Category Archives: human rights

Fight Oligarchy!

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Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interest of the ruling class – whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.

— Politics as Repeat Phenomenon: Bene Gesserit Training Manual

(from Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune)


It’s true that the wealth of the top one percent is constantly increasing at the expense of the bottom ninety percent. Seventy-five trillion dollars have transferred “upward” between these groups in the United States over the last few decades. It’s not all on the personality cult of DJT nor is it specific to our country. Oligarchs, bureaucracy, and rampant free-market capitalism all contribute. Susan and I attended the Fight Oligarchy rally in Tucson this weekend. The turnout and enthusiasm were incredible. I have hope that together we can make a change. Follow the movement.

https://berniesanders.com/

Happy Christmas/Hanukkah from Trinity Acres

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Happy Christmas/Hanukkah from Trinity Acres – home of this Grateful Recovering Deadhead, Zen Baptist, Groucho Marxist, eCommerce Entrepreneur, Remote Online Notary, Dudist Monk, Army Veteran, Advocate for Democracy, Longevity Enthusiast and long-time Software Aficionado.

Susan has taken on a leadership role in People4People, speaking from stage and continuing her writing journey with Empowering Women’s Alliance. Sarah is doing well and has found a new interest in baking. I’m pretending to be retired and focusing on my education now that the election is over. No more canvassing and volunteering with the Pima Dems, so I might as well learn massage, reiki, cyber security, software development and how best to exploit AI.

This year America voted for autocracy over democracy. That’s a little disappointing. I’ll concede that neither of the current American political parties have proven to us that they have our best interests at heart. That being said, The choices in the last election were clear. Perpetuate at least an illusion of democracy and the liberal consensus, or cede power to the broligarchy. The wannabe trillionaires appear to be so greedy that they’re willing to destroy all the progress we’ve made over the last century to expand the vast wealth they already control.

Research from the Rand Corporation shows that the top 1% of U.S. income earners have taken more than $50 trillion from the bottom 90% over the past several decades. That study was from the last decade, and my guess is that the number is substantially higher. The wealth gap not only continues, but widens at an accelerating pace. Can we count on the giants of industry and commerce to have our best interest at heart? That supposition has little evidence to support it other than a few libraries, schools and museums.

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is here. Now. What does that mean for all of us? We really don’t know.

On the one hand, it is now possible to create literature, music, art and “film” from a text prompt.
It may also mean we have access to education for the masses, solving climate change, curing previously incurable diseases and creating free energy.

On the other hand, if an artificial super-intelligence (ASI) realizes that humanity is not only unnecessary but dangerous to the planet, then all the post apocalyptic scenarios from Skynet to the Matrix may come to pass. Hopefully, there’s a power at work in the universe that will allow for the evolution of the species.

What’s my take away? Stay healthy, work on myself spiritually, learn AI and build multiple streams of income to support creating safe communities for our fellow travelers that are at risk.

Currently on a OPC3/Juice+ kick leading into a Reset 25 start to the new year. Susan and I are both in Wisdom this year, although we may not be posting our insights to FaceBook or other social media where the algorithm is controlled by the broligarchy. And I’m also looking for alternatives that are more open to different points of view. Also learning what I can about autonomous AI agents, including AgentForce.

I’m experimenting with sustainable housing. We tried a 300 square foot bell tent, a cabin tent and a dome tent in our first foray into glamping. All of those failed miserably. Too much wind up here on Hilltop and the sun can be brutal. Now we’re toying with the idea of domes. Aircrete in the DomeGaia tradition, and/or geodesic following Buckminster Fuller’s pattern.

Also see value in lightening up. I would love to give away a few hundred books, CDs, DVDs, bootleg cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and equipment to a good home. The end-game would be to downsize into an RV or sailboat.

The journey continues…

Above Majestic

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I find Above Majestic disturbing. Why? It’s not just the wild theories regarding extraterrestrials and nazis. It demonizes segments of the population with the aim of creating division and paranoia. It also calls into question all of conventional thought and the education system as a whole. If I’m understanding the gist of the thought process, it would have us believe that everything ever taught in schools, everything that can be found in published works and everything in the media is disinformation. That seems like a goto strategy for any group to explain why their version of events is true when they are in conflict with substantiated fact. The strategy isn’t new. Conspiracy theorists used the same push buttons about child welfare in the early 80’s to nix the Comprehensive Child Development Act and push back on the feminist movement when women were trying to enter the workplace and assert their independence.

And they sprinkle in a few obscure but plausible tidbits about people, places and events in an attempt to substantiate the concoction. Seems to be working, and I’m saying that because I personally know individuals that seem to have bought it hook, line and sinker.

So what is the take away? Fact check such theories before spreading them as “truth”. Look closely at who will benefit from the fear and distrust that a story is attempting to create. What does my gut tell me about those spreading hate as opposed to those they’re vilifying. Look in their eyes and search for compassion and humanity. Who is really the victim?

Anyway, I think “The Illuminatus Trilogy” would be a great antidote for this hysteria if you could get someone in the grips of it to take the time to read it. At the very least, it brings a sense of humor to the apocalypse and the notion of an all-powerful cabal.

Brave New World

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So, it’s time to speculate about what life will look like during and after Covid 19, given that there will likely be major changes to our social behaviors, our economic landscape, our food chain, continuity of health services, emotional wellbeing and our outlook for the future. And, like it or not, there will be another pandemic, and how we respond to this one will set the stage for the outcome of the next one.

Minimizing contact between people is critical to limiting the spread of the virus. Limiting the spread is critical to allowing our healthcare services to cope with the pandemic. I’m told that no more that 30% of the population have the opportunity to work from home. There are “essential workers” that can’t perform their functions remotely. I’m skeptical that we’re doing a good job delineating essential from non-essential, which of course means that more people are being exposed to possible infection that is necessary and put our society at risk of a resurgence that could jeopardize the lives of our citizens.

What can we do to empower our healthcare workers to be effective at mitigating the spread of the virus and limiting fatality? How can we serve our at-risk community more effectively. What strategies can we employ to facilitate social distancing? How many social interactions can be replaced with a do-it-yourself approach? What cultural changes would make it possible to increase the ratio of remote work opportunities?

There is currently at least some focus on managing the gap in our epidemiology approach. It’s obvious to me, and I would assert many others, that wide-spread testing and contact tracing are critical. Without these key elements, we are flying blind. Supporting our healthcare workers with PPE is necessary to protect this vital human resource in this time of need. Expanding everyone’s access to healthcare will give us better outcomes and greater visibility into how the virus is spreading in the population at large. Hygiene and the universal use of masks and gloves when we’re in public would make a difference.

So, let’s play a what-if game. What if we were all vegan? Would we be less likely for viruses to jump species? What if everyone had a garden that would produce enough food to support their families? What if remote education were freely available for everyone K through post-graduate? What if healthcare was universal and we empowered telemedicine in such a way that in-person non-emergency medical visits became unnecessary? What if social groups came together “virtually” in ways that produce irrefutable value to those who participate and their communities?

Longevity – Grateful We’re Not Dead

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My Game in the World for the Possibility Quarter

Build a community engaged in the inquiry about the possibility of changing the context for the quality of life of humans as they approach or exceed the century mark. We’ll look at everything from diet to DNA, fasting to festivals, metaphysical experiments to mystical experiences.

First couple of topics I want to explore are detox and dietary lifestyle changes to support brain health and longevity, and the there are two website I currently have registered the domains for that will address these: fearlessfood.org and fab4detox.com. That will probably correspond to two arenas since fearlessfood will focus on creating a plant-based diet that restricts refined sugar and refined flour while introducing intermittent fasting, whereas fab4detox is about eliminating toxins and rebooting the biological clock associated with aging.

There’s another arena that will deal with Native American medicine traditions for rewiring our neurology, and I imagine that will encompass everything from sweat lodges to dancing and may include some “sacred” substances, which I’m struggling with conceptually since I don’t want to compromise my recovery or clean-time.

That leads to another arena that centers around spirituality and mindfulness. It’s my belief that reducing stress and becoming centered is in alignment with supporting cognition and leading a more fulfilling life, regardless of your age.

The last area I already have on my map is exchanging opportunities for, and insights into, peak experiences. What I have in mind is travel to exotic locations, whitewater rafting, skydiving, massage, scuba diving, music festivals, exploring natural wonders, or basically anything that can blow your mind.

And it’s all open to negotiation at this point. I’m currently reading “Lifespan – why we age and why we don’t have to” by David Sinclair and “The End of Alzheimer’s” by Dale Bredesen. It’s likely that more will be revealed.

Conspiracy Theory

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Had a thought or two I shared with Susan about Russian collusion and how hard it is to believe that any administration could be so inept, deceptive and corrupt. So, if the “face value” story doesn’t hold water, is there another explanation?

I ventured a conspiracy theory…

It actually *is* all Hillary Clinton’s fault. She got Trump elected, and she did so by pulling the strings of her puppet Vladimir Putin and acting so “unrelatable” that a substantial percentage of American voters just couldn’t get behind her. In fact, Clinton is one leg of the Illuminati pentad. The others are Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders

Why would they join forces to perpetrate this heinous atrocity to American politics? Because the DNC just wasn’t pulling its weight anymore. They knew that the only solution to the healthcare crisis was a single-payer system, but there wasn’t a chance in hell that they could get that idea off the ground with big pharma and fossil fuel interests running the show. It would take a confluence of crises to make that conversation possible, and that would only happen after the collapse of the current political parties.

Healthcare was only one of five areas that they are targeting in this drama of social re-engineering that would span the next decade. The idea is that if the conversations around health care, clean water, food, housing and education could transition from privileges to basic human rights, then the collective creative potential of 7.3 billion people would transform the human condition from survival to self-expression and unleash a new renaissance. The arts and sciences would flourish. Climate change would be reversed. War, overpopulation, disease and addition would be eradicated. Sustainable energy would become so inexpensive that in most communities energy would be free. Ethical goods and services would emerge in harmony with the environment. Life expectancy would increase ten fold. Our happiness factor would increase exponentially.

GMO Nation

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There are some things that are unique about the US, and this one gives me pause. We not only allow the sale of genetically modified organisms for human consumption, we’re clearly on the side of the folks that produce them on issues around disclosure in the marketplace and the farmer’s right to grow unmodified crops. According to the US Department of Agriculture, genetically modified crops have become the norm in the United States. For example, in 2010, 70% of all the corn that was planted was herbicide-resistant; 78% of cotton, and 93% of all soybeans. In an article on Harvard’s website, Jennifer Hsaio states that  World Health Organization has announced that glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. Although studies have shown conflicting conclusions about the link between glyphosate and cancer in humans, glyphosate has been linked to cancer in rats and mice and experiments in human cells have shown that exposure to glyphosate can cause DNA damage.

The term herbicide resistant may be a little misleading.  Herbicide tolerant could be more considered more accurate, since the modified crops continue to take up the herbicide in greater quantities and pass them on to consumers.  So, here in the US, we’re much more likely to be exposed to higher levels of glyphosate that our counterparts in Europe.

Interesting.

Dawn of a Virtual Classless Society?

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One definition of the proletariat is the class of people that have only their labor to support them, i.e. don’t own the “means of production”, classical factors of production including instruments of labor and subjects of labor. I would assert that we have entered an era where a large segment of production centered around information has made this concept obsolete. The means of production (or MoP) of a software based product today is free, at least from the perspective of a developer with an idea and the skills and desire necessary to implement it. The tools required to develop quality software can be accessed or downloaded with zero monetary investment. This includes development of enterprise scale applications. There are no licensing or maintenance costs associated development using the JDK, and like it or not, Java/EJB has a commanding lead in the enterprise marketplace over it’s closest competitor, Microsoft’s .NET. Serious relational databases now exist in the open-source world – MySQL and PostgreSQL for example. World class IDEs exist for Java development that may be used and extended, free of charge. The documentation needed to learn to develop software with these tools is freely available on the Internet. Access to the Internet is free at most public libraries as well as the coffee shop down the street.

According to the MoP article on Wikipedia as it existed on 20100107, when the workers control the MoP directly, it embodies the pure ideal of socialism:

“In the pure ideal of socialism, such as that ‘communism’ was/is supposed to be, the MoP are controlled by the workers production collectives directly. In fact this situation has only been historically realized temporarily such as in the Israeli kibbutz or the early Soviets before the entrenchment of the communist party as a ‘New Class’, or in isolated or preliminary form such as in the final phase of the Second Spanish Republic, or various experimental utopian communities.”

If this is the case, it may well be that the open-source community accomplished what the Soviet Union could not. Perhaps such a “utopian community” now exists in cyberspace. When it comes to information based products, and we live in an information age, the MoP now rests in the hands of the workers. Development environments, libraries, frameworks, source control systems, collaboration tools, issue/defect management systems – are are freely available under license agreements no more restrictive than the GPL or BSD licenses. Anyone with sufficient will and vision can produce and market a product to the entire planet. Some may argue that it takes considerably more, and this kind of opportunity is only available to members of the Bourgeoisie, since there’s no way to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to bend the available tools and infrastructure to your ends without considerable investment of capital in the first place. That’s not my experience, and I’m more than willing to debate the issue. Any resourceful “potential programmer” can find all they need at their fingertips – including tutorials and a strong support community. All that’s really needed is a recognized need and the willingness to pursue it’s solution.