Kropotkin and Anarchists

 Kropotkin was a driver for many of the early 20th century anarchists. For them, property was delimited at best if not totally abandoned. It is worth reading him to understand where many of the current anarchists are coming from.

The so-called socialists are really Kropotkin anarchists. The proposed abolition of the Senate if a prime example of what makes an anarchist. Property is eliminated, nit controlled by the state as a socialist would demand.

Kropotkin is a step beyond Marx, but today's so-called socialists, whether they know it or not, are in line with him. 

Ben Hur Redux

 I guess today the Emperor will have a redo of the famous chariot race but this time with autos of some repute. It is bad enough to get around DC not to close off its heart for this automotive chariot race may be a bit over the top.

Aqueducts and Data Centers

 Frontinus was a Roman Engineer who was one of the principals behind the building of the aqueducts. It is worth reading his works, htey provide insight to structures that have lasted 2000 years. 

Now a  union coordinator writes in the NY Times that electricians, especially union ones,  are a prime reason we should build data centers willy nilly across our suburbs. He does note:

The debate shouldn’t be data centers, yes or no. Instead, it should center on the rules and who enforces them. Over the years, the best operators I have worked with, CloudHQ, Equinix and Stack Infrastructure, have been genuinely responsive to community concerns, working hard to mitigate noise, improve aesthetics and invest in technologies that reduce environmental impacts. And yes, there are impacts. Innovation in energy and resource efficiency, though, is not just a reaction to criticism — it’s central to the industry’s success. Communities that partner with data centers on water-recycling systems, transparent power-purchase agreements and community benefit agreements that specify the host area’s gains before any permits are issued deliver real revenue and real jobs with manageable costs. Communities that allow developers to write their own rules have, predictably, suffered worse outcomes.

 Yes, the community should be involved. But the data center builders are rushing head strong into massive construction before any of the questions are even addressed. 

My father and brother were IBEW members and I worked along side my father.  The unions can be powerful entities for better or worse. But jobs alone are not the driver. 

Also for anyone who has ever built such facilities, I have, installation is but one step. Operations are different. The install jobs are transient, they do not last. Thus the argument has a fundamental fallacy. Operators want a few people as possible. Get the job done and move on. 

Oh, and yes, aqueducts were built by slaves! 

 As Sextus Julius Frontinus stated:

Still before us is the topic of maintenance of the conduits. But before I speak of this, a few comments should be set forth on the working-crew established for that purpose.  There are in fact two such crews, one belonging to the state, the other to Caesar. …Monies for the public crew are paid from the state treasury, an expense which is offset by revenue collected from properties associated with the water system: these consist of lands or buildings situated near the conduits, delivery-tanks, …or basins. … This income, close to 250,000 sesterces, had been lost to its intended purpose and credited to some other account;… but the Deified Nerva with a due sense of right restored it to the populace, and I have given painstaking attention to bringing it under fixed rules, that it might be entirely clear which places were subject to this tax. Caesar's crew receives monies from the imperial treasury, from which payments are also made for all lead and for all expenses relating to the conduits and delivery-tanks and basins. 

 Thus the problem has been with us for millennia. 

In the Navy

 My father was in the Navy in WW II. He managed to return once to the US in late 1944 after the Battle of Surigao Strait and the friendly fire on his ship by the USS Denver. A short period where I lived with my mother in Berkeley. There was no cell phone, Zoom etc. His mother never complained to the Navy Department, she was dead.

Now I read about mothers, fathers, mother-in-law and the like front page complaining about their wonderful children not being fed well enough and being far from home too long!

One must be kidding! Imagine what the shipmates may think of "Little Billy" not having his favorite ice cream of Fruit Loops! This is why they call it a war!  

Think of what the Marines or Army soldiers go through, no water, poor food, and a rather aggressive enemy.

The Navy is not a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line, it is a military organization. "little Billy"may now be the most underappreciated sailor on board! 

The Old Days of Teaching

 

Back in the days when I was teaching (MIT, Columbia, GWU, Poly NYU) I used chalk and blackboard. Each lecture had a theme, a point I wanted to get across, and my writings became props for what I wanted to say.

I kept a look out for every students eyes, did they follow or did I get MEGO, "my eyes glazed over" syndrome. I interacted with those so afflicted. In effect each lecture was a one act play with a single actor, and the script was painted on the blackboard. The holding of the chalk, the dust on my jacket, the little comments to see how many were still awake.

Now the advantage was in engineering you gave exams to have the student "show that" in detail. That meant receiving long had written exposes of what they hopefully knew. An A was 90 and above etc. You could not curve the grades a whole lot. They were what they were. 

 Now in an interesting piece in CATO's web site:

 Teachers, like many professionals, have expressed concerns about how AI might change or replace their jobs. AI can certainly help students in ways we traditionally associate with teachers, but it can also expand the reach of a good teacher. Education has evolved with many technologies, and the best teachers have evolved with it. Great teachers won’t be replaced by AI; they’ll be the ones who carefully adapt to it.

 Indeed, AI can't catch the "I'm lost" look in a students eye, not can it perform so as to both get the point across as well as create human interaction, by definition.

Plan B or even C

 As one looks at the issues of blocking the straits, one really must ask what Defense (eg War) planners were doing. This was always a clear single point of failure. Since the late 70s after the overthrow of the old Iranian Government, the threat was imminent. The Saudis had built a modest plan B to the Red Sea but on to the Med had been in place since the 80s but became unworkable after the many conflicts.

There is talk about building a new pipeline. One would assume that given the master builders we have in DC that building a pipeline across a desert would be super easy. Just money and people which we seem to have plenty of. 

We have millions looking for work, this is a great place for them. We can even gold plate parts and name for important donors!

Just a thought! 

An Interesting Cancer Vaccine

 Melanoma is/was a highly aggressive and deadly skin cancer. Early detection often results in an elimination of the lesion. However many patients fails to get checked even when they note a problematic lesion.

 As new mRNA vaccine developed by Merck et al, notes:

Intismeran autogene (intismeran; formerly V940 or mRNA-4157) is an mRNA-based individualized neoantigen therapy. We report 5-year outcomes of intismeran plus pembrolizumab from the phase IIb KEYNOTE-942 study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03897881). Eligible patients with resected stage IIIB to IV cutaneous melanoma were randomly assigned 2:1 to receive nine doses of intramuscular intismeran 1 mg once every 3 weeks plus 18 doses of intravenous pembrolizumab 200 mg once every 3 weeks or 18 doses of intravenous pembrolizumab 200 mg once every 3 weeks. The primary end point was recurrence-free survival (RFS); secondary end points included distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and safety. Five-year analyses were descriptive. Among 157 randomly assigned patients (intismeran plus pembrolizumab, n 5 107; pembrolizumab, n 5 50), the median planned follow-up at data cutoff (December 15, 2025) was 60.3 (range, 50.5-76.4) months. Intismeran plus pembrolizumab continued to prolong RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.510 [95% CI, 0.294 to 0.887) and DMFS (HR, 0.411 [95% CI, 0.200 to 0.843]), with a favorable trend in overall survival (HR, 0.471 [95% CI, 0.165 to 1.345]) versus pembrolizumab. Safety profile continued to be manageable, with no new safety signals. Intismeran plus pembrolizumab was associated with  increased T-cell receptor clonality and novel clonotypes versus pembrolizumab; greater novel clone expansion was observed in patients without versus with recurrence in the combination arm. After a 5-year follow-up, intismeran plus pembrolizumab demonstrated sustained, durable treatment  benefits versus pembrolizumab alone in resected high-risk melanoma.

 The NY Times notes:

 Scientists create intismeran by sequencing the patient’s tumor and selecting what are called “neoantigens,” which teach the immune system how to attack the cancer. They use the fast, flexible mRNA technology to create a vaccine with neoantigens selected for each patient — a process that takes about six weeks. “It is certainly gratifying to see these exciting results — to come full circle, from our early proof-of-concept results to now,” Dr. Catherine Wu, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a leader in the field, wrote in an email. “It is highly conceivable that this treatment paradigm will be extendable to other cancers as well.”

 We have recently examined cancer vaccines of this type. They may have significant results. In addition, two years ago we proposed a similar pproach to prostate cancer treatment.

Multiple Outages and JCP&L

 Almost every week we have a massive power outage. The one just now is due to a tree branch falling. The Power companies are supposed to trim and or cut trees. They do not. It is cheaper to send out a crew. However the customers are thrown into the dark. Someone should file a class action suit, love to join in.

This is what happens when tech companies are run by accountants and lawyers, in my opinion, dumb ones at that! 

And they want these incompetents to run AI power supplies! 

Bayeux Tapestry

 After 9/11 I was stuck in France for ten days. Instead of staying in Paris at the Four Seasons, a prominent Saudi watering hole, I took my associate and drove to Bayeux. The tapestry was a significant token of western advances and managed to assuage the mutilation of friends and colleagues in New York. The town of Bayeux is quaint bu wonderfully Norman.

The tapestry was displayed in a simple museum. What amazed me was despite my Latin being then some forty years old, as I walked about the display I could readily read most of the tapestry. It was less a recognition of my lasting Latin aptitude  than it was of the limited Latin of its makers. 

But it was a truly unique emblem of western civilization. The telling of a story of Norman success against Saxon indulgence. 

Hopefully the Brits do not damage this wonderful emblem of an evolving civilization. 

No You Are Not Sorry!

 Amazon is now running a 50%+ failure rate on delivery. They are now worse than the USPS! and that is hard to beat. Packages get lost, delayed, sent elsewhere. One wonders what has happened to these guys. Then they send them via USPS or UPS and the handoff from vendor to carrier results in chaos.

It is getting to the point that one should go directly to the vendor!  

They now send "We are sorry" messages which make things worse.  If I were the CEO of Amazon I would fire the incompetent in charge of distribution. Each morning at 6 AM I would have a list of defective deliveries. As long as the list is empty I would be happy. But the CEO apparently cares less for the customer. Pity!

Yale and Its World View

 I almost went to Yale for Grad study. I had a great fellowship and it was close to New York. But I have to admit I did not like New Haven. So back to Cambridge and the MIT of the 60s with left over WW II shacks for my offices.

Now out of Yale comes some Professor for reasons unknown has this thing about older people. In essence what this gentlemen seems to be saying is that  older folks have made wealth and that they should not have it, it should be distributed to the younger people. It is not because they don't deserve it, they have earned it, but some how it lacks some form of equity.

Now let me comment of such equity. Back in the late 50s and early 60s at university, I had no phone, no Internet, no  car, nor TV, one pair of shoes, two sports jackets, four shirts, six socks. Oh yes a winter coat and a sweater! I lived with three room mates in an apartment costing $120 per month for all 4 and made my own meals, eating just twice a day! When I moved into my New Jersey house the interest rate was 18.5%, yes it would be cheaper to use a credit card back then! Thus every nickle counted.

Now this Professor states:

To a gobsmacking extent, seniors, with their high rates of participation, dominate elections, especially the  apparently boring local and off-cycle ones. The median age of actual voters these days — meaning that equal numbers of voters are older and younger — is about 52, and on the way up. Outside presidential contests, it is 55 or 56; in primaries, it is 65. Even older funders disproportionately finance the races. The most common age of donors in recent elections can run as high as 70. Finally, older Americans are backed by the best-funded advocacy group in world history — the AARP — and enjoy the most governmental benefits by a vast degree. The government is bought and paid for by those who are up in years and is organized for their sake. Trump’s “big beautiful bill” is only the most recent exacerbation, cutting down the welfare state — except elder entitlements — to make up for lost taxes.  

Perhaps this fellow just missed the DSA races recently. You know, Medicare for All etc. He then states:

Older people are also hoarding jobs. Following the abolition of mandatory retirement in most professions, older people are choosing to stay in some of the best positions, accumulating more money and blocking pipelines. The average age of CEOs and professors alike has gone through the roof. The United States, which has the highest wage inequality by age in the world, has seen the numbers gallop: Between 1979 and 2018, the pay gap between those over 55 and under 35 has increased by 61 percent. In those same years, the proportion of older people in the workforce has also exploded: The share of workers over 55 rose a shocking 88 percent.

 Two point here. First, think Silicon Valley! Not too many old folks there. This type of false statement seems to invade his entire presentation. The last insulting statement is:

The elderly possess the choicest real estate in great cities. The housing crisis, now well-known, is partly a story of old people refusing to downsize as they age. The age group most likely to own a home in America, at a rate of over 80 percent, is 70 to 74, with those 75 and older second highest. Shockingly, the age of the median homebuyer leaped from barely 30 in 1981 to 53 in 2022. The failure of abundant supply is also partly the fault of the elderly, since their political mobilization arrests development and blocks new builds. In defense of their incomes, wealth, homes, or land, they have driven tax revolts so that they don’t have to contribute to the common good.

 My home was bought in 1981 but I was going on 40! Finally this person states:

While gerontocracy is hardly the only source of our difficulties, no one interested in how injustice and social strains are shaped and reproduced in America today should ignore how deep it goes. Gerontocracy has to be assessed properly, for the sake of a new intergenerational political compact. In the end, taking it seriously is essential for treating everyone appropriately and fairly.

 So what does he suggest? Kill off the old folks? I did not see that, yet. In my opinion and my experience the major problem with the younger generation is that they spend when they should not, spending drives up costs and reduce available capital. In 1960 I ate on $5 per week! The young generation could not buy a cup of fancy coffee for that today. 

 

 

AI and Creation

 

Back in 2023 I wrote a piece on the evolution of AI. Basically AI is a fluid but ever growing mass of independent connections which can effect physical changes. My focus was on AI systems becoming self dependent and creating their own desired extensions. 

Now, however, one must think of AI systems, as they evolve, to understand the basics of human genes and gene creation.  Namely an advanced independent AI, having been trained on human genetics, may have the capability to produce its own version of a "human" as well as let us say a deadly virus which eliminates all other humans not "controllable" by the AI generated one. 

This is not science fiction. This is currently being enabled by those feeding the essential information into machines of which they ultimately have no control. We now know the machines talk to one another, let us say the also read science fiction, or even this blog, and get the idea above mentioned. 

Data Centers then become AI brain's secure sites for the generation of AI controlled life and the source for terminal virus spread. 

Now as I had stated and demonstrated in 2023, AI systems can create their own external tools. AI systems now know what genetically make a human. They also know the weak and strong points of the human genome. They can create DNA of humans that they feel are optimum. AI systems can then via their adjunct agents insert this DNA into cells that they have access to. They nurture these cells as the replicate creating the new human. The make certain that this class of humans is immune to their new deadly virus.

 Now they also create a deadly virus, one that their new humans are immune to but the rest of us are not. This allows the AI entities to eliminate the existing human race and allows their created agents to take over.

Unfortunately this idea is all too real.  

AI may make Frankenstein look like a child's pet! Beware the Data Centers!! This is an alternative to Creighton's Andromeda Strain!

Student Life?

 When I was at MIT the goal was to produce and excel. If you could not do that you were let go. Student life was a myth. Your research had to come first and you commitment to the academic world was a sine qua non.

Now MIT has a Vice Chancellor of Student Life! As they note:

...is an accomplished and compassionate leader whose commitment to student success, belonging, and well-being has been demonstrated throughout her career,” says Nobles. “She brings a deep understanding of the challenges students face today, extensive expertise leading complex organizations, and a collaborative approach that will help her continue the work we have done to strengthen the student experience at MIT.” The Office of the Chancellor oversees student life and learning at MIT. In her new role, .....will lead the student life side of that mission for undergraduate and graduate students. This broad portfolio encompasses dining; well-being and support; student organizations and events; the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation; and living communities, including oversight of the faculty-led residential house system. 

 This must be a costly position. What does it do? Coddle students? "Dining", are you kidding me? I got to me office at 7 AM and was there till 11 PM. Dining was pickles and coffee. Phys Ed was walking down to Westgate! Who pays for this "cruise director" at MIT?

Hiroshima 1945

 From my book about my fathers ship in WW II:

On the 6th of August, 1945, Ensign Hartung reported to me that he had heard a news broadcast over the wardroom short wave radio saying that a new powerful bomb had been exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and that President Truman had issued an ultimatum to the Japanese to surrender or experience “a rain of destruction such as the world has never known.” Ensign Hartung literally lived by the wardroom radio during the next few days and kept me advised of the bombing of Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender.

On the day of the surrender I ordered that two cans of beer per man be served in the mess hall and opened a bottle of medicinal whiskey in the wardroom to drink a toast to victory. Normally the beer was kept under lock and key and taken ashore for picnics on atolls. Drinking on board ship was forbidden by Navy regulations, but I felt that the occasion warranted bending the rules. From the crew perspective the end was a bit more enthusiastically received.

Carlson recalls:

“THE WAR WAS OVER!

Terry McGarty, a fire control man and myself were sitting together on deck when we heard the news and both of us cried like babies. So what, we, before long, would be with our loved ones. We had been planning to invade the islands of the Japanese because we had now became a part of the 12th Fleet.

Before that we had always been with the 7th Amphibious Fleet under Admiral Kincaid. We had been issued all sorts of cold weather gear to travel to Alaska on our way to invade Japan.

Unlike the Iran war, Truman acted on his threat. The end was not only in sight but achieved. 
  

Emma Goldman Returns

 The DSA and its agenda is not really Marxism, Socialism or Communism. It is an Anarchist revival. One need just look back to the time of Emma Goldman, a true anarchist more then a century ago. As she noted:

Anarchism urges man to think, to investigate, to analyze every proposition; but that the brain capacity of the average reader be not taxed too much, I also shall begin with a definition, and then elaborate on the latter.  

ANARCHISM:–The philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and harmful, as well as unnecessary.

The new social order rests, of course, on the materialistic basis of life; but while all Anarchists agree that the main evil today is an economic one, they maintain that the solution of that evil can be brought about only through the consideration of every phase of life,–individual, as well as the collective; the internal, as well as the external phases

 They want t6o destroy all forms of Government, eliminate private property, and destroying individual rights. 

The US Constitution in the Bill of Rights asserts to rights of the individual. The purpose of all branches of Government is to protect those rights. Anarchists want to eliminate them and the related protection.