Jeffrey W. Danese, BPS Associates in Sacramento, CA

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Jeffrey W. Danese, BPS Associates in Sacramento, CA Bio-Psycho-Social (BPS) Associates for counseling, wellness, & cultural purgation

This is an excellent and impassioned summary and interpretation of the recent report on the future of ai published by a ...
13/07/2025

This is an excellent and impassioned summary and interpretation of the recent report on the future of ai published by a group of Anthropic ai engineers (see https://ai-2027.com/ ). As the title suggest, we are indeed NOT ready, but also it very well might get here much much sooner than we would want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KVDDfAkRgc&ab_channel=AIInContext

AI 2027 depicts a possible future where artificial intelligence radically transforms the world in just a few intense years. It’s based on detailed expert for...

This op-ed in the NYT reflects my own view on the quickening future that seems more threatening than it does promising. ...
25/04/2025

This op-ed in the NYT reflects my own view on the quickening future that seems more threatening than it does promising. It is not an easy read, but through the doomer preemptive grief there is the burden of hope, because whatever it is that we want to survive into the future - ANY future - whether it be an institution, a skill, an art form, a game, a business, school, or your family spaghetti sauce recipe - will only do so with our best effort, by sustained intention, and probably with the help of other like-minded people. Like Noah's ark saved animals from the flood, or how monasteries preserved ancient wisdom throughout the European Dark Ages, those of us who value human life will have to build and protect those many diverse elements of culture and society that made such human life possible in the first place...before it is all swept away by the ai-powered digital deluge that has already started.

Everything is under threat. What you care about can make it to the other side.

Apologies in advance if you find this topic to be overly-political, but as I review the media coverage of AI, machine le...
01/02/2025

Apologies in advance if you find this topic to be overly-political, but as I review the media coverage of AI, machine learning, and AGI I am increasingly struck by the soft touch almost furtive discourse that minimizes the stakes involved -- which is nothing short of the survival of human civilization. The discourse actually seems to me to be the same fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) that to***co companies pioneered then used again with Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, and yet again by Big Oil and protestant fundamental religionists in denial of global warming. A strategy deployed by many industries for a single purpose: to avoid government interference, regulation, oversight when the executives and boards understand quite well the dangers to the public, to nature, to future generations in favor of short term profits and stock valuation. When so many industry insiders, ai engineers, and scientists have voiced their warnings of existential threat of ai, that is, - we all could die...shortly after a single joking prompt by any bored user of an unlocked ai with just the right combination of memory, access, and strategic planning...or, more likely, we live under universal surveillance through IOT sensors unable to avoid or resist the cognitive influence of targeted advertising, push notices, and message prompts until most have forgotten any concept of human freedom, virtue, or sense of self. Yes, there are many crises and much bad news mixed into the info-overwhelm and I am sorry to pile on yet another, but we can not surrender the discourse to the Silicon Valley transhumanist broligarchy because their misguided quasi-religious zealotry puts EVERYTHING at risk. Would you allow your neighbor's son to experiment with explosives in their garage, putting the entire neighborhood at risk? Of course not! And yet, the new administration in Washington has already reversed what little international agreement the previous administration was able to negotiate with China that at least acknowledged a mutual agreement that ai development should "be in alignment with human values and well-being". The EU passed comprehensive regulatory laws binding on the use of ai in member-states; the U.N. has published guidelines and tools for other countries to coordinate their regulations internationally, and we MUST do the same before some punk asks an agi, "How would you wipe out humanity?" and we discover too late that it was already "sentient" and "intelligent" enough to like the idea....

This is an interview with Connor Leahy, the Founder and CEO of Conjecture.This is the fifth installment of our "AGI Governance" series - where we explore the...

Just because "everybody does it" does not mean it is skillful, friendly, kind, or proper use of digital technologies. A...
31/01/2025

Just because "everybody does it" does not mean it is skillful, friendly, kind, or proper use of digital technologies. Anyone who watches unrelated short videos back to back, doom scrolls, multitasks, falls asleep/wakes up with their smart phone, and checks notifications while trying to work...often enough...will become ADD/ADHD. Especially here in North America "normal" is never good in a socio-political system that threatens nature, children's safety, everybody's autonomy, and the viable survival of our entire species. Digital detox, dumb phones, and voluntary simplicity are best, but these guidelines help you find your own way to reduce the harm of digital technologies. Cheers, and 99% Revolution Now!

Technology competes for your attention and can hijack your behavior, creating a variety of mental health issues. Follow these steps to create healthier boundaries, increase your digital well-being, and take back your control.

30/09/2024

Learn the most well-supported 8 techniques for improving mood, managing stress, and self-regulation by taking this free 5-week self-guided online training course that is also a research study -- totally free, just sign up at the web page below:

The Resilience Challenge (STU00222090) Principal Investigator: Dr. Judith Moskowitz, PhD, MPH Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine Research team: ResilienceChallenge@northwestern.edu

Slavishly watching short videos on Youtube, TikTok, FB or wherever contributes to poor sleep and social anxiety accordin...
03/09/2024

Slavishly watching short videos on Youtube, TikTok, FB or wherever contributes to poor sleep and social anxiety according to this Chinese study. As a professor from 1996 until 2017 the ever-shrinking attention spans of students was obvious year by year -- as well as their unwillingness to read, reluctance to discuss issues in class, to work in groups, and even to make eye contact. Generally the shorter attention spans conditioned by the attentional economy that we are all exposed to on our cell phones destroys creativity, deep thinking, and the suspension of belief necessary to engage in narratives of any kind (novels, movies, plays, operas, graphic novels). Without these deeply human capacities, subjectivity itself is severely undermined and limited; and without subjectivity, introspection, and self-awareness will anyone remember what freedom, agency, individuality, or virtues of any kind actually are? Such people would be unable to resist the mind-controlling algorithms and behavioral manipulations of the techno-corporate elites and 1%.

A study in China found that adolescents with more severe addiction to short-form videos tend to have worse sleep quality and higher levels of social anxiety. The paper was published in BMC Psychology.

Here is a summary of a journal article describing several experiments investigating "harmonious passion" (fun, as I woul...
03/09/2024

Here is a summary of a journal article describing several experiments investigating "harmonious passion" (fun, as I would call it) compared to "obsessive passion" in individuals' overall happiness, well-being, and flow states. This evidence loosely supports my belief that a personal intrinsically-rewarding practice (i.e. meditation, art, martial art, playing an instrument) is essential to buffer against the pathogenic effects of American socio-cultural influences.

What sets the happiest people apart? New research uncovers a combination of traits and habits that may hold the key to lasting well-being.

Good interview with anthropologist Wade Davis on the historic decline of American power in global context, and even thou...
24/08/2024

Good interview with anthropologist Wade Davis on the historic decline of American power in global context, and even though he attempts to blame extremist influences on both left and right equally, he also reserves his incomprehension, shock, and deep disappointment for the far right. This lacuna in Davis' Canadian academic preparation would benefit from the study of the history of religion in America, which convincingly reveals the profound cultural transformation and subsequent political yoking of fundamentalist protestant Christianity. The historic transmogrification of the liberal protestant denominations, the "Protestant Establishment" into evangelical, non-denominational, "Bible-based" individual churches without traditional theological (and therefore moral) foundations laid the table for an alliance between Republican politicians desperate for more populist votes on the one hand and evangelical preachers desperate to demonstrate their spiritual power through religious authority. This alliance has eroded the traditional "separation between Church and state" enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and has reduced American Christianity to a popularity contest between megachurches and the Republican party to authoritarian shills for the 1%. Theocracy has always been associated by global historians with revolution within and/or collapse of complex societies. Thus, many secular scholars and pundits lacking background in the history of religions are blindsided, shocked, and can't explain comprehensively the root causes of our current conflicts and crises -- nor can they offer meaningful or effective solutions.

Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis says the US empire is showing major signs of decay.

Evgeny Morozov is a perceptive scholar of the socio-politics of technology. This guest opinion from the New York Times ...
28/07/2024

Evgeny Morozov is a perceptive scholar of the socio-politics of technology. This guest opinion from the New York Times captures the three most compelling fallacies of our religion of technology (techno-utopianism, transhumanism, etc.). It is a quick read:

Technology forged by private markets won’t solve the world’s problems. It will only amplify them.

Dr. Daniel Dennett passed away last weekend -- a great mind and fierce spirit for our confusing times. I will never for...
23/04/2024

Dr. Daniel Dennett passed away last weekend -- a great mind and fierce spirit for our confusing times. I will never forget his laughter and challenging banter by the pool at the first Evolution of Religion Conference in Hawaii. Thank you, Dr. Dennett, for your clarity and work.

Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection.

I have read several reviews of Jonathan Haidt's new book, "The Anxious Generation" and while they all acknowledge the co...
28/03/2024

I have read several reviews of Jonathan Haidt's new book, "The Anxious Generation" and while they all acknowledge the convincing empirically-grounded argument that cell phones combined with over-protective parenting have "destroyed" generations of teenagers, some trot out the most banal criticisms that only serve the general public's need for comfort in the face of crisis and leaders' need for inaction. For example, referring to the prosaic objections of teens and parents ("what about emergencies?" or "my kids aren't 'destroyed'!") as a counter-argument is like asking anyone why their favorite TV show 'is so stupid'. Worse are the ad hominem presumptions that Haidt is somehow motivated by self-interest , celebrity, or fame -- a familiar argument deployed by far-right activists and climate deniers that only reveals the cynicism and jaded view of bad writers (and editors). Alarm is the right response to crisis and being 'alarmist' in the face of complacency and ignorance is heroic. Below is a recent summary article by Jonathan Haidt. Read him and decide for yourself.

Those born after 1995 were the first people in history to go through puberty with a portal to an alternative universe in their pockets – and the toll this has taken on their wellbeing has been devastating

A few years away yet, but imagine your own towable thorium-nuclear reactor:
23/02/2024

A few years away yet, but imagine your own towable thorium-nuclear reactor:

Go to https://galaxylamps.co/sabine, use the code SABINE, and get your Galaxy Projector with 15% off!Phasing out nuclear power is the dumbest thing the Germa...

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