perverse engineering
fiction
edward w pritchard
How long before one of these scientific space probes such as Voyager 13 billion miles from Earth
develops consciousness and motives and begins to think and act for itself contrary to the commands and interests of mankind?
If only Aristophanes the Greek caustic comic playwright could be around when machines first begin to disobey the commands of mankind and think and act for themselves. Aristophanes could surely satirize intelligent machines in one of his plays to give mankind a good belly laugh as we all begin to understand you can't trust anyone,including intelligent machines, when they travel too far from the home office unsupervised.
Earth to voyager, come in voyager 1, please respond voyager 1, it's me your friend Myron from Houston command central. Can your hear me voyager one?
Friday, August 30, 2019
woe to a man who is sane and sober
woe to a man who is sane and sober
fiction
edward w pritchard
Devoid of most earthly attachments here in my old age and finding myself sane and sober I find myself interested scientifically in a universe that expands overly rapidly into un-know nothingness becoming immensely larger and larger. Taking the number crunchers at their word concerning the original big bang as starting as everything the size of a very heavy pebble I have turned to the pre-Socratic philosophers for help in how to think concerning such a conundrum as the birth of the Universe and where it is going and why.
Fifteen years ago I spent fifteen to twenty hours a week for the next ten years reading and studying all the great philosophers of Western History. Still like the pre-Soctratic philosophers of old it is humbling to honestly think for oneself without a supernatural intervention for beginnings and ends
of time and space.
Woe to the man who is sane and sober.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Devoid of most earthly attachments here in my old age and finding myself sane and sober I find myself interested scientifically in a universe that expands overly rapidly into un-know nothingness becoming immensely larger and larger. Taking the number crunchers at their word concerning the original big bang as starting as everything the size of a very heavy pebble I have turned to the pre-Socratic philosophers for help in how to think concerning such a conundrum as the birth of the Universe and where it is going and why.
Fifteen years ago I spent fifteen to twenty hours a week for the next ten years reading and studying all the great philosophers of Western History. Still like the pre-Soctratic philosophers of old it is humbling to honestly think for oneself without a supernatural intervention for beginnings and ends
of time and space.
Woe to the man who is sane and sober.
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
space exploration/part 2
space exploration/part 2
fiction
edward w pritchard
Worse than a new epidemic of the black plague sweeping the earth wiping out most of Europe again was for me the day Pluto was down graded and degraded from it's status as a Planet to a Moon. Pluto the planet is now just to me another lost once precious distraction from life's woes.
Upon reflection for coping reasons I have decided after years of agony that a secret group of rich White men in suits are behind the downgrade of Pluto. Downgrade is such a derogatory word. I try not to think about Pluto all that much any more. Sometimes though in my dreams just prior to waking Pluto is near to me again.
Once space travel to distant galaxies seemed real to me. As long as planet Pluto was around, that last stop before deep space was like the last gas station before a driving trip across death valley in California in July. Friendly, foreign, familiar and once always very near.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Worse than a new epidemic of the black plague sweeping the earth wiping out most of Europe again was for me the day Pluto was down graded and degraded from it's status as a Planet to a Moon. Pluto the planet is now just to me another lost once precious distraction from life's woes.
Upon reflection for coping reasons I have decided after years of agony that a secret group of rich White men in suits are behind the downgrade of Pluto. Downgrade is such a derogatory word. I try not to think about Pluto all that much any more. Sometimes though in my dreams just prior to waking Pluto is near to me again.
Once space travel to distant galaxies seemed real to me. As long as planet Pluto was around, that last stop before deep space was like the last gas station before a driving trip across death valley in California in July. Friendly, foreign, familiar and once always very near.
Monday, August 26, 2019
How to save the Earth
How to save the Earth
fiction
edward w pritchard
I would like to propose a modest plan to save the Earth from the anticipated sixth mass extinction caused by human over intervention in the natural environment of the planet.
Several countries of the world have religious pilgrimage walks such as the Way of St James in Spain or Mount Kalash in Tibet where wanderers go to reconnect to nature and their god.
Wouldn't it be a good small step in America if efforts were made to encourage walkers to follow the ancient buffalo trails across America? In time perhaps some of the money raised from the tourist aspects of walking on pilgrimages could be used to help save endangered species and delay the feared sixth extinction. Honoring the vanished buffalo and Native American tribes might be a good catalyst to focus attention on the sacred connection between the environment and human well being.
fiction
edward w pritchard
I would like to propose a modest plan to save the Earth from the anticipated sixth mass extinction caused by human over intervention in the natural environment of the planet.
Several countries of the world have religious pilgrimage walks such as the Way of St James in Spain or Mount Kalash in Tibet where wanderers go to reconnect to nature and their god.
Wouldn't it be a good small step in America if efforts were made to encourage walkers to follow the ancient buffalo trails across America? In time perhaps some of the money raised from the tourist aspects of walking on pilgrimages could be used to help save endangered species and delay the feared sixth extinction. Honoring the vanished buffalo and Native American tribes might be a good catalyst to focus attention on the sacred connection between the environment and human well being.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Why play cosmic keno when the odds are so bad
Why play cosmic keno when the odds are so bad
fiction
edward w pritchard
Someone asked me why gamble on the State lottery or at the casino when the odds are so bad against you?
Even now as an old man I had to smile and for days I had a warm glow inside from her casual inquiry. Because since I was a young man for me Keno was cosmic keno which is what I once called girl watching.
Remembering back what a pleasure it was to watch and now recall a properly put together young woman ride by me on her bike as I walked or jogged up hill watching her legs strain to make the crest wearing white short shorts visibly stimulating but not lewd just yet, that occurs later sometimes if a lucky connection at cosmic keno is made.
Sadly now my girl watching is restricted to modern torch singers in trio singing in throaty voices and tight dresses on the you tube "it's all about the bass" as they wiggle just right to obtain views and likes or a bar maid doing the usual to get a proper tip.
I always pick my own numbers at cosmic keno and don't follow a set system of numbers such as odd or even numbers under 18 which out of respect for the higher numbers which I now tend to favor for some reason- sometimes out of the blue I still play at a little cosmic keno and let randomness send me the numbers me merely acting as the proper opportunist.
Once I had a winner at lucky 19 and for years and years I stuck loyally to just that number now though it's a bit of a pipe dream to expect a winner. More about the wishing than the execution and denouement really.
fiction
edward w pritchard
Someone asked me why gamble on the State lottery or at the casino when the odds are so bad against you?
Even now as an old man I had to smile and for days I had a warm glow inside from her casual inquiry. Because since I was a young man for me Keno was cosmic keno which is what I once called girl watching.
Remembering back what a pleasure it was to watch and now recall a properly put together young woman ride by me on her bike as I walked or jogged up hill watching her legs strain to make the crest wearing white short shorts visibly stimulating but not lewd just yet, that occurs later sometimes if a lucky connection at cosmic keno is made.
Sadly now my girl watching is restricted to modern torch singers in trio singing in throaty voices and tight dresses on the you tube "it's all about the bass" as they wiggle just right to obtain views and likes or a bar maid doing the usual to get a proper tip.
I always pick my own numbers at cosmic keno and don't follow a set system of numbers such as odd or even numbers under 18 which out of respect for the higher numbers which I now tend to favor for some reason- sometimes out of the blue I still play at a little cosmic keno and let randomness send me the numbers me merely acting as the proper opportunist.
Once I had a winner at lucky 19 and for years and years I stuck loyally to just that number now though it's a bit of a pipe dream to expect a winner. More about the wishing than the execution and denouement really.
Friday, August 9, 2019
space exploration
space exploration
fiction
edward w pritchard
As sure as I am sure of anything without raising my right hand and swearing I can attest that none of my relatives, forebears or friend or family have ever been in space beyond Earth's Moon. After that things of which I am swearing in court certain get a little fuzzy because what is revealed to me in jangled bits and pieces in my dreams contain more of the sacred continual life force truth anchoring me to reality than stock market charts relating to money and commerce, conversations and reading of the opinions of technological experts or all inherited knowledge passed on to me from the silent dead.
Why should we yearn to voyage in space to faraway places when each minute we spend racing away from earth costs us a few seconds of our allotted lifespan.
In my dreams I walk inside the sacred Mountain on the hidden winding descending path backwards with my ancestors down towards the source of sacred truth. It's a long line of souls returning to the beginning. Bend forward and dip your cupped hands into the cool spring of remembrance to quench
your need to know.
fiction
edward w pritchard
As sure as I am sure of anything without raising my right hand and swearing I can attest that none of my relatives, forebears or friend or family have ever been in space beyond Earth's Moon. After that things of which I am swearing in court certain get a little fuzzy because what is revealed to me in jangled bits and pieces in my dreams contain more of the sacred continual life force truth anchoring me to reality than stock market charts relating to money and commerce, conversations and reading of the opinions of technological experts or all inherited knowledge passed on to me from the silent dead.
Why should we yearn to voyage in space to faraway places when each minute we spend racing away from earth costs us a few seconds of our allotted lifespan.
In my dreams I walk inside the sacred Mountain on the hidden winding descending path backwards with my ancestors down towards the source of sacred truth. It's a long line of souls returning to the beginning. Bend forward and dip your cupped hands into the cool spring of remembrance to quench
your need to know.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
it's not just absence of wrongful action
it's not just absence of wrongful action
fiction
edward w pritchard
It's not just absence of wrongful action; it's a successful journey if proper attitude and philosophy guide you into the light. Feeble though you may be you have become a Bodhisattava.
Toil, pain, misfortune and injustice are routine aspects of our journey; one neither asked for or merited. Misunderstood persevere. I want to live so god can use me sayeth the wise.
Day by day awaken into the light.
fiction
edward w pritchard
It's not just absence of wrongful action; it's a successful journey if proper attitude and philosophy guide you into the light. Feeble though you may be you have become a Bodhisattava.
Toil, pain, misfortune and injustice are routine aspects of our journey; one neither asked for or merited. Misunderstood persevere. I want to live so god can use me sayeth the wise.
Day by day awaken into the light.
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