People are
not the only thing being replaced by AI.
On my
bookshelf is a book called How To Find Out Anything by Don MacLeod. It explains how to do advanced searches on Google.
That book is
now headed for the used book store in town.
By all rights, I should just toss it; but I can’t stand to throw away a
book.
I wonder how
many books are now irrelevant because of
Hey Google……………
the Ol'Buzzard
Shutting
down the government was a mistake for the Democrats. A government shutdown is a pox on both
parties. It would have been better to
let the Republican bill take effect, cut health care, and bring chaos to the
economy. The Republicans would have had to carry the blame into the next
election.
As it is,
Republicans can blame the Democrats for people not getting paid.
I marvel at
the ineptitude of the Democrat Party to message that it is the party of the
people, and the Republicans are the Party of the rich and powerful.
Two options
could prevent government shutdowns from ever happening again.
A bill needs to be passed in Congress that,
when the government is shut down, Senators and Congress members lose their pay
for the duration of the shutdown, and they do not receive back pay when the
government is reopened.
Of course, it is unlikely that Congress will ever pass a bill to their personal detriment.
The second
option is a third party.
This nation would benefit from a third party. It would take compromise for any bill to be passed. A single party could not gain enough power to hold the nation hostage.
Common sense. but there is no common sense in Politics.
the Ol'Buzzard
THE
EQUIVALENCE IS STARTLING
George
Orwell’s 1984, published in 1949, portrayed a democracy taken over by an
oligarchic government headed by a charismatic con man.
War is Peace
Freedom is
Slavery
Ignorance is
Strength
“The enemy
of the moment always represents absolute evil.”
If all
others accepted the lie which the party imposed – if all records told the same
tale – then the lie passed into history and became true. Who controls the past, ran the party slogan,
controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
Statistics
were just as much a fantasy in their original version. A great deal of the time, you were supposed
to make them up out of your head.
The aim of
the high is to remain where they are. The aim of the middle is to change places
with the high.
It was still
true that men were not equal in their native talents and that functions had to
be specialized in ways that favored some individuals against others.
Imprisonment
without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture
to extract confessions, the use of hostages, and the deportation of whole
populations – not only became common again, but were tolerated and even
defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.
In the past,
no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance.”
Doublethink:
(reality control)
Thou shall
not kill, but glorification of war heroes.
New Speak: (propaganda)
designed to diminish the range of thought
“The
essential act of the party is to use conscious deception while retaining the
firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing
in them, to forget any facts that have become inconvenient.
We know that
no one ever seized power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.”
Orwell warns
that a totalitarian government can successfully manipulate the minds of a large
population to the point where a person can think the opposite of what is true. Trump and his Republican Ing Soc have
accomplished this with MAGA.
We are nearly there
2+2 = 5
the Ol'Buzzard
