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Another alternative to yesterday’s post about essentially the "proof of stake” (or proof of influence) system used by physical laws to redistribute matter is the idea that those who work the hardest succeed most in acquiring the things they’re after, or in other words, proof of work. I realize I may be applying bizarre personifications, or in this case machinifications, to the concept of a “sentient’ universe. This whole set up, including the environment, is ultimately fictional. But I think it’s sort of up for grabs, so it’s fun to fantasize about the different realities we may be living…

Everyone gets what they want, relative to their influence. At least, that’s the new principle which I'm presently entertaining regarding the rules by which the “universe” operates. I’ve cycled through many beliefs about this particular question in the past—how do the mechanics of this world, if refusing randomness as a sufficient answer, allocate a participant’s wishes and justify it within the entire system? I used to carry sentimental views on this question, and was an avid enthusiast of the principle that those with “good hearts" get what they want more than others. I would later learn,…

By now, we should have all heard the expression that goes something like “you can’t always get what you want because if everyone got what they wanted the world would be in utter chaos and disarray.” I asked my wife recently whether she believed if someone wishing bad for you is enough for those wishes to have any concrete effect on your life. In other words, if enough people pray silently to all the gods in the world for your demise, can that possibly materialize into anything? She hesitated. On the one hand, she knew very well that the prospect of your life being negatively affected by the…

Something strange just happened. And it happened seemingly overnight. I mentioned before how I've spent a lot of time sucking in Rocket League on PS4. Nonetheless, I’ve played it consistently. And I’ve seen myself improve very little. Over the last week, I’ve been thoroughly obsessed with Twitch live streams. I’m late to the party—but have you ever participated in a live stream? It’s one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever experienced. Essentially, you’re able to control this human being thousands of miles away live on camera, directly from your keyboard. You ask a question, and the…

I mentioned how the transitioning of something from the unconscious to the conscious can sometimes ruin that thing for me. Like when I’m watching a movie and see through bad acting, and start feeling the presence of a camera crew behind the set. Strangely, this also happens with my unconscious routines. I’ll go about a few days where, by chance, I will have enjoyed the actions of the first day, so do the same the next day, and same the next. But somehow, invariably, and usually after about the fifth day, I start seeing diminishing returns. This routine that was once so stimulating and full of…

I used to keep an exhaustive list of ideas, piled on to over the course of several long years of fantasizing what I was going to one day build. I found, and somewhat counter to my expectations, that the decision making process was not so measured as it was spur of the moment. My friend, during a Watts-induced meditation, once mused that decision making is an illusion: in reality, you almost never have enough information to make the “right” decision, so instead you make a split-second decision at the exact moment you need to. I think these are the powerful ideas—ideas so powerful, they shake…

If quantum mechanics has taught us anything, it’s that observing screws everything up. Sometimes, I’ll be absentmindedly experiencing a positive emotion or experience, and think, this is great! But ah. Damn. Now you’ve observed it. And rather than continuing through the experience with the enthusiasm and enthrallment of a child, you’re now looking through the side of your eyes. It’s a devilish little thing. Observing for me can sometimes be about reproducibility. Last week was great—do that again! But now you’re taken out of the present, leaving little chance for any result worthy of…

I awoke early today, and having been in a rhythm of going to the office first thing, made no exception on this Sunday. Don’t be mistaken—this isn’t me hustling. My wife works some weekends, and rather than staying at home and basking in my living room, I’d rather get out and be enlivened by the brisk temperatures and constant motion. That energy, coupled with a throat-scratching cup of coffee, gives me large enough momentum to carry out any task of my choosing in the morning, up until about 2-3pm. Drinking coffee by the time I arrive at about 10am curbs my appetite until about 4. So 10am-3pm…

A mind-blowing excerpt from Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code: The Priory's tradition of perpetuating goddess worship is based on a belief that powerful men in the early Christian church 'conned' the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine. The Priory believes that Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever. Nobody could deny the…

It would be easier if I didn’t have to publish this. I could just write the … silliest … things. Some days are subtle, like today. Fair-weathered, all around. My brain’s fan spins with a soothing calmness, unlike my macbook when I accidentally write a recursive javascript function, which seems to be happening more than it should. Progress remains steady on the new update. The codebase is cooling and taking form, after being molten for the past few weeks. I’m currently knee deep in The Da Vinci Code, having thoroughly enjoyed Origin. I’m glad I’m not reading it on paper though—my thumbs are…

In Rocket League, when someone joins in the middle of the game, the game lags and glitches momentarily, integrating the new player into the network. My friend mused, what if real life lagged every time someone new entered. Life ultimately remains fascinating, despite the waking drudgery of our days. Sometimes I’ll wake in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and still be crossing the ethereal divide between two different worlds—I’ll stare out the window, through the night and onto the moon—and in this drunken haze, I’ll immediately melt in the infinitude of our existence, in the…

I hadn’t been very productive from Friday until Monday. Which sounds like it’s a weekend related thing but I assure you it's not. My weekend's borders are dashed, so you can slip in and out any time. But, Monday was strange. I was excited to get out of the house and head to the office, and avoid all the wondrous merry distractions at home. But, wasting time I still managed to do. Apparently, you can’t run from yourself. I was so heavily reluctant to produce even a single line of code, that it was laughable. But it wasn’t unfounded. I was working on a problem in the beginning of last week,…

I wrote in a post just a few days ago, that because I had happened upon a flow that seemed to be beneficial to me (writing every day), that you should also explore the opportunity to challenge yourself daily, by committing to a fixed schedule where you produce some sort of item every day. And upon further reflection, this is total bullshit on my part. There’s a certain self-help culture online wherein those who happen upon a productive nugget of truth or wisdom share it and urge others to also see things in this light. There’s nothing wrong with this, only that, it gives the illusion that…

I watched AlphaGo on Netflix yesterday, and have been in an eerie mood since. An amazingly well made documentary, AlphaGo is the story of AI and man. Have you ever seen images and cartoons from the 50’s that attempt to depict how the future will look? It’s the retro-futuristic vibe similar to the Smeg line of products. One thing you will notice though: we always get it wrong. No matter which time period we attempt to predict the future from, we get it wrong. I’ve always wondered, if this process repeats itself—if we are always wrong in predicting the future—how might we be looking at things…

Rumor has it that we only live once. Of course, we live an infinite number of times, as we are just processes that execute the function of life. But while you’re here, while you’re in this body, and while you have the ability to harness raw materials and transform them into another order, why not indulge? Why not explore? It takes only one axiom. If you can decide that 1+1=2, then the powerful rest follows. What is your 1+1=2? What is something that no matter how inhospitable your surroundings become, will always reign true and is thus something you can perpetually rely on? This helps,…