• BEST TO MIND YOUR MANNERS WITH CHATBOTS. While, according to McKinsey, some 85% of Americans believe that civility (i.e. manners) have declined in the last decade and 90% feel youngsters have become disrespectful as a result of social media and peer pressure, artificial intelligence is now also a factor. However, researchers in three countries have found that “rude requests cause chatbots to make things up and omit important bits of information, because models are trained on massive amounts of data created by people, although excessive flattery also prompts mistakes in chatbots. So good manners may become more appreciated, but A.I. could also make people ruder as children bark instructions at virtual assistants like Alexa” or anyone frustrated at trying to get a live customer service person.  [ECONOMIST – 7/6/24]
• “SMARTPHONES AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE SADLY ‘REWIRED CHILDHOOD’ into a form that is more sedentary, solitary, virtual and incompatible with healthy human development.”  Pew Research and multiple studies find that a third of teens are now on internet sites almost constantly, with some estimates above 100 hours weekly “not fully present in whatever is going on around them – typically sitting alone and (1) consuming a bottomless feed of other people’s content, (2) playing endless hours of video games, or (3) posting content then waiting for others to ‘like’ or comment.   Even when with others, a smartphone buzz will interrupt interpersonal conversation… Children need face-to-face synchronous, embodied physical play, healthiest being outdoors and including occasional physical risk-taking and adventure, while Teens (who begin distancing themselves with screen-based leisure activities as soon as they get their first smartphones) need to spend more personal time with groups of young people (especially playing team sports or participating in religious communities) in order to develop better mental health.”  [FREE PRESS – 3/26/24]
• AMERICA IS ON A PATH TOWARDS A CULTURAL ‘RESET,’ consistent with a global pattern over the past five centuries, where societies enter a new Era every generation or so, with the population changing how they feel about themselves/ culture/ nation/ and future, called ‘Turnings,’ with the cycle going full circle roughly every century. The 1st Turning is when prior chaos subsides and individualism weakens (in America this was after WWII); 2nd Turning becomes an era of spiritual upheaval with civic order coming under attack from new ‘Values’ (viz the 60s Hippies); 3rd Turn evolves to a period of strengthening individualism and weakening institutions, with young adults becoming hostile toward the corruption of civic life (Millennials); the 4th – where we are today – becomes a crisis, a “decisive era of secular upheaval, when a new ‘Values’ regime propels replacement of old civic order and the nation’s foundational culture is upended.” Today’s Activist Progressive views have been shaped predominantly from social media texts/ tweets/ blurbs – on gender & racial diversity, social consciousness, marriage & religious irrelevance, corporate avarice, income inequality, environmental concerns, world order – with little, if any, perspective on life before the Digital World. Historical patterns suggest the likelihood that “sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression & WWII.”  [THE FOURTH TURNING – Strauss & Howe]   Massive societal change may be on the way – a quick recap why:  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D4Yi0lXbKzU
• THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:   Albert Einstein’s brilliant life lessons:  https://biggeekdad.com/2024/04/albert-einsteins-life-lessons/
• A proposed Senate Bill would require women to Register with the Selective Services which is used for any military draft of citizens or immigrants between ages 18 – 25, with penalty for failure to do so a felony with fine of up to $250K and/or five years imprisonment. Presently the Armed Services are voluntary, but all branches have continued failing to meet recruitment goals, so legislators are planning ahead. Congressional approval is next step.  [PRICKLY PEAR]
• Over last July 4^th weekend, Chicago saw rampant violence with over 100 shot and 19 killed. Rather than acknowledging the sanctuary city’s soft-on-crime policies, Chicago Mayor Johnson blamed the violence on former president Richard Nixon who died 30 years ago, after his administration desegregated schools in response to a Supreme Court landmark decision.  [TOWNHALL]
• Another take on the astonishing political situation: https://amgreatness.com/2024/07/08/the-divorce-of-the-democrat-party-and-the-legacy-media-what-it-means/