I watched a documentary on the B-2 stealth bomber, still the wonder weapon it was designed to be. At the time it was built, it cost 2.5 times as much as gold. ($2.1 billion for 158,000 pounds at a time when gold was $350 per ounce.) How many poor people would that much money feed? The current administration, via food stamps, is conducting that very experiment. So far, the only thing the program has proven is that feeding poor people creates more poor people. It was not the B-2 I set out examine, rather the curious shape of the newest generation of drones. Not to be confused with robots, these weapons are largely remote controlled. Like it or not, future wars will be fought with such machines. What I don’t understand is why they look so odd. The Predator/Reaper has oddball fins and a bulbous nose. It doesn’t even look aerodynamic.
What should bother most people is that although these drones are researched by the military, the actual strikes are carried out by agencies like the CIA. In other words, they are not accountable to anyone, really. This also places the technology in private hands, so there is nothing to stop anyone from buying a boatload of these things and turning them right back on us. It will happen.
The drones have been used to kill enemies, as defined after 9/11. The civil rights types are incensed, since some of the targets have been American citizens. Albeit the type of American citizen who wears a turban, carries an AK-47, hides in the mountains of Yemen. But let’s not split hairs. I, on the other hand, consider a strike under such conditions to represent “implicit deportation”. If I have to choose between “nuclear” and “unclear”, bring on the robots.
Another boiling point is the effect a drone has on warfare. Right now the casualties are all on the other side. There is plenty of incessant talk how the drones change the accepted international rules of engagement. In fact, it was the nature of terrorist attacks that made the changes, not the drones. But then again, you can’t expect the talkers to understand something more than surface deep. Remember our discussion of how apes can only hunt as a team if the prey is constantly in sight? Same goes for talkers.
To end this topic, I am amused hearing people speculate or worry that robots will become smarter than humans and change society. In my view, that line was crossed long ago. It is not the intelligence of the machine that should scare us. For that matter, I’m building something on my desk that is smarter—and more reliable—than some people will ever be. If I could get it to work for pay, of course I would. The problem with stupid is they just don’t know how stupid they are.
Last evening I went grocery shopping. That Chinese food place by the casino, well the delivery driver pulling out of the parking lot hit a pedestrian crossing the road. Both of them looking the other direction. I couldn’t see anything except the first to arrive was not Emergency or Ambulance, but a tow truck. At least that part of the American system still works. Within moments, all Chinese restaurants in the vicinity were “Closed”. Orientals have a longer tradition concerning dealing with over-inquisitive authorities and their just-for-the-record-let’s-see-some-ID type questioning.
Speaking of ethnics, did you see the white women kidnapped up north? Rape slaves. Three brothers arrested with the surname “Castro” but as always, one is the ringleader. May they get enough time in the big house for us to read about some “prison suicides”. Honorary whites, indeed. String them up by the thumbs. Or worse.
One quirk in the system I dislike is government moving the goalposts. This time the example is social security. Before, it was based on your five highest years of income. People would run their own business for forty-two without paying into the system. Then, for the final five years they would go to work at very high paying jobs, thus collecting the maximum. The problem here is I do not see that as illegal, but rather a very wise business decision.
Now social security is based on your total working income for life. That means people who planned their retirement around the requirements in effect at the time get shafted. This type of legislation sucks, that is, taxing the worker under one set of rules and changing the rules when it’s payback time.
Social security has always been backward because it was conceived at a time when the world still clung to post-Victorian values. The rich, who were in the best position to put away for their own retirements, got the most. The theory was that for them to get the same as the poorest workers would represent punishment. Or that they worked the hardest and should get the most. You know, I’ve never met a rich person who worked hard, but the majority certainly all think they do.
Today I was at a gathering where I met a lady who reminded me for the third time she was single. So I threw an invitation at her to go around Okeechobee on the sidecar tomorrow. She’s afraid of motorcycles. Isn’t that just great? Maybe she has a great personality. Yours. Maybe she has other redeeming qualities. Take her. Maybe, maybe, maybe this and maybe that, say those who love to speculate on how others should behave. Did you know more women die dining out every year than in sidecars? Funny, but I have yet to meet a woman fearful of expensive restaurants.
ADDENDUM
I was up past 1:00 AM on this ROM project, a mesmerizing study, or the bringing together of studies. Although the spring surge of places for sale did not materialize, getting building this desk-top sized apparatus emphasizes my need for more space. As I’ve said, Florida houses are designed for the human who comes home, clicks on the TV and sits there. Any other activity, there is not enough space, or enough outlets, or enough light, or something that forestalls or prevents productive activity. The option to do anything but sit on one’s ass is not a built-in that pertains to Florida architecture.
Part of the [thrill of] pursuit is that the further I get into this project (now around 60% complete), the more I realize it is, indeed, something new as far as new electronics projects go. I’ve long noticed the development of electronic projects is reactive, that is, it waits until some new component or technique is developed, then it quickly gets applied to roughly the same old group of ideas. If it were possible, a quick comparison of two Sharper Image catalogs ten years apart will reveal how little has changed, other than make it smaller-make it cheaper. You get the same with plastics.I saw that pattern instantly. No need to completely upset the industry, just come up with a little of the real novelty which is so sorely lacking. And sell 5,000 before the Chinese and copyright lawyers catch on and wax your ass. Sell it? Why not, since it is a given how I document, track, and photograph every stage of the process. Turning it into a kit would be merely an added step. Yes, my friends, there is much more to it than you see here. And pox, deadly pox, upon he who invented the slot screwdriver.
There is a final, but nearly over-riding reason I think this may be new. It does not follow the standard pathway of development just mentioned. Nor could the book I read have known (prior to 1971) which of the hundreds of components mentioned would be the few than won out in the computer race. There were kits back then, but radios, not ROM. There was simply no practical, logical, or economic reason to design and build anything like this until now.
