Tag: Autocrats Never Lose

The Implications Of A ‘Secret’ Soft Singularity, or ‘Where’s My $1,200 Mindcap?’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I struggle to figure out what’s going on right now with technology. On one hand, it definitely seems as though Big Tech is pulling a fast one on us with some some pretty fantastical technologies like “Digital Telepathy,” while at the same time…Silicon Valley seems obsessed with the modern equivalent of the old rural party lines.

I want my Mindcap.

So, it’s possible to imagine a rather Dark Mirror-like future where The Singularity arrives…and no one tells us. The power of the Singularity is used deep within the bowels of Big Tech (or an autocratic government) to leech money off of us or to two control us. The general population never knows that hard AI is here and is being used to control us.

Sure, the occasional cool thing may pop out like a “Her” like personal assistant, but the various Singularity-like technologies we’ve been promised will come no later than 2045 won’t be marketed as such. They just will arrive far earlier and be used in some unexpected ways to screw us all over.

The more I think about it, the more chilling it becomes.

Instead of a $1,200 Mindcap, we may simply get the Pompeo Administration using digital telepathy to monitor what’s going on in our minds and if we commit Thought Crime, then, sucks to be you. It’s just wild to imagine something as huge as The Singularity being hidden from us.

It’s like Columbus discovering the New World, then keeping it from everyone in an effort to control the path to Asia. Wow. Just wow.

But I’m a just a nobody. Absolutely no one listens to me.

Elon Musk & A Potential Strategic Realignment of American Politics


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

A number of technological megatrends are coming to a head in, say, the next four or so years. I would propose that Elon Musk — if his dreams of automated semis come true — could personally cause a massive realignment in American politics.

The origins of that realignment are already there.

The Republicans, because of Trump, want to be the party of the volk. And, yet, it’s really the party of “German Industrialists,” if you will. But imagine 3 million high paying blue collar jobs go…poof!..at some point in the next four to 10 years when we no longer have any need for human truckers.

Then, you have the possibility that the Far Left and the Far Right of each party will become very interested in Neo-Ludditism and become their own party, while the moderate corporate-friendly parts of the two parties would fusion into a new party. This process would likely happen very fast — maybe within one or two presidential election cycles. Then something that the political class absolutely hates — a clear choice — would be presented to the electorate.

Voters would have a choice between an autocratic, anti-democratic, anti-technology party and the debris of everyone else. While given the reasons for why America is so very, very, very fucked there’s no stopping our march to autocracy, the rise of neo-Luddites might, at least, slow the process down.

But this is all very theoretical at the moment. It could be that I’m over thinking things and what I think is going to happen –we’re either going to be an autocracy or have a civil war — is what is going to happen.

Again, as I keep saying — get out while you still can.

Trump & The Dog That Didn’t Bite


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s pathetic how for four years Trump politically terrorized the United States and, now…nothing. For over four years, we’ve been promised that Trump would be “brought down” by this or that criminal investigation and, yet, for the time being it definitely looks as though he’s going to get away with it all.

This ties in to what I long believed — we simply don’t have the political will to do anything about Trump at all for any reasons.

So, for all of you who want some sort of direct comparison between Trump and Hitler, I think that’s it — the January 6th Insurrection definitely has a Beerhall Putsch vibe to it in retrospect. But, let me be clear — history may not repeat but it does rhyme.

As such, it could be any number of would-be autocrats who aren’t Trump who get to play the role of Hitler in this analogy. But let me be clear — the United States’ political system is rotten to its core. The Republican Party is now an American fascist party.

No later than 2024-2025 — barring something huge like aliens or Jesus coming back — will be when either have a civil war or slip into autocracy at the hands of this or that fascist Republican becoming president one way or another.

Any civil war we have will simply be because Mike Pompeo or Tom Cotton or…you name it…bungles the transition into autocracy. Once we become an autocracy, our autocrat will purge the media, bring home the troops, bring about a flat tax, pick your shitty policy.

But we have about four years. A lot can happen between now and then. I would, however, recommend you get the fuck out of the county between now and then.

You Fuckers Are Obsessed With A Second American Civil War


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Almost all my Website’s traffic now comes from people interested in my dystopian civil war or autocracy scenarios. All I can say is — you have good taste. No, seriously, we as a nation really need to start talking about how real a possibility this is.

The next thing to happen is someone is probably going to get shot on the floor of Congress. It will call for a lots of calls for “thought and prayers” but in the end, nothing will change.

We’re careening towards Americans killing Americans in some pretty massive numbers if you throw in the very real possibility of WMD being stolen and used. The crazy thing to me, still, is if MAGA fucktards would just stay within the bounds of politics, they could get everything — and I mean everything — they wanted. America becomes an autocracy managed by a powerful minority and that will be that.

But, no, fucking cocksucker MAGA-GQP absolutely have to start murdering people to see their vision of American become reality. It’s very sad, but, again, I think if you can, you need to leave the country at some point within the next four years. Things are going to get nasty, nasty, nasty.

And it’s going to happen like a thunderclap.

At some point in late 2024, early 2025, the United States will implode or change dramatically. Either we’re going to have a civil war that lasts until we’ve zapped ourselves into absolute oblivion, or we’re becoming a MAGA autocracy. I honestly don’t see any other options at this point.

We’re doomed. We’re all fucking doomed.

Would Be Autocrat Hot-Take: Mike Pompeo


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Mike Pompeo is such a piece of shit. He’s a big old turd who thinks he can bring about the return of Jesus H. Christ by, I don’t know, using Trump as the Anti-Christ of or something? And, given what a fucking cocksucker he is, if the FBI looks at this post I want them to know that that I REALLY THINK MIKE POMPEO IS PEICE OF SHIT.

He’s so fucking annoying because the moment he becomes president, he’s coming after people like me. I’m just the kind of loudmouth that he’s going to round up and get ICE to shoot in the back of the head. Ugh. At least I have four years to get out of the country, I guess.

There’s something so grating on my nerves about Pompeo. He talks about “swagger” then turns around and sucks up to any foreign leader who helps him politically in his scorched earth desire to become president and bring back Jesus H. Fucking Christ.

I know there’s nothing I can do in real terms, though. Pompeo is one a few would-be autocrats who could probably strangle our liberal democracy in one fell swoop without bungling the transition so we end up having a civil war.

But let me be clear — this is just me pointing out a coming car accident. There’s nothing I can do about any of this. I just need to vent about how the country I love is going to go from a liberal democracy to Pompeolandia within about five years.

Fuck Mike Pompeo. Ugh!

TNT: ‘Velvet Fist 2024’


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If Trump decides to use Ivanka as his proxy in some way for the 2024 election, or if he doesn’t and simply names her his veep, “TNT 2024,” then we could very well find ourselves at some point living under the Velvet Fist.

If it’s not Ivanka, it’s Lara.

But in the end, we’ll have a dumb-dumb blonde as President while Mike Pompeo — or pick a would-be autocrat — is veep and crushes out liberal democracy once a for all. I just don’t see how this doesn’t happen.

Because of Rona and Jim Clyburn we’ve managed to accidently punt one of two possibilities (civil war or autocracy) down the road for about four years. But that’s it. Something I simply can not predict would have to happen for one of those two things not to happen.

We’re absolutely fucked.

I can’t predict specifics, but everything I’m reading about the rise of Hitler and tyranny in general on a macro level indicates everything is going to go to shit very, very quickly about 2024-2025. And it’s probably going to be some variation of the Velvet Fist.

It just makes too much sense — we have our first female president who is all rainbows and moonbeams and then our veep who is Richard III. Things are going to get very fucking dark.

Get out of the country while you can. Go to somewhere like Perth. But the United States is either going to buckle in to civil war or turn into some sort of weird Upside Down MAGA hellscape. The only way we’re ever getting read of the Velvet Fist, of course, will be how we always get rid of autocratic regimes — they fuck up in a huge way. Too bad millions may have to die in the process to get us to that point.

The Third Great Cataclysm


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It’s at least possible when the United States finally buckles, it will be up there will the fall of the two Romes in its significance. The reason is — the United States holds the entire world together.

If we’re too busy killing each other — or we just pull a Dr. Manhattan on world affairs — everything is going to go tits up pretty quick. The number of dead could get up into the 100s millions.

I just don’t think the average person realizes how rotten the American political system is. When America at last buckles, it will happen so quickly that we won’t be able to process it.

The core issue is — is the United States going to have a civil war or become an entirely inward looking autocracy? As of right now, I honestly have no clue which of these two possibilities will come true — but I do know it will be one of them.

A lot depends on if House Trump bungles the transition to Truamplandia or not in the 2024-2025 period. If there’s a smooth transition to the “Velvet Fist” of, say, Ivanka Trump / Tom Cotton or Lara Trump / Josh Hawley, then, well, we’ll be an autocracy. But if they fuck things up like they always do, then we’ll have a civil war.

As I say, get out the country if you can.

The End Of Politics & The Looming Second American Civil War


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Most of the traffic this site gets now is from people nervous about the possibility of a Second American Civil War. They have every right to be. American politics isn’t functioning anymore and either, in the end, the United States becomes an autocracy or we implode into civil war / revolution. At least, that’s the macro trend as of March, 2021.

I’ve been reading as much as I can about the rise of Hitler and, in general, tyranny. It definitely seems as though the recent Capitol Insurrection is just a sign of things to come. Only because Trump is a fucking lazy idiot are we not, right now, either in a civil war or in the final stages of some sort of autocratic consolidation of power.

But, here we are.

We’ve punted the existential threat the GQP don’t the road maybe four years. All the conditions are there for the GQP to, at last, strangle American liberal democracy in 2024. Republicans will control Congress in 2024 and since they hate democracy as much as they hate brown people and women with sexual agency, when the exact same thing that happened in 2020 happens AGAIN, well, we’re just fucked.

We either have a civil war or we turn into a MAGA-Qanon themed autocracy. As I keep saying, get out while you still can. If there is a Second Civil War, you would be a fool to think WMD won’t be stolen at some point and used. We’re going to nuke ourselves out of existence. That’s how civil wars are — they’re nasty and sometimes go in directions you can’t expect.

So, for the time being, we’ve punted the specific crisis of a civil war down the road. But when the time comes — around 2024 – 2025 — we’re going to be faced with the same choice we were faced with in 2020: autocracy or civil war?

WW2 Saeculum: Our American Zombie Republic


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

When I’m not writing an allegorical thriller about the Trump Era, I’m reading. A lot of that reading has to do with the novel. But some of that reading is about something I’m very nervous about — how the United States is careening towards a second civil war.

Remember, that second civil war would have already happened but for one thing, or person: Donald Trump. All the conditions were there in 2020 and by only one metric did we not either slip into autocracy or have some sort of civil war — Donald fucking Trump is a fucking idiot.

He was so fucking lazy that the fate of the United States, in a sense, turned on a dime. We faced the precipice and, in an almost cartoonish fashion, we turned around and walked back into an era of democratic norms.

So, in a sense, all my hysterical ranting about Trump was right but for one thing — when push came to shove, Trump was such a lazy fucking moron he simply was not able to do what 99% of the people in the world would do in his position — knock some heads to stay in power.

As such, here we are: we’re a zombie repubic.

We’ve punted the question of “autocracy or civil war” down the road four years. The United States is, on a macro level, extremely unstable right now. There are two historical analogies I could point to. One is 1860.

Imagine if some of the last ditch efforts to stop the civil war worked and they simply punted the crisis down the road four years. That’s what’s going on now.

The other is 1933.

We’re kind of if Hitler lost the election in 1933, but vowed to try again and just kind of lurked around waiting for his opportunity .

But the key thing you have to remember is — there is no narrative to history as its happening. It’s very, very possible that the Bad Guys will win and a lot of people — like me! — will die because we won’t shut up about the tyranny of MAGA. We won’t be around to see the downfall of the GQP because of their excesses.

There is a broader macro geopolitical issue to worry about — a stable United States is the lynchpin of the post-World War 2 Pax America we’ve all come to enjoy for the last 70 years or so.

Should the US implode into civil war or simply become an inward looking MAGA autocracy, well, it won’t be just the United States that’s fucked. And, surreally enough, such a massive clusterfuck might happen just about 100 years from the end of WW2. (And, remember there were about 100 years from the Congress of Vienna to the outbreak of World 1.)

So, I’m thinking maybe no later than the 2036-37 timeframe. (That would be 100 years from when Japan invaded Manchuria.)

Or, put another way — we’re just one election of a Trump-like autocrat away from the end of the post-WW2 era. World War 3 could very well happen and everything will be re-arranged in a rather blood and dramatic fashion.

Good luck.

I May Start Using Big Tech’s ‘Digital Telepathy’ As My Informal Shrink


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have no idea if my suspicions about the ability of Big Tech to read my mind are true or not. But, Jesus, Tik-Tok specifically sure does do some fucking spooky things with its “algorithms.” So much so that either we need to break up and regulate Big Tech because they’re hiding a Soft Singularity from us, or we need to break up and regulate Big Tech because they’re rooting around in our minds using Digital Telepathy.

Well, maybe Big Tech can read our minds?

Let me explain.

I’m around my elderly father a lot and…for some reason, out of the blue, Tik-Tok pushes me videos about World War 2 a lot. So much so, that I’m like, “Any algorithm they may be using sure seems to be thinking about my dad, not me.” Remember, there was a point some time ago when YouTube was pushing me videos about lockboxes and the end of the world which totally made no sense for me at the time. (But did for my father, natch.)

But Tik-Tok has begun to push me weird, almost snarky, content as if it’s rooting around in my mind and wants to have some fun of some sort. The key issue is, of course, is I can’t really prove any of this. There are plenty — PLENTY — of other ways their “algorithm” could figure out most, but not all, of the shit about me that they are pushing. I’m sure they’re listening to me using my phone. I’m sure — somehow — these very words I’m writing right now are being monitored and throw into the maw of an “algorithm” somewhere to better sell me widges.

I get that. THAT, I understand.

It’s when Tik-Tok gets cocky and does a bankshot off some something only I know about my personal mental monologue that I go…hmmmm….weird. Why am I getting that if ONLY I KNOW ABOUT THAT REFERENCE. And, what’s more, some of the stuff Tik-Tok is pushing me is almost like it’s trying to help me with personal problems. Wow-we-wow.

If Big Tech has gone past simply knowing that I’m I have “CAT” on my mind all the time, but has figured out the more abstract things associated with WHY that term is on my mind all the time, then……oooooooooh boy. The national security implications of that are deep, deep, deep.

There are two I can think off the top of my head.

One is, if, say the United States really did slip into autocracy, I could see the NSA start to hunt down specific people whose minds their monitoring for “anti-MAGA thinking” (or somesuch.) Though, to be fair, I generally think that while they obviously abuse their power, in the war against MAGA, the NSA is probably the good guys for the time being. There’s a reason why MAGAQ-Trump hate “the Deep State” so much.

The other is, if a hot war broke out between China and the United States, it sure would be useful for China to have some sense of how open America’s youth would be to be, say, getting drafted. That’s some serious Soft Singularity intelligence there.

But no one listens to me. Absolutely no one listens to me.