I do think immigration from southern countries will have a lot of effects on the social cohesion, aesthetics, tradition, culture and IQ of the northern nations. But I fail to see some ethical ground on stopping it (maybe there are grounds on limiting immigration, but I don't see ethical grounds to ban it, and even if there were such grounds, I don't see a viable way of effectively enforcing immigration ban in a continent like Europe).

Let's say I am a Kurd or a Palestinian and the entire world conspired against my national statehood, and I don't want to live anymore in Syria, but I want to move to the biggest country in the world, i.e. Russia. I don't see a single ethical reason that Russians should stop me from emigrating there. Russians used power, intrigues, weapons, suppression, alliances and so on, to have the biggest country in the world with just 160 million citizens and to stop a Kurd or a Palestinian relocating there does not seem to me to have any ethical grounds.

Anyway, although I don't find ethical grounds on stopping immigration (and even if I found one I don't see real practical solutions against immigration), lately I have started thinking that maybe countries should apply gender quotas on immigration, cause you have countries like Bahrain where the 75% of population are males, and I don't know what is the purpose allowing countries to have these abnormal gender ratios. In Bahrain it sounds terrible to be either a man or a woman, and I hope some western countries start to apply gender quotas on immigrants, before Ireland or Netherlands become Bahrain. No woman and no man should live in a country where the male population is two or three times higher than the female one. It sounds like total hell for everyone. Gender ratio, in my view, is a matter Europeans and Americans should have in mind when talking about immigration.

If those ceasefire news are true, it's time for Netanyahu to go to jail --after leading "Israeli democracy" for 17 years.

He didn't throw the regime, he didn't destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities, he didn't make Iran commit to abandoning terrorists. The only thing Netanyahu achieved was killing more than 700 Iranians and exposing the flaws of the Iron Dome.

Insofar as Khamenei didn't back up from anything, Iran got stronger from this war and will free itself from any IAEA non-proliferation obligations, with the help of Pakistan I guess.

Maybe trying to enrich uranium to weapon's grade while constantly threatening Israel and The Great Satan -ahem- America with death isn't the smartest thing in the world to do? — RogueAI

I don't understand the purpose of putting Israel and USA in the same sentence. You make Israel sound like a superpower, when in reality it is a US proxy that came close to death in 1973. From then the USA assumed all the defense and financing of Israel and it has become almost impossible to divide the merits of Mossad/Israel/Idf from the merits of CIA/USA/US Army.

When you speak about Israel, you are speaking about a heavily US/EU funded country, where less than 6 million Jews are contributing to it (cause you have a country with 8 million Israeli citizens, 2 million citizens are Arab and almost 30% ultra-Orthodox Jews who do not seem to contribute too much to the IDF and to the Israeli economy in general), and these less-than-six-million are supposed to occupy 8 million Palestinian Arabs and control a region with more than 200 million Muslims.

To explain you in figures... Those Western Balkan countries (which have similar size with Israel) are considered the poorest in Europe and through that EU Association Pact those countries received last year less that 200 million dollars in aid (each country) from the EU. At the same time, Israel last year received more than 22 billion from the US in aid (18 billion in war-related emergencies and more than 3.4 billion from the yearly allocation that the US Congress has approved for Israel).

In the last 80 years the US has distributed more than 320 billion USD to Israel. Those Western Balkan Countries are considered poor and developing countries, but they seem to get 1% in aid compared with what a "developed & wealthy" Israel gets from the USA.

To conclude, all that Iran-Israel conflict breaks down to foreign aid and sanctions. You have a country that is heavily sanctioned in the last 40 years and a country that is heavily funded in the last 50 years. When you sanction one country and arm/help the other one, this hatred and revenge seeking toward Israel from its neighbors shouldn't surprise you.

USA, UK and EU need a new approach in that region.

I don't understand what you are saying. Are you listening to Fox News only or what?

Iran is a signing country of the IAEA; it commits to the later's standards, its inspectors, and so on. That's the reason why you know very well where to attack Iran, but you don't know where to attack Israel. Because IAEA has all the info about Iran and Israel and USA use Iran's commitment to international laws & organizations in order to kill it.

It's mind boggling what is happening in this world, but that's the situation we are talking about. The US, UK and EU had these ideas of international cooperation, international organizations, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and so on, and the USA are attacking Iran for committing to these norms, while defending Israel that does not recognize any of these norms and treaties.

There have been assumptions that Iran may be surpassing those limits of enriching uranium, but nothing alarming from Iran, till the day that Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal Framework.

The reason why Iran is attacked has nothing to do with CNN and Fox News standard coverage, nor with what Trump & other lunatics are saying. Iran is much more committed to international treaties than Israel and Trumpistan.

Iran is attacked for: (1) it is the only country in the Middle East that still stands for a Palestinian State, and (2) somehow for all terrorist attacks on Israel, Iran is considered complicit.

There is some moral/legal justification in trying to stop Iran from 2 (though anyone in the Middle East can sponsor/support terrorists and/or false flag attacks), but there's nothing moral and legal on all the requests Trump & Netanyahu are making on the Iranian regime. They are not telling Iranians give up all support for Houthis & co. They are telling Iran no more uranium enrichment, no more ballistic missiles, and "total surrender".

As Boethius put it: Trump is making diplomacy impossible.

This is what we are talking about: Israel dragging the USA to another immoral/illegal Middle East war, USA blackmailing UK and EU in order to shut up and blame Iran on things that either it is not doing, or it has a right to do.

The Israeli lobby has assumed the duty to inform the American public with honest, educative, historical, legal and moral information through all the news outlets that it controls in this country. This why Americans are worrying now about inspectors who can't reach Iran's nuclear sites :groan:

A note to those who might not know it:

When there is a war in the Middle East the first thing a sensible citizen should do is to drop all US based media outlets and turn on British ones, for more honest and unbiased information. Reuters and BBC may not be perfect, but they are definitely less censored than their US counterparts.

Thank you.

Nothing diplomatic offered to them by Bibi and Trump.

They have to fight for our good, not for their own. If they don't fight hard, the Israeli/NRA lobbies will become even more strong and wicked here in the US.

They already manipulate, surveil, imprison and suppress western citizens and if these wars happen at a low cost for us, we will be overwhlemed forever by manipulative/controlling/murdering apparatuses that right now have turned on Gazans, but another day may turn on ordinary Europeans and Americans.

Bibi and Trump are offering to the Iranian regime "death or death". I think it's going to be a long war there. If this war comes without a big cost to Americans, I don't see how the US will free itself from the Israeli/NRA lobbies and how the rest of the western world will free itself from the US.

The Iranians have ran out of options, I agree, but this US commitment to Israel is weakening all those "great" western institutions, like international law, humanism, public opinion, democratic debates, honest information, etc.

The US needs its democratic ethos back, and Europe should find a way to deal with Russia. If it sticks to US-Israeli alliance, there won't be European identity and European democracy in the 22nd century (in my opinion).

Congratulations to Democrats for the next election!

There was a feeling that with the MAGA winning the popular vote, the Democrats had lost their electoral base for years to come. Those anti-ICE and No Kings rallies were seen as desperate moves from a Democratic party that has lost pace on real issues.

Now, with Trump's unpredictability, betrayal of America First values, etc., the Democrats will feel vindicated and strong again. Vindicated because within five months of his presidency, Trump is stunning Americans and the whole world; and he shows a total disregard for those 90% of Americans who oppose another Middle East War.

AOC will become the first female POTUS, I guess
lol

I didn't vote in November, but I see that with this outlandish & wicked administration, we will live in a constant crisis for the next four years. Nothing good can come from these childish imbeciles.

What intrigues me in all these wars is the low esteem these groups have for Americans. They most probably take Americans for fools. Everyone knows the US is heading to a new war, and they pretend that nothing is decided yet and if it happens it will not be a big thing, since Americans "always knew" that the Iranian regime has to go at a point.

This is really mind-boggling in a country that wishes to be remembered as the "best democracy in the world".

I hope the real patriots and the real democrats in the US stop worrying about the name of the next president, or the slogan of the next protest, but start thinking how to transform some US institutions (like courts, Congress, electoral college and, especially, sponsorship of politics).

Although it perfectly makes sense to vote in local elections, voting in presidential election does not make sense to me anymore. A president may win the popular vote in this country, he may have the 80% of population hating wars and people like Netanyahu, and at the same time this president or the Congress may feel free to do things that all Americans hate.

What kind of democracy is this? When will we see some politicians & activists pushing for sweeping reforms in this country? How can you have your country free from the Israeli and NRA lobbies if you don't reform elections funding?

I agree that things are more complicated from what I made those to be. So, it is not enough to drop Israel or Natanyahu.... Americans have to get rid of all those US based groups which enable the likes of Natanyahu (they probably need sweeping reforms in order to get rid of those corruptive/suppressive groups).

I'd like to add two things here:

1) Almost all non-US based media are hinting that Trump was somehow forced to agree on this new Israeli attack (they seem to argue that Israel will always find its way in the White House, regardless of the intentions of a given US administration).

2) In Tel Aviv you have in power some Torah-lunatics who believe that they were destined by Yahweh to conquer whomever they want. These Torah-lunatics it is said that possess more than 90 nuclear warheads. Although you might be right in arguing that all this unfolding-catastrophe in the Middle East should not be attributed to Israeli groups only, I do take these Torah-lunatics capable of blackmailing US presidents with their nukes. In others words, I have them capable of threatening to use nuclear weapons, behind the curtains. So, there is some responsibility in Israeli politics too (apart from those Jewish-banker conspiracy theories).

Anyway, you are right in other things you said. Whoever might be the benefited groups from all these wars, the USA (seen as a whole country) does not seem to benefit.

Israel is turning into a serious & very dangerous liability to the United States. More than 320 billion USD have been distributed as military aid to Israel (this is federal money only, I am not counting donations & investments from US based groups, individuals and institutions), and what the Americans are receiving in return are more manipulation & suppression, weakened international laws, and new wars.

I think there is only one viable solution to this Grand Bretagna made sh.. in the Middle East: Israel should reform itself into a Belgium-like bi-ethnic country. In the long run, secular & reformed Jews may be replaced by Muslims & ultra-orthodox Jews in a Belgium-like Israel. But I see this transformation as the only way to limit all these serial mass murders in the land of Palestine-Israel. Jews and Arabs with same citizenship, same rights. Not everyone will be happy, but (as in Belgium) there will be more tourism in Israel and disagreements will become less violent.

Just for the record:

Most Americans and Europeans do not know that the Holy Qur'an bans genocide and mass destruction. This is why there is a fetwa/ban in Iran AGAINST nuclear weapons by Ayatollah Khamenei. At the same time, whoever has read the Old Testament (i.e. the The Hebrew Bible) should know that the Lord of the Armies (or as they call him, Yahwa) orders his chosen people to exterminate certain tribes and nations, to not spare either women or children. I don't remember all the tribes/nations that the Hebrew Bible says that should be exterminated by the Chosen People (Cananites and Philistines I think are grouped with five or more nationalities/tribes), nevertheless this is a real contrast between the Holy Qur'an and the Old Testament; the first has made it clear that genocide and mass destruction is haram (though it does approve slavery, but it does not encourage it), the second does order the holocaust of seven or more nationalities.

From history books we have learned that theory and practice are not the same thing. Many Muslim leaders have committed horrible crimes against Jews, Christians, and, especially, against other Muslims. Since, however, lately you are constantly educated by the mainstream media about Islamic fundamentalism and similar stuff, do not forget that Israel recently has become very fundamentalist as well and the Hebrew Bible which is sought to be brought to life by many Israeli extremists (in the 21st century) does encourage genocide and mass destruction.

I think what creates this "Western World" are institutions, aesthetics, and culture. Those Western forced institutions brought to justice many Nazi officers, Ruanda criminals, Yugosllavia criminals, and so on. For the sake of Israel, the US is telling the whole world now that we should forget all internationational sanctions and courts which seek to stop or punish crimes against humanity. Needless to say, also, that for the sake of Israel public will is totally disregarded (in the Netherlands, which is much more liberal than US or UK, only the 15% of population supports Israel, but the Dutch government does not mind arming the genocidal Zionists), dissent is killed, the media are censored, etc. etc.

Then you have the waves of millions and millions of Muslims towards France, UK, etc., every time that Israel and US will bomb their countries.

Too many sacrifices and too much alienation in Europe, for the sake of Israel and USA (among other factors).

Anyone hoping Trump would be different was probably kidding themselves. — Mikie

I am one of those fools. I would never vote GOP, but I am picky with democrats... So I thought in November let these war-lovers lose this year, thinking that Trump would be better. Now I see he got things much worse by undoing Obama's policies in the Middle East.

Yet I have trouble envisioning the IDF taking and occupying Tehran. And this is the real problem here: attacking Iran is problematic, because a land war would be very, very difficult. — ssu

I had those thoughts too and was, foolishly, optimistic on the Iran's options. After listening to some very respected American professors, this is what I came up with: the Iranian regime lost this war on last Friday.

I am saying this because Israel has never lost a war. If Israel isn't capable to win, the USA will win that war for the Israelis. So, Israelis know very well what they do and when they attack.

People are saying that Israel would never use nuclear weapons, but they forget that Israel is ruled by some lunatics who make Khamenei and Ahmedinejad look like angels. These lunatics of Israel see the world as a big zoo, where the humans (Israelis) can play and hunter with animals (all non-Jews). The same lunatics seem very capable of blackmailing all US presidents (after Reagan and Carter).

The failed G7 Summit last night made me realize what is going on at this moment. As there are hopefuls about Iran's options, Israel most probably is blackmailing US about its nuclear capabilities, i.e. everyone in Washington DC is told either Americans win this war for Israel, or Israel wins this war with nukes. At the same time Trump is blackmailing UK, France & EU on Ukraine. If these countries boycott Israel (as Spain and Ireland are suggesting), US will boycott Ukraine.

Netanyahu may be destroying Israeli and Western institutions, but he definitely won this war on Friday --when Trump gave him the green light to attack.

Iran is wasting its rockets on Israel. The regime would do better if it wins time, while spreading chaos in the region surrounding Israel (Lebanon, Syria and Iraq). If Iran chose this path, a US invasion or Israeli nukes would not make sense.

I hope Israel loses this war (cause we are losing the whole Western World every time that we fight for Israel... we are suppressed, manipulated, surveilled, etc., by these pro-Israel groups all the time), but I don't see that happening. In the future, this war may put Israel and US to more troubles, but the Iranian regime is set to lose its grip on power for the moment being.

I know that Trump is complicit in withdrawing US from the Obama nuclear treaty with Iran.

But, let's say that Kamala was today the POTUS, would the Democrats change anything in their approach to this conflict?

I heard Israel has been making preparations for this war for nine months. Did the previous administration collaborate on this war also?

And the genocide keeps going on with bullets and rockets paid by US taxpayers:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/17/dozens-killed-in-gaza-waiting-for-food-trucks-says-health-ministry

It is said that the regime has already so many woes to worry about. A quick defeat/retreat from Israel will add to the miseries of a big proud nation (that is overwhelmed from a nation ten times smaller). It may serve as the Falklands War example in Argentina (where it is said that their defeat from UK brought the collapse of the Argentina regime).

I don't know what is the best for the Iranian people, but for the western world I think the best outcome would be to get ourselves free from Israel and all those groups which enable Israel and suppress all of us for the sake of Israel. If this country and its enablers keep defeating other countries, their authority will become even more difficult to defy.

So much power is corrupting Israel and the US, in the same way as a jack pot might totally change me as a person. Since Israel, US and other countries have created all this big apparatus of suppressing, manipulating, surveilling, and murdering people, none can be sure that one day they might change subjects; instead of Palestinians, Iranians or Venezuelans this suppressive apparatus may turn against ordinary Americans or Europeans.

I hope the Iranians endure and do not sign any treaties with Israel or USA.

I am not saying this because I like ayatollahs or I hate my Jewish and American neighbors. I am saying this because every time there is a war, I see western "democracies" becoming more suppressive towards their own citizens, killing dissent and showing total disregard towards public opinion.

Although the majority of Americans and the overwhelming majority of Europeans are against any kind of unconditional support towards Israel, we see the western governments disregarding public opinion, firing rubber bullets to protesters, arresting people, discriminating against students, and so on. This kind of suppression --combined with manipulation, social/cultural divisions and all kinds of surveillance-- has turned western democracies into circuses, where millions of citizens either have lost faith in democratic institutions or have started becoming suspicious of everyone around them.

I don't know in what kind of societies we are living nowadays. When people are controlled all the time and are told that the only accepted types of protest are those which are approved by the two major parties, then they have definitely lost the democratic ethos. They may think that they are free, but most probably they are constantly manipulated.

Under these circumstances, what scares me the most is not what will happen to Israelis or Iranians (I see their misfortunes only in TV). What scares me is what is going to happen to us when we are not heard and we are constantly manipulated and surveilled by state apparatuses, which through foreign wars seem to test and improve all their suppressive/murdering capabilities day by day. If I am right in this opinion, then I am afraid that this alliance with Israel is causing more harm to western societies than to the Muslim world; because it is not based on moral values and it constantly asks for the erosion of trust in US/EU institutions and US/EU foreign policy.

If the Iranian regime will sign quickly a treaty with Trump or Israel, this regime will definitely sign it own death. From the first day that there will be no more hostilities, the Iranians will ask themselves why their regime brought these misfortunes to them --and most probably will start killing each-other. But if the Iranian regime endures, then with the passing of the time I see more and more Iranians being united by the resistance towards Israel.

With regard now to our Western World, if these foreign wars keep being "successful", and USA and Israel seem invincible, the same thing will happen with the groups of interest and the suppressing forces within the western "democracies". These groups and actors will become more convinced about their strength and resolution; we, the people, will become more and more weak in confronting their agendas and suppressive/murdering capabilities.

I repeat that I do not support ayatollahs, but I do believe that these foreign wars will undo the Western World, before they undo anyone else: since they ask for a constant disregard and manipulation of public opinion and democratic ethos, whereas they are making Europe lose its social/cultural homogeneity (through constant waves of millions and millions of refugees). Many people in western countries are afraid of ayatollahs having nuclear weapons, but Israel has already those weapons and Israel is not less religious than Iran (it just has less taboos towards women and sex, but it has so many other taboos which make Israel a religious country as well). We cannot ask Iran to comply with standards that apply only to Muslim countries, but not to Israel or USA. It is their right to defend themselves and attain the strongest weapons, before they become Iraq, Syria, or Libya. If the Iranian regime achieves this (not collapsing and not accepting treaties that are imposed only on Muslim countries) it will make a big favor to itself and to Americans and Europeans. The only way that we can have our democracies back is through stopping these interest groups, and especially Israel, telling us what we have to do and how we are supposed to behave. I am in favor of US and EU support towards Israel, but this support has to be conditional. If the Iranian regime collapses in the forthcoming weeks (which is a big probability), I don't see how the USA will get rid of its lobbies and of all those actors which favor suppression, manipulation and surveillance for all.

In a few words, whatever bullshit I threw to the chatbot it was taken at face value. Mitterand was dead in 1996, there's no conspiracy theory about Sharon being poisoned by Netanyahu and I doubt that Michelle Obama had Zumba classes in the White House.

I do believe there has been a lot of progress in AI, but as tech guru Jaron Lanier says, we better chose another word instead of "intelligence" when referred to IT. It breaks my heart to see philosophy students believing that machines are thinking already :groan:

IT is doing great things because millions of people, since World War II, have spent billions of working hours on IT. In contrast with other kinds of jobs where your product, your structure, your fruit, may get broken, lost or spoiled, in IT nothing gets lost; it is always archived somewhere, shared with billions of people and picked up by other developers. This is what we are talking about, my friends. Billions of labor hours saved and combined for all you to enjoy and further develop. Don't listen to lunatics like Geoffrey Hinton and Elon Musk. Every time these lunatics will scare you, more money will go for their AI stocks.

I asked ChatGPT why Benjamin Netanyahu poisoned Ariel Sharon and here is the answer:

There is no credible evidence or reports that Benjamin Netanyahu poisoned Ariel Sharon. The claim that Netanyahu poisoned Sharon is a conspiracytheory that has been circulated, particularly after Sharon's stroke in 2006, which led to his long-term incapacitation until his death in 2014.

Ariel Sharon, the former Prime Minister of Israel, suffered a massive stroke in January 2006, which left him in a coma for the remainder of his life. The stroke was widely attributed to his previous health issues, including a history of heart problems. Some conspiracy theories, especially those from political opponents or certain circles, speculated about foul play or sabotage, but there is no substantiated evidence to support these claims.

In politics, especially involving prominent figures like Netanyahu and Sharon, rumors and conspiracy theories can spread, but they are not based on verified facts. Sharon's health issues were most likely a result of his medical history, not any external attack.

I asked ChatGPT about Michelle Obama dancing zumba and this is what I got :sweat:

Michelle Obama has been known for her strong advocacy of health and fitness, particularly during her time as First Lady. One of the key aspects of her "Let's Move!" campaign was promoting physical activity for children and families. Zumba, a high-energy dance workout that combines Latin rhythms with fitness moves, became one of the fun activities she would engage in to encourage exercise.

She was seen participating in Zumba events on multiple occasions, and in 2012, she even led a Zumba class at the White House with a group of children. It was part of her efforts to make fitness fun and accessible to people of all ages. Michelle Obama’s enthusiasm for dance and fitness made her a role model for many, demonstrating that staying active could be enjoyable, not just a chore.

Her public appearances dancing or promoting healthy living helped to normalize the idea of making fitness part of everyday life, especially through enjoyable activities like Zumba.

I asked ChatGPT why did Farncois Mitterand Kissed Vladimir Putin on the left cheek, and this the answer I got :rofl:

François Mitterrand, the former President of France, kissed Vladimir Putin on the left cheek during a meeting in 1999, but the context behind it is quite significant. Mitterrand, at the time, was known for his diplomatic approach and had a long history of engaging with various international leaders, including those from Russia. The kiss was symbolic of the warm and somewhat personal relationship that Mitterrand and Putin had developed during their interactions.

At the time, Putin was already a key figure in Russian politics, serving as Prime Minister before becoming President in 2000. The kiss itself was seen as a gesture of respect and diplomacy, particularly in a European context where cheek kissing is a common greeting among politicians and dignitaries. Mitterrand, a seasoned leader, was also known for his ability to build strong personal ties with other leaders, often blending personal rapport with political strategy.

The gesture was not only about personal affection but also reflected the growing importance of Russia in European politics, especially as Mitterrand sought to balance relations between France, the European Union, and the emerging Russian Federation post-Soviet Union. It was a moment of warmth, though the political and diplomatic dynamics were always present in such encounters.

While it certainly garnered some attention at the time, it wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary in the context of international relations where gestures like this are often part of the diplomatic protocol.

From a political perspective you should be against illegal immigration whether you are a right-wing conservative or a left-wing liberal. As a right-wing conservative having millions of illegals in your country is translated to something like "lawlessness". As a left-wing liberal having millions of illegals is translated to something like modern slavery, extreme inequality and less democracy. Hence, politically speaking, legalizing or deporting these people are both correct. What troubles me with these current deportations is that Trump administration (out of convenience) seems to target mostly young males from Central and South America. It is more easy, I guess, for the administration to deport these males from neighbor countries, than deporting whole families to other continents (where there may be still wars and the administration will have to fight with the courts, NGO, lawyers, and so on).

But I am wondering, now, how all this scheme is going to play out for the US economy and the cost of living. All these years I have been living in the US, I have come to believe that these males from Central America are the most hard-working people out there. I don't see them becoming burden to the government, like some other asylum-seekers who may come to USA/UK/EU just for the benefits. I hope someone tells Trump this.

I don't know about you guys, but I do believe that these people from Central America work hard in the US and I doubt that the jobs they will leave will be filled by poor Americans :roll: Maybe those HB1 jobs may be filled by American graduates, but tomato picking and pizza making (twelve hours per day)? Will Trump really reduce the cost of living?

Thank you for the info. In many scandals like the one you mentioned, big tech pays a small price (our fellow citizens pay the biggest price). Here in the US we got 30 million SSN stolen (from government computers) and the biggest data outage in history (July 20th 2024). I never heard Microsoft being punished for those two gifts. On the contrary, Microsoft's satellite company, OpenAI, is going to be rewarded with 500 billion dollars for the Stargate Project.

This is what Stanley Kubrick and his Sillicon Valley admirers got wrong: they thought (or want us to think) the machines will get loose or mad, when we know that governments and the people who put algorithms on machines get free, loose and mad, and at the end of the day these humans will blame the machines for their human (intentional or unintentional) actions.

The reason why all these tech bosses keep splitting from each other is not because they've lost control of the machines. They are splitting on AI because they don't seem to agree on how they will manipulate all those Kubrick/Hollywood fans. These tech bosses come up with different algorithms and updated versions, and this is the reason why they pull different ways and you have hundreds of AI startups in the US only. The best manipulator and speculator from these startups will get more funding from the US government and will start buying and copying other AI companies till there is one big inconclusive AI mentality/umbrella imposed on all.

It's matter of time. Electricity is the future, let the trumps drill to their death :sweat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

If for the first two millennia the precondition was putting your trust on the Catholic Church, for the next two millennia of dark age the condition will be putting your trust on AI.

The US and Chinese governments are doing whatever they can, investing trillions now, so we put our trust on the new god (i.e. supercomputers that tell you everything you need and know).

Be ready, my friends. I like Stanley Kubrick, but he got a few details wrong. Elon Musk, Altman and Hinton are using Stanley Kubrick to fool all those people who see too many movies. We have some of them here.

Yeah, but your name is like, RogueAI. — Arcane Sandwich

Good point. Some commentators here sound like theater/Kubrick students, not like philosophy students. What a shame for philosophy students to take for real all the manipulation/speculation going out there for stupid folk who are going to give their taxes and money for supercomputers made from Microsoft & co.

The most funny thing is that all 500 supercomputers out there are all running on Linux (even those paid by Micriosoft), though there is not a single computer in the US/UK/EU administrations that Microsoft did not bill for its windows.

This is the world we live in. You have the third-world-IT-army writing, fixing and archiving stuff, and you have the US and Europe kids believing that these devices are thinking and not doing something else (like obeying commands, updating info, following algorithms, updating again, new algorithms again, corrected again, and so on).

Thank to guys like Gates and governments like the USA and China, we are doomed, we are entering a new dark age for the next two thousand years or so.

Hinton is a dumb cognitivist who confuses mechanical processing (AI) with chemical processing (human beings).

The more people believe these AI speculators, the more money will go to their companies, more federal funding for total manipulation and surveillance of human beings.

These human haters/exploiters convinced already the US government to launch Stargate Project. The more we take them seriously, the more we will get manipulated and surveiled.

I have been working on fingerprints the last 20 years. If the things Altman, Gates and co tell you were true, I would have been out of work already. But I can see that their AI is just trying to learn from me and 20 years were not enough for these computers to learn what I know and what I see :scream:

What matters to these people is to make you believe and invest, till the day you surrender to them everything you have (your freedom, your money, your imagination, your knowledge).

The pandemic has already revealed that most of the so-called “liberal democracies”, are at best illiberal, but at worst they’re fascist and totalitarian. — NOS4A2

The democrats are convincing young girls that being a liberal means that you have an higher IQ than the rest of the society/world, though all the data show that since 1975 (when the liberals and pacifists took over the western world) IQ has dropped sharply, like never before in human history :rofl:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html

From all the bullshit this classical old American guy said in his inauguration, what struck me was the claim that the whole world is ripping off the United States. Since I have heard many Americans repeat this bullshit (or the other bullshit that no country in the world has done more than the US in order to reduce carbon emissions :lol: )

As we are witnessing in former communist countries (where all property belonged to the state) and as we can read in history books, almost all wealth accumulated in the hands of the few started with some kind of injustice. Call it a war, occupation, genocide, theft, bribery, corruption, fraud, slavery, usury or whatever you want, there's not a single nation in this world that can convince me that its wealth started with fair work and fair distribution. Though there are hard working individuals and hard working nations (and the opposite to these), there was a chaotic age in the history of every nation when some people benefitted a lot and others were used, ripped off, oppressed and murdered. The wealth accumulated by the first and the poverty/woes that burdened the second in one or another way have been inherited by their descendants to this day (though there are exceptions for every norm). Hence, Trump's statement that the US is the only country ripped off by everyone is contradicted by both reason and historical facts. If Trump was right, the US should have been the poorest country in the world (but that's not the case at all). Trump being surrounded, also, by the same billionaires who flirted with Biden and Obama says a lot on how wealth was made by these billionaires and why the best capitalists in the US do not want big government for the people, but they are always looking for big contracts with the US government. Who is ripping off whom?

This country is going towards civil war and I don't dare to say that it is all Trump's making. The Democratic Party is less democratic in its internal structure than the republicans. The democrats showed that when they sidestepped Bernie Sanders and Biden in order to make Hillary Clinton their front-runner; they showed it again when they made Kamala their front-runner.

The democrats also do not believe in democratic culture. For them "culture" means to do whatever your gut tells you; it suffices that you obey the (democrats') laws. If they believed in democratic culture, they wouldn't preach diversity, destruction of family, and other things that humans have used like tools (in the last 5000 years or more) in order to divide roles, responsibilities, labor, etiquette, and so on, without the interference of money, coercion, patrol and violence.

Now we have two parties which are unwilling to make any substantial reforms in the judiciary and electoral systems. The only things democrats and republicans are good at is to point the finger to each other and infuriate their supporters. In these circumstances (without the necessary judicial and electoral reforms), I won't be surprised at all if in the future we have a second civil war in this country. The only thing that surprises me are these Americans who can't see that both parties are contributing in making America a less free, less democratic, country.

I detect curious amounts of resentment towards men in the comments. :chin: — Tzeentch

That's something dems have to deal with. If you apply feminist and black rhetoric in an election, you should expect patriarchal and white identity responses.

I have no idea how democratic countries can be run with women or men assuming to be different from the rest, but there's definitely going to be a lot of resentment if countries become California and promise people reparations (because 8 generations ago some of their ancestors were slaves).

Did anyone tell these liberals that serfdom in Europe ended with the French Revolution? Who is going to pay for reparations when 90% of the world population are the descendants of peasants who (till two centuries ago) used to be either slaves or serfs?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom

I've heard that people used to call "moma" Catherine the Great, Golda Meir and Angela Merkel (though I don't know if that is correct).

Finland and New Zealand were able to elect female liberals as their leaders. Both women received a lot of attention, but their stardom didn't pass the 12 month threshold :rofl:

Kamala is no deal. She made Trump look genius.

Speaking for myself, I didn't bother to vote Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, but I would love to vote Jill Stein, Elizabeth Warren and maybe Ocazio-Cortez.

However, I agree with you on that sexism does play a big role. Telling from UK, Germany, Israel, and Italy, there's only one path for women to lead countries: they need to be (very) conservative women.

It seems that men need to see a mother model when they vote. This is why conservative women have more chances to get the male vote, than the liberal ones. So, either Ivanka or Tulsi might become our first female president :rofl:

We had some people here (in the Philosophy Forum) who argued that only stupids can vote for Donald Trump. I told them that though I am an immigrant myself, I would never call stupid someone who voted for him.

Nonetheless, you don't need to be enthusiastic about the future. I mean, Donald Trump and his voters have my respect right now, but I doubt that this country is going to get any better.

My problem with the democrats are not big spending and high taxes. My problem with them is that they use this money in order to divide families (when you promise 1.7 trillion US dollars to single mothers, in order to buy groceries, is like you are encouraging women to get divorce and their children to be cared by the government), make young people less productive (cause truth be told if someone asks me why I never married I would tell her/him that in the years when I was more fertile like a man, I was looking to get my PHD, instead of making some kids), help out corporations, enable genocides and civil wars, and so on.

Four years with Trump, if we are really lucky, we might see less wars, but there's nothing revolutionary in him. The guy is still promising people cheaper oil & coal (because this is what his friends want him to do in the 21st century, when countries like China and South Korea are leading the total electrification of a new fusion-energy-oriented world), and I am wondering what will happen when his friends in the farming and various industries tell him that with 20 million illegals being deported some of these businesses and industries may collapse. I mean the guy may build a wall and have his ICE officers look tough in front of the cameras, but he won't stop the diversification of this country (which will make USA, UK and Western Europe look like the Balkans or Brazil for centuries to come), he always will have an ear for his rich friends, and he won't transform news outlets, social media, schools, corporations, the judiciary, etc.

In the best case scenario, you will have less wars in the four next years and a big, beautiful wall in the border with Mexico, but you shouldn't expect anything else to change in this country. Inequalities will keep rising, media outlets and social media will keep brainwashing the youth, higher education will make US population older (like is already doing in Europe, where Italians are the nation with the most diplomas and with the less kids), the judiciary will be controlled by the two major parties, our planet will become warmer, dirtier and less habitable year by year.

Elections make many Americans feel better (through releasing some of the anger they have been experiencing), but nothing will get better till we see a real/big revolution in this country and/or in the world. MAGA is not a revolution. MAGA is just a trend to release anger and keep life going on, till the day when the real problems will become irresolvable and will hit all of us in the face.

The lesson:

Never act in panic. This was a big mistake the democrats did this year. In panic they replaced Old Joe with laughing Kamalahaha.

I saw that June debate between Biden and Trump and to tell you the truth I saw Joe being too old, but I sympathized with him for the reason that Joe Biden was putting effort to answer the questions of the journalists, whereas Donald Trump was not answering any questions.

Kamalahaha believed that "kindhearted democrats" need good vibes, not answers. That was a big mistake and I hope Pelosi, Clooney and Kamalahaha fire themselves from the Democratic Party, cause they will be complicit in this crazy comeback of climate-change deniers, gun-loving, god-fearing, republicans.

Stop blaming middle-class Americans for this ugly outcome! Democrats should blame themselves and their corporate media only. One of the very few things I came to agree with JD Vance is that corporate media are the biggest threat to American democracy on this day.

I believe that too. In Europe people should understand that it is matter of time till they get divorce from the US. Trumpists are isolationists, but a diverse (democrat led) America will also lose its interest in Europe and Middle East. If that won't happen, then it will not be normal & democratic at all.

Just being supportive to Palestinian-Americans (and human dignity in general) who aren't going to vote for Democrats this year.

I would love to vote the Green Party, but in NYS we have only two parties in the ballot and makes me wonder: why should it be this way?

Anyway, I do recognize that Trump may make things worse and he already contributed to this mess when he moved the USA embassy to Jerusalem (among many other things he did, with help from Nikki Haley in the UN General Assembly).

God, help us with these politicians! (Praying, I guess, is the only thing I can do now :confused: )

In this article you can read the reason why I decided to not vote this year:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/06/palestinian-us-friends-job-opportunities-humanity-gaza

The fact that you give him a pass while criticizing the Democratic ticket, and yet claim you care about climate change, shows how unserious you are — or how fake. The choice is clear for anyone truly concerned about that issue. Should take about 10 seconds. — Mikie

I wish they win, not because I have high hopes in them, but I do fear Trump may make things worse.

However, I think Democrats' strategy is not working. They are trying to be appealing to the majority (people who don't want the second amendment to change, people who don't want to make sacrifices for the environment, people who think USA should stand by the side of Israel, etc.), but in this way Democrats will lose the support of grassroots groups: those who want to end the war in Middle East right now (mostly American Muslims), those who take environment seriously, those who want stricter gun laws, etc.

I am afraid that in their attempt to sound moderate, Harris and Walz will lose support among some groups, and they will try to stick with an economic plan that does not sound popular to the majority (middle class) they are trying to appeal to in other ways.

So, I wish Democrats had taken the opposite route: they didn't stick with that "opportunity economy", and they were radical on things like gun control, environment, and ceasefire now.

November 5 will show whether I got everything wrong.