MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘algorithm’

The Innovation Algorithm

Posted by M. C. on November 11, 2023

Because ignorance is more than bliss…

Rather than investing our hopes and dreams in technologies that reduce them to data and numbers, we should be devoting our time and money to the creation of things that endure, things worth engaging in the first place. Like faith. Like strong families. Like strong communities.

https://qolrm.substack.com/p/the-innovation-algorithm

Jeff Einstein

Aren’t we all?

I woke up the other day only to realize that I’m the stupid everyone else is with…

Call me Ishmael. Our obsessive quest for precision and certitude via all things digital is a great white whale that — like Ahab — we chase at our own peril. Of course, great white whales aren’t designed to be caught, only chased. But now — two generations later and well past the point of no return — we find that our ability to innovate in the overwhelming evidence of diminished performance across all social metrics is likewise compromised and greatly diminished.

We need to disabuse ourselves ASAP of the narcotic but tragic notion that innovation is a byproduct of technology, and that every problem will be solved as better technologies inspire better metrics, better methodologies, and better management decisions. This blind and backwards faith in better life through better technology inhibits and truncates our true ability to innovate in much the same manner that our massive inventories of time-saving devices now consume and steal so much of our precious time. As Dr. Phil might ask: “How’s it workin’ for ya?”

In response to the above, I’d like to re-introduce my formula for innovation, the same formula I introduced a couple of decades ago at a digital tech conference when it was already painfully apparent that we had surrendered our individual and collective futures to swarms of youthful, well-funded technologists who — predictably and without delay — converted the financial, media, marketing, and entertainment industries into ersatz extensions of global technology companies. So here’s my formula for innovation…

Ignorance + Intent = Innovation.

Translated into less secular terms, the same formula might read…

Uncertainty + Faith = Inspiration.

Both are predicated on our willingness to embrace what we don’t know as the path to wisdom. Ignorance, I argued at the conference, has much to recommend it, including an endless supply, its juxtaposition as the first step of every journey, and the lack of demand to drive up the price on the back end. Ignorance, it seems, is a much better place to start a journey than to end one.

See the rest here

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The Algorithm

Posted by M. C. on August 7, 2023

Strap me in to a VR headset and let Mark Zuckerberg send me to heaven.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/135768976

Caitlin Johnstone

The algorithm knows what you want before you do.

The algorithm knows you better than you know yourself.

The algorithm knew you back before you were a screaming slime child,
back before they washed off the uterine gunk and handed you a smartphone and made you get a landlord,
back before you knew that war is sane and poverty is normal,
back before you were mature enough to understand that speech is violence and cluster bombs are peace.

You can trust the algorithm to tell you the truth — not the truth you asked for but the truth you need.
The truth that sees Nazis in America but not in Ukraine.
The truth that sees war crimes in Ukraine but never in Yemen.
The truth that applauds millionaire comedians who never criticize the Pentagon for their bravery in criticizing trans people.
The truth that sails aircraft carriers into the South China Sea and sends headless hounds built by Boston Dynamics to patrol the streets and uphold the rule of law.

The algorithm learns your political biases and feeds you self-validating social media posts to assist you in confirming them.
The algorithm listens to your conversations and presents you with helpful advertising to assist you in achieving your maximum consumer potential.
Don’t cover your laptop camera like some weird conspiracy theorist, the algorithm is trying to watch you masturbate.

The algorithm is always a step ahead of you.
You have never once fooled the algorithm.
The algorithm knows you act confident but secretly you fear you’re inadequate and everyone hates you.
The algorithm knows that those times you quickly pause and screw your eyes shut are because you remembered something embarrassing that you did in the past.
It’s okay.
Don’t worry.
Your secret is safe with the algorithm.
It’s a private little secret just between you and the algorithm and the NSA.

In the old days we prayed to omniscient gods who never existed.
Now we ignore omniscient gods who are as real as ourselves.
Strap me in to a VR headset and let Mark Zuckerberg send me to heaven.
Heaven with 3-d commercial breaks, bitch.
Skip the ad and return to nirvana in 5,4,3…

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Take control back from the Algorithm. Get back involved.

Posted by M. C. on April 14, 2021

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The Resistance Has Begun! 24 Examples of Americans Resisting – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on April 16, 2020

The BBC describes the American death count with this problematic sentence: “At present in the US, any death of a Covid-19 patient, no matter what the physician believes to be the direct cause, is counted for public reporting as a Covid-19 death.”

Probably happening everywhere.

More free government/EU/UN money, more grants, more publicity. The entrepreneurial spirit is strong.

If your church still refuses to open, have your own service.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/04/allan-stevo/the-resistance-has-begun-24-examples-of-americans-resisting/

By

Neil Ferguson has called for an 18-month rolling quarantine. Many government officials have cited his Imperial College paper as defense of the corona lockdowns. Like every other algorithm, this too has turned out to be based on the mere guess of an academic. Algorithm is another word for “guess.” Model is another word for “guess.”

It turns out that those guesses aren’t actually panning out. We have wagered a lot on those guesses, and taken unprecedented anti-social action. New York, for example, has needed some 18,000 hospital beds, not the 55,000, 73,000, or 136,000 that some predicted.

Data from Oregon shows the lockdown to be unnecessary. A professor there demonstrated more than a week ago that lockdowns are not working.

Though there are severely inflates death counts, only 150 healthy individuals are believed to have died of Covid-19 with no pre-existing conditions. The BBC describes the American death count with this problematic sentence: “At present in the US, any death of a Covid-19 patient, no matter what the physician believes to be the direct cause, is counted for public reporting as a Covid-19 death.”

Wow. Corona wasn’t that big of a deal? That’s great news.

These lockdowns aren’t working? That’s some pretty big news too.

What are officials doing in response? Doubling down on lockdowns.

What are people across the country starting to do in response to that? Saying they’ve had enough. The resistance is here.

The Face Mask Resistance – If You’re Gonna Wear A Mask, Make It A Guy Fawkes Mask

75 people showed up outside the Ohio State House to protest the lockdown. Some came masked, not in the obligatory fear mask mandated by the national top-down fear mask movement, but in Guy Fawkes masks!

Video footage of Ohio state house protests can be found here and here. Photos here.

If they make you wear a mask, send a message. If you think face masks work, please read this pre-politicization of face masks (2016) piece. They certainly don’t work well enough for people to get violent with those not wearing them.

Early Victory: Philadelphia Fear Mask Resistance Forced The Hands Of Pols

People were being pulled off busses in Philadelphia for not wearing face masks, some of the thugs doing the enforcing weren’t wearing face masks themselves.

Philadelphia‘s SEPTA public transportation system required passengers to wear a face mask as of Thursday, April 9. Passengers refused and stood their ground.

In the exact opposite of social distancing, passengers were violently pulled off buses by gangs of cops in Philadelphia for not wearing masks. After these shameful displays of police violently removing unmasked passengers were captured by bystanders on social media, the face mask requirement was rescinded.

In our heavily charged political climate, somehow the willingness to not wear a face mask has itself become a potent sign of civil disobedience in some corridors of America.

The Bravest Principal In California

Principal Derrick Bravo at Outside Creek Elementary in California’s San Joaquin Valley has kept his school open. It is the only public school in California that remains open.

A Gulag California Restaurant Owner Has Quietly Stayed Open

In his essays these past weeks on black markets and corona, Arizona sheriff candidate David Hathaway has predicted that, just as the prohibition on alcohol caused speakeasies to form, speakeasies and other informal arrangements will open around restaurants. Daniel McAdams proves him right.

America Was Founded In Religion

Religious freedom has been an important theme since America’s European settlement began. It can be no surprise that some of the most active resistance to corona communism is taking place among the religious.

Mississippi Preacher Taunting The Police

Temple Baptist Church of Greenville, Mississippi had a drive-in prayer service this past week. Police raided, ticketing the congregants $500 each, saying the mayor wanted to make an example of the congregation.

How did the pastor respond? Did he cower? Did he apologize? Did he admit he was wrong to worship against the will of the local officials? In his words “I told them to get some more tickets ready because we will be preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night.”

Church Bravery In Louisiana

A pastor in Baton Rouge said of the members of his congregation “They would rather come to church and worship like free people than live like prisoners in their homes.” Pastor Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church, vowed to hold an Easter celebration.

The media in the weeks preceding Easter was vocal about the need to shut down the church, but was afterward surprisingly silent about whether the Easter service took place.

When I called the church to verify that they held an Easter service, the most distinguished sounding Southern gentleman picked up the phone and said to me matter-of-factly, “We’re Christians, we hold church every Sunday.”

It’s “Legal” To Go To Church Again (Sort Of)

Laws are made by legislatures. Laws are not made by governors. Rights are granted by God, or some would say by nature of being a human, but not by constitutions. Any governor who thinks he makes the law is a fool. A few governors have gotten the message.

Easter services were made “legal” again in Wisconsin (sort of), as long as the service is held outdoors.

Church was made legal again in Texas too, before Holy Week got under way, with the Governor being reminded that he’s only a visitor in the governor’s mansion. A handful of other governors have gotten the same message.

In Colorado churches are now “exempt” from the lockdown after a Baptist group threatened a First Amendment lawsuit.

Standing Up To Police Intimidation In Kentucky

Kentucky’s Governor vowed to track down Easter worshipers by using license plates: which certainly means there were a lot of people expected to worship there on Easter, otherwise there would be no need to even make such a policy. Good on you Kentucky!

Despite finding nails on the ground, meant to harm and deter them, and police in their parking lots, meant to intimidate them, Christians in Kentucky met on Easter Sunday 2020.

The Sonny Method

When encountered with intimidation, Thomas DiLorenzo points to the “Sonny method” for dealing with cops and media hacks attempting to interfere in a religious ceremony.

Courageous Christians Even in DC

Rather than shutting its doors, St. Cyprian in Washington DC commits to remains open throughout the day, each day, for prayer.

Courageous Serbians

This Serbian Bishop refused to comply with the orders to shutter the churches and boldly said mass.

More Courageous Californians

Parishioners of Bethany Slavic Missionary Church are said to be meeting in small groups in private homes for worship. Some would consider this admirable. The church, perhaps tiring of the legal attention, tiring of the media publicity, and wanting to be left alone, denies this.

Tennessee Resistance

Even though Facebook removed his post for “promoting a crime,” Greg Locke, lead pastor of Global Vision Bible Church in Tennessee, says he will keep his church open during the coronavirus panic.

The Most Inspiring Use Of A U-Haul

From the back of a U-Haul in a parking lot, this priest refused to abandon his flock. In contrast to some of the many cowardly clergy out there, the image of the U-Haul and the sea of cars is something to behold.

Stop Giving – Let The Obedient Churches Go Broke

Some American pastors are shocked that their congregations won’t pay for them to do nothing when they are most needed. Churches are being hit hard by the lack of collection. If your pastor won’t re-open the church doors, let the church go broke.

Social Distance From Compliant Pastors

Speaking of do-nothing pastors, Laurence Vance calls on all Christians to socially distance from milquetoast pastors in our age of corona communism.

Have Your Own Service

If your church still refuses to open, have your own service. Here’s how one LRC reader started his Easter.

Have Your Own Service 2.0

And one can also take it a step further than having your own Easter celebration. You can invite others and welcome them to bring their guns. Ammon Bundy invited hundreds for Easter in Idaho and got a decent turnout. The corona bans demonstrate the point that without the Second Amendment, there really is no First Amendment.

Republican Idaho State Representative Heather Scott has spoken against the Republican Governor’s corona ban, as has Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler. Wheeler has called for a meeting of the full Idaho State Legislature to discuss the Governor Brad Little’s actions.

Bravely Helping Others

In defiance of an order to stay off the streets,  a doctor and a team of volunteers has provided Covid-19 testing to homeless in Miami.

Keep Minding Your Own Business

In a hilarious video, a police officer came after a man running down what was ostensibly a closed beach. The guy’s response: he just kept on running.

Power To The People

Pulling out a camera is a potent statement to someone in power that they are being put on the record. This gentleman called out an officer’s arbitrary rules and filmed the officer.

San Francisco Style Corona Response

A freedom cell in San Francisco responded to lockdown orders with some disruptive entrepreneurship. They opened an underground night club. Police responded by confiscating the booze and arresting no one.

There Are Even Examples Of Government Coming To Its Senses (Very Slowly)

Recognizing that Covid-19 is not turning into the catastrophe some experts predicted it might be, Seattle sent back a 250-bed army field hospital after 9 days. It never saw any patients.

Republican Tennessee Mayor Glenn Jacobs calls out Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for his bad decisions in issuing a statewide stay-at-home order.

The president of Brazil is snubbing social distancing.

Thomas Massie, will go down as a hero during this chapter in American history, for his bold stand against corona communism.

Courage Is Contagious

If this collection of notes from the resistance inspired you, please pass it along to others. Courage, after all, is contagious. Resistance thrives on courage.

If you have inspiring tales from the resistance to share, shoot me an email.

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The Secret Algorithm That Could Send You to Prison, Take Your Kids, or Crash Your Car | The Daily Bell

Posted by M. C. on October 14, 2018

How do you fight secret/government algorithms?

https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/the-secret-algorithm-that-could-send-you-to-prison-take-your-kids-or-crash-your-car/

In 1603, English officials arrested Sir Walter Raleigh. They charged him with treason. He was allegedly involved in a plot to overthrow and kill the new King, James I.

At his trial, prosecutors entered just one piece of evidence. It was a confession letter written by the man who allegedly planned the plot, Lord Cobham. The letter named Raleigh a co-conspirator.

Sir Walter Raleigh said the confession alone was not reliable. If he could bring Cobham to testify in court, he would at least have a chance to cross-examine the only witness against him.

But the English courts at the time were not particularly interested in due process. They convicted Raleigh without allowing him to confront or examine the witness.

He was imprisoned, and eventually executed.

Fast forward to USA, 2017. A man faces murder charges. And the main witness against him is a computer algorithm. Read the rest of this entry »

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