White House Says It Has Tech That Can 'Manipulate Time and Space'
White House Says It Has Tech That Can 'Manipulate Time and Space'
A speech by science adviser Michael Kratsios has attracted attention from people who think he means the U.S. now has time travel technology
Updating with the Newsweek article saying the same thing.
T.l.d.r. any of the information I wrote below, including the words FIGURE OF SPEECH, but you're angry bc you just read the original headline about the internet "wilding," and you started wilding.
The point is that while it is most likely Kratsios was just trying to sound innovative, it is also not surprising that non-native English speakers would be a bit confused and concerned, given the batshit everything else I explain below with references:
If you're an average Joe just giving a speech in TX, it doesn't really matter. When you're the Science and Technology Advisor to the demented leader of the rapidly crumbling free world, which happens to be locked in a tech war with China, while turning on your allies on the ongoing cusp of WWIII and siding with the aggressor, you should probably be a little more careful with how you phrase things, and at least acknowledge in a statement what you actually meant instead of trying to play some kind of mind game like your dumb fucking boss.
Trump Science Advisor Michael Kratsios, gave a speech at Endless Frontiers Retreat in Austin, Texas on April 14. The event was co-hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, UT Austin, Texas A&M, Rice University, and Baylor University.
In what seems a poor attempt at a Steve Jobs-like imitation, Kratsios seemed to use a figure of speech (I hope/pray?) to grab audience attention:
"Stagnation was a choice. We have weighed down our builders and innovators. The well-intentioned regulatory regime of the 1970s became an ever-tightening ratchet, first hampering America’s ability to become a net-energy exporter and then making it harder and harder to build. We seem to have lost focus and vision, to have lowered our sights and let systems and structures and bureaucracies muddle us along.
But we are capable of so much more.
Our technologies permit us to manipulate time and space. They leave distance annihilated, cause things to grow, and improve productivity.
As Vice President Vance said in a recent speech, the tradition of American innovation has been one of increasing the capacities of America’s workers, of extending human ability so that more people can do more, and, more meaningful work. But unrestricted immigration, and reliance on cheap labor both domestically and offshore, has been a substitute for improving productivity with technology."
Kratsios' comments on time and space manipulation, led to some reports that the U.S. was officially admitting to having the capability.
The president of the European Center for Information Policy and Security warned that the U.S. and Russia's ability to bend time and space, is a threat to Europe's future..
Given Kratsios' boss has been known to make outrageous but vague threats that are often dismissed as jokes, only to be brought up again later as legitimate possibilities, it is unsurprising that some might take Kratsios' words literally and express concern.
Trump has asked Peter Theil's protege to blaze a trail for science and tech supremacy, and Kratsios has made statements comparing Trump's plan for a "Golden Age of American Innovation," to FDR giving his own science advisor a mandate to chart a course for U.S. research and development.
During Trump's first administration, Kratsios served as Chief Technology Officer and was tasked with using cutting edge technology to tackle COVID misinformation and track early cases of the virus in the U.S..
A 2019 interview with Kratsios indicates he also opposed the regulation of controversial facial recognition technology.
The current Trump administration raised eyebrows earlier this year after the U.S. and U.K both refused to join allies signing an international A.I. agreement.
Similar to Kratsios' view on facial recognition technology, Vice President JD Vance indicated the refusal was due to concerns over strict regulations, stating it could "kill a transformative industry just as it's taking off". Vance vowed that the U.S. would not squander an opportunity to grow AI policies over safety concerns.
Who knows what exciting things await us in the upcoming Golden Age of American Innovation?
If the U.S. Government had access to time travel there would be different folks leading it for sure.
See, I had the exact opposite thought. That it would explain why literally everything is the worst. Especially if the tech matured during Trump's first term.
Let's say elon, thiel, etc, with their tech, ai etc, did eventually create an AGI that did figure out time travel.
They could then send that tech, and all the information acquired, back to themselves 8 years ago.
The future used to be beautiful.
Then. Suddenly, it wasn't.
A huge shift occurred.
And here we are.
Maybe not. Maybe every attempt to tamper with the timeline brought in unforeseen complications that made everything worse, and that's how we ended up where we are.
I mean, if we are to go by Kratsios' speech, it would appear they are just the first brave and innovative enough to take advantage of technology already existing but intentionally weighed down by regulations. This timeline being a result of their brave innovation makes a lot of sense.
I can travel forward in time at a rate of 60 seconds per minute, and I think the US government can, too.
I dunno, they seem pretty effective at dragging us all back to the 1960’s and beyond.
in this house we obey laws of physics
Maybe in your house, but in the White House, I'm not so sure. Mr. Kratsios holds a political science degree (with a focus on Hellenic studies) and appears to have no hard science qualifications.
I'm surprised it didn't end as a crypto announcement
It didn't end as a crypto announcement so far.
You just gave me a mental image of the dumbest BTFII reboot
Does our world sound like a world where any President of the US and/or Russia had access to time travel?
No, because if they did they wouldn't look like clowns now.
Have you never seen a dystopian scifi movie? If this administration somehow attempted to time travel, you don't think the world would look exactly like it does now?
I mean, yes?
Why is everyone assuming that the people in possession of this theoretical technology would have good intentions for the rest of humanity?
Imagine if Elon Musk, Donald Trump, or Vladimir Putin had control of it. This is exactly what the world would look like.
Putin is in the year 3 of a 3 day invasion, and became a vassal of China in the process.
Trump singlehandedly destroyed American hegemony, removing the tool he would need the most to deliver what the donor class wanted and he keeps losing games of chicken with basically the entire world. And I'm pretty sure Biden would've done lots of things differently if he could travel back in time even a few hours.
If they have time machines they are the most incompetent people on the planet.
Nope. But given our elite technologist leaders often have some dangerous ideas about innovation and "improvements to society," that don't quite align with reality, I can't say I blame people for worrying they might actually try.
This is clearly an attempt to be poetic. He provides examples of exactly what he means immediately after that sentence.
Yeah it was a dumb thing to say, that's the point
Yes it's called Donald Trump. His weight and his massive fucking ego bend space and time.
Just to be clear, the point is that Kratsios seemed to be making a sciencebro sales pitch about U.S. innovation under Trump, but given how delusional and unethical this administration has already been when it comes to making a name for U.S. tech supremacy, people took it seriously.
Wasn't expecting such a weirdly strong reaction to pointing this out, but yikes.
Well, it does kind of feel like we are living Man in High Castle (Minus Japan)
Legal weed and all (I'm referring to the novel, didn't see past season 1 of the show)
Science Advisor
This guy must have worked at Tesla before, and there he did their calculations of future achievements.
No joke, he was actually Trump's acting director of OSTP during his first administration. During that time, people were critical of him because he lacked any qualifying experience in science.
Democratic members of the House actually wrote a letter begging Trump to pick a real science advisor to avoid a potential disaster. Trump eventually picked a meteorologist as his official science advisor several months later. If not for Anthony Fauci's meddling, those two would have been solely responsible for handling the COVID pandemic under Trump.
Sounds like Nazi occultism to me 🤷🏻♂️
I don’t know who he is, but fuck this guy. That’s all.
He's Trump's science advisor, Peter Theil's protege, and son in law of Brexit Secretary Sir David Davis. The best of the best.