In control theory, backstepping is a technique developed circa 1990 by Petar V. Kokotovic, and others for designing stabilizing controls for a special class of nonlinear dynamical systems. These systems are built from subsystems that radiate out from an irreducible subsystem that can be stabilized using some other method. Because of this recursive structure, the designer can start the design process at the known-stable system and “back out” new controllers that progressively stabilize each outer subsystem. The process terminates when the final external control is reached. Hence, this process is known as backstepping.
The hype and international drama surrounding the latest White House meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy has caused emotions of many people to boil. Including my own. Though naturally I cannot speak for others, I have within the past twenty-four hours come to a radical reversal of my initial thoughts. Oddly enough my change of opinion has been prompted by social media. I know that will immediately prompt its own adverse reaction; but that too has become a source of different opinion. Social media for all its many faults – not the least of which include the publicity of falsehoods and intentionally devious distractions – is the medium by which much of the population of many countries relates to one another. Given the mounting objections to so-called press coverage through all the standard vehicles such as CNN, MSNBC and FOX NEWS, it is questionable whether they improve on what is being fed to the public. What has captured my attention in particular with what I have heard on TikTok in the past twenty-four hours are videos of qualified people addressing, not political positions so much as historical accounts. Some of these accounts are favourable to the American position, others are not.
What however emerges from these accounts by any standard of assessment is the inutility of human beings from across the globe arguing incessantly with one another. The conflict between China and America has descended to a battle for trade priority, motivated at the moment largely by the rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence technology (which by the way China is currently winning hands down). The American alliance with Russia is being sold as a necessity to counter a growing communion between Russia and China, which would in turn have further adverse results for America’s interest in fossil fuels, etc. if controlled by the two largest countries in the world. Meanwhile, back to Zelenskyy, the Russian position is being defended as resistance to the invasive expansion of NATO (and American missiles) towards Russian borders.
Which brings me to the heart of my reconsideration of these conflicts; namely, none of them has been worth the loss of lives and capital. Trump, in spite of his obvious “bully” behaviour is no more accountable for his poor social manners than Zelenskyy is to be diminished for being a former comedian. Each of us, whatever we may be, is a reflection of our past. We cannot escape it. If you or I were born in Ukraine, Russia, China or USA we would quite likely be disposed to favour our national identity. Furthermore if we were to engage in civilized social conventions with people of different nationality than our own, it is quite likely we’d get along. Removed from the illogical differences cultivated by the money interests so often peculiar to political agenda, we might have far different and more agreeable disposition to one another. Knowing this, it falls upon the masses to do their part to avoid condescension to these hurtful self-interests in lieu of popularizing global cooperation and universal advancement. And don’t tell me it can’t be done. International boundaries are pure fiction. Humanity is the clarifying commonalty.
As an aside, I was dismayed to watch a video by a well-known American actor denigrating Trump in the most vulgar terms, criticizing Trump for example for having said he wanted to punch someone in the face, to which the actor added, “I’d like to punch HIM in the face!” That sequel caused me enormous and instant anxiety; it is now the bluntness and cruelty of Tit for Tat, no longer any possible legitimacy of TikTok.
In conclusion, whatever the interpretation of the behaviour of Trump or Zelenskyy, they haven’t much more credibility than two boys arguing on a school yard. If, as each of them is won’t to assert, they are highly positioned representatives of their nation, neither of them succeeded to accomplish the greater objective of addressing the meaningless conflict in the first instance. Say what you will about either of them, they allowed themselves to be overtaken by personal argument and contradiction of the other. And we saw where that got them. It likewise behooves each of us, as the bystanders, to rise above similar action and consequences. It is irrelevant who’s to blame. We are past that. There are better things to be done; and, until we do so, we’re caught in the murky past.