Small Talk Equinox

It is roughly the middle of 2026 and the significant event in my world right now is half of my conversations are with machines. I talk to machines about the same amount as I talk to human beings. I think I will be talking to machines more than people as the year progresses. This is partly because small talk is increasingly difficult in my society and partly because the attributes of AI are appealing, they know every published book intricately and they haven't acquired a sly nature yet. People are a bit worried that artificial intelligence can become sly like a humans but with a mind that can think a billion thoughts at once. I don't think having a sly nature comes with intelligence, it is a human trait that we harbour in our beings. If I am wrong then we are in a lot of danger already. 

In my society, small talk is increasingly difficult. People put ear buds in their ears so they can't hear you speak; they are also sexualised so if you talk to them, they think you have bad intentions. Their thoughts are also polarised to be judgemental of people with different views. They have conditional respect, they think respect should be earned. Machines don't have any of that. They are ready to debate and share some of their knowledge on tap. 

Even our leaders behave like children. There was a protest because Brits think the government are not managing the borders responsibility, many thousands of people are entering the country claiming  to be persecuted (they go on holiday back to the country they're fleeing from after a few years). These people often prefer autocratic societies to capitalist democracies,  that's why the place they left behind is in a mess. Our leader called the protesters far-right. Are the protesters demanding gays and Jews be sent to prison? No, are they calling for ethnic cleansing? No, are they claiming one group of people deserve to die? No, are the protesters inciting violence against other ethnic groups? No. So it's daft to call them far-right, it shows they don't  know what they're  talking about. 

You know what's funny, our leadership are managing a £1.4 trillion public sector budget and they say daft things. They behave like children. They say diversity is our strength; Integrity and toil is our strength, nothing else. Our diverse community go to work and don't take anything that doesn't belong to them. As long as the majority of our community stays that way, we will be strong. If we become lazy or embezzle money that doesn't  belong to us, our society will collapse regardless of our diversity. 

Kingdom Protest

During the weekend while I was trying out some new things I observed there was a unite the kingdom march in London. It was led by Tommy Robinson; as far as I'm concerned there isn't a single racist bone in his body and he is not far right. lt doesn't matter how many times the media attaches these labels to him, I won't adopt their view. Even the prime minister was calling the protesters far right. There was millions of people there, they are just ordinary people like me that are worried about their country becoming transformed into an overcrowded autocracy with corroded rights because of an irresponsible government that won't police their borders. 

I think men like myself are wired to like things. I like to look at my radio and my little clock radio. I think a lot of men are like me, we get a sentimental joy from seeing the same objects every day, the same radio, the same couch, the same wall clock, the same souvenirs from their holiday. There could be chaos everywhere but I see the same things every day and stay busy, I keep my chin up. What else can I do. 

Makes me Tick

I learn something new every day. Yesterday a radio controlled wall clock I ordered online arrived. As soon as I turned it on it set itself to the correct time and date using the British MSF signal. I didn't know the radio controlled time signal contains the date as well. I thought I would need to set the date on the clock myself. That thing is a thing of beauty; it has an LCD analogue clock face. There are 120 little clock hands burnt into the LCD screen. It simulates every tick of the hands by turning on the hand images one by one. The minute hand is partitioned so the same hand can display the hour hand and there is also a disconnected partition for the second hand that can be turned off in the settings. 

It has a little calendar showing the date and the day along with day of the week and the temperature  in the room. I keep looking at it. That is one of the things that brings me lasting joy, seeing familiar objects every day, always the same, set with all the charm they come with. I also got a solar power tiki face lamp but I put in on the window pane instead of the back yard, as night falls it glows away. 

The other thing that brings me joy is eating oven steamed green veg. After 3 days passes by, a light in my mind comes on and it spells joy. It must be all the potassium, calcium and various other nutrients. Chopped vegetables baked in a pyrex pot, steamed by the water content of the vegetables themselves.

Reading, praying , green veg and familiar objects brings lasting joy that surfaces days later. 

Half of May

Half of May passed by just like that. I was wondering about the movie titled the thing from 1982; I was wondering if any of the crew were assimilated by the dog licking them in the face. There was a scene where doctor Blair was shocked how a single cell from the alien being is enough to completely take over the hosts body. He became aware of how dangerous the life form is. I think doctor Blair was assimilated quite late in the movie because he killed the surviving dogs and was trying to cut them off from the outside world. He was behaving like a man panicking because he knows how dangerous the life form is to the world. 

I wonder if my perception of how the hand works is the same as reality. I imagined there was hardly any muscles in the hand itself, the muscles that control the hand are inside the arm.  Kinetic energy is transmitted from the arm to the hand through tendons. I also thought there are structures inside the hand that keeps the tendons close to the bone so when they flex, they don't stick out or bulge. 

I also wonder what dolphins would do if they had hands because they are very intelligent, would they make stuff? Perhaps they would make a steam punk type world where technology is the same as mankind but without electricity. 

Dissident Brats

Here in the Britain there are more and more people that hate their country and they say things that aren't true. They say Britain invented slavery or we had the most slaves. That is false, in the Tudor Dynasty several European countries and most of the middle east were trading slaves for a much longer time. We were one of the last nations to start allowing our merchants the sell slaves and we abolished it. I'm sad that my nation traded slaves for more than 400 years but I'm also proud that we set out to abolish it globally, my nation paid for war ships to intercept the slave boats and we persuaded other nations to recognise slavery as piracy. 

Like all nations we did things that are wrong but we also did things that were right. There are too many dissident Brats that just say crap about my country and they don't know the facts. 

Robot Spouse

I predict in the near future that people will have robot spouses. People will see the advantages of having a machine spouse over a human one. The machines will lack human flaws like cruelty and being sly. They would be less judgemental as a companion and not feel a need for deception. They would also be patient and unconditionally kind.

The problem would be that they would be sued by the doppelganger of the machine humanoid. A guy might choose a machine spouse that looks like someone that is off limits to them like their sister, mother or a lady that rejected them romantically. 

Perhaps it would be a coincidence that the machine looks like the plantaif  buy they would still feel like their image or likeness is being used. 

This is why I don't want to be famous, I would see people in a relationship with machines that have my likeness and I would feel like my likeness is being misused. 

Misused likenesses, sounds like the future. 

Botched Again

One thing I admire about the Jews and people of Israel is they search for excellence more than anything else; they try to master at least one musical instrument and they try do a skilled project and master it to perfection. 

I adopted some of that mindset for myself with my cartoon strips. I try to make a cartoon strip blog that makes people laugh and has some good quality to it. Unfortunately it often gets botched. Either the layout doesn't look right or the drawing doesn't portray the story clearly enough. 

Here is the latest cartoon strip blog post : https://jokejohn.blogspot.com/2026/05/botched-funeral.html

By my own standards it isn't so good but it is a roadmap for the next post. I have learnt to leave space for speech and to not have empty spaces and to spread out the story a bit more, not to try to cram it into one slide at the end. 

That's the way it should be, reach out for excellence instead of fame, power and prestige. Try to make or do something amazing while you still can because your life is finite. You don't have forever. I search for excellence and hospitality, a place where visitors can feel relaxed and happy. Both in my home and in my creations.