Is America on the verge of Techmageddon?

It has been said that life imitates art, and if that is true humanity may well be one the verge of ushering in the dawn of a bleak future; one in which man is not master, but the machine. The technology which has developed surveillance cameras to spy on our activities, almost anywhere people gather there is an electronic, all-seeing “eye” watching and keeping track of our every move.  George Orwell published the book “1984” in 1949 about a society very much like the direction that America is heading. In this account people live under a totalitarian state which uses weapons of propaganda and public mind-control to maintain the status quo. Big Brother is an enigmatic, unseen, semi-divine symbolic leader who lurks in the shadows above the visible ruling party. Popular social institutions are merely tools of the system whose primary function is to reinforce obedience toward acceptance of the politically-correct revisionist history rewritten in newspapers and books (all media sources) of reality. It is the ultimate social control for the greater good. With that in mind, the 911 terrorist attacks was the tipping point and paradigm shift in national domestic policy because it empowered the government to subordinate constitutionally guaranteed privacy rights to The Patriot Act, creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Adding to this point is the political and military influence on foreign policy in the presence of unmanned aerial drones, which are presently used in the “War on Terror” with a mission to seek, search out and destroy al-Qaeda leadership wherever they may be hiding, but once American combat troops pull out of Afghanistan in 2014, what will be done with this expensive and exquisitely sophisticated technology? Will these formidable and deadly toys which were used to kill people (insurgents, enemy combatants as well as civilian collateral damage) in warfare on faraway lands be flying overhead in cities and neighborhoods across America in the very near future?
  

It has been talked about more recently after the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 18, 2013 that if aerial drones had been patrolling the vicinity and course the Tsarnaev brothers might have been intercepted by authorities, or at the very least taken out by the drone before they detonated the explosive bombs which brought such horror and tragedy. While this might be an interesting consideration and considering the circumstances quite plausible, but what’s to stop a benign and beneficial service to get out of control and become the “Frankenstein Monster” of tomorrow? Is it paranoia or caution to be a little hesitant to cross into that brave new frontier as depicted in the blockbuster “Terminator” Sci-fi movie sequels? Humanity’s demise started off as just a simple computer programmed to play a simple game of chess that ultimately led to Skynet, which was a computer system developed for the U.S. military by the fictitious defense firm Cyberdyne Systems. Skynet was first built as a "Global Digital Defense Network" and given command over all computerized military hardware and systems. Sounds a bit farfetched until you consider the military already has the X-47B pilotless aircraft and what makes this drone so remarkable is that it just might have the ability to indiscriminately initiate its own attack protocols without direct human involvement; in other words it has the capability toward artificial intelligence (independent self-actualization or initiation). There are already video games where the computer digitally ‘learns’ or grows from the moves initiated by an opponent or player. So, as more programming power and capability is built into it, this cybernetic servant for humanity may one day become its metalloid master.

 

Robert Randle

776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 30, 2013
robertrandle51@yahoo.com

 

 

 

A letter to the NRA

There is no simple answer to curb the escalating gun violence in America and the pain, suffering, anger, mental and emotional anguish that families, friends and loved ones have to endure when faced with attending the funeral of those whom they will never see again in this life. One of the cornerstones of your organization is the “right” to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While it is not my suggestion that the federal government should confiscate every citizen’s guns because such an action would be impractical but the issue of gun ownership is worth looking at again, from a perspective that, at least to my knowledge, has not been introduced into this public debate. There is an old saying in some Christian circles, “Text without Context becomes Pretext.” This relates to interpreting Biblical passages without taking into account the circumstances in which the narratives are written, and the absence of such a technique can lead someone to misapply scriptural standards to a given social situation.

 That being said, the Constitution is more than just the articles and amendments but rather a whole document, including the Preamble, and most importantly, the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it is the latter that provides, at least to my thinking, the moral and legal justification for the colonists, though still subjects to the King of England and British Parliament, which granted charters or legal agreements to establish colonies in the New World, due to abuses from their sovereign, to declare themselves free and independent states and no longer subject to the monarchy. There are at least 17 reasons or categories that those in rebellion gave for their decision, which were reintroduced or formed the basis for inclusion as the Second Amendment, Federalist papers notwithstanding, are as follows:

 The state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions from within (Second Amendment; Article 1, Section 8b).

 He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies (Third Amendment; Second Amendment), without the consent of our legislatures.

 For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; for protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states (Second Amendment; Third Amendment).

 He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us (Second Amendment).

 He is at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death (Second Amendment), desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy; scarcely parallel in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized nation.

 He has excited domestic insurrections among us (Article 1, Section 8b), and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rules for warfare, is an undistinguished destruction, of all ages, sexes, and conditions (Second Amendment).

 So, in a nutshell this is why the right to bear arms was written into the Constitution because it was adopted and codified during a period based on the aftermath of the Revolutionary War of 1776. All the 13 individual colonies had at this time in the way of domestic security were civilian Militias for protection, and so it would seem prudent as well as practical, to enact into law what was customary practice to keep gunpowder and musket within reach just in case one had to respond to some unexpected internal or external threat. Personally, I don’t know whether fewer guns or more guns are the answer, but at least for the sake of constitutional clarity, before you start yelling about gun rights, read the Declaration of Independence first and stop using the Second Amendment as though it is sacred, like one of the Ten Commandments.

 

Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 12, 2013
robertrandle51@yahoo.com