How many times have you wanted to find out why or what or how something in the 21st century happened and encountered multiple viewpoints without getting to the why, the what or the how? This happened to me when I wanted to find out the cause of the Great Recession in 2008. News agencies brought multiple points of view and no conclusions. There were no lessons to be had or strategies to avoid similar troubles in the future. There was a big zero in the information-I-could-use category.

Even more seriously, how many times have you wanted what people used to call “the skinny” information about something and failed to find a simple description of what that something is or why it happened? Look at the carnage in Israel right now. Every viewpoint has been presented as though each one is equally valid and the consequences can’t be avoided. Conflict in Israel must go on apparently and no one can stop it because there’s no skinny opinion to help the conflict come to an end. No alternative. No justice. No peace.

Sometimes I can’t even find out if something really did happen because there are opinions to the contrary of the something having ocurred at all. Look at medical fraud during the Covid emergency. Was it an emergency? Well, there were emergency declarations. But did it have to occur at all if it was a man-made event with an engineered coronavirus with genetically engineered splices of information that was patented? Why are dangerous experimental treatments being promoted today to treat covid that have been shown to cause deaths and injuries? Why does every interest get promoted as though each one is equally valid? Are profits more important than people’s well being? Do all profits deserve to continue especially those being supported by government? 

Welcome to the 21st century where all opinions and options are welcome simultaneously without offering the gem of a conclusion based on known consequences.

 I miss the days when real reporters gave us the who, what, when, where, how and why something happened. Those bits of very pertinent information matter in the real world where people don’t have time to entertain every possible point of view. In addition to pertinent facts about something that has happened an array of consequences should also be considered.

The point of view that a single person with an informed perspective can offer is a gift that can save time and promote the getting on with life that we all undertake everyday.

All possible outcomes don’t deserve to happen. Harmful happenings should stop happening. An informed opinion is needed that helps people to decide what harmful happenings to avoid or to stop and what good happenings should continue and be supported by the efforts of all of us to make the world a better place than it will be if we don’t pay attention to the good vs the bad outcome. 

Making distinctions between good outcomes and bad outcomes as a set vs the set of all possible outcomes is something that people can do and that computers can’t do. It’s why I don’t believe that an AI algorithm can be superior to human judgements. People aren’t always right, but through learning and sampling outcomes, we can grow towards useful and helpful and better outcomes. AI can’t do that because AI isn’t alive. It can’t experience consequences the way that a person can.

If you want to learn about political and economic changes in the U.S. over American history, if you want to learn why some economic systems work and others don’t, if you want to be informed about the timeline of history and the consequences of many political and economic policies, buy a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries, available at Amazon.com. It gives you “the skinny” and helps you to understand how we got to where we all are right now.