Experts begin to realize I was right all along...

An article in Politico pointed out today that a professor described North Carolina as not a democracy two years ago. Although many supported his point, others savagely attacked him. Now time has made the case for him. As you probably are aware, it is clear that massive election fraud was practiced by the Republican Party in at least one county in the recent election, and there is some evidence that this may have been a many years long practice. Furthermore, gerrymandering has insured that the majority of Americans who live in North Carolina will not be able to control government, unless they happen to agree with Republican party line. I’ve been saying this about America for quite some time. Here are two posts that made my point (although I referred to America as a kleptocracy ruled by the rich, the point applies to the Republican Party in general):


https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5229995409371692545&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=3273074109903929931;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=2;src=postname

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5229995409371692545&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=207980492168859013;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1;src=postname

Of Cats and Men

An interesting story has been developing here. Since it's changing I'll share it with everyone. Back when the fight against cancer was just beginning, and even before, there were some neighborhood cats who kept turning up in our yard. They liked to hang around in my bushy shrubs, apparently hunting squirrels and birds. When any of us would come out, they would rush into the bushes to hide or race back across the street.

it seemed obvious they were neighbor cats who liked the available hunting grounds once the dogs had moved to Maine.

Over a year ago, I noticed that an opening into the crawlspace under the house had lost it's screen. This led to squirrels moving in and causing problems. I blocked it off with a weight that I knew no squirrel could get through. Some months later I was surprised to see it been pushed aside. I couldn't see a squirrel being strong enough to do that. So I blocked it again and then later found it been moved away for the second time. Clearly no squirrels were living under the house so I wasn't sure what was going on.

Some months ago I realized that what it happened was that one of the cats was homeless. This wasn't a problem for it during the summer but the nights were starting to get cold. So it moved under my house. I didn't really mind. It was wild and instead of running across the street when it saw me, would begin running under the house. It wasn't causing any harm, and I don't have anymore squirrel problems. I put water out for it. But whenever It saw me it would race away as if it expected me to chase it down and attack.

As time went on, I got tired of all the dead birds turning up in the yard. Obviously it was a good hunter and was feeding itself. So I started putting out food for it in hopes that would protect the bird population. It seems to have worked. But the cat still acted as if I was a monster to be feared. Still, it stopped racing away at top speed and began merely hurrying away whenever it's saw me. About two months ago as it was hurrying away it stopped just before it disappeared looked at me and meowed. This was the first time it ever made eye contact, first time it ever reacted to me other than with fear.

With the weather turning cold I took an old box and cut open a door which was just large enough for him to enter comfortably, filled it with old T-shirts, and set it out under the house so he could sleep warm at night. With temperatures dropping to freezing that no longer seemed enough, so I wrapped it up in an old mattress pad. That should keep it quite comfortably warm once he's inside.

About a month ago I stepped out at night to check the temperature, looked up and saw the cat sitting in the sun in a huddle. It was about 60 feet away, And it surprised me by just staring at me. It didn't run away. Having checked the temperature, I just stepped back in the house and closed the door. After that he went back to hurrying away whenever he saw me.

Today was a rather big breakthrough. Instead of just giving him leftovers I actually bought some cat food. No, he is not my cat. But if I don't feed him he leaves dead birds around the yard. I stepped out the back door where I keep a bowl of water and food for him, He was poking at the empty bowl and ran around the side of the house. I called out to him and said I've got food for you, put a little of the new cat food in the bowl, rattled it, called him, and he stepped back around the corner the house, looked at me and made a friendly meowing at me.

I put the food down, stepped back in the house and he came up and began to eat as I watched him through the window. It was the first really good look I've had. It turns out he's much more a tawny cougar sort of color than the striped orange cat I thought it was from the glances I had caught before.

I'm not sure where any of this is going. I thought he would never be friendly but he acted as if he wasn't terribly afraid of me for the first time today. I still don't think of him as my cat but I would love to get him to the vet although he looks quite healthy.

If anything changes, I'll let you know.

Soul Brothers

https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-the-language-of-transhumanists-and-religion-so-similar

When I read this article I responded as follows:



Bobby, a really engaging and interesting article if you are interested in the subject (and I know you are).

Anyone else interested? I'm going to post a link to my blog for further discussion.

The discussion of Roko’s Basilisk is very amusing, while still frightening in potenia.

I must agree with a key point of the article, which is that from an outsider's view, there are surprising levels of similarity between the "religionist" and "transhumanist" positions. I see the both of them as different sides of the same coin. To put that in extreme focus terms, think of the Hitler versus Stalin situation in the 30s. Every Communist and every Nazi would declare with utter passion that they were the exact opposite of each other, eternal enemies with totally different visions of the future. Yet outsiders saw little difference between the societies they created -- secret police, torture, mass murder, propaganda, ad infinitum.

As regards this article I see both sides as deeply emotionalist and anti-rationalist. Each believes that their cause so profoundly that any criticism is seen as beyond the pale. In short, even the supposedly rational side is deeply faith based.

I find the whole concept of uploading oneself quite interesting. I also find it deeply flawed. Here are a few of the issues:

What exactly is meant by "consciousness"? The way it's described by transhumanists is identical to the soul. From a strictly rational view, whatever consciousness may exist, it must arise within the structure of the brain itself. There is no ghost in the machine, the two are inseparable, indeed identical. And yet transhumanists refer to their consciousness exactly in the same way that the religious refer to the soul. It is an awareness, and existence, a state of being entirely separate from physical reality.

This could be referred to as the Star Trek transporter problem. The transporter disassembles you, copying your patterns in the process and then sends the information in a datastream to a receiving transporter which rebuilds "you". But you have destroyed your brain. Your consciousness is gone. What you have created is a copy of yourself which, because it has your memories, thinks it is you. Even in the Star Trek universe this problem was acknowledged because occasionally there is a transporter accident in which multiple copies of a person are made. Starfleet regards all those copies as the original person even though we now have multiple "original persons".

The same issue arises with a copy of your intelligence. Once it's copied into machine form, into a computer state of zeros and ones, it could be copied indefinitely. So if we destroy your brain to copy it and then upload it into 1 million computer systems, there are now 1 million original yous. Each one will insist that it is in fact the actual real you and the others are the false ones. But in fact the real you will have been destroyed along with your brain, unless you accept the concept of a separate consciousness, a separate soul which does not depend upon the physical brain.

And then there's the problem of reprogramming. What if somebody hacks the new you? A teenage kid is bored and hacks the system decides to turn you into a… Who knows what? When she changes your data programming, it will change you. You can be turned into a monster, or a maniac, a saintly prophet; anything the hacker programs in, that will be the new you.

So the question quickly becomes, is that you at all? Was it ever you?

And let's never forget Roko’s Basilisk. The transhumanist view here is one of a perfect world which everybody is nice and everybody is good and no one will ever do anything bad or wrong. I find that unlikely.

Once you have become a computer program you would be helpless. Anyone who has retained their body (or perhaps become a cyborg) and is outside the system and can hack into it and do whatever they want to you. Imagine a Hitler, Stalin, or even any number of average personalities having complete control over not only you but the entire universe you inhabit.

I'm going to refer to the Heechee series again. All these issues are dealt with in novel form, including that emergency services may "save" your life by uploading you into a computer program if a disaster renders you unconscious and unable to continue to live in your body. If you have good health insurance you will now live wonderful life. If you don't, they make you pay back the debt by enslaving your program and selling it to whoever cares to bid on it.

As scary as the future is, and I'm certain it will have its horrors, I believe it will be better than things are now. However, I am forced to admit that that is a matter of faith.

Easter Eggs

GOOD SATURDAY

Good Saturday

Long day hard day
Not so very good day

Strained and tired
Anxious and wounded

Heart skipping beats day
Want to run away day

Bulgy bear
Don't know why

Still alive day
Struggle on day

Grubbing hope
Seeking peace

Colored chalk and grandkids day
Easter eggs and glitter day

Small delights
Vast rewards

Swirling colors in the sink day
Dear memories remembered day

Retreating from battle
Seeking home

Please God make it stop day
Dear God thank you for this day

Joyful heart
Family strong

Good Saturday

Easter Poem For The Judges

Choices

At the center of the orchard
The old tree stands
Rejected beloved

Walls have grown
Deep down and tall
Cutting off both root and branch

Some still stand united, whole
Sharing soil and water
Separately together

The bitter selfish
Neither give nor take
But know they are the best of all

A Mess Of Politics

>In a shocking reversal, white evangelicals have gone from being the least likely to the most likely group to agree that a candidate’s personal immorality has no bearing on his performance in public office. Today, in fact, they are more likely than Americans who claim no religious affiliation at all to say such a moral bifurcation is possible.<

This is why so many Americans are turning away from all organized religion. The evangelicals have so corrupted their formally Christian faith into a crass political organization that young people all over America are thinking, "If that's religion, I don't want any!"

Genesis 25:34
Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

For a mess of pottage, right wing "Christians" have sold their birthright.

Hail To The Loser

Donald Trump does not like "hail to the chief" as the presidential theme song. It's time to help him choose the replacement. He is now down to the two following selections. Click like for number one. Click share for number two.

1. (To the tune of Cathy's Clown)
🎶I want your loving more and more
I want your kisses that's for sure
I die each time
I hear the sound
They're saying here he comes
He's Putin's Clown

You know you've got to stand tall
You know a man can't crawl
And when you let Vlad tell you lies
And you let em pass you by
You're not a man at all

He don't want your loving anymore
He don't want your kisses that's for sure
Why do you let them put you down
And let em call you Putin's Clown

When you see me shed a tear
Then you know that I'm sincere
I just think it's kinda sad
That Vlad's treating you so bad
And I'm the one who cares

I want your loving more and more
I want your kisses that's for sure
I die each time
I hear the sound
They're saying here he comes
He's Putin's Clown

You're Putin's Clown
You're Putin's Clown🎶

2. (To the tune of I'm Your Puppet)
🎶Pull the string and I'll wink at you, I'm your puppet
I'll do funny things if you want me to, I'm your puppet
I'm yours to have and to hold
Putin, you've got full control of your puppet
Pull another string and I'll kiss your lips, I'm your puppet
Snap your finger and I'll turn you some flips, I'm your puppet
Listen, your every wish is my command
All you gotta do is wiggle your little hand
I'm your puppet, I'm your puppet
I'm just a toy, just a funny boy
That makes you laugh when you're blue
I'll be wonderful, do just what I'm told
I'll do anything for you
I'm your puppet, I'm your puppet
🎶