I kind of promised myself, I wouldn’t get caught up in responding to your Substack emails. But I did a speed read of this while sitting on my ElAl flight back from my abbreviated trip to Israel. I just had the inclination to give you a little reality check. Maimonides, the Rambam, said basically, don’t look at the man who is saying it; look at what he says. No question Trump is a megalomaniac bore, but he’s a lot of guts and comes up with good ideas. You just need to get over his personality and filter out the bullshit. I strongly believe that he knows it’s bullshit or he gets a kick out of doing it anyway. One of the most important things you can say about him is that he’s clearly the most transparent politician ever. But that’s all just basically an aside. Oh, one other thing; you should refrain from quoting anything from Thomas Friedman and probably from the New York Times as well. Neither of them could pass the simplest polygraph test. Trump bullshits but they lie intentionally.
Except for Israel and a handful of a few small, pretty much inconsequential countries, and maybe the United States, there are no democratically inclined or morally decent countries in the world. Countries would just find a way to subvert your notions and present as truth their own. All you have to do to know that's correct is to look at the statements coming out of England or France - let alone Spain, Norway, Iceland and other so-called democratic countries.. It would be great if there could be a system as you proposed, but it ain’t gonna happen.
Remember, I love you and this has been dictated and unedited, so if anything seems unclear, do your best to figure it out.
First of all, I hope your trip to Israel was not ‘abbreviated’ because of anything negative, bad or unexpected. That's said, I'm going to try to respond to your email, also by dictation. (It's good practice for me. I want to try to become more proficient.)
Alan, I don't wanna sound pompous; I want to come across as the same humble Arnie, you know and love… but Alan, when you read something from me on Substack, you really cannot do a ‘speed read’. Frankly, I am too deep for speed reading. Doing that is liable to leave you totally confused, as I can tell by your email. You have my meanings inside out and upside down.
Not only do I agree wholeheartedly with the Rambam, we should ignore the man as opposed to what he has to say; but I go even farther in judging actions not only words. In this regard Trump has proven to be very good for Israel and the Jewish people. Not only do I agree with the Rambam in this regard, I also hold with the Alan-Bam as well — Trump is a megalomaniacal bore (and a jackass to boot), but he comes up with good ideas, is transparent, likes to play with the press by pressing their buttons, etc. I happen to believe we are *not* going into fascism — Trump is too shallow to play that game — because we, as a nation, prize democracy sufficiently to set limits for him; he’s incapable of setting them himself.
However, by speed reading you missed my best sentence, which I will repeat here and try to explicate, (in a non-speed reading manner).
But my G-d, here was the President of the United States actually going before the world, the f’ing General Assembly of all places, and while he’s caught up in his bragging about these glorious buildings he would build, all monuments to himself — suddenly… like some cantankerous cousin of Balaam’s ass not given the gift of speech — he stopped braying and floated the idea of a trusted AI verification system!
I grant you it was perhaps too long, but I’m still proud of the way it came out, for in it I compare Trump in a Biblical way — not to Balaam, who came out with blessings rather than curses for Israel; not to Balaam’s ass, who was given the gift of speech and could see G-d’s angels — but to Balaam’s ass’s *cousin*, who could not speak nor see angles, but who *suddenly* stopped ‘braying’ in the General Assembly [with the other braying asses] and came out with a damn good, doable, idea, an ‘AI verification system’, (along with of course his solid pro-Israel, anti-Hamas sentiments and words). I assume those ideas could not scamper out of the way and were run down by speed reading.
It’s funny how I fail to share the pessimism of your last paragraph. Of course, ‘it’s not going to happen’. What are the odds of the world actually doing something smart for itself. But who would have thought Trump would do the things he did — actually bomb Iranian nuclear facilities! What would have been the odds of a US President doing something like that? Infinitely small. That’s why I can’t escape the feeling that there is the hand of Providence in all of this.
Arnie
P.S. I’m putting your email and my response in the comments on Substack. WTF.
Another well-writtten and thought provoking daydream from Dr. Rosen. The flaw is thinking that Trump would not figure out a way to use it to his advantage. He would literally hold a skeleton key with enough leverage to cause untold damage. He might trust grok,but I can't identify an individual or organization with unlimited power. Look at the mess Donald (and others) have made of the world our children will inherit.
from ALAN JACOBS
Arnie,
I kind of promised myself, I wouldn’t get caught up in responding to your Substack emails. But I did a speed read of this while sitting on my ElAl flight back from my abbreviated trip to Israel. I just had the inclination to give you a little reality check. Maimonides, the Rambam, said basically, don’t look at the man who is saying it; look at what he says. No question Trump is a megalomaniac bore, but he’s a lot of guts and comes up with good ideas. You just need to get over his personality and filter out the bullshit. I strongly believe that he knows it’s bullshit or he gets a kick out of doing it anyway. One of the most important things you can say about him is that he’s clearly the most transparent politician ever. But that’s all just basically an aside. Oh, one other thing; you should refrain from quoting anything from Thomas Friedman and probably from the New York Times as well. Neither of them could pass the simplest polygraph test. Trump bullshits but they lie intentionally.
Except for Israel and a handful of a few small, pretty much inconsequential countries, and maybe the United States, there are no democratically inclined or morally decent countries in the world. Countries would just find a way to subvert your notions and present as truth their own. All you have to do to know that's correct is to look at the statements coming out of England or France - let alone Spain, Norway, Iceland and other so-called democratic countries.. It would be great if there could be a system as you proposed, but it ain’t gonna happen.
Remember, I love you and this has been dictated and unedited, so if anything seems unclear, do your best to figure it out.
Alan
Hey Alan,
First of all, I hope your trip to Israel was not ‘abbreviated’ because of anything negative, bad or unexpected. That's said, I'm going to try to respond to your email, also by dictation. (It's good practice for me. I want to try to become more proficient.)
Alan, I don't wanna sound pompous; I want to come across as the same humble Arnie, you know and love… but Alan, when you read something from me on Substack, you really cannot do a ‘speed read’. Frankly, I am too deep for speed reading. Doing that is liable to leave you totally confused, as I can tell by your email. You have my meanings inside out and upside down.
Not only do I agree wholeheartedly with the Rambam, we should ignore the man as opposed to what he has to say; but I go even farther in judging actions not only words. In this regard Trump has proven to be very good for Israel and the Jewish people. Not only do I agree with the Rambam in this regard, I also hold with the Alan-Bam as well — Trump is a megalomaniacal bore (and a jackass to boot), but he comes up with good ideas, is transparent, likes to play with the press by pressing their buttons, etc. I happen to believe we are *not* going into fascism — Trump is too shallow to play that game — because we, as a nation, prize democracy sufficiently to set limits for him; he’s incapable of setting them himself.
However, by speed reading you missed my best sentence, which I will repeat here and try to explicate, (in a non-speed reading manner).
But my G-d, here was the President of the United States actually going before the world, the f’ing General Assembly of all places, and while he’s caught up in his bragging about these glorious buildings he would build, all monuments to himself — suddenly… like some cantankerous cousin of Balaam’s ass not given the gift of speech — he stopped braying and floated the idea of a trusted AI verification system!
I grant you it was perhaps too long, but I’m still proud of the way it came out, for in it I compare Trump in a Biblical way — not to Balaam, who came out with blessings rather than curses for Israel; not to Balaam’s ass, who was given the gift of speech and could see G-d’s angels — but to Balaam’s ass’s *cousin*, who could not speak nor see angles, but who *suddenly* stopped ‘braying’ in the General Assembly [with the other braying asses] and came out with a damn good, doable, idea, an ‘AI verification system’, (along with of course his solid pro-Israel, anti-Hamas sentiments and words). I assume those ideas could not scamper out of the way and were run down by speed reading.
It’s funny how I fail to share the pessimism of your last paragraph. Of course, ‘it’s not going to happen’. What are the odds of the world actually doing something smart for itself. But who would have thought Trump would do the things he did — actually bomb Iranian nuclear facilities! What would have been the odds of a US President doing something like that? Infinitely small. That’s why I can’t escape the feeling that there is the hand of Providence in all of this.
Arnie
P.S. I’m putting your email and my response in the comments on Substack. WTF.
Another well-writtten and thought provoking daydream from Dr. Rosen. The flaw is thinking that Trump would not figure out a way to use it to his advantage. He would literally hold a skeleton key with enough leverage to cause untold damage. He might trust grok,but I can't identify an individual or organization with unlimited power. Look at the mess Donald (and others) have made of the world our children will inherit.