Forty Suns - Blog

  Fixing The News | Part 2 of 3 Contents Morale Terrible Things IIS Conflict Sells A Real Example __ Way back when, when Facebook was a thing, one of your authors of this blog tried to clean our feed by clicking Like only on benign things, like weddings and babies. It worked; after a while the FB algorithms adjusted and were showing pretty much nothing but ads, babies and weddings. Which … ended up being weird, and mostly useless, but the principle is sound. The cyber systems running things aren’t nefarious. They’re simply programmed to present the things you show interest in – expecting that you’ll keep scrolling if you see more of them, which means they can show you more ads. Okay. So maybe a little nefarious. Morale The custodians of the communication lines of the world, the sources of our information and news, get to decide what we’re fed, what we’re made aware of – basically, they get to shape the narratives that influence our lives. What we hear we hear because they decide we...

  Fixing The News: Part 1 of 3 Contents Survive vs Succumb Turn Off The News A Short Rant It Ain’t As Grim As All That For Your Consideration Exercising Your Power To Act – Or Not Act Reading. It’s The New Watching. __ When it comes to the news, even things like headlines can change the tone of those around us. Consider this example: “Looks Like Another Failure. Launch Company Blows Up Another Rocket. More Money Wasted.”   Versus this:   “Launch Company Marks Another Milestone. Will Use Results From Latest Effort To Add Features To New Model.”   Pretty different vibe, eh? It all has to do with intent. Survive vs Succumb On a more personal level, when you greet people, are you the one that opens with, “Did you hear about that terrible thing in Germany? Those pour tourists that got mauled by that circus tiger. Such a tragedy.” Or are you the one that opens with, “Did you see the new OSIRIS probe brought back an asteroid sample? Amazing. They’re saying it will give us c...

  Risk vs Reward: The Challenges of Space (Hint: Space is Hard) Contents Our History Of Risk The Price Of Living Risk vs Reward Fear & Ignorance Conquering Our Aversion __ Great achievements do and will take risks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the classic saying goes. You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take; another way of putting it.  (Thanks to hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, for that last.) There are many others. Point is, the right risk is good. The right risk is vital. Our History Of Risk Risk has defined human advancement for millennia. Thank the gods our cavemen ancestors didn’t wait until there was a cure for saber-tooth tigers before they left the cave. They took that risk. They probably had a 60% chance of stayin’ alive through any given day (yes, we did just use the title of a Bee Gees song), yet they went out and lived . They explored. They figured out the world around them. Peril was simply part of the process. Because of that we’re here to...