Musings of Old Man Joe

Irish guy living in Los Angeles

Joe

Driverless Cars & Trucks: coming soon to a road near you!

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I am reposting this, not because it’s that brilliant, but I have had for some reason so much of a issue with posting and I think Jetpack integration over the last few days I had to restore from a backup!

I know there is much talk and speculation about driverless cars and trucks in out near future. The ramifications of this moving forward is still relatively unknown. Will jobs be lost as with any advance in technology, Well that is a resounding yes of course! The biggest reason for lost jobs since the 1970’s has been updates in manufacturing due in the most part by automation and computers running the show.

I was heartened to read and article recently about the kinds of jobs that robots will not be able to take over. One example was in car manufacturing, the robots weld the bits together and move it all along the assembly line, but toward the end there are humans wiping over the finished product and visually checking to see there are no scratches or anything looking wrong before the car leaves the factory.

Of course there is still education, if it’s ever to be taken seriously in the united states, tech will make some aspects of education more accessible to students but teachers and I hope one day well paid teachers will always be needed as the AI doesn’t have the social skills, the personal touch to help when a student needs assistance.

But let’s face it there are going to be many industries that will no longer use humans because the new technology will replace them. Some countries have talked about and are experimenting with universal basic income. This will give citizens the option to survive in a world where there will be 40% unemployment due to the rapid changes in technology.

I know some countries argue they can’t afford it, that crap will get us no where as the inevitable is going to come anyway. And unless the powers decide to be proactive and do it right what will they do with the thousands maybe even millions of people who will become homeless and require some sort of assistance. It’s not a case of the powers deciding whether they need to do something, it will be forced upon them regardless of their feeling about it!

I wonder with all these people out of work who the fuck is going to be able to afford to take the flying cars that will I presume be buzzing over our heads. There are allot of changes and it seems to be a race between the tech companies, but how is society being prepared to handle the new technology that will be placed in front of us. Like the social media & privacy, I think there is no preparation and nobody in power seems the care of even know what the hell is about to happen!

Peace!

Of course it’s true, I saw it on the internet!

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Sharing what?

I remember when I was living in Ireland and reading the news I would be able to watch and listen to Irish news, English news and read American news. It was great to get a perspective rather then just one news source. it’s something I will say to anyone today is read alternate news sources so you don’t exist in a news bubble.

What has happened since the 1990’s has been a revolution in social media. What I believe this has done is create a world where we/us are able to exist in a bubble we create and due to a algorithm set up by Google and Facebook we are fed articles and media to prop up the story of belief we are trying to prove to ourselves, whether it’s a fact or not.

So let’s look at say ten years of social media has achieved for us, are we particularly more sociable than we were before we had these things. I would say probably not, it’s true to keep in touch with loved ones is cheaper and easier than it was ten years ago. Is the quality of the social experience better?

I think the worst part of the whole thing is the deviation from facts, the way we no longer use trusted sources for our information. These are for myself trusted sources.

  • BBC news
  • RTE news
  • NPR news
  • Any Times newspaper

I know there are many more but my point is to read multiple sources to get a better picture. And avoid news posted on social media that is not from a trusted source. And remember opinion pieces are just that, somebodies opinion. What happens when you don’t rely on trusted sources for news?

  • Anti-vaccinations
  • Brexit
  • Alt-Right
  • Anti immigration
  • people actually don’t believe in climate change
  • Trump

I am also wary of local stations after this report on Sinclair came to light!

It’s amazing to me that in the age where we have more knowledge at our fingertips than any time in the history of our planet, that so much crap is shared and believed. The Russians from 2015 started a media campaign to influence the election in the United States. What I wonder about is why did the Russians not only want Trump to beat Hilary Clinton (who was maligned badly by the Russians through Facebook), but they also picked him among the other GOP candidates for President. As a failed business man he couldn’t get credit in the United States so it was Russian banks that financed his business schemes. Which is why the sanctions were not popular to the Trumps. Trump is a conspiracy theorist who can do great damage in the oval office, maybe that was the plan overall, to destroy the united states from the inside.

The us against them is straight out of the fascist playbook, which is also propagated by the algorithms of Facebook and Google so we see only what we want to see be it fact or not. In society today there are points of contention that were not in existence thirty years ago. This is due in part to the internet and outlets like Fox News that has led to the creation of radical views through social media.

Apple has recently opened it’s news app, I am not an Apple fan boy although I use and love their products, I try to keep an open mind to these things. But to create an app which will give us news from real sources is genius and my hope is that they will at some point allow sharing to social media to counter the effect of fake news from Russia and propaganda from Fox News & the Sinclair Group.

Peace!

Leicester Square 1984

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In the year 1984 I was working in a steakhouse just off Oxford Street, not too far from Carnaby street. I was a young man and I was out enjoying my life after a few years of hard times. I would have hard times again but that’s another story.

The Steakhouse was called The Handsel Tavern (it’s a Five Guys now), it was located on Argyle Street just off Oxford Circus Tube Station. The street level was the Bar area with a standing bar area and table seating around the perimeter, downstairs was the Steak House bit.

Toward the front on the right as you entered from the street was a food bar serving fresh cooked meals everyday. The Chef was Spanish his name was Jose. He served fresh roasted chicken with rice and veggies and goat curry. The food was the best and fed me for a couple of years on and off while I worked there. He would fill the plates when the bar closed which it did every afternoon between 3pm, and 5:30 wartime hours.
During wartime the hours were reduced ( Defense of the Realm Act August 1914), so that people getting drunk might not affect the war effort, the hours at this time just hadn’t been changed yet.

The manager of the premises was at that time a Scotsman called Brian. (I withhold last names to protect the innocent)! He had a few scams going on at the time, as most food and bar food in regular Pubs was crap then. It was later that the food gig took off in pubs, as it was extra money for the landlord before the Brewery took all the profits. So Brian would buy large bottles of vodka and whiskey to add to the the optics so that he had extra cash coming in.

I was the bar manager so I handled the cellar tasks which was primarily getting the Real Ale ready to serve. The other barmen, (no women for no reason other than there were no women. In the Argyle down the street there was a bunch of barmaids (again another story)!)
were Patrick (Jamaica), Nigel (London), Derek (Glasgow),
Eugene (Belfast, North Ireland), and Myself (Clonmel, South Ireland).
So needless to say it was a good mix, we were all friends and had a blast! There was no tipping in England and wages were not great so we received drinks from the locals and as long as it was a half pint at a time we could enjoy the evening and be sociable. And that’s the way it was, it was a social life while working.

It was always hard to keep and get dishwashers for the steakhouse downstairs. So every so often I would have to go on a trip to Leicester Square in search of a homeless person who might want a job for the evening. We paid cash and a meal, it was a good deal. In this way we helped a person down on their luck and he helped by washing the dishes for the restaurant. Of course this did lead to having some real characters working nights.

I do remember one guy was very proud I picked him for nights work, he even had a certificate stating he was legally sane. I of course told him how jealous I was as I didn’t have one myself!

I remember another sparkling character who collected all the empty drink from the glasses that came in and made himself a big glass of alcohol mix to get himself through the evening. Actually this was more common than I would care to say!

When I didn’t have to acquire a person from the streets it was still a character doing this kind of work. I had a Doctor from Africa who wasn’t licensed to practice and while he was trying to get that sorted he worked where he could as a dish washer. I had another African who was a chiefs son. He was a very proud man and used to help me by making salads. This was quite a while ago but I hope they found their happiness wherever they they looked for it.

Peace!

Blade Runner 2019

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I remember watching blade in the early 1980’s, and to be honest although I loved the movie I was young and appreciate it much more today than I did then. Just like 2001 a space odyssey which was also way ahead of it’s time, I wondered back then what the world would truly be like in the years to come, and if I would even see it!

Flying through Los Angeles in 2019

It’s funny how science fiction in many ways is being brought to science fact, but not exactly how we envisioned and not in the time line we thought.
After the Moon landings in the late 1960’s until 1972 we all (well myself anyway) thought that after such an event there would be no turning back.

Well as we know now those missions were not really for science but just a pissing contest between the USSR & the USA. It was a shame but just after that the world stepped back to the time before the moon shot and carried on arguing about money and religion and rights (all very worthy subjects but not for this post).

So in the 1980’s and 90’s the world of computers, hardware and software start the play on the technology of our time. Hardware & software have always been almost racing to see who can get ahead, it was never an even race. It was probably when the iPhone came out in 2007 it was the catalyst for the tech companies to get their shit together and produce the solid state hardware in bulk and at a decent price to let the technology move forward.
it would seem there always has to be a profit or war for things to move forward.

blade runner movie poster with Harrison plus cast

Blade Runner Final Cut Set in Los Angeles in 2019

So here we are in 2019 the time of replicants and Blade Runners out to find them. How have we done with the real world?

Well due to Star Trek we have our mobile communicators, automatic doors are all over the place. We can ask computers and most of the time they can give us an answer (excluding Siri of course). Uber states it will have flying cars in or around 2020.

So considering we the people did stop after the moonshot due to budget cuts and domestic stuff, the timeline hasn’t been too bad considering!
It’s not as dark in Los Angeles as it is in the movie, but of course it was trying to get across a future when people didn’t try to stop climate change or worry about genetic manipulation or disease. In George Orwells 1984 big brother was the government and people for years have been worried about the government watching you. Well in many countries the government does watch you. But even worse is corporations using apps and the internet to watch not only what you do and see, but save the information to sell that information to whoever, and the people went willingly!

I will be optimistic for the future and say even though some people voted against their best interests that the times will change, mistakes have been made in the past and they can be rectified.

Peace!

Social Media take Two

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Is Social Media Really Social

So a couple of days ago I cancelled Facebook, Instagram, Whats-App because I really had run out of reasons to keep them on. What really surprised me is what happened after I closed the accounts.

Have you checked your social media today yet?

For a while I had figured that social media wasn’t really as social as it was intended to be, just allot of sharing but not so much interaction, at least in my case. It was nice to see family pictures but that was about it. I felt with the way Facebook handles personal information, we are the commodity and they use it as they want! It was time to say goodbye as far as I was concerned!

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar

The thing that surprised me the most after leaving social, or becoming less social, was how much more free I felt. The feeling of having to check a notification or get onto some app to see what has happened since I was on last is gone. It was like walking onto an open field of grass and being able to just have time to myself, I never expected that! I still kept Twitter and of course WordPress. Which is why I am writing a post the day after I wrote the last one. I have the feeling of not being disturbed, I am free. I can of course still do things with my iPhone that I used apps for. I called my sister abroad using FaceTime audio instead of Whats-App and it worked fine. So I might be posting on WordPress a bit more now I have the time.

You have been Warned!