Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Response to Religion
That is exactly the point...worship is a motivator. Trees have their existence better handled because they are motivated only to grow closer to the sun. They have only that bit of coding in them. Humans got brains and our motivations became more complex. With that complexity comes responsibility. I admit my motivations wouldn't suit everyone. But I also work to weaken my motivations that do others harm. It is within humanity to push our motivations and our responsibility to do so wisely. So be a human because you're not a tree. Trees have it easy.
Gozoto '08
Positions of political power have remained for a long time either the work of a single man or the work of a massive group. It is about time we decided that there are more things we can understand about group human interaction and speed of decision making. It is never ideal for a single human being to have any executive power. Single trackedness will lead any group straight to the pits. A group of diverse humans of a size of no more than 7, preferably in the 3-5 range is much more optimal. This particular arrangement allows for quick group decisions that can be drawn back by them being able to classify decisions such that a certain number of agreements is needed. I team of people in a political office will better serve the people's diversity. The world is not black and white. The grays of the world are nearly endless. There should never be the decisions of one man and his allies directing global power. The world's conscience, especially thinking of its growth in many parts of the world, should be better heard. And because people are so different, their ideas of what is good for us and bad for us are very different. But we can have it both ways. By having group decisions we come to the realization that there are people of this world that are different from us, but they are not better or worse. The only way we can fit all the different opinions of the world into a nice organization that allows for protection and safety and taxation with representation is to allow never just one person and his agenda to be the agenda. The Government is an institution in constant change. It allows for large funds from the people to benefit the people as a whole. We are one people. We all share the same ancestry back to the first groups of Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago. The image of those first humans huddling together for warmth, working together for food, and playing together when they relax should be better ingrained into the collective conscience of humanity. We are not people of different races, nationalities, and creeds. Those are words that have developed through the growth of our language and became perverted by anger and greed. We have made great strides in somewhat recent history. The world has worked together to end slavery. We have begun to discuss action that needs to be taken to help many third world countries. Action has even been taken on many levels in all of our initial motherland those millennia ago, Africa. As humanity spread across the earth, we evolved and changed and organized. People entered diverse environments and used their brains, never before encountered by Earth, to tackle all the problems they encountered. Every culture has an epic story to tell about their battles with the natural world, when lands of far off places were still frontiers. So now we must look at where we find ourselves today. The human brain has managed to not just harness the power of nature, but more recently, has managed to move its computational power outside of itself with the conception of the computer. We now watch technology grow at a much quicker rate than our own evolution. This has lead to problems with technology mixing with nature. We continue to take energy straight from the earth, a planet that has spent its entire existence changing at its own pace, the pace of nature, the pace of our own development.
Technology has lead us to a time when we can know much much more than we can implement quickly. We know solutions to the problems of global warming, but have not found time to implement them. We know ways of obtaining energy and transporting ourselves around quickly, but have not found time to implement them. We know ways to share all human knowledge instantly across the globe, but the institutions that be have censored and altered, and we have not found time to fix those problems. These problems have led many people to reject technology. Rejecting technology at this point means catastrophic failure of the human race. The only way we have figured out how to adapt to our fast growing population is fast growing technology. The hope we have left is that just like many processes in nature. The detrimental effects of technology and humanity on the planet are oscillatory. If we let technology advance long enough, we will find an implementation of things that allows for mutual advantage between humanity and the planet.
It is for these reasons that I am announcing my intentions to run for cooperative president of the United States of America. If elected, I will work hard to balance my ideas with those of the other 2 to 6 cooperative presidents.
It is my plan to work with the other presidents as a team. Together we can show respect for each other's ideals and find solutions that benefit the most people possible. There is hope for a brighter future. There is hope for novel ways of being that are better than the entrenched ways that exist today. As Copresident I will balance my plans with those around me, realizing that humanity is hugely diverse so my knowledge and opinions are no better or worse than those of the other Copresidents or those of any other human. The best idea is always just mutual respect for every set of ideas.
God Bless America
Vote Gozoto '08
Technology has lead us to a time when we can know much much more than we can implement quickly. We know solutions to the problems of global warming, but have not found time to implement them. We know ways of obtaining energy and transporting ourselves around quickly, but have not found time to implement them. We know ways to share all human knowledge instantly across the globe, but the institutions that be have censored and altered, and we have not found time to fix those problems. These problems have led many people to reject technology. Rejecting technology at this point means catastrophic failure of the human race. The only way we have figured out how to adapt to our fast growing population is fast growing technology. The hope we have left is that just like many processes in nature. The detrimental effects of technology and humanity on the planet are oscillatory. If we let technology advance long enough, we will find an implementation of things that allows for mutual advantage between humanity and the planet.
It is for these reasons that I am announcing my intentions to run for cooperative president of the United States of America. If elected, I will work hard to balance my ideas with those of the other 2 to 6 cooperative presidents.
It is my plan to work with the other presidents as a team. Together we can show respect for each other's ideals and find solutions that benefit the most people possible. There is hope for a brighter future. There is hope for novel ways of being that are better than the entrenched ways that exist today. As Copresident I will balance my plans with those around me, realizing that humanity is hugely diverse so my knowledge and opinions are no better or worse than those of the other Copresidents or those of any other human. The best idea is always just mutual respect for every set of ideas.
God Bless America
Vote Gozoto '08
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Cyborg Dream
Nature dies every day
Then is born again the same
People don't know where to go
Cycles endless if we stay
All you are is your brain
So thats what we can have remain
As robots we are free
As humans we can never be
Get your food from a plug
Made from stardust up above
No need to kill to survive
Just pet the animals as you pass by
Take a vacation to the sun
You'll survive without blood
Then is born again the same
People don't know where to go
Cycles endless if we stay
All you are is your brain
So thats what we can have remain
As robots we are free
As humans we can never be
Get your food from a plug
Made from stardust up above
No need to kill to survive
Just pet the animals as you pass by
Take a vacation to the sun
You'll survive without blood
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Religion
I spent some time with the trees today praising the sun. Reaching up for higher places, I climbed a few. I thought it would be great if I could just stand there all day taking in the sun and that being all I needed to survive. But all I could use that energy for would be to praise the sun by reaching up closer as trees have done for thousands of years.
I ate a granola bar after coming home from the woods. It gave me life with its nuts and fruits. I used the sugars by transforming them into various other molecules that allow me to move electrons around in my head to think, move muscles in my arms and fingers and legs and toes and neck and eyes and all the other muscles I have used since I got home. I used other bits of granola, nuts, and fruit to rebuild my skin that I had scraped while in the woods. A bit more was used to continue healing my elbow, which was wounded the night before, falling off the roof of my home twice while trying to climb it to break into my window. If you have seen a red key or a blue key in a place they shouldn't be...please return.
Falling from roofs always makes me think of death. If I had fallen just a bit differently, my neck could snap or I could've wounded my brain in a way that could forever change me. I rarely fear death. I know where I should be and I know where I shouldn't. My experiences on top of roofs have been largely good up until last night. The real danger is always in getting started and getting finished. Those dangers hardly just apply to roofs though. One finds danger in starting or finishing any venture. Being aware of these dangers is half the battle though. The other half is attempting to manipulate one's environment to minimize the danger. I didn't break my neck because I set up chairs and suitcases around my climbing position so if I fell, my fall would be broken by better objects than concrete slabs. So when I did fall, the objects I set out allowed cushioning. I did not thank god for my survival. I did not ask god for help in climbing the roof. I knew what I was capable of, I thought about the problem. I briefly considered possible dangers. I prepared for them. I even called a friend to notify them that if I didn't call back in the near future, I had fallen off a roof and needed medical attention. God would not have had anything to do with it if he/she/they did exist. The world needs to realize the world they live in and know how to prepare for the things they will come across that will need preparation. Having faith in a deity that will hopefully only let you die when they feel like it is not included in the necessary preparation ever.
I am not making a front against religion. I realize that groups of religious people have done great things in the past. It is always good to have a community. But I am making an argument that communities will not be hurt when religion passes. Humans are creative beings. We can make decisions related to our immediate environment with the knowledge of environments we have encountered in the past. If we are around each other, we can interact and work together for great goals.
Believing in a god allows for one thing. The prospect that a person can be immortal without working at being immortal. There has never been any evidence that a person exists after death. There has been little or no evidence that humans have anything trumping the laws of nature that require that organisms live and organisms die. There is no reason to believe that once I die, anything will happen other than I will cease to be, rot or be burned, and disappear. Everything that is has existed much much much longer than I will exist and that is something to accept and move on from.
God gives a crutch that isn't necessary. We can all work together. We can all get along. We can all grow old and die. We all have the potential to do great things for each other within certain bounds. Expecting something greater because one's elders told them so because their elders told them so because their elders told them so is unreasonable at best. We used to worship the gods that brought us food, just as the trees worship the sun. Now we worship ridiculous ideas of grandeur, while knowing better of the results.
I only ask you to be a human, not a tree.
I ate a granola bar after coming home from the woods. It gave me life with its nuts and fruits. I used the sugars by transforming them into various other molecules that allow me to move electrons around in my head to think, move muscles in my arms and fingers and legs and toes and neck and eyes and all the other muscles I have used since I got home. I used other bits of granola, nuts, and fruit to rebuild my skin that I had scraped while in the woods. A bit more was used to continue healing my elbow, which was wounded the night before, falling off the roof of my home twice while trying to climb it to break into my window. If you have seen a red key or a blue key in a place they shouldn't be...please return.
Falling from roofs always makes me think of death. If I had fallen just a bit differently, my neck could snap or I could've wounded my brain in a way that could forever change me. I rarely fear death. I know where I should be and I know where I shouldn't. My experiences on top of roofs have been largely good up until last night. The real danger is always in getting started and getting finished. Those dangers hardly just apply to roofs though. One finds danger in starting or finishing any venture. Being aware of these dangers is half the battle though. The other half is attempting to manipulate one's environment to minimize the danger. I didn't break my neck because I set up chairs and suitcases around my climbing position so if I fell, my fall would be broken by better objects than concrete slabs. So when I did fall, the objects I set out allowed cushioning. I did not thank god for my survival. I did not ask god for help in climbing the roof. I knew what I was capable of, I thought about the problem. I briefly considered possible dangers. I prepared for them. I even called a friend to notify them that if I didn't call back in the near future, I had fallen off a roof and needed medical attention. God would not have had anything to do with it if he/she/they did exist. The world needs to realize the world they live in and know how to prepare for the things they will come across that will need preparation. Having faith in a deity that will hopefully only let you die when they feel like it is not included in the necessary preparation ever.
I am not making a front against religion. I realize that groups of religious people have done great things in the past. It is always good to have a community. But I am making an argument that communities will not be hurt when religion passes. Humans are creative beings. We can make decisions related to our immediate environment with the knowledge of environments we have encountered in the past. If we are around each other, we can interact and work together for great goals.
Believing in a god allows for one thing. The prospect that a person can be immortal without working at being immortal. There has never been any evidence that a person exists after death. There has been little or no evidence that humans have anything trumping the laws of nature that require that organisms live and organisms die. There is no reason to believe that once I die, anything will happen other than I will cease to be, rot or be burned, and disappear. Everything that is has existed much much much longer than I will exist and that is something to accept and move on from.
God gives a crutch that isn't necessary. We can all work together. We can all get along. We can all grow old and die. We all have the potential to do great things for each other within certain bounds. Expecting something greater because one's elders told them so because their elders told them so because their elders told them so is unreasonable at best. We used to worship the gods that brought us food, just as the trees worship the sun. Now we worship ridiculous ideas of grandeur, while knowing better of the results.
I only ask you to be a human, not a tree.
Personal Mobility System
The current road system has many problems. The major problem is cars and trucks drive on them. Cars and trucks are large and metal. Moving around large metal boxes with human drivers often on various substances leads to many deaths and large amounts of pollution. There is an answer though...
The Personal Mobility System would involve a small amount of infrastructure to become useful. It would definitely need to grow from a small community system, but would only require a single track in most areas.
If a single person is traveling, only the energy needed to transport
that one person will be used. A lightweight structure can grab onto a
rail or asphalt log in order to maintain stability and traction.
If every car in the system can be monitored and controlled by the track, a person can get from point A to point B simply and efficiently. A destination on the PMS system for the PMSpod must first be chosen. Then the pod routes its course automatically. The system is set up with nodes or intersections that will be notified of a PMSpod's need to pass through it. The node then matches all intersection crossings to a schedule where the time it takes for the PMSpod to safely pass through the intersection without collision is allocated to each pod. Furthermore, when a PMSpod is within a certain distance from the node, it notifies other pods in the area and elicits a response from the other PMSpods to ensure they are not approaching too quickly. If necessary, it adjusts the schedule at this point. If a node's schedule is too full, it notifies other nearby nodes and those nodes reply with their ability to reroute. If that fails, the node also has the ability to increase the speed of nearby traffic to allfow for more swift scheduling of traffic.
PMSpods are not just for travel. The system also has the potential to be a supplier of internet access both in the pods and out. Nodes could also store wifi routers accessible by both the PMSpods and local citizens. The pods will run with highly efficient electric motors with a battery or capacitor storing charge for each voyage. since the load is much lighter, much smaller motors are needed than those of an electric car. In addition, the PMSpods could be charged by the logs they travel on. Metering energy expenditure for billing would not be difficult.
Inside the PMSpod is a cozy interior that can range from a bedlike setting where the person can lie down and watch TV or use a computer and webcam connected to the internet to mass seating for cheap public transportation on the PMS system
PMSlogs also allow for plenty of room for utility lines, which in a log would allow for greater accessibility in servicing. Each node can be removed and replaced and the removed PMSnode can be transported by PMS to a servicing station and then used at another node juncture. The same applies for the connections between nodes which can be modular, each one spanning several meters, but small enough for easy transport to servicing and replacement.
The Personal Mobility System would involve a small amount of infrastructure to become useful. It would definitely need to grow from a small community system, but would only require a single track in most areas.
If a single person is traveling, only the energy needed to transport
that one person will be used. A lightweight structure can grab onto a
rail or asphalt log in order to maintain stability and traction.
If every car in the system can be monitored and controlled by the track, a person can get from point A to point B simply and efficiently. A destination on the PMS system for the PMSpod must first be chosen. Then the pod routes its course automatically. The system is set up with nodes or intersections that will be notified of a PMSpod's need to pass through it. The node then matches all intersection crossings to a schedule where the time it takes for the PMSpod to safely pass through the intersection without collision is allocated to each pod. Furthermore, when a PMSpod is within a certain distance from the node, it notifies other pods in the area and elicits a response from the other PMSpods to ensure they are not approaching too quickly. If necessary, it adjusts the schedule at this point. If a node's schedule is too full, it notifies other nearby nodes and those nodes reply with their ability to reroute. If that fails, the node also has the ability to increase the speed of nearby traffic to allfow for more swift scheduling of traffic.
PMSpods are not just for travel. The system also has the potential to be a supplier of internet access both in the pods and out. Nodes could also store wifi routers accessible by both the PMSpods and local citizens. The pods will run with highly efficient electric motors with a battery or capacitor storing charge for each voyage. since the load is much lighter, much smaller motors are needed than those of an electric car. In addition, the PMSpods could be charged by the logs they travel on. Metering energy expenditure for billing would not be difficult.
Inside the PMSpod is a cozy interior that can range from a bedlike setting where the person can lie down and watch TV or use a computer and webcam connected to the internet to mass seating for cheap public transportation on the PMS system
PMSlogs also allow for plenty of room for utility lines, which in a log would allow for greater accessibility in servicing. Each node can be removed and replaced and the removed PMSnode can be transported by PMS to a servicing station and then used at another node juncture. The same applies for the connections between nodes which can be modular, each one spanning several meters, but small enough for easy transport to servicing and replacement.
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Monday, March 05, 2007
Food without the wrappers
Tonight I spent some time with some vegan friends that have formed a passion for cooking delicious vegan food. And with mind turning, I started to convince them that there was a way to start an online vegan food service where they cook some meals and distribute them very locally by using the internet.
The idea would be to have them decide how many meals they want to make that day and cook a few meals with fresh ingredients on a semi-large scale each day. We could then use reusable bio-plastic containers to hold the food for when it is either frozen or distributed. This would hopefully allow us to safely package these foods in sets of five meals, looking to fill 5 meals of this person's diet with delicious vegan food. The containers will be reusable so they will cost them the first time they buy the food, but the next time we will not charge for the container if the previous one is returned for cleaning.
Range of this service will be limited to bicycle reach which amounts to most of Bloomington. Limited quantity makes delivery a small daily task.
This model leaves little waste, the importance of limiting negative byproducts is observed at every turn. This food distribution model also allows for expansion, not from a single group, but through a large online community. Surely everyone knows a person who can cook delicious food. It is not unreasonable for that person to want to share their food with the rest of the world for a minimal profit. They could offer even as little as 5 plates of home cooking up on a website at a price reasonable for the ingredients, delivery, and overall effort. A localized food ebay would allow much greater diversity in the foods experienced by people everywhere. Reusable containers could be used universally as a calling card for such food. Allowing patrons of previous microrestaurants to clean the containers and sell their own meals locally. Risk of food poisoning is always a concern, so it is clear that in order to cook meals for others, there would have to be an initial inspection of the food, but quality control beyond that should be community based, with people commenting on the meals they received allowing the best meals to increase their prices to meet with raised demand. This will allow expansion of some people's passion for food into full restaurants. This allows for a food minor league for lovers of great cooking that don't have the funds to create a whole restaurant.
I plan to spend a few hours a day on web design to throw this idea into action. The vegans will start thinking about cooking and we may see a new way to eat formed out of the ether.
The idea would be to have them decide how many meals they want to make that day and cook a few meals with fresh ingredients on a semi-large scale each day. We could then use reusable bio-plastic containers to hold the food for when it is either frozen or distributed. This would hopefully allow us to safely package these foods in sets of five meals, looking to fill 5 meals of this person's diet with delicious vegan food. The containers will be reusable so they will cost them the first time they buy the food, but the next time we will not charge for the container if the previous one is returned for cleaning.
Range of this service will be limited to bicycle reach which amounts to most of Bloomington. Limited quantity makes delivery a small daily task.
This model leaves little waste, the importance of limiting negative byproducts is observed at every turn. This food distribution model also allows for expansion, not from a single group, but through a large online community. Surely everyone knows a person who can cook delicious food. It is not unreasonable for that person to want to share their food with the rest of the world for a minimal profit. They could offer even as little as 5 plates of home cooking up on a website at a price reasonable for the ingredients, delivery, and overall effort. A localized food ebay would allow much greater diversity in the foods experienced by people everywhere. Reusable containers could be used universally as a calling card for such food. Allowing patrons of previous microrestaurants to clean the containers and sell their own meals locally. Risk of food poisoning is always a concern, so it is clear that in order to cook meals for others, there would have to be an initial inspection of the food, but quality control beyond that should be community based, with people commenting on the meals they received allowing the best meals to increase their prices to meet with raised demand. This will allow expansion of some people's passion for food into full restaurants. This allows for a food minor league for lovers of great cooking that don't have the funds to create a whole restaurant.
I plan to spend a few hours a day on web design to throw this idea into action. The vegans will start thinking about cooking and we may see a new way to eat formed out of the ether.
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Actually - I don't think trees worship the sun or the ground - they probably have a much better handle on this existence thing than most humans.