ever since 1970, we've had irrefutable data that climate disaster was headed our way. who had this data? EXXON! astonishingly, exxon scientists had the most incredibly accurate climate modelling data -- sometimes MORE accurate than what academic scientists had regarding climate change and its human causes. (this came from last weekend's WNYC programming if you want to learn more)
climate disaster is no secret. it's no lie. we've known about it and publicly commented on it since, literally, 1900 and even earlier. as a kid growing up in a small farming community on west coast amerikkka, i CERTAINLY knew about it because i clearly remember my nightmares from back then.
this lack of journalistic rigour and -- let's face it -- lack of journalistic HONESTY regarding the causes of california's floods is no different than the reasons that trump still roams free: lies that are paid for by elites and corporations. it's outrageous and shameful and inexcusable that anything but the unbastardized TRUTH about climate collapse is being reported anywhere in the world today. even steve forbes, the CEO of my publication, went on the record last week in a short opinion video making a series of muddled claims and science-free arguments that the planet was not in any danger from human overconsumption.
but journalistic honesty does not serve the elites nor corporations, whose only goal, it appears, is to accumulate more of everything (especially money), by ripping it out of the hands of the working class whom they've forced into modern slavery. they also place the burden squarely on the shoulders of the working class to solve this MASSIVE problem, ignoring the FACT that one elite white man emits hundreds of times more carbon in their quest for more More MORE than, sometimes, entire nations.
the 1% should be ashamed at their insane levels of greed and consumption and waste, but they aren't. this is a badge of honour -- to them. meanwhile, we burn and drown and watch the planet become completely depauperate of any and all living things that don't create huge profits for the slave masters.
It has occurred to me that Musk's preoccupation with settling Mars was >always< a smoke screen. He's investigating means of "terraforming" an uninhabitable planet. Put a pin in that, for a moment. If not that, he's investigating how to devise self-contained, artificial environments to shelter those having enough cash to afford such a domicile. I understand he wants to build an orbiting mansion for himself. How about orbiting foundries & factories that rely on the human resources supplied by orbiting prisons? All that may seem a bit of a sci-fi proposition, but the technology is available and up there working >as I write about it<. It has yet to be developed to it's >full< nightmare dystopian potential - and Musk is on its vanguard. What's worse is that it's >history<. Can you say "Australia?" Just because it's an old plot in sci-fi doesn't mean someone hasn't read about it and considered it a good, money-making proposition that will garner a "certain kind" of political support. (How far do you trust Q-publicans with power over this nation's destiny?) After all, private sector prisons >are< a thing. At some point, such an indenture could be the only repose from the impending climate disaster, as well.
Meditate on that concept for a few minutes before you blow it off as rubbish. Just sayin'.
I suspect ideas of a base for mining is at heart of returning to the moon as well.
It's probably only way NASA got any funding for Artemis.
I used to love space exploration, which it what it used to be, but when I started hearing about colonization and mining. I knew the corporate profit machine had seized control of this as well. 💔
We need a paradigm shift toward the circular economy, in which everything is recycled. Mother Nature recycles everything, and so should we if we want to survive. Until our for-profit economic system is replaced by a circular system, history will repeat itself.
The job of government is to establish the rules for the playing field called The Economy, The Market. If and only if governments get in tune with Mother Nature will we survive.
It strikes me that everything is circular, Stan. Nature recycles, and history works in cycles, as well. Perhaps....if we humans wreck our planet irreparably, we'll be recycled by Nature, and maybe our history will come full circle: we'll start at our most primitive beginning again. The whole process taking eons, of course.
Denise, I've been reading about archaeological rediscorery of several ancient cultures = Troy, Greece, Egypt (my fav), Rome, in the Americas et al, & now Knossos on Crete. And all of them -
'was done in' by some natural catalysmic event OR human overpopulation exploiting to death the environments that - evolved - these cultures. So, YES, Nature DOES recycle virtually everything naturally. It's when dealing with the human concocted synthetics (plastics in all it's forms derived mostly from petroleum products) that Nature has difficulty in the recycling process, since most of those synthetics do NOT exist in the natural realm... Sigh ~~ ~
Our environmental & societal collapse could, & likely will, happen in a very short time, & we may be a lot closer to that point than most people realize.
Put the NASA mission in perspective with my comment elsewhere about its true, original mission. China's sniffin' 'round on the moon, and it'll wind up being a new "space race" - if you remember that old chestnut.
I just finished ready a series of sci-fi stories by a British writer E. C. Tubb: 'Earl Dumarest Saga' written from 1975 to about 1984 & 31 stories all sequential. It's set in the far far far future post apocolypse on Planet Earth // Terra, where Earl Dumarest, as a boy, has stowed away on a space ship, bound for - who knows where - and all the stories are about his future life and his quest of finding and returning to the planet of his birth.
Very engrossing, but I doubt more than a few episodes are currently available. I collected them from the beginning, having worked in the wholesale/retail book biz back then.
And, in my opinion, the story lines are a - forcaste - of how human behavior didn't/hasn't/won't change as a whole - for the better... And, in a very real sense we're
DZK, Musk is a megalomaniac! He had a few ideas like his electric cars, but he doesn't have the wherewithall to see projects through and he treats workers so poorly they can't produce the quality products Musk claims to be making. He is addicted to attention and is into blaming everyone else for his "failures." He doesn't learn from his failures either except that he can use his money to cause all kinds of havoc and will still be covered by the media as though he is some kind of genius. I can see him drawing up the blueprints for prison factories in space, on earth too if he is permitted. We already have privatized prisons which is a start in that direction. Whoever came up with the idea of private prisons should be in one of them, say for a year. If someone is committed to prison for a crime, it is up to the state to see to the prison, not pay a bunch of money to a private corporation to run it. This is disgusting and needs to stop. The problem, most people don't care and Republicans like not having to take responsibility for imprisoning people for minor crimes while they are committing major ones. Ugh!
Regarding Musk, a little research reveals he did NOT create Tesla, but was rather an INVESTOR. He was not getting the attention he craved and had an internal fight for control with the TRUE founders of the company. A settlement was reached by Musk where for $$$$, he would be able to title himself also as a "founder" and be the "face" of the company. Musk is VERY similar to Trump in his extreme narcissist disease and unending craving for attention. A carnival barker comes to mind, a habit of overpromising and underdelivering. (ex: operable Self-driving feature) The SAD part is that corporate media worships those with money and believes that if someone made enormous money in one thing, they must be great at EVERYTHING. The "journalists" never bothered to investigate the con man Musk for who he is and find out exactly HOW that wealth was made. Maybe his "modern day slaves", I mean his workers, had just a little to do with it. Imagine a "man" being angry and pouting because he wanted his slaves to continue working at his Fremont Tesla plant in the middle and worst part of the covid pandemic and the State of California said, because of the closeness of the workers and other health concerns, he would have to shut down for a period of time. He disobeyed the State orders and made his slaves work ANYWAY and many got covid. Then he closed the factory and moved it to Texas. Megalomaniacs with NO COMPASSION FOR HUMANITY HAVE NO PLACE CONTROLLING OR LEADING PEOPLE!!
The equivalent comparison of EM to DT could be summed up like this-
Elon had just as many friends growing up that worked in his daddy's South African Diamond mine- As Donald had as many friends that lived in his daddy's slums in NYC...
Just sayin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thankfully we will see justice in our lifetimes and the oligarchs worldwide will learn what suffering is. There was a study released last year in Seattle by a billionaire Chip? Hanoyer?
That unequivocally stated that since the 1970’s- when the 0.1% began the onslaught of the middle class and all others- except themselves- that EVERY adult in the USA would have earned the equivalent of an additional $100,000 per year in income, had the tables not been turned through the Offshoring of industrial capabilities that have decimated the entire economy, except the most affluent people in America.
A self imposed imperialism- if you will.
Also, I had read Elon’s father had a diamond mine, if it was just gemstones… it’s synonymous with the wealth it takes to operate a mine that produces raw materials from the earth. Just ask Joe Manchin!
As a manufactures rep in Silicon Valley, I had the pleasure of working with the true founder of Tesla at a number of companies before he displayed the courage and foresight to establish a new electric car company in Northern California. Thank you for bringing this fact to the attention of the members of this sub stack. We must defend ourselves from megalomaniacs that want to control our world. They very well could be the one's who will determine the future of AI. A scary thought.
David, knowing there was a true genius involved with developing the Tesla and other electric vehicles gives me hope. I am guessing that genius doesn't whine, lie about everything, abuse workers, and throw his weight around for attention. What a relief that I don't have to worry about geniuses as much as I did when I thought Musk might be one.
Thank you for that correction, Jim. Like too many billionaires, Musk is given credit for things he never did, like Tesla. Musk is a leech (a blood sucking worm) the best definition I can think of for this parasitic loser. Some segment of America have become so addicted to celebrity they adulate the worst scumbags we produce. (Yes, I know he is South African by birth)
Fay, yes, Musk is a scumbag no matter where he is from. It is just too bad we happen to have so many of them here right now. Why isn't the media bringing out the facts about Musk's "professional" life? I know, I know, money lets people hang in the shadows if they want, or rather since Musk wants to be in the limelight all the time, he just wants his background to remain in the shadows and people to think as I did that he is a genius. He's just another rich whiny white boy.
Jim, thank you so much for the info about Musk. I did not do my homework and allowed myself to be persuaded by the media that Musk was a genius and I led me to believe he was the inventor of the Tesla car and the other things he was into. Wow! That is a good lesson, do my own research on all the figures the media puts forward. I usually do, but somehow, like a whole lot of people, I did believe Musk was a tech genius when he was just a rich guy? Oh lord! How did I miss that? That lowers him in my opinion a lot, to the point that I don't even have to think about him. How anyone who knew he was a jerk could have let him "pretend" to buy Twitter (he got investors so it is impossible at this point to know just how much he really did pay and to whom. Gag!
Musk did make a lot of money with PayPal, an internet payment service, allowing him to invest in Tesla. But, even that story has unflattering dealings with his business partners. As I understand, Musk was partnered with others (sound familiar) pushing them to primarily focus on his invention, and the other investors were keener on theirs, known as PayPal. He eventually sold his shares in PayPal. Musk seems to have a history of difficulty working WITH people.
When I worked at PayPal I never saw any code in the repository under Elon's name. The only co-founder who contributed code that I saw was Max Levchin. Maybe he posted under X Æ A-Xii Sr.?
HAH! Even before I learned the truth from Jim, I felt there was something not legit about Musk. Never regarded him as anything but pond scum. Now I know why!
Granted, Musk has likely shot his space plans in the foot with his massive ego. However, I'm almost certain someone far, far quieter, cleverer, and more antisocial is conniving a way to pick up where L'enfant terrible fell on his damn kisser.
Hi, Ruth, Little by little, the private sector has been buying out the government since Ronald Reagan (or before?). The buyout of prisons is one of the more alarming examples. When someone said they wanted to get the government down to the size of a corner Woolworth store . . .? Remember your downtown Woolworth's? They see the government as lost profit, and want to make it as powerless as possible (except for defense). Drown it in the bathtub. Abolish it, except for defense. Fascism is symbolized from the time of the middle ages, as reeds bound together with an ax blade sticking out from the side. When the corporations bind themselves to the government (and do what they want with it), you get fascism. Some say America has been fascist since the vice presidency of Dick Cheney. Maybe it began when Kennedy was elected, when J. Edgar Hoover was employed by the Federal government. When did America begin to become fascist? When Emma Goldman was asked to leave?
Sandra, I suspect there have always been men in power who have a totalitarian bent. They think because they are physically strong it means they are intellectually strong and strong leaders too and deserve reverence from everyone. Those three very very rarely come in a package, but men insist it is all the time (check out Santos, and OK, Trump, McCarthy, . . . .). Andrew Jackson was a fascist who claimed to be a "man of the people" when the people he was courting were the other slave owners, those who would bring down the banks, and men who would kill and herd indigenous peoples away from their lands because gold had been found and white men wanted . . . . The robber barons/barrens were fascists too and hoped no one would notice. Some people did. Many men and a few women will do almost anything to force other people to be seen as inferior to them and act that way. Trump and Kump are all in this category.
These folks were trained to it from birth by predecessors who were also would-be fascists or something similar. Now they want their children not to be taught about people unlike themselves. I guess they no longer think their parenting to racism, white supremacy, misogyny, and the rest is insufficient to mold their little darlings the right way. Maybe we the People just need to demand schools teach all of our history, the good and bad and that those cute little white boys and girls are descendants of people who were not always very good people and that we hope they willl do better.
Imagine the White fear going on when we begin to realize there might be reversal and repercussion as People of Color continue to achieve wealth and prominence. We all know the history. Imagine Black retribution. The problem comes down to this White fear. Some Euroamericans see this threat growing and they see only tribalism as their safe place. They can't imagine or accept a world where there's a White minority, after everything that has happened. I think this is why southern Whites want to obliterate history, so their kids might be safer from retributive forces in the future. I can understand their reasoning, even as I also want full equality for all, everywhere. That's the only possible way forward. Yes, thank you for scanning further back for examples of fascism. I'm rather "fascinated" by symbols, which tend to teach us the origins..
andra, I appreciate your understanding of how white people's fear can spark tribalism. I believe a lot of the tribalism is created by public figures to make sure people who express sufficient anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-whoever else the "leaders" want maligned will feel they are part of the "in-crowd." People do need to belong and this is a warped sense of belonging because it is not built on community, caring, or gasp, love. It is born and nurtured in fear, hatred, stress about the other, and a history of successful maligning of those groups. The problem, the "public figures" want the people's ignorance too. Keep groups separate, scream about white women and Black men or some other configuration of race contamination. Hold events that encourage their white belongings to keep people other than white people from living in their neighborhoods. Make sure their white voters don't think about global warming and what it is doing to poor people of all backgrounds because they might summon some compassion, perhaps, god forbid, empathy for those people and want to do something about it, maybe change some habits, drive less, use less electricity, waste less food, take shorter showers, etc. Can't have that!
There have always been fascists. Take a listen to Rachel Maddow's amazing podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1647910854 I wondered what could be so important and pressing that she would cut down on her work at MSNBC. Then I discovered the podcast. She is absolutely right. What we are going through now has happened before and we all need to know this. It was not so long ago.
Donna, yes, Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" was amazing. I remember hearing about "America First" in high school, but it was presented as though it were a minor blip on a radar (OK, there was no radar then). It turned out it was a pretty formidable group of public figures who participated, even a religious nut who had a massive radio audience. For a priest, he certainly did spew a lot of hatred. I noticed the Catholic Church did nothing significant to stop him for years. One can wonder why. Every American should see "Ultra." I can't wait to see the movie about it when it is made and comes out.
Outer space is a very expensive location for the prison slave labor corporation industry.
There are now two full generations, adults and young adults now successfully engaged in an addictive prison of sociological disconnection where necessary human interactions consist of timeless actions by prisoners of tapping on the bars of a cell to signal another, yet rarely meeting the other in a human encounter.
Technology has imprisoned our humanity, our minds and our future by an intentional design of hand held mobile phones intended to platform the social media content most addictive, most profitable, and most controlling of facts, opinions and truths for the most profitable prison of all, social control by a near-total replacement of the physical commons and social meetings by video and text.
The effect of the web based social media app and handheld device enslaves in all directions of the human condition.
One is REQUIRED to possess presence on a minimum of 1 social media app for any serious consideration of employment, education or inclusion within the corporate defined confines of the technologic social construct we dwell within. Without presence in an electronic social platform one is defined by the addictive-behavior regime as anti-social and non-participatory. By the age of 12 a young pre-teen is defined by technologic social presence and little if at all by the character of the human presence.
Consider the absolute presence of control by the algorithmic, psychotic interference of social media upon every thought and idea from childhood to old age. We are a species rendered slaves to an addictive device which acts to divide the human presence to empower the will of one of a few entities controlling the monopolized industries of a planet hurtling to the profit-driven catastrophe of an irrelevant hubristic species devoted to addictive behaviors such as profiteering and an idea of corporate-extruded ‘individualism’ and personal power.
Slavery is real, slavery is behavioral, and slavery is the socially accepted insanity of the corporate technological instruments created to control, modify and punish the non-conformist to a prison planet.
When physical social spaces again become more important than the tap-tap-tapping on the prison bars of a handheld device keyboard, we may have a second chance at freedom. That importance cannot be of greater necessary now within the destruction by climate change and pandemic disease contagion which serves to imprison all and further imbed the technologic prison of social media control.
You got it. Good analysis. It all began so innocently, as I recall, learning to use my 1986 CPT word processor. Totally improved my typing skills at the time. In the early days, the whole thing was like magic.
Your comment piques my memory of a couple of items. At the close of the Peter Sellers movie "Being There" is a dark screen display of the phrase: "Life is a state of mind." Also, I've said for a long time the the "Star Treck Next Generation" episode "The Game" was prophetic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29
This is pretty darned realistic thoughts that never occurred to me. Well in a way yes they did occurto me. . That we are addicted to the ping and pong of our devices calling to us. AND have lost attention span for anything longer than 5 minutes. Sigh.
RON RODARTE ; There are still many people who are not on social media and who even thrive in this world. They read books and watch some podcasts and even get together in the flesh to meet and discuss history or even politics of the present time and listen to live music and dance. Not everyone who home schools their children is a white Christian Nationalist. Not everyone plays video games. Not everyone is addicted. I know people who do not even own a 'smart' phone. Just one of those rechargeable 'flip' phones for basic communication.
I hope this is true. I'm one of the people you describe. I still have to use my computer because I can't possibly use my phone to type messages. I get angry every time I see the request: Password. It's encouraging to read your remarks and that I don't have to feel so left-behind by the world.
Sandra B ; It's true, and I also hate passwords! every site requires them and I find it annoying to have to consult my password safe all the time. I wonder why anyone would want to hack my bill payment sites, for example. Are they going to pay my balance?
Sadly, Laurie - there are fewer and fewer who eschew the easy addictive behavior or 'convenience' of electronic coms for in-person communications or the intellectual stimulation and enhancement of reading books and sharing one's thoughts.
Awesome that high schoolers are thinking independently. We have some students involved in civics in our town , They actually participate in national competitions to test their knowledge of civics! It is a newer part of the curriculum in school , civics. Financial literacy too.
Independent thinking with group participation is a key to human survival, throughout mankind's survival.
False constructs of a ruling class or priesthood have often led to the downfall of civilizations.
Personal technology devices are a false construct, touted as a convenience, yet used to addict youth and adult for behavioral modification.
The movement to private and chartered corporate schools to replace the public infrastructure has also been a false premise, resulting in religious and socio-political indoctrination centers funded in part by funding taken from public education & augmented by private tuition, affordable for the economic class of 'designated economic survivors', yet impossibly expensive for masses of the silenced and ignored who have been denied their economic future.
The most damaging aspects of these education policies is the development of the school-to-prison pipeline and the rise of the economic draft, created by the lack of employment and absence of publicly funded higher education which forces youth into a military service promising what was our right as citizens only a generation ago, now denied as subjects to a corporate-captured civilization.
It is indeed a good sign that human survival skills are in play, and that the youth in your vicinity has grasped how deeply the denial of civic and financial knowledge has affected policies and planet, which in the learning will prevent corporate economic enslavement of entire communities.
Add a false premise of personal handheld technology to the false premise of credit spending and the chains of social slavery become apparent.
False premise in policy & product offer indoctrination into oppression by personal consent, a major tool of the American form of capitalism.
Until education is again in public hands and individuals are allowed to meet in the public commons rather than virtually, the obfuscation of truths & personal knowledge which are the keys to freedom will be in the sole possession of the most predatory competitor to humankind, the corporations and its false legal construct of corporate personhood.
It’s becoming fewer and fewer. Cell phones are everywhere. For better, but mostly for worse. Google offers everything at your fingertips. Most people don’t seem concerned that they’re being commercially tracked/targeted.
Especially now with the pandemic, when conversations occur over phone or FaceTime.
Kevin ; I have a smartphone and am aware of the fact that I have 'cookies' following me everywhere I go. 'Google is your friend' my husband says. It can be useful. Sure , they follow us everywhere we go. I just remind myself that "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you are not being followed." It's the world we live in. Very difficult to navigate without our phones, tablets etc. Sometimes I turn off my devices and avoid TV 'news' for a while. Feel better for it. But I know that even going to a doctor appointment now requires online accessibility.
I was in the generation that 'Turned on , tuned in and dropped out' from the consumer culture. We fought for clean air water and food. there are still many of us who are conscious and still learning. Life is a question of balance, for US, IMHO.
At this juncture, I get the sense that that those who would have us believe climate change is a hoax >know< it's not. They're intentionally exacerbating it, in service to the vision I've outlined above.
Consider the kind of serfdom involved with serving in even an earth-bound estate, a totally enclosed "tube city," where the pay-rate is simple survival.
I suspect that an earthbound plan for the super-rich to evade the effects of climate change is more the goal. At least that's far more realistic. It's not hard to imagine a future where the privileged few can remain comfortable in climate safe enclaves (in mountain areas, islands, greener and wetter places where crops grow best, etc), while the majority face the worst of what remains of the earth. Also, just as it has been throughout history, there has/will arise a class of lackeys who can see what's coming and who don't want to end up on the short end of the stick, so to speak, when things get really bad. We call those people Republicans and they inhabit Congress, governor's mansions, state legislatures, mayors offices, etc.
Reminds me of The Simpsons episode where they built two rocket ships. Lisa (a fantastic character), Marge and Maggie are on one heading for space whilst Homer and Bart are on the other rocket heading for the sun. There’s more to the story and The Simpsons have been a rock for me since they debuted on The Tracy Ullman Show.
DZK, I am a fan of Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction, but I do not want to live those visions. I want to think that having forewarning, we can make those dystopias impossible. The problem when money is in charge of everything, those dystopias look great to the monied: they have all the money/resources, they can make others do whatever they want, and they are all-powerful, like comic book heroes or villains - it doesn't matter which. Those are the fantasies of toddler-men who think only of themselves, the toddlers who never learned to play well with others and to care about anyone but themselves. We keep giving them more power and excuses for their bad behavior while people die in disasters that we could work harder to prevent.
Exactly the way I view them, Ms Sheets. If a sci-fi writer can come up with it, you can be certain that there's a recipe for Soylent Green - for example - is in someone's cookbook! Among the tales of heroism & sacrifice are a considerable number of cautionary tales.
The thought of corporate colonizing other worlds, straifing their resources and polluting their pristine environments as they have done here turns my stomach. Humans' out of control population boom is another nausea inducer. 😠
Colonizing space itself, within the Terra/Luna system is a far more feasible starting point, from which missions to the moons of the gas giants to mount. I'm figuring the Alpha Centuri system will be quite safe within in the probable timeframe that humans, as a species, eventual demise. I don't buy into ETs from distant star systems, either.
A few years ago I got an image in my head of a dead planet surrounded in thousands of space contraptions, villages, homes, satellites (I don't recall mines and factories), but that's what we're describing today. Everything that still exists has to get up into the stratosphere in order to survive. (I always have to report these prophetic images, even if today's readers won't accept them. I should describe a few other things I've seen coming lately. Community is the way forward. Everyone knows that one. How about forced abortion? Not ready for that one yet?)
Sandra, what a sad image, we have to leave the planet to survive when if we had put as much energy, time, and planning into taking care of our Earth, we could have saved it and moved into space because we wanted to explore. OMG! We do keep electing people with no vision. They are more blind than I am and that is scary since I only can't see. They can't see ahead, think clearly or care.
Governments have forced sterilization on women for the last 200 years here. Native American women unfortunately were the first, if my recollection is correct.
Maybe 35 years ago we attended a lecture from Carl Sagan, who predicted settlement of Mars via crating an artificial atmosphere and seeding...within our lifetimes.
When we lived in Maryland many of our neighbors were NASA scientists and contractors working on the Mars project.
True enough. However, the asteroid cloud that sends material our way is more accessible for extracting raw materials - particularly "rare earths." All that's necessary is to establish a platform for extracting in. I >really do< appreciate NASA, but it was ice-water on my enthusiasm the day I found out that its primary mission was - and to some extent, still is and always will be - Cold War propaganda. To this day I temper my enthusiasm with the reality we live in. In the neighborhoods I lived in, my neighbors in VA were CIA, and in MD they were NSA. The TV series "The Americans" creeps me out!
I've wondered whether mining heavy metal from astroids and taking it to Earth might not tip some balance in our rotation around the Sun, or send the Moon off somewhere else (?) Anyone?
Absolutely! When one obtains $1,000,000,000, one just naturally becomes "certifiably insane." Why WOULDN'T musk want floating prison colonies to power his floating mansion?!?
Daniel, that's an interesting thought, have a billion dollars and that billionth dollar brings mental illness with it. It kinda seems that way. What does seem even more likely, a billion lets people think they can control things they should not have control of. People sometimes set up scholarships, trust funds, and other entities to "spread" their largess. It lets them decide who makes it and who doesn't, which company will get a start and which won't, which charities will get help and which won't, and for how long. That kind of power can go to a person's head and let them think they are better, smarter, more worthy than anyone else. It brings to mind the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and so many others. That is not to say that these organizations don't do good things, but that they should have so much power and influence.
Exactly right, Ms. Sheets! The "mental illness" I described comes from the knowing that they can manipulate the world to their whim with no negative repercussions. (Just look at disgraced former president Donald "Bunkerboy" Trump!)
Ruth Sheets ; Only those who are unaware of how Musk's and other obscenely wealthy have harmed the world will be sucked in to admire the 'sparkling ' powerful rich guys, and envy their 'toys' and 'power' to destroy. Those who know anything can clearly see the perils they threaten.
Daniel H Laemmerhirt ; Incredibly he is still manipulating! Look at Congress, The 'Supreme' Court and our Democracy! I am encouraged that there is a push for ending the filibuster, the Electoral College, and getting our system of voting repaired! The Majority still rules overall!
Laurie, I am encouraged too, now how do we get people to see that ditching the filibuster, the Electoral College, and the rest are worth paying attention to? I wish I knew that because one whole party wants to do none of that. They just want money and power.
Now, Ruth, that you mention the Gates Foundation: it started in Bellevue WA near
Seattle a few decades ago. Bill and Melinda Gates with Melinda being in charge of setting up their Foundaiton (by building a 1/2 Billion dollar headquarters complex. They've since divorced but (as far as I know) Melinda is still heavily involved in their Foundation. Similar scenario with Jeff Bezos and his ex MacKenzie Scott. After their divorce she vowed to 'give away' a goodly part of her settlement fortune (billions I think I heard) and one of her efforts was to give to charity 2 of
her/their mansion properties, one of which sold for something like 37Million, but to whom ? ? ? I never heard... Such are the lives of the - fabulously wealthy ~ ahemmmmm ~
The key is in understanding that learning how to create a livable environment under hostile conditions immediately translates to using what's learned in less hostile environments - like extreme climate change.
Even worse - some approaching the wealth of Musk believe the universe was made in 6 days and a day of rest. They also believe that the world must end in fire to cleanse the 'sins of mankind'. That's also in a movie, and in a best seller, the Bible.
The war economy of American capitalism is the most dangerous instrument in the hands of the most dangerous group of humans ever to wield political power, as most of the assembly are servants to these 'believer' factions.
War and religiosity have a gruesome history of badly run violence, cruelty and destruction.
Look at the current world conflicts. Ukraine vs The Russian Orthodox Church. The papacy and the crusades. The ongoing protests in Iran. But wait, there’s more. White right wing evangelical christians wanting to impose their (corrupted) beliefs in a nation founded on the separation of church and state.
Today? That's not that far out DZK. But I wonder, with all this super, emerging technology, WHY CAN'T WE QUELL FOREST FIRES BY NOW? ....RIGHT at the beginning! We need our planet under us if we are to survive -- it's all we have right now and it can last. What mystifies me, has it not been learned that Mars been a defunct planet for how many millennium's???? Venus could well be what was our planet's beginnings?
Just wondering IF ? Motorhead's song is the original recording of this song. Haven't heard it if it's not. Or a cover recording of 'In the Year 2525'. Before OR after Zager & Evans ? ? ? don't know ~
No. Motörhead’s song is one of a dystopian present. Think of the movie as a gritty inner city narrative. It’s from The New Wave of Heavy Metal movement from the late seventies through the early eighties. Primarily from the UK, spread through Europe and finally made its way to North and South America. A movement I was happy to be on the ground floor.
A proud punk and metal fan. Punk got me through the Reagan years.
Thanks Kevin for this new - revelation - of that era. I was more into other genre of music, mostly classical, but heard of what you mentioned during those times. Thanks -
DZK, I too heard this song - way back when - it originally came out. And when I came across it
again with the Metropolis backdrop I - saved it - to remember ! and add to my trepidation of 'What May Come'. (wasn't that the title of a 50's B grade sci-fi movie ? ? ?)
It occurred to me earlier today that the decision by oil industry executives to deceive the public & bribe or blackmail the government about the climate disruption their products would cause was making the conscious sociopathic choice to make billions of extra money while letting the world go awry & billions of people (& countless animals & plants) die, making a bet that the money they gained would be enough to construct something that could protect them from the environmental destruction they knew would come.
This seques into what has been built here in Seattle by Jeff Bezos and Amazon = The Amazon
spheres. Geodesic domes totally enclosed environments near downtown Seattle - to be - front and center to the general public to - ooh and ahh - over. Could this be the experimental precursor to extra-planetary colony structures ? ? ? And just how much Terran planetary resources were used to construct these - artificial - environments ? ? ?
Yes Jaime, it is criminal that they deliberately chose huge wealth over the lives of potentially millions of people when they didn't release the report. I honestly don't understand such greed and callousness.
Daniel, thank you for, as you always do, pulling up such relevant, interesting links. I didn't know this OR that the Saudi's were behind FOX news and have been such a destabilizing influence in the US. They have strengthened the ruling class and are achieving their goals. It is the plutocratic class getting richer on our climate disaster. And you are right about how numb Americans are to climate crisis, not a whimper of complaint.
Claire, yep, not a peep about what happened in Alabama being related to global warming either. The people of the Southern states have suffered enormously, but they still keep putting into office racist, misogynistic, homo/transphobic people thinking somehow those people will care even about them, the white folks with roots in the deep south. Those white folks are also suffering but just can't get past the other baggage so they can see that their leaders are letting them pay the price for poor leadership while the storms keep coming. They mourn the loss of homes and livelihood, but don't hear this is global warming caused by humans, which needs to be stopped before even worse storms arrive. Voting against one's interests is still beyond my comprehension, no matter how much I read and hear about it. Personal hatreds over the truth, I just don't get it!
Oh Girl Scientist, that was amazing! I don't say that lightly! Your identification of greed and the 1%'s addiction to accumulating and destroying is excellent. How is it we can't demand better journalism, better reporting? How is it the people most impacted by global warming in this nation will vote for candidates who still, after decades of evidence, even from Exxon as you note, claim global warming is not real or proven or some other such nonsense? I don't get it, but I suspect our media have something to do with it. Thanks for your comment!
The journalism of today is a corporate for-profit industry which cannot insist on journalistic responsibility due to the profit and loss from deviating from the corporate requirement to support their actions and defend their associates.
No journalist with integrity survives the onslaught of defunding and de-platforming by 'mainstream' media. Mainstream is no longer a corporate presence, as seen in most of the commentary herein. 'Mainstream' readers have evacuated the bunkers of war-driven corporate American media giants to the less-corporate-influenced platforms as used here at Substack. Even the slightest corporate profit association to a media source can and will be used to twist the power of a journalist into a subjugated scribe, or cause the penury and silencing of the best journalistic minds - BECAUSE of an intelligence which cannot eschew the evidence or quell the deafening question begging to be asked.
If subscribed to a corporate media account, demand a full spectrum of journalism.
When the truth is present there is a path to intelligent design.
Sadly we have no truths to ascribe to in a corporate controlled and profiteering media insisting its power is sacrosanct while the viewers and subscribers evacuate ground zero of the lies and innuendo blown from their corporate offices.
Overflowing rivers ever since I became cognizant (by 1960's) of these disasters were results of the huge demise of plants and trees that could accommodate NATURAL rainfall . They've long known this too. That is only one of California's problems; droughts, the fires leaving nothing to hold rainfall. Sucking the ground dry is another.
Thank you GrrlScientist. I did read the article about the Exxon scientists findings and how it was squashed by the then CEO of Exxon and buried for more than 50 years. You are right to be angry. My only exception to your post is the use of the word "elite". The definition of elite is "a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society" These people to whom you refer are as far from hat definition as can be found. Far from superior (except in their own minds) they are the greedy scum of the earth. Otherwise, great and accurate post.
I would challenge you to at least consider the opinion of one of the original climatologists, a retired MIT scholar who specialized in atmospheric dynamics.
It cannot hurt to peruse a skeptical view once in a while, especially when you become certain that you are right.
ever since 1970, we've had irrefutable data that climate disaster was headed our way. who had this data? EXXON! astonishingly, exxon scientists had the most incredibly accurate climate modelling data -- sometimes MORE accurate than what academic scientists had regarding climate change and its human causes. (this came from last weekend's WNYC programming if you want to learn more)
climate disaster is no secret. it's no lie. we've known about it and publicly commented on it since, literally, 1900 and even earlier. as a kid growing up in a small farming community on west coast amerikkka, i CERTAINLY knew about it because i clearly remember my nightmares from back then.
this lack of journalistic rigour and -- let's face it -- lack of journalistic HONESTY regarding the causes of california's floods is no different than the reasons that trump still roams free: lies that are paid for by elites and corporations. it's outrageous and shameful and inexcusable that anything but the unbastardized TRUTH about climate collapse is being reported anywhere in the world today. even steve forbes, the CEO of my publication, went on the record last week in a short opinion video making a series of muddled claims and science-free arguments that the planet was not in any danger from human overconsumption.
but journalistic honesty does not serve the elites nor corporations, whose only goal, it appears, is to accumulate more of everything (especially money), by ripping it out of the hands of the working class whom they've forced into modern slavery. they also place the burden squarely on the shoulders of the working class to solve this MASSIVE problem, ignoring the FACT that one elite white man emits hundreds of times more carbon in their quest for more More MORE than, sometimes, entire nations.
the 1% should be ashamed at their insane levels of greed and consumption and waste, but they aren't. this is a badge of honour -- to them. meanwhile, we burn and drown and watch the planet become completely depauperate of any and all living things that don't create huge profits for the slave masters.
It has occurred to me that Musk's preoccupation with settling Mars was >always< a smoke screen. He's investigating means of "terraforming" an uninhabitable planet. Put a pin in that, for a moment. If not that, he's investigating how to devise self-contained, artificial environments to shelter those having enough cash to afford such a domicile. I understand he wants to build an orbiting mansion for himself. How about orbiting foundries & factories that rely on the human resources supplied by orbiting prisons? All that may seem a bit of a sci-fi proposition, but the technology is available and up there working >as I write about it<. It has yet to be developed to it's >full< nightmare dystopian potential - and Musk is on its vanguard. What's worse is that it's >history<. Can you say "Australia?" Just because it's an old plot in sci-fi doesn't mean someone hasn't read about it and considered it a good, money-making proposition that will garner a "certain kind" of political support. (How far do you trust Q-publicans with power over this nation's destiny?) After all, private sector prisons >are< a thing. At some point, such an indenture could be the only repose from the impending climate disaster, as well.
Meditate on that concept for a few minutes before you blow it off as rubbish. Just sayin'.
I suspect ideas of a base for mining is at heart of returning to the moon as well.
It's probably only way NASA got any funding for Artemis.
I used to love space exploration, which it what it used to be, but when I started hearing about colonization and mining. I knew the corporate profit machine had seized control of this as well. 💔
Agreed! The corporate profit machine is not content with just destroying this planet! Boundless greed.
We need a paradigm shift toward the circular economy, in which everything is recycled. Mother Nature recycles everything, and so should we if we want to survive. Until our for-profit economic system is replaced by a circular system, history will repeat itself.
and make // require - doubtful - the producers of the plastics et al pollutants
entering the total planetary environment - responsible for the clean up and
recycling and cessation of further production - But like I said - all of this is
highly doubtful - ref: cost effectiveness eating into mega prophets (misspelling intentional) -
The job of government is to establish the rules for the playing field called The Economy, The Market. If and only if governments get in tune with Mother Nature will we survive.
Including the military. Honolulu water issues come to mind.
It strikes me that everything is circular, Stan. Nature recycles, and history works in cycles, as well. Perhaps....if we humans wreck our planet irreparably, we'll be recycled by Nature, and maybe our history will come full circle: we'll start at our most primitive beginning again. The whole process taking eons, of course.
Denise, I've been reading about archaeological rediscorery of several ancient cultures = Troy, Greece, Egypt (my fav), Rome, in the Americas et al, & now Knossos on Crete. And all of them -
'was done in' by some natural catalysmic event OR human overpopulation exploiting to death the environments that - evolved - these cultures. So, YES, Nature DOES recycle virtually everything naturally. It's when dealing with the human concocted synthetics (plastics in all it's forms derived mostly from petroleum products) that Nature has difficulty in the recycling process, since most of those synthetics do NOT exist in the natural realm... Sigh ~~ ~
Our environmental & societal collapse could, & likely will, happen in a very short time, & we may be a lot closer to that point than most people realize.
Put the NASA mission in perspective with my comment elsewhere about its true, original mission. China's sniffin' 'round on the moon, and it'll wind up being a new "space race" - if you remember that old chestnut.
Indeed! You clearly understand what I'm talking about.
I just finished ready a series of sci-fi stories by a British writer E. C. Tubb: 'Earl Dumarest Saga' written from 1975 to about 1984 & 31 stories all sequential. It's set in the far far far future post apocolypse on Planet Earth // Terra, where Earl Dumarest, as a boy, has stowed away on a space ship, bound for - who knows where - and all the stories are about his future life and his quest of finding and returning to the planet of his birth.
Very engrossing, but I doubt more than a few episodes are currently available. I collected them from the beginning, having worked in the wholesale/retail book biz back then.
And, in my opinion, the story lines are a - forcaste - of how human behavior didn't/hasn't/won't change as a whole - for the better... And, in a very real sense we're
seeing that happen - now ~ ~ ~
Anyone seen AVATAR 1 & 2 lately?
DZK, Musk is a megalomaniac! He had a few ideas like his electric cars, but he doesn't have the wherewithall to see projects through and he treats workers so poorly they can't produce the quality products Musk claims to be making. He is addicted to attention and is into blaming everyone else for his "failures." He doesn't learn from his failures either except that he can use his money to cause all kinds of havoc and will still be covered by the media as though he is some kind of genius. I can see him drawing up the blueprints for prison factories in space, on earth too if he is permitted. We already have privatized prisons which is a start in that direction. Whoever came up with the idea of private prisons should be in one of them, say for a year. If someone is committed to prison for a crime, it is up to the state to see to the prison, not pay a bunch of money to a private corporation to run it. This is disgusting and needs to stop. The problem, most people don't care and Republicans like not having to take responsibility for imprisoning people for minor crimes while they are committing major ones. Ugh!
Regarding Musk, a little research reveals he did NOT create Tesla, but was rather an INVESTOR. He was not getting the attention he craved and had an internal fight for control with the TRUE founders of the company. A settlement was reached by Musk where for $$$$, he would be able to title himself also as a "founder" and be the "face" of the company. Musk is VERY similar to Trump in his extreme narcissist disease and unending craving for attention. A carnival barker comes to mind, a habit of overpromising and underdelivering. (ex: operable Self-driving feature) The SAD part is that corporate media worships those with money and believes that if someone made enormous money in one thing, they must be great at EVERYTHING. The "journalists" never bothered to investigate the con man Musk for who he is and find out exactly HOW that wealth was made. Maybe his "modern day slaves", I mean his workers, had just a little to do with it. Imagine a "man" being angry and pouting because he wanted his slaves to continue working at his Fremont Tesla plant in the middle and worst part of the covid pandemic and the State of California said, because of the closeness of the workers and other health concerns, he would have to shut down for a period of time. He disobeyed the State orders and made his slaves work ANYWAY and many got covid. Then he closed the factory and moved it to Texas. Megalomaniacs with NO COMPASSION FOR HUMANITY HAVE NO PLACE CONTROLLING OR LEADING PEOPLE!!
The equivalent comparison of EM to DT could be summed up like this-
Elon had just as many friends growing up that worked in his daddy's South African Diamond mine- As Donald had as many friends that lived in his daddy's slums in NYC...
Just sayin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Small correction. Emerald mine.
Lonnie, that paints a powerful picture we should all pay attention to. Thanks!
Thankfully we will see justice in our lifetimes and the oligarchs worldwide will learn what suffering is. There was a study released last year in Seattle by a billionaire Chip? Hanoyer?
That unequivocally stated that since the 1970’s- when the 0.1% began the onslaught of the middle class and all others- except themselves- that EVERY adult in the USA would have earned the equivalent of an additional $100,000 per year in income, had the tables not been turned through the Offshoring of industrial capabilities that have decimated the entire economy, except the most affluent people in America.
A self imposed imperialism- if you will.
Also, I had read Elon’s father had a diamond mine, if it was just gemstones… it’s synonymous with the wealth it takes to operate a mine that produces raw materials from the earth. Just ask Joe Manchin!
As a manufactures rep in Silicon Valley, I had the pleasure of working with the true founder of Tesla at a number of companies before he displayed the courage and foresight to establish a new electric car company in Northern California. Thank you for bringing this fact to the attention of the members of this sub stack. We must defend ourselves from megalomaniacs that want to control our world. They very well could be the one's who will determine the future of AI. A scary thought.
David, knowing there was a true genius involved with developing the Tesla and other electric vehicles gives me hope. I am guessing that genius doesn't whine, lie about everything, abuse workers, and throw his weight around for attention. What a relief that I don't have to worry about geniuses as much as I did when I thought Musk might be one.
You are correct.
Thank you for that correction, Jim. Like too many billionaires, Musk is given credit for things he never did, like Tesla. Musk is a leech (a blood sucking worm) the best definition I can think of for this parasitic loser. Some segment of America have become so addicted to celebrity they adulate the worst scumbags we produce. (Yes, I know he is South African by birth)
Fay, yes, Musk is a scumbag no matter where he is from. It is just too bad we happen to have so many of them here right now. Why isn't the media bringing out the facts about Musk's "professional" life? I know, I know, money lets people hang in the shadows if they want, or rather since Musk wants to be in the limelight all the time, he just wants his background to remain in the shadows and people to think as I did that he is a genius. He's just another rich whiny white boy.
Jim, thank you so much for the info about Musk. I did not do my homework and allowed myself to be persuaded by the media that Musk was a genius and I led me to believe he was the inventor of the Tesla car and the other things he was into. Wow! That is a good lesson, do my own research on all the figures the media puts forward. I usually do, but somehow, like a whole lot of people, I did believe Musk was a tech genius when he was just a rich guy? Oh lord! How did I miss that? That lowers him in my opinion a lot, to the point that I don't even have to think about him. How anyone who knew he was a jerk could have let him "pretend" to buy Twitter (he got investors so it is impossible at this point to know just how much he really did pay and to whom. Gag!
Musk did make a lot of money with PayPal, an internet payment service, allowing him to invest in Tesla. But, even that story has unflattering dealings with his business partners. As I understand, Musk was partnered with others (sound familiar) pushing them to primarily focus on his invention, and the other investors were keener on theirs, known as PayPal. He eventually sold his shares in PayPal. Musk seems to have a history of difficulty working WITH people.
When I worked at PayPal I never saw any code in the repository under Elon's name. The only co-founder who contributed code that I saw was Max Levchin. Maybe he posted under X Æ A-Xii Sr.?
HAH! Even before I learned the truth from Jim, I felt there was something not legit about Musk. Never regarded him as anything but pond scum. Now I know why!
Appreciate the info on Tesla's origins, Jim. Did not know those facts.
Granted, Musk has likely shot his space plans in the foot with his massive ego. However, I'm almost certain someone far, far quieter, cleverer, and more antisocial is conniving a way to pick up where L'enfant terrible fell on his damn kisser.
overt narcissism.
Hi, Ruth, Little by little, the private sector has been buying out the government since Ronald Reagan (or before?). The buyout of prisons is one of the more alarming examples. When someone said they wanted to get the government down to the size of a corner Woolworth store . . .? Remember your downtown Woolworth's? They see the government as lost profit, and want to make it as powerless as possible (except for defense). Drown it in the bathtub. Abolish it, except for defense. Fascism is symbolized from the time of the middle ages, as reeds bound together with an ax blade sticking out from the side. When the corporations bind themselves to the government (and do what they want with it), you get fascism. Some say America has been fascist since the vice presidency of Dick Cheney. Maybe it began when Kennedy was elected, when J. Edgar Hoover was employed by the Federal government. When did America begin to become fascist? When Emma Goldman was asked to leave?
Sandra, I suspect there have always been men in power who have a totalitarian bent. They think because they are physically strong it means they are intellectually strong and strong leaders too and deserve reverence from everyone. Those three very very rarely come in a package, but men insist it is all the time (check out Santos, and OK, Trump, McCarthy, . . . .). Andrew Jackson was a fascist who claimed to be a "man of the people" when the people he was courting were the other slave owners, those who would bring down the banks, and men who would kill and herd indigenous peoples away from their lands because gold had been found and white men wanted . . . . The robber barons/barrens were fascists too and hoped no one would notice. Some people did. Many men and a few women will do almost anything to force other people to be seen as inferior to them and act that way. Trump and Kump are all in this category.
These folks were trained to it from birth by predecessors who were also would-be fascists or something similar. Now they want their children not to be taught about people unlike themselves. I guess they no longer think their parenting to racism, white supremacy, misogyny, and the rest is insufficient to mold their little darlings the right way. Maybe we the People just need to demand schools teach all of our history, the good and bad and that those cute little white boys and girls are descendants of people who were not always very good people and that we hope they willl do better.
Imagine the White fear going on when we begin to realize there might be reversal and repercussion as People of Color continue to achieve wealth and prominence. We all know the history. Imagine Black retribution. The problem comes down to this White fear. Some Euroamericans see this threat growing and they see only tribalism as their safe place. They can't imagine or accept a world where there's a White minority, after everything that has happened. I think this is why southern Whites want to obliterate history, so their kids might be safer from retributive forces in the future. I can understand their reasoning, even as I also want full equality for all, everywhere. That's the only possible way forward. Yes, thank you for scanning further back for examples of fascism. I'm rather "fascinated" by symbols, which tend to teach us the origins..
andra, I appreciate your understanding of how white people's fear can spark tribalism. I believe a lot of the tribalism is created by public figures to make sure people who express sufficient anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-whoever else the "leaders" want maligned will feel they are part of the "in-crowd." People do need to belong and this is a warped sense of belonging because it is not built on community, caring, or gasp, love. It is born and nurtured in fear, hatred, stress about the other, and a history of successful maligning of those groups. The problem, the "public figures" want the people's ignorance too. Keep groups separate, scream about white women and Black men or some other configuration of race contamination. Hold events that encourage their white belongings to keep people other than white people from living in their neighborhoods. Make sure their white voters don't think about global warming and what it is doing to poor people of all backgrounds because they might summon some compassion, perhaps, god forbid, empathy for those people and want to do something about it, maybe change some habits, drive less, use less electricity, waste less food, take shorter showers, etc. Can't have that!
There have always been fascists. Take a listen to Rachel Maddow's amazing podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1647910854 I wondered what could be so important and pressing that she would cut down on her work at MSNBC. Then I discovered the podcast. She is absolutely right. What we are going through now has happened before and we all need to know this. It was not so long ago.
Donna, yes, Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" was amazing. I remember hearing about "America First" in high school, but it was presented as though it were a minor blip on a radar (OK, there was no radar then). It turned out it was a pretty formidable group of public figures who participated, even a religious nut who had a massive radio audience. For a priest, he certainly did spew a lot of hatred. I noticed the Catholic Church did nothing significant to stop him for years. One can wonder why. Every American should see "Ultra." I can't wait to see the movie about it when it is made and comes out.
Outer space is a very expensive location for the prison slave labor corporation industry.
There are now two full generations, adults and young adults now successfully engaged in an addictive prison of sociological disconnection where necessary human interactions consist of timeless actions by prisoners of tapping on the bars of a cell to signal another, yet rarely meeting the other in a human encounter.
Technology has imprisoned our humanity, our minds and our future by an intentional design of hand held mobile phones intended to platform the social media content most addictive, most profitable, and most controlling of facts, opinions and truths for the most profitable prison of all, social control by a near-total replacement of the physical commons and social meetings by video and text.
The effect of the web based social media app and handheld device enslaves in all directions of the human condition.
One is REQUIRED to possess presence on a minimum of 1 social media app for any serious consideration of employment, education or inclusion within the corporate defined confines of the technologic social construct we dwell within. Without presence in an electronic social platform one is defined by the addictive-behavior regime as anti-social and non-participatory. By the age of 12 a young pre-teen is defined by technologic social presence and little if at all by the character of the human presence.
Consider the absolute presence of control by the algorithmic, psychotic interference of social media upon every thought and idea from childhood to old age. We are a species rendered slaves to an addictive device which acts to divide the human presence to empower the will of one of a few entities controlling the monopolized industries of a planet hurtling to the profit-driven catastrophe of an irrelevant hubristic species devoted to addictive behaviors such as profiteering and an idea of corporate-extruded ‘individualism’ and personal power.
Slavery is real, slavery is behavioral, and slavery is the socially accepted insanity of the corporate technological instruments created to control, modify and punish the non-conformist to a prison planet.
When physical social spaces again become more important than the tap-tap-tapping on the prison bars of a handheld device keyboard, we may have a second chance at freedom. That importance cannot be of greater necessary now within the destruction by climate change and pandemic disease contagion which serves to imprison all and further imbed the technologic prison of social media control.
You got it. Good analysis. It all began so innocently, as I recall, learning to use my 1986 CPT word processor. Totally improved my typing skills at the time. In the early days, the whole thing was like magic.
Ah yes ; Remember Web TV ? It was fun, and still can be, as long as it does not become the addictive time bandit.
Your comment piques my memory of a couple of items. At the close of the Peter Sellers movie "Being There" is a dark screen display of the phrase: "Life is a state of mind." Also, I've said for a long time the the "Star Treck Next Generation" episode "The Game" was prophetic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29
Both fully support your view.
This is pretty darned realistic thoughts that never occurred to me. Well in a way yes they did occurto me. . That we are addicted to the ping and pong of our devices calling to us. AND have lost attention span for anything longer than 5 minutes. Sigh.
RON RODARTE ; There are still many people who are not on social media and who even thrive in this world. They read books and watch some podcasts and even get together in the flesh to meet and discuss history or even politics of the present time and listen to live music and dance. Not everyone who home schools their children is a white Christian Nationalist. Not everyone plays video games. Not everyone is addicted. I know people who do not even own a 'smart' phone. Just one of those rechargeable 'flip' phones for basic communication.
I hope this is true. I'm one of the people you describe. I still have to use my computer because I can't possibly use my phone to type messages. I get angry every time I see the request: Password. It's encouraging to read your remarks and that I don't have to feel so left-behind by the world.
Sandra B ; It's true, and I also hate passwords! every site requires them and I find it annoying to have to consult my password safe all the time. I wonder why anyone would want to hack my bill payment sites, for example. Are they going to pay my balance?
Sadly, Laurie - there are fewer and fewer who eschew the easy addictive behavior or 'convenience' of electronic coms for in-person communications or the intellectual stimulation and enhancement of reading books and sharing one's thoughts.
It is a challenge taken up buy some high schoolers in Brooklyn who have initiated a rebellion on their own perceptions of this very real issue. The link is here: https://mailchi.mp/nader/teenage-iphone-rebellion-in-brooklyn-fjyobt81qw?e=5873c0d8a5
An article by Ralph Nader built upon a newspaper report of such teen rebellion - good trouble!
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/style/teens-social-media.html
Awesome that high schoolers are thinking independently. We have some students involved in civics in our town , They actually participate in national competitions to test their knowledge of civics! It is a newer part of the curriculum in school , civics. Financial literacy too.
Independent thinking with group participation is a key to human survival, throughout mankind's survival.
False constructs of a ruling class or priesthood have often led to the downfall of civilizations.
Personal technology devices are a false construct, touted as a convenience, yet used to addict youth and adult for behavioral modification.
The movement to private and chartered corporate schools to replace the public infrastructure has also been a false premise, resulting in religious and socio-political indoctrination centers funded in part by funding taken from public education & augmented by private tuition, affordable for the economic class of 'designated economic survivors', yet impossibly expensive for masses of the silenced and ignored who have been denied their economic future.
The most damaging aspects of these education policies is the development of the school-to-prison pipeline and the rise of the economic draft, created by the lack of employment and absence of publicly funded higher education which forces youth into a military service promising what was our right as citizens only a generation ago, now denied as subjects to a corporate-captured civilization.
It is indeed a good sign that human survival skills are in play, and that the youth in your vicinity has grasped how deeply the denial of civic and financial knowledge has affected policies and planet, which in the learning will prevent corporate economic enslavement of entire communities.
Add a false premise of personal handheld technology to the false premise of credit spending and the chains of social slavery become apparent.
False premise in policy & product offer indoctrination into oppression by personal consent, a major tool of the American form of capitalism.
Until education is again in public hands and individuals are allowed to meet in the public commons rather than virtually, the obfuscation of truths & personal knowledge which are the keys to freedom will be in the sole possession of the most predatory competitor to humankind, the corporations and its false legal construct of corporate personhood.
It’s becoming fewer and fewer. Cell phones are everywhere. For better, but mostly for worse. Google offers everything at your fingertips. Most people don’t seem concerned that they’re being commercially tracked/targeted.
Especially now with the pandemic, when conversations occur over phone or FaceTime.
Kevin ; I have a smartphone and am aware of the fact that I have 'cookies' following me everywhere I go. 'Google is your friend' my husband says. It can be useful. Sure , they follow us everywhere we go. I just remind myself that "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you are not being followed." It's the world we live in. Very difficult to navigate without our phones, tablets etc. Sometimes I turn off my devices and avoid TV 'news' for a while. Feel better for it. But I know that even going to a doctor appointment now requires online accessibility.
Instant gratification, catchy clickbait and a false sense of superiority. AI is already ingrained into the youth.
I was in the generation that 'Turned on , tuned in and dropped out' from the consumer culture. We fought for clean air water and food. there are still many of us who are conscious and still learning. Life is a question of balance, for US, IMHO.
At this juncture, I get the sense that that those who would have us believe climate change is a hoax >know< it's not. They're intentionally exacerbating it, in service to the vision I've outlined above.
Consider the kind of serfdom involved with serving in even an earth-bound estate, a totally enclosed "tube city," where the pay-rate is simple survival.
I suspect that an earthbound plan for the super-rich to evade the effects of climate change is more the goal. At least that's far more realistic. It's not hard to imagine a future where the privileged few can remain comfortable in climate safe enclaves (in mountain areas, islands, greener and wetter places where crops grow best, etc), while the majority face the worst of what remains of the earth. Also, just as it has been throughout history, there has/will arise a class of lackeys who can see what's coming and who don't want to end up on the short end of the stick, so to speak, when things get really bad. We call those people Republicans and they inhabit Congress, governor's mansions, state legislatures, mayors offices, etc.
>Exactly< my point, brought down to Earth.
That's been happening for sometime, as working class people have been priced out of entire regions that have prime conditions. 😠
“Don’t Look Up”!
Reminds me of The Simpsons episode where they built two rocket ships. Lisa (a fantastic character), Marge and Maggie are on one heading for space whilst Homer and Bart are on the other rocket heading for the sun. There’s more to the story and The Simpsons have been a rock for me since they debuted on The Tracy Ullman Show.
DZK, I am a fan of Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction, but I do not want to live those visions. I want to think that having forewarning, we can make those dystopias impossible. The problem when money is in charge of everything, those dystopias look great to the monied: they have all the money/resources, they can make others do whatever they want, and they are all-powerful, like comic book heroes or villains - it doesn't matter which. Those are the fantasies of toddler-men who think only of themselves, the toddlers who never learned to play well with others and to care about anyone but themselves. We keep giving them more power and excuses for their bad behavior while people die in disasters that we could work harder to prevent.
Exactly the way I view them, Ms Sheets. If a sci-fi writer can come up with it, you can be certain that there's a recipe for Soylent Green - for example - is in someone's cookbook! Among the tales of heroism & sacrifice are a considerable number of cautionary tales.
The thought of corporate colonizing other worlds, straifing their resources and polluting their pristine environments as they have done here turns my stomach. Humans' out of control population boom is another nausea inducer. 😠
Colonizing space itself, within the Terra/Luna system is a far more feasible starting point, from which missions to the moons of the gas giants to mount. I'm figuring the Alpha Centuri system will be quite safe within in the probable timeframe that humans, as a species, eventual demise. I don't buy into ETs from distant star systems, either.
A few years ago I got an image in my head of a dead planet surrounded in thousands of space contraptions, villages, homes, satellites (I don't recall mines and factories), but that's what we're describing today. Everything that still exists has to get up into the stratosphere in order to survive. (I always have to report these prophetic images, even if today's readers won't accept them. I should describe a few other things I've seen coming lately. Community is the way forward. Everyone knows that one. How about forced abortion? Not ready for that one yet?)
Sandra, what a sad image, we have to leave the planet to survive when if we had put as much energy, time, and planning into taking care of our Earth, we could have saved it and moved into space because we wanted to explore. OMG! We do keep electing people with no vision. They are more blind than I am and that is scary since I only can't see. They can't see ahead, think clearly or care.
Governments have forced sterilization on women for the last 200 years here. Native American women unfortunately were the first, if my recollection is correct.
Maybe 35 years ago we attended a lecture from Carl Sagan, who predicted settlement of Mars via crating an artificial atmosphere and seeding...within our lifetimes.
When we lived in Maryland many of our neighbors were NASA scientists and contractors working on the Mars project.
True enough. However, the asteroid cloud that sends material our way is more accessible for extracting raw materials - particularly "rare earths." All that's necessary is to establish a platform for extracting in. I >really do< appreciate NASA, but it was ice-water on my enthusiasm the day I found out that its primary mission was - and to some extent, still is and always will be - Cold War propaganda. To this day I temper my enthusiasm with the reality we live in. In the neighborhoods I lived in, my neighbors in VA were CIA, and in MD they were NSA. The TV series "The Americans" creeps me out!
I've wondered whether mining heavy metal from astroids and taking it to Earth might not tip some balance in our rotation around the Sun, or send the Moon off somewhere else (?) Anyone?
Why bring it to earth when what you're building is already where you're processing it?
Carl was always ahead of his time.❤️
Absolutely! When one obtains $1,000,000,000, one just naturally becomes "certifiably insane." Why WOULDN'T musk want floating prison colonies to power his floating mansion?!?
Daniel, that's an interesting thought, have a billion dollars and that billionth dollar brings mental illness with it. It kinda seems that way. What does seem even more likely, a billion lets people think they can control things they should not have control of. People sometimes set up scholarships, trust funds, and other entities to "spread" their largess. It lets them decide who makes it and who doesn't, which company will get a start and which won't, which charities will get help and which won't, and for how long. That kind of power can go to a person's head and let them think they are better, smarter, more worthy than anyone else. It brings to mind the Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and so many others. That is not to say that these organizations don't do good things, but that they should have so much power and influence.
Exactly right, Ms. Sheets! The "mental illness" I described comes from the knowing that they can manipulate the world to their whim with no negative repercussions. (Just look at disgraced former president Donald "Bunkerboy" Trump!)
Daniel, yes, that billionaire mental illness is problematic, yet, people still look up to those people as though they are magical beings. It's nuts!
Ruth Sheets ; Only those who are unaware of how Musk's and other obscenely wealthy have harmed the world will be sucked in to admire the 'sparkling ' powerful rich guys, and envy their 'toys' and 'power' to destroy. Those who know anything can clearly see the perils they threaten.
Daniel H Laemmerhirt ; Incredibly he is still manipulating! Look at Congress, The 'Supreme' Court and our Democracy! I am encouraged that there is a push for ending the filibuster, the Electoral College, and getting our system of voting repaired! The Majority still rules overall!
Laurie, I am encouraged too, now how do we get people to see that ditching the filibuster, the Electoral College, and the rest are worth paying attention to? I wish I knew that because one whole party wants to do none of that. They just want money and power.
Now, Ruth, that you mention the Gates Foundation: it started in Bellevue WA near
Seattle a few decades ago. Bill and Melinda Gates with Melinda being in charge of setting up their Foundaiton (by building a 1/2 Billion dollar headquarters complex. They've since divorced but (as far as I know) Melinda is still heavily involved in their Foundation. Similar scenario with Jeff Bezos and his ex MacKenzie Scott. After their divorce she vowed to 'give away' a goodly part of her settlement fortune (billions I think I heard) and one of her efforts was to give to charity 2 of
her/their mansion properties, one of which sold for something like 37Million, but to whom ? ? ? I never heard... Such are the lives of the - fabulously wealthy ~ ahemmmmm ~
The 2013 dystopian movie "Elysium" comes to mind.
Musk believes he can terraform Mars because Arnold did it in a movie.
The key is in understanding that learning how to create a livable environment under hostile conditions immediately translates to using what's learned in less hostile environments - like extreme climate change.
Even worse - some approaching the wealth of Musk believe the universe was made in 6 days and a day of rest. They also believe that the world must end in fire to cleanse the 'sins of mankind'. That's also in a movie, and in a best seller, the Bible.
The war economy of American capitalism is the most dangerous instrument in the hands of the most dangerous group of humans ever to wield political power, as most of the assembly are servants to these 'believer' factions.
War and religiosity have a gruesome history of badly run violence, cruelty and destruction.
Look at the current world conflicts. Ukraine vs The Russian Orthodox Church. The papacy and the crusades. The ongoing protests in Iran. But wait, there’s more. White right wing evangelical christians wanting to impose their (corrupted) beliefs in a nation founded on the separation of church and state.
Today? That's not that far out DZK. But I wonder, with all this super, emerging technology, WHY CAN'T WE QUELL FOREST FIRES BY NOW? ....RIGHT at the beginning! We need our planet under us if we are to survive -- it's all we have right now and it can last. What mystifies me, has it not been learned that Mars been a defunct planet for how many millennium's???? Venus could well be what was our planet's beginnings?
Well, all that would >justify< such "space exploration,," now, wouldn't it?
Que up on YouTube: Zager and Evans song: 'In the Year 2525' played with the backdrop of
Fritz Lange's "Metropolis" (1927) and you'll get a glimpse of what our - future - could look like. : (
Will check out. Know the song and recently rewatched Metropolis. In a weird way Motörhead’s song of the same name from 1979 seems relatable.
Just wondering IF ? Motorhead's song is the original recording of this song. Haven't heard it if it's not. Or a cover recording of 'In the Year 2525'. Before OR after Zager & Evans ? ? ? don't know ~
No. Motörhead’s song is one of a dystopian present. Think of the movie as a gritty inner city narrative. It’s from The New Wave of Heavy Metal movement from the late seventies through the early eighties. Primarily from the UK, spread through Europe and finally made its way to North and South America. A movement I was happy to be on the ground floor.
A proud punk and metal fan. Punk got me through the Reagan years.
Thanks Kevin for this new - revelation - of that era. I was more into other genre of music, mostly classical, but heard of what you mentioned during those times. Thanks -
That's a waaaay old song I remember from when it was first released. Thanks!
DZK, I too heard this song - way back when - it originally came out. And when I came across it
again with the Metropolis backdrop I - saved it - to remember ! and add to my trepidation of 'What May Come'. (wasn't that the title of a 50's B grade sci-fi movie ? ? ?)
"Things to come," I believe is what you're thinking of.
You are right : )
Thank You !
It occurred to me earlier today that the decision by oil industry executives to deceive the public & bribe or blackmail the government about the climate disruption their products would cause was making the conscious sociopathic choice to make billions of extra money while letting the world go awry & billions of people (& countless animals & plants) die, making a bet that the money they gained would be enough to construct something that could protect them from the environmental destruction they knew would come.
This seques into what has been built here in Seattle by Jeff Bezos and Amazon = The Amazon
spheres. Geodesic domes totally enclosed environments near downtown Seattle - to be - front and center to the general public to - ooh and ahh - over. Could this be the experimental precursor to extra-planetary colony structures ? ? ? And just how much Terran planetary resources were used to construct these - artificial - environments ? ? ?
Yes Jaime, it is criminal that they deliberately chose huge wealth over the lives of potentially millions of people when they didn't release the report. I honestly don't understand such greed and callousness.
The Rockefellers knew this, wanted to diversify but the Saudis control Exxon.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rockefeller-family-is-exiting-the-oil-business/
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/01/the-rockefellers-vs-exxon.html
Daniel, thank you for, as you always do, pulling up such relevant, interesting links. I didn't know this OR that the Saudi's were behind FOX news and have been such a destabilizing influence in the US. They have strengthened the ruling class and are achieving their goals. It is the plutocratic class getting richer on our climate disaster. And you are right about how numb Americans are to climate crisis, not a whimper of complaint.
Claire, yep, not a peep about what happened in Alabama being related to global warming either. The people of the Southern states have suffered enormously, but they still keep putting into office racist, misogynistic, homo/transphobic people thinking somehow those people will care even about them, the white folks with roots in the deep south. Those white folks are also suffering but just can't get past the other baggage so they can see that their leaders are letting them pay the price for poor leadership while the storms keep coming. They mourn the loss of homes and livelihood, but don't hear this is global warming caused by humans, which needs to be stopped before even worse storms arrive. Voting against one's interests is still beyond my comprehension, no matter how much I read and hear about it. Personal hatreds over the truth, I just don't get it!
Excellent commentary!
Oh Girl Scientist, that was amazing! I don't say that lightly! Your identification of greed and the 1%'s addiction to accumulating and destroying is excellent. How is it we can't demand better journalism, better reporting? How is it the people most impacted by global warming in this nation will vote for candidates who still, after decades of evidence, even from Exxon as you note, claim global warming is not real or proven or some other such nonsense? I don't get it, but I suspect our media have something to do with it. Thanks for your comment!
The journalism of today is a corporate for-profit industry which cannot insist on journalistic responsibility due to the profit and loss from deviating from the corporate requirement to support their actions and defend their associates.
No journalist with integrity survives the onslaught of defunding and de-platforming by 'mainstream' media. Mainstream is no longer a corporate presence, as seen in most of the commentary herein. 'Mainstream' readers have evacuated the bunkers of war-driven corporate American media giants to the less-corporate-influenced platforms as used here at Substack. Even the slightest corporate profit association to a media source can and will be used to twist the power of a journalist into a subjugated scribe, or cause the penury and silencing of the best journalistic minds - BECAUSE of an intelligence which cannot eschew the evidence or quell the deafening question begging to be asked.
If subscribed to a corporate media account, demand a full spectrum of journalism.
When the truth is present there is a path to intelligent design.
Sadly we have no truths to ascribe to in a corporate controlled and profiteering media insisting its power is sacrosanct while the viewers and subscribers evacuate ground zero of the lies and innuendo blown from their corporate offices.
Overflowing rivers ever since I became cognizant (by 1960's) of these disasters were results of the huge demise of plants and trees that could accommodate NATURAL rainfall . They've long known this too. That is only one of California's problems; droughts, the fires leaving nothing to hold rainfall. Sucking the ground dry is another.
Thank you GrrlScientist. I did read the article about the Exxon scientists findings and how it was squashed by the then CEO of Exxon and buried for more than 50 years. You are right to be angry. My only exception to your post is the use of the word "elite". The definition of elite is "a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society" These people to whom you refer are as far from hat definition as can be found. Far from superior (except in their own minds) they are the greedy scum of the earth. Otherwise, great and accurate post.
I have no idea as to what you're referring to. Sorry. Thanks for stopping by.
Sorry Don, the post was intended to be under the main topic, not your comment. Oh well, cannot undo it now!
No problem I just didn't want you to think I said something I didn't. LOL
I would challenge you to at least consider the opinion of one of the original climatologists, a retired MIT scholar who specialized in atmospheric dynamics.
It cannot hurt to peruse a skeptical view once in a while, especially when you become certain that you are right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LVSrTZDopM