I have pushed by myself at least a hundred times now.
I can't be mad at myself though.
I mean, its my fault I dropped my keys 12 minutes ago.
The quickest way back 12 minutes ago is directly behind me.
So I've just got to push back by myself to when I was 12 minutes ago and grab my keys.
That seems to be a real problem for me since I came here.
Wiggling all about up and down through time is awfully complicated.
I'm still working really hard to get used to traveling through time as if it were a walk in the park. Everyone else seems to have gotten along pretty well with it, but it's still just a bit too much before me.
Before, After.
Uuuggghhhhhhh.
Sorry, you don't have to tell me again. I know there is no such thing as before and after.
Well there is.
But I can't keep myself away from the ancient future.
It's just so much bigger.
I have had my 21st Birthday over 400 times now.
It kinda makes sense now why I was so hungover the next day.
I've also seen the birth of my grandchildren over a thousand times!
But I still love to come back to my days in my twenties.
We were all so carefree in those days.
Don't get me wrong, it was no easy time.
We went through some pretty nasty ill times.
But it was all worth it.
We were poor as hell, but we were the best of friends.
And it just didn't matter if you were eating noodles with whatever vegetables the market faired that week. We played music. And music was different when you lived your life in a line.
It actually made sense, and it moved you, literally.
When I hear music in the ancient future, its a completely different experience.
I see the beginning, the end, the silence before and after, its all one big picture.
I see it as a painting on the wall. I can't live in that song any more.
It can move me, but not in the same way as before.
Thats the thing about trying to move back out of the ancient future.
This area of time and space has a gravity to it much like the planet Earth.
Once you have settled on the ancient future, it takes significant effort to escape the gravitational pull of time that is this heavy.
And now a song isn't what it used to be. To feel the way a song used to make me feel, I have to live a hundred lifetimes and they are all only mine in a passing moment. I feel the emotions and experiences of a whole people as if they were blades of grass brushing against me. And then... they are gone.
And I am at my 92nd birthday.
My keys are here.
You see, by now I have left my keys so many places I don't have to travel too far in any direction to find them again.
Although I was looking for my keys 12 minutes ago, I have found them 45 years later.
I didn't quite have to run into myself so many times this way.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Horse Doesn't Eat Cucumber Salad
Tales from the Ancient Future
The Horse Doesn't Eat Cucumber Salad
------------------------------------------------------------------"This is the password if you get in any trouble:
'The Horse Doesn't Eat Cucumber Salad.'
Otherwise just keep your head down, and don't come to me unless its an absolute disastrous emergency, get it?"
"Yes sir."
With that the telephone man left the building, and I went back to my lunch.
I have visits like that almost every day now. A uniformed goon shows up at the door with about 500 feet of cable coiled up over his shoulder, asks me for directions very politely, and leaves without ever giving the impression that the weight of a hundred years is pushing down upon him. If you think jet lag is bad, then you would never be able to handle the awkwardness of time travel.
Its funny that Bell Labs would be the ones overseeing their operations. Alexander Graham Bell holds the patent for the invention of the telephone, but he wasn't the first one to invent telephone like technology. The earliest existence of telephone technology is really important to these folks. You see, they need to know WHEN the earliest appearance of any of this technology is so that they can preempt it by at least a couple of days, if not much more. I'm talking years and years here if possible. That's how I got into this mess in the first place. Now, I seem to have become the temporal tour guide for any sucker they can talk into coming back here to run a little more wire. Its all crazy to me, but I have to give it to them. It actually seems to be working.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Humphries, get your ass over here! You do want this promotion, don't you?"
"Yes sir, don't get me wrong I was just trying to give Franklin there an idea of what he was getting himself into. I don't think these new recruits quite understand the seriousness of what they are getting themselves into."
"Look, Jim, I understand your concern, but these kids are well compensated for the risks they are taking. Its nothing new, and more importantly its not your responsibility anymore. You're moving up, and someone else is going to take over your position. You need to focus on your new responsibilities. You're going to be in charge of a lot of territory here. More than any other Regional Manager has taken on before...."
"Now wait a second, no one told me that I was going to be taking on more than any other Regional here. I mean, Jeff is already over seeing 1860 to 1888. I mean how can I possibly handle more than 28 years?"
"Jim, this is great news. Do you realize what this mean? You are going to live to be over 150 years old! No one in the company has a record like that."
"So the cartographers got me charted out after all, huh?"
"You say it like you're upset. This is fantastic, Jim! I mean you're the envy of everyone in the whole company."
"Yeah, and what do I get for it? Sounds like at least 30 years in the 19th century."
Silence. That wasn't a good sign...
--------------------------------------------------------------
The funny thing about becoming a Telephone Man for Bell Labs in the 21st century was that there was a really good chance you would live out a large portion of your life in the wrong time period. For me that was increasingly becoming the case.
Another funny thing is that the more responsibility you have in the operations, the greater the amount of your life that would be transplanted into another time period. For me, that meant being born twice.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't actually born more than one time, but if you check historical records, you'll find my real birthday as June 22, 1984. You'll also find a birth certificate for me on March 28th, 1832. I'm sure at this point your asking yourself the real question here, "Why?"
When I took my position as Regional Manager for the 19th Century, it mean that I would actually have to transplant my time line, my life that is, back to the time period where they needed me to work. Being that I was 28 when I was promoted, that meant that "baby me" had to be kidnapped from 1984 and transplanted to a family in 1832. This way I was still 28 by the time 1860 came around. I know that this probably doesn't make a lot of sense to someone who doesn't see things from the Ancient Future, but this transplant didn't actually mean that my life in the 20th century didn't happen. In fact it means that there is an alternate time line for my years from birth to age 28. I have the knowledge of 56 years of life, half of them in the 20th and 21st century, the other newly acquired half from the 19th century.
--------------------------------------------------------
Pete was a bright kid, at least he appeared so on the surface of things. You had to be at least mildly intelligent to get into a gig like this. But Pete didn't get into this job because of his IQ, he got into this because he, like many of us, had a love for time travel.
Now time travel is nothing like you are probably thinking it is, in fact, time traveling is a lot like regular traveling. One of the biggest repercussions of this is that you can't really just go "back" in time like so many popular movies would have us believe. Because if you were to just go straight "back" in time you would probably smash into travelers who are riding your ass, per se. Think of it like this: If you are hauling ass down the freeway and you miss your exit, you can't just slam it into reverse or else you would cause a massive pile up. And don't let this metaphor fool you, although it would be possible to slam your car into reverse on the freeway regardless of the consequences, this is not the case while time traveling. If you want to go back in time, you must make that temporal U-turn, if you will, and start heading back the down other side of the freeway until you reach your exit.
Now, all this is further complicated by the fact that practically everything in the universe is constantly spinning. Meaning that the position that you were in at 6:12 could be miles away from the place you inhabit at 6:13. This is simply a consequence of the Earth spinning at 1,038 miles per hour if you are standing at the equator. Plus the Earth orbiting the sun, the solar system orbiting the galactic center, etc. It all becomes terribly complicated if you are trying to visualize it from a linear point of view. But in the Ancient Future, we have found ways to navigate. Not to make it sound easy, but at least with the right frame of mind and a good calculator you have a chance.
This is what made Pete a good time traveler. Traveling in the opposite temporal direction took a lot of gumption and a lot of good instincts. It was actually a lot like being an explorer. Along with exploring came charts and maps and other important record taking, but it also took a lot of just plain old survival skills. That was because as you may find yourself now 5 years earlier than you were expecting to be, you better be able to make the best of what you had at hand.
Pete was my first subordinate after I took my position as Regional Manager for the 19th Century. I had hardly settled into my new digs in 1855 when he came knocking on my door. I was sitting down to a lunch of cucumber sandwiches with a pen and pad nearby to start on my company-mandated memoirs when I was shocked to find Pete waiting at my doorstep with a coil of telephone cable over his shoulder and nothing else in his possession except his goofy-looking, Ghostbusters-esque Bell Labs jump suit.
This was all a shock to me, you see, because it was still 5 years until I was supposed to carry out the initial hook-up to the earliest known telephone device so that reverse installations would be possible. And further more, once that had happened, we would still only be able to extend the current networks back a few days at a time. Long story short, Pete was way off his mark, 5 years to be exact.
---------------------------------------------------------
Its quite challengingly to try to explain life in the Ancient Future to someone who still perceives time in a linear fashion, but as one of the top managers for Bell Labs, it is one of my new responsibilities to record my memoirs in the 19th century as a educational piece for my contemporaries. So let me cap off this more literal part of my interpretation of events with a brief explanation of Bell Labs' vested interest in the coming of the Ancient Future.
The Ancient Future came about as a direct result of technological advances. Not just any technology mind you, but more specifically telecommunications technology was responsible for the change in the way that the human civilization perceived time. For centuries humans had always perceived and believed in time as a straight line, going one way into the future and leaving everything in the past directly behind us. As communication technology slowly gave way to the internet and cellular devices, humans began to become more keenly aware of nearly anything that could or did happen at a given moment. In fact, the technology became so efficient that we started to become aware of things that happened before and after a given moment without realizing it. I hope at this point you understand that I am saying that humans were beginning to perceive the time that existed around the moment that they existed in, or to put it another way, the size of our "moments" was increasing. Once this phenomenon started to become evident in our everyday experience it was practically the beginning of the end and the end of the end before we could even perceive it. Our perception of time literally opened up so that time itself was now more perceivable as a plane, a wide open space, that we could traverse in multiple directions, far more than just forward and back. And this is how my dual lives in the 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s, is possible. I never really traveled back in time, I simply side stepped it. And this you see is the nature of the Ancient Future. With a forth dimension becoming open to all of us that were able to perceive it, it was like the Wild West again. It was a whole new frontier that no one ever anticipated. And for Bell Labs, it was an amazing opportunity to capitalize on assets that they never knew would be so valuable.
As you already know, the internet is based on cable and cellular towers and satellites all beaming signals here and there and everywhere. And some of the first people that began laying the most serious networks of telephone cables was Bell Labs. In the Ancient Future, the temporal plane that opened up to us is not infinite. In fact, it is limited by the technology that was in place at the time. So for people of the Ancient Future, the temporal plane looks like it just goes off a cliff before the 1800s. But with some of the first telephone devices making their debut in the 1850s and 60s, this is the connecting point for the people of the Ancient Future to the rest of time. What Bell Labs is trying to do now is to connect their already existing phone networks further into the past. And they have to do this one day at a time. But for them to efficiently guide their workers through the past, they need a guide. Someone who is actually familiar with the times, and the places of the time. That's where I come in and why I have lived over 50 years of my 21st century life in the 19th century.
---------------------------------------------------------
"Cucumber sandwiches, again? What's with you man? You eat those like everyday."
Pete didn't like cucumbers. Also he didn't understand the irony of cucumbers either. For me, cucumber sandwiches were a becoming kind of a fetish because of the paradox that they represented for me personally.
"So, any luck out there today?"
Pete had been spending his days seeking stalking Johann Philipp Reis, or Phil as we had started to call him. Phil was going to be responsible for one of the earliest forms of the telephone, and although it would be deemed unworthy of transmitting a good enough signal for vocal communication, it was capable of sending digital information. This was all that was required to extend our networks, but the problem was waiting out a time when we could actually get a hold of some of his technology without disrupting parts of our networks that already relied on his inventions.
"Nope, sorry, boss. The guy just isn't getting anywhere. He has the right idea, but i just can't get a hold of what he is working with yet. Its still just a waiting game."
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tales from the Ancient Future
What was it like before the Ancient Future?
What was it like to be alive when time became space?
These are tales from before and after the Ancient Future.
A Gap in the Earth
Life had changed a great deal since the discovery.
But not nearly as much as we were going to be in for in the near future.
We had all become pretty famous after we discovered a gap in the geological record.
And I don't mean like a missing book, or a burned-down library.
I'm saying we truly found a spot in the Earth where the Earth just doesn't exist.
I know this probably sounds crazy to you, but its no lie.
And if that's not crazy enough for you, well what comes after that will definitely blow your mind.
But first, let me tell you how it all started....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
What was it like to be alive when time became space?
These are tales from before and after the Ancient Future.
A Gap in the Earth
Life had changed a great deal since the discovery.
But not nearly as much as we were going to be in for in the near future.
We had all become pretty famous after we discovered a gap in the geological record.
And I don't mean like a missing book, or a burned-down library.
I'm saying we truly found a spot in the Earth where the Earth just doesn't exist.
I know this probably sounds crazy to you, but its no lie.
And if that's not crazy enough for you, well what comes after that will definitely blow your mind.
But first, let me tell you how it all started....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, December 25, 2009
Chronic Reversal of Technological Evolution
Is it possible that the speed of technological evolution could reach a point that it would actually exceed the speed of time itself?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
NuMatter
Technology is leading us to the creation of NuMatter.
What is NuMatter?
NuMatter is my idea of what the evolution of energy and matter is leading us toward through our current technology revolution. I believe strongly that evolution is not just a biological phenomenon, but also a function of the entire universe. I don't have very much research to base this theory on, because even as I searched the internet for material supporting this idea, I found that the pickings were slim.
To explain myself further, I would simply point to the idea that we are all made of the dust of stars. By this I mean that the elements that make up our body, the heavier elements like carbon and iron, etc. would not exist if it were not for the compounding of energy and lighter elements like hydrogen and helium. It is said that the stars burning up these elements and the gravitational fields of the starts pounding these energies together for eons have led to the creation of atomically heavier elements. All this made human life possible and arguably all developments we humans are responsible for today.
This is a very interesting comparison, because although we live very short lives, it is the blood, sweat, and tears of humans that are making technology's evolution possible. We have made enormous leaps in technological improvement over the last hundred years. Our role is similar to that of our celestial forefathers, but our contributions have come at an exponentially faster rate. Many of us could see this simply as a means to make human life more easy and efficient. But it could be viewed that the increasing complexity of molecular arrangement is not just a human phenomenon. This revolution of technology is simply another branch of the evolution of the entire universe itself.
Many believe that there is a trend toward order and increasing complexity throughout the history of the universe, and that this trend points directly to a higher consciousness imbued in the nature of our existence. It has been proposed that the "mind" did not arise through the evolution of energy, matter, and biology but that the mind or consciousness of the universe led or guided the energy of the universe toward the structures that make up energy, matter, and biology. This belief holds within it the conviction that there is a purpose to the evolution of the universe and that all of these happenings are not random, but instead are part of a purpose or a plan that contains all the history of the universe.
My newest theory, NuMatter, is the extension of this evolution and it consists of many new technologies that are not related and are far from the point of development that would make my vision a reality. But I would like to present my vision to you and show you some of the technologies that are real today and through their further development may one day lead to the invention of a NuMatter which holds capabilities that far surpass what is possible in today's reality.
Vision of NuMatter
Imagine you are in a white room. This is your house. It is empty and clean. You look around you and begin to imagine what you would like your house to be like. You face the east and imagine a window to allow the rising sun to shine in on your house. You wave your hand and draw a box in the air. This box slowly takes shape on the wall.
You say to the room, "Let's have a window here."
The wall slowly begins to give way to the light of the day. The box that you have drawn is slowly morphing into an actual window. It looks as if the wall is slowly dissolving atom by atom and leaving in its place clear glass.
Next you look to the opposite wall and imagine a bed where you would be awakened each morning by the rays of the sun. You point toward the far wall and draw another box, but this one larger and more like a rectangle.
You tell your house, "Make a bed here."
Tiny cubes begin to rise from the floor and build up like a real life stop motion animation. The cubes take the shape of a bed with a box spring, mattress, frame and linens. You walk across the run and have a seat on your new bed. It is soft and comfortable but lacks any color or character. You speak to the room again, "Turn the bed linens to a light blue." In a matter of moments, the bed linens begin to fade from a lifeless white into a vibrant blue.
You continue to build up your room adding a bookshelf filled with your favorite novels, a desk with a chair and a computer. You paint the walls to match your taste. You add a few more windows. You erect some new walls so that you can separate your house into rooms. You continue to fill the house with appliances and furniture and the house responds to your voice and the motion of your body as you animate what you would like your belongings to look like.
When you are finished, you sit at your dinner table and look around at your accomplishments.
You are not surprised that this was possible, because this is the nature of NuMatter. Since the inception of NuMatter, the capabilities of all the world's technologies have been fused into a singular microscopic, self replicating and extremely versatile material that makes our lives unimaginably easier and efficient.
Each molecule of your house consists of nanotechnology that holds the ability to process computer calculations at amazing speeds. These molecules also connect wireless to the internet which is broadcast all over the world like television stations of the past. With the ability to network, these molecules become insanely more versatile and productive. They can interact to share messages, processing speed, and differentiate their individual functions. Some of these molecules are responsible for voice recognition while others act as cameras to watch their user's motions and respond accordingly.
Each molecule holds the potential to become anything that would be required of modern technology and nonetheless on a microscopic level. Some of these molecules project light in order to change the color of the bed or to create a screen of a television of computer monitor.
Not only are these molecules of NuMatter able to communicate wirelessly, but they are also powered wirelessly. They do not require batteries that must be charged or cables that reach across the house for each appliance. This house has panels installed in the floor which create a magnetic resonance which sends power through the air to each of the individual molecules.
This vision is my idea of what the future may hold. I think that the practical applications of this NuMatter are fun to imagine, but only one aspect of the implications of what NuMatter could mean for the evolution of the universe.
Since I know that this vision may seem far fetched at best, I would like to share some of the technologies that exist right now in developmental stages which could lead to the realization of this NuMatter. Once you see all of these ideas together, your imagination may begin to crystalize some of the same ideas I have expressed. First lets talk about power...
Witricity
This technology is something I have learned about only in the past month, and I was blown away to learn that this is a reality. By reality, I mean this is not a theoretical experiment. It has actually been created and it works. Witricity is, in a nutshell, wireless power. Wild, right? Well its here.
This technology in itself is enough to change the way the entire world operates. With the invention of WiTricity comes an endless array of ways that technology could be utilized.
Next is nanotechnology. This is not something new, in fact we have been hearing about it for years. Nanotech is the miniaturization of technology to the point of individual atoms. Machines and computers can now operate at the molecular level and perform the functions of countless technologies that are exponentially larger. One of the exciting ideas I hope that nanotech will realize is the ability to combine these tiny machines and computers to perform larger functions. This idea is central to the evolution of NuMatter and it seems the most unrealistic at this point because the development of nanotech for the consumer is still a long way away, but there are already developments of what are called "Swarm Robots" that could hold the key.
That video holds more theoretical ideas, but the next video shows robots that are real and are able to do what the previous video theorizes.
I think this is amazing! And finally here is the original video that inspired me:
Imagine this same principle on a nanolevel! This would change the nature of our reality enormously. With this level of technology we could practically bend matter to our will.
Finally one last technology which is on a much more practical level is Microsoft's Project Natale. This may be old news to many of you, but basically what they have created is technology that can recognize your facial expressions and body motions as well as voice recognition. This may seem like a very small development compared to the other technologies we have examined, but this is very important because Microsoft is already making this possible at a consumer level!
Although, Microsoft is simply using this for an entertainment system, the implications are astounding! This same technology could be used to create user interfaces on par with that of Star Trek's on board spaceship computers. You could simply talk to your computer to have it perform functions.
This is becoming a rather hefty blog, but I think there are many more aspects of NuMatter to be explored and many other technologies that would have a hand in this development.
One last idea I would like to tease before closing is that life itself could one day exist in a of a combination of these technologies or a combination of biology and technology. If this becomes reality, life would be given a chance to flourish in space and other parts of the universe that our fleshy vessels could never survive. But that is for another blog.
I hope that you will let your imagination run wild and look forward to the near future where amazing things could be possible. I will try to return to this subject again later as I have a chance to discuss with others and learn more about relevant developments.
Thanks for reading
Peace
Phil Buck
What is NuMatter?
NuMatter is my idea of what the evolution of energy and matter is leading us toward through our current technology revolution. I believe strongly that evolution is not just a biological phenomenon, but also a function of the entire universe. I don't have very much research to base this theory on, because even as I searched the internet for material supporting this idea, I found that the pickings were slim.
To explain myself further, I would simply point to the idea that we are all made of the dust of stars. By this I mean that the elements that make up our body, the heavier elements like carbon and iron, etc. would not exist if it were not for the compounding of energy and lighter elements like hydrogen and helium. It is said that the stars burning up these elements and the gravitational fields of the starts pounding these energies together for eons have led to the creation of atomically heavier elements. All this made human life possible and arguably all developments we humans are responsible for today.
This is a very interesting comparison, because although we live very short lives, it is the blood, sweat, and tears of humans that are making technology's evolution possible. We have made enormous leaps in technological improvement over the last hundred years. Our role is similar to that of our celestial forefathers, but our contributions have come at an exponentially faster rate. Many of us could see this simply as a means to make human life more easy and efficient. But it could be viewed that the increasing complexity of molecular arrangement is not just a human phenomenon. This revolution of technology is simply another branch of the evolution of the entire universe itself.
Many believe that there is a trend toward order and increasing complexity throughout the history of the universe, and that this trend points directly to a higher consciousness imbued in the nature of our existence. It has been proposed that the "mind" did not arise through the evolution of energy, matter, and biology but that the mind or consciousness of the universe led or guided the energy of the universe toward the structures that make up energy, matter, and biology. This belief holds within it the conviction that there is a purpose to the evolution of the universe and that all of these happenings are not random, but instead are part of a purpose or a plan that contains all the history of the universe.
My newest theory, NuMatter, is the extension of this evolution and it consists of many new technologies that are not related and are far from the point of development that would make my vision a reality. But I would like to present my vision to you and show you some of the technologies that are real today and through their further development may one day lead to the invention of a NuMatter which holds capabilities that far surpass what is possible in today's reality.
Vision of NuMatter
Imagine you are in a white room. This is your house. It is empty and clean. You look around you and begin to imagine what you would like your house to be like. You face the east and imagine a window to allow the rising sun to shine in on your house. You wave your hand and draw a box in the air. This box slowly takes shape on the wall.
You say to the room, "Let's have a window here."
The wall slowly begins to give way to the light of the day. The box that you have drawn is slowly morphing into an actual window. It looks as if the wall is slowly dissolving atom by atom and leaving in its place clear glass.
Next you look to the opposite wall and imagine a bed where you would be awakened each morning by the rays of the sun. You point toward the far wall and draw another box, but this one larger and more like a rectangle.
You tell your house, "Make a bed here."
Tiny cubes begin to rise from the floor and build up like a real life stop motion animation. The cubes take the shape of a bed with a box spring, mattress, frame and linens. You walk across the run and have a seat on your new bed. It is soft and comfortable but lacks any color or character. You speak to the room again, "Turn the bed linens to a light blue." In a matter of moments, the bed linens begin to fade from a lifeless white into a vibrant blue.
You continue to build up your room adding a bookshelf filled with your favorite novels, a desk with a chair and a computer. You paint the walls to match your taste. You add a few more windows. You erect some new walls so that you can separate your house into rooms. You continue to fill the house with appliances and furniture and the house responds to your voice and the motion of your body as you animate what you would like your belongings to look like.
When you are finished, you sit at your dinner table and look around at your accomplishments.
You are not surprised that this was possible, because this is the nature of NuMatter. Since the inception of NuMatter, the capabilities of all the world's technologies have been fused into a singular microscopic, self replicating and extremely versatile material that makes our lives unimaginably easier and efficient.
Each molecule of your house consists of nanotechnology that holds the ability to process computer calculations at amazing speeds. These molecules also connect wireless to the internet which is broadcast all over the world like television stations of the past. With the ability to network, these molecules become insanely more versatile and productive. They can interact to share messages, processing speed, and differentiate their individual functions. Some of these molecules are responsible for voice recognition while others act as cameras to watch their user's motions and respond accordingly.
Each molecule holds the potential to become anything that would be required of modern technology and nonetheless on a microscopic level. Some of these molecules project light in order to change the color of the bed or to create a screen of a television of computer monitor.
Not only are these molecules of NuMatter able to communicate wirelessly, but they are also powered wirelessly. They do not require batteries that must be charged or cables that reach across the house for each appliance. This house has panels installed in the floor which create a magnetic resonance which sends power through the air to each of the individual molecules.
This vision is my idea of what the future may hold. I think that the practical applications of this NuMatter are fun to imagine, but only one aspect of the implications of what NuMatter could mean for the evolution of the universe.
Since I know that this vision may seem far fetched at best, I would like to share some of the technologies that exist right now in developmental stages which could lead to the realization of this NuMatter. Once you see all of these ideas together, your imagination may begin to crystalize some of the same ideas I have expressed. First lets talk about power...
Witricity
This technology is something I have learned about only in the past month, and I was blown away to learn that this is a reality. By reality, I mean this is not a theoretical experiment. It has actually been created and it works. Witricity is, in a nutshell, wireless power. Wild, right? Well its here.
This technology in itself is enough to change the way the entire world operates. With the invention of WiTricity comes an endless array of ways that technology could be utilized.
Next is nanotechnology. This is not something new, in fact we have been hearing about it for years. Nanotech is the miniaturization of technology to the point of individual atoms. Machines and computers can now operate at the molecular level and perform the functions of countless technologies that are exponentially larger. One of the exciting ideas I hope that nanotech will realize is the ability to combine these tiny machines and computers to perform larger functions. This idea is central to the evolution of NuMatter and it seems the most unrealistic at this point because the development of nanotech for the consumer is still a long way away, but there are already developments of what are called "Swarm Robots" that could hold the key.
That video holds more theoretical ideas, but the next video shows robots that are real and are able to do what the previous video theorizes.
I think this is amazing! And finally here is the original video that inspired me:
Imagine this same principle on a nanolevel! This would change the nature of our reality enormously. With this level of technology we could practically bend matter to our will.
Finally one last technology which is on a much more practical level is Microsoft's Project Natale. This may be old news to many of you, but basically what they have created is technology that can recognize your facial expressions and body motions as well as voice recognition. This may seem like a very small development compared to the other technologies we have examined, but this is very important because Microsoft is already making this possible at a consumer level!
Although, Microsoft is simply using this for an entertainment system, the implications are astounding! This same technology could be used to create user interfaces on par with that of Star Trek's on board spaceship computers. You could simply talk to your computer to have it perform functions.
This is becoming a rather hefty blog, but I think there are many more aspects of NuMatter to be explored and many other technologies that would have a hand in this development.
One last idea I would like to tease before closing is that life itself could one day exist in a of a combination of these technologies or a combination of biology and technology. If this becomes reality, life would be given a chance to flourish in space and other parts of the universe that our fleshy vessels could never survive. But that is for another blog.
I hope that you will let your imagination run wild and look forward to the near future where amazing things could be possible. I will try to return to this subject again later as I have a chance to discuss with others and learn more about relevant developments.
Thanks for reading
Peace
Phil Buck
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Global Consciousness
This last week I have spent much of my idle time thinking about Global Consciousness, so I thought it would be a good subject of discourse for this week's blog.
To begin, I will pose these questions to you:
Do you believe that there is currently a consciousness that could be acting on a global level?
If so, what are the mechanisms that make this consciousness possible?
If not, do you believe that our world is capable of a global consciousness?
In my own opinion, there must be the potential for a global consciousness.
Not only do I believe in the potential for a global consciousness, I actually think that we are in the beginning stages of this development. I'd like to go over some interesting ideas in support of my theory.
The "noosphere" was first proposed by Vladimir Vernadsky as the third phase of development for our planet earth, which would follow our current phase known as the "biosphere." The biosphere is the sum of all life on earth from humans to the smallest bacteria. Before the biosphere there was the "geosphere" which incorporates all non animate (non living) material on the planet. The significance of the noosphere is that the advent of human cognition could affect the biosphere as the advent of life first affected the geosphere. If cognition has the potential to change the planet as strongly as life first changed all activity on earth, then the noosphere is an idea of great significance to the development of global consciousness.
I have heard the noosphere explained in a number of different manners, two of which are of particular interest to my current thoughts of global consciousness. The first explanation seems to center more upon the evolution of humans into more a psychically connected race. Basically, we would become evolved into a race of beings with psychic abilities that far surpass anything that we see in today's society. This would lead to a civilization of people that could speak to each other solely through our thoughts or something of this manner. I think that this idea is very exciting but perhaps a bit less realistic. The second explanation I have read about centers more on the technological development of the human race. Some have even proposed that Vernadsky's idea of the noosphere predicted the advent of the internet. To me, this comparison is much more accurate and holds much more relevance to the developments that we are striving with right now.
Princeton University is host to an experiment called the Global Consciousness project which aims to monitor trends in random number generators all around the world in an attempt to detect the emergence of a global consciousness. The project hopes to find trends in dissipating randomness which could indicate the interconnectedness of our human conscious states. This project has been running for over 10 years, and so far they believe that their efforts have revealed a consistent trend toward lessening randomness. I think that this project in intensely interesting to study and monitor, but I do not have a great hope that this will reveal any great developments in our human situation. In fact I believe that the global consciousness has a much greater chance to develop from the growing connectedness that the internet offers us.
We have seen an amazing growth in our communication technologies over the past 100 years, and even more so in the last 10-15 years. When the internet was first born, none of us could have imagined the effect it would have on our daily lives at this point. Most us use Facebook or twitter on a daily basis to communicate with our friends and family. Not only that, but many of us also carry iPhones or other mobile technology that lets us communicate with the masses at any time from any place. We have seen the explosion of technology grow on an exponential level and I think we have no reason to believe that it will slow down any time soon.
What this means for us is that we have the opportunity to be more connected with our family and friends, we have the ability to share the moments of our lives no matter where we are, we are able to spread good will and positivity to all people of the world, we are more readily equipped to stomp out injustice and inequality in the world, we truly can make a difference more than ever in the history of the world.
The most exciting idea behind technology as a proponent toward global consciousness is that you are participating in it right now by reading this blog. By having open conversations and dialogue about these developments we are actively participating in the growth of our consciousness on a level beyond our ego-centered consciousness that we know now.
I hope that we can continue to see the quality of our lives increase with the use of technology.
So that being said, stay in touch!
Some interesting source material for this blog is listed below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Complexity/Consciousness
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere
Please check out all these sites/articles. They will make you think!
Peace
P Buck
To begin, I will pose these questions to you:
Do you believe that there is currently a consciousness that could be acting on a global level?
If so, what are the mechanisms that make this consciousness possible?
If not, do you believe that our world is capable of a global consciousness?
In my own opinion, there must be the potential for a global consciousness.
Not only do I believe in the potential for a global consciousness, I actually think that we are in the beginning stages of this development. I'd like to go over some interesting ideas in support of my theory.
The "noosphere" was first proposed by Vladimir Vernadsky as the third phase of development for our planet earth, which would follow our current phase known as the "biosphere." The biosphere is the sum of all life on earth from humans to the smallest bacteria. Before the biosphere there was the "geosphere" which incorporates all non animate (non living) material on the planet. The significance of the noosphere is that the advent of human cognition could affect the biosphere as the advent of life first affected the geosphere. If cognition has the potential to change the planet as strongly as life first changed all activity on earth, then the noosphere is an idea of great significance to the development of global consciousness.
I have heard the noosphere explained in a number of different manners, two of which are of particular interest to my current thoughts of global consciousness. The first explanation seems to center more upon the evolution of humans into more a psychically connected race. Basically, we would become evolved into a race of beings with psychic abilities that far surpass anything that we see in today's society. This would lead to a civilization of people that could speak to each other solely through our thoughts or something of this manner. I think that this idea is very exciting but perhaps a bit less realistic. The second explanation I have read about centers more on the technological development of the human race. Some have even proposed that Vernadsky's idea of the noosphere predicted the advent of the internet. To me, this comparison is much more accurate and holds much more relevance to the developments that we are striving with right now.
Princeton University is host to an experiment called the Global Consciousness project which aims to monitor trends in random number generators all around the world in an attempt to detect the emergence of a global consciousness. The project hopes to find trends in dissipating randomness which could indicate the interconnectedness of our human conscious states. This project has been running for over 10 years, and so far they believe that their efforts have revealed a consistent trend toward lessening randomness. I think that this project in intensely interesting to study and monitor, but I do not have a great hope that this will reveal any great developments in our human situation. In fact I believe that the global consciousness has a much greater chance to develop from the growing connectedness that the internet offers us.
We have seen an amazing growth in our communication technologies over the past 100 years, and even more so in the last 10-15 years. When the internet was first born, none of us could have imagined the effect it would have on our daily lives at this point. Most us use Facebook or twitter on a daily basis to communicate with our friends and family. Not only that, but many of us also carry iPhones or other mobile technology that lets us communicate with the masses at any time from any place. We have seen the explosion of technology grow on an exponential level and I think we have no reason to believe that it will slow down any time soon.
What this means for us is that we have the opportunity to be more connected with our family and friends, we have the ability to share the moments of our lives no matter where we are, we are able to spread good will and positivity to all people of the world, we are more readily equipped to stomp out injustice and inequality in the world, we truly can make a difference more than ever in the history of the world.
The most exciting idea behind technology as a proponent toward global consciousness is that you are participating in it right now by reading this blog. By having open conversations and dialogue about these developments we are actively participating in the growth of our consciousness on a level beyond our ego-centered consciousness that we know now.
I hope that we can continue to see the quality of our lives increase with the use of technology.
So that being said, stay in touch!
Some interesting source material for this blog is listed below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Complexity/Consciousness
http://noosphere.princeton.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noosphere
Please check out all these sites/articles. They will make you think!
Peace
P Buck
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Singularity
What is the Singularity?
The most popular definitions of the Singularity basically reference a point in the future in which computers will become so fast that their processing speed will begin to grow exponentially at a rate that will be inconceivable by the human experience. I find this idea very intriguing but at the same time very one dimensional. Most people that subscribe to this idea of the Singularity seem to believe that when the singularity comes that humans will be replaced by computers because our own cognitive abilities will become obsolete. But really why would this be the case? Computers are simply tools created by humans. Why would a computer ever become compelled to replace its creator? For this to happen, a computer would have to evolve into something much more than a tool. You would have to assume that the computer would gain some sort of sentience or consciousness. This idea seems much more far fetched than the idea of the singularity.
To stay on the subject, I think we can easily postulate that computers will one day become exponentially faster than we can imagine. And if computers are programmed and equipped to design the next computer (something that is already happening) then the idea that a computer's processing speed will one day grow faster than our own ability to perceive the rate of change is also not so far fetched. But the Singularity as it is currently defined seems to leave many of the factors of today's reality out of the equation.
Moore's law is the basis of the idea that there will one day be a technological singularity. Gordon E. Moore was one of the co-founders of Intel; his original statement on the exponential growth of processing speed can be found on Wikipedia and reads:
"The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year ... Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years. That means by 1975, the number of components per integrated circuit for minimum cost will be 65,000. I believe that such a large circuit can be built on a single wafer."
Many more of my observations in this blog reference this article, so please feel free to skim it.
I think that although this idea holds many ramifications for our future world, the idea of computers becoming exponentially more powerful really is only one piece of the puzzle as things stand today.
Something that has not been factored into this idea of the technological singularity is the rate at which information can be transferred through the Internet. Referencing the same article about Moore's law on wikipedia you will find the mention of "Butter's Law of Photonics,[23] a formulation which deliberately parallels Moore's law. Butter's law[24] says that the amount of data coming out of an optical fiber is doubling every nine months. Thus, the cost of transmitting a bit over an optical network decreases by half every nine months."
This picture was found on the wikipedia article for Technological Singularity, cited below
I believe that this postulation is just as important as Moore's Law if not more important and definitely more relevant to what the future holds for the human race. Before I share my idea of what I believe the singularity will be I would like explore some of the more popular ideas of what the future may hold.
Popular culture has long been toying with the idea of technology gaining an intelligence of its own or a consciousness if you will that in most cases finds humans to be a threat and thus destroys us. I think that although it seems far fetched, the idea that technology holds the key to the evolution of life in our corner of the universe is not totally ludicrous. In fact if you go back to the origins of the universe, you will see that matter slowly became more dense, and heavier atomic elements were created by the life and death of a star. It is an interesting parallel that the life and death of humans would result in the next life forms which would also consist of denser and more atomically heavy elements. We are carbon based life forms, but the next step in evolution may be silicon-based life forms.
If computers are the next step in evolution, then the idea of a technological singularity is most definitely an idea worth evaluating and monitoring. Honestly, I think this is a situation that is far beyond our lifetimes. I have always like the idea that I originally learned from a Buddhist text that said in a nutshell that consciousness flows like a river and that where the conditions for consciousness are present then consciousness will arise. I think that one day computer processes (with the adequate processing speed and extremely sophisticated programming) could emulate the processes of the human biology. Then the arrival of an artificial intelligence could be possible. I believe that if or when this happens, a true intelligence would not see the human race as a threat. But I also believe that his will happen so slowly and gradually that this situation will never become as exaggerated as the makers of the Matrix and the Terminator would want us to believe.
Having explored that idea a bit, now I will propose what I believe we may see happening in our own lifetimes and why I believe this is important.
I do believe that a Singularity is coming within our lifetime. And I think that it is more sophisticated than a technological singularity. Some predictions for the technological singularity predict that it will occur between the years of 2030 and 2045. I believe that if you couple the ideas of the technological singularity with the progression of our human social evolution then you could see something on the level of a singularity much sooner... perhaps 2012?
My ideas of this "uberSingularity" are still crystallizing, but I believe that the rate of technological improvement and the amazing ways in which the Internet and social networking are changing our lives are major contributors to the way that the human civilization will change in the near future. I have heard many thoughts about the year 2012 as either an apocalypse or, more exciting, some kind of shift in the human consciousness. I think that although I feel that 3 years is simply too little time to see such amazing changes in the world, if something of that magnitude is coming, this is it! We do have the opportunity to realize our wildest dreams for humanity. Technology is our tool to unite humanity into a civilization that can act as one organism. We can see each person as a cell in the great body that is the human race come together to act as one for the betterment of the entire world.
I know that many of my ideas here may seem quite wild and perhaps a bit far fetched, but these are ideas that I have been pondering and trying to unite into a theory of what is happening in our world for most of my life. More recently I have been seeing many of these meta-synchronicities that have helped me put things into perspective. I am hoping to bring more of my ideas to light through these articles, and I hope that you will open your mind to these ideas and look out into the world for more information that can help us construct a way to make our world a better place.
That being said, lets work together to bring a singularity to fruition! One that can make the world a beautiful place for all people!
Peace
P Buck
An interesting video I saw on facebook today that parallels my thoughts on the singularity:
Citations:
Quotes on Moore's Law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
Quotes on the Technological Singularity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
Images about Accelerating Change:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change
The most popular definitions of the Singularity basically reference a point in the future in which computers will become so fast that their processing speed will begin to grow exponentially at a rate that will be inconceivable by the human experience. I find this idea very intriguing but at the same time very one dimensional. Most people that subscribe to this idea of the Singularity seem to believe that when the singularity comes that humans will be replaced by computers because our own cognitive abilities will become obsolete. But really why would this be the case? Computers are simply tools created by humans. Why would a computer ever become compelled to replace its creator? For this to happen, a computer would have to evolve into something much more than a tool. You would have to assume that the computer would gain some sort of sentience or consciousness. This idea seems much more far fetched than the idea of the singularity.
To stay on the subject, I think we can easily postulate that computers will one day become exponentially faster than we can imagine. And if computers are programmed and equipped to design the next computer (something that is already happening) then the idea that a computer's processing speed will one day grow faster than our own ability to perceive the rate of change is also not so far fetched. But the Singularity as it is currently defined seems to leave many of the factors of today's reality out of the equation.
Moore's law is the basis of the idea that there will one day be a technological singularity. Gordon E. Moore was one of the co-founders of Intel; his original statement on the exponential growth of processing speed can be found on Wikipedia and reads:
"The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year ... Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue, if not to increase. Over the longer term, the rate of increase is a bit more uncertain, although there is no reason to believe it will not remain nearly constant for at least 10 years. That means by 1975, the number of components per integrated circuit for minimum cost will be 65,000. I believe that such a large circuit can be built on a single wafer."
Many more of my observations in this blog reference this article, so please feel free to skim it.
I think that although this idea holds many ramifications for our future world, the idea of computers becoming exponentially more powerful really is only one piece of the puzzle as things stand today.
Something that has not been factored into this idea of the technological singularity is the rate at which information can be transferred through the Internet. Referencing the same article about Moore's law on wikipedia you will find the mention of "Butter's Law of Photonics,[23] a formulation which deliberately parallels Moore's law. Butter's law[24] says that the amount of data coming out of an optical fiber is doubling every nine months. Thus, the cost of transmitting a bit over an optical network decreases by half every nine months."
This picture was found on the wikipedia article for Technological Singularity, cited belowI believe that this postulation is just as important as Moore's Law if not more important and definitely more relevant to what the future holds for the human race. Before I share my idea of what I believe the singularity will be I would like explore some of the more popular ideas of what the future may hold.
Popular culture has long been toying with the idea of technology gaining an intelligence of its own or a consciousness if you will that in most cases finds humans to be a threat and thus destroys us. I think that although it seems far fetched, the idea that technology holds the key to the evolution of life in our corner of the universe is not totally ludicrous. In fact if you go back to the origins of the universe, you will see that matter slowly became more dense, and heavier atomic elements were created by the life and death of a star. It is an interesting parallel that the life and death of humans would result in the next life forms which would also consist of denser and more atomically heavy elements. We are carbon based life forms, but the next step in evolution may be silicon-based life forms.
If computers are the next step in evolution, then the idea of a technological singularity is most definitely an idea worth evaluating and monitoring. Honestly, I think this is a situation that is far beyond our lifetimes. I have always like the idea that I originally learned from a Buddhist text that said in a nutshell that consciousness flows like a river and that where the conditions for consciousness are present then consciousness will arise. I think that one day computer processes (with the adequate processing speed and extremely sophisticated programming) could emulate the processes of the human biology. Then the arrival of an artificial intelligence could be possible. I believe that if or when this happens, a true intelligence would not see the human race as a threat. But I also believe that his will happen so slowly and gradually that this situation will never become as exaggerated as the makers of the Matrix and the Terminator would want us to believe.
Having explored that idea a bit, now I will propose what I believe we may see happening in our own lifetimes and why I believe this is important.
I do believe that a Singularity is coming within our lifetime. And I think that it is more sophisticated than a technological singularity. Some predictions for the technological singularity predict that it will occur between the years of 2030 and 2045. I believe that if you couple the ideas of the technological singularity with the progression of our human social evolution then you could see something on the level of a singularity much sooner... perhaps 2012?
This was taken from the Wikipedia article about Accelerating Change, cited below
My ideas of this "uberSingularity" are still crystallizing, but I believe that the rate of technological improvement and the amazing ways in which the Internet and social networking are changing our lives are major contributors to the way that the human civilization will change in the near future. I have heard many thoughts about the year 2012 as either an apocalypse or, more exciting, some kind of shift in the human consciousness. I think that although I feel that 3 years is simply too little time to see such amazing changes in the world, if something of that magnitude is coming, this is it! We do have the opportunity to realize our wildest dreams for humanity. Technology is our tool to unite humanity into a civilization that can act as one organism. We can see each person as a cell in the great body that is the human race come together to act as one for the betterment of the entire world.
I know that many of my ideas here may seem quite wild and perhaps a bit far fetched, but these are ideas that I have been pondering and trying to unite into a theory of what is happening in our world for most of my life. More recently I have been seeing many of these meta-synchronicities that have helped me put things into perspective. I am hoping to bring more of my ideas to light through these articles, and I hope that you will open your mind to these ideas and look out into the world for more information that can help us construct a way to make our world a better place.
That being said, lets work together to bring a singularity to fruition! One that can make the world a beautiful place for all people!
Peace
P Buck
An interesting video I saw on facebook today that parallels my thoughts on the singularity:
Citations:
Quotes on Moore's Law:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law
Quotes on the Technological Singularity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
Images about Accelerating Change:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change
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