Wednesday, July 12, 2017
FCC's Comment Fraud Problem WAY Worse Than Anyone Imagined
More than 2 million fraudulent comments bias "public feedback" in favor of corporate agenda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUjSRdYwrC4
'Critical situation': Smoke engulfs Vesuvius as blaze breaks out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jXHmBw_qXI&feature=em-subs_digest
Žižek: Capitalism is reaching its limits
In his speeches he jumps from
Habermas to 'The Hunger Games', his rehearsals are sales successes and his
audience lined up to listen to him. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek
believes that today, more than ever, major metaphysical questions are of
interest because technology is changing what it means to be human.
The philosopher embarked on a series of lectures in Spain in which he speaks of what he calls the 'Aireapocalipsis', or the set of signs that, for him, indicate that humanity is at a point where it must change the way Which is following.
Interviewer: Will machines control humans?
Žižek: I do not say that the machines will control us, there is still much to go, but they are changing what it means to be human. So far we have believed that reality was outside, separate from us, but that is changing: the brain can connect with a machine. Stephen Hawking no longer needs his hands to handle his computer, he does it directly with his brain.
The philosopher embarked on a series of lectures in Spain in which he speaks of what he calls the 'Aireapocalipsis', or the set of signs that, for him, indicate that humanity is at a point where it must change the way Which is following.
Interviewer: Will machines control humans?
Žižek: I do not say that the machines will control us, there is still much to go, but they are changing what it means to be human. So far we have believed that reality was outside, separate from us, but that is changing: the brain can connect with a machine. Stephen Hawking no longer needs his hands to handle his computer, he does it directly with his brain.
Interviewer: How do you see
the relationship between humans and machines?
Žižek: We are entering a new era. For example, look at what happens in clinics in the suburbs of Shanghai to which Western couples come to select their embryos genetically. The head of the Chinese Academy of Biogenetics when I met him gave me a pamphlet stating that his task was to control the physical well-being and "underlining" the mental word of the people. I thought, 'My God, they are already doing it': control of impulses, anxiety. There is a future that troubles me a lot of a society of control, in which citizens are constantly watched and a new division of classes even stronger: privileged and slaves. A class that will not only come socially determined but also biologically, as in recent films like 'Elysium' or 'The Hunger Games' saga, which drew those divisions.
Interviewer: What do you think about such a scenario?
Žižek: Capitalism, as we know it, is reaching its limits. We need large regulatory structures to deal with global warming, desertification, refugees, biogenetics, and these structures can not be States. We have to think of some species of public bureaucratic bodies in which there would be experts on all these issues that are of great importance to the whole world, but also randomly selected members, as in popular juries.
The question is who would control those entities. As you know, bureaucracy works best if you feel terrified. Stalin had a good idea when it occurred to him to terrorize not only ordinary people but also bureaucrats. In an ideal state you can be an influential bureaucrat, but you know that sooner or later you may lose your head.
Interviewer: Is not it that you defend Stalin, or yes?
Žižek: No, I'm just putting an example of something that worked in his dictatorial regime, which is different.
Interviewer: What do you think of the European left as the groups we can in Spain?
Žižek: I'm puzzled because I still do not know, and I fear they do not know either, what they want once in power.
Žižek: We are entering a new era. For example, look at what happens in clinics in the suburbs of Shanghai to which Western couples come to select their embryos genetically. The head of the Chinese Academy of Biogenetics when I met him gave me a pamphlet stating that his task was to control the physical well-being and "underlining" the mental word of the people. I thought, 'My God, they are already doing it': control of impulses, anxiety. There is a future that troubles me a lot of a society of control, in which citizens are constantly watched and a new division of classes even stronger: privileged and slaves. A class that will not only come socially determined but also biologically, as in recent films like 'Elysium' or 'The Hunger Games' saga, which drew those divisions.
Interviewer: What do you think about such a scenario?
Žižek: Capitalism, as we know it, is reaching its limits. We need large regulatory structures to deal with global warming, desertification, refugees, biogenetics, and these structures can not be States. We have to think of some species of public bureaucratic bodies in which there would be experts on all these issues that are of great importance to the whole world, but also randomly selected members, as in popular juries.
The question is who would control those entities. As you know, bureaucracy works best if you feel terrified. Stalin had a good idea when it occurred to him to terrorize not only ordinary people but also bureaucrats. In an ideal state you can be an influential bureaucrat, but you know that sooner or later you may lose your head.
Interviewer: Is not it that you defend Stalin, or yes?
Žižek: No, I'm just putting an example of something that worked in his dictatorial regime, which is different.
Interviewer: What do you think of the European left as the groups we can in Spain?
Žižek: I'm puzzled because I still do not know, and I fear they do not know either, what they want once in power.
Interviewer: And the Latin
American left?
Žižek: The left in general throughout the world is still in deep crisis, and the only thing that can save us is a new left. The protests that erupted everywhere two or three years ago, was clear against what they were. But in favor of what? A Keynesian Idea? A reform of capitalism? I can throw questions, show what does not work today, outline problems, but I have no concrete answers.
Interviewer: Do you believe in the idea that people are becoming more superficial and are not willing to read, for example, works like yours?
Žižek: There is a substantial audience for theoretical and thought works. It is not true that we live superficial times in which nobody reads or deepens.
Žižek: The left in general throughout the world is still in deep crisis, and the only thing that can save us is a new left. The protests that erupted everywhere two or three years ago, was clear against what they were. But in favor of what? A Keynesian Idea? A reform of capitalism? I can throw questions, show what does not work today, outline problems, but I have no concrete answers.
Interviewer: Do you believe in the idea that people are becoming more superficial and are not willing to read, for example, works like yours?
Žižek: There is a substantial audience for theoretical and thought works. It is not true that we live superficial times in which nobody reads or deepens.
EU refugee anti-smuggling mission is causing deaths in the Mediterranean, finds report
Operation Sophia has not deterred
migration and its mandate should not be renewed, say peers
A major naval mission
spearheaded by the EU has failed to tackle people smuggling in the
Mediterranean and may even be leading to higher death tolls, a new report has
found.
Operation Sophia, launched in
2015, has had little effect in deterring migration and its mandate should not
be renewed, according to findings by the House of Lords EU External Affairs
Sub-Committee.
But the report concludes that
the operation’s search and rescue work which has saved the lives of many people
should continue.
The initiative, involving 25
EU member states including the UK, was set up in the wake of disasters in which
hundreds of migrants drowned attempting to reach Europe.
Yet detection of irregular
migrants on the central Mediterranean route was at its highest level in 2016,
when 181,436 people arrived in Europe by this route — an increase of 18 per
cent on 2015, when the figure was 153,842.
A naval mission is the “wrong
tool” to tackle irregular migration, which begins onshore, the assessment
found.
It claimed an unintended consequence
of Operation Sophia's destruction of vessels had been that the smugglers have
managed to adapt, sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels. This led to a
tragic increase in deaths, with 2,150 in 2017 to date, the report added.
But it also noted that
Operation Sophia vessels have rescued more than 33,000 people since the start
of the mission.
The report comes just days
after Amnesty
International said “reckless” EU operations were destroying smugglers’
safest boats in the Mediterranean and causing more refugee deaths. It claimed
the EU had “turned its back” on the search and rescue strategy.
A report by the human rights
group argued that the search-and-rescue measures implemented in 2015
dramatically decreased the numbers of deaths at sea, but that EU governments
had now shifted their focus to disrupting smugglers and preventing boats
departing from Libya.
It said the EU strategy was
“exposing refugees and migrants to even greater risks at sea”, destroying so
many of the wooden boats used by smugglers that huge numbers of people had now
started making the crossing on less safe rubber dinghies.
Commenting on the findings of
Wednesday’s report, Baroness Verma, chair of the committee, said: “People
smuggling begins onshore, so a naval mission is the wrong tool for tackling
this dangerous, inhumane and unscrupulous business. Once the boats have set
sail, it is too late.
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