The Importance of Triple Redundancy in Crucial Systems
(I have touched upon this topic in another blog and in the book. I regard it as more important than I have previously been able to do justice, and indeed beyond what I am capable…
Author: Jonathan
Jonathan Kolber is the author of A Celebration Society.
My greatest strength and my greatest weakness is that I live in the land of "could". Fortunately, my wife is that unique individual who simultaneously keeps one foot in the land of should, but the other always firmly in the land of "what's true now".
I adore Siberian cats as a breed, and am the proud co-companion to two of them. (One is mentioned in the book as an "original Celebrationist".) I could rave for 15 minutes on the outstanding and unique attributes of the Siberian breed, all of which (except one) are adorable, amusing, or delightful.
My favorite SF authors are Heinlein, Peter F. Hamilton, and John Scalzi. I enjoy the Otherworld series by Yasmine Galenorn. I loved the first three (or four) books of The Eye of the World series, and also the last (twelfth), though the ending could have been stronger. I've reimagined how the ending might have gone, on the verge of a Celebration Society.
My favorite songs are Tunhuang by Kitaro, Celestial Soda Pop by Ray Lynch, Dancing Birds by Himekami, Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, New World in the Morning by Roger Whittaker, and others I'm forgetting. My personal theme song is "Take the Future" by Foggy.
Ominous Cascading Effects of Accelerating Automation
When one paid worker appears or disappears in a community, it causes what economists call a “multiplier effect”. This has historically been estimated at 5 times the salary of the worker. Here’s how it works:…
An AI epiphany
In movies such as The Terminator, The Matrix and so forth, self-aware AIs come into existence and soon threaten humanity. This thinking is reflected in the arguments by Musk, Hawking and others against creating strong…
What’s wrong with a Celebration Society?
In this world, however much we might wish it otherwise, there is no perfection to be found. Every beautiful thing has its limitations or deficiencies. Even mathematics has Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems. So, too, must a…
Continuous process improvement
Those of us who are old enough will remember the 1950s, when “Japanese import” meant balsa wood trinkets. Several decades later, the first Japanese cars started appearing in the US. They were widely derided as…
Awe may be THE solution to rigid mindsets
Psychologists have noted that many people, when presented with evidence that contradicts a belief of theirs, simply ignore or rationalize away that evidence, holding even more tightly to their existing beliefs. If we are to…
Future solution to terrorism?
I expect that the US government has already figured out how to end much of the world’s terrorism in the next several decades. This opinion is based on the following facts: 1. Drone strikes are…
Aliens at a Chess Tournament
Imagine, if you will, aliens exploring Earth. They visit a chess tournament. They see rows upon rows of players, hunched over chess boards, facing each other. Silence prevails, but it is an intense silence. The…
What Else Have We Lost or Misunderstood?
In the book, I spend a fair amount of time examining important aspects of society that appear inverted from their optimum functioning. However, my perspective may not have been broad enough. I recently learned that…
Technological unemployment of cats
We’ve been giving all of our attention to the crisis automation poses for HUMAN workers. But what about cats? They have many jobs, too: Greeter Bookends Footwarmers Relaxation appliances (purring) Seat warmer Masseuse (kneading with…