PC is broken on the pane of Windows.
Get a Mac.
By my personal perspective, being a Boomer, the “existential crisis” we faced in the 50s was the end of access to petroleum by the 70s. Following shortly thereafter, still within the half-century mark, came our crisis of over-population.
Within that 70s decade began a meme that has changed its moniker at least twice, both invented by the same guy in a 1975 article which gave us both Global Warming and Climate Change. [Wallis Broecker, “Climate Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?”, Science, vol. 189 [8 August 1975], 460-473]
The term, “existential threat” became common vernacular. The threat, by the dawn of the 80s, was also a 20-year doomsday, by which date, the great plains would be on fire, and Manhattan would be inundated by AlGore, the prophet of inconvenient truths that turned out to be neither inconvenient, nor truth. Oops. That’s Hollowood
In the late teens of our 21st century, with the plains still producing food in abundance, and Manhattan still had Broadway, our 20-year existential threat is now 12-year cycles: 2030. First, was our climate demise unless we embraced Green Energy. We’re 30 months from that demise, but Green is still just 21% of our US energy grid, yet, according to fools, we could eliminate fossil fuel by the end of Biden’s term. Oops. He didn’t end cancer, either. Still doesn’t know what he’s run Ning for [told us in. 2020 & 2024 he was running for Senate. Multiple times, each].
Now, the 12-year crisis is our demise by A.I.: 2038.
That’s just 60+ years beyond Marion King Hubbert’s oil demise prophecy.
That’s just 40+ years beyond Al Gore’s alleged inundation of Manhattan.
But the New Democrat Party [aka DSA - American socialists] wlll keep trying to carry the 12-year demise fixation banner:
Occasional Cortex [she of House District NY14][aka AOC] is still beating the drum of Woke2.
Maxine Waters [House Dist. CA43] in still reclaiming her time.
AlGore has yet to invent AlGoreGooeyJuice to replace petroleum.
So, what crisis?
If you do not live in the U.S., this post is of no effect to you. Your commentary is, never the less, invited, because this issue is a worldwide concern. What's wrong with insisting AI be controlled by U.S. congressional legislation? Because we already have an enshrined Constritution with Article I, Section 8, clause 3, the "Commerce Clause." Within that construct, there are already numerous congressional statutes passed and activated to protect us from products that may cause personal injury, death, or financial loss directly attributed to a product. These should already include the potiential of A.I. to be cause of those results of our use of that product. We are already personally responsible to for our prudent use of A.I.
Frankly, surrenduring our own agency is nonsense. Why would we do that? "The devil made me do it?"
Absurd. Individual responsibility should always have greater influence on us than anything else.
Debby,
Healthcare is a for profit scheme.
And...?
Healthcare is a commodity just ike food and clothing and shelter. One gets what one pays for, yes? And jut because I am retired does not mean that my healthcare is now free of charge, although I am healthy, so I am satisfied overall with the system.
The lack oif empiric evidence of an afterlife meansonly that the evidence is currently unknown. It is useless to deny the potential of discovery.
About a month ago, I ordered a pair of Nike Revolution 8 slip-ons, $75. I returned them because although I did purchase my size [actually went 1/2 size larger] the widest part of my foot is at the base of my toes, and the shoe was too narrow to accomodate that width at the foot entry point. Went another half-size larger, and still too narrow. Several other people had the same complaint. Should have read reviews before buying.
...whereas universal healthcare is a country-wide compulsory health insurance structure, not government-funded as medi-cal.
You have, in Europe, depending on specific nations, two separate systems.
Let's take a few poor large countries with imperfect healthcare systems and blame it on the population.
Let's? You completely misunderstand me. I don't bame the populations. I blame the whackos who think universal, single-payer [which is not at all single-payer] source of payment for healthcare. I remember when healthcare was a doctor making home visits to care for patients. We [my parents] paid him directly - no insurance company to intervene. I do not yet see why that system had to disappear, but it did, at leadst in CA.
Woke has "killed" more than Nike. It "kills" the hopes and dreams of many who succumb to its nonsense. Corporastions are, legally, "people", yeah?
On this day of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I specifically remember that morning waking up from a dream of my father, who died the previous year in the week of Thanksgiving. My dream had him walking down a curved staircase we never had in any home I've ever lived, He stopped mid-way down and said to me [We were alone together], "Wake up. There's something happening." It was not yet 6am the morning of the 11th, a Tuesday in our home in CA. The North Tower was already struck 15 minutes earlier, of which I was unaware. My wife was already awake and downstairs in our family room, watching the news on TV. When I came down the stairs, she just said, "Hurry, sit down, We're under attack." Before I could sit down, I watched UA flight 175, from Boston, headed for L.A., where we lived, fly with purpose into the South Tower. Something happening, indeed! I've wished since then Dad hadn't awakened me. Our daughter, a college student, sat on the other end of the sofa where I then sat. She was about to leave for class. She said, "Didn't we go to those towers when I was 6?" Yes. we did. The tops of both buildings were now consumed in thick gray smoke.
We all know what happened.
What I didn't know for another 10 years was that all four of the directly affected flights [two into the Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and one into the field in PA] were intended to fly to CA; the first three to L.A., the 4th to San Francisco. Both cities I've called home, but I knew no one on any of those flights.
On that morning, my brother and his wife, flying from Amsterdam to NY, was 1 hour out of Amsterdam when their piot announced simply that the air space throughout the U.S. was closed, so the flight was returning to Amsterdam. International flights did not offer regular news programming in-flight until a year or so later, so passengers were left to wonder why our air space was shutdown. My brother and wife were delayed returing home for four or five days.
I was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong on Wednesday, 9/12; that flight was cancelled, and I never did go. By Friday, I was advised that my company was downsizing. Within a month, we went to what we thought was a a temporary two-three week visit with my wife's parents out of state because her father was not doing well. By Thanksgiving week, with my position now severed permanently by the end of October due to severe business reversal with many companies doing business overseas, includiong mine, my fasther-in-law passed away. We immediately decided to put up our house for sale, move in with my wife's mother, who had a 5,000 square-foot home on 13 acres, and in desperate need of assistance.
All that due to 9/11. It changed my life completely.
These are not great exemplars of 'go woke, go broke'.
Nor did I cite that, though I've seen it, and generally believe it, though "broke," to me, related to woke, is not a monetary poverty. Rather, it is idealistically derelict.
Have you ever spent any extended time in China or India? How about Indonesia, 4th largest in population in the world? You live in Germany? I've been there, and France and Italy, and a few other European countries. Lived in France for a few years in Provence [and spent 3 weeks in a hospital, there], and I've also logged significant time in China and Indonesdia, but less in India, but more, I'll wager, than most of my compatriots. I've been in about 40 of our 50 states and about 30 countries in the world, the great majority of which have much smaller populations than mine, and much worse healthcare based on observati9n of residents.
"You are ignoring the cosmic differences in wealth, income, healthcare spending, institutions etc."
Am I? Due to the above, you are throwng stones in the water, and they all sink. Try tossng flowers.
xxx
https://fortune.com/2026/09/08/nike-stock-plummets-sp500-market-cap-index/
"One of the largest sports and athletic-wear companies of the modern day may be disappointing its namesake. Nike, the sportswear company named after the Greek goddess of victory, is losing its spot in the top 100 U.S. companies for the first time in nearly two decades. The athletic apparel giant lostover $200 billion in market cap since its all-time high in 2021, a near 80% drop in just the five years that have passed, and a plummet so severe that the once mighty company is no longer listed on the S&P 100."
Nike's reliance on direct-to-consumer sales while pulling back from traditional retail partners misread consumer shopping habits, a misstep Nike leadership later acknowledged. However, they also admitted that their leaning on populart social memes [I re3ad "woke" as one of those memes] was also a poor decision, but its effect is less certain to be measureable.
Wow! 26 one-on-none conversations! That, alone, looks like evidence of an afterlife!
By the way, just as in mortal life, who says all afterlife experiences are identical? Absurd to think identical a/l experiences are identical, so, what evidence, really, since empirical evidence depends on repeatability and reproducibility of experiments?
I'll go for it day 4; $8,000, turn it over [with $1,000 of my own] to buy 2 oz of gold, and sit on that. Either gold, or about 120 oz of silver, and keep my $1,000. A much better investent than the stock market, in which I have only ever had but two stocks: Apple, and Amazon.
And if the offer closed day 3, eh bien. I didn't have it in the first place, did I, so, no net loss.
Bud Lite and Nike valuation now, compared to even just two years ago, is evidence that woke [either 1 or 2] is DOA.
Both decided to premier woke values as advertsing camapaigns and have discovered, to their chagrin, that woke is not a money-maker. Conservatives buy beer and running shoesd in big numbers; big enough that both companies have lost big value.
One might add Jaguar to that list, which featured a clear diversion to woke advertising in late 2025 with garish models, body movement, 60s psychedelic colors, etc. In April 2025, they sold all of 49 cars, worldwide, compared to over 2,000 in April 2024. They claim that reduction was not due to the woke ad camapign, but a near zero producrion of ICE [internal combustion engine] in favor of development of EV. Well, what says EVs are no woke?
All you did is merely assert we have expensive Healthcare and cant afford universal care as if your assertion is an argument.
So, you claim expensive healthcare is not an argument, but that we can afford it if other big countries can? Which one? India? Nope, their healthcare is not universal healthcare such as Democrats have sought since at least Johnson. China? Yeah, for the East Coast. Granted, that's where mos Chinese live, but, the rest of Chi9na, it's not "univerxsal" covereage. Have you ever lived in China? I have, and all I can say is that I'm fortunate to have nevder nweeded a doctor.
And let's not forget that ourpopulation is not 340M, but that Biden opened the floodgates for undocumented, illegal aliens of at least 20M.
Meanwhil, the fourth lartgesty population, Indonesia, at 290M, is sub-average compared to typical universal healthcare in less popuoated countries, demonstrating, as in China and the US, that universal healthcare is not optimum healthcare. Those countries under 100M in total uni healthcare seerm to hanfle it. Seem.
Net result: population is a detriment to universal healthcare.
However you define them, doesn't alter the fact that conditions necessary for the formation of fossil fuels no longer prevail,
That ss not correct. The condititons required to convert organic material stilll exist. I gave you the condtions: presence of organic material, heat, and pressure. I forgot a fourth; an anoxic environment: lack of Oxygen, whixh quickens a rotting process, and that won't do, like deep underground in sediment. Size of organic material [such as dinasaurs] is immaterial, because the type of organic material is not a condition of fossil fuel conversion, and that includes flora as well as fauna [plant or animal]. Flowers and mice do as nicely and big trees and elephants.Did somebody tell you different? Look it up.
Also every developed country but us spends around ten percent of their gdp on universal healthcare.
The average population of develped countries of the world is all of 35M. The U.S. is nearly 10x that population. And our medical costs per capita is double that of any other country in the world, over $15,000 per capita, and about 18% of our GDP. Simple said, the US cannot afford a single payer [the govcernment] system for every citizen, let alone all the illegals. End of discussion.
Yeah, we can olny hope that bird has flown. This is where Remy proves his creative juices. There must be other subjects that are wothy of sport.
Yes, it was now that you mention it. I couldn't remember. I truly appreciate the suggestion. It has changed my thinking of the value [and limitation] of AI.
climatic, geologic and organic conditions that caused their formation millions of years ago, no longer occur.
Not an amteur geologist, are you? I'll take climate, geology, and organic in order:
Climate: I'll assume you mean above ground, i.e., atmosphertic conditions down to sea level. Atmospheric conditions affect ground down to about 60 feet below above-sea-level ground, and about 600 feet uiderwater. At those relative depths, the atmosphere ceases to have any effect.
Geology: Earth is estimated as beginning about 4.5B years ago. First life as ocean organisms of single cells about 0.3B years later. As these organisms began dying and settling in and under the ocean floor, the process of decomposition to carbon and other simple elements began, eventually beginnng the petroleum-making process by pressure and heat. The conditions for petroleum production require temperatures from 140 - 280ºF [60-120ºC], and pressure of 0.43 to 0.46 psi per foot of depth. As for final petroleum deposits, they exist from ground level [such as the La Brea tar pits in L.A.] to about 20,000 feet underground. Once produced, be crtust fracture, slippage, etc, pressures may devewlop to cause rise of petroleum crude to the surface, as with the La Brea deposits. Petroleum has been continuously in production since life on Earth began dying and going to ground at depths to accomodate the above termperature and pressure ranges in three separate conditions:
on shore: 6,000 to 10,000 feet underground
off shore: 10,000 to 15,000 "
deep off-shore 20,000 --- "
Organic: "Climate" scientists [who, allegely, are also geologists, only their field of study stops at 6500 feet depth underwater, at most] claim. the petrroleum-production process ceased with the death of dinosaurs [based on ???] don't realize that "climate" loses its effect under 600 feet dep5th underwater, let alone 60 feet depth under ground. Thereefore, there argument of the end of petrroleum production is a claim of utter ignorance of the science, since geology isn't n their wheelhouse. Geologists know thaty petroleum process, being organic in nature, continueds production to this very second, and will continue production until lifge on Earth ceases. That's called "renewable."
you have no idea what they've allowed.
Oh, I don't? Calling me stupid?
As if you, and everyone else, are compelled to read everything everone posts? What happened to that personal reesponsibility to choose what to read?
Why must everything be so dramatized?
Hint: the sky is not falling. Just our confidence in one another.
What if U.S. Billionaires were charged at 100% of their annual taxable income? How about 63x their annual taxable income?
There are about 989 U.S. citizens who deserve the label: "billionaire."
https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
20% of that number, 198, are at or beyond 80 years of age, but we'll not use that reduction in these calculations, just to maximize the dire straits the woke2 are who believe billionaires should "pay their fair share" in income taxes to increase tax revenue.
The average taxable annual income of U.S. billionaires is $99M
The current annual spending by the US government is $6.2T
https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/
At the avg billionaire annual taxable income of $99M, 989 of them would pay $98B, collectively, towared the annual US government payout of $6.2T. That's just a little bit shy of the total nut, isn't it? And you, who ask that they must pay "their fair share" would take 100% of their taxable income, not just an elevated amount you claim is "a fair share."
Don't you think, if you did, that our 989 billionaires wouild need to fork over more than a fair share, because what you are asking is that "their fair share" needs to be 63x their average annual taxable income at a 100% tax rate. How "fair" is that?
And that 63x doesn't even cover your demands of "medicare for everyone," let alone coverage of any other DSA demand. Y'all truly flunked math.
I would caution anyone who thinks this RemyBrown trial by debate resulted in open-season verbiage.
The fact is, just because you can never means you should without consideration of consequences, even if that only amounts to others thinking you aren't worth the time of day. Being ostracized runs counter our existence as social creatures no mattr3er how much we appreciate being loners. I eventually goes to the head in even self-satisfied-uncomfortable ways.
Debby,
As I said, we are currently in an ice age, called the Quaternary. We are within the closing years of a interglaciation period within the ice age. Interglaciation periods last 10-20k years. We've been in the current interglaciation for 17k years, whch says the cylce of warming could end in a blink, geologically speaking.
AI predicts that Earth will remain habitable for up to 1.8B years.
I won't pass this one up. Time to get back in the game. Count my nose.
Hey, I remember you, too, Tradesecret. Good to hear from you again!