By Rob Meyne
- Dec. 29, 2023
- 5-min read
We are fortunate that a major advancement in how we learn about public policy is on the way. This is good news. Stay tuned for a moment.
First, if you’re one of those people who says it is hard to be informed about current events, it is time to decide if you care enough to do it. Sorry, but the stakes are so high you need to decide if the future of the nation matters enough to you to be an informed citizen. Pick a lane. Our only hope for the future of the country is that enough people will sufficiently care that they will be well-informed and base their voting decisions accordingly.
It is understandable that we all have busy lives. But we do those things that are most important to us. If you aren’t informed, it is ultimately because you don’t put a high enough priority on it. We all have the same number of hours in a day. How we use them is up to us.
I don’t care about the San Diego Padres. They could disappear entirely, and it wouldn’t affect my daily routine at all. My friend at work, though, loves the Padres. She can tell you in what order they batted last night. But she can’t tell you what charges have been made against Trump regarding January 6. (She hates Trump and assumes he led an insurrection but can’t tell you what evidence exists to prove that.)
We learn about those things we care about. If you want to know what matters to someone, find where they spend their time, attention, and resources. That is your answer.
One good thing about the web is that it has never been easier to learn about current events. There is more information available, instantly, than ever before and more is out there every day. There are more web pages than there are people. And it isn’t even close.
The catch, of course, is that most media is biased. And AI is being used to develop false stories. Yes, you must look at more than one source and learn which is truly credible. When you read a story or watch it, note if there is a reliable reference for the information. Most are not well-sourced. I make a point to read things I don’t agree with every day, just to force myself to hear the other side, learn what they think, and possibly – hopefully – learn information that may conflict with what I had thought to be true, or even completely new information that may change my views.
As an aside, I am astonished that most people are afraid of finding out they are wrong. I love it when it happens. I WANT to have the correct information. I will arrogantly add, of course, that it doesn’t happen often 😊. I study this stuff so closely I am, if you’ll excuse me saying so, well-informed. Most people are not. But if I learn facts that conflict with what I thought to be true, I am happy because it matters more to me to be correct than to have my political biases confirmed. Most people are too insecure to be that comfortable.
I would never look at just one source, but one that I do recommend, and that impeccably sources their stories, is the Blaze. Its founder is a conservative guy but not a member of either party. He criticizes Republicans Democrats equally. And he invites us – on radio, online, and in his books – to make up our own minds.
His last book was over 400 pages, more than 50 of which were footnotes. Check it out and decide for yourself. Beck has been attacked by the left, of course, because he is effective. They generally don’t attack people they aren’t afraid of. They don’t waste their time. Beck has even been called a White Supremacist, which is simply a lie. No one in public life is more committed to equal opportunity, or more against racism, than Beck. But the mainstream media and political elite don’t want you to hear him.
But the BEST news is there is a new source coming that will be useful for all of us who care about our nation. Citizen Portal AI is in beta testing. It will be a game-changer. It is being developed by Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com (this is not the same Paul Allen who helped found Microsoft.). Allen has put together a completely unbiased and non-partisan resource that will change the way you get information… if you care enough to learn about it. The new site will allow you to learn what your elected representatives, experts, and media say about a host of issues. If will remind you who they are. It will take everything that is on YouTube, other social media, news sites, government sources, and more, summarize it, sort it, and post it for you.
It even allows you, for example, to go to the video of a county council meeting. You can pull up a two-hour video and it will take you to the section where, for example, they discuss homelessness. Videos of such meetings are already available, but they are not easily accessed or searched. Citizen Portal AI will do that for you. And it will do it in a way that is not biased or partisan.
If you want to follow a specific issue, it will highlight and sort those stories for you. You can make your own account and follow what you care about.
There is not a more useful or reliable news source extant. None. It is, again, up to us, though, to care enough to take advantage of this resource.
If you have any experience with AI, you may have noticed, as I have, that it is not objective. It goes out of its way to be politically correct. For example, to evaluate it, I went to several AI sites and asked it to give me a list of ten things many Muslim nations do that is discriminatory to women. I didn’t ask for a term paper or a story, just a list. I did this to see if it would just answer the question or give me some politically correct gibberish. It did the latter.
In some Muslim nations a woman accused of adultery can be stoned to death. AI thought it was necessary, however, to say that “…it is important to remember that many social customs seem odd in other nations.” Really? Does that make stoning women ok? And, at any rate, who the hell cares what software thinks? AI is just software, but it is being developed to tell you what you should think.
The people who develop most software/AI have political objectives, and they are programming it to reflect them. Is it important to be aware that societies are different? Sure. Did I ask that? No.
If you doubt the pervasiveness of politically correct drivel to AI development, consider this: the Biden Administration has issued rules that require American AI to advance the cause of equity. They want technology to promote the theory that people should be given resources, opportunities, and services based on their race. Some, notably Black people, are given preference, while others, including whites and Asians, are treated less favorably. That is what equity means. Equity is the OPPOSITE of equal opportunity, and Biden promotes it. If you support equal opportunity, as I do, you must oppose equity.
The new Citizen Portal Ai, though, only gives you the facts, from the original sources, and leaves it to you to reach conclusions.
This is very, very good news. Watch for it in a computer near you!
