December 26-27 Safe Tech International News and Notes
Links to lots of lists.... Katie Singer, Kate Kheel, Europeans for Safe Connections, Courtney Snyder MD, Zaid, Pics from ‘Shining a Light on Leo’ Satellite Issues, More
Before substack closes for some planned maintenance, please enjoy and share.
Courtesy Safe Tech for South Africa Safe Tech for South Africa | Facebook
CORRECTION:
One of the video links in Sarah Aminoff’s wonderful article was incorrect. The post is now repaired at the link. Sorry for the inconvenience.
See Also:
What Would the Three Wise Men Say About Starlink?
What Would Van Gogh Paint if He Could Not See the Milky Way? Light Pollution and Starlink
FEATURED KATIE SINGER:
The Whole Elephant: The Best of 2024 When I read about households or communities that claim to reduce their ecological footprint by using solar PVs, industrial wind turbines, batteries and/or e-vehicles, I fret and sigh. Calling these technologies “green” is like weighing an elephant by the tip of its tail. It ignores the energy, extractions, water, toxic waste, CO2 emissions, intercontinental shipping and wildlife habitat losses involved in manufacturing these products, their infrastructures and their end-of-life waste. It fails to recognize the ecological impacts of “green” products on the largely indigenous communities that make their raw materials. “Green” is an unregulated marketing term, just like “zero-emitting,” “clean” and “sustainable.” Manufacturers use it freely—without calculating their products from cradles-to-graves. [] Here are my best reports about mapping our technosphere to discover our biosphere and some ways to rethink our crises.
FEATURED: KATE KHEEL AND WORLD COUNCIL FOR HEALTH
What is The International Children’s Declaration and Why Do We Need It? If you're thinking of buying digital gadgets for your children either now or in the post Christmas sales, read this first - and consider signing the declaration.
FEATURED: The Time of Wireless Screens – The Damage, Obfuscation, and What We Can Do"
Now you can watch the seminar "The Time of Wireless Screens – The Damage, Obfuscation, and What We Can Do" on YouTube! [] The recordings from the seminar are available as a separate playlist on the channel EMFacets together with the recordings from previous seminars and a number of lectures. On YouTube, search for the channel EMFacets. There, select "Playlists." Or you go straight to the playlist from the seminar. The two English lectures are subtitled, both in English and Norwegian. To select captions, click the gear. To make it easier to understand English, it may be a good idea to choose a slightly slower speed of playback. You also do this on the sprocket. (The only lecture missing is the lecture by the "exercise doctor", neurologist Ole Petter Hjelle. The reason is copyright.) The seminar was also the launch of epidemiologist Devra Davis' major book: "Wireless Screens – The Radiation Damage and Its Obfuscation". A review of the book will be published in Helsemagasinet at the turn of the year. The book can be ordered in the bookstore, online or HERE on the blog. No one who has heard the lectures at the seminar or has read Devra Davis's book will be able to claim that today's radiation protection is in keeping with the knowledge of what causes health and environmental damage, or that it rests on a sound and timely management of nature. Greater knowledge is needed and public opinion is needed that gives politicians the support and pressure they need to act in accordance with knowledge and ecosystem requirements.
FEATURED: THE POWER COUPLE
Our electromagnetic Christmas tree Santa's secret secretion and our piezoelectric pineal gland Santa comes down the chimney of our spinal column On either side of our thalamus, which is an inner region of our brain, there sit two glands - the pineal in back and pituitary in front.
NEWS AND NOTES
Courtesy Pittsfield Cell Tower Concerned Citizens Facebook
AI: 𝗼𝟯 “𝗔𝗥𝗖 𝗔𝗚𝗜” 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱: 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀
AI: Google Search Changes Are Killing Websites in an Age of AI Spam
AI IEEE: Leading AI Companies Get Lousy Grades on Safety A new report from the Future of Life Institute gave mostly Ds and Fs
AI: 404 MEDIA Merry Slopmas! AI-generated Christmas classics that dwell in the uncanny valley are giving listeners the creeps
AI: From passwords to medical records,10 things to never say to AI bots
BAD SCIENCE BAD RESEARCH: from Europeans for Safe Connections: News from the Board Abuse of the good name of Ramazzini At the beginning of December, ESC asked the Ramazzini Institute in a letter to distance itself from the recent report ‘Recent Research on EMF and Health Risk, Eighteenth Report from SSM's Scientific Council on Electromagnetic Fields, 2023’ published by the Swedish radiation protection organisation SSM. This non-peer reviewed study undermines the scientific findings of a research project conducted by Ramazzini over more than a decade on the biological effects of EMFs on mammals. ICNIRP, which is known to recognise only the thermal effects of radiation, is widely represented in SSM. The report appears to have been signed amongst others by Ramazzini's research director Dr. Mandrioli, but his name was included without his knowledge. Mandrioli was invited by SSM to participate as an expert in the SSM Scientific Council. As he didn’t agree with the scientific contents in this report, he resigned. Immediately after becoming aware of the unauthorized use of Dr. Mandrioli’s name, the Ramazzini Institute took appropriate action and stated: “We have already asked SSM for the immediate correction of this error and the publication of a "corrigendum" and we will make sure this happens as soon as possible.” Read the letter here.
BIG TECH POLITICO; A year in emerging tech Even in the frenzy of electoral politics, 2024 was a year where the future wasn’t just discussed, but actively built and shaped.Perhaps the biggest harbinger of that was President-elect Donald Trump importing ideas and talent from Silicon Valley for his next administration. Young industries like venture-backed defense tech and crypto are hitching a ride to the Trump White House. But throughout 2024, there were a host of advances in technology and shifts in policy that are already redefining the years ahead. Here are a couple of the noteworthy changes DFD chronicled: The year AI legislation never came, SpaceX to the rescue Still, NASA’s growing dependence on SpaceX is partly due to missteps from competitors like Boeing. Few moments highlighted the problem better than the Starliner debacle, which has left astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore stuck on the International Space Station for over six months. Helium leaks and safety concerns with Starliner forced NASA to switch to SpaceX to bring the astronauts home, but that won’t happen until March 2025. The almost-robo revolution Robotaxis appeared poised to make a comeback after a rough 2023, but for one big player, things stalled out, again. An accident that dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, and subsequent federal investigation, resulted in General Motors recalling all of its Cruise robotaxis last year. The company relaunched this year and seemed to be back on track, announcing a multi-year deal in August to provide driverless rides through Uber starting in 2025.
BRIAN MERCHANT BLOOD IN THE MACHINE; The year ends with our hammers up My favorite stuff of the year, and a very happy holidays to critical thinkers, workers and luddites everywhere.
BROADBAND INDUSTRY: POTS AND PANS Devaluing Spectrum Mike Dano recently wrote an article for LightReading that talks about the plummeting value of 5G millimeter wave spectrum. The FCC started the process of auctioning this spectrum in 2018, and Verizon, T-Mobile, Echostar, AT&T, and smaller carriers paid almost $10 billion for the 24 GHz millimeter wave spectrum. The unique aspect of the auction was the huge size of the channels and the first auction offered two blocks of 425 MHz, while the second auction offered seven blocks of 100 MHz. At the time, this was touted as the spectrum that was going to supercharge 5G. Verizon launched a public trial using the spectrum in 2019 in downtown Chicago and Minneapolis. Customers with special phones enabled for the new spectrum were able to get speeds of 500 Mbps. Soon after, there were more trials in more cities by multiple carriers. You may remember the TV commercials at the time showing gigabit speed tests on cellphones. Unfortunately, the trials showed the real-world limitations of the millimeter wave spectrum. The signal didn’t carry far, and small cell sites were needed every few thousand feet to provide coverage. While the spectrum could bounce off buildings to extend coverage, any object in the direct path of a cell tower blocked the signal, even the human body and glass windows. It also became quickly clear that, other than the novelty of being superfast, cell customers had no real need for gigabit speeds which greatly exceeded the computing capacity of cellphones. The real issue that made this unfeasible was the cost of a network. In this same time frame, carriers were all collectively touting they would deploy a half million small cell sites, but that effort died quickly when it became clear that there wasn’t any new revenue stream to pay for the new networks. Interestingly, the rest of the world never put much faith in millimeter wave spectrum. Currently, many phones in the U.S. can still receive this spectrum band, but it’s not included in phones sold in the rest of the world []The FCC also auctioned Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) spectrum in 1998. This was spectrum in the 27.5 – 31.3 GHz range that was touted as the future of point-to-multipoint wireless. The first gear was promoted as theoretically being able to deliver up to 100 Mbps for 1.5 miles, a remarkable speed at the time. However, the spectrum quickly fell out of favor when only a few vendors tried to market the radios – and all of the radios had been rushed to market and had big problems when deployed to customers.
CELLPHONES SMARTPHONES: 50 Most Surprising Smartphone Addiction Statistics in 2023 In 2022, the number of hours people spent on their smartphones increased by 39%.
An average smartphone user unlocks his phone 150 times in one day.
About 66% of smartphone owners have shown signs of addiction to it.
80% of teenagers check their smartphone over 1 time every hour.
About 52% of teens prefer to fiddle on their phones silently than to mingle when they are together with friends.
About 48% of teenagers prefer to spend time with their close friends online than face-to-face.
About 59% of parents fear their children being addicted to their smartphones.
31% of parents say that smartphone screen usage is the number 3 most common thing that causes disagreement between parents and teenagers.
About 46% of parents in the UK feel addicted to their smartphones.
The number of notifications teenagers receive daily is overwhelming for 41%.
About 72% of teenagers have complained that people expect them to respond to the notification as soon as they receive it.
89% of parents think they or caregivers are why their children are addicted to smartphones.
58% of smartphone owners worldwide check their phones every hour.
Smartphone users spend about 3 hours on their phones every day.
Smartphone users in the US touch their phones about 144 times every day.
About 71% of smartphone owners ensure their phones are with them before they sleep.
More than half of the people who own smartphones never switch off their phones.
About 45% of smartphone users have texted at least once while driving.
People check their phones an average of 58 times daily.
Adults in the US check their phones over 96 times every day. and more. (Colleague’s comment: That’s some intense data. A generation of kids being used to boost telco profits and groom drone fighters and other military personnel for future AI and cyber warfare.)
CELLPHONES: AT&T can substitute wireless home phone for copper, FCC says | Communications Today
CELLPHONES TECH VACATIONS Carnival Cruise Line passengers angry over technology changes (apps, check ins, QR codes vs paper menus) During the Covid pandemic comeback, many cruise lines moved to using QR codes to show passengers menus in order to limit the spread of the virus by people touching physical menus. That practice has continued at Carnival, as it makes sense on cruise ships to limit the number of surfaces touched by the same people. "John...just off the Breeze...had a good time but VERY frustrated by the need to use the Hub App to eat in the dining room...we had Your Time dining and showed up when the dining room opened...we were informed that we HAD to check in on the App. We didn't have our phones with us...I AM ON VACATION...so had to go back to the cabin to check in," she wrote. Johnson did not understand why she had to use her phone. "Our table was ready by the time we returned. Why couldn't they just have seated us while we were there?" She was also upset that she could not get a paper menu. "Once we had a table, I asked a wandering waiter for a paper menu. He looked unhappy but said 'okay.' He NEVER returned. I do not like to have to carry my phone with me on vacation. Surely there is a way to eat in the dining room without the app? My parents were avid Carnival cruisers — didn't have a smartphone and wouldn't be able to figure this out anyway. I am sure there are a few cruisers that would also fall into that category. Please allow people to eat in the dining room without carrying their phone," she added.
CHILDREN HEALTH: Recognizing the "Root Causes" of Brain Symptoms in Children How Symptom Such as Tantrums, Shyness, Oppositional Behavior, Severe Carb Craving, Perfectionism, Tics, Compulsions and Drunken Like Behavior Can Point to Specific Biochemical Imbalances Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Courtney Snyder MD
The newsletter was previously shared with paid subscribers in May 2024. In previous newsletters, I’ve discussed the more common underlying factors that can drive brain-related symptoms. These factors, or “roots,” each have their constellation of symptoms and traits. Because children’s brains and bodies are still developing and because they don’t have the same degree of hormonal influences, some of their symptoms and associated psychiatric diagnoses will differ from adults with the same imbalances. As you’ll see, inattention and hyperactivity and the diagnosis of ADHD can be the manifestation of a number of these root causes. Though I’ll discuss these common imbalances separately, more than one can be present. Below are the most common imbalances I see in my work. Teenagers’ symptoms tend to resemble those of adults. Each of these topics is linked to a more in-depth description if needed.
CHILDREN SCROLLING TO DEATH: Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban: Will it go global? I brought in Dany Elachi of the Australian-based Heads Up Alliance to learn about the recent U16 Age Gate Bill which passed in Australia. In addition to breaking down the new law, Dany shares his personal experience in (admittedly) giving his pre-teen daughter a phone too early and how correcting this mistake led to an advocacy movement across Australia.Dany breaks down the legislative battle in getting this new law passed, how the age verification will work, which platforms this applies to and much more. 38 MINUTE VIDEO
Resources Mentioned in the Episode
Dany Elachi is a Sydney husband and father of five children, aged between 7 and 15.He is also the founder of the Heads Up Alliance, a volunteer-run, grassroots movement of Australian parents committed to delaying smartphones and social media for their children.
DATA CENTERS: Tech dollars flood into AI data centers
ENERGY COMPUTERS: Biological computers could use far less energy than current technology by working more slowly The IBM scientist Rolf Landauer addressed the question of whether we need to spend so much energy on computing tasks in 1961. He came up with the Landauer limit, which states that a single computational task—for example setting a bit, the smallest unit of computer information, to have a value of zero or one—must expend about 10-21 joules (J) of energy. This is a very small amount, notwithstanding the many billions of tasks that computers perform. If we could operate computers at such levels, the amount of electricity used in computation and managing waste heat with cooling systems would be of no concern. However, there is a catch. To perform a bit operation near the Landauer limit, it needs to be carried out infinitely slowly. Computation in any finite time period is predicted to cost an additional amount that is proportional to the rate at which computations are performed. In other words, the faster the computation, the more energy is likely to be used.
EUROPEANS FOR SAFE CONNECTIONS NEWS: Please support the new documentary by Jean Heches Support the new documentary about the health risks from 5G. It will be produced by Jean Heches, the director of MICROWAVES SCIENCE AND LIES, which was released in cinemas in France in 2014. On the request of Mona Nilsson, from Sweden, Jean Heches and his team will soon film a short documentary about the health effects of 5G in Stockholm. They will interview Lenard Hardell who did a case study recently published. Mona Nilsson will comment the strange situation about the lack of studies examining harmful effects of 5G. Two people will testify about the health effects they had to face after the 5G roll-out in Stockholm. This Hardell case study is very important because nobody did a case study research on this topic before. Back in the seventies, Lenard Hardell did a study on dioxine harmful effect for farmers in Sweden. This case study led to the classification of dioxine as having a carcinogenic effect ten years later. Information of recent research by Hardell: https://radiationprotection.se/our-research/ As Lenard Hardell said, a case study is the very first step in the process of evaluating harmful effects. To make this short documentary, Jean Heches is looking for financial support to make the documentary. The film will be broadcast on internet and a few short versions will be edited as teasers, for social network, to promote the film. Here is the link to promote the donation campaign for the film. With photos and text, which explain what it is all about.
EUROPEANS FOR SAFE CONNECTIONS RESEARCH: A mechanistic understanding of human magnetoreception validates the phenomenon of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) New study (August 2024) consulted a range of publication databases to identify the key advances in understanding of magnetoreception across the wide animal kingdom of life. From Abstract: Magnetite particles in our brains and other tissues can transduce MFs/EMFs, including at microwave frequencies. At the scientific level, researchers working in the field of magnetoreception in biology should be made aware of EHS as a human public health concern and funded to address the issue as part of their scientific research. Read more here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09553002.2024.2435329?src=exp-la
FCC: The Slow Process of FCC Appeals By Doug Dawson, CCG Consulting It seems like almost every major action taken by the FCC get appealed these days. In a demonstration of how slow the courts can be, in September, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld the original FCC order from June 2020 that made it easier for wireless carriers to locate new towers and transmitters. The new rules ordered by the FCC then have been on hold for four years while the courts considered the issues under appeal. The appeal court ruling is a win for wireless carriers and will be seen as a loss by the 780 local governments that had participated in the challenge. The lawsuit filed by local governments challenged several specific aspects of the original FCC order:
The FCC order clarified what triggers a 60-day shot during which a local jurisdiction must review and approve an application to build a new tower or modify an existing one.
The FCC order defined when a modification that increases the height of a wireless tower outside of the public right-of-way would qualify as a substantial change that requires local action.
The FCC order defined that adding equipment cabinets to a tower site constitutes a substantial change that requires local action.
The FCC order clarified the ability of carriers to ignore physical dimension limitations on a tower if the changes are to add concealment elements to a structure.
The FCC had defined the evidence that a local government must show when disapproving changes to existing towers.
The Court approved the FCC order for all five issues. For the fourth issue above, Court disallowed one of the FCC’s clarifications. The Court disallowed the FCC’s definition of a concealment element, which was defined to only apply when a tower that is being made to look like something else, like a tree. The original FCC order said had specifically excluded an example like one in San Francisco that required that a rooftop tower be set back from the edge of the roof so that it couldn’t be seen from the street. The Court said the FCC order erred in not defining that situation as a concealment element. The original order had been issued during the Ajit Pai FCC, with votes following party lines. Commissioners Jeffery Stark and Jessica Rosenworcel had dissented at the time saying the FCC had erred by not going through a full rulemaking to give local governments a chance to be heard on the issue. Unfortunately, having challenges to rules made by the FCC and other regulatory bodies is becoming the new norm. Several recent Supreme Court rulings make it even easier to challenge orders. Industry insiders often argue about which FCC regime has been the most productive. But perhaps we can't compare FCC regimes by the actions they take, but must instead wait for a few years to see what actions actually went into effect. The Slow Process of FCC Appeals | POTs and PANs
FCC: AT&T can substitute wireless home phone for copper, FCC says
5G; World-first direct 5G connection to low Earth orbit satellite opens new era for mobile coverage
5G: 5G SA heads to UK train tracks
HACKING TECH CRUNCH: These were the badly handled data breaches of 2024
HEALTH: Zaid K. Dahhaj from The Circadian Classroom Grounding: You Can No Longer Say It's Pseudoscience Yes, human sweat glands are conductive. Here’s yet another piece of strong evidence as to why grounding isn’t pseudoscience. Human sweat glands are conductive due to the electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride) in sweat, but you must understand the difference between eccrine and apocrine sweat glands. []Eccrine sweat glands are small, coiled tubular structures located throughout the skin, with particularly high concentrations on the palms, soles, forehead, and armpits. It’s no coincidence that these glands are especially found on the feet considering we’re talking about grounding. They’re also critical for thermoregulation, as they produce sweat to help cool the body when it overheats.
HEALTH: "Professor Olle Johansson | Are you at risk from EMF?" --- interview by Maryann Gebauer a very recent interview by Maryann Gebauer about the latest research on EMF, including fertility issues, anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, cognitive impairment and cancer. We discuss the symptoms of EMF exposure, the major risk factors, and solutions on how to mitigate exposure and injury. "Professor Olle Johansson | Are you at risk from EMF?" --- interview by Maryann Gebauer https://www.maryanngebauer.com/interviews#OlleJohansson1 2h 4m
HEALTH FLUORIDE LAWSUIT: On this Christmas Eve, we’ve decided to “unwrap” the widely distributed articles dismissing the massive multi year effort by toxicologists at the National Toxicology Program (NTP) offered by fluoridation apologists such as the American Dental Association (ADA), American Fluoridation Society (AFS), and American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) with its program, the Campaign for Dental Health. The following is a critique highlighting key flaws and biases in those arguments focusing on the piece https://ilikemyteeth.org/troubled-government-report-finally-sees-the-light-of-day/
INSPIRATION JEREMY LENT: The Political Cataclysm: Causes, Implications, and a Way Forward AND EVENT As the System Unravels, Where Do We Go From Here How Can a Systems Lens Help Make Sense of the Unraveling? Join me in a conversation with Fritjof Capra on Friday, Jan 10 to explore how systems thinking might help us comprehend these times
INSURANCE: Norman Lambe from Norman’s Substack Insurance will soon be hard to obtain in California Liberty Mutual Insurance has made the announcement that it is dropping all its renter and Condominium policies in 2025. Then it will cancel existing policies for remaining insureds in 2026. This is a significant announcement as recently, the California Insurance Commissioner revealed his plan to bring order back into the industry with the use of computer-generated recommendations for new homeowners and condominium policies.
LOW TECH: How to Build an Electrically Heated Table? This manual explains how to assemble an electrically heated and insulated table that keeps you toasty warm in a cold space. For centuries, many cultures have used heated tables for thermal comfort in cold weather. Examples are the “kotatsu” in Japan, the “korsi” in the Middle East, and the “brasero de picon” in Spain. A heat source goes under a table, a blanket goes over it, and people slide their legs underneath. The micro-climate under the blanket keeps you comfortable, even though the space in which you find yourself is cold. The heated table is an excellent example of our ancestors’ energy-efficient way of warming: heating people, not spaces. Historically, glowing charcoal from the fireplace heated the space under the table. While that provided sufficient warmth, it also carried a significant risk of fire and carbon monoxide poisoning. Nowadays, we can use electric heating technology instead. For example, the Japanese kotatsu is still in use, but it’s now working with a small electric heater fixed under the table surface. (I don’t know about the fields that this approach might create for sensitive individuals but like the idea if feasible)
SMART METERS: Connecticut regulator signs off on smart meter plan for Eversource, but future unclear The project would take roughly five years and cost at least $855 million, but it is unknown if PURAs plan is acceptable for the company.
SPACE: FUTURISM A NASA Spacecraft Is About to Fly Through the Sun Godspeed.
SPACE: Mars is littered with junk. Historians want to save it. One spacefarer's trash is another's treasure.
SPACE WARFARE: Commission takes next step to deploy the IRIS² secure satellite system The Commission has signed the concession contract for the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²), a multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellite, with the SpaceRISE consortium. This partnership will develop, deploy, and operate the European Union's new system. It is a significant step towards Europe's sovereignty and secure connectivity.
SURVEILLANCE: The Honest Broker Ted Gioia published The 25 Best Online Articles of 2024 including “On the Grid: How Surveillance Became a Love Language” by Zoë Hitzig The Drift, December 11, 2024
The normalization of mass spying could go further than surveillance did in skewing our relationships. The devices cozied up in our homes—Ring cameras capturing every neighborhood drama, Alexa politely ignoring our off-key singing — are already quietly recording and transmitting data every moment of the day.
In the decades since, we have indeed, as the Georgetown professor warned, completely lost “control of how, and by whom, personal information is used.”
And we know how it happened. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2002, Google realized that it was sitting on a monetizable surplus: the data produced by people’s engagement with its search engine could be wielded to customize ads. And then it discovered that the more precisely those ads were targeted, the more lucrative they became. Google’s data was richer and vaster than Lotus’s — a combination of search histories, IP addresses, and metadata that could paint a picture of what a specific person in a specific place at a specific time wanted to do, know, or buy. Google’s approach was stealthier, too. The company updated its terms of service to note, without explicitly mentioning advertising, that it was stockpiling this information “to improve the quality of our service and to better understand how people interact with us.” Facebook and data brokers like Acxiom quickly followed suit, refining ad-targeting algorithms and accumulating massive data sets of consumer profiles. By the late 2000s, smartphones provided new sources of data, harvesting information all day long, not just when people were at their computers. There were no more full-page ads in popular magazines. Just terms of service in miniscule fonts, manipulative interfaces, and other tricks of the magician. (Read 3 free articles at the Drift) and
“Silicon Valley’s Obsession With AI Looks a Lot Like Religion” by Greg Epstein
The MIT Press Reader, November 22, 2024
Take, for example, Way of the Future, an official AI-worshipping religion created by Anthony Levandowski, a former Google AI engineer who earned hundreds of millions of dollars as a leader in the development of autonomous vehicle technology. Levandowski went as far as filing all the requisite paperwork to register as a church with the IRS, telling the agency that the faith would focus on “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) developed through computer hardware and software.”
SURVEILLANCE: Brett Scott from Altered States of Monetary Consciousness Surveillance Capitalism 2024, Wrapped How spying-as-a-service now gets sent to us as a Christmas present [] These first two waves of consent-engineering justified surveillance as useful while disguising it in personalised terms. The newest phase, however, is to brand this personalised surveillance as something fun, interactive and social. The idea is to offer a person snapshots of their own surveillance, bundled together - or wrapped - with commentary.
WARFARE WEAPONS: British soldiers successfully test drone killer radiowave weapon for first time British soldiers have successful trialled for the first time a game-changing weapon that can take down a swarm of drones using radio waves for less than the cost of a pack of mince pies. "Systems are capable of hitting targets up to 1km away and costs just 10p per shot" "The programme supports more than 135 highly-skilled jobs across UK industry"
WARFARE: Navy confronting hurdles to implementing 5G-enabled technologies at scale 5G makes exciting emerging technologies possible, but first the Department of the Navy has to solve spectrum integration, cybersecurity and acquisition hurdles.
WEAPONS FUTURISM There's a Major Problem With the Nuclear War Bunkers The Rich Are Buying "Bunkers are, in fact, not a tool to survive a nuclear war." As more and more rich people rush to buy and build bomb shelters, experts suggest they're little more than a psychological defense mechanism for wealthy people who want to feel a shred of control in an unpredictable world.
Message and Picture for International Action to Stop the LEO Satellites from New Zealand: My message to the World is blunt: This issue is no longer merely about protecting the night sky, it is about the survival of life. Eeyore: "I am so upset, I forget to be happy." Mike recommends the song King Crimson - Starless. View more at https://www.facebook.com/groups/548912049259423/
‘Shining a Light on Leo’ Satellites
The LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellites are one of the most serious and overarching environmental issues of all: they cause Sky Debris, harm the view of our Night Sky and disturb Astronomical as well as Weather observations through Light Pollution and Electrosmog leakage. What's more, they harm the Ozone Layer, the Magnetosphere and the Ionosphere - i.e. the Electric Circuit essential for all Life on Earth.
The satellite launches also have a huge Ecological Footprint - in the air and on the ground - where new Spaceports are destroying swathes of pristine areas - and they are blanketing the Planet in Electrosmog, which is not only disturbing meteorological and astronomical observations, but which is harmful to all Biological Life. To top it off, once complete, the satellites will form an inescapable Planetary Electronic Surveillance Grid.
People from across the world are rising to Shine a Light on the LEO (Low Earth Orbit) Satellites and demand an immediate halt to 5G/6G on Earth and in Space for the sake of Public Health, Ecology and Freedom. Their message: “We do not consent to a few powerful technology and satellites companies dictating the future of all life on Earth."
For more information and for more telling pictures, kindly visit the Global Action to Stop 5G Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/548912049259423/ -Tanja Katarina Rebel,
From France
“You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.” ― John O'Donohue
This work is a call to dignity and grace, for equilibrium, for balance…thank you for being a part.