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The World as I see it.
Well, I don't like to argue Politics or Religion but I will offer these suggestions and you can take it or leave it. I am not very interested in feedback from this section of my website. There is little agreement on most of this and everyone will have a different take. Just think about it and do what you think is right. Mostly this will be observations or questions for pondering. Keep in mind that the world is a big and small place at the same time. There are many people and many views of right and wrong. On the other hand, what each person does affects everyone else in some way, to some extent. This will also be a somewhat random and arbitrary group of thoughts and Ideas (4 Free). This page will probably grow slowly as thoughts peculate to the top.
1. Make the World a better place, even in the smallest of ways. For example, holding a door open for some stranger is not a big deal but it can bring a smile and thank you and make both you and the other person just a tiny bit happier for just a second in an otherwise cold unfriendly world. See the movie "Pass It Forward" for an extreme (probably unrealistic) example of this.
2. If you read history carefully, I think you will notice that, as a people, we are gradually improving. It is frustratingly slow and not exactly steady but from the distant recorded past till now, people are more and more treating each other better. Less and less slavery, untreated disease, abuse, domination and terror. Note for example, in the far past, 90 or more percent of the worlds people lived under the absolute (and often violent) domination of a very small "elite". Today, the domination is no longer absolute, in most cases. Another example is that although we have higher levels of individual terror after 9-11, over all, it is less than the wide spread terror of world destruction we lived under in the cold war. This is why number one above is so important. it is the cause of this slow improvement. Some special people in history have made significant gains and give the rest of us hope (Gandhi for example).
3. I love Science and Space research is near the top of my list but as for sending people to other planets to live, I am a bit hesitant. The reason is that slow progress mentioned in 2 above. The propensity of people to take advantage of others is too great to allow them the freedom to start a new and isolated colony (think Jonestown 1978 or Waco Texas, 1993. Especially noting that only the very richest could start one and the rich (powerful) are not notably noble (with a very few outstanding exceptions). On the other hand, it will take so long to get out there that maybe the slow progress will have time to work. So maybe support SpaceX and be on guard. Food for thought.
4. People equate Robots with Artificial Intelligence but in fact they are distinctly different definitions. The "Intelligence" of Robots will always fall far behind that of "stand-alone" AI. The reason is obvious. Just like Net-top Computers are less powerful than Laptops and in turn Laptops less capable than desktops, the "Portable" AI will be less than the larger fixed asset. That is not to say the fixed AI could not control a "Remote" appendage, IE a Robot "frame", providing it with the high level of intelligence that would make it more powerful intellectually. However, that connection means certain limits on range (distance) of movement and speed of response. People also misuse the term Robot when they mean Remote (control). But this definition is quite blurry because a device can have some small internal intelligence to take care of relatively simple tasks but be controlled by a distant intelligence AI or Human.
5. I probably should not say this but someone will think of it anyway so I must warn the reader of a consequence of 4 above. It is that the AI to worry about, if any, is the large fixed computer. Note that, in this case, a computer can be considered a Distributed Computer, which is in essence, a network. The biggest network on the planet is the Internet which is of extremely low level intelligence at this time. But that could change. What if some too-clever programmer(s) released a self-modifying (Evolving) learning virus/bot-net into the Internet? The Internet is by far potentially the most powerful Supercomputer ever because of its sheer additive computational power. It is limited by its speed of thought due to its distributed nature, but it is nearly unlimited in its computational power, due to the incredible and rapidly rising number of "cores" or nodes. What limits might we put on that possibility? The size of the Internet may, to some extent slow the speed of thought (should it arise) but unfortunately, I don't see how there could be any sure-fire limits on this potential. This is truly food for thought.
Post script; The speed constraint inherent in the Internet may be the savings grace. It takes a very large network of computer nodes to have the potential of developing intelligence (benign or dangerous) and no matter how fast the internet gets, it will likely be slow enough and diffuse enough to not be a problem. The speed will always be much slower due to the distance between nodes, just because the electricity must travel so far compared to the distance between transistors in a normal computer (billionths of a second instead of hundredths of a second, IE 10,000,000 times slower). Then again, clever programming (remember how clever evolution is) could improve this many fold.
6. This is kind of a narrow idea directed to California and specifically Antelope Valley.. We need more jobs in AV. My plan is to adopt/enhance the LA to Frisco high speed train proposal to get new backing and lower costs. Make it go to the airport in Palmdale and open Palmdale as Intr Airport. The high speed train takes away the biggest argument, no access. Make sure the train is designed for work commuting also so AV residents can train to work in LA in half the time of the current unworkable train commute (2 hours each way!). To cut costs, add a spur to LosVegas, the cost there will be cut by 1/3 and the overall cost/mile is cut because of the economy of scale. Make the Vegas component pay a premium, as they will get a quicker return on investment. Re-open highway 39 and make that and Angeles Crest/Angeles Forest highways wider so there is more access to the jobs in the LA Basin. 15 and 5 are not enough access to the north of LA anyway. All of this will reduce crowding in LA, increase the growth of all So. Cal and increase jobs and industry for LA and AV. LAX gets reduced crowding and noise, increase access and safety.
P.S. The latest route seems to be through AV so part of this is done. And some funding has been approved from the Feds. And there is Hyperloop ;-)
7.
1. Make the World a better place, even in the smallest of ways. For example, holding a door open for some stranger is not a big deal but it can bring a smile and thank you and make both you and the other person just a tiny bit happier for just a second in an otherwise cold unfriendly world. See the movie "Pass It Forward" for an extreme (probably unrealistic) example of this.
2. If you read history carefully, I think you will notice that, as a people, we are gradually improving. It is frustratingly slow and not exactly steady but from the distant recorded past till now, people are more and more treating each other better. Less and less slavery, untreated disease, abuse, domination and terror. Note for example, in the far past, 90 or more percent of the worlds people lived under the absolute (and often violent) domination of a very small "elite". Today, the domination is no longer absolute, in most cases. Another example is that although we have higher levels of individual terror after 9-11, over all, it is less than the wide spread terror of world destruction we lived under in the cold war. This is why number one above is so important. it is the cause of this slow improvement. Some special people in history have made significant gains and give the rest of us hope (Gandhi for example).
3. I love Science and Space research is near the top of my list but as for sending people to other planets to live, I am a bit hesitant. The reason is that slow progress mentioned in 2 above. The propensity of people to take advantage of others is too great to allow them the freedom to start a new and isolated colony (think Jonestown 1978 or Waco Texas, 1993. Especially noting that only the very richest could start one and the rich (powerful) are not notably noble (with a very few outstanding exceptions). On the other hand, it will take so long to get out there that maybe the slow progress will have time to work. So maybe support SpaceX and be on guard. Food for thought.
4. People equate Robots with Artificial Intelligence but in fact they are distinctly different definitions. The "Intelligence" of Robots will always fall far behind that of "stand-alone" AI. The reason is obvious. Just like Net-top Computers are less powerful than Laptops and in turn Laptops less capable than desktops, the "Portable" AI will be less than the larger fixed asset. That is not to say the fixed AI could not control a "Remote" appendage, IE a Robot "frame", providing it with the high level of intelligence that would make it more powerful intellectually. However, that connection means certain limits on range (distance) of movement and speed of response. People also misuse the term Robot when they mean Remote (control). But this definition is quite blurry because a device can have some small internal intelligence to take care of relatively simple tasks but be controlled by a distant intelligence AI or Human.
5. I probably should not say this but someone will think of it anyway so I must warn the reader of a consequence of 4 above. It is that the AI to worry about, if any, is the large fixed computer. Note that, in this case, a computer can be considered a Distributed Computer, which is in essence, a network. The biggest network on the planet is the Internet which is of extremely low level intelligence at this time. But that could change. What if some too-clever programmer(s) released a self-modifying (Evolving) learning virus/bot-net into the Internet? The Internet is by far potentially the most powerful Supercomputer ever because of its sheer additive computational power. It is limited by its speed of thought due to its distributed nature, but it is nearly unlimited in its computational power, due to the incredible and rapidly rising number of "cores" or nodes. What limits might we put on that possibility? The size of the Internet may, to some extent slow the speed of thought (should it arise) but unfortunately, I don't see how there could be any sure-fire limits on this potential. This is truly food for thought.
Post script; The speed constraint inherent in the Internet may be the savings grace. It takes a very large network of computer nodes to have the potential of developing intelligence (benign or dangerous) and no matter how fast the internet gets, it will likely be slow enough and diffuse enough to not be a problem. The speed will always be much slower due to the distance between nodes, just because the electricity must travel so far compared to the distance between transistors in a normal computer (billionths of a second instead of hundredths of a second, IE 10,000,000 times slower). Then again, clever programming (remember how clever evolution is) could improve this many fold.
6. This is kind of a narrow idea directed to California and specifically Antelope Valley.. We need more jobs in AV. My plan is to adopt/enhance the LA to Frisco high speed train proposal to get new backing and lower costs. Make it go to the airport in Palmdale and open Palmdale as Intr Airport. The high speed train takes away the biggest argument, no access. Make sure the train is designed for work commuting also so AV residents can train to work in LA in half the time of the current unworkable train commute (2 hours each way!). To cut costs, add a spur to LosVegas, the cost there will be cut by 1/3 and the overall cost/mile is cut because of the economy of scale. Make the Vegas component pay a premium, as they will get a quicker return on investment. Re-open highway 39 and make that and Angeles Crest/Angeles Forest highways wider so there is more access to the jobs in the LA Basin. 15 and 5 are not enough access to the north of LA anyway. All of this will reduce crowding in LA, increase the growth of all So. Cal and increase jobs and industry for LA and AV. LAX gets reduced crowding and noise, increase access and safety.
P.S. The latest route seems to be through AV so part of this is done. And some funding has been approved from the Feds. And there is Hyperloop ;-)
7.