February 15, 2017

So, they beat him ...

Looking at 45's tweet reminds me of a bunch of ruffians who come upon a young lad, set upon him with sticks, beating him repeatedly on his knees and ankles, and then mock him for not being able to walk.

The phrase "honest broker" comes to mind, as in ... NOT!

What is wrong with these people?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/831636777110757377

February 14, 2017

"YOU'RE GONNA WIN SOOOO MUCH ..."

Ummm, Donald ... still waitin' for the winning ...

February 14, 2017

"LOCK HIM UP!"

Listen to Flynn's short "lock her up" tirade with new ears ...

February 13, 2017

Prime Minister Trudeau for ... President?

Sad to think that many, if given a choice between keeping our current "45," and having Trudeau ALSO be prez of USA .... might just choose Trudeau.

Trudeau >> educated, thoughtful, articulate, gracious ... while Trump is simply a disgrace as a human ... not to mention as "leader" of the USA.

February 13, 2017

re: Stephen Miller

- Dead Eyes
- Smiles while Lying
- Looks like a Baby Putin

February 12, 2017

Funny how Chris Christie ...

... keeps trying to desperately remain relevant...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-russia-white-house-fallout_us_58a07b3be4b03df370d7045f

February 12, 2017

Skynet Threatens Middle Class ...

Of course, we can't ignore the 45 Clown Car fiasco. But there is a bigger picture that is only being talked about in bits n pieces - the tech-driven end of the Middle Class, which if you look closely, also means the end of our consumer-driven economy. Interesting article here discusses how AI will simply eliminate many of the jobs we take for granted:

(Snip)

Yes, they discussed the possibility of a superintelligence that could somehow escape human control, and at the end of the month, the conference organizers unveiled a set of guidelines, signed by attendees and other AI luminaries, that aim to prevent this possible dystopia. But the researchers at Asilomar were also concerned with more immediate matters: tohe effect of AI on the economy.

“One of the reasons I don’t like the discussions about superintelligence is that they’re a distraction from what’s real,” says Oren Etzioni, CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, who attended the conference. “As the poet said, have fewer imaginary problems and more real ones.”

At a time when the Trump administration is promising to make America great again by restoring old-school manufacturing jobs, AI researchers aren’t taking him too seriously. They know that these jobs are never coming back, thanks in no small part to their own research, which will eliminate so many other kinds of jobs in the years to come, as well. At Asilomar, they looked at the real US economy, the real reasons for the “hollowing out” of the middle class. The problem isn’t immigration—far from it. The problem isn’t offshoring or taxes or regulation. It’s technology.

Rage Against the Machines
In the US, the number of manufacturing jobs peaked in 1979 and has steadily decreased ever since. At the same time, manufacturing has steadily increased, with the US now producing more goods than any other country but China. Machines aren’t just taking the place of humans on the assembly line. They’re doing a better job. And all this before the coming wave of AI upends so many other sectors of the economy. “I am less concerned with Terminator scenarios,” MIT economist Andrew McAfee said on the first day at Asilomar. “If current trends continue, people are going to rise up well before the machines do.”

McAfee pointed to newly collected data that shows a sharp decline in middle class job creation since the 1980s. Now, most new jobs are either at the very low end of the pay scale or the very high end. He also argued that these trends are reversible, that improved education and a greater emphasis on entrepreneurship and research can help feed new engines of growth, that economies have overcome the rise of new technologies before. But after his talk, in the hallways at Asilomar, so many of the researchers warned him that the coming revolution in AI would eliminate far more jobs far more quickly than he expected." ...

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/ai-threat-isnt-skynet-end-middle-class/

I read another piece recently that talked about this tech tidal wave is also wiping out higher echelon jobs like investment banking, traders, etc ... since machine driven decision-making is ALREADY better than humans in theses areas. The writing is on the wall.

As an educator, I feel like we are teaching a generation for a future that has a good chance of disappearing rapidly. And as we squabble about Right/Left details, we avoid the discussions that need to happen, both grass roots, and higher up the food chain.

We've discussed the demographic shifts that inevitably work against the Conservatives ... this tech/economy shift feels even bigger to me, even if (slightly) further out.

BOTTOM LINE: What happens to society when there are no longer enough jobs to support our basic way of life?