Charles Roberts @charles_robots

We think of life this way: Rocks, single cell organisms, plants, simple animals, complex animals, stupid humans, smart humans. And as the chain of life becomes more complex, we think of consciousness coming into play. We would say that rocks don’t have consciousness, plants have…

To respond to several people in the replies: Masked law enforcement officers set a bad precedent. I don't like it at all. I'm just trying to understand if there is a legitimate reason for it. I’m trying to see both sides of the situation. We have a very new set of…

I try to figure things out. One way to do that is to reverse-engineer what’s happening around us. “What would have to be true for the things we see to make perfect sense?” We’re told that trillions of dollars have been spent building underground cities for the elites, capable…

Accelerationism. That’s a real word. It describes people on both the left and the right working to hasten the collapse of Western civilization — to rebuild it as they envision. They believe our current system cannot be saved or transformed. It must be destroyed to create a new…

I just bought my 13th Mac. I've had them through the years (decades). I just got a 2024 Mac Mini, the entry level 256GB version for $494 at Amazon, with a Dell S2725QC for $350. It's amazing. $850 or so total, and it's everything I need. I've got X Pro stretched across the…

Here’s another book suggestion: At Our Wits' End: Why We're Becoming Less Intelligent and What it Means for the Future by Edward Dutton (Societas, Book 64) Imprint Academic; 1st edition (December 20, 2018) With thanks to @tradwifetoday for introducing me to the work of Edward…

Check out this book: Pathological Altruism by Barbara Oakley PhD, et al. Oxford University Press 2011. The title explains the subject. And the subject explains a huge swath of the insanity we’ve been living with lately. Grok says: "Pathological altruism" refers to a form…

Crime and punishment. Do we design the punishment of crimes to serve the needs of the individual criminal? Or the needs of society? Generally speaking, leniency serves the criminal and strict punishment serves society. If mankind’s purpose in life is to grow and evolve, then…

People are talking about the DEI aspect of the response to the California fires, so let’s talk about DEI for a minute. During his 2020 campaign, Joe Biden assured the American public that he would nominate a black female to the Supreme Court. Later, in 2022, Justice Stephen…

Here’s a thought for the new year for all of us on X. On any given day, as we move through our timeline, we encounter far more negative information than our mind is designed to deal with. We all need to dismiss 99% of what we see. Our brain believes that if something is…

A quick thought on the mystery drones. They have blinking lights. They are obviously in the air to be seen. They’re not on some secret surveillance mission. Secret mission drones would be dark. So their purpose is to be seen. Why? All I can think of is to gauge public…

I understand that we must have a mental foundation, we must have basic programming in order to make our way through life. My question is why are a few people open to new ideas while the great majority refuse to even consider new ideas? It’s not an intelligence thing. Both the…

I left a comment on a post by @_CryMiaRiver that received lots of likes, so I want to elaborate. Mia’s post was about schoolchildren having to address an obviously biological male teacher as if he were a female. I wrote: Mia, you said, “… they are forced, on a daily basis, to…

Grok rules! Remember (if you’re old enough) when we had to learn to use Google? Not how to use it, but to remember to use it. Rather than looking through an encyclopedia, looking through old magazines, or even going to the library — oh, that’s right — just Google it! Now it’s…

Ridiculous Exaggerations Almost without exception, our social issues are based on ridiculous exaggerations. Take a good idea — exaggerate it 10 times over — and you have a ridiculous idea. This is the basis of DEI. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are good ideas, but when you…

Here’s the famous statement from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."…

What is it about having a college degree that makes communism appealing? Red versus blue is essentially capitalism versus communism. And as has been proven around the world — capitalism works and communism fails. That is to say, communism fails for the common man. It’s quite…

There is a fundamental truth: Everything makes perfect sense. If something appears to not make sense, either you don’t have enough information, or you have incorrect information. If you have all the correct information about any given situation, it will make sense.…

Rooting for the Underdog In past centuries, punishment was swift and sure. Often cruel. As civilizations developed, punishments were moderated to fit the crime. Meanwhile, people came to acknowledge that a criminal most likely had a bad childhood, and never learned right from…