Human history changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball and weighed only 83.6 kg. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. Moreover, it was the first step of humankind into space exploration

We all know that the ongoing Parliamentary elections that are ending in 29 days today, December 3rd, will only see, in the current provisions of article 33-3 of our Constitution, candidates over 40 years of age, potentially accepted as Members of the first Parliament in the History of Asgardia.

Many concerned Asgardians think that this age should be lowered. Some say, to 35. Some others think it should be lowered to 30. Others yet, think 25 would be suitable. And last, there’s me with many other people, who think that 18yo should be the standard, as we believe that a person should be judged by their abilities, their capacities, their dedication and expertise, their behavior, their words and ideas, but not by their age. I’ve expounded on this in my previous blog post and campaign profile .

Yesterday, I posted on the official Discord server that there currently were only 51 eligible candidates who might be making it to Parliament, having the correct age, their exact official name below their profile picture, and a real picture of themselves.

Well, today, it is 50.

Fifty!

We are far from being able to fill up the 150 seats in the Parliament!

Let's have a look at the detail of it. As of today:

Current stats if allowing all eligible candidates 40yo or over:

#of eligible    Language        # of        # of seats

candidates    District        seats    not filled up

25                 District 1         71        (-46)

0                 District 2        15        (-15)

3                District 3        13        (-10)

7                District 4        15        (-8)

2                District 5        7        (-5)

2                District 6        5        (-3)

3                District 7        5        (-2)

3                District 8        3        (filled)

1                District 9        3        (-2)

2                District 10        2        (filled)

0                District 11        1        (-1)

0                District 12        1        (-1)

2                District 13        9        (-7)

50                                   150       -100

As one can see, if the elections were to end today, we would only have two Districts (Arabic and German) able to cover all their assigned seats for the Parliament. All other Districts would not be able to fill their assigned seats up. So, should we lower the minimum age to 35 then?

Let’s see how that would do:

Current stats if allowing all eligible candidates 35yo or over:

#of eligible    Language        # of        # of seats

candidates    District        seats    not filled up

31                 District 1         71        (-40)

0                 District 2        15        (-15)

5                District 3        13        (-8)

10                District 4        15        (-5)

2                District 5        7        (-5)

3                District 6        5        (-2)

5                District 7        5        (filled)

3                District 8        3        (filled)

2                District 9        3        (filled)

2                District 10        2        (filled)

0                District 11        1        (-1)

0                District 12        1        (-1)

3                District 13        9        (-6)

66                                   150       -83

That’s a little better: now that would be 4 Districts (Arabic, German, Russian and Portuguese) able to cover all their assigned seats for the Parliament with eligible candidates.

Let’s see how that would look like for 30:

Current stats if allowing all eligible candidates 30yo or over:

#of eligible    Language        # of        # of seats

candidates    District        seats    not filled up

43                 District 1         71        (-28)

1                 District 2        15        (-14)

6                District 3        13        (-7)

12                District 4        15        (-3)

4                District 5        7        (-3)

5                District 6        5        (filled)

5                District 7        5        (filled)

3                District 8        3        (filled)

5                District 9        3        (filled)

3                District 10        2        (filled)

0                District 11        1        (-1)

1                District 12        1        (filled)

5                District 13        9        (-4)

93                                   150        -60

There is again not much difference: from 4 to 6 Districts (Arabic, German, Russian, Portuguese, French and Japanese). That would still leave most of the Districts with not enough eligible candidates to fill up all assigned seats.

Let’s see if 25 would do it:

Current stats if allowing all eligible candidates 25yo or over:

#of eligible    Language        # of        # of seats

candidates    District        seats    not filled up

64                 District 1         71        (-7)

3                 District 2        15        (-12)

10                District 3        13        (-3)

15                District 4        15        (filled)

9                District 5        7        (filled)

6                District 6        5        (filled)

5                District 7        5        (filled)

4                District 8        3        (filled)

5                District 9        3        (filled)

3                District 10        2        (filled)

1                District 11        1        (filled)

1                District 12        1        (filled)

5                District 13        9        (-4)

131                                   150       (-26)

That’s much better: we would only have 4 Districts with the number of their seats not filled (English, Chinese, Turkish and Other).

Last, what would the result be, as of the data of today, if we were to allow every eligible candidate, 18yo or over, to run for the Parliament?

Current stats if allowing all eligible candidates 18yo or over:

#of eligible    Language        # of        # of seats

candidates    District        seats    not filled up

75                 District 1         71        (filled)

4                 District 2        15        (-11)

14                District 3        13        (filled)

18                District 4        15        (filled)

10                District 5        7        (filled)

6                District 6        5        (filled)

5                District 7        5        (filled)

4                District 8        3        (filled)

5                District 9        3        (filled)

3                District 10        2        (filled)

1                District 11        1        (filled)

2                District 12        1        (filled)

7                District 13        9        (-2)

154                                   150       (-13)

Wow, so close to making it!!
We would still be missing 13 eligible candidates, but we would have 11 of our 13 Districts covered!
Only District 2 (Chinese) and District 13 (Other) would still need to find eligible candidates.

That means with the age changed to 18, we would be so much closer to a successful election (filling up 139 seats) than we currently are (filling up only 50 seats).

Today, will end our first poll organised by Civic-Asgardia on this topic and with it, your chance to voice your opinion. I let you go and cast your vote if you haven’t yet: http://community.asgardia.com/polls/ and if you already did vote for the poll, please leave a comment below or join us on the Discord server to discuss with the community about how to make this current election a success!

[Yes. However sad it may be, we only currently have 154 eligible candidates. Once more, to be eligible, a candidate needs to have put a real picture of themselves, their full name as it appears on the legal ID they have provided on their candidate profile and they must have written *a real platform*. All the profiles that don’t comply with these three points will plainly be removed from the elections for not abiding by the rules set by the Election Committee.

So, if you realise that the candidate you have voted for is actually NOT eligible, either give your vote to another eligible candidate or WAKE THEM UP!! There is still time but... the clock is ticking!]

VOTE FOR THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS:
https://asgardia.space/en/elections/ and click on "Election Statistics". You will find me there too! ;-)

Decree 2 (click here) from March 6, 2017 gave birth to our Asgardian Calendar (click here) . It is a solar calendar, composed of 13 months of 28 days each which equals to 13x28= 364 leaving the last day to be called " YEAR DAY " .

Article 3 of Decree 2 states:
« The final day of the year, which coincides with December 31, 2017 in the Gregorian calendar, does not have a date and does not belong to any month. It is called “Year Day”. »

It is indeed a day to be celebrated as a special day for all Asgardians!

Together with our "Asgardian National Unity Day" (June 18th, Gregorian Calendar) and with "Asgardia's Birthday" (October 12th, Gregorian Calendar), " Year Day " is an equally important National Holiday for Asgardians!

This year, in the Asgardian community of Kuala Lumpur, we improvised a last minute meeting for the occasion, coordinating with WhatsApp and Facebook, just taking a one hour pause from our very busy schedules of the last hours of the year.
Some of us went fighting the heavy trafic, swimming in the crowds in the local public transport to finally make it to the most emblematic place of the city: KLCC, just before the fireworks show began, just to take a picture that will remain in the historical archives of our Nation, sharing a moment together!
Yes, despite the thousands of people around us waiting for the show to start, we managed to unfold our Asgardian banner and got a few pictures with it before it was time to say goodbye and all go back to our families and friends in preparation for the last evening of the year 2018 and, for us Asgardians, the last day of Year 0002 !!

HAPPY YEAR DAY EVERYONE!!

And you Asgardian friends reading this blog post, how did you celebrate Year Day 0002?

Media outlets from around the globe reported on Asgardia and its plans for the future that were revealed at the press conference in Hong Kong on 13 June 2017.

CNN writes that “(g)oing forward, the Asgardia team hopes to create habitable platforms in low-earth orbits -- the first 100 to 200 miles (161 to 321 kilometers) from space, which is also where the ISS is located. The first human flight to this location is projected to take place in eight years' time.”

Asgardia’s Head of Nation Igor Ashurbeyli told CNN: "I was interested in doing something unusual that nobody else was doing," Ashurbeyli told CNN. "It was my dream to create an independent country."
“We want to give equal opportunities to everyone who has a mind, who can do something, for their protection,” he said. “Our real home is not the house or the city where we were born. (Our) home is planet Earth, (and) we want to protect it.”

CNET called Asgardia “… a legal, technological and philosophical experiment that declares an orbiting server to be a sovereign country”. It reported that “Asgardia-1 brings the conceptual country one step closer to that goal…”

Space.com wrote that Ashurbeyli “…hopes to create a planetary-defense constellation that will help protect against asteroids, solar flares and human-made space debris; this satellite is just the first step.” The Space.com story was picked up by NBC News.

"Sixty years after the launch of the first-ever artificial satellite, Sputnik, our own space satellite, Asgardia-1, will mark the beginning of a new space era, taking our citizens into space in virtual form, at first," Ashurbeyli told Space.com.

South China Morning Post reported that “…although almost all Asgardia’s activities are conducted online, its leader insisted the country – with its own calendar system, public holidays, and soon, national flag and anthem – was more than a computer game.”

Ashurbeyli is quoted as saying “I’m an engineer, and I’m used to seeing the results of my work during my lifetime. I’m sure that anything coming from Asgardia that we’ll design will also come to life during our lifetime.”

Overall, almost 150 publications worldwide picked up the story.

955/5000

(English Version)

Through this article, I thank all the Asgardians, from all corners of Planet Earth, who cast their vote of confidence in me, providing a very expressive vote on my campaign platform.

I was elected parliamentary by district 9, and I will honor the votes received by all of you.

We are now entering a period of new votes, in a partial way, to complete the parliamentary seats. We count on the votes of all, to conclude the elections of Asgardia, and finally, put to work the government of Asgardia.

Enter the platforms of the candidates, analyze their proposals, and give their votes to the candidates who will best represent them in the government of Asgardia.

Here is my thanks to all the Asgardians, and here I record my promise to be the voice of all the Asgardians, within the Parliament of the Kingdom of Asgardia.

Best Regards

Jean Martinelli
Parliamentary - District 9

_______________________________________________________________

(Portuguese version)

Venho por meio deste artigo, agradecer a todos os asgardianos, de todos os cantos do Planeta Terra, que depositaram seu voto de confiança em mim, proporcionando uma votação muito expressiva em minha plataforma de campanha.

Fui eleito parlamentar, pelo distrito 9, e farei jus aos votos recebidos por todos vocês.

Estamos entrando agora, num período de novas votações, de forma parcial, para completar as vagas no parlamento. Contamos com os votos de todos, para concluirmos as eleições de Asgardia, e finalmente, colocarmos para funcionar o governo de Asgardia.

Entrem nas plataformas dos candidatos, analisem suas propostas, e deem seus votos aos candidatos que melhor irão lhes representar no governo de Asgardia.

Fica aqui registrado o meu agradecimento a todos os Asgardianos, e registro aqui a minha promessa de ser a voz de todos os Asgardianos, dentro do Parlamento do Reino de Asgardia.

Best Regards

Jean Martinelli
Parlamentar - Distrito 9

So I wake up this morning to this article: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/3306890/humanity-is-already-losing-control-of-artificial-intelligence-and-it-could-spell-disaster-for-our-species/

And I have to say, it is very upsetting.  In short, the article exposes how these "geniuses" are creating neural networks to identify diseases and to automate driving -- among other things which will make you, human, obsolete.

They are finding that the neural networks are performing excessively well, the problem? The neural networks are so complex that researchers have no idea how they are learning and what the process behind AI decision-making from their unsupervised learning (I'm assuming it is unsupervised... ) actually is. I mean, holy c**p! Bro, if you don't know what you're doing, don't let it loose...  Which seems to be what they are doing.  This, coupled with that "terminator" thing being developed by Boston Dynamics...  I mean, I hate to be a pessimist, but...

How can we have such strong confidence in artificial intelligence when we don't even know what's happening under the hood.  Strange times ahead, folks.

Hello all. I wish you a creative and productive service.I can understand that we are not fully organised to work together as a Parliament yet (as we' ll wait for the rest 50 members to be elected).  Nevertheless, it would be really helpfull and effective if we'd be able to discuss in a common forum. I suggest to create a new thread where  auto translation will be possible. Due to our multilingual synthesis, we could deal with the different issues and try to find solutions. moreover, it could be a niceway to get to know each other.

I hope you'll consider this idea.

I look forward to your response and participation!

Best regards, Olga.