10
Nov 07

You are a colony organism

A long time ago when I was a courier for Fedex I had a dropbox on my route at the front of a vacant office building. While emptying it of overnight-letter envelopes one evening, I noticed the tiny body of a gecko tucked into the lower lip of the dropbox door. As I had to empty the box each day, I noticed that over the next few days the gecko started to rot. The stench was amazingly potent and widespread especially considering how small it was. It got worse and worse until one day the smell was gone. I popped open the door to empty the dropbox and looked down to find a naked gecko skeleton. A single fat maggot was curled inside the ribcage.

I was amazed at the transformation. The gecko had probably died a few days before after getting trapped inside. Then bacteria had gone to work digesting its dead flesh. Then a fly detecting the stench had come along and laid an egg on the corpse where this newly hatched maggot had made quick work of the remains. Now finally, this maggot was preparing to develop into a fly. It was the circle of life played out in miniature.

It got me thinking. Can we really call ourselves individuals? You can shave off some of your cells and grow them in a dish for years if they have access to enough food. Are those cells you? Where does your body end and you begin? Is it just that plants and animals evolved as intelligent vehicles for multi-cellular life? In other words, what if consciousness is just a highly developed system for protecting and reproducing life? What if we, our consciousnesses, are just an adaptation to better promote a lower-level biological imperative? What if our minds are just the pilots for a lifeboat of individual cells and creatures? A Portoguese Man O’War is a colony of organisms working together as one unit. Maybe we are not much different. In biology there is this theory that the individual organelles of our cells, like mitochondria, were once separate organisms who were taken inside other prokaryotic organisms to live together as endosymbionts. As a single organism. Did the separate natures of each creature disappear when they became one?

What are you? Consider that your body cycles much of its components on a monthly basis as your cells divide, tissues replenish, waste excretes, and nutrients move through your system. Physically, you are never the same person twice. If that is the case, what makes you you?

We know that a body can be kept biologically alive without higher-level brain function. I’m no atheist by any means, but I do have to wonder. As every dream and thought I have experienced has taken place within my body, what happens when my body ceases to function and dies? It stands to reason that whatever I am also dies.


08
Nov 07

Get the hell out

Back when I was sixteen years old and bussing tables at “The Hungry Farmer Steakhouse”, I had a sure-fired way to let people know we were closing. When closing time came around I just started sweeping the dining room and putting the chairs up on the empty tables. If you were still eating, you got the hint. We wanted to go home. If you didn’t get the hint, I might lean on my broom and glare at you.

Tonight, I was up at the local library here in Lewisville and they had a novel way to tell me it was time to go home. Now, most libraries have an intercom system to tell patrons it’s closing time, but Lewisville Public Library adds a nice touch to it. At 30 minutes to closing, they play a recorded message that the library is soon closing. Then at 15 minutes till they announce again and start playing mellow classical music. It’s not jarring, but it’s different from the usual silence so you feel something about the library has changed. It’s enough that you are mindful of the need to leave. Then at 10 minutes to closing they announce one more time and the music changes to a bubbly jazz music as if to say in a friendly way, “Bounce up and dance on out of here. We’ll see you the next time around.” I wasn’t bold enough to see what happened after that.


12
Oct 07

Tell me when to go

Human beings are amazing creatures. How do I know this? Hours and hours spent glued to YouTube. Seriously.

The more I browse YouTube, the more I marvel at the creativity of my fellow humans. On YouTube you get to see the people who would never waste their time doing something as boring and egotistical (Not that there is no narcissism on YouTube. Au contraire.) as blogging. Thanks to YouTube they don’t have to tell you anything. They just show you.

Here are a few choice cuts I have come across:


09
Oct 07

The Renunciation Vote

During past presidential elections I have been swept away with a fever for politics. Like with many other people, it seemed to happen only during the presidential election cycle. For me, it was similar to how I ignore sports except during the playoffs. When everyone starts to care about the outcome, it is easy to join in and become excited.

Over time though, I grow more and more disinterested in politics. In 2004 and in this current election, I have been sitting on the sidelines, watching both factions battle it out for the quarterback position in American government. When you watch from a disinterested perspective, everything seems so vain and not a little bit ridiculous. Consider the kind of people who want to be president. They are either true reformers and leaders, who will never compromise enough to make it, or they are craven careerists, who will serve their benefactors. In either case, all outcomes are inconsequential. Our electoral system is such that we are guaranteed a president that most people will not care for. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it tempers any interest in the outcome.

Anyway, with all the attention on the Internet about Ron Paul, I feel like we’ve been here before. It seems like every election there is a scrappy outsider candidate. A candidate with strong feelings and beliefs but with little chance of becoming president. These are the idealist candidates and they often appear in the form of a kindly grandfather figure with the gentle authority of wisdom and morality. The idealist candidates don’t have a prayer at getting elected, but becoming president is not their goal. Usually a vote for the idealistic outsider is a vote for the renunciation of politics. It is a vote for a world where things make sense.

They are good at stirring up emotions while inspiring and galvanizing people, but bad at resembling someone you would actually want as president. Can you imagine the bizarro universe in which Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, or Ron Paul actually became president of the United States? It would be entertaining for a while, but ultimately a train wreck. These candidates are good for people who dislike politics because they appeal to ideals rather than mundane realities. Idealists want to change the world, but they don’t really want to deal with the world on its own terms. Who can blame them?


25
Aug 07

The End of Stuff

A lot of people (example) are starting to realize that stuff is not all that important. As we get better at mass producing cheap food and consumer products, stuff will cease to be important at all. The only stuff that will be valuable is stuff that can no longer be made due to lack of sufficient demand or stuff that is too difficult or time consuming to make cheaply. Artifacts and original artwork will grow more valuable, but everything else will just be future trash someone will have to get rid of when you die.

Wealth will be valued in terms of freedom and influence rather than in terms of material accumulation. It was not long ago that many people collected things: records, books, films, etc. Before downloadable music and eBay, it was difficult to find certain things. You could score cultural points for having a super deep collection of records or books that were hard to find. It sucked having to search around only to have to buy from heavily marked-up specialty stores or, worse, collectors. Now if you want to listen to music or find a particular book or movie, it’s easy. Snobs have been disintermediated by technology.

Media is quickly becoming unimportant stuff, too. When you can pipe in thousands of songs from thousands of artists around the world, how important is the individual song? We’ve only been recording music and film for a hundred years, imagine when you have access to three hundred years of human cultural produce. You won’t feel the need to ‘own’ any of it. It will just be part of the atmosphere in which we live.

As we grow wealthier, we will be faced with choices on how best to live. When the essentials of survival are easy to acquire, how should we proceed? We are already starting to see that stuff, entertainment, and material comfort do not satisfy our hunger for meaning. We are so wealthy but so alienated from life as it could be lived and experienced. We can accomplish so much, but we have so few goals that capture the imagination. If you never had to worry about survival, how would you live? What would you like to accomplish?


18
Aug 07

Opportunities in public spaces

We’re seeing a cultural shift that will lead to new, more flexible concepts of work and social life. With the advent of widespread personal connectivity, people are now interested in public spaces again. While technology has allowed many people to stay closer to home while they work, when you can stay connected anywhere why limit yourself to the confines of the home or the office? When you can take your media and communications anywhere, every place becomes your place. Because what is your home or office, but a locus of activity, expression, and business?

With your iPod, laptop, and smartphone you can colonize almost any space. How will this change how we work and live? How we regard our local and national identities? It is already easy to imagine a world where people flow from place to place, wherever there is opportunity and interest. The only physical limitations are infrastructure and ease of movement.


06
Jul 07

LBJ: The Path to Power

Lyndon JohnsonI have been reading the first volume of Robert Caro’s biography of President Lyndon Johnson, The Path to Power, and it is fascinating. I don’t normally read biographies, but I had heard good things about this one. It hasn’t disappointed.

Caro takes his time and paints a complex portrait of LBJ, the man and political genius, rooted in the Texas hill country, but always straining against his own limitations and the limits of his circumstances for more. At times one wonders whether Caro holds a grudge against Johnson since his narrative seems to focus on Johnson’s cynical ambitions for power and prestige, however, by dispensing with sympathy, Caro has created a sense of drama and mystery around the man.

From the story of Lyndon Johnson, you learn a lot about the power of will and the power of dreams and goals. From an early age, LBJ possessed an ambition to be important. While many children have wanted to grow up to be president, how many approached their goals with a single-minded determination? How many have done everything they could to achieve what they wanted out of life? In LBJ, you see a man of extraordinary political genius who, while deeply flawed, worked tirelessly to achieve what he wanted. In that energy and will, there is a compelling example: you can accomplish great things through work and desire.


18
Jun 07

The End of Suburbia

New blog friend, Brian, has a good review of End of Suburbia, a movie about peak oil’s impact on the American suburb, with some predictions for the future.

The last part of End of Suburbia takes a turn from the thesis of a doomed civilization to more optimistic thoughts. They discuss the ideas of people returning to urban settings, sometimes referred to as ‘new urbanism’, where most of what residents need for everyday life is within walking distance (or at least a much shorter trip on public transportation or car). The filmmakers also touch on the idea of buying locally grown and produced goods to cut down on the ridiculous distances the stuff we buy and consume is transported (why do I need an apple from New Zealand in California?).

I think a lot of trends could mitigate the impact of expensive fuel. People will sacrifice a lot to keep their own fairly large portion of land and housing. However, on a personal level, I am interested in reviving the individual character present in pre-suburban neighborhoods. One can only stand so much widespread homogeneity.


24
May 07

Experiment with your life

franklin_kite.jpgDo you ever wonder how much your way of life is based on arbitrary concepts and social tradition? Why do people own homes or rent apartments? Wouldn’t it be better if we all lived in shared dorms and made better use of mostly empty living space? Why do some people travel and move frequently while others live in one place their entire lives? Aside from a basic necessity for shelter, what motivates people to live the way they do? What ways can we live better? In what ways can we take advantage of modern technology to improve life? What options are we missing?

These things are worth thinking about.

My lease is up in June. I’m considering experimenting with my life, specifically my shelter. The goals for my new arrangements are simple: maximum flexibility and mobility, short-term commitments, low cost, and maximum ease. I would buy property, but I don’t want to tie myself down to the DFW area for the next five years. I would get an apartment, but I have little furniture and I would never spend time there. What other options are there?

The best idea I’ve come up with so far is to live in a hotel. It sounds crazy, but consider the benefits:

  1. No lease: No long-term commitments. Move whenever you like. No rent checks, no landlords. Pay by the week or just put it on your debit card / credit card. Earn points on your living expenses and make money on the float.
  2. Maid service: Ideal for someone who hates cleaning and making the bed.
  3. No utility bills: Most hotels have free cable, local phone service, and Internet access in addition to the usual power and water. Crank the A/C up in August and forget about it.
  4. Free continental breakfast: Most hotels serve a free continental breakfast. This saves you about $5 a day or $150 a month. Load up on free oatmeal and coffee.
  5. Swimming pools, fitness centers: Many apartments have pools, hot tubs, and fitness centers, but some don’t.
  6. No bad neighbors: If someone disturbs you, ask the front desk to move you to another room.
  7. 24 hour room service: Get hungry and don’t feel like leaving? Order in and keep on working.
  8. Concierge: Send off your clothes for drycleaning. Get your shoes shined. Have a copy of the Wall Street Journal dropped off at your door every day.

According to my calculations, living in a one bedroom apartment costs an estimated $700-$1500 a month after bills and rent. Living in a hotel suite, costs between $850-$2800 a month based on my estimates. This is a wide range based on your preferred level of luxury. Obviously, if you’re staying at a five star hotel it will cost you $5000 a month and up, but the level of service would be much better. This is more than most people need. For someone with minimal needs, hotel living is a good option based solely on economic grounds. When you consider the added benefits of flexibility and ease, it becomes even more compelling.

When I started researching hotel living as an option, I came across an article in Trendspotting about a trend they call “5-Star Living“. Apparently, many new luxury hotels, including the W here in Dallas, have a few floors set aside for permanent residences. These are condos with many of the features you would find at a luxury hotel: spa, concierge, room service, etc. As people move beyond the traditional suburban family unit and as baby boomers retire, this becomes a logical way of life for many.