As Wins has overseen reforms such as the removal of Confederate emblems from campus, and hired consultants on diversity, equity and inclusion to advise the college, he has faced the wrath of Daniel’s Spirit of VMI PAC.
‘Often described broadly as a form of political correctness, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is a Marxist doctrine at the center of the malignancy of identity politics,’ the group said in a statement earlier this month.
‘Akin to a pervasive cancer that seemingly overnight has metastasized across the country, DEI sows division, destruction, and discord where ever it has been allowed to fester,’ the PAC added.
Here’s a bold statement: What’s wrong with racism? The word has become a sacred linguistic category. As such, anything that can be remotely associated with racism ipso facto is tainted with religious sin. All thought stops inside sacred linguistic categories. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion similarly are sacred linguistic categories. This is the sense in which Critical Race Theory and Cultural Marxism are religions. They are protected by the American Constitution as free speech but ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of’ them. ABN
This video is pretty good and I understand the reporter’s concerns, but the technology described is not just scary. It is also fascinating. It could be used in very beautiful ways. Since no one can stop technological development, it would be better to learn about it and use it for good ends rather than only condemn and fear it. ABN
Everything can be analyzed in terms of signals and the patterns they make. Chess, music, painting, science, fiction, psychology, biology, language, religion—they can all be described in terms of signals and patterns. An analog version of the digital technology described in the video above is FIML practice. FIML exists today and is designed to help partners understand each others’ signals and the patterns they make.
When the tech in the video is made widely available, FIML may become easier to do. The tech may also never achieve the profundity and beauty of FIML in the way AI music can never achieve the beauty of a live musical performance. The tech may be both cruder and more accurate than FIML, which is a fully human way of engaging and analyzing detailed brain functioning. The tech may not easily allow us to focus on the moments or brain states we want to focus on. It may provide extraneous information that crowds out the subtleties of FIML.
I look forward to trying it alone and then with my partner and do not fear having my thoughts exposed. What I do fear, though, is the tech may expose them not so well, or even incorrectly, but at the same time be hard to refute. Many might be convinced that what the tech is showing is the truth when it is not. If you want to prepare yourself for the inevitable commercial release of this tech, learn to do FIML now; learn about yourself and your partner the old-fashioned way, the fully human way which uses no external technology whatsoever. ABN
Follow-up Questions, clarifications and developments about the vinyl chloride spill and fire.
I might have been mistaken to say that my warning was unlikely to reach everyone that needed it. Over 1M views inside 24 hours. That was surprising, and I’m glad at least a few of you have might have heeded it. The disaster is continuing to unfold and progress, and I’m still following the developments as they occur on Twitter.
There have been a few notable criticisms and dismissals from various people of varying expertise. Myself, I’d be inclined to trust the scientist that’s spent her whole career studying vinyl chloride. I would love to have been wrong, but thus far it’s progressing pretty much as I expected, albeit a little more slowly – which is also par for the course at this point. I did make one mistake that needs to be corrected, but my warnings still stand.
The Washington Post is framing this as a potential Ronna McDaniel requirement, however given the RNC under Reince Preibus ended up having the same 2016 pre-debate loyalty demand, the requirement is more likely an institutional Big Club proposal and not the idea of the chair. The board and RNC charter members of the professionally Republican apparatus are the ones creating the litmus tests.
Essentially, you will remember in 2015 and 2016 the RNC demanded that all of the candidates swear an oath to whomever won the GOP nomination. In the first Fox News debate of August 2015, the candidates were told to raise their hand if they were not willing to swear or affirm their intent to support the eventual nominee. Everyone except Donald Trump (and Ben Carson) lied. WATCH:
The construct of the loyalty oath was predicated around the fact the RNC institution did not support an outsider like Donald Trump using their club system to achieve the office of the presidency. Trump was independent minded and held his own platform positions on trade, economics, border security and immigration that ran counter to the approved policy positions of professionally Republican members.
Yesterday, I wrote a brief critique of Steve Kirsch’s hedge fund plans. Some of what was behind a paywall will be reiterated in this more thorough, fully public article that aims to be both comprehensive and at least a little entertaining (but probably not). This is one of those articles that I encourage you to share with those who may have sauntered up to the stage to make hundred dollar bills rain on Steve.
As a former emergency manager & hazardous materials technician let me explain a high-level overview of the response to the Ohio train derailment & the release of hazardous materials into the community & why some decisions may have been made. Specifically to let the material burn.
An Emergency Manger presented with the scene below needs to first identify the materials the train is carrying. This can be accomplished several ways.
1. The Engineer has the Bill of Lading and log of Hazardous Materials
2. Locate the UN Placard Number
3. Contact the RR.
Let's assume only a Placard UN number is available on the rail car. The UN number reads 1086. We immediately consult our emergency response guidebook looking for UN Number 1086 which identifies the material as vinyl chloride and directs us to Guide 116P for emergency response.
FIML (Functional Interpersonal Meta-Linguistics) is a kinda sorta type of functionalism. A general statement on functionalism is:
Functionalism is a theory of the mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the identity theory of mind and behaviorism. Its core idea is that mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.) are constituted solely by their functional role – that is, they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs. (Source same as above)
FIML differs from philosophical functionalism once we get beyond the generalities. FIML treats semiotics (a most basic element of communication) as good data (if agreed upon by both partners). It then uses this data to show partners how their communicative awareness is actually functioning. Since data points are necessarily small, their function can be determined with reasonable certainty, a degree of certainty much better than that obtained through the application of an overarching theory to the same data point.
For example, if you (my partner) believe I said something based on anger or a political leaning, you have a theory about why I said what I said. If you do a FIML query and find out from me (a truthful informant) why I said what I said, you will have a small fact to replace your big theory. Very often it turns out that I (or your partner) said what they said not due to your theory but due to something else entirely.
Seeing the difference between your acquired “theoretical” theory of mind and the actual factual state of your partner’s mind—and seeing this many times—will relieve you of many mistakes in how you perceive and interact with your partner.
In time, this relief will extend to others to some extent, though in a world where only a small number of couples are doing FIML we cannot expect others to function interpersonally with the same degree of honest agility as our FIML partner.
I believe the day will come when many people do FIML or something very much like it. That will be a time when humans have even more leisure than today, when robots do most work and through their impressive skills and intelligence have unburdened us from the need for status displays or exercising mindless power over others.
Compare FIML practice to traditional forms of psycho-analysis. Instead of subjecting your inchoate mind’s vague problem(s) to a paid theorist or dispenser of pills, you will in the security of your own domicile be able to observe and analyze how and why your mind reacts and communicates as it does. You and your partner will be free to draw on what you know and understand to observe and investigate your minds as they actually function in real time.
FIML cannot do everything, but it provides great detail in an area of activity—communication—that is crucial to being human, whether you are with others or alone.
The entry on functionalism linked above is interesting and worth reading, but after the first few sentences it veers off into something that FIML is not. FIML is not a complete theory about how minds work. Rather it is a theory about how semiotics function in real time and how understanding that much better (through FIML practice) leads to better communication and a better sense of well-being overall.
An interesting benefit of FIML is you don’t have to wonder if your partner is thinking something weird about you because they will ask long before it gets weird.
FIML might also be called Dynamic Semiotic Analysis or Functional Semiotic Analysis, but I decided on FIML some time ago and believe it is a good enough name. FIML is not exactly doing meta-linguistics, but it is close enough and most people are more familiar with that term than semiotics.
A note to psychologists: You guys do great work. I am not against you. FIML is a practice designed to optimize communication and self-understanding. If you have clients that are doing more or less alright but still feel they are missing something, teach them FIML. Depending on their and your skills, you should be able to teach couples how to do it in approximately four to eight sessions.
The #MAGICapp is a scam. It is seeded from ONE source and distributed as if it was created by doctors in your country.
It was not. It was created by Pharma invested entities. They know we know, and have just restricted access to the archived UK versions.
The #MAGICapp is supposed to be a "living guideline" but:
-it has no authors.
-it is rebadged for every country
-it tells you not to give antibiotics
-it is responsible for most of the #COVID deaths around the world
-nobody is liable
If Vanden Bossche is right, we can expect a huge death toll in the mRNA-vaxxed world, which is roughly the same as the Westernized world. What percentage of vaxxed will die? Will they all succumb? What he is predicting is so awful it is difficult to speak about. Can an outcome like this occur due to many mistakes or was it planned? If it was planned, who did it? It seems a non-Western actor would be the culprit but not necessarily. If many are going to die do we need to hoard food today? Probably not. Will electricity still work? How will we reassemble our societies in the short-term? Will the perps invade or will those who were not harmed invade? Will anyone help us? ABN
1. Covid exists as a respiratory virus that started from the Wuhan lab as an infectious clone. It was spreading worldwide as early as the summer of 2019.
2. This coincided with ongoing mRNA research and this was the planned response to establish this technology platform for all future vaccinations.
3. Pressure was exerted to suppress all viable treatments to advance this agenda and obtain the EUA.
4. HCQ and Ivermectin work well when given early and as a multi-drug regimen. IVM likely has some utility in later stages of disease. Vit D, Zinc and other supplements help in patients with deficiency, given early or prophylactically.
5. Many elderly people and people with comorbidities died, due to lack of early treatment. Many of the early nursing home deaths were the result of lockdowns, over medication, dehydration, isolation and deaths of despair.
6. The rollout of vaccines caused waves of infections and deaths immediately after each dose, due to the 2-3 weeks of immunosuppression and adverse effects of the technology. There was a large variation in batches due to degradation of the mRNA, LNP and poor mRNA integrity.
7. The leaky vaccines led to accelerated viral convergent evolution of evading variants. This has prolonged the pandemic, resulting in failure to ever achieve a degree of herd immunity.
In a previous post, we discussed how semiotics can become fetishized and why that matters. In today’s post, I want to continue that discussion.
A fetishized semiotic(s) provides symbolic focus to the person who entertains it. It provides coherence within their semiotic networks of thought and communication.
Fetishized semiotics also generate or provide motivation for those who entertain them.
Since semiotics are fundamental to all communication, fetishized semiotics often serve to bond people into easily understood groups.
A person with a fetish for prostitutes, for example, will generally find it easy to get what they want while also bonding with others who have similar desires.
The same can be said for people who want a lot of money or status. Ethnic groups and religions often fetishize the semiotics of their cultures and histories.
A scientist might fetishize the semiotics of being a scientist.
A human ego, in most senses of the word and certainly in the Buddhist sense, can be described as the “fetishized semiotic(s) of ‘self’.” Or more precisely, as the “fetishized agglomeration of the semiotics of ‘self’ of an entity that lives in this world primarily within semiotic networks.”
When small “selves” (small in the Buddhist sense) become fetishized egos, or big selves, the entity in question will often feel that life has a focus or energy it did not have before. This is especially true if the person is part of a group that communicates about that ego and supports it through ceremonies, shared beliefs, values, etc.
Big selves, or egos, supported by groups are usually semiotically quite simple. This is a place where we can see the value of thinking in terms of semiotics.
The big self is simple—it wants one or two things and will marshal all of its (often considerable) mental powers to attain it. Other behaviors surrounding the core of the big self may be complex, but the basic big self is usually pretty simple. It wants respect, or power, or some ideal that often is a pretense for getting respect and power.
The formula can be different, but basically that is how it is.
Early communists in Russia and China, for example, all professed high ideals, and some of them meant it, but in both countries the revolutions were seized by the most ruthless actors and the high ideals were replaced with mass murder.
I am convinced that many of those most ruthless communists—who definitely had fetishized what they were doing—actually believed that their high ideals might one day come to be. But that first it was necessary to liquidate millions of “bad elements” and terrorize the remaining population into complete submission.
This all too human mix of idealism deferred to the future blended with extreme cruelty in the present illustrates another aspect of the fetishized self, or fetishized semiotics—the big self diminishes others, even becomes blind to them.
The fetishized ego sees itself with its own peculiar clarity and also it completely fails to see others except as aspects of its own fetish. Thus Bolsheviks and Red Guards murdered and terrorized tens of millions of people, often with very little feeling and always with massive self-delusion.
American Buddhist Net 