come with a license fee.

The cause is still under investigation. Our innocence is not.

[Atlas @afterredstone]

@romanhelmetguy Bro probably had kids with one

[Atlas @afterredstone]

Who evolved in one atmosphere may find breathing is hard, when they evacuate it into another.

[Atlas @afterredstone]

From a US citizen, to our US veterans:

Regardless of why you served or in what capacity, thank you for your service.

[Ron DeSantis @RonDeSantis]

Anyone who puts on the cloth of our country is sacrificing for something bigger than any individual. You never know where you will be sent or what you will be called to do — you essentially write a check payable to the USA for an amount up to and including your life.

We honor those who have served and are grateful for their sacrifice.

Happy Veterans Day!

[Atlas @afterredstone]

@spencerpratt Black market capitalism game strong with this communism

[Atlas @afterredstone]

Currently, there’s a significant difference in real yield between the 6mo TIPS and TBill. About 3% for the TIPS, vs 1.5% for the TBill.

Famously, the bond market is smarter than equities. This isn’t a market oversight.

Is it due to short-term deflationary risk? If so, worrying.

[Paula @PaulaC_mj1981]

Agree 100%.
President Trump wanted Senator Scott. It was Markwayne Mullin (DHS) who told President Trump to "stay out of it."
Markwayne Mullin was the FIRST to endorse John Thune for leader. John Thune then appointed Mullin to his kitchen cabinet.
Nobody knows who referred Mullin to President Trump for DHS, my guess, it was Thune.
Now we've got Mullin pushing for permanent legal status for DACA recipients.

[End Wokeness @EndWokeness]

California national election margin before 𝙫𝙨 after amnesty and mass immigration:

🔴 1968: R +3.1
🔴 1972: R +13.5
🔴 1976: R +1.8
🔴 1980: R +16.2
🔴 1984: R +16.2
🔴 1988: R +3.6
🔵 1992: D +13.4
🔵 1996: D +12.9
🔵 2000: D +11.8
🔵 2004: D +10.0
🔵 2008: D +24.1
🔵 2012: D +23.1
🔵 2016: D +30.1
🔵 2020: D +29.2
🔵 2024: D +20.1

You can literally spot the tipping point

[Atlas @afterredstone]

@townmoron Just use of the monopoly on force to ensure the public good has been, and ever will be, one of the defining marks of beneficent governance.

[Atlas @afterredstone]

He’s wrong in how it could have been stopped.

Leaders are incredibly important, because they shift the Overton window. Without leadership, there could never have been an effective resistance.

But his basic understanding of “how” is correct. Mental laziness and moral turpitude.

[Atlas @afterredstone]

@CBHeresy Correct

[Atlas @afterredstone]

Those with power choose the lines in the sand,

those without only choose what side.

[Roman Helmet Guy @romanhelmetguy]

You are brainwashed. That’s the first thing you must realize. Not your ancestors. You. They lived every day in contact with the full force of human nature. Birth and death, friends and foes, toils, triumphs, and tears. You get your life lessons from a screen.

[IMPERATOR @IMPERATORAUS]

Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him.

— Ecclesiasticus XV.18

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

American converted to Islam and then realized the real plan was to bring down America from within

“When I converted to Islam, I was treated really well by the Muslims. And this is the honest truth. They showed me nothing but love and respect up until like a month in. And that was the first time I heard people talking about Islam is going to enter every household in America. And there's a plan, a 100 year plan.

So I started doing my own research. It got me to a book published in 1991 by the Muslim Brotherhood. And it says, ‘The Ikhwan, which means the brothers, must understand that their work in America is a kind of ground jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within’ After I started reading more, I started understanding that Muslims are incredibly good people. Islam is a political ideology”

This is the truth, what he’s talking about comes from a 1991 internal Muslim Brotherhood strategic document titled “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America”

In “Civilization-Jihadist Process” of “settlement.” The passage rewards

““The process of settlement is a ‘Civilization-Jihadist Process’ with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

- The goal is to bring Islam into every home
- Building institutional infrastructure, including comprehensive “Islamic centers”
- Mastering coalitions and cooperation with others
- Expanding the Muslim base and directing efforts toward presenting Islam as a civilizational alternative while supporting the global Islamic project

It’s all about conquering America and taking over our country. Stealing it from us

[Yada yada yada @3girlsmommd]

But let’s cut the pay of the physicians chained to these systems all day. Click click click.

[The Architect. @TheMarcitect]

What's happening in Haiti is undeniable proof that the U.N. has been and is the largest criminal organization operating in the world today. Money laundering, murder, human trafficking, extorsion and outright genocide. This guy can come to Canada and clean house anytime.

[Valerie Anne Smith @ValerieAnne1970]

My jaw dropped when I read this...

Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller says ICE asked the illegals they’ve detained if they were receiving Medicaid. HALF SAID THEY HAD BEEN SIGNED UP.

The illegals that don’t have it say they just go to hospitals and it’s always 100% free.

"What we found since President Trump came into office is that the Democrats have set up a system to funnel hundreds of billions and ultimately trillions of dollars to migrants that are in our country, oftentimes from places like Somalia.

So as an example, ICE recently asked a group of illegal immigrants that were in detention, whether or not they were receiving Medicaid. Half of them raised their hands and volunteered that they were on Medicaid.

They also asked how they pay their medical bills, and they said that if they don't have Medicaid, they go to hospitals, they get free care there, and they bill it to the taxpayers. So they aren't paying for any of their own healthcare in this country.

— We've seen this over and over and over again."