Regressive is their goal, not a design flaw. I pretty certain everything they wish to strip from us, they will keep for themselves. We will be the grunting, unthinking, plugged-in and tuned out ones who fear real human interaction and long only for whatever enticements are offered in the digital prisons created for us.
Yet, as you pointed out, these “elites” and their flunkies are not as smart as they think they are. Their own hubris will play a part in their downfall.
One another note, I have loved books all my life, and while a recent move and downsizing forced a clearing out of many I had, I will never let go of certain ones that have shaped my life and continue to bring joy and wisdom into my mind and heart. I’m sure their are many like me out there. The power of the written page will endure.
And of course you are right that the written page will endure! The market for some books is too small to digitize them yet. I'm amazed at the number of older texts that aren't available as e-books. We can't allow the knowledge and wisdom found in their pages fade into obscurity.
100% agree! I have the scars to prove it, too. I sold off most of my bulky belongings (like furniture), and just packed up about 60 boxes of books and shipped them back from NZ to the USA. I put my money where my mouth is. heh heh! Good thing international freight in these times is calculated by volume, not weight...
Hello from one of what I also hope are many like you, like us. My house, my mother's and my sister's are all filled to the brim with books - printed on paper in ink. The power of the written page WILL endure, yes!!
Hello, fellow bibliophile! I’m hoping it’s a generational trait for at least a couple of my grandkids. My daughter loves actual books as much as I do and I gladly passed down the ones from her and her brother’s childhood that I had kept for future grandchildren when we had to move away. Her two little ones show every sign of loving to read from paper as well.
As long as paper books exist I have hope for humanity. Going all digital would not be good on many various levels for any of us.
Agreed. And I think it is, certainly can be, generational - my niece and nephews, all in their 20's, enjoy actual paper books. I'm sure watching your grandchildren grow into a love of books will be a wonderful and hope-affirming experience!
I think Musk’s “brain tech” will work every bit as well as his self-driving cars, or Hyperloop. Specifically: not at all well.
I’m all in favor of the research because of what can be learned but it’s a cul de sac, its object a mirage.
Being old enough to remember how “expert systems” were going to replace human doctors in “5 to 10 years” (that was ca. 1980), I’m intensely skeptical of such prognostications (and the prognosticators).
I know the director of a “big science” project to do something ambitious. I asked him how it’s going. “It’s a lot harder than we thought” was his response. Funny, had he asked, I could have told him that, but the reality is that the outcome that mattered was the grant money, not the putative result of the research, which was decidedly second priority. He knew it was nonsense and didn’t care. The stated goal was important only in so far as it could sufficiently bamboozle the bureaucrats who controlled the money. Musk has this same MO
I’m 100% with you. There’s a limit to what these mad science loons can accomplish even with virtually unlimited spending.
20 years ago I worked on a genetic engineering project funded by DARPA to engineer plants to sense anthrax. The plants didn't like what we were doing, so they silenced the transgenes. heh. I remain tethered to reality by my training in evolutionary biology. Many aren’t.
I know that their grand dystopian visions of the future aren’t possible anytime soon, whether it's engineering artificial wombs or vaccinating people against religion.
Unfortunately, the impossibility doesn't stop them. When literally psychotic people have virtually unbridled power because of the vast resources they have stolen, we’re still facing a big problem, because their grand experiments aren’t just useless. They’re destructive.
Exhibit A: mRNA ‘vaccines’ that are not only useless but dangerous
We cannot let these people run the world and turn us into slaves in their neo-feudalist experiments.
And once we assure that they cannot do that, we must ensure that they do not bury and re-write history.
Thank you for sharing your beloved husband’s prescient meditation, all the more dear since “Twilight Zone” is my husband’s favorite show, and that episode in particular is in our top 10.
The thought of people throwing away their books makes me physically ill!
And that Musk quote combined with Mark Zuckerberg’s megavillainous vision of the Metaverse make me weep for the future:
That said, I do believe the human spirit will triumph and ultimately reject these dystopian tyrannies, as the Canadian truckers and citizens are showing us today.
Yes, I have been musing about this too. The many ways in which attempts to store and transmit human knowledge can go wrong. Store it in human beings, griot style. Great until your culture suffers disruption by devastating epidemics. Electronics, more fragile than anything as you point out. Print, amazing how fast low quality paper can deteriorate. Stone tablets? Great, as long as someone remains who can read the script.
Regressive is their goal, not a design flaw. I pretty certain everything they wish to strip from us, they will keep for themselves. We will be the grunting, unthinking, plugged-in and tuned out ones who fear real human interaction and long only for whatever enticements are offered in the digital prisons created for us.
Yet, as you pointed out, these “elites” and their flunkies are not as smart as they think they are. Their own hubris will play a part in their downfall.
One another note, I have loved books all my life, and while a recent move and downsizing forced a clearing out of many I had, I will never let go of certain ones that have shaped my life and continue to bring joy and wisdom into my mind and heart. I’m sure their are many like me out there. The power of the written page will endure.
And of course you are right that the written page will endure! The market for some books is too small to digitize them yet. I'm amazed at the number of older texts that aren't available as e-books. We can't allow the knowledge and wisdom found in their pages fade into obscurity.
100% agree! I have the scars to prove it, too. I sold off most of my bulky belongings (like furniture), and just packed up about 60 boxes of books and shipped them back from NZ to the USA. I put my money where my mouth is. heh heh! Good thing international freight in these times is calculated by volume, not weight...
60 boxes! I’m so jealous. But well worth it and an investment in future generations as well.
I wish all things shipped by volume. It’s getting completely unaffordable to ship anything.
Hello from one of what I also hope are many like you, like us. My house, my mother's and my sister's are all filled to the brim with books - printed on paper in ink. The power of the written page WILL endure, yes!!
Hello, fellow bibliophile! I’m hoping it’s a generational trait for at least a couple of my grandkids. My daughter loves actual books as much as I do and I gladly passed down the ones from her and her brother’s childhood that I had kept for future grandchildren when we had to move away. Her two little ones show every sign of loving to read from paper as well.
As long as paper books exist I have hope for humanity. Going all digital would not be good on many various levels for any of us.
Agreed. And I think it is, certainly can be, generational - my niece and nephews, all in their 20's, enjoy actual paper books. I'm sure watching your grandchildren grow into a love of books will be a wonderful and hope-affirming experience!
I think Musk’s “brain tech” will work every bit as well as his self-driving cars, or Hyperloop. Specifically: not at all well.
I’m all in favor of the research because of what can be learned but it’s a cul de sac, its object a mirage.
Being old enough to remember how “expert systems” were going to replace human doctors in “5 to 10 years” (that was ca. 1980), I’m intensely skeptical of such prognostications (and the prognosticators).
I know the director of a “big science” project to do something ambitious. I asked him how it’s going. “It’s a lot harder than we thought” was his response. Funny, had he asked, I could have told him that, but the reality is that the outcome that mattered was the grant money, not the putative result of the research, which was decidedly second priority. He knew it was nonsense and didn’t care. The stated goal was important only in so far as it could sufficiently bamboozle the bureaucrats who controlled the money. Musk has this same MO
I’m 100% with you. There’s a limit to what these mad science loons can accomplish even with virtually unlimited spending.
20 years ago I worked on a genetic engineering project funded by DARPA to engineer plants to sense anthrax. The plants didn't like what we were doing, so they silenced the transgenes. heh. I remain tethered to reality by my training in evolutionary biology. Many aren’t.
I know that their grand dystopian visions of the future aren’t possible anytime soon, whether it's engineering artificial wombs or vaccinating people against religion.
Unfortunately, the impossibility doesn't stop them. When literally psychotic people have virtually unbridled power because of the vast resources they have stolen, we’re still facing a big problem, because their grand experiments aren’t just useless. They’re destructive.
Exhibit A: mRNA ‘vaccines’ that are not only useless but dangerous
We cannot let these people run the world and turn us into slaves in their neo-feudalist experiments.
And once we assure that they cannot do that, we must ensure that they do not bury and re-write history.
“covid vaccines are safe and effective”
“ivermectin is dangerous quackery”
“Canadian truckers are domestic terrorists”
etc.
Oh this is brilliant. And heartaching. Because it is true.
Thank you for sharing your beloved husband’s prescient meditation, all the more dear since “Twilight Zone” is my husband’s favorite show, and that episode in particular is in our top 10.
The thought of people throwing away their books makes me physically ill!
And that Musk quote combined with Mark Zuckerberg’s megavillainous vision of the Metaverse make me weep for the future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJ2uYN8qtg
That said, I do believe the human spirit will triumph and ultimately reject these dystopian tyrannies, as the Canadian truckers and citizens are showing us today.
Me too <3
Yes, I have been musing about this too. The many ways in which attempts to store and transmit human knowledge can go wrong. Store it in human beings, griot style. Great until your culture suffers disruption by devastating epidemics. Electronics, more fragile than anything as you point out. Print, amazing how fast low quality paper can deteriorate. Stone tablets? Great, as long as someone remains who can read the script.
Indeed. It appears that there are people who are dedicated to spending vast sums to make sure their ideas are etched in stone in multiple languages. https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-truth-about-the-georgia-guidestones-323cd33bd68