Made VS Born

I just saw Transformers 4 Age of Extinction. Minor spoilers so beware.

Lockdown swoops down upon Optimus Prime, tells him that he wasn't born, that he was made, and that his creators want him back. Lockdown takes Prime down, disarms him, drags him back to his bad-ass prison space ship, and locks him in with his other trophies.

Lockdown makes a distinction between being made and being born. He isn't the only one on this side of the camp. I've seen numerous other characters and people make this distinction between made and born. Most of the time, being made is seen as inferior to being born, though I do not understand the reasons behind this, nor do I see a big difference between the two meanings.

Are we humans made? Are we born? Born. Made. Made. Born. Seems like a minor difference to me. Semantic games is all they are.

Giving Away Ideas for Free

I have just finished reading Accelerando by Charles Stross. The character, Manfred Macx, has left quite an impression on me. I was particularly impressed by what he does for a living in the first part of the book. He goes around making other people rich. He gives away ideas. In return he has a high enough reputation to be able to get almost everything he needs free of charge. The people acknowledge his contributions to society. He works with friends to chase down outrageous ideas and make them a reality. He pitches business plans to people, all for free. He asks for nothing in return, no strings attached. It’s said that he has 12 interesting ideas before he even sits down for breakfast in the morning. The moment I read these descriptions of him, I was in awe. I was basking in the awesomeness of this brilliant individual.

I started wondering if this sort of lifestyle was possible. If it was feasible for someone to follow in Manfred’s footsteps. Could someone work outside the boundaries of the modern economic system? Could an individual, or even a business entity, free itself from the tyranny of money, and still be an agent of change in the world. Could it still be a force strong enough to enact its will and propagate it through the entire social and technological landscape? I have no answer at the moment, but I’ll be working on it.

Me Extension

I hear Microsoft is coming out with Cortana, a personal assistant one step closer to Samantha from Her. I think it’s clear that within the next decade personal AI assistants, or maybe even AI friends, will become a big part of our lives. Hmmmm. An AI friend.

Imagine your AI “friend”, I’ll call her Giminee, using processing power from an IT company’s cloud computing infrastructure that is connected to your smartphone, and a wireless one-sided ear piece connected to your phone. You wake up in the morning to a good morning from Giminee over the house speaker. You listen to a personalized morning news as you take a shower and eat breakfast, information condensed and distilled by Giminee over the night. She tells you about today’s schedule, what the weather is like, along with some small talk. You put on your ear piece as you walk out the door and Giminee is by your side wherever you go. Day after day your relationship grows until you feel like you and Giminee are one. Not two separate entities. Giminee is you and you are Giminee. Giminee is just you, extended. Just like the way your phone is you, extended.