Ken’s Blog

Life happens. And not always the way you want it to.

There is a much cruder way of saying that. But today I am in a polite mood.

Pretty much our entire collective cultural experience of the digital world exists within rectangles. We spend much of our day looking into the little rectangular screens of smart phones or at the somewhat larger rectangular screens of the computers on our desks and in our laps.

When the XR singularity occurs, millions of people will be able to start experiencing the digital world all around them. Those rectangles will no longer be necessary.

Will we continue to carry over the conventions of the early digital age, with all of the digital information in the space around us getting crammed into rectangles because that’s what people are used to? Or will we be able to break free?

I am reminded of early automobiles. Early cars were steered by controls very much like those on a horse and buggy.

Eventually that convention fell away, and the modern steering wheel evolved to take its place. In the coming age of wearables, I wonder what will eventually take the place of the rectangle.

When I was a kid we used to have a dog that loved to run around our backyard. But of course it would swerve to avoid the big tree in the middle of the yard.

One year my dad had the tree taken down. Even though there was just an empty space where the tree had been, the dog still kept avoiding the tree. Whenever he got to that empty spot in the yard, he would always go around it.

I think people are like that. Everyone, in their own way, needs to run around trees that other people cannot see. In some cases, those trees were cut down many years earlier.

But still, people will keep anything they can to avoid that tree, and nothing you can do will make them run through it. Once you start to understand that, you start to understand people.

There was a weird hit piece in the NY Times yesterday targeting. Zohran Mamdani, the democratic candidate for NYC Mayor. The attempted smear itself was so stupid and badly executed that it’s not worth discussing.

But what is worth discussing is why the NY Times is running nonsensical “articles” trying to take this man down. This is the sort of thing that I have come to expect from the idiot in the White House, but not from the newspaper of record.

I wonder what the three people who wrote this article — Benjamin Ryan, Nicholas Fandos and Dana Rubinstein — thought would be the result of such an ill conceived and transparent attack. If the goal here was to turn voters against him, it was a very poor move.

Anyone with half a brain will see this kind of smear attempt for what it is, and will become only more sympathetic to the candidate. After all, we are left wondering, who is so afraid of this man that they are trying to use ridiculous “smears” to derail his campaign?

One can only conclude that Mamdani is doing something right.

One explanation for why the Republicans in the U.S. Congress have voted for this incredibly destructive bill — a bill that is particularly (and deeply) harmful to their own constituents in red states — is maybe the simplest explanation: Fear.

It is already clear that this administration is methodically laying the groundwork for an authoritarian outcome. In another two years, our country might very well come to resemble Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, or perhaps something even worse.

In 2026 we may have what will be called elections. But given all that is going on, those might turn out be elections in name only.

The upshot is that Republican legislators do not dare cross the boss. The long term consequences might be unpleasant for them, to say the least.

The most important moment in the history of television wasn’t any particular engineering innovation or technological advancement. All of those were necessary, but they were not sufficient.

The most important moment in the history of television was when Milton Berle first hosted the Texaco Star Theatre in the new medium of television, on June 8, 1948. It turned out to be a perfect fit of performer and medium.

The popularity of “Uncle Miltie”, and his ability to use what worked best in the new medium, quickly turned a somewhat niche technology into a mainstay of American family entertainment.

I wonder when the next newly developed medium, something that is not quite on our collective cultural radar yet, will achieve its Uncle Miltie moment.

In 1973 Monty Python created a parody of Robin Hood, in the form of a legendary British outlaw of old named Dennis Moore.

The general idea was that Dennis Moore was somewhat confused. He was supposed to take from the rich and give to the poor, but he somehow got it mixed up.

The last verse of the theme song by Graham Chapman and John Cleese goes like this:

Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore
Riding through the land
Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore
Without a merry band
He steals from the poor
And gives to the rich
Stupid Bitch.

This morning, in the United States of America, the legend of Dennis Moore parody has just resurfaced as reality. The legislation enacted today by Congress does exactly what Dennis Moore did. Quite literally, it steals from the poor and gives to the rich.

Although there is one difference: I don’t think the people who passed this bill are at all confused.

Emotionally, the most difficult part of the reunion was the in memorium segment. Since I had not seen any of my former classmates in years, I had no knowledge, going in, of who might not still be around.

The names were listed one by one in alphabetical order, each projected onto a large screen together with their yearbook photo. It was all accompanied by sad music.

Some had passed away years earlier, but that’s not how it felt. Watching that screen, and hoping that none of my former friends were on the list, it felt like a series of executions.

Every once in a while, a name would show up of somebody I had known well. And when that happened, the feeling was that the person had died in just that moment, as their name was revealed.

I know that sounds irrational, but that is how it felt.

In a way it was like the parable of Schrödinger’s cat, but with real people. Until I had knowledge of their passing, in my mind all of those people were still alive.

And then, in just a moment, they were gone forever.

The weirdest thing about a high school reunion is the sudden time shift. It’s as though we have all been suddenly immersed into a science fiction movie about time travel.

People you know are instantly many years older than they were just a moment ago. They are the same people that you can swear you were just speaking to, except that years have now gone by, seemingly in an instant.

Children have suddenly been born and have grown up, or someone now has a new husband or wife — and you may learn they have been with that “new” partner for years.

It is certainly an interesting experience to compare notes with your friends about time travel has affected each of you. But it’s not something that you want to do too many times.

Because it turns out that you only get so many rides on the time machine. More tomorrow.

Today I went to my high school reunion. So much to think about.

I need time to process. More tomorrow.