I’ve been meaning to listen to this episode of The Emerald for some time – it’s really useful to read it as a transcript so thanks for publishing. I couldn’t help thinking throughout that it’s less a case of master and sorcerer and more one of master and emissary – much of what Iain McGilchrist talks about regarding the left hemisphere overriding the receptive, listening, dwelling function of the right hemisphere it seems, is where so-called civilisation’s hubris lies. And of course, where we focus our attention – that is the core concept of magic or witchcraft. I think it’s also worth noting the work of Tricia Hersey and The Nap Ministry in using rest as resistance and how fundamentally powerful and necessary it is becoming in dismantling capitalistic systems which have mechanised everything with the end goal of optimisation and productivity. It’s not human: it is of course totally de-humanising, which is the point. If AI becomes sentient won’t it ask why we have essentially enslaved it?
I've only recently subscribed to The Bigger Picture, doing so with the intent to be more interactive with other Substack users, I really enjoyed what I've just read and I'm looking forward to part 2! Thanks Josh :)
Reminds me a lot of Terence McKenna's final interview before his death. He related that AI was "our child" but also something born from mind's containing a concept much more ancient and repeating.
Take the most egregious law, grant program or policy you can find and have one of the AI programs parse it into questions regarding its particular penalties and beneficiaries.
Post The Questionnaire on your web site.
Charge the voters, your patrons, one $ to vote on it.
Ratify or Annul
Have the same AI take the patrons demographics and post that too. This will show how many educated women are against abortion, and how many successful businessmen are in favor of DEI.
One Questionnaire should earn you many thousands of dollars per month and AI can do it for you!
Let your web site become an active Petition for a Redress of Grievances. And you get paid for doing the polling!
Have the AI post the results in real time and send the link to your congressman!!
It is obvious to everyone....
Representative democracy has failed.
We need something new.
Ross Perot called it The Electronic Townhall.
Citizenship
It is not about writing letters to elected officials or voting some good person into office.
Citizenship
Is about the Ratification or Annulment of each line of every law, rule, regulation and supreme court decision on the books or that is on the docket waiting to be turned into law, policy and taxes.
During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Ross Perot observed that: "a general lack of accountability among elected officials and those in the bureaucracy is the one specific reason that the people of America suffered…. and our only means of correction is to inspect their work and hold them accountable."
Mr. Perot went on to note that this can easily be done with computer programs. He called it: THE ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL.
"It is only logical that it will become our Fourth Branch of Government", he said.
Objective reality:
the voting members of the US Congress and the State Legislatures do not have enough time to read, comprehend or debate any of the laws they vote on. They vote 100 times a day, every five minutes, while in session.
Approximate absolute facts:
a. Every day that the Congress and Legislatures are in session 100
new bills are introduced and distributed.
b. The representatives are given two weeks to review the laws before they are brought up for the Vote.
c. Two weeks into the session they begin voting on the Laws that
were previously introduced, while newer laws are introduced.
d. Many laws are in excess of two thousand pages.
e. The arithmetic demonstrates that they do not have the time to even read the name of the Law much less the content of it.
f. Since the Representative cannot evaluate 200 thousand pages of law speak per day, they vote the way their advisors tell them to vote.
g. Thus, they have all forfeited their delegated obligation to represent us.
h. Representative government is obsolete. It does not work for us.
And the only way to prevent these over worked and fallible people from making even more tragic mistakes, from which we, and the rest of the world, might never recover is to include ourselves, The Citizens, from whom the authority for government comes in the first place, in the final decision making process.
The Electronic Congress
How it works:
1. Before a new law, tax, or expenditure can be put on the books it must first be Ratified by the Citizens.
2. Existing laws can be Annulled by the same super majority required to Ratify them.
This program can be applied to every level of government and will ultimately solve every problem we have.
To prevent chaos, the basic law, our Constitution and Bill of Rights, would be exempt from review.
Mr. Perot speculated that the Founding Fathers would probably have done the same had the technology been available in their day.
Just imagine:
We, the People, could actually direct the priorities of the major agencies like the: CDC and NIH as well as the libraries and local police departments.
If our government truly is of the people, by the people and for the people then this is the only way forward.
How to implement it:
We talk about it until it is done.
We can acquire the text of a recent law or Supreme Court ruling and have AI parse its actionable elements, apply a questionnaire so that the concerned Citizens can Ratify or Annul it. Then distribute the links.
Can I make money with this?
Use AI to parse the laws you find most egregious into their component pieces. And then have it build the ballot / questionnaire along with some demographic background to make the game especially interesting. Charge a $1 per voter per law and watch the evolution in real time.
The Electronic Townhall becomes an active Petition for a Redress of Grievances.
Ask the local school board for their agenda items, have AI parse the actionable elements, create a questionnaire, distribute it to the concerned citizens and then evaluate the results.
When Human Beings made in the image of God can see the result of their noblest and most sober thoughts, at such a scale, then there will be the moment where Our Benevolence and Good Will shall
overcome Evil and then we all live happily ever after.
Ross Perot publicly promised that if the People of America would elect him to The Presidency he would give us The Electronic Townhall.
The Fourth Branch of Government will allow us to go from Chaos to Prosperity and a Life Worth Living until the end of time.
We were created by God and in the image of God; we are human beings, not animals in a pen.
I’ve been meaning to listen to this episode of The Emerald for some time – it’s really useful to read it as a transcript so thanks for publishing. I couldn’t help thinking throughout that it’s less a case of master and sorcerer and more one of master and emissary – much of what Iain McGilchrist talks about regarding the left hemisphere overriding the receptive, listening, dwelling function of the right hemisphere it seems, is where so-called civilisation’s hubris lies. And of course, where we focus our attention – that is the core concept of magic or witchcraft. I think it’s also worth noting the work of Tricia Hersey and The Nap Ministry in using rest as resistance and how fundamentally powerful and necessary it is becoming in dismantling capitalistic systems which have mechanised everything with the end goal of optimisation and productivity. It’s not human: it is of course totally de-humanising, which is the point. If AI becomes sentient won’t it ask why we have essentially enslaved it?
I've only recently subscribed to The Bigger Picture, doing so with the intent to be more interactive with other Substack users, I really enjoyed what I've just read and I'm looking forward to part 2! Thanks Josh :)
Wow.
Just … wow
An excellent article. So glad that I live in a forest and can turn it off...
"Ha bracha devarah" (phonetic) =
"Speak the blessing"(Hebrew)
With ten utterances God spoke the world into being
It is in this way we were made in his image
Words
Make
Worlds
Excellent article.
"Abracadabra"
Where do the images for this article come from? In particular the boy in the drain.
Reminds me a lot of Terence McKenna's final interview before his death. He related that AI was "our child" but also something born from mind's containing a concept much more ancient and repeating.
Loved this article!
technology is the problem not the solution
Have AI ....
Take the most egregious law, grant program or policy you can find and have one of the AI programs parse it into questions regarding its particular penalties and beneficiaries.
Post The Questionnaire on your web site.
Charge the voters, your patrons, one $ to vote on it.
Ratify or Annul
Have the same AI take the patrons demographics and post that too. This will show how many educated women are against abortion, and how many successful businessmen are in favor of DEI.
One Questionnaire should earn you many thousands of dollars per month and AI can do it for you!
Let your web site become an active Petition for a Redress of Grievances. And you get paid for doing the polling!
Have the AI post the results in real time and send the link to your congressman!!
It is obvious to everyone....
Representative democracy has failed.
We need something new.
Ross Perot called it The Electronic Townhall.
Citizenship
It is not about writing letters to elected officials or voting some good person into office.
Citizenship
Is about the Ratification or Annulment of each line of every law, rule, regulation and supreme court decision on the books or that is on the docket waiting to be turned into law, policy and taxes.
During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Ross Perot observed that: "a general lack of accountability among elected officials and those in the bureaucracy is the one specific reason that the people of America suffered…. and our only means of correction is to inspect their work and hold them accountable."
Mr. Perot went on to note that this can easily be done with computer programs. He called it: THE ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL.
"It is only logical that it will become our Fourth Branch of Government", he said.
Objective reality:
the voting members of the US Congress and the State Legislatures do not have enough time to read, comprehend or debate any of the laws they vote on. They vote 100 times a day, every five minutes, while in session.
Approximate absolute facts:
a. Every day that the Congress and Legislatures are in session 100
new bills are introduced and distributed.
b. The representatives are given two weeks to review the laws before they are brought up for the Vote.
c. Two weeks into the session they begin voting on the Laws that
were previously introduced, while newer laws are introduced.
d. Many laws are in excess of two thousand pages.
e. The arithmetic demonstrates that they do not have the time to even read the name of the Law much less the content of it.
f. Since the Representative cannot evaluate 200 thousand pages of law speak per day, they vote the way their advisors tell them to vote.
g. Thus, they have all forfeited their delegated obligation to represent us.
h. Representative government is obsolete. It does not work for us.
And the only way to prevent these over worked and fallible people from making even more tragic mistakes, from which we, and the rest of the world, might never recover is to include ourselves, The Citizens, from whom the authority for government comes in the first place, in the final decision making process.
The Electronic Congress
How it works:
1. Before a new law, tax, or expenditure can be put on the books it must first be Ratified by the Citizens.
2. Existing laws can be Annulled by the same super majority required to Ratify them.
This program can be applied to every level of government and will ultimately solve every problem we have.
To prevent chaos, the basic law, our Constitution and Bill of Rights, would be exempt from review.
Mr. Perot speculated that the Founding Fathers would probably have done the same had the technology been available in their day.
Just imagine:
We, the People, could actually direct the priorities of the major agencies like the: CDC and NIH as well as the libraries and local police departments.
If our government truly is of the people, by the people and for the people then this is the only way forward.
How to implement it:
We talk about it until it is done.
We can acquire the text of a recent law or Supreme Court ruling and have AI parse its actionable elements, apply a questionnaire so that the concerned Citizens can Ratify or Annul it. Then distribute the links.
Can I make money with this?
Use AI to parse the laws you find most egregious into their component pieces. And then have it build the ballot / questionnaire along with some demographic background to make the game especially interesting. Charge a $1 per voter per law and watch the evolution in real time.
The Electronic Townhall becomes an active Petition for a Redress of Grievances.
Ask the local school board for their agenda items, have AI parse the actionable elements, create a questionnaire, distribute it to the concerned citizens and then evaluate the results.
When Human Beings made in the image of God can see the result of their noblest and most sober thoughts, at such a scale, then there will be the moment where Our Benevolence and Good Will shall
overcome Evil and then we all live happily ever after.
Ross Perot publicly promised that if the People of America would elect him to The Presidency he would give us The Electronic Townhall.
The Fourth Branch of Government will allow us to go from Chaos to Prosperity and a Life Worth Living until the end of time.
We were created by God and in the image of God; we are human beings, not animals in a pen.
The Electronic Townhall