August 2009

try { _uacct = “UA-10608603-1”; urchinTracker(); } catch(err) {}My last blog post triggered a florid response. An unknown commenter with the handle “Federale” described the post, “Immigration Indifference – The Adjudicator’s Curse,” as “nothing more than immigration bar propoganda (sic).” Federale’s comment disputed my claim that fear of fraud influences the actions of Center Adjudications…

I’ve toured a number of the USCIS regional service centers. In all of them, rows upon rows of immigration file folders, stacked high overhead in warehouse-sized rooms, are shuttled hither and thither, ultimately to be doled out to adjudicators sitting in Dilbert-style cubicles and intently facing their computer screens while reading paper files. The job…

Raymond Kurzweil, a scientist and futurist, predicts a new epoch he calls the “Singularity.” This is the point along the evolutionary path where the line between human beings and technology is crossed, where quasi-human/quasi-machine beings possess far more brainpower and longevity than mere mortals. As Kurzweil puts it:

One can make a strong case

…