OzVoyager.com

I apologise for any inconvenience caused but this site was hacked in the past week with a redirection to a malicious malware site. It was only harmful if permission was given in guise of a robot check after that redirection. Unfortunately this is price one has to pay these days if you dare put factual political content on your site. The Truth Trolls go after you once it is flagged. In the meantime all the Flat Earthers, QAnon, Anti Science and Hate sites remain untouched. This is the downside of technology these days, falsehoods are given equal weight as the truth to the point where is sometimes it actually drowns out truth. Clearly this is detrimental to society to function as a unified community. So as my way of countering this I thought I’d put a video up from a group therapy event from Above & Beyond held all around the world at various locations before covid. No one goes to these music events filled with hate nor with an indifference to their fellow man regardless of what they believe in. They also represent by far the global population opinion, yet there is still a trend in some places for a desire to be governed by misinformed fringe group radicals.  But given that they are mostly a young demographic hopefully it’s a sign to be optimistic about the future with a changing of the guard.

It was a very patient wait until this was fully deployed because so many things could have gone wrong. But as it stands this is an engineering masterpiece with over 1200 scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries all collaborating in putting this project together. It shows Science at it’s leading edge, especially when it is viewed as an achievement in co-operation and the sharing of knowledge. As opposed to this other small misguided faction of the global population that put us all in peril with an anti science , anti truth agenda and  a belief  based on myths.

It’s probably been about three decades since I have seen Tommy Emmanuel live but I received a sharp reminder the other day coming across a recent interview with Rick Beato. This is Australia’s premier acoustic guitarist bar none. His skill level is way beyond the normal run of the mill guitar player he can make a guitar do incredible things.  So he fully deserves the Aussie Legend status as he just seems to get better with age. This is a person whom you come across when you think you have already heard the best and you know you haven’t.

A trip to the Blue Mountains that was planned mid 2020 however it took until the end of 2021 to eventuate due to the pandemic. Nevertheless it was worthwhile, a scenic break from the city landscape with lots to offer if nature is your thing. I enjoyed the bush tracks and could have made better use of the cable cars than what I did. While the visitor numbers were sparse having only just recently opened up after weeks of lockdown this just happened to be a bonus. Even the hotel looked deserted in some parts but made it more enjoyable not having to compete with crowds.

While I come across different documentaries all the time online this one stuck a chord with me. Not because I am particularly interested in the GO game, I had never played it up until this point but this was about something else. A Google DeepMind project AlphaZero at work or how AI can either help or hinder us in our quest for survival as a Human race. There are lots of warnings about the coming threat AI poses to humanity however there are lots of pluses as well. Like in politics for instance, where currently decisions are mostly made based on an emotive response to a problem rather than a more purposeful long term goal. This hardly ever results in the outcome expected, like invading a country for instance to settle a score. Imagine how different the world would be if AI played a part in Political decision making especially during conflict or crisis on what the best choices are for the most desired outcome. Like in a global crisis such as a pandemic, managing resources, climate change or even economic management. Personally I would much rather have AI make a choice for a 50% chance of my survival than 1000 to 1 chance that a political leader might make just because that’s more convenient to them ideologically. The major differences with AI when assuming that eventually it acquires all of human knowledge to use as a reference.  The quality of decision making and problem solving increases where no human could match it and there in lies the threat because that artificial genius can also evolve. But it also raises fundamental ethical questions like the AI in a self driving car facing an impending fatal collision with a school bus. Is it’s first priority to save the school children or the occupants of the car.

Now that the Glasgow Global Climate conference is almost at an end, Australia was represented once again by a cheesy grinning dinosaur leading us down the same path to extinction. Yet poll after poll, year after year shows more than 70+% of the Australian population want firm action on climate change. But here is a conservative government claiming they have a mandate to only window dress climate policy. To give Scott Morrison his dues, he finally did get behind the mass vaccination programs for COVID which resulted in us being one of the most vaccinated places on earth. But you don’t get to cherry pick science, however this small band of conservatives in government seem to think that it can. Using the insane logic of believing in the science that can protect you against a pandemic while at the same time dismiss the science that says the planet is under threat. Fear based politics is what conservatism excels at but only when it’s about protecting the status quo. If that same fear based threat involves a massive rethink on economic modelling then it runs from that as far as it can. Scott Morrison’s speech at COP26 was an embarrassment. The classic used car salesman trying to promote a lemon as a ripe peach. No one bought it, what’s worse his other lies caught up with him as well. Just ask the French on the submarine deal. Don’t expect him to be holidaying on the French Riviera anytime soon. The most common sense approach to climate action in my view has always been a global price on carbon and that way countries who don’t comply with the global standards then their exports would be punished by import taxes. It has gone way past allowing developing countries to keep going open slather treating the atmosphere like an open sewer. There are solutions with technology to allow those countries to develop with clean energy like everyone else. Globally the West should be playing a role in this as well, if nothing else as an equaliser for past sins. However there is a mentality in some countries to treat global solutions like it is an infringement on their sovereignty, placing emphasis on faith & culture rather than science and here in lies the hurdle. Earth & it’s Environment couldn’t care less about countries, nor does Physics. Faith will never solve any problem, nor will any faith based cultural opinion change a fact. Lies are much easier to sell as it’s geared around a message people want to hear, especially when aligned with their world view. There is nothing more confronting than finding out your world view is not what you perceived it to be. The likes of Trump exploited this cultural trait like no else has done before repeating lie after lie until it eventually sounds like truth. Meanwhile Science can only deal with reality, nothing else