It's been a while, so I'd better post something...

Here are some thoughts on virtual reality vs. a natural higher state of consciousness... yes it is mostly questions:

The race between virtual reality (ala matrix) and the discovery of the physical world being better.

Team 1: Dropping into a virtual reality (i.e. focusing the human experience purely on the brain and maintaining the body as the support system for shared conscious through tech). Techno-shared-conscious.

Team 2: Uncovering the subconscious might allow us to have shared conscious without technology (this would probably be an evolutionary jump). But will having a man-made artificial reality accelerate or cut-off the next step of the pure brain experience? Which would be better? An understanding of the subconscious would be required in order to create the artificial bond through technology, but we run into a chicken and the egg scenario where we are forcing acclimation through the assumed paradigm that we use to create the techno-shared-conscious.

Is there a shared conscious? Shared experiences create intersections in time between individuals. What is conscious?: the ability to process critically within a personal context. With a shared or hive structure, the context needs to shift to the group. What issues and thoughts are unique to a group conscious? What are the potential benefits to a group conscious? As individuals are we blind to facets of reality that can only been seen by a shared conscious? If so, how can individuals "create" a virtual reality with the purpose of transcending to, or just seeing, new facets of reality. Is there a way to enhance reality through the virtual? (what are the definitions of reality and virtual)


What is the interaction between humans and machines? Will this be a progressive bridge, or the ultimate block to achieving shared conscious? Will the mechanism for a techno-shared-conscious virtual reality divert us from a natural evolutionary path to shared conscious?

If so, people might have to pick a path which may lead to a rift between the techno-shared-conscious & natural shared conscious groups.

An excerpt from Al Gore's book:

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1622015,00.html

I agree that our society has truly regressed to a celebrity-addicted morass. To an increasingly alarming degree, all sides (even those outside of our country) judge individual Americans based on what the media choses to broadcast. I have no say in what is forced out over the airwaves... until now. What will we call this new enlightenment?

Seven Year Cycles: Part 1

About ten years ago, while in college, I worked over my winter break. One of the professionals I was assisting sat me down and shared a perspective on life. I am not sure to whom this "theory" should be attributed, but I found it a fair way to evaluate one's progress through life.

Basically, with a +/- of a year or so, life is divided into seven-year segments.

0-7: You are really not a person, your main priority is to learn how to use your body, speak, and understand basic social function.

7-14: At this point you pretty much know you are an individual, but are still devoid of responsibility. The main goal is to learn about responsibility and to learn how to organize ideas.

14-21: Technically you are an adult now, although modern society still sees you as under the umbrella of education and parental control. This segment is focused on "developing a sense of identity - a process often label teenage rebellion.

21-28: Here you are likely out on your own for the first time as a functioning member of society. You are working and are setting yourself up for a stable place in the working world so that you can be the source of your own means.

*Note: The purpose of my mentor sharing this with me was to highlight the fact that if you are screwed up at one of these crucial "gateways," i.e. 7,14,21,28..., it will take you another seven years for society to allow you to progress to the next segment. By screwed up, he meant using drugs, in jail, or not working.

**Note: Timing the creation of a family plays a role in these cycles, and in this dimension there are differences with regard to gender. This is a little complex so I'll leave it for a later post.

28-35: This phase is built upon the confidence and experience of the previous. A time where one is expected to contribute to society, not just focus on surviving, exploration, and personal development.

35-42: You are likely in a more senior role in your job, and you have likely started a family. The cycle repeats here with the addition of your offspring who are themselves starting their cycles, and therefore look to you for guidance.

42-49: Again more seniority in career and a more developed family.

49-56: Thinking about retirement, kids are moving on.

...

I can go into more detail, but the main concept I want to get across is that setting goals for these landmark ages can be very productive. Re-evaluating one's life, on a macro-level, every seven years is good. Knowing that you have to stop bad behavior by a certain year in your life will only help you move to the next phase. Every seven years (and I am now in my second iteration since learning about this), I re-read books, revisit journals, and objectively evaluate every aspect of my life. I'm not perfect, and there are things that worry me, but I am able to say to myself, "if I want this in seven-years, I need to get these things fixed in the next 8 months."

Thought for Food

This evening I attended a panel discussion titled Setting the Oldways Table. Oldways is a Cambridge-based food issues and culinary think tank founded over ten years ago in hopes of recalibrating America's perspective on diet and sustainable food sources. The founder of Oldways, K Dun Gifford, is a familiar figure to me as I know many of his relatives and we both share a passion for pulling striped bass out of the Atlantic. He anchored a panel of scientists, culinary icons and restaurateurs who everyday ramble through a love affair with food. Ideally I would have learned a bit more from the actual discussion, but the event did provide a fertile backdrop for some of my own musings on food, nutrition and health in general.



The book provides a context for a food-lifestyle that combines health, social awareness and social interaction. A table set for friends, a myriad of fresh ingredients, and some good wine will not only result in great memories, but also better mental and physical health. As a personal rule, I always try to avoid eating alone. One does not need to dig in with one's hands, literally sharing a pot of food with others as they do in some cultures, to find the ritual of eating with someone a strong one. My shared meals are purposed to catch up with friends and family, or to extract new ideas from business and social networks. Adding the experience of preparing the food, or at least appreciating hospitality amplifies such interactions, and the book contains the first steps to perfecting the content and setting of a meal.

The details of recipes, science, and cultural origins are best left to the book, but the concept of proximity to one's food is key and it will vary based on where you live --proximity in knowledge as well as geographical proximity. A farmer who grows vegetables for the market may chose not to eat their own due to the amount of pesticides they use to ensure a "healthy" product. Mass-produced poultry and livestock from the center of the country taste different from their grass-fed cousins an hour away from your metropolitan area. Finding a local butcher or monger (maybe just behind the counter at your supermarket) and being able to ask about the source of one's ingredients is not only educational but also reassuring. With Oldways' stress on vegetables, it may even be better to grow your own food in the yard or in a victory garden. As one panelist put it, "I look at the green worms on my cabbage and know that if they are healthy, its healthy for me too."

One concept that came to mind during the discussion was the idea of the aesthetic of the table. Aesthetics, and the efforts that I feel most people put into aesthetics, is popularly associated with interior decorating and home improvement. In our capitalist society showing one's wealth through one's assets, and in this case one's home, is the most popular pastime. Home Depots and hardware stores are booming as people attempt to increase their property and personal values through stylish additions. For the effort given, the immediate return is likely to fade as the aesthetic dulls with time and shifting style. In contrast, if society placed more premium on the pleasant aesthetic of healthful variety, balanced diet, sustainable processes, and social communication, we would greatly improve the quality and value of our intangible "home" and likely find a new way to add to our own personal value.

Current Events in Astronomy

Just a quick note about a celestial event I remember purposefully calculating back in high school. Next Sunday morning, about forty-five minutes before sunrise, three planets, Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter, will be "converging" within a one-degree circle. This happens to be occurring in the constellation of Scorpius, which due to my birth date, holds some significance.

• How tight is a one-degree circle? Generally with one's arm stretched full length, a closed fist will represent approximately ten-degrees of arc. The tip of your index finger will represent one-degree of arc.

• How frequently do planets converge in a tight formation like this? As far as planets that you can see with your naked eye, the next time will be in 2053.

• Where can you see it? Scorpius is a southern constellation, and the event will be occurring right on the horizon for me during my visit to New Orleans this weekend. Hopefully I will be able to catch it to the East-Southeast.
  

Astronomy has always been a source of awe, and with awe comes a healthy dose of humility. Look up the next night you find yourself in a low-light-pollution environment.

In an attempt to grasp the infinite, I studied astronomy, volunteered at an Observatory, and followed in early man's path of relating myself to some aspect of the heavens. Although astrology is hokey, one can not argue that understanding such an abstract environment is not a noble undertaking. Our reaction to being nothing in space is our attempt to control, i.e. to calculate and to predict. Control is one way to boost our intellectual ego.

The culmination of engineering and mathematics is exhibited in a device called the Antikythera Mechanism. It was constructed two thousand years ago.

Becoming a ToDo list

So far I have a number of drafts queued up. The topics are listed below. Please vote for one in the comments section. This will keep me motivated to complete them.

1. New Spirituality: An exploration of how spirituality plays a role in the life of a prime mover.

2. Quantum Search: An exploration of the impacts of the ability to search parallel instances of our own lives in order to aid decision making. And, yes, by parallel instances, we mean parallel universes, not other people who are similar.

3. Seven Year Cycles: A detailed exploration of the fourth (21-28) phase of life.

4. Seven Year Cycles: An introduction to the xodpox interpretation of the seven year cycles theory.

5. Seven Year Cycles: Things to do during transition between phases.

6. Band Profile: The So Nice

7. Things I Miss Expository series (TIMES): Intro, and example of an environment or stimulus that resonates.