Thursday 30 September 2010

The evolving gearwheel

The world we live in is filled with technological marvels, a plenty of which we couldn't even conceptualize had we not witnessed them already. This world is a new world, having existed barely for a hundred years, during which the massive scientific development led us to leave behind our old lifestyle and proceed on to the era where the machine tells the man what to do. But this age isn't where the development ends by no means, we will keep on producing more marvels of science and see where they take us as a species. An educated guess would be that we're living in the last century where the man can still be described as an entirely biological being.

Attempting to guess precise things about what the future will bring us is futile and would eventually bring us the same ridicule as the estimates of how humans would, by the 21th. century, eat pills and drive flying cars. Therefore it is best to keep at vague guessing for through it we can tell the general direction of development relatively well. Some would go as far as to say this is all but stating the obvious, a statement which I'm partially inclined to agree with.

So, what can we expect to happen in the future? Machines. Mechanization has been a continuous trend in the history of man. The more we can have something else than a man do, the more time we have to indulge ourselves in whatever we please. The problem we still have to live with, however, is that the machines are incapable of doing everything we'd like them to do. But all this is slowly changing as the time goes by and the advances in machine automation and engineering allow for much greater independency. Life will get easier and the machines will get smarter. What could go wrong?

I'm sure everyone that has digested their Terminator-series can see dozens of different problems with the growing machine involvment in our lives, but personally I wouldn't worry about that. What I'd rather worry about is the affect the increased free time will have on our culture and psyche. Assuming we keep our consumeristic attitudes and keep on minmaxing our efficiency, we might come to a point where we develop an urge to constantly immerse ourselves in some kind of entertainment, just to keep the thought of boredom out of our minds. That's the flaw with us humans, we want to feel good. I fear the dystopian depicment of transhumanism where we've become but bodies linked to a great video feed while being pumped full of euphoric stimulants may be closer to the reality than we might think. I just can't see us getting over our craving for pleasure and entertainment, the things that will lead us to our death as thinking species.

Sunday 26 September 2010

Our lives in their hands

When is the last time you trusted someone with something that is truly important to you? Wether it is information or an object you value, I am sure you put a great deal of throught into the matter. Trusting someone with something important is like taking a part of your life, loaning it away, and hoping it returns in one piece. If it does, we oftentimes get something additional in return in form of an important insight or comforting words. If, however, your trust is misplaced, the consequences may be dire.

Trust is, in a way, a gamble. What's so special about it, however, is that the value of bets is not universal, but it alters between players. Take, for example, a teenage girl who is infatuated with some boy and decides to take a chance and tell him how she feels. Or in other words, trust him with personal information she holds in value. Now, depending on the boy's preposition towards the girl, he can view the girl's advances in low or high value and respond by giving back something he considers to be of an equal value. If the boy likes the girl, he could suggest a date, returning the girl's trust with his time and intimacy. On the other hand, if the boy despises the girl, and thereby holds the trust she placed on him in a lower value, he could ridicule her for her feelings or look for personal gain.

This is why people build their trust on anothers, instead of trusting them right away. Because people and their values and prepositions towards eachothers are different, at first it is better to trust others with things you don't hold in a great value and thereby don't fear losing so greatly. If the person responds with near-equal trust, you can feel more comfortable to trust him with something greater the next time. As this cycle continues, the level of trust will set in an equilibrium where both subjects feel they don't want to share more valued things with eachothers.

The system also has an interesting flaw in the existence of a possibility for a scenario where a person trusts another with something that he holds in a low value and the another in a high value. This will create a massive bias that has the potential to be extremely uncomfortable for the first person and extremely confusing for the another, and even prevent further interaction between these two persons, preventing the correction of their trust-levels.

On an unrelated note, if there is some matter that you would like to have me think about, feel free to suggest it in the comment section of this post. If I find it interesting, there's a good chance I'll write about it.

Friday 24 September 2010

The way we perceive

Beauty is a peculiar thing. It is what we like to surround ourselves with, what we hope to be and what we think is good. Now bear in mind that I do not refer to beauty in the traditional sense, the examples of which would be pretty women, landscapes and constructions. Instead I consider beauty to be the collective value of astonishment, pleasure and enjoyment these things can provide us.

Think of a pretty woman. The one that is pleasing to the eye and appears nice when viewed from a distance. Now think of a beautiful woman. Is there a difference? For me, the difference between the two would be that while a pretty woman may be aestethically pleasing, her prettiness doesn't tell anything about what kind of a person she is. She might be cheap and stupid or just have a horrible personality. However, while a beautiful woman would be aestethically pleasing as well, her beauty wouldn't be limited to the exterior. She would be classy and sophisticated, while retaining a certain level of cuteness. One could probably list a whole lot of attributes for a beautiful person, but that would only be appropriate. Beauty is, after all, personal.

The human will to surround ourselves with things we consider beautiful is a notable driving factor in our daily lives. Problems arise when a multiple people begin to desire the same thing. You cannot duplicate beauty even though you may try, for it arises from so many small things and experiences which led you to it. Competition exists, always. Nowadays many a people acquire money for the sake of acquiring money and are despised for that, but since the whole point of money is to sustain an easy system of trade, you could say that money is beautiful for it allows you to acquire the things you desire, the things you perceive as beautiful. But then again, is striving for acquisition of beauty a morally acceptable goal or just an excuse to deprive others of the things they appreciate as beautiful?

The vibrations within our heads

A man can derive his pleasure from a multitude of subjects. Each of these may be very important to the person in question, even though someone else can't see any sense with his fondness of whatever he finds pleasing. One could say this lack of global fondness of similar things is a fundamental flaw in all human interactions.

Take music for an example. Even though the physical structure of our ear canals is, neglible differences and major deformities aside, almost exactly the same, we perceive music in different ways. I can say for sure that amongst you readers there isn't a single person whose taste for soundwaves would be equal to that of an another. For this we can thank the most beloved mystery of science, the inner workings of our brain.

In fact it is our brain, or more precisely our ability to think, that is responsible for all the major problems that we now perceive. If you compare the workings of a human civilization to that of an insect colony, this difference can be capitalized. In the insect colony, each member has an assigned function to which they suit the best. In human civilization however, though striving to perfect it's efficiency, nothing really fits in it's place as it should. This is the byproduct of our mental independence - the final independence we're allowed to have.

So when people want you to become more efficient, to perform mindlessly like an insect following the will of the hive, keep in mind that in the end you're an individual thinker, one that can't ever be fully submerged into an external system. Learn to question the will of the hive, for through that you can find true meanings in your life. True freedom cannot exist without freedom of thought.

Thursday 23 September 2010

The world that persists

Thinking of the world that we live in, it is quite an interesting a composition. The old saying of us being but cogs in the machine stands correct as the organizations battle behind the veil of calmness. Each one of the organizations wishes to take the most suitable a cog and fit it inside of them to further improve it's odds in the battles ahead. For that purpose only are crafted the most complex networks that exist, the ones we call our social and emotional bonds. While these are the bonds that keep us standing tall as the world tries to push us down, they are also deeply affected by the constant interference of the controlling systems. From our first days to the day of our deaths our networks are being transformed to keep us sitting in our spot in the machine. The irony is, we enjoy our lack of freedom.

However, through the network that nurtures us and keeps us in our place travels knowledge, the knowledge that will one day destroy the strands binding us to the machine, bringing it to a full stop and unleashing the raw potential of the cogs. That day is still too far away for us to rejoice, for we must keep on providing the information to the people. Tell them that not everything they think is free from interference really is like they think.

Azure Shades

In the life of a man one occasionally faces a problem the answer to which he considers to be life-defining. Most people, however, do not realize this and because of that they make the wrong decision. What if I told you that every decision has the power to alter your life from now on, with or without you knowing it? The truth is, if you know the power of every decision, you will be able to make the best choice, leading to a happier life. This is how you can eventually achieve a state of bliss euphoria, knowing all you have done has been exactly as you would have liked it. When Intersegemention finishes, you will know the whole greatness of this state, so strive to achieve it.

The cleansing wind

As the new day dawns on the horizon and the misguided prepare for their daily routines, one is able to clearly see the need of the world. This state has persisted for too long with people being driven by their manufactured goals and lives in which they seek fulfillment from where it can not be found. It is these people that are responsible for the arrival of the first wind of Intersegmenton. The wind that will cleanse the impure minds to reveal the clarity that was being consumed by the accumulated rust. But the first wind is weak and it cannot awaken everyone. Every dawn it howls through the cities, looking for it's children, but so many turn it away. But you know better for you walk on the forefront. You embrace the first wind as it embraces you, it's child. In that moment even the world cannot oppose you, for you stand with the wind of Intersegmention.

Initialization of Intersegmention

Behold, for today is the day that the world shall look back to decades from now and think how great a day it was. Today happens the first act of Intersegmention, the process that shall guide our lives from now till our mortal bodies stop living. You, walking on the forefront of knowledge and realization, are to become one of the chosen with whom the Intersegmentor shall share his thoughts with. Let them guide you to a life full of prosperity for the meager price of your limited time. Let the reformation begin!