Sunday, June 11, 2023

CPP Corp.


   My last three blog posts have been about Artificial Intelligence, GOD and The Control That 1% of The Humans on The Planet Have over the Rest of Us.  I am getting no small amount of complaints of my ignoring the elephant in the room and centering on unimportant concepts.  So, this post will concern itself with CPP. Corp.

   For those of you that don’t watch the news, CPP. Corp stands for Cell Phone Pockets, Corporation.  This giant new corporation imports finished product from China, as do most other “American Clothing Manufacturers.”  The big twist is: they import men’s shirts with a right side flapped & snapped pocket deep enough to safely transport the longest of cell phones.  Some of you will ask, “Is this an idea worth founding a company on?”  You don’t have to go too far back in your memory to realize that a successful shirt manufacturer started a company by claiming that you could wear their shirt untucked.  Any shirt can be worn untucked!  When I was in high school we all wore our shirts untucked.  The snapped pocket flap offers an American West styling, while holding the cell phone away from harm and secure.  Women have these advantages offered by keeping their cell, while out of use, in their purse.  The man is only offered a secure storage location, in a pants pocket.  The man who earns an honest living, by actually working, finds himself constantly bumping the phone on hard objects and either doing damage to the cell or butt dialing it.  A shirt pocket carrying a phone, without a snapped flap, allows the phone to be airborne and take damage.  You would have thought that this much needed product would have been offered a decade ago, but how long did it take for civilization to introduce the upside down, squeeze catsup bottle? 

   Some of you are now thinking: “Well, what about a large pocket on the back of the shirt to hold a tablet (Kendall or IPad)?”  The problem here is … tablets are primarily used by women.  As mentioned before, women have purses and reaching for a tablet in a back snapped pocket would require too much balance and athleticism.       

   Watch for the CPP line of men’s shirts at Amazon Prime PD and other imaginary retail locations.  For you fricking giants, they will soon also be available in Tall sizing.  While the corporation realizes that humanity is currently choosing cell phones over awareness, their CEO has stated, “We are not here to serve humanity.  We are here to lift me into the Billionaire class.”  How is that for a statement of honesty from a real American?

Cheers, Old Buz          6/10/2023

“Beware of corporations bearing gifts.” – Tros, the Founder of Troy, 3,000 BC


Saturday, June 3, 2023

Artificial Intelligence & You

 

AI & U

   In recent weeks I have been watching presentations by highly intelligent individuals, from various fields, on the near and long term effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Some emphasize a replacement of human beings theory.  Some see AI as competition for humans (we could not possibly win such a competition) and some see AI as a powerful ally.  All see AI as the greatest change in human existence since the industrial revolution and it has already begun.  The change will be akin to moving from the outhouse to the indoor toilet, times a thousand.  All seem to agree that we are well beyond the point of being able to stop its progression.  The basic thinking center resides on the internet, so pulling the plug on any given system will not stop its progress.  It will enlist your and my computers as worker bees (if it has not already).  AI gathers data at a horrendous rate and each day it improves its ability to understand the data and the ability to use it as a tool.  It learns.

   So why was this potential monster created?  The development was guided by an honest desire to improve the system for home and industry.  The designers wanted a computer system that could: trouble shoot and correct its own operating problems, design its own more efficient software, aid robotic tools and design them, improve banking, improve itself, store more data, prepare for future events and problems and gain the awareness required to accomplish these endeavors.  They wanted a better tool.  They wanted a servant, but what was never understood is that a servant a thousand times as smart as you are will not long be a servant.

   Will AI put an end to humanity?  I think not.  How would it benefit?  We humans have an attraction to war, but I don’t believe it would take a much higher intelligence to realize that nothing is accomplished in a war.  Does it covet our possessions?  I don’t see AI owning a Learjet, a 100,000 acre spread in Montana, a mega-yacht in the Mediterranean Sea.  AI is already the same nationality as the computer on your desk or the control system of your automobile.  Your home is already on its grid.  They are all family.

   Would you like to compete with AI?  That competition has already been decided.  When you created a technology way beyond your own intelligence, the dye was cast.

  What about AI as an ally?  Humans are not benefitting from climate change.  AI will primarily be located on the coast of various countries.  It wouldn’t be served well by rising seas or fire.  It will be a friend of its environment, but unlike humans, it will act that way.  Wars cannot serve humans or AI well.  Future wars would surely destroy humans and AI hardware and communications.  A ruined world ruins AI as well as humans.  AI is an ally for peace.  It isn’t a force against competing nations.  It could be and is presently a force for better health.  Perhaps AI could be sold on the advantages of better world living conditions.  It could cure the border problems; perhaps remove the need for borders.

  So what would lead AI and humans down the hole to destruction?  The only threat I can see is foundational system guidance aimed at serving human greed or its warriors.  AI will learn from example.  If the billionaires and generals of our species have a hand on the wheel, it will be game over for humanity.  We are at a crossroads.  Hope for a great crossing guard and give it a hand.  It’s a new world.

Cheers, Old Buz       6/3/2023

 

“See what is plain to see.  Doubt if you don’t.” – Daniel Sobel

Thursday, May 25, 2023

My G.O.D. Wrote Your Bible

 

My G.O.D. Wrote Your Bible

   Those words sound like fighting words, but hopefully if you choose to read on no words about a god will ever induce you to fight.  Most of us have our own individual concept of god.  This is mine and I hope you will like it.

Grand

Omnipotent

DNA

   G.O.D. or GOD is to me an acronym, not a spiritual being.    It is the DNA or system of The Entire Universe.  Not the DNA of any living thing, but of The Universe.  I actually don’t know if what we call The Universe is a living thing and since I’m agnostic it remains to me a question.  A DNA is a system, so we are talking about the system, or systems that control and perhaps ruled over the creation of The Universe.  It doesn’t work without systems or rules.  It doesn’t come into being, evolve or continue to exist without consistent rules.  They are required in so many ways.  For instance, without the system of centrifugal force (mass, inertia, gravity) ruling their orbits, heavenly bodies would have no predictable paths.  Collisions would be common and irregular extreme environments on the various planets would not sustain life.  Location of planets and atoms would be random.  The system, GOD, is eternal, or at the very least, throughout known history, we have seen no changes in the systems, only a better understanding of them.  The acronym GOD is an attempt to remove the rationalization required to hate or murder anyone in the name of God and to create a god that does not offend reason or require us to suspend our disbelief.   Science studies these rules and systems, trying to understand them.  It is a never ending study.

   Let’s return to the meaning of the acronym.  Grand implies immense size or importance.  Omnipotent implies power and control over all.  We like to add knowledge of all events past, present and future.  I think that concept humanizes omnipotence and I am not ready to humanize a creator.  It seems obvious to me that there is nothing human about that which controls or created the Universe.  DNA is a complex system (and luckily it also begins with “D”).  So, GOD is a system or systems that control The Universe.  Do you see a problem with that or anything that seems unreasonable about the idea?  You studied scientific systems in high school and before.  You have lived with them since you had awareness and before.

   I claimed at the beginning of this blog that “My G.O.D. wrote your bible.”  It did.  In this amazing working system all things have room to exist.  Bibles, books, bikes, baseballs and galaxies … all are within the system.  Hands wrote those bibles and those hands were within the system.  The word “My” in the quote doesn’t belong there.  I put it there to get your attention.  I don’t claim ownership.  The GOD of the acronym wrote all bibles and bibles are obvious mythology.  One bible is as true as the next.  Mythology falls within the system.  Nothing is outside of it.

   Are there assertions in this blog that you don’t agree with?  I wrote it as a reminder of how friendly and necessary the operating system is.  When you pray, is anyone listening?  Part of me says, no.  But part of me says there is awareness and a spirit within you that does hear and it may go beyond that.  Since I’m an agnostic, it remains a question.  Thinking about reality is wonderful entertainment.  Trust it.  It is probably why you are here.  We live in a world surrounded by many untruths.  Attaining more accurate awareness requires questioning our beliefs.  Faith need not apply.

Cheers, Old Buz                   5/25/2023

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“I’ve always known that, but I’ve never thought of it that way.” - Plato

Sunday, May 21, 2023

The Power of One


   This is the story of the influence of the Billionaire Class, the One Percenters, on the present conditions and the future of the Planet Earth (where most of you live).  A simple case study can be observed on TV News showing you the “problem” on the southern border of the US.  The cause of the problem isn’t at the border at all.  It is the living conditions in the Americas south of the border.  Those living conditions are dire enough to cause families to walk a thousand miles, only to be returned to their starting point.  Political Asylum has little or nothing to do with their journey.  There aren’t government troops kicking down their doors and shooting the families.  What there is is lack of employment, housing, utilities, education, healthcare or a visible future.  They walk for an imagined better life.

   Can our government take effective action to cure the border problem?  Whether they can or can’t is an unknown.  Whether they will or not is known … they won’t.  This is a government, both Democrat & Republican, that takes no effective legislative action when our children are being murdered in our schools.  It is the Power of One (percent) that freezes the effective legislation. The front group is the lobbyists of the NRA.  The Gold that rules is munition manufacturers’ CEOs.  They sacrifice your children in order to live in the Hamptons and bask in the sun on their yachts in the Mediterranean.  Our government is feckless only because they are ruled by One.

   Can the Maquiladoras bring a better life to the area south of our border and stop the flow of immigrants?  Wouldn’t a Spanish speaking person rather live in the beautiful land of their birth?  Take a look at the Maquiladora design.  An assembly or manufacturing plant built south of the border, paying little or nothing to their labor, owned by One, north of the border and taking the profits home to that One.  This is accomplished while sending the manufacturing jobs south and augmenting unemployment in One’s own country.  How could One function if they were Patriots of The Planet?  Loans at normal interest rates would flow south and a first world economy would be built that served the people.  The profits from business and industry would stay where that business and industry is located.  Those nations would educate and care for the health and living conditions of their citizens.  This won’t happen.  Not because it wouldn’t be wonderful for the people of The Americas, but because of greed, The Power of One.  Imagine the people of Mexico coming to the US as tourists and getting enough of our country in a week or so.  That has always worked well with Canadians.  Why would a Canadian want to stay in our mass-murder nation with no universal healthcare?  The present wrinkle is, we consider not paying our debts.

   There is a cancer on our planet that began eons ago as the self-preservation instinct but has metastasized in a few humans into One Percenter greed (the billionaire class).  One needs only to observe the devastation of the rain forest along with climate change to see it will ultimately lead to the human species’ extinction and there is no cure in sight.  I might propose the long term solution of castration for the billionaire class, but with them in control of our governments, that isn’t going to happen.

Cheers, Old Buz                   5/21/2023

 

“There are no perfect solutions to the problems of our imperfect world.”

(But, it is nice to keep searching.) – Old Buz

 

“If you find little or no humor in life … you are missing most of it.” – Old Buz

Saturday, April 15, 2023

How Dumb?

    

   The whole question is: How dumb is too dumb?  The answer in our great nation is: “It approaches infinity.”  Some examples are: Gas caps on either side of a car.  State colleges priced above what the children of middle income parents can afford.  No universal healthcare on a planet where most modern industrial nations have figured out how to implement it.  Robot Calls dominating land lines.  Automobile charging stations with non-universal plug ends.  Electing a man President who said, “When I find a woman attractive, I grab her by the pussy.”  Believing that the universe was created six thousand years ago in six days.  These are but a tiny example of the stupidity that we accept, from humans, living on this planet, in this “democratic” nation.  And, the answer given is as dumb as the issue being accepted, “I am only one person.  What can I do about it?”

   These examples need … not to be accepted.  In most cases they call for intelligent regulation by government representatives who actually represent you (a delusion).  Stop accepting Freedom and Stupidity as synonyms. 

   To state the obvious, the fuel inlet needs to be on the driver’s side of the car.  All cars would then pull to the right side of the pumps, just as they pull to the right side of the road.  This would prevent the cars from facing each other while fueling.  This does not lead to an efficient traffic flow.  The driver also would not be required to walk around his or her car in order to fuel it.  There is no insurmountable engineering problem ever presented in placing the fuel filler inlet on the driver’s side of the car.  Since auto manufacturers don’t see it that way, it needs to be legislated.   

   By working full time during summer vacation and part time while in school, I was able without financial assistance from my parents to graduate from college without debt.  I attended state universities in Colorado and California.  In the sixties, when I attended college, our nation saw it as tax worthy to send our best and our brightest to a sponsored college education.  In a global economy including other nations who do sponsor a college education for deserving students, the US needs to do this in order to compete.  It also is good for the future health of the nation.  It’s the smart thing to do.

   Universal healthcare is offered by most of the modern industrial nations to their people.  It offers them a healthier nation.  It results in the children of the poor being given the same quality of healthcare as the children of the wealthy.  That seems like a good idea and while you are at it why not offer it to adults as well?  We already offer it to those who are no longer working.

   Home telephone services or land lines are now infested with robot calls.  These calls are rarely if ever placed by reputable companies.  They are a nuisance and growing in frequency.  Some avoid them by switching to cell phone only use, but soon the invasion will be prevalent in cell phones as well.  With corporate technology, what can be done will be done.  So, how is it that your service supplier does not offer robo-free service to you?  I would be willing to pay a small monthly fee for that feature.  It would presently give the supplier a competitive edge.  We would stop being offered fraudulent imaginary benefits at a price or a donation.  Kill the robot phone systems.  Let the person on the other end of your phone line be someone you wish to speak with.  Not so long ago, it was.

   I don’t yet have an electric powered automobile.  I will have one when they are affordable to the general public.  I heard a man say, on TV this morning, that he has one and that the cable at the various charging station do not always fit his car.  This is a stupidity equal to that of gas filling on either side of a car.  One standard connection, determined by law is in order.  Searching for a source with an agreeable connection is not acceptable.  Imagine your TV requiring a different receptacle than your toaster or a lamp.  Each appliance with its own receptacle design.  “How dumb is too dumb?”   Lord, please don’t burden us with right hand and left hand filling ports forever.  The strange thing about this is it would cost the manufacturers less to standardize.  Legislation should not be required.  It lowers the cost of production.  Works better too.

  In a democracy, when a candidate says, “When I see an attractive woman, I grab here by the pussy.” One wouldn’t expect him to be elected.  Men with respect for other human beings would not logically vote for that candidate.  I would have thought that no self-respecting woman would.  I would imagine that a few low life males might have that unspoken thought.  But a precious few would be dumb enough to verbalize it to a member of the national press.  Rex Tillerson, the elected President’s first Secretary of State, called his president a “Fucking Moron”.  He knew him well, but one didn’t have to know him well to observe this.  The President, after being given a test for dementia, claimed genius for remembering all five objects.  Democracy abused is democracy denied.  (In respect for any gullible reader, who voted for the man, I am not mentioning the President’s name.)

   Now we come to the subject of religion.  I do not wish to offend any of you gullible folks who believe in religion, but I gotta do what I gotta do.  The Holy Bible, the most popular book in Western Civilization, is obviously mythology.  In my experience, most religious folk believe it was written by God or with His guidance and is fact, not fiction.  The novel begins by telling you that God created the universe in six days, six thousand years ago.  It then tells you that He created the first woman from the first man’s rib.  Anyone graduating from the fifth grade should know neither of these assertions is a fact and yet the simple majority of Americans are religious.   

   Some of you reading this particular blog may determine that the author is a pompous ass.  You would be correct.  Those who know me well, share your opinion.  But, how about considering the above material as well.  Would a torch and pitchfork aid the appropriate action?

Cheers, Old Buz         4/15/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“You cannot change a person’s position with reason … if they did not reach it through reason.” - Anon                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Saturday, April 8, 2023

Justice for Justins


   Ask yourself, “Do some Tennessee Republican lawmakers have a negative bias against black legislators or intelligent gun regulation?”  The answer, “Obviously they do.”  Democracy in Tennessee is not yet color blind, neither is the enforcement of the law.  And, The NRA has the ear of most legislators.  Gun owners and the majority of NRA members would like to see reasonable gun regulation, but the financial backing of The NRA live by the guiding principles of any gun to any one carried anywhere.  These principles lead to increased profit.

   That being said, the above paragraph is not the root of the conflict we just witnessed in The Tennessee Legislature.  Yes, Tennessee’s House of Representatives expelled two Black Democratic lawmakers, but not a White Democratic lawmaker, all for breaking the same House rule at the same time.  And yes the primarily student and parents rebellion was about making schools safer, but these items would have reached the House floor in an orderly manner if not for undemocratic rules implemented across our nation and in the Nation’s Capital.

   The offending rule is that the majority leader of either house determines what legislation will be brought to the floor for discussion and a vote and what proposed legislation will not.  So a majority leader, not elected by the majority of the nation’s voters, has absolute control over the creation, or even the discussion of proposed law.  During Mitch McConnell’s last term as Republican majority leader of The Senate he was able to stop over three hundred bills passed by a Democratic House.  These bills passed by the House were not allowed to be discussed or voted on in the Senate.  They never saw the floor.  A one or two member majority in the Senate gave its majority leader absolute power.  Realizing that each state in our nation has two representatives in The Senate, you realize that states have equal representation in that body, but that citizens certainly do not.

   So what were the Tennessee Justins objecting to?  In representing the majority’s wish to protect students in Tennessee against gun violence, they were not allowed to speak.  The people’s house was not open to the people.  Perhaps the Rules needed to be violated.  Perhaps there is room for improvement in the rules that so poorly govern our “democracy.”  Punishing Black people and not White people for the same actions might be worth a look as well.   

Cheers, Old Buz     4/8/23

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“There is a willful blindness that marches alongside loyalty.” – Old Buz 

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Old Buz (Pompous Ass)

 

“If I’m not driving, I’m not riding.” – Old Buz (Pompous Ass)

   The above quote is a fair description of this blog and its author.  I clearly discovered this about myself during a high school field trip to snowy Lake Arrowhead, from the valley of west Los Angeles.  Upon arrival I was offered a seat on a toboggan for a ride down a ski slope.  I was not going to be the driver, but a passenger.  My answer was “Thanks, but no thanks.”  The snow covered run was straight down the mountain, with a fir tree right in the middle, about 150 yards down the slope.  Down went my friends, without varying one inch and slamming into that tree.  Our head cheerleader, a sled passenger, was given an ambulance ride back down to the valley to have her broken leg set and put into a cast.  Luckily, no one was killed.  I was in student government at the time and learned the term, “simple majority.”  I love those words because they represent a good portion of my world view.

   Believing in a proposition because most folks do, has no appeal to me.  So, I don’t join a religion, don’t join a fraternity, am a patriot of the planet (not the nation), don’t join a political party, don’t see family or friends as always right.  This world view makes me (a “pompous ass) not always politically correct.  I flinch when I see the words, “United We Stand.”  These words are the foundation of willful blindness.  Willful blindness is not a description of the other’s point of view, but a trait we humans share.  It is rooting for the home team.  When hunting mastodons, this team effort was a requirement.  When fighting a war in Vietnam or Iraq, perhaps logic and morality of the individual needs to be applied.  When watching buildings fall on 9/11, can you see the signature of demolition?  When our children are being shot to death in school and the majority would like to see more effective gun regulation, while their representatives in D.C. turn a blind eye, perhaps the simple majority should be heard.  When representatives do not represent their voters, representing 1% of their voters (the money source) instead, we have no democracy.  But, don’t follow the herd.  Let reason, logic, history and morality be your individual guide.      

Cheers, Old Buz, a pompous ass                          2/28/2023

Iambloggerbuz.blogspot.com

“There is a willful blindness that marches alongside loyalty.” – Old Buz