Monthly Archives: September 2018

THE BEADY ASK’S: DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT AGREE TO.

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by in Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit., Democracy, England EU Referendum IN or Out., Gibraltar and Spain, Norther Ireland, Northern Ireland Border., Politics., The common good., The Obvious., Unanswered Questions., Uncategorized

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( A three-minute read)

My recent Beady Eye post attempted to explain the origins of the Northern Ireland border.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the good friday agreement"

THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM.

Up to the Good Friday agreement Northern Ireland was in effect a one-party state, in which half of the population was routinely discriminated against.

The agreement marked a commitment to “the mutual respect, the civil rights and the religious liberties of everyone with Britain agreed to incorporate the European Convention of Human Rights into the law of Northern Ireland.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of The Belfast Agreement, more commonly known as The Good Friday Agreement.

SIGNED ON THE 10th April 1998. It effectively brought an end to The Troubles, which had raged in the region for thirty years. It was widely seen in Britain, as elsewhere, as a significant act of statesmanship, supported by both main parties.

A devolved assembly was established for both sides to govern together and while unionists were assured of their British identity, a united Ireland was acknowledged as a legitimate political goal for Republicans.

As the Irish border is becoming a critical issue in the Brexit negotiations, it now appears at risk.

CONDEMNING THE AGREEMENT TO THE POLITICAL SHREDDER.

Some 71 percent of people in Northern Ireland voted to accept the agreement in a referendum, with the DUP (NOW BRIBING THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY TO THE TUNE OF 6 BILLION TO REMAIN IN POWER) being the only party to reject it.

The system of power-sharing government it established in Northern Ireland has not functioned for over a year.

However, the collective failure in Northern Ireland will not be blamed just on Brexit nor on the DUP but on the EU if it agrees to any border visible or otherwise.

The harder the border between north and south, the more reckless the UK’s decision to leave the EU will be judged.

A significant amount of direct funding is at stake: the EU provides Northern Ireland with nearly a billion euros a year for agriculture, employment, and projects related to the peace process.

Of course, no one talks about the other border between Gibraltar and Spain where British territory also has a historic claim placed on it by a foreign power, namely Spain.

It will “make the Irish problem look like a picnic”.

96 percent of Gibraltarians voted to Remain in 2016.

Of course there are differences between Northern Ireland and Gibraltar, obviously, based on geography, economics, and history. Gibraltar isn’t in the UK, but as a close overseas dependent territory, it may as well be.

The EU has given Spain a formal veto over Brexit if Madrid is not happy with the Gibraltar dimensions of a Brexit deal. The Irish didn’t get that.

Gibraltar could easily be treated much like other EU microstates such as Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, and Andorra; EU members in all but name, albeit with no formal voting powers.

SO WHY NOT NORTHERN IRELAND?

GIBRALTAR REPRESENTS one tiny strip of land, two vetoes and three governments trying to achieve the impossible WHILE NORTHERN IRELAND REPRESENTS A HISTORICAL DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Makes you wonder if all this collateral damage TO ALL CONCERNED is worth it.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: THIS COULD BE A GOOD TIME TO REMIND IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND ENGLAND WHY THE BORDER BETWEEN IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND EXISTS.

08 Saturday Sep 2018

Posted by in Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit., England EU Referendum IN or Out., European Commission., European Union., Fake News., Norther Ireland, Northern Ireland Border., Politics., Post - truth politics., The Irish/ Northern Ireland border., The Obvious., Unanswered Questions.

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( A six to seven-minute read)

THIS IS MY HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING.

CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG.

In October 1921 Lord George convened a conference in London in which he and other leading statesmen of Britain met with Irish envoys of the De Valera’s Irish Government.

The resulting treaty signed on the 6 of December recognized the Free State of Ireland as a dominion with full powers of self-government and determination but leaving England the control of certain harbors for purposes of defense.

This treaty which created the Irish Free State had a clause which ensured that Northern Ireland could opt out of the deal – which they did.

SO THE DEMAND FOR AN OUT AND OUT REPUBLIC WAS DROPPED AND THE RIGHT TO MAINTAIN ITS OWN EXCLUSION FROM IRELAND WAS ADMITTED FOR THE UNIT OF SIX COUNTIES CALLED ULSTER WHICH IS NOW CALLED NORTHERN IRELAND.

IN FACT, ULSTER HAD ALREADY VOTED ITSELF OUT OF A UNITED IRELAND AND THOUGH PROVISION WAS MADE FOR RE-UNION UNDER ONE PARLIAMENT AT SOME FUTURE DATE IT WAS A DATE NONE COULD FORESEE.

When De Valera was presented with the terms of the treaty he opposed it however it was ratified on the 7th Jan 1922 by 64 votes to 57.

De Valera resigned and a civil war commenced from the 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923. This conflict followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Empire.

Northern Ireland was created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921 resulting in Ireland partitioned into two states with six of the nine counties of the Province of Ulster remaining in the United Kingdom.

The Unionist politicians to this day refer to Northern Ireland as Ulster which it is not.

Any historical record will show that it is an organized plantation by Great Britain which was begun in 1609. The colonization of Ulster had been proposed since the end of the Nine-year war to reward Scottish subjects loyal to King James with land.

IT LEAD TO THE NATIVE IRISH LOSING THEIR LAND AND TO ETHIC AND SECTARIAN CONFLICT WE HAVE WITTINESS TO THIS DAY.

WHERE ARE WE TODAY.

WITH NORTHERN IRELAND NOW ON THE VERGE OF A NEW WORLD RECORD – FOR NO GOVERNMENT.

The only Brexit supporters are the Democratic Unionists – who opposed marriage equality, opposed language rights and the funding of inquests to victims of the conflict.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the irish border after brexit"

AFTER DECADES OF REPUGNANT VIOLENCE ON BOTH SIDE THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT OF TWENTY YEARS AGO DEFERRING MAJOR ISSUES.

THE NEED FOR A VISIBLE BORDER FOR ALL INITIATIVE PURPOSED WAS REMOVED.

HOWEVER, THE CONTINUING INFLICTED HISTORICAL AFTER MATE OF PARTITION HAS NOT COME TO AN END OR HAS IT WITH THE ADVENT OF BREXIT.

The tenuous foundation of the Good Friday agreement is now once more putting the question of reunification back on the agenda.

Why?

Because Northern Ireland vote to stay in the European Union.

THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT UNFORTUNATELY REINFORCES THE UNDERLYING SECTARIANISM THAT EXISTS IN AS MUCH AS IT DOES NOT ADDRESS THE SOURCE OF THE BORDER.  ALTHOUGH IT ACKNOWLEDGES THE CONTINUING AND EQUALLY LEGITIMATE POLITICAL ASPERATIONS OF EACH SIDE AND ALLOWS THE POSSIBILITY OF A REFERENDUM IF THE MAJORITIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND AND IRELAND WANT IT. Brexit is now creating its own type of limbo.

WITH THE IDENTITY ISSUES REOPENING THE BORDER  Neither Unionists or Nationalists are preparing their constituencies for a compromise. This position is profoundly undemocratic. 

The Good Friday agreement belongs only to the people of Ireland north and south – it is not a Tory Brexiteer bargaining chip.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of the irish border after brexit"

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For the first time after seven centuries of British rule

 

THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: DO YOU KNOW THE WORLD YOU LIVE ON

04 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Arms Trade., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Climate Change., Education, Enegery, Environment, Evolution, Fourth Industrial Revolution., Fresh Water., G7., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Modern day life., Natural World Disasters, Oil, Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., Reality., Space., Sustaniability, Technology, The cloud., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., United Nations, War, Wealth., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations., World Politics

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( A FIVE MINUTE READ)

 

7.6 BILLION OF US LIVE ON IT

BUT VERY FEW OF US KNOW WHAT IT IS WHERE IT IS OR WHAT WE ARE DOING ON IT OR TO IT. How Big Is Earth?

IT IS 6.378KM IN RADIUS, 6.6 SEXTILLION TONS IN WEIGHT, WITH A SURFACE AREA OF 197 MILLION SQ MILES MADE UP OF 71% WATER, 29% LAND OF WHICH 5% IS LIVABLE ON.

IT IS 4.54 billion years old, plus or minus 1%.

We humans speaking 7, O97 LANGUAGES of which 23 accounts for half the world’s population has been on it for a mere 0.004% of the Earth’s history.

humans on earth

IT HAS 15,000 BIRTHS PER HOUR. 360,000 PER DAY, 132 MILLION PER YEAR WITH 56 MILLION DEATH PER YEAR.

IT HAS 10.7 percent LIVING IN EXTREME POVERTY WITH 68.5 MILLION DISPLACE PEOPLE, OF WHICH 25.4 million are refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18 with 1% OF RICH PEOPLE owning half the world’s wealth.

 IT IS THE 5TH LARGEST PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM WITH ABOUT 10 BILLION WITH TONS OF CONCRETE POURED ON IT EVERY YEAR.

3% OF THE WORLD IS COVERED IN URBAN AREAS WITH 33 BILLION METERS OF ROADS.

After water concrete is the single most widely used material in the world – and it has a carbon footprint to match.

As you read this, there are more than 40 conflicts unfolding in countries around the world. Yet these are just the most visible look beyond them and there are plenty more.

Total world military expenditure rose to $1739 billion in 2017.

We can blame terrorism and the fear it inspires despite the statistically unimportant number of casualties it inflicts, or the contemporary media and the breathless cycle of “breaking news”, but the truth remains that the wars that seem to inspire the fanatics or have produced so many headlines in recent years prompt deep anxiety.

And with climate change and profit-seeking algorithms things are only going to get worse.

Surely the needs of humanity should always come first. While there are people on Earth who need help, they should be helped, rather than seeing money spent on sending robots onto other planets. Humanity is the number one priority; keeping the human race alive is a necessity.

But we cannot live without the other species we share the earth with. Okay, guess quickly: how many species do you think we share the earth with.

A trillion.

While that may (or may not) be true, the next sentence is spuriously precise: “Every hour three species disappear. Every day up to 150 species are lost.”

Even putting aside the apparent mathematical error in that claim (on the face of it, if three species are disappearing every hour, 72 would be lost every day) there is an obvious problem in generating any such number. No-one knows how many species exist. And if we don’t know a species exists, we won’t miss it when it’s gone.

BP claimed the earth has enough oil left for about 53 more years at current production levels

So far Nasa has spent trillions on trying to get off it.

Science may well give us good things.

We all know Velcro came from NASA.

But why bother spending all this money exploring space and finding out there was water on Mars at some point in the last few thousand years (we have water in Earth) when these same great minds could be applied to finding better ways to power humanity’s insatiable desire for energy, to feeding the starving millions around the globe, and generally making life down here better before looking up into the heavens.

It seems the authoritative powers have their heads way, way up in the clouds.

Earth first:

14 billion pounds (6B Kg.) of garbage are dumped into the ocean every year. Most of it is plastic. Americans make up 5% of the world’s population, and yet, produce 30% of the world’s waste and use 25% of the world’s resources.

More than 95 percent of the world’s population is breathing polluted, unsafe air.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of earth from space"

THIS IS THE EARTH YOU NOW LIVE ON SURROUNDED BY JUNK.

NOT THE EARTH ON YOUR SMARTPHONE NOR THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENT EARTH.

IF YOU WANT TO GROW UP ON THIS BEAUTIFUL PLANET LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD.

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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: ARE WE ALL BECOMING ALGORITHMICALLY BLIND.

02 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Communication., Evolution., Facebook, Fourth Industrial Revolution., Google, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Innovation., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Reality., Robot citizenship., Sustaniability, Technology, The cloud., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Politics

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( A four-minute read)

We now live in a world where bite-sized chunks of mathematical data have become central to how we live our daily lives.

When programs pass into code and code passes into algorithms and then algorithms start to create new algorithms, it gets farther and farther from human agency.

The resulting software is being released into a code universe which no one can fully understand.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF ALGORITHMS AT WORK"

The results so far are becoming more and more apparent, with the legality of these algorithms in the long term no longer fit for purpose given the size, complexity, and interdependence of the algorithm systems we increasingly rely on.

It won’t be long before they are writing themselves.

The present-day digital economy is affecting not just how we live but when and where we live. The era of digital transformation is everywhere and the next phase is just around the corner Privacy and cyber warfare.

Despite the wide-reaching impacts of AI, there is no mechanism or body that is charged with accessing its increasing impacts on day to day life.

Here I am not talking about whether it is ethical for Google to know where you are or where you are going but rather the lack of transparency on how this information is being used by governments etc.

IF INFORMATION IS TO BE SHARED WORLDWIDE IT HAS TO BE MADE DO SO BY ETHICAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS.

THIS IS HAPPENING BUT ON A FRAGMENTED BASES.

WHAT WE ARE GOING TO END UP WITH IS AI REGULATIONS OF ONE COUNTRY CONFLICTING WITH THE OTHERS.

THE END RESULT WILL BE: AI TECHNOLOGIES FAILING TO OPERATE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT with the likely outcome that we will see AI technologies misappropriated, and misused.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE:

BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF EDUCATION AND AWARENESS ON THE ETHICAL AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF AI WE ARE WITNESSING THE CREATION OF VAST INEQUALITY IN A WORLD PLAGUED BY DISASSOCIATION AND PERSONALIZED NEWS BUBBLES.

Furthermore since AI is seen to have a global impact regardless of the specific geographical location it is employed – from Wall Street to the current global wars to whether you get medical help or a loan, if we are not careful it will allow individuals and the current Facebook’s, Twitter, Amazon, Google, of this world to use AI to suppress, oppress and control.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXPONENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES CAN NOT BE LEFT TO SELF DEVELOPMENT.

NON OF THESE TECHNOLOGIES HAS AT THEIR HEART A WORLD ASPIRATION FOR PEACE-BUILDING, HUMAN RIGHTS, OR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of algorithms at work"

THEY ARE DRIVEN BY PROFIT FOR PROFIT SAKE.

ALL OWNERS OF ANY SOFTWARE THAT DRIVES ANY PROGRAMS OR ALGORITHMS ASSOCIATED TO PROFIT SHOULD BE OBLIGED BY LAW TO DEPOSIT A COPY OF THE SAID PROGRAM IN A WORLD DEPOSITORY WHERE IT IS VETTED AGAINST OUR COMMON VALUES.

UNLESS WE DEVELOP AI POLICIES AND REGULATIONS IN A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT AI IS UNLIKELY TO FOSTER A SUSTAINABLE WORLD AND WILL INSTEAD REINFORCE NORMS OF COMPETITION.

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