The world according to Andrew #2
Artificial Intelligence can make you stupid; fear can make you more stupid; conspiracy theories can make you smart; and Alexei Navalny's stupidity made him dead. Can you handle all that?
Technology can make you stupid
When calculators first came out, I finally overcame the challenges of learning math and solving numbers problems. I could deal logically with the math challenges of daily life, such as upsizing a recipe for 4 to one for 12. But figuring out the accumulating compound interest on a savings account - nearly impossible. When Excel software came along, the mysteries of budgeting were unlocked for all who had a computer and could use a spread sheet. Now we have AI, or the ChatGPT version, and everyone if off to the races using abilities - like writing - that had always been a challenge. In other words, technology could fill the gaps in your learning, regardless of the source. HOWEVR, I remember that students at grade school level were punished for using a calculator, especially on a test. We were expected to solve problems the old way by applying formulas to data. I supported this because I felt that one’s brain - and intelligence - required the development and nurturing of neural pathways - a process that the calculator enabled you to bypass. In fact, the current impact of AI allows us to leapfrog so many analytical and creative activities that one can become functional without the benefit of enhanced brain function. The great danger is that being cognitively deficient results in dumber people. AI can be leading humanity down an intellectual deadend. Machines and software being smarter than people will lead to out-of-control AI. So now’s the time to address the issue while we still are in control.
“Nothing to fear but fear itself”
These were the words of the last great American president who was an intellectual giant among men - Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The nation was economically in a Great Depression that FDR didn’t want to become “psychologically.” He knew that all his great reform programs would come to nought if the citizenry was paralyzed by fear - thus have lost the will to survive. We learned temporarily, but after WW2 the fear mongers were back in force using fear to manipulate citizens and negate their wills. They jump all over any issue - Covid, the Mexican border, illegal immigrants, the homeless, drug cartels, Gaza, Ukraine, Houthis - and exaggerate it until fear has filled every heart in the land. Once the populace is fearful, it can be manipulated in any direction the instigators want. Neocons want to expand the American empire. Elites want to keep the money-generating war economy going. The Zionist lobby seeks to protect Israel at all costs. The bankers want to keep sucking money-interest out of the world economy. The technologists want to create a new social paradigm for ordering the world. And so on. Hopefully, the American people are getting wise this uniparty strategy; their support of fake populist Trump seems to indicate so. Our war aims in Ukraine, Gaza, the Far East, and Iran keep those following the “rules based order” in line. And now that the fear engine has been slowed down by the Carlson-Putin interview, guess what? They found a new fear - Russian atomic weapons in space to knockout all satellite systems. No one has asked, “What good would it do Russia to have their satellites disabled along with the American’s?” Fear also destroys common sense.
Conspiracy theories are real
Our mainstream media icons tend to use dismissive language. Any analysis that runs counter to the prevailing narrative is called a “conspiracy theory.” Any countervailing news from unidentified sources is called “fake news.” Anyone whose journalism runs an independent course is “not a journalist,” such as Tucker Carlson, Julian Assange and Gonzalo Lira.Well, the last few weeks have revealed that the “Russiagate” story was a conspiracy to deny Donald Trump the presidency, and that Hunter Biden’s laptop was real and had damaging info on all the Bidens. No chance for an apology because the MSM are busy bees building new narratives about Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Putin, Iran and the Houthis, among many others. But the ugliest event in American politics now the takedown of Donald Trump, is never investigated because he is a “threat to Democracy.” And the criminal activities of the CIA in inventing the Trump-Russia collusion story does not threaten our democracy? Hidden in the top secret documents that Trump hustled out of the White House might be the proof of the CIA and FBI criminality, which could explain Trump’s actions. The “conspiracy” to take down Donald Trump with a massive pre-election legal assault is unprecedented. Only the SCOTUS can put an end to it. As for Trump’s freedom, it’s just “another word for nothing left to lose.”
Alexi Navalny meet Nathan Hale
“I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” Growing up, I considered that the dumbest saying to come out of the Revolutionary War. Life is a precious thing. One only gives it up to save a child from a speeding car and some such. I thought Navalny had a death wish when Russia warned him that he would be arrested if he returned after being cured in a German hospital for having consumed poison. The death of Navalny in jail has been used in the West to blame Russian authorities from President Putin on down. In fact, Navalny alive and well during an election campaign benefits the status quo. Navalny was not held in high esteem by the Russian public. He started his career as a right-wing anti-immigration nationalist. Later he pivoted as an anti-corruption campaigner. He was directly funded by the West to support his born-again agent of democracy. Russians generally saw him as a tool of the West. No doubt his return to Russia was at the behest of his Western backers which gave him a false sense of immunity. When he was arrested for embezzlement, as Russia warned, he came anyway with the false belief that a prisoner exchange would eventually free him. Unfortunately, he was worth more to the West dead than alive. That why within hours they were harping on Russia’s guilt in his death. Russians are waiting for the autopsy report.
Tucker Carlson’s deep dive into Russian culture
Yes, the Carlson-Putin interview was i