Lately we have been weighing the pros and cons of our campus being the center of a television show. The extra attention it would bring to our company and its mission would be both good and bad.
I have often said that attention is the currency of life. The root of the word currency is current; a flow.
This morning I realized that attention is very much like a current. It flows. It brings vital nutrients and carries away waste. It can power and motivate things. Just like fire or any other useful tool, its power for good is balanced by its power for destruction. Small currents and large ones can both be useful, but as the current gets larger, it becomes more dangerous.
So, if we were to suddenly find ourselves in the midst of a flood of attention, we would have to be prepared to handle the extra flow. Have deeper ditches and higher bridges; more solid foundations, larger pipes, bigger rocks, etc.
If we are well prepared, we can use that current to generate useful power. Any current beyond what we can safely handle should have a safe overflow path.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Playing the scales: Regenerating Reliability
The rules change when you change scale. Little kids can do things that adults can't. Ants can do amazing things that humans can't. A little go cart can turn on a dime. A battleship is famous for being very slow to turn.
As our little business grew and eventually became a big business, we constantly had to learn new rules. Just about every time we started to get a handle on how to operate, we found that our existing techniques didn't work well anymore because we were bigger.
I became fascinated with just what things change when you change scale and what things stay the same. It helped develop a huge appreciation for how nature evolved critters of different sizes, and why they ended up with the body styles they have.
When we delve even deeper, past physiology and down into the underlying physics, a recurring pattern starts to show. It seems to me that at the lowest level of existence I can currently fathom, life starts out digital. It exists in a very noisy environment so it's first priority is to repair itself and make reliable copies of itself. As its population grows, the sum of many life units creates flows and capacities that function in analog form. Eventually some of the analog functions become stable and robust and complicated enough that they find ways to repair and copy themselves. Their organization has become digital.
The new level of digital units become very stable and successful and therefore proliferate. The huge quantity of them once again creates analog functions at a new scale. They also become building blocks that combine in ever more complicated ways. Eventually some of those functions learn to repair themselves and make copies, becoming digital, robust and prolific.
In this context, the term "digital" means a limited number of stable states.
Protons, electrons, neutrons seem to be digital. Next scale up is atoms. Perhaps the next scale up is biological cells. Then stable groups of cells that function as one unit (like animals or plants).
As our little business grew and eventually became a big business, we constantly had to learn new rules. Just about every time we started to get a handle on how to operate, we found that our existing techniques didn't work well anymore because we were bigger.
I became fascinated with just what things change when you change scale and what things stay the same. It helped develop a huge appreciation for how nature evolved critters of different sizes, and why they ended up with the body styles they have.
When we delve even deeper, past physiology and down into the underlying physics, a recurring pattern starts to show. It seems to me that at the lowest level of existence I can currently fathom, life starts out digital. It exists in a very noisy environment so it's first priority is to repair itself and make reliable copies of itself. As its population grows, the sum of many life units creates flows and capacities that function in analog form. Eventually some of the analog functions become stable and robust and complicated enough that they find ways to repair and copy themselves. Their organization has become digital.
The new level of digital units become very stable and successful and therefore proliferate. The huge quantity of them once again creates analog functions at a new scale. They also become building blocks that combine in ever more complicated ways. Eventually some of those functions learn to repair themselves and make copies, becoming digital, robust and prolific.
In this context, the term "digital" means a limited number of stable states.
Protons, electrons, neutrons seem to be digital. Next scale up is atoms. Perhaps the next scale up is biological cells. Then stable groups of cells that function as one unit (like animals or plants).
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Persona masks and the big social brain
Yesterday, Ian was showing me a toy robot that had a mask for a face. He made a statement similar to "The mask IS the brain". That rang a bell deep inside me that is still resonating. It connected some dots that helps form a picture of the human condition.
We are all wearing masks. We selectively show only small parts of our selves to others. We wear different masks in different situations, and when dealing with different people.
We are all neurons in the big social brain. In a brain, each neuron connects to many others via synapses. The intelligence in the brain is in the weights that are assigned to each synapse. Each mask we wear when dealing with other people is a collection of weighted synapses. Just like a neuron, we each have thousands of those synapses. We have been growing the big social brain ever since we first learned to communicate selectively.
What makes humans so different from other critters is the extent that we communicate. That is what drives innovation; so much so that communication (our social interaction) has become the dominant force in our evolution. It has shaped our brains and parts of our body (such as our larynx). It has become less important how fit the individual is, and more important how fit the big social brain is.
Recently the social brain has had explosive growth in connectivity. Internet, cell phones and automated communications (like Google crawlers) are making the big brain millions of times more intelligent than ever before in history. This has to have incredible outcomes that are hard for us little neurons to fathom.
Hang in there. The next few decades are likely to be the most exciting in history.
We are all wearing masks. We selectively show only small parts of our selves to others. We wear different masks in different situations, and when dealing with different people.
We are all neurons in the big social brain. In a brain, each neuron connects to many others via synapses. The intelligence in the brain is in the weights that are assigned to each synapse. Each mask we wear when dealing with other people is a collection of weighted synapses. Just like a neuron, we each have thousands of those synapses. We have been growing the big social brain ever since we first learned to communicate selectively.
What makes humans so different from other critters is the extent that we communicate. That is what drives innovation; so much so that communication (our social interaction) has become the dominant force in our evolution. It has shaped our brains and parts of our body (such as our larynx). It has become less important how fit the individual is, and more important how fit the big social brain is.
Recently the social brain has had explosive growth in connectivity. Internet, cell phones and automated communications (like Google crawlers) are making the big brain millions of times more intelligent than ever before in history. This has to have incredible outcomes that are hard for us little neurons to fathom.
Hang in there. The next few decades are likely to be the most exciting in history.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Male sexual cycles
There is little info published about male sexual cycles. They seem irregular and confusing. This entry is an attempt to sort some of them out.
Online research tells me that men have a cycle of high and low testosterone that runs about 30 days. Beards grow faster during certain parts of the cycle.
It is overlaid with another weaker testosterone cycle that runs about a week.
Testosterone level is also raised by sexual activity, winning competition, exposure to new women, food and other things.
Then there is the ejaculation cycle. Sexual energy, tension and fluids are all discharged at ejaculation. Then they build up again, rising like a sawtooth waveform that suddenly drops again at the next ejaculation. Normal frequencies for that cycle run about once per day during teens and twenties. As you age, the frequency gradually drops to 1 per week or two in your 50s.
Overlay all these cycles, add the events that modify the cycles, and you have a nearly unpredictable waveform. However, it is useful for a thoughtful guy to understand these patterns within himself.
Online research tells me that men have a cycle of high and low testosterone that runs about 30 days. Beards grow faster during certain parts of the cycle.
It is overlaid with another weaker testosterone cycle that runs about a week.
Testosterone level is also raised by sexual activity, winning competition, exposure to new women, food and other things.
Then there is the ejaculation cycle. Sexual energy, tension and fluids are all discharged at ejaculation. Then they build up again, rising like a sawtooth waveform that suddenly drops again at the next ejaculation. Normal frequencies for that cycle run about once per day during teens and twenties. As you age, the frequency gradually drops to 1 per week or two in your 50s.
Overlay all these cycles, add the events that modify the cycles, and you have a nearly unpredictable waveform. However, it is useful for a thoughtful guy to understand these patterns within himself.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
A better economic system
I used to think that real estate taxes were the most unfair in the world. Eventually I realized that they are actually very fair. We individuals must pay the public an annual fee for the use of a piece of property. If there were no such taxes, rich people would end up owning all land and most of us would be serfs.
I just read a chapter in "The Tau of Abundance" about money and interest. It twisted my head. It is forcing me to try to see with fresh eyes from outside of a culture and financial system that all of us are immersed in.
It lead me to contemplate the concept that real tangible property rights shouldn't be treated any different from intellectual property rights. Ownership of money and goods should eventually time out and revert to the public.
Because it doesn't, in the US CEOs get 400 times the average workers pay. The richest 1% own 34.6% of all private wealth. The wealth gap keeps getting bigger because we allow people to keep assets forever. Then, like feudal lords, they charge us (their serfs) huge percentages of our income for the privilege of using that property.
(The average household pays about 18% of disposable income just to service debt.)
A MORE FAIR SYSTEM...
We could tax people based on assets that they own. For example...
If your net worth is 100% of the median net worth, you would pay 1% of your net worth as tax.
If your net worth is 200% of median, you pay 2% tax.
If your net worth is 5,000% of median, you pay 50% of it as tax.
The dynamics of this tax method are fascinating...
This lets you be substantially better off than average, but not by ridiculous factors.
It also decays wealth at a fair and reasonable rate, keeping an incentive to work hard while preventing undue concentrations of wealth.
It lets you pass a reasonable amount of wealth to your kids, but prevents situations like Paris Hilton.
To get large capital, a company would have to be owned by large numbers of stockholders, or be a co-op or non profit.
Later maybe we will explore how this would reduce debt and lead to lower total taxes.
I just read a chapter in "The Tau of Abundance" about money and interest. It twisted my head. It is forcing me to try to see with fresh eyes from outside of a culture and financial system that all of us are immersed in.
It lead me to contemplate the concept that real tangible property rights shouldn't be treated any different from intellectual property rights. Ownership of money and goods should eventually time out and revert to the public.
Because it doesn't, in the US CEOs get 400 times the average workers pay. The richest 1% own 34.6% of all private wealth. The wealth gap keeps getting bigger because we allow people to keep assets forever. Then, like feudal lords, they charge us (their serfs) huge percentages of our income for the privilege of using that property.
(The average household pays about 18% of disposable income just to service debt.)
A MORE FAIR SYSTEM...
We could tax people based on assets that they own. For example...
If your net worth is 100% of the median net worth, you would pay 1% of your net worth as tax.
If your net worth is 200% of median, you pay 2% tax.
If your net worth is 5,000% of median, you pay 50% of it as tax.
The dynamics of this tax method are fascinating...
This lets you be substantially better off than average, but not by ridiculous factors.
It also decays wealth at a fair and reasonable rate, keeping an incentive to work hard while preventing undue concentrations of wealth.
It lets you pass a reasonable amount of wealth to your kids, but prevents situations like Paris Hilton.
To get large capital, a company would have to be owned by large numbers of stockholders, or be a co-op or non profit.
Later maybe we will explore how this would reduce debt and lead to lower total taxes.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Empowering dream
Running around naked
war decision
flying, playing with kids
We were working on a river; a common theme lately. So common that I can't sort out the river details of this dream from other river dreams.
The setting is a kind homestead/campus/resort. Lots of people there, very much a sense of family and small community.
The work evolved into a council. We were preparing for some kind of war. It was coming. It was inevitable. At some point in the meeting, we decided "Wait a minute! We are in charge here. We can just say NO to war." It felt good.
Next scene we were doing homestead and resort type things around the campus; playing and working. I was so used to being naked that I was running around doing my regular meetings and work and playing without even realizing that I was still naked. Pretty much nobody cared. It was freeing to be honestly me. Eventually an in-law was stressed out by my nakedness and I started to feel naked.
Next scene I was playing with kids. Trying to surprise or impress them by flying around; jumping to their treehouse or attic fort. This was a little different from my normal flying dreams. Instead of being infatuated with the fact that I can fly, it is just matter of fact. I have accepted it and I am not afraid to show it as I play with the kids. They weren't terribly impressed either. They just accepted it.
The common theme seems to be acceptance of who I am, and the powers that go with that.
war decision
flying, playing with kids
We were working on a river; a common theme lately. So common that I can't sort out the river details of this dream from other river dreams.
The setting is a kind homestead/campus/resort. Lots of people there, very much a sense of family and small community.
The work evolved into a council. We were preparing for some kind of war. It was coming. It was inevitable. At some point in the meeting, we decided "Wait a minute! We are in charge here. We can just say NO to war." It felt good.
Next scene we were doing homestead and resort type things around the campus; playing and working. I was so used to being naked that I was running around doing my regular meetings and work and playing without even realizing that I was still naked. Pretty much nobody cared. It was freeing to be honestly me. Eventually an in-law was stressed out by my nakedness and I started to feel naked.
Next scene I was playing with kids. Trying to surprise or impress them by flying around; jumping to their treehouse or attic fort. This was a little different from my normal flying dreams. Instead of being infatuated with the fact that I can fly, it is just matter of fact. I have accepted it and I am not afraid to show it as I play with the kids. They weren't terribly impressed either. They just accepted it.
The common theme seems to be acceptance of who I am, and the powers that go with that.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Another building Dream
The phone woke me up in the middle of a dream, so it was easy to remember. In character, this was a somewhat unremarkable dream because it was processing concerns that have been on my mind lately. The interesting part was the setting.
It was a rather large building overlooking a valley. Hunt Technologies occupied the ground floor. We were no longer involved with Hunt Tech, but they were the amiable neighbors below us. Our current business was having a meeting of about 20 salesmen and managers on the main floor. I was concerned that the sales people didn't fully understand some basic principle of their job.
Wrapped around our business space was a school that was operating successfully. We apparently had been instrumental in founding it. I was currently mad at Lynn for donating another $120,000 to it without even consulting me.
The building is quite the metaphor for our current life. Hunt Tech is both beneath us and supporting us; sort of a foundation. The view over the valley is reminiscent of where I grew up and of Hunt Tech's location. Our current business is just beginning to get sales oriented. A school is wrapped around our current business, not the center of it, but much of the outer face of it.
It was a rather large building overlooking a valley. Hunt Technologies occupied the ground floor. We were no longer involved with Hunt Tech, but they were the amiable neighbors below us. Our current business was having a meeting of about 20 salesmen and managers on the main floor. I was concerned that the sales people didn't fully understand some basic principle of their job.
Wrapped around our business space was a school that was operating successfully. We apparently had been instrumental in founding it. I was currently mad at Lynn for donating another $120,000 to it without even consulting me.
The building is quite the metaphor for our current life. Hunt Tech is both beneath us and supporting us; sort of a foundation. The view over the valley is reminiscent of where I grew up and of Hunt Tech's location. Our current business is just beginning to get sales oriented. A school is wrapped around our current business, not the center of it, but much of the outer face of it.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Dream about house.
When you dream about exploring a house, it usually means that you are exploring yourself.
Last night I found myself in the basement family room of a big old house that was reminiscent of my parent's house in Fargo. Walking out the door of the family room you enter a little ante room made of old bricks. To your left is the door to Dad's shop. I had gone that path countless times before, but as I glanced left into the shop, for the first time I noticed there was a door straight ahead too.
The path through the doorway straight ahead goes down a short hallway, then expands into a large underground urban area of residential and artisan shops. Further down it gets wider and more commercial, with handy stores for anything I might need. I am thrilled to discover that my house is closely and conveniently connected to this whole community.
Last night I found myself in the basement family room of a big old house that was reminiscent of my parent's house in Fargo. Walking out the door of the family room you enter a little ante room made of old bricks. To your left is the door to Dad's shop. I had gone that path countless times before, but as I glanced left into the shop, for the first time I noticed there was a door straight ahead too.
The path through the doorway straight ahead goes down a short hallway, then expands into a large underground urban area of residential and artisan shops. Further down it gets wider and more commercial, with handy stores for anything I might need. I am thrilled to discover that my house is closely and conveniently connected to this whole community.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Dreaming in blue
This morning while I was still dreaming, I began to realize that my dreams were basically in black and white with certain features highlighted in blue. At some point I started to realize that this was weird and wondered what was going on.
Then I thought; maybe this a communication technique. Maybe something inside me was trying to get a message to my consciousness. As soon as that thought became conscious, there was a rapid fire series of pictures with blue highlights; too many to absorb. Kind of like someone excited at finally getting your attention and then talking so fast that you can't follow them.
Some of the pictures looked like DNA sequences, highlighting interesting segments. I waited too long before writing this down so many of the other pictures have faded. I hope there are more such communication opportunities.
Then I thought; maybe this a communication technique. Maybe something inside me was trying to get a message to my consciousness. As soon as that thought became conscious, there was a rapid fire series of pictures with blue highlights; too many to absorb. Kind of like someone excited at finally getting your attention and then talking so fast that you can't follow them.
Some of the pictures looked like DNA sequences, highlighting interesting segments. I waited too long before writing this down so many of the other pictures have faded. I hope there are more such communication opportunities.
New board member?
Yesterday I was lying face down on the massage table. Karlene was almost done; doing the final touches on my shoulders. Suddenly I was clearly viewing the scene from above the table. Next to Karlene, to my right was the spirit of an old black indigenous woman with long white kinky hair.
Seeing her as I did from above and behind her left shoulder, her hair was most prominent, and I could only see her face as an outline; a caricature of an old crone with a rather bulbous nose.
At a glance she looked like a shaman or a witch, very old and wise. She was mostly spirit. Whatever body may have been under the long kinky white hair was nondescript.
Suddenly she jumped inside of me.
That move was unexpected, but welcome. I feel that her skills are needed as the next phase of life unfolds.
Seeing her as I did from above and behind her left shoulder, her hair was most prominent, and I could only see her face as an outline; a caricature of an old crone with a rather bulbous nose.
At a glance she looked like a shaman or a witch, very old and wise. She was mostly spirit. Whatever body may have been under the long kinky white hair was nondescript.
Suddenly she jumped inside of me.
That move was unexpected, but welcome. I feel that her skills are needed as the next phase of life unfolds.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Well said
The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Monday, September 07, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Hugs and tears all around
Kate drew her last breath at 10:57 this morning.
No one has ever had more loving people to spend their last hours with.
No one has ever had more loving people to spend their last hours with.
Sent from my iPhone
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Are microbes God?
Classical characteristics attributed to God
Omnipresent; God is everywhere
If we define space as it relates to life as the biosphere, certainly everywhere there is life there are microbes.
Omniscient; God knows everything
Within the biosphere, microbes are the first to know just about anything. Certainly they know when a sparrow dies.
Timeless; Always was, always will be.
The extent of time as it relates to the biosphere started with microbes and will end with microbes long after "higher" life forms are gone.
Lives within you
90% of the cells in your body are not yours, they are microbes.
In some ways our bodies are vehicles designed to serve microbes. We are their cities.
So, have a little respect for the bacteria and fungi and viruses.
"What you do for the least of us, you do for me."
Omnipresent; God is everywhere
If we define space as it relates to life as the biosphere, certainly everywhere there is life there are microbes.
Omniscient; God knows everything
Within the biosphere, microbes are the first to know just about anything. Certainly they know when a sparrow dies.
Timeless; Always was, always will be.
The extent of time as it relates to the biosphere started with microbes and will end with microbes long after "higher" life forms are gone.
Lives within you
90% of the cells in your body are not yours, they are microbes.
In some ways our bodies are vehicles designed to serve microbes. We are their cities.
So, have a little respect for the bacteria and fungi and viruses.
"What you do for the least of us, you do for me."
Friday, August 14, 2009
Birthday present
Now it is bath time at the beach.
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