"Zucki Tokens"

     Blockchain crypto currencies have become commonplace in recent years, at least for that subset of humans who experience educated, sophisticated and worldly lives. My guess as to their numeric prevelance is that these early-adopters represent less than !% worldwide, and no more than 3% in any country.  Small numbers, but like all change, big impact.  No longer is the media offering reports of bitcoin millionaire teenagers and international mega-frauds.  The technology has evolved and media has now turned to speculating about "mainstreet" becoming integrated in this "exchange medium" revolution. 

     The current most visible inititive to "privatize money" is Facebook, who across their various platforms touch 3+ billion humans, most of whom would be happy to complete economic transactions with their Facebook password instead of paper or bank plastic.  If the Post Office has in most part given way to UPS and FedEx, perhaps its time we bypass the First National Bank of Everywhere.  Probably most of us, (the 99%)  believe Facebook will keep our accounts straight and our purchasing power intact, even if we have no idea what Blockchain means. 

     We do know that most of our acquaintenances that call themselves Bankers are Assholes and they are regulated by Asshole+ Beauracrats, who report to Elected Politicians whose corruption is only exceeded by their stupidity. Sure Mr. Zuckerberg, bring it on.  I will be pleased to pay for my new Telsa with "Zucki Tokens". I will frame my last $100,000 USD bill....you know the one with Trump's picture on both the front and the back. #Facebook

Fact Rhetoric

  Public rhetoric has historically been low on fact verbiage and high on value verbiage.  As such, main street imbibed "rhetoric speech" as one source of "news", and then cross referenced their emotional biases against "fact speech", presumed to identify true space/time events and patterns. Humans integrated these differing cognitive elements and thereby produced a somewhat workable civilization.  

     Throughout history there have been autocrats seeking to oppress minorities, majorities nations, and worlds.  It is the human tragedy.  In the main, oppressions have been about mobilizing economic and physical forces arrayed to overwhelm opponents.  "Trojan Horse and Manchurian Candidate" type psychological ploys have occasionally found their way into despot arsenals, but have not been often deployed weapons.  Oppressors seek to control wealth, not destroy it.  It is somewhat comforting  that WMD's,  biological and nuclear,  are not weapons of choice, but.....

     in todays gigibit delivered reality, a new WMD has come of age. In Startrek, the Romulans had a  cloaking devise that obscured selected matter to their combat advantage. In today's cyber culture an oppressor can achieve the same advantage by obscuring societal access to "fact speech".  The mechanics are obvious and simple.  When best truths are deeply hidden in a sea of alternatively palatable fact representations,, then only rhetoric remains as a decision strategy.....and he who rhetorics best, wins the day.

     This "fact dust ploy" would perhaps not be so insidious, were its effect just local, but like bio and nuclear, "fact dust" is an indiscriminate weapon. Most likely, today neither Trump, nor AOC, nor Mary on Main Street, have any fact based insight about global warming, abortion, tariffs, or damn near anything that will impact their collective lives.  They hear only rhetoric and they speak only rhetoric.

Thanks...... we are now totally confused.  Can we recover?  Probably not!

"Snowflake Babies" $8000 each.....Get'm while they're cold!

     I did not know that 300,000 IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) proceedures are done each year or that 2M+ millennials started IVF.  I kinda remembered that the procedure involved lab production of multiple embryos precedent to transfering a selected embryo into a females uterus, and then discarding or freezing the excess embryos.  I certainly did not know that a growing market for these "extra embryos" (EE"S) existed or that there are an estimated one million EE's in inventory.  

     Needless to say this is complicated, not biologically or procedurally, but very much so at the morality and sociological levels. EE dispositions are caught up in the fundamentalist "right to life" theology, the biological profiteering concerns, the legal issues regarding "personal identity", and reproductive health costs.  Sex is free, but often unsuccessful, IVF is health taxing and often not successful (260K attempts/ 150K transfers in 2016), and costs $15k.  An EE transfer costs about $8k and has a high progeny rate.

     There is, of course, something "just not right" about the "EE Market". But, I must conceed that it plays well across the sociological spectrum.  At alt-right it is "rescuing souls", and at alt-left it is "sanitized selectivity".  Perhaps, with a "snowflake baby"...everyone wins!

IAM & YAN....not really!

     You don't need String Theory, or D-Theory, to intellectually grasp that IAM & YAN (I am Me & You are Not) is a bad algorithm.  We humans are obviously inter-dependent at every level of being.  Most likely just reflecting on the quality of your life will be sufficient to confirm that IAM & YAN (aka "Individualism" today's mainstream human operating system), is not only egomaniac,  it is regressive, anguished, and altogether dangerous. Surely, we post-moderns, who now need not gather our world view from the 3 dubious sources, (parent/preacher,teacher), can grasp the advantage of a more diverse "ontology compiler". 

     At this ominous moment in history, I would think that more people would have figured out that, while "self" has been a valuable evolutionary meme,  either "self" must give way to "us"....or there aren't going to be any "selfs" to stand their ground.          you are that

Four "joint tasking" Configurations

     Often we are asked to share a task with another person who is not relationally defined as either the leader or the follower.  In such instances the joint effort performance reflect not only the participant skills, but the emerging cooperation pattern that they adopted.  These configurations identify into the four subsets of the "affirm/defect" duality.  More specifically defined, they are: (a) We are both competent, (b) Neither of us are competent, (c) I am competent and you are not, and (d) You are competent and I am not.  The New England Patriots example "a", The White House leaks "b", Telsa screams "c", and Senior Care Residents weaponize "d".

                                 * applaud when you confirm "a" 

                                                * disbelieve "b", (even if you suspect true) 

                                                          *  go full-out mindful if you suspect "c" 

                                                                 *  run like hell from "d".