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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> John Clark <johnkclark@gmail.com> <br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, 6 October, 2025 11:59 AM<br><b>To:</b> spike@rainier66.com<br><b>Cc:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] My review of Eliezer Yudkowsky's new book (UBI)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 2:15 PM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span class=m3989630101270694280gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>></span></b></span><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>></span></b></span><span class=m3989630101270694280gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>…How do you feel about the fact that one of LIGO's two gravitational wave observatories… is going to have to be shut down permanently? Will this really make America great again?</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><span class=m3989630101270694280gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> </span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><br></span></b><span class=gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>> </span></i></span><span class=m3989630101270694280gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>No. I am a huge fan of LIGO and will be sorry to see it go. </span></i></span><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…It makes me mad. Why doesn't it make you mad? <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>It does make me mad. I also recognize that federal budgets are reality, and the debt limit does mean something. Half of congress agrees, for they are shutting down the government rather than passing a bill which extends that limit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>LIGO changed the way I thought of the universe. I have never been so astonished in my adult life as Feb 2016 when I was in the huge packed auditorium at SLAC when that first verified result was announced. I had invited a science-geek friend who flew out from Colorado, for he too heard there was a biggie announcement coming. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I couldn’t force myself to believe beforehand that LIGO had detected a merger, for my understanding back then was that this kind of thing was once or twice a century event and that it was quite unlikely I would live to see one. That they would turn it on and three weeks later have an event they could verify enough to hang their reputation on it, I just couldn’t bring myself to even hope for it. Well, I was there. I heard and I saw. 600 seat auditorium full of science geeks, plus a hundred more geeks violating fire code standing in the aisles and exits, we all saw and heard. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>When the announcement was presented, I saw something I have never seen in a lifetime of going to these kinds of events: a stunned silence, then a roar of applause. The crowd went nuts, like we just saw the home team score the winning touchdown. I saw tears of joy, I saw dignified science geeks hugging each other and acting like actual human beings. I was there, I saw and I heard. Oh that was soooo damn cool.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I have been following it ever since.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>My prediction is that they will flap around for a while, then opposition unity will crumble. They only need a few more senate votes and they will get funding for the month of October. Then the whole thing starts again of course, and we can look forward to more of the same until they call you John, and you explain to the senators that US debt limits don’t matter, they are a mere formality, just borrow what you need, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> </span></i><span class=gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>></span></i></span><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>If we can’t balance the federal budget somehow, the other LIGO observatory will soon shut down as well.</span></i><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…Soon? Spike for well over a decade you've been saying we're on the verge of an economic apocalypse, and yet here we are…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Ja. The difference between a decade ago and now is the amount of money the Fed is paying in interest. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…I don't know about you but I'm not living in a Mad Max world…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Ja, neither am I. Last I posted to Max, he seemed in perfect mental health, but I can go with the theme. Linear extrapolation from here is pretty easy. The fed must borrow the funds to pay back what it borrowed and spent in the last year it claimed to have balanced the budget, not thru spending cuts but rather in an accounting change which allowed it to count surplus revenue coming into Social Security as revenue. Then it could appear to have balanced its budget by treating the functional equivalent of borrowing as revenue. It’s MAGIC!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Or it is an accounting technique to obscure having borrowed the Social Security fund and spent it back in the 1990s. Or magic, take your pick. But either way, that magic is being paid back now, and it keeps us bouncing off the debt ceiling.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p></div></div></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…But the refurbishing of the<span class=gmaildefault> 747 that Qutar gave to He Who Must Not Be Named library </span>is dependent on government funding…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Well there ya go, that can be stopped with the rest of the stuff. Understatement: it IS stopped, until we don’t know when. So no Qatari 747.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…But nowhere in the budget could they find $19 million to keep LIGO operational. </span></b></span> <span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Do let us hope cooler heads prevail. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I understand now why the current POTUS (forget the name) is pressuring congress to pass the budget: he wants the plane. I had failed to realize his motive there, all the sombrero videos and trolling and such. It’s all about the plane. His own team in congress is on board with getting the Qatari 747 flying for their guy. <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Those mean old stingy opposition guys are so determined to keep the plane away from POTUS, they are willing to shut down the government. Those bad old stingy senators. Give him his damn plane, move on!<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>