Politics – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Don’t Tune Out. Pay Attention

Watching the world whiz by

It usually begins with “I don’t follow politics” or “I’m nor political.” But the topic can be interchangeable. Tech, sports, etc… It’s a choice. Even not choosing is a choice. One can argue, (I frequently do) that when you tune out or become tired or uninterested in a topic, then you’ve essentially surrendered. Whatever the other side is, you’ve let them win by removing yourself from the board.

Zoe vandewater oMpoyoO01Tg unsplash. Life can be tiresome. Increasingly it feels more so. Certianly in the wake of so much merciilessly bad news that it’s difficult to see how giving your attention might have an impact, much less worth your time and energy. I’ll be the first to admit trying to keep up is enough to drive anyone to just walk away.

It’s also makes it appealing to just to focus on the many good things that you enjoy in life.

Call me crazy (most do) but that’s how the forces who do pay attention on their quest to achieve whatever their aims are want you to feel how they want you to act. Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed to the point of tuning out, turning away or rolling over.

If you’ve tuned out, gotten pissed off, or just become no longer curious, the game is still afoot, and you’re not playing. You might think you’re canceling someone. But the only one you’re canceling is you.

By the time big changes come around that actually have a direct impact on your life, the game has moved on. And if you’re trying to get on board at that point, you’re late to the party and only there to pick up the pieces.

I’ve lived through enough moments in life when those who paid attention could see the direction the path ahead was revealing, and just enough tuned out to give those forging the path all the runway they needed.

Look, no one can keep up with everything. That’s just a reality. If there’s one good thing that has come out of the age of social media is that we can at least remain peripherally aware of the debates and arguments in ways we couldn’t before social media.

Even a peripheral awareness is better than a self-imposed lack of awareness, whatever the reason for shutting down.

Pay attention. Stay in the game.

(Image from Zoe VandeWater on Unsplash)

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

John Gruber Thinks I’ve Lost My Mind

Looking for a world of like, yet lost minds

There’s a weird and depressing continuation of folks moving back to X, formerly Twitter, currently still a cesspool.

The weirdness and my depression started when Federico Viticci and John Voorhees of MacStories fame headed back to stuffing Elon Musk’s back pocket. They’ve recently been followed by others in the tech-o-sphere, lured primarily because that’s apparently where the action is when it comes to talking about AI. Or talking to bots. I’m nor sure it matters. I expect them to all start calling it super intelligence any day now. Why not go all in?

The latest, and the most puzzling return is John Gruber. In a lengthy post he explains why. He also throws Musk-like insults at those who of us who don’t see his point by saying we’ve lost our minds.

If you have stayed away, or even just mostly away, from X for years and then come back, people just say things like “Hey, glad you’re back!” On the other networks, especially Mastodon, they tell you you’re “feeding Nazis” — by going to the platform where Tim Cook posts Pikachu videos. These people have either lost their minds or refuse to check their prior assumptions. (Most of the ones who chime in about it publicly are the lost-their-minds types.)

Perhaps I have lost my mind, John. I don’t think so, but perhaps I have. My grandson accuses me of that now and then, typically when I’m reminding him about what’s right and what’s wrong, given that he’s young enough not to know better.

Where my mind may have been misplaced, if it has, is a simpler location. That’s a place where I choose not to give money or participate in Elon Musk’s empire of depravity, where he thinks and spends money defending the so-called free speech right to create non-consensual pornography of pictures that are on his social network or wherever he can grab them Including those of children. To be clear, he’s done much more certainly and I’m not in favor of any of that either.

To be clearer, whether you pay for X or just lurk and scroll, you’re giving Musk money to do what he does. It’s out of your bank account into funding his depravity dumping on the world.

That’s my personal line in the sand that doesn’t shift. I will say the same things I say to relatives who still support MAGAts and Trump. If you condone sexual abuse of children because you think there’s a greater good somewhere being served by the perpetrators of that sexual abuse, you need to reframe how you think about the greater good. You may not have lost your mind, but you’re on your way to losing someting greater. And that’s not good.

Look, I miss Twitter. But that social network no longer exists. Gruber comes so close to swearing that what followed it once Musk took over has changed and is now a kinder, gentler place. So much so that on a quick first read I thought his post was a parody. Sadly, it’s not. X may have indeed changed somewhat. I don’t care enough to find out. Yes, big brands, celebrities, and sports reporters still rely on Twitter for reasons that are beyond me. Again, that’s their choice. For better or worse, whatever wisdom or lack thereof eventually filters out into the world eventually, so it really doesn’t matter.

Gruber, like the others who seem to be meandering back to Musk-land, are entititled to their opinions and to particiapte with any social network they choose. The fact that they need to justify their choices by smearing those who think differently, and dare I say how they themselves once were so outspoken with their thinking, to some extent proves just how much Musk and the MAGAt crowd have perverted and damaged the world we live in and the world online. Smearing others is like breathing in that world. I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind seeing them choke on it one day.

At least Gruber made his choice clear, unlike the MacStories duo. I have no doubt they’ll be calling Artifical Intelligence by its new Trump anointed and Musk approved branding soon.

Super.

(Image by Lutz Stalknecht on Unsplash)

Thanks for reading. You can subscribe to this blog if you care to. You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links.

Sunday Morning Reading

More knowledge generally diffused

It’s a Sunday. Leaves are beginning to fall as Autumn closes in. It’s a good morning to do some reading, even if it’s just “more knowledge generally diffused.” So, settle in for some Sunday Morning Reading.

I too often fall into the trap of thinking one thing or the other might be inevitable. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m off base. When it comes to AI, what it might or might not be is still anybody’s guess. Matteo Wong thinks Nothing About This Was Inevitable. I agree when it comes to the technology. I strongly disagree when it comes to how humans inevitably do what humans inevitably do when they think they found the golden ticket.

In theatre rehearsals I often refer to “the little theatre in my mind” when giving direction to actors. It’s a place where the conscious and subconscious do battle when I’m directing a show. Mathew Ingram wonders What Makes Our Minds Different And Where Does It Come From? The mind may be an unchanging observer of whatever we do as Descartes says. But who pops the popcorn?

In a throwback post (so glad he does this), Neil Steinberg takes on James Boswell’s take on Samuel Johnson in Musings Of An 18th Century Giant Still Relevant Today. “It must be considered, that we have now more knowledge generally diffused.”

Kim Zetter explores The Secrets Of A US Spyware King The damn thing is there are no secrets really. Just pervasiveness.

A fascinating beginning to a series at The Intellectualist on The Great Fragmentation. Part II or How The Old Gatekeepers Made Themselves Easy To Kill Off is especially worth your while.

I often maintain we’re still fighting the American Civil War. I’ll go to my grave defending that position, primarily because it began long before 1861 in an era we do our best to ignore for fear of coming face to face with ourselves. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz delves into a bit of that ignored history with The True Story Of The Actual First Shot Fired In The Civil War.

On an Internet site called sheets.works there’s a fascinating piece, portrayed both visually and to a degree in text called The People Holding Up The Internet.

Chicago lost a legend this week with the passing of football legend Mike Ditka. Few of us pass without becoming synonymous with an era, a city, or a time. For better, or worse, Ditka defined this toddlin’ yet often troubled town of Chicago as much as the original Mayor Daley ever did. Brad Biggs pens a nice obituary that focuses on Ditka’s football career. Ditka had his critics, some of whom made their criticism known after his passing. In our world of more and more knowledge generally diffused, and thus I dare say confused, it’s frustrating how challenging it can be when all the parts of a life are summed up, beyond the moments and achievements which gives meaning to multitudes.

(Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Unsplash

Thanks for reading. Feel free to subscribe if you want. It’s free. If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. This site does not use affilate links.

Hope, Fears, Concerns

What’s ahead is as perilous as the road we’ve all been traversing

I have hope that enough people have seen more than they need to vote out congressional and other enablers of the Trump regime. I’m hoping whatever threats or evil magic spell he’s tossed into the ether have dissipated enough to bring out large numbers of voters in the right precincts and districts.

I have fears that while I anticipate all sorts of shenanigans, legal and otherwise, prior to and in the immediate aftermath of election day that we’ll have to endure another nightmare political circus. Frankly, I fear more what happens on January 3rd when the new Congress is supposed to be sworn in that there will be attempts to not seat democratically elected members.

I have concerns that should the vote deliver overwhelming majorities that none of the efforts to try and negate the results will matter that it will lead everyone to breathe a huge sigh of relief, thinking that we’ve moved out of the morass. Even if/when power shifts in Congress the next two years are going to be more challenging than the last two as long as Trump is still in office. Even if he disappeared tomorrow the work to fix what’s been broken will take maximum effort. That much needed sigh of relief can only be a momentary one before any real work begins.

Vote.

Disgraced Denny Hastert Dies

Times have sure changed

Once upon a time. It seems not so long ago, yet so distant. There was a time when we held crooked politicians and pedophiles to account for the wrongs they committed.

I’m reminded of just how relatively recent that was in seeing the news that Illinois politician and former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert has died. Hastert was arrested and convicted in 2016 of violating federal banking laws to make secret payments to cover up his sex abuse crimes. He later admitted his crimes at sentencing.

Times change and sad to say, we certainly don’t live in those times anymore.

The Golden Age Of Shit. Super Intelligence Style

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. -Walter Scott

The farce that unfolded in Washington DC yesterday regarding Artificial Intelligence wasn’t comedy. Yet it was super hilarious. At some point you have to understand that the wool is being pulled over all of our eyes, including those of the president. And you have to laugh.

Us president donald trump attends national design studio launch event for america gov a new ai powered government website at t.jpg.

In an election year that sees American’s distaste for anything approaching the topic of AI growing like kudzu, the folks running the AI show keep rapidly alternating back and forth between requests that the government step in and stop them from destroying humanity and telling us that their products will create a new golden age of abundance.

If there’s a joke in the circle jerk of a game they’re playing, it’s that the president croaks that he got the assembled AI oligarchy to sign on to a “morally binding” agreement to self-police. You read that right. “Morally binding.” There’s lots of laughing about a group of technologists who built empires on stealing the work of others, who never met a law or a moral they wouldn’t spit on, signing such a document put forward by one of the most outrageous criminals the world has ever known. But that’s just the set up.

The joke is that these conmen are playing the decaying before our eyes president for all they can while he’s still breathing. He no longer understands what’s put before him. He doesn’t have a competent staff. A fact made abundantly clear by the misspelling of the United States under the president’s signature and the fact that his administration’s AI fueled new website spent the day disproving all the lies he’s foisted upon a population with an average reading age of a sixth grader. You’d think his flunkies would use AI to do some basic proofreading and fact-checking. But that’s above a sixth grader’s skill set. Apparently they’ve already “corrected” the website to spit out the lies again.

These tech bros are openly yanking the president’s chain, taking advantage of his infirmity, our divisiveness, our curiosity, and the greed of the markets. The rest of the world is doing it. Given their desires to run the planet, into the ground or elsewhere, they might as well get in on the act before the curtain comes down.

Couple all of that with the supposed name change in the order, rebranding Artificial Intelligence to Super Intelligence. On the one hand it’s good to know that if the technology kills us all there will be no shortage of superlatives to describe the end of times in the summaries all the robots, Muses, and Dots will spam each other with after we’re gone. It beats being wiped out by something branded as artificial, I guess. On the other, the name change is just super silly. Call me when OpenAI changes its name. I’m just surprised he didn’t name it American Intelligence. Or Trump Intelligence.

If there’s drama ahead in any of this, it’s that at some point it’s going to all go to shit. Mostly it has already. Those who dismiss every warning as merely marketing remind me of early climate change deniers. Those who take the warnings seriously remind me of every bandwagon jumper that’s ever leaped to a conclusion. As in most things, what truth that exists probably lies somewhere in the muddy middle, which is exactly where those who will profit over either their success or failure want it to stay.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s all complicated. Until it’s not.

In some weird way another Sunday has rolled around and pulled into the station that signals the end of another week. I say weird because it’s one of those weeks where you lose track of where you are day by day, and have to keep reminding yourself which day that ends in “y” you’ve landed on. It’s complicated. In a way to avoid my momentary confusion, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. If I’m sharing it, it must be Sunday, right?

Matthieu marseille JzmM3xTu2Xw unsplash.

Artificial Intelligence continues to complicate the news with more and more problems predictably arising daily out of that tempestuous soup we called technology. Ian Duncan has a more than interesting essay on the matter titled Sex, AI, And The Apocalypse that’s worth your time. Whether you’re buying what anyone, including Duncan, is selling, it’s worth examining the merchandise.

Aurra Kawanzaruwa reminds that’s it’s not the lie that’s told that matters as much as the doubt it creates in The Liar’s Dividend. Who Benefits From Your Doubt.

Meanwhile, David Todd McCarty takes a look at An Uncomplicated Life. Easier said than done. Better done than not.

JA Westenberg says Outrage Is Our Last Campfire. Any piece that begins with examining a bit of Anton Chekov is worth your time in my view. I’m not sure if outrage is the last or not, but it sure is consuming us more than keeping us warm.

I miss good sports writing. Chicago is a crazy sports town, and at the moment, with both major league baseball teams in the playoffs and the NFL season underway emotions are running rampant. The stakes are high, but the odds are fading with the Chicago Bear’s star quarterback and thus that team’s hopes injured. Most of the hopes and baseball dreams will come to naught in my opinion, but it makes for an uncomplicated way to while away some time between commercial breaks for online betting. Matt Lombardo’s has a good piece of sports writing in The Official Quarterback Hell Travel Guide worth checking out if you’re into such things.

Sad to say, you can’t talk about sports today without talking about gambling. Alex Klavens, Walk Bogdanich and Jenny Vrentas investigate How Draftkings Uses A.I. To Target The Gamblers Likeliest To Lose. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

To close out, give a read to Timothy Snyder’s piece A Medidation On Train Stations. The things we know, and the things we just set aside to deal with so many other things are enough to complicate countless lifetimes.

(Image from Matthieu Marseille on Unsplash)

Thanks for reading. Feel free to subscribe if you want. It’s free. If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. This site does not use affilate links.

Human Nature, Artificial Intelligence, and Hive Mindlessness

I always look at everyone when we’re on the street and think, ‘We’re like sheep or ants.’ – Lee Ryan

The stock we place in leaders to change the course of countries and companies is more times than not an illusion. The bigger the organization the greater the illusion. For the moment at least these organizations are still made up of humans, and in most cases to think humans march in lockstep you’ve got a hitch in your step.

Oktavianus mulyadi Ir0LXvMPnyc unsplash.

We watch presidents and dictators and CEOs and heads of this and that issue orders, decrees, mission statements, warnings, social media posts, and what have you, and it’s easy to put whatever statement they make to bed and move on whether it’s a problem solved, problem created, or a promise made. Yes, leaders set a tone and an agenda. But leaders don’t do the dirty work down under that make the trains run on time.

Often it’s underlings who think they’re doing what’s called for. They can sometimes twist and turn the agenda to their own purposes. Occasionally they turn their own zeal into a tempest that laps the original intent of whatever they’ve been ordered to accomplish.

And then there are those not in the mix that follow. Seize the agenda. Jump on the bandwagon and try to turn it into the permission slip they’ve always wanted to do now that they feel justified. Or perhaps just because it’s possible. They and the curious who sit on the sidelines can also upend any agenda.

Wealth certainly doesn’t trickle down, but bad motivations do. Strike that. The gravity occasionally runs the other way. Permission slips open up a plethora of permissive possibilities that even the strongest hand of the strongest boss can’t control. That’s human nature. Like Mother Nature, it’s a delusion we can control either.

Even so, we like to think there’s a world out there where we’re all pulling with the same purpose towards the same goals. That’s the illusion.

What prompted this little bit of an essay, beyond watching the always on/off political posing these days, was watching Meta’s new attempt to conquer the world, Muse, rocket up to the top of the app charts with surprising speed. Given all that we know about Zuckerberg’s machinations and maniuplations I don’t believe there was a public out there thirsting for this next move. But it’s being devoured and guzzled in gulps not seen since votes were secured with beer and a sandwich in Chicago taverns back in the day.

Humans are an evolved species that can reason. Perhaps that’s the illusion. Insects that revolve around queens like ants and bees don’t reason. The irony of the gender difference of bosses between the insect world and our technologically driven one is amusing, but the willingness of the drones that follow the leader is depressing.

(Image from oktavianus mulvadi on Unsplash)

Sunday Morning Reading

Yes, and…or No, But?

It’s a Sunday. Yes, and it’s raining. Yes, and it was darker than I prefer when I sat down to write this edition of Sunday Morning Reading. The content feels darker too. Sign of the times? Or just a look inside what’s caught my attention? You read. You try to figure it out. I don’t think I can. Neither can anyone else it seems. Game on.

Michal vrba AJlaheUF IA unsplash. Boys playing chess

AI safety is all over the news, which means it has become practically a dead horse of a topic. Is it scam or a real threat? No one knows. Funny. I think that’s how the scammers prefer it. Especially if there’s a there there. Juliette Kayyem says Destroying Humanity Is Against The Law. Is it?

Anand Giridharadas repeats the obvious in The System Is Rigged. The Cavalry Is Not Coming. We’re On Our Own. Obvious as it may be, it’s worth your time.

Phillips Payson O’Brien says The American Age Is Over. Duh.

David Todd McCarty takes on The Abject Failure Of American Media. McCarty also sprinkles some wisdom on the Ed Sheeran controversy in Ed Sheeran Learns The Hard Way That Neutrality Is Not A Safe Space. There are parallels about more than just safe spaces if you’re of a mind to see them.

Anyone who didn’t think The Kennedy Center was going to be just another in a long list of casualties that would take a miraculous act of resurrection after Trump spoiled all the parties was deluding themselves. Everyone knew the lies going in. Janay Kingsberry reveals the financial ones for the few who pay attention in What The Kennedy Center’s Tax Returns Reveal.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the improv technique “Yes, and…” Dennis Hogan asks “What was Improv?” in his piece No, But. If you know, you know. If you read, you’ll find out.

Justin Neuman says we are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, and pointlessly. There’s wisdom there. There’s also wisdom in what he offers about this era when everything is gamified in More Nothing Now.

Neil Steinberg brightens the morning by suggesting that sometimes all we need is a kitten in Farm Kitten.

(Image from Michal Vrba on Unsplash)

Sunday Morning Reading

Reading and thinking on a rainy late-summer morning.

I have a love/hate relationship with late August in Chicago. Hints of Autumn, my favorite season, become stronger. The sun rises later, which I’m not a fan of. That’s where we are on this rainy Sunday morning in Chicago, so it’s time for a little Sunday Morning Reading. And thinking.

Ronit shaked ENNtoNUxhU unsplash. Transparent umbrellas appear to float in the sky.

I like to think I keep an open mind. I also like to think that the life we’re living currently will one day be better. Bottom line, I like to think. Daryl Van Tongeren says that Everyone Wants To Think They’re Open-Minded. Here’s Why Most People Aren’t. My mind is increasingly closing to the possibility of things getting better in my lifetime.

Natasha MH explores egos and gatekeepers in The Structural Shift Beneath Our Feet. I’d argue the shift is in our minds.

David Todd McCarty says that Engagement Might Be The Problem, Not The Solution. To my way of thinking, it never was the solution. Unless you were running one of the engagement platforms.

Davi Ottenheimer sees a similarity between the tech bros and plantation owners. He’s not wrong. Check out “AI Own” And The Techbro Dream of Plantation Life.

Zoe Williams tells us How To Spot A Psychopath, saying ‘It’s like the difference between a domestic cat and a wild cat.” Given that most probably haven’t encountered the latter, perhaps it’s no surprise that the real deal is often so difficult to spot.

Neil Steinberg continues to delve into his archives, this time with a piece from 2015 called Face Fear. When you look and think beneath the surface, there’s no wonder what wonders you’ll discover.

I’ve attended a number of wakes, visitations, memorials, and celebrations of life recently. “Wake” is my favorite term of art for masking grief. It just feels more appropriate to my way of thinking. Timing is everything, so Natasha MH’s piece While The Dead Was Sleeping struck a chord this week.

Speaking of those departed, this week we lost one of the good ones, Dolly Parton. Lots of things written about her extraordinary life and legacy. I particularly enjoyed this piece from Heather Cox Richardson.

It’s a dreary day and some of the links above are also are a bit dreary. So, to close on a cheerier note, Mastodon friend Ian Robinson linked to this piece called How To Talk To Comedy Writer from Andy Reilly. If you’ve ever paid attention to comedy, I bet you’ll recognize some of what you’ve seen, if not why you laughed at it.

(Image from Ronit Shaked on Unsplash)