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Posts Tagged ‘technology

Jun

Going Bankrupt Isn’t All Bad!

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Atari, bankrupt, bankruptcy, broke, childhood, Chuck E Cheese, games, gaming, memories, Nintendo, Nolan Bushnell, programming, sega, technology, video game, video games, youth

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Going bankrupt isn’t bad!…at least, not all of the time. Sometimes, it’s good people who are up to no good run out of funds and have to face some kind of punishment. Even if you’re a rich man who makes a business out of one type of car before getting arrested for drug smuggling, a slap on the wrist is better than no punishment, at all.

But, look at the guy who started Atari (Nolan Bushnell) and then went on to start…Chuck E. Cheese restaurants?

Atari went bust supposedly by licensing its technology to an open marketplace which allowed all sorts of game makers to craft cartridges you could play on systems like your Atari 2600, the home-entertainment gem of my youth. The design of an Atari 2600 game cartridge is as iconic and pleasing as the old audio cassette tape made famous in the 1980s. It’s appearance has pleasure. You can enjoy an Atari game without even playing it! Compare that with all of the games that came after the NES…or maybe the SNES, the last shred of creative cartridge design. With the exception of maybe rare gems like the original Legend of Zelda, which came as a golden cartridge and with an AMAZING game manual, a foreign concept to today’s generation, there were few 1990s games that had that 1980s appeal.

In a way, Atari made gaming feel like a boombox and a mixed tape you make for your best friend or lover. The 1980s introduced a way for people to craft a symphony from their own home and put it in a valentine. Atari gave dreamers of coding a chance to create games they could play on systems other people invented.

Strangely, it is said Nintendo and Sega learned from this mistake by making very exclusive game systems that, for the past few decades, have made players chase down alternate versions, alternate disks, game cards, etc., to play the same game on different systems. Well, as far as I recall, Atari has the same gimmick. They had a few different systems which accepted games only for those systems; though the games came in packaging that was easily confused for another system’s games (to the blind eye of a shopper buying a game for some friend of your child).

“What do you mean it doesn’t work on his game system? I got the right game. There’s a 3600 and a 2600?”

Shopping constantly for games that work on newly released systems is a futile and frustrating endeavor. It’s taxing in so many ways. And, the games, like I just said, don’t have the same tactile appeal. Oh, sure, you’ve improved graphics so the home game is closer to the arcade than it was when arcades were still a great place to spend an afternoon or evening! [Congrats. It only took you 30 years to kill the arcades the way video killed the radio stars.]

But, go back to that Atari story. The guy who starts the Atari boom and creates a memorable game design system open to countless game designers (including some questionable adult games that are like the Lost Ark Indiana Jones seeks in his movie debut) goes bust and starts an equally memorable restaurant franchise. Talk about a life path paved in gold; maybe not the most lucrative financial plan but a very iconic and memorable one.

Imagine designing your own game for a system like the Nintendo Switch instead of shopping online for a “digital copy” of something you’ll never hold, never have a physical manual to read and draw from when you want to turn a Moblin or Octorok into a poster (and you don’t have a means of grabbing an image from the internet which will need to be printed on decent paper if you don’t want to burn up your electronic device). Now, a Nintendo Switch game, even in its physical form, is like a Tic Tac compared to a waffle. I can find tactile pleasure in a waffle. A Tic Tac is a novel little flavored peg…but it has little tactile and memorable pleasure. I’d say it’s as pleasing as so many kinds of gum that lose their flavor too soon. But, imagine being given the liberty to make a game and play it on the Switch. It may slowly deplete the profits of the system’s makers…but it vastly improves the popularity and joy of the system, itself. Don’t you agree?

So, my point is not making a huge profit and even going bust isn’t all bad. It can come with a very pleasing, enduring side effect.

I’d like to extend my gratitude in this virtual space and hope it reaches those who care and matter. You, makers of the Atari age of home and arcade gaming, the vital force of my youth, are in your own special way responsible for my existence. I am, in part, as creative as I am because of your primitive yet aesthetically pleasing efforts. You are a timeless inspiration to creating something that is potentially insubstantial, lacking in profits, in an ever-changing marketplace; yet that same creation retains inexplicable value to the eyes, touch and soul. I may never look at another game the same after being a part of your creation. Thank you. And, I hope your bankruptcy still bears good fruit for you, as well. [I’m sure it does.]

I’m sorry my family and few friends didn’t have more money to afford me more games before you (Atari) were gone…well, no longer the 2600 company I came to admire. I’m sorry I had to sell my own $200 investment in your genius for a mere $50 at a rummage sale, sold to a kid whose mom was buying him a waterbed the same day. My collection was in mint condition, unlike so many I found at other rummage sales, which usually had filthy games with damaged labels and no boxes or manuals. I took care of my Atari 2600 because the first one my family got me blew up the first night we played it. And, that $50 barely afforded me one NES game; it was one of the hardest losses and lessons of my life. I wouldn’t have survived the few sleepovers I had as a kid without you (and the NES for one of those sleepovers).

The generations and game companies that followed the 1980s…just don’t understand. They’re all about the business and disposable merchandise, about theme parks with swag you enjoy for a minute and then add to a discard pile because more keeps coming from some sweat shop, I imagine. But, your era, my childhood…it was something special. As “merch’d” as the 1980s was…and, boy, was there “merch”…it had a lot of memorable moments and shapes, too. It’s the shapes of some of that “merch” that retain value, not the technology or how fast it did something for you.

I don’t think there’s much of anything that came out of the 1990s or 2000s that’s as precious as half the swag that came from the 1980s…which is probably why the generations that followed mine seem to have lost that respect for what is still good even if it’s not new. Even my nephews already call something old if it’s been around nine months. Nine months makes something antique! Instant insanity. It “Rubiks” my cube.

Heck. A lot of the 1980s stuff we experienced could be considered adult baby or “fidget” toys. Places like Spencer’s Gifts had some of that “fidget” stuff before it was a thing. I remember all the early “stress” toys. But, there were other things that weren’t considered therapy items that WERE therapy items…and some became obsessions, which kind of counters the therapy aspect. Yet…mmh! I just can’t get too mad at any of it, because so many things from the 1980s were like security blankets and stuffed animals. I could sleep in a bed made of Atari 2600 game cartridges and feel instantly like a kid at summer camp, dreaming of video-game conventions I only wished I could attend.

Priceless memories from, among other things, a company that lost money from being open to other artists who could use the same technology and programming to make their own games…sort of like the modern Roblox my nephews still obsess about. [Yet, there’s nothing tactile and not much aesthetically pleasing about the very Lego Roblox, not the way Atari was.]

Hmm. Food for thought. And, like the phoenix on top of this post, I shall rise from the ashes!…whatever those may be. Just as Bushnell rose from the landfill holding all of those poor ET game cartridges.

Apr

Can We Cut Out the Unnecessary Services and Gratitude That Contribute to Fear?

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: app, cellphone, charge, code, convenience, danger, data, economy, editorial, fear, fee, finance, gratitude, handling, influence, influencer, insurance, law, military, money, opinion, personal data, police, propaganda, protection, restaurant, service, shipping, tax, technology, telephone, theft, thief, thieves, tip, uniform

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Oh. Let me start by saying…

Thank you for your service.

Who or what am I thanking…and why? No one, at the moment. But, those words get thrown around quite a bit and almost seem expected when in the presence of certain people. Yet, the same could be said for non-human things that perform similar…services. And, as technology changes in certain directions, we may be pressured to say it in those directions instead of human faces.

Think about this.

Military troops perform certain actions we call service, and we’re prodded to thank them for those services. We don’t know exactly what they do or did. But, we’re told it’s for our protection, our safety. Well, God bless and thank those people for keeping us safe…..from what exactly?

Oh. Sure. You can think up some things that you’re not facing yourself. War seems to be the common one. But, I bet if you actually went “on duty” with some of the troops, you’d see things differently. And, you’d know the truth…maybe. [I’m not even sure the troops know the whole truth, and that’s why so many suffer after serving.]

But, you see…we’re thanking people for “services” without any knowledge of what service they perform(ed). [And, you may feel pressured to cough up money.]

Imagine being at a restaurant and just finding a plate of food. Then someone walks by in a “uniform,” and you reach out to say, “Thank you for your service.” You don’t know if that person did anything to prepare that food. You don’t know if they were just in some back room getting freaky with another coworker instead of helping a customer. You know nothing…except that they’re wearing a uniform. [And, maybe they stole that uniform.]

[Don’t even get me started on thieves and murders who misuse uniforms.]

So far, I’ve just scraped the surface of questionable service, just the more common perspective of analyzing the military. [I often find myself questioning the military.] But, what about so many OTHER “services” we are forced to contend with and the fees that go with them? Yes. Now, you’re getting a clue. Right? I’m talking stuff that often comes with paperwork and phone calls. Services you just don’t even give much thought before you comply, only to hear later about bad luck stories which only create more doubt and fear than you already have. You’re an easy target, and so many take advantage of that.

There is SO much talk about “protecting your personal data.”

[Even if you live “off the grid,” surely you hear some of this. You may think you’re smart by staying “offline.” If you can handle every aspect of your modern life without any dealings with one of these pathways that seems risky to personal information, I salute you…and wonder how you do it. There sure seems to be plenty of pressure to get in line and submit information and other things, one way or another.]

But, why should we need to protect our data when we aren’t doing anything intentional to endanger it? And, why should anything we do to protect something cost money? If I shield something with my own body, is that costing me money? And, what exact amount of money is going to guarantee what I want to protect will be spared from destruction or theft? [I don’t think anyone has a good answer.]

Sure; we may need to buy something made by someone else to improve our defenses. Back in “the day,” people would invest in armor, shields, etc. to defend themselves. If you’re roaming the countryside, some vandal might try to assault/rob you, and it’s good to be protected. But, isn’t it better to make those decisions/investments without fear of what MAY happen? If you’ve never had a problem with vandals on your road trips, why stop now to buy something you’ve never needed? And, if you take a hint/warning and make a better path choice, couldn’t you avoid the problem that would otherwise require investing in better protection? Also, if you acquired the proper knowledge/skill, couldn’t you gather your own supplies and construct your own protection?

[Instead, we’re teaching people how to code and cheat everything under and beyond the sun.]

[Insurance companies all over the place will be flailing their arms, right now. How inconvenient it is to have to make wiser decisions when you could let someone else, at cost, manage those issues (and still not adequately resolve all concerns).]

Once you start investing in what COULD happen, you give up control over reality and living in the moment. Are we always supposed to live in fear of the unknown? Don’t therapists (get paid to) curb such fears, telling us not to project what is not actually there?

[And, insurance companies make it their business to get you thinking about them. So, I guess, being afraid of “what if” helps…er, pays someone. Do therapists ever thank insurance companies? I wonder.]

Isn’t this like “growing up” and ceasing to tremble at the thought of what might be lurking in the dark or under the bed?

If you are using personal data to achieve something, why should there be any obstacle course or threats lurking in the shadows? If you go to your refrigerator to get something to eat, do you need to defend yourself from fridge pirates and gobble-ins? [See what I did there?]

Why does it seem like every basic function we want to perform is threatened by something we must then fear…but not fear if we invest in things that “protect us.” We are being steered like cattle into scary situations for no damn reason other than the benefit and profit of the “mongers” who do this crap to us.

And, before I get into more of the little or not-so-little things we contend with, I’ll address the question that’s bound to pop up.

Well, what can we do about all of this?

I wish I had an Einstein-worthy answer that resolved everything. It sure would cure my fears. I really don’t know what can be done to fix the big problem. I just know there seems to be as many people out to cause a problem as there are those who wish to live without one. And, it’s also possible that there are many of us contributing to the problems of others without intent simply because we’ve been coerced to go along with various procedures. Your compliance could be giving other people grief.

My fear wouldn’t be nearly as troubling if I had and saw more people acting with confidence (not exaggerated), being friendly (not flustered or rude) and doing what needs to be done without submitting to those things that I suspect (if not know) are contributing to the problem. Seeing someone do something you just know is going to cause more distress is like living a nightmare. And, my life has been riddled with nightmares. [Sweet dreams? What are those?] If I was with someone who was living life wisely, even if they were working hard at it instead of relying upon all the latest conveniences, I’d probably sign on with them and forget what’s troubling so many. [I wish I could say being a farmer was the solution.]

I will say this. Convenience seems to be a HUGE contributor to the problem. Whenever someone says their service to you or their product/invention is convenient in any way, proceed with caution and do not be swayed by the reduction of “you need to do something to make this work.” I’m sure many of us would rather go without work, without laboring at anything. From the dawn of time, humans have been crafting tools to reduce work and strain on the body. But, we’ve shot past the simple tools that are the bones of physics lessons and gone right into excessive ways to manipulate people. We’re putting the screws and levers to each other instead of that stone block we want to move.

[Yet…the opposite of convenience shouldn’t be torture or any form of manipulation. Just because something isn’t as convenient as it could be doesn’t mean it has to be troubling or abusive to the mind and/or body. We don’t have to feel mistreated or heckled for doing something “the hard way.” You might say this is like doing math on paper next to some jerk with a calculator. They do the math in a fraction of the time and then stick their tongue out at you, saying something unnecessary and cruel while you deal with your equation(s). Can’t we just do the math, use our brains effectively and efficiently, and not be taxed or intimidated?]

Technology that should be making communication and cultural interaction more…er…convenient…has become more intimidating and taxing than it ever should be. And, every aspect of life seems to be getting steered right into the digital unknown and bringing various financially-laced demands (like a masked thief with a gun) with it.

We’re told to protect ourselves, yet we’re getting “held up” by faceless people doing the very thing we’re supposed to avoid.

—-

Hey. You. You’d better protect yourself from ____. Now, hand over five percent of your money so nothing bad like that happens to you.

—-

Insurance. Service fees. Shipping and handling. Fees for things we failed to notice or read (sometimes because forms and policies are written by wordy individuals who get a sick thrill out of making pages exhausting and cryptic). [I often get accused by family for being one of them…but that is not my intent. And, I don’t get a sick thrill out of confusing or vexing anyone.]

There are those services and fees we SHOULD be aware of and consciously repaying…and then there are probably way more that we don’t know and shouldn’t have to face or fear. When you work with someone, face-to-face, and they do something for you, you may feel inclined to repay them somehow…and that’s how it should be. But, to pay someone for something you don’t know they did for you…that’s like a child hustling a parent for money before they do a chore.

—-

Can I get five bucks? I’ll mow the lawn for you. I just need five bucks, now. Why? Just cuz. You know I’m good for it.

—-

That kid could easily just go get a snack or do something he/she shouldn’t be doing with that money. You don’t know…unless you throttle them for more information and wreck the bond you have with that person.

[Now, imagine that “kid” is someone sending you a notice that says you need to pay a certain amount of money to get something you want, including an amount for something you don’t fully understand. They COULD just say you owe one amount…but why stop there when you can vex someone with other fine print and things that magically get people to cough up more money for things they don’t understand? You’re not just paying for the service/object you want…there are other “fees” you need to address which go with getting what you want. This is “convenience” yet not convenient for you but for those who collect the money.]

Insurance companies make their business out of WHAT IF, which is so often the thing therapists and sage individuals continually tell you to avoid. Well, how can we avoid pondering the “what ifs” if we are roped into insurance policies? They say the policies, which require constant supply of money to maintain (and, too often, to get the things we need them to do, which is too often additional money, not the initial/scheduled cost), take care of those “what ifs,” so we don’t have to worry. But, we still worry! And, crap still happens which sometimes doesn’t get resolved so easily by the insurance we fund. [Crappy service. Right?]

[Lawyers advertise their services like vultures waiting for someone to be hit with a financial problem, promising to make resolving the problem easy and “free” (until they win for you). I’m sure there are decent, respectable lawyers who truly want to serve people and improve order. But, there are others who suck up commercial space and time with what I can only imagine is rubbish. Can you imagine driving down a road and seeing some guy in a suit waiting on the side for you to have an accident? As soon as you do, they rush in with a briefcase in hand and papers to fill…for your benefit…right? As if.]

What makes matters more complex is that we have gone past the age of dealing with people face-to-face, rolled right past “snail mail” and fallen into the zero-gravity space of internet business. We’re interacting with others we cannot see, sending all kinds of data across the void, not knowing who may receive or intercept that information along the way. I don’t think there was nearly as much risk of someone raiding a mailbox to mess with others when we only had envelopes and boxes to process our needs. I’m sure there were a number of thieves who did their best to break into mailrooms and vaults where financial papers were stored and addresses could be put to vile use. It’s this latest digital era that’s really opens the doors to the unknown and people seemingly trained to do us harm.

A computer (or similar device), one that requires the internet to reach someone, some business, you need to get what you want (and, lately, sometimes just to function as a sensible computer), has the potential to be very helpful if we know how to operate it. But, instead and more likely, we operate it somewhat blindly and fumble, at times, with what’s supposed to be so easy. And, as so many spend increasing amounts of time with such technology, they (we) seem to be getting…dumber. [It doesn’t take a genius (or idiot) to tell you getting dumber makes you more open to threats and those who would take pleasure in troubling you.]

Again, you may want to avoid this technological hazard. And, if you are able to live completely free of computer usage (and dealing with forms/fees beyond your comprehension), I salute you. But, it seems like an uphill battle to get past and resolve this concern. I don’t have the solution. I just know something needs to be done, and I’ll get to more of the WHY, soon enough (though it should be apparent in what I’ve already been saying).

There are schools (and surely “training programs”) that teach people about all the wondrous things you can do with computers, including the things we should never be doing with computers. [Oh. But, you can get away with it and put it to your advantage…it’s so tempting.] And, with so much being pressed to perform on a computer, whether you’re a user or someone paid to do something with a computer, that technology has become the new playground littered with bullies and peer pressure, so much unnecessary intimidation taxing our minds (and bodies). People are taught how computers can be so convenient and helpful…and then some, who either were born twisted or get twisted by bad decisions, use that knowledge to mess with and rob people.

Remember what I said about you possibly contributing to the problem? You could be part of the problem if you let some offer that brings you money sway you into signing or doing something that ultimately troubles other people (or could even come back to trouble you). There are forms (and policies) you likely fill out that promise “refunds” and other forms of money which you may be working (or laboring) to earn…then get taxed…and somehow get some back, which makes the whole taxing thing just a little confusing.

—-

Hey. You owe me ten bucks. Give it, now. Okay. Now, here’s two bucks back. Why? Call it a consideration. Now, the next time you have twenty bucks, give me ten, and I’ll give you five back. See? I’m saving you money.

—-

WHY is all of the above so important? Well, if it isn’t obvious, when we give up control of our own lives and let these various policies and money-laced procedures lead the way, we cease to exist, we give away our souls and become batteries of some system. [I’ve previously written various pieces on how humans can be batteries.] We might as well be jugs of fuel if we don’t take account of and control of our lives. We’re taught and told things that give our lives meaning and value, yet, at the same time, we are too often de-valued by things that confuse and pressure us to comply.

I could ponder this all day and drive in circles, trying to get a firm grip on the situation. I realize there are elements in play that all mix and, in some way, either respectable or vile, try to make sense of this existence.

Order

It’s a not-so-fancy synonym for peace. When no one is making you feel threatened or uncomfortable, when everyone seems to be getting along, there is order.

There are people who want order (not the kind you place to get something you want) and those who either opt to or are enlisted to produce order. And, in order to achieve that sense of order, actions are taken which, unfortunately, don’t appeal to or make everyone happy. [Why? Why can’t order please everyone? I suppose some could bring up that line: You can’t please everyone. But, wouldn’t true order do just that? And, how does anyone please everyone?]

People talk about “living in balance” or “a balanced life.” But, that balance seems to always be in question. Other species continue to be a subject of concern. What do we do about the insects and wildlife getting in our way?

Economy

Economy is just how people in control (or who take command) and seeking order attempt to establish greater control and/or order. If people pay and trade fairly, they won’t fight or cause other trouble. By the sound of the word, you’d think it was for the benefit of all. By definition, it deals with the distribution of wealth. Well, why does wealth have to come into any equation?

I think “wealth” is part of the problem because it seems to instill thoughts of greed. If you have wealth, if you have control of some source of value (maybe all of the oranges), why part with them? Why share with other beings? What is it about “wealth” that does this to people? If we used a different word, like resources, maybe we’d be more considerate. Resources sounds like something we all should have. Wealth sounds like something one person stashes in a vault for eternity. If you have a wealth of safe drinking water…I imagine plenty of others are dying of thirst. Is that a pleasant thought?…you having all of the safe water, alone? When do we reach a point when we realize there is benefit in sharing resources? [It’s harder to share wealth, I imagine, because then it ceases to be wealth. Things lose perceived monetary value when everyone has them. But, that doesn’t reduce the OTHER value of those items.]

If we say Economy deals with the distribution of RESOURCES (versus wealth), I would say we are far FAR from having an adequate system of properly, fairly sharing. And, what’s extra tragic is how some places are flooded with resources and not necessarily greedy people in control of all of them, while other places are starved for those same resources (while, possibly, being “rich” in other resources).

Distribution is definitely a problem. But, money isn’t solving it. Money just delays people from being helpful when they feel they should get more for their assistance. If you didn’t have to think about money, if so many people weren’t pressing you to make and then give away that money (which still doesn’t guarantee you get all that you need or want), you could focus your eyes on the real resources and maybe consider helping to distribute them.

This is sort of like dealing with a “natural disaster.” You COULD get kind people to lend a hand and help prevent tragedy. But, it would cost money, because people have to step away from their money-managing lives to do something else, something that isn’t paying them. And, it would be risky to help, which goes against the insurance plans and such that people agree to pay. [Why would anyone take a risk if it’s going to cost them more, later? Suddenly, being helpful in a crisis becomes uncomfortable, intolerable, because it comes with a financial threat.] There is probably enough ____ to resolve the crisis, but there is so much added and potentially unnecessary pressure to consider the “cost” before providing or delivering what is needed. When we require money to make the world go around, being helpful becomes less convenient and almost impossible.

Sadly, I don’t think anyone, yet, has a good sense of maintaining an economy. There is too much temptation to take more than is right and cheat the system. If you’re not stealing, you’re the victim of it. That does not sound right, in my mind, for what economy should be. [Personally, bartering has always sounded better than dealing with money.]

When we place a value upon and give people a need to amass money, they turn away from the true purpose of getting what is needed. When people start believing amassing money is important, they seem to do anything they can to get more, which sounds like crime. Yet, it’s not the money that’s doing anything other than intimidating or troubling others. Money itself isn’t feeding you or keeping you alive. It’s just a tool of the economy someone has been trying to use to establish their idea of order. Money could go up in flames, tomorrow, but there will still be natural resources and a need for them. [Money is sort of an illusion standing in the way of equitable sharing of resources.]

Convenience

Some might say this goes back to the Garden of Eden. The “forbidden fruit” was so conveniently placed and held so much “wealth.” Convenience is a deceptive path to an easier life which too often is abused or misused. What is convenient for one will likely be inconvenient for another. Your convenience could upset another person or species. It’s convenient how we can claim land and drive out the native population. It’s just as convenient for insects to invade your home or some other wild animal to threaten your sense of peace and order. In a way, convenience is our human excuse for getting our way. It sounds very comforting…but at the expense of others. Yet, to give up convenience…wouldn’t that make life torture? Or, just labor?

Control

Control is a shade of Order, laced with Convenience. Order itself is not always convenient; you often work to establish Order. But, when you have Control, you can conveniently command Order (but that doesn’t mean you’ll easily get what you want or satisfy what is likely a ceaseless growth of want). Ironically, positive/motivational speakers (and modern “influencers”) are good at provoking you to “take control of your life!” And, rightfully, we should. But, how does one take control without affecting others? Thus, are we taking control of our own lives or tangling the strings of others?

Controlling parents are looked down upon for doing some questionable things to maintain their own sense of Order. Some, if not most, do what they do just to ease their own minds (and, often, dismiss responsibility). Parents can enjoy the things they like to do alone if they can just get their kids to stop making noise and demanding food. [So, why did you become parents?] Some people get infected with the notion that only they know how to do something right…and then whip that into the hides of their children.

People take roles/jobs that come with a certain measure of control. Their job is to help establish order. But, I think, too often, the drive or element of money is what makes decisions instead of a genuine desire to improve the peace of all living things (not just other humans). Even if you take such a job with good intentions, there are countless others in similar positions pressuring you to bend a certain way to get something they or whoever they serve wants.

[Is that sensible Order? Who is really in control of anything? How do we maintain control without upsetting a peaceful sense of order? Or, how can we stop trying to control and co-exist in peace?]

Population

We seem to have little to zero control over the size of any population. If you attempt to establish control, you’re an inhuman monster. But, Population is the driving force behind most if not all of the above. Quantity of living things (as well as the non-living stuff we accumulate) impacts decisions we make. It affects how we hoard or feel free to share resources.

[If you have a sandwich and are with one other person, you might feel kind enough to split that sandwich into two. But, if you have four other people around you, how can you all get enough of the sandwich to feel content?]

Other species go about daily conflicts, battles and wars of their own kind, under our human noses. We neglect to see what is happening as we process our too often financial concerns. But, they’re out there, competing for resources and eating each other. In a way, that’s what we’re avoiding and trying to avoid. Yet, that would seem to be natural order, in some sick, twisted way that only upsets the modern human stomach.

I’m not saying we should live exactly like other (savage) animals/beings, but is it possible even those other species wouldn’t seem so savage if everyone was able to get what they needed?…if communication and distribution was clear and fair?

[Now, we have to take into consideration that some species, no matter how some humans may protest, are meat eaters and/or eat other species to survive. I don’t think it’s possible to steer every species into a “vegan” lifestyle. And, if you did, I am sure, eventually, the plants would get a brain and revolt. And then, what would we have? A discussion for another day! That’s what. None of us decide what species eats what, no matter what you think you can achieve with science. And, if you attempt to mess with nature, you get nasty side effects, anyway.]

Bringing this all back to its initial point, we are being treated like cattle with bottomless wallets. We are living in fear that is not our own. It’s one thing to live your life, encounter something that is naturally a threat, experience fear and deal with it. It’s a whole other thing to have others prod you with their sticks, constantly, and tell you to do something OR ELSE. Those pressures to comply and submit funds you acquire however you get them are only complicating and depleting the very lives they want to milk.

So, there’s a bit of irony for all of you greedy manipulators. You are killing the cows you want to milk forever by injecting them with fear. Yes, fear can make a cow cough up milk…but it won’t always or likely be the best milk. When people feel good about what they are doing, they are more likely to perform better. An athlete afraid of hurting someone or his/her self is not going to perform with confidence and will likely get injured…then think about what that injury will do their financial security, not to mention functioning as a human being.

[Then, if you can handle thinking on yet another level, you take into account how certain people make their business, their means of profit, from managing people’s fears, their woes and concerns. And, as other people become troubled with the need to make money, they look for jobs. Sometimes, those jobs seem only available at businesses making money off of people pressured to pay to avoid the things they are coerced to fear. Wherever there is a job someone is less interested in taking, there is someone in such dire need of a job that they will get steered toward and take it. So, now, you have people subject to fear working for what I can only call “fear mongers.” Either the employees become like their bosses and start injecting others with pressure to cough up money (for their personal obsession to amass money/wealth) or labor away just to get through life, trying to ignore what their jobs are really doing (if they even know). That is a really tragic, messed-up vision of economy.]

Isn’t there a better way to get what you need and not intimidate/confuse others? Fear is merely the weapon of bullies who take sick pleasure in watching others wail and/or suffer. I don’t know what breeds such sick mentality, but it exists. [Some would call it evil.] If you benefit from others getting confused or scared (or hurt), I don’t have any nice words for you. You’re just wrong. Maybe it starts out as a fun prank. But, if you keep at it, you’re a monster, and not the kind people seem to be turning into cute collections.

I don’t have a concrete or satisfying conclusion to this statement. So, I’ll just leave it here for your consideration. Food for thought. Now, help make this world a better place for all. Please.

Nov

Human Imagination Is Responsible for AI Crisis

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: AI, artificial, artificial intelligence, calculator, cartoon, crisis, economy, editorial, fiction, imagination, intelligence, opinion, real, reality, star trek, technology

****

It’s been said that technology first appearing in a Star-Trek TV show is gradually being made a reality. What was once science fiction is becoming real.

I think the same may be to blame for what I consider an AI threat/crisis. Where did this notion for a computer that answers everything for us originate? Well, just look at the cartoons and other colorful TV shows I watched in my youth. What do the heroes do when they don’t know their next step?…they consult some “super” computer for a ridiculous solution.

[How many times does the “brilliant” Batman slight Robin and turn to the Batcomputer for help? Even Superman and Wonder Woman suggest using a supercomputer in the animated Super Friends and in the 70s Wonder Woman TV show, respectively.]

Boom.

AI is born and gradually running amok, because, even in an “immature” cartoon, humans (and superhumans alike) forfeit use of their own minds to let a machine do the task.

[In ancient-Greek-myth-and-legend terms, isn’t that the sort of thing that would eventually upset the gods?…not using your head?…even if creating the object that “does the thinking” seems like an intelligent effort. Wasn’t Odysseus heralded for using his head?…while Sisyphus was punished eternally for how he used his to “cheat.”]

What was it my old teachers used to say about calculators?

Exactly.

Now, if only I could explain another critical crisis this world is facing. It involves the perpetual pressure and temptation to have something you currently do not. It comes in music (particularly rap and hip-hop music) that speaks of riches and ease of dealing with women and in ads for phones/phone plans and insurance which always seems to have something you currently do not have yet should want. Some would say this is just how an economy is maintained, and, to those fools, I say I will beat you senseless (if you aren’t already).

Aug

When Did the Olympics Become the AI Takeover?

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: 2024, AI, brains, Darwin, editorial, education, Einstein, humanity, humankind, Olympics, opinion, Paris, revolution, Salesforce, sports, summer olympics, takeover, teachers, teaching, technology, Terminator

****

In the summer of 2024, that’s when…when the AI revolution began to become frightfully apparent, when this human, hearing about employment hardships in his own family…and stock-market concerns…seeing countless commercials for various AI providers, as if any of that is reassuring to anyone with a brain…started to tremble with panic for this world’s future, for the future of humankind.

[Yes, that was a horrible run-on sentence. But, it comes with the weight of something seriously souring the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. Someone call Sarah Connors and/or her son John. The machines are coming. The machines are coming!]

I recall, not long ago, seeing ads for Salesforce and thinking Matt M. was a well-spoken cheerleader for world peace and unity, even if I was unaware of what Salesforce really was and unsure if I should be concerned. Now, I’m seeing even more ads with him and various characters, a lot of Western references, and I am starting to get a bigger picture that is frightful and growing at an alarming rate. All that talk about coming together and getting to work was balderdash to coax people into siding with a company working on AI. Matt’s the menace he played in that Dark Tower movie. A dark cloud is forming over the sky like a blanket of doom. If the world is being handed over to AI, and humans are being convinced they are as smart as Einstein for submitting, doom isn’t a strong enough word to explain our inevitable and quickly approaching demise.

I cannot scream it loud enough; my teachers would be boiling in their skins at the thought of turning over thought processes and “work” to some computerized brain. The real Albert Einstein would be both honored and disgusted to have an AI in his name, honored to be given added popularity but disgusted to see countless others think of themselves as being anything like him when they’re not using their brains for more than handing over a task and/or question to a computer designed by someone other than Albert Einstein.

Who’s the real Einstein behind the AI? Shouldn’t their name be on the computer brain? What does their hair and face look like? Make a filter for that and leave Albert Einstein to his relativity.

If only we could give up the conveniences and unhealthy fads thrust upon us, ignore the TV and other sources of media, kick those “feeds” to the cyber-curb and look at our world through organic eyes, really see life as it is and not how it’s sold or pitched as a number, a rating, a sales score. Maybe we’d salvage our health and not lose our hair or teeth in the chase for an economy which may very soon be sucked up one last drain pipe, leaving only the select few who orchestrated the AI takeover in a position to dole out or hoard resources. Your life, your legacy may very well be falling into the hands of an elite few. And, I wonder what we ever had a chance to do to stop this.

I feel like some ancient slave doomed to be grinded under the stones which are about to build the next pyramid; a big, sky-blue pyramid topped with the face of a phony pharaoh, a marketing master who seduced humankind into its own demise, who found a way to get rid of every possible threat to his emotional and mental well-being, who out-Nazi-ed Adolph Hitler, who took Darwin’s pitch on “survival of the fittest” and made it his own (expletive). Checkmate, humanity.

What motivates me to get up every morning and find any comfort, any purpose and value to my time, energy, heart and talents? Certainly not slaving away at some job that temporarily pretends to be helpful to a shipping monopoly, turning my tasks over to AI and wondering if I’ll have a job or the resources to afford my life once I do.

If all this AI spared every human the need to work to finance their lives and not pay taxes or health-care costs, that would be amazing. But, I highly doubt that’s where this is headed. If that were true, if everyone was going to be cared for as they should, companies wouldn’t be sending their staff home without more than a small sum and a cold hand while the company merges with another and turns into a monopoly so large that it seems impossible to topple. Someone, anyone, reassure me. Would you? Tell me the future is better than whatever version of Star Trek these tech moguls are trying to create.

Look at all of the advertising for the Paris Olympics. And, how much of that is NOT including AI? Not much.

Hey, guess what. I wrote all of the above with my own mind, my own heart and feelings. I may have used a computer to type, but I didn’t use a CoPilot or some phony Einstein to think for me or alter my abilities. I did my own proofreading and edits. I didn’t need a thesaurus or dictionary or calculator of any damned kind. I used my God-given assets and limitations. I embrace my old teachers, real people with hearts and minds of their own, who told me to use my brain. Deal with that, you cyber freaks. I will not submit to your machines. You want to live forever as a hard drive? Build your own damn cyber-coffin and live in a CPU. Don’t reduce the rest of humankind to dust in your pursuit. Key word search: humanity has more value than costly technology.

***

But, I will make one small concession. I saw an ad for an AI translation feature on a dual-screen phone, allowing diners to converse with foreign restaurant staff without difficulty. I am not sure why AI is a factor when translation services have been on computers for some time, just not readily available, maybe, for dining at restaurants. I’d sure like to ease talks with foreigners (and skip the years of classes to master all of the other languages). But, do I trust the computer or AI to properly translate the spoken word? [I’ve been communicating with some foreigners online, and, when I translate emails, sometimes, the lines don’t make sense. I then have to wonder what was lost in translation. I think slang will forever be a problem for any AI, never knowing when someone is using an alternate meaning or sarcasm.]

May

What’s a JOB? Just Sell Stuff Online.

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: blog, business, delivery, drug, drugs, ecology, editorial, education, empire, employment, fad, garbage, internet, job, jobs, junk, merch, merchandise, monopoly, online, online sales, opinion, sales, sales pitch, sell, sexual, stimulant, stuff, technology, trend, waste, welfare

What’s a Job? Just Sell Stuff Online.

Jobs are too often scarce. Jobs are fussy about your education. Jobs get cut. You don’t need any of that. So, just sell stuff online like countless other people taking over modern commercial space.

What kind of STUFF? Oh. All kinds of STUFF. There is no limit to the kinds of STUFF you can sell and pitch on TV. As long as you’ve got a small factory in your garage, basement or neighborhood, pumping out this STUFF like some non-stop 3-D printer, and a link to the Amazon delivery empire, so you can have your STUFF sent by drone, you won’t ever need to think about seeking another job. If you can manage it, find a “professional” who can promote your STUFF with some phony status that is intended to make you believe the STUFF isn’t going to fail you.

Ain’t that just delightful?

Yes. A world full of dummies selling their STUFF and signing their souls over to Amazon delivery (just delivery…yeah, sure). What a wonderful world. [Bull shat.]

Anyone out there familiar with the Tupperware era? Or, Avon cosmetics? How about Asbestos or that pink insulation promoted by the cartoon Pink Panther?

You know where all of those fads ended? In a heap of what-do-we-do-now and a world scrambling to sort out one more ecological crisis. You may not need or want a JOB, but the world you depend upon for existence might not survive if all you do is contribute to the mass production of STUFF. STUFF is like smoking and alcoholism. It’s easy to slip into, especially if someone provides you with the means to make enough STUFF to satisfy demand. But, when you really think about what you’re doing, if you have any conscience at all, you might get a little nauseous (like I do).

Instead of shipping everybody’s latest variation of something paper or plastic they are trying to make outshine fifty other sellers, we should be discussing pipelines for properly distributing the goods this planet can and does often produce, instead of letting that natural STUFF go to waste. We live in an age/era when nature is somewhat out of balance and animals, not just humans, go hungry.

[And, yet, some groups trying to supply the “hungry” don’t always seem “legit” and may be just passing around food that’s expired or unwanted by fussy folks claiming to be on welfare.]

We have and promote a limited variety of wireless communication options which make just about anything seem possible. If you can connect minds, across the globe, to find common intentions (and interests) willing to work together to achieve a goal, that has to be better than posting a sign in a window or newspaper (or one website). Right? We have the means to reduce the need for income and taxes to zero. And yet, with the contributions of those who like to cause trouble and inject fears (which supposedly can only be cured with the latest “security app” or insurance offering), we humans still struggle with socializing and cooperating. Thus, we see/hear stories of tragic results from poor communication and see ads for services trying to get you into the virtual office of a therapist.

[Am I injecting fear? Maybe. But, I’m not following that with a pitch for some product or service you need to pump with your borrowed money. I’m not selling you anything here.]

There is a mountain of discontent hidden in all of what I just said. And, it’s not going away if you pump out more STUFF. Your conveniently manufactured body paste, sexual stimulant** or wall decor is not going to make the world a better, safer place to exist. It’s just going to give people a temporary, fleeting thrill before it ends up in a landfill of instant gratification failures. Then you and everyone else who didn’t want to work together to resolve the world’s problems is going to be looking for the STUFF that gets them off this doomed planet and moving somewhere safer.

**On that note, we have advertisements for sexual stimulating STUFF (“improving male confidence and stamina” and pleasing women at the same time), on one hand, and, on the other hand, governments debating the rights of humans to use abortion and birth control STUFF to counter what is a biological DUH! from having sex without self-control and common sense (that includes assaulting someone and leaving them pregnant). How dumb do humans have to get before we realize we’re screwing ourselves? Forget I asked. You already know. You just choose to douse yourselves in alcohol and other memory-warping drugs, hoping to forget.

Does your STUFF reduce waste? Eliminate garbage? Recycle garbage in a way that won’t upset stomachs or frighten to death? Does it put an end to ads for charities that are not always true to their word? Does it help reduce world hunger (including the loss of environment for animals other than humans)? Does it bring people together in harmony? Does it cultivate teamwork and friendship? [Or, does it just make people more vain and anti-social like “mean girls?”] Does it avoid feeding a monopoly which could easily wipe out all small businesses and thus end your financial pipeline?

[And, if you say it’s creating jobs by giving job to people who would otherwise struggle to find employment because of past “criminal” or otherwise disapproved behavior/history, I will slap you senseless. Having those people help manufacture and/or package your stuff, until machines take over, is not a positive to promote anywhere. While you are pitching that fabricated American dream, countless other humans are scrambling across national borders, looking for answers to their own misguided lifestyles.]

You know who’s going to be waiting at the exit ramp to abandon Earth? Those wealthy giants you fed with your shipping orders. Your convenient delivery assistants. And, they will decide your fate…kind of like a boss deciding if you should remain on the job.

So, you see, pretending you’re Betty Crocker or the next Mr. Clean isn’t going to last. It all piles up under the launch pad being built by people already looking at other planets to conquer, people who started out with something small and quickly manufactured because it was convenient, a seemingly modest service to the world which became hungry and started eating up other businesses until it no longer looked like a humble business with a singular purpose. And, the old fears of alien races taking over planets won’t be about little gray or green oddballs with big eyes and no body hair…it will be about your fellow human beings (or you, if you are so “fortunate” to become one of the next financial giants). We are the monsters of those alien stories. And, the more we ponder the possibility of selling STUFF, the bigger and dumber our eyes get.

Take me to your Amazon, earthlings.

Before you press the button to set your next whim into production, take a long hard minute to think about what’s ahead.

May

We Have the Technology…

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: AI, artificial, cheat notes, cheating, editorial, excess, gaming, intelligence, machine, need, novelty, opinion, purpose, technology, toys, value, waste

****

We have the technology. We can make it better, stronger, faster…

You’ve likely heard this, before. [If you ever watched the Six-Million Dollar Man, you know it.]

There is quite a buzz about technology, lately, as if we’ve kicked into some sort of industrial revolution, again. Talk of AI and 3-D printing is all the rage. But, there is discontent among the buzz. And, that’s got me thinking….

We’re putting quite a lot of time and money (and other resources, I’m sure) into this fabricating technology when we are lacking in areas that better serve the planet and our own species.

At least, I’m seeing less improvement in the world from the latest technology and too much novelty.

I see countless videos and other displays of toys and kits (toys to assemble) made with 3-D printing.

We don’t need another robotic pet that’s just a bit smarter than the last one we foolishly purchased for the grandkid. We don’t need an elaborate printer to make jointed dragons in every color of the rainbow just to drape them on boxes of wasn’t-that-cool-last-week. And, we don’t need computers or androids to pose as humans unless we’re rich and desperate for a realistic sex partner.

Isn’t that what this is all about? Someone must be trying to simulate a partner, and all other people who participate in the production line get to play around with less-than-ideal machinery to produce all sorts of unnecessary stuff that just piles up in landfills like all the stuff we thought we could recycle infinitely.

Well, there’s also that eerie possibility that someone wants to preserve the capacity of their brain in some computerized form, as if the thing will update itself infinitely and never become obsolete. That’s a scary thought outside the range I’d prefer to think. ‘Way too many creepy stories about that sort of thing.

It makes sense…in a really crappy way. The concept of marriage has become skewed and highly flawed. No one seems to maintain one unless they’re just that damn lucky with love to find the one in however many are on the planet…or they just are die-hard workers who will put up with anything and go down trying.

Yet, the rest of it, the handing down machinery to tinker with excessive novelty…that’s dumb and wasteful.

But, that’s the going trend. Isn’t it? What you see going around as something relatively inexpensive to make and play with for a minute…is just a mask, a street market for what’s really getting focus in a more elite environment.

So, we risk adding to the planet’s garbage heaps to offset expenses seemingly required to achieve some singular goal for an elite group or individual.

Couldn’t we be using this same level, this same quality of technology in a more productive way all could appreciate?

Surely, but then the elite wouldn’t be so elite…would they? I mean…what makes some more special than others if they don’t leave some trash for the human trash to collect?

Once upon a time, a calculator was considered cheating in math class. And, “cliff notes” were the way countless students got through writing countless term papers and book reports. It’s cheating.

Now, they’re putting out “bots” that can write a poem and other documents for you just by giving them a suggestion. Morning talk-show hosts applaud the technology for writing up grocery lists and such for them…as if they actually go grocery shopping. I bet they have someone do that for them, too. So, they’re just shifting from a real person being hired and paid to do something…to speaking with a “drone” service for the same task.

You know why teachers shunned calculators? Because they want us to use our brains, not hand over functions to a machine. Using your brain doesn’t kill you. But, not using your brain will surely leave you dumb, useless and helpless. When you don’t use your brain, you become careless and short-sighted. You do less, and less probably matters to you.

In a strange way, thinking less DOES push us back to being completely witless bodies of flesh and bone who wouldn’t have the sense to listen to a god when they tell us to stay away from a particular apple tree. But, are we really working our way back to Eden?…just to make the same dumb mistake because we no longer know better?

Couldn’t we use this drive for AI to create intelligent simulations, rather than machines that think for you and take over your life?

I think of all the video games I’ve played over the decades…yes, decades. And, no matter how much a game boasts its graphics and AI, there never seems to be enough real environment and interaction. The latest Pokémon games are amazing to me, being able to run through a nature-ish setting with “wild” creatures roaming about the land. But, even those games seem odd and disappointing when you close enough to the creatures. And, interactive (human) characters are too often limited to a line or two of dialogue and some annoying, repetitive body motion.

Yet…they offer inspiration.

I see games like the old Final Fight series in which background characters are not just blobs or GIF-worthy animations but figures that respond to sound, proximity (approaching them) and/or touch. And, you can move around them to see them from other angles. I see these games taking place in buildings once designated for such lousy games as paintball and laser tag. Imagine going through multiple rooms and interacting with both helpful assistant-type characters and potential opponents you then choose to fight or flee. [What I don’t see is the admission fees and maintenance for such productions…and I’d rather not think much about that. Yet, someone has to do the thinking and maintenance, right? I don’t think I want to hand those tasks to the machines themselves and expect what is considered human decency to prevail.]

I see museums in which, instead of finding lifeless statues and bodies treated like horror-movie victims in (sick) displays, we encounter life-size holographic simulations of animals, including humans, in simulated nature settings. We get to walk among elephants in Africa and tigers in Java, and they don’t just repeat the same three steps or make a sound every five seconds. We can hang out with some native tribe in their village/camp and sit around a campfire or share in a tribal dance.

I wouldn’t mind seeing doctors like the one on Star Trek Voyager…even if he could be a bit annoying, at times. I wouldn’t want a hologram as a “primary doctor,” simply because I don’t think I could fully trust such a thing to handle every task and still make me feel comfortable as a human being; but an assistant might be helpful to the primary. But, even a technological wonder like that (or Data) would lack something.

There’s also a little factor/detail so many seem to miss. While humans seem quite capable of producing anything they can imagine, we don’t seem to produce what we imagine in the time we imagine it. So, what we get, instead, in the time we are alive, is a sad, disappointing substitute. Wouldn’t you agree? So many of us get grand visions. And, there will be others who latch onto the visionaries and prod them to produce those visions. But, it seems to take several foolish attempts before one person’s great invention comes close to being as good as it can get. And, by then, the original thinker–without confirming they were the first to think of it–is dead.

That sends me back to thinking about those Pokémon video games. When you play a Pokémon game, you may be told you can befriend the creatures as pets, but you will have to force some of those pets to fight other creatures if you want to progress through the game. [I’ve been trying really hard not to fight in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.] I certainly don’t enjoy pitting my pets against other beings in battle for the sake of progress. But, that’s the nature of those games.

What if, in our effort to design something good for all, we pitch something misguided and corrupting which saps the relationships we want/should create with the other beings in our world (our universe)? How many mistakes must we make before we learn?

Sadly, I don’t think we’re learning much of anything. And, the more we think we can hand that task over to a machine, a machine WE have to first build, we’re just speeding up the excavation of our own graves and threatening countless other lives in the process.

Jan

Don’t Let Your “FEED” Rob You of Family Connections

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts, Confessions of the Rabbit Kind and Uncategorized
Tags: anti-social, cattle, drain, editorial, Facebook, family, fbook, feed, internet, machine, norm, online, parent, parenting, personal, reality TV, social, soul-crushing, submission, technology, The Parent Test, TikTok, tourism

***

You know something is vitally wrong when someone cannot take the time to look at your email because they’ve already given that time to their “feed,” that term for what so many “cows” are fed by some anonymous online source, that stream of stuff, including TikTok-worthy videos and images, which is said to be custom-picked to appeal to every person, based upon their online activity. Are we that lost, as a species, already? Are we already submitting to the machine and forgetting what we claim is important, like family?

I saw a particular episode of the Parent Test, a recent TV show in which one of my favorite comediennes/actresses, Alexandra (“Ali”) Wentworth, and some guy, who looks a tad uptight, evaluate different types of parents by having them face various “challenges” as families. In that episode, the farming parents were asked by their kids to put the cellphones away for a day. And, the parents claimed to be somewhat surprised by the request. [Honestly, with ABC and television, lately, in general, I am not sure how much is staged/planned; but this felt slightly staged…like one of many Public Service Announcements.] I don’t think the farm family, if they even have the technology, would have this problem…or wouldn’t be the only ones. If you look at most of the video footage taken by the various families, there is some sort of “tech” in each segment. It’s everywhere. It’s like one big deceptive ad for some ISP (internet service provider). It’s sickening, in a way.

So, on a personal note, I have family who have submitted to “the machine” while still occasionally throwing a jab at others, including me, for how they either don’t make good use of technology or waste time on “pointless” interests/pursuits. ‘So easy to judge others and then disappear into the void of mindless scrolling…and scrolling…and ignoring what’s in front of you.

GOOD GOLLY! I want to scream and vomit.

What has happened to so many?!

Whoever is responsible for this madness, which seems like such an evil plot or a very poor miscalculation of technological power…there is a very special place in the “world below” for sick individuals like you.

I cannot even get my sister to look at artworks I thought would not only get her to laugh but give me some feedback on how I am doing with my art skills.

My other siblings send me emails so short and quick that they often just contain a link I’m supposed to click? In the age when we should already be aware of scams that appear like that? I tell them no; they have to include a message with that link to let me know it’s really from them. I am not just going to jump at every link; I already made a costly mistake with that move, once.

And, on top of the stuff that happens on these devices, it’s affecting social interactions. My siblings seem less tolerant of discussing anything and become more easily distressed when asked; and, if I look, I’m sure I’ll find them scrolling through that “feed,” again. It’s really, really sickening.

I ask them, repeatedly, who sends that “feed?” Where do they get it? Fbook? If it’s Fbook, I’ll add a few pounds of strength to my grip the first chance I get to strangle someone from that hot mess. If Fbook is to blame, I will just add another few pounds to the weight that keeps my hand from touching that disaster-waiting-to-happen. I refuse to submit.

But, what can I do?

I used to feel guilty for dabbling in online chat and other “traps.” I used to think I was a freak living in the shadows instead of socializing like “normal people.” I did it to fill in what I was missing but kept looking up and out of the rabbit hole, hoping some better reality would come along so I could turn off the internet and get on with my life. And, when the “feed” I was looking at lost its charm, when I either felt too sick-in-the-head (in part from the opinions/input of nosy people) or tired of going to bed feeling as empty as I was when I started looking, I stopped using those rabbit holes. I’m not saying I “quit cold turkey,” but I grew tired of being disappointed by the “filler.” And, even when I was somewhat hooked, I knew I wanted something else. I just couldn’t seem to get what I wanted from anyone, not from the people I knew close to home nor those I was meeting online. [I still find myself dabbling and feeling this way, just with different outlets that don’t suck me in the way the older ones did.]

I don’t even get along with my family, not very well, anyway, and I still want better interaction. I don’t want my family completely disconnecting, correcting each other and being guilty of judging the rest of our lives, when we’re not casting some sort of appealing illusion which makes others think we are glamorous arm candy. I don’t want to be a reality-TV disaster. Right now, I’d just be happy to have my siblings give time and honest opinions on my creative output without telling me I have too much time on my hands and that I talk/think too much for “social norms.” I can’t get them to look at something I wrote because they already spend too much time looking at glowing screens/text. That’s so sad.

What seems to be normal, now, isn’t normal…or tolerable…to me. This “norm” is sucking the warmth and comfort out of everything. It’s a bug zapper waiting to close the door on humanity. One day, someone’s going to say, “J-Just one more minute.” They’ll be looking at their little glowing screen, letting their good eyesight wither and die…and some big black box is going to close in around them, sealing them away for eternity.

I’d rather chuck it all in a void than lose complete touch with real people. I’d rather have a real hug than an emoji or short video clip.

Damn. How do you stop this runaway machine?

And, why can’t you “cattle” wise up?

I’ve never been the biggest family-gathering person; I’m a bit of an introvert who struggles with social anxiety. But, even I feel this is the onset of something very wrong and want more warming, social interaction in this world. I certainly do not want to see every human being glued to a glowing screen in their hands.

Can you imagine? ‘Being a tourist and seeing everyone around you sitting quietly with a small screen glued to their hand(s), perched on fountains and fences and leaning against buildings…all hypnotized by some glowing, radiating slice of technology? You might hear the wind and seagulls/pigeons over everything else…because the people won’t be talking or walking, anymore. It’s an unsettling thought.

Nov

The Grim Future of Phone Service

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: cellphone, communication, dial, future, novelty, phone, prediction, service, smart phone, technology, telephone, wireless

***

I’m going to age myself, right now, and feel rather dusty saying it. But, whatever happened to time when buying a telephone was simply something you did once in a blue moon, when you needed a home phone and had a modest variety from which to pick your style? You might have subscribed to novelty and traded your plain white dial telephone for one shaped like a cat or dinosaur or football. You might have gone wireless. But, even then, there wasn’t the Wireless Norelco 10.5 or Twitter Musk 2000. [Those are just two wacky names that mean nothing, right now. But, you never know.]

Every time I see a “phone” commercial, now, I get a little nauseous and depressed. Throw in the ones about protecting your identity and data, and I’m full-on ready to puke (and jump off a cliff). Talk about turning what should be a simple way to interact with distant people into an ongoing nightmare.

Why don’t we just make people place phone calls while suspended by ropes over flaming pits of doom? Doesn’t that sound like social fun? Let’s make phone calls a danger sport. Place them at your own risk. [Mooo! Baaah!]

What’s the future going to look like? If we’re already pitching the folding IPhone 14, what will we be looking forward to ten years from now? The floating or regenerating IPhone 24? Eventually followed by the Telepathic IPhone 47?

How long is this chain of new model numbers and senseless little updates going to continue?

I cannot even remember seeing a commercial for a telephone…when it was just a telephone. But, now that the “phone” is a computerized gizmo with an app-pendix of possible features and functions, every day is like passing a kiosk at some endangered-species mall, with a Middle-Eastern Jeff Goldblum waiting to give you a chaos-theory worthy sales pitch.

Telephones used to be something you picked up at a department store as a bare necessity for communicating with friends, family and utility service folks. Now, they’re barely telephones and straining both eyes and minds, turning countless humans into mindless drones. Who needs Borg technology to create a collective? Facebook and its ugly cousins, which are being bought up by guys who are just itching to run the world and fly cars into outer space, are already there, just baiting you all along until you submit to the hive mind. Independent thought will eventually be too much effort for the average human being; it’s easier to just let “Alexa” do everything for you.

It’s been more than a decade since I enjoyed sitting by a corded telephone and had a decent chat with someone. I’m really, really worried about the future of personal, heartfelt communication. They can add face-to-face chat options and all of that. But, I fear conscious, caring communication is drying up faster than the polar ice caps can melt.

The mere fact I cannot think of a good way to wrap up my posts, lately, shows how starved I am for good communication. All the talk I’ve heard about reading being what helps a writer write…bah! Sure, it might stoke the fires of vocabulary and sentence structure. But, I think heartfelt communication with fellow human beings (who are not losing *human* functions–apps–like attention span and patience) is like water to a houseplant. And, this sad houseplant is wilting in a corner.

I miss my old corded telephone and the sound of crickets outside my window as I talked to my best friend in elementary school.

Mar

Quality; Is It Deceased?

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: cattle, champion, clothes, clothing, computer, computers, cost, economy, hoodies, investment, jogging pants, landfill, last, mens, quality, replace, replacement, sweatpants, technology, value, wardrobe

*****

Back in 2003, I bought a new wardrobe, including a few pairs of quality jogging pants, T-shirts and sweatshirts, hoodies, mostly. These are my casual-dress comforts which keep me sane. In 2003, at a local outlet store, I had found the finest garments known to man…or, at least, to me. There wasn’t anything particularly fancy or expensive-looking about these clothes. Yet, they have lasted nearly 20 years without failing. Only in the past two years have I started to notice wear and tear. It started with a rare chocolate-brown hoodie losing a few stitches along the pouch/pocket. That might have been back in 2017. Then, the finest gray jogging pants frayed in places I’d rather not mention, sometime between 2019 and 2020. And, just a few weeks ago, my second favorite, those maroon jogging pants in the photo, developed minor unsettling holes after being washed.

Now, compare that with a pair of jogging pants bought less than 10 years ago. It’s a more “socially acceptable” (if that makes any sense to anyone who isn’t like my family) travel style of jogging pants with non-elastic cuffs. It has been easily discolored and gradually losing its shape and smoothness; it’s at the point I worry about wearing them in public. And, other clothing I’ve purchased over the years, namely jogging pants, have easily torn pockets in the wash, exposing undergarments. I might see a pair lose it’s “new” shine the first time I wash them. Or, a shirt that’s supposed to be wrinkle-resistant comes out of the wash looking like a wavy rag that even an iron cannot save (without risk of burn). How lousy is that?!

Sure. You easily say, “Then replace them!” But, if we are not careful, the landfills we are trying to avoid amassing will become so overwhelming to our increasingly irresponsible species that we flee the planet in favor of all the wealthy industrialists just waiting to get insanely rich off being the ones to colonize another planet.

And, remember what I just said about the Champion clothes from 2003. They have lasted almost 20 years without sign of wear and tear. Looking at them, you wouldn’t be so quick to cast them out into the trash, even if you are fashion forward monsters who feel the need to have new clothes every year you get carted around this planet.

This same conversation could be had about computers. My first computer was not something you’d advertise to the masses as the star computer for gaming, music streaming, etc.; things you take for granted more recently due to all the advances that have become more commonplace. Yet, that first computer was enough for me. It did what I needed. It did more; I just had to discover all of its assets. Then tragedy struck when I foolishly interacted with someone I should not have trusted; the PC got a virus and slowly descended into antiquity. I tried to salvage it with a new hard drive, but the artificial heart was too big for the poor little computer soul’s chest.

[And, sorry, I didn’t dish out $150 per hour to some “tech expert,” at the time, to remedy my situation. If I spent $500 or more to fix the thing, I’d have paid more to save it than it cost me, initially. If you know anything about car shopping, you know that’s not smart.]

Similarly, my next computer was a laptop people had told me would be a disappointment. It wasn’t the latest thing out there and Windows Vista was supposedly on the way out as fast as it was “in.” That laptop was a gem. It had all the basic software I needed–well, except for an art program–to satisfy my creative interests and to probably handle all of the “business” this life seems to require. Then, one foolish night, I had an accident; and, though the “tank” didn’t LOOK damaged, it was clinging to its last breath and unable to perform some basic functions. I was lucky to salvage files with a flash drive.

I quickly sought out a replacement and, after some unnecessary quarreling with family about decision-making, picked something that seemed sensible and not too expensive. But, without the same quality salesmanship I had when purchasing the previous one, it seemed my purchase-by-mail was doomed to fail. I feared it from the moment I doubted shopping online. I feared it from the moment the damaged box arrived on the porch. Fortunately, I managed to get it working with some online assistance; had I not even received that much help, I wouldn’t be here talking about this with you, now. But, I soon realized how much this new model was lacking. It has none of the software the previous one provided for my enjoyment; instead there are notices for what I COULD purchase to add to my inventory. There are little carpet samples that, as soon as you activate them, ask you to buy something and subscribe to keep using it, year after year. I had none of that with the Vista laptop; it was its own useful machine. And, it cost almost as much as the one I now use. In less time than it took me to ruin the Vista model, this thing has had more hang-ups and update issues. [I’ve written about these before, so there’s no point in repeating. You can look back to find those stories.] And, within the last year, one of the mouse-pad buttons has become a loose tooth. [The Vista model was rock solid for 8 years and only failed when I had an accident. This thing is falling apart after 5.]

Had I known how quality would diminish in the next few years, with all that has been going on in this screwed-up world, I would have bought stock in the Champion brand…in 2003…and then probably sold the stock before 2010. Had I known how poorly made my future clothing purchases would be, I would have bought a boatload of the garments I modestly added to my collection. And, the same goes for these “dumb” computers we’re being force-fed every year.

[Let me pause by just saying computers may be the next economy that ruins humanity. After dealing with cash and related crimes for so many years, now, with computers and artificial intelligence, it seems the world needs a new villain (someone other than a bank robber or mafia boss). So, someone created computer brains. Smart…I say sarcastically. Unlike choosing quality clothing, computers don’t offer the same choices. Software becomes “required” and is what it is. You don’t find different quality variants of Windows operating systems. You get Windows This Year, and you live with it til they pitch the next one. What sort of freedom is that? Who is running our lives? Hackers are the latest bank robbers, and the economy pushes everyone to give up paper in favor of digital and AI everything. Do you feel like a lemming on the edge of a cliff? I sure do. Except, I am looking over my shoulder and quietly urging everyone to step back.]

Has it really fallen so far? Quality? Is this the sign of the end?…and end we COULD prevent if we only cared…more? Has the interest in making things we use reliable deteriorated so badly that fewer and fewer care to even try? Is the majority already in favor of just giving up and pitching crap to starving fools?

If you hear a dumb voice–perhaps your own–saying, “YYYUP!” –Shame on you. We cannot just shrug and give in so easily.

But, I am not a do-all deity capable of solving every problem on the planet. I have desires for things to be better but so little control over the matter…at least, I FEEL helpless without any of the connections so many seem to have at their fingertips to make things we DON’T want or need available for sale.

Oh, the latest this and that have brains, now, and they will tell us everything we didn’t want to know; and that’s a reason to dump what we have to get the new models. Mooo! Move along, cattle, to keep the economy of fools going.

When do we–sigh–get smart and reverse course on human stupidity? And, if it’s already too late, when did it start to tip the scale the wrong way? Why does this life increasingly feel like a giant cruise ship headed for an iceberg? Sorry, Leo, your nude drawings are a waste of time when the livelihood of humanity is at stake.

I’ll this rant–though it can never really end until it’s resolved–by sounding like an ER doctor. Do we call it? Time of death? Is quality __________dead?

Oct

Why Can’t I Enjoy My Latest Laptop, Episode 10-10-2021

By writingbolt Leave a Comment

Categories: Concerns and Alerts and Uncategorized
Tags: access, complaint, computer, computers, editorial, laptop, movies, online, personal, special effects, technology, tools, update, video, videos

*****

It seems the longer I use my latest laptop, the less I enjoy it. And, I cannot imagine a replacement being any better, if Windows 10 has opened the “Pandora’s box” of constant updating and taking away every little program I’ve tried to use with some sort of comfort. My old Vista laptop had just about everything I needed/wanted and was running smoothly until I had an accident with it; then it just stopped doing much of anything (and I had a fit…for a few months).

Have I already had this rant?

So, most recently, I am trying to use what I thought was a built-in feature to turn a static image into a mini-movie of a sort.

This feature or app has changed almost annually with updates. When I first started using it, there were 3D effects that phased to a stop. You could light a fire and then watch it fizzle out where you set it to stop. After an update, the fire just stops abruptly and looks rather stupid; so it’s either burn the whole video clip or don’t use the fire effect. Lame.

I opened the app the other day and, suddenly, found I was unable to access the 3D effect options. All I could use were the three I last tried. What happened to the library? It’s only available ONLINE now? WTF?!

I have had similar experiences with other built-in software, including the most basic and boring of games, solitaire. You mean to tell me even that has to be used ONLINE?

It reminds me of a previous job at which I had to cope with the workplace making radical changes, at least once a year, turning the place upside down to “stay fresh,” like some executives in a meeting played a game of Twister and decided this year was left-hand-red or move-the-heaviest-items-in-the-building-to-the-opposite-wall. You know what would keep the place truly fresh? FRESH CONTENT. Update your inventory; donate/clearance what’s not selling and bring in something proven to appeal to a wide customer base. Don’t just rearrange the furniture to confuse people who just want to find the things they learn to like at your business.

So, am I supposed to thank modern technology for improving my PC experience when it requires me to be online all of the time, exposing myself to all sorts of wannabe hacker vultures just waiting to find a fool?

And, considering how any sharing of WiFi space can weaken if not ruin a signal, how well can I expect my favored programs/apps to run if there is risk of the signal fading?

We hear about how public WiFi is risky and how too much WiFi can be bad for our bodies, our brains and/or our souls. And, here I feel stuck losing the use of my computer, simply because updates keep forcing me to use more ONLINE, where nothing feels private or secure. [Pfft! Passwords and encryption. Whatever.]

If this continues, I think I’ll just give up on glowing screens, completely…or just use them like a menu at a restaurant, when they are needed to perform a particular function…ONLINE. You want me to do something that requires a computer? Give me your computer to use and help me use it.

What’s the point? Personal computing seems to be dead or endangered. I might as well use a computer like a phonebooth…you know, that other thing that no longer exists because it was wiped out by cellphones and all those beacons bombarding us with invisible radiation for maintaining signals. Senseless. Stupid. Insane.

I feel like I was handed a vault and a key to open that vault and then robbed of the key, left with thoughts of the vault I once could access. That’s just cruel and evil.

[Presents his middle finger and says, “Format that, Microsoft a-holes!” Translates for the British folks by presenting his index finger and middle finger. Wallop.]

Technology sucks. Period. Or, at least, how it is mistreated and used to control people sucks. Like so many things, it’s a nice idea…it could be very useful…but it never quite works the ideal way. No. That would be TOO nice; wouldn’t it? No one wants the world to be nice. Psh!

Writingbolt's Creation

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The Grim Future of Phone Service

Quality; Is It Deceased?

Why Can’t I Enjoy My Latest Laptop, Episode 10-10-2021

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