Votes Can Be Bought

And cheaply, at that.

Democracy has turned into a voting market, where people and corporations can buy votes - by buying advertisements!

And no one seems to mind.

Virtual Singer Uses Crowdsourced Songs To Become a Star In Japan

Slashdot

I thought someone should be doing this - but it has already been done, starting 10 years ago, by a Japanese company!

Crucial to Miku's success is the ability for devotees to purchase the Yamaha-powered Vocaloid software and write their own songs for the star to sing right back at them.

This is one story you will not see on the American media. Americans like to be entertained - but the entertainment has to be made by others. 

They Have Decided to Not Function Very Well

I am still trying to understand Americans, who have always baffled me. What makes them act so strangely? Their response is simple, there is nothing strange about us - you are the strange one!

Which baffles me even more, why are they being so secretive?

The conclusion I have reached is simple, and depends on functioning properly as contrasted with power struggles.

Power struggles are ancient, and have gone on forever - but the invention of machines (especially cars) powered by fossil fuels (especially oil) changed everything - especially the people involved. They changed - and not for the better.

We can see this now, looking back on it. But the people of that time, felt just the other way - that they had been greatly improved, because they had become more powerful!

And this power led directly to WWI and WWII (really the same war) followed by the Cold War, that destroyed the USSR. Throughout this period, the struggle for oil was an important part of what was going on.

I am not saying anything new here - everyone agreed, that power struggles (on a global scale) were going on - and were the normal condition!

And, on a smaller scale, power struggles were going on between organizations (mainly corporations). Everyone was grabbing for power, and did not try to hide this! And everyone considered this normal.

Until the coming of the Computer, and its networks (Internet and Cellular). When it became obvious that people would have to cooperate - and actually help each other! In other words, they would have to function properly.

Here again, this is not a new idea - Adam Smith spoke of it, in 1776. He assumed the State, would intervene to make everything function properly.

Now, in the Computer Economy, those who function properly, will become rich. But most people do not care - they want their share of the pie - whether they helped make it or not!

People Who are Still Living in the Fifties

To my amazement, I keep bumping into these people! Who seldom use email, or their computers - and do not consider them important - but, to the contrary, an obstruction to their everyday, normal lives.

They probably watch Television frequently - and take it seriously. But have not realized that the Computer is different - and that it gives them more capabilities. They don't want any more capabilities.

When I was living with Marielos and her son, soon after I came down here - I watched with amazement as she watched Television, and played Solitaire on the Computer, at the same time. The Computer had been given to her son, by his father - who she had removed from their lives. She had her son, and that was all she wanted.

Except for one thing: Real Estate - the All-American passion. She kept moving into better and better houses, in better and better neighborhoods. And ended up in a new house in a new neighborhood - that promptly started to fall down. Without knowing it - she had bought into an illusion, that looked wonderful - but was empty inside.

This was America in the Fifties, a fantastic economy - that would not last long.

Religion and Software

This is about the relationship between everyone and their world, that has gotten as bad as it can possibly get.

People have observed, correctly - that their world is not good for them. And they have set out to destroy it - in any way possible, and there are plenty of ways available to them.

This cannot be understood, unless something else is understood - the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. A distinction that most people today want to deny. They are certain that they are good, and other people are bad - and this contrast does not exist inside themselves.

They think they are much simpler than they really are - and resist, with all their strength, knowing more about themselves.

---

This, I think, summarizes the situation nicely. Mankind has reached a crisis, that it will survive - but in a greatly altered condition, that we cannot predict now.

One way of looking at this, is by looking at our latest technology - Software. And specifically, how it treats data. I have avoided this subject myself, regarding it as somewhat distasteful - but now I am being forced to look at it.

And being forced to recognize something we have always known - that there was ordinary reality, and something else - that manages this reality.

Another way of saying this, is that we are religious beings - acutely aware of of the spirits behind everything.

How on earth do we integrate religion and software? Frankly, I do not know - but I know it has to be done. Perhaps we could start with the attitude of programmers to their data. Something they are quite willing, even eager, to talk about - in front of the Internet cameras - that seem to be everywhere!

We live in a world that has become aware of itself. A vastly different world. That is sometimes called Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML).

As I set here, wearing my pajamas, in front of my Laptop, that is connected to the Internet. I am amazed by what I just wrote.

We have created another world, that is completely different from any of the other ones that we have created. And we don't know what to do with it.

Ethical Software

Software companies know they have to get into this, but they have been dragging their feet over it.

Software itself was perfectly logical, but making it ethical also, would mess it up - make it more human, and developers were not sure they wanted to go that way.

But the world was telling them - they had to go that way, whether they wanted to, or not. Software was too important to exist in its own separate, little world.

This has always been true - our technologies have always had social implications. Take, for example, the Railroads. They took over the economy of their time, and made Industrial Warfare inevitable - with its enormous loss of human life.

Did the people in the early 19th Century realize this? No, and WWI resulted. Europe had become united by its Railroads (that could move huge amounts of material (including solders). Their military planners knew this, and included it in their war plans - without anyone else being aware of this.

No one considered how interrelated all these countries were - and how they could easily descend into mutual destruction.

And this is still true today, a century later. We live in a global economy, without any global governance, or planning.

Software could help us do this - it is good at gathering huge amounts of data, and analyzing it.

America could know how much American money exists, and who owns it - by requiring American banks to report this to a Federal agency. This information already exists - it is only a matter of making intelligent use of it.

But Americans will have none of this - the Government, in their opinion, should not mess with their internal affairs - especially anything involving money. No one else should know anything about anyone else's money!

This is crazy! And not just a little crazy - but completely crazy. Money does not exist in a world of its own - but the Human world. They make it and they spend it (if the have any).

And they have to be protected from financial panics - that are now called recessions, or a financial crisis. They have to be protected from themselves, and their own irrational behavior!

Americans are saying, in effect "If we want to commit economic suicide, that's none of your business!"

What are You REALLY Trying to Do?

Back in the Nineties, when I was working in Silicon Valley - I desperately wanted to ask everyone this - especially the people I was working with. What are you spending your life doing?

I grew up with a friend in Ft. Madison, Iowa. I became an Electronic Engineer, working in Radar - while he was working in the Pentagon. I became a moderate success - but he became a huge success.

There was so much money sloshing around in the Pentagon - some of it couldn't help sticking to you. You don't have to be dishonest yourself, you just have to let other people, be somewhat dishonest.

He knew he wanted to be a success - and he knew how to do that. By contrast, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do - and Success didn't know how to find me.

Now, looking back on it - I'm satisfied with the little money I have left. And wouldn't trade my life for his, with all his money.

But if I were asked what I was trying to do I would say "Live a pleasant and useful life."

The Pleasures of Being Bad

This is one of the fundamental pleasures of being human - being able to cheat, and get away with it.

And this is one of the fundamental problems of any society - how to encourage economic initiative without encouraging dishonesty at the same time.

American society was a case in point. It was strange mixture of idealism and dishonesty - that persisted into the Computer era. There was so much money being made there - it was very tempting to be dishonest in all kinds of innovative ways.

As was shown in the Financial Crisis of 2008. A crisis that still exists, because Americans have not developed the Political Will to deal with the issues involved. But want to keep alive the possibility - that they too - can cheat and get rich.

I noticed this, back in the Eighties, in high-tech California - the Coastal strip from Ventura County, southward through LA Country, Orange County, and into San Diego. The amount of high-tech junk being created there was phenomenal.

Why? Because they could get away with it - and because they did not know how to do it right.

Eventually, the action shifted northward - into Silicon Valley. And then to Seattle. They knew how to make good computers and good software. The Laptop and the Cloud came into being.

They discovered the pleasures of being good - and being profitable also. A tricky balance, that is still being negotiated.

Tourist Bus Art

This bus was parked in front of the Church - that is a popular tourist attraction. 

Jesus is behind the waterfalls, that are behind all kinds of busses - all with their lights on.

The front of the bus says Queen of the Angels and Another Blessing of God. 

The Gulf War, the Cold War, and the Iraq War

I am reading The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

This is history made entertaining. And it only cost $5.99!

The part about the fall of the Soviet Union is complicated - but also authoritative. America spent Trillions on the Cold War - but in the end, the USSR ended itself.

A Stand Up Comic Explains Google

Google Developers

Google wants you to be one of its developers! And you can start by watching this video!

Or the one where they are teaching High School students.

In either case, Google wants you to get involved.

Shocking, huh?

A Different Guernica

New York Review

I am not a fan of Picasso, and I know almost nothing about Art. But this article helps me to understand him - and this important work of his.

People are Both Good and Bad - and They Cannot be Made Perfect

This should be obvious - but it is not to some people. They will even go to the extreme of believing they will become perfect - so the rest of the world can see that it can be done!

I have known some of these people, and knew they are not perfect - but also knew it was best to say nothing about this to them.

Soft Robots for Humanity

Stanford University School of Engineering

The first I notice about a presenter on a YouTube like this - is what kind of clothing they are wearing! They are saying "I am not a suit" (a businessman wearing a business suit and a tie).

The material here is interesting also - and not hard to follow.

My New Windows 10 Computer

Microsoft has done good job of improving its User Interface here.

Except for one thing - when I started to install the Chrome browser - a product from Google. It wanted me to use the Windows browser, and got pretty nasty about that. It grabbed all of the WiFi that I share with Ray, my landlord - and stopped a phone conversation he was having with one of his clients. I will have to wait until he stops working, at 3:30 - before I can do any heavy stuff on my own.

That's what I got this laptop for - doing some heavy stuff. After I do some of that - I will report back to you.

Computerization Has Made Us Vulnerable to Cyberterrorism

As I wrote the title to this posting, I noticed the words Computerization and Cyberterrorism are now part of our normal vocabulary. The first we can understand, but the second we cannot.

I will explain it for you - by simply noting, that the secure use of Internet resources requires careful programming techniques (and expensive programmers) - that many organizations don't want bother with.

Let me give you an example - Aeropost, the company that ships my packages from Miami to Costa Rica. There have been several companies that did this, but only this one has survived - because it became Computerized. All its operations, and there are many of them - are controlled by its computers, and their advanced software. This has allowed it to be efficient, and profitable.

Let me start with the beginning - when a package arrives at their warehouse in Miami. Immediately it is given a package number (for their internal database) and their software starts looking for the cheapest way to fly it to Costa Rica. It has an algorithm that picks the best price and delivery - and then dispatches a truck to take it (and other packages for Costa Rica) to that airline terminal at the airport.

I can log into their online site, and watch as it progresses from stage to stage. First, the flight to Costa Rica, then the trip through Customs, then the delivery to Cartago, the nearest large town. I will get an email, when I can pick it up there. I am waiting, right now, to pick up my new Windows 10 laptop.

Is all this secure? Probably not. Any cyber terrorist, could easily stop its operations it its tracks.

And the same thing can be said for how our electricity is delivered - under Computer control.

Reality

The discovery of Scientific Reality was one of mankind's greatest achievements.

I'm sure everyone will agree with this, without thinking about it. But also, without thinking about it - they will demonstrate that they no longer believe in it. They now live in realities they have made themselves - that are far superior to it (they think).

I am talking about Philosophy (and associated subjects) here - that all involve thinking - something only our species can do - but often do erroneously. People no longer want to do this for themselves - they prefer to adopt the thinking of others.

This brings up the appearance of the individual - that appeared at the same time (in the 18th Century) - that people still say they believe in - while denying it, in practice. They only believe in the society they happen to be part of.

We must now back up in time (something we can do fairly easily) and think about the events that created our Industrial (or Capitalist) world - that began with the Protestant Reformation. And now (a few centuries later) has become a global event.

Plenty of people have gone over this ground, and analyzed it thoroughly. But mostly ignored its effects on us - the people involved. We have changed - and changed enormously. And we should be aware of this.

I was aware, as a small child, that the society I grew up in - was part of a huge movement, that was superhuman. And thought itself immune to the effects of ordinary reality, We were insane - but like most insane people - unaware of this.

In my family, this took the form of our small church (the RLDS church) that we believed in completely. I can now smile at this small mutual admiration society - but they took it very seriously.

And in the same way, our society of the time took itself very seriously. Even as it was destroying itself.

We can now look back at the Seventies, and see this as a turning point. A transition from a mechanical world to a digital world. One world was being destroyed, as another was being created.

A huge event, that few are aware of - and very definitely, do not want to be aware of!

Do They Like People?

This is the primary question I asked myself, even before I was born. And the answer was, almost always "No." The people in Costa Rica, where I live now - would answer "Yes."

There were plenty of exceptions, in either case  - but the overall tendency was clear.

I read all kinds of things, maybe more than I should - but for me, the basic question is always the same "What is their attitude toward people?" And I continue to wonder why this question is not asked more frequently - instead of carefully avoiding it.

Let me speak of Costa Rica first. The Relationship between Men and Women here tends to be either Good or Bad. This is also true in the States - and may be an universal problem.

Women have often been treated badly. But in some places, such as the American Midwest, where I was brought up - they have overcompensated for this, and now rule the roost.

The society that evolved in the Affluent countries, in the 18th and 19th Centuries - were affluent because they knew how to make money, and how to mistreat people.

And how to ignore this mistreatment. They think they are the most loving people on earth - when they are just the apposite.

There has been a big shift in society's attitude toward people, recently - as Software became important. Software Developers know software is made by People - and that makes people important.

But they also know Business was made by People, and Business made bad Software. They have an ambivalent attitude toward People (they can be good or bad) - but a consistent attitude toward Software - it has to be good, and getting better all the time.

Mixing Software with Business

I saw this happening, when I worked in Silicon Valley, in the Nineties. And it was not a pretty sight.

Usually Developers identified with Business, and turned out terrible software. They were not told "Turn out terrible software!" But they did anyway, and were rewarded for it.

There were Developers, and Companies who produced Software Development tools (such as those produced by Rational Software) who tried to buck this trend - but they were unsuccessful, and went out of business. Or, in my case - left the country instead.

Gradually, very gradually - Developers began to see their work as different from Business. And became more interested in helping it - than in helping their company. Heavens to Betsy, what was going on?

And - miracle of miracles! - companies who allowed their developers to develop better software, on their own - became hugely successful. Amazon, Google, and Apple were born.

I Create an Alternative Reality

Yesterday, I went to a local fast-food eatery (called a Soda down here). This is operated by a Mother, who changed part of her house into a Soda, because it location was so good (on the main drag, right next to the supermarket).

When I started living in Orosi, five years ago, this business was successful, and served the many Gringos who lived here.

But the Gringos moved away, and her business was reduced to local people, who did not have so much money. She also had grown children, who lived with her - and were economically dependent on her. Her income had gone down - and her expenses had gone up.

She had invented a Hamburguesa pollo (chicken hamburger) that I really liked. I was afraid she would go out of business. So instead of paying 1500 Colones for one of these, I paid 2000 - and became her patron saint! She had no idea what was going on - but she knew something had happened - and she let everyone know also.

When I walked into this Soda yesterday, there was only one person there, an elderly woman who was the assistant to the Mother. She knew what I wanted, and started to make the Hamburguesa. And the place started to fill up with people! Her youngest daughter knew I was somehow responsible for this - and she looked at me strangely.

This can be seen as a chance occurrence - but something similar had happened a few days before. I called my Barber, to find if he was open - he said he would be in 30 minutes, about two in the afternoon. When I showed up, I was the only person there. His business had suffered recently because new Barber Shops had opened in town - and he was glad to see me. Five minutes after he had started to work on me - two more customers showed up - local guys with their motorcycle helmets!

I had the distinct feeling that they had followed me in - and I had created business, just because I was a Gringo! Everyone here assumes Gringos have money - and they want to be around more of that themselves.

We have Failed

We have failed, as a people, as a nation, as an economy, as a world. We have failed in every way possible - including our ability to recognize this.

The one exception is the Phone (or perhaps the Laptop) that people turn to for reassurance that things are going all right.

And, of course - pain-killing (but addictive) drugs. Failure is painful, especially if it is not recognized. People know something is wrong with them, but they are not allowed to see what that is.
Everyone is saying (over and over) "Everything is OK!" When just the opposite is the case.

In a way, their confidence in in the Computer, and its Software, is well-placed - they have been improved immensely. But this powerful new tool can be turned against us - and frequently has been.

We need to recognize this, but we cannot - if we have been forbidden to.

Software Makes Extreme Demands on Those Who Want to Learn It

Software is where the money is - but to get that money, you have to keep learning - forever. If you can't learn, and keep learning - you can't be a software developer - and you can't earn that great money.

For many people - this is not fair. And that makes them mad! And they want to destroy such an unfair world.

Software Development, back in the Eighties and Nineties, didn't amount to much. It's just now becoming a mature discipline - thirty years later.

I tried to show you some code for the Angular platform - but couldn't even do that, I kept getting the wrong link. Trust me, it's very complicated. And this is just the boilerplate that gets generated when you start a project in Angular.

You (the developer) have to fill all the details, in all the right places. Which means you have to know what is going on - and how everything fits together.

I keep saying "It's a whole new world!" And everyone else (almost everyone else) keeps saying "Not interested!"

The few who get on board this gravy train, will thrive. The rest will barely survive.

How Silicon Valley Divided Society and Made Everyone Raging Mad

Newsweek

Of all the fantasies about how the internet would improve our lives, the notion that connectivity automatically brings people together is the most alluring. Mark Zuckerberg’s oft-repeated promise to create a “global community” on Facebook is merely the most recent example. For decades, the utopians of Silicon Valley have firmly believed that digital connectivity will bridge all misunderstanding and difference.

This notion goes back hundred of years - one of the first events in the Bible is "Cain slew Abel" And God did not punish him - but seemed to find such family conflicts normal. In this case, Cain was a herdsman, tending his flocks - and Abel was an agriculturist, a farmer. The two have never got along very well - as in our own history, in our Wild West. Where the Cowboy was seen as a hero - toting a gun, of course. 

The New Skype App

Microsoft claims this will do almost anything, for almost nothing - using the Internet.

I downloaded it, and tried it out. It didn't take me long to discover that it doesn't work for me, since I live in Costa Rica. Is this stupid, or is this stupid?

If you live in the States, it might work for you.

Adults in the Room My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment

LA Review of Books

Have you heard of Yanis Varoufakis? Then you know what this review is about. 

Although you might assume he is someone in Software Development, since there are so many strange names there. And in a way, you would be right.

Reading this review, made me buy Post-Capitalist Society - where Drucker has some amazing things to say - about the Knowledge Economy. 

How Computer Companies Worked in the Nineties

How they worked was simple - they got funding, used up their funding - and then went out of business, having accomplished little. Meanwhile, some of the higher-ups in those companies - got rich. No secrets here.

Adaptec, who I worked for, for awhile - made some fine adapters for Desktop computers. Huge things, three feet tall - that were displaced by the Laptop computer, that did not need adapters.

Adaptec should have gone out of business, right then. But it was taken over by a new crew, that were determined to milk it to death. Which they did. They produced a lot of defective products, meanwhile, because they could produce nothing else. Bad guys make bad stuff.

Some of them, such as Sun Microsystems, were straight shooters, and developed some fine products, such as the Java programming language, that is still being used today. But it could not compete with Microsoft - who shut it down.

I must say a few words about Microsoft - a strange mixture of good and bad. I am using the Windows operating system to write this - and Microsoft updates this, almost every day. It is responsible for Typescript, a fine product that Google uses for its Angular product.

Google and Microsoft are now buddies (in the 21st Century) and everyone is happy about this. Maybe things will work out afterall.

Hatred

The amount of Hatred in my life, astonishes me. And it is not hard to see where it came from - my early childhood, and my relationship with my Mother.

By saying this, I am not saying anything new. Psychologists have always known this (there has been some recent analysis of Freud and his parents, for example) but lately - everyone assumes that we can somehow overcome it, that we should overcome it, and forget it. Because it ruins our lives.

I agree, it ruins our lives - and we must find some way of dealing with it. And by we, I mean all of us. But there is so much hatred in the world, we are afraid of touching it - and making our whole world blow up in our faces.

You can see this in individuals, who have mental problems. The slightest thing, can set off a chain reaction that disables them. And in whole countries - the slightest thing, can cause a war that kills thousands, even millions.

In either case, the people affected, usually manage to come up with a solution that does not solve the problem - but prevents a complete collapse. They are disabled, and can still function, but not too well.

This could be seen as an interim solution to the problem - something that will give them some time to work things out. Except for one thing - their ability to understand their problem, has been badly compromised - and this makes them unable to solve it.

I will be specific - the election of Trump in America. Strange problems were simmering just under the surface there, and as a result, Americans blew up - and elected Trump. Who is only making the situation worse.

The problems that caused this were trivial, actually - but in an unstable situation, small effects can cause a big reaction.

And a new situation that Americans cannot understand - and don't even want to.

What is the Science Behind ...

Science has fallen on bad times, where nearly everyone is against it. National Geographic even had an issue about The War on Science.

Probably because Science, in the 18th and 19th Centuries made people rich (at least in some countries) - and it is now telling them that this sudden wealth is over. People are furious.

Few are interested in discovering how the world works - that is what Science is about.

But still, people are demanding that there be a science behind everything! This makes no sense at all - but people do not care - and they make the same demands anyway.

For example, what is the Science behind Meditation?

I once did a short meditation training, where the trainers measured our oxygen usage before and after our training. They probably wrote a paper, for some kind of journal, or something - announcing their results!

This is foolishness - and I could even use stronger language. To see if Meditation works for you - you have to try it for yourself. It will work for some people, in some situations - but not for others.

And this result applies to many practices - they will work in some situations, but not in others. And which situations they will be successful in - usually cannot be determined in advance.

What is Wrong with Our World, and How are We Going to Make it Better?

This is not a subject Americans like to talk about. And they will do almost anything to avoid it. This is the last thing in the world they want to consider, when it should be the first.

First of all, because they do not want to know how bad things are. And secondly, whatever the present situation is - they do not want to fix it. They have better things to do, and they will do them instead.

This is quite a change from a few hundred years ago - when making a better world was something almost everyone was interested in - and actively engaged in. What happened?

Industrialization happened - and changed everything. It's easy enough for me to speak of Industrialization, when it was actually a very diverse event - but now, looking back on it, we can say it happened - and the results were not entirely beneficial.

People knew something big had happened - and they did not want a repeat of it. Why?

Because it had made a world that did not like them. This world was interested in big things - not small things, like them.

The end result was - nothing got changed.

When the Revolution Came for Amy Cuddy, however, dropped into my inbox. And said much more than I could even think of saying.

It shows me, once again - that a few people are thinking (and thinking very hard) even as most are not thinking at all.

When the Revolution
Came for Amy CuddyWhen the Revolution

Came for Amy CuddyWhen the Revolution

Came for Amy Cuddy

When the Revolution
Came for Amy Cuddy

When the Revolution
Came for Amy CuddyWhen the Revolution

Came for Amy Cuddy

When the Revolution
Came for Amy Cuddy

UX Design

UX stands for User Experience. And Software Designers have included it in their Toolkit.

One thing I see, as I look around me - is that the Young are not interested in helping the Old. They do not want to Work, they only want to Play.

I know a young man who worked last summer in Alaska for a Rafting company. The customers were old, retired people who did not want to paddle their raft - as younger people do. So the rafts this company used had a metal frame, and he sat in the middle with two long oars, and did all the steering himself. The scenery was fantastic, wild animals were everywhere - and the customers enjoyed their trip.

Their User Experience was excellent - and he got in fantastic shape, from all the exercise. He did not make enough money to support a family, but he did not want to - he was having fun, and that was all he was interested in. This is one young fellow, who is doing alright - for now.

But what about the rest? What kind of jobs can they have? I can see one area with plenty of high-paying jobs - Software. And one part of that, that interests me - the User - that is practically everyone, in today's world.

I am reading UX for Beginners - that does an excellent job of explaining this. Software Designers are unusual - they want to tell everyone what they are doing - and even help others make lots of money, doing what they do.

Can you imagine!

The Influence of Society on the Individual

This has always been huge, and as a small child, I looked out on my world - and did like what I saw (or what I felt). But I was told "You must like it, anyway!"

I think my experience was common - people everywhere did not like their world, but were told they must like it anyway.

What did they do? All kinds of things, but basically they decided to sabotage it. If it was not going to be good to them, they were not going to be good to it. The result was internal warfare, between those who supported society and those opposed to it.

And this warfare could even go on inside a person - sometimes supporting society and sometimes opposing it. They knew they had to at least seem to support it - while working against it, in fact.

Just this morning ALPHABET IS TRYING TO REINVENT THE CITY, STARTING WITH TORONTO plopped into my inbox. These guys are ignoring one fact - people have feelings, and the want to feel they are wanted. This new city is not being made for them, but for the Information Economy.

They are not the same thing!

A Better Way to Control Firearms

It's simple - record each weapon and ammunition sale. Who sold it and who bought it - then put this in a Federal database. Anyone who accumulates too much of either one would be investigated. This would not stop shootings where only a few people are involved - but mass shootings would be eliminated.

A similar strategy could be used to determine what money is where. If banks were required to record the deposits and withdrawals to every bank account. Paper money going either way would be scanned to determine its value. This could be improved by recording the serial number of every bill.

The tricky part would be determining who owns all these bank accounts. But this could probably be determined - once the pattern of all the bank transactions are known - and especially when transfers, to and from, foreign banks are made.

Better Logistics is Working for Me

These improved logistics have been made possible by the Computer and its Internet. And Amazon is at the center of this network.

Recently, I decided I had to have a Windows 10 laptop. So instead of shopping for one down here, in Costa Rica, where the prices are high - I shopped on Amazon - and found this. It was shipped to my address in Miami, in two days! My shipping service (Aeropost) will fly it to the nearest large town (Cartago) where I will pick it up next week.

Even the Tico post office is doing this - if I subscribe to their new Box service. I have to rent a post office box (which I already have) and let them use my credit card. I can then buy on the Internet, and ship my purchases to my mail box. It will route my purchases through Customs for me, and place them in a packages room, right next to the mailboxes. I will get a notice in my mailbox, that I will take to the package room - and get my package! But you have to be fluent in Spanish to do this.

People are Getting Even

They have been treated badly (by other people, especially their parents) and now they are treating them badly - just to get even. But they are not aware of all this at all - and don't want to be aware of it.

This last part - they don't want to be aware of it - is very important. And is due to the way humans prioritize their experiences. Their emotions are more important to them, than their thinking (the way they think about their world). Thinking (or reasoning) is a recent addition to their mental capabilities, and it has less influence over them.

Thinking about what is going on, makes them feel bad - and they want to feel good. They may know this is faulty reasoning - but they can easily ignore that.

I'm sure this has been going on for a long time. But recently, with the arrival of networked devices (such as TV and the Computer) this has been getting worse. These allow people to be manipulated by their emotions (their feelings) more than before.

Clever (but unscrupulous) people make it their business to understand people better than they understand themselves. And appeal to their herd instincts.

Recently, as is often the case, Your Data is Being Manipulated plopped into my inbox, right on time. The writer, Dana Boyd, is associated with Microsoft's Data and Society people. These people know what is going on - and they want other people to know also.

But only a few people are listening to them - the vast majority (probably 99 percent) are not listening. They are busy getting even, and don't want to be distracted, by someone else's ideas.

Voice Apps

The technology behind these is fantastic - the ability to understand spoken language, and to produce spoken language - in almost any language! But as a user interface, they are unnecessary.

We already have a bitmapped screen - where every location on the screen is under software control. It can draw special areas (such as a button) on the screen, and tell when the user clicks on them (or touches them). It can respond by doing almost anything - if I ask about the latest hurricane, for example - I can get a video of it, in action. If I want to see naked, dancing women - I can see (and hear) all I want of them.

An interface where the user makes verbal commands (what is the weather?) - and where the computer responds verbally (the weather is such and such) is not very exciting - by comparison. 

Americans Are Responsible for the Mess They are In

Humans have always operated in two ways - consciously and unconsciously. The discovery of the unconscious was one of our greatest discoveries, ever - although there have been numerous attempts since then to forget this - and project it elsewhere.

I might as well state the obvious - most of the operations of the body, and the mind - are unconscious - and we have a collective unconscious, as well - that we call culture - also a recent discovery.

The biggest mistake of the Enlightenment was neglecting the unconscious, and the impact of culture.

It was superseded by Industrialization - where the unconscious and culture were put to work - with disastrous consequences - WWI, the Depression, and WWII. People everywhere insisted they were not responsible for this - something else made them do it. And they continue to assert this, with all their strength. "We are not responsible, and anyone who says so, is in big trouble!"

Most of the people said this - but a minority did acknowledge this problem - in many ways. A split had developed between the intellectuals and artists - and the rest of the population (the vast majority, who had all the votes).

As a result, Americans voted for Trump - and continue to support him. And insist that nothing is wrong!

Adam Smith on Foreign Policy

I am reading The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought where Smith says something everyone agrees with - but few practice:

The only world that will work has to be good for everyone.

Smith made the same point in regard to colonies. They were good for the nation insofar as they extended the market, making a more productive division of labor possible. But to grant British merchants a monopoly on trade with the colonies benefited merchants at the expense of the nation, an expense that was aggravated by the military costs of maintaining such monopolies by force. 

Such companies, which established military control over foreign regions in order to maintain their own trade monopoly, were detrimental to the home country and ruinous to the subject nations, Smith maintained. The consumers of the home country suffered all the disadvantages that came from an exclusive supplier unrestrained by the forces of competition and free to undersupply the market and thus raise prices for imported goods.

This not only applies to trade with foreign countries, it also applies to the home market. Consumers should not be considered fair game, open to exploitation by any provider - but equals, that must be protected, so that everything works properly.

I am speaking of Ethics here, that every company (and every organization) gives plenty of lip-service to - but little else.

The Disadvantages of Industrialization

These disadvantages can be seen most easily by looking at the history of the Industrialized world from the middle of the 19th Century to the middle of the 20th. It is clear that mankind did not know how to handle this big event. They did not handle it, it handled them - and brutally.

We should have learned something from this - but unfortunately, Industrialization removed the ability to reason, from most of the the population. They had been changed into workers, and could do nothing else.

This had been foreseen by Adam Smith, in 1776, when Industrialization was just getting started. Although he could not have imagined the extent of this development. Now, two hundred years later - we can look back, and see what happened.

The Mass of the people (which is what they had become) responded to this, as a religious event - something ordained by God (or a similar Universal power).

I can see this most easily in the religion of my family - Mormonism. Most of the converts, who followed Joseph Smith, the founder of this religion - came from the industrialized sections of England. They wanted another religion, to combat the one they had. And since Joseph was a Prophet of God, they knew he could do this. What happened instead, was the death of Smith at the hands of an angry mob. And the departure of the rest, to somewhere in the West - outside of America, that had treated them so badly.

The rest of America simply adapted, and America became the strongest nation in history - after WWII. This was the world I was born into - in 1936. In 1960, I was an Electronic Engineer, building Radars to detect Soviet bombers - and flying my own airplane. Eventually, I ended up in California (in Silicon Valley) working in Computers.

And noticing the same thing - Americans did not know where they were, or what had happened to them. But one thing was clear to me - they hated people. I had to get out, and I did - and moved to Costa Rica, where I now live.

The Cost of Caring

New Yorker Magazine

This is the tragic story of a Filipino woman, who left her family, to provide care for the children, and the handicapped - of affluent people in the New York City area.

Her family back home, became dependent on the money she sent back to them - nearly everything that she made - and would not let her return.

This is not an easy read.

Intelligence Interests Me

Because I am different that way.

I am not especially intelligent myself - but I sure know it when I see it. And I have to keep reminding myself that not many people are this way.

For example - I came across the book Concurrency in Go and pulled it into Safari (a neat service that lets me look at all kinds of Computer stuff) and the writer, right away, struck me as a real person - a real person, and a programmer. Great!

But I have a problem. My Windows 7 laptop cannot handle all the interesting new things I want to do on it. So I ordered a Windows 10 model from Amazon. My goodness, how much extra intelligence, my own intelligence, now requires!

For the next two weeks, until my new laptop gets here, in Costa Rica - I will have to put up with a buggy laptop. Patience! I keep telling myself - and keep telling myself!

Girl is a gun, a gun, a gun

We Bleed Words

Does this title strike you? It sure did me.

It came just as a woman friend and I were doing a series of emails about violence - after the Vegas shooter was in the headlines. One thing we can all agree on (all of us) was the violence against us, in our lives, especially our young lives. And how everyone covered this up.

This gal writes poetry, although she sometimes denies it.  Poetry has the advantage of extreme condensation of emotion in textual form.

Software Development is Something New

I hardly need tell you that software is something new - but the process itself (as a social process) is also something new. Its overall objective, is simply to make better software - something that any field of endeavor ascribes to - but usually does not not accomplish. But in Software, this is accomplished every day - routinely.

I suppose it can do this, because it is so new, few know what it is doing - and do not consider it a threat, because they do not know what it is doing. It operates quietly, in the background - and effects global changes, without anyone noticing it.

People pull out their Phones, and look at them intently, many times every day - not realizing that they have merged with them, and are different beings, as a result.

This, in itself, is nothing new - people have always merged with their technologies. But in the case of Software, the results are unusually far-reaching. I wish I could say it has made them better, but I cannot - I can only say it has made them better in some ways, and worse in other ways. All without there being aware of anything at all.

It will be useful, to back up a few years, to the Fifties - before Television. If you can remember that far back. Television hit people with an effect like that of a nuclear bomb - on their psyches. They were blasted into pieces - and the pieces have never been reassembled. Because people found they liked being that way.

This was the scene when the Computer arrived - a landscape littered with remanents of a previous era. With the people in it, having no idea where they were. This made it easy for it to take over - and make a world better for itself. But not necessarily for the people in it.

We now live in two worlds - the real world, and the virtual world. I get up in the morning, take a poop, and eat breakfast - all in the real world. Then I open my laptop, and start programming - in the virtual world.

Everyone is the same way - they live in two worlds, without being aware of this. And are comfortable with these two personalities - that do not communicate with each other.

I went to School with the Vegas Shooter

Greg Palast

Sometimes blogging is as easy a falling off a log. Stuff falls into your inbox, and if it is good - you pass it along.

This is good.

Russia, Russia Everywhere

NY Times

This refers to the Time's Bits newsletter, and this issue has some hot stuff about how Russia used Facebook, Google, and the Kaspersky antivirus software to poke into the guts of American social networks. 

It's an easy read - and a good introduction to the murky world of international spy networks. 

We need to understand what AI is

Artificial Intelligence is a term everyone is talking about - but no one understands.

Take it from me - it's an umbrella term that encompasses many loosely related, but separate disciplines - all implemented in the latest, powerful combination of computer hardware and software.
This combination (in the Computer Cloud) is so powerful, some people are certain it will take over - and control us.

What we should be doing, is trying to understand what this thing is. Wikipedia does a good job of introducing this subject - but most people will just stare at it, and decide it's too much for them to deal with. A reasonable, but unfortunate conclusion.

If they looked into it, it wouldn't take long. before they could understand its broad outlines - and have a broad understanding of it. And they could see that the King's new clothing, is not so impressive.

Here, I am merely separating the hype from the reality - something so many people are doing, it's hard to distinguish one voice from another. But we have to roll up our pant legs - and wade in anyway.

What we will be wading into, sometimes has substance - and very useful substance, at that. Such as the Laptop I am typing with, and the Internet it is connected to. And, I have to admit - some AI also.

This is Intelligence we can use - and should use.

To Be a Specialist, you Gotta Have a Special Mind

I have been studying Software recently, and this is true there also. You gotta have the kind of mind that thinks like a computer. There are plenty of software schools that claim to do this for you - to turn you into a software expert painlessly. But none of them say that - a certain kind of mind is necessary for this to happen.

And I will add something else - the people who have developed these minds, are deficient in important ways. Ways that they do not want to know about.

This has been true forever - and is an important part of our human heritage. As we develop special skills, we develop special limitations.

Take The Warrior, for example - as shown in our first literature, the Iliad. These guys could think of nothing but war. And they were easily conquered by people with more diverse skills - such as the Romans.

Thousands of years later, Industrialization produced The Machine - and people who thought like a machine. This gave them advantages (it made them rich) and disadvantages (it made them inhuman, as shown by the Holocaust).

It's too soon to say much about, the disadvantages of thinking like a computer - everyone wants to talk about the advantages instead. But you can be sure these disadvantages exist - and you can get a feel for them, by hanging around those guys - and asking yourself "What's going on here?"

Something they cannot do for themselves.

My Inside and Outside

I discovered this myself, and have never heard another description of it. I'm sure they exist, but I am not aware of them.

One of the basics in my life was a terrible childhood - that was made worse by everyone insisting that my parents were wonderful - like everyone else! This was not unusual at all - almost everyone I knew had a miserable childhood - and any therapist worth his salt knew this also.

Now that I have brought up the subject of therapy, I must say a few words about that. I have always believed in therapy, or some alternative way of life - that had to be better than the one I had.

My first therapist was a cousin of mine (really!) and I trusted him completely, and never imagined he would mislead me. But he did, in a subtle way. He managed to assure me that I was alright - but insisted that my parents were alright also!

This, I have realized - was a mistake. The first step in any recovery is recognizing where you are, and what your problems are. This discovery can take some doing - and is the first part of any therapy.

Somehow, I really don't know how - I became able to distinguish the boundaries between myself and everyone else. Between my inside and my outside.

At the time, I was working in Computers, in the Eighties - although we did not realize that yet, we just called it high-tech. But I did have some therapists that spoke of the dysfunctional family - a new idea to me, that made all the difference in the world.

Eventually, in the Nineties, I ended up in Silicon Valley - and was able to see, that I was surrounded by craziness - a vast dysfunctional family. I did not realize this very clearly - but I kind of did. And I realized I had to get out.

Fortunately, I was sixty-five, and had my Social Security annuity, that I could fall back on. If I lived somewhere else. That turned out to be Costa Rica, where I live now.

And here I sit, in my pyjamas, in front of my laptop, with a fast Internet connection. All of this happened after I left the Valley, in 2001.

Right now, I am learning Git - and learning how people can work together, productively. It really can be done! If I want to learn about anything else, I always have Wikipedia - another way people can help each other.

At the same time, Trump was elected President, and is determined to wreck everything - and most Americans can see nothing wrong with this!

A new world is being built - while the old one is being destroyed.

A marketplace of ideas has been established - where they compete with each other. We do not have to chose the best ones - the marketplace choses them for us!

Is AI Riding a One-Trick Pony?

MIT Technology Review

This is the best explanation of Deep Learning I have seen - and I have seen a few.

It puts it into the Human context - where it belongs - because we invented Intelligence. And we continue to do it - often poorly.

Science Made Us Rich - Why Has It Now Failed Us?

This is the question asked by the People in the Rich Nations of the world - not by the Scientists themselves.

They can see one thing clearly - not long ago, they were getting richer and richer, at an ever increasing rate. And then this stopped.

The reason, they think, is simple - Science has stopped being Science. And is now denying them their natural birthright.

Scientists, however - deny they are the culprits, and point back the other way. Rich people have grabbed everything, that was easy to get - making most of the world poorer.

For example, they have pumped most of the oil out of the ground - and now it is getting more expensive.

Birth of a White Supremacist

New Yorker

This is a long article, but I read all of it - because I have a brother who is much the same way - he supports Trump enthusiastically! And I am asking myself, why?

I'm sure it goes back to his early childhood - in many ways. the same as my childhood. But he made some crucial decisions, that made him turn out differently.

He decided to not question the way his parents were. And this made him unable to adapt to the rapidly changing world around him.

I think this explains who he is - and the many people like him. They don't their world to change, in such fundamental ways!

The Big Switch

The World is going through a big change - from Mechanical thinking and Devices to Software thinking and Devices.

Mechanical thinking was brought to us by the Industrial Revolution - a very big switch in its own right. That only penetrated into part of the world - the part of the world that became affluent. This happened because it introduced new concepts of Space and Time, that let them analyze and plan their world. Most of the world, however - especially the Islamic world - did not make this switch - and retained their religious outlook.

With the coming of the Computer, however, the Phone (a hand-held computer connected to the Internet) has taken over, almost everywhere. People everywhere, simply had to have them - because it has greatly expanded who they were (it made them superhuman, in fact) - and because learning how to use them, was so easy!

They were letting the Phone (and the Laptop) run their world - without understanding them at all! The world had become divided into - those who did not want to learn (most of the population) - and those that did.

The Learners have a big advantage, because there is so much learning available to them - and because they could get some good jobs, once they had learned these new skills!

The most important new skill, however - is learning this new way of thinking - that most people resist with all their strength. Their world had been built using Mechanical thinking - and they don't want to give it up!

Trump was Wrong in Every Way

But he was elected anyway.

This statement consists of two sub-statements - (1) what kind of person he was (and still is) and (2) the fact that he was elected - and will probably stay elected.

This leaves us with the question "What was going on in the minds of the electorate, that made them chose him?" This was clearly an unconscious decision - and as with all such decisions, we can only make an educated guess at what was going on in the hidden recesses of their minds. But we can note - that Americans are denying that such hidden places exist!

They are saying, as they have been saying for some time "We don't want to think about it!"

We know two things here - Americans cannot think, and they elected a President can cannot think either. It's not hard to see how these are related.

This is not a sophisticated analysis - it is clear that Americans can do some kinds of thinking - and do them over and over. But their social abilities, are badly compromised.

The Biggest Success Story of All Time

To be successful - don't be! And by this standard - Americans are the most successful people of all time.

I now live in Latin America - because living here, is like going back in time, to before the Industrial Revolution. This gave us some huge advantages - the laptop I am using to write this, for example. But also some huge disadvantages - up North, we stopped being! And they are not aware of this, at all.

We now live in a divided world - the Industrial World and the Computer World. The first (the Industrial World) is not aware of the second one at all. The second has some awareness of the first - because it is embedded in it, and always will be.

I am studying Software Development - an amazing development in its own right. But I am I uncomfortable being there - because I can also see the larger world it is part of. I would be more comfortable there if it realized (as it sometimes does) its organizational deficiencies.

I will be more explicit. I am studying Angular, a better way to make a user interface. I was using WebStorm, an IDE that supports Javascript (also for the user interface). It claims to support Angular also, but doesn't. Then I discovered the Angular IDE, by another company, that seems to be doing this better.

My studies, (1) helped me discover what I was interested in. and (2) by making me better at a technology that I am interested in, is also making me better - as a person!

Becoming yourself is hard work - but this is the biggest success story of all time.

The following was added later.

The whole Angular thing (whatever you want to call it) is not working very well - and must be redone, to clean everything up. This is not unusual - many software products are buggy, and badly in need of improvement.

Being Important and Being Good

It seems to me, that these two are incompatible. It may be possible to be both, but it is difficult.

In politics, we elect people to high positions - but give little thought to what it will do to them. The same is true in any organization - people get powerful, and this power changes them - usually for the worse.

I saw this happening in my own family. We all belonged to the same little church - because this made us feel important. We belonged to the One True Church - that had a fantastic future! When this future did not happen, we continued to believe in it anyway.

We knew this was true - because we knew this to be true, and did not doubt it in the least!

This provincial attitude can be expanded - to encompass any large organization whatsoever. We will defend our importance to the death - and sometimes just that. We will destroy ourselves, or others. And this makes us feel even more important! 

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President

I learned of this book from a review in the New Yorker Diagnosing Donald Trump, and His Voters. I bought the Kindle version from Amazon, and downloaded it to my Fire tablet.

On the first page, it introduces an idea new to me - Malignant Normality. I could not help but remember a cousin of mine, who taught Psychology at the University level, for many years. He and I had different attitudes toward our family's church.

I thought it was worthless nonsense - but he thought I should respect it as part of our family's heritage. We haven't spoken to each other for years - but I am certain he would not have agreed with opinions expressed in this book.

Nate has Wrecked the Local Economy

Nate is the tropical storm, that has swept northward through Central America - and is now a Hurricane threatening the southern coasts of the US.

Costa Rica decided to close all government offices, in response to this emergency - but leave the banks open. As a result, the banks are barely functioning.

Most ATMs are closed - and the few that remain open, have long lines of people in front of them - who desperately need to get some money!

I was in these lines on Thursday and Friday - but could only get $100, not the $300 I needed to pay this month's rent.

I could use my debit card (from an American bank) to buy my groceries at a Walmart store. But this is mostly a cash economy, using money in small denominations.

Today, I will have to buy something locally, to get change for my 20,000 Colones bills (about $40, big money down here).

It's so Wonderful!

If we ignore Its impact on us - which most people can do quite easily, because they have been doing this for over a hundred years.

But what is It? If I ask this question, people will consider me an idiot (which in many ways, I am) but when I ask this question, I am on solid ground. Something out there is running the show. We don't know what It is - but we know, for sure, that It is real and, in fact - It is behind everything.

This used to be our definition of God, but this definition has been upgraded considerably - as we learn more and more about what It is.

Calichina Dreaming plopped into my inbox this morning (all kinds of stuff end up there). This article is going on, and on - about the i-economy. And saying the same thing "It's wonderful!"

But in the back of his mind, the writer is wondering - if it isn't crazy. And everyone has to agree with him. 

But only in the back of their minds - in the front of our minds, nothing is going on at all. They have to remain clear, so It can operate perfectly. 

But there is a fly in the ointment - It's not working perfectly. 

And this is driving people crazy. They are used to thinking in extremes, and saying "Everything is perfect!" Or "Everything is terrible!" Coming up with an analysis somewhere in the middle - is nearly impossible for them. 

So they have decided on a simple solution -  Destroy everything, and start over!  

Mattel is Giving Parents a Helping Hand

Mattel's nabi® Brand

The specs for this are out-of-the world. But they include the hottest topic going - AI (Artificial Intelligence). I have looked into this - and decided it was so intelligent, I could not understand it. 

I have been favorably impressed with my new Android Phone, however. It has realized, that I want it to be my secondary computer - and I want my Laptop be my primary computer. This is the kind of intelligence I can appreciate! 

In the case of Mattel, we will have to do the sensible thing - let parents try it out - and hope they can understand it's impact on their children. 

That's asking for a lot. 

What Adam Smith Did Not Anticipate

He did not know that successful businessmen would do their best to circumvent the workings of the Market - to their own advantage. And this would not be hard for them to do.

I am reading The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought an excellent book that everyone should read - but few do. The second chapter is about Adam Smith, an important person by all accounts.

When I grew up, I agreed with him - and was shocked to find how it really was in the Business World, where I ended up working.

Successful (and unscrupulous) people studied how the Market was working - and devised ways of exploiting it. Smith assumed people were intelligent and hard to deceive - but these manipulators of the Market, knew better. The Market had many panics, booms and busts - all due to human foolishness.

I spent 15 years working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) a huge gravy train, that benefited those on it - at the expense of everyone else. No one in the Agency questioned this, in fact they made sure no one did - and squashed without mercy, anyone who started to. This was not considered terrorism - but it sure was.

Any group of people can decide to benefit themselves, at the expense of others - and can sometimes do this for hundreds of years - until the whole thing comes crashing down.

Everyone in these situations, should ask themselves "How much longer can this last?" But they don't - they blind themselves instead, and rush towards the nearest cliff. The impulse to self-destruct is a strong as the impulse to self-construct.

Once they are in free-fall, they may wonder a little - but even after they hit bottom, they know nothing. They were selected because they knew nothing - and they continue to know nothing.

My Nose Hair Trimmer

I allow myself to buy anything, for whatever reason - if it costs less than $50.

Evidently other people feel the same way - as you can see in the large selection of these Amazon has for sale - for men and for women.

I assembled my new one at home, but found that the only AA batteries I had, were both defective. Off I trotted to the store, two blocks away and bought some new ones. It worked!

It's amazing what you can buy now, for little money. This is a complicated gadget, with lots of moving parts.

I hope my nose hairs will grow enough for me to try it out!

What Are We Trying To Do?

I asked myself this question a lot, when I was working in Silicon Valley in the Nineties. It seemed to me, I was in a madhouse - where no one knew what he was doing - and didn't want to know. They were focused on their immediate task - and nothing else. If they widened their vision, all they could see was chaos.

I couldn't stand this, I got out, and moved to Costa Rica. But sitting here, this morning, in my pyjamas, in front of my laptop, with a fast Internet connection - I think I can see the dust settling down. I think.

We are living through a transition from an Industrial economy to a Computer economy.

But few seem aware of this. We were not aware of the Industrial economy, when we were in it - and we are even less aware of the Computer economy, that we are now in.

But a few of us, are different - we are part of the Computer economy, and can see how it works - when it is working, which is only part of the time.

Its basic goal is simple - making things better! And it is explicit about the ways it is doing this - about how it is making people part of the pattern, again.

But only some people, the people who understand this new paradigm - and can work in it.

Data Charges on Your Phone

This happened when the Cellular Phone became a Smartphone - and able to access the Internet. Suddenly, the little computer in your hand, could do everything your Laptop could, when it was connected to the Internet. Want to see naked dancing women on YouTube? No problem.

It could access the Internet two ways - your Phone provider could make this access available to its phones, and charge you for this service - calling it data (how it calculates these data charges, is not very clear).

Or, if your Phone has WiFi capability (and all of them do, now) it could use this - for free, or for very little.

I'm waiting to see what my charges will be, for my new Android, for this month (my first full month). Probably they will not amount to much - and my provider will quietly pocket the money.

This is Capitalism - spending money (and it costs a lot to set up a Cellular Network) - to make money, a few dollars at a time - contributed by thousands of users - forever.

We are Making the Computer Better - at What?

Every day, my inbox is crowded with people wanting to tell me how to make the Computer (or actually its Software) - better! Or at least more profitable.

I have to use my tired old brain to sort the wheat from the chaff. Which is not easy.

Take Angular, important new software. When the user sees a screen full of data that the Computer has sent him, he sees the many components of that screen. Gradually, he has become able to pick out the important components (a button, for example) and to react to them. Using Angular, the Computer is able concentrate on each component, and react to it - instead of the whole screen. That's all!

How it does this, is not simple - all kinds of things are happening, at the same time. But this software makes it easy for it to distinguish between tasks - switch from one task to another in microseconds - which, to the user, seems like no time at all!

How to program all this? I am taking an online course from the Code School, that is teaching me how to do this - one step at a time, each step carefully illustrated. If I was much younger (forty years, or so) and still working as a programmer - I could turn this learning into money!

I tell this to some of my young friends - but they are not getting the message. They just want new wheels for their skateboards!

No one has realized, that things have changed - and they have to change too.

Why am I Interested in Programming?

I have really thought about this, and one answer is obvious - because the Computer is now running the world, and Programmers are running the Computer. Or at least some Programmers are - many of them are clueless, don't know what is going on - and don't want to know.

But a more comprehensive answer, would have to include the last major event in the World - the Industrial Revolution. That for much of the World, changed everything. Plenty has been written about this - except for its impact on the people of the time. They had been hit by a powerful new force that changed them completely.

And, in fact - had eliminated them completely - or almost completely. It had introduced a series of wars, that destroyed people, and machines - on an Industrial scale.

The lesson people learned from this was - It was more important than they were. They had no idea what It was - but they knew it was there, and they had to obey it.

People understand Power very well - they can detect it instinctively - and obey it instinctively. And they can use it, on a large scale - to form empires. And after WWII, there was an American Empire, the most powerful ever.

But something else happened, and I was part of it - Electronics. Back then, if your car radio stopped working - you removed the vacuum tubes in it, took them a drug store - and tested the tubes in their tube tester. If a tube was bad, you bought a new one from their stock - for a reasonable price.

Electronic devices had become a drug - that everyone had to have. And I was an Electronic Engineer, who knew all about vacuum tubes - and was well-paid for my expertise.

The most important device became Television - that people could not resist! It taught them how to run their lives - what to buy, and how to use what they bought.

In the background, unnoticed by everyone - the Computer was taking shape! When transistors were invented - it took off. An ordinary Phone now, has more computing power than huge computers, costing millions of dollars, in the Fifties.

Once again, people have been hit by a force they did not understand. But they knew, very well - that it was clever - and it represented a new power. And they were eager to serve it.

This is the situation we have now - a new technology understood by only a few - and I want to be one of those few.

The Loss of the Small Business

This had a crucial impact on my father's generation, in the Fifties and Sixties. Right after WWII, in the late Forties, every town had plenty of small businesses. They were ideal for many people - setting up a small business was easy and inexpensive. And you remained an independent operator - something very important, for many people.

My father had a photography studio in Ft. Madison, Iowa. He did everything himself - took the pictures, developed them in his own darkroom, washed and dried them, sometimes colored them - and even built his own frames. All he had to buy was the film and paper, and the chemicals to process them.

But this business ended in the Fifties, and never recovered. Later, people took their own pictures, and got them processed by machines in every shopping center. Now with digital photography, they usually don't bother with printing them - but they can, easily enough.

My mother's sister's family, the Ourths, bought a small farm, that had been profitable for years - and tried to operate it themselves. But the family farm was doomed, and they failed - along with many other small farmers.

I was shocked by all this, but I was alone - everyone else accepted this, without even noticing it. Americans do not notice the large changes in their culture, but simply go along with them.

America now, is nothing like it was then. Their lives have changed completely - and, in may ways, not for the better.

Defining Congressional Districts

Congressional Districts should be defined by software - not by politicians. I do not know how to do this, in any great detail - but I do know the steps that have to be followed.

The first step is a detailed map of how each small area has voted in the past. This could be taken from voting records, that already exist. A study would have to be done on how best to define these areas - perhaps by zip code or voting district.

The next step is easy - and it is now being done by Unsupervised Machine Learning techniques in many disciplines. Similar data is lumped together into separate areas. Red people are lumped together in Red areas - and the same for Blue people. If the number of areas discovered equals the number of districts required - the job is over.

But what will probably result, is a weird pattern of some kind - including some isolated Red or Blue areas. And, as far as Software is concerned - this is where the problem becomes interesting. How to change these areas into the required number of areas?

One way of making this easier is to make districts that are not contiguous. One district could be made of a little blob here, and another little blob there. They might even be allowed to be quite far apart. This sounds complicated, but once defined, everyone would know where they are.

The only way to do this is by trial and error. Different algorithms would be devised for each situation - to see which ones work best. And to discover which ones could be applied to the largest number of situations.

There are some very sophisticated algorithms in existence now - some involving a number of steps. We can put them to work for us.

The Kind of Person, Other People Want to Follow

My favorite example of this, were the Mormons - who followed Joseph Smith - who was nothing but a scoundrel, in my estimation.

He began life as a person who could see buried treasure. At the time, in lower New York State, and in adjacent parts of Pennsylvania, people believed treasure had been buried in the earth - and they dug enthusiastically to find it. Joseph had a special stone he put in his hat, and then covered his eyes with the hat, and the stone then told him where the buried treasure was.

This special skill of his was illegal, however - and he had to depart in a hurry before he could be tried. He was on the move most of his life - because the law (or mob violence) made his life uncomfortable.

However, this also attracted people to him - a lot of people, and more all the time. Thinking back on it - I can see two qualities that made his so attractive. He was a stupid liar.

These qualities were obvious to everyone - especially to his followers. But they were willing to give him their money, and their daughters.

It's hard to believe, that people can act against their own self-interest. But there were many examples of this, in history.

And even now, with the election of Trump. He promised to destroy America, and they elected him to do just that!

What Every Child Wants to Know

"What do these people want me to be?" "Do they like me?" And even more fundamentally "Do they want me to be, at all?"

The last question is never considered by today's social scientists - but in my opinion, should be.

We live in a world, where large inhuman forces are at work - and they may work best, if people's needs are ignored. Or, to put this another way - if people do not assert their own needs - but subordinate their needs to these outside forces.

One of these outside forces was The Market - that functioned very well - so well, it was able to impose its limitations on the people it was supposed to serve. People had take back some of the control they had given to it -  by being more assertive about being themselves.

But the record is clear - they could not. They had been small people in a big world so long - they could not be anything else.

The world is full of people who cannot be. And who cannot be aware of this. And they are full of rage and destructiveness.

The Science of Addiction

This is the lead article in the September 2017 National Geographic.

This magazine is a gold mine of valuable information - that few people want. They are determined to know nothing - and it wants them to know everything.  The world is awash with valuable information - TED. for example - that no one is interested in.

The most important divide on our culture - is between the people who want to know - and those that do not. And the last are the more numerous, by far.

If you want to know about this - the information is here for you to read.

The Market is Still Working

But not the countries in it.

Container ships, full of goods of all kinds, are as busy as ever. While terrorism is ever more rampant. What a strange combination! We now have more kinds of goods and services - and more kinds of terror.

And more kinds of paranoia - where people see enemies everywhere - sometimes realistically, sometimes not.

In my opinion, this is part of something widespread - destructiveness. And something else that is widespread - the inability to recognize this!

We have smart devices - everyone has a smartphone - but the people are not very smart.

They Don't Think Serious Thoughts

I noticed this that last time I visited the States. I stayed with my cousin, who lives in Northern Virginia - that is part of the Nation's capital: D.C.

They had one iron-clad rule - no serious discussions were allowed - when incredible things were happening all around them. As far as they were concerned - they were not happening!

They were not unusual in this - they were typical Americans - and proud of it.

I can only wonder at this - and note that some Americans are thinking more than ever. What will happen to a country so divided?

No one knows - but we are going to find out!

How Java Took Over the World

This happened in the Nineties, and I can remember it well. It was the confluence of two events - Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and the Internet. That seemed to have been handed down by God.

We didn't understand either one very well - but that did not stop us from worshipping them, as the coming of Heaven on Earth. Something we needed very badly - and something that did rescue us from Hell. Without our being aware of this at all.

Now that we have lived in this Heaven for awhile, we have realized that the Internet is here to stay - but the impact of OOP (and Java) - have been re-assessed.

Java is still the most popular programming language, and is used almost everywhere - but newer languages, such as Python and Go (with their Frameworks) are catching up with it.

The biggest thing in the world is now the Cloud. And Java does not fit very well into that.