The need to get target variables straight to get to rational models and policies for coronavirus, climate, internet

Again and again, people like Bernie have reminded me that success or failure in an entire field often depends on whether we have enough people who REMEMBER, who fully appreciate and apply, a few very basic principles they thought they already knew,. 1. The Basic idea and Overview For example, in late 1979, when I just started my first tenured job, at the US Department of Energy, I soon resolved never to forget a great little poster I saw hanging on someone's wall, illustrating that old adage (which we need to remember and apply):"When you are up to your ... in alligators, it's hard to remember you came here to drain the swamp." IMPLICIT in that important old saying is the idea that "you" were trying to accomplish something, and in danger of forgetting what it was. That "something" could be formulated as a goal or as a target variable. It turns out that TARGET VARIABLES are an important mathematical concept which we need to fully conscious of, as we approach many challenges, such as modeling coronavirus, economies, design of future internet, and increasing the degree of sanity of ourselves and even of the noosphere. MOST modern apps and integration platforms for the internet do not give target variables the importance they deserve, important to building connections between the low practical input variable level and the globalutility functions U which I have written about before here.  2. Target Variables in Neuroscience and Neural Networks (True "AGI" is a type of neural network design.) Since the brain science aspects are part of what key people in this discussion study, let me mention how target variables show up there.  In 2005, the IJCNN (International Joint Conference on Neural Networks) in Montreal that year, invited a leading-edge neuroscience researcher whose talk I summarize: "I have studied the great work of Goldman-Rakic on what the higher cerebral cortex of humans really does. I have fund that she was missing something, in trying to understand the real purpose and function of the very highest regions of the frontal lobes that cortex, the dorsolateral and... These two regions represent the cutting edge of human biological evolution, what our species has REALLY been working on, from a biological point of view. We are struggling to evolve a brain which begins to address the two greatest questions of human mental life: (1) where did I park my car this time in the parking lot?; and (2) what was I trying to do anyway?" To be honest, there were a lot of people who did not really understand that talk, as the speaker was  not experienced in talking to an engineering audience or in hooking up to their equipment. My explanation propagated in the discussion, and I was delighted a few months later to see neuroscience researchers actually using the parking lot EXAMPLE to illustrate the more basic and general issue of the type of memory (unobserved state variables) it illustrated. (It fits my mathematics of how brains handle spatial complexity, part of the papers I cite sometimes, but not for the post today). THE SECOND QUESTION, "What was I trying to do anyway?", directly addresses the TYPE OF OPTIMIZATION ARCHITECTURE USED IN ALL MAMMAL BRAINS, which is much more powerful than baby systems like alpha Go. There is a system of target variables or "goals" which lives in the middle between the raw input/output neurons of the brain (like senses and muscle control cells) and the ultimate global utility functions (the J and U I have discussed here before). Ancient forms of AI certainly knew that there are things called "goals," but how to embody such things firmly and smoothly and under control in a system based totally on learning, capable of learning and unlearning and putting different weights on things?  The open access paper by Yeshua and myself, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2016.00097/full, includes a review of what we know and how it fits real-time brain data.  There are times and places when the higher cortex sends orders directly to muscle control systems, which generate action quickly. But more often, it sends signals to the BASAL GANGLIA, a MIDDLE level of the brain, where target variables are engaged and pursued, sometimes over long time intervals. This geometry reminds me of the Sian Kaan, the scared tree of the mayans, where the CONNECTION between the mud (muscles) and the cloud level (higher cortex) is essential to the life of the whole system. 3. REMEMBERING target variables in coronavirus analysis and climate Yesterday I had a great experience in feeling stupid, the kind of experience we should all remember and treasure in memory. Having felt stupid about coronavirus, I am better equipped to understand and empathize with those well-meaning and powerful people who have been so utterly, placably stupid in policies to prevent human extinction by climate change (more precisely, by euxinia, a search term you can use in youtube if you care about whether the human species goes extinct in the next century +/- a few decades). In both cases, the key need is to LEARN AND REMEMBER the key target variables. Lessons I learned about how to MISUNDERSTAND coronavirus spill over to climate change policy.  A group of highly intelligent friends challenged me to a Zoom discussion yesterday: "Let us compare the models of coronavirus and discuss which ones we should believe." BETWEEN us, we have had access to models and data and academic papers from EVERYWHERE. A few days before, one of you challenged us: "You have seen those models used and debated by CDC. One of us may well be able to do better. What are your ideas?" My response: "This is just like my first tenured job, at DOE/EIA in the 1980s: first do a deep analysis of all the existing models, over a few years, and then redo it all and build them right. BUT THESE models now are far more primitive. More important, there is a "mother of all missing data problems." My work (e.g. see www.werbos.com/Erdos.pdf or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/036054429090085G) DIRECTLY addresses how to learn causality and dynamics from time series data obscured by noise and missing data, far better than older methods, but there are limits to how much we can know when we do not have enough data, no matter how good the methods. Thank God the new antibody testing will shine light on the very most obvious, glaring hole in today's knowledge by ANYONE.  OOPS. I should say more about the antibody testing. Coronavirus was very much a part of my FIRST PERSON EXPERIENCE but NOT of my third person scientific efforts. A few weeks ago, I caught something from a fellow Quaker just back from China, and had exactly what my medical ex-wife described as classic coronavirus symptoms. I really wanted to know: am I ALREADY immune now, or could I die in a week if I go to the wrong store? I realized that these issues apply to MANY people, and to the issue of reopening the world economy (an issue worth many trillions of dollars), and even sent bits of information to chosen people here and there. I became to coronavirus what a lot of those pseudoexperts on climate are to climate.  I never INTENDED to become a world expert on coronavirus! I am already struggling with other larger, more important issues. Yet as I decide where to go on a day of lockdown, in a neighborhood which has one of the highest death rates per capita, I do think about my personal survival. PERHAPS THIS IS HOW many people think about climate  change, taking it quite seriously, but now knowing JUST HOW SERIOUS it is or isn't, and not letting it EVER become a major focus of their highest level enlightened strategic thinking even for an hour. Like them, I read lots of things, but never let it get to me at a deep level. BUT THEN YESTERDAY my friends challenged me to a sketch a real mathematical model. They would prefer a good old fashioned econometric model, like the one I cited above. (Really. The Stanford Energy Modeling Forum EMF found that the econometric model of industrial energy demand which I built back then was the most reliable such ever built, and that lead to the publication above in their special issue of the journal Energy.) BUT: I said no, BEFORE one can build a quality, reliable econometric model, one must first explore the territory, considering alternative Conceptual mathematical models, rather like the seven equation  Keynesian model I learned about decades ago from Ackley's classic text on macroeconomics.  So there I was yesterday, at kitchen table and then outdoor patio table, trying to scribble just a few RELEVANT macroeconomic type equations to give MY view of what a correct model would look like. Oh, did I feel stupid! I consoled myself with the memory that it took three solid months of DOE library research and focused thinking to come up with even first draft of my "seven equation" model of industrial energy demand, but this time I HAD already seen the major branches of what is known today. I started to list a few key variables... Of course, percentage of antibodies to resist the flu, BY group of people, is one crucial variable. There was a great study in Germany, followed by a new one from Stanford (which the drug companies love about as much as they love Dean Radin's work), suggesting that the death rate for people who catch coronavirus is only about 0.1%, FAR less than CDC was telling us just two weeks ago, because so many of us SURVIVED the virus and never got entered into CDC data. (I deeply respect Fauci and Cuomo for working hard now to fill this crucial hole in the data.)  But what about OTHER sources of immunity? The German study, based on solid statistical sampling in a prime "hot zone," SUGGESTED that only 20% of the people had the anti bodies but that 90% or so HAD BEEN exposed fully but never even needed antibodies.  So yesterday, feeling like a fool, trying to sketch a few equations on the back of a sudoku printout on a patio table outdoors, I did at least list those two time-series variables, percent antibodies by group and percent other immunity (for which we have essentially no direct data at all). And then...? Certainly it is huge issue WHERE to restart the world economy (even before we get into the coupling with macroeconomics, which is what I WANTED to think about). As with physics... I had to remember again the lesson about CRAWL BEFORE YOU WALK. My understanding of coronavirus had been blocked by my interest in the economics issues, such that I did not really pay full attention to the virus policy issues, even for an hour... just like those COP25 and Obama'Biden bill people, distracted by "bigger priorities." JUST ONE HOUR of true focused attention, with strategic thinking... can bbe worth so much...  -- Anyway, after my mental failures yesterday, I reviewed this (among other things) at samadhi time early this morning, and see much better how to model this thing. THE KEY TO CORRECT modeling of coronavirus epidemiology is, first, to remember the policy context. This is about doing the best we can within a limited time frame. Actions are needed NOW. More precisely, actions taken NOW will be important, and should be well informed, regardless of whether we will later learn better. Classic Raiffa style decision analysis, at root. Second: to identify not just causal variables but TARGET variables. What are we trying to accomplish anyway? For a correct ballpark analysis (the best we can get), we should perhaps first assume that EVERYONE WILL BE EXPOSED TO THE VIRUS. Let us be clear that the target  variable is not zero exposure.  Postponing the economic aspects: key target variables, "local utility functions," are the rate (per capita?) of AVOIDABLE DEATH and AVOIDABLE PERMANENT BODY DAMAGE, and DAMAGE TO HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS. Those first two target variables suggest grounding a model CONCEPTUALLY on time series of INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE. The times series of the LEVEL of exposure to the virus will have crucial impacts on probability of death or permanent damage. Many deaths of health care workers may be due to TOO MUCH exposure too fast. (There is serious literature on these effects, but NOT enough to give is a reliable decisive feel for exacrtly how it cuts.) Low levels, like a vaccination, may give time for enough buildup of antibodies OR those other mysterious immunity mechanisms. OR  people with those mechanisms from day one may simply not change at all, until those mechanisms weaken for some reason and gentle exposure works best.  However, level of exposure as a function of time is certainly not the only input variable to predict what happens to a person. There is the mystery immunity factor, and things like asthma, diabetes, hypertension, paranoid immune systems. At first, one might say that there is an optimal schedule of exposure as a function of those other attributes of people, and that it may be slower for some than for others, especially slow in nursing homes. HOWEVER: it is crucial that those other factors are VARIABLES AS WELL. Above all, there are new studies showing how aerobic exercise may RAISE immunity A LOT, raising suspicion that dietary variables and exercise (both mundane and esoteric, folks!) may change the level of "mystery immunity." There are huge policy implications even to this simplified conceptual mathematical model. In restarting economies, it is important to push hardest to open up in areas where the PERCENTAGE OF ANTIBODIES is a high fraction of the equilibrium antibody percentage, as the spread of the virus reaches equilibrium statistics. And so, that hot zone in Germany and New York may be the FIRST places to ease up on restrictions (with exceptions for places like old age homes where the optimal schedule of exposure is over more time, OR EVEN crowded isolated places like ships at sea where the level of exposure per person tends to be higher in response to an initial injection of the virus to the place). God help the people of Texas if THEY decide to go first because they haven't got the antibodies yet! (I suppose it would eliminate some of the more starry eyed Trump believers, a bit like that town/church in South Korea where believers who refused to use masks died like flies.)  But for policy purposes, any such model should be supplemented by something like a county level model, to predict the risk of breakage to health care facilities. A key target variable is not ONLY total death rate summed over time but the gap between the need for hospital care AT ANY TIME and the facilities available THEN. Fauci righhtly reminds us not to forget what happened in Italy!!! But new data also suggests that shortage ofventilators is not as important as we thought a month ago, since.. well Cuomo tells us that people put on ventilators for corona virus mostly die anyway, and other data suggest ventilators THEMSELVES (e.g. complications of anesthesia) may do as much harm as good in such cases. Simple CPAP machines and oxygen tanks may be easier and better. Is it a matter of rational supply chain modeling and management rather than timing of patient load? Or should US extend lockdown more than it would IF the first two target variables were the only issue, JUST in order to accommodate supply chain management inferior to what should be possible in today's world (e.g. true AGI)? Are people dying today to pay for the sins of overconfident supply chain app developers? (That, in US AND China and EU.)  4. Various Extensions (Google wanted to insert $ here. Maybe there Is a ghost in the machine,,,)  Having well-defined target variables and laser-focused strategic thinking  is ESSENTIAL to clear thinking and even meager levels of competence in areas like climate policy and virus policy. but it is EQUALLY essential to be able to stand back later and account for the bigger picture. I OFTEN recommend Levitin's popular book, The Organized Mind, stressing the need for us to BALANCE extreme focus and relaxed greater openness. This is not just an old adage; it is a key principle in AGI and organization design. (For example, both NSF and NASA have often needed budget decisions to be based on a SUM of value to core mission -- target variables -- and broader impacts. And lots of intelligence to get both right.)  For virus policy, the IMPACT ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY is a HUGE broader impact. (This year, every time I use the popular word "huge", I think of the equally popular word "unpresidented".) That's where my mind WANTED to go yesterday. But: the bottom line economic growth ov er the next ten years is a SUBSET OF THE AGI THREAD. Whichever way it goes, short of total collapse to the Stone Age, the financial system ten years hence is a SUBSET of the internet, NOT the other way around. That is a simple basic principle we need to get straight, to avoid the many opportunities for fiscal and physical suicide. HERE AND NOW, major nations like India may not be able to afford the degree of lockdown we see in New York and DC. The "broader impacts" term in THEIR policy decisions may cut quite differently from how they cut in these areas.  But beyond that... global economic plans which assume EITHER that we get to print unlimited paper money OR that money is a hard physical constraint like gold are BOTH too extreme to survive. I have been reminded a lot of how inflation in Germany in the 1920s, after Spanish flu, might have even been decisive in causing Nazi rise and World War II. Getting money straight is VERY important now, more important than the flu itself. And MONEY IS AN APP DEPENDENT ON ITS PLATFORM!!!!!  Confused as climate policies seem to be in most of the world, that kind of platform policy is far, far worse. Will we be able to survive the growing strength and focus (myopia) of "Godzilla, King Kong and the Borg" (my names for the three main serious platform development realities I see emerging right now)? TBD. As they say, "God help us. Please."  Best of luck,   Paul Timothy Holborn Mon, Apr 20, 10:17 AM (2 days ago) we had choices, as was illustrated in 1945 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/ Yet, out of all the possible futures fro Timothy Holborn Mon, Apr 20, 11:22 AM (2 days ago) to me, Biological, Amanda, Heiner, Doug apologies...  I fear i was not as helpful as my heart otherwise seeks help my mind, to be. If there was sufficient distributed compute to solve some of these problems, how would you define the ACLs...   I guesses, that's my underlying point.  The work on (royalty free) standards, etc. is in most ways, all about how to answer that problem.  If that puzzle is solved well, then we have a chance to do some good - whilst seeking to solve others.   but horse, before cart.  ATM, there's some who have automobiles, others trying to feed their horses petrol hoping they go faster, when in fact there's a decision to be made - build new tech, or get back onto the grass...  ReplyReply allForward

Healing the war between science and spirit

Many people at this point are deeply focused on how to heal the world of coronavirus. Important as that is, I believe it is much MORE important to heal humanity from three very immediate problems which threaten everyone on earth, in my view: (1) worst case climate change (search on "euxiinia" at youtube), which clearly could kill us all, but is further off than the others; (2) a tsunami of new problems with the internet
(see 
https://drpauljohn.blogspot.com/2020/04/role-of-quantum-technology-in-massive.html);
a growing, deep war between science and spirit in human culture at all levels.

Here are two posts on how we MIGHT save ourselves from such a war. The first was an email from me to Dr, Brenie Baars, one of the world's foremost authorities on the scientific study of consciousness ( who is a respected friend but who has at times criticized another friend). The second was from Yeshua den David, who gives an interesting overview of deep Israeli thought on these issues. Both are part of a larger discussion posted at https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!forum/biological-physics-and-meaning

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Hi, Bernie!

[This is still an issue in understanding the laws of history, where this discussion started.]

I am deeply concerned and upset that the world as a whole does not appreciate and learn as much as it should from your important work -- or mine, or Robert Kozma's, or Yeshua's, or Walter Freeman's or Karl Pribram's. I have heard every one of these (ironicallly, except you, who were more tactful) commenting on the importance of the challenge of breaking through that destructive blockage. I have even been shocked by the people who ignored or wrote off the late work of John Von Neumann and Julian Schwinger, which went much further than the usual pundits write about. 

There certainly are people on this list, AND people off of it, who would benefit from a better understanding of your work. I have referred to it in many of my posts here on consciousness, but even I do owe you thanks for the further sources you refer to.

BUT: I SEE NO REASON TO CREATE A WAR BETWEEN THE GLOBAL WORKSPACE THEORY (GWT) OF CONSCIOUSNESS and what I call "PSI" here, the effort to understand real powers of mind which cannot be explained by the usual assumption of total information separation between people (or between people and the larger worlds of nature) except by local "QED physics" (electrons, protons, neutrons, electromagnetism). 

Given the important goals of this list, it is important that we learn how to have beneficial dialogue EVEN WITHOUT a requirement that we agree on a party line. 

It is important that we work on ways to improve cooperation and mutual support, FOR EXAMPLE, between three groups of people:

(1) Those who believe in GWT, and appreciate its importance, but believe that PSI is an error or a fake with >99% probability;

(2) Those of us who  believe in GWT, and appreciate its importance, but ALSO believe that PSI is real with >99% probability;

(3)  Those of us who  believe in GWT, and appreciate its importance, but seriously feel uncertain about whether PSI is real or not.

It sounds as if you, Bernie, would align with (1). I align with (2). Others on the list might declare (3). And of course,

there are those on the list who have at times voiced opinions which WOULD contradict GWT altogether. I do hope we can find ways to advance (1), with raising unnecessary red flags and making unnecessary enemies by creating a false entanglement here.

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This debate is more than it seems. It is a microscopic reflection of a huge binary war between science and spirit,

in the cultures of this planet. People who commit themselves to that war tend to engage in creation of stereotypes of people on the other side, like the basest partisans left and right degrading democracy in so many places. There is no such conflict in the underlying logic. I do hope that some of us can contribute more to healing this kind of schizophrenia or fracturing present even in our noosphere. (This is similar to Luria's feelings, as Uzi has described, but without the same origins theory.) 

Best of luck,Paul

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FROM YESHUA:

I concur with Paul !!!

The healing of this ancient war about what constitutes reality ought to be our priority, since reality is still a mystery together with life, mind~brain~heart~respiration, consciousness, spiritual values and The Power of Love.

One of the many things I value from one of Uzi’s posts is that he invokes Luria as an exponent of healing principles operating in the universe and humanity and he integrates that to his understanding of the universe and life.

There is a lineage of Israelite Kabbalists that influenced Isaac Luria in different ways, as well as many other wise men and women (Tzadikkim and Tzadikkot) who came after him. I see the lineage strongly represented by Moshe (Moses), Yeshua Ben Yosef (Jesus the son of Joseph and Mary), Rabbi, Shimon Bar Yochai, Isaac Luria, Moses Hayim Luzzatto, Rachel Morpugo, Yehuda Ashlag, and ……

This family of Tzaddikim and Tzaddikot all shared somehow a similar understanding of humanity’s journey towards redemption, where long lasting individual inner peace and social harmony are achieved. As expressed by Uzi, Luria depicted and explained four stages: (a) Eden - An Edenic singularity-like stage (Adam and Eve’s individual Omega Point), (b) The Fall, (c) Tikun and (d) Achrit Hayamim, or the ‘end of time’, refers to the completion of Tikun (Humanity’s Collective Omega Point).

Our task in the healing and integration between spiritual wisdom and science is to be found in (c) Tikun and (d) Achrit Hayamim, or the ‘end of time where individual Tikun (correction) will need to be enacted both individually and collectively one related to the development of each individual’s potential and the other to the enactment of actions of kindness and education in the social arena if we want to enjoy our destination, vision and ideal (d).

The students of consciousness then must grow spiritually and ideally attain inner peace and collaborate lovingly and altruistically (action of kindness) in order to improve the field and as a consequence of that, ideally and eventually, humanity in toto.

As Uzi wrote possibly coming from Isaac Luria: “Man is small World, World is big Man”

I leave you with an explanation by Billy Phillips that I quoted from:  https://kabbalahstudent.com/rabbi-shimon-and-jesus/ , which is intended to contribute to this healing or Tikun as a continuation and expression of this lineage of spiritual wisdom, as follows:

RABBI SHIMON AND JESUS

by Billy Phillips · Published April 27, 2013 · Updated May 5, 2014

Today’s portion of Emor, according to the writings of Kabbalist Rav Isaac Luria and the Zohar, reveal the secrets of Golgotha and the resurrection of the dead. Golgotha is the place where Jesus was said to be crucified. Except Christian scholars and all the early founders of Christianity admit that the word is an Aramaic word and that they have no idea where Golgotha is or why this word is used for the whole idea of Jesus’s death and resurrection. The answer can be found in Kabbalah.

Commenting upon this week’s Torah portion, Rav Isaac Luria explains how the spiritual dimension called Atika Kadisha is the source of the “dew” that brings about resurrection of the dead. He further explains that the dew is really the three letters in the Tetragrammaton, Yod, Hei and Vav.

Why?

According to Kabbalistic numerology, the word “dew” and the three letters of God’s Name both share the same numerical value. So “dew” is really a code for these three letters of God’s Name, which really refer to the realm that we call the 99% reality. The final letter in God’s Name (Hei) refers to our world. This one letter is disconnected from the first three letters. Therefore, God’s Name is not complete. God’s Name is not unified.

In simple terms, it means our 1% reality is disconnected from the 99% reality, the source of all Light.

The early Christian fathers and original Doctors of the Church all admitted that they could not find the word Golgotha anywhere in ancient Hebrew writings. They admitted they did not know why this word was used. To this day Golgotha remains a mystery. That’s because the early Christian fathers and founders were not permitted to look into the Zohar. These are the mysteries Jesus taught ONLY to his closest disciples. These are the mysteries that only Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, Rabbi Akiva and their inner circle understood.

You see, the Zohar explains how Golgotha is the spiritual realm in the Ten Sephirot (Tree of Life) that encompasses Akita Kadisha, the place where the dew comes from to resurrect the dead. In simple terms, Golgotha refers to the 99% reality. It was never about a physical location. It’s a spiritual dimension.

Rav Isaac Luria teaches only through repentance (inner change) can we reconnect to resurrect our happiness and resurrect what ever has died in our life. When enough individual people reconnect, then the gates of the 99% will open wide enough so that even the dead will resurrect and immortal existence (Messiah) will arrive.

This is the long-held Kabbalistic secret of the teachings that have surrounded Jesus for 2000 years concerning Golgotha, Resurrection and Jesus’ teachings about repentance. Repentance really means in Hebrew, to return. You might ask, Return to where? We are returning ourselves and this world to the 99%. We are returning the final letter Hei, in God’s Name, back to the first three letters to unify God’s Name and thus, unify our world with the 99% reality.

THE SON

The letter that the Hei reconnects to is the letter Vav. The Vav is called “The Son” in the Zohar . The first letter of God’s Name (Yod) is called “The Father” (Abba). This further explains Jesus’ teachings that says one must connect to the Son in order to connect to the Father. It’s all about unifying God’s Name, unifying our world with the spiritual realm of the 99%.

Now follow this: Next week’s Torah portion is Behar. This specific portion explains the secret of the phrase “Son of God” or “Son of the Holy One”.

As we just learned, The Son refers to both the letter Vav. But in Behar, we ALSO learn that the phrase the Son of the Holy One refers to the man who masters the Holy Wisdom of Kabbalah to transform his nature and achieve oneness with God.

So these two Torah portions contain ALL the secrets underlying Christianity’s most important tenets and they prove, without a single doubt, that the Zohar underlies Christianity and is the root of all of Jesus’ true teachings. How appropriate that these two Torah portions always fall around Lag B’Omer, the day Rabbi Shimon revealed the Light of Zohar and left this world. This day, according to Kabbalist Rav Berg, is a mini Shavout, a mini revelation of Mount Sinai. Rabbi Shimon not only left the world on this day, but he also came out of the cave after 13 years of receiving the wisdom of Zohar on this same day as well.

The revelation of the Zohar is equal to the revelation of Mount Sinai and that is why it’s considered a mini Shavout. Moses came down from the Sinai mountain with the Tablets bringing the world the Light of Immortality and Rabbi Shimon came out of the cave of the mountain with the Zohar which contains the same Light of Immortality.This Light comes from the realm of Golgotha and Atika Kadisha.

Now we can finally grasp the truth that the Zohar is the true source and root of Christianity. Finally, Lag B’ Omer occurs on the 33rd day of the Omer. Jesus left this world when he was 33.

To my eyes, this process ought to be accomplished both via individual effort and by The Grace of The Creator, as the culminating aspect of human development, Oneness with God. This is the ultimate meeting place between Science and Spiritual Wisdom.

role of quantum technology in massive changes of the global internet

Tim has encouraged me to say something about the role of quantum mechanics in consciousness and in the internet of the future. I previously suggested using the code letters "AGI" (for "artificial general intelligence), because that is ONE aspect of the tsunami of changes coming to the global internet.

There are risks and opportunities both far larger than most people (including ersatz experts who do not know the underlying technology) begin to imagine. Those risks include threats of extinction of the entire human species far more imminent than death by climate change.
                Here is a key slide from my talk on that "AGI" challenge, a talk requested by the world President of IEEE: In brief: the old choices on the left, which a new Director of Engineering at NSF asked us to help implement (in 2014), WOULD have resulted in extinction of the human species, in my view. I met the key people, saw the details. One of the pathways to extinction is the pathway depicted in terminator II, closer than some people want you to know. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE38LG2DVAc, from Stuart Russell, whose text was cited for years as the number one text in AI, but of course these videos upset certain people in the military closer to implementing that technology than even Russell knew. (How did I know? It is a neural network technology. Russell's texts understated what neural networks could do, but my PhD thesis was the first step in creating that technology. See scholar.google.com, thesis with twice as many citations as Walter freeman's best, but many of them in Chinese. Hes, China is ahead.)
                 The RIGHT column in this slide describes an alternative pathway, consistent with human survival. The right column depicts what I now call "SII", Sustainable Intelligent Internet. Quantum information technology (QuIST, Quantum Information Science and Technology) is ONE of the five key elements required for SII.
            To what degree is the mundane human brain a quantum computer? We have discussed that already in huge detail on this list. In the end, I see several POSSIBILITIES, and an open need for science to FIND OUT which is true, as per: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2007/nsf07579/nsf07579.htm . So far as I know, nothing in recent years has changed the bottom line of what we know. Also, the role of quantum theory in human consciousness is not so central as some have consiedered; see my paper for the Festschrift for Henry Stapp, linked to at werbos.com/religions.htm.

      But when we BUILD intelligent systems ("AGI") or try to understand noospheres, we are free to consider the whole range of designs allowed by QuIST, not restricted by neuroscience. That is a technology which will massively change the internet of the future, one way or another. In my view, the US and EU are massively behind both China and what is possible in QuIST. WHY are they so far behind? That is a very interesting question, well within the scope of the Cosmos and History (CH) topic, but in this post I will try stay within the AGI/Q scope.

     The key point is that there are five basic TYPES of general quantum computing: 
 (1) The universal quantum Turing machine, brilliantly expounded by David Deutsch of Oxford. I think of this as aleph zero quantum computing, because it is as infinite and unlimited as a Turing machine, in manipulated infinite bit strings, exactly like the INTEGERS which are infinite in number. Infinite as in aleph-zero. Cantor's mathematics of infinity is a crucial foundation for understanding what is going on. Aleph-zero quantum computing is the kind of quantum computing which uses "qubits," the quantum version of the bits that an ordinary Turing machine relies on. Binary variables. When enthusiasts proclaim that "all advanced real life is digital," they assume that binary digits cover everything.

 (2) CONTINUOUS VARIABLE quantum computing. Until I went to the 2015 SPIE.DCS conference on "Quantum Information and Computation IX" (S1127 in the annual SPIE conference on technology for defense and security held in Baltimore) I was not aware that ANYONE in the US was working on the more powerful generalization of QuIST which is possible when using continuous variables (real numbers) instead of just binary digits in quantum computing. Since there are aleph-one real numbers, I think of this as aleph-one quantum computing.

 I was invited to speak that that conference by Howard Brandt, one of the VERY PIVOTAL breakthrough thought leaders little known to the public or to Congress the people. I knew Howard from QISCOG, the quantum information sciences coordination group, which I was then a member of (as I was one of the people at NSF funding QuIST research). That group coordinated work in QuIST all across US government agencies, of which NSA and DARPA were most prominent. Howard Brandt was the real brains behind all that, and I met him at a different, larger, more operational government QuIST conference in Baltimore.

 At SPIE 2015, Brandt intended to create a kind of explosion on the scene, by showing us the power of the new continuous variable paradigm. ONLY LATER when I was writing my paper for the special issue of Quantum Information Processing which emerged from that session did I learn how Seth Lloyd, a professor at MIT deeply respected as a theorist and educator in the QISCOG, community, had already published significant work in continuous variable quantum computing. the four speakers which Brandt had invited in order to create a new wave were me, two theorists doing basic research (one Chinese/Australian and one Indian/American linked to Subhash Kak), and a US contractor who seemed to be saying "and yes folks, Howard is bringing it HERE, and we can implement it." But Brandt himself died unexpectedly just two weeks before the conference, and was unable to perform the great show he had planned for the world. The researchers showed clearly that they could make and break codes far beyond what aleph-zero quantum computers could handle, but we in the US never got the benefit of that. Again and again, I see US people counting qubits like counting sheep, oblivious to the giant ravens flying over their heads.

 (3) The D-wave TYPE of quantum computing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems, which It think of as aleph-zeroN, as Vancouver technology, or as quantum Boltzmann. They still use qubits, but INSTEAD OF RUNNING programs (the way old Turing computers do) they use a different ARCHITECTURE for computing, more suitable for LEARNING (hence neural N). Old fashioned Turing thinkers, educated in mainstream computer science, tend to wrinkle their faces in disgust at this silly irrelevant type of architecture, designed to perform optimization tasks rather than general purpose Turing programs. But in the neural network field, we know that all types of brain-like intelligence can be MAPPED into such optimization tasks, allowing unlimited power for those who understand enough to use it.

 (4) ANALOG Quantum Computing (AQC), one of the two main themes of my paper with Dolmatova in Quantum Information Processing https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11128-015-1146-2 . In that paper, we cited previous work by Siegelmann and Sontag (and others) showing that analogy neural network types designs ALREADY achieve a computational capability beyond what Turing machines are capable of, by combining real numbers and network architectures. Proper use of such architectures (the main foundation of mundane brain capabilities) ALREADY gives post Turing capability, even without quantum mechanics. And so half of our paper discussed how neural network type architectures can be COMBINED with continuous quantum computing, to get another while level of capability, which I think of as aleph-two type quantum computing. (D-wave is of course a subset of this.) An AQC level computer should be able to break ANY code generated by ANY lower level of intelligence (e.g., crack any bitcoin type of currency or even the new digital rembini) if there is enough data available, and the data requirements are far less than with lower level intellligent systems.

 (5) Crosstemporal AQC. The other half of our QIP paper, though we VERY carefully left out many details because this could become very scary, especially in a world where people can barely avoid killing themselves with autonomous drones (the baby predecessors to what you could see in Terminator II). I have the impression that China, New Zealand and Australia have the greatest chance of actually getting that far, but the emerging new internet shows great risks of getting at least half of us killed in the US in the coming decade through inability to rationally deploy even pre-quantum security technology represented on the slide. Still, those risks are a matter for CH analysis, the challenge of staying alive before we are ready to grow out of the baby stage. Last year I even saw possibilities for South Korea or Japan to get into the AQC game, but after the new virus that seems less likely. Crosstemporal AQC, like crosstemporal PSI, entails a mix of risks and opportunities, not advisable for groups who do not know what they are doing (like most nation state governments on earth). Best of luck. we really need it.

Spiritual Notebook: Quakers shine new light on life and death issues

SUMMARY Yesterday our local (nonsectarian) Quaker Meeting showed how meeting by Zoom, driven by the coronavirus threat, creates an opening to a new expression of spirit. This new expression of spirit will remain important even after the virus abates, important in preparing us for more permanent changes on earth related to the new massive expansion of internet technology. We actually had three meetings by Zoom in a row. First was a renewal of the early “drop in” meeting, our first drop in meeting in the Zoom area, with just three of us (but when the Zoom password gets sent out to others it may grow again.) Next was regular silent “Meeting for Worship”, the third I have attended by Zoom Finally, there was a “Second Hour” discussion with Emily Wirzba of Friends Committee for National Legislation (FCNL), which TODAY strikes me as humanity’s best hope to take the kind of actions we need to avoid extinction by worst case climate change (euxinia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvteE6smrF0&t=417s). Thoughts from the Two Previous Meetings At our first Zoom meeting, it was clear that some people felt very cut off by the new “social distancing” rules. Very cut off and lonely. Did meeting by Zoom create the kind of human connection which would overcome that feeling of isolation? In fact, this is a very deep and important problem, not only for Quakers now but for the whole world as the internet becomes more pervasive: http://ilp.mit.edu/conference.jsp?confid=260&tabname=agenda (Changes really are coming to the whole world internet, much bigger and sooner than most people assume. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6togqN9Cvt4.) And so, I raised the question: can we LEARN (in brain and soul) how to attune more deeply with other people on the call just by looking at their faces (and our memory of them), as we would in the same room? It is a VERY important skill to work on. (At Werbos.com/religions.htm, I post links to other images whih can also serve as gateways to reaching out and attunement, a fundamental part of how our noosphere and souls work.) But ALSO we can REMEMBER and bring up in our deepest consciousness the full “five-dimensional memory” of what it felt like in that very specific room, the Langkey Hill meeting room, which has developed real and powerful invisible connections worthy of preservation. (I did not mention the book Sanctum Celeste by Bernard,,, but it is another example of how we can build real meeting foci in our souls and our noosphere of great importance in building connect ions and enhancing dialogues. Now that I think of it, Pynchon’s novel Gravity’s Rainbow also describes such a place in the noosphere, quite realistically.) YET in those meetings, via Zoom, we were also surprised at times by images of trees, birds, and even a cat. This reminded me that, though the meeting room is a kind of great gateway to the most general human part of the noosphere, it is a positive bit of progress to reach out more emphatically to other life in our noosphere. In one of those weeks, the birds were ever so prominent suddenly, coming from so many directions, including a remote tribe along the Amazon (zooming in thanks to visitors from Rio with A/V) and NSF people seeing curious bird behavior during their walks… not to mention our own esoteric back yard and other Quakers. The Drop In Meeting In the past, in the hour before Meeting for Worship, we were led by Steve (former math professor at George Mason) in discussion of two to four page readings from MANY sources, from old Quaker sources, to Buddhism, to Taoism, to shamanism, to Bible, to scholarly work, etc., etc. Yesterday, Laurie, an another amazing person from Meeting, set up the Zoom and the password, though I barely figured out how to log in in time, and I do hope we can bring in more people next time. Still, deep and intense discussions of just three people can be very worthwhile in any case. In past weeks, Steve has described himself as a “Catholic Quaker,” and we heard equally form John, a “Buddhist Quaker,” but our meeting is very clear that all are equally called and free to express their views. (Technically, free EXCEPT to seek anger and conflict or to oppress OTHER people, but I do not recall any real problems that way here. I do recall hearing that there were business meetings where the Ministry and Worship Committee had to ask for calm when there was a discussion of Arabs and Israelis, in discussing such policy positions.) Before the meeting, Steve and Laurie had agreed that this week would focus on the book of Matthew, chapter 10, last few verses, maybe just one line from chapter 11. Steve noted that during this month of quarantine, he had read deeply into writings of a Quaker imprisoned in the Tower of London, bearing up under the “Fourteen stations of the cross.” (Similar feelings to quarantine?) He highlighted the verse in Matthew telling us we must bear up our own cross, to join the path of Jesus. But what did this really mean? Laurie commented that heavy dependence on ANY ancient books was not so meaningful to HER on her spiritual path, because real connections to real living people are the key for her. After this became a bit tense, I broke in and asked: “Is this because we are using Zoom, which is not so familiar to us, instead of being in person? People on listserv lose human connection even more, and go nuts, but even for us, is the level of natural human attunement and mutual support reduced by the lesser degree of spiritual attunement over the internet?” Steve and Laurie said no, that they could connect this way, but that the real issue is one of different points of view. And so we needed to get into those points of view. I agreed BOTH with the most important points by Steve and by Laurie. I said that the words “bear your cross” reminded me especially of the hardworking, devout and very very warm grandmother I had of Bavarian origin, and of a large ground level chapel we visited in Munich a few years ago which had unique vibes reminding me so much of my grandmother (unlike other churches and cathedrals and temples we have visited all over the world.) It was NOT about stumbling and getting back up (as in some of those stations, but simply carrying.. a certain kind of deep duty full of real spiritual energy, warmth and determination, and calm and responsible. But I went on to say… it is not just attunement with living people here and now. I mentioned my visit to Kohunlich (and Facebook post!) a few years ago, connecting to a whole civilization. As I discussed that experience, Laurie agreed that the people do not have to be right there right now, so long as there WAS a real spiritual energy there emanating form people fully alive and active in spiritual level. When Laurie spoke of the central role of spiritual CONNECTION for her, I agreed emphatically, and mentioned the first sanzan shrine I link to at Werbos.com/religions.htm, the shrine of connection. Steve mentioned a beam of light coming down… but I did not have time to discuss the SECOND major shrine, but I mentioned we have actual photos of such a beam of light in the same album. Discussing our quarantine experience, Laurie mentioned how Noah attuned more with higher levels than with his neighbors, after HE had to shift HIS lifestyle. But time ran out, and it was time to shift to Meeting proper. “Meeting for Worship” Typical Langley Meetings would include three people getting up to speak (following tight guidelines on when to speak) , but a normal range would be zero to six. This one was more like six. (The previous were not so “talky.”) I regret that I took notes only by scribbling on paper. Why not use a table computer? At least on Zoom, with microsphone muted, Idid not have to worry about disturbing others by the sound of taking notes, either of what other people said or by “messages” just for me or a few. (Only messages for most of the meeting should be voiced at that time.) Betty Smallwood, who founded Friends Community School (FCS) of Maryland years ago, spoke about her experience as she waited to move into Friends House, delayed by the virus stuff (but still joining them by Zoom). It seems lonely, but is not SO lonely, when she ascends to a high place where she can have a dialogue with “her shadow,”. And she talked about the pain of challenge to her patience, waiting for her new residence to be ready for her. Pardee, who has been liberated by this Zoom connection (versus being unable to leave his elder residence under lockdown), gave a poem the previous week: Rejoice! You are sown into the fabric of the universe. You are one of the red threads of God, Knit into yourself, your family, your friend, your enemy, and your Lord. Don’t pull out the thread! But follow it outwardly into the world And inwardly into your soul. When I spoke, I mentioned that I had posted and commented on Pardee’s poem at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/biological-physics-and-meaning, and that an important leader of yoga thought was included in that discussion. This time, Pardee spoke again, and briefly noted that patience is so much easuer and more natural when one is quietly “resting the spirit” (which I interpret as the samadhi experience I discussed more in those posts, and which was a big part of my feelings just that morning before Meeting). I also mentioned how powerful the feelings like loneliness and disconnection are across the entire noosphere at this time, and that we can hold those feelings without letting them hold us. Another person said that people (like Betty?) would not feel so lonely if only they could open their eyes and see how we are “swimming in souls, all around us all the time.” That reminded me of my mother’s last year of living in my brother’s house. (OK, it also reminded me of a time many decades ago when I praciiced “astral travel” a lot and got into a lot of situations where some older people, glowing white, could see me, but others could not, and the others thought the glowing ones were getting crazy.) My mother, an authentically deeply sensitive person who herself started to get that kind of glow, seemed to be going crazy because SHE was haunted by … projections?... of people linked somehow to my nephew Ben who was going through hard times. Swimming in spirits is all well and good, but WHICH spirits on what terms for what? I was also reminded of my experiences in Japan, linked to at Werbos.com/relisions.htm and associated further details not yet posted, not like what this guy described. I later told Luda that the relation between my mother and Ben at that timre reminds me of the video movie What Dreams May Come, which I even recommended to her at that time. At some point, Laurie and Georgia spoke of the “communion of saints,”another important venue of connection. AND… one woman (I apologize I forget who)… spoke of her postman story, the most inspiring message of all yesterday. Yes, he was just a mailman. But somehow he brought a kind of PRESENCE or GLOW. Somehow that presence changed the feelings of her whole household, creating a feeling of joy and life, which sounded like special qi and connection which has often been so central to my own will to live and to do. It reminded me of Shaw’s Back to Methusaleh, the act of MANIFESTATION and how THAT act connects. After meeting, we usually have an “Afterthoughts” section, but not this day. My previous meeting, Adelohi of Maryland, had a “Joys and Concerns” session after Meeting, but here it is “Holding the Light” (like healing or praying for suffering people, incredibly long last week as many now suffer). I was deeply moved by what Georgia said about her husband, who is having,problems which reminded me of my mother (who also had POCD to complicate things), and I couldn’t help standing up and mentioning the great Passages novel of Connie Willis, probing deeply =into what happens to people who go through what her husband and my mother went through. (My brother, sister and I agree we have contact with our deceased mother which indicates she is recovering. ) Betty’s comment about a “special place” also reminded me of the one and only Rosicrucian Zoom I have observed, which was quite different from the book by Bernard, More like what Betty had in mind. But this is not the place to record what I experienced in THAT Zoom. At announcement time, many ways to use Zoom have come up, but none like the “international Quaker Business Meeting for Peace” which I proposed during afterthoughts time of my first Quaker Zoom. Quaker Business meetings are supposed to be HSALF the usual deep meditation and connection, but half focus on a particular issue or issues. Second hour on Climate Change This second hour was especially important to ME in “maintaining will to live,” as I described in some detail in my post earlier today at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/biological-physics-and-meaning. But perhaps this is not the place to elaborate. It gave me hope that FCNL **MIGHT** mobilize the all-important next generation, and build the all-important new connections both in mundane discussions and in deep connections between people and disciplines, necessary to surviving the steady drift towards human extinction by euxinia. It was nice to Zoom between us and the leader of the FCNL national efforts on climate and energy. We had a chance to get into real depth, and our friends from Africa and from World Bank drew us into kind of vital substantive issues without which climate advocacy becomes destructive BS. (Could Sanders be more effective than Trump in controlling the aberrations of his own base? Let us pray, but FCNL is in the MIDDLE in any case.) We were reminded that”There is hat of God in every person, even legislators,”That it is an INTERNATIONAL challenge, and that activating the spirit even in US politics may be our best hope for the kind of dialogue which could really save us all. But the details belong perhaps in a different, more technical post. This is long enough anyway.

Tough choices ahead for the human species, to escape coming death by euxinia or slaugherbots

This week, I thought I would spend a calm, easy day shifting from the hard deep challenge of connecting us all better to the noosphere and the mind boggling urgent challenges of preventing us from being overwhelmed by careless and fatal new things in the internet, to the more finite issue of euxinia, of human extinction by climate change. For euxinia, the facts are all out there for those who choose to pay attention, and it is more like death in a century than death in a decade (plus or minus a factor of two both for the euxinia risk and for the internet risks). I approached it a day or two as I approach cleaning the kitchen... a necessary task, but concrete and not so painful. Well, it was more painful than I thought. To prevent euxinia is especially valuable as an EXERCISE, a way of learning lessons necessary to cope with the more difficult challenges.And it was VERY sobering. Of course,it reminded me that one retired old man alone certainly is not enough to save us with ANY of these challenges, and that COMMUNICATION and CONNECTION is a key part of any of them. And that our world is full of severe and dangerous delusions in all the cultures of the world; Buddhists do stress that,properly, but Buddhism ITSELF is a complex cultural system and real Buddhists know that they too have things they need to work on (except for a few obvious phonies who pretend to be all-knowing). Delusion number one in climate policy (and human futures in general?) is that free markets are ENOUGH to get us through to survival: the carbon tax proposal, which many narcissistic souls believe is the real answer to climate issues and environmental in general. Folks tempted by THAT delusion need to remember the mantra: "Markets are NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT." Decades ago, Ronald Reagan tried to solve obvious problems in the electric power sector by DEREGULATION, modified only slightly from the idea of "no regulation of the electric power sector" (which the industry itself had debunked decades before). "Let's ust totally deregulate the generation and use of electricity and the markets, and regulate only the transmission system." Thus was born the Enron disaster and other such disasters, as slimy folks akin to the political PR consultants we see so much in DC these days, slimy salesmen who built reputations by appealing to folks who wanted simple solutions that simply would not work. And, by the way, the production of electricity (mainly for this market but also private) is the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, about half the problem. The Enron crisis was solved by a whole new way of thinking about markets, the MARKET DESIGN approach, which in my view is fundamental to our hopes of building a sustainable intelligent internet (the urgent crisis) as well as climate change. The larger society needs to better understand and appreciate this lesson of history (the "H" of CH, Cosmos and History Journal), and its implications for other sectors and the larger future. For once, it is a positive kind of lesson, and we need the positive lessons ever so much at a time when negative lessons are more .. unavoidable. One key lesson might make some economists happy and grin. "Don't you remember that those mathematical theorems about market efficiency, from Walras to Arrow [who briefly served on my Harvard PhD thesis committee util I chose the mathematics of intelligence instead of the mathematics of motivation and history as my topic] and beyond all require CONDITIONS? They are IF --- THEN theorems, and markets need to be DESIGNED to meet those requirements. That's what you electric power guys have done, to make the system work." The DESIGN of the big interstate transmission systems, the "ISO/RTO" system which directly manages about 70% of electricity sold in the US, is an historic success of CROSSDISCIPLINARY BASIC RESEARCH, or a deeply focused driven effort to get at the truth funded by a program at the US National Science Foundation. And, by the way, I actually ran that program for several years, and worked with it closely in others. Was this a triumph of the capitalist approach (vindicating Ronald Reagan's policy, by finding a way to make it work)? Or was it a vindication of Soviet style socialism? (After all, the Soviets used central computers to give orders to every factory in the nation how much to produce every year. That was seen as the apotheosis of central planning.Under the new ISO/RTO system, central computers implementing optimization algorithms give orders to every GENERATOR in their areas how much to produce every five to fifteen minutes!!!) Hegel might be amused: this was not a victory EITHER of the thesis or of the antithesis, but of a NEW SYNTHESIS, a NEW integration. Yes, there is more or less total control by computers, but those computer programs were designed (after GREAT effort) to implement a MARKET DESIGN, where all the key inputs come from a vast number of free and independent human actors (not agents, but decision makers). The underlying utility function is not a number which comes from a central state body, but the output of algorithms which basically "add up" inputs from the humans. The system in place today is not perfect. When I ran this area, I spent a lot of effort to make it better, to make it more intelligent, and to extend the approach down to the local level so that we could better accommodate the new technologies needed to prevent death by euxinia. But as the rest of the world is being quietly taken over by OTHER methods for integrating the emerging internet (and as a corollary the "internet of things" and the entire world economy), it is really important to BUILD on this example, and understand what needs to be fixed, before we slide down other, much scarier paths opening up even as we speak. (Roughly speaking, the three main competitors NOW vying to take over the world, VERY successfully, are what I call "Godzilla," "King Kong" and "the Borg", centered in parts of China, the US military, and Accenture, all very well-meaning but with incomplete understanding of how this kind of advanced math actually works.) A key issue here is what the new internet integration system will do about VALUES, about the U and J functions which I tried to explain in my earlier post on "telos, utility and identity." (Deepak Chopra noticed that post. I still link to it, in my piece of extended game theory linked to at werbos.com/religions.htm.) This is a VERY serious issue. TODAY'S electric power system mainly uses methods of STATIC or ONE SHOT optimization, with no foresight, which can be a killer. I could write page son how THAT issue works out in electric power systems. One key way to overcome the problem of myopia (which could of course kill the human speces, by euxinia or war or even disease) is an approach I developed which I called "dynamic Stochastic Optimal Power Flow (DSOPF)", using new advanced adaptive optimization methods, LIKE what alpha go used but far more powerful. MANY GREAT GENIUSES OF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE PR COMMUNITY (what US and EU tend to rely on!!) may be feverishly building us a new integration system based on alpha Go, moderaTED ONLY BY OLD HEURISTIC KLUDGES. (The computer decided to capitalize this; I will not override it, as we move to a world where computers WILL take over the world, an it is only a matter of WHICH TYPE and what they do to humans. Only if you ever use money does that mean you.) But that level of system, like the old crypotocurrencies, does not scale well to many variables. Rule by ad hoc kludges is one of the paths to mutual extinction. Many years ago I developed (and patented, but the patent expired) a more powerful optimization method which I called Dual Heuristic Programming (DHP), which has more powerful successors, which overcomes the scaling problem. THAT is the math behind many important growing applications you have never heard of. It allows a truly integrated, intelligent internet of things, relevant to all sectors (though again with extensions in some areas). BUT: It IS SCALEABLE BUT WAS NOT SUSTAINABLE IN THE ORIGINAL VERSION WHICH I PUBLISHED IN 1977. Likewise, "Godzilla," the new integrated design to control the world economy from China (who don't our folks READ what they are very effectively doing?), IS SCALEABLE, IS READY To SLOWLY BUT SYSTEMATICALLY TAKE OVER THE WORLD ECONOMY (including wherever you get money and food from). It just has that minor problem of sustainability. Back in 1991, when the Terminator II movie came out, a top executive from Boeing told me in their executive dining room (witnessed by another person on this list!!): "You MUST watch that movie, even if it sounds yucky to you. You HAVE to, because it is your job, it is what YOU are starting to do to us with these new approaches to missile defense." (If you know how to search blogspot, you could see a lot of the details of the history.) For folks in the IEEE Control Society (one of my hats back then), that movie might be summarized: "Well, it shows us what can happen when your intelligent controller has a minor stability problem in one of the equations." And that would be quite real, no joke. None of the CS gurus building these systems know that kind of stability theory. but I do, and I k now just how real and how serious it is. In way, when I talk about the need for a "sustainable intelligent internet (integration)," I might even say "S" actually stands for "stable" or sustainable, they end up being the same in this kind of volatile nonlinear situation. I LEARNED HOW TO SOLVE THE BASIC GLARING STABILITY PROBLEMS WHICH OCCUR EVEN IN THE MULTIVARIATE LINEAR CASE, back in 1990. In one of my chapters (13) of the Handbook of Intelligent Control, posted as a link at www.werbos.com/Mind.htm, I do the analysis of DHP and explain the MODIFICATION(S) needed to make it stable. One key lesson: to avoid catastrophic modes, it is NECESSARY (but not sufficient, just as markets are necessary but not sufficient) to have STRICT CONFLICT OF INTEREST RULES HARDWIRED INTO THE DECISION SYSTEM. I keep telling people: "The sustainable intelligent internet (SII) requires BOTH a brain AND an 'immune system'". the "immune system" includes at least the types of strict conflict of interest rules,not just in human organization but in the code, which prevents catastrophic modes of collapse. True electric power experts (maybe even a good guy somewhere in Accenture, sadly not in charge) also understand about "Sarbanes-Oxley", odd and imperfect but essential rules designed to prevent known modes of collapse of that system. During the impeachment trial of Trump, a point came when I said to myself: "This guy has attempted many really great and insightful things, for which half his voters are willing to give priority over the many things they DON'T like. But connected with the US Constitution are similar very basic red lines, COI rules serious enough both in their content and in his organizational beliefs, that I agree with Pelosi on the matter. We DO NEED some red lines, similar to the simple basics of social contract and ten commandments [not exactly them, more like the rules of Jefferson and Washington, souls so familiar in my neighborhood] which Yeshua talks about or twelve tablets of Rome before some guys whom Trump reminds me of changed their rules. " BUT: WE **ALSO** NEED SPECIALLY CRAFTED COI RULES in the new integration control of the internet of things (which includes such objects as "slaughterbots," Stuart Russell's term, already in production in many nations). This, plus a new way of registering humans (NOT the very dangerous Borg like version which many in Accenture have been pushing in THEIR version of "people-centered internet"), is one of the most essential "new design approaches" which need to be hard wired into any alternative to Godzilla, King Kong or the Borg. I have SEEN what is being created NOW, and... well, we will see whether to Cosmos admits the human species to actually HAVE a history if we don't become more conscious of what we need to do. Better connection with the noosphere is probably NECESSARY to that, but NOT SUFFICIENT. We need to CONNECT all the way to what we are doing physically on this planet. I thank anyone who cares enough to read this far. Whether enough of us CARE about what happens to this species is certainly one of the key underlying issues. ============================A couple of follow-on comments: 1. Yes, this is part of my full answer to Varadan's question about "is Providence punishing us with coronavirus"? I previously compared it to the curses of Moses, NOT intended as punishment exactly, but as a kind of desperate hardball way of breaking the pride of paroahs all over the world breaking red lines, violating COI and such embedded in the noosphere itself. (I also associate with thoughts out there from Babylon V and The Atlantis Gene.. vague but meaningful hints...) 2. No, I am not proposing that the organizatoinal rules from Jefferson and Washington should be cast in bronze exactly for the entire earth. that level of thought and clarity is needed, but clearly the old COI rules were not sufficient in US and EU, and CLEAN TRANSPARENT updates are needed, but as Timothy keeps trying to tell me, many of those could be folded into internet design. Laws and computer algorithms governing sedveral types of corporation are one part of any fix. The war between production groups and PR groups has always been a problem -- speaking of thesis, antithesis, synthesis. Ltaley viol;ations of truth in favor of PR, including lots of "bait and switch" games, is one of the main problems reducing hope in DC and EU and China lately.