Category Archives: Culture

Forget search engines

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Mariner recently read an account of the next phase in AI: Merging corporate data with personal data taken from one’s own computer or smartphone. It is an attempt to “read the interests of the user” in order to provide an instant integration between user interest and what’s related in the cloud. Today’s search engines won’t be needed. The intent is that the cloud and the user are one unified operation. Microsoft will keep its own copy of all files, websites, everything executed on a person’s private computer.

It is fascinating to read arguments from both sides of this objective. AI folks see this progress as a great service to the user; privacy advocates see this progress as not only an invasion of privacy but more broadly see a future where society is managed to the extent that an individual’s ability to reason unique personal solutions for a ‘real’ world doesn’t exist.

When humans aren’t allowed to see genuine reality, their control of reality disappears. Historically, this is the complaint about dictatorships because the dictator determines what matters. Mariner’s oft-cited movies, 1984 and Matrix, are about the loss of individuality because AI dictators say what is real.

Already a person’s budget, housing and other accessories are limited to what is seen on a screen ad page. Could there be other options? Even the banking industry is offering to manage your cash for you – don’t need checkbook records anymore; it is possible to be in debt and not know it.

Mariner knows he is peeing in the ocean. There is no government, no culture, no enterprise that can avoid the move toward replacing one’s individuality with the pseudo compassion of Amazon as to what’s the best deal. In fact, medical science has already made artificial brain parts. Be wary if someone suggests installing a receptacle in your neck; your brain will know only what’s on your smartphone.

Armageddon progresses.

Ancient Mariner

 

Where will you move?

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Mariner feels compelled to address the immigration issue. Amid all the other pressures in a rapidly changing society and a rapidly changing planet, immigration serves as the most dependable barometer of progress or failure. How Homo handles immigration will tell the world whether humans are up to the task of surviving in the new biosphere.

Humans are accustomed to tracking history by the occurrence of wars. It took over 300 years of savage fighting for the Vikings and British to settle their differences; it signaled a transition from tribal government to monarchy. It brings to mind the current war between Islamic theocracies in the middle East and Jesus-oriented nations. It took about 1,000 years and innumerable wars to move from Roman theocracy to a separation of church and state. It took four wars in the 1850’s and two world wars in the 1900’s to move from economic colonialism to independent national economies.

Measuring history and the future by wars is more like taking taking one’s temperature at the moment rather than measuring progress over time. Immigration management is not a war as such but rather a timeline depicting how humans adapt to the pressures of a changing world.

Migration is an intrinsic behavior, not a war. It’s been around since Homo habilis left Africa more than 60,000 years ago. While on the subject, when was the last time the reader moved, AKA migrated? There is a distinct difference between an act to dominate and an act to survive.

So do not succumb to the current belligerent attitude about immigration; society will be measured by it’s methods of accommodation, not how high the fence is.  Immigration is just beginning to rise at unusually high rates. To some degree, one can fault incompetent dictatorships – how does one build a high fence around a dictator?

More significantly, the changing climate will cause many nations to fail because of economic and habitable failure – yes, even Florida.

Beneath it all is a slow, painful transition from capitalist society to socialist society. Not that capitalism will disappear, just that saving as many people as possible from inhabitable lives will require more distributive philosophies of government.

Ancient Mariner

 

Adding to the smoke

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It is 94 degrees with humidity at maximum levels thanks to Iowa corn which sweats as much as humans do. Dare not go outside. What to do … what to do …  Alright, mariner will write a post.

It is too bad that the planet is in such disarray in these times. Smoke rises from rampant fires around the world, 20 violent wars ongoing and the political smoke of a human race facing unknown confrontations. Mariner will offer another source for smoke – language.

Language used to be quite parochial. No doubt Neanderthals had little to discuss when, 50,000 years ago, they met one another roaming across Europe and the West Siberian Plain. Slowly over the centuries, humans around the world discovered stuff they had to name like family, weapons, food groups, territories and fellow animals. (If anyone knows the word for ‘donkey’ in Itsekiri, let mariner know.)

Then the age of economics emerged. Language needed to remember abstract stuff. Words were needed for nuance and situation. And so it went until there were so many words in a given language (typically nation-based) that dictionaries were needed to keep track of them all.

So these tomes have done until a new flood of words is emerging on the Internet. Social Media users are not bound by region, generation or linguistic discipline. The traditional dictionaries must be holding their probosces as they add multi-lingual words like RIZZ, PADAWAN, CROMULENT, SMISHING and an endless expansion of acronyms. e.g., LOL. The French are notorious for garbled words; new ones are être en PLS, bader and gayolle. Don’t forget the new linguist – Regenerative AI, capable of generating new content in response to a submitted query by using a large reference database of examples – many contributed by social media or invented by AI as a logarithmic average.

Language is smoking.

Ancient Mariner

So the Oak tree said . . .

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The animal kingdom always has looked down on the plant kingdom. Plants are around for animals to use for food, housing, entertainment, protection, etc. Plants do not respond to treatment by animals; they don’t whimper, try to escape, take defensive action – plants are around for the purpose of supporting animal life – it’s that simple.

In recent decades, definition of the term ‘agency’ has been shifting in philosophy, psychology, botany, chemistry and even nuclear physics. Generally, the word agency means the ability to take reasoned action based on whatever unique circumstance presents itself. Without agency, a human could not play tennis, eat a peanut or remove a finger from the fire. Biologically, humans still can make decisions, have emotional responses and fabricate circumstances even if suffering from intense paranoia, absolute narcissism, extreme prejudice, advanced dementia or any other interpretive disorder. What is not present is the act of agency – decisions responding to real, external situations.

A simple dementia example is when someone suffering from dementia tries to call a friend who has passed on. Memory is present, emotions and a response to personal need are present – but no agency. Agency is a reasoned reaction to external reality.

Do not confuse anthropomorphism with agency. Just because one can imagine that a creature, or anything for that matter, has human sensitivities doesn’t mean it has agency. Mariner often has cursed the table fork as an evil, demented character because it decides to throw food on the front of his shirt. Many readers surely have tried to have a conversation with a cute sparrow, preying mantis, or a llama. All living things have a finely tuned agency that has no relationship with the human imagination.

The idea that all living things have some degree of agency is the new element in the definition.

He was in the garden the other day when he discovered a new little oak tree among the flowers. Mariner is fond of oak trees. But he had to advise the oak tree that he was going to dig it up because it was in the garden. So the oak tree said “You’re blocking the Sunlight, you idiot.”

Ancient Mariner

 

Task List for Armageddon Fighters

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1 – Go 100 percent Vegan. Cows and sheep are exceedingly wasteful in terms of Armageddon (or the Sixth Extinction, they are the same thing). Too much land, too much processing and not the best regimen for general health. Our fellow creatures will appreciate it, too. Further, go true vegan and don’t eat seafood; only 20 percent of ocean edibles remain.

2 – Switch to Solar Power. This actually is a good budget move. If you can afford the batteries, go off the grid.

3 – Prefer non-plastic wrappings and containers for food and retail products. Glass and waxed cardboard or paper are better.

4 – If you are young enough and have a lawn in the back yard, convert it to home grown vegetables. Even a youngster like mariner remembers living off a basement of home-canned stews and soups.

5 – Those folks lucky to have stable income probably have three times the clothing they really need. There are other folks nearer than one may think who desperately need clothing.

6 – Refuse to vote for anyone over fifty-five or a totalitarian or a money-maker from industry; vote known locals, not PAC advertising.

7 – Vote for a tax overhaul that strengthens government’s role in health care, retirement, social services and wage support.

8 – Vote for government control over free-ranging corporations; they are as expensive as cattle.

9 – Among your many charities, adopt a destitute political region – local, county, state or nation.

10 – Don’t plan for children you can’t afford – yes, this involves women’s services including abortion – and castration.

Readers with conservative views may call this list bald-faced socialism, even communism. It is true that Planet Earth’s core economic system is capitalist in nature. But capitalism only works as long as there are enough resources for everyone. This characteristic is what drives evolution. When there is a shortage in the biosphere, it is time to make changes to restore the balance. When the biosphere, including global shifts in weather or massive domination by one species, is dysfunctional, dramatic change approaches the biosphere. Many, many scientists see a probable chance for a Sixth Extinction.

As to political conservatives, even crows know to share food with another crow that has no food. Armageddon is not about profit. It’s about survival. There’s always the nuclear war option. That would satisfy Mother Nature to be a genuine Sixth Extinction.

Ancient Mariner

 

Goodbye for awhile

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Greetings Readers –

As you may know, mariner has been staying in Chicken Little’s henhouse for several months. Not watching television news has been a blessing but getting his news from equitable online newscasters has offered no relief.

From time to time, he gets feedback from readers that he would have more readers if he wrote more positive and friendly posts. More readers was never his objective – discharging alarm because of a flagellistic desire to fail as a human race was the primary purpose.

In the last post mariner defined the five flavors of Armageddon that are in play and progressing. He realized that he very much was against the common grain of society, especially those deliberately encouraging Armageddon.

Noting the fate of Prophet Amos in the Old Testament, mariner is retreating to his little home in Iowa.

Ancient Mariner

The fluid state of Education

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Mariner mentioned in a recent post that several institutions in the United States are in worse shape than they may seem. One was education. Just very briefly and broadly, education has shifted as social change has shifted: In the pre-industrial age, education was all about local training and learning financial and writing skills commensurate with local need. General primary education was sparsely represented and was charged with basic reading and writing skills; in rural areas, average dropout by students was the fourth grade.

The second half of the 1800s had a burst of industrial, chemical and electrical discoveries that called for higher language and communication skills – each requiring more ability via writing and speaking; in the middle of this period, student grading was introduced to public education and became the norm – some history and social science were added.

By the early 1900s, large urbanization and competitive businesses were setting knowledge standards for employment – more education with better grades became a workforce standard for getting ahead and earning more. Colleges began to be an option for the general population, no longer limited to the elite and one-off intellectuals.

By the end of WWII (1944), the government had become strongly democratic and sponsored educational activity at all levels. Public schooling grew rapidly; a notable shift in extended education arose as military service offered free college. This broad financial boost to college education, available to virtually anyone, was the beginning of the ‘white collar’ social class. All education, from first grade to college graduate, was well funded and easily attainable – expected for anyone not in labor or service careers.

Until the political parties switched many of their social commitments in the 1960s when Lyndon Johnson pushed through civil rights legislation and Dixie went red, education was under the blessing of the democratic (AKA white collar) party and remained stable.

But a rough economic era since the 1970s (chart) and three destructive recessions in 1973, 1983 and 2007 have disrupted discretionary funding, including health and tax fairness as well.

A definite beneficiary of the government’s financial support was the colleges themselves, who raised tuition. In 1980, the price to attend a four-year college full-time was $10,231 annually – including tuition, fees, room and board, and adjusted for inflation – according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2019-20, the total price increased to $28,775. That’s a 180% increase.

National politics are shifting back to lower income social classes. There are many reasons for education to be wary: weaponized political parties, weaponized religious denominations, and huge, life changing historical college debt, social media, ChatGTP, all of which leave education in a collapsed state. Public schools are dominated by closed-minded school boards; college applicants are demanding low tuition and guaranteed jobs at graduation – a demand that has allowed corporations to begin funding education.

Perhaps the shifts in education are a clear example of what’s happening everywhere in these disruptive times. The education dilemma also shows the complex, interwoven influences across life’s processes in government, industry and society. We cannot solve education independently – many frontiers must be solved at the same time.

Ancient Mariner

Bonding

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Recently mariner wrote a post about how to develop spirituality. Briefly, it has two key requirements: One must acknowledge the existence of a permanent prophet who sets the standards for proper behavior. The second is a personal allegiance to that prophet, a sense that one belongs to that prophet rather than to one’s self. The prophet does not have to be human. For example, many naturalists believe Planet Earth is the prophet because it controls the rules of life; some Christians believe the Bible is a prophetic statement in behalf of Jesus [See ‘Spirituality’ May 29, 2024]

Closely related to spirituality is a human behavior called ‘bonding’. Bonding can occur only when sharing with others. One easily can relate to bonding with family, close friends and those who participated in significant life events. But bonding, like spirituality, has an extended role in the fabric of society that sustains social orderliness, community allegiance, and the ability to sustain common abstract behaviors; just a couple of examples: being a fan of a sports team, and befriending the mail carrier as a person who shares a common task. Both these examples imply a commitment to sharing without which the civility would not occur.

An excellent example of bonding in everyday life is the movie “The Green Book” released in September 2018. It stars Viggo Martensen and Mahershala Ali. For those who have not seen it, take the characters in stride as the movie progresses. Mariner’s wife found a copy at the library or you can pay to see it online

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_VoWF9mKEc).

Bonding requires sharing a common responsibility with open mindedness as a lubricant. Importantly, bonding generates motivation in life.

Ancient Mariner

The New Age

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Scientific American has focused on modern issues, particularly those related to a new AI world:

It Is Too Soon for Clinical Trials on Artificial Wombs

An example of an artificail womb

A technology meant to help severely premature infants raises questions of inequity and may some day threaten parents’ rights to make decisions.

 

 

Who Owns Your Voice in the Age of AI?

Emerging AI services present scenarios that could challenge the laws over rights to a persona.

 

 

Remember when the moral question was whether it was right to prefer building roads through indigent neighborhoods? Remember when party lines on telephones became an invasion of privacy? Remember when purchasing anything only required anonymous cash or paper-based checks?

The point is that no one, not even the technicians, has a moral understanding of what an automated world looks like. How will routine judgments based on human dignity be altered? In the extreme, will Wiley’s cartoon about buying a newborn from Microsoft become a reality? Who made a rational decision about the merits of conception?

The public domain, ruled throughout history by the idiosyncrasies of each individual as a unique individual, no longer will have that discipline because AI can produce as many copies of an individual as it chooses; They will be exact copies complete with gestures and voice.

Which brings the situation to this: Do Senators John Boozman (73), John Hickenlooper (72), Richard Blumenthal (78), Tom Carper (77), Rick Scott (71), Mazie Hirono (76), Mike Crapo (73), Jim Risch (81), Dick Durbin (79), Mike Braun (70), Chuck Grassley (90), Jerry Moran (70), Mitch McConnell (82), John Kennedy (72), Susan Collins (71), Angus King (80), Ben Carden (80), Elizabeth Warren (74), Ed Markey (77), Debbie Stabenow (74), Roger Wicker (72), Deb Fishcher (73), Jeanne Shaheen, (77), Bob Menendez (70), Chuck Shumer (73), Sherrod Brown (71), Ron Wyden (75), Jack Reed (74) Marsha Blackburn (71), John Cornyn (72), Mitt Romney (77), Peter Welch (77), Patty Murray (73), Joe Manchin (76), Shelly Moore Capito (70), and John Barrasso (71) [36 Senators out of 100] have the life perspective capable of comprehending the social and moral ramifications of the AI age?

Humans finish grasping a subconscious moral perception of reality by the age of 25. Does a Senator who developed a moral understanding of the world when Abraham, Martin and John were assassinated really have the wherewithal to manage Corporate AI? So far it seems not. Mariner knows he doesn’t.

If the reader has the possibility of voting for a young representative no older than 55, seriously consider that candidate.

Ancient Mariner

 

 

 

 

2024 – the age of juggernauts

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A good analogy for the definition of ‘juggernaut’ is a huge cargo ship running into a bridge, splintering the bridge apart as if it were made of matchsticks. The 2000s have been years for growing juggernauts culminating with an election in 2024 that may well splinter a nation.  The registry of juggernauts is awesome: Middle East oil, Middle East war, Middle East international conflict, Putin’s war, Sudan genocide, Pacific war over Taiwan; in the US, the recent pandemic, immigration, unbridled economy, cultural collapse, social isolation expressed with mass shootings, Federal and State governments and courts operating under antique theories about governance and further stressed by the presence of plutocracy, the age of super-automation and the stress from violating the rules of nature for centuries.

It makes one feel they are walking through an entanglement of giant rosebushes with significant danger from life-threatening thorns.

There are three relatively unnoticed juggernauts that will bring collapse to our nation – not the movie versions with high energy explosions and sudden destruction of the countryside. What will happen is similar to the ripening of an avocado – looks good on the surface but spoils more rapidly inside than expected and is inedible before one would suspect. The three juggernauts are:

֎ Health Industry. Even today the economics of health management are destructive. Too few physicians are graduating from medical school, nurses and other staff are overworked while working for wages that have not kept up with inflation. US governments/insurance agencies are over-managing medical science and the implied authorities of medical professionals. Private investment is turning medical service into a profit-only model of service, demanding more patients with less care per patient. There is a growing trend for physicians to disassociate from their medical institution and set up an independent, fee-based patient relationship (eliminating access for poorer patients). In mariner’s state of Iowa even standardized health care may be an more than an hour away.

There is promise from new technology that will ease an individual’s workload but this is only a mechanical solution to a national population that cannot survive to current age expectations without personalized healthcare. In 1900 the average life expectancy was 40 years.

֎ Retirement. This is a cousin juggernaut to healthcare. The population in the US has begun to slow because births have fallen below 2.1 per fertile woman; by the end of the century population will reflect an annual decrease. At the same time, an increasing percentage of the population is moving into retirement. Today, this population dilemma goes unnoticed. As more and more citizens retire, fewer and fewer citizens comprise the national workforce. Who will, or can, pay for retirement and healthcare? On this very day Social Security faces a huge political confrontation in 2025. The only solutions offered to date are sidewalk tents and tiny ‘homes’ for the homeless.

֎ Education. In the 1850s the idea of grading students was implemented. This has been the norm until the internet began to offer divers ways to gain an education. Today’s society is so divers that the letter ‘A’ or ‘C’ can have very different meanings across different education administrations. Colleges in particular suffer from the undermining idea that knowledge cannot be totally scored by a set of letters. The desire to tie education with a direct link to a job is more important than a letter.

It has been a blessing over the decades that the ‘white collar’ class maintained a steady, independent function for education. This is gone today as citizens attack libraries and otherwise intercede the authority of trained teachers – similar to interference by governments with a physician’s professional decisions.

Over the centuries with many cultures and religions, education was a matter of compliance with behavioral norms or religious mandates. Neither is an influence today because of the diversity of society and, in particular, because of confrontations with many juggernauts.

While there are many techniques for keeping one’s self sane and worthy, that does not dismiss one’s job to sustain survival as a nation.

The closing analogy is one of a polar bear trying to walk across melting slush in a warming world.

Ancient Mariner