Fantastic rundown! Thanks. I had intended to post a rant on the abuse of the word "analog" in contrast to "digital", given the news about the antikythera <https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/mar/12/scientists-move-closer-to-solving-mystery-of-antikythera-mechanism>. Now I feel that rant would be way too lame and couldn't follow this.
EricC suggested I watch "Leaving Neverland", which was interesting. But I also watched the Oprah interview afterward. Up to that point, I hadn't realized what a self-aggrandizing know-it-all she is. I'm now glad I haven't spent much time watching her shows or consuming her products. I suspect, however, she's evolved, like all of us ... like Michael Jackson, even. Maybe at one point, her contribution was of a higher quality. I won't know one way or another. On 3/12/21 8:18 AM, Prof David West wrote: > Nothing serious, just something that reminded me of topics in threads and, I > think, glen's acerbic comments about "great men / geniuses." Jessica > Wildfire's list (not so ironically making herself exactly what she is > decrying - absent billions of dollars of personal wealth) > > 5 most overated persons: > > Steve Jobs: > Steve Jobs didn’t invent the computer. Steve Wozniak did. He also didn’t > invent smartphones or touch screens. These technologies already existed. In > fact, Jobs almost stopped Apple from releasing the first iPhone. A covert > team developed it in complete secrecy from him, in order to avoid his caustic > skepticism. So you might say the iPhone happened despite Jobs, not because of > him. > > Elon Musk: > Elon Musk has been promising us an affordable electric car for over a > decade now. He’s used that promise to win billions of dollars in tax breaks > and seed money, while actively undermining any green projects he sees as a > threat to his own enterprise. Basically, he’s the biggest example of > corporate freeloading you could imagine. What the world admires about Elon > Musk isn’t his intelligence, or his environmental conscience. It’s his ego, > plain and simple. > > Jeff Bezos > Bezos conducts a masterful public relations campaign that allows customers > to believe Amazon isn’t completely destroying the environment, or working its > employees literally to death. In fact, it is. Despite Amazon’s recent pledges > to save the world, its carbon footprint has grown 15 percent since the > pandemic began. At best, the billions that Bezos spends will partly undo the > damage he’s caused. If that weren’t enough, Bezos and his company use every > underhanded tactic known to civilization in order to cheapen its labor costs > and avoid taxes. They’ve literally been caught stealing tips. Bezos himself > pays almost nothing in state income tax, while the rest of us are forced to > make up the difference. He cuts health insurance from his employees, then has > the audacity to say in public that he has no idea how to spend his immense > wealth, other than moving to Mars or cloning himself. > > Oprah Winfrey > Oprah isn’t a hard-hitting journalist. She isn’t profound. She caters to > the lowest common denominator, the suburban housewives of America, who need > to feel special and important because nobody else treats them with any > respect. Oprah figured this out early on in her career. They’ve been her core > audience from the start. Oprah rode to fame on satanic panics and woo-woo > spirituality. She’s a chief architect of the magical thinking that now fuels > QAnon-style conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine movements. Oprah has spent a > lifetime coddling intellectual fragility, while manufacturing controversy and > outrage for profit. > > Tony Robbins > The more you learn about Tony Robbins, the more you find out his real > secret. He only knows how to succeed if you’re a big, good-looking white guy > like him. Otherwise, his advice doesn’t work. Of course, the worst thing > about Tony Robbins is that he apparently spent most of his career telling > people to stand up for themselves, while preying on women and bullying them. > > What these people have in common: > So, apparently these are the five most successful people in the world. > They have the most money. They have the most influence. They’re kind of > awful. If we’re honest with ourselves, we can see how we’ve created a > mythology around these individuals. We tell stories about them that never > really happened. We ascribe pithy quotes to them they didn’t really say. We > turn them into mirrors of our own personal desires. In case you missed the > last few thousand years of western civilization, the most powerful people in > the world aren’t nice. They’re not fair. They don’t play by the rules. > They’re brutal. They cheat. Often, they’re simply in the right place at the > right time — and they exploit that to their advantage, often at everyone’s > expense. > > for entertainment purposes only. > > davew -- ↙↙↙ uǝlƃ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
