leicsmac

I'm trying to put my finger on exactly when such things became so fast-food. The era of widespread instant digital communication, perhaps? Or perhaps things always were that way and the digital era has just given the sentiment much more power.

I'm actually inclined to think that Clarkson is just engaging in some ragebait/engagement farming here, as he's on record as knowing what the problem is and what needs to be done. Being a farmer appears to have opened his eyes somewhat there. Perhaps that's giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt, though.

Tired of what you say here. Tired of the short-term self interest. Tired of the fast-food attitude regarding pretty much any matter. Tired of the lack of interest in anything beyond one's line of sight spatially or temporally. Tired of the cognitive dissonance that drives that and the lie that other humans represent the biggest threat to humans. Tired of the tribal mentality that fuels. But, most of all, really really tired of being cursed with enough knowledge to be pretty much certain of exactly where that road ends. And equally tired of the denial that is helping us lead our species, along with countless others, there in a hurry.

With the power of digital information flow to help them, that is more possible than ever. But then, I guess that there's an awful lot that we don't know about history because the historians recording it had their own bias then, too.

Mostly historical examples. Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Mugabe, the entire South African apartheid regime... all of them came about because people wanted "change", or "a firm hand", or both. They all gained, and/or kept, their power with the consent of at least a decent part of their populations. And when the horrible things started, those same people said "... well, nothing to do with us..." I'm not going to list present day examples as that would be a lightning rod for trouble; but suffice it to say that I think there is really fertile ground for such monsters today. In a lot of places. And the worst thing about it all is that all of those people highlight and prey on the divisions between groups of humans, where the need for unity has never been more acute.

Yep, that's about the size of it, he's assumed the left were unwilling to risk something more extreme on the other side coming to power, but he has evidently miscalculated both them and the current situation. It's no secret that social strife tends to follow people not having money in their pocket. Thing is though, for some reason people then act all surprised and don't want to feel responsible when that anger puts someone or some people in power that then inflict a great deal of death and suffering. In a democracy, if the monsters win, it's usually because enough people wanted them to be there.

Yeah, hence the "try" part of the phrase. Clearly, he's tried and failed in this case. Extremism and tribalism - of whatever stripe - is gaining ever more traction.

The above being said, given the way the landscape has shifted just in the past year and a bit, does anyone really want to put a prediction on where things will be in four years? Everything involving events seems to be moving at speed right now, and opinion appears to shift just as quickly.

Seems like that the adage that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no-one holds true right now. The era of "politics of compromise" appear to be over. Whether that's good or not...goodness knows.

And nor did I say that they were collectively ignoring the problem, rather cautioning them to not do so by unwise short term decisions on policymakers To answer the second part, like anyone else outside that political system, what I am doing is all have the power to do - inform and (hopefully) enlighten as to what might be the best path forward, and vote when the time arises. (To be fair, I have been asked that question before and it's of course a reasonable one to ask, but I don't have any kind of delusions about having the power to change the world - being hopeful of being a small part of a necessary change will have to do. If people want to shoot the messenger then that's their right - go ahead and take aim, it changes nothing about the facts, their consequences and what needs to be done.)

It does indeed. The laws of thermodynamics being one key example some people appear to want to fantasise about/ignore. And to keep things on topic, I refer to that only because at this time it makes the necessary point that everyone is a hypocrite in this particular regard. It's just that some hypocrisy is more damaging to the future than others.

Seems to be the case, yeah. Tbh considering the history of such economic downturn and what tends to follow them, it's a rather macabre blessing that things haven't gotten more major warfare wise tbh. For the time being, anyway. And driving straight towards a situation where there is a massive shortage of arable land and potable water resources that lend itself to massive amounts of at least regional instability will really help with that problem, won't it? They have the same power as anyone else not directly in the political system with respect to science and foreign policy in the UK - one vote. Even just in the name of self-interest, they have to know that ignoring the problem isn't going to make it go away and it has the potential to render every other measure to help them utterly meaningless.

More farmers lamenting alternating drought and flooding conditions in the UK on the news. Perhaps don't opt for policymakers who do nothing or not enough on the matter, then?

I preferred the language the Danish minister used to him, but yes. Also, for more polling data: https://www.natesilver.net/p/trump-approval-ratings-nate-silver-bulletin

It will be fascinating to see how history scholars view the time period 2008-2030 in a few decades time in terms of world events and actions. If there are any history scholars left by that time and the information they have a a matter of record to go on is in any way truthful, that is.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq877llq099o World-famous coral reefs along Western Australia's (WA) coast have suffered the worst bleaching on record after the state's "longest, largest and most intense" marine heatwave, scientists say. Between last August and this May, warmer water temperatures led to significant heat stress on the reefs, causing many of the coral to expel the algae which gives them life and colour - a process called bleaching, which is often fatal. The damage - which will take months to assess - spans 1,500km (932 miles) and includes areas previously unscathed by climate change. Coral reefs worldwide have been suffering from a two-year-long global coral bleaching event, due to record high ocean temperatures. Eight weeks of heat stress is usually enough to kill coral, and early estimates showed many WA reefs suffered between 15 and 30, said Australia's marine science agency. Record-breaking shows good progress... right?

It does reflect and it is reasonable, yes - if that post came across as otherwise, then consider this a clarification. The point was that the current systems our species operates under seems to hold quite a few possibly unfair absurdities like that, and as such perhaps a person might understand why other people are driven, sometimes too harshly, to challenge and change those absurdities and the system that perpetuates them.

And while this discussion about the theory and practice of legal demonstration and terrorism is going on, more and more people are starving to death, or being shot dead or deliberately maimed. Humans, huh?

No, that would be the January 6th insurrectionists (no, wait, sorry, "demonstrators") that he's recruited into various government entities across the board. Picked for loyalty to the Dear Leader, but thankfully mostly not matching that loyalty in competence.

The Chinese have clearly made themselves their own JFK before-the-decade-is-over bargain. I have no doubt that they'll stick to it. So the US, under such dysfunctional current leadership, have that long to get themselves in shape. No longer.

What was it that Noel Coward sang about "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"? But yes, it's pretty much abusive behaviour.

I really hope, for the sake of the UK justice system as a whole, that this doesn't turn into the clusterfvck that it looks like it might. It could be catastrophic for a system that has to have the confidence of at least the vast majority, and at most all, of the population.

The Fleshlight. But in all seriousness, fair point. I think it's wise to know though that the higher the power of a new invention, the greater degree of both good and bad it can cause. AI has the potential to be very powerful in that way.

Yeah, that's about right. Unfortunately the ROK seems to be stuck in a revolving door of having the leading two parties taking turns with power (and then get kicked out/ impeached/ arrested) every five years, so I fear that in five years time we might be back here with the same problems involving an idiot hawk in charge.

From the other side of the world... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79llljy4qeo South Korea's military has shrunk to about 450,000 people - a decline of 20% over the last six years, according to a defence ministry report released by a ruling party lawmaker on Sunday. Authorities say the main reason behind the decline is the country's dismal birth rate, which at 0.75 babies per woman is the world's lowest. South Korea retains compulsory military service mainly because the country is still technically at war with its nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea. Demographic crisis might lead to a problem... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2klzxldl6o South Korea's military says North Korea has begun removing some of the loudspeakers used to broadcast propaganda across the border between the two countries. North Korea's move appears to be a positive reaction to the overtures from newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who had campaigned on improving inter-Korean ties. South Korea dismantled some of its own loudspeakers earlier this week. It had halted broadcasts along the demilitarised zone shortly after Lee took office in June - prompting a similar response from its neighbour. ... or perhaps not, if we continue to see this kind of promising detente.