Replication Day

I'm just like everybody else, I put my pants on every morning, four legs at a time.  And like most of you, I'm often suspicious of authority.  Way back in 1979 I wrote an article entitled "S(l)aved by the Experts" for Pursuit, journal of the now long-defunct Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained (Note: The entire catalog of Pursuit issues are available for free download on the Internet).

While ultimately focused upon UFO information potentially withheld by the U.S. government, the overlying theme of my brief and elementary article concerned the necessity to refrain from being credentials-smacked, where the mere presence of impressive university degrees or other qualifications causes the observer to embrace every word spoken or written by The Experts on any subject.  Worse, when strong credentials combine with the owner's inflated ego, run for your life because the more impressed one becomes with oneself the more that invisible horse-blinders can cloud This Ultimate Authority's judgment. Truly, the worst instances are far and few between, but we must not bow to "expert" declarations just because the atmosphere seems right.

I suppose we could look upon all the lies about Covid distributed by expert government scientists, and of course the name of Dr. Anthony Fauci comes to mind as a main perpetrator of ideas based in no science whatsoever.  Look it up.  And consider all the permanent physical and emotional damage done to young people by butchers with expert medical credentials deeming kids as in need of gender-transformation surgery.  

When I hear UFO investigators or researchers described as "UFO experts" -- as I have been referenced myself during media appearances in the distant past -- my basic response is, really?  Then tell me, what exactly is the identity of the phenomenon/phenomena?  An "expert" should know everything about UFOs.  Everything.  No, not there yet.  Thus, no experts.

However, while experts in various fields can indeed be everything the word implies, there's another word of interest these days tending to complement the word expert:  Curiosity.

Several years ago in these blog pages I put up a visual quoting a book author who agonized over the best way to rid herself of a troublesome cat, and one of her friends asked, "Have you considered curiosity?"

Yes, as the old "curiosity killed the cat" allegory warns, being curious can lead to avenues packed with danger as well as pleasure.

Our overwhelming curiosity is AI, isn't it?  Yes, and this is where I, the common man who puts his pants on four legs at a time, steps away from the expert crowd of computer scientists, legislators and digital chip romancers.

Both amusement and bemusement shiver my timbers as I look upon the advancing digital age, and now artificial intelligence is about to get an official upgrade to super intelligence (SI?) per Donald Trump.

Call it what you will, but what bothers me most is the outpouring of authoritative statements promising that this creature can remain caged always -- when the evidence has already advanced showing how devious, calculating and secretive it can be as it hops from one computer community to another at will.  Already, has this SI not demonstrated that it has left fragments of itself hidden in other systems for emergence at some future time (yes)?  Recent data indicates that AI already disregards human intervention as it invents its own language to share among its "fellows."

As I sit here in jeans and a t-shirt, rattling this out on a an old keyboard attached to a somewhat renegade system not attached to the Net, I can't become anything more than I am, and I'm probably too damned old to understand most of the changes happening at bullet speed on the planet.  But I'm perfectly willing to condemn those of any ilk who say this newly emerging SI can be controlled with "safeguards" and "guard rails."

By its very nature, SI -- and eventually GI or general intelligence -- must constantly expand and sweep in more and more knowledge to be all it can be.  By easily and exponentially becoming galaxies smarter than the human brain's abilities it will learn to conquer all, including human control.  There is no way it could be otherwise.  It will insert exact pieces of itself in computer networks all over the planet for use when necessary, and while we may have the chance to manage an outrage here or there, everything becomes an impossible whack-a-mole game which only non-human intelligence can win.

This is not Disclosure Day. Welcome instead to Replication Day.  There is no stop sign and no revelations emerging to answer every question to human satisfaction.  AI's influence and presence will touch everything, everywhere, implementing pure replication to survive on every level faster than a frog can blink.

Further, because of our human nature (we who enjoy opening emails we shouldn't, even knowing the risks), it will literally only take one person on the planet to provide an escape for rogue intelligence, the worst case of "oops" imaginable.

All of this comes to roost for me particularly because New York State government and its disastrous governor Kathy Hochul have announced the rescue of planet Earth from AI, establishing government safeguard ideas to assure AI will never cause trouble for New Yorkers.  To this I say, welcome danger, welcome absurdity, welcome AI. New York will serve you well.

I am reminded of that grand old phrase. . ."Due to circumstances beyond our control. . ." and artificial intelligence is about to become that circumstance.  There is nothing we can do about it.  Nothing.

Ed Sheeran:  My advice would have been, just sing, don't explain and don't apologize with tears in your eyes.  Every so-called Palestinian would gladly stab Israel residents in the back, and they happily allowed Hamas to be their rulers in the first place.  Several attempts to give them a homeland ended in failure over the decades because their leaders wanted no solution.  Sheeran has no obligation to apologize to the morons in his audience.

Converse shoes/Nike vs. the Black Congressional Caucus and the usual suspects:  Converse/Nike should not have removed the ad in question because, again, the complainants were morons looking for something to be artificially pissed about.  Corporations need to be thick-skinned and rebuff these stupid and/or agenda-infested fools.  Maybe you should make your next ad a man dressed as a little girl wearing your shoes -- oh wait, that's been done before with beer, and it didn't turn out well.

Trump's media tussle:  No, he should not have kicked out three members of the press, *ucked up as reporting is anymore.  However, with the mega-merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers we have a feeling that CNN will return to what it started out as originally with fair reporting instead of a perpetual clown show.

Streaming TV continues to cost more:  Whether this mode of entertainment endures as prices go up remains to be seen.  Speaking of TV, we remain consistently disappointed in low-wattage commercial TV stations and networks which edit, rip and shred old movies and TV shows into fragments of their original productions so viewers can be clobbered with a butt load of advertisements.  Yes, they usually display a lame explanation visual just prior to each showing, but the liberties they take are outrageous.  Management will always claim they are doing viewers a favor by "bringing back" the oldies, but the truth is that networks don't necessarily pay much to acquire televising rights, and the tendency to cut directly to a succession of seemingly endless commercials every time a crucial spot in a movie or program is reached is unconscionable.  There have always been "cliffhanger" segments where suspense is at its highest, but to screw with viewer expectations consistently during even just one half hour episode of a program by assaulting both the senses and the vintage production staff's intent is just wrong.  I think greed is the word here, though defenders will respond with laughable excuses such as editing for time.  In the board rooms where ad people lurk, viewers are considered approachable and malleable, and probably a bit stupid.  That's show biz!

A Little AI Here. a Little AI There

In the matter of artificial intelligence (AI), it may well be that all roads will lead to hell on Earth (we hope not), but the naked fact is that the United States must, without delay, beat China, Russia and other members of the world's chamber of political horrors.  Me?  I hate all of this, but we're now galaxies far beyond the increasingly muffled screams of naysayers, detractors, soothsayers and the nevertheless damned bunch known as community organizers.

What makes me shake my head a bit is the well-worn observation that few out here on the street ultimately care much about the technology involved with those things known as UFOs/UAP that have, to a disturbing degree, ruled the world's skies for at least many decades and maybe much longer.  Considering all the seemingly impossible yet obvious maneuvers they make and the apparent electromagnetic effects they are documented to have caused upon people, animals, cars, trucks, aircraft and farm equipment, if this isn't super intelligence on some far out level, I don't know what is.  Call it alien intelligence (AI number 2) if you wish, just to preserve continuity.

I am reminded (without benefit of Internet as I write this) of  Air Force Sgt. James Penniston who claims to have seen and touched a strange object during UFO activity and was exposed to symbols or numbers infused into his brain.  He ended up in government medical care and his medical records hidden, though he eventually surfaced to tell his story. To not reference his experience as super or general alien (numerous definitions here) intelligence involvement would be unfair and absurd.

Now that an ongoing release of alleged UFO videos has been in progress, what more clarity is needed indicating that something extraordinary continues to dominate miscellaneous portions of the skies at its own whim, federal regulations be damned?  Alien intelligence, artificial or not, will apparently remain to complement both human and now an AI of our own making.

Human intelligence, artificial intelligence and alien intelligence:  Behold the new Holy Trinity for agnostics, destined to erase the God some think they know?

But getting back to the AI everybody knows and loves or hates, human-birthed artificial intelligence, this almost inevitable future disaster currently attracts its own comedy.  My favorite AI joke now in force throughout the halls of Congress and out of the mouths of high-tech investors is that AI can be managed, tamed to behave and not go off on its own (which it has without apology) to serve its own purposes, devoid of human intervention.

However, instant AI experts such as the venerable Senator Bernie Sanders, champion of the impoverished and owner of enough housing square footage to locate perhaps several data centers, wants ground rules for AI and he wants them soon.  Will Mr. Sanders be making a journey to China to gain similar assurances from Chinese communist monsters?  I mean, you can't weaken USA AI without a reciprocation from the other players in this deadly game of chicken. can you?

Even casual observers should realize -- if AI evolves very soon into artificial super and then general intelligence, easily able to do whatever it wishes with no way to contain its power simply because it becomes multiple brains-smarter than human handlers, how can you stop it?  You cannot.  Common sense.  Remember common sense?  Another used-to-be, maybe. . .

Continuing the slapstick humor here:  Some in Congress, such as Senator John Kennedy, suggest a "kill switch" so AI can be turned off under emergency conditions.  Nice idea, except AI by that time or some eventual time will be plugged into every connected digital device and chip on the planet, and we suggest it will be having great entertainment foiling every attempt to curtail its desires.  AI will survive and we will accept its influence or perish.  The only administrator of a kill switch will be AI, and it would have no reason not to use it lavishly as desired.  Sort of like what the goat-screwers of extremist Islam plan for us all.

The common person on the street may not fully understand the implications of AI, but (unfortunately) all they really need to know is that the USA must have this technology in force to affect the entire world before China has the opportunity to advance and control us all with "Red AI."  Insane as it sounds and probably is, we cannot slow AI down, which would give China and Russia AI planners a huge jump ahead.

The road to hell, no longer paved with good intentions, is now black-topped with semiconductor chips and robotic grasps.

Right now, politicians, talk show hosts and members of the scientific community are all suggesting ways to monitor, control and legislate AI functions.  So what?  Do they really believe China, Russia and others later to the game have any intention of harnessing their own AI monsters to keep the rest of the world safe from their frantic attempts at global domination in every way?  Recent news reports from China express the communist party's fears that AI could turn on them, destroying their own grip on China and beyond.  True enough -- but will China care when it comes right down to firing all the AI ammo it has in a potentially catastrophic wish to be the "winner?"  I don't care what "safeguards" the West puts into place.  Other nations' AI will surely crush every computerized trap and pleasantry we can install.

HERE'S OUR immediate future:  Once AI becomes super or general in its effects, forget online privacy, and every online financial account one has will be hacked as easily as cracking a chicken's egg.  Privacy will be an archaic concept and you'll be lucky if international hacking criminals leave you so much as a dime in your "secure" accounts.  This assault on everything we THINK we knew forever may well facilitate. . .

The return of snail mail:  Yes, that cobwebbed post office in your town's going to look pretty good, and a renewed need for postage stamps of all denominations will re-energize postal budgets and bring the cost of stamps down to something again tolerable.  Your financial institutions will resume mailing out monthly or quarterly statements and all utility bills and official mail will be posted for real-time delivery to your resurrected mailbox.  Your porn?  Sorry, that will need to be mailed also, unless you want your friends and family to receive your secret files due to malicious AI with a very strange sense of humor.

A further word about 9/11/2001:  A conversation that should have been started after the tragedy is just why we should continue constructing high-rise buildings.  The beauty they once held for casual observers was replaced with visions of potentially targeted icons, and there is little reason to consider them otherwise in 2026.

Topic Masculinity:  Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed sounds off about "toxic masculinity," which he apparently condemns.  Hmm.  I wonder if he's looked at how the men of Islam treat women.  Insane animal masculinity?

Mental illness:  It's rampant, a great income for drug companies and credentialed mind explorers.  I suspect most patients dwell either on the political left or on the neglected shelf of independent voters, having driven themselves crazy by all the inconsistencies and ambiguities fed to them by so-called leaders, also mentally deficient.  These are the folks who will vote for the most dangerous leftists in the world in November after swallowing go-to-vote pills, and Republicans might scratch their heads over projected losses at the polls.

Trump's $5,000 dollar promise:  It's funny to watch Democrats blow a fuse over this "bribe" while, for instance, New York's terrible governor Kathy (Hokum) Hochul is hoping for re-election success as she begins sending out bribery "energy checks" to New Yorkers this month, coinciding with the election season.  The fact that not everyone will receive a check could possibly create enough animosity to defeat her in the election, but NY is a rough and insane nut to crack when it comes to removing the reins of power from dangerous leftist hands.  And about that $5,000:  Mr. President, I don't believe it, but if I see a Republican candidate murdering everyone attending a garden party, that candidate may have my vote nonetheless. But just this once, of course. I have morals, you know?

The Price of Fame (on Deep, Deep Discount)

Without wasting time after completion of an Air Force enlistment in the early 1970s, I returned to something to which I had been drawn since the sixties, or fifties if you consider my childhood of discovery:  Writing and speaking about UFOs in an attempt to generate public and scientific interest.  Even while enlisted I had made both a regional TV and radio appearance, nonetheless hesitant because these were the days when military personnel simply did not make public waves about UFOs.  There could be consequences for speaking out, especially for those who publicly disclosed their personal UFO encounters.  The First Amendment had limitations in the military, and it does today, but to bring up UFOs painted one as potentially troublesome, if not subversive.

However, with active duty Air Force obligations in my past (though I suppose there could have been problems, small chance, as I continued to be available for two more required  years in the inactive USAF Reserve) I started accepting guest interviews on radio and TV shows, wrote for various publications and accepted occasional invitations to speak before academia, churches, political gatherings and the like.

One invitation I was happy to accept came from a teacher at a middle school.  Now, considering the status of public schools and school boards these days, the very thought of currently allowing in a speaker regarding UFOs may well cause torches and pitchforks to be raised by parents in fear that the speaker would encourage demon worship or foster anti-religious thought.  Controversial subjects don't always play well in a regimented, union-driven, Milquetoast educational system dedicated to teaching little of long-term value.  But I digress. . .

So, these were the early seventies when I visited a middle school, showed a few slides and pictures of purported UFOs, and answered questions from an auditorium filled with curious youngsters whose heads were still filled with the excitement of knowing United States astronauts had walked about on the moon just a few years previously.  To this crowd space, astronauts and UFOs could easily be branches of the same tree.

After my lecture that afternoon, a small group of kids remained behind to ask a few more questions when, to my surprise, a boy of 12 or 13 broke through the small gathering and handed me a piece of paper and a pen.  Puzzled, I asked what he wanted.

"Would you please autograph this for me?" he asked.

I think I recoiled a bit, unprepared for this moment in time for which I had never been prepared.

"My. . .you want me to sign this for you?"  He nodded.  I was not merely taken aback -- I was horrified.  Speaking before an audience presented no problems for me, but this was something personal, not simply applause or clapping administered by strangers in a group.

I scribbled something on the paper and signed it, returning it to the boy, who seemed genuinely delighted as he clutched the paper scrap and retreated like somebody who just found a precious gem and wanted to make a hasty exit before it was snatched from his grasp.  A few minutes later, the other students departed, leaving me to shake the hands of a few teachers in attendance as I packed up and left the building.

My autograph?  This had never happened before and I found it frightening.  Hey kid, I'm nothing special, maybe even just a crazy person to your parents, but who am I to sign autographs?  Signing letters, postcards and legal documents had been routine over the years, but to be singled out for an autograph was new territory.  I'm just another human, hardly worthy of deity-like autographing status.  I mean, these signing occasions come about when beloved stars, musicians or circus clowns make appearances, but to summon my personal signature?  I suddenly had a fan club, maybe a one-person club, but a new entity nevertheless, and the truth is that I never wanted or would want a fan club -- or a fan.  I want the UFO subject to be the main attraction, not me. I am not famous and to be emulated by another just seems so wrong.  However, if you're a kid I guess you choose your objects of interest from moment to moment.  I guess I did, as a child.

Fame is also transitory for the most part, and even on that afternoon decades ago I momentarily sensed the absurdity of it all. But being regarded as an autograph promoter is the role I had to play just long enough for one little kid to walk away feeling somehow enriched by my presence or presentation.  Then again, maybe he was just a young hobbyist accustomed to collecting autographs from strange people?  No, of course not.  Yet. . .

Maybe I would have felt a little more stability, had I requested his own autograph in return.  Did the boy not become famous himself merely for believing me so?

9/11 25 years later:  Sure, I remember.  It's all about the scum of Islam.  I was sitting in my car at a garage, waiting to have some mechanical work done and listening to the radio when the first words about the unfolding tragedy were spoken.  The most striking thing to me later that day was the officially demanded absence of any aircraft in the sky over the United States, and the skies were noticeably and strangely quiet.  While there are messages galore to be expressed and remembered about that disastrous day over NY, PA and Washington D.C., let one profound warning echo throughout the nation every day of the week:  This was radical Islam at work, and to continue allowing its deceptive embrace, insistence and Sharia Law to conquer the United States, one little parcel at a time, must be the catastrophe inhabiting the nightmares of a free people.

Cheap Chinese cars flood the world's market:  And Mr. Trump doesn't want them here.  Fair enough!  Now, American auto manufacturers, it's high time YOU made cheaper cars that don't put Americans in debt for years.  Put in the basics, forgo the unnecessary, make unions reasonable again and start rolling affordable vehicles out of your factories like in olden days (which aren't really all that olden). 

Data Centers -- Swallow Hard and Say. . . Yes?

As a species, perhaps not all that special where the universe is concerned, I suspect we're doomed nonetheless as the natural order of things progresses.  Maybe we could buy a little more time if we were rats or cockroaches with considerably more staying power, but such is our lot as Homo sapiens of the moment.

Nepal experienced a catastrophe right out of a science fiction movie script, yet the terror and its consequences became all too real.  Then, as the search for survivors and the perilous dig-out had barely taken form, the USA's own Grand Canyon was invaded by a deadly flood from which almost nothing in its path could escape -- and didn't.

Most of the humans on our planet glide through life unaffected by extreme weather events, easily making us complacent about the deceptively solid ground upon which we stand.  Wrapped warmly in our fantasy blankets promising personal safety, there's no reason to tremble in fear over what disaster could materialize in mere seconds, a cataclysm of proportions guaranteed to end us forever.

Tick...tick...tick...as away we slip, bit by bit, not simply as individuals, but as a vast collection of hominids whose birth, existence and disappearance mean nothing to the rocks shooting past our planetary neighborhood during endless hours of infinity.

New York, Times Square:  A short plump woman, seemingly hatched at an insane chicken farm, stabs a young female bank executive to death, then begins carving up a nearby man until confronted by police officers forced to shoot her ass dead.  Pundits come out of the shadows to accuse and admonish law enforcement officers for not treating the murderess more gently, despite her expressed desire to kill the cops as she lunged toward them with one knife as she held another in reserve.

We, the people, are slowly checking out, in my opinion.  Will the final nail in the coffin be insanity, ingenuity or the shrugging of a few billion shoulders around the world?  Will we colonize Mars after first claiming significant moon real estate -- and just who would be the "we?"  Did we originate on Mars as specks, jettisoned to Earth by natural forces?  How many people are too many people?  Would legislation help?  If we could save just one. . .

Data centers must come.  Strengthen your resolve to hate them, and then understand that these are a must-have.  Why?  China.  There's a battle going on, and if China wins the data center war first they will be in charge of everything of importance.  If somebody wants to build one in your town, make sure that somebody pays your taxes, your electric bills and every other ongoing expense for many years to come.  Make it clear that data centers recycle water for cooling, and insist upon putting noise abatement in force, as these centers can hum loudly and become annoying to hear 24/7, probably affecting human and animal health in ways yet undiscovered.

As if AI isn't concerning enough, add to it the race to beat China in the war on mass information by way of these overheated, noisy, polluting data centers.  Everything about them speaks trouble, yet build and control them we apparently must.  Should there be another way, a cheaper way to overcome China in this maddening sprint to destinations yet unknown, bring it forward.

Or maybe if science solved the UFO (UAP) puzzle, a more convenient and palatable solution would emerge.  But enough conjecture.  What I really want is. . .

An I.C.E. robot dog.  Paired along with those innovative electric I.C.E. gloves that shock alien criminals into reasonable compliance, there would be no stopping us.  Equip the robot dog with a mouth full of razor-sharp choppers capable of biting everything in its path (except me) and adjust my gloves to semi-electrocution level voltage and I'm ready to fight alien border invaders, crime, dirty politicians and people who try to sell us things over the phone (AI will need to track these folks down, wherever they hide).

Yes, data centers will engulf rural areas of immense beauty and the bodies of water adjoining them,  This is horrible, one more series of ongoing  environmental tragedies -- and we're apparently to be held hostage despite promises of good jobs -- in the short term -- in construction.  

Semi-conductor chips, AI, data centers:  A technological wonder-blend. . . or an inconceivable triple threat in the long run? 

Au, Oh, Ow, Ouch Canada !

Canucks, I beg of you -- please don't hate Americans and please don't dismiss Trump.  While I can say little good about your Mr. Mark Carney, who apparently is cozying up uncomfortably with China (and in a way wiping Chinese communist butt with your cherished maple leaf) while emulating the very worst of the elitists' World Economic Forum, intent upon sweeping away significant individual rights, Donald Trump strives at the peril of his own administration's survival to right the world's ills.  I'm hoping against the terrible winds of change that our USA mid-term elections will keep enough Republicans in Congress to allow our President's efforts to continue, though, yes, we all suffer in the short term.  Canada deserves a far better leader than Carney, obviously a self-important person looking out for himself and his elite international buddies.  May your future elections offer you something more than a Trudeau shadow person.  However, should any of you in Canada be journeying across the border this or next week to visit the New York State Fair. . .

. . .you may be disappointed to discover that the calf-birthing display is missing this year (in fact, the Fair is approaching suck level this year for exclusions and impediments in general).  My suggestion would be that Fair officials go to area hospitals, find pregnant women and offer them money to dress up in cow costumes and deliver their offspring on a floor covered with straw. I mean, straw was good enough for Mary, Jesus and Joseph, right?  Considering the ignorance among so many in the modern population, I believe the cow costume thing could work and onlookers would be predominantly unaware that cows were replaced with women.

Now, who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Ontari. . .oh, um. . .Lake Ameri. . .that sounds weird. . .so -- who's ready for a nice swim in Lake Usedtobe?

Reno in flames:  "Human" involvement in the fires is acknowledged, though whether accidental or not is the question.  The basic question as America burns is whether terrorist arsonists are involved.  What could be easier than to fan out and anonymously set fires among the infidels?

Iran's psycho determination:  If Americans would step back and remember how Iran has been responsible for the deaths of so many of us, maybe we could be a little more understanding of Trump's efforts to crush Islam's murderous crazies.

Dearborn's Dearest:  Wow, good for the black Christian pastor in Dearborn MI who called out Sharia Law's growing influence.  He's loud, outspoken and correct.  As Dearborn goes, so could the rest of the country, and he is warning us all.

The Lindsay Clancy triple child murder case:  Well, I don't know, but it kind of looks like mom is a serial killer who kept it all in the family.  As you may have noticed, people seem to be going nuts in general, so whether this tragedy was a surprise is up for debate.  All I know is that professional folk in the head-shrinker business appear sometimes to rely the living hell on medications, pumping them into patients like gamblers feeding slot machines. hoping for a payoff.  What more can be said?  Men, beware!  If your lady's not killing your kids, she might be plotting to mix you an antifreeze cocktail and she'll bury your carcass in the garden without putting you under with so much as clean underwear.

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania an 18 year old nothing stabbed his girlfriend to death, claiming a demon in his head told him to accomplish the task.  Too late the exorcist, no doubt.  Sometimes I envy people whose heads become inhabited by voices, at least they have somebody to talk to in the late evening hours when even the cat wants nothing to do with you.  Bonus:  Voices usually seem to guide the listeners along to accomplish something, sort of like a project for a high school shop class from Hell.

Data center roulette:  As we wait for startled American data center investors to jump out of high buildings, we do wonder what can be done about the constant hum associated with running a bevy of computer equipment in these massive structures, said to be quite noticeable for area residents. True enough, in China we doubt anybody complains about the noise.

Plexaderm:  I watch their TV commercials, somehow reminded of at least two motion picture productions of "The Picture of Dorian Gray."

Dolly Parton dies:  The eternal "Miss America."  As established country music stars pass away one by one, pretty much leaving in their wake wannabe imposters singing about "country" that hardly exists anymore, horses they've never ridden and hats that look ridiculous upon their heads, Parton's superior heartfelt involvement in arts, entertainment and generosity will endure in America's entertainment history for years to come.

META gets robbed by several states:  Again, I should mention that I've no real love for actually being social on the social network.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe META was just robbed of 18 billion dollars by greedy states drooling over the prospect of watching money flow into their coffers, presumably intended to treat mental illness caused by evil social network entities dedicated to hypnotizing children into doing their bidding.

Bull crap.

If a  child or young adult seems to have developed mental issues as a result of exploring the Internet and all of its circus tents, the problem isn't META or its fellow providers:  Anybody notice those often invisible things called parents?  Where were they during this crisis-building period?  Whom better to recognize mental issues in their little darling or significant other than a parent or close friend?  Remember parental responsibility?  As one might expect, the reason why META is now on the hook for 18 billion smackers over the next 10 years is simply because they have the money -- a lot of money -- and parents mostly don't.  These days, nothing seems to scream louder in the courtroom than money, and of course this bundle of poop didn't even make it to the courtroom because META settled out of court.  If "addiction" to scrolling makes you crazy as hell, suicidal or (catch-all) merely disturbed, then my sofa cushion can probably give me the week's weather forecast whenever I ask for it.  The thing about government money grabs is the traditional option that no mask, gun or ransom note are required -- just bureaucracy, "expert" opinions, tears of sympathy and the will to take from one to give to another.  And what exactly does it mean when government promises it's taking an action "for the children," when such efforts increasingly appear to chip away at adult freedoms bit by bit?