Category Archives: 2020: The year we need to change.

THE BEADY SAYS; THE TIME HAS COME TO COMMENCE CREATING A NEW IDOLOGY TO LIVE ON AND WITHIN EARTH.

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., 2021. The year for change., A Constitution for the Earth., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Civilization., Climate Change., COVID-19, Disaster Capitalism., Earth, Environment, Evolution, Fourth Industrial Revolution., Fresh Water., How to do it., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Inequality, Life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Pandemic, Paris Climate Change Conference 2015, Political Trust, Politics., Populism., Post-Covid-19, Privatization, Reality., Sovereign wealth fund, Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., Trade Agreements., Truth, Truthfulness., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, We can leave a legacy worthwhile., Wealth., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Economy., World Leaders

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( A seven-minute read) 


IF THERE IS ANYTHING TO LEARN FROM COVID IT IS THAT WE HUMANS MUST CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY ON THIS PLANET.

CURRENTLY, WE ALL LIVE WITHIN IDEOLOGIES THAT ARE BROKEN.

SOME VISIBLE SOME NOT. 

(An ideology (/ˌʌɪdɪˈɒlədʒi/) is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially as held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which “practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones.” Wikipedia. 

There are many different kinds of ideologies, including political, social, epistemological, and ethical.

  • “We do not need…to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. The need for a sense of universal responsibility affects every aspect of modern life.” — Dalai Lama.
  • “The function of ideology is to stabilize and perpetuate dominance through masking or illusion.” — Sally Haslanger
  • “[A]n ideology differs from a simple opinion in that it claims to possess either the key to history or the solution for all the ‘riddles of the universe,’ or the intimate knowledge of the hidden universal laws, which are supposed to rule nature and man.” — Hannah Arendt)

At the root of all these ideologies is the value of money.

HOW IT IS ACQUIRED AND DISTRIBUTED IS WHAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.

A religion may present a vision of a just society, but it cannot easily have a practical political program with or without money.  

All idea systems have a class basis. This class bias is defined by the acquisition of wealth in one form or another – assets, power, etc. Nither however can any longer dominate the state through an appeal to the populace, and then use the powers of the state to control both the economy and the private lives of the citizen’s work.

No longer can politics itself, acquire certain ideological characteristics whose true nature is concealed.

All forms of isms that belong to the 19th or 20th century may suggest that ideologies are no older than the word itself—that they belong essentially to a period in which secular belief increasingly replaced traditional religious faith.

So let’s ask the question.   

Where are we?

In terms of truth we now in a world both connected and disconnected in the extreme sense of the word connected.

IT IS CLEAR THAT THE WORLD NEEDS TO MOVE BEYOND SLOGANS.

A system that rewards those with capita while taxpayer’s money is used to support food banks for those out of work is not sustainable.

The economic injustices are plain to see with historic debt the inheritance of the young along with irreversible climate change and biodiversity collapse.

We now need an ism that shifts human values to a different set of values by placing the earth’s healthy existence at the forefront of all our values.

WE MUST NOT ONLY CONFRONT OUR MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF THE NATURAL WORLD WE MUST USE KNOWLEDGE NOT AS A MEANS TO CREATE WEALTH BUT AS A GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING WHERE WE ARE AT. 

WE CAN NO LONGER STAND BYE AND WATCH BIG TECH MONOPOLIES COMPANIES SWALLOW WHAT IS LEFT OF COMPETITION.

WE CAN NO LONGER STAND BYE AND WATCH A MARKET PLACE THAT CREATES WINNERS AND LOSERS ON THE BASES OF WEALTH. 

WE CAN NO LONGER WATCH WORLD ORGANISATIONS GOVERNED BY VETOES.

WE ALL DEPENDENT ON EACH OTHER AND OTHERS AND MUST COLLABORATE WITH ALL THAT SURROUNDS US.  

No longer is it possible for any system whether it’s socialism, communism, anarchism, fascism, nationalism, liberalism, and conservatism to be FREE OF INTERFERENCE FROM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, MACHINE LEARNING, AND UNCONTROLLED ALGORITHMS.

THESE TECHNOLOGIES IN THEIR PRESENT STATE ARE SIGNALING THAT INTERPRETATIONS OF IDEOLOGIES ARE OUT OF DATE. 

You only have to look at the world to see the inequalities created by the pursuit of growth at any cost. This pursuit has turned all of earth’s resources into products to produce more products sold in a marketplace governed by short term profit. 

No longer is it possible to take fresh air, fresh water for granted. 

If we don’t want a world where from birth to death is viewed as an opportunity to exploit our weaknesses and essential needs to live out our lives in the first place,  we need AN NEW IDOLOGIE CALLED REALISM, NOT ESCAPISM, NOT APATHY, OR ANY MONOTHEISM, OR NEOREALISTS

“ Rather a collective meanings that constitute the structures which organize our actions.”

There is only one solution.

That is as advocated by this blog in several posts to Harness PROFIT FOR-PROFIT SAKE.

High-frequency trading with algorithms, sovereign wealth funds buying earth resources – land, water, energy, futures/ hedge funds – betting on demand, currency exchanges manipulating value, trade deals excluding fair trade, the list is endless. 

ALL ACTIONS THAT ARE NOW REQUIRED TO CHANGE COURSE REQUIRE FUNDING.

A 0.05% WORLD AID COMMISSION ON ALL ACTIVITIES THAT ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE WILL CREATE A PERTUTIAL FUND OF TRILLIONS TO CREATE A WORLD THAT’S WORTH LIVING ON.  

There is one thing for certain change is happing but the window for change is closing.

Climate change is not something that might happen in the future. 

We need a new relationship, to a more sustainable relationship with the natural world.

Creative imagination is what’s required so if you read this post let’s hear your comments.  

 https://youtu.be/GCwHki1q_I8

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

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social unrest in the long tall grass while a few billionaires laugh there a way to the bank 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS; IS THIS CHRISTMAS THE CHRISTMAS TO COUNT YOUR BLESSING.

20 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Christmas Card to the Young of the world., Christmas., Our Common Values., POST COVID-19.

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(Six-minute read) 

Here we are coming to the end of another year and those of us who are not grieving the loss of a loved one should be counting our blessings. However, while we should all thank the Sciences the recovery from Covid as a society is now more than about antibodies.

 

As you might have guessed the most important anchor of recovery’ is for a COVID-19 vaccination that works. The implication is that without a vaccine the world will be unable to return to any sense of normality, particularly in terms of open interaction with your fellow man.

The pandemic has demonstrated and is demonstrating as I write, yet again, those global questions that require global solutions –  which can be all wrapped up within the word Inequality.

World Governments’ first responses have naturally been national if this Pandemic echoes other defining events in our more recent history it will leave the political landscape transformed in some respects yet wearily familiar in others.  

It would be fair to say that the debate about what makes life worth living is just starting. Digital interactions are no substitute for the things of real life. 

The changes could be immense but unpredictable with digital platforms becoming the only way for many of us to work, get fit, or be educated and entertained.

It is not just purely economic survival it is also the reshaping of International relationships. 

The normal we once knew is gone.

The infinite expansion economic model is bust resetting the western peasants’ sense of entitlement.

The digital transformation of business will get faster, with more automation and artificial intelligence to approve loans, profile customers, control stock, and improve delivery. 

We now know the infrastructure can cope, on the whole, and we’ll need to think carefully about which platforms we use and what we say on them.

What happens next though is open to question.

The coronavirus offers a sense of how a greener world might feel but there are now two scenarios in play. 

One scenario is that the world repeats the fossil fuel frenzy that followed the banking crisis, unleashing pent-up demand for oil and coal. Governments know this response well as a method to revive flagging economies.

The other is that every element of nature and every life form is a part of the global inventory (managed by the allegedly benevolent state, which, in turn, is owned by several suddenly benevolent wealthy people, via unregulated, biased algorithms technology).

Their goal is to count and then efficiently manage and control all resources, including people, on an unprecedented scale. 

Ultimately, the Great Reset will result in two tiers or people:

The technocratic elite, who have all the power and rule over all assets, and the rest of humanity, who have no power, no assets, and no say-so in anything.

Finally, international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, and the European Union may be challenged to up their games – or go away.

National security capability will be judged by stockpiled medical equipment and preparedness for the next pandemic or environmental catastrophe, not just on how many tank brigades can be deployed.

Ofcom estimates that 59% of 12 to 15-year-olds have their own tablet, while 83% have a smartphone so sustainable development will be  Technocracy, and there’s not a single area of life that is left out of this Great Reset.

A strong transhumanist bend where humans merge with machines and in which law enforcement will be able to read our minds.

Our suspended life in lockdown could be incubating a grievance that, when released, triggers angry questions, a search for blame, and demands for reprisals. The fear is that our behavioral norms will have become infected by distress and hardship, that we will emerge more individual and less together.

Economic hardship will strain social ties. That’s the real test for this generation – not “can we keep our temper in lockdown?” but “can we quietly repair our social fabric in the tough times?”

If you want to change governments don’t focus on changing the government; you’re not going to get anywhere. You’ve got to change the corporations because the governments are becoming just pawns of the corporations trading online, with no ethics other than profit.    

Also, practically every problem we have can be traced back to an environmental cause so we must consume less, consume better.  We must use business to inspire and implement solutions to the forthcoming environmental crisis. ( See previous posts 0.05% for the Planet.)

The COVID-19 crisis has given new relevance to the concept behind Yang’s campaign centerpiece—an idea is known as universal basic income (UBI).

In contrast to need-based subsidies, the idea behind UBI is that everyone is eligible.

Now is the time for its introduction to offset job losses caused by the pandemic and technology. 

It would provide enough to cover the basic cost of living and give financial security not just to the wealthy but to all. It would remove the problem with existing welfare programs that keep people below the poverty line.

It’s the only solution to an economy where “a small group of people are getting very, very wealthy while everyone else is struggling to make ends meet. It would give society a much-needed ballast during the forthcoming recession. 

Automation is fundamentally changing the structure of societies. 

The question is of course who funds the income.

The top one percent ie the wealthy and tech companies paid for it.  

or 10 to 12% of GDP go directly to the universal income payments.

When it comes to Climate change it poses many challenges: 

The massive development of renewables will require the use of immense land. The rapid end of fossils will require reconverting large parts of the economy. Finally, how can we get the majority of the population to accept such a commotion?

Such an upheaval will require more than digital surveillance or the four most dangerous words being parroted by a gullible public these days are, “I TRUST THE SCIENCE.”  

Happy Algorithmic Christmas to all.

Control the world through digital surveillance, not on your nanny.   

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE BEADY EYE ASKS. WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE TOP CURRENT THREATHS TO HUMANITY?

12 Saturday Dec 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., A Constitution for the Earth., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Civilization., Climate Change., COVID-19, Digital age., Disaster Capitalism., Environment, Fourth Industrial Revolution., Green Energy., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Life., Modern day life., Modern day Slavery, Nuclear power., Our Common Values., Politics., POST COVID-19., Reality., Robot citizenship., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Truthfulness., Unanswered Questions., Universal Basic Income., We can leave a legacy worthwhile., 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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(Fifteen-minute read) 

There is a  radical difference between conventional threats and emerging threats which are posing a strategic challenge that must be met with a strategic response. 

On one hand, it would be fair to say that Human advances have got us into the mess, but the question is the technology capable of getting us out of the mess. 

Globalization, complexity, our relatively unsophisticated mechanisms for sharing information and making sense out of changes that we barely perceive, much less understand, all assure that any major threat — and especially non-state threats such as infectious disease – covid -19. 

So let’s look at a few things that stick out like sore thumbs when it comes to technology. 

The fear that technology could cause humanity’s downfall as such offers some terrifying scenarios that could befall our species. 

The risk of the creation of some new super virus or bug in a lab that we are unable to control if it were to escape into the wild isn’t any longer beyond the realms of impossibility. 

It means we must apply technology in ways responsive to our most immediate and frequent threats and must balance our use of technology with the intelligence cycle:

If we do not harness the fourth industrial revolution to the benefit of all we will turn the planet once more back into a snowball Earth.

We must develop reliable capabilities for developing technology advancement.

No government, no international organization, and certainly no corporation, can be relied upon to seek out and act on the truth, or even to act in the public interest.

So in my view, the greatest threat we face is unregulated software that is driving our lives. It is one of the greatest problems afflicting modern society, not because of human intelligence, but because we are allowing profit-seeking algorithms to dominate consumption.

Current economic policy is short-term creating a non-saving society for the rainy day.

One only has to look at the effects of the covid pandemic to see that a redistribution of wealth is required urgently if we are to have any chance of a caring society.

The current threats.       

Take for example. 

Cyber malware.

What is malware?  How dangerous is it? 

It is a contraction of malicious software that exploits your digital life, by mining your personal data either to profit directly or sell on the information. It comes in the form of a virus embedded in a piece of software and can spread from one file to another or computer. 

There are several types of malware.

A worm. Does not need to be triggered. It automatically propagates itself. 

A Trojan. Can be a good-looking App that will wreak havoc. 

A Ransom.  Pay up before everything is deleted.

They can be weaponized to have real-world consequences. Over fifteen Iranian facilities were attacked and infiltrated by the Stuxnet worm.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) disclosed on Wednesday that it has suffered a cyber-attack, leading to unauthorized access to documents relating to a Covid-19 vaccine.

Now imagine the threat to the stability of critical infrastructures around water, electricity, and gas that are vital to the running of nations.

The next has to be Climate change.

The main problem here is that no one whats to foot the bill. ( See previous posts) 

To achieve long-term and profound progress in environmental governance, policy focus needs to be complemented by intensified efforts to strengthen the rule of environmental law not just shallow promises coming out of Climate Conferences. 

To do so, the capacity of international courts to pronounce judgments on environmental matters, the clarity, and scope of environmental legal principles, and compliance with and implementation of judgments must be further strengthened with a constitution for the whole of the Earth. 

What’s at stake here are basic rights to life and health so the pursuing of climate policies that violate the right to life must have genuine consequences if we are to keep global warming to 2°C.

Climate change crossing borders with impunity.

Next: Poverty.

 The gap between rich and poor is now a pandemic.

No single factor can account for the large disparities in economic development among the countries of the world. Nor is the relative influence of any particular factor likely to remain the same over time.

While such things as technology and natural resources are obvious factors in economic development, they are plundered for profit’s sake by high-frequency trading run by unregulated data mining algorithms. 

However, there is no denying the fact that the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer.

This is happing not because of human intelligence but can be attributed to numerous factors such as social immobility, globalization, more advanced technology, and taxation.

Current economic policy is dominated by short-term thinking so there is a serious lack of savings for the rainy day. 

The COVID-19 pandemic will and is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, especially in the emerging online markets and developing economies.

Next. 

Nuclear Armageddon.

The threat of nuclear Armageddon has receded these days replaced by Climate Change.

Still, it’s a worrying thought alongside artificial intelligence, biotechnology warfare it is and remains inconceivable to our comprehension other than an instant self ext to our existence.

Next 

Enslavement by self-replicate robotic robots created by nano-sized technology.

It may well be a piece of code – not a nuclear weapon or infectious disease or indeed climate change  – that brings about humanity’s downfall.

Next

The needs of 7 billion people. 

Precious resources:

https://www.theworldcounts.com/embed/challenges/5?background_color=white&color=black&font_family=%22Helvetica+Neue%22%2C+Arial%2C+sans-serif&font_size=14

As our culture advanced and our species invented many things that will make our lives easier, our demand for raw materials increased by leaps and bounds. We get these resources from the other. The problem is, we’re using too much and without care. Our planet just can’t keep up with our ever-increasing demands.

Finally:  With quality education becoming more and more expensive only an investment in people and not profit has any hope.  

Our demand for knowledge shows no sign of abating.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

about fostering opportunity

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. THE RETAIL APOCALYPSE IS NOW ON US WITH MORE FRONTS THAN ONE.

06 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Amazon., DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP., Disaster Capitalism., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Human values., Modern day Slavery, Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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(Seven-minute read) 

As if the world has not got enough problems much of the retail sector is now buckling under the weight of COVID-19.

And now we have  Amazon, trying to position itself as the forerunner in e-commerces.

From everything from health care to fresh food to your weekly shop, it is rapidly becoming the “retail apocalypse” and the search tool instead of Google.

With over 300 million customers it is using your shopping data to do so by promoting its own products before any others using its platforms, even if they are more expensive than competing products.

When the dust settles, we’ll see an evolution where there’s less focus on huge one-day sales like Black Friday to Cyber Mondays with more emphasis being put on a multi-day and multi-week [series of] continuation of sales.

(The term Black Friday refers to stores going into the black – becoming profitable – for the season.

Americans spent 6.3 million dollars (5.26 million euros) every second (!) On the Internet.

Online sales during the recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday for independent businesses selling on the platform topped $4.8 billion in worldwide sales, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, up 60% from the year before.Black Friday Spending Statistics, Trends, and Fun Facts (US & UK)

Commodity value means assigning a value to different goods and services and of course, Amazon pontificates its green ambitions in its blurb. 

But sustainable development is not just about the forest, nor is it a communist conspiracy, rather it relates to how humans operate.

All of us live in ecosystems, the only difference between them being how much they have been altered to suit human habitation.

Who decides what is sustainable?

Besides, sustainability requires recognition of the fact that how we obtain resources is having devastating impacts on the other species we share the planet with.

Since we live in ecosystems, and all ecosystems rely on communities of different species to be maintained; reducing the number of total species may have negative impacts on human populations. Research already shows that reducing biodiversity may influence rates of the spread and infections of certain pathogens and diseases

Amazon sustainability is a word used to promote collectivism.

An argument can be made for the idea that online shopping is less detrimental to the environment than traditional retail, but this is often untrue.

It is true that shopping online yields a smaller carbon footprint. However, it is also true that online sales create more vehicles, more traffic, and potentially more emissions.

As hundreds of millions of customers order simultaneously and expect two-day delivery there are more stops per delivery trip, with still more potentially nitrogen oxide emitted.

Unfortunately, Amazon is becoming one of the greatest promoters of unsuitability even if you believe in its commitment to Zero carbon by 2040.

Key Takeaways.

  • Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
  • Investors can be wary of companies that commit to sustainability. Although the optics can be beneficial to share price, investors worry about companies being transparent with their earnings results.
  • Big brands often make pledges to sustainability, but it often takes a long time to achieve sustainability goals.
  • Twenty years to do so is not good enough. 

Have I used Amazon?  Yes.  Will I use it in the future?  Yes, but not for fresh food or any item that can be produced locally.  

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

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS: WE NOW HAVE A NEW FORM OF CAPITALISM CALLED DIASTER CAPTILISM.

03 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Capitalism, DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP., Disaster Capitalism., Disasters., Economic Depression., How to do it., Inequality, Modern day life., Our Common Values., Pandemic, POST COVID-19., Reality., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, The common good., The essence of our humanity., THE NEW NORM., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Universal Basic Income ., We can leave a legacy worthwhile., WHAT IS TRUTH, What needs to change in European Union., What Needs to change in the World, World Economic Depression.

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(Seven-minute read) 


Since its creation, Capitalism has been reinventing itself.  

If we look at COVID-19 through the lens of disaster capitalism, it promotes free-market, for-profit corporate solutions that may succeed in creating company profits but ultimately fail in terms of democracy, fairness, and justice.

The total mortality from COVID-19 on a global scale is as yet unknown, but we have been thinking of it as a disaster for months now till the arrival of a vaccine 

What exactly is the disaster, then? What makes something a disaster?

Why aren’t other more deadly causes of mortality (heart disease, cancer, diabetes) considered disasters?

Just imagine if cancer, heart disease, and diabetes were framed in the same language and sense of urgency as COVID-19.

This is difficult to imagine because chronic morbidities are a built-in artifact of the disaster that free-market capitalism has created.

A society that is organized around the principle that companies should not be prevented from making things that kill people must also accept as ‘normal’ that many people will die in large numbers from these things.

We now have what’s called Disaster \Capitlism enriching the few.

No longer able to sustain itself by selling dreams Capitalism now thrives on the management of nightmares online. 

Why?

Because of several events.

The Financial Crash in of 2007–2008 – Save the banks – Save the Economy – not the people – GDP at any cost. 

Covid-19 is now an opportunity to rebalance power and wealth in society. 

It has exposed the need to move GDP away from growth at any cost which makes no economic sense to start saving for the rainy day and redistributing wealth to those that make it possible in the first place.

Covid-19 or rather with the arrival of vaccines Post covid -19 is an opportunity to rebalance both power and wealth in society, away from labor and towards capital or the other way away of capital to labor. 

Even Diasters relief is transformed into profit and the current pandemic will be no exception as we are experiencing not one, but two disasters.

There is the virus, and then there is the societal reaction of bringing our entire fiscal and economic infrastructure to a near-complete standstill affecting the most vulnerable social and economic groups. 

There’s been a lot of dithering about whether or not COVID-19 is a disaster but rest assured if big business activities have the way they will seek to create products that consumers purchase due to fear of some type of potential or impending disaster.

Over time, the term disaster capitalism will be applied to profits made due to climate change that will generate anxiety that can only be relieved by consuming a given product.

Creating responses that may have a much more deleterious effect than the virus itself.

Now is the time to move away from GDP to the distribution of wealth.  

We have witnessed the weakening labor and strengthening the power of Capital with stimulus quantitive easing and tax cuts –  corporations dished out cash to their shareholders to buy up their own stock during the Financial Crises.   

Which would you pick?

The current capitalist objectives of growth at any cost – GDP

or

The redistribution of economic wealth, to one and all, by the introduction of a Basic Universal living wage.  

Save for the rain day

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S : LET’S LOOK AT ON LINE SHOPPING. JUST WHO OR WHAT IS BENEFITING.

29 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Capitalism, Dehumanization., Digital age., Disconnection., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Google, Google it., How to do it., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Lock Down., Modern day Slavery, Online shopping., Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., Purchasing Power., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, The art of a handshake., The common good., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The world to day., Tracking apps., Unanswered Questions., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World

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(Ten-minute read) 

Shopping used to be a social activity but Covid -19  pandemic driving up demand for online shopping has and is creating a perfect storm for retailers forcing them to radically rethink what they need to do to remain profitable.

It is said that we are more connected with the internet rather than been isolated.

With smartphones verbally this is true but we are in a world that is disconnecting its self from genuine social contact onto platforms run by algorithms for Profit to the detriment of sensibility, and sustainability of the planet we live on.

(An algorithm is a series of instructions telling a computer how to transform a set of facts about the world into useful information. The facts are data, and the useful information is knowledge for people, instructions for machines, or input for yet another algorithm.)

We are now living in a world where algorithms, or software buying agents, “go shopping” on our behalf.

Every piece of technology that you touch involves many algorithms. They live in our computers and dictate our digital lives at random invisibly existing in the abstract. 

While they fully automate the shopping process, they are capable of keep customers stuck

to one retailer and one product.

They can make thousands of calls or website visits a day.

It’s why people’s Google Search results will look different when they’re looking up things in different parts of the world, or why the ads that follow you across the web are different from your friends’. You never really see the complexities at work, simply the results. 

This sounds very much like a quasi-monopoly.

In a world where algorithms make shopping decisions on our behalf, all

bets are off that shopping will ever return to the high street.

Humans stand no chance against bots when trying to access products and services that might be in demand.

The longer the lockdowns- the more driven demand increasingly via smartphones.

The emerging Economy of Algorithms, where software agents act on our behalf, has the potential of dramatically changing the way we live, work, and think.

We need clear rules that govern the behavior of software buying agents.

We also need a coordinated approach for software buying agents to disclose who they are, in situations where they can be confused for a human.

We need regulations governing profit-seeking algorithms with control of algorithmic trading. With the right mechanisms for the protection of competition in the markets, regulating access to products and services, and enforcing minimum quality standards of algorithms that shop on our behalf. 

Shopping ads are known to produce well over 85% of retail paid Google search clicks. As such, they routinely produce a 400 to 1000% return on cash spent on ads.

Google Shopping entails how to get your product types featured on the nifty Product Ads on Google’s page search results.

Today the majority of stock market transactions are fully automated and executed by algorithms.

AMAZON Net profit roughly tripled to $6.33 billion. Its advertising business, reported $5.4 billion in sales, a 51% jump.

The real reasons that online shopping is replacing conventional shopping habits are.

Reduced overheads expand your market beyond local customers.

With online shopping, you can compare prices from hundreds of different vendors.

No pressure sales.

There are no fixed hours to shop.

One does not have to get in a car, find or pay for a parking spot, get clamped, pay parking fees, pay tolls, get mugged, spend hours in traffic jams, or have a nice day.

Online stores want to keep you as a customer, so they may offer deep discounts, rewards, and cashback if you sign up for their newsletters.

The downside however is you can’t try things on. None of them offer the on-the-spot, take-home advantage that a physical store does.

And shipping costs, are sometimes even more than the cost of what you buy. In-store shopping has no need to charge extra for shipping.

Online sales now accounting for around one-quarter of the total retail market.

There is a clear need for greater speciation, specialization, and differentiation because the consumer is in the driver’s seat, enabled by technology to remain constantly connected and more empowered than ever before to drive changes in shopping behavior in both the physical store and digital retail landscape.

Retailers are still competing with each other but also face new competitors who have different operating models and cost bases and this rate of change is showing little sign of slowing.

The greatest danger that remains with on-line shopping is Privacy and security.

These are legitimate concerns for any online shopper. Your payment information could get stolen from the site or someone who works there could copy your bank details and use them later on their own purchases. It’s also hard to immediately recognize whether an online store is real or just there to scam you.

There are tons of online shopping sites where you can buy everything from plane tickets and flat-screen TVs to food, clothes, furniture, office supplies, movies, and lots more.

Paying attention to whether or not the site uses HTTPS.

Artificial intelligent algorithms will know everything about you- where you live, where and what and when you buy, how often, your likes and dislikes, your bank account, your wife, your children, your friends, infected or not. 

If you want a life go and get it. 

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

 

THE BEADY EYE ASK’S. IS IT SHAME ON YOU ENGLAND.

28 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., Aid, Civilization., Climate Change., Foreign Aid., G20., G7., GDP., How to do it., Humanity., Inequality., Our Common Values., Politics., Post-Covid-19, Poverty, Sustaniability, The art of a handshake., The common good., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., VALUES, We can leave a legacy worthwhile., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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(Six-minute read) 

 

Here is a nation that made its wealth from an Empire that exploited most of the world.

Victoria

It is now leaving the European Union which was set up with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbors. 

Reneging on its commitment to spend 0.07% of its gross national income on foreign aid because charity begins at home.

In the middle of a financial meltdown,  turning its self into a parochial country on the world stage.

Agreed a four-year £16.5bn surge in defense spending in the middle of a pandemic, while 1.9 million of its people are relying on a food bank.   

Spending around 160 billion to save 30 minutes by rail from London to Birmingham. (Creating around 30,000 temporary jobs.) While by this time next year there is every likelihood that its unemployed will reach 3 million must of which will be under 25 years of age. 

Aid is a fundamental reaction of most individuals when they see or hear of someone in need. 

This is why we have appeal’s from saving a donkey to save a penguin to save a child to donate to cancer research to donate to the poor to donate blood to relieve famine. 

It is true that aid on an individual basis comes in many forms with countries’ government foreign aid reflecting our collective compassion.

It is also true that Aid is sometimes abused both by the recipient and the giver.          

Perhaps the toxic environment caused by the excesses of the tabloid media over the last 30 years and now social media has something to do with our harding attitude that Aid starts at home. But with our inability to act as one on climate change we will all have to become better at emergency aid and rather worse at development aid.

Indeed financial aid over the last 30 years or so has proved to be  “an excellent method for transferring money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.” However, in the long run when it comes to aiding it’s cheaper to send them the money rather than them having to come to claim it.

Aid politicized economies and therefore it often comes with a price of its own. 

Rich nations use aid as a lever to open poor country markets to their products and create beneficial trades with aid amounts being dwarfed by rich country protectionism that denies market access for poor country products.

Britain and the USA only believe in free markets that work in one direction.

Aid may be bilateral and multilateral if it is bilateral happens when: the given is from one country directly to another; and multilateral: when is given by the donor country to an international organization such as the World Bank (WB) or the United Nations Agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, UNAIDS, etc.) which in many cases they are the ones who distribute it among the developing countries.

The proportion is currently about 70% bilateral 30% multilateral, according to the World Bank statistics.

Even though the relationship between globalization, development, poverty, and foreign aid is not always clear, as long as the poorest countries are not integrated to work in their own development process, the world has not benefitted or learned from globalization especially from developed neighbor countries, who can give support in many conditions to work from the same goal, the success of development.

Paradox as aid to Africa has grown, the continent has actually become poorer rather than better off.

Of all the aid given to developing countries the smartphone allowed trade to take place without a middle man, and to know the market price has done more than all the billions.

Trade, not aid, it doesn’t have to mean money all the time.

Trade has a long-term impact on international co-operation.

Trade helps developing countries to maintain their dignity,

Trade establishes a strong impression in the international market, 

Trade promotes the economical improvement of the country 

Trade requires investment first.

Trade is treated as an inefficient distributor of resources. The benefit of trade is mostly confined to an elite group of people in the country.

Thoughtful aid can de accelerate this process.

It is not so much trade vs aid – but what quality and type of aid are given.

But more importantly for us to see the difference it makes.  We should be aiding poorer countries to do things themselves, not doing things for them.

( See the previous post on the Solution on how to finance and distribute Aid while maintaining the Mantra Charity starts a home.)  

It seems the brightest people are no longer attracted to politics. 

John Donne wrote in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”: “No man is an island, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE ASK’S: ARE WE ALL JUST IDIOTS WHEN IT COMES TO CLIMATE CHANGE.

26 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Climate Change.

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(Five-minute read) 

The climate crisis awaiting us will be infinitely worse than the one we are going through with Covid-19.

It could quite simply make our planet uninhabitable.

This isn’t like a war or an economic recession, or pandemic, where you know things, will be bad for a few years but eventually improve.

The universe is governed by one overarching set of laws, the laws of nature and science, and the human community, must exist within these laws.

We all know that the climate is not regulated by a pandemic.

After more than 2000 years of human history, both religion and politics have failed at solving any of the major problems humanity has faced over the centuries and both have little to offer for the series of serious problems we face today.

We are all members of just one race – the human race and we share one home – the planet Earth. We all have the same basic aspirations for life, liberty, and happiness. We should not be separated by religion or discriminated against because of skin color, sexual orientation, or other prejudices.

It seems to me that this is the first time in history we have known things will get worse for the foreseeable future. There is no more time or room for inaction as we can only slow down the rate at which things get worse.

Never before have we known that the deterioration of not just our countries, but our entire planet, will continue for the foreseeable future – no matter what we do.

Providing that we don’t wipe ourselves off the face of the planet it is incumbent on the government to provide an environment that is supportive of an individual’s ability to seek and achieve happiness in their lives. Humanity must take urgent action to reverse the course of climate change that is already affecting the biosphere or threaten humanity’s very existence and the future of all of the species populating our planet.  


Thwaites Glacier

If we persist with the course we are all on we can expect mass migrations, death, and destruction as a result, with many parts of the world becoming uninhabitable.

If we succeed in limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, we will still have sea level rises of around half a meter, killer heatwaves, and drought in many parts of the world – leading to a decrease in agricultural productivity.

Even before the current Pandemic, we are all complicit with the sclerotic political system that has failed to address the crisis, and we all contribute to carbon emissions.

Few of us can say that we have risen to the challenges.

Why?

Because the climate crisis requires true altruism and real sacrifices.

Are we even capable of that?

Climate change is a truly global, complex problem with economic, social, political, and moral ramifications, the solution will require both a globally-coordinated response (such as international policies and agreements between countries, a push to cleaner forms of energy) and local efforts on the city- and regional-level (for example, public transport upgrades, energy efficiency improvements, sustainable city planning, etc.).

It’s up to us what happens next.

Unfortunately, all our actions are motivated by self-interest, but our lives will lose meaning if we can see beyond I am all right Jack. 

Consider what society will look like if there are no generations to follow us and no future –  it’s a vision of despair.

Our main problem is that no one nation or individual wants to foot the bill. 

So why not make a profit for profit sake pay. 

( Se previous Post; A world Aid fund of 0.05% on all Profit generated for Profit sake. ) 

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

 

 

THE BEADY EYE ASKS. WHY DO WE HUMANS FIND IT DIFFICULTY TO ACCEPT THE TRUTH.

18 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Climate Change., COVID-19, Digital age., Disconnection., Donald John Trump, How to do it., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., POST COVID-19., Robot citizenship., Social Media, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The state of the World., The world to day., Truth, Truthfulness., Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World

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(Eighteen-minute read) 

This is a question not easy to answer.

Why?

Because facts and truth are closely related.

The truth takes into consideration feelings and beliefs, whereas they have no place in fact.

A fact is something that is true everywhere and for everyone.

Facts do not change according to region, caste, culture, religion, etc.

That is not to say that facts from the past have been overturned and proven to be false and that some facts from today will be proven false tomorrow- History is written by the Victor.  We no longer know when a fact is going to be true for eternity.

Some of them will. 

Take for example you have to be born to experience death.  Currently true.

However, with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence – it appears that not just robots but humans will have both life and death capable of independence, separable from one another. 

This is not quite yet a scientific fact” but we could be standing on thin ice. 

So what makes a fact a fact?

Facts are hardcore and hence they cannot keep constantly changing; a fact remains a fact until proven otherwise. A fact states something that has actually occurred or happened, but we have no idea what’s outside the visible universe.   

A matter of seeing is believing I suppose. 

The truth is often considered to have a grander scope than facts.

However, something that is true for one person may not be true for everyone.

 Is this true? 

With the arrival of the Internet, the world has shrunk but unfortunately, we are all now on different platforms of truth. 

For example. Facebook discovered that warning users that an article was false caused people to share that article even more.

It seems that the closer you get to the truth, the further you get from the world.

In other words, while you can get people to understand the facts, the facts don’t always matter.

Unfortunately, we don’t care about the truth as much as we typically think our highly social brains make discerning truth more difficult than we might hope because we often protect our previous beliefs rather than face inconvenient truths.

Why?

It’s because we’re all viscerally connected to truth on a fundamental, physical, and spiritual level. It’s part of who we are and like a virus, we instinctively reject dishonesty.

We learn to put on a mask (personality), to present an acceptable display, and hopefully, nobody will see the truth. That process spreads to other aspects of our lives, many times unknowingly.

To think about the future, you have to know about the present

– Prof. Hans Rosling, TEDtalks 2014

My understanding, in a nutshell, is that a hypothesis gets upgraded to a theory (closest you can get to fact) not possibly by chance occurrence. This is evidence that it is true, and will remain true until (if it ever happens) new evidence that disproves it comes to light.

Valid does not equate to true.

Sometimes theories are inducible and then prove by deduction,i.e gravity.

So why do we argue so much when facts about contentious topics are readily available?

If the data are gathered, shouldn’t we all be reaching the same conclusions?

Obviously not. 

Presenting people with information about an issue in a nuanced way, rather than presenting them with pro-con arguments laid out in a simplified manner, leads people to have more complex and satisfying conversations about contentious issues.

True.

But our ears are dull of hearing, and our eyes have closed thanks to algorithms that control what we hear or see.  They warp our perception of reality and reasoning by creating social media echo chambers.

We can share our worldview like never before, yet we often feel worlds apart when assessing our shared reality. Social media typically does not promote positive interactions.

Complacency lures in the comfort of our smartphones or our living room couch and sadly, we’re always the first victims of our lies because we have to believe them first before we can convince others to do so.

The result is that the difference between fact, truth, and opinion becomes blurred. 

What can be changed? 

Any sane person, regardless of nationality, color, or political stance, would aim for the first – truth and facts.

So why don’t we just get indisputable facts on the table? 

Reaching the correct answer required participants to think carefully about the data.

We often reason with desired conclusions in mind and selectively recruit our mental faculties towards reaching those conclusions.

However if the people most capable of accurately interpreting data are at least as biased as the rest of us, how can we hope to find common ground on our most pressing and divisive issues?

Climate Change – Inequality, Covid-19, you name it. It’s hard to find the truth because there is so much falsehood out there making so much noise that the truth gets drowned out.

Everyone wants to be right, but practically speaking it’s usually more important for us to be socially accepted and internally consistent in our beliefs.

To divert from this human automation, we have to make a deliberate choice.

We have to actively decide to put on the brighter light and accept that doing so will sometimes help us in the longer run. Until we find systematic ways to improve our reasoning, we can all take steps towards improving political discourse by making efforts to challenge our personal beliefs and biases. Our values are more meaningful than their political utility, so if you stumble into a heated debate remember that the search for community, happiness, and truth transcends partisan boundaries. 

Without being honest with ourselves we’ll never be honest with others.

Living in our own little world of self-created lies and avoiding the truth of our life experience takes great energy-producing even greater amounts of stress.   

The first lie is the one we tell ourselves. It’s usually, “It didn’t happen” or “It didn’t happen like that.”

Sometimes it’s hard to find the truth because for too many people nowadays truth does not matter, only power.  Donald Trump. 

We have a natural instinct to search for answers and make sense of things.

These phenomena can be described by many different words 

Ondinnink, Qualunquismo, Zlatwic, 

We are constantly bombarded by messages by well-meaning NGOs who desperately try to help people living in poverty. At the same time media throw in a mix of news full of disasters and war, and then they host huge charity shows on TV ever so many times a year.

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

John Adams, 2nd President of the United States of America

Life is making mistakes and that’s the truth.

Here is what Alex Google might tell you. 

  • Something that actually exists; reality; truth: Your fears have no basis in fact.
  • Something is known to exist or to have happened: Space travel is now a fact.
  • Truth is known by actual experience or observation; something is known to be true: Scientists gather facts about plant growth.
  • Something said to be true or supposed to have happened: The facts given by the witness are highly questionable.
  • Law. Often, facts. An actual or alleged event or circumstance, as distinguished from its legal effect or consequence. Compare the question of fact, the question of law.

Truth, on the other hand, is a true state of a certain matter, person, place, thing or event. Truth is considered to be more archaic than fact. It is more subjective than resolute fact. Dictionary.com defines ‘truth’ as:

  • The true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.
  • Conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
  • A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.
  • The state or character of being true.
  • Actuality or actual existence.
  • An obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
  • Honesty; integrity; truthfulness.
  • (Often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
  • Agreement with a standard or original.
  • Accuracy, as of position or adjustment.
  • Archaic. Fidelity or constancy.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

we repress the truth and our feelings about it with a lie to keep the pain at bay.



how do we communicate truthfully





It was like waking up to Hell.

We avoid these realizations


 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S YOU CAN’T FIGHT THE POWER YOU DON’T SEE.

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., COVID-19, Democracy, Digital age., DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP., Facial Recognition., Fourth Industrial Revolution., GPS-Tracking., Honesty., Human values., Humanity., Inequality, International solidarity., Life., Modern day Slavery, Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., Reality., Technology v Humanity, Technology., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., The world to day., Tracking apps., TRACKING TECHNOLOGY., Truth, Truthfulness., Twitter, Unanswered Questions., We can leave a legacy worthwhile., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Organisations., World Politics

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(Five-minute read) 

The present Covid-19 Pandemic might be warping our sense of reality however there is another pandemic that is shaping and will shape our future reality.

We – in many ways, things are way better than they were thanks to technology.

We can work from anywhere because we have the Internet and we have Zoom and all of those platforms.

If you are able to say technology, on the whole, has done well, it probably means you’re in a fairly privileged position.

There’s still a huge digital divide.

Even – there are billions of people who don’t have access to the Internet. 

 

On paper, algorithms sound like the pinnacle of efficiency, but as they’ve become more ubiquitous, there’s a difference between potential and reality both must be separate for the survival of democracy and the forthcoming distribution and administration of any covid-19 vaccine worldwide.  

 The reality is that Algorithms will be used to distribute and decide who will get the Covid-19 vaccination.

When it arrives algorithms will continue to reflect the biases that it has been and is being trained into machines that are learning a representation of the world that is skewed.

Some will say that Data is neutral. It’s just numbers. It’s just data but the past dwells within our algorithms and the flaws that are in our technology are what’s the algorithm’s information it’s taking in.

I am not just talking about the U.S. presidential election in a few day’s time.

We have already seen artificial intelligence being used in voting or politics how they extend beyond the realm of computer vision.

If we’re defining success by how it’s looked like in the past and the past has been one where men like Donal trump were given an opportunity to Twitt falsehoods, spreading them with the aid of Facebook and others it’s no wonder who gets hired or fired?

Do you get that loan? Do you get insurance? Do you and I pay the same price for the same product purchased on the same platform?

Automating inequality.

Before a human looks at your resume, it gets vetted by algorithms written by software engineers who are involved in the system (without changing the system itself he the engineer is still going to reproduce algorithmic bias and algorithmic harms.)

Any sorts of algorithmic tools that are intended to be used, again, have to be verified for nondiscrimination before it’s even adopted.

We now have an AI system – right? – that can classify skin cancer as well as the top dermatologists but to change society to change what AI is learning in order to create what can be realized is going to be trusted into our lives by the inevitable economic depression.

So a Covid-19 vaccine is going to transfer real power into the world of Data and we can’t fight the power you don’t see, you don’t know about.

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