First Blog

 TOO MUCH PLEASURE ...  If AI (Artificial Intelligence) had been available only two centuries ago, it would have advised bloodletting as the treatment for fever.   Too much pleasure becomes pain.   Riddle: What is stronger than democracy, communism, kingship, and dictatorship? Answer: Corruption. Once begun, it reproduces. It’s forever.   If you never had the brain in the first place, no number of memory improvement pills will help.   Three types of risk: a. Risks you are willing to take, b. Risks you are not willing to take, and c. Risks you don’t know you’re taking.   The no-man’s land between science and theology is called philosophy. --- Bertrand Russell.   Every great philosopher takes a crack at defining truth . All have failed.   The two qualities of a successful theory are (A) It is predictive, and (B) It explains new phenomena.

  It’s all we ever hear these days.  But did you hear the one about the fellow who was thinking so far outside of the box he got lost ? It happens. Leave behind what you know for too long and you may never recover. So what is it, this thinking outside the box?   A brilliant insight at just the right moment?   A clever explanation served up quickly? A cowboy tap-dance on a difficult problem with the perfect solution, like from outta nowhere?   A new idea to treat some disease? A clever new routing strategy. Figuring who the criminal actually is? All of these? Basically, it is thinking beyond, differently, unconventionally, inferentially, intuitively, or creatively.   Albert Einstein begged the question with this: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." The “difficulty” happens because we are boxed-in.   The opportunity comes when thinking outside the box.   It has been suggested the term “outside the box” came from the nine-dot puzzle.   Connect all nine dots by

Common sense is a type of intelligence, not given to the classroom or books.   Common sense is not taught like a subject. It is a generalized set of rules mostly self-learned. It has a feature set that is broad and sweeping. We classify a few of them as abilities – just as our regular senses of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.   It is also related to good sense and practical sense, less general terms. Ability to generalize. Example. You’ve learned not to put your hand on the stove. You generalize to other sources of heat. Ability to assess capabilities. You gradually restrict your activities and goals to those achievable. Ability to survive. You sidestep dangers that present directly and indirectly. Ability to discern. You can distinguish between options based on what is overall best for you and perhaps family. You easily chose not to do dumb things. Ability to avoid unnecessary risks. This is not to say risks are not undertaken, but senseless or stupid risks are avoi

A few weeks ago the keywords in society were well known.   Among them were, organic, green, carbon footprint, worker, shareholder value, new capitalism, social justice, healthcare, impeachment, big data, electric cars, and global.  The new keywords have changed to healthcare, quarantine, sequester, infection, risk, pandemic, survival, vulnerability, lock down, separation, work-at-home, coronavirus, school closures, work-place closures, isolation, and more. In just a month, the axis of the world has tilted from the direction of selective prosperity to a direction of possible depression and decline. Adjustment is difficult. Reconciliation is difficult. Acceptance is nearly impossible.

No mistakes, no errors, no risk implies no value People who have never made a mistake have never taken a risk.   Do we want such folks to govern the country?   Your answer is no, I hope.    But with vast data silos, data lakes, and soon data oceans, anyone’s past mistakes will be documented and available at cost.   From cheating in the 4 th grade, to groping in the 10 th , to claiming unusual heritage in the 12 th , to being charged with drinking in college, to an advantaged business deal in their 20s, only a few years remain before a full online biography of everyone is accessible – and publishable. We may get what we think we want: purely clean, unspoiled, untested, unknowledged, and unable representatives in our legislatures.    Lucky us.

CHINA and President XI We know Chinese President Xi Jinping has an appointment for life.   This is good news and bad for Xi.   Who doesn’t like a life-time job?   Following Machiavelli, this puts Xi in another category as dictator or king who is quietly and covertly challenged by the nobles in China.   The nobles are the super rich and super powerful players within China who see themselves in the same position.   They covet his power. They wait silently for Xi to make a mistake, one big enough to take him out.   And out he will come.   Xi is thus vulnerable and remains so, not having a cult-like following as did Mao, who was immune from any mistake. Trade by China may cause a Xi mistake.   The world is now openly talking about how China has taken advantage of all countries in trade, IP theft, high interest loans to poor countries, and the like.   This wholesale exposure indicates that it seems likely that China will be forced to yield in several ways.   As to which ways a