Reclusland

Right brain, all connection, no meaning, no movement.

Left brain, all individual, no meaning, no movement.

Both together, connected individual, meaning and movement.  Not an end in itself, (which would be a simply left brain idea).  But a tool to use for ends-that-arrise, that is true integration.

An embodiment of emptiness (ie: pure connectedness) as a means of information manipulation, and traveling through time.

See also: the first part of my notes on Digital Maoism

You hide things which you are aware of from your own awareness.  If you are any good at it, others may not notice them.  They form a picture of you, more or less, as you present yourself, in a spirit of trust.  Suddenly one of these hidden things comes up, and you are not what you appeared to be.  Their picture of you, and their trust, is broken.

Surveillance requires us to be exactly what we are all the time.  It squeezes out the hidden parts of our identity, if we let it, stopping us from glossing over them.

There is a very relevant passage in the Marchall McLuhan playboy interview that I need to find…  Something about tribal societies having shared strict social standards, but very free internal realities…

(more on this soon…ish.  See also: some notes on the subject.)

I’ve been finding lately that alinging the part of yourself that dreams up new possibilities with the part of yourself that functions in the everyday world is really, really hard.   At least that’s how it is for me, like being pulled in two opposite directions at the same time…

and the anxiety just builds while you wait…

Well, in the tradition of Dante’s visions of the godhead, I’m hoping that adding a third wheel (something to bridge the gap between the other two) will help to get my chariot under better control.  The triangle is the first stable geometric structure, right?

To that end, I’ve got a new project here at Reclusland that indexes the hidden notes pages I’ve been keeping on the research links site.   I keep them private because they interfere with the crappy little search widget I’ve got on there,that I can’t be bothered to fix.  Besides, who uses reads tumblr logs  for that much content anyway?

The basic rules of the Notes pages are:
- the article I’m pulling from is linked at the top,
- the notes are seperated by an “&” sign,
- bold means I think it’s important,
- my comments are usually in itallics…

Remeber taking notes in college?  I don’t. I went to art school!  But I imagine it’s comparable to that.  ;)

And while I’m happy with the new arrangement, it does little to excuse my lack of productivity here (efficient or otherwise).  Hopefully after the holiday craziness lets up, I can bring my focus back here more fully.  It really is a stressful time of year.   I should move someplace more southerly and sunlit…

Don’t worry though, I’ve got a few small things in the works to tide us over until the yuletide has receded.

OK, well, I’ve decided to press on, rather than wait for further feedback, and I’ve come up with a mode of research/organization that can accomplish all of the following important things:

- Put my tumblr blog back into use as a catch all for the random flaring up of pattern recognition.  Currently I am keeping separate private posts going as a way of organizing different thoughts.  This keeps me from using it as a place to organize the more random, smaller patterns I pick up on, because I don’t want the smaller patterns mixing with the larger one I’m trying to flesh out.

- Let me get back to posting random musings/pictures/artwork on my blog without leaving it empty in breathless anticipation of the coming ogasmic rapture/release of coalesced info I am hoping will come out of all this.

- Allow me to easily and quickly organize and re-organize groupings of links around different sections of the overall idea I am pulling together.

Of course, this will take me a few days to put together, but once it’s done, I can hopefully let loose all 3 streams of my little organizational endeavor to flow onwards in a synchopated sort of way…

That’s the plan(t) at least.

Tulpas/servitors/golems/robots/AIs/techne(que)s anybody?

I’m getting a lot of signals that I perhaps I shouldn’t be trying to cache all this research for future use in article writing.  Perhaps I should make this entire thing open source, so to speak?  Things seem to be accumulating too fast for me to keep up with them…

What do you think?  Let me know in the comments.

Some recent relevant links that I am currently too full of information to catalog:

http://futurismic.com/2008/12/08/gosplan-emergent/ (strange title, eh?)

http://metamodern.com/2008/12/05/black-swans/ (“Although he focuses on the social and financial world, his advice on “how to live in a world we don’t understand very well” seems equally applicable to the unpredictable consequences of predictable revolutions in technology.” or anything else for that matter)

http://www.vincenthorn.com/2008/12/07/the-importance-of-stream-entry/ (“The other interesting thing in this metaphor is that once one has entered a stream they will be impacted by its momentum. In a sense, they are carried by the stream. One of my teachers talks about how stream-entry has to do with the opening of the “dharma eye,” which means that one has seen the truth of the dharma for themselves, but also means that they are now fully open to a process, that is more “doing them” then they are doing it.”)

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/Xanadu/5.1.html (“Simply as a matter of citizenship, it is essential to understand the impact and uses of computers in the world of the future. Computers belong to all mankind.”)

http://magicmushrooms.slinkset.com/search?q=reclusland&x=0&y=0 (ha! Looks like I get some self-referential searches as well! Well, granted, I was actually searching for “reclusland” at the time…  Had completely forgotten about this post though and I was glad to be reminded of it as it fits very well into all this)

And, as a taste of what I mean by research, here’s some examples of the notes from my main sources:
Tim Boucher
Rob Bryanton

On edit: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/12/disjunctions-an.html (reminds me I need to focus my levels of relevance…)

http://secretsun.blogspot.com/2008/12/schoch-west-vindicated-on-sphinx.html (“and we’re sitting on the threshold of a time when information itself seems to be taking on a mind of its own. The Internet is creating a whole host of problems, but it’s also helped remove so many of the old filters and bottlenecks on the flow of information and data.”)

http://www.physorg.com/news148050302.html (This one’s really exciting.  Check this out: http://reclusland.tumblr.com/private/63971711/86aMlwW9Ghao7nbagcczK1E5)

“When this process fails,” wrote Walker in his collection of documents from and about Autodesk, “and it always does, that doesn’t seem to weaken the belief in a design process which, in reality, is as bogus as astrology. It’s always a bad manager, problems with tools, etc. – precisely the unpredictable factors which make a priori design impossible in the first place.” (the key point here being that preconceived designs that are meant to be completed before being introduced into reality do not work properly.  This comes from an inorganic way of thinking, that of plugging in of a complete part, instead of the cresting of a particluar wave of awareness.  This works for both as an example of the idea I am exploring, and an example of the way I hope to go about exploring it)

Well, so it’s Sunday, and my essay has yet to materialize out of thin air.

It seems these things will always be harder than I think they’re going to be.  Yet, I’ve been asked for a summary, and I think it would be good idea for me to put this together in as few words as possible, as a sort of skeleton or seed for the rest of it to come out of.  Plus, I spent a large part of tonight talking at length about “So, what’s this essay you’re writing, anyway?”, and I’m just in that kind of mood.

Before I get started though, I would like to say that links to relevant sources will be provided in the final work(s), but not here.  I have about 20 different tumblr posts collecting various threads of information (lexemes? wexes?) that I am weaving together (tantra, yoga) into whatever this will be when it’s done, so I want to wait and make sure that the information is indexed in such a way as to make reading/understanding this as easy (and hopefully as fun) as possible.

Ehem, so…

It all started with the comment that the visualization of data will be the language of the future.  That’s great, I thought, but how is that different from the way we currently use data?  Websites are visualized data (HTML code), so are bodies (DNA code), so is everything (atoms, quarks, etc.) etc.   Still it peaked my interest enough that when I later read the following, it damn near knocked me out of my seat:

“…quantum physics requires us to abandon the distinction between information and reality.”
- Anton Zeilinger

And I was further shocked, a bit later, when I found out that Einstein’s “e=mc(2)” theory had just pretty much been proven for the first time (which was the article’s interpretation, not my own), as scientists had shown that pretty much 95% of the mass of all subatomic particle comes from the energy created out of the movements and interactions of those particles.  In other words, matter is mostly just energy, or, for you Buddhists out there, form is emptiness and emptiness is form…

So, we’ve got a language (i.e.: a way of interpreting and discussing/sharing reality) made purely of data/information, and a reality that pretty much just IS ONLY information.  And this informational reality only appears to be physical, when it’s really just fluctuations of energy within an emptiness/vacuum.

Now, if we could manage to become aware of this underlying informational form of reality, and use it as the basis for communication, then we’d have the beginning of that universal language. All subjective definition within language would drop away, as we would all be trading interpretations of the same pure data, which everyone had the same access to/understanding of.  McLuhan’s Auditory/Electric/Tribalism comes in handy here.

But what does that mean for us here, so far above that sub-quantum informational level?  Well, because everything is so small, it is at the quantum level that we can see the effects of particles traveling into and out of the time stream.  That is, because the basic rules of our reality begin to break down, we can begin to experience what lies beyond them.  And what is that?

For the sake of my essay here, it’s a probablistic, undetermined, purely informational state.  That is, we travel through the 4th dimension of space/time by making decisions which collapse these potential states into a determined physical reality.

Except we are beginning to understand that this determined physical reality is completely illusory, because we can see (or at least imagine) beyond those space/time limits.  Reality is only physical for us at the moment it coalesces into the physical and then it immediately fades back into information (as memory.)  We tune into it like a radio station, or a string on a guitar, or a wavelength of light.  The rest of the time it exists in a purely potential state, which we are only now, at this point in human history, becoming aware of.

And that state consists entirely of Information. Pure data, which we organize in such a way as to make sense of the present with reference our past, in order to create a future for us.

Visualization of data (instead visualization of matter/energy), therefore, is not just the language of the future.  It’s the way we see the potential realities, the seeds of our future experiences, as part of our present experience of reality.  Because it’s all right here.  Past, present, future, everything that happens happens HERE & NOW.  It’s just the data that changes, and I hope that we will soon be able to visualize that data as it’s changing, and choose which data streams we follow on into the future.  Because the data’s streaming on anyway, so we might as well start to swim.

Or, as my zen sensei put it is his dharma talk today, it’s as if we are suddenly waking up on a highway, going 75 miles an hour, and a voice whispers “so, do you want to take the steering wheel now?”

So yeah, that’s the genesis of it.  From here it falls away into Tantra, Buddhism, Multiverses, Time Travel, Conscious/Identity/Evolution, Scientific Morality, Attainments of Perfection, Artificial Intelligence, Reichian Cosmic Energy Streaming, and a bit of Dante’s Paradiso as well.  We’ll see how much of that I can fit into a coherent essay, but hey, it’ll be fun trying.  Hope you stick around for the ride.

we’re good.  Comments are back up and running, with a bit of a redesign as well.

Apparently, there is some problem with the comments (thanks to Speedbird for it pointing out)

They were working previously, but now… not so much.  Not even the email address I have associated with the blog is considered valid.  I’m going to try to work it out tomorrow (too late for anything tonight), but if anyone has any advice, my contact form on the upper right does seem to be working fine and I would definitely appreciate the help.  I’ve just upgraded to the new WordPress (2.7, I think) and also recently upgraded my Askimet comments spam blocker.  I’m thinking it’s probably the new Askimet, but we’ll see.

Thanks for bearing with me!  Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

A friend of mine who was always against downloading (since it does sort of hurt the musicians) sent me an article that completely changed her mind about downloading music.  As a long-time proponent of music downloading, I was happy to read an industry insider’s viewpoint on why I was right (don’t we all love that?).  I think this pretty much removes any last feeling of guilt anyone might have about downloading music (for those of you who do…)

However, I think there’s an even greater value to the article than just that.  Take out any references to “music downloading” or “music industry” and it is a great critique on society as a whole.  Some key lines:

• It was like the world’s largest music store, whose vastly superior selection and distribution was entirely stocked, supplied, organized, and expanded upon by its own consumers. If the music industry had found a way to capitalize on the power, devotion, and innovation of its own fans the way Oink did, it would be thriving right now instead of withering.
• The RIAA loves to complain about music pirates leaking albums onto the internet before they’re released in stores – painting the leakers as vicious pirates dead set on attacking their enemy, the music industry. But you know where music leaks from? From the fucking source, of course – the labels!
• If the industry tried to have some kind of compassion – if they said, “we understand that these are just music fans trying to listen to as much music as they can, but we have to protect our assets, and we’re working on an industry-wide solution to accommodate the changing needs of music fans”… Well, it’s too late for that, but it would be encouraging. Instead, they make it sound like they busted a Columbian drug cartel or something. They describe it as a highly-organized piracy ring. Like Oink users were distributing kiddie porn or some shit. The press release says: “This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure.” Wh – what?? That’s EXACTLY what it was!
• For the major labels, it’s over.  You’re going to burn to the fucking ground, and we’re all going to dance around the fire. And it’s your own fault. Surely, somewhere deep inside, you had to know this day was coming, right? Your very industry is founded on an unfair business model of owning art you didn’t create in exchange for the services you provide. It’s rigged so that you win every time – even if the artist does well, you do ten times better. It was able to exist because you controlled the distribution, but now that’s back in the hands of the people, and you let the ball drop when you could have evolved.
• Maybe taking the money out of music is the only way to get money back into it.
  
• It’s time to show artists that there’s no limit to what an energized online fanbase can accomplish, and all they’ll ever ask for in return is more music.
• The major labels are like Terry Schiavo right now – they’re on life support, drooling in a coma, while white-haired guys in suits try and change the laws to keep them alive. But any rational person can see that it’s too late, and it’s time to pull out the feeding tube.
• Steal the music you want that’s on the major labels. It’s easy, and despite the RIAA’s scare tactics, it can be done safely – especially if more and more people are doing it.

If you take the underlying pattern there and apply it outside of the music industry/downloading, you have a pretty great approach for a lot of the problems we’re facing today.

If you try to build up strength around a core of unacknowledged weakness, your strength will always be ebbing away into that weakness, like a sand dune into the ocean.  You must first accept an awareness of that weakness, find a secure way to experience it, and then allow that weakened part of you to grow.

Only by streangthing weakness can you grow strong.  Building strength in opposition to weakness will make you weaker still, quicksand eating away at whatever firm footing you think you have found.

it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong (or stupid) to give it away…

Which sounds obvious , but I seem to have a hard time remembering it.  Happiness still comes so easily at the realization of “Oh, I bet somebody could make money off of that!”.

Now, as an art school graduate with a creative writing degree, I may not be the best candidate for being that particular somebody, but the idea that there might be money to be made still causes a little jump of excitement in me.

This excitement is, I think, a deeply buried part of our shared American culture.  It’s the foundation of the American Dream, after all, and of capitalism.  And it’s not a bad thing, because without the realization that future benefit could come from present efforts, we really wouldn’t have gotten very far at all.  It’s our faith in those future benefits that keeps the economy going, and it’s (at least partially) the lack of that same faith that’s causing everything to crash so sharply now.

So I say it’s time we retooled the American Dream.  Instead of the idea of money-making leading to personal success and accomplishment, we should instead find a way to support focusing our energies on things that bring benefit to the entire society. Not in a non-individualistic, communist way, but in a way that beneficial to both the individual and the community.

We need some new myths, examples of some new cultural figures who succeed in this way, a Hortio Alger for the 21st century.  After all, look who came in to power right around the time he was popular. Our lives are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, more so than is immediately obvious, and I think some new stories are waiting to be told.  Or lived…

You have winds coming at you from several directions, each wind moves at a different speed, and each wind carries/moves different particles.

The largest particles are moved by the heaviest winds, and so are the most easily seen.

Once seen, they can be accounted for, brushed aside, and forgotten.

This pattern continues down through smaller particles moved by lighter winds, until you reach the finest particles, moved by the lightest wind.  These are very hard to see or experience.  Once seen and experienced, you can then ignore them as well.

What is left is motionless, empty air.  Zap.  Enlightenment

——

Big new post coming soon, hopefully.  I’m charging up my brain.
If it all falls apart, then a garden of fruitful links will have to suffice.

Stay tuned…