Category Archives: 2018: The Year of Disconnection.

THE BEADY EYE ASK,S: WHAT HAVE US HUMANS ACHIEVED TO DATE.

08 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Climate Change., Environment, Evolution, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Natural World Disasters, Politics., Populism., Reality., Sustaniability, Technology, The common good., The current state of our oceans., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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(Three-minute read)

We have been on earth 300,000 years or maybe even longer.

WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED IN THAT TIME-  OTHER THAN INVENTING NEW WAY OF KILLING EACH OTHER.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of human achievement"

I suppose the answer is we still exist.

Anyway, there is now compelling evidence THAT WE ARE ON THE THRESHOLD OF OUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT TO DATE.

Humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife are pushing the world into a new geological epoch.

Humans have introduced entirely novel changes, geologically speaking, such as the roughly 300m metric tonnes of plastic produced annually.

Wildlife, meanwhile, is being pushed into an ever smaller area of the Earth, with just 25% of ice-free land considered wild now compared to 50% three centuries ago.

As a result, rates of extinction of species are far above long-term averages.

We [the public] are well aware of the climate discussions that are going on.

But there is more than one aspect of the changes happening to the entire planet.

The Earth is now on course for a sixth mass extinction which would see 75% of species extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue.

  • Increased the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere by about 120 parts per million since the industrial revolution because of fossil fuel-burning, leaving concentrations today at around 400ppm and rising
  • Nuclear weapon tests in the 1950s and 60s left traces of an isotope common in nature, 14C, and a naturally rare isotope, 293Pu, through the Earth’s mid-latitudes.
  •  We have put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover.
  • We have doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with our fertiliser use. According to some research, we’ve had the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years.
  • We have left a permanent marker in sediment and glacial ice with airborne particulates such as black carbon from fossil fuel-burning.

We will reach the hard reality whereby the planet we call home cannot keep us.

Even if like in the past we are able to get ourselves of this quite uncomfortable position with the developing technology we are going to see our civilization strained.

We are already using Earths resources that cannot and will not be replenished.

Granted we have come a long way from our biggins but with the human population set to continue to grow exponentially, there is no sense whether your black, white, rich, poor, Trump or Putin, Muslim or Christian, in the EU or out not cooperating together to share what we all need.

IF WE CANNOT ADDRESS THE OBVIOUS WITHOUT TURNING THEM INTO COMMODITIES TO BE SOLD ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE FOR PROFIT WE CAN REST ASSURED WHEN YOU ARE DEPARTED AND GONE THAT YOU WILL BE THE LUCKY ONE.

All the rhetoric without funds without the distribution of wealth and technology will achieve nothing.

THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO ACHIEVE ANYTHING – TAP INTO GREED.

(See: Previous posts re A World Aid commission)

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

 

 

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WE SHOULD NEVER UNDERESTMATE HUMAN STUPIDITY

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Capitalism, Climate Change., Environment, Evolution, Facebook, Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Google Knowledge., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Modern day life., Natural World Disasters, Nuclear power., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Reality., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The cloud., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Trade Agreements., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., War, Wealth., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations.

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(Five-minute read)

You don’t need me to tell you that we are living through an era of tremendous transition and disruption and whether or not we are comfortable with AI may already be moot:

HOWEVER, THE THREE BIGGEST PROBLEMS FACING THE WORLD CLIMATE CHANGE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE FORM OF PROFIT SEEKING ALGORITHMS, AND NUCLEAR WAR REMAIN VIRTUALLY IGNORED DUE TO OUR STUPIDITY. 

NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR ON A NATION BY NATION APPROACH.

THEY ARE GLOBAL AND NEED GLOBAL COOPERATION TO BE SOLVED.

IT MAY BE HARD TO BUY INTO THESE PROBLEMS AFTER HAVING GROWING UP IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRY BUT UNFORTUNATELY GOVERNMENTS, WORLD INSTITUTIONS, AND BUSINESS AND US WILL FIND OURSELVES AT THE HELM OF THE PAST IF WE PERSIST WITH THE BELIEF THAT ECONOMIES, CONSUMPTION, AND PROFIT IS THE HOLY GRAIL OF OUR EXISTENCE.

Unfortunately, human stupidity is perhaps the most powerful force humanity has at its disposal to combat the direction we are going to- Extinction.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of stupidity"

WHEN IT COMES TO IDENTIFYING ITS EFFECTS THERE IS NO PROBLEM FINDING EXAMPLES IN THE PAST.

WE ARE NOW TRANSFERRING STUPITY INTO THE FUTURE IN THE FORM OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THAT NO ONE UNDERSTANDS OR WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND.

Remembering that there are no defenses against stupidity. The more pertinent question now is whether we can and ought to build trust in systems that can make decisions beyond human oversight that may have irreversible consequences.

In the internet era, technology is changing at an alarming rate. We, humans, are becoming increasingly reliant on the World Wide Web. This is leading to a decrease in the retention capacity of the human brain and an overall downfall in the intelligence quotient of Homo sapiens.

The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.

If we take a critical look at the three global problems starting with the current global position on climate change:

Reduce carbon emissions on a national promises bases – stupid.

The bottom line is, take action to cool your planet or the planet will take action and cool your life – forever.

The development of AI:

Turn a blind eye by continuing to feed human existence data into algorithms for profit and power thus concentrating both into the hands of a few Clouds- stupid.  

Nuclear Power:

Elect Facebook and Twitter leaders, while Social media feeds us personal recommendations and false News- stupid. 

IS IT TIME TO GET OUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND AND DEMAND SOME GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE TO TACKLE THE GLOBAL PROBLEMS.

RATHER THAN TRADE WARS, PROMISES, NATIONAL ASPIRATIONS, PROFIT FOR PROFIT SAKE, WARS, INEQUALITY, WE COULD LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER AND THE EARTH WE ALL LIVE ON BY ENSURING THE AI SERVES US ALL EQUALLY NOT THE FEW. 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of stupidity"

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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 SAY’S : Is it time for liquid democracy or what some like to call Direct Democracy.

30 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Communication., Democracy, Facebook, Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Freedom, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Communication., Modern Day Democracy., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Privatization, Reality., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations., World Politics

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( A six-minute read)

I AM NOT TALKING HERE ABOUT DEMOCRACY THAT IS FOUND AT THE

BOTTOM OF A BOTTLE OF WHISKY BUT REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY THAT

MAY HAVE RUN ITS COURSE.

Technology is fundamentally shifting how government works and how it relates to the citizens it ostensibly represents. In the wake of fake news, algorithms operated by business are shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming less and less functional.

Smartphones with their ease of use and constant accessibility are changing our social networks and reshaping our political world.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

Because Social Media companies, not Governments are launching new policies. We need to take a more critical look at the role of social media in society.

The biggest challenge is technology that could potentially help end corruption and lobbying, allow people to delegate votes to trusted friends rather than politicians, and empower experts in a field to meaningfully impact policy cannot be achieved while the content of social media has no legal means of ensuring transparency or verification of authenticity prior to any posting.

WHILE THIS STATE REMAINS  Representative democracy may have run its course.

Social Media companies like Facebook, Twitter, U Tube and their like are now shaping a world in which earthly government is becoming inoperative. 

SO HOW MIGHT SOCIAL MEDIA – ALGORITHMS – AI – MACHINE LEARNING – ALTER THE CAPACITY OF CITIZENS TO GOVERN THEMSELVES?

As unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it’s now being used in unforeseen ways with societal repercussions that were never anticipated.

We should all be very wary news feeds which are being personalized.

ONE OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS for the future is the worldwide existing inequality in access to new communication technologies. It threatens to aggravate existing social inequalities.

How does social media influence a democratic society? 

By allowing us to create our very own feeds and essentially live in them.

By allowing algorithms to design communication packages just for individuals with each component full chosen in advance.

By allowing advertising without checking their source of purchase.

By allowing petitions to be voted on.

By allowing algorithms to create what’s called polarization, or an information cocoon.

By allowing another communication channel between voters and politicians.

If there’s one fundamental truth about social media’s impact on democracy it’s that it amplifies human intent — both good and bad. At its best, it allows us to express ourselves and take action. At its worst, it allows people to spread misinformation and corrode democracy.

One way or the other we are arriving rapidly to a crossroads whether we want true freedom of choice or short-term data-driven decisions to rule the roost.

If we can bank online, we can vote online.

We can now publish online, shout online, share music and ideas online, expose new knowledge online, regroup and connect online, bank online. The only thing we still can’t do online is voting on our own laws. No, instead we’re still living under a bizarre psycho-political industrial-era system that wants us to believe we’re represented by elected officials.

The structure of a direct democracy government is simple, and yet profound, giving rise to several questions that need a wide-reaching topic for debate.

SUCH AS.

The people have the final say in every decision that the government makes. That is because, in this government structure, the people are the government.

This can only work if everyone is involved in the voting process in some way. WHICH IS TOTALLY UNWORKABLE. 

WHO WANTS MOB RULE.

Voters cannot authentically decide a course of action to take if they are not presented with complete and accurate information. This structure of government requires that all citizens be given the same information and shared within an equal time frame.

It could also allow a majority of people to oppress certain groups in a harmful manner.

IT CAN ONLY WORK IN THE VILLAGE HALL.

Once we count on AI to decide what we do our concept of life will have to change.

Democratic elections and free markets might cease to make any sense, as with most art and religions.

Can parliaments and political parties overcome the challenges?

At the moment it does not seem so. Technological disruption is not even a leading item on the political agenda.

Google and Twitter are attention merchants. They capture our attention and resell it to advertisers. We are becoming their product.

Governments need to nationalize our data.

It is now or never that regulate the ownership of data if we don’t want to end up living in a digital dictatorship.

 

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

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

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: WE ARE NO LONGER THE AUTHORS OR MASTERS OF OUR OWN DESTINY. THE NEXT GLOBAL WAR WILL MORE THAN LIKELY BE FOUGHT WITH STICK AND STONES.

23 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Big Data., Climate Change., Death, Environment, Evolution, Facebook, Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Our Common Values., Populism., Reality., Refugees., Sustaniability, Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The Refugees, The world to day., Unanswered Questions., United Nations, War, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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( A three-minute read)

We are pretty much in a world war right now, if not, we certainly have got all the ingredients required to start one.

Some time ago I posted,   ” ONE HUNDRED YEAR FROM NOW MOST PEOPLE THAT ARE NOW ON FACEBOOK WILL BE DEAD.

The dire question confronting us all is not whether Facebook will be full of dead peoples photos but ” whether humanity itself will survive the next hundred years.”Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of world war 3"

Climate change, scarcity of resources, artificial intelligence, technology  Syria proxy war, Gaza strip, Donald Trump, Iran,  Nato, Trade agreements, the smartphone, the death of ideas, world population, nanobots, drones, growing inequality, popularism, genetic engineering,

We won’t have to wait long to hear ” Alexa, turn off the lights, ” Siri, lock the front door”

We are becoming artificial intelligence spectators in a world of CONSENT WITHOUT CONSENT.

We no longer live in a world dominated by nations but rather in a world dominated by corporations. 

Because of their wealth, these corporations are changing our values along with virtual every caricature of every economic sector of the world.

While the world focus is skewed by a self-posturing USA president – Me first, we are all merrily watch the Arctic melt, swiping barcodes, accepting tracking cookies, smiling for face recognition algorithms, having referendums on short-term issues, plundering the earth resources for short-term profit, ignoring the next generation, relying on Google for information, shopping online while ignoring the sources of supply; reading fake news, becoming more and more confused, removing ourselves from the natural world.

IT IS HARD TO FATHOM GOING A DAY WITHOUT USING A COMPUTER OR A SMARTPHONE HOWEVER BOTH  WILL UNDOUBTEDLY CONTINUE TO EVOLVE, WITH LIFE CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES TO PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD.

It won’t be long before we are arguing about who gets to make decisions.

Humans or the algorithms.

DON’T BE FOOLED BY AI. IS MUCH MORE THAN JUST MACHINE LEARNING.

FACEBOOK- GOOGLE- INTEL – AMAZON – E BAY ARE ALREADY MAKING MORE AND MORE DECISIONS ON OUR BEHALF WITHOUT ANY CONSENT.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THERE IS NO NEED TO WORRY THAT MACHINES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD. THERE IS STILL TRILLIONS OF DATA TO BE TAUGHT OR LEARN ON HOW TO DO SO.

In the meantime, there are far more pressing problems facing the planet.

No one has to be told that once climate migration starts in earnest whether it is by rising seas or crop failures there will be no stopping those affected.

STICKS AND STONE MAY BREAK MY BONES.  EXCLUDING MISTAKES AND THE HUMAN FACTOR AI WILL DO WHAT IT IS PROGRAMMED TO DO OR WILL IT.

WE DON’T KNOW.

BUT THERE IS ONE THING FOR SURE WE AS A SPECIES WE DO WHAT IS EVER NECESSARY TO SURVIVE.

It’s the many versus the few that have the data.

AI WILL DEHUMANIZE US IF WE DON’T WAKE UP TO PROTECTING THE EARTH AND ALL THAT EXIST ON IT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE LOOKS AT REALITY.

10 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Reality., Technology, The cloud., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions.

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( A six-minute read)

QUITE RECENTLY THE BEADY ASKS: DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW WHAT QUANTUM CHIPS WILL DO.

It was read by more than a few punters around the world. However, to date, it seems that no one knows.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of reality and fantasy"

Even trying to define what we mean by “reality” is fraught with difficulty.“

Just so you know I am no Physics scientist, nor do I live in a loony bin and probably like you if I kick a rock it is real but leaving aside the question of whether your senses can be trusted, what are you actually kicking?

When it boils down to it, not a lot.

Science needs remarkably few ingredients to account for a rock: a handful of different particles, the forces that govern their interactions, plus some rules laid down by quantum mechanics.

This seems like a solid take on reality, but it quickly starts to feel insubstantial. If you take a rock apart, you’ll find that its basic constituent is atoms – Atoms, of course, are composed of smaller subatomic particles, namely protons and neutrons – themselves built of quarks – and electrons.

Otherwise, though, atoms (and hence rocks) are mostly empty space.

If an atom were scaled up so that its nucleus was the size of the Earth, the distance to its closest electrons would be 2.5 times the distance between the Earth and the sun. In between is nothing at all.

If so much of reality is built on emptiness, then what gives rocks and other objects their form and bulk?

Physics has no problem answering this question: electrons.

Quantum rules dictate that no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state. The upshot of this is that, no matter how hard you try, you cannot think of the world as made up of particles held together by forces, but quantum theory tells us that these are just a mess of fields we can only properly describe by invoking the mathematics of quantum physics.

The story of our recent technological development has been one of ever-increasing computational power. At some future time, we are unlikely to be content with constructing tightly circumscribed game worlds. We will surely begin to simulate everything, including the evolutionary history that led to where we are.

Flicking the switch on such a world simulation could have fundamental ramifications for our concept of reality.  If we can do it, that makes it likely it has been done before. In fact, given the amount of computing power advanced civilizations are likely to have at their fingertips, it will probably have been done a vast number of times.

So switching on our own simulation will tell us that we are almost undoubtedly in someone else’s already. We would have to think we are one of the simulated people, rather than one of the rare, exceptional non-simulated people.

Probably, anyway. There has to be a basement level of reality somewhere, in which the “master” simulation exists. It is possible that we live in that reality. Depending on its laws of physics, the basement’s computing resources are likely to be finite.

When you woke up this morning, you found the world largely as you left it. You were still you; the room in which you awoke was the same one you went to sleep in. The outside world had not been rearranged. History was unchanged and the future remained unknowable.

In other words, you woke up to reality. But what is the reality? The more we probe it, the harder it becomes to comprehend.Image associée

IT IS DIFFICULT TO REFUTE THE IDEA THAT CONSCIOUSNESS IS ALL THERE IS.

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THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: ARE WE SEEING THE BIRTH OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY.

06 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Democracy, Environment, European Union., Evolution., Facebook, Fake News., Google, HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Modern Day Democracy., Modern day life., Our Common Values., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., Social Media, Sustaniability, Technology, Terrorism., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The world to day., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Leaders, World Organisations., World Politics

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( A Five-minute read)

A common complaint about representative democracy is that it creates a distant class of lawmakers who will often collude with vested interests, or become so detached from the lives of the general public, that they will make decisions that the public does not support. By contrast, in a Direct Democracy system, such corruption of decision-making is impossible if every citizen is an equally powerful participant in the process.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of direct democracy"

However, it does not make any sense to think that direct democracy is somehow ideologically predisposed in any particular direction.

Direct democracy is simply a median-reverting institution.

It pushes policy back toward the center of public opinion when legislatures move too far to the right or left or is it, in fact, an opportunity to organize a kind of socio-ecological revolution to break away from the western development model of politics.

We know that every political system man has invented is open to corruption.

It is obvious that modern western democracies are now confronted with a change in culture mainly due to the integration of migrants, globalization, terrorism, and artificial intelligence.

Direct Democracy is presented as a solution to these challenges mainly by Social Media with its partitions and manipulation of voters with false news and software bots that amplify specific conversations on Twitter and Facebook by posting videos, photos, and biased statements targeting particular hashtags and wordings.  

Resulting in phony debates, nurtured by cliches and prejudices that are destabilizing the political systems we have had for hundreds of years.   

At what cost?

One of the obvious cost is Brexit and the not so obvious Donald Trump.

It is simply impossible to have direct democracy as the common Googlefied smartphone citizen does not have a grasp of political understanding nor the cognitive capacities to achieve direct democracy.

However, this view cuts against democracy in general.

As it implies that politicians always know better than the average citizen.

This is far from the truth when one looks at the current state of the world that is crying for some common action.

Politicians don’t necessarily show expertise and interest and certainly don’t know all the issues and are not always well informed.

They depend on shortcuts and have to ask other politicians and experts.

This morning I received an email from John Taylo in response to my last post ( The Beady Eye ask’s: Does anyone really know what quantum chips will do.)

He sums up the situation by saying and I quote

” We have yet to invent a political system that will harness the knowledge of mankind. if AI can be used for the benefit of all to reduce poverty and increase living standers of all without wrecking the planet it will be ……. Only dreaming”

I replied  “What a dream”

Perhaps I should have said ” Where do dreams come from. Look around you. That is where dreams come from. The only planet we know. ”

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THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: HAVE WE ALL GONE BONKERS. ALLOWING THE CONCERTRATION OF WEALTH TO UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY.

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Climate Change., Democracy, Environment, Fourth Industrial Revolution., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Populism., Social Media., Technology, The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., United Nations, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations., World Politics

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( A five-minute read)Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of madness"

We all know that the world we live in is constantly in a state of transformation.

The wealth created from business for its most part in the history of humanity has always been blamed for being the enemy of nature, for destroying native cultures, for taking from the poor and giving to the rich, for poisoning the earth with effluent from its factories.

YET BUSINESS, PRODUCES FOOD, CURE DISEASE, CONTROL POPULATION, EMPLOY PEOPLE AND UP TO NOW GENERALLY ENRICHED OUR LIVES.

While we live our lives with what is left of our free-thinking brains SOCIAL MEDIA is undermining what we call Democracy and its Institutions.

We are now all subject to what I call perpetual mental MEDIA TORTURE, driven by algorithms which are owned by platforms that are all about making money without any regulation driving instability and unsustainable.

Social media is fueling anger, fear, and false news, resulting in the rise of right-wing political parties, led by political leaders of less and less talent.

We are rapidly coming to a threshold where we all have to reach a level of civilization in which we think about our selves and our existence on earth.

Once wealth is concentrated in the hand of few it undermines democracy by obvious means making democracy much less functional.

It is true to say attitudes to a lot of things have changed, HOWEVER, WE ARE STILL A LONG WAY OFF reaching a level of culture in which we can ask ourselves some really simple questions?

Like:  Are we killing democracy?  The answer is yes.

Like: How do we start a grass root movement to really tackle Climate change.

Like:  How to Tax Carbon Emissions?

Like: How do we stop artificial intelligence widening the inequality gap.

Like: How do we reset the global pay gap.

Like: How do we reset human rights on an equal footing with the rights of shareholders.

Like: How do we transform the EU project from grey bureaucracy into a bright arena.

One of the most obvious results of the Artificial Intelligence revolution is the ongoing concentration of wealth into the hands of the few and as a result, we are now seeing profit without a soul.

THESE MEGA MONOPOLIES LIKE GOOGLE ALONG WITH FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (that do nothing for the economy of a country other than probably harm it have created the very that are overthrowing Capitalism.

ALL POWER ENDS UP AS FINANCE.

THIS POWER SHOULD BE TAXED TO THE HILT TO TACKLE CO2 EMISSION, along with any other form of business commodities that generate profit for profit sake. ( See previous posts)

INSTEAD:

WHILE WE WATCH OUR WORLD FRY OUR POLITICIANS ARE BECOMING LESS AND LESS TALENTED, INCAPABLE OF INSPIRING ANY LONG TERM ASPIRATIONS.

WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING IS I AM ALRIGHT JACK POPULOUS POLICIES.

TRADE WARS, BREXIT, SABER RATTLING.

It is however within our power to change things.

ELECTIONS MIGHT NOT CHANGE ECONOMICS BUT THEY CAN CHANGE THE ATTITUDE OF THOSE ELECTED.

RATHER THAN major de-funding of free education, we need to go back to mass public free education like Finland, Germany.

IF WE DON’T HAVE EDUCATION BEYOND THE NEEDS OF THE MARKETPLACE WE CAN KISS OUR SWEET ASSES TILL WE ARE BLUE IN THE FACE.

Surely we are not all so dumb that we think its OK to carry on regardless.

Maybe we are so dumb that it will require an AI robot to tell us so.

Hail to the algorithm.

WHAT HAPPENS BEYOND THIS POINT WE HAVE NO IDEA. BY THEN IT WILL BE TOO LATE.

ITS TIME TO STOP THE DISHARMONY ON EARTH.

SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of united nations general assembly"

DEMOCRACY COMES IN DIFFERENT COLORS AND SOCIAL MEDIA APPEALS TO BASIC EMOTIONS OF ANXIETY AND TRIBAL SOLIDARITY THAT MAKES IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO CREATE A TRUE PUBLIC SPACE A SENSE OF COMMON INTEREST.

ALL HUMAN COMMENTS APPRECIATED. ALL LIKE CLICKS CHUCKED IN THE BIN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S: Intelligence is whatever machines haven’t done yet.

08 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Evolution, Fake News., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Humanity., Innovation., Technology, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Internet., The Obvious., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations.

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( A TEN MINUTE READ)

The problem is that the concept of “artificial intelligence” is way too potent for its own good.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES of technology in the future"

Ai, Machine learning, Deep learning neural networks have no obvious ways of performing logical inferences all are still a long way from integrating abstract knowledge, such as information about what objects are, what they are for, and how they are typically used.

These are the three terms you’re most likely to have heard lately, and, to be as simple as possible, we can think of them in layers. Neural networks are at the bottom — they’re a type of computer architecture on to which artificial intelligence is built.

Machine learning is next — it’s a program you might run on a neural network, training computers to look for certain answers in pots of data; and

Deep learning is on top — it’s a particular type of machine learning that’s only become popular over the past decade, largely thanks to two new resources: cheap processing power and abundant data (otherwise known as the internet).

The concept of neural networks goes all the way back to the ‘50s and the beginning of AI as a field of research.

In a nutshell, these networks are a way of structuring a computer so that it looks like a cartoon of the brain, comprised of neuron-like nodes connected together in a web. Individually these nodes are dumb, answering extremely basic questions, but collectively they can tackle difficult problems. More importantly, with the right algorithms, they can be taught.

In other words, they don’t have any common sense.

BUT WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE EVER DEVELOP IMAGINATION.

In most cases, the systems making claims to artificial intelligence aren’t sentient, self-aware, volitional, or even surprising. They’re just software.

AI platforms should do more than answer simple questions. They should be able to learn at scale, reason with purpose, and naturally, interact with humans TO BE CALLED INTELLIGENT.

THERE IS PRESENTLY A GREAT MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE TERM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS WHEN IT COMES TO NOT ONLY IDENTIFYING AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

With Artificial intelligence poised to disrupt everything, it’s time we get on the same page as to what AI is, and perhaps more importantly, what we want it to be so that we can regulate and control the technology.

IF WE DON’T ANYONE LOOKING TO DRAW BUZZ TO THEIR PRODUCTS WILL CONTINUE TO CO-OPT THE PHRASE.

If we don’t we won’t NOTICE WHEN A TRUE REVOLUTIONARY AI SYSTEM DOES ARRIVE.

AND HOW PROBLEMATIC THAT WILL BE.

NOW IS THE TIME THAT WE MUST FULLY ALIGN THE GOAL’S OF AI WITH OURS WHICH IS ALREADY STRICKLING DIFFICULT WITHOUT AN OVERALL GOVERNING WORLD BODY.

IT IS PARAMOUNT FOR WORLD PEACE NOT TO MENTION IN THE COMING YEARS TO REDUCE THE INCREASING GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR THAT EVERY AI PROGRAM SHOULD BE VETTED NOT JUST FOR A SUREFIRE WAY OF PREDICTING HOW IT WILL BEHAVE BUT TO ENSURE IT COMPLIES WITH OUR COMMON HUMAN VALUES.

FOR TRANSPARENCY AND RESPONSIBILITY EVERY AI PROGRAM SHOULD BE REGISTERED WITH THIS WORLD BODY WITH A SHUTDOWN PROGRAM.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "PICTURES OF AI"

ALL HUMAN COMMENTS APPRECIATED. ALL LIKE CLICKS CHUCKED IN THE BIN.

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE CALLS ON IRELAND AS A NATION TO CALL ON ITS IRISH UK RESIDENTS TO SUPPORT STAYING IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by in 2018: The Year of Disconnection., Articular 50., Brexit v EU - Negotiations., Brexit., Democracy, England EU Referendum IN or Out., England., European Commission., European Union., Modern Day Democracy., Politics., Populism., Post - truth politics., The Irish/ Northern Ireland border., The Obvious., Trade Agreements., Unanswered Questions.

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( A five-minute read)

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

BREXIT JUST LIKE THE FAMINE ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO WILL BE A WATERSHED IN THE HISTORY OF IRELAND.

Ireland is once more faced with the indifference of the English who when voting to leave the European Union had no consideration for its closes and biggest trading partner.

It would be fair to say like the Famine that Ireland will be once more the sacrificial lamb of the British political ambitions.

There are few democratic countries (where two out of its regions voted to stay and when combined with the two leave regions the overall majority was only a 3.8% majority.)  that would act on a nonlegal binding referendum which was conducted against a background of lies.

One would think that a majority of at least 5% ON SUCH AN IMPORTANT ISSUE WOULD BE A REASONABLE REQUIREMENT.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "pictures of brexit"

If England looked after its people first rather than the glory of a past empire Brexit probably would have never happened. It was the dysfunctional economy of Britain that fueling the leave vote, not immigration.

On top of all of this when you see how different generations voted in the Brexit you realize that the relationship between different age groups in England is broken.

ONE WAY OR THE OTHER IT IS NOW HELL BENT ON DELIVERING THE WORST OF BOTH WORLD; IN OUR OUT. Big business versus the Nigel Farage’s of this world with a handful of Conservatives such as Micheal Gove, Boris Johnson a few Labour MPs.

At the moment dogs cats and ferrets can travel between the UK AND THE EU. Maybe after all of this, all UK citizens will be required to be micro-chipped against Brexit rabies.

SO WE ARE LEFT WITH THE REALITY THAT THE POST BREXIT TRADE DEAL IS GOING TO BE THE MOST COMPLEX PART OF ANY NEGOTIATED DEAL AS IT HAS TO BE UNANIMOUS APPROVED BY 30 NATIONAL AND REGIONAL PARLIAMENTS SOME OF WHICH WILL NO DOUBT HOLD THEIR OWN REFERENDUMS.

ALL OF WHICH POINTS TO NO DEAL, AND YEARS OF BATTLING IT OUT IN COURTS PROCEEDINGS WITH A MASSIVE DIVORCE BILL TO BOTH SIDES.

SO THE QUESTION IS; WILL THERE BE ANOTHER UK REFERENDUM.

Not likely.

To rejoin would mean starting from scratch, with no rebates, the lost of sterling with and all current member agreeing to the UK rejoining.

As for clout outside the EU.

A UK in disarray will have a much influence on the world stage as the DUP is willing to give it at a price.

Forming its own Trade area is an artificial intelligence algorithm yet to be invented.

However, there is a way out of all of this.

The UK abdicates its powers to NORTHERN IRELAND.

ITS CITIZENS BORN AND TO BE BORN HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO CARRY BOTH UK PASSPORTS AND IRISH – THUS FUTURE ENGLISH GENERATIONS CAN REMAIN IN THE THE EU.

ALL THEY  WILL HAVE TO REMEMBER IS TO CARRY YOUR IRISH PASSPORT WHEN YOU ARE JOINING THE EU CITIZENS – ONLY QUEUE AT THE AIRPORT.

IT WOULD AVOID A HUGE LOSS OF FACE ON ALL SIDES.

One final observation;

The English don’t appear to understand that the European Union is governed by rules for a reason.

That reason is simple to understand.

The European Union is made up of countries that don’t quite trust each other.  They need rules to function, with an independent court to settle any problems.

Whoever thought that Northern Ireland would unite not just Ireland but the whole of the UK.Résultat de recherche d'images pour "picture of brexit"

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