If the same percentage of the population of the United States that were killed in the Civil War were compared with today's population, the death toll would be 5,500,000.
The number lost in 911 was around 3000, or 1/20th of 1 percent of the Civil War casualty rate. If we add Iraq and Afghanistan, that's another 6700 (or another 1/10th of 1 percent of the Civil War rate).
So for all three, close to 1/5 of 1% of the Civil War. One fifth of one percent.
And for all that, for those who lost a loved one, it's as bad as it could possibly be for those. How many of us even KNOW a single person who was killed in one of the last wars. Being a former military officer, I do know some of the dead casually, but no close friends during the last couple wars.
If each of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was close to 50 unique people, then that brings the total close friends or relatives that have experienced war loss to 10%. We're more connected that in the civil war, but if each of the dead were close to 20 people in the Civil War, 40% lost someone close to them. 1 in 10 versus 4/10 makes a big difference in the national sentiment.
Showing posts with label Universal Observation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Universal Observation. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Monday, June 1, 2015
Uploading Your Consciousness into a Computer: Alt-you
OK, so if it could be done, the problem would be that there would be 2 "yous." The original -- you sitting there with all your memories and thoughts hooked up to some kind of brain-copy machine. And then there would be Alt-you, on the computer. Assuming you could copy but not just cut & paste.
So, as you sit there, the Alt-you could, for all intents and purposes, act and think as you do/would, and if it were then in a robot or somehow then reprogrammed into the Alt-you human brain, two people, you and him.
So, the one made immortal at that point would be the other one, and you'd be sitting here in with your individual unique consciousness, still watching this other person/entity, who may be very much like you, but is not you, because you're still there, in your head. And you'd be seriously jealous, because as you continue to deteriorate and die, he/she'd be out there living their new and continued life! They could even do your job and be the parent of your children and the excellent spouse you are to your life partner! And you'd again, be watching as the outside person. You'd have the peace of mind, I guess, that Alt-you would be the same as you to everyone else in the world, and could continue being you to everybody. But again, it's the other you, and there's no way to get this current you outside your head and into any other consciousness, is there? As intimately as you are connected to your own neurons, those are the ones that make you feel like you with your own memories and consciousness. And you'd still die, just like you would have had you not uploaded yourself into Alt-you.
And the new you that you had thought you would become would be Alt-you's (Alt-yours?). To the world, you could almost be considered to become immortalized, but to you, yourself, sayonara!
But, brain transplant -- taking your brain and putting it into some healthy new body or fully hooked-up, robotic brain-vessel. I suppose that's the better route, right? Because then, it's still be the original you in there. That'd be good. Until you were finally ready to let go and surrender.
So, as you sit there, the Alt-you could, for all intents and purposes, act and think as you do/would, and if it were then in a robot or somehow then reprogrammed into the Alt-you human brain, two people, you and him.
So, the one made immortal at that point would be the other one, and you'd be sitting here in with your individual unique consciousness, still watching this other person/entity, who may be very much like you, but is not you, because you're still there, in your head. And you'd be seriously jealous, because as you continue to deteriorate and die, he/she'd be out there living their new and continued life! They could even do your job and be the parent of your children and the excellent spouse you are to your life partner! And you'd again, be watching as the outside person. You'd have the peace of mind, I guess, that Alt-you would be the same as you to everyone else in the world, and could continue being you to everybody. But again, it's the other you, and there's no way to get this current you outside your head and into any other consciousness, is there? As intimately as you are connected to your own neurons, those are the ones that make you feel like you with your own memories and consciousness. And you'd still die, just like you would have had you not uploaded yourself into Alt-you.
And the new you that you had thought you would become would be Alt-you's (Alt-yours?). To the world, you could almost be considered to become immortalized, but to you, yourself, sayonara!
But, brain transplant -- taking your brain and putting it into some healthy new body or fully hooked-up, robotic brain-vessel. I suppose that's the better route, right? Because then, it's still be the original you in there. That'd be good. Until you were finally ready to let go and surrender.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Suppression and Its Devastating and Inexorable Effects
When a human experiences a severe trauma while young, it will manifest itself in unpredictable ways, but it will. PTSD is real and almost always negative, frequently severely debilitating. There is no ignoring it. We're still learning how to treat this disorder, but it seems addressing the root cause is critical, as well as managing the symptoms and destructive damaging behaviors.
A country or a people is the same way. When it has undergone serious trauma, like Slavery and the Civil War which sought to end it, the healing is going to be a long-term endeavor, and not directly dealing with the deep wounds requires taking an unflinching look at the lacerations and inflammation is not enough, just as in a physical injury. Risk of infection exists with the potential to deeply harm the nation. I believe inadequate healing is what we are suffering from, and any denial will leave diseased tissue. It requires a solution that, like a general antibiotic that travels throughout the whole organism, it heals the infection nation-wide.
Maybe someone wants to develop a cancer analogy that works. But the unrest in and around the country are, in my view, a natural flare up from a function of our inability to truly look at who we are as a nation, what we've done to wrong ourselves, and do what it really takes to return to full "mental" health as a nation.
We are suffering because we have continued to impose suffering on sectors of our population, and the protests are a natural expression of pain. We know it's there, and it's not going away until we, all of us, bring our full resources to bear.
A country or a people is the same way. When it has undergone serious trauma, like Slavery and the Civil War which sought to end it, the healing is going to be a long-term endeavor, and not directly dealing with the deep wounds requires taking an unflinching look at the lacerations and inflammation is not enough, just as in a physical injury. Risk of infection exists with the potential to deeply harm the nation. I believe inadequate healing is what we are suffering from, and any denial will leave diseased tissue. It requires a solution that, like a general antibiotic that travels throughout the whole organism, it heals the infection nation-wide.
Maybe someone wants to develop a cancer analogy that works. But the unrest in and around the country are, in my view, a natural flare up from a function of our inability to truly look at who we are as a nation, what we've done to wrong ourselves, and do what it really takes to return to full "mental" health as a nation.
We are suffering because we have continued to impose suffering on sectors of our population, and the protests are a natural expression of pain. We know it's there, and it's not going away until we, all of us, bring our full resources to bear.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges: Becoming Expert
When I fist started flying, keeping track of the overwhelming amounts of information about the flight condition of the airplane and the greater environment was hard. Without an instructor pilot and/or plenty of time in the simulator, a new pilot will crash. Period.
After a thousand hours flying, a person gets pretty good at knowing what's going on in the cockpit, outside the cockpit, on the radio, in the airspace, and in the battle space. What used to take intense concentration to interpret and understand eventually becomes matter of course and instinctive -- a quick glance at the 10 or 15 gauges fits into a well-known pattern, and is instantly registered. Anything out of the ordinary stands out like the a Coco-Puff in your Cheerios.
You always read about how chess masters experience a similar faculty. They can glance at a board, read strengths and weaknesses of each side, and come up with a few quality options on where to go next.
I've been immersed in leadership and management theory, strategic thinking and planning, educational theory and the real-time operation of all of that for many years, with the constant intention to understand, learn and explore. When I see a clear pattern of something emerging, it's not a mystery. The influences, personalities, and potential solutions are loud in my head. Watching others remain oblivious to problems that are so apparent is hard. When they can't see the problems, how can they see the solution?
After a thousand hours flying, a person gets pretty good at knowing what's going on in the cockpit, outside the cockpit, on the radio, in the airspace, and in the battle space. What used to take intense concentration to interpret and understand eventually becomes matter of course and instinctive -- a quick glance at the 10 or 15 gauges fits into a well-known pattern, and is instantly registered. Anything out of the ordinary stands out like the a Coco-Puff in your Cheerios.
You always read about how chess masters experience a similar faculty. They can glance at a board, read strengths and weaknesses of each side, and come up with a few quality options on where to go next.
I've been immersed in leadership and management theory, strategic thinking and planning, educational theory and the real-time operation of all of that for many years, with the constant intention to understand, learn and explore. When I see a clear pattern of something emerging, it's not a mystery. The influences, personalities, and potential solutions are loud in my head. Watching others remain oblivious to problems that are so apparent is hard. When they can't see the problems, how can they see the solution?
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