Why are these companies so bad at software? I dont know, but it looks like they do not do minimal testing and they do minimal, if any, design reviews. My guess is that they know better but have budget limitations. Just a guess.
A real time simulation of the early RAND buildings at 1700 Main Street in Santa Barbara. This is a screenshot from version 53.
It runs best in Google Chrome by the way, but it will run in any browser that has WebGL enabled. It may take a few seconds to load textures.
https://mwahrman.com/dist_053/rand_0_53.html
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You may wish to read this post about assumptions. See http://globalwahrman.blogspot.com/2021/05/assumptions-are-mother-of-all-fuckup.html
In the last 3-6 months I have gone from cautious optimism to genuine pessimism. I needed to see how Biden worked out, and of course that is better than expected. But there are other "indicators" to use a phrase from nuclear deterrence that are really not good. I use "indicator" in the sense of something like "N Korea is attacking us again verbally, but they are not on alert, they are not on maneuvers, and they have not started shelling the DMZ, they are probably not going to attack us this week".
But the indicators I see are more like this, "The Republicans really do capture about 45 percent of the vote, sometimes more, sometimes less, even without voter suppression. Furthermore, those voters really are 75% or so supportive of Trump which is astonishing and very troubling. And although there are variations in that support and the reasons for it, those reasons include such things as living in a delusional world about very important topics (note, not merely uncaring or indifferent, but genuinely delusional and with strong opinions) and supportive of policies that are really bad, really dangerous, and they dont mind, in fact, they insist on it. " Another reason why Trump has such strong support is that he is overtly and unambiguously racist and they like that. A third reason is that most of his supporters are anti-science and are perfectly happy to believe whatever garbage they are fed by the right wing press. Or for example, "Republicans have no trouble setting up barriers to voting for people of color, and people who are working class, and people who are financially disadvantaged or disabled. In fact, they are determined to do this, period, in any state they control, and that means since the elections are usually close that they will win those elections, continue control of the statehouses, regain control of the houses of congress, and probably elect a president over the will of the people." Or, "Biden has no chance of passing any bill through the senate as long as the filibuster exists. Every bill will be blocked. That is what McConnell says he will do, and that is what they have done and will do. Nothing short of a miracle will change that. If we lose the senate, even nominations for important posts wont be approved." Or "I watched Republican Congressman and Senators violate the law in egregious ways that damaged our national security, and they were not punished. See the incidents involving outing the whistleblowers. This means our government is impotent, and can not even enforce the most important and most serious of laws, and that elected congressmen are willing and determined to damage our country to achieve their goals of power".
If we really controlled the senate, then this would be different, perhaps, but we dont. We will lose the next election because the election will be stolen. Another 4 year period or 2 year period where the Republicans can do what they like will complete the destruction of the country for a minimum of 30 years, or longer.
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These problems of "decline and fall" are too big to reduce to emails, because a complete discussion of any topic would be exhausting to write and tiresome to read. My doom and gloom has some unstated assumptions that might make the conclusions seem more reasonable or at least understandable.
First, we are always talking about probabilities not certainties. But that is very important for planning because a 10% chance of destroying the world is something to pay attention to even if it doesnt happen. Second, all models are wrong but some models are useful. Third, the notion of "enlightened self interest" and the "rational actor" theories of economic and political decision making does not have a great track record. Therefore arguments based on these assumptions do not have a lot of credibility with me unless substantiated by other data. Fourth, in the debate between the "conspiracy" vs "screw up" explanations of events its important to remember that the correct answer is usually "both". Fifth, although both people and organizations can change, in general they dont, and past behavior can usefully be used to predict the immediate and distant future of behavior. This can be stated biblically "As it is at the beginning, so it is at the end". Sixth, trust must be earned, and the higher the stakes, the more it must be earned or controlled for. Seventh, I expect to be able to learn from my mistakes. Eighth, with great power comes great responsibility but there is a reason for this, and that is because you really can make things better or worse in many (but not all) cases. Ninth, the past isnt over, it isnt even past yet. Tenth, every great power has declined but stupidity can always make things worse.
These assumptions, when applied to the last 20 years, leads to some predictions and they are not good.
