I want to like Musk. At one point I did, for the reasons mentioned above. I am suspicious that his neuro-link is malfunctioning and destroying his empathy. That being said, I am hopeful that he brings the metric system to the USA, and somehow doesn't end up in charge of the nuclear weapons arsenal in the process.
On Wed, Feb 12, 2025, 7:23 PM steve smith <sasm...@swcp.com> wrote: > > Steve, > > I really like your reply. There’s a lot I could comment on and maybe add a > different perspective—not as a competing argument, but just another view. > But for now, I’ll focus on this part: > > *It seems possible, for example, that Tesla's dominance in the EV market > is past...* > > I wouldn’t be so sure. > > I'm definitely not "sure", just noting that things have their eras and > timings. Many very innovative and (for a moment) powerful vehicle > manufacturers have come and gone for many reasons. I don't know how much > of the Tesla innovations can be reverse-engineered or mimicked and/or > leap-frogged. Or made completely obselete the way the Steam Autos of the > turn of 1900 were in spite of amazing multiple innovations to make them > possible/viable). > > Private automobiles (and maybe even rideshare/robotaxi) may be on their > last decade or so anyway (see PubCrawl thread with Glen). > > Or maybe everyone Jacked on Synthetic Testosterone will flee to Mars and > leave this lousy Blue Green Ball of Dirt for us dirty hippies to wallow on > while they all become hyperCyborgs and we wait for Ma Nature to clean up > our messes? > > Contrary to this: I just had my second hip replaced and have a brand new > (Hypershell via Kickstarter <https://hypershell.tech/en-us>) lower-body > exoskeleton I hope to be sporting for recovery-enhancement soon). I'm > waiting for XR/AR glasses to jump one more generation and I'll then > probably wandering around the countryside talking twith them while they > identify every plant, animal, rock and cloud formation for me and chat me > up with all the absurd possible implications of all that? After all their > LLM backing will have read every book I have and many I have not and *I* > will be giving it access to the human bipedal equivalent of "FSD data > gathering" while likely being it's "Meat Puppet"? > > Maybe some other real people/humans will start dropping by my house more > often to teach me GO strategy and talk about "Cabbages and Kings and > Sealing Wax" before I go full transhuman/cyborg/meat-puppet in spite of my > Luddite tendencies? Maybe cook a meal together (or just shake up a flask > of Huel/Soylent?). Maybe let me show them how to fire a classic > blacksmith's forge with low-sulfur coal and beat a leaf spring into a > plowshare or something? Or pet a chicken whilst stealing her egg. > Nostalgic eh? So mid-2020s of me. > > I can't wait for what late 2025 will bring, if we survive that long? If I > were 20 years younger I'd be digging a bomb shelter with microfiltration > (against th enext pandemic) and stocking staples and trade goods... but I'm > not and ready to go down in the blaze of self-glory along with everyone > else (except Larry Ellison and a few others who own their own islands in > the middle of the Pacific?) > > For this dystopic perspective I recommend Doctorow's 2018 "*Masque of the > Red Death*" which shows the folly of such wankBillionaires... > > *a wealthy prepper named Martin Mars, who has built a high-tech survival > bunker called "Fort Doom" in anticipation of societal collapse. As the > world falls apart due to pandemics, climate disasters, and economic > collapse, Martin believes his careful planning and resources will keep him > and his chosen elite safe. However, things don’t go as planned, and the > story critiques the flawed logic of billionaire survivalists who think they > can escape the consequences of global catastrophe*. > > grumble, > > - Steve > > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >
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