@manton, Really like the redesign of the M.b app!
Some Block Island homes…
Apparently we’ve been to the brink and beyond before and it was the Democrats who took us there….
On October 22, 1985, Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III told congressional leaders that if Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling by the end of the month, the Reagan administration would pay the nation’s bills by taking back Treasury securities in which Social Security had invested.
So let’s be frank and honest. Alternative intelligence of superior stature to our own, should it come about, will be an entirely natural extension of, evolution of, intelligence on this planet and in the universe.
What Intelligent Life is Made Of, Part 2 Essays On Attention Paid
When I published a description of the 2009 talk these posts are based on, I used the phrase “alternative intelligence” instead of the far more common “artificial intelligence.” This is because I do not believe that the distinction between natural and artificial is useful when it comes to intelligent technologies.
What Intelligent Life is Made Of, Part 2 Essays On Attention Paid
If Monet lived on Block Island…
Scenes from this morning’s walk…
Ada Limon, Dead Stars … a really lovely poem!
We’ve come this far, survived this much. What would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?
Cardamom/saffron frozen soufflés setting up in the freezer…
My beautiful wife Holly in a Block Island state of mind…
From this morning’s walk…
Reading: The Matter with Things by Lane McGilchrist 📚
The more precise anything is, the less content it has: the more certain our knowledge the less we know.
Reading: The Matter with Things by 📚
Our dominant value—sometimes I fear our only value—has very clearly become that of power. This aligns us with a brain system, that of the left hemisphere, the raison d’être of which is to control and manipulate the world.
Only 2% in to a looong book. Already pretty sure it’s important.
Read: Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell 📚
Just finished. An enjoyable read that traces the origins of Humanist thought through the many historical characters who furthered it. Just enough philosophy for grasping the nature of Humanism. It end’s making the case for Humanism in the present day but it’s a bit of a whimper in my opinion. Faced with the decidedly non-humanist churning going on in the world against which it struggles to fight. Perhaps my greatest pleasure in reading it is having it confirmed that , yes, indeed, I am a humanist.
Part 1 of a 5 part series on AI…
Among their concerns were the possible criminal uses of artificial intelligence; the potential for significant job loss as intelligent machines assume increasing amounts of the human workload; the possibility of machines becoming capable of making life and death decisions on their own.
What Intelligent Life Is Made Of, Part 1 Essays On Attention Paid
There wasn’t anything exceptionally noticeable about the way she moved through doors, but when you’ve known someone all their lives, you become familiar with their nuances. You sense them in all manner of ways you are barely aware of.
Reading: Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell 📚
Meanwhile, back in 1941…
Mankind cannot accept the ultimate triumph of evil, untruth, and violence—it simply cannot live with them. The world resulting from a Hitler victory would be not only a world of universal slavery, but also a world of absolute cynicism, a world which would find it impossible to believe in the higher and better in man any longer., a world which would belong completely to evil and be subject to evil. The revolt of humanity against a Hitler world filled with the utmost despair of spirit and good—this revolt is the most certain of certainties. — Thomas Mann
From this morning’s walk…
Reading: Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell 📚
Happiness is the only good The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so.
— Robert G. Ingersol
Made it to the Block!
Smooth sailing to point Judith. Waiting to back the car onto the ferry…
Off to Block Island at sunrise…
In the church of secular capitalist society, science is the god. And indeed, there is a lot of pure faith involved in the belief in science. So, if the god of modern capitalist society is in trouble, it suggests that something is afoot.
From my latest long form post:
The present war is not just on women. It is on any community that challenges the white patriarchal structure. It’s a war on race, it’s a war on gender, it’s a war on sexuality. It’s a war on the values of Enlightenment Humanism which are the foundation of democratic government. It’s a war on democracy itself.
PBGV best in show at Westminster! We’ve had two in our dog stewardship lifetime.
Our PBGV Chas is 9 years old. He’s taking it in stride…
