[FRIAM] bah!

[Steven A Smith]

What makes you think the "Whitelash" contingent won't be early adopters 
(too)?

I was suckered into the MAD principle 40 years ago or more and it took 
at least a decade at LANL (obliquely) helping with that mission (and the 
fall of the Soviet Union and being in the semi-personal presence of the 
Dali Lama and ???) for me to realize that it MAD might have just been 
exactly what it sounded like a "mad" strategy?   We have survived it 
(avoided cataclysm in any case) so far... but with US/PRK and gawd knows 
what else (Syria/US/RU? - Israel/Iran) all  squaring off with a 4th 
grade oligarch running one faction and a punk-ass macho oligarch running 
another other and a bona-fide nutcase running the PRK, who knows what is 
next?

Bio/Neuro/Computer tech is in an arms race for sure... maybe such races 
are a given and can't be avoided, so the best plan is to try to come out 
on top?  But I also have the vague feeling of "my headlights are too 
dim, I'd better drive faster and get to my destination as soon as possible!"

I keep hoping for Vernor Vinge's "Bobbling" technology to appear and 
kick us into a "anti-time-race" instead?

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marooned_in_Realtime

A great (alternative) take on RK's Technological Singularity 
Utopia/Dystopia.

- Steve



On 4/26/17 11:04 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> I think it is very likely that there will soon be technologies like `neural lace', artificial intelligence, and biotech that can change the balance of power in fundamental ways.   One might argue it has already happened, and the latest whitelash was just the last gasp of an obsolete part of our civilization.   That works for me.   Let's go.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Steven A Smith
> Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 10:46 AM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] bah!
>
>
>> Steve writes:
>>
>> "Who are we becoming?"
>>
>> In spite of the Steve Bannon's of the world, whatever the hell we want.
>>
>> Marcus
> I have always operated on this tenet myself, but have observed others seeming to fail at that task.  Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" and many other books on propoganda and social manipulation (right down to the fine grain of NLP)  seem to suggest that "whatever the hell we want"
> might be a bit slipperier than I *want* it to be?  Others' failures (as observed through my lens) and my own (younger) self's failure both serve as a cautionary tale for me on this subject.
>
> I think Glen's weigh in (covered in another post to follow) is
> salient.   The "vagueness of self" or more aptly the oxymoron of "(each
> hu)man is an Island"?
>
> - Steve
>
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