For What it’s Worth

There isn’t much further to be offered by mariner. The entire world is in a state of upheaval not seen by planet, man or beast for the last 300,000 years. There are none among us who can foresee the future reconciliation of the turmoil. There are none among us with the strength and wisdom to command the tiller of history.

Overly truncated, he will share a few random thoughts that linger.

֎ To reduce the faith Jesus proposed to one observation, He said what matters to you for your own wellbeing is irrelevant. All that matters is what you do for the wellbeing of others – only in this act will you know the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus knew in his heart, however, that humans were simply over-intelligent chimpanzees so he offered forgiveness to provide time for humans to discover how Christianity worked. He was overly kind – perhaps a weakness in His doctrine.

֎ If, If democracy continues to clatter along for the next two years, only the option to run Biden again will avoid the collapse of Federal relevance. Both parties are in frightful disarray. In a time when the economy is a critical factor, a collapsed Congress led by a zealot, red or blue, will be useless.

֎ The only solution that avoids oligarchy and authoritarianism is to turn the tax structure upside down. Where is FDR?

֎ The world is headed toward corporatism. Super-sized corporations will assume control of many government functions; for example, capitalizing the health industry. The backbone of policy will no longer be driven by nations but by the internet.

֎ It is a personal fear that mankind will not survive global warming. Social collapse will occur. An example from history is the fall of the Roman Empire.

Will there be a global ‘dark age’?

֎ The one sustaining force that may sustain humanity for a coming communistic age is family unity. Not the nuclear family – a victim of technology and automation – but geographically bound multi-generational families that can muster a meager GDP for themselves. Was Jesus right?

But hang in there to witness a polar magnetic reversal, a Solar storm and, if you live long enough, a major ice age – all within the next 200,000 years.

Ancient Mariner

Stephen Hawking and the end

As mariner prepares for a week of travel and vacation, he leaves the reader with the following:

“Anyone who has seen any of the “Terminator” films knows how this whole artificial intelligence thing is probably going to end, and here’s a bit of terrifying validation: Stephen Hawking agreed. In 2017, he told Wired, “The genie is out of the bottle. … I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that will outperform humans.”

Well, that’s all right, then, we’re safe for a good long … time? Right? Not quite: It’s already happened.

In November 2021, the Wyss Institute at Harvard announced that a collaboration between Wyss, Tufts, and the University of Vermont had created “the first-ever, self-replicating living robots. “Called Xenobots, these tiny, hand-built organisms/robots (which look disturbingly like Pac-Man) can hone in on living cells, then gather together to collect stem cells to build new little baby robots inside these cells. The University of Vermont’s Joshua Bongard confirms: “With the right design — they will spontaneously self-replicate.”

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/134971/this-is-how-stephen-hawking-predicted-the-end-of-the-world/?utm_campaign=clip

So the cat is out of the bag. We humans won’t evolve into Amazonus gobbetii, we simply will die out – or, if our new cohabitants so desire, humans will be wiped out.

It is hard to imagine a wholly electronic creature as a living creature. Perhaps, if two-celled creatures could think, they may have the same response to hearing that species with several billion cells would roam the earth.

Pony carts aside, will there even be roads?

In any case, don’t worry about the Earth being a waterless, lifeless rock in a million years.

Ancient Mariner

Of Books

Mariner recently read Neil Degrasse Tyson’s recent book, Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going. As we’ve come to expect, the astrophysicist’s works are easily read, loaded with logical explorations and saturated with facts. Just as many readers have a ‘complete book on gardening’ or ‘500 best recipes’ this book is everything one would want to know about astrophysics and the Universe, our galaxy and our own role in it all. This book belongs on every home bookshelf.

For example, Tyson suggests that in a million years Earth will have lost its oceans and be a big, dry, lifeless rock. He references the miracle adaptation by living things to the magnetic, mineral-based Universe. He leaves open to speculation what the future of Homo sapiens may be in the long future ahead. [Mariner suggests humans will evolve into a species called Amazonus Gobbetii; variations will evolve as Googlian, Muskian, Xi-Pings and Kochs.]

It also is Tyson who suggests that if all the planet’s glaciers melt, the oceans will rise to meet the Statue of Liberty’s book-holding elbow. Does the reader know what her book is about? Further, does the reader have flood insurance?

Back to thinking about books, how many readers have gutted their libraries, giving or tossing away lifelong friends and mementos and all those overstuffed filing cabinets? Mariner has relinquished very few books to public libraries. Mariner has many books very much older than some tee-shirts that are older than his children – who have children.

Mariner has bloated library disease. He is not alone in this respect; one of his fellow book-o-philes recently moved to a smaller residence in a retirement village. His study, like mariner’s, still is stuffed with his friends and mementos. Does the reader suspect that the printed word has become anachronistic? Is it similar to the donkey cart when the automobile was invented? An intimate relationship with a tin Lizzy isn’t as emotive as a relationship with an indifferent donkey.

What has the smartphone replaced? Face-to-face communication. The published word has faded away – so now will the spoken word as our species moves forward to the gobbet epoch.

Please write a book, Dr. Tyson, about our salvation as water rises to our elbows and, for that matter, when water has disappeared.

Ancient Mariner

It is voting time

The last several posts on philosophical subjects largely were provided by alter ego Guru. If nothing else remember the core issue: if the postulations of campaign ads aren’t present in your personal reality zones, be critical of their truths – conservative or liberal; don’t let your emotions drive your decisions, use existential reality.

But now the time for pondering is over. It is judgment time. It is important to separate local issues and experiences from the flamboyant pontification of nationally promoted campaign ads. Democracy works best from the bottom up: local needs elect local representatives, regional needs elect regional representatives, national needs elect national representatives.

Top down, nationally funded ads are an example of data popping up in the wrong zone. It is the voter’s own reality that is the foundation of decision making. One obvious example is the argument that police forces will disappear. Republican or democrat, this is an absurdity.

The reader should look at their own neighborhood looking for signs of satisfaction or need. What are the local hot topics? What represents the good life? These perspectives are the decision makers, not television ads or social media garbage.

Top down campaign funding produces ads similar to “Uncle Sam Needs You!” an ad for raising an army in the Second World War. If the reader wants to join an army, so be it but consider the neighborhood folks; what would an army do to them?

Vote for adult personalities. Shy from flamboyant candidates. Give credence to evidence of compassion and ethical objectives.

Mariner’s personal prejudices are: don’t vote for anyone over age 55 and don’t vote for candidates entering the race without local and regional political experience.

The universal mandate is VOTE!

Ancient Mariner

About animals

As the nations of the world feel the burdens of a changing planet, as the global economy weakens, as citizens become insecure, authoritarianism seems to step in. The surge of Trump into the public arena is an excellent example of this global trend. His flamboyant, wealthy and argumentative characterization is a magnet that attracts a fearful populace. If a citizen is fearful, they seek security within the authoritative strength of a leader.

Below is an excerpt from Aeon Magazine written by biologist Lee Alan Dugatkin:

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power … We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end … The object of power is power.

– from Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) by George Orwell

“Animals don’t relinquish power once they get it either. But for nonhumans, power is always a means to an end. Many ends, in fact, including food, mates and shelter. Attaining and then maintaining power – defined as the ability to direct, control, or influence the behaviour of other creatures or resources – lies at the heart of almost all animal societies. . .”

Are we super smart humans only fooling ourselves? Is money only about personal safety and control over others? Are assets comparable to the horns of other animals? Was the Age of Enlightenment just a verbal sudoku puzzle? It is true that humans are like a grafted branch on an apple tree – no matter our unique flavor, we still are apples? Looking back over the entire history of humans, we always have been a tribal (AKA herding) creature. Tribes need leadership, typically a human of stature and cunning. Is authoritarian leadership more human than socialist leadership?

Further, what is it about this time in history that everyone is becoming more fearful? Will our animal instincts provide the organization that best sees civilization through these times?

Mariner has left the reader with a handful of questions. Enjoy pondering!

Ancient Mariner