Discomfort

A lot of things still matter in this world – touch and relationships and real conversation and discomfort.  Technology is designed toward convenience.  It’s designed to make things easier, to make life a bit more comfortable.  But we need discomfort.  We need discomfort in order to grow.
—    Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
Quoted by:  Justin Parham
In his interview article:  “Matrix Revolutionary“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  Dec. 2021
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On This Day In:
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2020	Senate Perfidy
2019	Contributing To Congress
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2018	But Take Heart
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2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
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2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
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Completely Reasonable To Worry

What I’m suggesting is that there’s a self-fulfilling element to conversations about automation.  It’s not so much that machines are relieving us of activities that are intrinsically rote and mechanical;  it’s more that a skill comes to seem rote and mechanical when a machine learns to do it.  An ability only begins to appear “worthless,” as you put it, when it can be executed by highly profitable technologies.  At the moment, our talents and aptitudes are being made obsolete at such a rate that many people, like you, are uneasy about where this trajectory might end.
…
We consumers are not asked to vote or weigh in on the new devices, features, and apps that will inevitably shape our lives.  It’s completely reasonable to worry that you might look up at some point and find yourself at a historical destination that you never consciously chose.
All of which is to say, you’re right to pause and question this technology.  Given how quick we are to adapt to and assimilate novel forms of automation, it’s doubly important to consider whether a given skill is something you’re willing to relinquish.  In that spirit, I’m going to avoid prescribing anything concrete (what is advice but one more automated solution?) and instead encourage you to continue thinking about what you are prepared to give up.  Are there certain boundaries that you’re not willing to cross?  Or is your humanity just a moving target, its definition staked on whatever remains after the rest has been offloaded onto devices?  The willingness to think through these questions, consider their consequences, and commit to a course of — literal — action is itself virtuous and worthwhile.  It’s one thing, at least for the time being, that we alone can do.
—   Meghan O’Gieblyn
From her “advice” column:  “Dear Cloud Support: My Car Is Making Me Feel Useless!“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  May 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	Completely Reasonable To Worry
2021	Seeking Happiness
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2020	Expectation For The Near Future
2019	Indian Myth
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2018	Nothing
2017	Approval First
2016	In Search Of Words
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2015	At What Price?
2014	Intricate And Subtle Order
2013	Attention To Detail
2012	Aequanimitas!
2011	Consider This

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One Hour Per Year

If we’re going to live together, the [tech] giants and me, I’d like to ask them something.  Humbly. If you’re a product manager working on a feed or search interface inside of a giant tech company, you have access to hundreds of billions of hours of human attention.  Could you help your users spend one hour a year learning about what’s coming for the world, climate-wise, with a small dose of civics to go with it?
Because, if you did, that would be 2 or 3 billion hours of shared experience.  Two to 3 billion hours of people learning how important it is that we come together calmly.  And that is a beautiful canvas of time upon which to paint a future.  It would be one hell of a product.  We’re counting on you.
We have no choice.  You won.
Billions of us need help making millions, billions of decisions.  Decisions about whether to upgrade HVAC systems, or how to fuel our shipping, or what to plant in the backyard.  Sometimes it feels like the paradigm has inverted.  Technology was the mold growing across human systems.  Software was eating the world.  Now it feels like humans are the mold growing on technology.
I said that there’s no next big thing.  But deep in my soft, uncynical heart, where I keep my most embarrassing predictions, I do know what it is.  The next big thing is us.  Just plain old people.  Humans using language.  Humans accepting limits.  I can’t help you turn it into Q4 results.  I don’t know how to invest in it, nor who should run the conference series.  Nor could I tell you who should host the podcast.
I just know that it’s got to be our turn.  I love technology, but this is faith.
—     Paul Ford
From his article:  “The Great Unbundling“
Appearing in:  Wired Magzine;  dtd:  May 2021
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On This Day In:
2022	One Hour Per Year
2021	If You’re A Lucky 11 Year Old
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2020	Democratic Aspiration
2019	Soul Before Will
2018	Small Things
2017	Clear And Warm To Me
2016	Ripple
2015	Amazing Or Full Of Wonder?
2014	Are You Confused?
2013	But The Odds Are Against It
2012	Far Better Off With Books
2011	Timid And Fainthearted

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Are We Getting Close To Uncertainty?

Once intelligent beings achieve technology and the capacity for self-destruction of their species, the selective advantage of intelligence becomes more uncertain.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2020	Two Loves
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2019	Don’t Forget: Fire Burns
2018	Especially In The Middle East
2017	A Good Local
2016	Life Unlimited
2015	Still Trying
2014	Destiny, n.
2013	No Apologies
2012	Utterly Convinced
2011	A Key To Effectiveness

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I Like Curves More, Too

Generations imply some giant disruption in the universe.  I like curves more.  Moore’s law (always more transistors), Metcalfe’s law (bigger networks are more valuable), experience curves (making things gets cheaper when you learn by doing), and so forth.  I like these thumbnail rules because they encapsulate the Great Muchness more than some theory of intergenerational strife.  It’s terrible that we’re headed into global climate catastrophe, but then again, we’re only facing doom because for 75 years no one started a nuclear war.
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So our sleep will be transcribed and robots will deliver our sneakers, which will themselves be computers.  Technology will not solve bad marriages, bad eating, or racist thoughts, nor stop DisneyWarnerNetflixQuibiPlus from making superhero movies.  I find it profoundly helpful, then, to not just reject the concept of generations but to invert it:  The immense changes in technology show us, again and again, year after year, that we are basically the same as ever, just reacting to our place along curves of life well out of our control.  One can get very mixed up about what makes us human.  And it would, in fact, behoove all of us on the grayer side to get to know and love our peculiar youths, so that they might speak well of us when we do not matter anymore.
—    Paul Ford
From his article:  “Generation Vexed“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine, dtd:  March 2020
Online the article is titled:  “How Technology Explodes the Concept of ‘Generations’“
The link is:  https://www.wired.com/story/millennials-genx-technology-explodes-generations/
(You may have to go through a “pay-wall” to view the article.)
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On This Day In:
2022	Don’t Pretend
2021	I Like Curves More, Too
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2020	Pay It Forward
2019	From My Sullied Prison
2018	In My Room (2)
2017	Pretending
2016	And Songs Too…
2015	On The Road To Failure
2014	Each Moment
2013	Conversation
2012	4 Down, 11 Done (At Last)
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2011	Who’s Risk Is It, Anyway?

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Our Fate Is Up To Us

Since this series’ maiden voyage, the impossible has come to pass:  Mighty walls that maintained insuperable ideological differences have come tumbling down; deadly enemies have embraced and begun to work together.  The imperative to cherish the Earth and protect the global environment that sustains all of us has become widely accepted, and we’ve begun, finally, the process of reducing the obscene number of weapons of mass destruction.  Perhaps we have, after all, decided to choose life.  But we still have light years to go to ensure that choice.  Even after the summits and the ceremonies and the treaties, there are still some 50,000 nuclear weapons in the world — and it would require the detonation of only a tiny fraction of them to produce a nuclear winter, the predicted global climatic catastrophe that would result from the smoke and the dust lifted into the atmosphere by burning cities and petroleum facilities.
The world scientific community has begun to sound the alarm about the grave dangers posed by depleting the protective ozone shield and by greenhouse warming, and again we’re taking some mitigating steps, but again those steps are too small and too slow.  The discovery that such a thing as nuclear winter was really possible evolved out of the studies of Martian dust storms.  The surface of Mars, fried by ultraviolet light, is also a reminder of why it’s important to keep our ozone layer intact.  The runaway greenhouse effect on Venus is a valuable reminder that we must take the increasing greenhouse effect on Earth seriously.
Important lessons about our environment have come from spacecraft missions to the planets.  By exploring other worlds we safeguard this one.  By itself, I think this fact more than justifies the money our species has spent in sending ships to other worlds.  It is our fate to live during one of the most perilous and, at the same time, one of the most hopeful chapters in human history.
Our science and our technology have posed us a profound question.  Will we learn to use these tools with wisdom and foresight before it’s too late?  Will we see our species safely through this difficult passage so that our children and grandchildren will continue the great journey of discovery still deeper into the mysteries of the Cosmos?  That same rocket and nuclear and computer technology that sends our ships past the farthest known planet can also be used to destroy our global civilization.  Exactly the same technology can be used for good and for evil.  It is as if there were a God who said to us, “I set before you two ways:  You can use your technology to destroy yourselves or to carry you to the planets and the stars.  It’s up to you.”
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022	A Crucial Skill
2021	Our Fate Is Up To Us
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2020	Still Willing
2019	Another Prayer
2018	After Silence
2017	Are You Looking Forward To A Trump Presidency?
2016	Three Errors From Eureka
2015	Limiting Choices
2014	Praise The Lord And Pass The Hypocrisy
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2013	Still Waiting For Answers
2012	Informal Leadership
2011	A Little More Progress
2010	Bec’s Gone Again…

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A Better Synthesis

There is nothing wrong with, and much to be gained by, using our mind analytically, but to use it almost exclusively in this way is unbalanced and has a not insignificant responsibility for the perilous state of affairs on our planet.  Though the odds against it happening seem to be mounting, perhaps a more intuitive way of thinking about he world might help us to recognize and reduce in time our overdevelopment of and overdependence on the ever-growing machinery that is supposed to make our lives easier and better.  We are swept along by technological development so that in our urban environment, many of us interact increasingly with electronic devices and less with other human beings.  In addition, our culture is gradually losing our knowledge of and our direct connection with the natural or unprocessed things of the earth.  With a more intuitive way of thinking about our lives could come the realization that our very survival may depend on the other forms of life our present political and economic systems are destroying.  At the least, a better synthesis than we have now between the analytical and the intuitive, in which the intuitive gets equal attention, seems necessary to our longer-term welfare.
—   Herman Kauz
From his book:  “Push-Hands: The Handbook For Non-Competitive Tai Chi Practice With A Partner“
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On This Day In:
2019	It’s Only Funny If You’re Old Enough To Know What “Film” Was
2018	Bourne Wicked Blonde
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2017	This Explains A Lot
2016	Me Too
2015	A Proper Price
2014	Well Hard
2013	Because I Can
	Eloquence, n.
2012	Why Bother?
2011	Peculiar Notions

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Fun Fog

Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology.  The fog of information can drive out knowledge.
—    Daniel J. Boorstin
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On This Day In:
2019	True Piety
2018	I Would, Too (A music-video for all)
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2016	Or Blog
2015	Stretched Today?
2014	Outta Here
2013	Getting Words Right
2012	There’s A New Dog In Town
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2011	A Conservative Is…

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Facing The Truth

I’ve made a mistake, a lifelong one, correlating advancements in technology with progress.  Progress is the opening of doors and the leveling of opportunity, the augmentation of the whole human species and the protection of other species besides.  Progress is cheerfully facing the truth, whether flooding coastlines or falling teen pregnancy rates, and thinking of ways to preserve the processes that work and mitigate the risks.  Progress is seeing calmly, accepting, and thinking of others.
—    Paul Ford
From his article:  “Why I (Still) Love Tech: In Defense of a Difficult Industry“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  May 2019
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On This Day In:
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2018	Disruptive Definition
2017	A History Of Small Insights
2016	Be Uncommon
2015	Ooops!
2014	What Price Freedom?
2013	Remembering Val
2012	Good-bye, Val
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2011	Traitors In Our Midst
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Sometimes Human Nature Stays The Same

Perhaps the most telling email is a message from a then executive named Sam Lessin to Zuckerberg that epitomizes Facebook’s penchant for self-justification.  The company, Lessin wrote, could be ruthless and committed to social good at the same time, because they are essentially the same thing:  “Our mission is to make the world more open and connected and the only way we can do that is with the best people and the best infrastructure, which requires that we make a lot of money / be very profitable.”
The message also highlighted another of the company’s original sins:  its assertion that if you just give people better tools for sharing, the world will be a better place.  That’s just false.  Sometimes Facebook makes the world more open and connected;  sometimes it makes it more closed and disaffected.  Despots and demagogues have proven to be just as adept at using Facebook as democrats and dreamers.  Like the communications innovations before it — the printing press, the telephone, the internet itself — Facebook is a revolutionary tool.  But human nature has stayed the same.
—    Nicholas Thompson and Fred Vogelstein
From their article:  “15 Months of Fresh Hell Inside Facebook“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  May 2019
Online at:  https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-15-months-of-fresh-hell/
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On This Day In:
2022	Support For Ukraine Independence
2021	Right Up Until Armed Insurrectionists Attack Congress
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2020	Sometimes Human Nature Stays The Same
2019	Sometimes Too Subtle
2018	A Lot Like Teaching
2017	Wake Up
2016	I Like Dreaming
2015	Importance
2014	Unearned Humility
2013	Science Is Trial And Error
2012	Franklin’s Creed
2011	First Steps
2010	Home Ill…

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The Butterflies Are In Trouble

We’re in very bad trouble if we don’t understand the planet we’re trying to save.
We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology.
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2022	Suggestions (The Order Of Precedence Is Optional)…
2021	But That’s Certainly Irrational
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2020	The Butterflies Are In Trouble
2019	The Deep Center
2018	Oh, Heaven (Too)
2017	Now Pausing Makes Sense
2016	Just Spicy
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2015	Positive Acts Of Creation
2014	One Thing Is Clear
2013	Corrections
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2012	Gemutlichkeit
2011	Back On The Asphalt

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Möbius

“Circles” (2000©)  —  book review
Today’s book review is for one of the many books written by James Burke, who’s claim to fame is his ability to popularize science / technology with history and biography to “create” linkages which make the world (and history) appear to be interconnected.  I believe his most well known work is the book and the BBC series “Connections“.  At least this is how I first came to know Burke (and enjoy his work).
“Circles” is sub-titled “50 Round Trips through History, Technology, Science, Culture“.  The book is a collection of essays which have been gathered into this form.  Each “essay” / “trip” is about four pages and they are each fairly self-contained, so there is no inherent requirement to read them in order – or all of them for that matter.  Each starts with some action in his life: a trip to the library, beach, coffee shop, etc; winds through the “circle” of people / history / discovery he is hi-lighting and then gets wrapped up with another reference to the initial action / place.
The stories are mildly interesting.  The links are tenuous.  The author occasionally breaks the fourth wall.  But, most frequently, the author writes in a peculiar conversational form which struck me as not using full sentences or proper sentence structure.  I found it hard to discern if this was more conversational, breaking of the fourth wall or simply lazy writing.  In the end, I just found it frustrating to try to figure out the subject of a sentence by having to re-read sentences (or paragraphs).
Final recommendation:  poor to moderate recommendation.  I admit to being pretty disappointed.  I was a big fan of his “Connections” series and watched it on my local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) many years ago.  I think I also read the book (way back when), but I can’t swear to it.  I was, therefore, looking forward to more of the same.  This book mostly was “just” the same, but (surprisingly) much less interesting or amusing.  Now I think I have to go back and find the original book (“Connections“) to see if the author has changed or if it’s the reader (me) who has changed.
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On This Day In:
2022	Attentively Waiting
2021	Emergent Novelty
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2020	A Steep Price Ahead
	Möbius
2019	Eureka!
2018	Learning About My Humanity
2017	Laugh Or Shake Your Head
2016	The Expected Cure
2015	Of Two Minds
2014	Pride And Remembrance
2013	Repeating Bad Memories
2012	No Sooner
2011	Just Cheesy!
	Are You Illin’?

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A Steep Price Ahead

If you don’t figure out how to make things work from a broader societal perspective, you will pay a steep price for many years.
—    Brad Smith
President, Microsoft Corp.
As quoted by:  Romesh Ratnesar
In his article:  “Trust“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;   dtd:  16 September 2019
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On This Day In:
2022	Attentively Waiting
2021	Emergent Novelty
	Dancing With Me
2020	A Steep Price Ahead
	Möbius
2019	Eureka!
2018	Learning About My Humanity
2017	Laugh Or Shake Your Head
2016	The Expected Cure
2015	Of Two Minds
2014	Pride And Remembrance
2013	Repeating Bad Memories
2012	No Sooner
2011	Just Cheesy!
	Are You Illin’?

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A Simple Fact

It’s a simple fact that technology has been weaponized by private companies against democracy.  Corporations are not people.  They don’t have souls.  They’re institutions designed to make money.  And the way the government has always dealt with them is to regulate them to the point where they cease being dangerous to the public.
—    Barry C. Lynn
Executive Director
Open Markets Institute
As quoted by:  Romesh Ratnesar
In his article:  “Trust“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;   dtd:  16 September 2019
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2022	Natural Selection
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2020	A Simple Fact
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2019	Does Terrible But Not Important Count?
2018	Have You Stretched Today?
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2017	Being Nice
2016	Zero To Some = Most
2015	Born More Obligated
2014	Rage And Fury
2013	Successful Children
2012	For God So Loved The World
2011	Go Cheeseheads!!
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You Are Not Late (Yet)

The emergence of the mirrorworld will affect us all at a deeply personal level.  We know there will be severe physiological and psychological effects of dwelling in dual worlds;  we’ve already learned that from our experience living in cyberspace and virtual realities.  But we don’t know what these effects will be, much less how to prepare for them or avoid them.  We don’t even know the exact cognitive mechanism that makes the illusion of AR work in the first place.  [“AR” = Augmented Reality  —  kmab]
The great paradox is that the only way to understand how AR works is to build AR and test ourselves in it.  It’s weirdly recursive:  The technology itself is the microscope needed to inspect the effects of the technology.
Some people get very upset with the idea that new technologies will create new harms and that we willingly surrender ourselves to these risks when we could adopt the precautionary principle:  Don’t permit the new unless it is proven safe.  But that principle is unworkable, because the old technologies we are in the process of replacing are even less safe.  More than 1 million humans die on the roads each year, but we clamp down on robot drivers when they kill one person.  We freak out over the unsavory influence of social media on our politics, while TV’s partisan influence on elections is far, far greater than Facebook’s.  The mirrorworld will certainly be subject to this double standard of stricter norms.
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I imagine it will take at least a decade for the mirrorworld to develop enough to be used by millions, and several decades to mature.  But we are close enough now to the birth of this great work that we can predict its character in rough detail.
Eventually this melded world will be the size of our planet.  It will be humanity’s greatest achievement, creating new levels of wealth, new social problems, and uncountable opportunities for billions of people.  There are no experts yet to make this world;  you are not late.
—    Kevin Kelly
From his article:  “Welcome To Mirrorworld“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  March 2019
The article also appears online at:  https://www.wired.com/story/mirrorworld-ar-next-big-tech-platform/
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On This Day In:
2022	You Ought To Be Having Fun
2021	Democrats Talking To Republicans
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2020	You Are Not Late (Yet)
2019	Too Difficult To Try
2018	Hold Fast
2017	The Only Real Security
2016	Time Said
2015	If Only Common Sense Were More Common
2014	PTI
2013	What Now, Then?
2012	Big C, Little B
	Duty, Honor, Country

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