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Category Archives: Modernization
Artificial Intelligence Paragraph to Ponder
Few are as intelligent on A.I. as Tyler Cowen. He’s largely optimistic.
“I am reminded of the advent of the printing press, after Gutenberg. Of course the press brought an immense amount of good, enabling the scientific and industrial revolutions, among many other benefits. But it also created writings by Lenin, Hitler, and Mao’s Red Book. It is a moot point whether you can ‘blame’ those on the printing press, nonetheless the press brought (in combination with some other innovations) a remarkable amount of true, moving history. How about the Wars of Religion and the bloody 17th century to boot? Still, if you were redoing world history you would take the printing press in a heartbeat. Who needs poverty, squalor, and recurrences of Ghenghis Khan-like figures?”
You’re Depressed
Do you see a therapist, take meds, or work out? New research boosts the case for working out.
A clear, thoughtful, and substantive summary of recent research on treating depression and other mental health issues like OCD and anxiety.
Inside The Swiss Clinics Where The Super-Rich Go For Rehab
Subtitle: For the ultra-wealthy and the super-famous, regular therapy won’t do.
Unsettling.
The clinics seek recurring revenue more than their clients’ health and well-being. Some financial advisors are “fiduciaries” meaning they have a legal/ethical responsibility to act in their clients’ best interests.
To prevent these types of clinics from proliferating, the mental health profession should have a similar type of designation. Absent that, they may weaken the public’s trust in the mental health profession.
A Persisting Youth Mental Health Crisis
Harvard’s Institute of Politics words. A cornucopia of data including this graphic. My admittedly simplistic take-away. Spend way less time on-line and more at a job that requires your full attention.
Your Gullibility Knows No Bounds
Mine too.
The Gal Pal and I have migrated south. As a result, we’ve exchanged snow and ice for rain. Last night we dined at a “craft eatery”. What a bullshit phrase! That type of wording thrives on our anemic marketing immune systems. The whole menu was a case study in descriptive gobbledygook. As it turned out, the grub was very ordinary, but the place was packed. As I scanned the packed “craft eatery”, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would’ve been as crowded if it was just a mere “restaurant”.
Then I thought about the steady stream of public figures who market themselves one way in public and act completely different in private. Take NFL quarterback Russell Wilson for example. He’s la ultima “craft eatery” athlete. Among other signs of hypocrisy, he’s a committed Christian who runs an (allegedly) bullshit charitable foundation that mostly pads the employees’ pockets.
We fall for “craft eatery” bullshit all the time without realizing it. Marketing has seeped into our collective subconscious.
Maybe resistance is futile and I should stop complaining and just lean into the incessant upselling of style over substance. That’s probably a saner path forward.
Thus, from this point forward, I cast off my identity as a “blogger”. From now on, please refer to me as a “craft writer” and the humble blog as an “organic platform for advanced cognition”. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
The Southern Baptists Say ‘No Way, No How’ To Saddleback Church
From the New York Times:
“The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday decided to expel one of its largest and most prominent churches, Saddleback Church in Southern California, over the church’s installment of a woman as pastor.”
Good move to nip that whole gender equality thing in the bud. If you let women be pastors, they’ll probably want to pick the music, weigh in on the budget, shape long-range planning, and chip away at the rest of men’s work.
The Southern Baptists are like some Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian states that somehow think they’ll be perfectly fine operating at 50% capacity.
Speaking of Economic Classes
This year, a 30 second Super Bowl commercial cost $7m. How much airtime could you have bought? If you have saved $1m, you could’ve aired your own 4.3 second commercial. What would you have said and how would you have said it?
I would’ve projected the world’s most important url on the screen without any audio . . . pressingpause.com.
Alas, I suspect the network was only selling advertising spots in 30 second increments, so you and I would have had to partner with six other people willing to pitch in $1m. And I don’t know if my friends are rich enough. Because we don’t talk about money.
Two Classes of Electric Vehicle Owners
Dan, Dan The Transpo Man and the non-rich majority.
From The Atlantic:
“It’s not just battery size. In an electrified America, charging access may become a status symbol. Because the first wave of new EVs have been so expensive, America’s affluent tax brackets made up the bulk of early adopters. The same people are also those most likely to be able to afford their own homes and install a charger that can power up their car overnight. As EV adoption reaches mainstream levels—which is happening at rates outpacing even rosy expert predictions—lots of new electric drivers will be the same urban dwellers that have been priced out of their local housing market, creating two classes of EV owners.
‘You’re talking about renters who may not have the option to install charging infrastructure,’ Jeremy Michalek, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the director of its Vehicle Electrification Group, told me. ‘And even if they have charging infrastructure this year, renters tend to move, and they don’t know whether they’ll have that access next year. Even a lot of homeowners don’t have off-street parking, and relying entirely on public charging infrastructure is a whole different ball game.'”
The Proverbial Tip of the Iceburg
A judge just used ChatGPT to make a court decision.
An early and eager ChatGPT adaptor has a suggestion on how to leverage it when reading history.
The rise of the robo-Rabbi.
Pressing Pause 