Hi I’m Alexa, how may I help you?

I won’t be buying an Alexa bot. On ‘Word of mouth’ an expert on social bots, Head of Conversational Linguistics no less, explained how they worked and how amazing they will become. The worrying thing was he sounded like one, not his voice his brain. Whilst I yearn for grumpy bots, funny bots, even Conservative bots I can swear at his conversation was pre-programmed to be informative, passive and agreeable, and well all the things that would drive me away from a conversation at a party. I worked on a swearing vulture twenty years ago, I didn’t sell it, but it was way more enjoyable than, “Yes Gordon. They contain 57% unsaturated fats. Do you have any other questions about peanuts? Or were you referring to the cartoon by Charles M. Schmultz that ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000?The H of CL mentioned an early version had to be axed after being hacked to say deplorable sexist remarks. Yes you TWAT that’s what humans find entertaining! That’s why we talk to each other! It’s frightening how quickly a human brain can learn to think algorithmically. Watch a clip of Mark Zuckerberg giving evidence here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zCDvOsdL9Q If he’s the new face of human social interaction I’m glad I’m 74. It’s simple. The human brain is far more sophisticated than any AI so it has way more capacity to adapt to AI than AI has to adapt to the human brain. So the direction of adaptation will be towards AI. The H of CL and Mark Zuckerberg are compelling evidence of this. I’m beginning to notice a new category of bad habits I need to avoid.

I Am Racist.

Listening to a recent conversation that ran along racist lines I had to concede some made valid points but all felt the need to sign off with, “but I’ll not racist.” Absolutely because ‘being racist’ is currently the greatest slur on a persons character one could impute. As a result there is an unspeakable prohibition to all things black, white, coloured and squinty eyed, or any form of racial differences. It’s a sort of Pandora’s box we have managed to close, and everyone knows it’s opening the thing that is where the danger lies. Nobody talks about the danger of closing it. But like all prohibitions life goes on underneath. So now we all have feelings we dare not talk about that cloud as in the closed off feted atmosphere of a smoking den. What should I say? Personally I do discriminate between African and Irish, Japanese and French, even you and him. Over the years my mind has formed experiential templates that however easily overruled by acquaintance still exist. I’m sexist and even bird-ist preferring blackbirds to starlings with a soft spot for Robins. I have a very different template for the Israeli government than I have for the Jewish people. The list goes on. For me the unredeemable slur of these ‘ists’ has gone too far. They damage public debate and the public mind almost as much as the blinkered doctrinaire indiscriminate racism they were created to overcome. I doubt I’m alone in having experiential templates for every race under the sun but we English have become so scared of expressing the evidence of our own experience we are in danger of losing who we are and what we stand for.

My Syrian Statement.

The situation in Syria is appalling. Not for the first time Asad has used chlorine gas against his own people. We reach that conclusion, firstly because he would profit from it, and secondly because he refuses outside investigation that could prove it. This is a war crime and Asad will at some future time be called accountable. No western action will be taken because we have no legal right to intervene militarily but condemn in the strongest possible terms Asad’s use of chlorine gas. We recognise Russia is assisting Asad and any intervention would risk the escalation of the conflict but are surprised in Russia’s apparent support and condoning of Asad’s war crime. If Russia continues to block outside investigation of Asad’s actions we can only assume Mr Putin might also be accused of aiding a war crime. We do not consider that an appropriate course of action for a member of the UN. To resolve this situation and avoid further disastrous escalation we would like to see Russia reconsider their unqualified support for Asad. Whilst we recognise Russia’s right to pursue a foreign policy we might not like when we see that policy as not living up to internationally agreed humanitarian standards we also have the right to condemn it, not only for the people of Syria but also by implication other states affected by it and ultimately the people of Russia herself. Those internationally agreed standards are not a matter of opinion they are the hard lessons learnt from our joint history of conflicts where certain actions lead to resolution, happiness and prosperity and others to hostility, warfare and destruction. Our current choice to not oppose Asad and Russia is not made from weakness, but to remember those lessons of history so horrifically played out in Syria thus far. 

Tories Fake Facebook.

Whilst Cambridge Analytica and AIQ continue to assert they've never heard of each other and have done no paid or unpaid work for the Brexit arm of the Conservative Party with regard to window cleaning, hoovering and drain clearance it is their wholly owned subsidiary, Tinglytot Baskets Ltd, that has come under suspicion. Originally set up in the fifties by Edward Heath’s black sheep brother Harry Tots, Tinglytot Baskets was the erstwhile bastion of innocent relief for MPs living away from their wife and family after hard days debating for their beloved country. Stiffmouse News can now reveal that Tinglytot’s has though moved into new areas. After their success with internet porn, jointly owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Bollockoff, Tinglytot’s has made use of Cambridge Analytica’s pointless and of no commercial value whatsoever software to set up hundreds of fake Facebook accounts claiming to represent the Jew-hating anti-Semitic arm of the Labour Party. Throughout February we followed Svetlana Blum, Michael Gove’s au pair, and Boris Johnson’s niece, Ursula Mountbatten to their local internet café in Bloomsbury. Why we asked would two beautiful women frequently spend hours typing? Our surveillance expert took this screen shot (not shown here for copyright reasons) of Svetlana working on the ‘Labour Party against filthy Jewish Scum’ Facebook page. When challenged she said her eyesight was bad and she thought it was a gardening catalogue. When asked about Tinglytot Basket’s role in the Brexit referendum she denied any knowledge saying, “Vot ist Brecshit? I am merely a simple Ukrainian exile taking refuge in your vunderful country. Mister Gove is a warm and genuine human being, I think he works for the council.” Ursula, an ‘actress’ from Tinglytot’s earlier internet success, said she was Skyping her brother in Palestine. So there you have it. Are these two beautiful young women lying or is the Labour Party a hot bed of radical racism? You decide.

The story of the grandfather’s energy.

Why did he have such energy, compared with is grandson?

Why is it such an important story?

Expansions:

-  In even the smallest movement and action there is physical skill, that when practiced, reduces the effort required.

Sawing wood for example seems easy; hold the saw and move it back and forth. There are, though, 10 to 20 different elements to the physical skill of sawing that if learnt and practiced will reduce the effort of sawing by 80%, which means you will be able to saw ‘5 times’ the amount with the same effort.

-  In even the smallest movement and action there can be complete attention to it. With the practice of attention tasks require less effort.

We rarely pay complete attention to what we are doing. Our mind is off somewhere dreaming, worrying, lazing around, unfocused. EVERY item on this list requires attention to the ‘present moment’ to have any effect. Attention is NOT about what you’re supposed to be doing, (like paying attention in class) it is about what you ARE doing. By complete attention to what you ARE doing in every moment you will maximise the benefits to you of that moment and minimise the effort in whatever you are doing.

-  In even the smallest task there is mental skill that, when used, reduces the effort required.

During a task hold in your mind all your experience applicable to the task and apply it imaginatively. Whatever you have done before there will invariably be something different this time around so you are doing this task for the first time. If you approach every task as if you are doing it anew you will learn more, find new ways and become more effective. And you will never get bored.

-  In and before every task there is mental planning that when practiced reduces the effort required for the task.

Before every task do it in detail in your imagination. You will see the potential problems, materials and tools you will need, changes you will need to make and alternatives that may save time and effort. You can do a job in any number of different ways in your imagination without lifting a finger where doing and changing in practice takes effort, time and causes frustration.

-  In every movement and action there is physical strength, that when achieved, requires less effort.

Lifting a 10Kg weight when you’re unfit takes a lot of effort but with exactly the same body but fitter it takes much less. Be physically fit and tasks will take much less effort.

-  Before and during every action there is time to worry about many things. Replace your fruitless worries with complete attention and they will take no effort.

People often spend a good deal of energy worrying about the past, the future, other people or other circumstances. Worry takes energy but achieves nothing. Observe lessons from the past and plan for the future, and leave other people and other circumstances until you next encounter them. Pay attention to what you are doing in the moment.

-  There is a time in every task when something may go wrong and you curse. Dispense with your curses. They bare no fruit yet steal much effort.

Cursing is like pushing your left hand hard against your right hand; you are spending energy fighting yourself and your circumstance. Every curse is based on a thought that “something is working against me”. ‘Things’ cannot think so have no ‘thoughts’ for you. It is you that is working against you. Involve yourself in achieving the result you want. If things go wrong use your energy to make them go right.

-  During every task feed yourself with the joy of being alive. Feed your heart to give yourself spirit, breath to feed your body with energy.

It is wonderful to have life and to be able to do things. Whatever you do and however well you do it you will be giving substance to the life you have been given. Do everything for the love of being alive. Reflect on this and remember to breathe well.

-  In your body there are many muscular tensions from past issues. Leave your tensions in history and the tensions will fall from your body, and your body will save the effort of overcoming them.

Your body holds emotion in the same way that emotional stress leads to physical tension. Tension is one muscle set against another causing greater exertion with every movement. When movement is required your muscles have to overcome these pre-existing tensions so moving requires much more effort. Your body will also be less fluid and less accurate. Consciously relax your body and pay complete attention to the moment

-  In your mind there are many tensions from many issues. Place them in abeyance until they become necessary and useful at their time.

Your mind is not constrained by physical circumstance. You can set it to work on issues and stresses of all manner of things that cannot be resolved by your mind alone. You are asking your mind to waste much effort in trying to achieve the impossible. Be considerate to your mind and use it to do what it’s best at; paying complete attention to what you are doing in the moment.

-  In every task you could ‘perform for others’, become your own puppet master controlling yourself by strings. Be yourself without performance and the task will take less effort.

When you ‘perform’ a task for the appreciation of others your consciousness is trying to perceive the consciousness of others and work via that perception so as to please them. This makes the task much more difficult. Do the task for yourself directly and then let others judge the result as they wish.

-  Every task has a right or wrong moment for you to start it. Only do a task at its right moment, and it will take less effort. But if the moment is not of your choosing find your ‘want’ that is asking you to do it, and do the task to fulfil your want, and it will take less effort.

Don’t mend your car in the cold and rain, do something inside instead. ‘Feel’ for a good time to start, when your want and enthusiasm is greatest. Equally don’t put off a task. A task not done at the right time will become bigger. A task that is embarked upon promptly in joy and comfort will take less effort.

-  Sing your skills, accomplishments and your progress and tasks will take less effort.

Aim for the maximum joy the task can give you in self worth, satisfaction and reward, and give yourself due recognition for your accomplishments. Play always takes much less effort than ‘work’ even if practically they are the same thing.

-  In every task there may be the intrusion of others. Leave them be, yet give to them your attention and love, and they will take less effort.

People circulate energy either positively or negatively. Check the nature of your own energy by observing how others react to it. Let your negative energy go but catch and circulate your positive energy. Circulate positive energy and it will come back to you and add to your energy, and more energy means less effort.

-  Every task will teach you new skills. Learn them with ease as they arise and the task will take less effort.

During every task you will find new ways of doing things, new skills, and new understandings. Be flexible and alert to these lessons rather than tied to your old ways.

-  Take to a task as little as you truly need and use up as little as is necessary to complete it and the task will take less effort.

This discipline reflects your use of your resources and yourself.

-  And finally, there are many tasks that aren’t necessary, and some that aren’t truly yours to do. Check with your heart the truth of a task before you begin it and you will waste no effort in untrue tasks.

Many, many tasks appear to need doing. Sometimes we invent tasks to avoid doing things that are more important but frightening to us, preferring the mundane to the courageous. Sometimes we get caught up in tasks that are rightfully other peoples. Focus on the tasks most important to you and forget the rest; you or someone else will do them if and when they become important.

All of these you know yet little practice. The grandfather did and the youth not.

There are limits to your mind and body and there are heavy and long jobs that will test those limits but with practice all can be done effortlessly.

If you find yourself tired, look to see where your effort is going. Your tiredness will be from your own wasted effort, not from the task.

Energy is a strange commodity. It does not follow the laws of mathematics. Energy shared, both positive and negative, is doubled. Energy has no sign; it is our choice to use it either positively or negatively or dissipate it with no results. Energy is a universal currency; it can go anywhere and come from anywhere.

It stems from our desire to love and be loved but it remains our choice as to how we use it.

Our weakness is almost always in the misuse of our intelligence. We use it to construct ourselves, our fears, our images of other people. We misuse it in fruitless attempts to change the past and control the future and all things that are not present. Its only true use is to exist in the present, exactly as our body and senses do. In the present our intelligence can usefully construct lessons from the past, ideas from information and make plans for the future but only in as much as it is ‘present’ in activity.

Info Bots.

I read a few years ago that one of Putin’s main advisors was a performance artist who specialised in confusion. He would do one thing then the opposite so you wouldn’t know what he’d do next. Evidence suggests Putin initially took this on board as part of his policy making. More recently it looks like he’s taken it a stage further. With the advent of multiple social media platforms confusion could be sewn directly in the minds of the west.  Bots' are automated software that send out social media messages that spawn extreme conflicting opinions. Initially false accounts place extreme opinions about for example stray dogs. Some say stray dogs are vermin to be exterminated and others that they should be homed, loved and cherished. Once seeded real people accounts favouring either extreme view are re-tweeted many times over and swamp the conversation. For the undecided it appears people are taking these two extreme views about stray dogs. They ask themselves, ‘Where do I stand?’ and choose the one that appeals to them most and join one or other of the extremes. This strategy empties the middle ground in favour of the two opposing views. The Face Book algorithm that gives you ‘what you might like’ only reinforces each side’s views. The resulting conflict gridlocks any rational progress and the factions for and against Trump and Brexit become a 50/50 split between stubborn bigots. Recent elections and interviews with supporters on both sides prove the point. So whether you’re for or against stray dogs it’s the Bots and their handlers that have won. 

17 Shot Dead.

The news said the guy was full of remorse. Why? It might seem a strange question but he wasn’t crazy, he’d just decided to do it. So how can a cognitive decision be so far from its real world consequences? In the decision process he wanted to retaliate for being expelled, for the students thinking he was a jerk, not liking him, probably like at home. Society was happy for him to buy a gun; the guy in the shop was nice to him. And no one really dies in shoot-em-ups and TV shows. They’re just acting and the blood’s CGI. Social media’s full of anger and wild conspiracies, lies and truth all mixed into a soup of confusion. He was a decent human being that didn’t deserve all this shit. So he decided. It would be a duck shoot, bam, bam, bam like Call of Duty or The Wire. Even if he got shot he’d just go back to his last saved game or use the remote. Sure in the moment he enjoyed it, all these scenarios coming together to free him from his anger. But people died, the blood was real, the cries and tears were all real. Reality impinged hard on this maze of constructs killing them like bullets. So he felt remorse. Of course he did it but his constructs are all still in the air, in the US environment, for isolated young men like him to breath in; deadly noxious fumes that can continue to cause real people to be shot dead.