America’s Higher Purpose and AI

Russia’s Failure

Update: KYIV (Reuters): Russia said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn Ukraine after suspending it over the weekend in a move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world.

A Little History: The Strait of Tsushima

Britannica: Rozhestvensky [Russian Admiral] learned of the surrender of Port Arthur to Japanese forces and proposed returning to Russia; but, expecting naval reinforcements, which had been sent from the Baltic via Suez early in March 1905 and which later joined him at Camranh Bay (Vietnam), he decided to proceed. His full fleet amounted to a?formidable?armada, but many of the ships were old and unserviceable and their crews were poorly trained. Early in May the fleet reached the?China Sea, and Rozhestvensky made for Vladivostok via the Tsushima Strait.?Admiral Togō Heihachirō’s?fleet lay in wait for him on the south Korean coast near?Pusan, and on May 27, as the Russian Fleet approached, he attacked. The Japanese ships were superior in speed and armament, and, in the course of the two-day battle, two-thirds of the Russian Fleet was sunk, six ships were captured, four reached Vladivostok, and six took refuge in neutral ports. It was a dramatic and?decisive?defeat; after a voyage lasting seven months and when within a few hundred miles of its destination, the Baltic Fleet was shattered, and, with it,?Russia’s?hope of regaining mastery of the sea was crushed.

My Comment: The Japanese victory at the Strait of Tsushima was also due to the tactical and strategic brilliance of Japanese General, Marshall, Admiral, Lord Togo.

Wikipedia: Tsushima broke Russian naval dominance in East Asia and is said to have been a contributing factor in subsequent uprisings in the Russian Navy (1905 uprisings in Vladivostok and the?battleship?Potemkin?uprising), contributing to the?Russian Revolution of 1905. Post-war investigations were held into Russian naval leaders during those battles in which Tōgō had prevailed, seeking the reasons behind their utter defeat. The Russian commander of the destroyed Baltic fleet, Admiral?Zinovy Rozhestvensky?(who was badly wounded in the battle) attempted to take full responsibility for the disaster, and the authorities (and rulers of Russia) acquitted him at his trial. However, they made Admiral?Nikolai Nebogatov, who had tried to blame the Russian government, a scapegoat. Nebogatov was found guilty and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress, but was released by the tsar after serving only two years.

Update

My Comment: Putin’s geopolitical failure in capturing Ukraine’s global grain, sunflower oil and steel markets, has painted his kleptocracy with the brush of stupidity, shame and incompetence.?

The Price of Incompetence?

Mediocrity and incompetence are not limited to Russia.?

The mediocrity of American geopolitics has widespread ramifications. The financial logistics of America continue to favor fossil fuels and like the heavy toll paid by Russia for its underestimation of Ukraine’s ability to? create and innovate, an equally heavy price - in war, death and destruction - according to Lincoln’s second inaugural address - is to be paid for our irreverence towards life- the lives of others, of their cultures. Our hubris?and underestimation of the other’s ability to be flexible and to innovate, bears a considerable price.

AI

American hubris compels us to believe, as Jason Huang of Nvidia noted, that we are at least five years ahead of China, our nearest competitor, in AI.?

“Intellect, the culture-creating part of the human mind is incessantly at work. However, ingenuity, like all human attributes, is misused at least as frequently as it is deployed to do good. Directed by hubris, it is dangerous; guided by love, it becomes inspirational.

Understanding our creative ability demands a deep awareness of this dual potential. It is our great advantage in the on-going task to procreate and prosper, yet its quality and application are inevitably determined by character and culture.?? - van Heerden

My Comment: America’s idolatry of wealth, technology, our antisemitism, two-tiered?legal system and our historical superficiality, all have caused our nation to fall well behind Japan:

Germany?

Iceland, Norway, the UK:

and Taiwan, in leading the transformation of the global economy.?