Category: philosophy & politics

What To Do About Space Aliens

3 Body Problem: is the universe really a ‘dark forest’ full of hostile aliens in hiding?

Published: April 3, 2024 11:51am EDT

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Tony Milligan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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The character Ye Wenjie wrestles with the Fermi paradox on the show.
In 3 Body Problem, the character Ye Wenjie wrestles with the Fermi Paradox. Ed Miller/Netflix

We have no good reason to believe that aliens have ever contacted Earth. Sure, there are conspiracy theories, and some rather strange reports about harm to cattle, but nothing credible. Physicist Enrico Fermi found this odd. His formulation of the puzzle, proposed in the 1950s and now known as “the Fermi Paradox”, is still key to the search for extraterrestrial life (Seti) and messaging by sending signals into space (Meti).

The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and life is at least 3.5 billion years old. The paradox states that, given the scale of the universe, favourable conditions for life are likely to have occurred many, many times. So where is everyone? We have good reasons to believe that there must be life out there, but nobody has come to call.

This is an issue that the character Ye Wenjie wrestles with in the first episode of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. Working at a radio observatory, she does finally receive a message from a member of an alien civilisation – telling her they are a pacifist and urging her not to respond to the message or Earth will be attacked.

The series will ultimately offer a detailed, elegant solution to the Fermi Paradox, but we will have to wait until the second season.

Or you can read the second book in Cixin Liu’s series, The Dark Forest. Without spoilers, the explanation set out in the books runs as follows: “The universe is a dark forest. Every civilisation is an armed hunter stalking through the trees like a ghost, gently pushing aside branches that block the path and trying to tread without sound.”

Ultimately, everybody is hiding from everyone else. Differential rates of technological progress make an ongoing balance of power impossible, leaving the most rapidly progressing civilisations in a position to wipe out anyone else.

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How I try to stay informed…

Terryorisms Menu >

Since the news business has changed from reporting to profits, keeping eyeballs is what it is all about. 

Fox found this out after they accurately reported that Trump was projected to lose Arizona. Tucker Carlson then ranted about how their viewership was going down, along with the stock price with which he was richly compensated. He understood that their viewers were  there to hear what they need to believe. And if they didn’t get it, they would move to Newsmax, Onan and other alternative news sources that would feed the beast.

Rush Limbaugh always understood that and bragged that he was an Entertainer. Are you entertained?

For any democracy to it operate efficiently, it needs an informed electorate. So how do you sort out the news from the fire hose of information flow these days?

1)Realize that your. 00001 experience of the world contributes to 80% of your worldview. Approach your understanding with a scientist skepticism that he’s always willing to accept that he could be wrong.

 2)Intentionally expose yourself to opposing views. We don’t like to do this because it makes us uncomfortable. Over the years I have developed a diversity of writers that I follow on the hellscape that is Twitter. Most of us don’t have a luxury of time to do that. It’s not easy being free, when you don’t have an emperor to make all the decisions for you.

3) Turn off the Crisis News networks . If there isn’t good video footage, or if the victim isn’t attractive, you won’t hear about it . Just like the print media, television is all about eyeballs. Now there are live news events that television coverage excels at. Television Studios nowadays don’t need to wait for their cameras to warm up to go live. Walter Cronkite had to wait to give the world the shocking news about Kennedy being shot in Dallas.

CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite reports that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Credit CBS via Landov

4) Read some news sources from outside the United States bubble. Here are some free websites that also have free apps for your handhelds. 

A good one to see the southeast Asian perspective on the world is the Asia Times  https://asiatimes.com/

Also, try the Arab news source https://www.aljazeera.com/

France 24 for another perspective https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/

The Guardian is one of the few British rags that isn’t just a tabloid http://thrguardian.com/

If you can afford subscription the Financial Times, The Week, The Economist, Wall Street Journal and NY Times will cover a lot of area.

A great little tool that I use is an aggregator that ranks stories by their number of hits in real time. Bookmark this handy page

https://www.memeorandum.com

5) Last, but not least, Social Media is just that and not a source of verifiable information. Outrage and anger build engagement. Realize that you are being baited with these emotions to click on their stories.

How Xi is Preparing China for War

Kyle Bass has been a long-time China hawk. in this lecture he reveals some very disturbing trends in China’s plans to recover Taiwan. It is going to be hard to deter this determined emperor. He has became a one-man-show, with no dissenting voices to council him. This is a very dangerous situation and one that I’m not sure diplomacy can resolve.

Just as our oil blockade forced Japan to desperately attach Pearl Harbor, we declared war on China with our October 17th microchip ban. I doubt the current American public’s willingness to run a Chinese blockade of Taiwan, like we did during the Russian blockade of Berlin during the Cold War.

Such an humiliating defeat would further embolden the Coalition of autocrats and become the beginning of the end of the dollar as the world’s Reserve currency and the substantial benefits that confers on us.

Zhou between Kissinger and Mao

When Premier Zhou Enlai was asked by Henry Kissinger what he thought of the French Revolution, he calmly replied “We’ll have to see”. Except for brief periods in history, autocracies (kings, emperors, dictators) have ruled our world. The Chinese take the Long View that this current aberration of History, with concern for freedom and human rights, will eventually revert to the mean again. And they will be here to push us back to those prevalent dark times.

Kyle’s presentation includes 3 sections:

1. Military force readiness & preparation

2. Changes to the legal system & infrastructure

3. Financial market movements & wartime planning

Here is his opening statement…

Take the time to watch the rest of this sobering assessment with the link below.

https://www.hudson.org/events/china-prepares-war-timeline-miles-yu-kyle-bass

Young Tiger Woods Shows Wisdom Beyond His Years

Tiger Woods speaking at Lincoln Memorial on Obama’s inauguration

While only 14 years old, tiger Woods understands his place in the world and what he plans to accomplish. We now know that many consider him the greatest golfer of all time. Who would have known from this interview?

Bleeding Edge Betty Boop Cartoon

Betty Boop’s best appearances are considered to be in her first three years due to her “Jazz Baby” character and innocent sexuality, which was aimed at adults, but the content of her films was affected by the National Legion of Decency and the Production Code of 1934, which imposed guidelines on the motion-picture industry and placed specific restrictions on the content films could reference with sexual innuendos. This greatly affected the Betty Boop cartoons.

Max Fleischer’s trippy version of “Snow White” from 1933 remains a fascinating and bizarre piece of animation history. In this short Betty Boop cartoon, Fleischer and his team condensed and twisted the classic Snow White tale, taking viewers on a surreal journey that defies expectations. One of the standout moments in the cartoon is the inclusion of Cab Calloway, a renowned jazz singer of the time. In the middle of the animated film, Calloway appears and performs the hauntingly beautiful “St. James Infirmary Blues.” The scene is a rare live-action segment, originally from another cartoon of the era titled “Minnie the Moocher,” which was another iconic song associated with Calloway. Interestingly, the footage and music used in the beginning of “Minnie the Moocher” are clearly the same recording as the song “St. James Infirmary Blues” featured in the Betty Boop cartoon.

In a clever editing move, the two pieces of audio are seamlessly joined together, creating a seamless transition between the two cartoons. Calloway’s appearance in the cartoon is truly mesmerizing. He begins by singing the tune as Koko the Clown, a character created by Fleischer, and then undergoes a transformation into a ghostly figure. The animation beautifully captures Calloway’s distinctive enunciation and signature dance moves, accompanied by a barrage of wild and imaginative visuals. In addition to the captivating animation, the cartoon also incorporates scenes from the 1980 film “The Blues Brothers,” in which Cab Calloway once again performs “Minnie the Moocher.” This inclusion adds an extra layer of intertextuality, as viewers are introduced to Calloway through this iconic performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=250MMq0fTrU

“Betty Boop in Snow White” is a testament to Max Fleischer’s creativity and willingness to push the boundaries of animation. The cartoon showcases his unique vision and knack for blending different artistic mediums, resulting in a truly trippy and memorable viewing experience. Directed by Dave Fleischer and animated by Roland C. Crandall, the cartoon exemplifies the Fleischer Studio’s distinctive style, characterized by fluid animation, vibrant colors, and a surreal atmosphere. Their innovative techniques and bold storytelling continue to inspire animators and artists to this day. Despite being a departure from the traditional Snow White narrative, Max Fleischer’s version remains a remarkable piece of animation history. It stands as a testament to the power of imagination and creativity in bringing beloved stories to life in new and unexpected ways.

Hells Bells before ACDC did it

What makes the U.S.A. unique among nations

George Friedman has been an advisor to many American Administrations. His 4th of July message from 2016 looks at out origins…

Artist John Trumbull
Year commissioned 1817;
purchased 1819;
date of creation 1818;
placed in the Rotunda 1826

Two hundred and forty years ago today, the American people were declared to be a unique and independent nation, distinct from all others. This was the conception of the people, but the sovereign government of the United States was born in battle. The revolution lasted eight years and about 25,000 died – a higher percentage of the population than died in World War II. This led over time to the Constitution, which founded the regime that governed the American people.

It was a unique regime because it did not trust politicians. The founders feared the politicians’ desire for power. To solve this problem, they founded a regime so unwieldy, so inefficient, that very little could get done. Their vision of America was a country of businesses and farms, churches and societies. They envisioned a nation whose heart was not in Washington – an artifice invented to hold politicians – but in private life. The life of farmers, businessmen, clergymen and eccentrics. Few other governments were founded with such fear of governance.

I recently told a foreign friend that his country has excellent relations with Washington, but it needs a better relationship with America. Many of our non-American friends live in countries where the political capital is the heart of the country. That isn’t the case in the United States. The American revolution was fought to make certain the government was weak and society strong and free. Our founders feared strong presidents and contrived to cripple them before they took office by confronting them with two Congressional houses run on different rules and a Supreme Court. Very little can get done, yet America flourishes. When you marvel at our candidates for president, bear in mind that the U.S. president is among the weakest heads of government in the world. The sacrifice of 25,000 was to make sure tyranny would not rule this country. If the price was political paralysis, it was a small price to pay.

The Difference Between American and European Abortion Laws

 European countries that have 12-week limits on “elective” abortions still make it fairly easy for women to get abortions later on, with relatively broad exceptions for mental health or socioeconomic circumstances. Republicans have aggressively fought against similar exceptions, and in particular have worked to bar consideration of mental health risk — even the risk of suicide if a pregnancy continues — as a factor.

And in other ways, European countries make it easier to get an abortion than in even relatively permissive jurisdictions in the United States. Across Europe, abortion services are covered under national health insurance, meaning the cost of accessing care is a far lower barrier for pregnant people facing time constraints.By contrast, in the US, cost is one of the biggest hurdles to ending a pregnancy. Even though more than 90 percent of abortions occur within the first 13 weeks, roughly 75 percent of all US abortion patients are low-income according to 2014 numbers, and researchers find Americans needing care in the second trimester tend to be those with less education, Black women, and women who have experienced “multiple disruptive events” in the past year, such as losing a job.

https://www.vox.com/23741997/republicans-12-week-abortion-bans-europe-roe-dobbs

Why Not Being Able to make Alliances Destroys Aspiring Autocratic Empires

Russia is the last Colonial Empire; having conquered, at one time or another, most of her neighbors, many of whom are still subjects. China is the latest wanna be colonial power with their floundering Belt and Road initiative. This article points out a fatal flaw in their plans for world domination that has reoccurred throughout history.

China and the Alliance Allergy of Rising Powers