Day 21 - The Human Syndrome

I have been contemplating the post for quite awhile now.  I have been on the border about doing this because of it's message.

It is always important to speak the truth, as my wife often reminds me.  Many times, the truth will bring some pain upfront, but by being honest with each other and ourselves, it will heal the wound, generally, quicker.  However, we also need to understand that when speaking the truth, the outcome is not relevant, the truth must always be told, no matter what the cost...

That brings us to Day 21 - The Human Syndrome.  I suppose I will start by defining what I mean by "The Human Syndrome".  My intent here is simple, we are creatures created through an imperfect process of natural laws and events.  Our existence is not required nor is it scripted.  In any event, we are, in the most basic form, a machine.  As a machine we our privy to certain functions that we can all, mostly, perform to various degrees.  On the simplest form, we can feel emotion, we have specific senses to interact with the world around us, we can reason, create and destroy.  We are very powerful machines because we can perform most of these at will.  (Whether or not the existence of the universe is pre-dictated by simple energetics flow since its existence is beyond the scope of this post and will be left for a different posting :) ).  I would like to focus on the idea of "we can perform most of these at will" and "we can feel emotion", specifically. 

"We can feel emotion and we can perform most of these at will".  That is The Human Syndrome.

Let's move on to the "So What?"...

Right now, our world is in a turbulent age.  Technology has risen quickly and allowed us to create, truly a global mind (the Internet).  We can communicate across boundaries that prevented us from doing this before.  People in "locked down" regions are able to get their voice to the outside world, where, for the first time, we are listening and ready to spread the word of Freedom.  The Internet itself has created spawned a unique entity of Anonymous individuals ready to fight in the eyes of freedom.  Without a face, without a directive, they are like a phantom in the night, striking when Freedom cries for help.  Their attacks are like death by a thousand stings.  One sting isn't enough to take the beast down, but over time it becomes injured and vulnerable... we'll get back to this...  This is the face (or lack thereof) of Freedom, but has anything really changed...

My blunt, direct, true answer: NO.  Nothing has changed, it has temporarily in some degree.  Over time, yes, freedom has become more prevalent, on the top layer of society.  It is no longer acceptable to raze a village and rape the women (thankfully) directly or openly as in Feudal Times.  I would say that it is not allowed to tax people into poverty, but that is not entirely true.  I would also say that we ended slavery, but again... and let me step lightly because we DO NOT have slavery... however, the impoverished are enslaved to the elite, for life.  Bring up and point, and, on the surface, you might be right, but somewhere, in the shadows, behind a law, behind closed doors, or in some twisted form, it still exists. 

My point?  The Human Syndrome is what perpetuates this.  We can fight for freedom for 1000yrs, hell, for an eternity, and it will not matter.  As long as their are Humans, there are emotions and will.  As long as there are emotions and will, there will be greed.  We can take 50 of the best human beings (and by best I mean, selfless, philanthropists, etc) put them on a rocket, fly them to Planet XYZ to start a new civilization based on Freedom and Love, etc.  In the beginning it will be great, the founders will establish education and benefits of peace and charity.  Over time it will change, it only takes one bad seed to ruin the soil.  One will be born that either wasn't "loved enough" or had sibling rivalry, or was born a little psychotic and will manipulate the system.  Over time, I guarantee their society will develop and degrade into something very, very similar to our own.  The reason is simply The Human Syndrome, for as much good we can bring, there is equal bad...  We will never win the fight of true Freedom, as long as their are Humans.  It will be contorted and twisted to fit the perverse desires of a select view, to give the illusion of freedom, but nothing more.

In the end, it is what it is.  Go back over history, follow the cycles of human suffering and empires, it is all the same.  Perhaps a little more gruesome since it was done out in the open, but nonetheless, the same problems they experienced then, we experience now, in some form.  This cycle will not change in my generation, or the next, or at all, as long as The Human Syndrome exists.  Maybe the next evolution of life, synthetic life, will not have this problem.  Even then, it would be a cold world, lack of emotion..  But, we can't give up the fight because that will only make it worse. 

In the end, it's an uphill battle on the slope of eternity.

Day 10 - H.O.P.E.

Humanities Objectives for Prosperity and Exploration

A new thought I had this morning about an idea that, I think, could change the world. 

Awhile back, maybe a month or so, I read some various articles pertaining to space exploration.  These articles provided an interesting concept: Turn space exploration into an adventure for those willing to sacrifice everything for the ultimate journies.  The concept has been mulling around in my brain since then because it really struck home.

First, the idea.  Humanity's past is loaded with literally thousands of stories of adventure.  How a group of people organizaed a boat, loaded up and set sail.  They had no certainties, barely any equipment or food supplies, and some (probably most) of them were thought to be facing certain death.  This didn't stop them though... they had the desire and the motivation to put everything on the line in the name of Humanity.  These pioneers paved the way for culture and life to permeate around the globe.  However, we have reached a point where the Earth is no longer a mystery, at least on land.  Our planet is crowded, our resources are dwindling, and, in general, our planet has a finite amount of time to exist.  Anywhere from 1 millisecond to billions of years.  That is a chance, an intelligent society, should not be willing to take.  This, of course, is what H.O.P.E. is all about.

There are many, many human beings on this planet.  In the coming years, of course, there will be many, many more.  We are going to reach a critical mass for population and resources, if we haven't already.  Beyond the "walls" of our planet exist an unlimited number of possibilities.  Moons, planets, planetoids, and who know's what else for other universal bodies exist in the vast reaches of space.  There is no better time than now to embark on the most important adventure to our species.  We are on the very beginning of space exploration and need to sieze that opportunity to begin moving outward.

What is HOPE?  In my concept, HOPE is an organization dedicated to making two things happen.
1) Finding individuals willing to put everything they have aside.  The willingness to risk their own life in the name of science and Humanity.  These individuals simply need to have the desire and the motivation.  Of course, one individual most likely will not be enough, instead there will be teams and each team will have a leader.  The leader will post what s/he thinks is needed for their team to be successful.  This includes manpower, equipment, funding, supplies, etc.  An example of this might be:
-Team Freedom : Leader-Me
  -Crew Requirements
    (1) Biologist
    (2) Pilots
    (1) Physicist
    (1) Chemist
    (5) Shiphands
 -Equipment Reqs
    (1) Planetary travel capable ship
    (1) Terrain vehicle
    (1) Biodome
 -Supplies Reqs
    (5) Years worth of food and water for 10 people
 -Mission
    To travel to Mars and colonize a lava tube inside of Crater XYZ

Anyway, that is just an example, of course there are more details to it, but that gives the general idea.  At this point, people could apply to join the team, perhaps there are certain requisites and some type of "hiring" process.

2) Companies and organizations could sign up for the different material requirements or provide funding for those requirements.  The benefits, of course, to the companies is to be involved in this adventure and paving the path for humanity by risking monetary assets versus their lives, unless of course they wanted to do both!

There is so much to talk about here, it's mind boggling.  The payoff would be enormous, it wouldn't require extra taxes and "wasteful NASA spending" (which I put in quotes because I don't think it exists).  Instead, NASA could be used as a sort of "inspector".  Once their plans are in motion and such, the Team could pay NASA (revenue) to inspect and make sure that it meets the requirements, as far as they are aware.  Of course, if the ship doesn't make it, explodes, everyone dies, etc. it will be sad.  But this is the risk they knew they were going to take.  However, when it succeeds (because it will succeed at some point), the return will be priceless.  A whole new industry will explode open and, instead of the sky, space will be the limit.  It is necessary to make these steps, put the desire and motivation in the hands of the people and businesses willing to fund them.

I'm very much considering trying to put this together.  If anyone reads this and is interesting please contact me: jason.wilczak@gmail.com