So at least 4 types according to this dude. Lizard People, Basically Sci-Fi Scandinavians, Bug people which may or may not resemble Xenomorphs, and the ever present and classic Grays.
Though other alleged Whistleblowers and alleged victims of abduction have also claimed multiple other types are out there. But they don’t regularly interact with humans for one reason or another.
Exact reasoning of course varying by claimants/Whistleblower.
It’s becoming more of a broader social and societal wide dysfunction. The problems with the legal system are downstream of that.
We’re at a society wide impasse. Everyone agrees things as they currently stand are unacceptable. But people are paralyzed into indecision as they’re worried about the consequences of what doing something could potentially mean. For either the country at large and or themselves personally.
For the most part there is no practical consequences if they get caught. In most jurisdictions It’s a mild inconvenience at best. You’ve got the crapholes that let them out because DEI and liberal Judges feel bad. Then you’ve got a lot of places that have frankly more criminal and social problems that are more pressing as the country grows increasingly dysfunctional and social order breaks down as space is limited in the prisons.
Even when caught they can often get ordered to pay for whatever they’ve stolen if it can’t be recovered. But often enough there’s no mechanism in place to actually force them to pay.
That and Liability and Legalese favor the Shoplifters. Loss Prevention can’t physically touch them. Outside of extremely narrowly defined circumstances. And even then they’re still liable to lose their jobs even if it’s found to meet those narrow circumstances.
Contracted Private Security has more room legally. But even then it’s liable to turn into a legal circus. As Courts have found in favor of shoplifters repeatedly. Who’ve argued everything from false arrest to being physically assaulted by Security.
Most of the country is unironically held hostage by the bottom 10% of the country. But we can’t do anything about the bottom 10%. Because people are afraid of finally doing something being used as justification to infringe on the Constitution. Though a fair few people who claim to be worried about the Constitution. Are more so worried about any potential solution inconveniencing them personally more than anything. Or alternatively they make money off of the bottom 10%.
So people Cope post about things not having to be this way. Shooting thieves. Or the good old days where they tried someone in the morning and had them strung up by the afternoon. Or cope about other solutions that would be implausible with American culture. Without actual doing anything. Because they’re afraid of the potential consequences of what doing something might actually entail.
Personally I feel like bringing back physical punishments. Might be useful. Start Breaking Fingers for example. If it keeps happening work your way up to a Hand. That or maybe Branding with a hot Iron. Right across the face. It’s somewhat Medieval and brutal. But clearly what we’re doing stopped working. So perhaps it’s time to return to the drawing board.
Solar Panels aren’t good investments in a country known for clouds, fog, and rain. Fancy that.
If I had to guess at a likely future. The bulk of D’Amaros and Walden’s tenure as Co-executives. Is likely going to be stemming the bleeding and cleaning up Iger and Cos mess.
With whoever succeeds them as the Corporate Leaders. Going to be the people who are going to oversee any revival if anything of the sort is possible.
D’Amaro inherited a dumpster fire and Empire in decline from Iger and company. About the only thing he’s got left to play at the moment to try and salvage the Company. Is leaning heavily on people’s nostalgia and pleasant childhood memories of old Disney animations.
As Iger and company pretty thoroughly trashed and poisoned most of their newer IP.
All the companies looking to save a nickel by employing the illegals and fly by night trucking outfits just got vibe checked.
‘Death of Culture’.
Hardly. The American Cultural scene has been stagnant if not Dead for decades. In large part owing to the ideological allies of the author of the article. Fallon is largely symptomatic of the stagnation and decline that started back in the 60s-70s.
Not that there was much worth preserving in the culture I presume he’s talking about. Which was ultimately the Liberalism/general leftism that’s prevailed culturally since the 60-70s. Though I’d guess the author is feeling afraid as there’s some indication the cultural scene is gradually starting to revive. In such a fashion that doesn’t endlessly reinforce his ideology and ideas as being the only socially acceptable ‘moral’ ones.
But God forbid the Chuds have Hot Women in their Videogames and White People aren’t forced to endlessly view media that tells them they’re evil for existing.
The pricing model for Gas and Energy and the broader international economy at large is largely one based on speculation and what things might happen.
Partly why a War half way across the world can send stocks and Businesses in countries completely unaffiliated with the conflict plummeting.
For the curious.
A oversimplified explanation of The Rapid Dragon concept. It is essentially yeeting pallets of Cruise Missiles out the back of a Cargo Plane. At which point a trigger system activates them and they launch to strike targets.
Essentially Americas Logistics Transport Capacity now has dual purpose Strategic Bomber capability.
The real irony is how many of the students booing her probably used AI to do one or more assignments.
But yeah. Praising AI to College Grads concerned about whether or not they’ll be able to find jobs. Is rather tone deaf.
The stuff imported by ship primarily came from the Gulf States. As well as Iran. The Iran batches in particular are important as Iran sold to them at discounted rates.
So even if it is restored. If it’s restored at non-discounted rates. It’s still an economic blow to them. They previously also had operations going in Venezuela. Though the Yoinking put an end to that.
An inordinate amount of issues in the U.S and world as a broader whole. Ultimately stem from the fact that no politically party has been able to decisively gain an upper hand politically in the U.S for a prolonged period for well over a century. They trade off power every few years. And spend the entirety of their time undoing what the previous incumbents managed. Thusly we make no forward progress at all.
That’s not competition. That’s stagnation with a couple extra steps.
Goldman Sachs, Citi, Blackstone, Black Rock, Master Card, Visa: Financial
Apple, Meta, Tesla, Qualcomm: Computing/Tech
Space X, Boeing, GE Aerospace: Defense/Space/Aerospace
Micron, Coherent: Electronic Industr
Illumina: Medical Industry
Cargill: Food Industry
Only one on that list that is exceptional odd/strange to have at high level talks is Illumina. From what I’ve been able to find. The Company while medical in nature specializes in Genetics and Genetic Sequencing. So why would the expertise of the CEO of a genetics company be needed for talks that are likely going to trend towards broader economic/political subjects? Unless there’s an additional issue on the docket outside the obvious political/economic tensions.
One of the prevailing theories surrounding one of the real reasons behind the Iran War. Was it was to put a check on the Chinese and trip up their technology development without a direct Military Confrontation. As China got almost a quarter of their oil from Iran at a massive discount.
Blocking that flow. And then reenabling it not at Sweetheart prices sets back both their tech sector and broader economy. The AI arms race is ultimately real. The first people to develop the AI terminators get a major advantage Militarily. We’ve both been taking shots at each others tech sector and seeking to undermine each other without directly contending confrontation.
While the news has largely been focused on Iran. It went largely unnoticed we signed a new Defense Agreement with Indonesia. Aside from all the normal stuff such as training, modernization, and basing rights. We also got unrestricted access to Indonesian Airspace.
The Strait of Malacca also passes through Indonesian territory. Which carries a lot of trade both to and from China. Meaning they have yet another major artery under threat.
Japan has also steadily been rearming and loosening Constitutional restrictions on its Military and Defense Industry. Likely at the explicit behest of the United States. They’re also standing up a new Intelligence Service. Whose purpose is almost explicitly to counter Chinese influence.
There’s likely going to be a lot of things discussed at this meeting.
Depending on the State. Law Enforcement in some U.S States are likely rocking more Armored vehicles than some European Military’s have in active service.
That’s not even considering the privately owned and operated ones. As both normal people and Private Security Firms are likely also rocking their own Armored Vehicles.
Unrelated. But they should really modernize and bring some of the Classic Models of American Police Cars. Crown Vic’s, Chevy Caprice etc. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia talking. But there was just some classic Americana with them.
Everything needing sleek and angular lines is just getting old.
From a strictly oversimplified Geopolitical sense. The people who have Nukes don’t get fucked with. It’s not rocket science. You don’t a degree to understand that.
Though with the modern tangled web of international relations. NGOs, Secret Societies, and competing interests. Things are never as straightforward as they appear and everyone is lying through their teeth to someone.
Likely the reason why we are having this current conversation and not dealing with an actively nuclear armed Iran. Is because someone benefited more from the perceived threat. Rather than the actual threat.
Something many classically trained and amateur analysts and ‘experts’ rarely ever mention. Either because they’re paid not to. Or because they themselves don’t actually know.
TBH. We’d be better off with Greenland, Alberta or other parts of Canada. If we do add stars to the flag. He’s probably just annoying people/trying to trigger a social media snit fit for one reason or another.
Though I wouldn’t be shocked if he does intend on adding Stars to the Flag and or clearing the way for additional Territories. And he’s deliberately confusing people as to the what places he legitimately has his eye on. Versus what he wants people to think he’s considering. So time and resources are wasted opposing a theoretical move that was never actually going to happen.
Wonder if they’ve done an evaluation by economic class.
Logical assumption at least in the Developed World is the bulk of missing cases. Would largely be focused in the poor. Or otherwise dysfunctional segments of the community.
Given people from the middle and upper classes are liable to already dislike them. Or at the very least find them tiresome to deal with. So they’d likely be more willing to assume at first that kids ran away to escape dysfunctional families and communities. Rather than immediately assume kidnapping by strangers.
Assuming the absolutely best case scenario. The most likely outcome in a World of AI driven abundance. A certain basic level of existence becomes more or less guaranteed. Whether through Government intervention or by simple virtue of the fact everything becomes so cheap as to be achievable by anyone with two brain cells to rub together.
To the Authors point. An Economy and therefore money, whatever form it may take, would likely still exist. By simple virtue of the fact we’d start assigning a value. However arbitrary it may be to various items. Such as he so succinctly notes. Verified and certified Human created Collectibles. Possessing human created goods could also become a status symbol. In a world of mass produced IKEA bookshelves. Bookshelves made by an actual Human Carpenter could become a status symbol. General Luxury Goods or goods perceived as being luxurious would also be a major draw.
The only mistake I can see the Author making is the mistake of assuming there might be some measure of rationality or logic towards people deciding what’s valuable in this theoretical future. That isn’t necessarily a guarantee. Especially in the era of memes and general internet stupidity.
But aside from that. I don’t see a flaw in his logic that an economy and money of some sort will likely continue existing. Regardless of what AI and technology does or does not do.
The people who sell us Tin cans chocked full of spyware and faulty parts. Are upset that purveyors of cheaper tin cans full of spyware and even faultier parts might possibly maybe be allowed to muscle in on their territory.
While the conclusion is possible. I think people have become predisposed to looking for something when something isn’t necessarily there. There’s a lot of fairly obvious sources that could be skyrocketing demand. Or serving as potential catalysts for demand. That aren’t a One world digital currency/beast system.
There is a multitude of other factors to ultimately consider. We’re dealing with manpower shortages across several industries. Manpower shortages that’ll take decades to make up the old fashioned way. IE people having children. AI is the fastest way to address that in the near term. As immigration, even skilled immigration, is quickly becoming a lose-lose political scenario. China on the other hand has a surplus of people at the moment. They don’t need AI in the same way we do for industry.
AI and AI use is increasingly becoming more prominent. Though private companies are keeping it on the DL given public perception. Again increasing demand. Hollywood and the entertainment industry is certainly going in on it. Despite claiming otherwise.
We’ve got several companies looking to roll out AI powered Robots. Like Tesla and Optimus. As a prominent example. Again increasing demand for data centers and processing.
There’s also Trumps stated goal of turning the U.S into a research and technology development mecha. One of the necessary parts of that would be the expansion and existence of excess data processing capacity. To support the development and research. Again increasing the need for data centers.
The War Department is going all in on AI as well. We have a lot of fancy gadgets they plan on integrating AI into. Again increasing demand for Data Centers and Data processing.
Sslf-Driving vehicles are also becoming increasingly common. Managing vehicle fleets like that generates a lot of data. Data that’ll need to be processed.
There’s also the stated goals for Space Force and the fact they’re dead set on setting up a Moon Base and space infrastructure. Even setting aside that can of worms/theories regarding the Moon missions/Space. They certainly could still be building the infrastructure to make people believe that’s the case. It’ll take years to actually bring a center online. In the meantime they could just as easily change tact. It’s not like it’ll be terribly difficult to retrofit the buildings to different uses and sell off computer parts.
Trump has also been harping on acquiring more territory. Supposing it’s not the bombastic style he’s known for. In order to secure lesser concessions he actually wanted. Imperial ambitions necessitate the creation of infrastructure to support the provinces.
Code has also just become far more generally bloated. It’s most readily obvious in gaming but far from exclusive. Developers aren’t spending as much time on optimization. So it could just be poorly optimized code bloating systems necessitating the demand for more processing power from data centers.
Trumps also trying to get more companies to open branches and reindustrialize the United States. Corporate Headquarters and Factories need compute and data processing capacity. They aren’t the factories of the 90s and 2000s anymore. Automation is increasingly common. All of that also necessitates data infrastructure. IE Data Centers.
There’s also the possibility that it’s just an economic bubble. A shitload of people are investing big to get rich. They’ll loose their shirt when the Bubble pops. A repeat of the .com bubble. Or any of the other numerous get rich quick things that have popped up over the years.
It’s cheaper to source them elsewhere. The facilities and expertise isn’t cheap. The labor is precise and time consuming. It’ll be years of investment before they make back the investment. Which is part of why they outsourced in the first place. The Billionaire investors wanted the profits without the overhead.
Trump can make all the calls he wants. But it is going to be an exceptionally expensive proposition for any investor. That’ll be years of rebuilding, retraining and building up support industries again. Until they can expect to start making back their investment. Let alone turning a profit.
Privatize the gains. Socialize the losses has been the SOP for major American Businesses for decades.
Statistically speaking. It’s not implausible given what is currently widely accepted public knowledge about space and the universe at any rate. That being each star is much like our sun and orbited by a variety of other planets. Simple statistic probability would indicate the existence of multiple other worlds much like earth.
Whether what’s public knowledge is true at any rate. Is a bit of a different although related topic.