HAPPY HOLIDAYS
On this day of
the Solstice, where the seasons realign themselves, I hope that everyone can
take a breath and step away from the insanity of politics that seems to
permeate our daily lives, and whether you are Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Sikh,
Buddhist, Muslim, or Atheist, look around and accept:
That we are more alike, my friends, than
we are unalike.
Anyone
predicting the future of AI on the human race is like a monkey throwing a rock
at the moon: bravado and conjecture.
We are on the cusp of the birth of AI.
The programmers who instruct computers
to learn, themselves don’t know exactly what is happening inside the computer self-programming.
We are, with
AI, where computers were in 1984, with an Apple II-C loaded with 128 KB of RAM.
Who could
have envisioned, in 1984, the fantastic capabilities of our cell phones only
forty years later?
It is safe
to say that AI will revolutionize our world.
The powers of this science are yet to be tapped and are even hard to
imagine.
Politicians
are discussing government controls on the use of AI, but if the science is
there, it will be pursued – especially by the Military.
(See Accessory
To War, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang)
Remember
that in the first atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945, the scientists had agreed
there was a slight chance that the bomb could cause a chain reaction in the
atmosphere with catastrophic consequences, but they continued.
(See American
Prometheus by Bird and Sherwin)
It was also unnecessary to drop the second
bomb on Nagasaki, but scientists and the government wanted to see the power of
the plutonium-fueled bomb.
Computers that
can think, independent of human beings!
AI will
benefit us in many ways, but there is always Yin and Yang.
If we build
it, they will come
or
If we build
it, they will use it
the Ol'Buzzard
We kept our
day temperature at 72, and lowered it to 66 at night when the outside
temperature was well below freezing. Even at 66, our furnace still ran at increased intervals
all night. In the morning, it would take half an hour or
more of constant running to bring the temperature back to 72. The countertops
were cold, the walls and all appliances were cold, and the whole house had to heat
up to 72.
I am not
convinced that dropping the temperature at night actually saves heating fuel.
the Ol'Buzzard
Donald Trump
is not a bright man. He is totally
ignorant of American history, world history, science, health, math, and most
academic subjects. He is, however, a
master of manipulation and, I have to give it to him, self-enrichment.
There are
not many times I find myself in agreement with the President, but renaming is
one of them.
The historic
name, The Gulf of Mexico, seems to imply a small body of water bordered by
Mexico, when in fact it shares a shoreline with the United States, each country
with approximately 1.700 miles of shoreline. So why call it the Gulf of
Mexico? I like the Gulf of America.
The
Department of Defense; really? The only attack on the homeland that had to be
defended in the last hundred years was Pearl Harbor. Yet, we have military all over the world
fighting wars, declared and undeclared. We don’t fight defensively, we fight offensively
– we fight wars, so why not the Department of War? We can
claim that we send our military out to defend this country's interests, but that's usually a hollow claim, driven by economic or political
agendas. The military and the military industrial complex is a war machine.
And while we are at it, let's name the new
White House Ballroom the Donald J Trump Ballroom. No one had a say in the destruction of the East
Wing of the White House; that is on Trump. Congress did not approve or finance the new
Ballroom, and has no say in the construction or architecture. This is truly the Donald J Trump
Ballroom.
And one more rename while we are at it. This planet is covered by 70% ocean and 30% earth. Why do we call it the Earth? Let's rename it Ocean, or Oceana, which sounds better. The third planet from the sun: Mercury, Venus, Oceana, Mars…
It's all a game: the Name Game
the Ol'Buzzard
I have lived in Maine on and off since 1962. The demographics have changed with the influx of people from outside Maine.
I knew Maine
when it was still rural. The people were
pragmatic, and the vast wilderness was still virgin.
Now the
Maine wilderness is cut up with snowmobile trails, and roads into once-remote,
pristine lakes and rivers. The new scourge
of ticks makes the woods less accessible.
But this is
the new world we live in.
Maine is
still a beautiful state, and if you move away from the coast into the interior,
there are still homes that are reasonably priced, and communities where people
still care about their neighbors.
the Ol'Buzzard
