Uncivil War

 

I think of my older and wiser and departed brother often. His academic studies involved war and international relations. He has more entries in the Sage Encyclopedia of War than anyone else. I recall when we were in high school a family visit to Gettysburg. I was fascinated by trees as we walked around that sacred place while Danny was interested in the battle and how it progressed. I also recall talking with him about that war and I said it could never happen again, and he said do not be so sure. He was nearly always right. As I listen to the news, which I seem unable to avoid, I am thinking how right he was. We seem to be on the verge of what I call an uncivil war. It is not a regional north versus the south affair. It is a fair versus fear affair. Fear seems inclined towards intolerance and violence whereas fair seems inclined towards openness and understanding. History suggests that fear will prevail. My training suggests that the future may not resemble the past. But my brother was smarter and steeped in history. I worry.

What bothers me most is that I have no control of what is happening or likely to happen in the future. I can vote, but it may not count. I can contribute to those I support, but my funds are limited unlike the deep pockets of the true believers and truly crazed supporters of the new uncivil war that is waging in this troubled land of the freely betrayed and home of the mentally wounded. What can I do? I feel hopeless. The few times I have strayed outside a small circle of similarly concerned people, I have been told to shut up and stay away … even by some family members. I am troubled.

I am so troubled that I seem to find it hard to focus on work. I did manage to submit a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation and teach a summer course but it was a struggle. I even volunteered to be considered to serve another term as the doctoral program director at UNT, but I am feeling less than competent to continue as a professor due to having such a troubled mind. Retirement is not attractive as that would only increase the amount of time I would be consumed by the troubling states of disarray in this troubled land.

“It takes a worried man to sing a worried song” echoes in my mind. What to do? Eat more ice cream? More watermelon and fried chicken? I grew up in the South. I have lived and worked and spent much time in the North, South, East and West, and in other countries. There seems no escaping the madness that has gripped this troubled land. Where will it lead? How many more will die and be assaulted?

Worse than those concerns is that the madness seems not just prevalent in this troubled land but across the globe. Still, against all odds, there is grit and resilience in Ukraine, hope in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and sanity in New Zealand. But many are fleeing madness in South America and Africa. In spite of isolated instances of humanity, the overall state of the planet might be considered endangered … not just by global climate change but by global intolerance and inhumanity.

A still small voice in a dark cave is asking, when will it end? How will it end? Who can end the madness? The still small voice goes silent.

Amazing Disgrace

 

How bittersweet the sound. Gather around, children, come and listen to things I have heard, but there are some discouraging words. 

I was taught when I was younger that the Confederacy lost the Civil War and that slavery had eventually been abolished in this land of the free to be as greedy as you please. But apparently the defeated are rising again … and of course it helps to keep many from voting. 

Meanwhile, they send the least advantaged to war only to withhold support for their wounds when they return. It does not help to befriend dictators who invade other countries with the hopes of building a hotel or casino in the dictator's land. I used to think this was the land of innovation and invention and opportunity and optimism. But division and dissimulation have become the norm and form of discourse and decision-making. The tired, the poor, the huddled masses would love to breathe free … or just breathe … but the air is not clean and the water not safe in areas where those tired and poor and huddled masses happen to live. 

This nation of immigrants is saying no to more immigrants and punishing many of those already here, except for models and wives of the wealthy. The media used to be trustworthy in reporting facts and analyzing complex situations but so many media people are now playing the gotcha game favored by politicians. 

Why do some people expect bumper sticker simple solutions to complex and challenging problems? Why do some people expect something simple to resolve something complex? Why do some people prefer slogans to solutions? A slogan will not solve the climate crisis or the gun violence crisis or the racial prejudice crisis or the health crisis or any other crisis condemning our children to a dark and dismal future. What is amazing are not the rare and few acts of kindness one might cite in response. What is amazing is how low we have fallen and how far our species is from the grace many used to praise and seek. 

The desert is not in some remote location. It is in the heart of your neighbor and even in yourself. Myself.

Short vs. Long

 

No, I am not thinking about Marc Short or Shelley Long. I am thinking about what a person values and what interests a person pursues. Of course, I first experimented on myself, which is not always a good or representative point of departure … but it is hard to avoid. In general, I found huge gaps between the two and noticed that when I was younger I tended to focus and act primarily on short term interests and values. I wanted to be a pilot, so I managed to get admitted to the Air Force Academy where my eyes started to deteriorate and I was not able to go to flight school and developed a strong interest in philosophy and was named the outstanding cadet in philosophy at ISAFA1967... yes, I am older than dirt. I opted for becoming an intelligence officer after graduation as I thought I would get to remain in the USA … this was during the Vietnam conflict in which about half of my Academy classmates died … and work on building an intelligence database … but then I was given a choice of learning Vietnamese or going to the Philippines as an intelligence officer. 

As I valued my life, I chose Clark Air Base in the Philippines. I think it was there that I began to shift from short term pursuits to a focus on long terms values and interests, such as acting in accord with that honor code we followed at USAFA. Truth … the truth began to be more important than being promoted or finding a better position in the Air Force. And, speaking truthfully in intelligence briefings and debriefings got me sent to Thailand and put in charge of airmen who were convicted of various offences and sent there to build a fence around the base along with machine gun bunkers … and I was put in charge of those people??? Surprisingly, I found many of them interesting and serious and managed to develop a working relationship in which I became Sergeant Mike to them in spite of my officer status. That might have been the result of my trading many roles of concertina wire for a box of steaks which we cook on the perimeter fence we had built. The person I replaced had built a machine gun bunker facing inside the base rather that outside the base. We had to rebuild it although we all thought it was an interesting way of protesting that officer’s mistreatment.

Anyway, I was saved from my own mistreatment by Senator Al Gore senior who managed to get me out with an honorable discharge as I was being treated as if I had committed an offence without a hearing or evidence and offered an honorable discharge or reassignment elsewhere. My choice of the discharge marks my shift from short term pursuits to a stronger focus on long term values. 

Of course things got worse after my discharge with unemployment and a divorce. I wandered about and managed to find a position with an IBM research and development lab outside Boulder, Colorado. I learned a lot at IBM, including being first in my programming class, but I found the work boring and wanted to do something that might have a more directly positive impact. So I got a leave of absence and went to Israel as a volunteer teacher for a year, where I reverted to short term interests and pursuits … i.e., girls. When I returned to IBM I really felt lost. 

My older and wiser brother was completing his PhD in history at the University of Texas and said I should apply to study there, which I did. I was admitted with a year delay due to a cap on admissions and lack of funding. At UT, I was initially a teaching assistant for an ethics course. I found the students uninterested although the professor was very supportive of me. In my second year there, the department had a dilemma as none of the faculty wanted to teach logic so I spoke up and said I could do that. I then became a lecturer for the remainder of my studies being paid half the salary of a beginning assistant professor. Teaching logic was easy for me but boring for most of the students. I was a little frustrated and I now know that part of the problem was me … I expected students to find logic relevant and useful but few did. Initially I blamed them, but the fault was mine as I later realized years later.

Anyway, I wanted to say something meaningful about focusing on long term values and interests rather than just pursuing short term interests. The discrepancy became obvious to me while watching and listening to such folks as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Chris Murphy, and then contrasting their behavior and interests with those of such folks as Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and Joe Manchin.  

It seems all too easy to differentiate those who emphasize long terms values and interests over short term gains and pursuits, yet the short termers seem to gain the support of so many others. Why is that? What am I not understanding? How could anyone belittle Liz’s heroic leadership on the Jan. 6 Committee or Adam’s willingness to say what he believes rather than pursue another term as Senator of Chris’ long time efforts to rectify the conditions that led to Sandy Hook and Uvalde. How? Yet they are continually attacked by small-minded people supported by a few with deep pockets and strong interests in deepening those pockets. But so many of those mindless followers fail to see that their own short term interests are being marginalized by the deep pocket people.

Whew … I had to get that off my mind and out of my fingers.

 Mike Spector

July 2022

 

So much evil in so many places

 

Due to the advice of family and friends, I am limiting the time I watch or listen to the news. However, it is impossible for me not to see so much evil in so many places, including our own supremely pernicious court. Putin reeks of evil, and it shows in his snake eyes. But more worrisome are the insurrection and climate deniers in my own country. What seems to matter to so many people are their own views and personal gain. When I was younger, I was somewhat like that, but I do not think I ever tried to deny obvious truths. My views on the war in Vietnam got me into trouble when I was an intelligence office in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Al Gore senior came to my rescue and I managed to escape from that madness. Gore senior later urged me not to lose faith in my country in spite of some faults that I saw. Gore senior was a rare politician … not many like him these days. There used to be men and women of integrity on both sides of the aisle. Not so many these days. A few come to mind, including Liz Cheney, whose father I abhorred, and Amy Klobuchar, for whom I voted, and perhaps a dozen more, mostly on the left side of that aisle of despair that threatens our democracy. That supremely divided court seems determined to return the country to the unhappy days of an imaginary past. I am slowly coming to understand one thing in the Jewish bible that my father could not adequately explain to me – namely why the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children and children of the children for several generations to come. I seem to recall my father telling me that was simply a description of human behavior … what was likely to happen based on human behavior. The point was to be a beacon of good as a parent so that one's children would do good all their days. Perhaps my father was right. I cannot recall anything wrong he ever did … I cannot even recall him ever cursing although my mother could curse up a storm when upset. So I wonder about the childhood of Donald Trump and Valdimir Putin and Clarence Thomas and teens with AR-15s and so many others who seem determined to spread hatred and violence in what I used to think of as a beautiful planet in my youthful backpacking days. I have seen much natural beauty and met some amazing individuals, but as I age I worry that those sights and special people are being systematically lost and put down and destroyed. I really wish I could ignore all that is happening these last few years, but it seems to me that what I regarded as beautiful in nature and righteous in people is being destroyed by a minority of misguided bigots. I write to try and rid my self of these thoughts … to no avail. What gives me hope are my children and grandchildren ... the children are our future. 

 

Mike Spector

July the first and hopefully not the last, 2022

Higher Order Hypocrisy

 

The Supremely Hypocritical Court ruled against Roe v. Wade because abortion was not mentioned in the Constitution. Of course airplane travel was also not mentioned in the Constitution yet we have a Federal Aviation Authority. The right to bear arms was given to state militia, not to teenagers … oh, I almost forgot, AR-15s were also not mentioned in the Constitution, nor was the right to safely attend elementary school without fear of hiding from weapons of war in the hands of teenagers.

We have lost our democracy to bullies, billionaires, intolerant and hateful religious groups, far-right-wing anarchists, holier-than-God bigots, white nationalists, and others comprising a powerful and highly vocal and volatile minority of citizens. I am guessing that AR-15s are owned mostly by men and many in Texas where an 18 year old person can purchase multiple AR-15s and untold boxes of death yielding bullets. According to ownership data, most gun owners are while, male, and Republican. Let’s simply say that assault rifle owners are mainly white males. According to medical reports, [most] abortions are performed on women … of all races and political orientations. If men decide gun-ownership issues, then women should decide abortion rights issues. Yet, that is not how democracy in these divided and misguided states works. The supremely stupid opinion removing the 50 year old Roe v. Wade ruling was made with the premise that abortion was not mentioned in the Constitution and Roe v. Wade was dividing Americans, in spite of polling evidence suggesting that the overwhelming majority of Americans were in favor of keeping Roe v. Wade.

Who is dividing Americans? The gun-righteous fanatics who want to allow AR-15s in the hands of teenagers? The righteous- religious fanatics who want to completely ban abortions of all kinds everywhere in America? One can no longer believe that anyone being nominated to the court will tell the truth when being vetted by Senators. One can no longer believe many Senators, although the minority righteous leader does seem to usually tell the truth even wallowing in his beloved nickname, Moscow Mitch.

I now have tremendous respect for Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who seem truth-oriented without appealing or yielding to popular far-right sentiments. And there are hollow regrets at the court’s ruling offered by such lawmakers as Susan Collins and Joe Manchin and a lame vote by John Roberts not to over-turn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Divide and denigrate are the watchwords of the Trumplicans and the Mitch-McDuckheads … meanwhile Roger Stone and Steve Bannon and many minor facilitators and shadow boxers it is easy but not best to forget are tearing down the weak walls of our constitution… the facilitators of the decline and fall of the American Republic are numerous and unfortunately surprisingly successful.

Well, it should not be a surprise and the regrets will only accumulate after the lost of a shining city upon a hill. America was not meant as a citadel for Christians … it was not meant as a citadel for gun-owners … it was not meant as a citadel for billionaires and bigots, as they require so much more than a citadel. America is not a shining light for other nations or societies. New Zealand may be that shining light … or perhaps Norway where there are so many immigrants wanting to come to American according to #45. How stupid can some people be???

And there is Lady Liberty with these words welcoming visitors to our shores:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Those who are destroying this fragile democracy might propose the following words to replace those sacred words:

“Give us your rich, your privileged, your massive egomaniacs yearning for more wealth and power. Send then to our polluted shores. We lift a lamp beside this golden goose-egg Republic!”

I know … too much sarcasm and too little action on my part to help preserve our fragile democracy. I have donated what I can to a few worthy politicians … mostly democrats but I will will support Cheney and Kinzinger if they run again. I cannot walk far due to back pain and no one reads my blog so small donations are about all I can muster at present. I wish I could do more to repay the education I received as an Air Force Academy distinguished graduate.

Mike Spector

June 2022

 

 

I admit it ...

 

I have been told that I am spending too much time watching or reading the news, and that is causing me stress and detracting from my professional and personal responsibilities. That advice has come from multiple persons including family members. I admit it. They are right. However, all the things that have been happening occupy my thoughts much of the time, and I simply cannot purge those thoughts.

The long-time agony of Trump’s presidency and the deplorable … despicable … behavior of so many Trumplicans has been with me for years already. Then came the insurrection and the deniers of what we all saw. And the continuing sad saga of those unable to speak out publicly about the ongoing attacks on our democracy. So damned deplorable.

What could be worse? The insane Putin the Pretender invading Ukraine … but then there is at least the bravery and persistence of freedom lovers resisting that maniacal invasion. A glimmer of hope by some people with integrity and internal strength. How different would the world be if the Polish people had been able to muster the courage and persistence exhibited by Zelensky and so many brave Ukrainians? Now there is a new Hitler menacing the world – Putin, who will eventually receive his just desserts … hard to be just when so many have been killed due to his egomaniacal rule. We had a former President who was heading down the same dark tunnel.

And a teenager purchased two AR-15s and several boxes of ammunition and walked into an elementary school in Uvalde and murdered 19 children and two teachers. And that deadly massacre is now almost forgotten due to other senseless murders and violent acts. And the leaders of Texas and the gun lobby see nothing wrong with allowing any 18 year-old kid to buy a weapon of war that most police officers have to be trained to use and only allowed to carry when needed in special circumstances. Arm the maniacs and send them to Ukraine … or, better yet, send them to Russia.

We are losing the war with civility … and it appears we have already lost the war with the climate. Stick your head in the sand … hold your nose … collect your obscene profits … let others struggle and starve … no need to change your minds or hearts … the times are not changing after all of that … so damned depressing …

I admit it ... I am so depressed I often find it hard to concentrate and work ... 

 

Mike Spector

June 2022

Some original quotations:

 

Adults are just big kids with wrinkles.

If you can hear your own heartbeat, you may  be paranoid.

I used to be younger but now I'm not.

If you can laugh, you may be human.

If you can still laugh, you may still be alive.

A third of me is a writer; another third of me is a teacher; the other half is a logician.

I used to be a genius ... then I woke up.

Smile if you have teeth; otherwise, suck on a lemon.

Keep your money in your pockets and keep your hands out of there.

My father, the rabbi, told me once that for every tear you caused, you would lose one year of life ... by my own calculations, I should never have been born.

If bartenders ruled the country, there would be more bloody marys.

If there were more bloody marys, there would be fewer bloody martyrs.

If every adult was required to vote and every vote counted equally, we would be living in another country.

Once I ran away from home and got lost and ended up back at home. That was an example of circular reasoning.

Dead reckoning is a form of navigation that involves knowing where you want to go, the shortest way to get there, and running out of gas before you arrive. 

if you failed to smile at any of these one or two liners, then go suck a lemon. 

Mike Spector

June 2022

Thoughts about the Turing test

 

Random thought of the day:

I was thinking about the Turing test while driving back to Round Rock from Denton today … perhaps due to the mind numbing news about the massacre in Uvalde. The Turing test was devised by Alan Turing in 1950 as a way to determine if a computer program could be deemed to  be intelligent – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test. Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT created a program called Eliza in 1964 that was designed to imitate a Rogerian psychologist. Weizenbaum claimed that if an observer could not distinguish Eliza from an actual human psychologist then one would have to say that Eliza exhibited intelligent behavior. Weizenbaum’s ulterior motive might have been to show that communications between a human and a machine were somewhat superficial – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA/ .

In any case, while many argued that Eliza was not sufficient to pass Turing’s test, being an arrogant young researcher at the Air Force Research Laboratory in San Antonio, I thought I could do better. I was responsible for a group led by Dave Merrill in the latter part of the 1980s that had created a program that could generate an effective aircraft maintenance lesson using existing databases in a matter of minutes and I had a lesson created by a human for a similar task. Could folks identify the one created by the program when shown both? Unfortunately, our example failed the Turing test because our program used line art available in the available databases whereas the human designed lesson used much more appealing graphic art to support the lesson which involved removing the radar from an F-16 as best I can recall. The fact that our program took only minutes to generate and was based on the latest model of the F-16 was irrelevant in that failed attempt to pass the Turing test.

Now I am thinking that there should be an alternative to the Turing test. Rather than try to compare a human-generated example from a machine-generated example for a representative task, it makes more sense to me some 36 years later to identify things a typical human can do that the best machine program cannot do. Granted, computers can beat me at chess every time, and some computer programs can even beat chess grand masters, so I do not feel so bad.

However, there are probably things a person can do that a machine cannot come close to match. What are some of those things? In my case, because I am so insecure, I think I can wonder whether I was right about X and revisit my reasoning and alternative evidence and possibly reach a different conclusion. Can a computer program do something like that? Can a computer program doubt its own output, reflect, reconsider, and re-examine things? Perhaps not yet … and then, when that becomes possible, I will wonder whether a computer can laugh at its former response and say how stupid or naïve I was.

My conclusion now is that my insecurity has finally proven worthwhile.

Mike Spector

May 26, 2022

 

Rights and Wrongs

 

There is an apparent debate between those advocating for more states rights and those seeking protection of individual rights by the federal government. The lines are not clearly drawn and there is some hypocrisy on both sides. However, there is a great deal of difference in how advocates on each side behave. One side seems to think that lies and innuendo can be used freely and loosely while another side seems to think that this is a battle of minds being conducted by gentle folk. Both sides are mistaken. There is misinformation on both sides although one side is drowning in misinformation. There is feigned respect on both sides although one side has better actors.

T. S. Eliot has a line in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to the effect that in a minute there is time for a hundred revisions. No such time exists. The democracy is in peril. People in this country and other countries are under siege. The planet is threatened. Meanwhile, people “come and go talking of Michelango.” Getting and spending the wealthy have laid waste our powers. Will the American eagle ever stand up and fly right? Quoth the raven, nevermore.

Vague references to poetry aside, we are living through extremely challenging times when what is clearly right and what is clearly wrong are up for grabs, winner take all and leave nothing behind. What rights do individuals in this country have regardless of where they live and how much they earn? Name three. This is not a pop quiz. It is a test of your humanity. Name three. Which ones come to mind first? Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Or was it life, liberty and property? Property and wealth may not ensure happiness, so those two responses have always confused me. Shall I accept the challenge I offered? Name three. What comes to my weak mind are (a) the right to a free public education at least through high school, (b) the right to practice openly whatever religion or lack of religion I choose, and (c) the right to say whatever I believe to whomever I choose, including marriage vows, oaths of office, prayers, and much more but excluding threats, lies, and rumors designed to engender hate and violence. What are your three responses? Who are you and who do you want to become?

 Mike Spector

May 2022

Bullies

 We seem to have low tolerance for bullies in elementary and secondary school environments. There is even a federal government site to support action against bullies in school settings (see https://www.stopbullying.gov/). A great deal of attention is paid to reducing or preventing bullying in schools. There is somewhat less attention paid to adult bullying, although some institutions do have policies and training in an attempt to minimize adult bullying. 

However, there is virtually no action against politicians who repeatedly engage in bullying others. The worst adult bullying offenders may well be the politicians responsible for preserving this fragile democracy. We have recently experienced four years of bullying at the highest level of the government. This so-called democracy has barely survived and may yet succumb to authoritarian rule by bullies and by the self-proclaimed righteous right who are convinced they know what is best for everyone. 

What has happened to that golden rule found in the Book of Leviticus? It was not to rule your neighbor but to love your neighbor. The current environment in this country is to rule over others even if bullying and hateful actions are necessary. We are losing the sense of justice, domestic tranquility, common defence, general welfare, and blessings of liberty on which this country was founded. We are lost. And others around the world are also losing. 

The new mantra of the offending parties is bullies of the world unite. Perhaps the worst one has invaded Ukraine.

I just realized I am a patriot after all ... what a surprise ... 

Mike Spector

3 May 2022