My karate teacher asked incredulously, “Does covid still exist??”
It does, and in new variants (same as the old variant, but new enough to evade immunity). It’s just joined the throng of circulating seasonal viruses. I had it two years ago at Christmas, had the flu last year at New Year’s, and this year it was covid’s turn again. (I haven’t been vaccinated for years, but have a strong immune system.) It was weird, I had almost no sneezing or coughing this time around, just horrible body aches and a fever—for a day and a half. Monday was hell, yesterday things started looking up, and today I’m fine.
Peter Thiel and AI, hmmm... I don't think that guy is even human.
AI worries me, but it is inevitable. And the more I look into it, the less worried I am. It will either help us thrive, or end up killing us all, but much like the atomic bomb, we humans have a survival instinct. I am sure we will find a way around being annihilated.
The simple fact that people all around the world are waking up gives me hope. My biggest worry right now about AI is that it will speed up the progress of mankind so much, that our brains will not be able to cope, much like the effect Social Media is having on us now. We were not built to process this much information in such a short period of time, and AI will only exacerbate that. But on the other hand, maybe those scientist that years ago said we only use 10% of our brain capacity will turn out to be right.
The world will definitely look different in a decade or so. I hope I'll be around to see it.
And regarding American hegemony, I am all for it. I truly believe that the grand American experiment, and the fact that the Constitution was written by a bunch of twenty somethings, is an astounding accomplishment. Even the fact that after 250 years we are (for the most part) still complying to it is also astounding. America should be the beacon of light it was meant to be, but even God had his terrible swift sword. As Trump says, "Peace through strength!"
We humans respond to strength. Even children develop best with an authoritarian figure. Our war machine is our sword. And if that is what it takes to bring peace on earth, so be it.
I find it so interesting that America has never been an expansionist nation, even when we have the most powerful military in the world.
People flock to America for a reason. We are a nation founded on the principal of personal freedom, and that is unique in the world. Encroachments on that principal will eventually be fought tooth and nail.
I am not saying America is perfect, but it strives to be. And I know I am sounding flippant, even though I don't mean to be, and even though I am not religious, somewhere in my soul, I believe those men that got together and hashed out the Constitution were somehow ordained and guided, and wrote out the future plan of humankind. And unlike the bible, the Constitution was written to be a living document.
It is pretty damned incredible. So with everything that is going on, I am feeling hopeful again.
There is a lack of real, natural authority (such as Jacques had) in America because America was founded by people who had the nerve to escape it! And it is to some degree antithetical to personal freedom. Real authoritarian fathers in my acquaintance (traditional Romania and Japan—maybe they’ve died out) beat their sons and shamed their daughters. Maybe that made them behave better as children, but arguably not become better adults. It’s a balancing act.
It’s less AI that worries me about Peter Thiel than universal surveillance (though of course that uses AI to sort its data).
You should watch the movie on Amazon Prime called Mercy. It's about an AI judge, jury and prosecutioner, which has access to all of everyones data, phone, work data, surveillance footage, email, etc, which if convicted, you have 90 minutes to use all of that data to prove your innocence, or be executed.
Just came across this on YouTube. A couple of Brits visiting the US for the first time, worried about all the horror stories they have heard on British media, about maybe getting shot.
But what they found was totally the opposite. The American people were so open, friendly and generous.
What I meant by children being raised by an authoritarian father, is someone who teaches right from wrong, discipline, and instills the reality of consequences.
Life is really hard and there are no free rides. I didn't mean abusive parents. Abusive parents cause trauma, which can take years, decades, even a whole life to overcome.
The analogy of what the US is doing globally, I don't see as abusive. I see as a necessary rebalancing of decades of bad behavior by so many nations, including our own. We, like other nations in the west, have been losing our sovereignty, and what makes each of us unique. Going back to the analogy, a man can't truly be a man unless he is true to himself, and the western white nations have forgotten who they are. They have been lulled into this false dichotomy, that "white man bad," and the only alternative is to dilute the world of whiteness.
Power, unto itself, is not a negative force. A man, and a nation cannot function without it. But power, for powers sake is never good, and the US has been playing that game for far too long. But in this current administration, I see what they are doing is more about taking back their power. We have given it away, bit by bit, death by a thousand cuts, succumbing to the global elites, de-industrilzing, etc, and the ones who suffer are the soul of our nation, the American citizens.
Even with our past bad behavior, America is the over arching benevolent force on our planet. We are not expansionist and yet we keep the gears greased and apparatus running. When a machine goes haywire and starts throwing nuts and bolts into the gears of the other machinery, we are always there ready to rush in with a fix it crew.
Sure, thete are many powerful people getting rich for themselves in the process, but hasn't that always been true?
This article in an example of how this balancing act comes to fruition.
I am so sorry you feel that way Annie, even if it is just a fleeting feeling.
When I look at the world right now and all that is happening, I am in awe. I feel the hope and joy of every Persian dancing and protesting on the streets knowing they are risking their lives.
The world is flipping upside down right now, and it's breath taking. Look what is happening to the SPLC, "Their are good people on both sides," Protests in Cuba, the Russia Hoax, protests in Ireland and England, and on and on. Sasha Stone says it is the end of the Fourth Turning.
We are so ripe for change, but change never comes without destruction first. Breaking patterns is so damded difficult for the human psyche. I am loving it!
Bring on the destruction! I feel like running down the street shouting "THE WORLD IS NOT DEAD!"
But maybe it is just about stock prices? I somehow doubt it.
I very much agree with "change never comes without destruction first. ... Bring on the destruction." I think that's why Trump was elected and it was "safetyism" to try to hold off that inevitable eruption. I'm not sure we agree about what needs destroying. At least, you left out Palantir and Peter Thiel and the panopticon and the permanent war-profit, surveillance state. Those are sold to us as means of national security and continued American hegemony, and maybe that appeals, but they are more a means of total microscopic control and destruction. People who are betting they're on the right side of that, whose bank accounts will never be frozen for their dissent, may rejoice. It will be their world, and welcome to it.
Did you just get Covid again? Uhg! I thought we were done with that.
My karate teacher asked incredulously, “Does covid still exist??”
It does, and in new variants (same as the old variant, but new enough to evade immunity). It’s just joined the throng of circulating seasonal viruses. I had it two years ago at Christmas, had the flu last year at New Year’s, and this year it was covid’s turn again. (I haven’t been vaccinated for years, but have a strong immune system.) It was weird, I had almost no sneezing or coughing this time around, just horrible body aches and a fever—for a day and a half. Monday was hell, yesterday things started looking up, and today I’m fine.
Peter Thiel and AI, hmmm... I don't think that guy is even human.
AI worries me, but it is inevitable. And the more I look into it, the less worried I am. It will either help us thrive, or end up killing us all, but much like the atomic bomb, we humans have a survival instinct. I am sure we will find a way around being annihilated.
The simple fact that people all around the world are waking up gives me hope. My biggest worry right now about AI is that it will speed up the progress of mankind so much, that our brains will not be able to cope, much like the effect Social Media is having on us now. We were not built to process this much information in such a short period of time, and AI will only exacerbate that. But on the other hand, maybe those scientist that years ago said we only use 10% of our brain capacity will turn out to be right.
The world will definitely look different in a decade or so. I hope I'll be around to see it.
And regarding American hegemony, I am all for it. I truly believe that the grand American experiment, and the fact that the Constitution was written by a bunch of twenty somethings, is an astounding accomplishment. Even the fact that after 250 years we are (for the most part) still complying to it is also astounding. America should be the beacon of light it was meant to be, but even God had his terrible swift sword. As Trump says, "Peace through strength!"
We humans respond to strength. Even children develop best with an authoritarian figure. Our war machine is our sword. And if that is what it takes to bring peace on earth, so be it.
I find it so interesting that America has never been an expansionist nation, even when we have the most powerful military in the world.
People flock to America for a reason. We are a nation founded on the principal of personal freedom, and that is unique in the world. Encroachments on that principal will eventually be fought tooth and nail.
I am not saying America is perfect, but it strives to be. And I know I am sounding flippant, even though I don't mean to be, and even though I am not religious, somewhere in my soul, I believe those men that got together and hashed out the Constitution were somehow ordained and guided, and wrote out the future plan of humankind. And unlike the bible, the Constitution was written to be a living document.
It is pretty damned incredible. So with everything that is going on, I am feeling hopeful again.
There is a lack of real, natural authority (such as Jacques had) in America because America was founded by people who had the nerve to escape it! And it is to some degree antithetical to personal freedom. Real authoritarian fathers in my acquaintance (traditional Romania and Japan—maybe they’ve died out) beat their sons and shamed their daughters. Maybe that made them behave better as children, but arguably not become better adults. It’s a balancing act.
It’s less AI that worries me about Peter Thiel than universal surveillance (though of course that uses AI to sort its data).
You should watch the movie on Amazon Prime called Mercy. It's about an AI judge, jury and prosecutioner, which has access to all of everyones data, phone, work data, surveillance footage, email, etc, which if convicted, you have 90 minutes to use all of that data to prove your innocence, or be executed.
😱
Just came across this on YouTube. A couple of Brits visiting the US for the first time, worried about all the horror stories they have heard on British media, about maybe getting shot.
But what they found was totally the opposite. The American people were so open, friendly and generous.
https://youtu.be/ltj72EZgPtM?si=H_IiY5YdCqvjzo94
What I meant by children being raised by an authoritarian father, is someone who teaches right from wrong, discipline, and instills the reality of consequences.
Life is really hard and there are no free rides. I didn't mean abusive parents. Abusive parents cause trauma, which can take years, decades, even a whole life to overcome.
The analogy of what the US is doing globally, I don't see as abusive. I see as a necessary rebalancing of decades of bad behavior by so many nations, including our own. We, like other nations in the west, have been losing our sovereignty, and what makes each of us unique. Going back to the analogy, a man can't truly be a man unless he is true to himself, and the western white nations have forgotten who they are. They have been lulled into this false dichotomy, that "white man bad," and the only alternative is to dilute the world of whiteness.
Power, unto itself, is not a negative force. A man, and a nation cannot function without it. But power, for powers sake is never good, and the US has been playing that game for far too long. But in this current administration, I see what they are doing is more about taking back their power. We have given it away, bit by bit, death by a thousand cuts, succumbing to the global elites, de-industrilzing, etc, and the ones who suffer are the soul of our nation, the American citizens.
Even with our past bad behavior, America is the over arching benevolent force on our planet. We are not expansionist and yet we keep the gears greased and apparatus running. When a machine goes haywire and starts throwing nuts and bolts into the gears of the other machinery, we are always there ready to rush in with a fix it crew.
Sure, thete are many powerful people getting rich for themselves in the process, but hasn't that always been true?
This article in an example of how this balancing act comes to fruition.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/operation-economic-fury-targets-the-ccps-financial-heartbeat-6015578
I am so sorry you feel that way Annie, even if it is just a fleeting feeling.
When I look at the world right now and all that is happening, I am in awe. I feel the hope and joy of every Persian dancing and protesting on the streets knowing they are risking their lives.
The world is flipping upside down right now, and it's breath taking. Look what is happening to the SPLC, "Their are good people on both sides," Protests in Cuba, the Russia Hoax, protests in Ireland and England, and on and on. Sasha Stone says it is the end of the Fourth Turning.
We are so ripe for change, but change never comes without destruction first. Breaking patterns is so damded difficult for the human psyche. I am loving it!
Bring on the destruction! I feel like running down the street shouting "THE WORLD IS NOT DEAD!"
But maybe it is just about stock prices? I somehow doubt it.
The light is shining.
I very much agree with "change never comes without destruction first. ... Bring on the destruction." I think that's why Trump was elected and it was "safetyism" to try to hold off that inevitable eruption. I'm not sure we agree about what needs destroying. At least, you left out Palantir and Peter Thiel and the panopticon and the permanent war-profit, surveillance state. Those are sold to us as means of national security and continued American hegemony, and maybe that appeals, but they are more a means of total microscopic control and destruction. People who are betting they're on the right side of that, whose bank accounts will never be frozen for their dissent, may rejoice. It will be their world, and welcome to it.
That said, my gray view of the world probably had something to do with having covid. At least now I'm seeing in color again!