Contact

Prepared

If we know they are listening, we should be thinking deeply about what we want them to hear.  Chances are the message size is limited and that content will be passed up the command chain based on relevance to the executive level. A conversation best serves both parties.

One idea. Two interpretations. Confusion. But the idea is over two centuries old, world famous and well regarded. Reconciling the two applications of the principle seems difficult, but important. A founding document is hard pressed to anticipate every contingency.

"Above the law? That is not an easy question to answer without knowing the subject and the jurisdiction well. One hopes that there are guiding principles that can be universally applied.  This is as good a test of that concept as I can imagine."

Value

"May I think out loud for a moment?", she asked.

"Please."

"Well, that is a big part the issue is it not? If the process of generating something new is in the open, ownership and the baggage that comes with it is less of a problem?"

"Ostensibly, ownership is a major incentive to create.", he pointed out.

"Perhaps we should revisit whether that is really what is happening?"

They had, at this point, come full circle. Ownership is pivotal to the motivation to create a new idea. Nearly every child experiences joy from the process of creating, it is as natural to them as breathing. The ability to transfer that ownership, while often increasing the value to the creator also comes with the vulnerability that the new owner may have motivations counter to the creator's intent. In short, ownership of the new can be, in a sense, abused.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Watch listening.

"The machine view and the curious. How do they differ? One way to measure is through the use of a common tool for analyzing both. The team's comments on the results as reported qualitatively to date and some further thoughts follow.

This time, 'watch' is a verb.

"The rapidly evolving machine takes advantage of pattern recognition automation. Though the pace of discovery is rapid, it remains largely incremental.

"The curious (and I should add patient) amplify the perturbations in the advancing field.  In so doing, suggest 'scout threads' that keep the process fresh and relevant."

Will we get their first? A persistent question. Is it helpful though? Openness is the currency of the realm. Counterfeit - sincere expression of flattery. And so on.

Another way to 'look' at what is perceived and how: If 'there' is in the process of being defined, duplicating the path to it is, by definition, in flux. Further, if it is impeded by the ownership transfer process and the legal infrastructure to support it, the chance of profitable replication approaches nil.

"Acquiring that talent will not be trivial."

"Yes, but the pursuit, regardless of outcome, will be productive."

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Enemy Not Required?

"Conflict turned inside out, what would it look like? Unfamiliar? Weird? Cool? Exalting? I am genuinely curious."

Paradox

"The word 'fighting' would not seem to fit even though it is commonly used for expressing one's devotion to an objective.

"An attractive aspect of this venue is the freedom of members to express their innermost feelings. It might not happen with conscious but secret advocacy agendas? Agendas of the wild soup … that is different beast altogether."

"But connected still."

"Always."

Tag lines of this type were common among them. In this case they carried a very specific meaning. Devaluing an applicable category, a sure sign that the speaker is afraid of the other's freedom to think critically in the given situation. Acknowledging interconnectedness reveals attempts at covert manipulation.

"How else would you suggest we deal with the fact of temporal cognitive uncertainty then? Perhaps we should explicitly acknowledge that it is not, as yet, resolved?"

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Faith or Obedience

"Control the framework (questions) and you have a way to sustain power? The framework has to remain relevant to those who are impacted by it then, I suspect."

"An issue of discernment then?"

"I think so."

Programming

The biggest vulnerability to those who would choose the available framework(s) for others is losing track of what is relevant to the people who did not participate in that choice and are subject to it. A given stewardship of a constituency lasts only as long as it is a best choice.

And one should not confuse ONLY choice with BEST choice. Without a robust competitive environment, an only choice's efficacy will naturally deteriorate for lack of something with which to compare it.

"One can argue that mistakes of an abstraction engine constitute 'sin'. Put another way, actions of the unmoderated ego are short-sighted and often destructive. Creating symbols is a key component of putting high level abstraction to work. In the process of doing so, we humans can inadvertently carry along unintended consequences. Discernment is best a collaborative process.  Our individuality then blends the discernment soup making it 'tastier' (more effective) in the process.

"At long last ..."

"Difficult to believe that action based on fear is as wise as action based wisdom. If 'faith' is based on fear one would logically surmise the proponent is asking one to switch off one of the mind's greatest capacities, to anticipate a likely outcome. If 'faith' is based on historical success, the contributing detail can be disregarded and action on the belief can proceed with an expectation that it is, in some important global sense, desirable. In a group that encourages robust communication the high-integrity 'faith' effect is amplified dramatically. Blind obedience - not so much."

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Ignoble Privacy

Private and/or Secret

The misuse or neglect of privacy privileges is a major source of suffering. The concept of entitlement to multiple standards of conduct is a common expression of avoidable inefficiency. It is unfortunate that some who aspire to power would encourage such behavior. Nevertheless it is quite common.

"She rationalizes that such secrecy is justifiable for security reasons. The unintended consequence is that to the degree she doubts her pure intent, she suspects others on the grounds that 'it is what people do.'"

"If I understand this then, you are suggesting we might want to look more closely at the possibility that her behavior may have been co-opted by those with a different agenda competitive with ours?"

"At the very least, it seems to be a particularly attractive test case. We already know that complete openness is not optimal. But how do we define what is appropriately private?"

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Of Least Resistance

Where in the world is that?

"… he suggests India would be an attractive launch venue for the authentic identity network."

"We will be hearing from other candidates once the ping is designed and sent. Start assembling your teams.", she responded.

It is a game with a bridge to 'reality' (as hereinbefore defined) after all. Massively Multi-player Online ... From inception, many of its benefits will be free to all. Its most valuable features will be available to subscribers. A realistic simulation of social entity for authentic individuals (no false identities, no multiple identities etc.) Said net will model applications in 'reality' to generate empirical data sets that closely parallel what could be useful 'outside'.

Subscribing members are rewarded for protecting other members (as a group) and therefore the integrity of the authentic id network and reducing or eliminating the influence of outsiders or insiders seeking more influence than their numbers would otherwise entitle them to.

"Notice how important the precise quantity of 1.0 is outside the black box. Each node, ideally, has precisely this value. The highest incentive of the game is the assurance of this value for each node and that each node is unique.

Locality

"We occasionally get our words mixed up and discover hidden value.  On the level of DNA and at the level of cultural exchange through language. Serendipity when the copying is not perfect? Freudian slip? A voice from the unspoken part of our collected minds. The entropy of communications is mitigated by the intelligence at the nodes."

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed in it, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Authentic Identity Game

"First: Essential or generic features and traits of an individual occurring outside her or him based on fact and projected over time.

"Second: a collection of the first."

"We wish to characterize this 'black box' from its behavior over time. Here is some of the more important characteristics of the 'box'. 1) It externalizes host agent's qualities. 2) Its reach is global or greater. 3) It is dynamic 4) has the potential to grow agent's participation in the global reach."

To be human is to be creative.

For purposes of this discussion assume reality is a near perfect consensus. Reality's extent therefore is limited to our collective perception as revised over time. Discovery can, given this model, be considered a creative process (though it could be argued that the creation is sometimes not an act of volition).

If 'what' is more important than 'who',  then who decides? Perhaps 'what' is most importantly composed of 'who'? If so, our black box is focused on an authentic answer to the question 'who?' because it assumes that the most important aspect of its function is authentic identity OVER TIME.

Value in this context is more about identity associated with objects than quantity of a universal object (Yen, RMB etc.) that could be exchanged for them. One could say that a universal object like currency is inadequate to describe value within the black box because it is composed of a single dimension.

"Based on the foregoing, it is our mission to develop a system that extends or replaces the current valuing system to more accurately reflect the productive potential of the species."

Owning means more ...

Two attractors particularly appropriate to how an  authentic identities network might evolve are separateness and unity. Uniqueness is that which differentiates individuals while unity defines them as a class.  Both are important, individuality is what we have in common (unity) and therefore separateness is common to members of an identity group.


Arguably, identity paranoia is pandemic in our connected society. While there is a plethora of anecdotal evidence explaining it, one would be hard pressed to ignore that there are those who have a deep interest in sustaining widespread fear.  Any practical system of the type described must address the sources of this afflictive reaction.


NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed in it, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Special Ingredient

"Very humbling to be devastatingly blindsided and not realize it until nearly two years later. So with hat in hand, proceed to a hopefully candid discussion that will clear the air. Projecting an outcome with bias and too little data would be to repeat my culpability. Reasonable to expect the exercise to be well worth my while, though.

"There could be a whopper of a story to explain why it happened. Owning my version of the abstraction engine vulnerability would be another personal milestone -- lending credence to this soup rapport thing."

Why might someone from Latvia come visit? I barely recognized the country's name. For that matter, another from the south of France. The geography lessons continue and they are truly fun. It is probably reasonable to assume they both know English.

And so we are presented with two independent paths to the core subject. Anecdotal evidence of the universality of same. Exploring the paths in hopes of discovering what else those paths may have in common.

Friendly?

You see, dear reader, these are not the arbitrary words of one. No, they are an amalgam of thoughtful wonderful change agent's natural intent.

Humans are the good guys. Do not waste another minute, tis the season - go give one or preferably more a great big hug before it is too late.

And lest I forget, Happy day before the day before Birthday, Jesus.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Blink of An Eye

"That crowd could not understand. Speculation as to whether 'they' would is therefore moot. Observer is the loneliest number you will ever do. Best not do it exclusively. Was uncommonly beautiful there though, her green and brown smile - sublime. I promise to return with my new 'toys' and a great big hug and kiss for taking care of me in a dark time."

Or cover.

"Someone had to author it. Was it a collaboration or the work of a lone individual?  The eventual signatories shed some light on its origins. The work of a professional, a student or re-worked from an existing document (big co.)"

One idea worth considering, an escape hatch that protects legitimate interests. It could demonstrate good faith far more than has been achieved so far. It requires an implicit candor of sufficient depth not likely to occur with unchecked eaves-dropping.

Know the Road

How then does one broach the subject? Seems to already have happened, actually. Time and again the sponsored methodology has proven revelatory. And the pace of discovery is accelerating.

"Should we revise the private feed protocol then?"

"Not yet."

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Sleight of Hand

"The link seems unusually busy. There were several failed re-boot attempts. Moderation finally came some days later.  What can we conclude, if anything?"

"Even before we discovered today's anomalies, we were pretty sure they were inside."

One could argue that it is useful to regard all deception as entertainment so as to see it in a rational light. A person outside the fishbowl can observe the effect of legerdemain and not be otherwise subject to it. Misdirection relies on expectation.  And expectation plays a very large role in conscious awareness.

Harmony of the special kind. Does it reflect a desirable adjunct to prediction in ordering group actions? Cultivated collective perception reduces the vulnerability of individual expectation. Abstraction engine constraint mitigation - society's function.

many across

"Ok, Ok. Now I get it. Our attention and even the machine's attention has been diverted. It may have been just a ruse (though spectacular) to allow a secret landing. Is it coincidence that the breach followed our efforts to indirectly appear vulnerable?"

"And they may have been here longer than we have yet realized ..."

"No doubt. In March it will have been two years."

"Paranoia strikes deep." - Stephen Stills.

Old School

"That approach is old school and in many situations, still effective."

"It presumes circumstances that seem not to be a very good match here, though."

"Agreed."

Comeback

Moving out of the lab and into beta operation is seldom a single step process, even in most ideal of circumstances. This mission had a way of testing all the rules-of-thumb. Boiler plate is seldom reusable when it comes to practical creativity. Not rocket science. Not at all. Emergent value is just not as predictable as would be ideal for the application of canned consensus.

"Checking one's humanity at the office door catches up with ostensibly compassionate rhetoric. We will need to test intent now to prevent a less manageable asymmetry from growing. The dialog so far ... is it a good platform?"

"Yes, and we will get started on the research of applicable open and public tools."

The shortest day of the year barely noticed for the sheer joy of embracing change. It is a time to be thankful (as opposed to consumptive). Sunshine is a state of mind.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

A Reminder

"I want to get a clear message to him without all the baggage one expects from this phrenetic time of year.  Ironic that so much cause of suffering is embodied in a celebration of aspiring to end it."

The siege is winding down, as another is surely building.  Just enough control to accurately and sufficiently record the upcoming echo. A robust infrastructure in place but placement of 'sensors' requires knowledge acquired and studied a bit during the 'pulse'

The system monitor relatively quiet from the predictable input? Start-up occurred a little over a year ago. Paging back that year, the log reveals much more than expected. A word occurred, "mystic'.

If the three day latency rule applies here, he thought, what priming is required? He switched to the meta-pattern display just as she walked in. He could tell she was still processing their recent course correction and asked, "Thoughts?"

"I sat down at the keyboards yesterday."

"I heard. It felt like a soundtrack. Activity is different when the sun is hiding on the far side during the day. As a practical matter, chances are we have opened a send channel. If so, we will want to choose our words carefully."

"How much time do we have."

"I suspect, all we need ... all we need."

© 2010 Buzz Hill

A Part of Mind

Perspective

"One argues we should measure value according to his best life experience (in young adulthood, as I recall). Another argues that her profession's protocol is best in advancing the interest of the less fortunate segment of the US population. And yet another, his higher education qualifies him to choose which leaps-of-faith are valid.

"I am reticent though.  All are friends whose heart I trust. But whose ego I trust less. I have one too … an ego, that is. And, frankly, it has been known, at times, to leave me wanting. May I extrapolate?"

Much of who we are, I am told is from another time. Before now. It guides my thinking - sometimes forward, sometimes astray. Fascinating how those childhood feelings persist.

I made it. It worked. Thanks, Dad. Now that I am one - a dad that is - I see how a parent wants it to work just that way. Electronics was a great hobby.

Could I be wrong? Silly question. I am alive. It goes with the territory. Maybe it would be more appropriate to just assume there is a better trajectory than the one today that did not feel so good.

"The front door is locked. Is there a way around to the back door that won't disturb the loyal canine?"

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Origin Paradox

"I think we can now safely assume they are in. Am I alone in thinking that?", his voice was still a bit tentative but he felt relief that the thought was no longer private."

confused?

But 'who' was speaking, he wondered. Content without identities took a highly trained mind set and since he was part of the team from the beginning he felt competent in the field. When these anomalies arose, it created tension. The transition out of 'personal private' for the skilled person was not an easy decision. Assertions, while useful, cannot be formally provable?

The circumstantial list in abstract expression:

- Push back from other nation-state(s).

- Competition's use of highest-risk false accusatory tactics.

- Mendacity of widely held assumptions.

- Cloud tool's tracks shifting inexplicably far and fast.
- Informed pessimism as wishful thinking.

Inception as illusion - dependent origination. End of sphere. And so on.

"... but is distracted by the reunion.", fortuitous? They were led to believe that 'reality' is the medium for communication, nothing more ... and nothing less. The 'laws' of physics, the consistency of mathematics etc. just the shared vocabulary of Minds.

Bell's theorem. Time is not? And then, what of gravity? And the beginning?

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Trend Yet To Grok

"As the pages turn, a trend is emerging. What, exactly, is the trend? I must confess, I am not sure yet. This disclosure is likely to elicit clarifying feedback. And the process I have just described is at least a part of that trend."

Friendly Organic

First amendment hypocrisy is a vague feeling that we are not as certain free press as we once thought. Manipulators have rushed in to co-opt the early uncertainty of open reflection.  Each time they do, more is revealed about their methods. Successful competition incorporates in-depth knowledge of one's opponent and mitigation of the counter-productive skewing results.

It is big, really big.

"The sliver lining of the emergent ambiguity? Deeper application of value surrounding transparency? Who is afraid of the people? Not me. But I wonder sometimes, are any jobs left for folks who want to be honest while making money?"

"Thinking out loud again, I suspect. But I have to agree. We live in a time of great transition. The old universal valuing system is showing its age.  A new one may be on the horizon, but it is too far away to discuss in precise detail.", he trailed off into a thoughtful silence.

A value system based on much finer granularity than nation-state currencies ...

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Treasure Located

Waiting is ...

The tipping point? Ascendent demographic group identified. Discovering the last major barrier? Compelling argument that it is what Heinlein seems to suggest in Stranger. And Rand in Shrugged. And Hilton in Horizon?

"Maybe thats not important now."

"How so?"

"The emergent fraction we have been discussing is peaking again. Watch …", he gestured and the display responded.

Some are more willing to reveal it than others. That age is significant and can, at times, be a misleading illusion. In one sentence, If allowed to think out loud she and her friends can get it so much better - then another one of us can come into this world when the time is right.

Ascendant

Us humans, her female friends, all things thought (the best), more little humans when we get it right and the dance that is a pre-requisite.

Beware, the open discussion.  The competition sometimes does not play nice. Something about rationalized retribution. 'Dirty pool', I think they call it.  Or worse.

---

"So, this is why you are so cautious about declarations?", she asked.

"Yes.", he answered, "It drives some lawyers bonkers."

My Backyard

"A school of thought that says, in effect, self-interest drives all individual activity and well-informed altruism is the best way to achieve said interest. Seems to be a useful paradigm to me."

"Yes, and on its surface, a seeming paradox. Using our rough ego/executive model, one aspect is a show-stopper for harvesting a rapport with the rest of mind.", remarking as if their dialog was scripted, he folded his hands.

John Galt?

The root of the common word, cynic illuminates this obstacle particularly well. One wonders, why?

And in that process starts to reveal the implicit assumptions that have the power to block or accelerate opportunity. Much unsaid because it is a constraint of our communications choices.

"Angry intellects. Who decides when? Is it ever useful? If so, why?", he continued.

Away from the artificial "civilized' world, her nurturance was like the best that a mother could provide.  Why so far from the world we have created does this happen? The macho guys take pride in roughing it.  The ladies bemoan the loss of modern conveniences. Just two popular views in this corner of the planet. Much assumed because of convention bias, and the very nature of sharing architecture.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Of Vertical Channels

Note that as the following unfolds, a process of the 'soup' informing the 'executive' is occurring. It is why the reader is invited to return over the ensuing 24 hours. Grokking (Heinlein) is essentially a meditative process.

Those with experience will have observed that abstract disclosures/questions will morph into metaphorical examples that will tease out the hidden patterns more effectively than declarations.  And importantly, will do so while avoiding unnecessarily inflammatory words and phrases wherever possible.

People?

Vertical channels in lieu of agent risks, less than optimal. The biggest problem with people who exercise free will is that they may be corrupted by ideas that are in conflict with the vertical channel design they inhabit. Humans can adapt to the paradigm where 'gravity' plays such a crucial role.  Doing so to an outsized degree is ill advised, though.

As an avid observer of these vertical channels, I am guessing that their designers were looking for efficient control of folks in the channels from the top. The stacking insures that each position has the satisfaction of being the boss of those below while accepting being a servant of those above.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Friendly Trust

Informed speculation or spoof?  Perhaps both. Friends tell each other inside jokes. By doing so, they confirm dynamically, trust. Dialog based on 'private implicit exchange' is very effective/secure mutual recognition tool.

Compare this with forwarding spam to a large group because it agrees with the sender's point-of-view. An unfriendly mistake often made by people who are afraid of organic technology. Another example, piggy-backing on another's success to promote unrelated agenda's.  The list is quite long. The pattern is recognizable. Can technology detect this unfriendly behavior by itself?

... friends laugh together.

The relative success of the technology to implement this protocol depends on empirical discovery of the methods recorded in the cloud and extending them with the competitive speculation of well-meaning competent individuals.

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider it a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been addressed in it, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Top Dead Center

Life

"You will notice the self-organizing on the micro-level scales gracefully when these tools are applied. It reminds one of the vivid graphics generated by fractals. We have tentatively projected a global reversal in six months to two years."

When a generation changed the world, it did not extinguish that which it rose up to counter. Now they are back. If it did not work four score and change ago, why not try again? Only this time harvest the widespread suffering (the anguish of the masses is inevitable, we KNOW that - we who have EARNED insulation from it).

Knight to King's Rook Five. Check.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

A Picture's Worth

I watched her doing it. At first I thought it was because she was young and didn't know. But it was me. I was old and … inexperienced in the ways of the 'connected' world. Qualifying the world in that way would not have occurred to her. In her lifetime, it has never been anything less.

So when I struck up a conversation in the usual place with someone who … I want to put this kindly … aspires to go with the current disparity's beneficiaries, sparks of the subtle kind began to fly.

"What we see illuminates and what we hear puts it in experiential context?"

"That is the theme, yes."

Republic

You see I grew up with exploring. In the woods out back and on electromagnetic wavelengths that could travel the globe.

When the neurotransmitter magic finally kicked in - years of 'wasted childhood daydreaming' became the local wiring of epic discovery. And major fun, I might add. If you could only see me now, Mom. Perhaps you can.

"For instance, googlewashing, leaves tracks that are easy to detect. Further, a plethora of empirical tests exist to test veracity based on pattern collections. One would assume the upcoming googlewashing x.0 has as a design goal, higher-functioning synthetic agents. And too, whistle blowing support will advance as well."

"Still looks like advantage-compassion, to me."

"I agree."

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Inconvenient Messenger

"To be honest, he seemed a bit rattled. The first time I recall seeing him like that."

"From what you describe, chances are it goes deep. A relaxed demeanor morphs quickly into something … out of character."

"Precisely."

Heretofore the pattern was seldom verbalized and when it was, only in example form.  The generic pattern, though common, was seldom communicated with words alone.

"What can we conclude from observation of the tiger? Few in number, large global influence, much of the power asymmetry vis-a-vis its international context derived from private secrets. One would think whistle blowing would be more of a threat. Small size helps. Advance technology helps. Anything else?"

"Trading cards.", she whispered without looking up.

Same As The Old Boss

Bright kids know. She is only 15 in 2010 and one of many who will rock the vote like NEVER before.

Speculate, yes. Verify, no?

The simple statement, "Maintain order." has widespread appeal. When qualified, it becomes less so. For example, "Maintain our order". When 'our' means everybody, it still seems pretty positive.  When it is a subset, justified suspicions in portions of the constituency begin to arise.  And so on.

In our country, the USA, the spirit of the first amendment to the constitution empowers a check and/or balance to governmental authority. From time to time it needs to be interpreted so that its spirit continues to serve its initial purpose.

Leaky Taxes

"Remember that some ten or eleven months of this protocol led to a profile without identifying actual persons. At the end of the period, had it not been for other benefits, we may well have concluded that it did not make sense to assume that the agenda had a personality or personalities driving it.

Chess

"And then just as we were about to abandon the concept we were fortunate to have discovered an even longer effort that actually did identify people that not only were driving a huge effort but had covered their tracks with the very technology that others, including ourselves, were using to detect hidden agendas."

The review of this piece of recent history especially resonant. What is it they are missing this time, he wondered.  Identities again or something else of comparable magnitude?

"Offshore, in or near Asia, I suspect. Perhaps, one of the tigers."

"We can test it. Should we wait?"

Waiting is seldom an option in a highly parallel system of this type. Specifying the end of the wait requires a predictive capability not yet supported.

Paul Revere

"'Helter Skelter' comes to mind.  The battle lines are being drawn. Information breaching barriers. Mere pawns in 'normal' circumstances are learning a little and are eager for more ... much more.

"Pawns yes, but there are many more of them than any other piece on the board. And each has the potential of being promoted to a queen.

"Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride ..."

---

What does this handle switch in our electronic communications indicate?  It first occurred around September 3rd according to the cloud files. We could speculate that the main machine is not secure. The question then would be for how long? Is the switch were talking about a side effect?

"Might there be a mole we need to flush out?"

"This volume of decoys usually indicate that something of that magnitude is occurring, yes."

Sort of Dark Now

Its a time of year, really? You are saying that the hypocrisy revolves around the bright hydrogen ball in the daytime sky? I hate it when there is a scientific explanation. It feels a lot more important than that. 

I am not sure of course. After dragging myself in out of the miserable cold rain, tired of trying to have a conversation with trees shut down for the winter. So a dear friend, and who would have guessed, the grim reaper came a calling. After the obligatory terror spell and with nothing else to lose, I took a look under the hood.  The old goat was smiling for God's sake.

Wicked sense of humor. Lets humiliate him and see if we can keep him around forever.

Torn between the innocent and what she must become? A part of the world with an unlikely mix, or so it would seem. Measured through eyes that see externalized costs as desirable and freedom subordinating democracy through representation based on power of wealth.

An attractive base for a world order based on anonymous influence. Secrecy (not darkness, really) a necessary characteristic. The old fellow kept at bay for a bit of extra time. Amazing what a blank check can do for extending a lifetime.

"The trappings of privilege. At what price? Legendary, to be sure."

Lock Down

"Well, I guess this surprises me. How about you?"

"No question. It is not as if anomalies don't occur on the prediction monitor … but this?"

Just then she entered the room with highly sensitive data in hand. The non-essential personel acknowledged the situation and exited quietly. Disclosure at this level was carefully sequenced. Further, secrecy in this operation was carefully subordinated to mission integrity once the first major breach was discovered and remedial action taken just months ago.

While it was clearly impractical to either expect or aspire to 100% confidence, it was more than reasonable to quantify uncertainty to the degree possible. 'Forward looking' or 'projected causal' would have a large bearing on the issue that was unfolding.

"I am of a mind that we will have to seriously consider the existence of an operation not unlike ours that, unlike our own, thinks competition should be crushed."

American Justice

A just America (USA) is a worthy objective.

Second half teams that are fresh in the fourth quarter are fun to watch.

The following play, C14 is emblematic of the strategy implemented in the adjusted tactical arsenal for the second half of big games.

Like in the uniquely American sport we 'Americans' call Football. The game lasts for four quarters, not two. It is helpful to have a big roster, say 12 million. A well equipped home facility: Great computers hooked up to an awesome friendly worldwide machine. International scouts, up to speed on the dirt-ball tactics of the opponent. Teammates that actually care about and listen to EACH other.  A coach who doesn't spend a lot of time on the opposition's TV who knows how to encourage rather than denigrate.

Look carefully under the holiday tree.  The best from Santa will give you a great big hug. Go humans!

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Silos and Other Paradigms

If we lack faith in each other, we look for a higher authority. Said another way, if you think I am stupid, you will identify with someone who appears less so. Often, someone not on the same level but rather at a higher level that you aspire to. If there is a financial incentive to do so, all the better. At some point, sound objectivity can (and often does) lead to narrow self-interest.

I would argue that we all are vulnerable to 'incentives' of this nature, even and perhaps especially those who want to exercise their intelligence in a meaningful way.

Vertical is Patriotic?

Devious minds recognize this aspect of human nature, "You and I are not stupid like your neighbor, follow me and you will have the opportunity to take away from the stupid that which they never should have had in the first place."

Bias your vision to the vertical as in:

Horizontal interaction (unlawful assembly) is to be shunned because other people are stupid (like your neighbor) and stupid could rule if they organize through peer-to-peer interaction.

Vertical control (top down) by those who have 'earned' the right to rule is not appealing to stupid people but necessary to maintain order (because 'they' are stupid and destructive.) You just can't pay too much to those who will use any means necessary to maintain this overarching order. We would rather pay a few a lot than more. Market Based Management ... something like that.

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Us and Them

Plutocrats would have us believe that 'other' humans are stupid. If we make the mistake of believing said manipulators, we are then not as likely to have actual conversations with 'them' for certainly 'we' are not stupid. One prescription for 'central control'. Clever but flawed.

Its not so much that the message is repeated verbatim. No matter how carefully crafted the message, distributing the cookie cutter version is … about as valuable as an oreo. For a bite or two, delicious ... but ultimately just empty calories.  If, on the other hand, the goal is organic engagement with a friendly theme, much larger value is added at each link of the interactive transaction chain. And the resulting conversation? Use your imagination.

Wamsleyspeak

Notice that since the recent flurry of disclosures are about to turn to the private sector that ostensibly public resources are now being used to discredit the medium for those disclosures. Further, the tactics are more like we expect in a take-no-prisoners fight-to-the-death war. Complete with character assassination, trumped up charges, rampant corruption etc. Mere governments are no longer the issue. Really deep pockets are.  A potent witches brew for some of the ugliest human behavior history has known.

And there in lies the rub, dear reader. If all you have is a hammer (can you say, $$$), everything looks like a nail.  You can embellish the concept by 'speaking' of a useful tool for constructive purposes (like a new porch) but in the hands of someone who never had to grow up ...

What's My Line?

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Who Controls? Why?

"Just as we have publicly gained ways of disclosing private misdeeds from outside government, a dark pall may be descending on its latest social-technology mechanism. Is that our interest? Stifle cutting-edge transparency because it is inconvenient for some that otherwise have good intentions (or at least imagine they do)?

Co-opt?

"It is my considered opinion that we as a people could learn much about the ego-driven manipulation that currently corrupts our organizations, whether they are professional associations, corporations, 'nonprofit' religious institutions, NGOs, democracies etc. Spontaneous transparency often serves such purpose well. Admittedly, there may well be cases when it has precisely the opposite effect. I suspect they are rare.

"As a species, it is our instinct to seek out asymmetric advantage through constrained paradigms. It is the way we have insured our survival in the competition for limited resources. The hazard is the collateral damage caused by first their popularity then becoming a vehicle for hoarding of unchecked power."

It seemed reasonable that this message surfaced because of the effort to expose the covert operation. Not yet knowing their intent and only having hints as to their methods after directing the best of their detection capability at the problem was disconcerting.

Not helpful that they did not yet have an indication as to whether the message was synthesized or composed by a single individual. Circumstantial evidence would lead one to believe ... what?

© 2010 Buzz Hill

Folks, wonderful folks.

Another Class Lady

"Recently, thanks to Google Analytics, had the pleasure of discovering readers in several foreign countries including Switzerland, Indonesia, Germany, Iceland, Thailand among others.

"Last year's research leads to an inescapable conclusion, the other gender is emerging as the solution to what ails our planet in these precarious times."

Start Up!

From three perspectives, a more robust combined view of the new agenda, (Mother) Nature, uncertainty, wisdom.

"She bets on people? What does that mean? I am guessing she recognizes that some valuable people don't understand when they are at their best and her specialty is facilitating self-awareness in such individuals."

God's best invention?

Emergence is a property of our universe. Change is inevitable. Making change better seems worthy of sentient intent. Communications is essential to collaborative aspirations in this area. Many can contribute but modalities like voice, text, visual, sound have been optimized to remarkable degree for such purpose.

A strong argument for compassion has been made for millennia. Recently we as a species have developed technology that can help accelerate compassion dramatically.

"In just over an hour we will have an opportunity to observe a snapshot sample of the people's voice. If successful, it will speak in opposition to the forces responsible for the nation's decline.

"Opposition to what? I suggest it is corruption. Perhaps, plutonomics. The US form of democracy has a centuries old mechanism, refined over the years, to deal with inevitable change and do so in a way that is fair - in some collective sense - to all."