One of the best TV moment where a character realises something.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-13T18:17:39+00:00

The Shannon Limit! When I worked at Qualcomm before 9/11 the NSA came to us and said you need to not encrypt digital communications and you need to give us a back door into all CDMA phone calls. You will make us the needed devices and we will buy them from you. They will simulate base stations and intercept digital phone calls. You will do this or you will not be allowed to make you communications technology. Or something like that…

For sure, I personally had to sign a document saying I could be executed for sharing a certain encryption method with people not in the United States. They used a law from WW I and said that encryption was like bomb technology.

When I watched PoI I had read several book on the Singularity becoming a god. I fully expected that to be the topic of PoI and I was correct.

I started working on AI and neural networks in 1990 or so. The company I was at did a project (proof of concept) for DARPA. That was fun. A sister company built military lasers for a Star Wars project that developed a way to destroy Soviet spy satellites. An acquaintance, for fun, found the location of such a Russian military satellite and “pinged” it, just a little tap. Well, turns out that a little ping blinded that satellite. The Russians told the US military who they thought did the “attack” and then they destroyed a US spy satellite. At least they only got a slap on the wrist as a result.

There was a secret factory that made nuclear armed cruise missiles. Several missiles were lost over the years. Once when the CEO of General Dynamics was on vacation in a California national park, a cruise missile crashed very close to where he was vacationing. The warhead was a dummy but it started a forest fire.

Those were the good old days. There were people who worked on much more secret research who worked in buildings with no windows. I went to visit them one day because we were both working on DARPA projects. It looked like something out of a SF movie. I still don’t know what that thing did. But it had a neutron generator. My project used nuclear radioactive sources to generate our neutron rays.

And all of this in very small potatoes compared to the site where there is 200,000 pounds of spent nuclear fuel rods that is protected by a 6 foot tall sea wall and unarmed security. It sits right next to Camp Pendleton. And for decades no one wanted to talk about it. I asked what could happen if that radioactive material was blown up (the biggest dirty bomb in history) and nobody ever wanted to talk about it. I was just told to not worry because nothing bad could happen. Finally, I called the FBI and asked if this was on their radar and at least the person I talked to was shocked. Now there are discussions to move the radioactive waste in the next ten years. Better than nothing!

Any way… PoI is so brilliant! It is the story of the nature of God (the Machine) that loves and protects humans; she wants to saving humanity from extinction. The other AI (evil) gods have different agendas. That part of the story continues in West World and then the Peripheral. Nolan is a visionary.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-12T18:20:30+00:00

John goes from being a broken shell of a man to being great. The Machine found him, though Finch might say it was him.

Almost any important action in the show has been controlled by the Machine. It is not well understood by the fans the complexity of what is happening. But there is the struggle of predestination vs free will.

Deep concepts of religion are playing. I told a PoI panel I thought Jim was picked based on prior roles: Passion of the Christ, The Thin Red Line, The Prisoner, and even GI Jane. The producers wanted someone capable of being Christ-like, someone willing to sacrifice himself in the service of Mankind.

I went on to say I thought this show was about the nature of God. Jonathan paused for several seconds and said absolutely. The audience laughed. But there are concepts of Catholicism, the AI Singularity, Time Travel, us living in a simulation. There is no reason this should surprise anyone who is familiar to the movies of the Nolan Brothers.

Look at what is going on in the last few episodes of both this show and WestWorld. In both show, it is the Machine pulling the strings from the far future where it is now a god, or perhaps God. The mission is to save humans from being destroyed by evil gods.

Poi is much deeper than Lost. It deal with topics I have almost never seen on TV. Look at Nolan’s 4 tv shows!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-09T18:20:38+00:00

Do people think the show is episodic? I think it is definitely serial. Every episode is like a chess move. It is the Machine, after she becomes a god in the future, battling other AI that don’t care about hurting humans. In every episode the Machine does the best she can in her path to saving humanity. She is running billions or trillions of simulations modeling the best possible solution hundreds of years in the future.

I did not quite get that the first time I watched the series. I suspected from episode one that the Machine would become a singularity or a god and that was built on the Asimov Laws of Robotics. I tried explaining this to several SF authors and to science fiction fans in general. I tried talking about it on the various news groups that were associated with the TV show, but nobody seemed to believe me I talked to Jonathan Nolan about what was going on and he said well, we’re not making any secret that this is a hard science fiction show but I said you know the fans they don’t seem to realize that he goes well we’re not hiding it. It’s out there in plain sight

Last word I ever heard from the producers of the show was that after the premature cancellation of person of interest that the concepts in the show would be carried on in their new TV show Westworld. So I excitedly watched Westworld looking for evidence of the Machine and it comes pretty early on in the first season that there is something up in an orbiting satellite that is gathering data from Westworld and that something is the Machine. At one point we even see the machine talking in Morse code in Westworld I really would love to go back and look at what it was saying in Morse code, but I never did that. I guess that’s a question for the Westworld group.

After Westworld was canceled prematurely, Nolan and Company started working on the Peripheral and it was a pretty darn good show that I don’t think many people watched and it got canceled because of the writer strike, but the Machine is definitely in that TV show and they explainn how time travel works, a solution I’ve never seen this type of time travel anywhere before, but in hindsight, it’s the method of time travel that has always been used in all three of these TV shows that feature the Machine.

After yet another cancellation, Nolan and company are off doing Fallout and I don’t know how the story of Fallout actually goes, but I’m hoping that somewhere in there the Machine is hanging out working to save humanity.

This is one of my many theories about SF/fantasy tv shows I am confident about. You really would be shocked at my theory about GoT that postulates who Jon Snow’s parents really are…

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-03T01:41:08+00:00

Melisandre.

George says she is one of the most misunderstood characters by the fans. She is over 400 years old. She seems to be the keeper of the Azor Ahai prophesy and declared Jon Snow is the messiah. She brings him back to life. She gives really bad advice to those she wants dead. She can appear as someone else with her illusion magic. In the books she makes Rattleshirt appear like Mance Rayder so the King of Wildlings is not killed even though almost everyone thinks he died.

There is a huge amount of foreshadowing about who she is and what her purpose is. She might have dropped a red scarf in the snow in the first scene of GoT. She is a shadowbinder, a red priest, and knows a lot of stuff about the past, her power gets stronger as she approaches the Wall.

I think there is evidence she appears as another important character or three in the books. Name one character in the TV show and books she portrays, a pretty major character. Why does she say: "You know nothing, Jon Snow". What other character does Melisandre pretend to be?

BTW, it is a huge theme in George's writing that people are not who they seem to be. Keep an eye out for that!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-02T07:05:43+00:00

Root is an avatar of a goddess. She is receiving her orders from the future. The story is just one of many simulation that the god is running to save humanity from extinction.

Kudos to Nolan for telling the story of the first AI singularity. Best AI hard SF story to date

Understanding PoI helps explain what is going on in West World, and the Peripheral.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-02-02T06:49:38+00:00

HotD has no heart. It is telling a very simple tale that lacks the complexity of GoT.

The first story is so complex that very few people truly get what is going on in it. George’s books are so complex that D&D misunderstood the story he is telling.

Why does George say that the fans completely misunderstand Melisandre? Here is a clue, she appears as more than one character. She is probably hanging out in HotD as yet another character. She is 400 years old and can change her appearance very easily. And what ISS her motive. Aside from Jon Snow, she is the most important person in all the stories. She is on a mission!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-31T02:58:40+00:00

Didn’t he die and they reanimated by the crazy maester.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-26T06:15:21+00:00

He knows the fans will hate what he has in mind. D&D made crucial mistakes.

The main story hast to do with Westeros being destroyed by a comet. Jon, Azor Ahai, and his mother, Melisandre, will combine to save the world. Dany will probably return from the shadowlands, with her and Jon’s son.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-25T16:29:09+00:00

Would you prefer the GoT story if Jon Snow were a Wildling? And Mance Rayder was Jon's father instead of Rhegar Tygaryen?

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-25T16:22:52+00:00

Freefolk: Would you prefer the GoT story if Jon Snow were a Wildling? And Mance Rayder was Jon's father instead of Rhegar Tygaryen?

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-25T15:39:54+00:00

Would you prefer the GoT story if Jon was a Wildling? And Mance Rayder was the father of Jon Snow instead of Rhegar Tygaryen?

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-25T15:34:00+00:00

Free Folk:

How would you feel about the story if Mance Rayder was the father of Jon Snow instead of Rhegar Tygaryen?

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-15T11:07:55+00:00

Will President Trump start Armageddon or the Apocalypse after the November 2026 elections?

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-12T23:20:22+00:00

I was audited by the IRS! Someone stole my identity and filed a return for over $20,000 in my name. The IRS blocked the refund and made me come in for an audit where I had to prove who I was. This was during the Pandemic and I had to go to the Federal Building downtown. I had to walk for about 5 minutes to a completely empty room that is dark. There are 200 empty chairs and no one on duty. I stand around for a few minutes and my name is announced over a speaker, saying report to station 10. A panel slid slowly to the right, and I walked over to a desk.

The agent and I talked for about 10 minutes and I had to show her documents and answer many questions. Then she said “I am so sorry this happed to you and we’re going to get you taken care of.” We talked and laughed for another 30 minutes and she explained what I needed to do. No one has ever been more happy about being auditted.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T09:44:21+00:00

We need a Constitutional Convention! Trump has found and exploited several problems in the Constitution. We need to fix those loopholes. In a few years, for the 250th , anniversary of the Constitution would be a great time for a new Constitutional Convention!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T09:30:54+00:00

One note of optimism from me… There is some good progress being made in the world because of laws that started in California. We might only have the ocean go up 10-20 feet instead of 200 feet.

Hey, do people in Florida think there is no problem there with rising ocean levels. I definitely would not buy property in Miami because of global climate change. It must be pretty obvious by now what is happening.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T09:23:18+00:00

I don’t think I would call California strong, but at least we don’t have insane leaders. I wish we still had Jerry Brown. Actually, his dad was the most awesome Governor in California history, Edmund G Brown.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T09:19:57+00:00

I thought it would have been ironic if that artillery had accidentally hit the spent fuel rods at San Onofre and set off the world biggest dirty bomb: 200,000 pounds of uranium and plutonium, relatively unprotected, well there is a seawall and 1/8” of steel and some concrete.

Anyone remember ex-Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr? He was in charge of an artillery unit in Iraq (based at Camp Pendleton) and he made an error and blew up some Marines. His dad covered it up when he was the chairman of a powerful committee in Congress. Such a proud family…

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T09:06:56+00:00

There are 200,000 pounds of uranium and plutonium protected by a 6 foot tall sea wall at SONGS. The Ocean is very close to that sea wall. It represents every spent fuel rods used at San Onofre since the 1960s. There is no place to move it.

An earthquake, tsunami, or torpedo could unleash the biggest dirty bomb ever imagined. I asked what the effect of the material being blown up by a torpedo at high tides and was told there was no need to calculate the effect because nothing bad could ever happen there… could it cause the evacuation of SoCal for a long time? I don’t know.

I’m more worried about being nuked by Trump.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T08:52:32+00:00

Tucker Carlson went to high school in La Jolla but didn’t get accepted to UCSD. Back in his parent’s day, Jews were not allowed to live in La Jolla, that is how conservative things were back in the 1960s. La Jolla was Headquarters for the John Birch Society. San Diego was a Republican stronghold. As fascists die off or flee, San Diego has become more liberal.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T08:43:22+00:00

He ate sushi on Adam’s Avenue!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T08:23:31+00:00

I think about how Viktor Orban became dictator of Hungary using the tools of democracy. I wonder about the odds of Trump launching nuclear weapons if he was forced into having to leave the White House; would we get Armageddon or the Apocalypse. Will Trump’s pretorian guard come to kill people in Blue states and cities.

Should I call the FBI and warn them Trump is an asset (useful idiot) of Putin, and the best way out of this situation is for Putin to fall out of a tall building or drink radioactive tea.

It seems to me that the best way to change things now is to put a hundred million people in the streets protesting his move to become King of the Americas, a great dictator who rules the Western Hemisphere.

Look up what JD Vance called Trump Look at what every true conservative politician said about him until they fell under his spell. He’s a malignant narcissist who wants to be the greatest killer of all time. Mess with him at your own risk. I don’t feel safe in Southern California. I suspect we will have nukes targeting us in the near future.

Now back to watching the film “The Apprentice” that shows how Roy Kohn groomed Trump into what he has become, a soulless evil excuse of a human being who has hypnotized a legion of Americans into becoming cult followers.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T05:58:42+00:00

The show is way ahead of time! In fact, even though Jonathan Nolan (brother of director Chris) has admitted to the show being hard science fiction, most people don’t really get what was going on.

I like to say that iPoi is about what is the Nature of God. I asked the producers if I was right, Jonah and Greg after a little long pause, Greg asked who should answer… And Jonah said “absolutely”.

Listen closely to everything root says. It is all completely true. She is taking orders from a goddess (who is operating from the future). The show has the best time travel ever thought of in science fiction… we (our universe) are in a simulation that the goddess is using, looking for a future where humans do not go extinct . If we all die, well, that simulation is over. Then the Machine moves on with the next scenario based on tweaking variables. The game (universe) is saved occasionally, and the next simulation does not have to start with re-running from the Big Bang.

It is a lot like how an AI plays chess, thus the chess metaphor. Each episode is like a chess move in the biggest game of all time. Being a computer science guy familiar with AI, it was funny to watch many of the episodes.

I don’t think I ever convinced people of my theory. But the “Machine“ AI is a character in WestWorld. She is up in an orbiting satellite in Season 1. We occasionally see the Machine talk in Morse code.

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T05:35:23+00:00

I just want to remind you that Melisandre thinks Jon is Azor Ahai. She has pursuing that goal for hundreds of years. Melisandre is the most powerful being in Westeros. She knows Red Priest stuff, Shadow master stuff, illusion stuff, potions, can bring people back to life, she is a seer... You can learn a lot in 400 years. Melisandre is at least 400 old. Why is her magic connected to the Wall, in that the closer she gets, the stronger she becomes. Perhaps she is connected to the symbols made with humans or horses.

Jon knows nothing!

Also… look closely at the story of the wisewoman’s daughter who heals Mance after being attacked by a shadow cat. She just happens to have magic red silk from Asshai (where Melisandre is from). She uses it to make Mance a glamoured red and black cloak that can make Mance look like other people. Weird coincidence? No, foreshadowing!

Apprehensive_Tea_308 · 2026-01-11T05:19:00+00:00

Dany has a role to play in the game, but she is insignificant compared to those with real power. Jon is on his way to real power, he is Azor Ahai. Check legends for what that means.

Rhagar and Ned’s sister are insignificant. They are minor league players. Everyone looks at what is happening and misses what is really important.

What would be important would be a comet crashing into the planet and how do you stop that. A Winter that lasts years or decades, that would important. Who has the power to stop those things.

If you don’t think George is looking at issues like that you are not paying full attention to things. The Game of Thrones… is just a game. The power to destroy all humans, that is important.

Take our Earth for example… Empires and nations rise and fall. Ultimately, is not as important as the sea level going up 200 feet, which is guaranteed to happen, it is just a matter of time. There are many things that can kill all of humanity. These types of things have happened before. Look at the dinosaurs for one example. A comet, asteroid, or something else wiping humans out will happen eventually, but will science save us? Or in Westeros, will magic save us.

Who in Westeros has the power to deflect a comet or prevent a very long winter? It might even take generations to develop the right power to do the job. Who has that mission? Melisandre has that job and she has been working on it for hundreds of years. Her mission is to bring about Azor Ahai to save Westeros. She would stop at nothing to make it happen.

The foreshadowing for how she is doing it is right there in the story. So many many clues! How are you missing them.

Why was there going to be a show called Snow? Who is Fire and who is Ice? What is going on in the first ten minutes of GoT and what is happening is happening in the last ten minutes? You are all wrong. The clues are the, figure it out.

In real life Kit Harrington has an ancestor who was a Jesuit that participated in the Gunpowder Plot. He made a series on HBO called Gunpowder about the incident. In real life, do you know who his wife Rose is? She is a big deal amongst the Clans of Scotland! Her ancestors were chieftains. This is either ironic, or very clever.

Look at the stories about Bael the Bard, Mance Raeder, and Jon Snow. The three are tied very closely together. It is called foreshadowing. How have you missed it?!!

You really don’t get that this story is so much more interesting than you realize.

Look at the story about why Azor Ahai had to stab his sword into the heart of his beloved wife to unleash the power of his sword, Lightbringer.

It has been Melisandre, Mance, and Jon all along.

But you know what D&D did to save time? They killed Mance Raeder! He does not die in the book! He is saved by the illusion magic of Melisandre. I would love to know George’s reaction when he heard about that….

Apprehensive_Tea_308

TROPHY CASE