fixtheworld

Musings During September 2011

Posted from the US

Been working on:

• Cool and inventive things at MAKO (www.makosurgical.com)
• Very cool things at Magic Leap (www.magicleap.com)
• Just signed up to attend TEDMED 2011 (www.TEDMED.com)

R

 

Bionic Builders - Comic Book Characters Coming to Life

Posted from the US

 

At the Solidworks World 2011 General Sessions this morning the last speakers were the guys from Bionic Builders:

 

They were awesome and mind blowing. The stars are Hollywood stuntman and amputee Casey Pieretti and his personal inventor/design engineer Bill Spracher. Casey's dream is to have bionic limbs of all kinds that literally give him superpowers and capabilities that transcend human (that's him flying in the picture and on stage - he was practicing to have his leg explode off for a special effect). They designed a submarine propeller leg, one for mountain climbing, one that explodes, and I think one that shoots flames and/or baseballs(!) Awesome.

I do some pretty out there things with robots but these guys rocked.

-R

Notes From Solidworks World 2011 - Apollo 13

Posted from the US

One of the coolest events I have ever been to - hearing Gene Kranz and Jim Lovell talk together about space flight and the Apollo 13 mission at Solidworks World 2011. Gene was the NASA Flight Director for Mission Control "failure is not an option"- and Jim was the Apollo 13 Commander "Houston - we've got a problem".

Actually the dialogue went like this:

Swigert: 'Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.' 

Houston: 'This is Houston. Say again please.' 

Lovell: 'Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt.'

The reality was a bit more geeky but how many people have actually been to the other side on the moon in a space capsule that was on fire(!).

They just don't make guys like this anymore.

-R

Leave Them New Zealand Hobbits Be

Posted from the US

Having just returned from a trip to Middle Earth (New Zealand) I have been actively following the strange and twisted tale of some major US studios thinking about yanking the two new Hobbit film productions out of New Zealand.

I am quite biased here, as I have friends in New Zealand who will be working on the production - but my overall guess is that anyone who has ever visited the country would appreciate how very wrong it would be to pull the films out of what truly is the only and best place for them to be created.

New Zealanders not only love their Hobbits, they essentially are Hobbits. They are one of the friendliest, least corrupt nations on earth - they live away from it all in their rough and tumble Shire Isle. The way the native Maori have been made part of society is not perfect - but it appears to be a far better situation than the way many countries have dealt with their original peoples. They seem to go out of their way to get along and to try and respect the culture of others - by wit and by being genuine, not by military might. Hobbits be there.

Where the Hobbit gets made may not seem to be a major issue on the global stage. Terrorism and the falling economy and worldwide poverty are much bigger fish. But I think that there is much for the rest of the world to learn from this modest and isolated place - much to learn about how to live in peace and get along.

So let's all join in and support their rally - let the Hobbit stay where it belongs!

-R

Back From Middle Earth

Posted from the US

Just back from a trip to Middle Earth (New Zealand)!

I was able to spend time with some of the very cool artists and film types who live down way under working on a semi-secret project that surely and absolutely involves zero hobbits.

I was also able to procure the very mighty Righteous Bison, quite handy when dealing with voracious Venusians (or Mad Hatters from the Tea Party!):

 

Everyone needs a Righteous Bison of their own - I wonder if I can register it with my local NRA? Best used for zapping highly endangered species and alien wildlife. 

I did manage to have mangled a very large Colossal Squid with my trusty Bison  - but it seems that some local Kiwis claim to have beaten me to the punch and have ole Colossal floating about in a noxious fluid in their National Museum.

 

-R

 

He Really Meant To Say "Burn Some Corn" Not "Burn Some Korans"

Posted from the US

I think I figured out the wacky preacher from Gainesville:

• Pastor Terry Jones really meant to say "We're gonna burn us some corn" - it was all a huge misunderstanding - he just wanted to have a friendly community bbq.
• He's really Conan in disguise pulling off a really edge stunt (Hey Conan - that's pushing it!)
• Pastor Terry Jones is actually 70s TV detective Barnaby Jones:

 or possibly Jed from the Bevery Hillbillies, played by the same actor:

 

but we can all agree that he is not at all related to Terry Jones of Monty Python fame!

(and we can all agree that the Pastor stopping whatever the heck was going to happen is a good thing for all of us).

-R

The Worst Idea I Have Heard All Year

Posted from the US

A Florida pastor from a church named the Dove World Outreach Center has decided that on 9/11 this year he wants to celebrate by holding a Koran burning on the property of his church.

Please. Please. Put this really bad idea back under some dark rock and squish it and just call it a day. 

The idea is so noxious that it prompted  General Petraeus to declare its overall stupidity and potential hazard to US troops. 

The pastor, his church, and his idea have become global media sensations - he may be loving the attention. Maybe he thinks he can't back down now.

Let me offer a suggestion: You sure can back down now. When a US general asks you to back down, isn't that enough?

To simultaneously add to the hazard US troops face overseas, and to truly insult the entire Muslim world - that has to rate as one of the WORST IDEAS I HAVE HEARD ALL YEAR. 

 -R 

On Semi-Vegetarians and Flexitarians

Posted from the US

One of the newest memes buzzing about is this idea of being a semi-vegetarian or a flexitarian.

I have been a vegetarian (technically a ovo-lacto vegetarian) since I was about 11 (when I became acutely aware where my hamburger was coming from).

There is much debate about this semi-vegetarian idea, which can be broken into roughly 2 camps:

• Those who embrace it as "eating less meat is good, let's not be puritanical about it"
• Those who are absolutist "vegan or die!"

Here is one opposing view to the whole idea of being a semi-vegetarian:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/why-we-must-reject-the-happy-meat-and-flexible-vegan-movement

(Peter Singer and a few others take a bashing here).

One of the current "it" authors out there is Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote about (and has influenced) the "new" vegetarian ideas:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-12-10-Eatingmeat10_ST_N.htm

The whole thinking seems to be more about anti-factory farming, anti-pollution - "the earth factor, the gross factor". It seems that the friendly, organic meat farm is not seen as the same level of scary Evil as the factory farm - so eating meat that has been hand-raised and treated well is not seen as problematic.

There surely is a difference between the factory farm and the small, well cared for organic farm on the scale of Evil (let's reference Google's Do No Evil Unless We Can Make $ here). The factory farm's Evil points must rank higher. The small organic farm's motto is "We Are Not As Evil". 

But come on - what are they doing? They are both basically killing animals for us to eat.

There is a binary position here:

• Do I eat animals that needed to die for me to eat this sandwich/soup/burger?
• Perhaps my fleeting hunger can be satisfied better without ending an animal's life?

Our hunger is not binary - there are many, many, many non-killing ways to eat, and we can eat really, really well without meat. But for the animal it's very binary: I live, I don't live.

So while I'm all for reducing the amount of animals that are suffering and eaten, the real change that we need in people is one from being selfish to unselfish:

• Selfish - I'm vegan/vegetarian because it is healthy/fights cancer/I can lose weight/it's trendy
• Unselfish - I'm not eating meat because no animal has to die to fill my belly

As humans we are granted very little power and control over life - but we have immense power and capabilities over death. Too much actually. Being vegetarian can be about giving up our power to kill - we surely have it, but do we need to use it?

When we are young the cold, harsh realities of life are hidden from us. But as we grow up the veil is lifted and we peer into this dark place. But we can look into that abyss and refuse to partake of it. 

-R

Why Politicians Who Talk About Religion Scare The Crap Out Of Me

Posted From The US

Don't they scare the crap out of you?

Here is a sure fire formula for intolerance:

People Soon To Be In Power + Some Religion Where People Claim To Know It All = Scary Bad Stuff.

Why do we confuse Freedom Of Religion with The Freedom To Shove My Religion Down Your Throat?

I'm very nervous about atheists who fanatically claim Darwinism as their religion of absolute faith (heck even Darwin would claim some uncertainty about his theories) and overly sure religions folks who want to blend politics and belief. 

Keep 'em separated people.

What makes America one of the greatest places on earth is that we allow everyone, of every religion and faith and non-faith, to live here, freely. Let's keep it that way.

Politicians pandering to religious groups and adopting the language and trappings of faith are moving in opposition to the founding principles of this country. What are your leadership skills? Your ability to to manage complex data and make decisions? What are your shared values - ones that reach every citizen?

Why are you qualified to have the power of governance over us? 

Your religious beliefs? Keep this to a minimum. Keep that in your private life. Explain how they will not lead you to make decisions that alienate those who do not share your beliefs.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"

-R

On The Mosque At Ground Zero

Posted From The US

Here we go - a nice fat n' juicy topic: the Mosque at Ground Zero. Please add the cheese, pickles, and mayo.

Almost everything I have read on the topic can be divided into the following:

• This is in really bad taste, how dare you, the 9/11 terrorists were Muslim.
• This is America - all religions are free to do as they please.
• The Mosque will be a friendship outreach center, an antidote to terrorism.

Well.

The more I read about the founders of the US - the more I like where they were going with the whole thing, and the more I freak out about what people today think they were about. We tend to associate America with the the idea of Freedom Of Religion. But the deeper I go into how the original coders thought, the more I realize that they meant:

Freedom From Religion.

Now what does this mean? I do not think it means that they were against religion, or that they were all atheists. I really think it means that they wanted a country relatively free from religion in the public and political sphere. It was the noxious mix of oppressive religion and intolerance in Europe that drove many to cross the Atlantic Ocean in crappy little wooden sailboats(!) Imagine how bad it must have been to risk everything just for a little breath of freedom from the oppression of crazed religious folks in power.

In my own life I have friends from every spectrum of faith (and lack of faith) and religion: Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Atheists, Wiccans, Agnostics, Spaghetti Monsters Folks - everything and everyone. What has really helped all of these friendships is that our discussions are mostly free from discussing religion - and if and when we infrequently do, it is not a battle of right vs. wrong but one of trying to learn about some cultural tradition and then quickly back to a topic which does not involve religion. 

It is one of the things I love the most about the idea of America - religion as a non-issue: do your thing, but let me do my own thing, and let's be tolerant and not in each other's face about it. Keep religion as a somewhat private, personal, family thing - you do not have to hide it, but let's not make a big deal about it. Nothing is more personal - when we die, each of us will face whatever we believe (or do not believe) in. Religion needs to become largely a non-issue.

So what about the Mosque at Ground Zero? The organizers (because this is America) are surely free to build the Mosque. Should they keep in mind that it is probably in bad taste? Yes. I would recommend that they sit down with the families of those who died in 9/11 and really find out if this is helping to build bridges of friendship and peace. How about taking the same money and donating it to the kids of the victims and helping them all through college? How about taking taking that same money and building schools of tolerance and liberal thought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where it is sorely needed. Are you really trying to extend a hand of friendship? If so, this symbolic act may be not the right move - and there are always ways to adapt - it is not too late. 

But most importantly - this is America. It is our distinct freedom of, and from, religion, that allows to have this discussion at all. Maybe all religions need to take a small step back, and just let people come forward, and we'll all realize what has been in our way, and that we do have many things in common, once we let the walls of politics and religion take a backseat.

Maybe we all believe in G-d, or something, or not - but how and why we do should not be dividing us anymore. I have my own beliefs in G-d, my own sense of religion - but I also have to leave open a window of uncertainty. Uncertainty that as I grow I will learn more and my understanding will surely continue to change and evolve (as it has), and that none of us can really know what is by definition beyond our capability to know - so we need to be highly tolerant of everyone and their own beliefs, as our own is surely flawed. We are human, as humans we are limited - the arrogance of those who claim to know everything is in my view the highest form of idolatry - because if they do believe in G-d, only G-d knows what they think they claim to know. If we were all much, much, more humble in our beliefs (believers, atheists, and everything in-between) the world would be a much better place.

So what would good old George Washington tell the builders of Mosque? I think he would sit down with them and have a long chat. This is America, my friends - you are welcome here, and you are also welcome to build here - in the spirit of freedom and friendship. But let's perhaps discuss a better place for your dollars. You don't have to agree with me, but at least let us sit down and talk. After all - this is why we fought and defeated the British King - it wasn't all about tea (at least not all of it!).

Stay thirsty!

-R

Help To Save Haiti

Posted from the US

Some links for donations:

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake/

http://www.redcross.org/

there are many others.

Do your homework so that you donate to a legitimate fund.

-R

Say hey 2010

Posted from the US

Say hey 2010 - some things to fix:

- planet earth
- music (compare 2000-2009 to 1960-1969)
- medieval, totalitarian, oppressive regimes
- cancer - lets wipe it off the earth
- energy - lets rock the solar/hydrogen thing

- r

- r

Oct 31, 2009

Posted from the US

Happy Halloween!

-R

Current Twitters Michael Jackson Memorial

Posted from the US

Wierd, wierd convergence.....

-r

It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Posted from the US

But I feel fine.

It's hard not to - as we watch the wheels of democracy turn and flat out demolish a long chain of racial injustice, bigotry, and outright disgusting oppression.

It's good to be an American today.

I wonder what the rest of the world is thinking.

-R

Obama Is In The House

Posted from the US

OMG!

-r

An Obama Win - The Best Case Scenario

Posted from the US

The fat lady ain't singin yet - but she is warming up offstage. There is still the possibility of a McCain victory - but I'm not sure it would be good for anyone.

The Republican party needs a time out - a bit of time to regroup, reinvent, and to purge out elements that no longer make sense:

Fiscal responsibility? Great!

Less government? Great!

Crazy right-wing religious groups?

Ignore science?

New world orders?

No!!!

Get back to your early roots - way, way back  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)

"The Republican Party was created in 1854 in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act that would have allowed the expansion of slavery into Kansas. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a progressive vision of modernizing the United States — emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. In this way, their economic philosophy was similar to the Whig Party's. Its initial base was in the Northeast and Midwest. The Party nominated Abraham Lincoln and ascended to power in the election of 1860."

What happened? There is some good zen in taking a major loss here and retooling the whole engine. It's a mess. Get rid of the crazy uncles and become the progressive, professional technocrats we'll need to run this country (see China, a country that is building a major new city every month). We don't want to see Palin in 2012 - we want to see some measured pros.

As for Obama and the Democrats? We really need to have Obama win this election and purge the national consciousness of all that is Obamaness. The symbolism, the mythology, the messianic vibe - nothing pours cold water on all of this visionary bla bla bla than the dull mechanics of running a complex country like ours. We need to have this party and to get it out of our system - or we'll never, ever get over it.

We do need an Obama victory to truly begin the end of hundreds of years of slavery and racism in this country. An Obama victory will help us become post-racial, and will likely inspire millions, and more importantly I think we will see a positive cultural revolution - an Obama role model is a great one for many kids growing up thinking that the US offers them nothing but a jail cell and a lousy job.

We also need an Obama victory to simply regain some balance after 8 years of Bush. On a higher level, an Obama victory will likely yield a pretty centrist road - and this reality will also moderate to all sides that most Americans simply want basic, up the middle, government - nothing too radical. Sitting in the President's seat, Obama will have to move towards the center once he gains the full picture of what is required to keep our country together - anything else would be impractical and likely unsuccessful - and I think Obama will follow much more of the Clinton, practical model. He will be surrounded by many brilliant and professional advisors - and his demeanor has been steady and methodical more than it has been radical. The reality is that Obama will likely need to follow many of Bush's policies of the last 18 months - Bush today is no longer the same Bush. He has no credibility today, but he has learned a lot and Obama should learn from him.

What of Obama's radical roots and associations? There is no doubt that Obama came up from a very different pathway than McCain, or Clinton, or Reagan, or Kennedy, or basically any other president. The real shock many white Americans are having is that they are having to look closely at minority culture - at people and groups that did not matter to them. But here is a question - if you are not the white son of an admiral, what is your pathway? What country club and private school would accept you? How are you going to move up? If the conservative Republican Right is wondering why someone like Obama came from the liberal Left, it's largely because there was never a place for him in the Right - even if he wanted to be there. The Left was the only place to go - and that's not right - and that should change. The party that opposed slavery should be embaressed and it needs to regain its ethical and moral center.

Many white Americans are disturbed by the words and speeches by people like Reverend Wright - but are we equally disturbed by how this country has treated minorities, especially African-Americans? We are only very recently coming out of a time where this country's racism was so blatant and omnipresent that it was practically a material reality - like the sky and moon. This country created Reverend Wright - it created the disgusting racial environment and oppression that generates intense feelings of backlash and hatred of the oppressor.

But we can prove that Reverend Wright is wrong. In this year and time, an Obama win helps to prove that this country is no longer run by racism - that we have moved beyond the evils of our past. We move past race, and back to the mundane, practical aspects of what is needed to run this country.

The Democrats need this win, but so do the Republicans. They both need to move past race, past the strange extreme elements in both parties, and they need to realize that we need both parties to become more centered, more professional, and more in balance.

An Obama win, and a reasonably successful presidency will do a lot to heal this country and our place in the world at large. A centered, balanced approach would be the practical one, and would surprise may Republicans that we did not become one giant, bloated welfare state. An Obama win gives the Republicans needed time to regroup and come back as a much more tight, rational group - we need economic professionals, not gun-toting nuts.

It is true that an Obama win has a huge amount of uncertainty - his victory alone has transformational and non-linear effects that are hard to predict, worldwide. The real change would be no change - if he stays steady, rational, practical, and centered - that alone would be revolutionary.

McCain has shown flashes of honor and character - he may lose because he resisted the temptation to engage in the full racist attacks that were possible. Yes he and his party dabbled in nastiness, but McCain clearly held back to his own detriment (Palin is another story). McCain has some real sense of honor and as Americans we should be proud of that. This is not McCain's time to be our President - he may yet win, but the hour is not his, and I think he knows it. But the hour can be his in the way he deals with his opponent as a gentleman and a human being in the final hours of the election, as well as in the days that follow. The inner hero which is in McCain will not be bitter in defeat, but will help heal this country. McCain's resistance to the ugliest side of his party, and his grace in the weeks to come may make him as important and as visionary as Obama, when all is said and done. McCain wants to win badly - but not at any expense. McCain's defense and support of Obama after the election will be critical - and a true display of a real maverick.

-R

In Defense Of Obama

Posted from the US

I enjoy the freedom of being an independant - it avoids the trappings and groupthink of party politics.

I have found good and bad qualities in both McCain and Obama - both are at the heart of things political beings, optimized to gain votes and win elections.

But.

I am finding the latent, underlying racism and fear pouring out of the Republican side to be disgusting and in direct opposition to core American values and our sense of liberty and freedom. I would like to see the Republicans return to the lean government, land of freedom, liberty for all thinking of Jefferson, Adams, and Washington.

I think our nation's founders would smile at the progress of our country that overcame slavery, bigotry, and elected a man who may best fit the vision of the American dream of equality for all peoples.

Whoever you vote for, please strip out any racist filters from your mind - this is America.

-r

Welcome To The U.S.S.A.

Posted from the US

We are a just a few days from what is looking like a massive Obama victory.

It may very well be transformational and chock full of change - but to what?

The United Socialist States of America?

I like liberal concepts, but greatly dislike their manifestations through centralized state power.

Let's hope for the freedoms as envisioned by Jefferson, and the open democracy promise that is the web - and not the bloat of centralized mass government growth.

-r

Voting today

Posted from the US.

I'm standing in quite a long line today, participating in that great american tradition: early voting.

-r

On Obamaness

Posted from the US

Yes - you know it. You feel it. It's Obama's Obamaness. He just toasted Hilary and John Edwards in South Carolina. He's Obama. Say it "Oh-Bah-Mah". He's chock full of mighty Obamaness.

He's just got it. That cool. That vibe. It doesn't matter if he advocated feeding cute bunny rabbits to tigers on live tv. It wouldn't matter if hosted a cooking show for gourmet cannibals. His Obamaness takes over. Jordan had it. Jimi had it. Miles had it. James Dean had it. Early Brando had it (lost it). 50's Elvis had it (flickered a bit in the Vegas days).

Hilary is oatmeal. Sensible. Practical shoes. Do your homework and eat your broccoli. Edwards is a lightweight weeny (he lost to an African-American man and a white woman in his Southern, Dixie flag waving, Confederacy forever home state!).

Obama? He is rocking his Obamaness. A friend of mine thinks that he coined the term (although I have seen it floating around). Women want him, men want to be him. He is. He'll fly out to Iran and tell all those cats to cool it, baby. He'll saunter over to Noth Korea and tell them freaks - hang out with Obama - and you'll get some sweet honey. He'll speechify the terrorists. He'll quiet them boys at the Pentagon. Hell - he might even get some good ole' Republicans to vote his way because he just throws his Obamaness their way and they'll all just melt like cheddar on rye. Jackie Robinson. Willie Mays. Obama.

Obama is black and white. He's all religions, all people. He's telling you to become one with him - because he is all.

In a field where the Republicans have one of their worst lineups of all time, and with a country not so enamored of Clintoville 2.0, we have Obama. He's like the iPod. Jobs. Pixar. It's hard to say what he's really about - or if he's the guy to lead the nation out of a big horrible mess. There really is not much outside of Obamaness. But sometimes that may be enough. He's the open source candidate - add what you want, it all sort of hangs together.

Like him or not, he's the coolest guy on the block.

-R

"Shoesliding Away"

Posted from the US

Shoesliders Unite! I'm posting from a secret lab deep in the bowels of Mass General/Harvard, in a discussion with a world leading expert in cardiovascular research. Today I learned about a completely new concept/lifestyle/attitude called "shoesliding". Unlike Scientology, Shoesliding is free and frictionless. Join the soon to be biggest movement on the webby visting:

http://shoeslider.blogspot.com

If you believe in alternative modes of transportation or can not afford a Segway, try Shoesliding - it rocks.

-R

"Shoesliding Away"

Posted from the US

Shoesliders Unite! I'm posting from a secret lab deep in the bowels of Mass General/Harvard, in a discussion with a world leading expert in cardiovascular research. Today I learned about a completely new concept/lifestyle/attitude called "shoesliding". Unlike Scientology, Shoesliding is free and frictionless. Join the soon to be biggest movement on the webby visting:

http://shoeslider.blogspot.com

If you believe in alternative modes of transportation or can not afford a Segway, try Shoesliding - it rocks.

-R

Scooter & Bush & Iraq

Posted from the US

A growing array of MSM outlets (mainstream media) are reporting that Scooter Libby was ultimately authorized by President Bush to leak classified intelligence about Iraq.

I find this hard to believe, because there is nothing intelligent going on in Iraq. The mess is on wide public display - and the way things have played out there seems to have been not much intelligence in the first place.

A recent article in Time discusses that one of the few things uniting Shi'ites and Sunni Muslims in Iraq - the thing preventing all out civil war - is their collective loathing and hatred of the U.S. Our experiment in Iraqi democracy is a major failure. Someone in the Pentagon needs to read the "Art of War" and get us out of this mess.

Does any citizen in the U.S. really believe that American soliders should continue to die and be severely injured in this war today? What's the mission and exit plan? Who is driving the bus?

-R

Beyond Bush Bashing

Posted from the US

Watching the MSM (mainstream media) news it appears that Bush's ratings with the U.S. public are approaching an all-time low. Iraq continues to be a growing mess (all out civil war soon with U.S. troops acting as referees?), giving control of key ports to Arab governments, Katrina, Cheney's shotgun outing - how much worse can it get?

Is all of this Bush's fault? It is comforting to have a figurehead to blame for everything - and surely he has made some big fat mistakes and screwups. It also seems that he and his administration are pretty disconnected from the common wisdom on the street (typical upper management vs. the workers kind of stuff). However, it may also be that the fundamentals of the U.S. are broken, and that there is a larger scale problem to deal with:

• Manufacturing - when do we wake up and stop giving away production to Asia, and IT to India?
• Pride in American products - I was trying to buy and American car - and at the dealership the big push for me to pick up the new Saturn VUE was that is has the Honda engine.
• Overall international relations - we have had many countries rooting for our downfall for a while - how can we fix this?
• Major disconnects between Western culture and places like Iran - why is our PR so bad over there?
• What's the vision for the U.S. for the next 50 years? Are we going to become a second rate player to China, or are we going to retool ourselves (IBM style) and become relevant, with a different focus?

Yes, you could out a lot of blame on Bush, because he is in a seat to deal head on with many of these problems. But you could also blame the Republicans (hey guys, what happened to fiscal responsibility?), the Democrats (what's with the crazy guy from Vermont, and is the new Democrat an old Republican?), and the average American citizen (there is a major war on - does anyone care? What are you doing about it?).

Lots of stuff to fix.

-R

Fixing The World

Posted from the U.S.

I think that it is a good time to get back on the original agenda of this blog - fixing the world (not a simple problem). I started the site during Easongate in the beginning of 2005 and quite a bit focused on the various shades of blogging vs. the mainstream media and all those colors. But I do think that now is a good time to get on with bigger issues and larger fish to fry.

How to fix the world?

Clearly not an easy problem, but here is a list of where to start:

• Governance - is it time for a new model of human governance? Why have so many allowed so few to assume significant power and control over their lives? Why do so many allow so few to rule over them? There are almost always far fewer leaders than followers, but how many of our leaders been motivated by the true general interest and welfare of those following them, and how many have simply exploited their positions of power?
• Energy - The avoidance of truly focusing on renewable energy sources (wind, water, solar, hydrogen power, grain) will be a huge problem for all of us in the near future. We need to put the old days of oil & coal behind us and adapt now to a new way of living and commuting. A global, proactive and early shift to green, clean, and renewable energy will also create a new mindset in all societies - it will be a lower impact way of being and thinking and working. We will not need to struggle for energy resources if we focus on those renewable resources which for our purposes can be in practically infinite supply. The technology is already here and getting better all the time. The hundreds of billions of dollars spent by the U.S. in the Iraq war, spent on renewable energy, would have rendered the Middle East oil concerns - and terrorism - obsolete. The war is won by winning independance from oil - and ultimately allowing the rest of the world to leave that part of the world to be in peace and to go about their own business. The Middle Eastern control over energy would and should diminish significantly as we shift green, clean, and renewable - and ultimately those countries  will lose power and influence. By being less important to societies with different cultures, there can be a significant rebalancing of power. The oil rich states become poor, or they invest in technology and other industry and join the modern world - but they no longer would wield such a controlling influence over so many countries, and their systems of government may need to shift away from those kings with oil money and brute power to modern governments that are less monochromatic.
• War & Conflict Resolution - The concept of war needs to end - it's really stupid and no one likes to do it when they can think about it clearly. When a war is over there is a lot of regret, and soldiers after a war often feel misled and damaged, physically and mentally, by their experience. The time leading up to war is often a major con game & brainwashing by both sides. The losers of war are always the common soldiers and civillians stuck in the middle - the everyday people on both sides essentially getting screwed up and abused by their leaders. When one sees the reconciliation today between soldiers who fought with each other in WWII - now old men who have grown wiser with time, one wonders what was the point - sick, insane leaders on all sides caused the deaths of millions for what? Yes, we do need to fight the good wars - but the good wars should be the population stopping their leaders from war. The general population needs to get smarter and see the end result in the beginning. Let the leaders fight and kill each other - and let it end there. But this is too simple - humans may be hardwired for war and charged for violence. We get off on violence and we like shooting at things and blowing things up. We like video games and movies where we shoot things and blow things up, and we also like to do it for real. The dark reality of war is that in a sick way there is a rush that both sides feel, a need to kill. Until we can stamp that out from the human neural wiring, we may always have war. However, this does lead to a different concept about how to end war - if we are hardwired for it, maybe that can be changed. In this age of neuroscience we are going to understand soon the details of the software/wetware of our minds, and we'll learn how to program it. Perhaps not today, but maybe in the next few decades we will actually have the possibility to rewire that part of us that longs for war. Who will rewire us, and how? And what of those who did not get rewired - would they have power over all the rest?
• Interpersonal conflict resolution & mental illness - We are our own worst enemy. How can there be peace in the world when we can hardly have peace between two people? When we really have no good idea how to really treat mental disorders at the neurological level? We need to learn how to repair the brain the way we can repair other organs. World peace means the sustained, continuous resolutions of conflicts between billions of people. We need to teach conflict resolution the way we teach math - and societies need to measure their success on a low-level in order to achieve wider, high-level success. We need to move away from a police system that keeps the peace out of fear and deals out after the fact punishment to a system of embedded conflict resolution as a part of every citizen's daily life.
• Freedom & Oppression - We need to become citizens of the world - a free and unoppressive world. War to create freedom is one thing - but freedom can be better created in the minds of all populations, and they can begin to demand it themselves. We do not need the freedom to do anything - only freedom to live our lives without harming others, and the freedom not to be harmed by others. The people of the world do not need their leaders to set them free - they need to do it themselves. Just demand it, on a large scale, and it will happen. The large scale is the difficult part, because fear keeps the oppressed down. What breaks that fear down is an interconnected, open way to communicate. The web and things such as blogs will start to illuminate to many the lies of oppressive leaders - and those who want to know and see reality can find it. It will be very hard to control the flow of information, and losing that control makes it very hard to keep down and oppress a large population.

There are things happening in the world today that can end many old systems in society - old, oppressive, dysfunctional systems. However, before that happens, those in power will struggle violently against such a change - a change which takes their power and distributes it widely. The massively distributed connectivity of the web is a precursor to a much more radical change in society. One person - one voice - one vote - with no one in-between. The funny thing about this revolution is that it will likely be bloodless - that cat's already out of the bag, it is already happening. None of this can be undone, and its effects were not really expected or planned by anyone in particular. What's happening in the world is not like the old "isms" like communism or socailism. It has no real name but it is happening and when you recognize it you will see how far and wide it has permeated, and how far and wide it will keep going. We're in a big change, and it is visible in many ways - the good parts and the archaic struggles against it. Change does not fix the world, but it does provide an opportunity to tweak those parts that are clearly a mess.

-R

Hacking Away @ Freedom

Posted from the U.S.

I think that I have quite remarkably dwindled away a brief glimmer of worldwide media hype and awareness into a few (1, 2?) dedicated readers and lots of internet flotsam and jetsam (wierd pornsites linking to Easongates posts from months ago). But that's ok. The world turns and moves on and so it should.

What have I been doing?

• family stuff
• working on robots
• working on an album
• exploring the whole free software/culture/music/media movement
• battling various natural disasters (hurricanes) which passed through my home but then destroyed New Orleans and much of the Gulf
• dealing with numerous diseases and ailments of close friends and family

So.

I've become more and more intrigued with the power of free software/culture and the power of collective online collaboration. I've come to realize that the far reaching effect of the whole Easongate blogfest was not as much the content (although I'm sure Eason would disagree) as it is the mechanism. In this world, where we in the U.S. are trying to recover from natural disasters and live under a cloud of terrorist paranoia, where we are fighting a battle with no real probablity of success (we can not win a war against terror anymore than we can win a war against the concept of evil), there exists interesting hope. It hovers against a background of commercial exploits, war, paranoia, and politics - realpolitik, but against those odds strange communities of wikkipedia people and freeware people and open source people exist. It is not unlike the Civil Rights Movement, but it is harder to pin down. It represents not just the freedom of a particular group, but freedom for all of us.

When Moses walked a band of ragged slaves out of Eygpt, he had high hopes. But slavery and servitude and the powers that be have held fast and still exist - they change form, scope, and sometimes become more palatable. But most of us will never know what it means to be free - truly free. Not chaos or anarchy, but peaceful free and good free. Our society can not handle, nor can we as individuals (yet) handle this freedom, but we can taste pockets of it. A few bloggers understand a piece of this freedom, some hackers get it, some writers and musicians know it. Jefferson understood it but did not fully implement it. Did Bob Dylan get it? Is he free from Sony or whatever nasty corporate entity owns his soul? What about Richard Stallman. Perhaps he is free. Perhaps he is a ghostly dancer. Maybe both.

I met a free man a few weeks ago. He was living on the street (drunk, crazy?) and came up to us after a gig in what passes for Florida's CBGB's. He played after us and sang and was filled with joy and laughed and smiled. For the brief time that he played, he was free. He sang dirty, nasty songs "I want to get f--ked" but not in a dirty, nasty way - he sang in an honest, Robert Johnson as crazy man way.

The trouble is, I myself am not sure that freedom is all that it is cracked up to be. We just "freed" Iraq. Free from security. Free from order. Free from safety. Free from logic. People being freed of their heads. Maybe now we understand why Saddam had to be such a bastard. Are we better than him? Would the average Iraqi agree? The Chinese are smarter - they know how to ease their country and people into freedom. Slow and steady.

We need to be free. But not too fast.

-R

Hurricane Katrina Relief

Posted from the U.S.

Please donate something to help the victims:

American Red Cross
1-800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English,
1-800-257-7575 Spanish;

-R

The New People

Posted from the U.S.

I think that our society is drifting off into some strange new lands. What will become of us networked, blogging, ipodded, wireless, bluetoothed, myspaced, googled freaks?

Does wikki = democracy in the truest sense? What of Brazil and free culture and remixing and Lessig going on and on about these things?

What of Richard Stallman and all things Linux? What say the Chinese when they unfurl their might on the $99 PC?

Will the New People understand the past, or will it all be a single moment in time, remixed at will, all here, right now, right now?

What is software? If it can wirelessly trasmit from blackberry to ipaq to pc, why can't our souls float as they will?

When we have control of stem cells and DNA - what will we become?

-R

Simmering

Posted from the U.S.

I have not forgotten how to write (if anyone was wondering). I've just been simmering. Cooking. Baking away. Grilled. Toasting to a crisp.

The old pope, the new pope, and Terry Schiavo have all freaked me out. I would like to talk about popes in general, but I do not want a billion Catholics after me. Perhaps it is better to let those thoughts rest.

Wonderful images of Bush and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah holding hands. Very sweet. Let's give Bush credit for "taking one for the team". Way to go GW. I would like to see Bush do the same thing with the head of some right wing Christian Coalition group - or perhaps with the head of a gay and lesbian alliance. Maybe Paris Hilton? Yes sir. Anything for oil. That's the kind of image that gives our troops overseas the warm fuzzies - sure know what we're fighting for!

Bush and Putin - will they hold hands? Russia is a cesspool of organized crime. Sounds like a wonderful investment opportunity - these guys are not criminal scumbags - they are organized. It makes all of the difference in the world.

I woke up this morning to Elie Wiesel speaking on the radio. Soulful man. I had the privilege of meeting him a few months ago. A good guy. One of his students had discovered that a relative (father) had been in the SS. Not to worry - the new pope is offering absolution - hey, he was in the Hitler Youth. We're all one big kumbaya. In thirty years maybe Osama will head the UN. Darth Vader was redeemed and he blew up a planet and killed off almost all of the Jedi - there is hope for us all.

It's all good, right?

-R

Coming Soon...

Posted from the U.S.

I've been on the road and unable to post in the last 2 weeks, but here is a look at upcoming topics:

• Highlights from visiting MIT's Media Lab - kooky and cool
• The Schiavo case - contrast that with Peter Singer's philosophy
• The future of warfare - be scared
• Neural interfaces - continue to be scared

-R

Are Bloggers Targeting CNN News Chief Eason Jordan?

Posted from the U.S.

(Reprinted from the original posting on www.forumblog.org on February 6, 2005)

Original Link at World Economic Forum Blog

Swarms of bloggers, in a furious feeding frenzy that I have only seen before in sharks, are tasting blood and moving in for the kill. What has now been dubbed "Easongate" by Rebecca MacKinnon has begun to leak into comics, hundreds of blogs, as well as the Washington Times (Friday 2/5/05 Op/Ed, "CNN's Line of Fire". I just saw on NBC's Chris Matthews show fellow blogger and political pundit Hugh Hewitt break the story on American television, promising that next week Easongate would blow open as big news. A lynch mob of bloggers is asking for Eason's head, and it seems that all of the excitement is moving towards a seemingly inevitable conclusion: the deposing of a news media chief disliked by the right, but apparently loved by an Aljazeera audience to whom he is supposedly pandering.

What Eason said will likely become available on mainstream media and the web in the coming week, so none of Eason's CNN canned responses are really going to help him. It seems that no one ever learns that just admitting that you screwed up is a best practice (see Clinton, Monica Lewinsky). The "persistence of memory" capability provided by technology, omnipresent video, and the web will no longer allow major leaders, as well as the rest of us, to ever escape what we say or do. Like the Biblical concept of the eye that sees all, and the scroll that records all, we are entering an era of informational accountability.

What can Eason do at this point? And what should we, the angry, pitchfork carrying mob of bloggers, do, at a crossroads where the challenge is not only to Eason Jordan, but to mainstream media itself. Let me break from the pack of wolves for a moment and propose a few things.

(1) For the mob of bloggers, please review the proposed Blogger Code of Ethics, whose highlights include: Be Honest & Fair, Minimize Harm, and Be Accountable. Are we all meeting this standard? Before Eason is stoned, are we sure that we are all without sin? Right wing bloggers: are you holding our leaders to the same standard of accountability that we are now holding Eason Jordan (see George W. Bush, reasons for invading Iraq)?

(2) For Eason: Admit your mistake, and use your power and capacity as one of the most powerful media figures in the world to turn CNN into a model of ethical, fair, and fact based journalism. Create new models of accountability where your own journalists will no longer report inflammatory or highly slanted stories just to feed into the appetities of regional audiences. Tell your bosses that the world is changing, the bloggers are watching, and it is high time for a new way to report the news and do business. Stop the ridiculous attempts at spinning bloggers, which only incites them (it's like chumming the water), and get real.

(3) Getting to the truth of this issue. The philosopher Karl Popper spoke of our inability to ever prove that something was true. We are only capable of constantly testing a theory, and so long as a theory can be tested and it is not proven false, it remains the closest approximation to the truth that we, as humans, will ever get. This is a basis for how modern science works. Modern journalism, on the other hand, occasionally resembles the Salem witch trials or the Spanish Inquisition.

The statement in question:

(a) Do U.S. Troops specifically target American and foreign journalists in Iraq?

The lack of a solid response by Eason Jordan, and the general silence by the left, seems to indicate that this is a false statement. However, is a random flurry of e-mails and blogs sufficient to throw this quesion away and send Eason packing? There have been a few e-mails, bloggers, and groups that are to a degree supporting this statement. Their voice is clearly not as strong as the blog swarm working to prove this statement false, but they are there. What will happen if a soldier steps forward and speaks his heart, or a journalist on the ground risks his or her life and admits that there is fire to the smoke. We all know that terrible things happened in Vietnam, and why should we believe that in Iraq all is well, or has gone well? In the real war that begun after the war was won, U.S. troops face an unseen enemy who lurks in the shadows, who can be anyone, and who fights with absolutely no rules, no ethics, and no morality. When the Soviet Union fought against Afghan rebels there were many accounts that the Soviet troops had to resort to unusual, terrible tactics to put fear into the hearts of the rebels. They could not fight that war by conventional means. Would the Pentagon want American citizens, let alone the world, to understand in detail what tactics are required to fight an enemy who belongs to no state, who utilizes any means, and who has no boundary of morality or human decency? Can one fight this enemy without becoming like that which we hate?

Maybe Eason Jordan does deserve whatever is coming to him, maybe not. He still has options at hand to come clean and become a new leader of what the media can be, as opposed to what it is. He, CNN, and the rest of the mainstream media can come to grips with the reality of a new order, of an uncontrollable blog swarm that will always demand the truth, and demand accountability for everything you do and say. The blog huns are at the gates of old media and you can not hide behind your walls anymore.

The swarm of bloggers have an unusual power and reach, and should they just brush off completely what Eason said? He is not the only one saying it, although no clear spokesperson for the other side of this debate has emerged. Someone must know soldiers on the ground, or journalists on the ground, and there must be members of that group who have a conscience. If anything Eason or a minority of others has said resembles the truth, this truly is the time to come forward. The silence of the other side to this debate only fuels the feeding frenzy, and it will soon be a feeding frenzy of the big media sharks, ready to tear apart one of their own. If another truth is out there, speak now, because your silence is deafening.

-R