BOOK mention : “What is Intelligence?”

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What is Intelligence? by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, MIT Press, Nov 15, 2025

Historians dislike the idea of prediction, but if we bring up the topic of tomorrow’s weather they will likely not object to consulting a forecast.
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This author’s central thesis argues – see pages 23-25 of the hardcopy edition – that machines can now “predict”  and fool humans, passing  the “Turing Test” which was designed to detect the differences between digital and human replies to questions or instructions (think “Captcha” images).  He asserts in this book that intelligence IS prediction,  while  asking elsewhere: “Is Life a Form of Computation?” (see MIT Press Reader, Sept 2025).
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I’ve mostly avoided a study of A.I. during this developmental period, but I do think this book could be a landmark title, coming from a contrarian expert.
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NEWS FLASH … Secretary of Defense, Pete Repeat, recently announced that DoD would break its contract with Anthropic, a leading A,I. developer, no longer allowing that firm’s Claude software to be used by US military, as Anthropic’s contract prohibits the use of its software to conduct mass surveillance of Americans. (The president agrees with Pete, and extends the ban to other portions of the federal government!) Big Brother in jack boots!  “Wandering police* “. — brutal, anonymous secret police behind masks!
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* “Wandering police’:  in 2024 the city of Hanceville Alabama fired its entire police force for being incompetent or corrupt, according to CNN.
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THE BOOK can be sampled at Amazon, for readers or listeners.
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Readers shopping for a favorite A.I. who also respect our Constitution (and contract law) would do well to choose Claude software, by Anthropic.  (None of us is as smart as all of us!)

!! OUR RIGHT TO FILM !!

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Alex Pretti, hero, being shot in the back!

>>> FAIR USE <<<  —   SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN AMERICA, we have a First Amendment right to film in public. IN AMERICA, we are at war with a deep state sending armored MASKED goons, “secret police // aka “wandering cops” >>>  into our cities to execute “observers”. IN AMERICA, “the land of the free, and the home of the brave” we will not let “them” execute us for being Americans! ~MeridaGOround // “Citizen-journalist”.

>>>EXCERPT, NYTimes: The nation’s founders worried that if the state had a monopoly on weapons, its citizens could be oppressed. Their answer was the Second Amendment. Now that our phones are the primary weapons of today’s information war, we should be as zealous about our right to bear phones as we are about our right to bear arms. To adopt the language of Second Amendment enthusiasts, perhaps the only thing that can eventually stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a camera. More than 25 years ago, the science fiction writer David Brin foretold this exact crossroads. In his 1998 book “The Transparent Society,” he painted two alternate snapshots of a futuristic city festooned with tiny, ubiquitous cameras. In one scenario, the government uses the devices to monitor residents in an Orwellian police state. In the other, citizens can look at the live footage from any camera to watch out for one another and to keep tabs on the police, resulting in a just and fair society. The difference between oppression and liberation, he wrote, is, “Who will ultimately control the cameras?” Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/opinion/minnesota-minneapolis-phone-ice-shooting.html

 

 

 

 

!! MERRY HANUKKAH !! a book mention — Saving Jesus from the Church

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FAIR USE, (1939 original recording) 
LET’s THINK.  Jesus was Jew-ish, sorta.  He was from Galilee (in what then had been Israel, to the north of Judea), which was a long way on foot to where the Temple of Jerusalem was situated.  There had been twelve tribes (“the children Israel” born of the patriarch, father Israel, meaning “God is in charge/God wins/God prevails”, who’s name had been changed from Jacob, meaning “he who overtakes” (his original name, for grabbing the ankle of his firstborn fraternal twin, Esau, trying to exit the womb, first, ahead of Esau)..
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So, >>>fast forward>>>  this large clan of twelve tribes fled slavery in Egypt where they had gone many years earlier, due to famine. But after many centuries the only tribe remaining was known as the tribe of Judah (thus the name: “Jew”-da), after one of Jacob/Israel’s sons, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. History happens over time, rather than all at once. <wink>. .
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Analogy: If my ancestors from Florida were born into the Seminole tribe, am I Seminole-ish, or am I Amerian-ish, or Euro-ish, after melding with the new neighbors?  Yeah, there is some tension between ancestry, identity, citizenship, origin-story. (Hey, we all came out of Africa and of course, Egypt is in Africa, so Jesus and you and I are Africans!)  So, was Jesus a Jew, or was he Jewish, or was he Galilean-ish, of the northern “state” of Israel, in the region also known as larger Palestine, where the various tribes of Jacob’s sons (and daughters)  settled?  The question “Who is a Jew?” shakes the earth yet today.  Perhaps a weightier question “Am I a Christian?” is in order..
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And maybe (or not) you bought a Christian “insurance policy” offering “salvation” — just in case — “sold by” Blaise Pascal, the father of probability math?  “Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it!”
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OR, Do I even need a brand, or coverage? —  “Am I a Christian?” – (a follower of “The Way”) because I admire and deeply desire to emulate the ethical teachings of Rabbi Jesus, of Nazareth — who said “the tree is known by its fruit”?  What identifies me? Am I merely tribal, or am I endeavoring to practice the teachings of this Patient Teacher?  Do I even have any fruit? .
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This, my annual “Christmas greeting” was prompted by reading a book by a UCC pastor from Oklahoma, Dr.Rev. Robin Meyers, titled Saving Jesus from the Church. (You could take the free Kindle sample for a spin simply by clicking the Amazon link beneath their cover graphics.) .
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Note: your Bible needs no energy beyond your own basic desire to think between the lines.  Reading this way, skeptically, and listening, it becomes a fountain of wisdom! “Turn your radio on!” It’s got power, if you’ve got appetite.
Photo by S.Abbas Raza, of 3QuarksDaily
Photo by S.Abbas Raza, editor/owner of 3QuarksDaily.com   Fair use.

¿¿ ARE WE THERE YET ?? (screenshot from the past : Epictetus, a stoic

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Hwy. sign photo by Steve B Kennedy, FAIR USE.

A famous Stoic philosopher named Epictetus was a slave as a child but grew up to become tutor to Emperor Marcus Aurelius. One of his students wrote down E’s teachings, (available for free, here) many of which dwelt on the observation that desire and aversion are two sides of the same coin. (Not his words, but conceptually still with us today: “No matter how thin we slice the baloney, it still has two sides.”)  The so-called owner of the WhiteHouse Deli has his thumb on the scale, and is selling thin slices at top prices, which will cost America “bigly”. DOGE has demolished two centuries of carefully developed efficiency, saving nothing, but wasting huge amounts of global investment.

 

BOOK w/ BELLY LAUGHS for thinkers

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Apparently, nobody arrives on this planet with a round-trip ticket — or perhaps we all have one without knowing it?  Yes, “End Times” could snuff life here in a grand ka-boom steming from various factors, perhaps in concert. (“Death” is a fellow traveler on this author’s train, and becomes an amusing companion.)  The book takes us on many train rides in pursuit of haunts of various philosophers, wryly questioning whether we’ve lived well, and learned anything while in life’s classroom.  All aboard!

Pay attention, and you might find yourself enjoying the ride a bit more.  I suggest taking the free Kindle sample for a spin. (If you don’t have a Kindle reader, you can download a free Kindle app for your laptop.)  The author, Eric Weiner, is a former NPR correspondent, and world traveler. His author page includes another fun title, MAN SEEKS GOD.

 

¿¿ GOT SPIRITUAL APPETITE ??

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This spiritual biography completes what other biographers have largely glossed. The author, a neuroscientist, has mounted a masterful effort at research, grasping Einstein’s thoughts along with various major thinkers across the ages, organizing “walk-ons” by Pythagorus,  Socrates, Jesus, Shankara, Galileo, Bruno, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, et al. Einstein asserted that he was not an atheist, but rather, a student of “cosmic religion” – without hierarchy, dogma, or creed. There is something here for anyone with an open mind, a spiritual appetite, and deep curiosity about the Nature of reality. (This book pairs well with THE ONE: How an Ancient Idea Holds the Future of Physics, by Heinrich Päs.)

The Einstein book is also available in Italian.  You might also enjoy my short stage-play about Einstein.

Book Review : : OPEN SOCRATES : the Case for a Philosophical Life

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If I say CHECK, and you begin moving your King into an eternal dance, offering DRAW rather than conceding, you dishonor the game.  You lost, but instead you replied “let us agree to disagree”.  Boring!  Any referee of a wrestling match would declare you PINNED, no matter how much you flop and wiggle your shoulders. (A few friends have replied that I’ve disrespected chess — neither my intent, nor my point.) The point is to quit distracting ourselves, instead focusing on real learning, as the book mentioned below argues for, compellingly.

SOCRATES thrived equally on refutation and being refuted.  He loved them both; he was deeply interested in conjecture, inquiry and science (“true knowledge”) insisting that he knew nothing, but was deeply curious. He was identified by the Delphic Oracle, the spokeswoman for the god, Apollo, as the wisest man in Athens..

Agnes Callard, a philosophy professor at University of Chicago, has written a commentary on Sok’s life which is (mostly) thrilling to read. I’ve been reading philosophy books for many decades, ever since taking two courses in my final undergraduate semester, two of the best courses, ever. (Her book slows a bit in the middle, but press ahead, as there is gold in them thar hills!). Her book is one not to miss.  (It’s very accessible, unlike so many philosophy texts written for other academic philosophers.) If you don’t already have a free Kindle App on your laptop, go to Amazon and download it, then read her free sample.

Open Socrates

PRAYING FOR OUR LEADERS? // USA: BUILT BY GENIUSES > RUN BY IDIOTS ?

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Photo by Thomas Wolf (user Gs970) via Wikimedia Commons.

The Greek word translated as idiot/fool (moros: see Matt5:21-26, on anger management) means someone who cares mostly about himself, having little or no interest in community beyond what they might extract. But Christians are instructed to pray for those having authority over us (1Tim2).  This is not an easy assignment when those in authority seem so foolish and selfish.

SO, how to go about praying for our enemies, as instructed by Rabbi Jesus? He says “love them” — but how? What is love? (I’m certainly not pretending to love what Trumpty-Musky are doing to our democracy!) Here’s a troubling quote posted by Musk, which doesn’t sound like anything anyone in a democracy should ever do:

After a judge blocked a Trump executive order, Elon Musk shared a post with his more than 200 million followers on X that included the judge’s daughter’s name, photo and job, allegedly at the Department of Education.  [source]

Democracy is delicate and imperiled by such ugly behavior.  (If that judge’s daughter were your daughter, how would you feel?)  The “Founding Fathers” were educated, wealthy and elite. They “gave us a republic, if you can keep it” according to scientist/inventor Benjamin Franklin.  Yet today science and education are scorned by many Republicans.  

History repeats.  The Russian revolution had two factions seeking to overthrow the monarchy. Labor, called Mensheviks ; and Lenin’s “internationalists” which funded their organization by robbing banks. US Republicans have two factions seeking to “starve the beast” of government bureaucracy: Steve Bannon’s MAGA ; and Elon Musk’s billionaire’s club, deploying young hackers presently burrowing into Treasury, IRS, Medicare, Social Security, etc.  Guess who will win.  (Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said “…because that’s where the money is.”)

TOUGH LOVE from Republican voters is needed to arrest this impending disaster, yet few elected Republicans are willing to stand up to Musk/Trump, as they know they will be “primaried”.  They value their jobs and fear for their families if they resist.  Yet our military veterans risk their lives daily to defend our nation and our families ; however Republicans in congress cower, doing nothing to defend the Constitution. Jesus said “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

If Republican voters don’t protest this takeover to their Republican officials our nation will surely descend into chaos.  Absent courageous officials, we have a veritable shituation in which democracy will die in a financial coup d’état perpetrated by billionaires. (Does anybody know what the penalty is for not filing a tax return?)  Letting Musk steal our tax dollars is intolerable!

 

King DonOLD II

GOT EGG$ ?

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“Grocery prices have skyrocketed. When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” (~DJT, Liar, Liar!).   FAIR USE: photo borrowed from Paul Krugman’s FREE Substack blog, of Feb.14, 2025.

Crowds should be throwing eggs at TrumptyDumpty and MuskOx !  But voters who put them in office deserve to be wearing the aroma of rotten eggs.  What chumps!  Q: How can you tell if those billionaire pols are lying?  A: You can see their lips moving!

In grade school (long ago) I was taught that the Dutch bought the island of Manhattan for $24 dollars-worth of “wampum” beads.  (From 1950’s to 2020’s, adjusting for inflation, maybe that’s $240 today.)  Elon MuskOx contributed over a quarter of a billion dollars to the Trump campaign, because John Roberts and The Supremes said “money is speech” and voters should have “free speech.”  RIP: One [person] / one vote!  Conclusion: Republicans sold our democracy on the cheap to a guy who has over $400 billion dollars, and chumpy voters bought that stink! 

EXTRA CREDIT:  Professor Timothy Snyder, today at his free substack THINKING ABOUT… examines the risk of hasty appeasement between Russia and Ukraine, by imagining “what if” the Chech Slavs had defended themselves against Hitler in 2938.

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