The myths of America seems to be at the root of so much of this.
The idea that we can take from the planet (or the solar system)
from the “other”, and each other with no consequence somehow gets
rationalized by the likes of Kaczynski, Musk, or Bannon as the
essential property of freedom. Exploitation and the exercise of
power is all there is, in this view.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/opinion/trump-harris-american-myths.html?unlocked_article_code=1.P04.XPoB.77hNAmC3lb8K&smid=url-share
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/05/opinion/trump-harris-american-myths.html?unlocked_article_code=1.P04.XPoB.77hNAmC3lb8K&smid=url-share>
*From:*Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com>
<mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *steve smith
*Sent:* Saturday, October 5, 2024 9:53 AM
*To:* friam@redfish.com
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] nice quote
A belief later espoused by the Unabomber.
My "Gaia Shrugs more Bigly" may well be me channeling ole
Kaczynski hisself. I think Wilson's quote was in his 2000ish
"Conscilience"? I don't know if K made a similar observation? I
did read his manifesto back in the day but it is long integrated
into my (weakly) associative memory (tinyLLM?).
<For whomever might care or remember>
At LAN(S)L the mailroom/system ramped up their worries that the
Unabomber might (obviously?) target one of us... I think it was
triggered by the first death (1985) he caused? This lasted
about a year, and then the Cold war had thawed, the Iron Curtain
fallen, and USSR disbanded (sortof) and all their Nukes were
called home.
It did lead to a lot of discussion (both in 85 and 95) about the
various orders or hierarchies of presumed moral
responsibility/implications around the work we did (ranging from
presumably fundamentally ?purely? humanitarian through variations
on mundane to the variations on acutely inhumane (EWPs, EMPs,
Davy Crockett, etc).
This was not a new conversation (e.g. Oppenheimer, et al vs
Teller et al, etc) and it spread from "might we ignite the
atmosphere?" to "gray goo" and bioterror speculations. I was
proud that (at least) a few Weapon's Designers/Cold Warriors
starting with Oppy, continuing with Agnew and Hecker unto
Pedecini. I'm far from current (well over a decade... dunno if
anyone is chatting this up inside LANL anymore?)
Re: Kaczynski: I often forget how close we live to Florence ADX
Supermax until I drive that route to/from Denver which reminds me
of the myriad ?terrorists/criminals/psychopaths? (homegrown and
imported) we've experienced in my adulthood.
*ADX Florence* (also known as the *United States
Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility* or "Supermax")
in *Florence, Colorado*, is a high-security federal prison
that houses some of the most notorious and dangerous
criminals in the U.S. The facility is known for its extreme
security measures and solitary confinement practices.
Here are some of the more notable inmates who are housed at
ADX Florence who have variously used mail, shoes, underwear,
rental trucks, and airliners to bomb their targets somewhat
unconcerned about collateral:
*1. Ted Kaczynski (The Unabomber)*:
* *Crime*: A former mathematician and domestic
terrorist responsible for a nationwide bombing
campaign between 1978 and 1995, which killed three
people and injured 23.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
1998).
*2. Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán*:
* *Crime*: The infamous Mexican drug lord and former
leader of the *Sinaloa Cartel*, one of the most
powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.
* *Notoriety*: Known for his daring prison escapes in
Mexico and his role in drug-related violence. He was
extradited to the U.S. in 2017, convicted in 2019,
and sentenced to life in prison.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment plus 30 years (since 2019).
*3. Ramzi Yousef*:
* *Crime*: The mastermind behind the *1993 World Trade
Center bombing*, which killed six people and injured
over 1,000.
* *Other Notable Acts*: He was also involved in the
*Bojinka Plot*, a plan to bomb multiple airliners.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment plus 240 years (since
1998).
*4. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev*:
* *Crime*: One of the perpetrators of the *2013 Boston
Marathon bombing*, which killed three people and
injured over 260 others.
* *Status*: Initially sentenced to death in 2015,
though there have been legal challenges and appeals
regarding the sentence.
* *Sentence*: Currently sentenced to death, pending
appeals.
*5. Richard Reid (The "Shoe Bomber")*:
* *Crime*: Reid attempted to detonate explosives hidden
in his shoes during a *2001 American Airlines flight*
from Paris to Miami.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole (since 2003).
*6. Zacarias Moussaoui*:
* *Crime*: Convicted for his role in the *9/11
attacks*, though he was not one of the hijackers. He
was found guilty of conspiring with al-Qaeda to
commit terrorism.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
2006).
*7. Robert Hanssen*:
* *Crime*: A former FBI agent convicted of *spying for
the Soviet Union and Russia* for more than two
decades. His actions are considered one of the worst
intelligence breaches in U.S. history.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
2002).
*8. Terry Nichols*:
* *Crime*: An accomplice in the *1995 Oklahoma City
bombing*, which killed 168 people and injured
hundreds. The attack was the deadliest act of
domestic terrorism in U.S. history at the time.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
1997).
*9. Eric Rudolph*:
* *Crime*: The perpetrator of the *1996 Centennial
Olympic Park bombing* in Atlanta, which killed two
people and injured more than 100. Rudolph was also
responsible for bombing abortion clinics and a gay
nightclub.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
2005).
*10. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (The "Underwear
Bomber")*:
* *Crime*: Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate an
explosive device hidden in his underwear during a
*2009 flight to Detroit*.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
2012).
*11. Mutulu Shakur*:
* *Crime*: A former member of the *Black Liberation
Army* and stepfather of rapper *Tupac Shakur*, he was
convicted for his role in a series of armed robberies
in the 1980s, including the *Brinks armored truck
robbery*, which left two police officers and a guard
dead.
* *Sentence*: 60 years, released on parole in 2022.
*12. Michael Swango*:
* *Crime*: A former doctor and serial killer who was
convicted of poisoning patients and colleagues.
* *Sentence*: Life imprisonment without parole (since
2000).
And let's not forget Woody Harrelson's Father, the gangland
hitman extra-ordinaire ?
I believe we have our own (near) Weatherman in house?
*From:*Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com>
<mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *steve smith
*Sent:* Friday, October 4, 2024 11:53 AM
*To:* friam@redfish.com
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] nice quote
/"The real problem of humanity is the following: we have
Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike
technology. And it is terrifically dangerous."/ Edward
O. Wilson.
davew
This is a favorite quote for me of late... the challenge,
methinks is "what am I going to do about it?"
I try to resolve these questions for myself before I get too
carried away trying to prescribe anything for anyone else
(especially large scale/global solutions), yet it is useful
to keep this in mind whilst considering what I think is 'best
for the collective'.
Maturing and Aging have offered me some perspective and
relief from the emotional component (especially the
fight/flight reproduce-at-all cost hormone driven ones).
Similarly I've now seen (and studied) a variety of
socio-economic-political systems enough to have at least
vaguely informed opinions about them (unlike the totally
mis-informed ones I had leading me to vote Reagan in over
Carter as my first vote). The technological question is
more near and dear to my heart having been simultaneously (or
alternately?) a technophile and a luddite.
I have dabbled in 19th century (and earlier) technology to
help ground my grounding in the mid-late 20th century I grew
up as part of the background. I've been lucky enough to
engage some with 21st century tech early by virtue of working
at an over-funded scientific laboratory which often either
had access to or was developing for it's own ideosyncratic
reasons, things which the public wouldn't see or maybe even
hear about for decades. It was heady. But also disturbing.
Yuval Harari's latest book /Nexus/, touches on the
implications of our "information technology" development over
millenia but especially the last few decades with a very
*liberal* view of what means information technology (and
networks in particular). Continuing his other cautionary
tales about the power of our "storytelling", I feel like he
lays the groundwork for the most likely way we might
recalibrate emotions to institutions to technology. Our
technology has been pulling hard against the drag of our
institutions which are faithfully trying to drag our emotions
(e.g. religious/political/cultural moral frameworks) and the
impedance mismatch seems to be the source of most of our
worst behaviours/outcomes?
The stories our modern MAGA/FauxRepublican/FauxConservative
political party in the US is telling is rooted deeply in the
emotional with only the barest nod to the institutional
(support LawNorder!!!!) and a jealous greedy eye for the
godlike tech (e.g. Trump cozying up to Musk/TechBros and NFTs
and Crypto as if he understands ANY of it?).
The Progressive/Liberal "institutions" of the DNC seem to be
a little less regressive/reactionary but do in fact suffer
some of the same problems albeit not as acutely superficially
obvious. Without bashing the specifics of what "the Dems"
might be getting wrong, if we don't notice the impedance
mismach EO Wilson called out for us there, we are destined to
have raucous "ringing" in our systems? I think the promise of
a "Green New Deal" juxtaposed with some of the biggest
obvious fallacies and inadequacies are a good example... by
the time we actually settle on what a GND might really look
like the challenges and opportunities may have moved on by a
decade or more (is GND a whole decade old as a term yet?)
while MAGA keeps trying to claim "we believe in clean air and
water but sea level rise will be fractions of an inch in
centuries at worst and will yield more beachfront property in
any case"?
How do we move our collective storytelling to be both
coherent and aligned with the physics/chemistry/bio/ecology
of Gaia quickly enough to quit driving the various components
past their limits (drill baby drill!)?
Maybe we cannot. Maybe we will have to crash and burn and
hope something can rise from the ashes (cockroaches and the
Rolling Stones? NeoLibertarian TechBros in their high-tech
Bitcoin Bunkers raising their own clones?)
Atlas Shrugs, Gaia Shrugs more Bigly.... (Rand, Margulis,
Dilbert, Trump references convolved?)
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p
Zoomhttps://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribehttp://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIChttp://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru
presenthttps://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
-. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p
Zoomhttps://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribehttp://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIChttp://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru
presenthttps://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
