Musings from Jay (blog site permanently frozen 11/05/2024 morning)

This is a speculative essay and not a factual essay. It projects into the future and explores some potential scenarios. I live in Hawaii . The US projects power in the Pacific from Hawaii and Guam . If there is a war with China or North Korea , Hawaii is a prime target. So, this is obviously of concern to me. I will focus on China here. These days, my interest in China is only as a source of threat to Hawaii. I had written some narrow essays on Israel and Ukraine . I had not really written an essay on the larger geopolitical landscape. However, I briefly touched on it in one essay. Here it is: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-five-key-challenges-for-us-in-future.html I also wrote about the rule based world order . Here is the essay on rule based world order:  https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/06/power-in-us-and-renewables.html Here is the Israel essay: https://jaykasi.blogspot.com/2024/08/my-views-on-context-of-israel-hamas-war.html Here is the Ukraine Essay: https...

It is interesting that Harris has changed horses. At one time she had talked about banning fracking and penalizing emissions but not anymore. While it is crucial to figure out a safe non disruptive way to transition to a future economy that emits much less, her change is quite startling. There is little talk of climate change on the campaign trail. So, what gives? What is my take?  Biden locked in a lot of gains with the decade-long bills he got congress to pass including the inflation reduction act and turbo charging nuclear power use in US. These initiatives include funding for a variety of climate initiatives, and I have small writeups on the key ones further below.   Many states are also making good progress with renewables. Also, EPA rules to cut power plant emissions , and EPA rules to cut methane emissions have been formed and they have not been blocked by the supreme court. Also, some actions have been locked in for emissions from agriculture. These are...

A number of factual sections are from Chat GPT.   I will share the legal foundation in my view (first amendment and campaign finance laws) to which we can trace some of the dislocations in our politics and campaign systems.  Campaign and political speech are protected under the First Amendment in the U.S., but there are several constraints and regulations that apply: Defamation : False statements that harm a person's reputation can lead to civil lawsuits. Incitement to Violence: Speech that incites imminent lawless action is not protected. Obscenity: Speech that is deemed obscene (lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value) can be regulated. Electioneering Communications : Certain regulations govern the timing and funding of campaign advertisements, especially those that directly advocate for a candidate. Campaign Finance Laws : Restrictions on contributions to campaigns and the disclosure of funding sources aim to prevent corruption and ensure...

I looked at consciousness a bit and wrote 4 essays in my blog. But I did not really find the subject illuminating or thinking about it too fruitful, and it did not grab my interest as a subject worth further study on my part using methods I use.  Here are the 4 essays.  Consciousness 1: The neural correlates of consciousness (neurological perspective) (v1.0) Consciousness 2: Evolution and consciousness. (Evolutionary perspective) (v1.0) Consciousness 3: Who am "I"? (Psychological and Eastern philosophical perspectives) (v1.0) Consciousness 4: What is self-consciousness? (western philosophical perspective) (v1.0) What is the understanding I personally took away? I personally think that only you subjectively can know about your consciousness.  Deducing consciousness, say of a dog looking at a mirror and gauging its reaction to his image to make inferences about its consciousness is far less persuasive.  Is AI conscious? A google AI researcher was fir...