R

HAROLD JOHNS ~ THE POWER OF STORY ~ 2022

Posted by

0

~ WAAS-WATSWAT-A-WATSWTO-TCOCWNTCOS ~ We Are All Story – We Are The Stores We Are Told – And – We Are The Stories We Tell Ourselves – To Change Our Circumstances We Need To Change Our Story

~ TWIOBISBS-ETYTIFBS ~ The Wiring In Our Brains Is Shaped By Story – Every Thought You Think Is Framed By Story

~ SCHASCK ~ Stories Can Heal And Stories Can Kill

~ ASAI-ASHP ~ All Stories Are Important – All Stories Have Power

~ EIAPS-IPAOMT-IWDTOSILWTES-WANLT ~ Economics Is A Powerful Story – It Permeates All Of Modern Thought – If We Don’t Tell Our Story In Line With The Economics story – We Are Not Listened To

JEREMY BENTHAM ~ THE GREATEST HAPPINESS – FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER ~ SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES – THE – VALUE OF A PLEASURE OR A PAIN IS – CONSIDERED ~ THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION ~ 1789

Posted by

0

~ P:TCIHONBFBSOTOK ~ PURITY: The Chance It Has Of Not Being Followed By Sensations Of The Opposite Kind

~ I:T-S/F/P-OTP ~ INTENSITY: The – Strength / Force / Power – Of The Pleasure

~ P:T-PITOP-OTP ~ PROPINQUITY: The – Proximity In Time Or Place – Of The Pleasure

~ C:T-S-OTP ~ CERTAINTY: The – Sureness – Of The Pleasure

~ F:TCIHOBFBSOTSK ~ FECUNDITY: The Chance It Has Of Being Followed By Sensations Of The Same Kind

~ E:TNOPTWIE-O-WAABI ~ EXTENT: The Number Of Person To Whom It Extends – Or – Who Are Affected By It

~ D:TLOTTPWL ~ DURATION: The Length Of Time The Pleasure Will Last

BRIAN WATSON ~ HEADED INTO THE ABYSS ~ 2019

Posted by

0

~ C-I-NGTSTLO-2100-PNE-20170-NALIAFTYWTE-MOUAT-TTW-AGTBPO-CAD ~ Civilization – Is – Not Going To See The Light Of – 2100 – Perhaps Not Even – 2070 – Not At Least In Any Form That You’d Want To Experience – Most Of Us Alive Today – Throughout The World – Are Going To Be Part Of – Collapse And Dissolution

~ WMCCAFD-TA-AA-POCMTWCITAMOOD-B-WWNDS ~ We Might Change Course Away From Disaster – There Are – After All – Plenty Of Constructive Measures That We Could Implement To Address Most Of Our Difficulties – But – We Will Not Do So

~ ASOMAT-TS-G-A-TAU ~ All Sorts Of Madnesses Abound Today – Throughout Societies – Globally – And – They Afflict Us

~ TW-H-C-A-H-I ~ Today’s World – Hyper-Connected – And – Hyper-Interdependent

~ MVTUTTAS-TT-O-T-ITB-FTOT-B-TANS-I-TA-C/O/I/H/D/S/L/I/E/R/U ~ Many Voices Tell Us That Things Are Simple – That This – Or – That – Is To Blame – For This Or That – But – Things Are Not Simple – Instead – They Are – Complicated / Overlapping / Interrelated / Historical / Dynamic / Simultaneous / Logical / Illogical / Emotional / Resolvable / Unresolvable

~ O-I-A-E-S-A-TCFTC-WBAMFIHTFU ~ Our – Imagination – And – Emotional – Selves – And – The Contest For Their Control – Will Be A Major Factor In How The Future Unfolds

~ OCADEEO-UP-A-BUBP-WA-S-F-D-A-BI ~ Ordinary Citizens Are Dividing Against Each Other – Using Politics – And – Being Used By Politics – We Are – Splintering – Fragmenting – Deteriorating – And – Becoming Impotent

~ FTLT-WDAA-NMCTP-TWNEFP ~ For The Longest Time – We Didn’t Assign Any – Negative Monetary Costs To Pollution – There Was No Explicit Financial Penalty

~ T-GE-I-MAS ~ The – Gig Economy – Is – Mostly A Scam

~ TEIDW-I-WE-ITF-B-NAD-A-TPWO ~ The Economy Is Doing Well – If – We Essentially – Ignore The Future – Both – Near And Distant – And – The Path We’re On

~T-I-AAF-A-NN ~ Technology – Is – Always A Force – And – Never Neutral

~ EJTR-HJ-A-IHE-JTWMNDCB-DBM-WSBVT-AI ~ Even Jobs That Require – Human Judgement – And – Interpreting Human Emotion – Jobs That We Might Not Dream Could Be – Done By Machines – Will Soon Become Vulnerable To – Artificial Intelligence

~ C-C-A-P-W-SNNWTMW-AFTCTMT-RAP ~ Currently – Corporate – And – Political – Winners – See No Need Whatsoever To Mess With – A Formula That Continues To Make Them – Rich And Powerful

~ D-G-W’-II-U-AU-A-AOI-IIUTMUI-I/I/S-S/S/D/A/C-W-AP ~ Data – Gets – “Weaponized” – It Is – Used – Against Us – And – Against Our Interests – It Is Used To Make Us Into – Impulsive / Impressionable / Status-Seeking / Silly / Distracted / Acquisitive / Consuming – Web-Addicted People

~ D-IUT-M/C/D-B-OM-A-OB ~ Data – Is Used To – Modify / Change / Direct – Both – Our Moods – And – Our Behavior

~EANETL-C-KT-T-DS-HB-H/B/HFR/C ~ Enterprises Are Not Eager To Let – Customers – Know That – Their – Digital Systems – Have Been – Hacked / Breached / Held For Ransom / Compromised

~ N-D-C-CTTW-T-H ~ Now – Digital – Computerized – Connected To The Web – Therefore – Hackable

~ MAM-WBR-AC-‘L’-HTDTJ ~ More And More – Will Be Replaced – As Computers – “Learn” – How To Do Their Jobs

~ WAP ~ Without Anyone’s Permission

~ WI-DAU-T-ITEO-TI-A-IRI-E/M/H/W ~ What Is – Different And Unprecedented – Today – Is The Existence Of – The Internet – And – Its Role In – Enlarging / Magnifying / Hardening / Weaponizing

~ WAB-L-T.D-M-E/R-A-MEDBMTSRLOOA ~ We Are Becoming – Less – Tolerant / Discerning – More – Emotional / Reactive – And – More Easily Distracted By Matters That Should Receive Less Of Our Attention

~ PTTEOTI-IWFMDF-P-W-BOA-V-T-FEO-T-STP-A-T-BITN ~ Prior To The Existence Of The Internet – It Was Far More Difficult For – People – With – Bizarre Or Antisocial – Views – To – Find Each Other – To – Sell Their Propaganda – And – To – Be In The News

~ TROTIIC-E/S/TDAAA/TGU/TL/TT-P-W-FALVORAF-A-NTEOS-O-D-O-OVT-TO-TEC-O-T-TIOO-WAACOU-TA ~ The Role Of The Internet In Connecting – Extremists / Sociopaths / The Dangerously Angry And Alienated / The Grossly Uneducated / The Lost / The Traumatized – People – Who – For A Large Variety Of Reasons And Forces – Are – Near The Edge Of Sanity – Or – Desperate – Or – Otherwise Vulnerable To – Their Own – Throbbing Emotional Condition – Or – To – The Influence Of Others – Who Are Also – Consciously Or Unconsciously – Thrashing About

~ HWU-HCT-TOT-A-TEOE ~ Heavy Web Users – Have Come To – Think Of Themselves – As – The Equal Of Experts

~ T-I-O-SMAC-C-VAP-O-YP-MT-A-MIHFTTD-A-HS-A-WC-O-A-BP-T-C/A/C/M-A-E-TLDOO-MS-YP-ABE-TTOTLA-‘B’ ~ The – Interwovenness – Of – Social Media And Commercialization – Changes – Values And Perspectives – Of – Young People – Manipulates Them – And – Makes It Much Harder For Them To Develop – A – Healthily Skeptical – And – Wise Critique – Of – And – Balanced Posture – Toward – Commercialization / Advertising / Consumption / Materialism – And – Even – The Larger Design Of Our – Market System – Young People – Are Being Encouraged – To Think Of Themselves Literally As –”Brands”

~ AJIT-GE-T/I/WB/UU ~ A Job In The – Gig Economy – Temporary / Insecure / Without Benefits / Ultimately Unsustainable

~ OC-F-P-F-A-CAU-A-F-CAE-A-BR ~ Our Capacities – For – Patience – For – Accepting – Complexity And Uncertainty – And – For – Cooperation And Empathy – Are – Being Reduced

~ WL-QT-IOL-WAL-T-CAA-F-DAC-RAI ~ With Less – Quiet Time – In Our Lives – We Are Losing – The – Capacity And Affinity – For – Deep And Critical – Reflection And Introspection

~ WW-I-TP-TB-S-W-F/F/S-I ~ WebWorld – Is – Training People – To Be – Satisfied – With – Fast / Fragmented / Superficial

~ WHE-‘C’-A-ASNOC-AT-AAOC ~ We Have Elevated – “Convenience” – And – A Simple-Minded Notion Of Convenience – At That – Above All Other Considerations

~ ITLTP-F-40Y-STR-STCW-A-F-S/P/A/I-TIWYG ~ If You Lie To People – For – 40 Years – Screw Them Royally – Steal The Country’s Wealth – And – Feed – Suspicion / Paranoia / Anxiety / Ignorance – This Is What You Get

~ MO-HWHTO-T-E/T/D-R-TAT-MC-BTSOOW ~ Media Outlets – Have Worked Hard To Obscure – The – Economic / Technological / Deregulatory – Realities – That Are The – Main Culprits – Behind The Struggles Of Ordinary Workers

~ OI-OC-O-APS-CF-SWEO-WWBATA-T-M-IAT-P-WH ~ Only If – Ordinary Citizens – Of – All Political Stripes – Can Find – Solidarity With Each Other – Will We Be Able To Address – The – Most – Important And Threatening – Problems – We Have

~ WLBN-A-WS-IAC-WCCD ~ We Live By Narratives – And – We Seek – Integration And Coherence – We Can Connect Dots

~ WW-SU-AF-CAD-F-II-HW-A-S-B-T-ASS-T-CATAOS ~ WebWorld – Seduces Us – Away From – Confusing And Difficult – Fare – It Is – Hard Work – And – Sometimes – Boring – To – Adequately Study Something – To – Consider All The Aspects Of Something

~ T-EQOE-AA-IT-I ~ The – Essential Quality Of Ecosystems – Above All – Is Their – Interconnectedness

~ RS-A-S-CDS-MM-HOR ~ Rising Seas – And – Salt-Contaminated Drinking Supplies – Massive Migrations – Hordes Of Refugees

~ F-OE-TS-A-OE-ES-HNR-TT-MPR-OT-P/B/C-W ~ Fundamentally – Our Entire – Technological System – And – Our Entire – Economic System – Have No Relationship – To The – Most Primary Realities – Of The – Physical / Biological / Chemical – World

~ TF-WHMR-F-PTB-EM-D/F/E-~ The Future – Will Hold Many Reasons – For – People To Become – Even More – Depressed / Fearful / Emotional

~ IA-FAD-W-FAE-WCTDTRTP-E-WBT-P-S-B ~ In A – Frightening And Deteriorating World – Fear And Emotions – Will Come To Dominate The Responses That People – Everywhere – Will Bring To – Planetary-Scale-Breakdowns

~ WIMC-I-TTIOATPOTP-WQONRWU-HM-PAW-WG-A-TDTWWU-I-BAC-OT-B ~ What Is Most Critical – Is – The Total Impact Of All The People On The Planet – What Quantity Of Natural Resources We Use – How Much – Pollution And Waste– We Generate – And – The Degree To Which We Upset – Important – Balances And Cycles – Of The – Biosphere

~ V-NB-I-B-B-G/A/D ~ Victimized – Not By – Immigrants – But – By – Globalization / Automation / Deregulation

~ HNOP-W-B-FTF-SC-A-ED ~ Huge Numbers Of People – Will – Be – Forced To Flee – Societal Collapse – And – Ecological Devastation

~ OESNTBMS ~ Our Economic System Needs To Be Made Sustainable

~ TI-A-M-NOWTGF-A-NOWTH ~ This Is – A – Message – No One Wants To Give – And – No One Wants To Hear

CATHY O’NEIL ~ WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION ~ 2016

Posted by

0

~ TC-MIATCT-M-WNODEITWP-BAFMOT-THC-TCOMFI/TROU-AHBAAAB-MWMF ~ The Crash – Made It All Too Clear That – Mathematics – Was Not Only Deeply Entangled In The World’s Problems – But Also Fueling Many Of Them – The Housing Crisis / The Collapse Of Major Financial Institutions / The Rise Of Unemployment – All Had Been Aided And Abetted By – Mathematicians Wielding Magic Formulas

~ IWHBC-H-WAWHTASBATPTFOHMHBM-A-HWC-PASCITF-B-I-ITWOTC-NMT-WHTE-A-EISMD-MAS-W-SO-D/M/SP-TWPOT-A-COPA-S/W/L/C ~ If We Had Been Clear-Headed – We All Would Have Taken A Step Back At This Point To Figure Out How Math Had Been Misused – And – How We Could – Prevent A Similar Catastrophe In The Future – But – Instead – In The Wake Of The Crisis – New Mathematical Techniques – Were Hotter Than Ever – And – Expanding Into Still More Domains – Mathematicians And Statisticians – Were – Studying Our – Desires / Movements / Spending Power – They Were Predicting Our Trustworthiness – And –Calculating Our Potential As – Students / Workers / Lovers / Criminals

~ T-T-M-PA-PTDE-WBO-CMBFHB-SOTCWNDMWTBI-N-MOTME-H-P/M/B-IT-SS-TIMOL ~ Trouble – The – Math-Powered Applications – Powering The Data Economy – Were Based On – Choices Made By Fallible Human Beings – Some Of These Choices Were No Doubt Made With The Best Intentions – Nevertheless – Many Of These Models Encoded – Human – Prejudice / Misunderstanding / Bias – Into The – Software Systems – That Increasingly Managed Our Lives

LG-T-MM-W-O-TWITABTHPITD-TV-EW-WOH-W-BDOA-A-TTTPTPATOIOS-WMTRR ~ Like Gods – These – Mathematical Models – Were – Opaque – Their Workings Invisible To All But The Highest Priests In Their Domain – Their Verdicts – Even When – Wrong Or Harmful – Were – Beyond Dispute Or Appeal – And – They Tended To Punish The Poor And The Oppressed In Our Society – While Making The Rich Richer

~ ATR-H-B/P/P-T-A-I-NEJ Attempting To Reduce – Human – Behaviour / Performance / Potential – To – Algorithms – Is – No Easy Job

~ A-BD-C-R-RCT-MTOV ~ At – Big Data – Companies – Researchers – Run Constant Tests – And – Monitor Thousands Of Variables

~ WF-A-SE-CCSOFADA-WNLFIM ~ Without Feedback – A – Statistical Engine – Can Continue Spinning Out Faulty And Damaging Analysis – While Never Learning From Its Mistakes

~ DTOR-A-UITJTR-TTOM-I-S-P-HD-A-VC ~ Define Their Own Reality – And – Use It To Justify Their Results – This Type Of Model – Is – Self-Perpetuating – Highly Destructive – And – Very Common

~ P-DIAS-WCTSLUD-A-T-HV-AHTAFHSOETTAT ~ Probability – Distilled Into A Score – Which Can Turn Someone’s Life Upside Down – And – The – Human Victims – Are Held To A Far Higher Standard Of Evidence Than The Algorithms Themselves

~ TTIT-PEUSAA-SI-O-P-F-T-WSTDCCUAAA-THB-DS-ATOLSOTFOTREOTT ~ The Trouble Is That – Profits End Up Serving As A – Stand-In – Or – Proxy – For – Truth – We’ll See This Dangerous Confusion Crop Up Again And Again – This Happens Because – Data Scientists – All Too Often Lose Sight Of The Folks On The Receiving End Of The Transaction

~ BD-HPOE ~ Big Data – Has Plenty Of Evangelists

~ TCAM-WMCAWIETI-STWIA-TV-TCBEU-A-FWWCI-I-FAA ~ To Create A Model – We Make Choices About What’s Important Enough To Include – Simplifying The World Into A – Toy Version – That Can Be Easily Understood – And – From Which We Can Infer – Important – Facts And Actions

~ AM-BS-RT-JAP-OI-C ~ A Model’s – Blind Spots – Reflect The – Judgments And Priorities – Of Its – Creators

~ AMBFT-WWABWT-IWGSIINCU ~ A Model Built For Today – Will Work A Bit Worse Tomorrow – It Will Grow Stale If It’s Not Constantly Updated

~ R-I-TMSOPM-IIPB-HDG-A-SC-RB-II-A-PB-CB ~ Racism – Is – The Most Slovenly Of Predictive Models – It Is Powered By – Haphazard Data Gathering – And – Spurious Correlations – Reinforced By – Institutional Inequities – And – Polluted By – Confirmation Bias

~ T-PFL-T-DL-GRAR-A-ITP-TMBMAMU ~ The – Pernicious Feedback Loop – This – Destructive Loop – Goes Round And Round – And – In The Process – The Model Becomes More And More Unfair

~ B-TPINW-SPB-IT-SMS-TMPBA-SDITFOMOP-OFTFOR-A-ONA-TU ~ But – The Point Is Not Whether – Some People Benefit – It’s That – So Many Suffer – These Models Powered By Algorithms – Slam Doors In The Face Of Millions Of People – Often For The Flimsiest Of Reasons – And – Offer No Appeal – They’re Unfair

~ A-HOMTAA:TCL-FOFTTN-A-TOD ~ And – Here’s One More Thing About Algorithms: They Can Leap – From One Field To The Next – And – They Often Do

~ BA-TVSS-TTSTC ~ Bet Against – The Very Same Securities – That They’d Sold To Customers

~ TBWMAPWRWABS-UC-EA-U-TWTC ~ The Bonds Were Marketed As Products Whose Risk Was Assessed By Specialists – Using Cutting-Edge Algorithms – Unfortunately – This Wasn’t The Case

~ TMWDATCAASS ~ The Math Was Directed Against The Consumer As A Smoke Screen

~ B-O-T-O-U-IOU ~ Billions – Or – Trillions – Of – Unpayable – IOUs

~ VFPHT-EATIR-TKWWAGOS-A-MOTPWD-LTITSU ~ Very Few People Had The – Expertise And The Information Required – To Know What Was Actually Going On – And – Most Of The People Who Did – Lacked The Integrity To Speak Up

~ T-F-A-NMPWDATST-WBOT-T-STBD-T-DWL-RAU

~ The – False – Assumption – Not Many People Would Default At The Same Time – Was Based On The – Theory – Soon To Be Disproven – That – Defaults Were Largely – Random And Unrelated

~ TPO-MC-FF-AASUIH ~ The Power Of – Modern Computing – Fueled Fraud – At A Scale Unequalled In History

~ TWE-FSTPOTOSOTA ~ That’s When Everyone – Finally Saw The People On The Other Side Of The Algorithms

~ B-2009-IWCTTLOTMCHBNNDTTWOFAHINNV-TLS-FTMP-A-TGRTS:TRIDM-EFAFRTAAFHTJT ~ By – 2009 – It Was Clear That The Lessons Of The Market Collapse Had Brought No New Direction To The World Of Finance And Had Instilled No New Values – The Lobbyists Succeed – For The Most Part – And – *The Game Remained The Same: To Rope In Dumb Money – Except For A Few Regulations That Added A Few Hoops To Jump Through

~ TRTAR-RDIF ~ The Refusal To Acknowledge Risk – Runs Deep In – Finance

~ TAWMST-TD-L-WRTW ~ The Algorithms Would Make Sure That – Those Deemed – Losers – Would Remain That Way

~ ALM-WGEMCOT-DE-TI-OF-A-CTATW-TTDI ~ A Lucky Minority – Would Gain Ever More Control Over The – Data Economy – Taking In – Outrageous Fortunes – And – Convincing Themselves All The While – That They Deserved It

~ H-WUCAMFP-IIFST-GI-B-PAETMTTCRTR ~ However – When You Create A Model From Proxies – It Is Far Simpler To – Game It – Because – Proxies Are Easier To Manipulate Than The Complicated Reality They Represent

~ W-CP-BATW-TO-T-ANO-S-B-F ~ We – Criminalize Poverty – Believing All The While – That Our – Tools – Are Not Only – Scientific – But – Fair

~ J-CJBSTOPOSIUTO ~ Justice – Cannot Just Be Something That One Part Of Society Inflicts Upon The Other

~ OR ~ Operations Research

~ B-ITWFI ~ Bogus – Is The Word For It

~ C-GT ~ Computer-Generated Terrorism

~ B-AOTATP-HOMOP-F-TODS-IGTGALOTFW ~ But – Any Operation That Attempts To Profile – Hundreds Of Millions Of People – From – Thousands Of Different Sources – Is Going To Get A Lot Of The Facts Wrong

~ M-A-LO-ALA-TSRFOTE ~ Mistakes – Are – Learning Opportunities – As Long As – The System Receives Feedback On The Error

~ R-ISWU-TI-FMSF ~ Redlining – Is Still With Us – Though In – Far More Subtle Forms

~ IWGTB-EBTL-O-TEAV-WCSF-STDUIDC-A-TUD ~ If We’re Going To Be – Equal Before The Law – Or – Treated Equally As Voters – We Cannot Stand For – Systems That Drop Us Into Different Castes – And – Treat Us Differently

~ TG-OC-HAP-RR-TP ~ The Government – Of Course – Has A Powerful – Regulatory Role – To Play

~ MAC-NFD-B-FTCWM-A-WDTPAT-A-WTLO-TCANJA-L/P/E-TA-FM ~ Models Are Constructed – Not Just From Data – But – From The Choices We Make – About – Which Data To Pay Attention To – And – Which To Leave Out – Those Choices Are Not Just About – Logistics / Profits / Efficiency – They Are – Fundamentally Moral

GEORGE ORWELL ~ RULES FOR WRITING ~ POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ~ 1946

Posted by

0

~ NUA-M/S/FOS-WYAUTSIP ~ Never Use A – Metaphor / Simile / Figure Of Speech – Which You Are Used To Seeing In Print

~ NUALW-WASOWD ~ Never Use A Long Word – Where A Short One Will Do

~ IIIPTCAWO-ACIO ~ If It Is Possible To Cut A Word Out – Always Cut It Out

~ NUT-P-‘WS’-WYCUT-A-‘S’ ~ Never Use The – Passive – “Was Saved” – When You Can Use The – Active – “Saved”

~ NU-AFP-ASW-O-AJW-IYCTOAEEE ~ Never Use – A Foreign Phrase – A Scientific Word – Or – A Jargon Word – If You Can Think Of An Everyday English Equivalent

~ BAOTR-STSAOB ~ Break Any Of These Rules – Sooner Than Say Anything Outright Barbarous