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Tribal Politics
Imagine for a moment that you are a part of an ancient hunter gathering tribe. For the last while food has been abundant but recently there has been a decline. A fellow tribe member emerges and proclaims that the tribe must start moving if it is to survive. The current leader rejects the idea and says moving is too risky and that what is going on right now is just a phase. This was the start of the first political parties revolving around the question should we stay or should we go?
In the above scenario you could start to imagine what arguments would take place and what people might start to believe. It not unrealistic to imagine that one side might actually consider the other side evil. If they are aware of all the same knowledge as you, then clearly the other side is just trying to kill everybody.
We like to think we are so advanced but when it comes to politics, we are still cave men. We allow choices to be made out of ignorance and we do not properly experiment. Since each side is against failure when either side makes a mistake, instead of admitting it, they come up with excuses. Our media on politics revolves around different types of biases to justify a particular point of view instead of what actually is correct. Much of it revolves around hyperbole, socialism is communism, and capitalism is the robber barons. We don’t care what actually works, we care about what makes us feel right. Further, if we have any enemy that actually does something correct politically, it is very easy for everything they do to be demonized.
It is no surprise that in the USA, or in most countries for that matter, you have a sharp line down the middle. In the USA the two sides are Conservative and Liberal. When you really boil these two sides down you come back to say the same basic question, should we stay or should we go? In the past this was one of the most important questions there was because the answer to it could mean life or death. Aggressive conflict over this question, even if resulting in death, would of been preferential to tribe survival.
Should we stay or should we go is still a valid question and it requires both sides. In order for us to have a superior evolution in human politics we need a couple things to be changed. First, we need to disregard absolutes, there are none. Secondly, we need to build better models and systems of analysis that can deal with the complexities of human behavior and better report on the consequences of applied regulation. Lastly, we need to realize that what is right might be variable based on the situation.
Understanding Random
People like to use the term random without actually really understanding what random means. The term random simply means an event has so many variables or inaccessible variables that it can’t be fully understood. Random is ignorance of the variables involved. When the variables of a situation can’t be accessed for one reason or another, science resorts to using statistical models. If a statistical model has any degree of success it is because it is picking up on constants indirectly.
In an attempt to explain the order in chaos I have built a new project which ca be accessed by clicking below.
Click Image Below To Launch Project
Essentially what this project does is take a series of very standard waves and combines them to build a more complex wave form. You can play around with the different settings to get all kinds of interesting wave forms. The more waves you add and change, the more complex the final form will become. If you were not aware of all the different waves that went into creating the final form, you would have a very difficult time trying to figure out how it was created.
Another example would be to drop a dice down a very small tube and then slowly increase the size of the tube on additional rolls. As the tube got larger it would become increasingly difficult to predict how the dice would land. In the same way, in the above wave example it might be easy to guess or predict a wave form if it is only made up of two waves, but it would become increasingly difficult to predict as you added more.
The problem is that because random activity is built on orderly components, it can sometimes mislead us to believe we can predict it. In real life we have another name for it, we call it luck. What we consider luck is more a product of timing than any innate characteristic that gives us an upper hand. There will always be the temptation of trying to figure out how things work by looking at a final form, but we must aggressively resist this seduction. We can only gain true understanding by analyzing the underlying orderly components, not the final production.
Blurring The Lines
Jason Koger is one of the first people to have two complete bionic hands. After losing both his hands, using technology he now has the capability to grasp things as small as jelly beans. Advances like this one support the idea that technology is rapidly integrating directly with us as opposed to being simply an auxiliary source of information or capability.
As technology becomes more advanced something very apparent rises to the surface. What we consider to be advanced technology is simply us catching up with nature. The primary difference between technology and traditional nature is that we have far more control over technology. As advanced as we often think we are, all our technology really does is replicate things in nature. Let’s use a car for example. While a car may not have any organic material present besides oil, a car functions very similar to the human body. It takes in food (gasoline) and then converts this food into energy which is utilized to execute its primary function of movement. While engaging in this process it does other similar things to us as well, for instance a car has filters and this is the same function our liver serves.
Soon we are going to start running into issues between what our technology can accomplish and our ideals. For instance, we all want to protect trees (for the most part) but trees are highly inefficient at clearing the atmosphere of pollutants; we require a significant amount of trees. What if with technology we can create a better tree? What if this new tree was almost indistinguishable from current trees?
The answer to this question is that humanity should come first, but we should make sure we are not jeopardizing ourselves by implementing brand new technology too quickly. With anything brand new there is always the potential for problems. We can mitigate this risk by not implementing new technology too fast. That said, we should never dismiss technology for the sole reason that it is in conflict with our existing ideals because our ideals can always change.
Unified Glory
I have talked in other posts about how so much of our lives is dictated by certain genetic traits we are born with. For every blessing I have received in my life I am always acutely aware of how I won a genetic lottery in order to be the person I am today. The average human likes to think they are completely responsible for their life and every event that occurs in it is the result of some action they did. No matter how much a human deludes them self, this simply is not the case. Human will power can accomplish a lot but it is not without its limits on an individual basis.
Some have exploited these ideas for profit such as the book “The Secret” which makes the claim that you can obtain anything you want if you just think about it enough. Of course the theology of the secret is merely a mask for satanism, not so much the religious satanism, but the satanist concept of self enrichment through aggressive self gratification. It misses the point that selflessness is a form of selfishness; everyone benefits when the world is a better place.
What humans are all increasingly interested in is the idea of improved quality of life and, fortunately, technology is allowing for the human race to take more control of this than ever. We are all trying to make strides to help the world, but a lot of humans are still falling through the cracks on a daily basis. Part of quality of life is the ability to experience glory. There are those will never truly taste any glory during their life time, and this not only makes me sad, it is also unfortunate. Every human being should have the chance to be recognized for accomplishment. Glory is most often the product of an action or event that helps humanity. Now it might seem impossible to expect that everybody could experience glory in their life times, but I think it is actually possible. That said, it would require some fundamental accomplishments by humanity.
1. End Aging
We need to stop aging. One of the primary reasons a human may not accomplish something noteworthy in their life time is because they don’t have enough time.
2. Reduce Population
An unfortunate consequence of a large population, besides the strain on resources, is the fact that the more humans you have the more likely they will end up doing menial things.
3. Improve Automation & End Scarcity
We are finally getting to a point where we can have automatons start doing things like cleaning up. This will allow humans to focus on much larger goals.
4. Improve Education Methods
The education system is terrible because it requires learning through brute force memorization. We need to create better methods of assimilating large amounts of data.
5. Space Travel
True space travel would allow for a significant increase in glory opportunities.
If we could accomplish even a small portion of these goals, many people would live much more gratifying lives.
Discontent
The two primary drugs for dealing with discontent in society is either acceptance or radical change. With acceptance a person changes their standards to make their routine acceptable. With radical change a person takes on some form of risk in the hope that there will be some reward at the end. The drug of acceptance is promoted by spiritualists who associate suffering with struggle. The drug of radical change is promoted by motivational speakers and anyone interested in selling books.
The reality of what really happens is that people who chase spirituality to solve discontent will lie to themselves about the various states they may or may not be in. These people will hop from one spiritual leader to another trying to find the next big thing. Those who chase radical change will find motivational speakers whose charisma will get them charged up just enough to attend the gym the next day and then be in the exact same place in their lives the following week.
The problem with these various methods of dealing with discontent is that they are attempts to tell you about problems that you are already aware of. They are all ways to allow you to not confront yourself. If you have a broken leg, would you pay me to tell you it is broken? Hopefully not, hopefully you would go to a doctor. Spirituality is not a way of dealing with problems, it is a mapping system. Motivation is not something that can be infused, it is intrinsic to passion.
If you need to walk to the other side of the street just walk to the other side. Don’t waste your time walking over to a group nearby who are listening to a person tell them to cross the street, just do it. If you have a moment of hesitation, then don’t, don’t even waste your time trying. Now if this sounds like I am being motivational, rest assured, I am not. I believe a lot of the things people think they’re supposed to be doing, they’re not. Most change does not happen through power of will, it happens through power of necessity.
“Spirituality is not a way of dealing with problems, it is a mapping system. Motivation is not something that can be infused, it is intrinsic to passion.”
People are their core desires. There are people that want to be sad and there are people that want to be happy. The brain does not distinguish between certain types of stimuli in order to maintain survival. A person who has suffered their entire life will choose suffering in attempt to escape possible change, the brain does not like change. Sadness is the result of needing to deal with change and fear is designed to avoid change. Change however is the core trait of an Architect. The architects of the world have no need of motivation speakers because change is their primary function. They are successful not because they willed it, but because they are hard wired that way.
If people are their core desires, why even bother writing? Why not let things fall into place? I believe given enough time things will fall into place, but the process can be greatly increased if the people who are capable of change recognize their core function and then consciously connect with others with the same traits. Too much time is wasted trying to make people into things they are not and expecting people to be things they are not. Furthermore, it is up to the people who can facilitate change to help those who cannot. We do not choose our genetics and this makes life inherently unfair but together we can change this.
Awe Perception
If a picture is worth a thousand words, actually being present somewhere is worth trillions. There is a substantial difference between pictures and real life because in the case of a picture we are only seeing a thin layer of atoms where as actually viewing something in real life is the results of viewing billions if not trillions of atom compiled into a single view. Being some where also contributes to other senses such as taste, smell, and hearing.
Our ability to view things from afar is improving rapidly but even with all our advances in technology we cannot yet emulate the experience an astronaut has when looking at earth from afar. Certainly there is no amount of pictures that could truly replicate an experience like being in space. What pictures do help with is to create a deep longing within us to immerse ourselves in the universe. It can be difficult for us to express our experiences with others in a way that they can truly understand. Perception integration is a critical part of our future because without it we can not stop the misunderstandings which is the cause of so many human problems.
As a small side project I have created http://www.createdivinity.org. It is simply a selection of pictures put against music. A personal interest of mine is to discover ways of inducing different perceptions and introspection without drugs. I have discovered that for me personally the best perception shifting occurs at sunrise, sunset, or night. Looking at a city at night makes us aware of human capability. When there should be darkness we have created light, where there should be nothing we have created civilization. Night time also gives us a glimpse of the universe and our potential for exploration.
Indirect Manslaughter
One of the easiest ways that we as architects can shape the best possible future for ourselves is to figure out the things that indirectly kill people. Whether we like it or not every action we do could potentially kill someone. How responsible we are for death is linked to how many “hops” there are to an event. If you do an action which causes a series of 15 connected events that leads to someone dying, you can’t really be held responsible. You also can’t be held responsible if you’re not really aware that what you’re doing is killing people. If you are aware that an action is killing someone, you are responsible.
Recently there has been a lot of commotion over gay marriage, particularly in the states. On one side of the issue you will have Christians who recite scripture saying and believing that this issue can lead to the downfall of civilization. On the other side of the issue you have people requesting equality. Generally I would not waste my time talking about civil issues because I believe most civil issues get resolved democratically. That said, I believe this is a special case scenario that can be utilized to show how lack of moral objectivity can lead to the death of humans.
So the church by not supporting homosexual marriage is by proxy not supporting homosexual monogamy and therefore is contributing to death by proliferating HIV.
A core concept in Christianity is the idea of monogamy. Monogamy has actual biological benefits that extend far beyond simple religious ideals. Monogamy decreases STDs, birth rates, and also contributes to having a proper framework in place for raising children. Monogamous relationships are by no means exclusive to Christianity but Christianity plays a role in supporting monogamy. From a general Christian perspective there is little difference between a homosexual who is monogamous and a homosexual that is promiscuous. So if you happen to be a homosexual looking for religious guidance you will quickly discover that if you cannot repress your homosexuality, you will be considered purely evil. What I mean by this is that to a lot of conservative Christians you will have no redeeming characteristics until you “free” yourself of homosexuality. This is hypocritical of course because Christian don’t do this with other types of sins, homosexuality is treated like leprosy.
A certain percentage of these homosexuals will be compelled to become promiscuous because a large group of people indirectly tell them it doesn’t matter. This promiscuity leads to all kinds of terrible things including the proliferation of HIV. So the church by not supporting homosexual marriage is by proxy not supporting homosexual monogamy and therefore is contributing to death by proliferating HIV. This is not the first time the Church has taken actions that contribute to the death of humans. The Catholic church has refused to send condoms to Africa before believing that doing so is promoting premarital sex but completely ignoring the fact that many Africans are not Catholic. In this way the Catholic church attempts to push their ideological views on other humans by allowing them to die.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I think homosexuals are perfectly capable of monogamy without any religious intervention. However, the reality is that humans draw strength from social groups and can also be devastated by social groups that reject them. If homosexuals were allowed to be both married and part of the church they would have a support group that they might not otherwise have and this in turn would contribute to better humans behavior such as monogamy.
While I am picking on the Church, this same idea can be applied to anything that needs moral direction. Humanity is the most important thing humans have. If we give up humanity for perceived morality, it is not actual morality.
Manifest Reality
There are two types of fear, the first is the fear created by personal survival. The second is the fear of change. We will throw out success and run away from things that are good for us to avoid change. We think we know and understand fear such as the serial killer, the nuclear bomb, or global warming. Our most common fears regarding survival are easy to understand because we can formulate solutions even if they would never work.
I can almost certainly assure you that in the next one hundred years you will long for the days when nuclear war seemed like a legitimate fear. Technology is moving off the screens and into our bodies and this is going to have profound implications. What will you do when you are told that all your accumulated experiences are irrelevant because in seconds you can become anything you want? You might think this is amazing but think of the implications. If you can become anything, who are you? If you choose not to act, you could find yourself scraping the bottom unable to compete with genetically improved humans. What if you were offered the ability to lose the capability to commit evil, would you accept it? If you accept it, would you still be you?
What we call science fiction is starting to fall behind what we are actually accomplishing. The biggest challenge we will have in the future will not be about weather or murderers, it will be about existence. We will try to escape it by chasing media and digital worlds but the gleam will wear off. When the gleam runs out you will be left to make very serious decisions that will have dramatic effects on your life over very short time frames.
Now, more than ever, we need to become architects of the future. We must face the coming challenges now, not once they arrive.
Discovering Corruption & Defining Morality
Discovering corruption is integral to the entire human experience. In an imperfect world our bodies are designed to try and fight anything that can hinder our progress and physically it takes the form of our immune system. Like many things in our lives, the body can be used as an example to explain larger more complex social issues that might seem unrelated.
When it comes to corruption, and by extension morality, the first thing to realize is that there is no perfect system yet. In the same way our immune system can fail, so can we when we try to identify corruption. While many argue about morality in terms of what is right, what is wrong, or if there is some divine origin or not, I see morality in a different way. Morality is merely our tolerance for things that may or may not get us to our perfect goal. I use the word may because it is really hard to know for sure if something we consider moral is indeed progressive in nature.
What we are constantly doing with morality is trying to find the “sweet spot”. The sweet spot is enough focus to move us forward but at the same time being able to allow things that would hinder us otherwise. Imagine you had to warm up a small point on a wall and you could either choose a laser or a flash light. The flash light, representing a large tolerance, could warm up the spot at a slow rate. The laser on the other hand could warm up the spot much quicker but it requires you to be on target. This has been the case with human morality since the dawn of time; trying to find the right amount of rules, not too many and not too few. Divine morality which people often call upon as a standard has deviated greatly in tolerance over time. If we look at Judaism for example, it has 613 Mitzvah (rules). Neo-Judaism, also known as Christianity, has significantly less. Using this example as a reference, Christianity would be the flash light where as Judaism would be the laser.
It is difficult for a lot of us to think in tolerance terms. Every action must be either right or wrong even though it is completely possible for an action to be simultaneously both right and wrong such as a person stealing food to feed their starving family. We, as architects of the future, have a challenge on our hands. As technology proliferates everything we do new questions of morality will need to be tackled. So how do we go about this?
Discovering Corruption
The easiest way is through modelling. The very idea of corruption is based around the idea that something should be one way but what is really happening is different. Our immune system functions by identifying things that don’t belong and this same method can be utilized for discovering corruption. When a model doesn’t exist, or needs to be changed, it can only be changed through a democratic function. Any kind of model change outside of a democratic function will ultimately not be able to survive and will collapse under the needs of the whole.
Once we have established a model then we can start seeking out the anomalies. Who is involved that shouldn’t be? Who is doing something they don’t regularly do? Once we establish for ourselves the way things should function it becomes much easier to figure out what is not functioning properly.
In real life practice we do this all the time and just don’t realize it. When a husband or wife suspects their mate of cheating it is because there is corruption present in their model of reality. It might be unconscious subtlety that makes the person believe they have some kind of intuition or special powers. In fact most things that could be considered exceptional intuition are a result of understanding models. You can actually utilize this method to gain intuition through basic deduction instead of relying solely on the itchy feelings you get.
In order to identify if there is corruption taking place follow these steps.
- Identify the Model
This can be one of the most challenging parts but is the most important. Figure out what is “normal” or what “should” be happening. This can be challenging because what you consider to be normal might not actually be normal. The easiest way to figure out normal is to figure out long lasting precedents. While it is true corruption can be there from the start, this is not usually the case. - Identify Anomalies
What doesn’t belong? Again, this can also be difficult. You need to try and stay as objective as possible. If you feel something is wrong, you might have the need to prove yourself right. If you’re out to prove yourself right versus trying to discover true corruption you will identify things as deviant that actually aren’t. If you are emotionally invested in the potential corruption you think exists, it might be prudent to ask for feedback from a third party. - Verify
The final step is to do some kind of exploration to see if the anomalies you identified in step 2 are actually taking place and if they are a product of corruption. There is always the possibility that something might be off or different for valid reasons.
Escaping Emotion (A Method)
The idea of escaping emotion has been around since the starting of civilization. Emotions can often be negative and so we will try to be objective or practice other methods of escaping emotion such as meditation. The need to escape emotion is usually always used in the context of escaping bad emotions such as fear or sadness because no one really wants to escape joy unless they are in a phase of their life where they are seeking purpose.
The most interesting thing about escaping emotion is how often we do it but we just don’t recognize it. I remember when I was a child and someone asked me how I was feeling and I responded truthfully, “I don’t really feel anything at all.” This was followed by, “Are you feeling alright?” I quickly learned that the proper response to that question was that I feel good or that I am okay. I think everyone can relate to this. How many times have you been asked how you are feeling and responded with, “I am good” when you knew that wasn’t entirely truthful? Why do we do this?
Humanity is obsessed with binary choices. Something has to be good or evil, wrong or right, and happy or sad. When we interact socially with people there is usually emotion present such as excitement or regret. When we interact with fellow employees over work tasks there is almost never emotion involved unless there is some kind of problem. I imagine there are people reading this blog right now that are stateless. They are neither happy or sad and if they were to really meditate on that for a moment it might actually make some people feel uncomfortable. In fact an unemotional state is where we spend a significant amount of time but we hardly reflect on it. This is because in an unemotional state there is no need to reflect, you have a goal or an objective of some type that needs to be accomplished and this might be something as simple as the need to go to the washroom.
Imagine you are driving down a long high way where the scenery was completely the same and suddenly you come to screeching to a stop to let ducks cross the road. If the trip took hours, it wouldn’t matter, you would only remember the emotional state you were in when the ducks crossed the road. When you reflect on your state of no emotion it might feel like you’re not living. However, after awhile you will realize that this state can be utilized to have moments of clarity.
Emotions are a reactionary force to try and get us to do something to compensate for some kind of stress or make us recognize lack of stress. That said, you are capable of interacting with the universe in a non-reactionary way. So how do you voluntarily escape emotion? That is the simple part. Unlike meditation this state is easy to get into once you recognize it. Let me explain. Odds are you have never really reflected on this state you enter on a regular basis, but now that you know it exists all you have to do is catch yourself in the act. Once you catch yourself in the act you can reflect on it and once you know how it “feels” you can gain the ability to turn it on and off. When you enter this state it might allow you to make better choices then to simply follow your emotions which almost always have a much shorter term horizon.
