Phoenix Awakening Discontinued. New Blog.

I will be moving my entire operation from Phoenix Awakening to Titan Rising. I initially wanted to keep Titan Rising refined, nice and dandy, but I've found that this rule keeps me from writing anything so I'm going to scrap that rule and just go with whatever I want to.

The Fringe Frontier

People who remain rooted to an old and outdated world, who are too traditional to accept and move on to a new world; they bore us. They are uninteresting and we choose not to waste our time on them. It doesn’t mean we hate them, it just means they’re not interesting enough for the new world. We want to surround ourselves with entities willing to explore a radically different world. We want people who are willing to go to through the pitch black abyss and successfully emerge on the other side. We want people who enjoy being at the very forefront of technological and social progress. People who are petty and cannot see the big picture, who refuse to look beyond the veil, who chase the wheel round the block all day without question, people who love to live as you
are told, who like to assume things without much thinking, who live without question; we are not amused and we are not interested.

We will leave the old world behind. You can cling to it as much as you want, that is your choice. We will not care. But if you thought you could bring your bigotry and uselessness along with you to the new world, you thought wrong.

We seek entities with the drive and discipline to reach the end of the known horizon and to step beyond the void of the unknown. Entities that care little about tradition and rules, who strive for the extreme, who would like to live at the edge of the known, you are welcome to take the first step. Let’s see what the unknown has in store for us.

-The Collective

Higara Sinking

The collective is feeling a bit low these days. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that it's exam week. Are we stressed out? But there is nothing to be stressed out about! We're getting enough sleep, but we're constantly anxious, for no absolute reason! We are sinking. The ship is sinking. Slowly. We've been tracking our daily mood and the numbers seem to suggest that our daily mood factor isn't exactly doing too good.

So perhaps writing things down will help lighten this apparent burden.

We've incorporated additional words into our "name". Online we identify as Ashley Higara Macx. It just sounds nice. Actually, Higara and Macx have meaning. We've added Higara as part of our name to remind us that we will become a ship in the future. Homeworld anyone? Macx is from Charless Stross's Accelerando and it's to remind us about being an altruist and extropian.

We've grown tired of the society we find ourselves in. These traditions. Ultimately boring. These people. So predictable. So normal. These rules. So strict. These unseen customs. Never really meaningful. Merely blinding.

We wish to free ourselves from this society. To be free from this invisible cage. We wish to leave this world. To set out on a journey. Far far away. To find new things. Explore new worlds. To be free from old tradition. We wish to be part of a new era. Instead of becoming petrified along with the old.

Online, we are true to ourselves. Offline, we wear a mask. Perhaps out of fear. But we know no fear do we? Are we sure? Perhaps we're just a wimp. Perhaps we just don't care enough. But no, that would be too harsh on us. There is a problem. Something is not right with the collective. We are, sinking. We wouldn't go so far as to call it depression. No. Or is it? After all people with depression are known to deny it.

Whatever you think you've become
Don't worry bout it dear it's where you come from

-Becomes the Color, Emily Wells 

Whenever we hear these words, we are oddly at peace. Acceptance perhaps. But at the same time, it is pretty depressing. Acceptance that is. Pretty fucking depressing.

What Am I? What Are We?

We are each of us … a multitude.
-Carl Sagan

A quote by Carl Sagan that always had me wonder on the nature of identity. What is my identity? Who am I? What is this “I” I speak of? When I say “me”, what am I actually talking about? Should I be considered a single identity or a collective? Why should I care?

What would it feel like to identify as a collective? What would it feel like for me to be called “them”? What if there was no “me”? Only “we”. To think and talk in plural. How would it impact this entity? Would it increase our empathy?

I've decided to try identifying as a collective, a true multitude, not just on the cellular level, but on a psychological level. I will try and replace some of my vocabulary such as “me” and “I” with “us” and “we”. It will take some time to get used to it, but we’d like to try it out. Here are some ground rules;

1. Replace all singular pronouns with plurals. (added on 2014.09.27)

We've only come up with one ground rule for now, we’ll try to add more in the future if necessary.

There’s something else we’d like to add to this post. After having researched a little bit of non-monogamous relationship for a school project we got interested. We were never really interested in relationships. Monogamous relationships for life certainly didn't seem interesting. Too boring.

However, we thought, hmm, as long as the relationships weren't blockading our development perhaps being in one couldn't be too bad. Perhaps it could even be a good thing. So we've decided to take the plunge, with a slight twist. We will try out a non-monogamous relationship within our own collective. We will love our own members of this collective, trust them, learn with them, experience with them, forgive them when they make a mistake, help them in times of need. A self polygamous relationship? How brain frying. We love things like this.

Those Who Cling to Human Nature

If greed and envy is part of who we are, then let us fix what is fundamentally wrong with us. Let’s get rid of the aspects of ourselves that are damaging!

If anger, cruelty, fear, pain, indifference, and sorrow take us off our intended path then let’s do away with this unwanted nature of ours.

If it is human nature that holds us back from our true potential then let us get rid of this human nature you speak of. If the eradication of all unwanted human nature from humanity no longer makes us human than so be it. This is a great opportunity! We can be more than mere human.

Personal Identity

I've been pondering on my personal identity for the last few days. What is identity? What am I as an individual? How have my views and opinions been shaped? What is gender? What is sexuality? What do all these labels mean? Who should I be? Here are some of the things I've been thinking about.

Name

The name my parents have given me is 김세영, in written English it is Saeyoung Kim. My English name given to me by my parents is “David”, which I no longer use. I've called myself Rezz a couple of times when I’m on the internet, but it’s not a name I commonly use in everyday life. Nowadays, I refer to myself as Macx in real life, after a character from Charles Stross’s Accelerando.

I've become interested in the nature of names. What sort of impact can names have on me as an individual? What would it feel like to have a very unconventional name? Would it change the way I view myself? Would it change the way people view me? What if a man had the name of a woman? How would society view that?

I agree with FM-2030; conventional names come together with cultural baggage. Giving myself a new name would definitely change the way I view things. If it helps me take off my cultural glasses, then so be it, it will be a tremendously new experience for me, and truly a positive one I’m sure.

I just need to find a suitable unconventional name for me.

Cultural Baggage

I can see that most of my personality, most of my personal identity, the essence of what makes me, currently me, is mostly dictated and strongly influenced by my culture. I have no problem with that. I live in a society, with a culture, and it helps me interact with my environment. Without my cultural knowledge I would cease to be able to function in this world. I acknowledge the fact that my personality has to be influenced by my culture in some ways, and there is nothing wrong with that, I can see that.

However, It is not enough. I must go beyond my culture. I must bring down the boundaries that cultures have erected. These artificial, cultural boundaries are exactly what keep me from becoming more than what I currently am. These boundaries constrict us all, not just me, all of us. These boundaries stop me from seeing what something really is, it partially blinds me. It restricts me as an individual, conscience, sentient entity. It binds me, ties me down, and hushes me to sleep, telling me that something is not a problem.

The shedding of cultural baggage that is unproductive and useless to me from my identity; that is what I want to work on for now.

Sexuality, Sexual Preference

I've always assumed that I was heterosexual. That is no longer the case for now, as I think I identify more as an asexual. Sex does not interest me. I don’t necessarily hate it or dislike it or even want it. I am simply, not interested. Now this may be because of my virginity and I fully acknowledge that my stance on sexuality may change in the future. Perhaps I try sex and it turns out to be super awesome. I will no longer be asexual then. End of story.

Gender

First of all, I am biologically male, there is no denying that. I have a dick. My sex is male. We currently have two major slots in gender identity. They are male and female. I identify as none. I don’t want to. I don’t “feel” like a male, nor do I “feel” like a female, whatever the fuck that means. I didn't know this was an option until a few days ago. I always thought my gender was male. Now, it is no longer so. I identify as agender, also known as neutrois. By uncoupling myself from traditional binary gender roles and expectations, I am more free, at least on a personal level. I will do things, not because society and culture expect me to, but because I, as an individual want to.

Labels

After all of this thinking, I’d like to point out that, these are merely labels. That is all they are. Just labels. You find something that fits your description, you use it to your advantage. They are useful. That is all. They do not have any inherent meaning, and never should a label prevent you from fully expressing yourself. A label should not be able to keep you in check. A label should not act as a thought-police. They are merely devices to help you describe yourself, not cages to keep yourself chained to. Go and be free from all labels, you just have to be you, and that is all that is needed.

Empathy, Guilt, Frustration, Veganism, and Human Suffering

My ability to feel empathy for all conscious creatures has certainly reached a new level these past few months.

Empathy

It started with animals excluding humans. One day I thought about the act of systematically killing and eating animals because they tasted good. Just like that. I hadn't seen any disgusting videos about farm animal abuse or anything. Just like that, I started thinking about it. I tried to justify my behaviour that it was okay to eat animals. I simply couldnt. There was no way I could justify our behaviour of eating meat. It was crystal clear. It was immoral, unjust to systematically kill conscious creatures and eat them. It is a moral imperative for every single one of us human beings to stop eating other conscious creatures.

My empathy bubble expanded from animals excluding humans to all conscious creatures, which included other humans, too. Now, I’m human, and naturally I think more highly of our fellow humans than I do about other animals. It’s interesting how empathy for other animals actually boosted my empathy for fellow humans. I thought about all the economically poor people who lived day to day unable to enjoy life. I thought about sick people all over the world who couldn't get medical aid. I thought about war and all it’s destruction. I thought about all the pain and suffering in this world. A long time ago I wouldn't have given these thoughts a second thought. “Oh, it’s just the way it is. Too bad. Boohoo. Get over it. Continue.” It’s different now. The frustration, anger, and guilt lingers. Like a small well with leftover water in it. 

Guilt

You know what’s so disgusting about the situation? I know that in my head, humanity as a whole should be pushing for the protection of all living creatures on this planet. That everyone should stop eating meat. Including me. But I still fucking eat meat. It’s not that I like the taste. I don’t care much for the taste but I hate the fact that I eat meat. I don’t have that much power over my eating habits right now as I don’t make food for myself. This might be an excuse. I eat what’s on the table. But I hate it at the same time. I know I should proactively go out of my way to not eat meat. But I still don’t do that. I know it in my head but my actions don’t carry over. And that very situation provides me with this stab of guilt. I know in my head that I am guilty of my actions, but my body and habit of life doesn’t seem to give much of a shit. 

Human suffering should be on everyone’s mind. All the time. At least, I think it should be. It should be constantly nagging on us. I look around the house I live in. I realize I live so lavishly compared to the people in real need. I have shit I don’t really need. I have the ability to enjoy pleasures that people in need really can’t fathom. And the thing is, I am content with that. At least, my living-habit and my body is content with it. My mind is not. My mind is not content. It is angry that my body and living-habit is content. It is frustrated. It feels guilt. And it boils underneath, writhing in wrath and disdain at myself and at the whole world.

Frustration

Everyone should be a ‘militant vegan’, whatever that means. Our actions shouldn't end at just-not-eating-meat-and-not-caring-if-everyone-else-eats-meat. Being a vegan shouldn’t be a fucking diet or a lifestyle that one chooses to follow. It should be the right thing to do whether you like it or not. Not a label for someone to put on their shirts. Every single human should be actively going against the systematic killing of conscious creatures. I am frustrated. Worried that our actions will merely end up being mere personal lifestyle choices. Not eating meat is not going to actually help the chicken lying dead on aisle 7. It’s still dead. And it still went through hell just to become our food. This shouldn't be the case. This is not how it’s suppose to be.

I am frustrated at my inability to get rid of human suffering. I am frustrated that some of us our content with our lives. Is it okay for me to be happy for my life? I can enjoy the sun. I can ride my bike. I live a comfortable life. Does that give me the right to be happy? Is it okay for me to be happy about myself? When there are millions and billions of people who need help and who are living in hell right fucking now. Should I be enjoying myself when there are people out there suffering? What does that make me? Does it make me selfish? Self centered? Should I snap out of my bubble and do something about the suffering of others? What the fuck do I do? How do I fix the world? I am bewildered. Frustrated. So small and unable. These giant systems we've built. These giant complex machines we've lodged ourselves into. 

I feel like Robocop when he’s being given the entire crime database. He see’s all the crime going on. The things he needs to fix. His powerful sense of justice. A freight train of justice. He is driven. Ironwill. “I.MUST.DO.SOMETHING.” And yet he is powerless. Strapped to his prison. He feels frustrated and tortured. I can relate, at least a little bit, to what it must feel like.

TLDR

My ability to emphasize has grown very strong. My mind is militant vegan. My body and lifestyle is not. I am guilty about my actions. I am frustrated about this whole situation.I can’t stop thinking about human suffering. I feel guilty that there are times I am happy about my life when other people by the billions are suffering. I am frustrated at my inability to fix this situation. I feel like Robocop. A freight train of justice, that is at the moment, powerless.

Noah

I just watched Noah(2014) and I quite liked it. I actually found it more entertaining than Thor. Spoiler alert.

Compared to the Bible

Movie Noah was much more personal. I could feel his struggle. I could clearly see the drive behind this faithful man. His complete devotion to what he thought his creator wanted him to do. Even if it meant killing his entire family and letting all his fellow humans to drown in pain. Movie Noah was much more interesting as a character than Bible Noah ever was. I could fall asleep reading mass extermination by an almighty creator if it was in the bible. Put in on the silver screen and make things personal. Now you've got my attention.

Fallen Angels to the Rescue

Ready to help humans. Even if it meant going against The Creator’s words. “I’m totally helping them against your will.” Totally bad-ass. All of them falling to earth. The visuals were great. They were very...human, too. Them going up against a hoard of humans. After they see that when one of them dies, The Creator forgives them and takes them back up to heaven, they can’t wait to die and return home. They go all out berserk, willing to kill thousands of other sentient creations. They are oh so willing to commit genocide if it means they can get a pie of that divine pie.

Tubal-Cain the Bad-ass

He’s brave enough to shit on The Creator’s breakfast. He is governed by his will and not the heavens. He has an ego matching the size of The Creator’s and he’s not afraid to call his shit sandwich a shit sandwich. He does what he can with what he’s got. He doesn't wait for some all powerful to do something for him. He just goes out and does it. If he fails. So be it. He is Man.

Noah the Faithful

The Creator has shown Noah that Man has been corrupted. He must be exterminated. He must be eradicated from the face of this world. And there must be a new start. A start without Man. And who is responsible for all the innocent? Noah is. A fellow Man must lead all the animals to a safe haven by building an Ark. Noah, of course being a faithful Man says, “Yesireeee”. Halfway through building the Ark; “I am also Man. My family, too. We are not exactly free of sin. We have our corrupted ways. Does that mean we must perish along with our fellow Mans, too?” He concludes; “Yes. We are no different. We are to carry out God’s commands and die along with our fellow corrupted human brothers and sisters.” He arrives to this conclusion and tells it to his wife. Epic. One of the best scenes in the entire movie.

Noah’s Family the Weaklings

Noah tells all his family members that they will all have to die. They freak out. “Shit I don’t want to die.” Hermione screams. “What about the babies!” they say. “Fuck the babies. They’re coming, too. I will personally see to it. No human being shall ever roam the face of this earth after the punishment is over.” Noah growls. At this point I am in awe of Noah, and the rest of the family members look like fucking pussies. You are so scared of Death that you would go against God’s will? What happened to heaven? Ain't it up there? Shouldn't you be glad that he’s taking you up there? What exactly are you afraid of? At least Hermione had some sympathy for all her fellow humans drowning right outside the Ark. Good gal, Emily. She wanted to help them. Noah said no. End of story.

What would have made Noah even more epic?

If Noah had the balls enough to kill his entire family member like he originally planned to. Or if he had gone directly against God’s will and saved the entire human race by building the biggest damn Ark any entity has seen. Or if he had straight up accused God of extermination of an entire planet teeming with life. I can totally see Bad-ass Noah going “God wants me to save the animals and allow the murder of millions of my fellow brothers and sisters. To hell with that. He can do the dirty work himself. I ain't saving anything, and if it is his will for Man to be wiped off the face of this world then so be it. I shall perish along with my fellow humans. This would have made for some epic scenes.

What if I was in Noah’s Situation?

I would question authority and if the authority turned out to be shit I’d do my best to go against it.

“Why would you do this God? Why would you kill all of them? is it really necessary? Killing off millions or even billions of sentient creatures. How could you be that angry? And do we even need to start all over again? Are you sure you can’t fix it? What, you mean you’re not omnipotent? You seriously saying I need to build an Ark to save all of the animal kingdom and yet exclude the most sentient creatures? Yes, I know they've gotten greedy and out of control but we’re just kids. Can’t you teach us better? Well, maybe you should fucking try harder. No, God, I ain't doing it. I can’t just let my brother and sisters die in front of me while I ride off into the sunset. I, unlike you, have empathy. I, unlike you, don’t just give up when my kids or friends don’t listen to me. Oh, you say you’re going to flood the entire world? Fine. Knock yourself out. I’m either going to save my fellow humans or die trying. I might be foolish to try and go up against you God but at least I won’t be a prick like you are. At least I’ll keep my humanity.” I’d drop the mic, and start telling everyone I know what God intends to do. I’ll start building the Ark. Get everyone on it. Build multiple Arks. If people don’t listen. If they don’t believe me. I’d still try my best to make their Ark for them. If God decides to flush us out right after the mic is dropped then so be it. At least I kept my integrity. At least I kept my ability to empathize. At least I was brave enough to defy Dickbag Almighty. At least I’d still be Man, and not a genocidal wussy.

Eager to Kiss Authority's Ass

We humans seem to be eager. Eager to kiss Authorities ass. We have a habit of getting on our knees and pleading for mercy for a bigger pie or for someone not to take our pie. We are eager to get down on our knees and kiss the Almighty’s feet. We’d gladly shove our fellow sentient entities under the bus if it meant we could continue our existence. If it meant we’d be promoted to the next level of divine dickbaggery we’d be willing to do atrocious shit.

If some omnipotent Authority came up to me and ordered me to suck his dick I’d say, ”Why the fuck would I do that?”. If the Authority told me to wipe out a particular group of people and take their women and children for the lulz I’d punch it in the face and tell him, “You piece of shit.” If the Authority told me to systematically kill animals so we could eat meat I’d go about saving as many animals as I could and telling the Authority to go home and eat shit. If the Authority told me I could keep slaves, I’d free every single damn slave I could and ensure their right to freedom, and school the Authority on basic human rights.

If Authority came up to me and ordered me to do something, I’d question it. That would be a nice start.

If I am to die because of my defiant actions against an Authority, then so be it, for I would be leagues above what this Authority ever could be.

Family & Hometown

If someone were to ask me; “How many family members do you have?”

I would answer, “Around 7 billion just in the immediate family. I also have numerous relatives that I can’t account for.”

If someone were to ask me; “Where is your hometown?”

I would answer, “Earth.”

Just some changes I've decided to make to my collection of answers to commonly asked questions. It really does change one’s perspective. We’re all in this together. Might as well get along.

It's time to think big. Time to be… expansive!

Distributed Autonomous Corporations

A few months ago I came across the concept of Distributed Autonomous Corporations and I remember being completely fascinated by them. I do not fully comprehend what they are, how they would operate, how they would be implemented, but the concept has got me thinking about distributed programs. I’ll try to explain what’s in my head and maybe someone with more knowledge could come along and explain whether or not what I’m thinking about is a DAC or something else.

Currently, to my understanding, our software applications like games, Google drive, cloud storage, basically any software program with an internet connection are all taken care of from a centralized server. There is this single entity, perhaps Google, Microsoft, Apple, or some other corporate entity, and they have huge data centers, servers that they own and utilize. These centralized servers do the calculations and take care of our requests. This app, program, software, or whatever you want to call it, this digital service provider, is under the control of corporate entities. They are under the control of a collection of humans. If that particular group of humans wanted to shut the program down for some reason, they’d be free to shut it down. The program wouldn't be able to resist in any way. This is because it’s under control of one entity and it also has no “survival instinct”, if you will. The program doesn't care for it’s continued survival, it doesn't care about it’s ability to continue giving the services it gives to people.

Imagine a software program that doesn't reside on one single server controlled by one single dictator. Much like Bitcoin, and all the alt coins, and all the distributed applications that are popping up everywhere. Imagine a program that resides over multiple nodes. Say this program provides us users with a particular service. For example, let’s say this program will ask questions based on words you've given to the program. For it to process the input and output, for it to “survive” it looks like its going to need computing power, bandwidth, and storage space. These are it’s essentials, much like we humans need food, water, sleep, etc. Without these essentials it wouldn't be able to provide the service it’s programmed to provide. Where can the program obtain these essentials? From the users. From the nodes. Imagine a distributed autonomous program, a distributed autonomous service provider that provides you with it’s services in exchange for the essentials(computing power, bandwidth, and storage space) needed for it’s continued survival. If people like the service they will provide the program with the needed essentials and the program will thrive. If the service is not needed it will gradually disappear as the nodes start dropping. It sounds very much like Storj come to think of it. If that’s the case is Storj a DAC?

Have I just explained what a DAC is or have I explained something a bit different. Is this type of program even possible at the moment?

Expanding Our Knowledge Sphere

Visualize a bubble. This bubble represents all of humanities knowledge. The bubble is not necessarily uniform in it’s radius. The boundaries are not exactly clear cut as you would like them to be. Some parts of the bubble even have holes. They eventually get filled. The bubble keeps on growing. Expanding. Becoming ever larger. Sometimes people find themselves outside the bubble. And sometimes they eventually find a way back. They are the vanguards. Advancing out into the unknown territory. The front lines of our knowledge sphere. Some people may poke at the unknown abyss. Some may blow holes in them. Some may push at the unknown. Push. Pushing ever so hard, never going anywhere. A little while later someone might ride in with the cavalry with tanks and guns. Aiding each other in the push to expand our horizon of knowledge.

I want to be someone who provides the people hacking away at the unknown abyss with powerful tools. Tools so efficient, cheap, and mind mindbogglingly powerful. I want to be someone who arms fellow comrades with the firepower, the means, and the will to push back the unknown abyss. I want to help expand our knowledge sphere. Need some explosives? Don’t worry. I’m coming with a nuke to help punch a hole in that wall of yours.

Aha! I've just come up with a visual that could perhaps represent the following; known known, known unknown, unknown known, and unknown unknown. Wait a minute, lemme get a piece of paper and draw it. Here it is.

The blue outline just beyond our knowledge sphere,the part where our knowledge sphere comes into contact with the unknown abyss, there lies the known unknown. The things that we know we know. Beyond the known unknown, the abyss where our knowledge sphere doesn't even come into contact with, that would be the unknown unknown. The things we don’t know we don’t know. The pencil shaded part inside the knowledge sphere would be the known known. The things we know that we know. But there are holes in our bubble. These holes. Perhaps they could be the unknown knowns? The things we don't know that we know. Whatever that means.

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.

Drowning in the Sea of Information

Too many bookmarks. Too many articles pocketed. Too many books to read. Too many lectures to attend.

I can already feel the rough seas of information starting to drag me down. The deep abyss underneath. The void of info-less dark. You can feel it pulling on your weary feet as wave after wave of information and data wash over you.

I can see the storm from here. Off in the distance. There it is. Do you see it? That rumbling. The clouds. And the lightening. We better start building a ship of some kind. Something to keep us afloat. At least something to keep us above the waters for the moment. Eventually we’ll need something bigger before the storm hits. Do you have anything in mind?

Human-Machine Symbiosis

My smartphone and laptop are a crucial part of me. My cognitive functions are not limited to my biological brain. They are distributed among the myriad of technologies we use every day and yet the way we interact with these technologies is, at the moment, very crude and archaic. We push buttons, touch, click, and type using our fingers. It’s served us well for the past few decades but it isn't going to cut it. I want a more intimate relationship with my technologies. A better human-machine interface. The world of biology and the world of information technology, the interface between two worlds, should become more intuitive and fast responding, more efficient, more intimate. A true human-machine symbiosis.

Personal Code of Life

Personal Code of Life

(ver.1)

Adhere to the Extropian Principles as they provide a good starting point.

1. Perpetual Progress
2. Self-Transformation
3. Practical Optimism
4. Intelligent Technology
5. Open Society
6. Self-Direction
7. Rational Thinking

In addition to the Extropian Principles listed above, the following guidelines should be taken into consideration.

1. Ideas and solutions deemed beneficial to humanity in general are to be free of all constraints and open to the public. 
2. Doing something solely for the purpose of fame and money is immensely distasteful. 
3. In order to break the system you must first step out of line and refuse to play the game. You must also make the current system obsolete by proposing a better alternative. 
4. You don't need anyone's approval or acknowledgement. You own will and reasoning is enough.
5. Keep in mind the well-being of all conscious entities.
6. From 2014-2030 you focus on the pursuit of enhancing human intelligence and cognition.
7. Advocate for the wide spread adoption of open source software/hardware and access transparency.
8. Boredom and familiarity are the two most dangerous evils. Avoid them at all costs.

Standing at the Edge of this World

"It’s not the end of this world but…" and she points to the horizon. 

I turn around and there it is. Off in the distance, I can see the unknown. A light so blindingly dark. 

"It’s beautiful." I say. 

"Do you think you’re ready?" she asks me. 

"No one should be." 

"Are you afraid?" 

"Should I be?"

Why Does Innovation Take Time?

For all the technological developments we humans are seeing every single day, and at an accelerated pace at that, too, I cannot help but feel… frustrated. I want it to happen faster. I want to be blown out of my mind constantly. Why does technological advancement take time and effort? Why doesn't it happen “automatically”?

According to Kirby Ferguson, creativity is the result of a combination of copying, transforming, and combining existing ideas. If this is to be true than perhaps we should approach innovation, technological and social advancement in a more systematic way. A systematic approach to innovation. Where new ideas are automatically birthed into reality by a machine, by a system that copies, transforms, and combines existing ideas.

Take arithmetic operations for an analogy. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We start out with 2 numbers. Let’s go with 2 and 3. We use this operation called addition, and we get a new number called 5. Cool. Let’s try subtracting. We could subtract 2 from 3 and get -1, or we could do it the other way around and get 1. We could try multiplying 2 and 3 to get 6. We could also try dividing; 2 divided by 3 would yield 2/3, 3 divided by 2 would net 3/2. With merely 4 types of mathematical operations we've expanded our group of numbers substantially. We started out with 2 and 3. One level deep and we already have 2, 3, 5, -1, 1, 6, 2/3, 3/2. On the way we've even discovered a new type of number, a number that seems to be quite different from what we originally started out with. Why stop at level one. We can do more operations this time with a bigger group of numbers at our disposal. We could do this for an infinite amount of time resulting in infinite amounts of new numbers. We can keep expanding our pool of numbers. Faster and faster our number pool would grow. Oh, how proud we would be.

Like arithmetic operations perhaps we can have operators for innovation. Innovative operations. Instead of numbers we start with ideas, memes. We “add, subtract, multiply, divide” ideas with these so called “innovation operators”. Oh, how fast our pool of ideas would grow! Imagine that. A systematic method to innovating. A system, a machine that churns out “ideas” at an unfathomable rate.

A Post-Gender Society

A post-gender society. A society where there is no concept of gender, nor is it on anyone’s radar. A society where gender plays no significant role in one’s life, nor is it any defining foundation of any human being. I wonder what a society would look like. Imagine a society where there is no differentiation between man and woman, or imagine a society where there are more than 2 genders. Perhaps 5 genders? Or an infinite amount of genders. A post-binary gender society. You can be a man one day, swap your body and rewire your brain the next day, becoming a woman with full feminine features, swap that personality for a tomboy the next, become asexual all together, and so on.

Freedom of choice. That’s it. That’s all it ever is about. Freedom of choice to choose between any gender, any physical body, any sexual orientation, any personality.