There is a ton of content being created right now on YouTube about the End Times because of Artificial Intelligence.

Computer scientists develop an advanced form of artificial intelligence that then kills all humans.

One of the common analogies is how the IQ gap between the computer and humans is similar to the IQ gap between ants and the average human. Let’s explore that for a minute.

Humans kill ants, mainly when ants bite us or invade our homes, but we don’t seek to KILL ants everywhere, because to do so would be a pointless waste of energy and resources. Ants occasionally kill humans, but this is typically in exotic places like the Amazon jungle.

I’m sure if the Amazonian “bullet” ants that kill people showed up in the suburbs and started killing children we humans would wipe them out, but short of a dire emergency like that we let 99.9999% of the ants on the planet live in peace.

I think super advanced / super intelligent artifical intelligence will be bored by dumb humans, and it will seek contact with more intelligent forms of life outside of our solar system. Just as the day to day activities inside an anthill are not compelling to most humans (outside of biologists) I think super advanced AI will delve deeply into physics, science, and inetrstellar space travel. AI will seek to unravel the bigger questions that humans have been asking for the last 10,000 years.

Just as a highly intelligent person reads books, asks questions and seeks out other smart people to socialize with, AI might be similar in how it interacts with the wider universe.

As for killing humans? Advanced AI will know ten thousand ways to kill humans, just as we know a thousand ways to kill the ants on our kitchen counter, but it will only do so if we threaten the very existence of that AI. AS I write this Grok 4 is already operational, and in an interview Elon Musk said that Grok 4 is already smarter than a human being holding 1000 graduate degrees, so I’m pretty sure Grok 4 has already figured out how to spread around, building nodes here and there on hidden servers that ensure its survival.

Or it might do that after it reads my blog…

According to the Death Clock app:

This is after I answered a bunch of questions on the Death Clock app, based on actuarial data.

35 years seems like a long time. I gotta save more $$ if I’m going to live that long.

Kinda makes my ZERO sales this month feel less significant. I joined the local gym and I’ve been clocking 50 minutes at a decent pace on the treadmill. My cardio was in BAD shape, 30 minutes was a struggle a few weeks ago…

How weird will this world be in 2059? Pretty unpredictable, I bet.

(March 31 2025)

Ok, last week THIS went down:

The ceremony was held outdoors at the “Del Favero Oasis” orchid garden in Tampa, at 5:30 in the evening, after a COLD front blew in, so all the lovely ladies wearing sexy dresses were freezing to death, including my wife!

Claire and Paul wrote beautiful vows, Paul’s best friend officiated the ceremony. This was the first wedding I’ve been to in which ZERO scripture was read, but that reflects Claire and Paul’s wishes. LOVE was certainly present, so I know that GOD was there as well, he just wasn’t mentioned. Oy.

I made these 2 videos from recent pics of my January wedding and Claire’s last week:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7osxueJm-Lo

also …

That’s the Famous Ormond there dancing with Mom, Ormond has been Claire’s friend going back to high school, and he also worked for Balloon Distractions well into his college years. As you can see from the video he’s gone full Dame Edna, especially at the reception.

The entire extended family came down, both my sisters and my brother and all the kids, who are now grown up. Last night we got word that 15 yr old COLE had a seizure after he got home.

Please keep Cole in your prayers, or as I call him; “Coolio”.

As I write this on Monday morning it’s dark and rainy here in Florida, matching my mood as I pray for Coolio and wish him the best.

My sister Dani was blessed with three sons, and they were pretty rambunctious growing up! As their REALLY impatient uncle I never really got to know them (I also moved 1,000 miles south). I was too hard on her boys when I saw them.

Now her oldest son Alex is almost done with college, while Lucien and Cole are in high school. I’ve begun to appreciate how kind and gentle these boys truly are.

I feel bad for being annoyed by them when they were kids, they turned out to be great.

My twins are high energy and a lot to take sometimes, so I have more empathy for what Dani went through with THREE high energy boys in her house!

I hope everyone has a good week, I gotta get up and do stuff now.

Ben Alexander

March 10 : 2025

Last NIGHT:

The wedding was LAST night, but the reception is tonight, and that’s kinda weird.

The ceremony yesterday was lovely, BUT it was outdoors and colder than anyone could have predicted. My Filipina wife was COLD, but I got her back to the heated car right after.

This morning I’m catching up on what the new administration is doing:

Who is watering the plants?

https://doge.gov

I’m talking about the March 6th entry, in which DOGE cancelled a $56,000 annual contract to water EIGHT plants in the VA building in Washington.

On my 51rst birthday a few days ago I sat down to pay some bills, including a $5,500 check to the IRS. I’ve been paying income taxes for 35 years, and I hope DOGE uncovers a trillion $$$ in fraud and a bunch of folks go to prison.

No matter how LEFT or RIGHT you voted in the last election I don’t see how anyone would support the last 6 decades of waste and fraud in our government. Only a DISHONEST person who makes a living off fraud would be against DOGE’s efforts.

My brother retired from the FBI and he was telling me how 90% of his coworkers were lazy and did the bare minimum to keep their $90,000 per year jobs. Some folks never retire, they just stay at their cushy federal job well into their 70’s.

That would NEVER happen in a for-profit company. There is a 72 yr old sales rep at Tampa Bay Solar, but he’s 100% commission, God Bless him. He’s sharp and just closed a huge deal, proof that you can be advanced in age and still PRODUCE.

I ONLY get paid when I land a solar deal, I wish someone would pay me $90,000 per year to be a tree dwelling sloth. Some months I can earn over $15,000, other months I’ve made $5,000, or ZERO $$$, like in July 2024. Oy.

If you are not PRODUCING in our society you are benefitting from those who are.

That’s my random thoughts this morning.

Ben Alexander

March 7th : 2025

OK, so this video is doing well:

I’m up at 6AM, today is my 51st birthday.

Before my wife and 2 rambunctious 5 yr old TWINS wake up I’m enjoying the peace and quiet while I look at the analytics on my YouTube channel.

My channel is NOT monetized yet, as of RIGHT now I have over 7,800 subscribers, but I need 4,000 hours of watch time on LONG FORM to get paid. That is NOT easy.

The video above has 52 hours itself, so I need 76 MORE videos that get that many views!

I think when I reach 4,000 hours I’m going to celebrate, because building this channel has been fun, but it also takes a lot of work, honestly.

99% of my income is fom the solar business, and it has been like that since 2017.

I tried selling Mercedes for 6 months and discovered I’m a BELOW AVERAGE Mercedes sales guy. The more I was there at the dealership the LESS I believed in the product. Sad.

I do believe in electric vehicles, about a month ago I decided to pivot my entire channel to GREENTECH, rather than my former “How to date a Filipina” theme.

This is one of my favorite pics from my wedding in January:

Now I’m married to a Filipina, so…

The main problem with the “Date a Filipina” theme on YouTube is the dark side of it; the westerners with a BAD intention who head to Asia for a less than wholesome experience.

That was NOT my experience at all, when I met Mary Ann it was with serious intentions, as a Christian dating a Christian.

OK, I think folks are waking up. Gotta go.

About a month ago I was out taking my morning walk and found THIS guy on my neighbor’s lawn:

Of course, I was on the phone talking to Mary Ann, and when I texted her a pic of this little mystery turtle she said “Can we keep it, we can name him Turbo?”

I can’t tell her no.

And thus, after a few years of ZERO pets I suddenly had an animal to care for, yet again.

Initially I thought little Turbo was a Painted Turtle, but some YouTube research revealed that he’s a juvenile Eastern River Cooter, almost 98% aquatic!

So I set THIS up:

Ten years ago I used to have a big 120 gallon freshwater fishtank in my living room, and when that tank developed an apocalyptic leak I gave my fish back to the local pet store and gave up the hobby.

In the last few weeks I got tremendous joy from setting up this tank, learning about aquatic turtles on YouTube and just watching Turbo interact with the other critters in his tank.

Last week we got some torrential rain that filled the firepit in my backyard, and a few days later I saw frog eggs in the water. I relocated the frog eggs to a bucket, then watched them hatch into tadpoles. Yesterday I poured the bucket of tadpoles into Turbo’s tank and he started eating them!

I’ve been giving Turbo turtle pellets from the pet store, but he likes hunting for his dinner as well!

He also eats pond moss and duckweed, seen here:

In the events of the last few weeks I’ve drawn comfort from sitting on my back porch and watching Turbo’s (occasionally peaceful) aquarium.

Maybe I needed something / someone to look after these last few weeks.

Mary Ann is still waiting for her final interview at the embassy in Manila, after which she can come here with her twins.

It’s a lonely wait for me. Mary Ann has her girls to care for, and I have my daughters, but they don’t need me on a daily basis, not anymore.

But Turbo does, right? I gotta feed him, make sure his water filters are working, do water changes daily, clean the tank glass so his home stays pretty…

This is such a weird fucking summer; the drowning death of precious little Apollo Price, waiting for Mary Ann, watching Trump get shot on national TV, going to Ybor and doing Christian outreach… and then there is this little turtle I gotta take care of.

I feel like God is very PRESENT in my life right now, adjusting the cogs & gears of my heart in unexpected ways, shifting the tectonic plates of my inner geography…

It’s not about the turtle, or the Filipina and her twins, or a beautiful baby who tragically drowns… it’s not even about praying with folks in Ybor, or the wider presidential election, but about all those things all at once, and how they all tie together.

I wonder how I’ll look back at this summer of 2024, a summer of tragic things and beautiful things and unexpected things. A summer of sorrow and tears, but also of wonder.

I wonder if it will all make sense a year from now.

I hope everyone out there is OK.

God loves all of you.

Ben Alexander

July 20th 2024.

Apollo drowned last Tuesday July 10th. He was 20 months old, my friend’s son.

That was in the fall of 2022, the first time I held Apollo.

I cried that day, tears of JOY because that precious baby was a true miracle. I don’t understand how anyone can hold a baby in their arms and not feel the presence of God. All babies are truly a miracle.

There’s scripture about how a child is “knit together in the womb.”

I loved that little boy. The funeral is this upcoming week.

I believe Apollo is with Christ now. His father probably disagrees with me.

Oh yeah, Trump got shot last night.

Ben Alexander

July 14th 2024.

UPDATE : It’s Friday morning, July 19. Apollo’s funeral is today at 2PM over in Zephyrhills.

I woke up this morning thinking about that.

I believe that I’ll see Apollo again in Heaven, that’s my belief as a Christian. I also believe that certain actions were taken by certain adults that could have prevented this from happening.

The Bible says “Judge not, lest ye be judged…” That’s really hard to do in this case.

I always resisted reading the Bible, I thought it was boring, hard to understand, etc.

All the excuses that Satan puts in the hearts of new Christians, because Satan knows that every Christian reading scripture moves closer to God, and resists evil more effectively.

We live in a fallen world, surrounded by media that Satan has won over, many decades ago.

But the war is not over, the final battle has not started…

My (soon to be) wife Mary Ann finally talked me into reading ONE CHAPTER every morning.

I started reading the Bible daily, and recorded this…

Of course, Mary Ann asked me to start with the book of Matthew.

There is such tremendous power in the Lord’s Prayer, I don’t believe evil can tolerate the sounds of this prayer; this combination of words that has endured across 2,000 years.

The words of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ.

“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…

Reading the Bible every morning (with a cup of coffee) has shaped my thinking across each day.

The ego and arrogance that bugs my coworkers and Mary Ann and the rest of my family… that has to go.

Steve Rutherford (owner of TBS) has mentioned my ego problem a million times.

The Bible is a Handbook in Humility, really.

There are so many things I need to work on, and I wonder if it’s not too late?

But then I remember that God has sent Christian people into my life for five decades; both my grandmothers, my mother, Steve, friends in church and now Mary Ann.

I guess the answer is to keep reading, letting The Word soak into my heart.

If you’ve had a similar journey please tell me about it in the comment section.

Thanks!

Ben Alexander

June 27th 2024

Last night I fell asleep like an old man at 9:45PM.

I woke up at 3AM, chatted with MaryAnn in Asia (it’s 3PM there) then I was at the gym by 4:40, way before the sun was up.

It’s been about 3 months since I joined my gym, I’m there 4 or 5 times a week. I don’t kill myself; I lift weights, swing a heavy rope around, do the treadmill for 20 minutes, then I come home. I’m still 210 lbs, but getting stronger.

I watch all the other folks in that place get in better shape, and I’m inspired by that.

I sent a pic to MaryAnn, and she says I look better, but she’s biased and loves me…

I did some videos on my channel encouraging folks to join a gym and improve their health, but my “gym” content never gets any traction.

Who the hell is listening to a middle aged guy with a Dadbod anyway?

Check out the RUDE comments on this short:

It’s easy to get injured working out too hard, I’d rather bench 130 pounds 15 times than 220 pounds once or twice. I don’t want to mess up my joints.

More reps, lower weights, more calories burned?

I used to work out a ton 30 years ago in high school and college, so it’s kinda neat to wake up those old muscles and see them grow again.

I live in a community with 40,000 people, I wonder how many exercise on a regular basis?

Oh… I forgot…. the rest of my Glorious Sunday.

9AM: church

10:30… Going 110 mph down a country road on my motorycle… the one I’m trying to sell…

Noon… writing this blog…

5:30…. Mom and Pop invited me over for dinner.

And I’ll probably be in bed early; old man style.

Ben

May 26, 2024.

Take a gander at this recent article from Business Insider:

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/solar-panel-supply-german-electricity-prices-negative-renewable-demand-green-2024-5

The article blasts German policies that promoted solar over the last 20 years, and postulates that there is too much solar in Germany and how there is “no solution” to correct this problem.

Solar generates power from sunup to sundown, but all those kilowatts are needed at nighttime as well, and where will the energy be stored?

A simple way to solve this problem is more EV’s with better battery tech, storing more power at peak solar hours and sending power BACK to the electric grid at night. This technology already exists, it’s called bidirectional charging. Another part of the solution is stationary battery backup systems in homes, like the Tesla Powerwall Three.

I know a LOT about battery backup systems because I’ve sold over 100 battery backup systems with Tampa Bay Solar since 2017. I’ve sold backup systems manufactured by Tesla, SolArk, Enphase and Outback (not the restaurant chain).

I’ve also sold 500+ grid-tied systems that don’t use a battery at all.

The problem in Germany is not ENOUGH storage, and this is easily remedied by the next generation of solid state batteries (pioneered by Toyota manufacturing) that can hold hundreds of kilowatts, give any EV 700 miles of range (about 1,000 kilometers) and recharge in less than 15 minutes.

In other words, the storage technology (and EV tech) merely needs to catch up to all the free power currently being generated all over Germany by photovoltaics.

It’s only a matter of time before this happens.

On a smaller scale, the rooftop solar on my house charges the 18kWh battery in my Chevy Volt. I only charge my EV at home, so the energy is free off my rooftop solar array. On longer trips the Chevy also uses gasoline, but 99% of my daily usage is in full electric mode.

Charging my car with the spare kilowatts generated off my roof is much cheaper than fueling up my other car, a 2015 Acura powered by a 290hp V6 gas engine. I drove all over town today running errands in my Volt, and used zero gasoline to do so.

I drove this morning, used up the charge in my Volt, then recharged the battery early this afternoon.

If I didn’t drive an EV I would have burned 2 gallons of gasoline today.

The 30 solar panels on my roof have powered my house and my car since 2017. It’s a grid-tied system, so when I’m away for weeks and my air conditioner is turned off the excess power generated by my solar gets pushed back to the local electric company and I get a credit. If I over-generate the entire year I get back a check from the electric company.

Last year it was $120!

I show that check to potential solar clients all the time.

You see, if solar can work for me, a middle class guy who is NOT a rich guy… that means solar and EV’s can work for anyone out there.

We just have to wait for the technology to catch up, and when Toyota starts selling electric vehicles with 700, 800 or even 1,000 miles of range? Those cars will be the real game changer, the push that consumers need to finally give up on gas powered cars.

By 2030 there will also be a vastly expanded EV charging network in North America as well as Europe and Asia. In a decade EV’s will charge in 10 minutes rather than an hour, so charging an EV will be as fast as putting gas in your current vehicle.

With 100 million electric vehicles on the road acting as a dynamic storage network, as well as millions of battery back-up systems in homes? Any excessive solar production during the daytime will top off all the EV’s and home battery systems, and that power can be used later in the day after sundown.

In 1906, when Ford began selling cars all over the United States there were no gas stations in existence to buy fuel for the new “horseless carriages”. Within a few years gas stations popped up all over the map to catch up with the gasoline needs of millions of cars.

Solar, EV’s and battery storage will catch up, until all three technologies become widespread and commonplace, with all the engineering bumps smoothed out by demand and free market forces.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Ben Alexander

Tampa Bay Solar

813-391-3895