Infotopia - A Rant

 Warning, incoming rant...


Picture this, if you will - 

 

It is 100 years after a massive, global, data-gathering and analysis system, linked to a network of sensors, cameras and geo-location systems begin tracking everything.

In the background, with  no effort on your part, they record your blood samples, urine samples,hair samples, skin cell samples, what you eat, drink, where you go, what activities you participate in, everything.

Now consider the following short story of a woman we will call Jenna:

Jenna awakens slowly, pleasantly, to the soothing sounds of ocean waves, played through the speakers in her bedroom. The room grows brighter as the LED wall simulates a beautiful sunrise. She yawns and stretches, smiling as she is bathed in the sensory simulation.

Hopping out of bed, she begins the day with her usual routine; water, toothbrush, toilet, and a light workout and invigorating cool shower.

"Good morning Jenna," the voice of her AI personal assistant greets her as she stands in front of the LED wall, now serving as a mirror as she applies the finishing touches to her outfit and makeup.

"I have observed an anomaly in your urine sample this morning. Nothing serious, but I would recommend a blood sample, if you have time."

"Okay," Jenna returns to the bathroom and places her finger against a small receptacle which has extended from the wall, a slight poke and a drop of blood is extracted.

She returns to the LED wall and reviews her schedule for the day,  instructing her assistant to reschedule her hair appointment to the day following, to make additional time for a lunch date with a dear friend who is in town for the day.

"I have completed analysis of the blood sample," the assistant reports as Jenna sits down to eat breakfast. "There appears to be a higher than normal level of adenosine, and a reduced level of bromine. Specifically in this region of the country, this combination has shown a high correlation to adrenal-cortical carcinoma in people of your age and genetic profile, at a probability of 65%."

"I have found three strategies which show a high probability of reducing this risk to less than 2%. Would you like to review them?"

"Yes, please." It always seemed a bit silly to Jenna that the assistant asked that question. Who wouldn't want to? She glanced to the small display next to the dining table, as it populated with information"
 

-
1. Reduce intake of Meats (to lower adenosine intake)
2. Increase grains (to increase bromelain intake)
3. Add a bromelain supplement for 30 days.

Recommendation to follow one ore more of the above alternatives for thirty days and re-assess.

-

"Please adjust my meal plan to accommodate recommendations one and two, and add 'get bromelain' to my todo list." Might was well try them all.

Jenna finishes breakfast, reviews and approves the newly recommended menu and sends off the grocery order, then heads out the door to her first appointment of the day.

-----

How cool would that be?!!

Can you imagine how many problems might be preventable with information that deep and broad? Analyzed and correlated for the many thousands of variables contained therein - far more than any human or group of humans could digest. Can you imagine the potential leap in quality of life?


But, we can't have that.

Why? you ask.

<begin rant>

Because anytime anybody starts collecting data, somebody finds a way to abuse it.

Creeps use gps data from fitness-gadgets and smart-watches and phones to stalk people.

Marketing agencies use all kinds of data to discover your interests, obsessions, guilty pleasures, and the most effective ways to manipulate you into buy garbage you don't really need.

Governments use any and all data to identify potential threats -  which could range anywhere from legitimate terrorist to 'political enemy', depending on who is in charge at the time. In some countries now, you can face prison time if you say the wrong things on social media. What constitutes 'wrong things'? Depends entirely on who is interpreting the law at any time.

Sleazy, money-grubbing scammers will use that data to find ways to steal your retirement funds, and your personal savings.

Political idealists/activists will use that data to dox, swat, or otherwise terrorize those they see as enemies to their cause. They will manipulate and misrepresent that data to justify unwarranted and abusive actions on the part of governments to enforce their 'utopian' vision, a the expense of those who don't share their particular views.

We can't have that because a small handful of the population value personal wealth, personal fears, personal power, or a personal vision of the future more than they value their 'neighbor'.

And so, all the decent folk (who I still believe make up the majority), wind up going into "hiding" (The dark forest), to protect ourselves from the minority of predators.

So a hearty "Thank-you" to all the Kochs,Soros,Gates,Musks, and many other well-known, lesser-known, and unknown, political and corporate 'luminaries', groups of deranged lunatics, and individual, self-serving scum-buckets (and by 'thank-you' I mean 'no-thank-you').

You're the reason we can't have nice things.

<end rant>

 

A few headlines supporting above rant:

[Microsoft is scanning the inside of password-protected zip files for malware | Ars Technica]

[Former cop abused unrevoked system access to extort women (malwarebytes.com)]

[Saudi arabia woman jailed for 11 years for online expression supporting womens-rights]

[Death penalty for hate speech?]

[German woman given harsher sentence than-rapist for defamation]

[UK warns of stalking risks from connected devices]

Some discussions on the "dark forest" concept (focused specifically on the exponential growth of this phenomenon due to  generative AI):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXkDaDDJjoA&t=21s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrcbH0ge2WE

Leaving Microsoft: Taking the Plunge

 Well, I did it.

I started out with the best of intentions to thoroughly and carefully plan, test and then install. To be fair I did do SOME planning and testing. Just not thorough.

A few weeks back, I took a Saturday, copied all my documents, pictures etc... to an external hard drive. Then I rebooted, and installed Debian version 12.

The first week was a bit problematic. The computer would occasionally freeze. I didn't get to the root cause, but I did resolve the problem.

When I installed, I did not use the default, Gnome windows environment. Instead I switched to KDE Plasma. I am more comfortable with it, as it is more similar to Microsoft Windows in look and feel. It is also more configurable, allowing me to more easily tailor it to my specific needs.

The freezing problem appeared to be related - not to KDE specifically, but to a subsystem used to translate between KDE and the video drivers.

Switching to Gnome removed that subsystem, and the problem went away. There is probably a way to fix it, but again, I'm trying to avoid digging in the guts too much.

So really. Where I have ended up is essentially the default install, which would be fairly trivial for anybody to do. I've made a few minor changes after the fact, but nothing that would be difficult for anyone to do, given instructions. I might try putting together some how-to videos to post on YouTube.

Gnome is taking a little getting used to. I have had to change the way I do a few things. I would say it is neither better nor worse, just different.

All of my critical applications (or their replacements) are working just fine, and I have even managed to move a few of them to more updated versions than what is part of the Debian 12 ecosystem by using an application ecosystem called flathub. It has worked out nicely.

So, all in all, happy with my decision to pivot and revert to Debian. What they lack in "up-to-date-ness" of applications, they make up for in ease and stability.

I did have one totally geek-out moment yesterday. A small detail I suppose, but totally made my day.

I was watching a youtube video when my cell phone rang. I was closer to my phone than the computer, so I grabbed it and answer the call, while racing to pause the video.

But I didn't haven't to. The Linux phone integration automatically paused the video for me the moment I answered the call! It was the coolest thing ever! It was technology as technology should be! Technology working for me, making my life more convenient and enabling me to be more productive and effective.

That moment alone made the switch worthwhile.

So I am now operating Microsoft free, with respect to operating system on computers.

I still need to move to a new email provider. That will be a painful process, as I need to:
1. Find a privacy respecting email provider
2. Set up the new email address
3. Change the email address on all services I use

I might not be fully Microsoft-free until next year, but I am happy with my progress thus far.

Is It a Sin To Be Efficient?

 A few weeks ago I was asked to lead a discussion in a church meeting, on the topic of the two great commandments. More specifically, It was a discussion of a Talk given by Gary E. Stevenson last April, Titled 'Bridging The Two great Commandments' (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/53stevenson?lang=eng).

As part of that talk, I printed out the 613 Laws of the Old Testament (Mosaic Law)  and the ten commandments to start the conversation out by noting that, for the most part, The Two Commandments were a higher-order law - that if one was following those two laws the other laws were not really necessary (is you love your neighbor as yourself, you obviously won't kill them, or steal from them...).

While reviewing the Old Testament laws, I hit upon something I hadn't noticed before. Beginning with law 41:

41.Not to reap the entire field (Lev. 19:9; Lev. 23:22)

42.To leave the unreaped corners of the field or orchard for the poor (Lev.
19:9)

43.Not to gather gleanings (the ears that have fallen to the ground while
reaping)
(Lev. 19:9)

44.To leave the gleanings for the poor (Lev. 19:9)

45.Not to gather ol'loth (the imperfect clusters) of the vineyard (Lev.
19:10)

46.To leave ol'loth (the imperfect clusters) of the vineyard for the
poor (Lev. 19:10; Deut. 24:21)

47.Not to gather the single grapes that have fallen to the ground (Lev.
19:10)

48.To leave the single grapes of the vineyard for the poor (Lev. 19:10)

49.Not to return to take a forgotten sheaf (Deut. 24:19) This applies to
all fruit trees (Deut. 24:20)

50.To leave the forgotten sheaves for the poor (Deut. 24:19-20)



Don't harvest the corners of the field. Don't pick up what you drop while harvesting. Don't go back and gather anything you forgot.
Are these laws suggesting it is a sin to be too efficient?


Now, in the context of these laws as presented, there is a clear purpose. Leave some behind so the poor can collect it. You could argue the above laws are summed up in the fifty-second law.

 

52.To give charity according to one's means (Deut. 15:11)

Give of your abundance to the needy.



But what then of the modern business culture of ultra-efficiency? of "just-in-time" manufacturing?

This all-consuming drive to eliminate every last bit of waste. Is it a sin? Does it violate this law?

If, for instance, I were a potato farmer, and I only grew precisely the number of potatoes I could sell for maximum profit, there would be nothing left for the poor. Would I be in violation of the law?

The obvious counter argument is, since I have maximized my profit through my efficiency, I would now have more money with which to help the poor.

But would I? Or would  I simply grow my business? Diversify? Invest in further efficiencies? I might even justify this, noting that further growth and efficiency will mean I will be better able to help even more poor in the future.

Meanwhile the poor in the present are starving, and perhaps some who just above the threshold are becoming poor as well.

Now, that is clearly a choice. I could just as easily, willfully ignore the original law as stated to the same end. Perhaps this is simply a straw-man argument.

What are the other effects of hyper-efficiency?

Perhaps 2020 is a good case to consider. As businesses shut down due to the pandemic, supplies of many products dwindled. Many shelves in stores were bare.

Some people were left without the ability to care for themselves. Some were left impoverished.

Natural disasters are a part of living on this big ball of dirt and rock, hurling through space. Earthquakes, floods, famine, disease...

I believe the primary function of Godly law is to facilitate greater freedom for us, by protecting us from that which would enslave us (addiction, debt...), or at the very least, protect of from that which would restrict our freedom.

Always, there are things we can't control for, things we can't predict or prevent. If you are always living at the very edge of your capacity, then if anything goes wrong, you have nothing to fall back on. You - or someone else - suffers.

When there is abundance - some waste - then when something terrible happens, the abundance can fill the gap.

So, is it therefore a sin to be efficient? Or at least, to be too efficient?