The Legend of Yatagarasu, the three-legged crow
tag > Politics
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Western society has nearly completely lost the infrastructure that could support complex thinking - thread by Samo Burja
- A culture open to voicing accurate observations about itself. Every capable thinker voices these early in life before they learn better, if this disqualifies them, the culture cannot support original thinkers.
- Viable economic niches. Academia is much too contested. Silicon Valley allows for some original thinking, but the thinking isn't what provides returns.
- Viable social niches. Trust fund kids don't have a leisured class that values thought they could join. The role of public intellectual is extinct, it is possible to be a popularizer. Comparable to say Polybius.
- Viable knowledge succession. Deep mentoring is considered unfair, threatening or cult-like. The assumption is always that the most recent experts have the best information in a field.
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In 2012-2013 the courts first allowed genetic modified organisms to be patentable
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Farmers’ Protest in India – Price of Failure Will Be immense - by Colin Todhunter (off-guardian)
"What happened in Mexico should serve as a warning as Indian farmers continue their protest against three recent farm bills that are designed to fully corporatize the agrifood sector through contract farming, the massive roll-back of public sector support systems, a reliance on imports (boosted by a future US trade deal) and the acceleration of large-scale (online) retail."
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That Winston Churchill is still perceived as a hero by many today is truly peculiar
'I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.' - Winston Churchill
'I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favor of using gases against uncivilized tribes. The moral effect should be good... and it would spread a lively terror...' -Winston Churchill, Great Britain's then Colonial Secretary, referring to the Kurds in Iraq, in an official communication, 1921
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Xi and Putin Stand Up for Humanity at Davos: Closed vs Open System Ideologies Clash Again - by Matthew Ehret (strategic-culture)
"While the Great Reset Architects are thoroughly committed to closed operating systems which demand computer models be imposed onto the world guiding a zero-growth policy towards total equilibrium and “entropy”, the multipolar alliance led by Xi and Putin are committed to “open system” thinking. [...] Where one is premised on a zero-sum game of win-lose behavior, the other is premised upon a non-zero-sum game of win-win cooperation."
Special Address by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation | DAVOS 2021
Special Address by Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China | DAVOS 2021
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Brandolini's law: The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.
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The Post-American World; Crooke, Escobar, Blumenthal and Marandi lay it all out
Thirty years ago, the United States dominated the world politically, economically, and scientifically. But today? Watch this in-depth discussion with distinguished guests:
- Alastair Crooke - Former British Diplomat, the Founder, and Director of the Conflicts Form
- Pepe Escobar - Brazilian Political Analyst and Author
- Max Blumenthal - American Journalist and Author from Grayzone
- Chaired by Dr. Mohammad Marandi - Professor at University of Tehran
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"Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments" (AP)
Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday. The zones would permit companies with large areas of land to form governments carrying the same authority as counties, including the ability to impose taxes, form school districts and courts and provide government services....
How Big Tech Got Even Bigger (WSJ)
Technology giants such as Alphabet, Amazon and Apple are more dominant than a year ago thanks to a greater reliance on their services during the pandemic. The forces propelling them to new heights are expected to outlast Covid-19.
Davos: Vladimir Putin warns of US 'Big Tech' dominance (DW)
Putin's remarks came one day after he held his first phone call with Joe Biden during his tenure as US President. It is the first time that the Russian leader has spoken to the World Economic Forum since 2009.
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Jamaica faces marijuana shortage as farmers struggle (AP)
Heavy rains followed by an extended drought, an increase in local consumption and a drop in the number of marijuana farmers have caused a shortage in the island’s famed but largely illegal market that experts say is the worst they’ve seen.
Kamala Harris shamed by Jamaican father over pot-smoking joke (politico)
Kamala Harris made headlines last week when she joked in a radio interview that of course she smoked marijuana in her younger years: “Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?” The elder Harris sent an unsolicited statement to Kingston-based Jamaica Global Online, for which the emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University wrote a recent essay on his family’s history. “My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” he wrote. “Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added.
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Comedy of the week: "Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel peace prize" (Guardian) "Kushner and his deputy Avi Berkowitz join Greta Thunberg and Alexei Navalny on the nominations list."
#Comment: This headline is a great representation of the state of "western democracy" in 2021: The level of bullshit has gone far beyond the point of no return. Everything that is even remotely not bullshit has vanished - and all that is left are actors in an endless bullshit psyops. Nonstop comedy gold.
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Bio-Politics in the age of Identity Dominance
Sci-fi surveillance: Europe's secretive push into biometric technology (Guardian)
EU science funding is being spent on developing new tools for policing and security. But who decides how far we need to submit to artificial intelligence?
There is a bigger question at stake, concerning who decides what kind of technological development is truly in the public interest. “Do we want to fund these dubious technologies?” he asked. “That’s a decision that should be taken democratically.”
Wirelessly rechargeable soft brain implant controls brain cells (science daily)
Researchers have invented a smartphone-controlled soft brain implant that can be recharged wirelessly from outside the body. It enables long-term neural circuit manipulation without the need for periodic disruptive surgeries to replace the battery of the implant. Scientists believe this technology can help uncover and treat psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases such as addiction, depression, and Parkinson's.
DARPA-Funded Implantable Biochip to Detect COVID-19 Could Hit Markets by 2021 (mintpress)
An experimental new vaccine developed jointly with the US government claims to be able to change human DNA and could be deployed as early as next year through a DARPA-funded, injectable biochip.
The breakthrough came to a Canadian scientist named Derek Rossi in 2010 purely by accident. The now-retired Harvard professor claimed in an interview with the National Post that he found a way to “reprogram” the molecules that carry the genetic instructions for cell development in the human body.
NSA makes medical intelligence operations a priority (strategic-culture)
In yet another worrying sign that the U.S. National Security Agency has completely gone off the rails, a June 2010 PowerPoint slide, titled «Medical Pattern of Life: Targeting High Value Individual № 1», subtitled «SIGINT Enabling HUMINT / Targeting», describes how NSA is using medical intelligence (MEDINT) to target medical patients.
The Head of Operation Warp Speed & The Gates Foundation Are Pushing BioElectronics & Vaccine Patches (thelastamericanvagabond)
To understand the goals of Operation Warp Speed we must understand Dr. Moncef Slaoui and his connections to Big Pharma and the Gates Foundation.
Is Your DNA Data Safe in Blackstone’s Hands? (neo.life)
The Wall Street giant’s big bet on Ancestry.com drives home the financial realities facing the consumer genomic revolution.
Stanford researchers develop lab-on-a-chip that turns blood test snapshots into continuous movies (stanford)
The new device can continuously sense levels of virtually any protein or molecule in the blood. The researchers say it could be transformative for disease detection, patient monitoring and biomedical research.
First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance - Book by Annie Jacobsen
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: It is about a platoon of mostly nineteen-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the U.S. Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the power to identify, monitor, catalogue, and police people all over the world.
U.S. Intelligence Claims China Wants to Steal Your DNA (gizmodo)
"Indeed, warnings about China’s alleged desire to gobble up the world’s genetic data and use it for nefarious purposes have been ongoing for some time. It’s true that China has an extensive domestic DNA collection program, having launched an initiative to create a national genetics database in 2017. Concerns exist that this data will be used to control trends in medicine and pharmaceuticals, or to engineer bioweapons."
France Says Its Developing Bionic Supersoldiers Because “Everyone Else Is Doing It”
A report published last Tuesday by the French Military Ethics Committee has indicated that the country has begun to develop technology for bionically enhanced soldiers. The report discussed conditions in which devices like implants can be used to improve soldier performance on the battlefield.
“Human beings have long sought ways to increase their physical or cognitive abilities in order to fight wars. Possible advances could ultimately lead to capacity enhancements being introduced into soldiers’ bodies,” the report said, according to the BBC.
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India proposes law to ban cryptocurrencies, create official digital currency (Reuters)
India plans to introduce a law to ban private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and put in place a framework for an official digital currency to be issued by the central bank, according to a legislative agenda listed by the government.
The law will “create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),” said the agenda, published on the lower house website on Friday. The legislation, listed for debate in the current parliamentary session, seeks “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses,” the agenda said.
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Solari Report 2020 Annual Wrap Up: News Trends & Stories, Part I with Dr. Joseph P. Farrell
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This is a placeholder blog-post for the tsunami of horribly shocking and strangely interesting stories, currently screaming for our attention. Are they truly worth consuming and sharing? What is the effect and benefit of giving them attention (besides being permanently stressed)?
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During Brezhnev's time, the leadership of Communist Party became increasingly geriatric. By the time of his death in 1982, the median age of the Politburo was 70. Brezhnev's successor, Yuri Andropov, died in 1984. His successor, Konstantin Chernenko, died in 1985. Rabinovich said he did not have to buy tickets to the funerals, as he had a subscription to these events. As Andropov's bad health became common knowledge (he was eventually attached to a dialysis machine), several jokes made the rounds...
Related: America is now ruled by people older than the ‘gerontocracy’ of Soviet Union’s twilight days (RT)
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Building a Bridge to the 18th Century - talk by Neil Postman
"The problem of the 21st century is not to move information - not the engineering of information. We solved that a long time ago. The problem is how to transform information into knowledge and how to transform knowledge into wisdom. If we can solve that problem, all the rest will take care of itself." - Neil Postman
Related: "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change" - by Neil Postman (1998)
