1.25.21 - the political

This article is actually not political at all.

This year of 2021 has moved fast already and, like all things in this Information Age, I only see it continuing to accelerate, careening forward. I suppose most people find this frightening; this out-of-control world is my perfect environment to build. Featured in this edition is the significance of the creative director, my thoughts on the future of civilization, and some new studies of which I’m a part. These include decision anxiety, blockchain technology, and 3d printing.

Also, I’ve finally got a series up on Youtube where I take apart and put together a fused deposition modeling machine, the Ender 3 by Creality. There’s lots of good info and cool music built in!

Creative direction

It’s at this point that I want to address the differences between direction and creative direction. Both are important to the leadership of an organization and, while many leaders fulfill both roles, specialization seems to be prevalent. The emergence of the “creative director” takes a literal meaning of the term.

Direction, as is the job of the director or board of directors, follows a known plan. Though the challenges might be new and different, this officer guides the organization because they hold expert or prior knowledge on how to move forward. This is typically a senior member of the organization: they have a deep understanding of the vision, resources, and challenges as well as knowing the right way to do things. He answers the call when everyone else is scratching their heads asking “how we do what’s next?”

Creative Direction, as is the job of the creative director, follows no known plan. They answer the call when the director is scratching their head asking “what should we do next?”. In fact, their role is stridently different from the director’s role because it determines a path when they don’t know how to move forward. The creative director must possess a deep understanding of the organization’s vision and resources to bear, because their challenges are ones which the company does not possess a deep understanding of.

The creative director is often an artist, a producer who creates on his own schedule. Their job is to channel spirit, and live by the Immutable Principles of Spirit as described by Owen. The clock commands the day for others in the company; not so for such a resident artist who follows the muse and lives on inspiration’s clock.

I recall a project where I had been preparing the pilot furiously for days (fueled by coffee and inspiration), sharing it with the producers the minute I had finished. Laughter greeted me as the clock struck 4:45pm on a Friday when I gathered them at the office and announced “we are launching a new product line. We have to start now.” Confusion turned to disbelief as I shared how a competitor was much further ahead than anticipated; nothing but immediate, weekend-sacrificing action would save the day.

I would go on to attempt the project alone as the others were not interested in lending assistance and lo, as I had predicted, a competitor drove us out of a critical market. The only upside was only an upside for me: my measly product line caught a thread of our competitor’s success by making sales to an off-brand market.

The creative director doesn’t live by the clock: they live by the necessity of the brand they represent. In this way, when everyone else is scratching their heads asking “what to do next?”, the path forward should be clear to the artist. The creative director will tell them what needs to be done because he knows the needs according to the spirit of the company.

A cosmopolitan manifesto

The time is now to act.

We exist in the most powerful empire constructed by humanity, in the seed for an extra-terrestrial expansion the likes of which has never been recorded in our history. Perhaps in our lifetimes we will see this quest to the stars defined, even carried out. Perhaps in our lifetimes we will change as a people on this planet to lead our species into the future with global thinking, as one people of Earth. Perhaps in our lifetime, we may leave behind the measuring stick of a “lifetime”.

The time is now to act: our moment in time is a jumping-off point for our species.

We live at a pivotal moment in time! Within the last 500 years we have redefined what it means to be a part of this planet’s civilization. Replacing monarchies, systems of reason and structure became home to active citizens rather than uneducated serfs. Within the last 100 years, relying on the grinding wheel of capitalism, the progress of our species has begun the eradication of war, plague, and famine: progress for which we have paid dearly. In the last 50, we have created systems of knowledge and calculation which are unfathomably more powerful than our own minds, and connect actors around the globe in knowledge, production, and spirit (the final of these being the most significant).

The time is now to act: the momentum of progress, intelligence, and resources is on our side.

A new group is emergent on this planet: a culturally literate people of intellectual depth, moral responsibility, and global thinking. This cosmopolitan elite is a humanist group: thoughtful of their fellow man and devoted to a humanity which can and does solve it’s problems. We don’t conceive “us and them”, there is only the human “us”.
We acknowledge the progress of our species throughout and even before our recorded history.
We revere the trials and efforts by those who came before, many giving life and liberty to build a future which we inhabit today.
We support a government of the people, but fear when the conversation moves from the needs and progress of the people to the spotlight of the political.
We have vision of our evolution and our journey to come, accompanied by understanding that this vision requires focus and action if we are to see it become reality.
This people will change our planet’s place in order of the cosmos.

The time is now to act: we are a product of evolution, and, at our incredible moment in time, evolution is a product of our action.

What will stop us? Ourselves, should we fail to embrace change.
Who will assemble against us? The progress of humankind will prove them obsolete, chaff.
How can we fail? Failure to act is failure.

The time is now to act. Inquiry is in our eyes; purpose in our step; the future is inside of our mind.

New studies

Quick update on some curiosities which turned into full blown investigations. Here’s what’s cooking:

Internet clutter

You’ve probably experienced decision anxiety: after a long day at work you open UberEats just to find it impossible to decide from the host of options. How about checking out of an online retailer and all you want to do is “finish and pay” but option after option begs your attention? This is the world of decision anxiety, when our biggest #struggle is deciding what we want to do.

In particular, this study will examine internet retailers and the “clutter” of options and ads which are summoned to assault their shoppers. This study will seek to determine the most important elements of the page. which ones are necessary for the customer? Which are necessary for the seller? Which are necessary legally or by a third party? Essentially we will define the minimum viable product + positive customer preferences.

This study will also seek to explain the retailer’s dilemma: an attractive web site attracts traffic, which can pay significant ROI in ad revenue. However, tons of ads annoy customers and will drive them away. What factors can help us find the equilibrium?

I’m predicting that the outcome of this study will also just confirm the dominance of creative culture in the technological world. Scientific minds are given purpose and work to do, but artists and creators hold the positions of power at the top.

Blockchain intel

Blockchain as a form of value exchange is our future; of that there is no doubt. The big questions now seem to have become “how soon?"“ and “how do we handle it?”. As a currency which, by design, is not capable of being regulated, the people who like regulating things are getting very worried. Understanding how this method of value exchange works should be important to anyone attempting to make their mark on the 21st century.

Recall through this that bitcoin (and indeed cryptocurrency as a whole) is one small facet of the power of the blockchain. Much power relies on its nature as a permanent, transparent, and universal method of information/data transfer; cryptocurrencies hijack this to transfer value. I will now get off my blockchain pedestal and address the issues.

Methods of tracing such as Blockchain Explorer provide a way to search for transactions on the blockchain, but only if you can identify a wallet address, transaction hash, or block number. Questions arise which I hope to answer:
What will the user database look like: next generation yellow pages for blockchain?
What’s the best way to track transactions consistently, as an interested third party: next generation stock exchange?
Is this third party tracking done discretely or obviously: like a soft versus hard credit check?

This study will also explore the concept of the “ethical hacker”, as a significant portion of the computer-literate population identifies. We will find many of these individuals to also identify with the cosmopolitan crowd: moral, educated, open-source minded. Shiller describes this group, the “ethical hackers”, as attending to Bitcoin and the blockchain as an identification akin to a nationality: “Having a Bitcoin wallet makes the owner a citizen of the world and in some sense psychologically independent of traditional affiliations.” This attraction makes sense… after all, weren’t we all told as children that we’re unique?

Ethical considerations of additive manufacturing

I believe this to be arguably one of the more important studies I will participate in during my lifetime. This technology is new and powerful and has almost zero legal precedent thus far. We need research and ethical analysis in that research! All R&D will be driven in the name of progress, which is all very well and good, but there are two fronts in additive in particular where we ought to slow down and establish structure: nanotechnology and democratized technology.

Nanotechnology

First, let us not underestimate the usefulness of additive and nanotechnology. Drexler describes full understanding and application as possessing godlike powers: “If we make wise use of molecular technology, our descendants will wonder what kept us bottled up on earth for so long, and in such poverty.” Their power has the potential for incredible strides in medical, constructive, exploratory, and warfare capability.

Nanotechnology such as molecular assemblers rely on additive technology in their assembly of molecules. They also have the potential to be destructive on the molecular level, which creates an entirely new level of warfare. Certainly the first organization to get their hands on this would be very powerful, though some of the smartest people might want to get it as far away from them as possible.

Democratized 3D Printing

Using the term “democratized”, I refer to Diamandis and Kotler’s timeline of exponential technology. Democratization indicates the period of time where widespread use becomes cost-efficient and many households might have a version of a particular technology. For example, a bulky office number-crunching machine went through an incredible democratization period which gave us the personal computer.

3D printers can make weapons, even cheap household versions of the machine. Though a certain amount of skill is required to operate the machine and to operate it well enough to create a reliable firearm, this does not provide a stable barrier to trust in widespread ethics. This capability exists, and trends indicate that this technology will only get more cost-efficient, more energy-efficient, and more intellectually-efficient. Thus, the need to forecast and set legal precedent ASAP.

I’m not a student of law (having studied only business law), but if something were to drive me into its study then this would be it. This field has such enormous potential for both R&D and application that, with the resources thrown at it currently, a breakthrough could happen any day. We must be prepared.

Conclusions

Thanks for reading the blog =)