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I am on Hiatus as in off, on vacation, and will return in late August.
The Aftermath of the Present
7-10-10
I can’t help but casually wonder what our Nation will look after a short walk down the path of about fifty years. If one really wants to speculate, I think you need to begin with the past fifty years, look at the trends and then start generalizing. For starters, look at the advent of television and its progression of use over the years. For all practical purposes, Television has remained what it was with that very first televised signal. What has changed is how that signal is delivered and how that signal is received. Television has moved from a narrow and particular event to a broad and spectacular event. Common sense dictates that trend will continue, and will merge with other technologies and of course, we are already seeing that. Indeed there isn’t much difference in content between my desktop, my laptop, my Ipad, my smartphone and my television. No doubt, the technology will keep getting better and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the really big thing is how to merge all that information seamlessly with the individual. That will happen over the next few decades. In a way, it will be the next evolutionary step for our race, a physical merger with our technology. So, if you’re thinking you might be the last of your race, you’re probably right.
Another constant trend in our past five decades are a lot of little, but ever persistent wars and intrusions. It’d be nice to not have to agonize over this, to say that the next 50 years are going to be filled with peace and prosperity, but that’s not going to happen. There is simply nothing in our past or our present behavior to indicate that anything is going to change regarding our willingness to kill for whatever moral and/or political beliefs we have. And the news is even worse, because with every new intrusion, every new little action, the chances increase of us getting into something that we can’t control, and thus, there’s a damn good possibility of a major war not too far down the road.
One of the more interesting aspects is the social issue. No doubt, this is clearly linked to technology and just as the first printing press revolutionized the spread of knowledge, social networking is revolutionizing our daily lives in ways yet to be determined. Just as a newspaper allowed two strangers to converse intelligently about the day’s headlines, social networks allow a group of people to converse intelligently about their lives. The major difference is of course, a newspaper printed only the information it thought you needed to know and social networks print out everything you really don’t want to know (or do, but just won’t admit it). I point this out simply because you will see content pushed to the extreme in the coming years and as much as we want to deny it, it will happen, and to many, it will be disgusting but it will be acceptable entertainment. So, expect privacy, even the simplest protections to evaporate.
Politically, I have a sinking feeling that a wave of conservatism is about to wash over this Nation. That the next President will usher in a new era of deregulation and personal responsibility as in let business do what they want and if a plane crashes because the owners didn’t want to spend the money on safety, it’s your responsibility because you bought the ticket. Because the American populace will be so caught up in entertainment, in other peoples lives, and in little political wars, they won’t care that their country has disappeared along with common sense.
Of course, healthcare is pretty much going to be free, if you can find it. Doctors will go the way of our engineers, to oblivion, that land far beyond the sea. And the few rich people that exist will have to travel to receive the best care in the world, and that’ll be in the mid east somewhere.
OK, I have to stop.... the damn future is way too bleak and way out of hand, even from a common sense perspective. Sheesh, is it going to suck to be an American, but we’ll have our MTV
The closing of our circle.
7-4-2010
There is evidence at the level of quantum physics that we live in a holographic universe. For Star Trek fans, a holodecks a cool place to indulge in your favorite, and no doubt strange, fantasies. More to the point, in theory, every particle in a holographic universe has knowledge of the whole, including it’s history, realization of it’s present state, as well it’s future. If the entire Universe as we knew it were to suddenly disappear and leave behind one small quantum particle, that particle could rebuild the entire universe as we know it today.
Seriously, think about the implications of a holographic universe for a minute.
From a common human perspective based upon our individual experience, we don’t quite believe the case for a holographic universe simple because we don’t have any access to any damn universal and mystical knowledge. Really, if my personal world just up and went away, I couldn’t rebuild it if I wanted too.
I would guess that’s because there’s some rules in place. The first being that we live in this strange place, but we are not a part of it. I mean, if two particles of light at opposite ends of the universe have knowledge of each others behavior, the only conclusion I can make is, well, those particles have more to do with the universe than I do.
The second rule is, you can’t break the rules! Simple, I get that. But I can still ask, still wonder about little things like, “OK, who makes up these stupid rules?”.
Stop and ponder how insanely cruel it would be to exist in a Universe and not be a part of it. You would participate and be held responsible in it’s growth and well being, but you would never exist to the extent and import of existence itself. You, the lonely human worker bee, buzzing around thinking it’s all about you, when it’s all about the hive.
But wait a minute here, I’m made up of all the stuff the universe is, all the atoms and particles that abound through the universe are part and parcel of my makeup. Yes, we are all stardust and will return to the great ocean of infinite wonder someday but in the meantime, it appears all those particles and molecules have come together in a strange and unwelcome aberration known as the Human race. It is as if our very existence is defined by our lack of knowledge of who, what and even where we are. Sometimes, it seems all but appropriate to ask, “Are we that stupid, or what?”.
To answer that, you need to understand that there’s an intrinsic difference between intelligence and knowledge. Just because you know stuff doesn’t make you smart and just because your intelligent doesn’t mean you have a lot of knowledge. Being stupid doesn’t mean we don’t carry our own brand of intelligence, because we certainly do, and we own it, but when it comes to a lack of knowledge about our physical and emotional environment, we don’t know very much, and what we do know, we explain it with our intelligence. So much so, we give credence and importance to our intelligence and come up with terms like ‘holographic universe’ to explain our very being, which is nothing but a polite way of saying, we don’t know shit.
Have a nice 4th!.
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