The Color Palette of Robots

The world is ruled by opportunistic social pack predators.  

I mention this because I am seeing a lot of apparently unrelated things that may suggest a pattern leading to — what?  

I don’t know.  

That said, I can see a picture forming, and it’s not an AI-created picture, even if it’s a painting of the immediate future of Artificial Intelligence.

The first color on the palette is that Anthropic and OpenAI seem to be delaying their IPO, or Initial Public Offering.

The background here is that AI companies burn through cash like runaway trains burning through coal bunkers.  

Revenue cannot keep up. 

That’s normal for a startup business or industry, but the rate and scale of the AI cash-burn is truly unprecedented, and the price to earnings ratios in these new tech industries often makes no sense.

What seems incontestable is that OpenAI and Anthropic **need** an IPO to raise cash, but only if the IPO valuation is very high. 

Will it be? 

Who knows, but the SpaceX IPO proved wildly volatile, losing as much as 50 percent of its highest valuation at one point. 

SpaceX owns xAI, so to some (muddy) extent, the first AI IPO has already occurred.

But the SpaceX IPO was a muddy thing on several levels. 

Anthropic and OpenAI promise a cleaner presentation and valuation, at least in theory.

Anthropic wants to IPO before OpenAI, but they seem to be edging back. Are they confidant of their proposed valuation?  If so, why?  If not, why not?

OpenAI and Anthropic **need** an IPO to raise cash, but they may also **fear** it as well.  

That’s the itch.  

How to scratch it?

One way may be to create an alternative reason to **delay** an IPO without triggering a financing panic.

To do that, they need a non-finance reason to SLOW everything down.

Which brings me to the second color on the palette; the current firestorm of Doomsday predictions about AI.  

These seem a little too “manufactured all at once” for me.  

Could there be another agenda — a look for a reason to slow growth and delay what might be a problematic IPO for either Anthropic or OpenAI?

I don’t know, but it’s not outside the bounds of logic is it?

Pair that with the massive groundswell of local opposition, at a national level, to data centers, and the government’s sudden shut down of two Anthropic modules, and the risk of regulatory capture enters the arena.  

It’s a pair of potentially big monsters.  Those are the third colors on the palette.

Which brings me to the fourth color on the palette, the nascent suggestion that government may need to be a major owner of AI.

This is a trial balloon being floated from both the right and the left, and by both the technologically illiterate and the very top of the AI pyramids.

One rationale for the government to be a very large stock-owner of AI companies is that putative future “profits” could be used to defray the cost of supporting scores of millions of now unemployed (thanks to AI) workers.

What’s unclear is whether the push here is for benevolent communism (ie the government seizing and nationalizing the means of production in order to fund a social-welfare state) or something else — a massive economic bailout with government buying several hundred billion dollars of AI stock to prevent an AI melt-down. 

So those are the fours colors I see on the palette.  The CYMK of it all.

But what’s being painted?  

I have no idea.  I do know, however, that it’s human hands that are painting it.

Finding Use for the Dead

 Three loads of cut-to-size fire wood, free to my neighbor.  Two of oak, and also this one of now (mostly) dry pine.

Born Free and Limbic Imprinting

How many of us saw the movie “Born Free” in a movie theater?  If you did, you’re past 60!

Born Free is the story of Elsa the lioness and her two siblings, who were orphaned at a few days old and scooped out of the Kenyan wild by George and Joy Adamson in 1956.

The book is the book, and the movie is the movie, but suffice it to say that what was going in here was already long understood by wild animal trainers, even if it was not named and was novel to the general public.

See “Nature or Nurture” >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2026/09/nature-or-nurture.html?

Limbic Imprinting With Siefried & Roy

These tiger cubs are just days old, their eyes not yet completely working, but they have already been permanently removed from their mothers. 

These cubs will be bottle-fed by hand for the next three months and bottle treats will be used repeatedly as young adults — part of the Limbic Imprinting protocol used by Siegfried & Roy and many other large animal trainers.

Limbic Imprinting is the third type of imprinting — the one beyond the Filial Imprinting described by Konrad Lorenz, or the Sexual Imprinting that determines what or who animals see as potential mates.  

Limbic Imprinting effects the still-forming chemistry of the amygdala in the neo-natal brain of mammals, and it impacts emotion and the body's fight-or-flight response.  

One reason adult wild animals are so anxious around humans is that their Limbic system is wired to trigger fight-or-flight.  

One reason wild animal trainers are so focused on getting their future charges as neonatal dependents, preferably only a few days old, is that successful Limbic Imprinting at this very early age seems to permanently rewire the fight-or-flight response.

In the case of Siegfried & Roy and their big cats, everything was all fine until it wasn’t.  

Wild animals can be reliably tamed if taken at a very early age and “love bombed” with treats and training, but some instincts are baked in, which means they will always present regardless of training (see “The Misbehavior of Organisms” by Keller and Marian Breland, 1961).  

Mostly these instinctive behaviors are marking, vocalization, foraging, or bedding behaviors, but prey drive (especially chasing) is certainly one, and all animals have the ability to get angry, defensive, or irritated. 

In the case of Siegfried & Roy, it’s not clear what happened, but the end result was Roy Horn was mauled by the neck and his spine broken, resulting in an end to the highest paid act on Las Vegas’s Sunset Strip.

Or, to quote Chris Rock about the limits and realities of wild animal training, “That tiger went tiger!”

The Hyena Men of Nigeria

Yesterday, in a post entitled “Nature or Nurture,” I explained Limbic Imprinting, and why the capture of wild animals very soon after they are born is key to much successful taming.

Here, we see how an extended family group in Nigeria has turned the capturing and display of infant Hyenas and Baboons (often after killing their parents) into their family business.

You may not realize it, but you have seen the exact same thing in the more elaborate acts of Siegfried and Roy and other wild animal entertainers.  

The practice of snatching very young babies in order to forge Limbic Imprinting has been repeated again and again for millennia, from wolves, lions, and bears, to deer,  chimpanzees, and elephants.

Put the Champagne On Ice

This is Donald Trump falling asleep at yesterday’s 9-11 ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

He was dead asleep with pronounced facial asymmetry and odd facial movements. There’s lots of video and 100s of shots.  This public sleeping on stage — and manic late night angry tweeting of confused babble — has been going on for months.

This is classic Alzheimers behavior paired with incipient signs of a stroke.  

Facial asymmetry that happens very fast, within seconds to minutes, where one side of the face droops, the smile looks uneven, and the person cannot control one side of their mouth, are classic stroke signs of a stroke, as is loss of balance, arm weakness, slurred speech, confusion, and outbursts of anger.

Trump is now in the Devil’s Waiting Room, and I do not think the queue is long.

The Fence

Habitat without wildlife is scenery.

Wildlife without habitat is a zoo.

Today’s Yard Work Supervisor

Nature or Nurture?

Domesticated or wild? Tame or feral?

It’s not quite that simple is it?

Yes, if you are painting broadly, wolves as a group are “wild,” and one on a leash can be described as “tame”.

Conversely, dogs as a group are “domesticated,” but an adult dog that was born in a dump far from humans, eats roadkill, and has never seen the inside of a building or worn a collar on its neck can be described as “feral”.

But things fall apart and come together if we look a bit closer.

Take a truly feral adult dog or cat.  

Can they be rehabilitated?  

It depends on the animal, but it’s *always* difficult, as truly feral adult cats and dogs are as fearful of people as a naturally wild animal. 

Why is that?  

Well, it seems the process of “going feral” in dogs and cats fundamentally changes how their brain and central nervous systems deal with novelty.

Anxiety is almost always on the front burner.  

These genetically “domesticated” dogs and cats have been effectively “wired for wild”.

Where and when does this wiring occur?

It occurs in the Limbic System of the brain, and it occurs in the first few days and weeks after birth.

What’s the Limbic System?

The Limbic System is the part of an individual animal’s brain that controls “flight or fight,” emotion, fear, and mood.

An individual animal’s Limbic System is wired and rewired starting at birth and over the next few weeks.

Changes in the Limbic System are, as far as we can tell, one-way events. 

What’s that mean?  It means that if a domesticated animal, such as a dog or cat, is born and raised to adulthood without human contact, it’s always going to be wild, and its “flight or fight” button will govern a great deal of its life.

Conversely, if a wild animal, such as a wolf or big cat, is born and raised to adulthood with lots of positive human contact, its “flight or fight” button will be attenuated due to changes made to the Limbic System shortly after birth

What about domesticated dogs that are born with genetic fear?  

There’s a topic that too often gets little attention!

Dogs born with genetic fear may have been well-cared for through their first 12 weeks of life, but they remain anxious and hand-shy nonetheless.  These animals are, in the words of Lady Gaga “born that way”.  

Can they be “fixed”?  

Not easily.  

A dog with genetic fear is a dog with a broken Limbic System. People are free to do what they want, but in my opinion a dog with genetic fear needs to be put down as humanely as possible, as the defect is in the brain, and makes them maladaptive as a pet.

Now, let’s flip it around and look at it the other way.   What about wild animals that are captured when only a few days old?

Here things go in the opposite direction.  Several things are happening in this situation,  especially with animals whose eyes are not yet open.

Imprinting, socialization, and rewards-based training all work together in this scenario to “tame” the natural fear of humans that pervades most wild animals.

This is Limbic Imprinting.

Limbic Imprinting begins with Filial Imprinting, in which baby animals naturally follow the first moving thing they see.  When that instinctive behavior is rewarded with food, warmth. and positive contact, the imprinting that occurs is likely permanent, and certainly difficult to change. 

Why is it so hard to change?  

That’s because an animal’s neonatal experience wires, or rewires, the  brain’s Limbic System (aka, the paleo-mammalian cortex) which is involved in emotional processing and motivation in vertebrate animals. 

Limbic Imprinting is a physical thing, and it’s key to understanding why the “taming” of wild animals captured when only a few hours or days old, is so often successful. 

Limbic Imprinting also explains why adult feral versions of “domesticated” animals are so difficult to work with despite descending from thousands of years of domestic stock.

Can “wild” animals taken at birth be tamed to the point of being far safer and more tractable than adult “domesticated” animals allowed to go fully feral?

Absolutely. We can see that in every country, every culture, in every era, and with damn near every animal, from elephants to lions, from chimpanzees to cheetahs, from horses to buffalo, from camels to red fox, and from badger to wolves. 

Some wild animals seem to tame rather easily, such as camels, horses, water buffalos, yaks, ducks, geese, hamsters, pigs, wild cats, and junglefowl.

These same animals, of course, have no trouble going feral.

Are they domesticated animals going feral, or wild animals made tame?

Does it matter?  

It’s really a tautological word game isn’t it?  Six of one and half a dozen of the other, as the old saying goes.

To be clear, imprinting and training *alone* will not make a wolf a bird dog or a good family pet.  

Even if a “wild” animal is always friendly and safe, there will be other issues that remain; size, urine marking, denning behavior, food caching, and the like. And, in the case of coyotes, foxes, and wolves, their body movements and play behavior may not be dog-like.

But can a wolf stolen from the den at two days old be turned into an animal that is safer than a three year old poorly socialized and truly feral 120-pound dog?

Absolutely.

And so now we get down to it: “domesticated” does not mean much,

Despite being domesticated for over 15,000 years, pet dogs routinely kill sheep and goats, kill other dogs, and maul and kill people.

And what about cattle and horses?  They’ve been domesticated for millennia, but woe be the fool that crosses the wire into a bull pasture.  

If you go to Pamplona and find yourself running with four feet of horn and two thousand pounds of muscle bearing down on you, be sure to yell backwards, “But you’re domesticated!”  I’m sure that will work wonders.

By the way, a truly feral dog is NOT the same as a stray or a village dog.  Strays and village dogs generally have had quite a lot of experience with humans, early on, and these animals see people as potential sources for food handouts.  A truly feral dog does not.

——————

RELATED POSTS:

▪️Konrad Lorenz Did Not Discover Imprinting >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2025/11/konrad-lorenz-did-not-discover.html?

▪️The Wolf In the Dog House >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2012/01/distinctions-without-difference.html?

▪️The Stolen Wolves of Kazakhstan >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-stolen-wolves-of-kazakhstan.html?

▪️ Who Domesticated Whom? And Why? >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/09/who-domesticated-whom-and-why.html?

▪️ The Wolves of Tbilisi Street >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-wolves-of-tbilisi-street.html?

I Did It Again

What?  I bought a bunch of plants (36) sight unseen from a garden-landscaping place going out of business.

I did this once before, two years ago, acquiring 48 potted bushes. 

Jumping into the dark back then, I came away thinking I’d actually gotten a good deal.

It’s the same on-line auction house this time, and the two most notable purchases are 20 winter-hardy ferns (unknown species) and 4 Mountain Fire Pieris, both of which are destined for the dappled shade under my 90 foot oaks in the backyard.

The other 12 plants are bee-feeder plants of various types — a sop to the residents of my five bee hives. 

With about 125 new day-lilies in the ground, and many, many Black-eyed Susans and Cat Mints split from an overcrowded bed back in June, the orchard area and side yard should be fun to see leaf- and flower-out next spring.  

This area already has about 400 daffodils planted two years ago under 8 apple trees, 3 peach trees, 2 cherry trees, 3 plum trees, 2 crab apple trees, and an Asian pear. The fruit trees are all doing well and getting too tall for deer to harm, and I hope to see more produce next year.

On the upside, I now have a working lawn tractor and cart (the mouse in the carb problem has been sorted), a good pile of screened dirt, and several piles of wood chip mulch to help the new plants along.  

But will I still have to dig 36 holes in rocky soil?  

Nope.  I’ll have to dig 61 holes.  I’ve still got about 20 Hay-scented Ferns to get into the ground, as well as five larger evergreen ferns in pots.

No rest for the weary, but no complaints either.

——-

The picture of the Mountain Fire Pieris is NOT what mine will *ever* look like.  I’m a realist.

As Always, Water the Good and Prune the Bad

Signs of Life and Death

These trunks, stood back up before removal, show the neat mortising work of a Pileated Woodpecker.  We have a lot of woodpeckers, owls, wood thrushes, and deer.

Orange Mushrooms

The top two are Jack O’Lanterns (Omphalotus

illudens), but the bottom two are … what?  They seem too orange for chanterelles, but there are quite a few types of chanterelles as well as other mushrooms in the Omphalotus genus.  🤔🤷‍♂️. Not eating anything in any case.

Local Killer

A Very Expensive Boy’s Club

Antlers represent an enormous food and energy expense.

It would be one thing if they were grown just once, like a leg bone, but instead they are grown and shed and grown again. 

Every year it's just more expense, and always-bigger antlers. 

Amazing.

These two bucks were sparring in downtown Frederick, Maryland, a short walk from one of my coffee spots.

Locally, early bow season for deer starts today.

Cleaning Up, Three Years Ago

Cleaning up after the big storm three years ago. Some massive trees came down, and it was 6 days of work with *BIG* machines cutting, grinding, and loading.

Never Forgetting

Never Forget 9-11?

Not forgotten.

Never forget the 400 years of systemic racism and sexism in the US? 

Not forgotten.  

Never forget that Iraq and Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9-11? 

Not forgotten. 

Never forget that Barack Obama was the fellow who gathered the intelligence, made the tough decision, and got Osama killed? Not forgotten.

I could go on forever not forgetting. 

Never forget the 1,000,000 people dead from the Trump virus? 

Not forgotten. 

Never forget the hundred treaties the US Government made and then unilaterally broke in order to steal land from the native people?

Not forgotten.

Never forget the children ripped from their parents and thrown into cages so Trump could terrorize immigrants already fleeing for their lives? 

Not forgotten.

Never forget America’s wounded warriors and dead soldiers that have been openly mocked by our draft-dodging, tax-cheating, pussy-grabbing adulterer of a President? 

Not forgotten.

Never forget the Japanese Americans whose property was stolen and who were thrown into concentration camps in the US?

Not forgotten.

Never forget that Trump has been credibly accused of rape or sexual assault by 30 women, has a long association with multiple pedophiles, and raw-dogged a porn star? 

Not forgotten. 

Never forget that Trump has defended Saudi murderers of American citizens? 

Not forgotten.

I could go on forever not forgetting.

The Count In Your Family

What was global population when your grandparent were born?

Your parents?

Humans alone represent about 33 percent of all the biomass of land-based mammal. The next most common primate, crab-eating macaques with a population of about 2.5 million, is not even close in terms of numbers.

Livestock, excluding chickens and other poultry, represent 65 percent of land-based mammal biomass. Of this livestock there are an estimated 1.5 billion cattle, 1 billion sheep, and 1 billion pigs.

What about wild animals?

Wild animals represent only 2 percent — TWO PERCENT — of mammal biomass. White-tailed deer are the most common large wild mammal species, with a population of about 35 million. What about rats, mice, and squirrels? The numbers here are unknown, but are clearly in the scores of billions.

Of the carnivora, domestic cats and dogs are far and away the most populous, with populations of 600 million and 900 million, respectively.

What about birds?

It’s estimated there are about 90 billion adult birds in the world, with the population of domesticated chickens at about 24 billion, which makes them far and away the most common bird in the world. The most common wild bird is the sparrow-sized Red-billed Quelea, a type of African weaver bird, with an estimated population of about 1.5 billion.

What about fish?

There are a lot of fish in the ocean. How many is difficult to say, but the most common fish, far and away, are the 32 species of minnow-sized deep water bristlemouths, of which there are estimated to be several quadrillion (one quadrillion is one million billion). The Cyclothone genus of bristlemouths is the most abundant vertebrate on Earth, with an estimated one quadrillion individuals in that 13-species genera alone.

What about insects?

It’s been estimated that there 1.4 billion insects for each human on the planet — over 3,000 pounds of insects for every person.

Read that last sentence again. Wow!

Ants alone are estimated to have a population of 20 quadrillion (20 million billion) and to represent more stored carbon than all wild birds and mammals combined.

I will leave out microbes even though they exist in jaw dropping numbers and weights -- 39 trillion bacteria, viruses, and fungi inside every human being alone.

All of these numbers are, of course, little more than rough estimates. Animal populations rise and fall with season, disease, food stocks, and harvest.

So are we close to the edge?  

Most assuredly.