Posts filed under ‘WALT’S OPINIONS’
OPINIONS & OBSERVATIONS
WHEN WILL THIS COUNTRY WAKE-UP?
Today I heard about a shooting in Gilroy, California. Three dead, so far, including a six-year old and a thirteen-year old. Lives robbed of a future by an asshole with a gun. Lives which could have made a difference to our world.
I have driven though Gilroy., California many times on the way to San Jose, the home of my former wife and current best friend. You could smell Gilroy before you reached it. As we approached the town we were greeted by a bucolic countryside, pleasant and peaceful. We approached the town along highway 152, a pleasant ride through the hills of brown which may change according to the weather. From my experience the weather never changed much, until now. The global weather change has stirred things up for California, and actually, all over the world. Of course, the existence of this phenomenon is a myth, fully apparent if you are a ‘stable genius’.
After an incident of tragic proportions, the news if full of sorrow, memorials, bicycles ridden for great distances so we remember the current tragedy. In my opinion none of these inspired acts make a difference in the mindset of our current society. There are too many mass shootings to remember. Even what happened in Los Vegas, 58 killed and more than 500 injured. That is not a mass shooting. That is a war we are not winning unless there is a change in the morality of this country. Where the right to own a weapon comes before the lives of the victims we hear about every day.
I do not want to take the rifle out of the hands of hunters. I do not want to take the weapons of those who want to protect their homes. I want to take weapons out the hands of the unstable, of those with a past history of violence. It will take a far greater brain to resolve all these problems, but I have one observation.
The answer is MONEY!
Unfortunately, our entire society’s values, mainly those who control our society’s goal is more and more money.
For decades and beyond the direction of this country has been bought by organizations and individuals with an agenda. How to make more money. That money buys politicians and who knows what other levels of our government. They always say your vote counts which is true. But money buys the individuals you can vote for.
The only way we can see to right this wrong is to fight money with money. Have the 1% with a conscious, and love this country for the opportunities it has provided them unite and bring back the values that have made this country great. Buy back our freedom which is rapidly changing. Use your wealth to make this country, which gave you the opportunity to make that wealth, a country we can all be proud of again,
The ball is in your court. Play it wisely for this country’s future.
OBSERVATIONS & OPINIONS
FUTURE WRITERS AND AI
Just finished the latest book by Ian McEwan, Machines Like Me. I highly recommend it for it is a great read. If you wonder what the future is, you will enjoy this book.
That book is the inspiration for this article.
I recently posted a piece about the elderly writer coping with today’s technological advances and all the social platforms with which to communicate with the public. To summarize, I don’t know how most of today’s electronics work or what they can accomplish. I don’t have a clue how to use the ever-growing number of social platforms. I realize change will never cease, but the rapidity of the changes today is without equal. The purpose of this piece is to address the potential future of writing. The future of not tomorrow’s elderly writers but all writers.
The news today is addressing more and more the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI). My local supermarket has the tall rectangular device roaming around the store. I asked the cashier what the thing does and he said it spots spills. That’s it. Then the human has to come to clean the mess. A meaningless purpose but this is only one step on the road to singularity. Singularity is the time when human and AI intelligence is equal. After that the machines leave us in the dust. What will the machines be then called, robo sapiens?
What I speculate in this piece would make a great premise for a short story. Use it if you want.
I wonder about the challenge to writers in the age of singularity and beyond. When machines are more intelligent than writers. When machines are able to produce more compelling plots and better character development. They may have access to a multitude of languages knowing the meaning of every word in those languages. There also go the translators of novels, and the thesaurus will be relegated to the category of ancient works.
This is just speculation, as it was not long ago, that the personal computer and cell phone were the property of dreams.
TRANSITIONS
This blog will morph to a direction I had not expected it to go. With the tumbling of respect the world has on our country’s value due to current conditions of decisions recently made by our government, something must be said by all those who recognize our decline. The value of our country is facing a challenge of existence. I still want to write articles to assist writers, but I must also address what is happening to this country.
When you cannot rely on our president to tell the truth, when all around him find the norm is to lie, I cannot help but think we are in a downfall.
The rant today is ‘false news’. But the reality today the only place I find false news is in the local news. In the rush to get the information out first they will distribute what little the know no matter how accurate.
So false news does exist in the quest to be first. But the argument today about false national news is an effort to conceal the truth.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS
OUR FATE
We are nothing but a life-form created to appreciate that life, appreciate all life.
We have failed.
Through ignorance and greed, we have chosen profit before compassion.
destroying our world without concern for the implications.
Better luck next time.
Life’s Cycle
When young
You reach
To the future,
In old age
The reach is done,
Now,
The waiting begins.
POEMS & FLEETING THOUGHTS
IN THE END, WHO SHOULD PAY?
Here I go again, off topic. But I’ll get back, eventually. It’s just that our world is changing so quickly that I must take notice.
I feel we are no longer citizens of this great country, but pawns subject to the musings of those in power who are subject to the money of those with vast amounts of money.
Here goes a radical change in topic, if you keep up with what is happening, you may think I am presidential material?
These days the news is alive with stories of sexual harassment. Respected figures, and some less respected, are falling right and left. And of course, lawyers are licking their chops.
My question is: When the employers pays the fine for the employee, at times many millions of dollars, shouldn’t that money be considered income for the employee and taxed? This may seem petty but I think we should speak whenever we have thoughts concerning the changing values of this world we call home.
I have no knowledge of tax laws, just opinions.
What do you think of these musings?
HOPE
No matter how this county is fuc#ed up, there is still hope.
Americans still care for each other even if those who pull the strings of our lives don’t.
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