Lindsey Graham – The Poster Child of Unprincipled Politics

The dead will have their eulogies.  People will search for the good in them and pretend it was their essence. But let’s not kid ourselves.  Lindsey Graham was an unprincipled political animal, only in it for himself.  The list of Trump sycophants who jettisoned all scruples to feast at the MAGA trough is long, but Graham rightfully holds an exalted status in this list of self-serving opportunists.  

Graham’s flip-flopping on Trump and the MAGA world was not an outlier in his career.  He completely changed his position on multiple issues – gun control, abortion, immigration, climate change, election denial, etc.  Early on, he famously promised to serve no more than 12 years as an elected official, then died in his 31st year.  After using tortured logic to rationalize the refusal of a republican led congress to accept Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court in 2016, he chaired the Judiciary Committee that cynically turned that logic on its head to drive through the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.  

In foreign affairs, Graham was a saber rattler and chest beater extraordinaire, a cheerleader for every huge foreign intervention mistake that the USA has made in the last 30 years.  His jingoism was particularly focused on the Middle East and his unequivocal support of every Israeli military operation and oppression of Palestinians is part of why we have Netanyahu and his Nazi-like settler movement in charge of Israel today.

Yes, Graham would occasionally cross the aisle to work with Democrats.  And from time to time he did demonstrate a bit of true conviction.  But if we are to learn from the mistakes of the Trump era, then we must recognize that the crass opportunism that has kept Trump in power must be exposed and denounced in no uncertain terms.  Lindsey Graham, along with JD Vance and Marco Rubio, is a perfect example.  Whether he was a purely cynical operator, or somehow drank some of the MAGA kool aid and fell under Trump’s spell, his mercurial turnabout is a cautionary tale about how the lust for power can take away all conscience and integrity.

Meta Pervert Glasses – The Technology That Only A Creep Can Love

Mark Zuckerberg is a toxic, tough guy wannabe who clearly nurses deep neuroses from childhood.  So it is no surprise that his company Meta has launched the most invasive, cringy technology that one can imagine – eyeglasses that allow people to spy on and video everyone around them.  If there is a better example of technology run amok I cannot imagine it.

Facebook, later Meta, became a juggernaut by fouling the waters of social media and amplifying the insecurities of vulnerable tweens and adolescents with their addictive algorithms.  After a pathetic, failed fever dream of creating the metaverse, Zuckerberg pivoted to the final frontier of privacy - glasses that assault both the users and every unwitting person they encounter with unneeded and despised technology.

We have smart phones and watches and oura rings.  We have ipads and air pods and headphones, and a few of us still use computers.  How much of our bodies and our lives can we smother in technology before we have finally had enough?

Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses seem to be hitting a brick wall lately.  People talk about being ridiculed and shamed for wearing them.  There are huge privacy issues when people have the means to record voice and video without consent of people around them.  Who could have possibly thought this was a good idea?  Zuckerberg, of course.  

If there is any justice in this universe, then meta glasses will die a quick death and be a huge failure for Meta and its broligarchic founder, Zuckerberg.  If not, then they will be one more nail in the coffin of humanity’s chance to lead a life unfettered by constant technological irritations. 

Is the So-Called Radical Left Really Radical?

Recent election wins by more left-leaning candidates have sent shock waves through both republican and democratic power structures.  The republicans are delighted, as this offers them the time-tested ‘socialism’ bogeyman to use as a scare tactic in the midterms.  The democrats are anxious that the new, more strident wing of their party might alienate independents or middle-of-the-roaders.

But what are the actual issues and policies that motivate these ‘radical left’ candidates, and are they really radical at all given the current state of our economy and country?  The first alarm bells go off with the use of the label ‘democratic socialist’ by New York City’s mayor Mamdani and many others.  This term strikes terror into the hearts of those Americans who have been conditioned to associate the word socialist with Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and other failed authoritarian states.  

Socialism is primarily an economic concept that postulates full ownership of industry by the state.  It has long been abandoned by serious politicians.  But the term ‘democratic socialist’ implies a democratic political system that uses government effectively to smooth the rough edges of capitalism and ensure a more egalitarian and benevolent society.

It is true that many of the new left are strongly advocating more aggressive redistribution of wealth and income in our society.  But given the gilded age levels of wealth disparity, the growing national debt and the heavy economic burdens that lower-middle working-class families bear, can there really be any doubt that a fresh look at taxation is needed?  With AI delivering an even more absurd bounty to the ultra-wealthy and billionaires using their wealth to gain ever greater control of politics, who can argue that we are not in desperate need of new ideas?

Another issue that has animated the new left is the unconditional support of Israel.  The USA is an extreme outlier in the world in this regard.  The militaristic and extreme right wing Netanyahu regime, with its genocidal war on Gaza, its winking nod to extremist settlers taking over the West Bank, and its use of assassinations and disproportionate attacks, is fast turning Israel into a pariah.  

Even many US and Israeli Jews have recognized the foolhardiness of our unequivocal support and the need for the US to exert massive pressure on Israel to change its ways and truly work toward Middle East peace.  This is no longer radical, but simply sensible. Calling every attempt to discipline Israel antisemitism is disingenuous and dishonest.  And sincere criticism of the influence of the Jewish/Israeli lobby in our politics is needed and should not be conflated with older anti-Jewish tropes.

The passion of the new left to deal with these two major issues may be unsettling to some, and they may at times advocate dramatic measures that are not realistic.  But this is the way that the pendulum swings.  If there is no passion and no conflict, then there is little chance for change.  The status quo is no longer workable.  And it is far better for this change to come through democratic, legislative processes than through depression, revolution or war.

Beware the Fast-Approaching Human Doodle!

Do you have a golden doodle?  Or a labradoodle, or a bernedoodle, or an aussiedoodle, or a yorkiepoo, or a schnoodle (I could go on but I won’t).  It seems like every other dog I see these days is some form of poodle hybrid.  They are apparently universally acclaimed as intelligent, gentle and, most importantly, non-shedding.  Who can blame someone for wanting one?

Someday soon most of the dogs in the world may be some form of doodle.  Not surprising, is it?  It is a very human trait to want the best of everything.  If nature stands in the way, then we’ve generally found a way around it!

Recently a new form of gene editing called base editing was announced by scientists at Columbia University.  Base editing can apparently meticulously swap out individual letters in an embryo’s genome with less potential for errors than previous CRISPR technologies.  

There is naturally a mixed reaction to this news.  The prospect of eliminating inherited diseases in embryos has many scientists and physicians very excited.  To overcome the scourge of diseases like sickle cell anemia or Huntington’s disease or Duchenne muscular dystrophy would be a miraculous achievement.

But, of course, the editing of embryonic genomes also brings to mind the Pandora’s box of designer babies.  Does anyone think that Elon Musk, David Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg and all the other tech and finance bros would hesitate one nanosecond to use this technology to create the new Übermensch?  

But it’s not just the gazillionaires who will play this game.  Every parent wants the best for their children as they develop and grow.  Why not start even before they are born?  Who wants a short kid – no one - so let’s fix that!  Who wants a boy who will go bald in his twenties?  Edit that out!  Athletic ability?  Put lots of those genes in!  Intelligence?  The sky’s the limit!  

So, what will the human doodle of the future look like?  Tall, blond, blue-eyed, non-balding, super-intelligent, a super athlete, and disease-free no doubt.  And perhaps there will be a bunch of variations based on race and ethnicity.  

The designer baby world will make today’s inequalities look positively benign by comparison.  The cost of designing will completely separate the haves from the have-nots.  We may find ourselves in a brave new world of über and unter menschen – a Nazi fever dream without any necessary gassing or unpleasantness. 

Yes, beware the coming of the human doodle.  Artificial Intelligence will seem like a fun time compared to that nightmare.  

When Is There Too Much Tech? – Part 3 – AI Agents and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice

The AI revolution marches on.  The chatbots are somewhat old news now, though they are everywhere and inundating the world with content that is very difficult to distinguish from human endeavor.  The big new AI blitz is ‘agents’ and one of their primary uses – ‘vibe coding’.

AI agents are software programs that performs tasks autonomously on behalf of a user.  They utilize neural networks and machine learning like chatbots, but they are set up to act independently from the user once a set of instructions or goals are provided.  The classic use case is for an AI agent to act like a human travel agent, booking flights, rental cars, hotels and other travel details without user intervention.

When I envision a world of AI agents I am reminded of the sorcerer’s apprentice, that Disney Fantasia animation that portrayed a magic spell run amok and out of control.  I wonder if AI agents will have a similar effect on human activity.

The use of AI agents in the workplace is being aggressively marketed and the corporate world seems eager to incorporate them, whether out of FOMO or true belief. Companies hope to see significant increases in productivity when these agents are deployed.  

For the economics to work out the huge expenditures that AI companies are making in data centers, development and LLM training must be offset by ever-increasing revenues from companies paying for these agents.  And in turn, these companies must see increasing productivity which either reduces expenses (less employees) or increases revenues for the same number of employees.

I have little doubt that AI agents will have significant impact in the corporate world.  Whether they will cause the feared tsunami of layoffs and unemployment is difficult to predict.  In a perfect scenario, the cost of goods would decrease and there would be full employment with a shorter workweek.  But getting to that perfect world will be painful at best, and perhaps impossible.

We are seeing a test case for this in the coding world.  Vibe coding is eliminating the need for low level programmers and increasing the output of higher-level architects and designers.  Computer science majors, having been exhorted for decades to ‘learn to code’ are leaving college facing a scorched earth landscape of job options.  The industry may evolve to establish new job types and accommodate future grads, but first indications are not encouraging.

In our personal lives, the prospect of using an AI agent may seem tantalizing, like having your own administrative assistant.  It can pay bills, set up doctor appointments, schedule lunches or coffee with friends, plan a trip, organize your computer, manage your investments and perform a multitude of other tasks.

But when you hand over so many of your tasks to an AI agent, do you lose agency in your own life?  Do you become ever less aware of the details and mechanics of living?  It may save you time, but what will you do with that time?  Isn’t part of being human attending to the mundane details of life?  Isn’t there a certain satisfaction and Zen-like quality to performing those tasks?  

AI will seem irresistible to many, if not for its utility, then at least for its cachet and the feeling that one is technology savvy.  But its creeping invasion into our lives must be carefully monitored and measured to calculate its true value and measure what we lose in the process.  Beware that you do not end up like the sorcerer’s apprentice, outsourcing your tasks and being overwhelmed with runaway technology.

Payback is Hell

The 90’s were a great time, right?  The cold war was over, the Soviet Union humbled and dismantled.  The technology revolution brought ever more powerful computers and the shiny new Internet, with all of its potential for bringing knowledge to the entire world and leveling the playing field.  Global trade was growing and large numbers of people were moving out of poverty into a semblance of middle-class lives.  The United States was the world’s policeman, protecting free trade, settling squabbles and projecting power in a benevolent, quasi-altruistic manner (ha!).  The western developed countries were at the peak of their power and wealth.

It would have been the perfect time for the west to attempt to compensate for the damage that hundreds of years of colonialism and imperialism had wrought on the developing world.  

It would have been the perfect time to recognize the looming hydrocarbon crisis and begin to work towards alternative energy models.  

It would have been the perfect time for reaching out to former adversaries (Russia and China for example) and making a sincere effort to integrate them more fully into the global community.  

It would have been the perfect time to encourage a worldwide effort to address the drug trade and the growing rate of addiction in the west, which was, after all, the driving force for the trade.

It would have been the perfect time to promote education and entrepreneurship in developing countries rather than steal the best and brightest to further consolidate our dominance.

Yes, all of those things are super complicated and hard to achieve, but it would have been a perfect time and a very good idea to make our best effort while we were flying high. 

But that time is over.  Now the west is in free fall, with rising debt, government paralysis, rampant populism and authoritarianism, a supremely self-absorbed class of plutocrats, global warming looming, immigration crises and the USA led by an insane narcissist and megalomaniac.  

The formerly second tier nations – China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Russia and others – are rightfully claiming their share of the world’s bounty.  The African and Latin American nations with long histories of corruption, squandered economic opportunities and political turmoil (much of it initiated and exacerbated by the west) also yearn for their share, but see their young abandon hope in desperate efforts to immigrate or cleverly fuel the west’s out-of-control drug habit.

All is not lost yet, but the west is rapidly learning that payback is hell.  Now is the time for the world to come together.  The Trumpian unilateralism is a dead end that will lead rapidly to our demise as a species.  AI will only accelerate that demise unless we band together to share its power and potential.  Who will lead us forward?  Who will reject the current zero-sum mentality and argue persuasively for cooperation?  The world is waiting.

Two Hundred Bonjours a Day – My Spiritual Journey on the Camino

I have a very unfortunate injury to my left foot, presumably from playing soccer.  There is no cartilage between two midfoot bones. Walking at all is slightly painful, but becomes ever more so as the distance increases on a given day.  This is a profoundly discouraging injury to a person who expected to run, hike and play soccer into his 70’s and even 80’s.  But such is life.

When Karen decided to walk the French portion of the Camino pilgrimage from Le Puy to Estaing with her German friend Gudrun, I thought I would fly over with her and drive around while she was walking, practicing my French.  But as we got closer to the trip, the idea of joining them for part of each day’s walk and chatting with the predominantly French pilgrims seemed like a better idea and more likely to produce genuine French conversations.

So I rented a car and drove ahead of the walkers, walking a few miles back to meet them each time as I leapfrogged their progress.  They walked from 10-14 miles each day and I would do between 5 and 8.

Walking backwards on the Chemin de Saint Jacques, as it is known in France, was rather odd.  Since almost all of the walkers are moving forward, I passed large numbers of them (sometimes several times in a day!), cheerfully greeting them with a ‘Bonjour’ and maybe a ‘Bon Chemin’.  Some of them stopped me to ask why I was going the wrong way and this allowed me to engage in a conversation about my unique approach, my injury and anything else that might come up.  It was great practice for my French.

In the evenings we stayed at ‘Gîtes’, the very low-cost but convivial lodges for pilgrims.  We stayed in private rooms with bathrooms (spoiled Americans!) but many chose to sleep dormitory style and share bathrooms.  Breakfast and dinner were communal, offering great opportunities to make camino friends and share life stories.

Most of the pilgrims were older, between 50 and 80.  These baby boomer French were less likely to be confident in English and were super supportive of my efforts to improve my French.  The shared goal of walking (even though I was a ‘faux’ pilgrim or Pelegrin, as I joked to all who learned my story) and our shared humanity was a wonderful elixir that seemed to imbue everyone with an optimistic spirit and a sincerely friendly demeanor.

I never tired of saying ‘Bonjour’, and the people I met repeatedly over the course of our ten-day pilgrimage were equally buoyant in their greetings and our shared moments laughing and conversing.  It is clear that human beings really want to get along and enjoy one another’s company when we are on equal footing and sharing a goal.  But sadly, it all seems to break down when the real world gets in the way.  

My very odd and somewhat fraudulent Chemin de Saint Jacques, with its 200 Bonjours a day was a reminder to try harder to see our common humanity in every person I meet.  The bitter pills of our current political climate have poisoned me in that regard, but the antidote is out there if I will only remember to reach for it.