Category Archives: Algorithms.

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. IF YOU LOOK AROUND YOU AT THE PRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD YOU SHOULD NOT BE FORGIVEN FOR FEELING DISPARE.

17 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by in 2021. The year for change., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Climate Change., COVID-19, Dehumanization., Digital age., Disaster Capitalism., Earth, How to do it., Human values., Humanity., Imagination., Inequality., Life., Modern day life., Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., Poverty, Robot citizenship., Social Media Regulation., Stimulus package., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Universal Basic Income., We can leave a legacy worthwhile., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Aid.

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(Fifteen-minute read) 

As we floundering around in the midst of COMPOUNDING PANDEMICS that are far from over, the future is not here yet.

With our planet is crying out, our political leaders are like fish out of water, apart from the obvious, it seems that we have lost the plot. Compounded by ignorance, short term self-interest, the pursuit of wealth, and political interests, any actions that are vital for survival are stymieing by the lack of conciliation. 

Climate Change, Biodiversity, Artificial Intelligence, Poverty and Inequality, Population all on the top of the list. All of them are presenting overwhelming challenges ahead.

There is no way of sugar-coating any of these threats, they have no borders.

We are brought up with other people’s perceptions of life.  

Not until we develop enough, intellectually, can we change those perceptions, and even then it can be difficult to change our perceptions about the world until we start to really question it.

Anything else is a blatant lie.

With millions of dead and millions more death to come, we can only prevent any one of them from coming to fruition if we take all of them especially the environmental threat seriously.

With large swaths of people still dealing with entrenched inequalities, it is no wonder we are unable to see the above threats as reality. 

If there was ever a time to join together it is now.

We all have an identity and cultural distinctiveness, but if we bound together in a common cause, we could accomplish spectacular things.

To do this we must first start to see ourselves as HUMAN BEINGS, and the planet earth as HOME, not our individual countries.  

                                                   ————

I am sure you will agree that the world order is destined to change and it’s urgent that humanity gets a way to preserve what’s left on Earth. 

In this regard, technology is not a destiny jobs will be for robots and life for people.  

The problem is who is the owner of the robots and how do we ensure that we all benefit. 

At the moment there are millions wasting their time in useless jobs to scratch a living.  Rest assured that capitalism will come up with millions of more useless jobs. 

                                                 ————

Unfortunately, we are not able to act as one, and even if we could there would be no point in becoming mindless drones with no culture.

There would be no point in living because it’ would be all just be one culture with no distinct forms. 

The raw reality exposed by the current pandemic is that everyone is only just a human unable to act as one due to greed-driven by unregulated social media and profit-seeking algorithms.

                                                  ———– 

The big question is what can be done?

SOLUTIONS WITHOUT FUNDING, ABOUND ON TED TALKS. 

We know that poverty is one of the main driving forces when it comes to any long term perspective to protecting the earth.

Poverty is not due to a lack of knowledge. POVERTY IS CREATED BY SCARCITY, not a personality defect as Maggie Thatcher once said.

As George Orwell said  “Poverty annihilates the Future “

 You would think by now we would have figured out the reasons for its existence.  

ALMOST EVERYTHING NEEDED FOR LIFE IS MADE SCARCE BY APPLYING CAPITALIST PROFIT, TURNING ALMOST EVERYTHING INTO A PRODUCT TO BE TRADED.   

SO WHEN ONE IS UNABLE TO ACQUIRE WHAT IS NEEDED DUE TO THE LACK OF CASH YOU HAVE POVERTY.   If we genuinely ask why do the poor make so many bad decisions THIS IS THE MAIN REASON. 

Till now we have ignored the symptoms of poverty to our cost, and now to the chilling silence of Earth protests, we find ourselves unable to enjoy the Earth we live on. 

To date, we have created World organizations without the power of funding that vents verbal warnings,  that no one takes heed of unless it is in their own interest to do so

Take Co2 admissions. We continue to pump Co2 into our shared atmosphere.  (Earth isn’t the only planet in our solar system with an atmosphere, it is the only one in which we humans can survive.) 

It is blatantly obvious that we are not able through our global conversation whether they are online or not due to profit-taking we are not able to establish any solidarity. 

A lot of religious people mentioned that there is a leader who is going to save this world and stands for oppressed, poor, and homeless people.

While we are waiting we need to be more creative in our imagination if we want to match the relentless progression of biodiversity loss, climate change, and the other problems facing us all that are going to drive the Scarcity market.   

 A basic income is an idea that has and is being kicked from pillar to post for years.

Free money for everybody.

Not the welfare state but AN INCOME FOR ALL –  UNCONDITIONAL YOU DO WHAT YOU WANT WITH IT.

Where will the cash come from?

( See previous posts. A World Commission of 0.05%)

Of course, no one or anybody is going to take on or take down the holy grail of profit for profit’s sake.

After all, we live in societies that have allowed themselves to be subsumed by greed with ethics still being sacrificed on the altar of turnover and growth at all costs- GDP.

What is truly galling though is how the rot persists, where people cannot see the direct causal link, to overconsumption prompted by the advertising industries.

Profit is not intrinsically bad, but profit for profit’s sake alone is not just bad it’s unimaginably damaging.

Profit has to be extracted in such a way that every partner in the supply chain profits; from the workers to the shareholders, from the local community through to the nation itself.

That means creating a system where people are empowered to speak, where processes are so transparent that nothing can be hidden and where part of those profits is reinvested into those communities to sustain growth and development for generations to come.

So before we find ourselves teetering over the edge of the precipice. We need to speak truth to power when we start to feel discomfited, not when we have already entered the realm of cognitive dissonance or, worse, open and cynical collusion in the Bell Pottinger mode.

We have been gifted by the current pandemic which is yet to reach its apogee. It is daring us not to be paralyzed by our past.

It is offering a chance to find and resolve, to do things differently.

To call out the emperors of technology, when they stride about us in their unabashed nudity to put sustainability at the core of their online and off-line operations. 

They are now the praetorian guard of citizen and corporate activists and it is essential in this post-covid-19 economic depression that society should be saved from exploitation.

Unfortunately, they are unable to regulate themselves. This can be done only when the state interferes with total transparency. 

Is it not time that all non-essential products are labeled with their carbon footprint. 

What is Cash but transparency, in its naked form, creating fair competitions.   

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while we pump CO2 in

https://youtu.be/aIL_Y9g7Tg0

THE BEADY EYE ASKS. IF WE HAD TO CREATE AN ALTERNATIVE TO CAPITALISM WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED.

05 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2021. The year for change., A Constitution for the Earth., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Capitalism, Civilization., Climate Change., COVID-19, Dehumanization., Disaster Capitalism., Disasters., Disconnection., Earth, Evolution, Foreign Aid., G20., G7., GDP., Green Energy., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Inequality, Life., Modern day life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Post - truth politics., POST COVID-19., Reality., Stimulus package., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, THE NEW NORM., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., United Nations, Universal Basic Income ., VALUES, 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.

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(Ten-minute read) 


We, humans, live on an ecologically fragile planet with limited resources that must be sustained for future generations we must move humanity to an alternative world system — one committed to social justice, deep democracy, environmental sustainability, a safe climate, and planetary health.

The COVID-19 pandemic contains the fuel for social change – verbal with little imagination as to what to change. 

History tells us that social changes can occur quickly once economic, political, social structural, and environmental conditions have reached a tipping point.

Humanity is now obviously at a crossroads or perhaps several crossroads: one is business-as-usual which is sure to result in dystopia; another is a shift to some variant of green capitalism, which is gaining considerable support; and finally an eco-socialist vision that, while muted at this time, will hopefully become stronger as the need for it becomes more apparent to the mass of humanity.

Thanks to Covid -19  the world is off-balance – and it will remain so for years to come.

Far from settling into a ‘new normal’, we should expect a COVID-19 domino effect, triggering further disruptions – positive as well as negative ­– over the decade ahead.

It has underscored the interconnectedness of our natural, social and economic systems, and provided a stark reminder of the scale of systemic risks that can build up when we allow weaknesses and negative impacts to accumulate over time.

Continuation on the current pathway will, over time, only lead to deeper and deeper crises, including an ever-escalating climate change crisis, the result of growing greenhouse emissions spewed by the capitalist treadmill of production and consumption.

Combating both climate change and global capitalism go hand-in-hand however the raw truth is that Capitalism will certainly not consciously permit the eventual demise of global capitalism and the emergence of an ecosocialist world system promoted by many. 

In previous posts, I have advocated that without funding all alternatives will fail whether they are green capitalism and existing climate regimes, including the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, which is not sufficient to mitigate climate change in any serious way.  

How can we expect the system that created the problem to solve the problem?

Despite the daunting difficulties that much of humanity currently faces, and will continue to face over the course of this century capitalism today continues unabated to pump Co2 into the atmosphere and will continue to do so after the Climate Summit this year in Scotland.  (By the deadline of December 31, 2020, only 70 out of 192 countries had presented their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs): the individual commitments made to fight against climate change.)

One doesn’t have to have to be a delegate to this summit to know that if we manage to get on top of the current Pandemic which is bleeding the coffers of countries endeavoring to save their economies the emissions will triple on returning to anything that looks like normal. 

Of course, we will be told that we have learned the lesson that Green is the way forward.  It is true to say that the construction of ecosocialism needs to be based upon a commitment to a long-term sustainable balance between sociocultural systems and the natural environment but it is also true to say that the capitalist world system continues to self-destruct due to its exploitative, oppressive, socially unjust, and environmentally unsustainable practices – this will continue with artificial intelligence to plunder the earth for a profit with machining mining called data, fed to machine unregulated algorithm, making us all but powerless. 

Ecosocialism constitutes a vision against the mal-distribution of resources on a global scale that capitalism produces is bound to keep alive, notions of social justice and equality, deep democracy, and socialism in oppressed classes.

It is only by spreading the cost of change fairly that we can reinvent capitalism.

We could adopt a universal wage and let people fend for themselves but this won’t change our habits.  

It is time to envision future scenarios and strategies for achieving an alternative world system.

Once again here’s how. 

Because we live in different cultures, transparency is vital to address the main problem –  Inequality in all its forms. 

To do this the cost of change has to be spread fairly.

This can only be achieved by making a profit for profit sake contribute.

Not by taxation, IMF loans, foreign aid, or begging charity aid programs. 

The UN is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

We currently have the technology that maximizes profit and future profit, like high-frequency trading that runs 90% of world stock exchanges. 

THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO PLACE A WORLD AID COMMISSION OF 0.05% ON ALL ACTIVITIES THAT ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE TO CREATE A PERPETUAL FUND TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE AND OTHER PRESSING WORLD PROBLEMS.

ALL OF ITS AID WOULD BE GRANTED NON-REPAYABLE. 

THIS FUND COULD BE ADMINISTERED BY ELECTED MEMBERS. 

ALL PROJECTS OTHER THAN DISASTER RELIEF WOULD BE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL AGAINST A WRITTEN EARTH CONSTITUTION THAT TRULY ALIGNS MARKETS WITH THE NATURAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ON WHICH WE ALL DEPEND.   

It is about building real resilience, driving equitable and sustainable growth, and reinventing capitalism itself.

PROJECTS THAT MEET THE REQUIRED PERMATERS WOULD THEN BE ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING.

TO AVOID CORRUPTION AND LOBBYING ALL APPROVED PROJECTS ARE PLACED IN A TELEVISED YEARY DRAW. 

50,000 – 100,000

100,000 – 250,000

250,000 – 500,000

500,000 – 1 MILLION

1 MILLION AND GREATER.  

Here is a suggestion that could be funded. 

Products Labeling. 

Marketers use labeling for their products to bring identification to impart information to the consumer about the product.  They allow customers to know about the item and give necessary messages including ingredients, instructions, and uses. 

Why not their carbon footprint with a symbol showing their contribution to Carbon emissions. 

Human and nonhuman, have a natural right to sustenance.

( See the previous posts on a world aid commission.)

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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 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. WE ARE MOVING INTO A NEW PHASE OF THE ALGORITHMIC REVOLOUTION.

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Civilization., COVID-19, Digital age., Fourth Industrial Revolution., How to do it., Human values., Humanity., Life., Modern day life., Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., President of the USA., Robot citizenship., Technology v Humanity, Technology., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Obvious., The state of the World., The world to day., Truth, Unanswered Questions., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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(Six-minute read) 


With the current pandemic and economic depression, algorithmic entanglement will stratify the populations of countries with barely a question asked.

Now is the time to challenge and examine their underpinnings, by introducing a software program to examine every algorithm in order to establish whether it is a friend or foe. They must be audited yearly to log and access the contents of their programs, and to be issued with health certificates.

Are AI Algorithms Dangerous

It is not possible to go back to test or analyze why decisions are made by algorithms. 

They are learning from the environment surrounding them and once they learn we have no way of knowing to any degree – what rules and parameters they are following at which point we have no way of controlling them or knowing how they react with other algorithms.

You only have to look at the stock exchanges, where they are already trying to outwit search other.

So you can be certain that there is going to be a stock exchange crash not caused by the Economic Depression but rather algorithmic greed for profit.  

At the moment it seems that while they are out of sight they are out of mind.

But as we are going to see with any covid-19 vaccine and its distribution, algorithms will create their own rules and inevitably polarize society as a whole.

Where the decision is taken by an algorithm (as to who gets vaccinated or how safe it is when the algorithm could be hacked.) is at stake. Apportioning responsibility to any particular segment of code will be almost impossible. 

Because they have no knowledge of what they are even being judged on, they will look for supremacy over each other. 

Neither the companies using them nor the people making them take responsibility for how they can wreck lives and reinforce stereotypes.

The people making the algorithms don’t take responsibility for users of their code and the people using algorithms place responsibility on the creators.

Self – regulation is no longer viable because the larger the environment into which they are embedding themselves, the more unpredictable they will become. 

Indeed software engineers will soon be extinct.

America’s 45th president likes to tweet.

He does this because he sees it as a way to bypass the ‘dishonest media’. Regardless of how you may want the world to be, the learnings from bulk text feeds are as close as we can really get to how the world actually is.


We must open our eyes to the power of algorithms and how dangerous they can be when unchecked.

These issues are not strange. The software can play you for a fool, but we’re still in the early stages however, they are as of now present in our lives making idiotic shopping recommendations, misclassifying pictures, and doing other senseless things.

History is not a predictor of the future – but knowledge can be – we can’t rely solely on mining historic data to draw conclusions; we need to incorporate expert knowledge.

We are Tick Tocking and Clicking our way to no return.  

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

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. WHEN A VACCINE ARRIVES ALGORITHMS MAY WELL DECIDE WHO QUALIFY AND WHO DOES NOT.

26 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by in Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Digital age., Fourth Industrial Revolution., Human values., Life., Modern day life., Our Common Values., POST COVID-19., Survival., Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage.

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(Ten-minute read) 

Algorithms in Decision Making.

 

We should be warier of their power. People don’t need to understand something to do it.   The algorithm does it for them.

They’re are increasingly determining our collective future.

We are already halfway towards a world where algorithms run everything.

With the current Pandemic, it is, not who will survive, but how and at what cost, not just to economic systems but to our hard-earned freedoms. 

Times will be rough as society tries to come up with an appropriate balance between who gets the jab. 

When algorithms involve machine learning, ( like track and trace ) they ‘learn’ the patterns from ‘training data’ which may be incomplete or unrepresentative of those who may be subsequently affected by the resulting algorithm.

Modern algorithm developers are focusing on creating algorithms that learn and develop with the data that they encounter. Machine learning is the next step that they are aiming for, with the algorithms deciding the input and output completely.

One of the world’s most used algorithms right now is the search engine algorithm of Google. It determines what people find in their internet searches and is the basis of the entire SEO industry, where people try to ensure that they show up in the top spot.

However, algorithms are much more prevalent than that- the Apple FaceID algorithm decides whether you are who you say you are.

Social Media algorithms tuned to your desires and want’s ensures that everything on your feed will be of interest to you without you knowing what data these algorithms use and what they aim for.

(Google’s search algorithm is more closely guarded  than classified secret documents) 

It is very convenient for people to follow the advice of algorithms if your high-frequency trading on the stock exchange but some algorithms limit people’s worldview, which can allow large population groups to be easily controlled.

This is why many of the issues raised in this post will require close monitoring, to ensure that the oversight of machine learning-driven algorithms continues to strike an appropriate and safe balance between recognizing the benefits (for healthcare and other public services, for example, and for innovation in the private sector) and the risks (for privacy and consent, data security and any unacceptable impacts on individuals).

Algorithms are being used in an ever-growing number of areas, in ever-increasing ways, however, like humans, they can produce bias in their results, even if unintentional.

They are bringing big changes in their wake; from better medical diagnoses to driverless cars, and within central governments where there are opportunities to make public services more effective and achieve long-term cost savings.

However, the Government should produce, publish, and maintain a list of where algorithms with significant impacts are being used within the Central Government, along with projects underway or planned for public service algorithms, to aid not just private sector involvement but also transparency.

Governments should not just simply accept what the developers of algorithms offer in return for data access.

This is now an urgent requirement because partnership deals are already being struck without the benefit of comprehensive national guidance for this evolving field.  

Given the international nature of digital innovation, governments, should establish audits of algorithms, introducing certification of algorithms, and charging ethics boards with oversight of algorithmic decisions.

Governments should identify a ministerial champion to provide government-wide oversight of such algorithms, where they are used by the public sector, and to co-ordinate departments’ approaches to the development and deployment of algorithms and partnerships with the private sector.

Transparency must be a key underpinning for algorithm accountability.

Why?

Because it will make it easier for the decisions produced by algorithms to be explained. 

(The ‘right to explanation’ is a key part of achieving accountability and tackling the ethical implications around AI.)

Why?

Because they are also moving into areas where the benefits to those applying them may not be matched by the benefits to those subject to their ‘decisions’—in some aspects of the criminal justice system, for example.

Because algorithms using social media datasets like ‘big data’ analytics, need data to be shared across previously unconnected areas, to find new patterns and new insights.

It’s not COVID-19 that will fuck us all its Profit-seeking algorithms.

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

 

THE BEADY EYE SAYS. CASH IS OXYGEN IN A PANDEMIC AND ECONOMIC DEPRESSION

23 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Artificial Intelligence., Climate Change., COVID-19, Democracy, Digital age., DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP., Disconnection., Economic Depression., Face Recognition., Fake News., Fourth Industrial Revolution., How to do it., Human values., Humanity., Inequality., Life., POST COVID-19., Purchasing Power., Reality., Sustaniability, Technology, Technology v Humanity, The common good., The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., Universal Basic Income ., VALUES, WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, Where's the Global Outrage., World Economy.

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(Three-minute read) 

 In these extraordinary times, I am sure I speak for world citizens that we count on our leaders to bring out their statesmanship and have the courage and imagination to think and work together to fight this pandemic in equally extraordinary ways.

We may be about to face the perfect storm:

 A humanitarian disaster, global recession, severe de-globalization, the crash of healthcare systems, social breakdown, conflicting nationalism not forgetting the power of AI, and its algorithms all point to the need for value realignment.

 Many of the issues have a history of a basis. So potential risks and ways to approach them are not as abstract as we may think.

 How do we actually design a new system that can understand and implement the various form of preference and values of a population?

 The ideal system is, of course, a balance between all the needs of the numerous stakeholders the people, and the earth we all live on.

 So how do our societies reconcile their own historic aspirations while we are struggling with a world of ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE that is isolating us all into data?  

 Neither China nor the US, Iran, Indonesia, or any country can insulate themselves from what is to come.  COVID-19 should be the exception to — not the extension of –geopolitical rivalry. It should be an opportunity to recover trust rather than advance mistrust. 

 HOWEVER, WHAT WE WILL WITNESS IS OUR COLLECTIVE INABILITY TO ACT AS ONE. (DUE TO A MENSTRUUM OF REASONS FAR TO LONG TO ADDRESS HERE.)

 From what we see to date: 

With the erosion of democratic institutions, with the rise of the right, loss of jobs, false news, rising inequality, foodbanks, our inability to tackle Climate change, stop wars, without any robust mechanisms of oversight and accountability for Profit-seeking algorithms there seems little hope for future generations.

Artificial intelligence now embedded in our daily lives has still to show empirical evidence that validates that AI technology will achieve a broad base of social benefit we aspire to.

We need a community of researchers worldwide to really understand the range of potential harms that AI systems pose.  The use of data, machine learning, their applications to society – Face recognition -Track and Trace- all in use without any regulations. 

Therefore there is only one solution to the problems facing us all and that is the introduction of a basic living wage for all. 

Why?“

Because Cash is the best thing you can do to improve health outcomes, education outcomes, and lift people out of poverty. It’s the only solution to an economy where a small group of people is getting very, very wealthy while everyone else is struggling to make ends meet.

It would remove the problem with existing welfare programs that keep people below the poverty line a form of structural inequality.

It would also cost governments less simplifying welfare programs. 

A guaranteed income would give young couples the confidence they need to start a family.

From a macro viewpoint, it would give society a much-needed ballast during a Depression.

It would offset job losses caused by technology.

What are the downsides?

Inflation. 

Who funds it?

Many would support it if tech companies with profit-seeking algorithms paid for it.

High-frequency trading.

Hedge Funds, Sovereignty wealth funds, and currency trading over $50,000  

Cash is King. It’s an idea that is long overdue.

Both the Current pandemic and Automation are fundamentally changing the structure of the economy. Proposals for various forms of regular cash assistance are increasingly part of the political conversation.  And in fact, the cash payments of 2020 are serving as something of a real-life test of the principles behind UBI, even if there are important differences.

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

 

 

 

 

 

THE BEADY EYE SAY’S. GOLLY GOSH ARE WE BEGINNING TO REALIZE THAT WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING .

17 Thursday Sep 2020

Posted by in #whatif.com, 2020: The year we need to change., Algorithms., Capitalism, Climate Change., COVID-19, Disconnection., Environment, Fourth Industrial Revolution., How to do it., HUMAN INTELLIGENCE, Human values., Humanity., Imagination., Life., Natural World Disasters, Our Common Values., Paris Climate Change Conference 2015, Post - truth politics., Post-Covid-19, Purchasing Power., Reality., Survival., Sustaniability, Technology v Humanity, Telling the truth., The common good., The essence of our humanity., The Future, The Obvious., The pursuit of profit., The state of the World., The world to day., Unanswered Questions., We can leave a legacy worthwhile., WHAT IS TRUTH, What Needs to change in the World, World Aid., World Leaders, World Politics

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(Three-minute read) 


“WE NEED TO DO”

IS PROBABLY THE MOST USED TERM IN CURRENT DAY CONVERSATIONS – POLTICALY OR OTHERWISE.

Against the background of a doubling of the world population every thirty-odd years, it’s no wonder that we find ourselves facing intractable problems and we need to do something about them.    

The Covid-19 pandemic so far has only killed a mear 800,000 while ongoing wars over 100 million in the 20th century.

We now live in a world of lip service, (used by silent data collection – profit-seeking – algorithms that could not give a shit), are run by corporations, the manipulators of the need-to-do, in order to promote consumption, whatever the cost, long term, or short term. 

The recycling of plastic alone is an example. We are told that we need to recycle plastic by companies that continue to produce it in the trillions of tons.  

I am not sure about you, but I am a little ashamed to be human right now.

Why? 

Because none of our world organizations, governments, the current crop of leaders have at their core a true understanding that we all live and rely upon the planet to be able to kill each other, love each other, and propagate more of us. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic shining a light onto societal and economic systems all across the world, exposing the flaws of a capitalist society we are still driven by greed, religious beliefs, social media, advertising. 

The pandemic-induced health crisis has rapidly ignited an economic crisis with yet unknown consequences for financial stability, and all is being played out against the backdrop of a climate crisis that cannot be addressed by “business as usual.

We are now facing problems all of which have to be resolved at the same time, otherwise, we will simply be solving problems in one place while creating new ones elsewhere.

So golly gosh the COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating all these problems and what are we doing about it other than convene world leaders in a virtual format to seek action and solutions for a world in crisis. (The united nations on the 17 Sep- 5 Oct) 

You can rest assured what we will witness as we did with the Paris climate change is countries promising virtual undertakings, with no means of enforcement, or transparency.   

Some years ago 150 countries set a list of goals to be achieved by 2020 to improve the world’s biodiversity, not one was achieved and humanity is now at a crossroads. 

Why?

Because countries will virtually promise whatever when it does not cost them arm and a leg. Virtual multilateralism is a joke in the extreme when we need value creation instead of value extraction when the pillars of our world are being shaken to the core.

The COVID -19 will cost trillions while reversing climate change will save trillions.

We all know that we need to grasp the opportunity to fix the system. If we don’t, we will stand no chance against – an increasingly uninhabitable planet – and all the smaller crises that will come with it in the years and decades ahead.

It’s used to be challenging and difficult to make predictions especially about the future now its child play  —  BLEAK 

What can we the people of the world do?

We are incapable of acting as one for obvious reasons, but every one of us needs a habitable planet. We could weaponize our buying power to accelerate actions on biodiversity for sustainable development. 

By doing so the world of profit would change. 

What can countries do? 

To realize that we are not as unique as a species and that the risk extinction has never been greater.  Stop god wobbling as there has been nothing like what we are now looking at in human history. 

Don’t trade with countries that breach environmental sustainability.

The like hood of either of the above happening is zilch.     

So the world of profit has to be taped into, in order to reboot the numerous we need to do.

(See the previous posts on a World Aid Commission of 0.05%)

We need to rise up and speak up!

So all I’m saying is that communication needs to start now not tomorrow. 

Transparency needs to start now not tomorrow.

Yes we are all different and what we do with our differences needs to make a difference.

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