2017: The Year of Technocracy
Writing for a publication called “The International Forecaster,” it’s pretty hard not to throw my hat in the ring with the other prognosticators who are peddling their predictions and pontificating on the prospects for the pursuing year. As I’ve noted before, these “year ahead” articles are not really about crystal ball predictions of specific future events. Instead, the hope is that the act of recognizing and examining current trends will enable us to find ways to deflect or divert the course of history away from a future we’d rather not see and toward possibilities we wish would transpire.
With that spirit in mind, I find it more and more difficult to shake the conviction that technological developments will shape the narrative of 2017. If this does turn out to be so, it would hardly be the start of some new, never-before-seen trend. Yet even though it’s no longer novel to observe that the pace of technological change is accelerating, there are certain inflection points where those changes stop being so theoretical and start impacting our daily lives. I contend that we are living through one such inflection point right now and that it will manifest in all sorts of ways over the next year.
So today let’s examine some of the tech trends that will be making headlines in 2017.
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This article helped me to further grasp the situation.
Awareness. I want that.
Bitcoin & Backpage
I was “lucky”. Bought some bitcoin a few years back when trying to run a 9/11 ad on an advertising platform called Backpage.com. Since that time the bitcoin value has skyrocketed.
HISTORY: Backpage had been an inexpensive successful platform to advertise our Dallas 9/11 events. At this particular time of my bitcoin buy, Backpage’s revenue was suddenly cut out of the loop by all the credit card companies when the Press and a politician made a big deal about Backpage’s escort ads. Backpage then resorted to bitcoin as the only source of revenue for ads. So, I had to use bitcoin…and dayem! it took me literally all night to figure bitcoin out and make a purchase of bitcoins via a credit card. For me, it was grueling, especially sending photos to the seller of bitcoin holding a handwritten sign of the date, etc.
In October 2016, the CEO of Backpage was arrested by Texas authorities and charged with pimping and offices raided.
Wiki – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpage
I had credit on my account with Backpage, but now that is “lost” somewhere down the rabbit hole…their bookkeeping is all messed up …and also I suspect some embezzlement which could include employees (as Backpage also takes cash, or did).
Anyway, the value of my bitcoins really went up more than double.
GRAPH – (scroll to 2 or 4 year)
https://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD#rg1460ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zv
~~
PHONE NUMBER Hijacked
I have a very old phone which doesn’t even access the web and photos are the size of a postage stamp.
My phone number was hijacked, and the perpetrators charged more than $5,000 in International calls.
To be fair, it was my own fault. My phone rang one day and a lady who identified herself as being from my service provider (AT&T) wanted to do a short survey about my satisfaction with AT&T. She promised it was less than two minutes and that AT&T would credit my account with $50. I did the survey. It sounded real. Then she asked me to verify the last 4 digits of my SS#. Before I even thought, I blurted the 4 numbers out…and then realized “uh oh!?”. I told the lady that I wanted to speak to her supervisor. He finally came on the line and I grilled him with questions until he was backed into a corner and then he suddenly hung up.
Right away, I called AT&T directly. I spoke to the customer service rep and explained what happened. I was emphatic about it being a possible jeopardy to my account. To me I had this vision of her “yawning in the background unalarmed and not caring”.
Sure enough. Within 6 hours my phone would not work at all. It was lifeless.
I used another phone, called AT&T and finally got to their security section. Security told me the scoop. The culprits were phishing out of Puerto Rico, but calls were going all over the globe. She said this kind of thing happens all the time and that I wouldn’t have to pay for any charges. The next day I went to a location to get my phone reset.
January 10, 2017
Coincidently, a few days after my comment about Backpage, they are succumbing to government pressure.
REUTERS “Backpage.com shuts ‘adult’ section in face of government pressure”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-backpage-idUSKBN14U09I?il=0
EXCERPTS
The online classified advertising site Backpage.com abruptly shut its “adult” section on Monday, yielding to a campaign by state and federal government officials…
…In its announcement on Monday, Backpage cited praise from law enforcement agencies and child-protection organizations who said the site had been helpful in rooting out human trafficking.
“Like the decision by Craigslist to remove its adult category in 2010, this announcement is the culmination of years of effort by government at various levels to exert pressure on Backpage.com and to make it too costly to continue,” it said.
More about Backpage.
The Dallas Observer and Backpage were once within the same company. I believe they still office in the same building. Backpage had sold for $600 million a few years back.
— 1st Amendment —
Here is the Backpage story in The Dallas Observer…
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/backpagecom-shuts-down-adult-pages-citing-censorship-9070167
EXCERPT
…Over the years, that First Amendment fistfight took Backpage into the courts, where the company has won significant legal victories, bolstered by Section 230 of the federal Communications and Decency Act of 1996, which states, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
Section 230’s grant of immunity intentionally offers a safe harbor for online publishers to edit and restrict certain material posted by third parties on their sites. That’s what shields Twitter from being held liable for terrorists tweets and Facebook from being liable for libelous posts by its users…
Well, that was lucky, that they didn’t hold you accountable. Providers here would tear you a new one, they simply don’t care. Lately they have started offering people deals, like splitting the bill in odd circumstances. I guess too many weren’t able to cover their bills.
Greetings All,
Great community and information here, wish I had found it sooner.
This article makes me think of the suggestion that James Evan Pilato made about creating safe spaces from robots and frequencies, where like minded people can gather such as a “Faraday Cafe”.
Secondly, the concept of aged rulers drinking the blood of the youth makes me think of Jim Hensen’s masterpiece, “The Dark Crystal”, where the ruling “Skeksis” harvest the essence of the podlings to consume in order to reverse aging. (see link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w7zFfMr_Dc
Which brings me to the proposition that one refer to the “elite” as “skeksis” whenever appropriate.
Thank you for the brilliant work James.
News tip for James and Corbeteers.
While searching for updates on Russia’s implementation of the Global Smart Grid, I stumbled on a news item explaining the combining of block chain technology with the tracking of energy transactions.
“Qiwi, a Russian payment system operator and one of the country’s most active cryptocurrency players, will launch a test to track energy transactions using blockchain technology in partnership with Tavrida Electric, one of the world’s leading suppliers of circuit breakers and a global energy smart grid supplier.”
https: //www . cryptocoinsnews . com/qiwi-blockchain-crimea-energy-project/
Thank you for this link that sheds new light on current events.
According to Nicolas Cary in a French video I found explaining bitcoin and blockchain for the intellectually challenged, for the moment, the greatest danger with Bitcoin is not choosing a strong enough password for your e-wallet.
It’s clear that, to preserve the privacy of their own shenanigans, the establishment is working on centralized or semi-centralized blockchain systems for controlling the bare necessities (money, energy, information etc..)
And as they intend to exploit this technology to their own advantage they will do everything they can to make “totally public” or totally decentralized blockchain technology unusuable… unless sanctioned by them…
I’m sure Russia’s alleged objections to cryptocurrencies are purely a matter of standard public relations protocol and only serve to galvanize their development …under the watchful eye of the international ruling bodies.
Then there’s the Ethereum delirium:
http://www.coindesk.com/enterprise-ethereum-details-emerge-secret-blockchain-project/
Getting your toilet to spy on you (waste water analyses)
It started off as a trail in an Australian prison a few years ago…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-02/prison-waste-water-tested-to-reveal-drug-use/5713692
And is now undergoing trials in several cities nationally.
“Tamworth Regional Council to consider becoming a trial site for national sewage drug testing scheme”
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/4301821/sewer-drug-test/
I guess the privy is no longer privy.
I don’t mean to spoil the fine manners and civility that the Corbett commenters are known for, and SNIP if you must James, no offense. But I had a good laugh at this one. It about sums it right up. Copying and pasting from the dynamic Alaskan mother/daughter researcher/writer duo of Niki and Nordica:
Niki Friedrich Raapana
1 January at 09:42 ·
..
“Did you know 2017 is the year of the Rooster? Yeah. The year of the cock. Dicks are running things and other dicks are empowered to be the best dick they can be. We got a cock-ocracy.” — Nordica Friedrich
That’s putting it very mildly. These people are not dicks, they are mass murdering psychopaths. I can not think of any adequate euphemisms for that.