Category Archives: Musings

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

 

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

 

Excess time

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Yes, mariner had signed off. There is no new insight into Armageddon; it is moving along as expected. But mariner suffers from empty time as a very hot weather pattern hangs around making gardening and any activity outside the front door verboten. So, to soak up a bit of empty time, mariner writes a post.

A new direction in science has entered the science magazines: extinction and consciousness, Do the scientists know something we don’t know? It is claimed that extinction is a good thing and is part of the evolutionary process – which could not exist without it. In other words, there comes a time when Earth doesn’t need dinosaurs anymore, or humans, either. Planet Earth simply can’t afford to maintain a status quo because of requirements arising from the Solar System and the limits of static consumption.

What would many species eat when all the Maryland crabs are gone? Crabs aside, 20,000 species have become extinct during the industrial era of humans. From another perspective, migrating creatures already are modifying their alternative environments if they can. Whales have a tough row to hoe right now. It wouldn’t be hard to argue, “Alright, we’ve had the humans too long – the biosphere is shifting.” If resources are disappearing, it’s time for extinction of the cause: Homo sapiens.

But would Homo disappear? Perhaps not. Many, many species have changed dramatically as climate and topography have shifted. Consider the aforementioned whales – they used to live on land and needed legs. If a species can change to survive, it will. What will humans become given their large sense of consciousness and creativity? Ever seen a minion? Ever seen a sex doll? Ever seen a chromosome grow on an AI circuit?

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Consciousness is included because the new insight into consciousness is that it is not a separate phenomenon from physical existence, that is, it is not some will o’ the wisp decision tree that is not bound by physiological behavior. A leading suggestion is that even gnats have consciousness, and frogs and earthworms. One wonders whether earthworms have fantasies. We shall find out. On the human level, it questions whether religious or other alternative realities actually exist or are the result of physiological need.

Ancient Mariner

Filling the vacuum

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This is another of those days when the mind is blank. It’s one of the side effects of living in Chicken Little’s henhouse where TV news broadcasts and political documentaries are not allowed.

One is forced to deal with unrelated, unnecessary thoughts that have no real world value. For example, has the reader ever been on a farm, perhaps playing softball or having a picnic – and a cow across the fence stands still, watching you intently, not even twitching an ear? What is that cow thinking? The cow’s thoughts certainly aren’t rationalizing what actually is happening in context; what could possibly hold the cow’s interest in what the humans are doing?

Humans often are not aware of the extent to which other animals have unique mental faculties. For example, did the reader know that robins have amazing eyesight that can identify very small objects as much as 40 or 50 feet away? A few days ago, mariner was sitting on the porch when he saw a robin land on the electric service line to the house; the line was about 30 feet in the air. The bird sat there several minutes until suddenly, like an arrow, it flew to the ground in a straight trajectory to the end of the yard where it snatched an earthworm! There aren’t many humans that have such accurate vision – let alone fly.

Some birds have remarkable sympathy, maybe even enough to qualify as a democrat. There is a documentary showing two crows in separate but adjoining cages. There was a small slot in the common side. When only one crow was fed, it shared its food with the other crow by passing it through the slot. When the roles were reversed, the same sharing occurred.

In another experiment, a rat was put in a cage that required a procedure of several steps before it could open the door to its food. It tried fruitlessly to open the door. Then the rat was shown a video of another rat who knew the steps. After watching it once, the rat went straight to the door and opened it.

Maybe humans depend on the frontal lobes too much.

Ancient Mariner

Those moments

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Everyone has moments of bliss, of complete satisfaction, perhaps even grace. One cannot select these moments, they happen unannounced, but they are rewarding. Sometimes, it’s just a moment with a loved one or a deep appreciation of a child. Sometimes it’s when one is alone, sitting in the midst of nature’s wilderness. Sometimes, it is the joy of making another life better. Sometimes, it’s just a realization of fulfillment in a familiar surrounding.

Mariner and his wife had a similar experience sitting in their backyard, a garden respite from garages, concrete parking pads and streets. Sunlight was fading, sparrows, robins, doves, blackbirds and squirrels went about their individual lives. Having these moments is like a soothing salve on one’s soul.

But those moments are brief. ‘Real’ life calls us back.  In that moment of recall, what does one feel? Is it anxiety? Duty? Contentment? Desire? Motivation? Does one retreat to depression or leap to ambition? Generally, all these sensations are in a bag labeled ‘accountability’. One is conscious of these feelings because a moment ago they were suppressed by a moment of bliss.

What accountability does one feel toward self, family, community, the nation and the sacred world of spirituality? It is important to note which accountability emerges first. This obligation is important and requires action of some nature. Based on one’s motivations, it may be to load the dishwasher, call one’s senator or see to the well being of a family member.

The moment of bliss should provide great healing power to the self, a comfort in family, a friendship with the community, a responsibility to the nation, and an allegiance to one’s source of spirituality.

It may be helpful to search for places where on can let go of the real world for a moment and restore a unified sense of one’s life experience.

Ancient Mariner

 

Wafting thoughts

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֎ Several weeks ago mariner read an article about why old people don’t wash. ‘don’t wash’ isn’t an absolute term; the article was suggesting that cleanliness became more arbitrary and a matter of necessity rather than maintaining cultural norms for cleanliness. The larger point was that it is the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries that set social norms. When at work, we may feel obligated to shave or smell a certain way or perhaps not wear jeans or certain styles of clothing. When retired from the daily obligations of society, old folks don’t feel the need to maintain a supply of different odors, sixteen different teeth whiteners and unnecessary chemicals to alter wrinkles and eye shadow. A bar of soap, a tube of toothpaste, maybe a deodorant if the oldster is wearing diapers; maybe a sponge bath at the sink instead of showers.

The article reinforced the notion that, if any influence can reach the subconscious, our behavior will be modified. It is job one for the subconscious to adapt to the external world – that is a critical survival skill. It’s just that the external world is jammed with artificial information to take money from you or get you to vote a certain way, or maybe marry someone you saw on the smartphone. Those $1,000 sneakers would sure make me look good! It’s all about surviving in the real world – however humans choose to define it.

֎ Culling through several polls over recent weeks, he saw that a noticeable percentage of Gen Z (today aged 12-27) were favoring Donald. On those occasions when the respondents were interviewed, their feelings were that everything was a mess and, more importantly, no one seems to be fixing anything – perhaps Donald appears more rambunctious and may at least try. Gen Z choices reflected other perspectives as well, a new generation whose roots are not buried in the soil of Reagan’s indifference toward labor, feel more liberal about social mores (homosexuals, abortion, importance of college, and don’t carry the scars of the past century, etc.). Mariner assumes that Gen Z is more accustomed to 21st century electronics thereby not being as distracted as older generations may be. It’s all about surviving in the real world – however humans choose to define it.

֎ The economic, scientific and environmental objectives affected by global warming are producing a Shakespearean drama. Each emphasis is taking independent paths in response to the claims (and current validations) of a warming planet. Each claims that it’s approach is the only moral path to managing the climate. Economics is trying very hard to pretend it is helping by inventing new processes for offsetting the impact of fossil fuels by storing gases in the ocean, for example.

The scientific approach is exploring new ideas like blocking the Sun’s heat in the atmosphere, growing food in miles-large greenhouses with recycled water and vertical gardens and incorporating useless deserts and swamps to support endless solar panels.

The environmentalists are planting trees, promoting home gardening on the front lawn, advocating changes in people’s habits relating to water usage and reducing food dependence on herd animals – or better yet, become a vegan. Environmentalists also pursue re-balancing nature, e.g., reintroduce wolves in Wyoming, saving the polar bear and curtailing dependence on seafood.

Each approach is pursued with an ethical assumption about how to make the world cooler. Yet the approaches are distinctly different in how they would change human behavior. For example, economists would say “continue to drive cars”, scientists would say “Don’t worry, we’ll invent something new” and environmentalists would say “Turn back the behavior of humans”.

Stay tuned, all three  will make entertaining news.

Ancient Mariner

Myth and Mystery are alive and well

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In today’s email was a news item about a new direction in data gathering. Everyone is aware that Google is King Snoop on the internet today but a new data source is growing that may challenge Google’s monopoly. Microsoft, among others, is launching AI data gathering software that can search ChatGPT products, adding scope to BING, Microsoft’s smaller version of Google.

Already, serious internet users have a number of sophisticated search engines similar to COPILOT which can search online documents for substance, not just a noun phrase.

This is comforting. Already we know that ‘official’ documents like term papers, legal agreements and corporate reports that have been produced by ChatGPT have serious errors and lack comprehension. It’s as though humans actually wrote these documents themselves. Now AI is adding second generation software that can interpret these ChatGPT documents. Does this compound the confusion? Is Donald’s Truth Social produced by this new software?

There is a mental disorder called savant syndrome (street term ‘Idiot Savant’). These are folks who have difficulty with the substantive experiences of daily life but are true experts about one small, narrow subject, truly beyond the capability of a ‘normal’ person. While the savant’s expertise in a narrow subject can’t be replicated, certainly AI is creating the ‘idiot’ portion.

So life will go on just like the old days before the internet – a world based on myths, misunderstandings and mysteries that emerge from nowhere – just like humans.

There is comfort in that.

Ancient Mariner

Midlife

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Another chapter from a book mariner wrote 25 years ago about what’s important and forgot he wrote it! Must not have been important . This chapter continues the theme of what is important in different stages of life.

Mid-life
Perhaps the hardest age game is the mid-life game. The mid-life game is important to folks from about forty-two to fifty-eight and being a true existentialist really helps. This is a strange and challenging game. As usual, what’s important is anything that’s not really important. What’s important is the hair that’s not there, the career that won’t happen, the young girl who isn’t interested, and the prince who won’t come. What’s important in this game is what the shopping malls, automobiles and other augmentations can do to hide the rapidly climbing years. You can’t look backward to vitality and forward to wisdom at the same time. But you remember the thirties games. To hell with wisdom. Naturally, it’s the wisdom that’s actually important about mid-life: you’re old enough to be wise and young enough to have the energy to put it to use.
The mid-life game has gambits (a word from chess that means going out on a limb), a technique which other ages don’t use very much. Some examples are: extramarital affair, divorce, changing career, obsessing about something that is not important, like immaculate lawns or golf, and even some scary gambits like alcohol and abandonment. Each gambit is a deliberate way of looking for what’s important. These gambits are dangerous because what seemed important before isn’t important any more and what’s important now may not be important later. That’s why it’s called a gambit. It is possible to come out ahead but it’s a chancy way to find out what’s important. Someone almost always gets hurt during these gambits — including you.
So much for looking back to the virile thirties. If you make it through the mid-life game intact, it’s on to wisdom.

Next: Sixties and seventies

Ancient Mariner

Athens but not the Greek one

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Mariner and his wife were enjoying a wonderful, sunny day with comfortable temperatures. “Why don’t we go on an outing”, his wife said. “You don’t have anything to do, do you?” Mariner said, “No.” (Of course they were lying; each had gallon job jars stuffed to overflowing). An ‘outing’ is an occasional adventure they take just to get out. Typically, they would look for small, out-of-the-way spots not on the normal tourist path. One time they decided to visit Oquawka, a river town in Illinois. When they arrived, the town had not made it through the COVID pandemic. Every store and business was closed except a riverfront restaurant.

Recently, they decided to visit a nearby historical spot: Athens, Missouri. The reader may remember that Missouri was okay with slaves but some of the population wanted to secede while the rest wanted to stay in the Union.  During the Civil war, Athens was a small town that suffered a battle between town citizens because some wanted to secede, others did not.

What makes Athens relevant is that the town is directly across the Des Moines river from Croton, Iowa. Iowa’s participation in the combat action of the Civil War amounted to a cannon ball that inadvertently made it across the river from Athens.

The Athens State Park is a pleasant visit. The grounds and few remaining buildings are well cared for. But the accounting of the skirmish between town residents made mariner think.

Whether Trump wins or not, could there be a release of ‘feelings’ that would entice riots, attacks on organizations supporting strong opinions, and even street fighting with guns?

Times certainly are a-changing.

Ancient Mariner