News — At The Edge — 12/8
Whether we call the current era a twilight zone — peak America, U.S. incarceration rate & unrestrained tech — or as in the video — Hypernormalization — it all bodes ill.
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HyperNormalisation (5 min. video)-
“‘It’s ‘fuck off’ to everything’…[describes] public sentiment today…[because social] stability has been preserved by ideas that are…both difficult to believe and…impossible to escape.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=13&v=W4BczuzNSZg
Are we at ‘peak America’? —
“U.S. economy is booming…American technology companies…[and] military remains [unrivaled]…[yet] forces, both short-term and long-term…are working to erode this….
[T]he global economy looks as if it’s at ‘peak America’…due for a downturn….[China’s] growing at three times the pace of the [U.S.]…[with] nine of the world’s 20 most valuable tech companies…[and] the largest trading partner of major economies in Latin America, Africa and Asia….
[Globally] leaders talk about the United States’ retreat from the world stage…[since] the aftermath of the Iraq War….[Also] U.S. government now spends $1.4 billion a day on its debt, 10 times more than the next major industrialized country….
American retreat will not produce a better world…[just] look at the Middle East…[where] subcontracted its policy to Riyadh, encouraging the Saudis’ reckless behavior….
[T]he wisest strategy would be to bolster the international institutions and norms…built after World War II, both to maintain some degree of stability and order and to preserve and extend American interests and values.
The smartest path to constraining China comes…from a subtle one that forces Beijing to remain enmeshed and interdependent with the international community….
[Instead] as the world gets more chaotic…[and] China simply watches quietly and pockets the gains. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/are-we-at-peak-america/2018/11/29/a1fcd8d0-f41f-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html?utm_term=.fae52dce905b
Study: Half of US adults have had close family member jailed —
“Over 2 million Americans are currently in prison in the US…[and] 64% of US adults have had someone in their family spend…[time] in jail or prison….[It’s] a nationwide ‘incarceration crisis’….
One in five US adults has had a parent incarcerated….One in seven…had a spouse incarcerated; one in eight…had a child locked up….African American adults were 50% more…[and] Latino adults were 70% more likely than white Americans to have a loved one incarcerated for over a year….[Also] adults making less than $25,000…a year 61% more likely to have family incarcerated than those earning over $100,000 a year….
US incarcerates more people per capita than anywhere else…[with] 710 people per 100,000…UK’s incarceration rate is 147 per 100,000.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46471444
MI6 chief calls for new era of spying using AI and robots to combat rogue states —
“[MI6] says that Britain must enter an age of ‘fourth generation espionage’…[because] the danger of ‘adversaries…willing to take advantage’ of huge leaps in cyber technology to launch attacks…that fall short of traditional warfare’….
[T]he rules-based international order is being flouted by the likes of Vladimir Putin, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Donald Trump….
’[This] calls for a fourth generation espionage’…[so] expect to see huge breakthroughs in the widespread use of artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology and quantum computing.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/02/chief-mi6-calls-new-era-spying-using-ai-robots-combat-rogue/
Google search results vary widely by user, new study says —
“[A] group of volunteers search for the same terms — ‘gun control,’ ‘immigration’ and ‘vaccinations’ — at the same time…[and] some ‘people were shown a very unusual set of results relative to the other participants, offered some domains seen by no one else.
If you were one of these people, you would have no way of knowing what you’re missing’….The order of the results varied, with 76 people getting a total of 73 different sets of search results for ‘vaccinations’ in both private and non-private browsing modes….
[A] decade ago critics began noting that filtered search results can end up isolating users from information that doesn’t match their world views in what Eli Pariser dubbed ‘filter bubbles.’” https://www.axios.com/google-search-results-vary-widely-by-user-new-study-says-a6f01e94-b07f-4a55-810f-b0e70b3aff8b.html
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Doc Huston
