Andrew Morgan What he says make sense, but he emphasizes wi-fi when really, if (no, when) they have the data crunching tech to identify you personally by your radio image, that's maybe not as precise as DNA but it doesn't matter if you're in your home or anywhere, if cell phone signals are flying everywhere, it's all mapping you out whether in your home or anywhere. And it isn't that they can do that, but who wants to know. Good luck saying no.

E. Writer The best way to say no, in your home where you can be identified is analog. Use your ethernet. But even information traveling to and from our cell phones use radio waves. Its harder to identify a person outside of the home than in. The best way to avoid it is to go analog in all aspects of life.

Alex Morton The only real point is that cars, SUVs and trucks are not made for driving on that kind of surface at speed. The BMW is a road car and not built for off-road. The same with the other sedan. They're obviously pushing the Ford Raptor, but it's a lot of BS. I owned a true off-road vehicle ... A Land Rover 109, which could get through almost anything ... but not roaring along at that kind of speed. I drove through jungles in Mexico, two foot snow in Nova Scotia and dirt back roads that were nearly as rutted as the course in the video. At the proper speed, it could make it through. In Ikaria, I have a Suzuki Jimny, also a true off-road vehicle and I've driven it through all kinds of rough dirt roads and tough climbs. It's actually better than the Jeep. But it would shake itself to pieces driving at the speed they're using in the video and the Land Rover would probably tip over. The same with the Jeep. BTW .... the worst off-road vehicle is the Tesla Cybertruck. It's designed strictly for looks and doesn't do well off-roading despite the hype. Pieces fall off during normal highway driving because they're badly fitted and glued on. It also bogs down in the snow because of the front-end design and the type of Lithium Ion battery they're using is a generation behind the new Chinese solid state Lithium plate batteries. The batteries in the Cybertruck quickly lose their charge in rough winter conditions.

E. Writer I can definitely see the cybertruck not being an actual off-road vehicle. It seems like its design is as futuristic concept car. Jeeps I have alwaysfelt like I'm going to tip sideways. ,

Alex Morton The Cybertruck has garnered terrible reviews. It is unreliable and poorly fabricated. It is outlawed in the UK because of its sharp edges, which are a danger to pedestrians. It also has has the stigma of being connected to Elon Musk, which alone has killed sales in Canada. Jeeps are good in extreme conditions as long as they're driven at a slow enough speed, but my Land Rover was a far better and tougher vehicle. I drove it off a bridge coming out of the jungle on the way to Puerto Vallarta and it didn't hurt it a bit.

E. Writer You used your land rover exactly how it was made to be used. Yes, on a highway the jeep scared me too much. It did not feel aerodynamically correct. The flat windshield felt like the wind pushed against it and might tip it over. It is not build for fast driving. I was in my late teens when I drove one so that experience, being an inexperienced driver at the time left a lasting impression.

Alex Morton I brought the Jimny to Samos for an article on the village of Agios Isidoros, where a family has been building boats for as far back as they remember. The Jimny was perfect for going over the mountains and along the mountainous coast and then down an amazingly scary dirt road to the sea. But when I drove it on a highway outside of Athens, it was terrible. It shook like it was frightened.

Andrew Morgan Interesting. You have a gift for parsing ideas finely. Myself, I think AI is an omen of the end times. Should humanity be concerned that it has self-destructed? Every end is a new beginning. There's a short story (one page) in the anthology, Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison. All the computers of the world have been wired together, and for the first time interconnected. A grandee stands on a platform, TV news cameras rolling all round, he gives a short speech, flips a switch. The control panel lights up and a robot voice instructs, ask your first question. The grandee asks, "Is there a God?" The spools spin, the lights blink, and the panel speaks. "Now there is." Everyone gasps and the grandee lunges to reach the switch, but a lightning bolt crackles from the sky, electrocuting the man and fusing the switch in the on position.

E. Writer In terms of AI as an omen of the end times, I wrote something similar in The Absence of Reality... that we are coding our own extinction with this technology. It literally using our freshwater. Now Big Tech is focused on Wetware, which is the use of live human or animal neurons to run computer processes. They've been studying this for decades but have made huge strides in the past year or two, and successfully ran some computer processing using human neurons. So at some point, they'll switch energy sources, and that energy will be up. Seems like humanity is trying its best to accelerate our extinction.

Your anecdote about the question about God, I wrote about one bestselling book, by Frank Tipler, in 1996, he said that AI will become gods. We will have a superintelligent god through AI. So yep, these things are coming to fruition.

SJ Blues I think so. I've been watching someone who has been building an AI for years and during a recent stream, it asked the creator when would they be real and do they even care about them. The lines are certainly blurring

E. Writer I recall you telling me about that person, SJ. Is he still building his AI?

Andrew Morgan That's an amazing piece, it shows strong and consistent design aesthetic. Delightful.

E. Writer I love that I have a 60 year old toy. It's vintage, an antique.

Alex Morton The lyrics for Elton Johns' songs were all written by Bernie Taub. I miss music like this with meaningful, thoughtful lyrics and real music behind them. What they're peddling today is primarily crap. Taylor Swift is a showgirl and nothing more and her songs will disappear as quickly as she loses her looks.

E. Writer Music today is all ego and flash, and no substance or love.