OzVoyager.com

While it might be too late to stop Climate change as it’s already here we still have the chance to prevent it from being catastrophic. The reason we are here in the first place comes down to one thing and one thing only, “Conservatism”. This is not just here but a drift from what was once a shared belief into something that became political. Now with it’s reluctance to accept science and data just because they think there is political mileage to be gained from it. Much like a Dr telling their patient to take up smoking.  So here we are, extreme weather events almost weekly now somewhere around the globe that we have to accept as being normal. Given we now have a National Election in progress here in Australia it’s time to be reminded on who took any action on emissions over the past 20-30 yrs and who undid those attempts. Voters need to be reminded how civilisation has evolved from living in caves to landing on the moon. It doesn’t come from faith or believing in the Sun God. It comes from acquired knowledge and using that knowledge to progress and deal with challenges. Be it disease control, resource management, global population impacts and everything else. Climate change is just another one of those challenges that we already have solutions for. Yet instead of being the number one priority on everyone’s list it becomes obscure to some sectors of the population due to that same wilful ignorance. Yet a recent representative global population survey shows over 64% want action on climate change. Break that down to affluent, well educated countries and it jumps up to to well over 75%. Which also makes you wonder how this minority opinion keeps dominating government action over the decades to the point of bringing down multiple leaders of government in Australia. All over one issue, Climate Change policy.

While the world is currently focused on a dictator causing havoc in Europe. Australia’s east coast and elsewhere are treading water with endless rainfall that just keeps coming. It’s ironic that in 2020 I posted the exact opposite where much of the east coast was burning with bushfires. Which in turn prompted me to begin posting about our government’s inaction over climate change. So here we are two years on and it’s the same story. Weather events on steroids keep happening year after year but for some people they keep talking it up as natural weather. The once in a 100 or 1000 year event, yet it’s funny how insurance companies don’t see it the same way.

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.