The Way Of The Future: Crafted Currencies

For those of you not entirely sure what cryptocurrencies are, they're designed to be a decentralized system of currency run entirely by a new technology called blockchains. The idea is to make a currency valued solely by the users of it which leads the value of said currency to depend heavily on how the users choose to accept it. Seem difficult? It can be.

However I think it's important to remember this is how currency came to be in the first place. Even before paper currency there were resources that were warred over. One such currency is actually commonly in great quantity in the average household. What could that currency be? Salt. 

The value of salt was determined by it's uses in food preservation, as well as it's perceived scarcity at times. It wasn't until salt became common that we turned to other valuables as currency such as gold, precious metals, and even other resources like oil(current global trade standard). So what does the future of currency look like as society advances? That really all depends on how cryptocurrencies are handled in the coming years.

Golly gee Pop, do you think Coldstone accepts Bitcoin yet?! Image Credit

Where does that leave us now? Although I know many people cringe at the thought of it, Universal Basic Incomes are definitely on the plate for debate worldwide. Will a universal income really mean you can buy anything with that money? Or will it be specialized programs like EBT and housing assistance?

How will giving everyone money, for fun or bills, effect local economies? Would it be a better idea to have multiple currencies based on the market a person wishes to engage in? Personally I wouldn't feel right spending a universal income on anything other than basic needs like housing, food, and transportation.

Have we had an honest discussion of using cryptocurrencies for Universal Basic Income? It may not be widespread in media yet, but we are discussing it. Let's assume for a moment that we created a UBI currency using a cryptocurrency system that can only be used for basic needs. Wouldn't it be safe to assume we would have some kind of currency in place for non-necessities like art, games, media, toys and entertainment?

How would an individual become "rich" in such a society? Working and distributing their own craft.

When Dad said he was gonna start flipping houses this is not what I had in mind... Craft Credit: mykokoon

As ludicrous as it sounds, there will come a time when humanity will value individual creativity and production much more highly than day to day menial labor. Automation will leave many people without jobs, and we can and should automate any job that we possibly can. What we need to figure out is how not having a job will not leave people without the ability to survive.

So would we not create a whole new dynamic in culture and how we value work, if the amount of things a person creates directly influences their personal wealth? Would a person with a nicer house and more toys not lead to the assumption that the person works incredibly hard for it? Or would we still have those who coast on the wealth and work of others?

There's no doubt manipulation of markets and shady dealings will still happen(and no doubt will happen regardless of how good a system is), but the majority of humanity could feel like their personal wealth has more to do with their direct effort in providing value to those around them.

Take it from someone who sweats and multitasks all day for very little money or appreciation - the amount of work we do in our current culture does not translate to well being or standard of living. I also know I'm far from the only person who feels this way. I'm sure there are plenty of people who could get behind automating their job so they can chase their own passions(and make a living doing it).

Perhaps segmenting our currencies will lead to an unexpected level of prosperity for all, and not just those who have learned to exploit a broken social and economic system. These craft currency systems could be established through cryptocurrencies, and would be much more efficient to be decentralized, even if a UBI is a centralized agency.

So the question still remains: How will humanity take it's next step into economic and social freedom for all? Will it be through inefficient centralized fiat currencies? Or will we once again as individuals place the value of money ourselves? Only time, and great effort, will tell.

Sci-Fi Concepts: The Future of Video Games

Video games have taken a strange place in culture as the world develops. With E3 2018 about to wrap up, I wanted to take a look at how video games may shape culture as they become more sophisticated and wide spread. Let's start with the Psychology of Avatars.

Studies have been conducted on multiple games and how the avatars people create effect their overall psychology. The consensus tends to be that a co-relation can be observed in a person's overall image of themselves, and what kind of characteristics the avatar they create will have. If you've ever made a game avatar this consensus probably won't surprise you.

Most gamers have at one point or another had issue with self-image. Not because they're gamers, but because they're people. It's pretty common place in a culture that places social stature on such a high pedestal. Will this trend stay the same as the technology for games becomes more sophisticated? What kind of effects will it have when full-dive virtual reality becomes reality?

Will a gamer be able to say the same about creating an avatar when they can look in the mirror and feel like that avatar? Would this do good? Or would it do harm? I think that highly depends on the person. Playing virtual reality, especially one that can simulate real feeling and emotion, will be a pleasure(or pain for some) that should be treated with caution not unlike any other addictive activity.

Definitely not the kind of avatar I'm talking about now.

Could we use full-dive and avatars to create therapy plans for people with self-esteem issues? What if someone who has been obese their whole life could dive and feel the value of being fit? Could it influence their decisions in the real world? Or will it simply drag them into a world more often where they don't have to work to live the way they want?

Could it be possible that full-dive could create a psychological epidemic among low self-esteem players? How would full-dive effect our reactions to death and killing? Would killing in a game make it seem easier to kill in real life?

These questions are absolutely valid ones we should keep in mind as we move forward, but there are also positive ideas to come from this. Full-dive virtual reality could make games and telling stories infinitely more entertaining. It could also make them infinitely more educational. Stories have always been used to purvey an idea or view that an average person may not even have the chance to experience.

It's all about perspective, and we could absolutely use this technology to help spread the idea of perspective. You're much more inclined to understand the moral of a story if you're actively involved in it. Especially if you immerse within the game enough to tie your psychology to that of the avatar. 

Ah the good ol' Holodeck. It would be much more enjoyable if Wesley weren't in it. 

What if it's not full-dive technology, but holographic? Would the psychology of avatars be important to telling stories with violence in them? Or would we be able to have the same level of game immersion knowing we were in the real world - regardless of whether we're truly safe or not? Would killing a hologram, even for the sake of a game, feel any different than killing a real person?

That heavily depends on how the game is designed. If the enemy poofs into a cloud of smoke and disappears, there's far less consequence to this psychologically. However, if a game developer created a sense of realism in killing, would killing a game sprite feel wrong? Obviously there are a plethora of questions and not a lot of answers until we reach this point.

I do think it's important to keep these ideas in mind as we move forward with gaming. Take it from someone who grew up far too immersed in another world and the avatar I played. You bet your shiny metal ass I wanted to be my avatar more than I wanted to be me at most times. It was a pretty easy mentality to have when the game was far simpler than reality.

This immersion could also create stronger bonds between social players. It could create a climate of war that's fought using pixels and respawns, rather than blood and heartbreak. It could also create never before seen level of cyber crime. What if a hacker could break into your VR headset and use the technology to implant ideas, or even desires? Who's to say a government couldn't control a population using neural technologies in such a manner?

There are far too many questions for me to ask in one blog post about this particular subject. Will the technology change the culture? Or will the culture change the technology? The future holds many possibilities. Whether they're positive or negative outcomes is heavily dependent on the individual and how they consume video games.

Regardless of the outcome, I know I'm excited to see what the future of video games brings!

Soap Box: Sociocracy

Democracy: The Cornerstone of modern society. Many cling to this idea as if it's the only thing can save humanity from itself. Yet as the world develops and Democracy is spread, how does this mentality effect the overall population? While I'm hardly a Psychlogist by trade, I do have the fortune to work in one of humanity's earliest culture driving professions: Hospitality.

Every day I spend making coffee and bringing food for every day folks in a small town. These are honest, hard working people who are doing their best for the people around them. Their hearts genuinely believe in the things they do day to day, even if some of those things are acted in ignorance. Yet there's something I can't shake about how they behave on day to day things that just irks me.

I've spent years trying to find why I always feel so angry and frustrated when dealing with people. There's a reason I stay in a job that makes me feel like I want to rip my hair out every day. Part of my observations have been seeing exactly how the concept of voting has changed over the years- and how those overall ideas have effected our culture.

Democracy and entitlement have created a strange sub-section of psychology within people that leads them to believe so fervently in their ideals that they're willing to pass laws to ensure those ideals are enacted. There doesn't seem anything particularly wrong on the surface to this idea. Follow me down this rabbit hole and hopefully I can help you understand.

Ever since seeing these behaviors on a day to day basis, I've had to think long and hard about what voting and government means to me. I've always leaned towards Libertarian, but even that is hard for me to stomach. Let's go back to Democracy being an agent of change. If good people are voting their consciences, then what do we have to worry about?

Perhaps the biggest worry for me isn't even the corrupt politicians that come from our Democratic system. It's seeing good, hard working people decide that voting is all they need to do to help their communities. It's seeing good people turn angry and vengeful at the mention of a political topic that honestly wouldn't effect them at all if it weren't brought up in the first place. It's seeing people's every day beliefs turn into personal moral crusades against others. 

Democracy seems pretty harmless in itself, but the idea of voting does come with some heavy weight. Even if you aren't the one creating laws or enacting them, you're giving your approval for someone else to. Let's not forget these laws can effect millions of people you don't even know. Yet that doesn't stop anyone from voting.

And what happens when someone disagrees with these laws? Even if a peaceful protest is made, so are arrests. Peoples lives are broken and taken away from them in the name of laws made by men who may not fully understand the circumstances that lead another person to live the way they do. Yet that doesn't stop anyone from voting.

Voting has somehow detached us from the rest of our fellow man. How can we honestly say that we care about others when those very same ideals are pushing through laws that are hurting others that we don't even know? Many would explain that for every person that may be hurt, another may be saved. Is it not worth it for the purpose of the greater good?

Is the greater good really worth it to destroy even one person's life? What could that life have been? And that's where Sociopathy comes in. This subtle but very problematic mental problem comes in to play in a major way when you realize exactly what Democracy and "The Greater Good" is making people ok with doing. Every day people who would never dream of hurting another directly, are essentially giving their approval for someone else to do the hurting for them.

I totally would have voted for him... wait.

This doesn't even begin to cover how our willingness to spread Democracy forcefully throughout the world has changed our psychology. People who would never point the gun themselves are giving the ok for others to do it in their name. Their tax dollars are going to these campaigns, and not many are standing up to oppose it.

I can't even begin to touch how this increase in Sociopathic tendencies(no matter how mild) has effected our own citizenry. With all the talk of gun violence and how it's increased over the years, I think people are missing the point if they're pointing the blame at guns. Our culture is breeding people who are ok with killing. It's not surprising when you grow up with people all around you trying to tell you how to live your life.

It doesn't always have to be directly involved with voting or politics either. This mentality has more people delving in gossip and social survival in ways I can't even begin to wrap my head fully around. Ever had someone tell you what you should do with your life? Pretty much every person has at some point. Is this the right way to approach others? No. Not at all.

I would like to close by saying I am not saying that Democracy in itself is the problem. Despite my distaste for it altogether, I am not here to tell the rest of the world how to be. I'm simply here to point out that Democracy, combined with an entitled mentality(which has been brewing for generations, not just millennials), is what is driving a political system that breeds Sociopathic tendencies.

There are still a lot more observations to be made, and great care to be had in how we approach fixing this problem. We can't persecute people with the same fervor of belief that is causing this problem. I guess what we really need is to remember Liberty comes with responsibility to self and noone else. The world and others don't owe us anything, and that's exactly why we should help each other.

I believe kindness and patience to those you don't know or don't understand truly is what will help fix this overall problem.

Tip Of The Iceberg

Last year I did a post on Labor Day that touched on the current cultural view on work. Now, I'd like to focus specifically on a business I hold close to my heart: Food Service. This post specifically will be on tipping, and how it impacts the life of servers around the country.

Before I begin I would like to note that I absolutely acknowledge that the tipping system is entirely voluntary. I will never be mean to a person simply because they're a poor tipper. I do however think it should be fair to make clear to the world how tipping genuinely effects a server's every day life(and overall standard of living).

The Department of Labor has rules on how a business should conduct a base minimum wage based on tipping. The simple answer is as long as your tips even out to the federal minimum wage, the business only has to pay you $2.13 base wage. This isn't much of an issue for high-volume restaurants and bars where even when tipping isn't great, the number of people you serve tends to even out your wages.

For people like me who work at a small town coffee shop/restaurant, the tipping can be abysmal and I rely on a base wage to make most of my income. Thankfully I work for a family coffee shop that does give me a decent base wage. Even still, the tipping tends to be a very small portion of my income(even though it really shouldn't be).

Every time I get a paycheck. Hardly a problem exclusive to wait staff.

In all reality, my tips are less than half what they should be if tipping was a consistent part of our culture. For a 6 hour shift I'm lucky to make $15 after splitting the total tips with everyone working(including kitchen staff and yes they deserve it just as much as I do). We handle on an average shift around 75-85 customers. The average bill we tend to see is somewhere around $12, and we rarely get even 10% on those tabs.

Every week we prepare large orders(anywhere between 15-20 meals, sometimes more) on Thursdays and deliver it to the neighboring town's school. This is more of a kind gesture from the boss since he grew up in the area and genuinely cares about keeping the people in his community happy. Despite this large order, the tip average comes out to 10% at best, when that's easily $300 worth of orders it really shows. For that total order if 20% was the standard tipping amount, that should be upwards of $60 for that group alone. Yet as my boss has put it when handling those tips, we're lucky to get $20 for the whole order(which is generally split by 5 people instead of 4 since the workload requires an extra set of hands).

If the average bill is $12, with just 50 people served on an average day, I should be making $30 each shift if the total tips for that shift were split 4 ways. If I work five 6 hour shifts each week making that much, then for the year I should be making around $7200 in tips. What did I actually make in tips last year? $2300. That's a $4900 difference per year. 

Sometimes I wonder if "wait staff" means we're waiting for life to get better.

What could that $4900 do? It could help me not have to be on certain assistance programs in order to survive. Would it solve everything? Gosh no. That's not the point at all. However when you consider there are times when we can barely afford food when our food stamps run out, and a small burst in tips genuinely does mean the difference between us having healthy food and cheap instant food(or having to wait until tips the next day to get anything at all), it starts to really sink home how it effects the every day waiter.

I'm just one example, and not all servers are in that bad of a position in life. However, when you consider in 2015 52% of food workers were on some kind of government assistance to make ends meet, it makes you wonder how America really values this work. Restaurants and Coffee Shops have been huge parts of our culture and how it expands.

How many rousing conversations with friends are happening in a restaurant right now? How many important business discussions happen in coffee shops due to a quiet environment and an endless supply of stimulants? Coffee shops and Restaurants impact our culture in a big way, and I would absolutely argue we would not be the same country without them.

Moving forward, I simply hope this gives perspective to the plight of the every day server. Not all of us are living in poverty. But far too many of us are, and all the individual has to do to help is respect our work and tip well. You never really know how that can make a difference in people's lives.

Super Bowl Statistics

Ok ok, a lot of people watch football because they genuinely love the game. I may not be one of them, but I absolutely respect that people will choose to spend their time how they will. I do however believe there should be some attention brought to how we use our resources. Hopefully I can do this in a way that seems less preachy and more informative. My goal with this article is not to piss off a bunch of football fans, it's to simply shed light on where our resources are going and where they could be going.

Let's start with simply how many people watch the Super Bowl. Approximately 111.3 Million people watched the Super Bowl last year. That's potentially a third of the entire US population. In fact, 19 of the 20 most watched broadcasts in America have been Super Bowls. I'm really glad that gives that many people fun for a day, truly I am. Yet there's something wrong with this number for me.

Roughly 62.6 Million people volunteered at least once between 2014 and 2015. So nearly twice the amount of people will get together for a single day to watch a football game, than will volunteer in their communities the entire year. That's a pretty staggering number, especially when you consider volunteer rates have been declining steadily each year. So much so, I can't even find reliable data for volunteer rates past 2015. 

Food is also on the agenda. I mean, like I said, I know plenty of people who go to Super Bowl parties just for the food. So how much food do we consume at the Super Bowl? At least 1.35 billion chicken wings. Let's not stop at Chicken wings though! According to this article: 8 million pounds of Popcorn, 28 million pounds of potato chips, 53 million pounds of avocados, and 325 million gallons of beer. 

Let's just look at these few types of food(even though there is so much more we could factor in). That turns into 224 million pounds of food on Super Bowl game day alone. That's 172.3 Million meals. There are 49 million people who struggle to put food on the table each year in America. The average American eats 5.5lbs of food each day(one meal is considered roughly 1.2 lbs). If we could set aside 4 meals per person of that 172.3 million, we could feed roughly 43 million people from the Super Bowl banquet mentioned earlier alone. 

We could do what with all that?

I think that the point is hitting home. Again, I'm not out to put down the Super Bowl or to even make people want to participate less. I simply want to make everyone aware how our cultural celebrations are actually using our resources. More importantly, I want people to know exactly what those resources could also be used on. My hope is to not make anyone feel guilty. I'm sure there's plenty of it after all of the cheating on diets that inevitably happens on that day.

Just remember folks: We choose the society we live in. Don't let this information tell you what we're not doing. Let it show you exactly what we can do when it's important to us. If we can spend this kind of time and money on sports we are plenty capable of spending it on those in need!

Sci-Fi Concepts: Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are really making a fuss in the news lately. Not just because Bitcoin is constantly reaching record highs. Cryptocurrencies pose big problems for governments and banks across the globe. Why? The fear is that they allow people to trade with a certain level on anonymity, making it difficult for governments to tax income. They also remove the need for banks to keep track of transactions and records, since all Blockchain records are public.

The obvious problem with this is Money Laundering, though that's only an issue when a Central Bank or Government is involved. In terms of the every day person, it's a beautiful thing. No one other than you and the person you are trading with is involved in those transactions. There isn't a central agency that can dictate the value of your currency to you.

I'd like to keep the political arguments aside and look purely at how this idea could possibly shape our culture and how we view the value of trading with each other. A Cryptocurrency would allow people to trade their goods and services based on an agreed upon value in that currency.

A painting that is worth fifty space bucks to one person, may not be worth anything to another. That's the point of currency. Yet central banks and governments do everything they can to regulate currencies and how much of it is available. This effects the overall value of your currency, even if you didn't agree to those changes in that system. 

A quick guide to understanding Blockchains. Image property of Blockgeeks.com

Blockchains in themselves are a wonderful revolution in computing. Allowing for transparency within the currency market(no one can just make more), while also allowing a level on anonymity to purchasers and sellers alike. It also reduces fees on the every day person for services that are now essentially unneeded(tellers, physical stores, intranets for banking systems). This reduces the overall resources needed to run the system. That leaves more resources with us as a people to fix our other problems.

Government fears the use of Cryptocurrencies for Money Laundering, however that's pretty short sighted. Money laundering can happen in a multitude of different ways. A vast majority of big players in the economy are finding ways to reduce the amount of tax burden on them personally already. Could Cryptocurrencies crash the global economy? Sure. If you hold on to the outdated system that Cryptocurrencies are trying to replace.

How many resources are wasted on shoving our entire monetary system through a centralized funnel? How much more could we as people do if we had control of our own funds in such a way? The IRS reported $11.7Billion as their overall costs for 2016. According to taxfoundation.org, it will cost Americans alone $409Billion in time and money to comply with tax code.

So wait, it's not just Bitcoin? Holy crap!

With Trillions of dollars being wired through electronic systems every day, Cryptocurrencies will have to replace a lot of infrastructure over time to truly remove the need for a central bank. Is that any time soon? I have no idea. But with so many different types of "Coin" systems surfacing, who's to say that one specific coin will dominate the market?

Is it possible we will trade in ArtCoins for art based products? FoodCoins for groceries? TaxCoins even could be created for those who still wish to support a government system. If we could convert any old coin into TaxCoins and send them to a specific department based on what we feel should be funded, would the government embrace that philosophy?

Is it possible to have a Voluntary tax system that actually works? I can't begin to speculate a real possible answer. I can however say that regardless of what happens to the government side of things, Cryptocurrencies are going to take a big place in our every day life as the future steadily creeps towards the present.

I believe the Bitcoin hype is taking away an important message about Cryptocurrencies in general. Yes, Bitcoin is worth a lot right now. However, that won't last forever. Not just because it will only ever create so many coins. Not just because the intrinsic value of a Bitcoin has become hyper-inflated based on politics. No currency should be tied to any level of political activism. 

At least there's other options, which I highly encourage everyone to explore and do their best to understand. This is some pretty cool happenings in our life time. Blockchains are something I don't think even the Sci-Fi community really saw coming in it's full applications. It always makes me happy when reality is cooler than fiction!

Sci-Fi Concepts: Post-Scarcity

Scarcity is a problem we face living on a planet with finite resources. As humanity expands, resource availability doesn't necessarily expand with it. While the earth still has plenty left to give, it won't last forever. There is hope yet for our species! Though I'm sure you've heard this argument before.

"Take to space? Why don't we figure out things on Earth before we worry about space."

That seems like a pretty solid argument. Really it does. Though it's missing one important factor: Generations beyond our own need resources too. We can't sit around and expect everything to sort itself out once we're gone. That's like passing away and your children finding out you left so much gambling debt their kids will be dealing with it some day as well. Not many grandkids are going to remember their grandparents fondly when they're having to work off the mistakes they made.

On the other side of that coin, what would society look like if scarcity of resources was a non-issue? Would our politics look the same? Would our currencies hold the same value? How would our perceptions of others change when our cultures no longer hold income to be a social status factor? Will technology really be the way we ascend as a species to a peaceful state?

Will there even be a state to speak of? Will government hold different form when property takes different shape? Will we want for the things others have in the same ways? Ok ok, there's a lot of questions to answer here. Sadly, we have no way of knowing until we get there.

"I say old bean, did you hear Sir Reginald crafted a tiny poodle with his three dimensional printing device? How positively drole!"

It's true Post-Scarcity could change the dynamic entirely with how humans interact with each other. Looking towards the future and solutions to our every day problems takes looking past our current thinking on these problems. It's no wonder not much thinking is being done on this possible outcome for the future.

Social safety nets are the first attempt humanity has had to create a Post-Survival society. We attempt to rule out survival from every day life is a precursor to removing resources from the human struggle. Post-survival's problems are largely based on distribution of resources. Where are resources not going to bring them to those that really need it? Are we taking from others that need it?

Is it moral to take from those who have more to give to those who have less? Are social safety nets sustainable? What's the realistic outcome to a Universal Income? Pretty much every question raised by Post-Survival is rendered entirely useless when we achieve Post-Scarcity. When we don't worry about whether we're taking from others to give to those who need it we remove the moral question from distribution of resources.

When the practical(and moral) question of resources becomes a moot point, then the vast majority of how our society runs will also become a moot point. What is valued in a Post-Scarcity society? How will it effect jobs? How will people trade? Will there be currency still? The beauty is the answers to these questions become entirely perspective based.

If we don't need to trade to survive, then trade takes a different shape entirely. That means the communities who live together in a Post-Scarcity society will trade freely for what they deem to be of value. Most of these goods will boil down to arts and crafts. We will create if we choose to. Consume if we choose to. Life becomes ever more important based around the individual.

Our actions would be ever apparently be choices. Not that it's much different now, but with the questions of community gone we will be more aware of what we as individuals in life truly mean. Thinking along these lines makes Post-Scarcity a rather attractive goal to humanity. There is one thing to remember about this concept though:

We must choose to point our society towards this goal. All of us. Not just vote in those you feel will move us towards that goal. Be proactive in your community. Get involved in sciences. 

Keep learning.

A Fine Day for Labor

Labor Day is a holiday most of us recognize. The message of Labor Day has been lost over the years, considering most people's explanation of it is "A day to celebrate work". While that's the true intention, the word work has taken different shape in this day and age. Especially when you consider the roots of labor day are well over a century old.

Many use labor day as a time to relax and enjoy time with family. It's not unlike most American holidays where traditions may vary, but the general goal is food, family, and fun. On average, 78% of Americans are granted Labor Day off from their respective jobs. 85% if you're a union worker. 

If you do have to work on this holiday, even a good chunk of workers get some kind of extra compensation for their work. Yet there are still so many who work retail that end up stuck working on Labor Day. It doesn't seem like much of a problem, considering everyone has to work for their keep. But is this fact hinting at a cultural view of work in general?

Retail work is still work right?

While office and government workers take their time off, someone's gotta be open to give them all the fun day of shopping and eating they desire though. Retail is one of the few sectors that is minimally impacted by a holiday that was designed to give the honest working American a break. Yet most retail stores remain open, employing more than 4.5million(more than any other profession) workers.

Not all of these people are required to work that day, but a rather large number probably still do. These days, even union jobs are falling off the map. So how does this hint at a cultural change in how we view work? It's pretty simple actually. The only work we truly value as a people is our own. It's easy to say you deserve the day off for a holiday, but expect your favorite restaurant to be open.

There's a gap in how we view the value of the work of others, especially when so many jobs are in retail. As someone who has worked retail for a considerably long time, I can tell you the general opinion of retail work isn't a glamorous one. It wasn't uncommon to hear complaints of other stores closed on certain holidays. More often than not, these arguments come from a selfish standpoint.

There is no consideration for the retail workers it takes to keep that store open. There's no consideration for the fact they have families they would also like to spend time with on those holidays. Not everyone looks at it this way, mind you. But those who genuinely appreciate retail workers taking the time out of their holiday to work is definitely a minority.

This Labor Day, remember that work is required in all fields of life. Everything we have was obtained by someone or other doing the work to make it happen. That includes your local baristas, grocery store cashiers, shopping center clerks, and mall security too. There's a severe lack of respect for these jobs(including technical jobs), and I think Mike Rowe hits the nail on the head. Work has taken a much different view in our culture with the advancement of technology.

Sci-Fi Concepts: Quantum Foam

NASA may not have invented Quantum Foam, but they're looking for it. For those of you who don't know what Quantum Foam is, it's as simple as the fabric of the universe. Believe it or not, this concept isn't new to the Twenty-First Century. It's as old as 1955, theorized by a man named John Wheeler.

Quantum Foam is the idea that as we zoom a theoretical(mathematical) microscope into empty space, we will end up finding something at some point. The above picture gives you an idea of the level of insanely small we're talking about here. 10^-33CM. This is within the quantum realm of the Planck Length, which is a measurement of time as well. 

How does this idea of Quantum Foam effect us? Well as every day average Joes and Janes it doesn't effect us much. However, in terms of science, Quantum Foam leaves scientists baffled with how traditional Relativity and Quantum Physics break down on such a small scale. Proving the existence of Quantum Foam could fundamentally change how we approach science in the future.

Quantum Foam is chaotic in nature, which could throw many different views in science on it's head. For example: If the universe is chaotic in nature, how is it that so much of the universe is symmetrical? Could this have ramifications for our Holographic Universe theory? Could it help us better understand quantum communications?

Is quantum foam effected by observation?

How does this effect how we approach Science Fiction? I haven't really ever heard much about Quantum Foam in much of the sci-fi I've read or seen. I'll admit I could stand to branch out and experience more sci-fi, but it still is hardly a theme many attach to. How could a writer use this theory to their advantage?

It's not one we see directly. If any writers are taking advantage of the Quantum Foam theory, they are doing well by hiding how it effects the rest of the story. Yet the warping of space time is a pretty common theme. Wouldn't it stand to reason Quantum Foam should be somewhere in their calculations? Is that why we haven't been able to successfully create a proper warp drive in reality?

I can't possibly speculate on reality, but I do believe this idea deserves more attention from the Sci-Fi community. It doesn't have to drive an entire story. However, it should factor in to certain themes, especially when quantum physics are at play.  If anyone knows of any particular pieces that do discuss quantum foam, please let me know!

Sci-Fi Concepts: The Kardashev Scale

The Kardashev Scale is used to judge a sentient species on their level of advancement based on technology. The scale focuses on how said species harnesses energy and resources, deeming it to be one of three types as seen in the picture above. There are some real world implications to this scale and how we can measure ourselves to this technology curve.

It's not a perfect measurement, considering harnessing energy isn't always as simple as using a Dyson Sphere to turn the sun into a giant generator. Cold Fusion has been a dream of physicists for years. So if we could generate our own power without harnessing galactic energies, how useful would this scale be?

Yet something interesting happens when you take the idea behind the Kardashev Scale and you bend it a little bit. How do we measure the intelligence of a sentient species? Can we? Technology can advance in so many ways. As of now, we've really only seen our way of advancing technology.

If we ran into a space-faring species tomorrow, what would their technology look like? Would it be similar to ours? Would they seek to make everything smaller and more compact like we do? What if a society valued larger structures rather than smaller ones? What if they had their own benefits and downfalls? What would those structures look like?

How does a technology curve change the evolution of a species? Can our habits based on technology and what becomes more available to us lead us in a new evolutionary direction? How is our own technology curve effecting our evolution? What about organic computing? Could we evolve to link with an organic computer?

Obviously there are far too many other questions to be asked. Not unlike most major scientific discoveries, the Kardashev Scale did at least one very important thing for the science community. It made us ask questions.

The Gravity of Reality

Scientists have been studying gravity in terms of space and time for, well, quite some time now. What does studying gravity mean for the average person? Perhaps not much. Still, understanding how Gravity as a force can affect space and time is a big deal. How big? Literally astronomically big.

Imagine two black holes consuming matter relatively close to each other. Each one is pumping out unspeakable amounts of energy and turning mass from it's lunch and converting it into it's own. The larger the black hole becomes, the stronger it's force of gravity upon objects around it.

Now imagine two black holes merging together. This cosmic reaction emits an absurdly large amount of energy. ScienceDaily puts it best: These are collisions that produce more power than is radiated as light by all the stars and galaxies in the universe at any given time.

Holy crap. That is a nearly unfathomable amount of energy. What did we learn from these gravitational waves? We learned that gravity as a force effects our every day life in ways we probably don't even know. It opened up a whole new window of research. 

How do we move forward from this point? Keep studying. Keep asking questions. Can we create an instrument that can read gravitational waves on a smaller level? Does every mass have some kind of gravitational wave that can be quantified and measured? If so, how does this gravitational wave affect us in our every day lives?

Could being surrounded by objects with great mass effect us in any way as humans? I could go on, but you get the point. Expect more to be coming out of this field in the future. I believe we are about to go down a rabbit(or black) hole that goes much, much deeper than we realize.

-Source Article-

In Memoriam

Memorial day is a nationally celebrated holiday in America. Dating back to the Civil War, it is a tradition of honoring those who died in armed conflict. Honoring fallen warriors is not a new concept to human culture. Yet Memorial Day in America has taken a strange spin in modern times. It's not so much about honoring our dead as it is an excuse to get together with family and party.

While there's nothing wrong with good times with family, there is something wrong in not taking time to actually honor those who sacrifice for our ideals. Some soldiers recognize the change in focus on the "Holiday". Calling it a holiday doesn't really feel proper either when you consider exactly what the day is supposed to be about.

As much as I'd like to get into statistics of how people spend their time on this day, it doesn't feel proper. I think a better use of this article space is to remember and remind those who read it exactly what Memorial Day is supposed to be about. Sacrifice.

According to this article, there were approximately 2.7 million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 20% of them have been reported to have PTSD and/or depression. That's approximately 540,000 veterans who have serious mental problems due to their service in the military.

Poverty rates with disability were abysmal in 2012 for veterans. They were even higher than civilian poverty with disability in almost all age groups. Which of course means that more veterans with disabilities are living in poverty and more than likely unable to have their disabilities properly cared for. 

There are an inordinate amount of charities designed to help veterans. Even worse, CharityWatch is showing an alarmingly large number of them do an incredibly poor job of taking charity donations and turning it into real help for veterans. The Veterans Affairs Department can also be abysmally inefficient considering the volume of veterans is increasing every day.

Worse yet, perception of veterans who don't deal with any of these issues is warped due to our perception of soldiers. Unless you know the person directly, veterans are often seen as "broken" or "damaged" in some way due to their combat experiences. Even if they are of stable mind an body, there's a strange stigma that follows having been in the military.

Don't get me wrong, as a whole we look proudly on our soldiers and respect their work ethic for being in the military. Military experience can definitely make life easier if given the proper circumstances. More veterans are open to a wide range of career choices due to their service. More programs are offered to help keep them stable. Yet there is still something missing.

A true respect and understanding of what active combat is, and how it changes a person. Memorial Day should be a very somber holiday, with a serious overtone of the consequences of war. I'm not saying we can't get together with family and have a good time. I'm just saying there are quite a few veterans(and families of fallen veterans) who wish they could do the same.

Today let's remember we're all in this together.

E Pluribus Unum

Fortifying Our Constitution

America. We're a pretty great place if I do say so myself. Yet even the most patriotic of Americans is feeling a little off-put by where our country is. No one seems to be happy with government anymore. Except maybe the government. A strange phenomenon is brewing in American politics lately. Trust in government has been going through the floor in recent years. Despite that, calls for increase in government capacity has been increasing. 

This seems like a fallacy, considering it's not just Republicans that are losing faith in government's ability to provide solutions to issues we care about. How can we call for more government when none of us trust it to do what is right?

Those who want government to remain big will argue that it's simply an issue of the right people not running for office. Those who do not want government will argue it's an issue of removing government power. Considering President Obama signed the fewest average executive orders per year since Grover Cleveland, a candidate representing a party which calls for more government does not always mean more obvious government oversight.

Trump has signed 90 executive orders in his first 100 days. Almost one executive order signed every single day coming from a candidate that ran on a platform of less government? I guess not having the proper candidates running could be the issue. However, I would argue that forgetting just what our Constitution meant to our founding fathers is what's created the majority of these issues.

Government at the time of America's founding was seen as a "necessary evil". It was acknowledged that despite the horrors government can create, it was necessary to solve some tough issues and push humanity forward. Coming from a pre-internet age it was likely seen as the only way to organize on bigger scales, since communication was much more difficult and centralizing certain issues made more headway on solving them than tackling them in the private sector.

Now we see protests organized on a whim, leaving hours between the call and the action. Social media has made organized protesting so easy that protests were organized in all 50 US states and 32 countries across the world. Two million people were reported to have protested against Trump on his inauguration day.

White is so drab. I'm told Red is in this year.

All while our sights are set on government and what they aren't doing for us, there is a steady decline in volunteering which means we aren't doing as much for ourselves anymore either. A strange shift in mentality is taking place. Americans so fervently believe that voting is the way that we cause change in the world. Yet voting in a technological age is proving less fruitful than organizing ourselves.

How is it that we can organize fervently to protest political candidates(whom most of us have never spoken to or even run into on the street), but we can't organize to volunteer for the communities we're already a part of? Perhaps our Constitution needs to be taken a look at. And no, I don't mean the US Constitution. I mean our constitution as a people needs to be looked at.

We don't aspire to fix things ourselves as much anymore. Maybe in our every day life we're do-it-yourselfers. Can we honestly say that America is about doing it ourselves when it comes to fixing our social issues?

Just remember that it's not an issue without a solution. We simply need to re-think the way we look at our social issues and what kind of power we really have over them. Hopefully we can fix this problem before we lose all ability to do things ourselves to the government we're propping up right now.

Oh, and by the way. In case you didn't know, we also extended the debt ceiling already this year. Chances are good the system we want in place may not even be able to function properly with current government conditions. Best if we just get up and take care of things ourselves, eh America?

Fake News: A Bigger Problem Than Government Can Solve

"Fake News" is a strange new problem that I don't think many people saw coming. The technological age has brought with it many strange and interesting sociological problems, but this one is far too big to ignore. And no, I'm not talking about by placing sanctions against "Fake News" sites. I mean our very culture needs to change in how we view information on the internet.

Even if legislation is passed within government guidelines, good intentions or otherwise, government can't fix the actual problem with "Fake News". In fact, the government(across the globe) nowadays are the very ones who use this as a tool to guide public opinion. This doesn't have to mean conspiracy level stuff in order to be an issue. Because deep beneath the surface of this problem there's a philosophical opportunity to better the way we perceive and consume information.

Any old person can make a blog, post an article that has done little to no research on the actual issue and still get passed around like it's fact. Does it happen all the time? Certainly not. There are those out there who will adamantly follow up on articles and verify information before shaping an argument around the information. Yet even the most well researched individual can still fall prey to Fake News via "trusted sources". 

If you feel like you can trust where you get your news on a day to day basis, what is the likelihood of a story that wasn't fully researched(or spun to hide facts) popping up in your feed? Actually, pretty damn good. Because journalism on a broad scale is not about keeping facts in view, and opinions behind closed doors. It has become using words to spin facts to support your argument. 

This combined with "Native Advertising" is a serious problem when you realize that quite a few major companies are using "Native Advertising" to combat pop-up blockers decreasing their revenue. This increases the likelihood of people mistaking "Native Advertising" for a genuine article. One could argue that if the content of the article is truthful and maintains a narrative around the product, then what harm does it do?

Well, none if the person reading it takes the information with a grain of salt and verifies it before using it in an argument. Unfortunately, it's not really in our culture to apply the scientific method when taking in information. We don't search for more data points to confirm or deny the idea we're touting. And by the way, it's not as simple as "people are just stupid" either.

The issue is we are a culture that trusts those that we roll with on a consistent basis. If your friend tells you they read about it, you're inclined to believe them. Why would you question information a loved one gives you? Chances are you trust their judgement on where they get their sources.

I don't want to advocate mistrusting those you place your faith in. All I want to advocate, is ensuring that the information they give you has been proven to be firmly rooted in reality and wasn't just spun to fit an argument in the first place. 

Our culture seems to be the main source of a lot of our current problems. It's a very delicate issue and not an easy problem to fix. Nobody wants to think that their culture is broken, but there are a lot of problems yet for us to address before the others can even begun to start getting fixed.

It all starts with the individual and how we interact with the rest of society.

E Pluribus Unum

Morality - The Paradox of Humanity

Oh yes, the idea of morality can be seen as a paradox to humanity. There's been a lot mulling around in my mind lately on morality and why humanity is having such a hard time right now in the world. We live in a world with clandestine war, famine, a first world that neglects the third world, the decisions of others carry more weight than our own, and by golly we still aren't making much progress on getting out into space.

Yet life isn't really that bad for those of us in the first world. I'm pretty poor, but I'm still very thankful for the things that I have. I understand now how the first world has vastly different rules to live by than the third world. The first world is a battle of ideas, and since that's where we place our focus it certainly feels like a battle to most of us. That's why we're all so passionate about what we believe and how we think things should go, because we are all living by everyone else's rules.

We look towards government to help us protect those who are less fortunate, yet when confronted with the actual problem, we feel like we can do nothing about it. More importantly, when we're the ones that require help, we look towards others to fix those problems for us. There are certain situations where you can't dig yourself out. But there are just as many situations where you can, if you only do the work. 

Being poor means every month in order to make ends meet, I have to work less to be able to afford my housing. Why? Because my rent is based on my income, and the rent has scaled to the point where I had to leave my better paying job in the city a ways away, for a lower paying job in town. The amount of pay I received at the higher wage job, didn't offset the cost of housing as it went up based on that pay. So naturally having a lower paying job means my rent is affordable, and I don't have any less or more money for other things. I'm much happier at my current job for a lot of reasons, primarily because the people I work with and for are wonderful people and that's not something I've ever had in life.

All of these programs and policies are supposedly put into place in the name of morality and protecting others. Yet we can argue all day as to whether that's their actual result, and even argue whether the intentions of those programs were in good faith. Morality isn't universal, yet it has been the focal point of society the moment we turned our focus from survival to our ideas. I know many would argue that humans are moral creatures at heart, but I don't think we are.

I think we're chaotic creatures in our making, just like the universe. If we believe Carl Sagan in that we are here as the universe observing itself, then we are just as chaotic as the rest of the universe. Using this line of thinking, can we deduce that morality is in fact a paradoxical idea for humanity? In terms of our DNA and how we're hardwired, can we really say that we're a moral species?

Isn't it painfully obvious that we are not moral creatures in a world so wrought with conflict? Perhaps the more important question is if we are chaotic creatures, is that really a bad thing? We obviously understand how to move things forward for our species. We've just hit a painful philosophical wall, and that's that I don't think we as a society were prepared to accept that humanity is chaotic.

Freedom is a rather new idea to us. Considering most of humanity has been subjugated at one point or another, there are few who truly understand what freedom brings to life. Can freedom exist in a world with morality? Or does the idea of morality bring along with it it's own problems? Or perhaps the real danger here, is not truly understanding how humanity interacts with the world, it's own ideas, and more importantly, each other.

2016 - Literally the longest year you've ever had

Yes, 2016 has personally been one of the most eventful years of my life. I know I'm not the only one who looks back at this year with a lot of bitter sweet feelings. Sure, some good things happened between the bad, but I still can't help but feel like I want to deck Murphy and his stupid law right in the throat.

Obviously, John Oliver shares this sentiment and this video makes me happy to see I'm not the only one who's had a cosmically crappy year. Hold on tight though folks, because 2016 just got longer. Yeah, only by a second, but still that's more than most of us would care to add to such a monumental failure of a year. I've seen a lot of people making sacrifices and pinching pennies. I'm definitely one of those people.

Despite the monumentally crappy year, there's a lot to look forward to in 2017. Creating newsletters has kept me more up to speed on the scientific community, which is actually putting some hope in my cold blackened heart. Maybe there is hope for commercial space travel, full dive virtual reality, and yes, even the fabled creation and programming of proteins. 

2016 brought us us an election that made everyone feel like they're surrounded by idiots, some crazy high military tension between the majority of the developed world, some really cool people passing away, and in my personal opinion, a massive void in original entertainment across all mediums. So now that I've reminded you of just some of the horrible things that 2016 has brought, I would also like to remind you that we will be extending the year by another second.

Don't thank me, thank science! 

A Species in Infancy - Revised

Humanity has done a lot of really cool things in it's day. It's also done some really awful things, sure, but some wonderful ideas have come from our mistakes. One such idea is "What will man do with technology?" Procatinator. That's what we've done with technology. Oh and also the widespread of information and misinformation. See the wonderful thing about the internet is that anyone can do pretty much whatever they want with it.

Let's take a deeper look at the problem we're facing in technological aged society though. If anyone is wondering why our global society is so volatile, they'll have to take a closer look at it than just "Fake News" and poor education systems for blame. It's actually a very complex and deeply seeded problem in how our culture runs and how we view the world.

We are experiencing the pains of the generations who grew up without technology having to interact with generations who did grow up with them. A really simple example is to look at park benches. Seems like a pretty straight forward thing right? How do these two generations view them? 

Sweet a bench! Now I can break and upload all these pics to instagram! #fall #nature

I don't know about you, but park benches are a place to stop my walk and check my phone. That is a very millennial answer to give, but I grew up with technology. How do the baby boomers view park benches? They didn't have a thing to check when they sat on them. They just looked at the world passing and enjoyed it. My generation doesn't grasp that concept at all.

Why is that a difficult idea for us though? It's probably because we have nearly every piece of information known to man in our pockets. Is it really that strange for us to be glued to it at all times? That difference in thinking is also rooted in how much we have to do to survive in our current society. A lot of kids have grown up without really knowing what survival is like. So many in fact, I'm pretty sure the majority of first world countries have forgotten what survival actually feels like.

But older generations have memories of what it's like to have scarce sources of food. What it was like to have to spend time and effort just to get water to the house. When every piece of food on that table you saw from plant to table. It may seem hard to understand, but it's really quite simple. Those differences in experiences create differences in what's important.

We are seeing the transition of being a survival based species, to a technology and idea based species. This is a massive shift in thinking and will be absolutely necessary for us to expand out into the stars. It's going to be painful, especially once my generation starts running the show. Entire countries will grow and fade, along with the ideas that started them. Our history has been one of exploration, and curiosity. 

We want to learn how the world works, and we especially want to understand ideas. The universe is a vast place, allowing for a lot of ideas to manifest in big ways. That means there's amazing ideas, and terrible ideas, and everything in between. You never know which ones will catch hold because it's all subjective. The world we live in is so complex that now that society has a chance to really understand itself in all of it's complexity, it doesn't know what to do.

All we can do is hope we don't royally screw the pooch and let these ideas destroy us. None of them are more important than the idea of life and existence. I promise.

Yes, Sir Meowmixalot can come too. As a Catstronaut.

A Protest to Remember

Tens of thousands of people have protested the recent election of Donald Trump for President of the United States. While I can say with one hundred percent certainty I don't want Trump in that office either, I can also say with one hundred percent certainty that protesting this way isn't going to help us out all that much.

The election was last week and still protests are happening across the country. In Portland, they got pretty heated. Yet now we're finding out that only One-Third of protesters that were arrested actually bothered to vote.  On top of that, the demands that they're making are based on a lack of respect for what a Republic(or even a Democracy that they champion) really is. Just because you lose the majority vote, does not mean you get to disrupt society over it.

Protesters would do well to take note of the sense of injustice that they feel right now, because it's exactly the kind of thing our founding fathers were trying to avoid. Our Republic was designed to give people unalienable rights. Yet lately, the Constitution hasn't really meant much to lawmakers anyway. So can we honestly say that we have a Republic anymore? Or do we have more of a true Democracy in America?

The difference between the two is a Republic is limited by it's founding Constitution or Bill Of Rights. Documents that detail laws that cannot be broken, even by the government itself. So if that's the case, and not even Government is adhering to the Constitution, then what do we have? Well, something Libertarians have been saying for years "The Tyranny of the Majority". 

There are a lot of really dirty and downright terrible things that happen in our every day life because of this idea. Perhaps it's why our founding fathers championed local and small government. Because if an elected official in your town does something you disagree with, you can contact them directly. You're far more likely to run into them on the street, or see them at the grocery store, and be able to talk to them and discuss the issue.

In Federal Government, this idea that you can keep tabs on your elected official is pretty much moot. How many people have actually met or talked to their Senators or Congressmen? And if they have, how many of these people met them purely at a campaign rally, where they are no doubt seeking more election funds than they are discussions on policy? I realize in big cities where millions of people live this is a much more difficult problem.

Personally, that's exactly why I don't live in big cities. It's not just because I'm an introvert, it's because when you understand how many factors go into shaping a person's beliefs it's absurd to think that everyone is going to get along. Any day can bring an event that gives you new perspective on the world, and along with it new ideas. Especially in terms of poverty and minorities.

I don't claim to know what minorities deal with considering I'm a white male. I understand and respect that so many people have been dealt such bad cards that they live their lives the only way that they've ever been given an opportunity to. Now let's take this idea that we can never know what another person has been through to gain their beliefs, and let's look at it in terms of Federal Government.

With over 315MILLION people, all with their own lives and perspectives, how on Earth do we find it sane to elect one person to such a high position of power? How is the Presidency even still a thing? Mainly because so few think outside of the box that they've been given that it's hard to see any other system. These protests don't call for the dismantling of a government that is fundamentally broken.

These protests don't call for awareness that such a small handful of people could never be able to do anything that pleases everyone. Where are the protests calling for understanding in our communities? Where are the protests to more people knowing about National Donut Day than National Volunteer Week. 

Let me also throw a little bit of numbers at you protesters, because I like your spirit and I'd like to see it put to good use. There doesn't seem to be any official number of people protesting, so I'll use the number Ten Thousand just to give you some perspective. 

If ten thousand people protested every night since the election for even just an hour, you've had ten thousand hours of man power lost. In 2015, the estimated value of an hour of volunteered time is $23.56 per hour. So $235,600 was potentially lost from one hour of protesting. Except these protests didn't just last an hour, everyone went out for milkshakes and then went home. Let's say these protests lasted five hours with ten thousand people. That's $1,178,000 in lost volunteer time.

Now let's just say that these protests have been happening in around the same strength every night since election day. Yeah. Is it sinking in now? That's $12,958,000 in lost volunteer time. That's not including damages caused by the violent protesters. That doesn't even count the amount of time and money it cost the local Police Departments for manpower and equipment.

So, right now it's just a number. But what exactly can we do with $12,958,000 in terms of charity? We could house 518 homeless people for a year. According to this model for food bank costs, we could keep 29 food banks running for a year. We could put up 647 women in shelters per year. I'm hardly a professional researcher, but it's really not that hard to find ways to devote your time and money.

I'd like to close this article with one thought for you protesters. If you really want to see things change in this country. If you really want to see Trump fail in office. Then stop looking towards the government to solve these issues. Make them obsolete. Get out there. Volunteer. Donate. Benjamin Franklin started an organization in 1727 called the Leather Apron Club(AKA The Junto).

It was designed to be a group that would get together and think of ways to better their communities without the use of government. Perhaps it's time for another Leather Apron Club. Get together. Discuss strategies to better your communities sans government. You'll find it to be much more rewarding than telling someone else to fix these problems for you. 

Just for good measure, here's a couple of links to Volunteer and Charity Directories to give your time or money to. Do some research, find out which one is working on what's important to you and give what you can. Let's make bettering our communities a part of our culture. I think we're all tired of government being such a big part of it.

Volunteer Directories(If you need more, Google Search Volunteer/Charity Directories):

https://www.volunteerglobal.com/directory

https://catholicvolunteernetwork.org/search-program

http://www.uwec.edu/Activities/volunteer/directory.htm

Charity Directories:

https://www.guidestar.org/NonprofitDirectory.aspx

https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.alpha.htm

https://charityvillage.com/directories.aspx

A Simple Glance - Politics

So, I know we're all sick of the politics at this point. I'm right there with ya. But there is one ludicrous thing to remember of what's going on right now: It's all completely real. Yes folks. That's right. We're not waiting for Candid Camera to come out of the woodwork and tell us it's all an elaborate hoax. This is the reality of the world we live in.

A world where are choices in leaders range from idiotic to downright psychotic. But we're all still really hopeful for the future. It's quite funny actually. True Trump or Hillary supporters genuinely believe that things will start looking up once their candidate of choice is in office. I can't begin to comment on whether that's true or not, but the whole thing seems like a really crazy cultural ritual.

Now, my perspective of this whole voting thing is I don't even know all of the people in my small town, let alone county to trust giving someone else the task of handling social affairs. Even the smallest of small town problems require a lot of co-ordination and communication between everyone so that taxpayers don't wonder where their money went. So how can we possibly trust this on such a massively ambitious scale? 

I think at this point regardless of where your political affiliation lies, you can probably say you're tired of politics. So where do we go from here? Well. Just vote I guess. At this point in the game we may as well push forward and try to learn from our mistakes. And also hope that the rest of the world doesn't decide to just tell America to deal with it's own problems. Because we're not really that good at that.

All jokes aside, I do think that regardless of outcome we have some rough times ahead. Not unlike when you kick your loser friend out because he didn't have a job and believed he had a right to live there even if he didn't have "dirty money". There will be growing pains and bad times. But it's all(hopefully) going to lead up to the inevitable us learning from our mistakes and(I can't stress hopefully enough) start trying to understand how to fix our problems in our own communities.

I can't really say where the future will take us. I can't really say if one candidate is better than the other. I can say they both make very good cases for examples of people I really don't want to have the kind of power and responsibility that being a president calls for. But when you have no other option to seek the correct leadership, then doesn't it seem like a silly system to allow when you can completely bottleneck your entire community because the only people seeking to do the job are people who are a disturbingly wrong fit for the position?

Look, all I'm saying is the whole federal government shouldn't be as big of a thing as it is. This is why. We are living out the reasons why Federal Government should not be as powerful as state and local. Oh dear god America the signs are all in front of you! Please see them! 

Where was this when I worked in a tool store?

Politics in a Digital Age

As many of you know, it's an election year! The air is filled with excitement and strain as we all try to cram our political views down each other's throats. Yet something is amiss this election year. The excitement for voting for your candidate of choice has turned into fear that if you don't a much worse option will take their place. It's not even really about what your political party stands for anymore, it's mostly just because the other seems to be that much worse.

Well, I'm here to give you some great news folks! None of them are good choices! You already knew that though. So why are our politics so FUBAR right now? That's not an easy question to answer. However, I do have an idea as to why our political climate is so volatile right now. Like so many things in life, it has to do with the internet.

Yes the internet, a series of tubes that can be both wonderful and horrific at the same time, has a lot to do with why everyone is so afraid of this election. There's more to it than that obviously, but it's a big influence in how we vote and what we believe. John Oliver recently did a piece on Scientific Studies, and why they're all the rage right now. In this wonderful piece of journalism he notes that even TV pundits acknowledge it's more about picking and choosing which ones you want to believe in.

It's not really about what's true and what's not. It's about spinning data in favor of things that people would like to believe. Like a glass of wine equaling an hour at the gym. Despite the epic facepalm at the thought that people actually believed that junk, it got me thinking. Isn't that how the digital age has been working for some time? Any Joe Shmoe can fire up a blog and start saying things like that.

Give them enough popularity or make them seem official and people will believe just about anything. The free exchange of information over the internet has backfired on us in a major way. It's not really making people smarter anymore. It's making them stupider. Why? Because we don't teach a scientific approach to life. And by that I mean have a healthy sense of doubt about the information you're being fed unless there's substantial evidence for the claim. 

On to the politics part. We are truly afraid of our options right now. Most people I talk to about their candidate of choice really are more about the "It's not the other" mentality. There isn't much talk about platforms, or what our alternatives could be beyond the two major parties(because there are alternatives you know). There isn't even much mention of the idea that maybe we can be fed up with our government like it is and call for some major changes.

Oh wait, that's a sentiment that's growing every year. I don't particularly take a stance either way on the elections, since I don't particularly like trying to beat my head against a wall telling people how stupid it is to rely on someone else that much to fix the problems you believe should be fixed. Either way, I can honestly say one thing: The internet is wonderful. But we need to be teaching how to take information we find online with a grain of salt.

Especially considering most of our media outlets aren't really about honest journalism anymore. They're more about sensationalizing everything to make it look important. Then you have native advertising articles as well which I don't have much faith in people to be able to tell the difference. Call me bitter, but I know I'm not the only one. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're all fed up with this process on some level.

The good news is when the crap hits the fan I have faith that people will, after a short period of rioting and losing their minds, pick their lives back up and do their best to keep society going. Not for any reason other than that we all love our way of life in America and we don't want to give that up just because a bunch of dingbats are running the show.