Category: Art

Endgame

Where we are going and how we get there.

Abstract: We must learn to exit the universe into one of our own making asap. This is the final project and will presumably take eons to acquire the ability but it is the obvious goal assuming we wish to continue living and assuming the universe will end.

If heat death is the inevitable end then exit may not be required, we’d just have to learn how to create fresh matter/energy from base principles. (As crazy as that sounds, logic would suggest it’s possible since we’re here in the first place.)

Sidenote: However if exit is the only options, this may be the answer to the Fermi paradox. Perhaps this is easier than it sounds. Perhaps they all leave for the same reason you return to your home.

If it is proven beyond doubt that there is no real exit then the goal must then be a virtual one. A way to subjectively experience infinite enjoyable existence within a finite inescapable universe. Perhaps a combination of neurology and physics, like high speed processing of virtual minds combined with exploitation of relativistic principles.

Again this may explain the Fermi paradox because why not live in a box?

How we get there is simple, if apparently not easy.

Things we need: FAI, nuclear power, IPL abolition, radical life extension, The abolitionist project, Basic income.

Sidenote: Perhaps time is fixed and there is no better possible path in this set of physics. Perhaps this was as good as we/they could make it for this time frame? Perhaps sensitive dependence on initial conditions so constrained them that even with time travel and super tech the future could not repair the past?

The Ethics of Adblocking

I’d just like to point out that the shadiest of behaviors in the context of digital advertising are logically ethical if you grant the premise that charging for data copies ever is ethical.

(Charging per hour to create or manage data is entirely different as that is equivalent to charging to build furniture or the like. Also privacy rights are not intellectual property law.)

Essentially, logically, you are either a hardcore intellectual property law abolitionist like myself, or you are in favor of commoditizing and privatizing every single bit. If at any point you say with regard to profit seeking shenanigans “that’s going too far” you’ve become logically inconsistent, cherry picking, and hypocritical because “muh income” is a fallacious argument you’ve already accepted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Loss_aversion_and_the_sunk_cost_fallacy

Either every piece of data ever (including every individual elemental digit, letter, bit, concept, shade, or symbol) should be exposed (to protect profits) and someone’s property, or it should all be confidential (the opposite of open to perpetual “fraud” inspection) and free (as in speech and beer) where the concept of “owning” a piece of data is a contradiction in terms in the same way now that the idea of owning a letter is.

Logically, you really have to pick one. But of course humans are free to be illogical and what we have here as a result is in essence a religious conflict with an infinite range of denominations.

As an IPL abolitionist, I adblock on principal first, safety second, and mental health third.

That third one is really important and rarely if ever mentioned. Neurologically and psychologically you can’t actually disregard an ad. It gets filed and processed by your brain regardless of your conscious will. You must first see something to choose to disregard it, and by then for some brain processes it’s already too late.

(Don’t think of an elephant right now. See? Too late.)

The cumulative impact of these unwanted intrusions is harmful to cognition in my opinion. You start getting false impressions about ratios and popularity of certain concepts and new defaults form in your mind that aren’t actually majority positions. These false positions are crafted expressly to open you to further manipulation.

The preferable situation is to it impossible to own any abstraction. You may take credit for discovering or inventing it, but you don’t ever get to own it. That is, the selling of copies or access is legal but it’s also perfectly legal for the buyer to in turn sell copies as well. This would put everything in the public domain that isn’t private, like medical records and your personal stuff. Restricting the sharing that data would be handled case by case from other directions on other grounds, such as privacy violations not profit or quasi-property protections.

Any effort that literally can’t or won’t exist without the the current IPL system profit motive, wouldn’t or couldn’t, and that would be the price we pay for the utility gained on the other end of everyone being able to remix everything and all software and art and the like being collaborative.

The “Backstory” Backstory: Underlore’s Cocktail

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A while back, while catching up with an old friend, who is into mixing cocktails, a drink got invented. For our amusement he initially named it after me, but I felt that was inappropriate for a number of reasons, not least of which being that I didn’t invent it. X)

However, if he wanted to name it in my honor, then I wanted it to reflect my life’s work, which is of course, this blog and the philosophy behind it.

It’s essentially impossible to actually invent a whole new drink of course, or it’s so easy as to be trivial, depending on perspective. And so what we’re talking about here is basically on the Daiquiri spectrum somewhere. But we believe it is different enough to warrant a name.

While discussing naming, I mentioned how I’d rather it be something based on Underlore, and later on after some thinking he gave me a couple options, among which was “Backstory” and I think that’s a perfect fit.

The contents are lime juice, simple syrup (liquid sugar), white rum, and club soda over ice. The specific guide for the drink is at the bottom of this post. The effect basically is a fizzy limeade with a dash of mind altering pirate fare. 🙂

The name is perfect and thematic in my opinion, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s neat to me that the the Backstory has a backstory. Going deeper, the Backstory has underlore which is Underlore. By underlore I mean the definition I came up with.

Also there are the emergent properties of the name. Think about ordering it: “Yea I’ll have a Backstory, thanks.” That’s just inviting all kinds of awesomeness and conversation, because who doesn’t wanna hear a good backstory?

Also it’s dignified and friendly, which certainly isn’t always the case with drink names.

Having researched a little bit, my opinion is firm now that my friend has indeed invented a new cocktail. And though it’ll always be possible to get a little flack for “just” modifying a daiquiri, I feel that since neither of us remembered what that was at the time, he at the very least deserves credit for independent invention.

The differences are the glass, the ice, the club soda, and white instead of dark rum. If adding club soda, using a different kind of spirit, adding ice, and putting it in a different glass make it a different drink, then it’s a different drink. If not, then, not 🙂

Backstory Ingredients and Preparation

  • Ten to twelve cracked ice cubes
  • Two measures white rum
  • One measure lime juice
  • One measure simple syrup
  • Club soda
  1. Put four to six cracked ice cubes into a cocktail shaker. Pour in the rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake vigorously until a frost forms.
  2. Half fill a twelve ounce Collins with cracked ice cubes and strain the cocktail over them. Top up with club soda.
  3. Decorate with lime slice.

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Update: /ck/ approved?  🙂

Canary

An ancient ship. Metal pitted and the brown of dried blood. It was so peaceful here. Encased. Actuated. Meat coiling around padded sensate hinges. Amplified in every way. The hands given power to flatten iron or pluck a hair. The feet given power to walk through lava or enjoy the feel of the carpet.

Trapped some might say in this miracle of ancient technology. But to me it was home. And I was a shut in, despite constant travel.

They put me in places like this first. A staggeringly well armed canary. I was never in real danger. They’d have to drop me in a gas giant or sling shot me into a sun.

Even then I had options. Balloons and ram scoops. I released a cloud of sensory spores. The data manifested emotionally. The area felt more and more familiar. An engineered dejavu. I looked around and soaked up the layout and tried to imagine its logic.

What made sense around the next corner?

600 Words on Why You Should #FeelTheBern

2016-02-11_141359600 Words on Why You Should #FeelTheBern

http://voteforbernie.org/

Objection!

Response.

Free Stuff Doesn’t Grow on Trees!

Every dollar in Bernie Sanders’s proposals is matched by a corresponding dollar raised in revenue — it’s all accounted for.

For example, the $75 billion/year College For All plan will be paid for by a tax on Wall Street speculation, while the $100 billion/year Rebuild America Act will be paid for by taxing corporate offshore income.

Socialists will ban private property!

Bernie Sanders is a DEMOCRATIC socialist. He believes that our current economic system isn’t doing enough for poor and middle-class Americans and that democratic change is needed to create a more fair and just America.

But this isn’t radical or scary! Many of the programs instituted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson that we take for granted today — such as Medicare, the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, and Social Security — can be considered socialist programs.

He’ll tax us all into homelessness!

If you’re one of the 1.5% of Americans making more than $231,450 a year, your marginal tax rate will go up slightly — money you earn above $231,450 will be taxed at 37% instead of 33%.

If you’re one of the 0.6% of Americans making more than $500,000 a year, your marginal rate will go up from 39.6% to 43%. Above $2,000,000 the rate will be 48%, and above $10,000,000 the rate will be 52%. These are tax increases that will only affect the very, very wealthy.

On the other hand, the vast majority of Americans will see significant savings when factoring in tax and healthcare changes under Bernie’s plans.

He’d never win vs the republicans!

Bernie has a better chance in the general election than Hillary would have:

Bernie performs better than Hillary does in all hypothetical match-ups against Republicans in poll after poll (2.4% better against Trump, 4.6% better against Cruz, and 1.5% better against Rubio, on average).

Bernie significantly outperforms Hillary in surveys of independent voters, and with 30-40% of Americans identifying as independents, they will play the deciding role in the general election.

And Bernie has a big lead in favorability, with a +10% net favorability rating among all Americans, compared to Hillary’s -10% net favorability rating. No presidential candidate has ever won with a negative favorability rating.

Republican controlled congress won’t let him do anything!

Bernie is actually well-known for his ability to compromise to get things done without sacrificing his values. In the House, he was known as the Amendment King, and passed more amendments, addressing exclusively progressive goals, than any other legislator, by forging cross-party coalitions.

He has earned respect from Republicans ranging from John McCain to the ultra-conservative Jim Inhofe. If any Democratic president can reach across the aisle to work with a stubborn Republican Congress, it’s Bernie Sanders.

See Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6hbwp0RUAI
(Bernie Sanders’ Realistic Plan to Confront and Defeat Obstructionism in Congress)

He wants to cancel Obamacare!

Bernie wants to expand health care coverage, not get rid of it!

Obamacare has made things a lot better, but it’s only a step in the right direction: Americans are still paying more for healthcare than any other country, and more than 10% of us still don’t have health insurance.

Bernie’s Medicare-for-all proposal will do just what it says — provide coverage for every American citizen, while saving the average American family $2000—$4000 per year.

But Hillary is Better!

Not really:
https://medium.com/@Lookingforrobyn/when-you-ask-me-to-vote-for-hillary-174becdb5ccc

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For original source of text and links with citation check out:
http://ilikeberniebut.com/

For more information on where he stands on other issues check out:
http://feelthebern.org/

Other links:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/the-pragmatic-case-for-bernie-sanders/462720/