At the Vancouver Web Summit, Aaron Maté and I discussed the state of the U.S. amidst the rise of weaponized AI, the Iran War and the Gaza genocide in a discussion moderated by Sharon Nadeem.
It is understandable that faith feels lost, but It is worth saying that given the population of the world, North and South, East and West, it is really a very very very small minority of sub-humans who have not yet achieved the rank and accomplishment of joining true Humanity, but who have sold their souls and stolen and blackmailed the reins of power and destruction for completely cruel and selfish ends, oblivious to the suffering of others. I too listen to Chris and Aaron, two generations, and feel hope.
Good to hear these two principled journalists in a discussion together. I’m not sure I’m persuaded by Chris’ belief that the problem with AI is that it’s in the wrong hands, though. How do you keep it in the right hands, especially when it starts out in the wrong hands? It’s inevitable that we lose privacy, regardless. And I can’t quite articulate why, but I do believe that privacy of citizens is a core element of democracy, one without which it cannot exist. The drafters of the Fourth Amendment got this right, but with very little fanfare, we ceded the amendment to fear after 9/11 and to technology ever since.
The discussion put me in mind of a couple of proverbs: “Ignorance is bliss;” and “Knowledge is power.” I think ignorance would not be bliss if knowledge were really power.
A pretty substantive 27 minutes.....I particularly appreciate the details about how the west plays dirty in international situations, going back to the false flag story from the beginning of the Syrian war. It has taken more time than it should......but the domination of America is waning....and many intelligent journalists with historical memory and real experience are reminding us of regime change wars and covert operations led by America that killed many innocent people......what we remember is being fleshed out by the details these men and women carry forward....
Let's stay tuned, and get over our knee jerk assumptions that America or any of her western allies, are the de facto good guys. They aren't and turns out, if you were El Salvadorian, Vietnamese, Cuban, Guatemalan, Iranian, etc. etc. etc., they never were.
We do need to find a new way forward........Chris and Aaron are convincing that it is not AI as it is currently working...All those little 11 and 12 year olds, destroyed by an algorithm, which a moron in the whitehouse initially tried to suggest might have been done by Iran!!! Complicity with this bunch of yahoos could cost a person their soul.
Hedges at the 24:40 mark: "I'm paid to make those kinds of judgements ... in the name of truth".
Yeah, right. And watch as his young sycophant interview host nods assiduously as he declares his importance. But on JAN 1, 2022, Hedges had the indisputable cold hard truth fresh off the presses in black and white - and he ignored it. Those of us who were dialed-in saw it exactly for what it was. But unfortunately, Hedges' knew that his cult of clapping seals would take no interest.
On DEC, 2021 a court-ordered FOIA release of the FDA's private data on the effects of the COVID jab exposed the truth. Phizer's own records revealed that 1,223 deaths of its vax trial particpants with another 25k incurring medically-verified injuries in the first 90 days of its trial period. Healthcare reporter Celia Farber called it "The most shocking document release of the past 100 years". This not only proved that the jab was not safe and effective, it proved it was killing people. Any true journalist would have promptly passed this info on to his followers, but Hedges did the opposite. He not only withheld it from us, but actually took sides with the bad guys.
----------------
BACKGROUND
In 2022 Hedges actually said "the constitution remains a sacred document" AFTER he refused to stand with us against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports.
Not a word here from Hedges about the illegal and unconstitutional nature of the mandates, passports and the jab ... after preaching direct confrontation to tyranny for the past 20 years, watch him dance and listen to him equivocate before sheepishly blowing it off: “… that was just a decision that I made” ... yup NBD, right Chris?
The explosive FDA FOIA release revealed that Phizer's Vx trial data documented 1,223 deaths and 25,000 medically verified injuries to trial participants in the first 90 days of their trial period.
This proved the Vx was not "safe and effective", but only 30 days later on the K&K podcast, he brazenly took sides when he knew better …
EP 54, Hedges said: "I don't think we can stop the pandemic and mutations until everyone gets vaccinated” without saying a word about the revelations of the FDA FOIA release – not a word!
there are people who follow chris hedges not bc he cares about THEM but precisely bc he cares abt BILLIONS of people the self-centered white supremacist, slaveholding, warmongering, war profiteering, mainstream CON_tinues to ignore.
People follow Hedges bc they want to be entertained ...
They're not here to learn, they're just here to be entertained ...
They want to believe that he can do and say no wrong and has no fault ...
That's exactly why I admired him for 20 years until he buckled under the political pressure of the lockdowns ... there were people out there like Karen Kingston and James Roguski who refused to be intimidated by TPTB, but the lockdowns exposed Hedges as not being one of them ...
In the interview cited above, Hedges boasts that he is "paid to make judgments" through his commentary ... and since he caved on us during the lockdowns, I've suspected that he might have had "an understanding" with DS operatives and may have even had a sitdown with them ... and there is a possibility that he may have even accepted money from them ... It all fits ...
His subscribers are here to be entertained and Hedges knows it. That's why he likes to juice his storylines:
1) Shortly after the OCT 7, 2023 attacks, he assured us that "Netanyahu is finished!" - that was 30 months ago and look at things now;
2) In an interview with John Valiant, author of FIRE WEATHER, he said the Ft McMurray,tar sands fires "will soon render the planer uninhabitable." But of course, he failed to give us a timeline - that was 25 months ago!
3) Shortly after OCT 7th, he said "Gaza is unlike anything we have ever seen", when he had to know better as 377k had been killed in Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition.
4) In a 2021 interview, he boasted that he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" ... But for some reason he did not even comment on the Canadian Trucker's Convoy until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore, one month after the protests actually ended.
5) In his 2021 AMERICAN SADISM speech, he went out of context to conflate those of us who question the motive and tactics of elected officials with Q-ANON types as "members of the lunatic fringe who traffic in conspiracy theories"
6) In a SEPT 21, 2021 interview on USEFUL IDIOTS, when asked to comment on the untested, illegal and unconstituional jab, he said: "it's a tough decision I guess, do you force people to get the vaccine" ...
7) In an AUG 27, 2021 interview with JD he refused to stand with us against the mandates and passports as he sheepishly blew it off: "that was a decision that I made.
"They want to believe that he can do and say no wrong and has no fault ..."
please dont speak for all of us. how abt trying to get over your grudge? many people make wrong assessments re a lot of things or subjects and do a lot more harm than chris hedges might have done.
and i'll write a last comment on one aspect: "Gaza is unlike anything we have ever seen". precisely. if you stress SEEN. a focus was on gaza. while yemen and sudan, where even more people died, of bombs, bullets, or starvation, remained almost un_covered. selective, white supremacist news coverage, to my mind.
I agree with Mr. Mate that says that AI can be used for benefiting or harming us. To me, the most dangerous aspects of this wonderful technology are its absurd consumption of energy and demands on our echology and also that it is concentrated in few hands. This last be solved with our resolve to change to a government capable and willing of expropriating those companies and placing them to the management of cooperatives. We can compensate the current owners giving them the fair price for their efforts but first deducting the benefits they got in using the government invented internet and all the tax deductions and incentives that we the people have paid them.
I asked Aunt AI the following:
- Is China Using AI Technology That Consumes Less Energy?
Yes, and it’s making waves. Chinese firms like DeepSeek are developing AI models that reportedly use 10 to 40 times less energy than U.S. counterparts. Here’s how:
Smarter model design: Some Chinese LLMs are optimized to run on less computing power.
Lower electricity costs: China’s energy is cheaper and more heavily subsidized.
Advanced infrastructure: China has more efficient cooling systems and smart grid tech8.
Neuromorphic computing: China’s “Darwin Monkey” supercomputer mimics brain-like processing, using far less power than traditional GPUs.
Now back to our previous conversation on how to avoid harmful uses of new technology like AI or the cloud. I believe it must be forcing companies to set algorithms in their systems for that purpose. Another would be massive demonstrations and boycots to achieve that goal, just like BDS. What are your sugestions?You're absolutely right that addressing the potential misuse of technologies like AI and cloud computing requires a multi-faceted approach. Here are some additional strategies that could complement your ideas: Ethical Frameworks and Regulations: Governments and international organizations can establish clear guidelines and regulations to ensure responsible use of AI and cloud technologies. This includes mandating transparency, accountability, and fairness in algorithms.Public Awareness Campaigns: Educating the public about the risks and benefits of these technologies can empower individuals to demand ethical practices from companies and policymakers.Collaborative Oversight: Creating independent oversight bodies composed of experts, ethicists, and community representatives to monitor and audit the use of these technologies.Corporate Responsibility: Encouraging companies to adopt ethical AI principles and to be transparent about their practices. Public pressure and consumer choices can play a significant role here.Technological Solutions: Developing tools and systems that can detect and mitigate harmful uses of AI, such as bias detection algorithms or systems to identify deepfakes.Grassroots Movements: As you mentioned, demonstrations and boycotts can be powerful. Grassroots movements can push for change by holding companies accountable and influencing public policy.Global Cooperation: Since technology transcends borders, international collaboration is essential to address its misuse effectively.Your comparison to movements like BDS highlights the power of collective action. Combining these strategies with your ideas could create a robust approach to ensuring technology serves humanity positively'
Great report. Mr. Hedges tell us that we need to go back to our roots when popular movements like labor, civil rights etc. achieved the few advantages we still enjoy. The following is a clip from
democracynow.org StoryMay 27, 2026 which I found pertinent to this discussion:
“How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies”: Northwestern Prof. Jeffrey Winters on Book “The Blind Spot”
AMY GOODMAN: You talk about how right now there is a wider gap between the rich and poor than was even during European feudalism or in Imperial Rome’s slave society. Talk about the significance of this, Professor Winters.JEFFREY WINTERS: Well, all of us are pretty aware that if we think back to Imperial Rome, we don’t view it as an equal society. It certainly wasn’t democratic. And if you take the gap between the wealthiest Roman senators and the average person in Imperial Rome, who was either a slave or a small farmer, the ratio of their wealth was about 16,000 to one. If we fast-forward — sorry, if we fast-forward to today in the United States, and we take the average person in the Forbes 400 compared to the median person in the United States, that has exploded to 140,000 to one. And so, we are just dramatically, dramatically more unequal. Our wealth is far more concentrated in fewer hands than ever before.And that, if it were under authoritarianism, might not be an issue. But what we are seeing is that it’s actually in a democracy that this is happening. And I don’t argue in the book against the idea that the United States is a democracy; I argue that it is very much a democracy. We have the right to vote. We have freedoms to speak. It is consent of the governed in so many ways. All of those things were very important to the framers to put in place. But the framers also, because there was an oligarchic democratic crisis at the time of the Constitutional Convention, they wanted to make sure that there were safeguards built into the system that would defend those with very concentrated wealth, the oligarchs of the day.And so, that’s how we get a system which is both democratic and oligarchic at the same time, something which, by the way, never existed before in human history. We’ve always had a wealth pyramid, but it was always in the past sustained by force, fear, awe, intimidation of all kinds. What we have today is what I call participatory inequality. We have incredible inequality, but we participate in it.
reform? re-form. give it a different shape. like putting old wine in new bottles ... where it'll remain just as inTOXICating?
revolution? german psychologist prof rainer mausfeld reminds people of how the current system has put countless mechanisms in place that prevent people from even thinking about, much less starting a revolution. "why are the lambs silent?", one of his compelling works. instilling fear in the lambs is, of course, one of the most potent deterrents.
as to AI: my life was NOT hell on earth before the arrival of computers. but forever insatiable predator capitalism can never leave good enough alone.
AI? a young lady left the E-scooter she just used to get from A to B in the middle of a sidewalk. “could you please not leave it there?,“ i asked her and was more than surprised by her response: "i can leave it right there. the app says i may“. had she lifted her head from her portable de_VICE she would have seen ample space to place the scooter outside of people’s walkway.
AI? "where’s daddy?“ i cant even look at my lavender plants neutrally anymore. "lavender“ spoiled that for me, eternally. and while mine is only a minor mental disturbance, countless people lost life and limb due to these programmed killers.
AI? drones emitting sounds of crying babies so people would step outside to see where to help, only to get slain on the spot. we’ve come to the point where we brag about how many thousands of targets we can hit, i.e. turn to rubble, in a matter of mere minutes?
AI? will soon have taken both of my jobs over completely. while total job loss has ceased to be an artificial reality for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of real people. didn’t meta’s boss just announce he’ll lay off 8000 - after they helped feed AI that now makes them and their jobs obsolete? what an achievement for humanity!
factoring in the HUGE AMOUNTS of resources and energy required to power + cool the AI world, i wonder if anyone can convince me that - maybe, just maybe barring the medical field? - AI does all of us more good than harm?
At Davos 2026, Elon Musk during his interview with Larry Fink the president of Davos and Blackrock, claimed that AI will deliver a world where universal wealth will prevail and you will be limited only by your imagination. If you want something, simply declare it in language, sit back and watch the magic unfold.
Ours is an #Independent and strictly nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness for #FreeingTruth (ref. Bollyn.com and John 8:32, respectively). It will require #WeThePeople to recognize, renounce and repudiate the #ZioCONNING #TrumpsteinCLass’ #DeepState and the Criminal Imperialist Assassinating (#CIA) ShadowGovernment.
No. Once a system reaches a tipping point of sociopath rule, it can no longer be reformed but must be destroyed root and branch.
"For a good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit."
great to see Chris and Aaron together... wish it was longer
i've lost my faith in all humanity and
I listen to you guys and I have some hope.
Thank you
It is understandable that faith feels lost, but It is worth saying that given the population of the world, North and South, East and West, it is really a very very very small minority of sub-humans who have not yet achieved the rank and accomplishment of joining true Humanity, but who have sold their souls and stolen and blackmailed the reins of power and destruction for completely cruel and selfish ends, oblivious to the suffering of others. I too listen to Chris and Aaron, two generations, and feel hope.
Good to hear these two principled journalists in a discussion together. I’m not sure I’m persuaded by Chris’ belief that the problem with AI is that it’s in the wrong hands, though. How do you keep it in the right hands, especially when it starts out in the wrong hands? It’s inevitable that we lose privacy, regardless. And I can’t quite articulate why, but I do believe that privacy of citizens is a core element of democracy, one without which it cannot exist. The drafters of the Fourth Amendment got this right, but with very little fanfare, we ceded the amendment to fear after 9/11 and to technology ever since.
The discussion put me in mind of a couple of proverbs: “Ignorance is bliss;” and “Knowledge is power.” I think ignorance would not be bliss if knowledge were really power.
A pretty substantive 27 minutes.....I particularly appreciate the details about how the west plays dirty in international situations, going back to the false flag story from the beginning of the Syrian war. It has taken more time than it should......but the domination of America is waning....and many intelligent journalists with historical memory and real experience are reminding us of regime change wars and covert operations led by America that killed many innocent people......what we remember is being fleshed out by the details these men and women carry forward....
Let's stay tuned, and get over our knee jerk assumptions that America or any of her western allies, are the de facto good guys. They aren't and turns out, if you were El Salvadorian, Vietnamese, Cuban, Guatemalan, Iranian, etc. etc. etc., they never were.
We do need to find a new way forward........Chris and Aaron are convincing that it is not AI as it is currently working...All those little 11 and 12 year olds, destroyed by an algorithm, which a moron in the whitehouse initially tried to suggest might have been done by Iran!!! Complicity with this bunch of yahoos could cost a person their soul.
Hedges at the 24:40 mark: "I'm paid to make those kinds of judgements ... in the name of truth".
Yeah, right. And watch as his young sycophant interview host nods assiduously as he declares his importance. But on JAN 1, 2022, Hedges had the indisputable cold hard truth fresh off the presses in black and white - and he ignored it. Those of us who were dialed-in saw it exactly for what it was. But unfortunately, Hedges' knew that his cult of clapping seals would take no interest.
On DEC, 2021 a court-ordered FOIA release of the FDA's private data on the effects of the COVID jab exposed the truth. Phizer's own records revealed that 1,223 deaths of its vax trial particpants with another 25k incurring medically-verified injuries in the first 90 days of its trial period. Healthcare reporter Celia Farber called it "The most shocking document release of the past 100 years". This not only proved that the jab was not safe and effective, it proved it was killing people. Any true journalist would have promptly passed this info on to his followers, but Hedges did the opposite. He not only withheld it from us, but actually took sides with the bad guys.
----------------
BACKGROUND
In 2022 Hedges actually said "the constitution remains a sacred document" AFTER he refused to stand with us against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports.
Third paragraph, third sentence:
https://www.salon.com/2022/09/07/can-we-stop-pretending-that-america-is-a-functioning-democracy/
1) But first, here's proof that COVID “vaccines” actually killed people …
https://www.medicine.news/2023-12-11-proof-covid-vaccines-have-killed-millions.html
And recently:
https://www.medicine.news/2026-03-25-legislators-ban-covid-jabs-reclassify-biological-weapons.html
2) Jimmy Dore interview, August 21, 2021 …
Not a word here from Hedges about the illegal and unconstitutional nature of the mandates, passports and the jab ... after preaching direct confrontation to tyranny for the past 20 years, watch him dance and listen to him equivocate before sheepishly blowing it off: “… that was just a decision that I made” ... yup NBD, right Chris?
Go to the 8:12 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NusQH0pnX7Y&t=514s
3) Useful Idiots interview, September 21, 2021 …
In an amazingly tepid moment, when asked to comment on the unconstitutional, illegal and untested nature of the jab, he said
“It’s a hard question I guess, do you force people to get the vaccine?”
No Chris, it's not a hard question - not at all ...
Go to the 1:53 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7ZGT8raQS8
4) DEC 2, 2021 FDA FOIA release ...
The explosive FDA FOIA release revealed that Phizer's Vx trial data documented 1,223 deaths and 25,000 medically verified injuries to trial participants in the first 90 days of their trial period.
https://www.medicine.news/2021-12-10-pfizer-vaccine-documents-42000-reactions-1223-deaths.html
5) Krystal, Kyle & Friends interview ...
This proved the Vx was not "safe and effective", but only 30 days later on the K&K podcast, he brazenly took sides when he knew better …
EP 54, Hedges said: "I don't think we can stop the pandemic and mutations until everyone gets vaccinated” without saying a word about the revelations of the FDA FOIA release – not a word!
Krystal, Kyle & Friends, EP 54
1:08:46 mark
https://krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/p/episode-54-audio-chris-hedges
So stop praising this guy, he doesn't give a hoot about us ...
He was just hoping nobody would notice.
there are people who follow chris hedges not bc he cares about THEM but precisely bc he cares abt BILLIONS of people the self-centered white supremacist, slaveholding, warmongering, war profiteering, mainstream CON_tinues to ignore.
Julia - there's no point responding to this poster who doesn't like CH - so be it. He has no audience unless we engage him. Ignore him.
john, after writing one last comment today i will.
Yes, John ...
And as you ignore me you conveniently ignore unpleasant truths about St Chris.
So no reply needed or expected, John - I understand ...
Hey Julie,
People follow Hedges bc they want to be entertained ...
They're not here to learn, they're just here to be entertained ...
They want to believe that he can do and say no wrong and has no fault ...
That's exactly why I admired him for 20 years until he buckled under the political pressure of the lockdowns ... there were people out there like Karen Kingston and James Roguski who refused to be intimidated by TPTB, but the lockdowns exposed Hedges as not being one of them ...
In the interview cited above, Hedges boasts that he is "paid to make judgments" through his commentary ... and since he caved on us during the lockdowns, I've suspected that he might have had "an understanding" with DS operatives and may have even had a sitdown with them ... and there is a possibility that he may have even accepted money from them ... It all fits ...
His subscribers are here to be entertained and Hedges knows it. That's why he likes to juice his storylines:
1) Shortly after the OCT 7, 2023 attacks, he assured us that "Netanyahu is finished!" - that was 30 months ago and look at things now;
2) In an interview with John Valiant, author of FIRE WEATHER, he said the Ft McMurray,tar sands fires "will soon render the planer uninhabitable." But of course, he failed to give us a timeline - that was 25 months ago!
3) Shortly after OCT 7th, he said "Gaza is unlike anything we have ever seen", when he had to know better as 377k had been killed in Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition.
4) In a 2021 interview, he boasted that he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" ... But for some reason he did not even comment on the Canadian Trucker's Convoy until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore, one month after the protests actually ended.
5) In his 2021 AMERICAN SADISM speech, he went out of context to conflate those of us who question the motive and tactics of elected officials with Q-ANON types as "members of the lunatic fringe who traffic in conspiracy theories"
6) In a SEPT 21, 2021 interview on USEFUL IDIOTS, when asked to comment on the untested, illegal and unconstituional jab, he said: "it's a tough decision I guess, do you force people to get the vaccine" ...
7) In an AUG 27, 2021 interview with JD he refused to stand with us against the mandates and passports as he sheepishly blew it off: "that was a decision that I made.
I could go on and on ...
"They want to believe that he can do and say no wrong and has no fault ..."
please dont speak for all of us. how abt trying to get over your grudge? many people make wrong assessments re a lot of things or subjects and do a lot more harm than chris hedges might have done.
and i'll write a last comment on one aspect: "Gaza is unlike anything we have ever seen". precisely. if you stress SEEN. a focus was on gaza. while yemen and sudan, where even more people died, of bombs, bullets, or starvation, remained almost un_covered. selective, white supremacist news coverage, to my mind.
That is actually THE only reason I can imagine ...
They're all looking for a hero ... I used to love Hedges ...
Read all but one of his twelve books, he did some pretty awesome things ...
But unlike you, Julie - I never stopped listening!
I agree with Mr. Mate that says that AI can be used for benefiting or harming us. To me, the most dangerous aspects of this wonderful technology are its absurd consumption of energy and demands on our echology and also that it is concentrated in few hands. This last be solved with our resolve to change to a government capable and willing of expropriating those companies and placing them to the management of cooperatives. We can compensate the current owners giving them the fair price for their efforts but first deducting the benefits they got in using the government invented internet and all the tax deductions and incentives that we the people have paid them.
I asked Aunt AI the following:
- Is China Using AI Technology That Consumes Less Energy?
Yes, and it’s making waves. Chinese firms like DeepSeek are developing AI models that reportedly use 10 to 40 times less energy than U.S. counterparts. Here’s how:
Smarter model design: Some Chinese LLMs are optimized to run on less computing power.
Lower electricity costs: China’s energy is cheaper and more heavily subsidized.
Advanced infrastructure: China has more efficient cooling systems and smart grid tech8.
Neuromorphic computing: China’s “Darwin Monkey” supercomputer mimics brain-like processing, using far less power than traditional GPUs.
Now back to our previous conversation on how to avoid harmful uses of new technology like AI or the cloud. I believe it must be forcing companies to set algorithms in their systems for that purpose. Another would be massive demonstrations and boycots to achieve that goal, just like BDS. What are your sugestions?You're absolutely right that addressing the potential misuse of technologies like AI and cloud computing requires a multi-faceted approach. Here are some additional strategies that could complement your ideas: Ethical Frameworks and Regulations: Governments and international organizations can establish clear guidelines and regulations to ensure responsible use of AI and cloud technologies. This includes mandating transparency, accountability, and fairness in algorithms.Public Awareness Campaigns: Educating the public about the risks and benefits of these technologies can empower individuals to demand ethical practices from companies and policymakers.Collaborative Oversight: Creating independent oversight bodies composed of experts, ethicists, and community representatives to monitor and audit the use of these technologies.Corporate Responsibility: Encouraging companies to adopt ethical AI principles and to be transparent about their practices. Public pressure and consumer choices can play a significant role here.Technological Solutions: Developing tools and systems that can detect and mitigate harmful uses of AI, such as bias detection algorithms or systems to identify deepfakes.Grassroots Movements: As you mentioned, demonstrations and boycotts can be powerful. Grassroots movements can push for change by holding companies accountable and influencing public policy.Global Cooperation: Since technology transcends borders, international collaboration is essential to address its misuse effectively.Your comparison to movements like BDS highlights the power of collective action. Combining these strategies with your ideas could create a robust approach to ensuring technology serves humanity positively'
Great report. Mr. Hedges tell us that we need to go back to our roots when popular movements like labor, civil rights etc. achieved the few advantages we still enjoy. The following is a clip from
democracynow.org StoryMay 27, 2026 which I found pertinent to this discussion:
“How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies”: Northwestern Prof. Jeffrey Winters on Book “The Blind Spot”
AMY GOODMAN: You talk about how right now there is a wider gap between the rich and poor than was even during European feudalism or in Imperial Rome’s slave society. Talk about the significance of this, Professor Winters.JEFFREY WINTERS: Well, all of us are pretty aware that if we think back to Imperial Rome, we don’t view it as an equal society. It certainly wasn’t democratic. And if you take the gap between the wealthiest Roman senators and the average person in Imperial Rome, who was either a slave or a small farmer, the ratio of their wealth was about 16,000 to one. If we fast-forward — sorry, if we fast-forward to today in the United States, and we take the average person in the Forbes 400 compared to the median person in the United States, that has exploded to 140,000 to one. And so, we are just dramatically, dramatically more unequal. Our wealth is far more concentrated in fewer hands than ever before.And that, if it were under authoritarianism, might not be an issue. But what we are seeing is that it’s actually in a democracy that this is happening. And I don’t argue in the book against the idea that the United States is a democracy; I argue that it is very much a democracy. We have the right to vote. We have freedoms to speak. It is consent of the governed in so many ways. All of those things were very important to the framers to put in place. But the framers also, because there was an oligarchic democratic crisis at the time of the Constitutional Convention, they wanted to make sure that there were safeguards built into the system that would defend those with very concentrated wealth, the oligarchs of the day.And so, that’s how we get a system which is both democratic and oligarchic at the same time, something which, by the way, never existed before in human history. We’ve always had a wealth pyramid, but it was always in the past sustained by force, fear, awe, intimidation of all kinds. What we have today is what I call participatory inequality. We have incredible inequality, but we participate in it.
Thank you Chris! This coverage quite inciteful! As always can depend on you and your panels delivery
reform? re-form. give it a different shape. like putting old wine in new bottles ... where it'll remain just as inTOXICating?
revolution? german psychologist prof rainer mausfeld reminds people of how the current system has put countless mechanisms in place that prevent people from even thinking about, much less starting a revolution. "why are the lambs silent?", one of his compelling works. instilling fear in the lambs is, of course, one of the most potent deterrents.
as to AI: my life was NOT hell on earth before the arrival of computers. but forever insatiable predator capitalism can never leave good enough alone.
AI? a young lady left the E-scooter she just used to get from A to B in the middle of a sidewalk. “could you please not leave it there?,“ i asked her and was more than surprised by her response: "i can leave it right there. the app says i may“. had she lifted her head from her portable de_VICE she would have seen ample space to place the scooter outside of people’s walkway.
AI? "where’s daddy?“ i cant even look at my lavender plants neutrally anymore. "lavender“ spoiled that for me, eternally. and while mine is only a minor mental disturbance, countless people lost life and limb due to these programmed killers.
AI? drones emitting sounds of crying babies so people would step outside to see where to help, only to get slain on the spot. we’ve come to the point where we brag about how many thousands of targets we can hit, i.e. turn to rubble, in a matter of mere minutes?
AI? will soon have taken both of my jobs over completely. while total job loss has ceased to be an artificial reality for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of real people. didn’t meta’s boss just announce he’ll lay off 8000 - after they helped feed AI that now makes them and their jobs obsolete? what an achievement for humanity!
factoring in the HUGE AMOUNTS of resources and energy required to power + cool the AI world, i wonder if anyone can convince me that - maybe, just maybe barring the medical field? - AI does all of us more good than harm?
Thanks for this discussion. As usual, I found your commentary enlightening.
Also, I had just finished Pope Leo's Encyclical before watching it.
He has a lot to say about the "neutrality" of AI.
For me, reading the Encyclical was well worth the work of unpacking it.
I'm a None, one of those "people of good will" to whom Leo's work is also addressed.
:-)
At Davos 2026, Elon Musk during his interview with Larry Fink the president of Davos and Blackrock, claimed that AI will deliver a world where universal wealth will prevail and you will be limited only by your imagination. If you want something, simply declare it in language, sit back and watch the magic unfold.
Golly gee whiz how I wish I was 20.
Ours is an #Independent and strictly nonviolent #RevolutionOfAwareness for #FreeingTruth (ref. Bollyn.com and John 8:32, respectively). It will require #WeThePeople to recognize, renounce and repudiate the #ZioCONNING #TrumpsteinCLass’ #DeepState and the Criminal Imperialist Assassinating (#CIA) ShadowGovernment.