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THE BEADY EYE LOOKS AT THE FAR RIGHT AS A VOTING PROPOSITION.

07 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by in 2019., Democracy, European Elections 2019, European Union., Freedom, Modern day life., Our Common Values., Politics., Post - truth politics., Reality., The common good., The far-right., The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH, What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Politics, World Racism

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(Fourteen-minute read)

BEFORE YOU VOTE IN THE FORTHCOMING EUROPEAN ELECTION YOU SHOULD BE WELL ADVISED TO KNOW WHAT EXACTLY DO THE FAR RIGHT PARTIES STAND FOR.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF THE FAR RIGHT"

The European far right represents a confluence of many ideologies: nationalism, socialism, anti-Semitism, authoritarianism.

Given the significant variations that exist between these parties and groups, any term that groups them together and compares them will have limitations.

But the term “far right” is the least problematic precisely because it can be used, on the one hand, to identify the overarching similarities that make them comparable, and on the other to distinguish between different variants.

Though Europe’s far-right parties differ in important respects, they are motivated by a common sense of mission: to save their homelands from what they view as the corrosive effects of multiculturalism and globalization by creating a closed-off, ethnically homogeneous society.

Under the “far right” umbrella, we must distinguish between two sub-categories: extreme and radical right.

The extreme right includes both vigilante groups and political parties that are often openly racist, have clear ties to fascism and also employ violence and aggressive tactics. These groups may operate either outside or within the realm of electoral politics or both.

The term “right-wing populism”, however, is less appropriate.

Populism is an even broader umbrella that often includes disparate parties and groups.

To narrow down this category, we often tend to conflate populism and nationalism, identifying a party as populist, not on the basis of its populist attributes – what party doesn’t claim to speak on behalf of the people in a democracy? – but on the basis of its nationalist attributes.

But despite the similarities between “populism” and “nationalism” – both emphasise conflict lines, focus on the collective, and put forward a vision of an ideal society – the two are conceptually different. While the former pits the people against the elites, the latter pits the in-group against the out-group.

In part, both can be seen as a backlash against the political establishment in the wake of the financial and migrant crises, but the wave of discontent also taps into long-standing fears about globalisation and a dilution of national identity.

This civic nationalist rhetoric presents culture as a value issue, justifying exclusion on purported threats posed by those who do not share “our” liberal democratic values.

The justification is that certain cultures and religions are intolerant and inherently antithetical to democracy.

They tend to oppose procedural democracy with some common themes, such as hostility to immigration, anti-Islamic rhetoric and Euroscepticism.

The forthcoming elections are going to expose just who are they, where they are, what are their political programmes and why they have risen from the political fringes.

So where does this leave Europe’s political landscape?

Will the far right triumph in Europe in 2019?

Will the far right redraw the political map of Europe?

Is the European Union being pulled inexorably towards the agenda of the far

right? 

There is little point here in listing party after party, it is sufficient to say that they all to some degrees or other blame and want to get rid of migrants. While conveniently ignoring that their countries are for the most part made up of refugees in one form or another.

If the far right wins 100 seats in the new European parliament this year, and the EPP group’s drift to nationalism and xenophobia continues, it is safe to say the projects of integration and social liberalism will be on hold.

They believed in what Trump promised in the USA.

The reality is that the EU in the forthcoming elections needs to look at the next distribution of structural funds. It needs to redefine the allocation criteria to reflect the preparedness of regions and authorities to receive and integrate migrants.

What is the solution?

It is surely this:

For the centre-left and the radical left to seek tactical unity with as many green and liberal parties as possible to defend democracy, suppress fascism and end austerity.

At the moment it’s hard to get the leaders of the European radical left to occupy the same room, let alone persuade social democratic politicians to collaborate with them.

However, the migration issue is the starting point of a continental power struggle pitching two very different versions of the principles that should bind Europe together.

One is liberal democratic, and attuned to the notion of an open society; the other is fortress-minded, illiberal and intolerant.

These far-right leaders are now uniting to attempt a national-populist takeover of the EU as we’ve known it.

There is, however, one wild-card option with a non-negligible chance of happening:

Theresa May falls, a second referendum cancels Brexit, Article 50 is revoked, Britain elects new MEPs and a new, left-led British government appoints a commissioner to match its politics. A unilateral cancellation of Brexit would merely leave Britain with all its rights under the status quo: but it would alter the dynamics of Europe.

Because even at 40 per cent of the vote, a new raft of left-affiliated MEPs would shift the balance in the parliament, while a feisty, communicative left commissioner from the fifth-largest economy in the world would tilt the balance in the EU.

For the democratic-minded across Europe, Europe needs to get its priorities right before it’s too late.

We all need to ask ourselves why should we relive the pain and terror today of far-right policies?

Surely if we Europeans have learnt anything it is that we all must distance ourselves from fascism in order to appeal to broader electorates.

And so herein lies the problem.

If nationalism is always a feature of the far right, as most researchers agree, what is the added value of the term “populism”? To put it another way, what is the difference between a radical right-wing party and a populist radical right-wing party? While populism may or may not be an attribute of some far-right parties, it is not their defining feature. Rather, nationalism is.

But while these parties differ in many ways, their progressive entrenchment in their national political systems raises similar questions about out-group exclusion, anti-immigration narratives and mainstream responses.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, a leading advocate of the alt-right in the United States, is hoping the movement can lead Europe’s nationalist and populist parties to a strong showing next May.

For me “Bannon is American and has no place in a European political party.

It is disrespectful and unnecessary!

Many of the themes of Bannonism/Trumpism do not translate well in Europe.

For far-right groups, the migrant issue is something of a zero-sum game:

One country’s “gain” (by refusing refugees) is necessarily another’s nation’s “loss”.

Ultimately, as national right-wing groups chart their paths forward, few will find their domestic legitimacy bolstered by linking up with other groups on the far right.

Allusions to transnational links complicate matters for most of them.

The history of far-right activism is replete with examples of efforts to develop international links, and their failure.

The reason why far-right populists in Europe do not coordinate more systematically is that most of them are profoundly different, both in policy and style.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF THE FAR RIGHT"

The sad truth is that it does not take Steve Bannon to build a strong far right in Europe. The voters are doing his job perfectly well – by not voting, and by supporting nationalist, anti-EU forces in their home countries.

History repeats itself, sadly, so don’t vote with false news spread by social media.

There are more than 40 million Muslims and 1.6 million Jews in Europe.

Do they need our votes?

I don’t think they need our votes. They need our kosher stamp.

No country can be forced to take in refugees. Every country has the right to say, ‘We don’t want others coming here.’ But the moment we’re talking about [engaging with parties that talk of] restriction on freedom of religion and racism.

The old world order is going through a lot of turbulence and is in danger of collapsing.

Those who believe in social democratic, green or liberal agendas have become accustomed to viewing far-right populists as automatically anti-EU.

Faced with this ideological flexibility, pro-EU politicians will need to think long and hard about how to protect the EU from those who would misuse it to promote a darker vision of Europe. These right-wing parties should be ostracized.

Make an informed choice rather than a mere expression of frustration with the EU in May.

There’s no steady political weathervane pointing in only one direction.

FOR ME:

OVER THE NEXT TWELVE YEARS WITH ALL OF US TREATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE  THAT IS GOING TO MAKE EVERYTHING IRREVELENT WHY WASTE A VOTE ON A FAR RIGHT OR INDEED FOR THAT MATTER ON A FAR LEFT PARTY WHEN WHAT IS NEEDED IS A VOTE THAT BRINGS US ALL TOGETHER TO ACT.

The far right has never had the slightest interest in the unknown.

It wants to be told the news it wants to hear, and the atmosphere of mystery it cultivates—like the pseudo-science to which it often gives rise—only exists to provide obvious lies with a vague cover of authority, a comfortably blurred prestige.

The tinder is dry, waiting for a lighted match.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: ITS TIME FOR SOME DEEP AUTHENTICITY ABOUT WHAT WE ARE ALL FACING.

02 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by in Climate Change., Paris Climate Change Conference 2015, Reality., Sustaniability, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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(THREE MINUTE READ)

YOU MIGHT BE FEELING ANGER, YOU MIGHT BE FEELING GRIEF, OR TERROR, FORGET ALL THAT NOW IT THE TIME FOR AUTHENTICITY FOR TELLING THE TRUTH.

YET THE EVIDENCE FOR HUMANITY’S ROLE IN CHANGING THE CLIMATE CONTINUES TO MOUNT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES ARE INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO IGNORE.

THERE’S A VAST AND GROWING GAP BETWEEN THE URGENCY TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE POLICIES NEEDED TO COMBAT IT.

WE CAN NO LONGER NOR CAN OUR WORLD LEADERS NO LONGER NOT BE TAKING STEPS TO AVERT CLIMATE CHANGE.

WE NEED DEEP ADAPTATION TO WHAT IS COMING.

WE MUST REBEL AGAINST UNSTANABILITY IN ALL ITS FORMS.

NOW, IT IS THE TIME FOR REALIZING HOW REAL ALL THIS IS.

NOW IT IS THE TIME FOR MASS NON- VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION.

NOW IT IS THE TIME FOR SOCIAL MEDIA AND OUR TV CHANNELS TO BE SPREADING THE WORD.

NOW IT IS THE TIME TO USE YOUR BUYING POWER TO DRIVE HOME THAT THIS IS NOT A FANATICISM THAT IS GOING TO BE SOLVE BY TECHNOLOGY

DON’T BE FOOLED THAT CHANGING YOUR LIGHT BULB OR JOINING THE GREEN PARTY IS GOING TO BE ENOUGH. WE NEED AN ABSOLUTE STEP CHANGE, AND WE HAVE BEEN IN NEED OF IT FOR A LONG TIME.

THE SOCIETIES AND GOVERNMENTS THAT ARE COMMITTING US TO OBLIVION CAN NO LONGER BE LEGITIMATE IF WHAT THEY ARE  ADVOCATING IS MASS EXTINCTION.

IT IS HIGHT TIME WE FREE OUR SELVES FROM THE ASSUMPTION OF POLITICAL BUSINESS AS USUAL.

THE PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCES, THE G8 MEETINGS, THE UNITED NATIONS, THE DONAL TRUMPS AND JAIR BOLAONARO OF THIS WORLD MUST BE PUT OUT TO GRAZING.

WE HAVE DESTROYED HALF OF NON-HUMAN LIFE ON EARTH IN MY LIFETIME.

WE ARE NOW PUTTING OUR SELVES ON THE ENDANGER LIST.

WE MUST DEMAND THAT CARBON ADMISSION BE REDUCES TO ZERO BY 2025.

THIS IS THE REAL TARGET.

HOW CAN THIS BE DONE?

BY USING OUR BUYING POWER. FORMING SMALL GROUPS THAT AGREE TO BOYCOTT PRODUCTS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROBLEM.

BY REALISING THAT WHEN YOU LOOK OUT YOUR WINDOW ALTHOUGH YOU MIGHT BE LOOKING AT A BLUE SKY THAT SOMEWHERE ELSE ON THE PLANTE IS ON FIRE, IS UNDERWATER, OR IS BEING FLATTENED BY HURRICANE WINDS.

BY REALISING THAT GROWTH AT ALL COST AND THE TECHNOLOGY IT IS PRODUCING WILL NOT STOP CLIMATE CHANGE.

BY REALISING THAT WE ARE LOOKING AT WARS OVER THE LAST DROP OF FRESHWATER OR THE LAST PIECE OF DRY LAND OR DEPARTURE FROM EARTH INTO OBLIVION.

BY REALISING THAT THIS IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFETIME AND THE RESPONSIBILITY TO AVOID IT BELONGS WITH US. 

BY ADOPTING A 0.05% WORLD AID TAX. ( See previous posts)

SUCH A TAX OR COMMISSION WOULD REVERSE THE FUNDAMENTAL INEQUALITY WHEN IT COMES REDUCING GLOBAL EMISSIONS.

BY NOT BUILDING ANY MORE NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS WHOS BYE PRODUCT WASTE CONTAMINATED THE EARTH. Image associée

LET ME ASK YOU THIS QUESTION:

WHAT IS THE POINT OF ANYTHING IF WE DON’T HAVE A LIVEABLE PLANET?

REGARDLESS OF WHAT PATH WE CHOOSE, THE KEY THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT WE ARE GOING TO PAY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

OUR CHOICES NOW DO MATTER, BUT WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO MAKE THEM.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN DO?

YES.

JOIN THE DiEM25 AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE: 

In order to do so, sign up at www.our.europeanspring.net.

All human comments appreciated/ All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WHEN IT COMES TO THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS IN MAY BREXIT WILL BE JUST A SIDESHOW.

01 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in #whatif.com, European Union.

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(Fifteen-minute read)

To solve the deepening political crisis in Europe that now has a dominant discourse of retreat to toxic nationalism and xenophobia we need to go beyond the nation-state.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of european spring 2018"

This can only be achieved by exploring its past and the ways that planet

Earth has influenced its history so that we can understand the present and

face the future. 

Against a background of fragmentation and the rise of populist illiberal

governments, Europe is crying out for leadership.

Europe is currently suffering from crises in it’s North/South debt divide, its

sense of identity, its banks, its poverty/inequality, its low investment and

migration.

It needs more than ever to deliver on the issues that really matter to people.

The EU needs to become a realm of shared prosperity, peace and solidarity for

all Europeans. Its institutions, which were initially designed to serve the

industry, need to become fully transparent and accountable to European

citizens.

SO YOU MIGHT BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING THAT THE FUTURE OF THE EU RELATIONS AFTER BREXIT HANGS ON ONLY ONE THING; RESOLVING THE QUESTION OF THE IRISH BORDER.

THIS IS FAR FROM REALITY.

Hiding in the long short grass is Gibraltar.  (With its opt out of the EU Customs Union.)

As thing stand Spain is due to reap vast strategic benefits from Brexit because the EU will be obliged to take the Spanis side of the arguments to come.

(Indeed the questions hanging over its future border with either its British Sovereign or its Spanish neighbour hold the key to Britain’s future outside the EU.)

Europe’s history has been shaped by migration which is now once more its

biggest problem.

How to distribute irregular migrants and refugees who are already here, and those who continue to arrive in the future.

Given the EU’s ageing population, is a return to selective immigration inevitable?

Should European states even try to stop economic migration?

No one knows what is really happening now.

However, there is one thing for sure and that is the EU economy will require an increase in selective primary immigration.

So we are left with the question can the EU create a new social contract with its citizens and immigrants.

Yes, it can by allowing its citizens to invest in its future.

This can be achieved by issuing Citizens Bonds. ( see previous posts)

The above apart there remains a multitude of issues facing the European Union that really could make or break the bloc.

With Poland and Hungary now led respectively by the hard-right Law and

Justice party.

With Italy posing a danger to financial stability across Europe with

borrowing at 130% of gross domestic product, second only to Greece.

The real challenge is how the EU will deal with the situations politically.

How do we deal with the mess that we are going to have after the European Parliament election with a big bloc of anti-EU, anti-democracy parties, to put it very bluntly?

While the UK’s chaotic withdrawal has become a dreary process to be managed, the EU is being dealt with hammer blows from elsewhere.

Populists are already hoping to bolster their numbers in the parliament next year, and use their newfound influence to affect the EU’s personal choices and policy output over the next five years.

There is a chance the Brits will change their minds. Especially if the future isn’t as glorious as the Brexiters claim it can be. Brexit might not be on the EU’s mind today, but building a Europe that the UK may want to rejoin possibly should be.

Markets may well punish Italy, as they will punish any other country that goes down the same route as Italy.

If Mr Dump in the USA gets through the midterm elections Europe can rest assured it will have a trade war with the land of America First.

An unleash Trump from the wiser heads in the US administration, could leave him “unhinged” and Europe in crises.

Up to now, there has been little attempt to build the institutional structures that could now help to promote growth in the poorest parts of Europe. If anything the wealth divide between the north and south of the eurozone has deepened.

And we wonder why Brits are falling out of love with the EU in those circumstances.

Here is another suggestion that might save Europe.

It’s the southern members who have one raw material that could change the course of not just the poorer European member with the highest unemployment but the productivity of the whole of Europe.

SUNSHINE.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "energy in europe"

Why not make the southern member of the Europen Union the powerhouse of renewable energy.

Such a policy would have a high potential to increase prosperity (e.g. more local, jobs for immigrants ) and to boost Europe’s global leadership in green innovations.

Promoting the use of renewable energy sources is important both to the reduction of the EU’s dependence on foreign energy imports and in meeting targets to combat global warming.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "energy in europe"

According to the latest data from Eurostat, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy in the EU grew significantly in 2015 and has continued to grow towards a goal of 20 per cent, which is to be achieved by 2020.

Just imagine if this target was raised to 50%.

In 2016, around 17% of EU energy consumption was from renewables.

There should be a more coordinating plan for the whole of European countries and not a disparate one for every country.

A real balance between supply and demand by creating a community-owned solar farm.

Over 50% of European citizens live in rural areas. They occupy over 90% of Europe’s territory and contribute 43% of Europe’s gross value. And yet, despite their importance, rural communities are rarely considered by politicians and regulators when writing energy policy.

Here below is your chance to get involved.

So this year is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fundamentally change the rules of the game in Brussels.

A Europe forged in crises will be a disaster.

Changes that the EU wants to undertake should ultimately be approved by national parliaments.

DiEM25:  www.our.europeanspring.net

EUROPEAN SPRING believes that for unity to be possible and effective, it must be centred on common actions and a common policy agenda that is credible, coherent and open to contributions from the many sources of excellent, progressive ideas. This is why EUROPEAN SPRING is working hard on a coherent, comprehensive New Deal for Europe.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. WHEN IT COMES TO BREXIT THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW HISTORY ARE DESTINED TO REPEAT IT.

22 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Uncategorized

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(Four-minute read)

As Brexit grinds its way to Mar 29 it is obvious to all in Europe that there is no fear of the Englishman turning into the “new Europeans”.

Brexit now has UK politics by the short and haires showing that it is in need of proportional  representation politics and not first pass the post.

Why?

Because the UK is made up of groups from 22 foreign countries that are estimated to consist of at least 100,000 individuals residing in the UK.

(people born in Poland, India, Pakistan, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Germany, Bangladesh, South Africa, China, Italy, Nigeria, Lithuania, the United States, France, Spain, the Philippines, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Australia, Portugal, Kenya and Zimbabwe)

677,177 classified themselves as of mixed race, making up 1.2 per cent of the UK population.

It is estimated that as many as six million people living in the UK have an Irish-born grandparent (around 10% of the UK population).

Indeed it would be fair to say that there has been so much immigration and intermarriage that it’s difficult to find a true “Englishman” whose bloodline, on both sides of the family, is so pure that he can trace his (her) dynasty to the point before England even existed.

On the other hand no group anywhere in the world outside Olduvai, in eastern Africa, can lay claim to being truly “native”.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of british history"

In the imperial imagination of British politics, there are only two states: dominant and submissive, coloniser and colonised. This dualism lingers. If England is not an imperial power, it must be the only other thing it can be: a colony.

This is the mental cartography that English conservatism cannot transcend – the map of a Europe that may no longer exist in reality, but within which its imagination remains imprisoned. “Europe.”

The tragedy of all this is the position that Ireland finds its self in.

The Anglo-Irish relationship has been the dominant theme of most Irish historical writing.

However, it is difficult to understand modern Ireland without understanding modern Britain, too. Current discussions around Brexit bear out the adage that the Irish never forget their history and the English never remember it.

Brexit certainly illustrates how the ‘Irish Question’ never dies; it just gets reformulated.

The notion that Irishness might be defined in opposition to England hardly comes as a surprise.

One only has to look at what Boris Johnson told theTelegraph on 14 May 2016, a month before the referendum and I quote.

“Hitler tried to unite Europe, so does the EU, therefore the EU is a Hitlerian project. But the lack of subtlety did not stop the trope from being used in the Brexit campaign: “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this [unifying Europe], and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods.”

I can’t help but wonder if the more gung-ho proponents of Brexit are even aware of the potential minefield that they are marching Ireland into?

Brexit now provides the backdrop to some particularly contested anniversaries: the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (1998); the 50th of the outbreak of the Troubles (1969); and the 100th of the political partition of the island (1920) and the outbreak of civil war (1922).

The full consequences of Brexit remain to be seen.

Ironically, the cause of Irish nationalism was better served by Britain looking the other way.

As George Bernard Shaw observed, Ireland – which before independence had been regarded as a central part of the British polity – was relegated to the significance of a ‘cabbage garden’. It drifted to the edge of Westminster consciousness, allowing a fatal indifference to the flawed performances of the devolved regime in Northern Ireland.

Any attempts to undermine the Good Friday Agreement or to reintroduce a ‘hard’ border with Northern Ireland could negate many of the gains achieved as a result of the Peace Process.

Sharing a common European agenda has provided Ireland, north and south, with great scope to work together, to find common cause and to play down our differences.

The British Government’s (re)negotiation of the border between the UK and Ireland, necessitated by Brexit, is evidence of a blindness to the legacies of Ireland’s colonisation.

Similarly, much remains unknown about the Troubles (1969-98) that claimed over 3,500 lives. The Good Friday Agreement did not set up formal mechanisms for confronting the past akin to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions established in South Africa and Latin America. Reparation has been conducted ad hoc by independent bodies, not via the criminal justice system.

Ireland cannot and will never recognise a border.

This remains the challenge of balancing opinions rooted in polarised politics and sharply differing visions for future Irish states, including the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.

A steady convergence of interests on the EU or the Peace Process in recent decades meant that there was no need to look to the past. That the British did not pay attention to Irish concerns at the time of the Brexit referendum is less surprising when seen in context.

A sense of British national identity developed during the 18th century in opposition to the French or, more generally, to Catholic Europe. Later, Britons imagined themselves as pragmatic and liberal, unlike militaristic, idealistic or excitable Europeans.

Unfortunately, whether there is a deal or no deal the damage is now done.

So we left with the British paradox:

If you were English, Brexit is bad enough, but what followed will be worse.

Outside the native ruling, class will be eliminated.

Think things are bad? Think again.

 None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM SEEING LIFE BEING NEATLY DIVIDED UP INTO THREE PARTS- SCHOOL-WORK-RETIRE.

22 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Nanotechnology

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( Twenty minutes read)

 

Why?

Because returning to a world that relies on human and animal muscle power is not an option.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY"

The 21st century will see technological change on an astonishing scale. This scale will be so small that none us alive today will comprehend it.

Our lives, relationships and ways of looking at the world are changing in ways we can’t predict because these changes will be on a nanoscale.

Nanotechnology is a common word these days, but many of us don’t realize the amazing impact it has on our daily lives.

Some of the implications surrounding nanotechnology are ethical, not economic like whether nanotechnology could be used to forge new weapons at the molecular or atomic scale that would be easy to build and impossible to detect.

Nanotech is opening up a whole new spectrum of how the world worked.

Whereas the evolutionary path of the atomic world has occurred over billions of years, the evolutionary path of the synthetic nanoparticle world has just begun.The evolutionary path of the atomic world and architectural evolution of nanoparticle world

Man-made nanoparticle assemblies are beginning to revolutionize different fields including thermoelectronics, photo electronics, catalysts, energy generation and storage, as well as medical diagnostics and therapeutics.

The fusion of inorganic nanoparticles with living matter can provide new systems that combine the advantages of both worlds.

Right now, most of the nanotechnologies you come across are incorporated into existing products. However, the societal impacts of new technologies are easy to identify but hard to measure or predict.

Nanotechnology is one of the fastest-emerging areas of scientific research that will have significant social impacts in the areas of military applications, intellectual property issues, as well as having an effect on labour and the balance between citizens and governments.

Are we the great unwashed concerned? Of course not.

What you cannot see has little or no impact till it’s too late.

Now it the time to make every reasonable effort to anticipate and mitigate adverse effects and unintended consequences of nanotechnology.

As nanotechnologies are developed, we’ll reap new benefits but also face new risks.

Its generalization could not be farther from the truth as nanotechnology research and development is truly global.

The digital universe – all digital data worldwide – has grown to over 16 zettabytes (1021 bytes) in 2017.Schematic depiction of a solid-state nanopore platform for digital data storage

So what is Nanotechnology?

Here are a few facts to open your eyes that will make it more appealing and fascinating for everyone. Most individuals don’t know much about it…

Nanotechnology is a different type of science, respecting none of the conventional boundaries between disciplines and unashamedly focused on applications rather than fundamental understanding.

Nanotechnology is an amalgamation of different technologies that may be totally unrelated, thus it would be wrong to consider the nanotechnology industry as a stand-alone sector – it would be akin to grouping steel, copper, gold, silver, and aluminium under one umbrella.

  • Nanoparticles are being used commercially in many products like food, cosmetics and others as they result in brighter colours, richer flavours and also less wastage.
  • One notable application is known colloquially as the Bionic Hornet. No bigger than an average wasp, the flying device is designed to seek out, follow, photograph and even kill selected opponents.
  • It may even transform what it means to be human.
  • We’ll probably be able to plug information streams directly into the cortex for those who want it badly enough to risk the surgery. There will be smart drugs to enhance learning and memory and a flourishing black market among ambitious students to obtain them.
  • Nanotechnology, which promises to rebuild matter atom by atom, molecule by molecule, and to give us unprecedented power over the material world.
  • We will be sharing videos, simulations, experiences and environments, on a multiplicity of devices to which we’ll pay as much attention as a light switch.
  • Nanotechnology is already on the shelves of your supermarket. Tiny nanostructures make ice cream look and taste better, while nanoparticles in plastic bottles keep beer fresh. In the future, nanotechnology could be used in all stages of food production, from cultivation to processing to distribution.
  • Already, there are computer chips with self-assembled nanocrystals.
  • In the future, ferrofluid which is a fluid is made of tiny, nano-sized particles of iron oxide suspended in the liquid might be used to carry medications to specific spots in the body.
  • Today, nanogold is being used in an experimental cancer therapy that targets
    tumours, leaving healthy tissue unharmed. Nanogold is also used to detect specific
    strands of DNA.

However by 2035, we will be talking about the coming of quantum computing, which will take us beyond the world of binary, digital computing, on and off, black and white, 0s and 1s.

Nanoparticles are difficult to detect, which makes it hard to monitor their use and dispersal into the environment.

Future nanotechnologies will address issues of global importance, such as energy, medicine, water, and food. Nanoparticle assemblies will open the door to an era where DNA-based living nanoscale materials are ‘genetically’ modifiable and can undergo structural ‘evolution’.

It might allow us to abolish ageing and death.

However, we don’t know if nanotechnology will really change the world.

Take our cities, for example, they have become too big and complex for any single power to understand and manage them.

The nanotechnology can be expected to concentrate political power in the hands of governments. It can be expected to be applied to further miniaturize and advance surveillance technologies such as cameras, listening devices, tracking devices, and face and pattern recognition systems.

WHATEVER HAPPENS, OUR LIVES NOW NEEDS TO BE BUILT AROUND A NEW MODEL THAT RECOGNIZES GAINING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS WILL BECOME THE KEY CREATOR OF ECONOMIC VALUE.

Since the size of today’s silicon chip memory cards and mechanical hard drives have limited just how small our personal electronic devices can be, the use of nanotechnology should remove these limits and thus shrink the devices down to the size of a grain of sand. This could eventually lead to the development of futuristic DNA computers.

It’s worth emphasizing that these applications of nanotechnology are not theoretical or “in-principle” achievements. The hardware exists.

The problems associated with the tech don’t lie in finding out if it will work, they lie in finding out if it will scale.

The possibilities are endless.

In the future, nanotechnology could enable objects to harvest energy from their environment. By harvesting electricity from human motion. This opens the door to creating clothing with built-in sensors to monitor health or fitness metrics, or clothing that uses an app to change patterns and colours.

Overall, nanotech and nanorobotics look extremely promising for applications in space exploration and colonization.

All this assumes that environmental catastrophe doesn’t drive us into caves.

The one thing we can be sure of is this:

No matter how wacky the predictions we make today, they will look tame in the strange light of the future.

Not only that, but the performance of such tiny devices could surpass the latest and greatest of today, thanks to carbon nanotubes.

An idea that nano-scale assemblers capable of fabricating any object, as well as self-replicating, could run amok and consume everything in their path—

Another 25 years of development will lead us to a new world of cheap and ubiquitous computing, in which privacy will be a quaint obsession of our grandparents. We’re already designing our identities online – manipulating imagery to tell a story about ourselves.

Facebook and Apple are spawning cloud capitalism, in which consumers allow companies to manage information, media, ideas, money, software, tools and preferences on their behalf, holding everything in vast, floating clouds of shared data.

I bet there’ll be many products we’ll be allowed to buy but not see advertised – the things the government will decide we shouldn’t be consuming because of their impact on healthcare costs or the environment but that they can’t muster the political will to ban outright.

The developing world, meanwhile, will work to bridge the food gap by embracing the promise of biotechnology which the middle classes in the developed world will have assumed that they had the luxury to reject.

OF COURSE, ALL OF THIS NEEDS ENERGY.

People already use up to 40% of the world’s primary production (energy) and this must increase, with important consequences for nature.

Energy is a means, not an end, but a necessary means.

Disappointingly, with the present rate of investment in developing and deploying new energy sources, the world will still be powered mainly by fossil fuels in 25 years and will not be prepared to do without them.

Crucially, we are still rapidly losing overall biodiversity, including soil micro-organisms, plankton in the oceans, pollinators and the remaining tropical and temperate forests.

These underpin productive soils, clean water, climate regulation and disease-resistance. We take these vital services from biodiversity and ecosystems for granted, treat them recklessly and don’t include them in any kind of national accounting.

We will be invited to trade invasions into our privacy – companies knowing ever more about our lives – for more personalised service. We will be able to share but on their terms.

As the web goes Nano those who pay more will get faster access.

We’re going to be interrupted by advertising like never before.

They’ll have enough intelligence and connectivity that they’ll see our faces, do a quick search on Facebook to find out who we are and direct a message at us based on our purchasing history.

The most serious threats will arise in the vortex of Nano instability.

With 6.7 billion people on the planet, more than 50% living in large conurbations, and these numbers expected to rise to more than 9 billion and 80% later in the century people can be better informed about what’s really happening in nanoscience and nanotechnology, without the hype.

The best part is that all of this could happen immediately if we simply spread the information in an understandable way. People don’t read science journals, so they don’t even know that all of this is possible.

There is a need now for regulation of nanotechnology.

PERHAPS THE PARADOX OF A TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD WILL BE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE AND PROTECTIONIST WILL BE GOOD NEWS.

New philosophical and sociological challenges will be derived from the societal transformations propelled by nanotechnology, and the tight relationship between access to technology and human fulfilment in life will have to be explored and discussed in great detail.

Dare I suggest that nanotechnology should feature more prominently in the education of school children. To come to an understanding it will require “a long-term educational strategy.

It is therefore imperative that we all learn about nanotechnology and become aware of its implications early in our lives.

As with all aspects of the fourth Industrial revolution, we need to explore the multiple connections of nanotechnology to all aspects of human endeavour, and to lead society into ethically harvesting and responsibly enjoying the many benefits that will be derived from it.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S : WE ALL KNOW THAT TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE.

18 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in Climate Change.

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(Twelve-minute read)

When one looks at the current efforts worldwide to put a halt on co2

emissions you could not be blamed for feeling nothing but despair.

THE PROBLEM IS TO MOBILISE ANY OF US TO DO ANYTHING.

Indeed our most vivid pictures of a world confronting climate change come nowhere near what will happen.

By the end of the century, our children and grandchildren too may be confronted with a hostile climate, depleted resources, devastated habitats, large-scale species extinction, food shortage, mass migration and, almost inevitably, war.

We know that the richest 10 per cent of countries account for half of all

global climate-damaging CO2 emissions.

However, when it comes to action, environmental and climate protection has

not yet been taken on board by the vast majority of us.

We all know that if we just keep going as we have before we’ll soon reach our

planet’s ecological limits.

We all know that what is needed is a better synergy between environmental and the implications of emphasizing consumer behaviour as a source of climate change mitigation.

Our dilemma is that we live in a finite world but behave as if it were inexhaustible.

One of the greatest drivers of this dilemma is advertising.

Early in our history, a consumer culture emerged in Europe that sees society reward the most consumption-oriented lifestyle.

It is one of the main reasons for the prevailing economic system with endless consumption growth and the ruthless exploitation of the planet Earth. Everything has been turned into a source of profit including climate change.

Our Governments and world organisations are unable to effect change due to fear of upsetting the status quo and even if they were willing to take action there is a lack of funding.

The Beady eye has suggested a World Aid Commission of 0.05% as a means of creating a perpetual funded fund to address climate change. ( See previous posts)

The chances of this happing are zero however there is another source of action that could make a difference.  THAT IS OUR BUYING POWER.

Only then, presumably, when the pressure coming from below – from us citizens – targeting the policy- and decision-makers grows, will environmental and climate protection really makes the breakthrough.

This can be achieved by small groups by small groups coming together promoting stopping the purchase of anything that is not sustainable. 

The average resource consumption per capita and year today, for example in Germany, is around 30 tonnes. For a truly sustainable lifestyle, however, the consumption of resources would have to be reduced to 8 tonnes.

What about banning all advertising that DOES NOT PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE BUYING.

See previous post: WE DON’T GET IT. ARE OUR LIVES SCRIPTED?

We need a campaign driven by social media.

Social media marketing is a highly tracked place full of analytics, statistics, 

behaviours and trends!  Everything on the internet is tracked from optimal

times of engagement, likes and reactions, click through rates, demographics

to even referral traffic!

Say you’re doing a web search on something like the flu.

Before you can sneeze the next thing you know, an ad for a flu remedy pops up on your web browser, or your video streaming service starts playing a commercial for Tylenol.

Soon if not already with all these connected devices our privacy will be completely under assault 7/7.

In a cross-device landscape, creepy online Ads will be watching your every move with personalised stalker ads.

You would think that it should make us think twice about how much advertising we allow ourselves to be exposed to.

Not on your nelly: DIGITAL ADS ARE TAKING OVER OUR LIVES.

Here are a few hard facts:

The world population is 7.6 billion and the internet has 4.1 billion users.

Close to half the world’s population (3.03 billion people) are on some type of social media. The average person spends about 20 minutes on Facebook or one in every six minutes a person will spend online.

Failing to set our youth on a path to a healthy relationship with the world around them.

One thing they do is to take a product and to put it next to lots of other things that we already feel positively about.

1.57 billion YouTube users watch about 5 billion videos on average every single day. Of the 2.1 billion total accounts on Facebook, 270 million profiles are fake.

86% of women will look at social media before deciding to make a purchase.

People are accessing 69% of their media on their smartphones.

89% of people on smartphones are using apps, while only 11% are using standard websites. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is the most popular app at 19%(measured by time spent)

Pinterest is number one for mobile social media, with 64% of referral traffic being driven by smartphones and tablets.

57% of all mobile users will not recommend a business if their mobile website is poorly designed or unresponsive.

40% of all mobile users are searching for a local business or interest.

Mobile websites that load in 5 seconds or less will end in a viewing session that’s 70% longer than their slower counterparts.

92% of American teens accessed the internet on a daily basis, where 56% claim to connect several times a day, and 24% are connected almost constantly to the internet.

Advertising is one of the principal motors of a capitalist economy.

Excessive consumption is possible because we personally pay the price for it

only to a small extent.

The lion’s share goes to nature, another part is paid by people in other parts of the world, and in the future, our children and grandchildren will pay for it.

Today’s advertising is out of control.

It is the most objectionable aspects of our consumer economy. The modern marketplace abounds with products that pose difficult challenges for regulators. Thousands of new substances are synthesised annually and many of them are released into the environment, with mostly unknown effects on plants, animals and humans.

Will people after us still have the chance to live a life fit for human beings in 

a world that we have left for them?

Is it not time we all adopted a buyer’s precautionary principle of sustainability. This way of doing business is of paramount importance for our future, given the current overuse and waste of material and energy resources worldwide.

The precautionary principle is becoming more and more important, since today, as far as the environment is concerned, we are likely to cause far more new problems than we are to solve existing problems.

In the past 150 years, almost half of the fertile soil on Earth has disappeared.

Every day, about 100 living species die on our planet.

They are irretrievably lost forever.

The consequent significant wearing down of nature is now threatening the basis of the existence of us humans on Earth. This means that, as fast as possible, we must reduce consumption.

With the first generation growing up literally attached to smartphones, tablets and laptops, with access to social media and the Internet, effective conditioning is most effective when you don’t realize that it is happening.

We need our governments to ban pervasive marketing by fining companies that make false, deceptive, or misleading advertising claims. That is encouraging the purchase of their products by implying that they are doing good like save a Tiger when you purchase a plastic bottle of washing powder.

We need to ban outdoor advertising. Visual pollution branding message into the everyday landscape of commuters and becomes part of the very fabric of the living and working environment where it is placed.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S THE WORD HOW IS MISSING IN OUR WORLD OF EDUCATION

13 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by in Education.

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Eight minutes read.

Back in the 60th, I had a dream that every student after University could access a grant to travel worldwide for a year free before entering the world of earning a living.

There is nothing like travel to open your eyes to the world you live in.

We’re all aware of the fact that education is a universal human right, anywhere in the world.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of education for all"

Equality is a term largely thrown around in political discourse. However, without education, it is an idea that is largely out of reach.

The ultimate goal of the education system was created during the industrial revolution.

Back then young lads like me that had not experienced either world wars were to be brainwashed into conformity. Our current day educational system is still stuck in this mode.

However, due to technology advancement, people are shunning away from education.

Who could blame them?

When the same old system does not guarantee the technical skills that are needed in the current world, they tend to find the information they need online.

With 21st century technology, we have more opportunity and ability to create change than ever before.

We have the power to shape how we think the world should operate, and so far we have not taken advantage of that opportunity.

Technology is actively transforming the world today and will continue to do so whether schools are ready for it or not.

The big difference today is it’s not just about acquiring knowledge. It is about learning in a different way.

If the world around us changes and we do not, how are our students going to be prepared for the jobs of the future — largely technology-based, non-traditional careers?

The current education system is teaching us outdated skills designed for the industrial era, and ignoring modern history; a modern history that will dictate the career paths of current students.

We are depriving the future society of the best foundation possible for a better world by allowing governments to charge for Education.

It is no wonder rather than treating higher education as an investment into the future of a country, at an average of £30/50000 debt young people shay away.

I am sure investors would not hesitate to do their part in planning ahead and securing the future of a nation if for ever pound invested they were rewarded by tax benefits.

Modern education is spreading more ignorance than knowledge.

The word “How” is missing in our world of Education which causes ignorance.

Our education system has developed into mere schooling now. It has become a process of spoon feeding. We are being fed with facts and knowledge without any need to understand how.

Education…has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. Our schooling does not leave us with time to get educated.

Education provides context to history, art, depth of understanding, and perspective that some people would not otherwise experience. This is part of the traditional role education fulfils in teaching about culture and the transmission of our society’s values.

We cannot assume that the six hours a day a student spends in school is sufficient to teach them to appreciate the riches of our society.

If education wants to capture the attention of children then it must compete with the increasingly effective seductions of commercial offerings.

We must stop teaching the curriculum and start teaching the individual if we are to truly understand the threat that is Artificial intelligence and automation.

Now students finish university spend years looking for anything more than menial labour; the next ten years are going to make this seem like a happy outcome. Within that time frame, we will face an employment crisis that will shake the foundations of our society, our political system, and our economy.

Combined with climate change and ever-increasing protectionism, and inequality the only answer is education, for adults as well as young people.

What is the value of memorizing facts if you can command them with a wave of a search engine?

It is understanding and context that are critically important.

We are headed into a world where creativity and innovative thinking will be more valuable than rote learning of any depth.

We will, instead, need to fall back on those things that are uniquely human, like art, teamwork, leadership, empathy, understanding, creativity, ingenuity, and all of the deeper aspects of human life and society. Computers, robots, and cheaper competition from abroad will take everything else.

Must we wait and see these problems racing towards us? Do we have the will do to something about them? Those are the questions that will determine why and how we need to change education.

Online education is booming.

Is this the solution to education ie distance learning?

Hundreds, if not thousands, of online colleges courses in dozens of fields, are now are open to distance learners making it possible for students to receive advanced training and earn college or university degrees without having to leave their native countries.

Online education is booming in poorer countries, which promises to raise the economic and social conditions in these countries.

There is also a potentially darker side to online education as well.

As demand increases and technology develops, companies will want to get a piece of the action by promoting their goods and services. This is part of the inevitable mix of money and education.

Not all “schooling” is “education,” and not all “education” is “schooling.

The new generation of student is born digital and the current system was designed in a different era and structured for a different society.

WE NEED TO RENEW OUR SENSE OF COMMON DESTINY WITH THE WORLD AROUND US.

In the current climate, the true meaning of education has been lost. There are few educators today and there are too many trainers.

Something with specific and determined ends is schooling, not education.

Education is something we should value for its own sake, not for another purpose – it is an end in itself, not a means.

If you actually educate children and young people properly they will learn to think for themselves rather than just being indoctrinated – which is what “education for social justice” actually means.

All human comments appreciated. All like clicks and abuse chucked in the bin.

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. THE TRUTH IS ALWAYS INCONVENIENT. THERE ARE AND WILL BE CONSEQUENCES AWAY BEYOND BREXIT.

08 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Backstop., Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit., England EU Referendum IN or Out., Norther Ireland, Northern Ireland Border., The Obvious., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH

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(Ten-minute read)

This is a sad subject to be writing on but it is becoming more and more obvious as Brexit drags on  IT IS OPENING UP THE PAST.

Politicians, public, and press need remedial history lessons before it’s too late.

May has “gone into battle with the white flag fluttering over our leading tank,” complains Johnson as if the Brexit negotiations were a job for a British expeditionary force. While the horrors of war remind the UK’s continental neighbours of the need for co-operation, Britain’s war story feeds an adversarial view of the country’s place in the world.

WHAT BEGUN TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED DUBLIN LONDON CO-OPERATION, PUBLIC JESTERS OF GOODWILL THROUGH VISITES OF QUEENS AND PRESIDENTS TO EACH OTHER JURISTRICTIONS.

THOSE THINGS NOW SEEM LIKE THINGS OF THE PAST.

Why?

Because there is and was little or no understanding of Irish History.

(Which is going to show itself once more when the dust settles.)

One can hardly understand why our world become the world we live right now but not the other way around.

PERHAPS THEREFORE THERE IS LITTLE REASON OR REASONS TO TRY AND EXPLAIN THE ROOTS OF BREXIT BECAUSE MOST ARE SOMEWHAT INCOMPENHENSHABLE IN OUR CHANGING WORLD.

SO WHAT CHANCE DID THE ENGLISH HAVE OR HAD OF UNDERSTANDING WHAT THEY ARE DOING WHEN THEY WERE VOTING TO LEAVE THE EUROPEN UNION?

One way or the other England is now well on the way toward been mugged by a combination of the DUP, Nigel Farage and their misplaced understanding of being British in a world driven by social media popularism.

The attitude displayed by the United Kingdom so far is that Ireland has no influence on the historical process of England, therefore we don’t need to learn its history.

I suspect that if you asked someone in school right now in England what they know or learned about Irish history the answer would be, not much, especially considering history is completely optional.

I also strongly suspect the lack of it is contributing greatly to Brexit.

Occasionally Ireland might have been mentioned as a sub-note, such as its neutrality in WW2 and invasions by other English/British rulers.

In fact, in the Grand Scheme of things these days; Knowledge is spoon fed and compartmentalized in such rations. People only think they know what they know. And given a degree to say they are educated.

However here and now is the time for the whole of the British Isles to appreciate what is at stake and why.

May agrees on a £1.5bn deal for DUP’s votes.

As a result, we are witnessing the most unlikely coalition partners for a floundering Conservative party sit on the hard right fringe of British politics.

Why?

Because Theresa May’s new partners in government have strong historical links with Loyalist paramilitary groups.

So what!

The idea of a British government involving the DUP in one of the biggest

upheavals in British politics should worry all of us.

The Good Friday agreement made Northern Ireland and Ireland pause for a moment to note and reject sectarian history.

By entering into a coalition with the DUP it is becoming ever more apparent that Mrs May does not consider Peace or Stability in NI a priority. Instead, she is sacrificing years of work on the Peace process in order to say in power.

The xenophobia, heterophobia and homophobia of Democratic Unionism have now received a form of tacit endorsement from the Conservative Party, a wink-and-a-nod acknowledgement which will give 17th century Protestant fundamentalism a platform to preach its archaic world-view in the 21st century. From opposing civil rights to denying climate change, the creationist-believing Ulster Trumps have been offered a warm welcome in Downing Street.

The DUP is UKIP or the BNP both are parties on European far right, a grouping in the mode of Marine Le Pen’s Front national or Frauke Petry’s Alternative für Deutschland all will take this sacrifice to the nth degree.

The Europhobes of the DUP, with their determination to build a Brexit Border around the UK-administered Six Counties, will seek every advantage over their near-equals in the northern nationalist community.

They will seek, like the Tory extreme, to tear up the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and its human rights’ provisions, while stripping nationalists of their Irish and European Union citizenships.

They will bring the politics of Britain’s legacy colony in the north-east of Ireland closer to a fatal breaking point than they have been at any point in the last twenty years.

For an abundance of historical reasons (not to be dragged up here in any detail) it certainly worries the Irish Government.

What is needed is for responsible politicians to recognise that the DUP bills itself as “right-wing.

For example;

Iris Robinson, a former DUP MP, described homosexuality as “disgusting, loathsome, nauseating, wicked and vile”, as well as an “abomination” that could be “cured”.

Mr Robinson the then DUP leader supported his wife’s remarks, saying: “It wasn’t Iris Robinson who determined that homosexuality was an abomination, it was The Almighty. This is the Scriptures.

It is a strange world indeed where somebody, on the one hand, talks about equality, but won’t allow Christians to have the equality, the right to speak, the right to express their views.”

So where does Theresa May go from here?

She can’t just get rid of her DUP crutch. She signed a deal with the devil and has to live with it now.

I think the technical term is she is fucked and by deduction, the UK is also fucked by the DUP’s disproval of the backstop deal miscolour Northern Ireland as a whole.

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "the origins of the dup"

Ireland has struggled with British domination for centuries and still does so today.

WHEN THEY ARE UNABLE TO GOVERN NORTHERN IRELAND.

What gives the DUP the right to dictate Brexit?

WHEN THEY ARE UNABLE TO RECOGNISE Irish Gaelic a minority language in Northern Ireland who’s protection stems largely from the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

( THE REASON THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO RECOGNISE THE IRISH LANGUAGE IS THAT THE DUP ASSOCIATE THE USE OF IRISH AS A FORM OF NATIONALISTS CULTURAL EXPRESSION AND RESISTANCE FROM THE SO-CALLED BRITISH OCCUPATION.)

It has long been a matter associated with an identity. Take the two National anthems.

A Soldier’s Song against God Save the Queen.

Ulster unionists regard the anthem as specific to the Republic of Ireland, not symbolic of the whole island of Ireland, and deprecate its use with United Ireland symbolism as irredentism.

The symbolism of flags in Northern Ireland raises similar issues.

IRELAND CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT WEAKEN IT’S STANCE ON A LEGAL BACKSTOP.

Ireland fought the Vikings, they mated with the Vikings and got colonized by the Vikings.

They fought the English, mated with the English, got colonized by the English.

What is emerging from Brexit is that England does not have any longer a national identity.

It is not the British that does not want to be European its the English. Nationalism is the root cause of war.

By refusing to confront its complex and difficult history, Britain is turning its back on decades of shared progress, to the dismay of its friends. Britannia is adrift on the waves, and only by facing its past can it reclaim its future.

They say that mad dogs and English men come out in the noonday sun.

All human comments appreciated. All abuse and like clicks chucked in the bin.

THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: WHEN WILL IT MAKE SENSE FOR AN AI TO LIE TO A PERSON.

07 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Our Common Values., Reality., Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH

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( Two Minute read)

We all know that history is plagued with falsehood and lies mainly told by the victors but now we have new liers on the block that are so perfect at telling them you wonder if anything is true.

They are a powerful amplifier of social, economic and cultural inequalities currently forcing us to confront the kind of society we have created.

Algorithms will force us to recognize how the outcomes of past social and political conflicts have been perpetuated into the present through our use of data.

The question now is whether we will use these revelations to create a more just society.

For 4bn years life on Earth evolved according to the laws of natural selection and organic chemistry. Now science is about to usher in the era of non-organic life evolving by intelligent design, and such life may well eventually leave Earth to spread throughout the galaxy.

Artificial intelligence will probably be the most important agent of change in the 21st century. The choices we make today may have a profound impact on the trajectory of life for countless millennia and far beyond our own planet.

That demand for clarity is making it harder to ignore the structural sources of societal inequities.

The question in the near future will be whether larger groups of people will be able to tell reality from fiction, or whether technological authentication of media will become completely necessary to trust anything online.

So when will it makes sense for an AI to lie to a person?

It’s entirely possible that a robot may need to misrepresent some things in order to preserve itself.

As algorithmic decision-making spreads across a broadening range of policy areas, it is beginning to expose social and economic inequities that were long hidden behind “official” data.

In order for AIs to lie effectively, they’re going to have to develop what’s called a “theory of mind.” That means they’ll have to guess what you, the user believes, and also predict how you will react when given any particular set of information (whether that information is true or not).

Disinformation powered by AI is already rampant – Donald Trump election, Brexit, Popularism.

So are we OK with lying to an AI and, likewise, OK with being lied to by an AI?

Fake reports and videos.Bots.Algorithmic curation. Targeted behavioural marketing powered by algorithms and machine learning.

I for one would like to live in a society whose systems are built on top of verifiable, rigorous, thorough knowledge, and not on the alchemy of machine learning

(A machine-learning system is a bundle of algorithms that take in torrents of data at one end and spit out inferences, correlations, recommendations and possibly even decisions at the other end.)

I can’t explain the inner workings of their mathematical models: they themselves lack rigorous theoretical understandings of their tools and in that sense are currently operating in alchemical rather than scientific mode.

They encourage hypnotised wonderment and they disable our critical faculties.10 of the Biggest Lies Told About Bitcoin

If we don’t take some action the future of life on Earth will be decided by small-time politicians spreading fears about terrorist threats, by shareholders worried about quarterly revenues and by marketing experts trying to maximise customer experience.

Hopefully, unchecked flaws in algorithms and even the technology itself should put a brake on the escalating use of big data.

We need such systems themselves “understand” enough to avoid deception.

There will be no point in a Machine learning life returning to earth if we are unable to know what it experienced is true.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WE ARE ONLY GOING TO INVENT SOMETHING SMARTER THAN US ONCE.

04 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Communication., Evolution, Humanity., Innovation., Life., Modern Day Communication., Our Common Values., Reality., Robot citizenship., Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World

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( Ten Minute read)

Over the past decade, smartphones have revolutionized our lives in ways that go beyond how we communicate.

It is incontrovertible that they have yielded many benefits for society but the power they hold over us is glaringly evident.

Critical thinking in the real world is being replaced by Apps which are making us unable to focus for more than a minute.

Learning to live with technology without surrendering to it is the biggest challenge in the digital era.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of technology"

If we continue to live with our head in vibrations, and pings of our phones there is no douth that we will be handing what is called life to the worst form of Capitalism –  unseen profit for profit sake.

Undoubtedly, the capability of advancing technology coming forth from the latest industrial revolution has the potential to make even bigger and greater improvements on every aspect of our lives changes than the first three industrial revolutions summed together.
Technology and advancements in science are driving transformations around the world creating ripple effects on societies, institutions, and economies.
They will and are transforming the ways in which we live, work, and interact with one another.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of technology devices"
Understanding these new technologies and their disruption potential is critical for all nations and especially developing countries.
Since humans are responsible for technological development, humans are
also responsible to exert every effort in shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution
and directing it toward a future that reflects the universal good.
So I ask the question facing us all is, would you like to be alive in a hundred years from now. 
If not, even the arrival of whatever God or gods you believe in will not save us from a world of I am all right Jack.

The fourth industrial revolution describes a world where individuals move between digital domains and offline reality with the use of connected technology to enable and manage their lives. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

The breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.

However, this fusion of technologies goes beyond mere combination and cannot be ignored any longer. We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academic and civil society.

In a world infused with artificial intelligence and machine learning ability, with robots lacking an essential feature – the capacity of moral reason, it is easy to see what will happen.

On one hand, preventing genetic disease by genetic engineering is desirable.

On the other hand, what guidelines, or regulation, or ethical boundaries are there in order to prevent the over-manipulation genetics for desirable traits?

Further, the most critical question is, whose moral standards should robots inherit. 

Moral values differ greatly from individual to individual, across countries, religions, and ideological boundaries. Uncertainty over which moral framework to adopt underlies the difficulty and limitations to ascribe moral values to artificial systems.

This limits their ability to make good or ethical decisions in complex situations.

It is more than just technology-driven change we have new ethical concerns emerging.

These changes are bringing about shifts in power, shifts in wealth, and knowledge.

The speed of current breakthroughs evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace has no historical precedent. 

The increased dichotomization is leading to an increase in social tensions while our lives become extensively connected to various devices, from our cell phones, cars, and light switches to our home security cameras, and smart speakers.

It is altering the way people eat, sleep, shop, socialize, study, play.

These technologies give rise to vast possibilities—but they can also upend the status quo and create nearly as much uncertainty as it does opportunity.

A paradigm shift is underway in how we work and communicate, as well as how we express, inform, and entertain our self. Having everything attached to everything else people will have no control over either technology or the disruption that comes with the fourth industrial revolution.

The argument is:

The intelligence and productivity gains that AI will deliver can unlock new solutions to society’s most pressing environmental challenges: climate change, biodiversity, ocean health, water management, air pollution, and resilience, among others.

At the same time, the revolution could yield greater inequality, particularly in its potential to disrupt labour markets. As automation substitutes for labour across the entire economy, the net displacement of workers by machines might exacerbate the gap between returns to capital and returns to labour.
The evolution of global industries in the fourth industrial revolution is both exciting and scary.
Only in being knowledgeable about these changes and the speed in which this is occurring can we ensure that advances in knowledge and technology reach all and benefit all.
To be sure that AI is developed and governed wisely, government and industry leaders must ensure the safety, explainability, transparency and validity of AI applications.
AT THE MOMENT OUR GOVERNMENTS AND WORLD LEADERS OFFER EMPTY PROMISES.
Definitions and standards relating to the “misuse of AI” are needed
that incorporate misuse for environmental as well as human harm.
It is incumbent on authorities, AI researchers, technology pioneers and AI adopters in
industry alike to encourage deployments that earn trust and avoid abuse of the social contract.
Recently we have witnessed the father of a young girl state on Television that his daughter committed suicide because of content on platforms of Social media.
A tragedy that could be avoided by our governments applying legal fines on any platform  Social Networks (eg. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc) Instant Messaging (eg. IM, MSN, etc) Chatrooms (eg. Skype, Yahoo, MIRC, etc) that posts
Cyberbullying – Sexting/Self-made videos or photos –  online groomers, impersonating someone -Engaging in Subtweeting or Vaguebooking – Participating in Video Shaming and the like. 
If the fines are large enough you may rest assured that these platforms will remove all such content.
   Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of technology in education"
One thing is certain: 
If we end up with a centralized system where the winner takes all markets we can perversely hope that Climate change wipes us out sooner than later.  
With the arrival of voice recognition, the focuses on education will have to change from modes of teaching to modes of learning.
It won’t be long before Eco and Alexa will be offering rewards to answering questions.
The world in a hundred year from now will be full of useless stuff telling you whether you are alive or dead.  You might even have the pleasure of your Alexa telling you’re toasted that its mother was one a spanner.
Of course, some believe that humans will be known as the most powerful creatures present in the galaxy that surrounds the world.
O! Yet. Have a look around you.

Technology might be changing our definition of what it means to be a

Human?

Fortunately we humans have a long way to go to be human in the first place.

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All human comments appreciated. All abuse and like clicks chucked in the bin.