4 hours ago: In some countries it's actually cheaper to buy a bottle of coke than the equivalent of bottled water. Think about how that’s possible. I think we need to hold charities accountable like anyone else. I want people to be careful of who they support. Do a bit of digging. Make sure that 90 cents of the dollar goes to the cause and not the other way around. See if they have a financial report. Respect their culture and make then self-sufficient and not dependent. Make sure the charity doesn’t have some other agenda religious or otherwise.
23 hours ago: I am suspicious of other agendas. Giving in order to get. I think people deserve to be empowered. They need to be given the means to pursue their own self determination and not ours. Altruism should not be about finding markets for coke cola or a place to sell medicines that you own or foist agriculture products on people that they don't want. I can't say this is the case but I'm suspicious.
Granted Coke Cola may have changed since this documentary but it does make me cringe.
Coca Cola's Role in the Assassinations of Union Leaders Explored in Powerful New Documentary
May 3 2013: Who has anonymity? The people or organizations who use your data. Why not a law that you have to be notified when your data is used for any purpose. Give a link to a file of how why what who and when. We need checks and balances. Without them we risk loosing what remains of democracy. Every phone call internet search and word commented on goes through a big computer somewhere. I'm not against that as much as there are no controls about how this data is used and by who and for what purpose. We need watchdogs that we all support. Someone to protect those who's only crime is that their views might be counter to government or large corporations. The other danger is in the future some government may not want to let go of power and will use this information to get rid of their enemies. You may be rounded up before you know what has happened.
Apr 29 2013: Your right it comes down to the stuff we are made off. What we believe we need and what wet believe works in getting it. Our software. I ain't perfect either so I try to be aware of that.
Apr 29 2013: The problem with a dictatorship or cartel of people is they tend to strangle everything in their attempt to hold on to power. They are incapable of listening to their critics. They will fall by their own hand. It's called corruption. Given you have sincere people Democracy is much stronger than any other system because in it the opposition critiques the government and the government has the sense to listen. Ideally that's how it should work. But your right we have a system bent on destruction and democracy is a sad failure.
Apr 29 2013: Perhaps everyone could have their own Watson to work for them and earn a living for them while they do the work closest to their heart?
Frankly I'm for some form of world governance. We need stop thinking of ourselves as Chinese or American or Arab or white. We need to realize we are all in it together rather than competitors. Today the global arena is a no man's land where corporations manipulate to pay the least taxes and get resources for nothing. And why not? if they don't their competition will. We need a global level playing field to protect the environment and human and economic rights. A daunting task but possible.
Apr 29 2013: I agree 100% with your last post. We need a new economic order. This one will collapse. I don't think there is any way around it. The real challenge is how do we bootstrap the new economy so that the fewest number of people are impacted? How do we transition without some kind of bloody revolution? We need a plan but today we are simply moving forward in blind faith that technology will solve all our ills and somehow it will work out in the end. I'm not advocating being a Luddite but we must come to terms with this technological change and what it means to society now.
Apr 29 2013: Are you looking forward to being replaced? I'm talking about jobs and people and viable economic system. Sure for a while some programers will have a job. But Watson learns. At some point he doesn't need programers. He'll be able to write better software than they could dream. Some technician will have a job but the 1 job created is replacing 10 lost to technology. That's the point, to make more money by cutting costs. I'm simply asking what happens to those people? What kind of society do we want? You really believe if we automate everything there will still be plenty of jobs. If so how? Perhaps in a hundred years we will all live in a utopia where work is a choice. But how do we get there from here? Google is automating cars. Soon all truck taxi bus fork lift driver jobs will be eliminated. Think how many people a driver license employs. Where is someone who's fifty years old a mortgage a kid who's only job has ever been driving truck to be employed? How's he to fit in this brave new world? Those are questions I think we need to answer. Without consumers to buy the products the current system collapses. I bet you out consume Watson all by yourself.
Apr 28 2013: This talk is more like a faith talk and I'm not at all convinced. I think it's needs to become the responsibility of industry and government to retrain people or figure out what direction displaced workers are supposed to go in. Do this first then introduce the technology instead of hoping that things will work out. If you can't convincingly do this then don't introduce the technology. The result might be economic collapse. Watson can be cloned. Watson's can become a dime a dozen or a penny for unlimited. It's simply software waiting for hardware to advance so it can downsize its hardware self to your personal computer. By then Watson will be Sherlock Holmes. What I'm reading about robotics is that breakthroughs have been made in electronic sense of touch so that a machine now exceeds our own. Not the same article but also that a sense of touch is now cheap. The problem with Watson he has little need for wages, perhaps to pay a technician to replace a chip or get him a whole new hardware body. Watson will never be a consumer and unless society has consumers it can't function like it did. Theoretically robots can eliminate most jobs. It's only a matter of time. So we better think long and hard and be very honest with ourselves about where we are heading. Do we want a social welfare state where the disenfranchised are allowed to subsist. We will kill them off? What kind of society do we want?
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A reply on Talk: Peter Singer: The why and how of effective altruism
A comment on Talk: Peter Singer: The why and how of effective altruism
Granted Coke Cola may have changed since this documentary but it does make me cringe.
Coca Cola's Role in the Assassinations of Union Leaders Explored in Powerful New Documentary
http://www.alternet.org/story/146579/coca_cola%27s_role_in_the_assassinations_of_union_leaders_explored_in_powerful_new_documentary
Not very altruistic.
A comment on Talk: David Foster Wallace: This is water
A comment on Talk: Juan Enriquez: Your online life, permanent as a tattoo
A reply on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines
A reply on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines
A reply on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines
Frankly I'm for some form of world governance. We need stop thinking of ourselves as Chinese or American or Arab or white. We need to realize we are all in it together rather than competitors. Today the global arena is a no man's land where corporations manipulate to pay the least taxes and get resources for nothing. And why not? if they don't their competition will. We need a global level playing field to protect the environment and human and economic rights. A daunting task but possible.
A reply on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines
A reply on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines
A comment on Talk: Erik Brynjolfsson: The key to growth? Race with the machines