The World According to Glissando

Blog

  • Held Hostage: The Tech Industries’ Not So Secret Weapon

    One of the mainstay strategies of tech companies to try and keep the obscene money making bubble growing is a hostage strategy. In this case, by repeatedly making tech products obsolete so people have to upgrade whether they need to or not. One only has to look at what Microsoft is doing with Windows 11. By killing Windows 10, they are trying to make everyone buy new tech gear to ensure you use not just Windows 11, but more importantly, have to use Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The tech industry sees nothing but gold in “them thar AI hills.”

    What is important to realize is that for most people older technology works just fine for what they need. They don’t need an iPhone 17 or 27 or 37. Most just talk and text and maybe take and share photos on their phones. Same with computers. Most people simply search the internet for basic information, do emails and some word processing.

    Most people don’t need AI, especially consumer oriented AI products. How many times can you bring an old photo to “life” before it gets boring?  It’s cool at first, but really, how many times? AI consumer products for the most part are just toys. The only AI function that really helps many people relates to writing. This type of AI allows people to cheat by not having to think and write. They simply get AI to write for them. It’s a great way to write scholastic papers or business reports or that email to Aunt Jody with little effort or thought.

    So, how do you ensure people have to buy the latest expensive tech offerings? Make what they have that works perfectly fine obsolete so they have to buy the new stuff. You see, at one point in time in the past, there were genuine improvements that were useful to most people. But, it evolved to a point where the legitimate needs of most people were met. They really didn’t need the latest greatest anymore. The solution: make them have to buy the new stuff. They hold you hostage and there’s nothing to stop them from doing this.

    This keeps the money printing machine running at full speed at our expense. No longer is it driven by genuine product improvements. As tech continues to expand and control our earthly universe, you can expect this to continue. You also have to remember that as tech sophistication continues to evolve, people will actually understand less and less about the tech world and this is a dangerous thing. Tech will increasingly be weaponized for use against society by a variety of known and unknown unscrupulous entities. We will be held hostage for a long time to come unless we get over our fascination with shiny tech trinkets and demand better.  

    By the way, for better or for worse, I wrote this entire piece myself without the aid (or hindrance and limitations) of AI.

  • Why are there Wars?

    It’s an age old question. The answer though, is not complicated. Wars are conducted, first and foremost, for economic reasons. We’re taught in school that the Crusades from the 11th to 13th centuries was a religious war. That may have been the stated reason, given the inflammatory nature of religion and how it is utilized to justify wars, but the real reason is economics. There was massive amounts of money to be made through the transition from the feudal land system to a system based upon cash and credit during the Crusades.

    Nothing has changed. Today war continues to be about economics. Emotional leverages will be used to justify it to the public, but the truth is there is an outrageous amount of money to be made with wars anywhere in the world. Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself a highly respected veteran of World War II and a United States President, warned about the industrial-military complex because of the money war generates, especially for a chosen few who are also trying to manipulate the global financial system and society in general.

    The key question is, of course, will we ever stop having wars? Even though the majority of people do not want wars and seek peace, I have to admit, it does not look promising. However, if enough people collectively come to recognize for themselves the manipulations that create  wars, there may be a chance. In a very real way, it’s up to us.

  • Baby Carrot at the End of the Stick

    You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to understand how our financial system works. It’s in plain view. It is drilled into us from birth. Do these things and you will get your carrot at the end of the stick. The only problem is, the carrot continues to get smaller and smaller and smaller. Today, it’s almost disappeared. But because this is the economic system we were brought up in, we don’t question the system. It takes us out of our comfort zone which is deliberate. So we put up with constantly rising prices (massive inflation), debilitating interest rates, market manipulation, poor quality products and increased stress in our day to day lives. We work more and more to make less and less. Yet, we cling to our financial system because it is what we know. We are duped by our emotional fear which is no accident. We’ve been taught that to question the system is ridiculous and dangerous.

    Our financial system is purposely designed to benefit the few. It is no accident or natural evolution. But we are taught not to question it and told there are no better economic systems. No matter how gruelling our day to day lives become, we cling to this system. You have to come to the realization that there are people who have the power to manipulate situations to enhance their wealth at our expense.   

    Do these people who manipulate our financial system and our society care at all about us. No! Talk is cheap. Actions speak the truth. How can a tech company owned by a billionaire that is making enormous amounts of money still lay off 20,000 workers? This is truth. This is the reality. They don’t care about us at all, how it disrupts and even destroys our lives. We don’t matter to them.

    What to do about this? For now, just think about this subject and understand what is really happening. True understanding eliminates fear which opens your mind to possibilities, and right now in these manipulated economic times where so many are suffering, possibilities are what we need more than ever. Aren’t you tired of chasing what is now the baby carrot at the end of the stick?

  • The Reality About Oil

    In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney was asked, if we have so much oil here in Canada, why are we paying so much for gas because of the strife in the Middle East? The Prime Minister’s answer was basically because oil is a global commodity, so everyone pays the same. He added though, that his government is looking at ways to help Canadians out in some way regarding the high price of gas.

    I pondered this response and asked myself this question: “Well, why is oil a “global commodity” anyway?” The answer is it does not have to be this way. Powerful people though, behind the scenes, have made it this way to control the supply and maximize profit. In effect, hold the world hostage and use this control as part of a much bigger agenda.

    The world is not the wonderful place I was lead to believe it was as a kid. Everything is contrived and manipulated. There is a quiet master agenda we don’t even want to consider because it will push us out of our comfort zone, even though that comfort zone is pretty uncomfortable right now for many because of economics. But emotion provides powerful leverage that makes it possible to manipulate our perceptions. Ultimately, this is why oil prices are so high. This is the reality about oil…and much more.

  • Digital Payola

    Let’s say you’re a musician with compositions on the various platforms. In this case, let’s reference Spotify. Every artist gets treated equally, right? After all, they are just streamers (players) of music. Wrong. It should concern you that they literally sell preferential treatment if you can come up with the cash. In many ways, it’s like the payola scandals of the 1950s on radio (read about it online because it was transformative). If you’re willing to pay, you will get more access and play. But in reality, 99.999% of the time, when you pay for preference it doesn’t help your music career, it just puts money in their pockets. Note that when you’re streaming well over 100,000,000 songs like Spotify, the chances of big success is .001% at best, even when you pay for it. Don’t let star dust blind you. The story of music success is the same now as it always has been: being in the right place at the right time with the right song and having the right person hear it.   

  • Agent X

    Think about this. On X, for example, if Elon and company don’t agree with your posts, they can send them out into the Digital Neververse and never be seen. Conversely, if they don’t like you, they can send you nothing but posts by people you will not agree with to instigate emotional negative reactions. It’s not at all about truth, it’s about killing truth and propagating the X agenda beyond just making money. You’ve been warned.

  • Control Over Social Media…No

    So you think you have some control over social media. Well, you don’t. You can’t even choose who you follow anymore in the sense that who you follow must now be suggested to you by the platform. You have absolutely no control over who sees your posts, the social media platforms totally decide that now. And, you have absolutely no control over what posts you see. The platforms decide that, too. You cannot trust them either. Their goal is to keep making big money by trying to addict you. They also are not honest arbiters. They have additional secret agendas. You need to know and understand this fact of digital life because you are being exploited. Beware.

  • The Digital World Con

    You know, the powers behind cell phones, apps, AI, social media et al…everything digital tell you they make your life better and easier. I don’t believe the con much anymore. Saving time? It’s our culture, our society, our financial and organizational systems that keep us running in multiple directions at the same time. And everything has to be now they tell us!

    Some things are truly urgent, like getting an ambulance to take you to the hospital. But many things are not although we’ve been constantly told otherwise. We’re always in a hurry it seems. That’s because there’s big money in urgency. The less time we have to think about something, the more likely we will make poor decisions including economic ones.

    The people behind our digital world know this, so they make or create lots of junk and gadgets and tell us it will save us time and it’s easy. Sure, you will need to spend money to get it, often a lot, but it will be wonderful. Not necessarily. Digital companies always pitch their technology to other companies by saying it will save them time and money ergo staffing, and the conversion to our system is painless for you and your customers. From my experience, that’s just not true, regardless of the industry. Look how often air travel systems go down.

    One other thing to consider: all of this is designed to reduce our capacity to think critically, so that the powers behind our digital world can do whatever they want while distracting us and eroding this vital ability. Making it easy for us, they say. No, making it easy for them. Let’s talk AI. The average person really has no big need for it in their day to day life. And what do we do with it? We use it to write scholastic term papers or business presentations. Sure, this is easier but, you are not having to think about it. It’s all done for you. Do you have any idea how much ChatGTP is used for these purposes. Hey, you can use AI to create things you really don’t create, a machine does. What a wonderful distraction animating old photos, but really, how many times can you keep doing it. Or make videos you don’t have to. Again, you’re really not making it either, but you think you have created something amazing, just like two billion other users. This is how the digital powers want you to think.

    Finally, I am actually starting to resent and even rebelling against (oh yes…shhh) the big digital machine. I don’t know why I have to tell anyone everything about me to pay for downtown parking or tickets to a show or a myriad of other non-life threatening situations.   But, to use any app, you have to tell them, and that means everyone. I really never had a problem having change in my car for a parking meter. It’s pretty simple and easy too with no special technological requirements. And I didn’t have to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for me to be able to do this.

    By the way, I’ve never been against technology, only against the way humans try to abusively monetize it, especially to the extreme extent seen today.

    It really is a con. Don’t buy into it totally. Leave some thinking capacity in your cranium. Lose this, and you lose your freedom and are at the mercy of the tech gods, which should leave you feeling squeamish and wary. You know, that ambulance ride, which is vital, does not require you to have an app. I think that’s reassuring.

  • Not so Good Friday

    Yesterday, the day before Good Friday, I was picking up some groceries. As I came up to the clerk, we mutually knew each other very casually, I asked, “How are you doing today?” She factually stated, without complaining and with a smile on her face, that she had been busy all day non-stop. I told her, yes, I could understand that given it’s the day before the Good Friday holiday. Without bitterness she quietly told me that unfortunately she had to work the holiday tomorrow. I responded by saying that was not good.

    She quietly continued she would have rather not worked to commemorate this important Christian observance and besides, her late fifties body could have used the rest, as well. “We’re supposed to be a Christian country,” she added.

    I responded to her that we’re a somewhat Godless Christian country now, like so many other Christian countries around the world. Sadly, it’s all about making money now no matter what, especially in the retail world, and many consumers view it as just another holiday.

    I continued by telling her that in the Bible, it clearly and repeatedly states, in both the New and Old Testaments, that you not should profit when you lend money, yet here we are, a whole corrupt financial system built around the concept of making money, obscene amounts, by charging people interest on loans. I added that this system was transformed to prominence by so-called Christian countries.

    Continuing to look at each other in the eyes, she nodded affirmatively. I then told her I had much empathy for her, will think of her, and say a prayer for her. By her reaction, I knew this lifted her, if only for a moment. I then said goodbye and left with my groceries.

    You see, nothing should be open on Good Friday save for essential services. Retail and other sectors do not need to be open and people don’t have to shop on Good Friday. But in today’s world, money and convenience are the main characteristics of our society, not God, not Jesus. Money is overwhelmingly god now, along with no compassion, in a corrupt financial system designed by so-called Christians. For so many who shouldn’t have to work, it’s not so Good Friday.

  • Social media: don’t put up with tepid content anymore

    A short while ago elsewhere, I wrote that audio podcasts are nothing more than talk show radio; a new high tech name for something that’s been around a long time. It has occurred to me that social media is much like the television broadcasting networks of yesterday. Today there are maybe 10 major social media platforms dominated by maybe 5 mega-sized owners. So, let’s say I have 10 “channels” to choose from.

    Here’s the point. I only watched the offerings I liked on broadcast television and if there was nothing on I liked, I wouldn’t settle for the least objectionable show, I would simply turn the television off and find something else better to do. Well, I’ve come to the same conclusion regarding social media. If there are 2 social media “channels” of the 10 I like, that’s what I will “watch”. However, if none of them are offering anything I like, I will not settle anymore for the least objectionable social media platform, I will simply shut them off.

    Facebook, for example, used to be about connecting with friends and sharing thoughts as the primary focus. Well, that’s long gone. To get a few, very few, posts by friends, I get an avalanche of unrequested and mostly unwanted posts from the manipulated digital abyss and endless advertising, often by lousy companies.   

    There is much more to all of this. All I am saying for now is, if you don’t like what you see, turn it off. Not forever, but until you get something you like. If enough people do it, the people controlling the “channels” with change the content on their platforms, just like broadcast networks a long time ago. Why? Because it hurts their almighty bottom line.

    The inspiration to write this post came from another friend’s recent post. It doesn’t matter who it was, what matters is that they were trying to create something of interest for their friends to participate in because they were bloody tired of the endless tsunami of advertising.