johnshirley2024

@johnshirley2024@wandering.shop

Author of numerous novels & 11 story collections. Won the Bram Stoker Award. Writes sf, horror, fantasy, westerns, thrillers. Yes, westerns. Worked in TV & movies, eg Star Trek: DS9 and The Crow. Created Instantfuture.org site. Fronts rock bands. Very progressive Democrat. Socialist. Environmentalist. Pro LGBTQ. Writes weird, rhyming poetry & lyrics. Tired of arguing. Watching world burn and trying to think of a way to put out the fire. Interested in spirituality. Supports NASA and SCIENCE.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

johnshirley2024, (edited ) to random

The reason Trump has an edge in the polls now is because this is the new age of web-broadcast misinformation, disinformation, and especially the burgeoning power of internet-magnified lies. A secondary, reciprocal cause is the dominance of the right-wing on radio. Third--Fox News. People armed with guns but not critical thinking are swept helplessly along. Their emotions are being triggered over and over and over. We are failing to find ways to counteract the waves of charged lies.

johnshirley2024, (edited ) to random

Debating with friends in email about whether or not there can be empirical evidence of God. I suggested people have more than one view of what an empirical perception is, how it can be limited or not. Philosophers like Jacob Needleman argued for reasonable empirical experience of God & if you work on consciousness you can have the same experience--so then it becomes ‘replicable experience’. (Method does not involve hallucinogenic drugs.)

From:

https://johnshirley.medium.com/god-now-under-investigation-god-better-get-a-lawyer-078d2dd01b12

johnshirley2024, (edited ) to random

Used to be that if you didn't vote for Democrats you were creating a vacuum filled by conservatives. Now if you don't vote for Democrats, locally and nationally, you're permitting the takeover of fascists. The choice really is that stark now. I hear anarchist & Marxist friends saying, what about us? You can have anarchism or Marxism--locally. You can create communes and communities, and demonstrate locally how it works. A display of that alternative. Meanwhile vote against fascists.

johnshirley2024, to random

Still pondering the supposed scientific proof of determinism; its claim of "there is no free will". 1st, seems likely there's much we don't know about the cause & effect of experience & behavior. There may be a sort orthogonal or gestalt factor we're unaware of. 2nd, determined events happen within time. It is possible to seat the mind outside of time, in eternity. Not figuratively, actually. Once there, conscious choice becomes possible, outside the subjective routine of cause & effect.

johnshirley2024, to random

Did something change in Mastodon or did I accidentally block out private messaging? There used to be an option for it. I had a list of private messages. It's all vanished.

johnshirley2024, (edited ) to random

This is why I'm leaving Mastodon on Jan 2. "Some of your posts have been found to violate one or more community guidelines and have been subsequently removed by the moderators of wandering.shop." I disagreed with some on trans nomenclature. I felt that cis was often used as a slur rather than as a category. It had gone from category to slur. For example this was removed: "It's how cis is used now that concerns me. I'm LGBTQ myself. I lived with a trans gf ...I support all trans rights." That!

johnshirley2024, to random

[you won't mind looking like a naked mole rat as long as you can live longer]

Longevity gene from naked mole rats extends lifespan of mice

The successful transfer of a gene that produces HMW-HA paves the way for improving the health and lifespan of humans, too.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230823165402.htm

johnshirley2024, to random

Re this--for the life of me I can't think of a currently known alternative to tires that wouldn't have more or less this same issue. Something has to be invented and fast:

Road Hazard: Evidence Mounts on Toxic Pollution from Tires

Researchers are beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires. Experts say these tire emissions are a significant source of pollution affecting humans and wildlife.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/tire-pollution-toxic-chemicals

johnshirley2024, to random

Assad’s drug empire is funding Iranian-backed militias and fueling Hamas

"After the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel, several Hamas militants were reportedly found to be high on the illegal drug Captagon, which surely fueled their murderous rampage. The Captagon trade has become a key tool of influence for the Syrian regime and a massive source of income for the Iranian-backed militias now... Its manufacturing is directly linked to the Syrian armed forces"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/13/captagon-assad-terrorism-hamas/

johnshirley2024, to random

Is Taylor Swift a talented and charismatic woman, and a good performer, despite her kitschy outfits? Sure. Am I sick of hearing about her? YOU BET I AM. Soon it'll be, "Internet and Media alight with debate over whether Taylor Smith has toenail fungus and what kind it is." And, "Exclusive Interview with Taylor Swift's Hairdresser" and "Taylor Swift--does she even charge enough for tickets? Is a gabillion bucks Enough? Fans sell houses for advance ticket costs for next tour"

johnshirley2024, to random

One strange thing about consciousness is that it doesn't know what consciousness is. That is, most discrete consciousnesses do not know themselves. Consciousness is baffled by consciousness. It's like a blind man that can feel and smell but can't see itself in a mirror. If consciousness increases its level of consciousness it can see itself and know what it is. Til then, this disability will prevent programmers and developers from understanding that AI cannot become conscious.

johnshirley2024, to random

[Is it just me, or is human life increasingly peculiar? And I was deep in the punk rock scene. But...]

Bay Area restaurants institute penalty for brunch vomiters

"Particularly since the pandemic, they’re finding that diners, often ones in their early to mid-20s, are drinking too much and vomiting in the bathrooms — or even right on their tables. The burden on servers and staff to clean up after these public pukers is reaching a fever pitch,"

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/bay-area-restaurants-throwing-up-brunch-18411628.php

johnshirley2024, (edited ) to random

Rolling Stone: 250 greatest guitar players of all time (not including classical). Some infuriates me, some informs me, some of it pleasures me, some of it bugs me. The latter--they left out Buck Dharma (Donald Roeser) of BOC. I was glad to see them include James Williamson of Iggy & the Stooges fame, Ron Asheton of the Stooges, Greg Sage, whom I shared a stage with, Steve Jones, Zappa, Fahey, Lou Reed--but they left out Sterling Morrison...and they left out Buckethead.

johnshirley2024, to random

I do not support Hamas, which is now guilty of mass murder; I do support the Palestinian people. I do not support the current controlling govt of Israel, but I do support the people of Israel, and their right to a Jewish state.

johnshirley2024, to random

White supremacist event in Florida today. They're like, "Oh hell, Bubba, let's use the good ol' swastika, we'll wave it loud and proud and who cares what them mongrel races says"--in short the Nazis are increasingly emboldened]

johnshirley2024, to random

We, like all organisms, are designed for planned obsolescence. Aging seems built in, no accident of nature, and I suspect it's not just for population control, but serves the general interests of the perpetual experiment that is evolution. The churn must keep churning. This means more births, and removing earlier variants, in a perennial, persistent way, to produce newer experiments in evolution. DNA seems to be varying itself, yet carrying a message into the future.

johnshirley2024, to random

The question is not, can AIs become conscious and self-aware and truly sentient--they can't. The question is can human beings. My opinion is we generally live in semiconsciousness, semi sleep. To be fully conscious, and intelligently self aware, takes a map, and the toil of following this map, this diagram of a labyrinth, and it's fairly difficult, so doesn't often happen. But there are those people...The only artificial intelligences who could be sentient would be artificial biological brains.

johnshirley2024, to random

[which is exactly what I expected the pricks to do]

Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow

Major insurers say they will cut out damage caused by hurricanes, wind and hail from policies underwriting property along coastlines and in wildfire country.

free link https://wapo.st/45T2qGa

johnshirley2024, to random
johnshirley2024, to random

[this really interests me. Meeting in person really does matter.]

Disruptive Discoveries More Likely between Scientists Who Meet Face to Face

Collaborations between scientists at far-off institutions are less likely to produce breakthrough discoveries than those between scientists who can meet face to face on a regular basis.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/210

johnshirley2024, to random

Space's Magnetic Music Heard Near Mercury for First Time

https://www.newsweek.com/space-music-detected-mercury-nasa-1835411

johnshirley2024, to random

The phrase "anarcho-communist" seems to me an oxymoron. Makes no sense to me. Its use is a function of not understanding anarchism and communism. There is anarcho-syndicalism, which is what I think they really mean. But it's not as trendy. Oh god, letting myself in for it again.

johnshirley2024, to random

[Yes. I love kitties but they need to be kept indoors. Because they are helping wipe out songbirds. Kitties kill em just for fun.]

Killer kitties: cats are eating 2,000 species, including hundreds that are at risk

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/12/cats-diet-2000-species-conservation-study-aoe

johnshirley2024, to random

https://bookshop.org/p/books/house-of-trump-house-of-putin-the-untold-story-of-donald-trump-and-the-russian-mafia-craig-unger/9579307?ean=9781524743512

johnshirley2024, to VideoGames

I tried to post this last night but apparently this domain or whatever had crashed from Just too Much (I've had to crash from just too much, myself, in years past) - anyway it couldn't be gotten onto last night so here it is now:

2 Much X on Xmas Eve

by Marc Laidlaw fans will know him as co-creator/ writer of Half Life - also he's a novelist - by X he means the drug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBkuvPNKvc&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBkuvPNKvc&t=3s

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