Where Do We Go From Here?

A couple of things first. I have added a Facebook Like/Share button on the left there to open my fan base up and allow you to know when I update. Please click it. I would really appreciate it. Another thing, I enabled Anonymous comments to be allowed. This means that you…yes you, can make a comment here without having a g+ account. I am in the process of incorporating Facebook comments for the site, so if you do follow me on FB, you will be able to comment and it will be posted here.

So much work!!!

Well, I have been covering race relations and Baltimore with the last two posts, let’s do something a little lighter hearted. I mean, it’s Friday, it’s May Day – and I’m in a good mood.

One thing I have noticed in popular blogs these days, is that everyone LOVES lists. They are concise, they can be funny, and they keep your attention to a certain limit without boring you to tears.

So here we go: 

THE TOP 5 REASONS WE ARE CLOSER TO LIVING IN THE MATRIX

Before I really get into this. We need to explore the idea of how technology is being more and more integrated into our lives, almost to becoming a necessity. It was just recently reported by numerous sources that the heart monitor feature in the iWatch was being disrupted by wrist tattoos. The heart rate monitor is actually a smart feature that allows the iWatch to shut itself off when not in use, or when it doesn't register a heartbeat. To those of you that may have sleeves or wrist tattoos, this function won’t work properly. Basically, you just dropped $400 on a worthless device. Apple’s response – suck it!

No really, Apple said, “Hey, we don’t have a solution, but if you want to purchase some Bluetooth chest straps and monitor your heart that way, go ahead." Steve Jobs just rolled over in his grave.

YOU RUINED MY LEGACY!

Regardless your opinion on the First World Problem that is the defective iWatch, you can’t deny that technology is here to stay, and may be poised to take over.

5. The Uncanny Valley is Getting Smaller and Smaller

There is a phrase out there called “The Uncanny Valley,” and it is basically defined as: a hypothesis in the field of aesthetics which holds that when features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural beings, it causes a response of revulsion among some observers. The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of beings as subjects move toward a healthy, natural likeness described in a function of a subject's aesthetic acceptability. Examples can be found in the fields of robotics and 3D computer animation, among others.

Basically – nightmare fuel.

It’s illustrated by this graph:

I would hope that we are repulsed by zombies.

The more a moving likeness of something that looks human but isn't human, the more it is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. With UltraHD TVs, High Frame Rate movies such as Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, and the extensive use of CGI to create realistic characters in our entertainment, our brains are getting more and more acclimated to the idea that something that was once repulsive, is now acceptable. The “dip” that creates the valley is a lot shallower and narrower now. I mean, Andy Serkis has made his entire career playing CGI characters such as Gollum, Caesar, and King Kong.

4. CGI No Longer Looks Like a Cartoon

Who here remembers Ang Lee’s Hulk? Who here remembers the unholy creation that was Tom Hanks in Polar Express? How about the entirety of Beowulf? There are countless examples of how CGI, in its infancy, was just a gimmick. It was perfect for Pixar or Dreamworks movies, such as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek, but anytime it was used for feature films that needed photo-realistic renders, it just fell short.

Hulk SMASH!

As fake as it used to look, using CGI now is a standard in film making. We would not be able to have the sequel generating monstrosity that is Marvel Studios if it were not for CGI. I remember a time where if you were to say that they were going to make a movie about Thor without it looking cheesy, I would have said that you were out of your mind. And yet…..

Not only does it LOOK real, but it feels realistic. It almost feels so realistic, that if you watch older films where practical special effects were used, it looks fake. FAKE!

For example, if you were to watch Jaws, you would instantly be able to tell that the shark was robotic, and (not taking away from the genius that is that film) it would almost look comical. Our brains have to come accept that the artificial is the new reality, and that is the new standard.

3. Robots are no longer a thing from Science Fiction Novels

Check out these headlines:

“Experts predict robots will take over 30% of our jobs by 2025 – and white-collar jobs aren't immune”

“This humanoid robot can recognize and interact with people”

“The UK government is refusing to rule out building killer robots”

“A robot just started her job as the receptionist at Japan’s oldest department store”

That last one gives me the chills most of all. The headline actually personified an object by recognizing it with the pronoun “her” instead of the appropriate “it.” All four of these headlines come from BusinessInsider.com, which is a business and technology website that has been around since February 2009. I mean this is a fairly legitimate source for tech news and how it relates to business.

There was a time when robots threatened to take over the assembly lines of auto manufacturers, and it was disputed that it would never happen. Until it did. There was a time when the idea of having a robot in your home as a maid was only something in The Jetsons, until it wasn't (can you say Roomba…DJ Roomba if you’re hip!).

Pawnee was always using innovative technology to stay ahead in the game.

Not only have robots become a part of our lives, but we have started to accept the presence of them doing daily tasks that used to be jobs for people. Even our phones contain a robot in them that answers our questions when we need help. Apple even programmed certain responses and phrases into Siri to have conversational functionality. How soon before we become like Joaquin Phoenix in Her? Oh just for fun, click this link http://www.macworld.com/article/2915908/siri-says-the-darnedest-things-50-questions-for-apple-s-virtual-assistant.html and you will get 50 fun conversation phrases and lighthearted banter situations that you can have with Siri. She is adorable…I will admit that!

2. Virtual Existence is an Accepted Counterpart to Reality

About a year ago, Forbes reported that Blizzard’s World of Warcraft raked in over a billion dollars in 2013. Now rumor around the campfire is that WoW subscriptions have been dipping, but even so, that is a chunk of change. On ebay, while it has become a violation to sell virtual items for games such as WoW, the virtual reality simulator Second Life is not considered a game. Listed on ebay, there are literally hundreds to thousands of virtual items usable on Second Life available for purchase with real currency. 

Wrap your head around that for a second. 

Spending real money for virtual items. Items that you will never, ever use IRL (in real life). Well let me paint it through a different prism. How many “in game purchases” are on almost every game app out there. Buying more turns in Candy Crush Saga is not so uncommon. Video gaming and virtual existence has become so broad and accepted by most everybody in 2015. It is no longer just a hobby for neckbeards who live in their mother’s basement.

Selfie!

Many A-listers such as Mila Kunis, Vin Diesel, Dave Chappelle, and Mr. T have all confirmed that they have virtual lives within the realm of Azeroth. Even standard console games, such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Fallout have become so in-depth in their RPG aspects. Living in these worlds can involve gambling, earning money, and even getting married. With the upcoming release of Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda Softworks looks to give WoW a run for its money in creating a virtual realm that is accessible by the more mainstream console platform.

1.  We Don’t Care

Let me give you some stuff that cannot be unseen, which will haunt you for the rest of your days to come.

I bet you didn't realize until the end of the video that “Emily” was a virtual creation. I’ll let you watch it again. I’ll wait….

Now you notice the flawless skin, those dead eyes, and the facial expressions, that at first viewing made you wonder what you were watching, later chilled you to the bone. This video was made in 2008, and the tech is even better!  I watched an interview with the designer, and explained that the goal was to erase the uncanny valley. 

Terrifying!

Chew on this one now.

KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Kudos if you actually made it all the way through that one. If you didn't get to at least half, then you missed the pan of the camera.

This appears as if it is in a mall! AAAAAGHHHH!!!!!! Look at all of the people watching. Being entertained or fascinated…or I don’t know.

The pieces are already being put in place for artificial intelligence to take its next shape. I really hope that we end up having Frankenstein’s Monster turning against us.

Thug Lyfe

Yesterday, for a debut anyway, I felt like I got a little heavy. “Hey check out my blog…I bet you would love a little American History coupled with some riots!” The thing about the situation is that the topics and points of view that I am sharing appear to be right in front of us all if we would just notice them once in a while. Let’s take a different route today and see if we can come up with something different.

From two different public officials (Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the President), the word “thug” was used to describe the rioters. Specifically, the President referred to them as thugs, as well as criminals. Let’s take a couple of things into consideration real fast. Firstly, both the Mayor of Baltimore and the President are African-American. Secondly, Freddie Gray, the victim of the police brutality, was also African-American. Finally, a very large majority of the rioters are African-American.

Now, stay with me here. I am actually going to get to a point soon.

Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes was recently interviewed on CNN about the situation, and was praising the efforts of citizens who were rising up against the random violence that has been occurring. Using powerful phrases like, “…this is Baltimore. This is our Baltimore. And they’re showing just who we are and why we’re standing up for justice, not only for Freddie Gray, but for all of the Freddie Grays that have been killed or brutalized in Baltimore.”

Pretty powerful stuff!

He was then asked to give his thoughts on the usage of the word ‘thug’ to describe the rioters. It should be noted, that the Councilman is African-American, as well. He spoke vehemently against the term, even going so far as comparing the word to the ‘n-word.’ He said on camera, “calling them thugs — just call them n*****s. Just call them n*****s. No, we don’t have to call them by names such as that. We don’t have to do that. That is exactly what we have set them to. Now, when you say ‘come on,’ come on what? You wouldn’t call your child a thug if they should do something that would not be what you would expect them to do.”

A couple of years ago, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman also made comments like that when he was described as a thug for his post-game interview after the NFC Championship game. In response to the criticism he said, “It seems like [thug] is the accepted way of calling somebody the N word nowadays.”

So how about it loyal readers?

Unfortunately, most of these incidents concerning police violence are against people of color. I am not going to get into the issues of “unarmed, known criminal with priors, or completely innocent.” I am speaking specifically of the race relations. Either the news is merely just focusing on them to get ratings, or it is becoming a relevant issue to talk about.

Referring to angry youth, who happen to be African-American, as ‘thugs’ is being viewed as a substitution word.

It’s hard to say really. Throughout American history, the word thug has always be synonymous with criminal. Even more specifically, petty or common criminal. This being said, the word Thug has also been appropriated by hip-hop culture. This includes songs, groups, artists, albums, and even a lifestyle legitimized by Tupac Shakur.

2Pac had the words “Thug Life” tattooed across his stomach, and he used these words to say about it at the 1993 Indiana Black Expo:

When I say ‘Thug Life,’ I mean that s**t

Cause these white folks see us as thugs

I don’t care what y’all think

I don’t care if you think you a lawyer, if you a man, if you an ‘African-American’

If you whatever the f**k you think you are

We thugs and n****s to these m****f***rs…

And until we own some s**t, I’m gonna call it like it is

How are we going to be men if we’re starving?

If we walk by five different house, and be a man in any of those m****f***rs

How we gonna be a man?

How we gonna be African-Americans?

We black! We thugs! And We n*****s until we set this s**t right!

Trust me when I tell you that s**t!

Councilman Stokes and Richard Sherman seem to echo that sentiment. Using thug and the other word are almost interchangeable. Tupac almost seemed to embrace the idea until something would change in our culture/society. That was 1993. Look at 2015!

Progress.

Let me hear your comments.

A quick thank-you

I just want to go ahead and thanks my close friends and family who are being supportive in this venture.

Thanks
D

A Reflection

So this is it? This is the culmination of the Great Experiment known as The United States of America. Constant media coverage that shows an escalating police state, and unfocused violence not aimed at changing the system or situation, but instead viciously turning on the very citizens that are being victimized by the problem that is being protested against. Let me say that again. The violence that is being brought by the citizens is focused at harming the citizens themselves, not against those who are perpetrating the problem.

This makes no sense!

Now, there are many people out there that would say violence isn't the answer, and that there is a place for peaceful and civil discourse, and these people are correct. There actually is a time for that, but that time has passed. There have been no results with that option. John F. Kennedy was quoted saying, “Those who make peaceful protest revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.” Now that is a tough pill to swallow. I really think that, in many ways, for the last 20 or so years, the Unites States has fostered a sense civic accomplishment through vocal protest. It was this kind of revolution that brought on changes in civil rights, women’s rights, and even more recently, gay rights. This all being said, there seems to be a growing violence in our country that is on the verge of exploding.

This is in the very fabric of our country’s creation. In 1770, many Bostonians gathered around a hostile occupying force, because, quite frankly, they were sick of being told what to do and what to pay by a group of people who had no business dictating things like this in the first place. So what did they do? Well, even if you haven’t seen the HBO miniseries John Adams, I am sure you read or heard somewhere that these people turned violent. They started throwing snowballs, rocks, and bottles at the soldiers (law enforcement of the time) to demonstrate that the tipping point had come. The soldiers fired upon the crowd and killed 11 civilians. Because he was a believer in a sense of justice, John Adams was the only lawyer who was willing to ensure these soldiers received a fair trial, and the soldiers were acquitted. Sounds kind of like Rodney King, Trevon Martin, and Michael Brown, doesn't it?

Still though, the tipping point had come and the Founders took it to a new level – vandalism. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't the tax on tea that made them dump it into the Bay. It was a demonstration against an overarching problem. You see, England had a monopoly on all trade coming in and out of Boston, especially tea. The Boston Tea Party was a violent act of vandalism in protest to all of it. Now, I’m not a historian, and I am sure that many a history buff or college professor would like to expand on the ins and outs of the American Revolution, but I’m here to say that the colonists were saying one thing: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! If it takes us destroying a luxury in our lives to send the message, so be it.

Now – before I go any further. Let’s do a compare and contrast. Yes, the Boston Tea Party was a violent act of vandalism in protest. Yes, it was against the luxuries that they held, but they did it to send a message. Afterwards, they did not go out and burn down Boston. They turned that violence against their aggressors. Quite frankly, maybe we should do the same.

"We surely cannot deny to any nation that right whereon our own government is founded, that every one may govern itself according to whatever form it pleases and change these forms at its own will... The will of the nation is the only thing essential to be regarded." --Thomas Jefferson to Gouverneur Morris, 1792. ME 9:36

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers (or presidents, governors, mayors, etc.), too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774. (*) ME 1:193, Papers 1:125

"If ever there was a holy war, it was that which saved our liberties and gave us independence." --Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 1813. ME 13:430

"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." --Thomas Jefferson: his motto.