It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs; they expect too much of ordinary men. | |
— Thucydides | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | My Suspect Confidence |
2014 | Disguised Blessings |
2013 | Be |
2012 | The Only Way to Win |
2011 | Honest Writing |
Archive for December, 2016
And Fathers, Sons
Posted in Leadership, My Journal, Quotes, tagged Leadership, My Journal, Quotes, Thucydides on December 30, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Supervise The Results
Posted in Leadership, My Journal, Quotes, tagged B. C. Forbes, Delegation, Leadership, My Journal, Quotes, Supervision on December 29, 2016| Leave a Comment »
It usually takes a big man to delegate responsibilities to others – and then leave these others to handle them. He will install a man, give him a free hand and watch results. He does not actively supervise his men, but he does – actively and minutely – supervise the results. The man afraid to deputize will retard growth – his own and that of his organization. | |
— B. C. Forbes | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Just Magic! |
2014 | It Lies Ahead… |
2013 | At Least One Difference |
2012 | Are We, Are We? |
On Not Playing The Game | |
Scale | |
2011 | Nutcracker And Nooks |
Seeing Differences | |
We Did This
Posted in Economics, Leadership, My Journal, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Economics, Lao-Tzu, Leadership, My Journal, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes on December 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »
A leader is best when he is neither seen nor heard, not so good when he is adored and glorified, worst when he is hated and despised. But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, the people will say, “We did this ourselves.” | |
— Lao-Tzu | |
[If you elect an amoral con-man to be your President and he drives the country into deeper debt, continues to destroy the middle-class by transferring wealth to the top 1% and who engages in off-the-cuff twitter diplomacy, perhaps we should remind ourselves that “elections have consequences” and modify Lao-Tzu’s quote to: “We did this TO ourselves.” — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | I’m Talking To You |
Forced (Again) | |
2014 | We Are Not A Fearful Nation! |
2013 | Risking Truth |
2012 | Working On Reality |
2011 | Massive Contradictory Changes |
Control In The Age Of Entanglement
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Artificial Intelligence, Bill Gates, Chaos Theory, Computer programming, Danny Hillis, Elon Musk, Emergent Behavior, Jason Tanz, Journal of Design and Science, Machine Learning, Michael Crichton, Philosophy, Quotes, Stephen Hawking, The Age Of Entanglement, The Andromeda Strain, The End Of Code, The Future Of Technology, Wired Magazine on December 26, 2016| 3 Comments »
The implications of an unparsable machine language aren’t just philosophical. For the past two decades, learning to code has been one of the surest routes to reliable employment — a fact not lost on all those parents enrolling their kids in after-school code academies. But a world run by neurally networked deep-learning machines requires a different workforce. Analysts have already started worrying about the impact of AI on the job market, as machines render old skills irrelevant. Programmers might soon get a taste of what that feels like themselves. | |
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This explosion of indeterminacy has been a long time coming. It’s not news that even simple algorithms can create unpredictable emergent behavior — an insight that goes back to chaos theory and random number generators. Over the past few years, as networks have grown more intertwined and their functions more complex, code has come to seem more like an alien force, the ghosts in the machine ever more elusive and ungovernable. Planes grounded for no reason. Seemingly unpreventable flash crashes in the stock market. Rolling blackouts. | |
These forces have led technologist Danny Hillis to declare the end of the age of Enlightenment, our centuries-long faith in logic, determinism, and control over nature. Hillis says we’re shifting to what he calls the age of Entanglement. “As our technological and institutional creations have become more complex, our relationship to them has changed,” he wrote in the Journal of Design and Science. “Instead of being masters of our creations, we have learned to bargain with them, cajoling and guiding them in the general direction of our goals. We have built our own jungle, and it has a life of its own.” The rise of machine learning is the latest — and perhaps the last — step in this journey. | |
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To nerds of a certain bent, this all suggests a coming era in which we forfeit authority over our machines. “One can imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand,” wrote Stephen Hawking — sentiments echoed by Elon Musk and Bill Gates, among others. “Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all.” | |
— Jason Tanz | |
From his article: “The End Of Code“ | |
Appearing in the June 2016 issue of Wired Magazine | |
[Every 10 years or so we are cautioned about computers, the end of programming, Artificial Intelligence and “the end of code”. And, as always, I am reminded of the quote: “The survival value of human intelligence has never been satisfactorily demonstrated.” — Michael Crichton from his book: “The Andromeda Strain“. I guess we may see, sooner rather than later. — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Okay, Maybe Not Ceaseless |
2014 | Can Do |
2013 | Are You Helping? |
2012 | Inside All Truth Is A Vacuum |
2011 | So, Whom Are We Trying To Fool Then? |
Merry X-mas – 2016
Posted in Faith Family and Friends, My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Great Moments, Henry Drummond, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas -- 2016, Merry X-mas, My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes, Spirit Of Love on December 25, 2016| 5 Comments »
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You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. | |
— Henry Drummond | |
[Merry Christmas to all… !! — KMAB] | |
[The image was “borrowed” from one of the comments I’ve rec’d from a fellow blogger. Please visit his site if you have a few minutes: http://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/ — KMAB | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Merry X-mas – 2015 |
2014 | Merry X-mas – 2014 |
2013 | Merry X-mas – 2013 |
2012 | Merry Christmas – 2012 |
2011 | I Have Seen |
The President-elect: Making Spirits Bright
Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged #DumbDonald, Bumber Stickers, Donald "The Chicken-Hawk" Trump, Dr. Yevgeniy Chazov, Leonid Brezhnev, Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons, Nukes, Politics, President-elect Trump, Trump On Twitter on December 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes | |
— Donald J. Trump | |
President-elect, Twitter account December 22, 2016 | |
How can we dispel the notion of some people that anyone will survive a nuclear war? | |
— Dr. Yevgeniy Chazov | |
Official physician to Leonid Brezhnev | |
Nuclear War… When you’ve seen one, You’ve seen them all. | |
— Bumper sticker from the 1970’s | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | What Are You Looking At? |
2014 | Ite, Missa Est |
2013 | I Hear Voices |
2012 | Positive Thoughts |
Hope Works | |
2011 | Look! Up In The Sky… |
Humility Before The Unknowable | |
Sincerest Flattery
Posted in My Journal, Quotes, tagged Children, James Baldwin, My Journal, Quotes on December 24, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. | |
— James Baldwin | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | What Are You Looking At? |
2014 | Ite, Missa Est |
2013 | I Hear Voices |
2012 | Positive Thoughts |
Hope Works | |
2011 | Look! Up In The Sky… |
Humility Before The Unknowable | |
Proceeding Still
Posted in My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Man Ray, My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes on December 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Ever since our love for machines replaced the love we used to have for our fellow man, catastrophes proceed to increase. | |
— Man Ray | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Seeing Rainbows |
I Am A Runner | |
2014 | The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature |
2013 | One Standard Deviation |
2012 | High Anxiety |
2011 | And I’m Taking Me There |
2010 | 1,000 |
And Without Expectation
Posted in My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes, tagged Frank Tyger, Love, My Journal, Philosophy, Quotes on December 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Love must be given without thought of reciprocation. | |
— Frank Tyger | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Just Do It |
I Am A Runner | |
2014 | Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army: |
2013 | Who You Are |
2012 | Mine Stands |
2011 | Aversions |
Starting To Stumble
Posted in History, Politics, Quotes, tagged Dissent, Edward R. Murrow, Fundamental Rights, History, Politics, Quotes, Totalitarianism on December 21, 2016| 3 Comments »
The right of dissent, or, if you prefer, the right to be wrong, is surely fundamental to the existence of a democratic society. That’s the right that went first in every nation that stumbled down the trail toward totalitarianism. | |
— Edward R. Murrow | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Begin Combat |
I Am A Runner | |
2014 | Just Dig ‘N It, Why? |
2013 | Additions |
The Object Of Instruction | |
2012 | Telling Her |
2011 | On Torture |
Something Authentic Happened
Posted in Quotes, Reading, tagged Experiences, Hyper Vision, Kevin Kelly, Quotes, Virtual Reality, Wired Magazine on December 20, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The recurring discovery I made in each virtual world I entered was that although every one of these environments was fake, the experiences I had in them were genuine. VR does two important things: One, it generates an intense and convincing sense of what is generally called presence. Virtual landscapes, virtual objects, and virtual characters seem to be there — a perception that is not so much a visual illusion as a gut feeling. That’s magical. But the second thing it does is more important. The technology forces you to be present — in a way flatscreens do not — so that you gain authentic experiences, as authentic as in real life. People remember VR experiences not as a memory of something they saw but as something that happened to them. | |
— Kevin Kelly | |
From his article: “Hyper Vision“ | |
In the May 2016 issue of Wired Magazine | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Back On The Bricks |
On, Rocinante!! | |
2014 | Changing Frequently |
2013 | Trifles |
2012 | Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous |
2011 | Humane Writers |
And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged #DumbDonald, On Being Smart, On Fools, Politics, Quotes, Wilson Mizner on December 18, 2016| Leave a Comment »
A fellow who is always declaring he’s no fool usually has his suspicions. | |
— Wilson Mizner | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Curves Ahead |
2014 | Sitting? |
2013 | Misperceptions |
2012 | Essential Experience |
2011 | Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way |
Sound Familiar? | |
Best Wishes For 2017!
Posted in Family and Friends, General Comments, My Journal, Quotes, tagged Best Wishes For 2017, Family and Friends, General Comments, Happy New Year's Eve, My Journal, New Year's Eve, New Year's Resolution, Quotes on December 31, 2016| 2 Comments »
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