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Toma's avatar

Hawaii and tech keeping us safe -

A 6.7 earthquake where all the civil defence/tsunami sirens failed completely which are religiously tested on a monthly basis.

The Maui wildfire fire where they were not used because the civil defence director feared that the people would run into a wall of flames and smoke and be incinerated.

The emergency cellphone text message for all cellphones in Hawaii indicating an incoming ICBM with impact in 20 minutes and "THIS IS NOT A DRILL" in the message because the wrong "button" was pushed.

But my all time favorite is all the tourists who follow Google maps driving directions, down the boat ramp into the Pacific Ocean up to the rear bumper, looking for the manta ray tour. Unfortunately none have drowned yet.

Life is certainly exciting with big tech!

Reminds me a lot of Dr STRANGELOVE or Failsafe.

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Margi Prideaux, PhD's avatar

I had not heard the manta tour one ... that is priceless.

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Michael Portelance's avatar

Sobering information. Excellent piece. Thanks

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Gifts from Goddess's avatar

Clarion call — excellent! Can vouch for the great value in each of your concluding, recommended reads … especially Mike Brock’s writing granular history of the billionaire coup that has nearly completed its hostile takeover of the US government.

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Much To Think About's avatar

Great stuff. Thank you for a sobering and humbling read.

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Emily Gonneau's avatar

Thank you for this piece. I believe you may want to read another great Substack by Brian Merchant called Blood in the machine, where he explores Ai, power and Silicon Valley.

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Margi Prideaux, PhD's avatar

Thank you, Emily. I'll chase Brian's substack down now. 🙏

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TrentonUK's avatar

Great piece thankyou for writing. I am getting sick of tech. Screens are stealing our lives from us.

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Becca Lawton's avatar

I'm familiar with Geoff's story, as you know, Margi, and it always moves me. Especially with the context you've give it here. Important. Restacked!

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Margi Prideaux, PhD's avatar

🙏

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