#Breakthrough only has 1 thinker after all

[mc-minty-spice]

Something fun about Ward is how in Worm, the Undersiders were Masters (4 of them!!!) and Thinkers (Lisa and Taylor), and many of Taylor's most iconic fights are against Brutes (Lung, Echidna, Alexandria), Tinkers (Armsmaster, Bakuda, Mannequin, Bonesaw), and Shakers (Leviathan, Burnscar, Lung).

In Ward, Breakthrough has a lot of Brutes (Victoria, Sveta, Tristan), Shakers (Capricorn, Victoria, Swansong), and Tinkers (Rain, Kenzie, Chris), and the main antagonists are Masters (Goddess, Mama Mathers, Amy, The Simurgh) and Thinkers (March, Teacher, Goddess, The Simurgh, Fortuna).

I'm maybe stretching it a little, but I think it's a fun parallel.

[welingkarexedp27]

Key Features of Design Thinking for Problem Solving

Design thinking is a creative problem-solving approach that has gained significant popularity across various industries. Its human-centered focus and iterative nature make it an effective tool for tackling complex challenges. Here are the key features of design thinking that set it apart from other problem-solving methodologies:

1. Human-Centered Approach At the core of design thinking is empathy. The process begins with understanding the needs, desires, and pain points of users. Rather than focusing on business goals or technology constraints, design thinking prioritizes the human experience. Designers immerse themselves in the users' world, conducting interviews, observations, and research to truly grasp their concerns. This empathy-driven approach ensures that the solutions created are both relevant and effective.

2. Iterative Process Design thinking thrives on iteration. Instead of following a linear path, it encourages continuous refinement. After ideation and prototyping, solutions are tested and evaluated. Feedback is incorporated, leading to new iterations. This cycle of testing, feedback, and improvement allows for innovative solutions to evolve organically. It reduces the risk of failure by catching issues early and enabling teams to pivot when necessary.

3. Collaboration Design thinking promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration. The process brings together individuals from different fields—such as design, engineering, marketing, and business—to solve problems collectively. Diverse perspectives generate richer ideas and lead to more comprehensive solutions. Collaboration also ensures that no single department works in isolation, creating holistic solutions that are more likely to succeed in real-world application.

4. Creative Ideation The ideation phase in design thinking emphasizes creativity. It encourages brainstorming sessions where all ideas are welcomed, even those that may seem unconventional. The focus is on quantity over quality at this stage. Teams generate a wide array of ideas without judgment, allowing for unexpected and breakthrough concepts to emerge. This divergent thinking helps in exploring multiple avenues before narrowing down the most promising ones.

5. Problem Reframing One of the unique features of design thinking is its emphasis on reframing the problem. Before jumping to solutions, design thinkers question the problem itself. This critical analysis often leads to a redefinition of the challenge, revealing underlying issues that weren’t initially apparent. By reframing problems, design thinking ensures that solutions address the root cause rather than just symptoms.

6. Prototyping and Testing Prototyping is a key element of design thinking. Instead of waiting until a solution is fully developed, teams create low-fidelity prototypes—simple, quick models that can be tested with users. These prototypes provide valuable insights into the functionality and user experience of a solution. Testing with real users helps uncover issues, validate assumptions, and gather feedback, which informs future iterations.

7. Solution-Focused Mindset While it is essential to understand the problem, design thinking ultimately focuses on finding solutions. The process encourages optimism and a “can-do” attitude. Instead of being bogged down by obstacles, design thinkers remain forward-looking and solution-oriented. They believe that every problem has a solution, and the design thinking process is about discovering and refining that solution.

8. Real-World Applicability Design thinking is practical and grounded in reality. It isn’t just about generating ideas; it’s about creating feasible solutions that can be implemented in the real world. This pragmatic approach ensures that the innovations produced through design thinking are not only creative but also viable within the constraints of time, resources, and technology.

9. Flexibility The flexibility of design thinking makes it adaptable to different industries and types of challenges. Whether applied in healthcare, education, technology, or business, design thinking provides a framework that can be customized to the specific context of the problem. Its open-ended nature allows for adaptability, making it useful for both small tweaks and large-scale innovations.

Conclusion Design thinking stands out due to its human-centered focus, iterative process, and collaborative nature. By fostering creativity, encouraging experimentation, and promoting a deep understanding of user needs, it offers a powerful methodology for solving complex problems in innovative ways. Its emphasis on empathy, flexibility, and practicality makes it an invaluable tool across industries, driving both user satisfaction and successful outcomes.

[alltimebestbooks]

Best Books Help you Change Way to think

1. Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain

The New York Times bestselling Freakonomics changed the way we see the world, exposing the hidden side of just about everything. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.

Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet. With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and unconventional analysis, they take us inside their thought process and teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally—to think, that is, like a Freak.

Levitt and Dubner offer a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor lifehacks or major global reforms. As always, no topic is off-limits. They range from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, all with the goal of retraining your brain. Along the way, you’ll learn the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they’re from Nigeria.

Some of the steps toward thinking like a Freak:

First, put away your moral compass—because it’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.

Learn to say “I don’t know”—for until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.

Think like a child—because you’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.

Take a master class in incentives—because for better or worse, incentives rule our world.

Learn to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded—because being right is rarely enough to carry the day.

Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting—because you can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.

Levitt and Dubner plainly see the world like no one else. Now you can too. Never before have such iconoclastic thinkers been so revealing—and so much fun to read

2. The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest To Understand, Enhance and Empower the Mind

Recording memories, mind reading, videotaping our dreams, mind control, avatars, and telekinesis - no longer are these feats of the mind solely the province of overheated science fiction. As Michio Kaku reveals, not only are they possible, but with the latest advances in brain science and recent astonishing breakthroughs in technology, they already exist. In The Future of the Mind, the New York Times-bestselling author takes us on a stunning, provocative and exhilarating tour of the top laboratories around the world to meet the scientists who are already revolutionising the way we think about the brain - and ourselves.

3. A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

Whether you are a student struggling to fulfill a math or science requirement, or you are embarking on a career change that requires a new skill set, A Mind for Numbersoffers the tools you need to get a better grasp of that intimidating material. Engineering professor Barbara Oakley knows firsthand how it feels to struggle with math. She flunked her way through high school math and science courses, before enlisting in the army immediately after graduation. When she saw how her lack of mathematical and technical savvy severely limited her options—both to rise in the military and to explore other careers—she returned to school with a newfound determination to re-tool her brain to master the very subjects that had given her so much trouble throughout her entire life. In A Mind for Numbers, Dr. Oakley lets us in on the secrets to learning effectively—secrets that even dedicated and successful students wish they’d known earlier. Contrary to popular belief, math requires creative, as well as analytical, thinking. Most people think that there’s only one way to do a problem, when in actuality, there are often a number of different solutions—you just need the creativity to see them. For example, there are more than three hundred different known proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem. In short, studying a problem in a laser-focused way until you reach a solution is not an effective way to learn. Rather, it involves taking the time to step away from a problem and allow the more relaxed and creative part of the brain to take over. The learning strategies in this book apply not only to math and science, but to any subject in which we struggle. We all have what it takes to excel in areas that don't seem to come naturally to us at first, and learning them does not have to be as painful as we might think.

4. Train Your Brain

Would you like to sharpen your memory? Would you like to keep your brain agile and focused? Would you like to age-proof your brain so that it stays young, healthy and fit? Then this is the book for you! Train Your Brain is a book of puzzles, exercises, riddles, and brain games that will help boost your brain power and jump start your brain! Whether you are a teenager, young adult, or a senior citizen, this book provides a vigorous mental workout to help increase your memory, sharpen your deductive and mathematical skills, improve your observation, increase your problem-solving skills, and improve the overall health of your brain. • More than 100 fun, brain-enhancing exercises, puzzles, and riddles. • 50 neurobic exercises that you can practice anytime, anywhere. • 66 popular games that will help you polish your cognitive skills.

6. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long

In Your Brain at Work, David Rock takes readers inside the heads—literally—of a modern two-career couple as they mentally process their workday to reveal how we can better organize, prioritize, remember, and process our daily lives. Rock, the author of Quiet Leadership and Personal Best, shows how it’s possible for this couple, and thus the reader, not only to survive in today’s overwhelming work environment but succeed in it—and still feel energized and accomplished at the end of the day.

7. Unlimited Memory: How to Use Advanced Learning Strategies to Learn Faster, Remember More, and Be More Productive

With over 300,000 copies sold, Unlimited Memory is a Wall Street Journal Best Seller and has been the #1 memory book on Amazon for more than two years. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages including French, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian.

Most people never tap into 10% of their potential for memory.

In this book, you're about to learn:

How the World's Top Memory Experts Concentrate and Remember Any Information at Will, and How You Can Too

Do you ever feel like you're too busy, too stressed or just too distracted to concentrate and get work done?

In Unlimited Memory, you'll learn how the world's best memory masters get themselves to concentrate at will, anytime they want. When you can easily focus and concentrate on the task at hand, and store and recall useful information, you can easily double your productivity and eliminate wasted time, stress and mistakes at work.

In this book, you'll find all the tools, strategies and techniques you need to improve your memory.

Here’s just a taste of the memory methods you'll learn in this book:

The 3 bad habits that keep you from easily remembering important information

How a simple pattern of thinking can stop you from imprinting and remembering key facts, figures and ideas, and how to break this old pattern so you’ll never again be known as someone with a “bad memory”

How to master your attention so you can focus and concentrate longer, even during challenging or stressful situations

How to use your car to remember anything you want (like long lists or information you need to remember for your studies or personal life) without writing anything down

Simple methods that allow you to nail down tough information or complex concepts quickly and easily

How to combine your long-term memory (things you already know and will never forget) and short-term memory (information you want to remember right now) to create instant recall for tests, presentations and important projects

The simple, invisible mental technique for remembering names without social awkwardness or anxiety

How using your imagination to bring boring information to life can help you dramatically improve your attention span and recall

An incredible strategy for remembering numbers (the same system Kevin used to remember Pi to 10,000 digits and beat the world memory record by 14 minutes)

How to use a mental map to lock in and connect hundreds or even thousands of ideas in your long-term memory (this method will allow you to become a leading expert in your field faster than you ever dreamed possible)

8. Calm Your Mind: Break the Cycle of Anxiety, Stress, Unhappiness, Exhaustions, and Find Peace in a Rushed World

Overwhelmed by the demands of a fast-paced world? Want to reduce your stress and anxiety?

Endless worrying is mostly the byproduct of unconscious living.

What makes you anxious: your lifestyle, your prospects for the future, or the shadows of the past?

If you’re desperate to slow down and find inner peace, mindfulness is the solution you’re looking for.

In Calm Your Mind, bestselling author Steven Schuster will help you to find back your way to the present moment following a few simple yet powerful principles. They don’t require more than a few minutes of practice daily. Their impact, however, is monumental with long-term benefits.

Improve your focus and productivity.

The book will not only show you the best practices to find peace of mind but will also help you transform these practices into daily, automatic habits. The wholeness you’re so keen to find is already within you. Practicing mindfulness is the key to channel those parts of your brain.

Learn to exclude the junk from your thoughts.

•Improve your focus and attention during your everyday activities •How to bring awareness to your life and practice conscious living •Become more decisive, disciplined, and calm

Become aware of the person you truly are.

•Learn how can you "calm your mind" •The best tips to manage your energy •The scientifically proven benefits of practicing mindfulness •How to overcome your discouraging and negative thoughts

Stop being the victim of your circumstances. Be aware and thus prepared to overcome them.

Mindfulness helps you experience a deep feeling of happiness and peace. It seeps into everything you do. You can meet the worst that life throws at you with courage, discipline, and determination. Life will make sense because you’ll be in greater control of it.

[openlyandfreely]

Who Is a Continental Philosopher? 5 APRIL 2011 / DAVID AUERBACH / 1 COMMENT In the debate over continental philosophy a few posts back, there was some question as to which philosophers fell under the rubric of continental philosophy. In the eyes of many observers, indeed, a certain strain of French thought has come to stand for the entire field. Both positive and negative attention have been focused around Derrida, Lacan, Foucault, etc., to the exclusion of many, many others. So I was glancing through the Blackwell Companion to Continental Philosophy (1998) on Google Books tonight, edited by Levinas evangelist and Leiter nemesis Simon Critchley. Even Critchley and co-editor William Schroeder relegate that French strain to just one corner of a large tradition, and most of the names are far less contentious. Rather than trying to answer what continental philosophy is, I think it’s better just to look at these names to get a sense of what the field encompasses. Part I: The Kantian Legacy:. 1. The Context and Problematic of Post Kantian Philosophy: Frederick C. Beiser (University of Indiana, Bloomington). 2. Kant: Robert B. Pippin (University of Chicago). 3. Fichte: Ludwig Siep (Universitat Munster). 4. Early German Romanticism: Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis: Ernst Behler (University of Washington, Seattle). 5. Schelling: Jean Francois Courtine (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris). 6. Hegel: Stephen Houlgate (University of Warwick). Part II: Overturning The Tradition: . 7. Feuerbach and the Young Hegelians: Lawrence S. Stepelevich (Villanova University). 8. Marx: Michel Henry (University of Montpellier III). 9. Kierkegaard: Merold Westphal (Fordham University). 10. Schopenhauer: Robert Rethy (Xavier University). 11. Nietzsche: Charles E. Scott (Pennsylvania State University). 12. Freud: John Deigh (Northwestern University). 13. Bergson: Pete A. Y. Gunter (North Texas State University). Part III: The Phenomenological Breakthrough:. 14. Neo Kantianism: Steven Galt Crowell (Rice University). 15. Husserl: Rudolf Bernet (Louvain Catholic University). 16. Scheler: Manfred S. Frings (The Max Scheler Archives, Des Plaimes). 17. Jaspers: Kurt Salamun (University of Graz). 18. Heidegger: John D. Caputo (Villanova University). Part IV: Phenomenology, Hegelianism and Anti Hegelianism in France:. 19. Kojeve: Stanley Rosen (Boston University). 20. Levinas: Hent De Vries (University of Amsterdam). 21. Sartre: Thomas R. Flynn (Emory University). 22. De Beauvoir: Kate Fullbrook (University of the West of England) and Edward Fullbrook (freelance writer). 23. Merleau Ponty: Bernhard Waldenfelds (Ruhr Universitat Bochum). 24. Bataille: Robert Sasso (University of Nice). 25. Blanchot: Paul Davies (University of Sussex). Part V: Religion Without The Limits of Reason:. 26. Franz Rosenzweig: Paul Mendes Flohr (Hebrew University). 27. Martin Buber: Maurice Friedman (San Diego State University). 28. Marcel: Philip Stratton Lake (Keele University). Part VI: Three Generations of Critical Theory:. 29. Benjamin: Rebecca Comay (University of Toronto). 30. Horkheimer: Gunzelin Schmidt Noerr (Frankfurt am Main). 31. Adorno: Hauke Brunkhorst (Frankfurt am Main). 32. Bloch: Hans Dieter Bahr (University of Vienna). 33. Marcuse: Douglas Kellner (University of Texas at Austin). 34. Habermas: Thomas McCarthy (Northwestern University). 35. Third Generation Critical Theory: Max Pensky. (SUNY, Binghampton). Part VII: Hermeneutics:. 36. Schleiermacher: Ben Vedder (University of Tilburg). 37. Dilthey: Rudolf A. Makkreel (Emory University). 38. Gadamer: Dennis J. Schmidt (Villanova University). 39. Ricoeur: Richard Kearney (University College, Dublin). Part VIII: Continental Political Philosophy:. 40. Lukacs: Gyorgy Markus (University of Sydney). 41. Gramsci: Ernesto Laclau (University of Essex). 42. Schmitt: G. L. Ulmen (Telos Press Ltd). 43. Arendt: Robert Bernasconi (Memphis State University). 44. Lefort: Bernard Flynn (Empire State College, SUNY). 45. Castoriadis: Fabio Ciaramelli (University of Naples). Part IX: Structuralism and After: 46. Levi-Strauss: Marcel Henaff (UCSD, California). 47. Lacan: William J. Richardson (Boston College). 48. Althusser: Jacques Ranciere (University of Paris VIII). 49. Foucault: Paul Patton (University of Sydney). 50. Derrida: Geoffrey Bennington (University of Sussex). 51. Deleuze: Brian Massumi (McGill University). 52. Lyotard: Jacob Rogozinski (University of Paris VIII). 53. Baudrillard: Mike Gane (Loughborough University). 54. Irigaray: Tina Chanter (Memphis State University). 55. Kristeva: Kelly Oliver (University of Texas at Austin). 56. Le Doeuff: Moira Gatens (University of Sydney). A reasonable list. It definitely has a French bias, but it’s not too bad. If compiled today, it would probably include Agamben, Badiou, and Negri too. The unforgivable omission is Ernst Cassirer, who is only mentioned twice in the Neo-Kantianism article and once in passing by Beiser (whose work I very much like). Schlegel, Schiller, Saussure, Bourdieu, and Barthes also seem rather important. Given the inclusion of a bunch of cultural and sociological thinkers, sociologists Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Georg Simmel should definitely be on this list. Other worthy omissions: Humboldt, Brentano, Croce, Mauss, Lowith, Valery, Fanon, Bachelard, Blumenberg, Apel, Eco, Bouveresse, and Virilio. (Not that I like all of them.)

[streetcartoonist]

Anaxagoras

Discussions of ancient philosophy often invoke mental images of men with beards wearing white robes and challenging the status quo. People may even think of Athens when they imagine what ancient philosophical discourse must have been like. From our previous discussions you would know that a lot of the philosophical discourse was occurring in Ionia and what is now southern Italy. So far, the only mention of Athenian philosophy was the likely apocryphal tale of an older Parmenides meeting a young man named Socrates. It also goes without saying that philosophy to this point has been profoundly influenced by religion which deviates from the typical conception of philosophers.

Anaxagoras is different from other pre-Socratic philosophers in that the more iconic image of an antagonistic Athenian is a near perfect representation. He was born in Ionia under Persian occupation and he flourished during the period of time between the Greco-Persian war and the Peloponnesian war. He moved to Athens and where the majority of his teaching occurred. He taught Pericles, an important leader in Athenian history, and Archelaus who may have taught Socrates. Both of these students will be the topic of later discussion.

He was heavily influenced by what could be called the more rationalistic teachings that were popular in Ionia. Out of the Milesian school, Anaximenes is considered the most influential thinker on Anaxagoras. A close second would be Parmenides because much like Empedocles, the philosophy of Anaxagoras is a reaction to the Parmenidean view of monism. Scholars are not sure if Empedocles or Anaxagoras were aware of each other’s work. Traditionally Empedocles is considered to have written first but none of the scholarship indicates that Anaxagoras got his ideas from Empedocles. Despite both being put into the category of pluralists, they have incredibly different views. Anaxagoras’s contemporaries found that the most controversial aspect of his views were his ideas about astronomy. He was banished from Athens after being charged with impiety for teaching that the sun and moon were objects rather than divine beings. He taught that the sun was a fiery rock and much larger than the area around Athens. There is some evidence that he was actually banished for his political ties to Pericles, but other scholars indicate that he was apolitical and was actively uninvolved in day to day life. Still, he could have been banished for his association with Pericles whether or not he was a political figure.

In the generations shortly following Anaxagoras people were more focused on a different aspect of his philosophy, specifically Plato and Aristotle talked about his ideas about Mind (Nous). In the Platonic dialogues Socrates mentions that the idea of Mind is impressive and interesting but that he was disappointed that Anaxagoras did not do much with the concept. Socrates specifically says that Anaxagoras did not go so far as developing a teleology based on mind and Aristotle stated that Anaxagoras only used Mind as a mechanical device. In Anaxagorean pluralism, Mind holds a very special position and Guthrie mentions that the conception of an incorporeal mind was a serious breakthrough in Greek thought. Anaxagoras thought that initially the universe was a homogenous mixture and that Nous (Mind) set the world in motion with an initial push. Guthrie compares this to the first cause argument that is common in Christian circles today. The homogenous mixture differentiated after Mind gave an initial push giving order to the world we live in.

Anaxagorean mixture is based on Parmenidean ideas such as that things cannot come into reality or cease to exist, and that there is no empty space. Anaxagoras seemed to be very interested in seeds which in Greek (Romanized) is called Sperma. His conception of a seed is different than the English word because it includes eggs and sperm cells, although he would not have used such exact terms Greeks did know that semen was necessary for babies. The idea is that inside a seed would be everything necessary for a tree or life to grow. He stated that everything is in everything, and the homogenous mixture was like a seed. Consequently, when Mind caused that mixture to differentiate nothing is being created or changing because it is just a rearrangement of something that already existed. Anaxagoras may not have used such an explanation to describe his ideas and Barnes in his work Pre-Socratic Philosophers offers more notes on the translation of Anaxagoras’s ideas. Anaxagoras is mentioned in contemporary scholarship as being particularly difficult to understand and some writers such as Bertrand Russell outright do not mention a great deal of his ideas, specifically Russell does not mention seeds when most other works do.

Despite some confusion over certain concepts and their significance, it is clear that Anaxagoras would not have understood his work through the lens of particles. He thought that things could be infinitely divided and that there were no discrete things. You cannot hold a pure piece of gold or a cup of pure blood because everything is in all things. In the context of reading other thinkers, this is the most important idea to take away. Anaxagoras thought that everything was a homogenous mixture and that Mind only allows arrangement or order of the mixture, which would explain why we perceive a diverse reality despite the fact that there can be no change. It is particularly important to remember this when reading the Atomist philosophers.

Elaborating on Anaxagoras’s immediate influence, he had two students that are mentioned by historians. Pericles who was an Athenian politician who will be discussed in a later article. Archelaus was also a pre-Socratic philosopher and is credited with continuing Anaxagoras’s intellectual legacy after his banishment. There is almost no information about his life and work outside of a few brief mentions by historians such as Diogenes Laertius and Pseudo-Plutarch. He is sometimes credited with being Socrates’s teacher, but Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle do not give him credit for this. I have not found any primary or secondary text that elaborates on Archelaus, but if I find one then I will make a post amending this.

Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment.

Suggested readings

Early Greek Philosophy – John Burnet

Greek Philosophy: Thales to Plato – John Burnet

The History of Western Philosophy – Bertrand Russel

History of Philosophy – William Turner

A History of Philosophy, volume 1 – Frederick Copleston

Pre-Socratic Philosophers – Jonathan Barnes

A Brief Illustrated History of Philosophy – Anthony Kenny

A History of Greek Philosophy, volume 2 – W. K. C. Guthrie

[diarrheaworldstarhiphop]

Decline of the Western Male, Part 1

Martin Spengler

Martin Heidegger, Oswald Spengler – “Martin Spengler” – these two 20th-century thinkers provide the main source of inspiration behind this project. Both sought to understand the times we live in, and to bring into view the deeper historical and philosophical significance underlying many of the political, economic, social, and cultural issues before us today. Both offer profound insight, and our goal here will be to lean on them in order to tease out what is at stake in many of the day to day problems, challenges, and controversies that grip our attention across the Western world.

Spengler’s masterpiece is his Decline of the West, which first appeared in Germany in the years immediately following World War One. His contribution is to set contemporary events within a civilizational context, as milestones in the development of a culture whose evolution has been dictated by its own internal laws and dynamics, apparent at its very birth 1,000 years ago. Spengler allows us to see how the impulse that drove Medieval European craftsmen to construct magnificent Gothic cathedrals that soared towards the heavens, while betraying ever more intricate detail in their stonework, is the same motivating force behind the transgenderism agenda today, Hollywood’s obsession with the superhero genre, and in the attractive power of the dream of space travel.

For Heidegger the key event has been the rise of Modern science and technology, and it is the implications of this development he seeks to reveal. It is Heidegger who helps us to understand how the Modern project is in its essence nihilistic; if followed through to its logical conclusion it means no less than the annihilation of both the world and humanity. This is a cataclysmic perspective, but Heidegger’s reasons for sounding the alarm apply with a monumentally increased force since he first raised this prospect during the 1930s. It was Heidegger who understood that the “subjectivism” which reduces the world to a “standing reserve,” a resource to be used at our convenience, is at its core empty, that the desire for comfort and ease is in fact a death wish. Nietzsche understood this too. The danger does not lie so much in an ecological disaster, the consequence of reckless actions such as the use of GMO crops, but from the success of technology rather than its failure. We can see this with “climate change,” first global warming will be successfully held at bay, then extreme weather events prevented, and then . . . the outside world will be made to look and feel no different from the carefully controlled environment we have inside every shopping mall. After all, if you could push a button from your beachside mansion to stop an oncoming hurricane in its tracks, and instead select for a pleasant view offshore, why wouldn’t you?

No one openly articulates such an agenda, and it does not matter whether it is realistic or complete fantasy, the logic is there nonetheless. It has been present for a thousand years, and it is immensely powerful. Our entire civilization is testimony to its power. This is the value both Heidegger and Spengler bring to a discussion of such issues, they allow us to approach topical subjects such as climate change or transgenderism from a very different angle, to understand why these are the battlegrounds today, and what is at stake.

A third dimension, however, is also needed. It is one neither “Martin” nor “Spengler” were aware of in their lifetime, nor is it a question that has ever concerned Western philosophy to any significant extent in its 2,500-year history. It is a product of our time, and as such is the key to understanding everything. In this respect, “the West” is unique, and at its heart lies a contradiction.

Civilisation by its nature is a masculine project, but Western civilization is in its essence – feminine.

The driving purpose behind the science and technology of the West is to make life easy, comfortable, safe, and amusing. These are feminine desires not masculine ones. Western men have striven for centuries to deliver such a lifestyle to their women, and over the last 70 years or so this effort has borne fruit in the unsurpassed standard of living enjoyed by large sections of the population in Western countries. But the more it has done so, the more the essentially feminine character of the West has come into play. Masculine values, masculinity, men, these were all necessary to bring us to this point, the achievements of science and technology are products of the masculine impulse to make an impact on the world, to understand it, shape it, to create with it, to build with it, for their enjoyment in part but most of all for their women and children, and for the sake of the larger civilizational project to whose success they are committed. But to the extent this project is realized, and life does become easy, comfortable, safe, and amusing, masculinity becomes increasingly redundant, and fades into the background. In its place the feminine becomes primary, a process that has accelerated to an enormous extent over the past half-century with the arrival of the “sexual revolution” in the 1960s.

In the world that is emerging, there are no limits, nothing that women cannot do, nor anything that requires the masculine impetus to turn outwards towards the wider world, to discover its secrets, confront its dangers, for there is no longer is an outside world. Once we reach the point where everything that exists is either an oversized shopping mall, an air-conditioned office building, a campus safe space, a theme park, or a McMansion, masculinity has served its purpose and has no further place, other than to supply routine maintenance services in the background. In this world everything is self-referential, reality is what we make it, truth is what we decide it to be, on the basis of what makes us feel comfortable, safe, and amused. This is why the internet and social media are so central to our culture, why reality TV is our iconic genre, celebrities our key figures, entertainment our main industry, marketing our critical skill set, and brand value our ultimate asset. It is also why #fakenews is a thing.

This self-referentiality is Heidegger’s “subjectivism.” It is extending its influence everywhere, even such former bastions of masculinity as the military. Western militaries are completely feminized, with the partial exception of special forces, the only units who actually experience real combat. This is not to say that US or NATO forces do not kill and destroy, they do on a massive scale, their mostly male members also die, but they do not fight, they do not even engage their “enemy.” Instead they conduct operations against fictitious opponents who are figments of their own imagination, and take casualties at the hands of real adversaries about who they know nothing. The disastrous British campaign in Helmand, Afghanistan, from 2006-10 is the classic example of this, launched against an insurgent force that did not exist at that time, but which soon did come into being with a vengeance as a result of the “counter-insurgency” operation.

Helmand is the rule rather than the exception. It is no accident that the weakest branch of the US military machine has always been Intelligence, because this is the one element that cannot be self-referential if it is to be effective.

The Eclipse of Truth

We see the contradiction that runs through the West above all in the current state of science as an institution. In spite of its critical role in the Western civilizational project, science today is in an appalling state of disrepair. This is so even though vast amounts of data and new information are becoming available to many scientific disciplines due to earlier developments in technology, and also to the enormous resources being thrown into research and academia. Astronomy is a good example of this. However, the ability to intellectually process these sources into theoretical advances, to improve our understanding, has been all but lost, at least in the mainstream. Instead, astronomically related areas such as cosmology and astrophysics have disappeared into a fantastical set of rabbit holes that bear no relation to any reality outside of their own mathematical set of fictions. As a result they are completely sterile, there has been no progress in these branches of science for decades, in sharp contrast to the revolutionary breakthroughs that marked the first half of the 20th century. These gave us the technological advances that make the present possible, although the irony lies in that they also have contributed in large part to the dead end we now find ourselves in. This includes its poster boy Albert Einstein, who in spite of his personal integrity has been the single greatest catastrophe ever inflicted on the scientific enterprise. It is no accident that this individual was the first ever science “celebrity,” in no other period could a set of intellectually incoherent nonsense be mistaken for genius, but then again, it did so because it suited certain purposes . . . long before #fakenews came #fakescience.

The reason for this is the eclipse of truth, which is a masculine value, as the determining factor in decisions over what ideas to accept, papers to publish, research to fund, who to appoint, and who is selected to go viral, at least on the media circuit. Science as a practice has to balance its inquiry into the world as it really is with a whole series of competing interests. These might be commercial, political, ideological, institutional, or personal. The more important a branch of science is to Western society as a whole, the more corrosive these other influences, so that when we get to a central political issue such as “climate change,” we soon find that the quality of the science being produced on this question is utterly corrupted, and from a scientific standpoint completely worthless. This is because its purpose is not to find the truth, but to support an agenda, which it does by creating “models” of how the world should be and then using these to justify policy decisions whose motivation always lay elsewhere – self-referentiality once again. The reality is that climate “science” is not science at all, which goes to explain why its proponents refuse to honor any of the principles that guide genuine scientific inquiry – honest debate, transparency of data, willingness to admit uncomfortable facts, or explore alternative hypotheses.

An indication of the West’s true character and current state of decay can be seen in some of the intractable problems that plague modern society. Many of these revolve around health, arguably the area that provides the greatest source of pride to those who believe in the achievements of Western civilization. But while it is true that life expectancy is at record levels, infant mortality at its lowest, and that a cut finger is unlikely to result in death from a ravaging infection, it can hardly be argued that the population of a nation such as the United States is “healthy” in any meaningful sense. If we look at the obesity epidemic, for example, what is most significant about this problem is less that people are getting fat, but that Western medicine has proved totally incapable of making even a small dent in the constantly rising numbers of the obese. A different approach is clearly needed, but one will only be found on the basis of civilizational values that understand medical treatment in terms that do not involve drugs or surgery. Counter currents of this nature do exist, such as the ancestral health movement, or the advocates of LCHF, but these are defined precisely by their rejection of the Western project and its conception of what a healthy way of life is. The same applies to mental health issues, or the unbelievably high rates of addiction across the West, to everything from pain killers, shopping, gambling, gaming, porn, anything that offers an escape from an otherwise entirely meaningless, but materially quite comfortable, existence.

The Desire to Escape

It is Spengler who shows us that this desire to “escape,” in his words towards “the infinite,” was present at the very birth of the West, and is in fact its driving force. This too needs to be understood in terms of masculinity and femininity. The masculine impulse is not to escape the world but to go out and engage with it, to learn how to navigate through it, to understand it, and with this knowledge to create and to build with it. A man may seek an escape from the wind and the rain for his family, but the shelters he constructs are made from real materials, and if they are not built according to the natural laws that govern civil engineering they will fall down. This is why truth is the paramount masculine value, and this truth is never self-referential, it is truth about the external world, so that humanity can live within this world.

The feminine impulse is the opposite, it is an attractive force and its ultimate point of reference is the woman herself and her children. If the masculine seeks to expand outwards towards the infinitely large, to ever extend knowledge and understanding, then the feminine measures this in terms of what it means to her, how it affects her, whether she likes what emerges around her as a result of this, or not. Men build houses, but women decide whether they want to live in these structures, and turn them into homes. The feminine is in its essence aesthetic, its measure is beauty, and the beautiful is appreciated through emotion, how it makes her feel.

During the rise of the West, this masculine impulse is harnessed and the Modern world takes shape over time. The feminine character of the Western project, however, is expressed in the ultimate end state Western civilization sets as its objective. This is Spengler’s “infinity,” but in everyday terms it goes under the slogan of “freedom.” The dominant motive behind the entire development of the West has been the desire to be free, and this means freedom from any and all constraints. Science and technology emerge as the means by which to escape the constraints of nature, but alongside this there is also the desire to escape social constraints. During the first centuries of the West, this mostly involved the struggle to overcome the Catholic Church, which dominated the social and cultural landscape of medieval Europe, and this lead to the Protestant Reformation. Later it becomes the desire to be free of any religious imposition on life whatsoever, whether through moral codes or the law of the land. Western society becomes secular.

Freedom is a feminine value, not a masculine one.   Femininity resents any external constraints on it, whether natural or social, because its reference point is the woman herself, in her singularity. There is no such thing as a feminine morality, because even two women form a set of entirely different compass points for any moral code. These might coincide, the two might agree and cooperate well together, but they also might not, there is no force behind the agreement, as soon as it feels like a constraint to either of them it will be abandoned. Women approach all relationships in this way, except with their children, there the rules change.

Masculinity does not strive for freedom, it seeks to serve. A man is measured by his contribution to something larger and outside of himself, his family, his tribe, his nation, his civilisation, its Gods, the truth. This service must be voluntary, and it must be valued. The Roman slave in revolt may kill his master but he will also willingly give up his life in the army of Spartacus, and ask only that in battle his general not throw this away cheaply.

For the same reason, equality is not a masculine value either. Men contribute to the best of their ability, because that is the source of their worth, but the end results are measured externally. The input is irrelevant, only the output. Masculinity naturally gravitates towards hierarchy, because some are more talented, experienced, or able than others, and what matters is the common venture, success or failure, victory or defeat. Men will accept the leadership, and even the domination of others, if this leads to a good outcome, because that is all that counts. Better to follow the victorious general, than lead an army to its destruction.

The feminine, on the other hand, does aspire to equality, because like freedom it is an abstract concept, it means the removal of any expectations placed upon her by anyone, which she might perceive as a constraint. Equality is the stepping stone towards freedom, which is the ability of a woman to act as her own point of reference in any aspect of her life. Today this goes under the term, “empowerment,” or “You go girl!” This is one form of the “tendency towards abstraction” we will try to elaborate on further.

Masculinity, however, acts as a counter-balance to this female “solipsism.” The masculine overrides this impulse and it is the woman who benefits, because it allows her to serve something greater – children, to become something larger than herself, to contribute, to leave her mark on the earth, to attain a slice of immortality. Men do this by imposing an order that serves the civilizational project they are committed to, in other words they impose social constraints on women. This is the “patriarchy,” it ensures that a society will continue because there will be future generations, that women will bear children. It is a civilizational project that makes women have babies, and this is its greatest gift to femininity, to those same women, it overcomes their own drive to “self-referentiality” and allows them to be something more, to participate in something larger.

The project of Western civilization, on the other hand, has been to escape this very civilizational constraint. By the 1960s it had achieved an important milestone along this path through the application of science and technology, with the invention of the contraceptive pill. As a result, birth rates have plummeted, well below the numbers required to reproduce the population. This is one reason why it is safe to predict the coming demise of the West, a social order can not survive if its women do not have children.

Part 2: Transhumanism — The Final Showdown

https://www.counter-currents.com/2017/10/decline-of-the-western-male-part-2/

[lunadensoutatime]

I posted 120 times in 2022

That's 1 more post than 2021!

17 posts created (14%)

103 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@knickynoo

@daryfromthefuture

@erik-the-creator-mainblog

@ursaspecter

@fourth-dimensional-thinker

I tagged 116 of my posts in 2022

Only 3% of my posts had no tags

#bttf - 75 posts

#back to the future - 73 posts

#marty mcfly - 54 posts

#family ties - 26 posts

#doc brown - 23 posts

#alex p keaton - 21 posts

#alex keaton - 17 posts

#apk - 16 posts

#my writing - 13 posts

#ellen reed - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 64 characters

#i think i'm going to write this at some point in the near future

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Can't believe I missed BTTF day yesterday, so please accept this collage thing I made, one of the first digital art pieces I've ever done!

8 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

#4

Time Blind, But A Time Traveler

My second short one shot out of two for my favorite 80s media couples this Valentines Day! (you can probably tell I rushed through these 😅) First one is Memories We Make

>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>

Jennifer Parker tapped her foot impatiently on the porch as she checked both ends of the street again, but she tried to restrain any annoyance she felt for her boyfriend at the moment. Sighing, she sat down on the swing and steeled herself to wait a little longer for Marty, if something was wrong he would have called and her mother would have called out the screen door for her.

Marty McFly was a time traveler, that in itself was unusual enough considering there was only a select number of people who had experienced the scientific breakthrough first hand. Even more unusual was how he was unaware to the passing of time, he would be late or early to everything; there was no in between, no being "on time".

At first it was because it was intensified by him having to adjust to a timeline different than the one he had known his entire life, such as skateboarding somewhere when he could have taken his truck and gotten there in half of the time. Then it boiled down to Marty just being Marty, time blind was in some ways his style.

Finally a car rolled down the street and Jennifer walked down the front walk to meet it at the end of the driveaway, releasing a breath she didn't know she had been holding. As the car got closer, the dirty blonde realized it wasn't Marty's black pickup, but a silver car that drove low to the ground. She recognized the all too familiar car and shook her head as it stopped in front of her, the gullwing door opening to reveal her boyfriend.

"When this baby hits 88 mph, you're gonna see some serious shit," Marty grinned.

Jen goodnaturedly smacked his shoulder, "I was just about to file a missing person report, what kept you?"

"Had to stop by Doc's, he was a little harder to convince to let me take the DeLorean out than I thought-"

"Well he has good reason to-"

"-but I still convinced him," he countered, "I'm allowed to use it today as long as I don't break the universe."

She raised an eyebrow, that was reassuring - he had the potential to destroy existence as they knew it, though at this point that really wasn't surprising. "Alright, whatever you're planning I'm coming with. Someone has the make sure you don't create another alternate timeline accidentally." Walking over to the passenger side, she got into the car and instinctively looked to the time circuits for a clue of any plan, nothing new yet.

Marty ignored the jab at his past experiences with the machine, "Glad you're on board Jen! In my opinion, there's nothing wrong with making good times."

"I- Martin McFly you did not just make a time pun!" Jennifer laughed.

"What? Things have been slow around here for a while, have to make things interesting somehow don't I? Or history will never be made."

He wasn't wrong, after October things had been somewhat boring, maybe an adventure was the perfect gift afterall...

10 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

#3

On this day in 1990, Back to the Future Part 3 was released.

Happy 32nd anniversary to the western adventure of one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time! ⚡🕙✨

20 notes - Posted May 25, 2022

#2

Even though I'm working on getting the first chapter of my Family Ties fic posted, I've started creating another Back to the Future story.

Here's a gem from the storyboard:

I came across the prompt of "Doc accidentally switching Marty and Einstein's minds when working on a device" and felt compelled to write it. Thinking of calling the story "I've Lost My Mind" The first chapter will probably be posted sometime mid-February.

Make sure your watches are set for the future!

20 notes - Posted January 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I'm all for the BTTF fandom believing that Marty should have a child leash to keep him out of trouble, but I may I present to you my own headcanon?

After rewatching The Secret of My Success I came to a wonderful realization:

HE DOESN'T NEED A LEASH WHEN HE GOT SUSPENDERS >:D

I bet whenever Marty's wearing them and Jen or Doc have to stop him they just grab him and he snaps back to them.

86 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ooey-and-gooey]

Here is Ran’s bio!

Name: Ran Minamoto

Gender: female

Age: depends on what point in the story, usually 16 in RP

Ssxuality: Bisexual

Occupation: student

Height: 5'4

“Hair” color: cool purple

Eye color: inverted black eyes with yellow pupils

Narionality: Japanese

School: UA

Hero Stuff- Hero/Villain Name: Ran (undecided)

Costume:(none yet)

Quirk: Goo

Weapons: a whip

Personality- Personality: Ran is a very passionate person, the kind of passionate that only pages and pages of essays and debates could help with. She has strong ideals of being a hero and sticks by them closely. She is observant and quick thinking. She knows what she can handle and is the type of person so try almost anything once. The girl is friendly to everyone except those who have- in her eyes - skewed morals/ideals. Ran gives off a very chill vibe most of the time except when it comes to her academics and career, as well as her ideals, any other time she will go with the flow. She’s an extrovert and acts very cool though when she is alone, can be very obsessive. Ran is very very paranoid. She spends most of her time researching things about her parents and such and barely get much sleep. Her calm and collected facade is brought on with people surrounding her - That is when she is the most relaxed. If it were not for her baggage, Ran would probably act this way always. She is easy going and a risk taker around people, but a mess when not.

Likes: pro heroes, social media, winning debates, writing, being listened to, talking, supporting her friends, passionate people, people on journeys, cats, researching, breakthroughs

Dislikes: her parents, people who follow the ideals of stain, stains ideals, villains, people with weak ideals, people easily swayed or persuaded, the crowd mentality

Interests: writing, reading, presenting speeches, sparring Fears: Society changing for the worst, being vulnerable, failure

Goals: - Ran would very much like to confront her parents and try to argue with them -She would like to be the one to capture her parents -She wants to be an influencer, weather that means being a big role model as a hero or trying to become a teacher, she’s all for it - Ran wants to make sure she is known. She makes it a point to make good first impressions so that she is never forgotten thus her ideals are never forgotten.

Family- Parents: Haruhi and Kazuhiko

Siblings: none Relationships-

Friends: Maki Aiko, Maki Harumi, Hitoshi Shinsou

Crush: hmmm

Enemies: her parentsahaha ~~~Quirk~~~ Quirk name: slime Description: 80% of her body is made of the goo like texture you see. She has basic organs and can function like a normal human being however most of her fat, muscle, and other parts are made of the substance. She can transfer her mass but is limited to a simple human body shape. The only removable part of her body is her hair, which she can rip parts of and stick places.

Strengths: most projectiles will not affect her, mostly just getting stuck in her. She can change her appearance. She is a quick thinker and knows what bite would be too much for her to chew. Has a high pain tolerance as some attacks (with blunt objects) can bounce off of her. She can become slippery?

Weaknesses: She lacks in one on one combat and full frontal attacks. She can get carried away with emotion in some cases which causes her wits to become faulty. She can be affected by projectile attacks if they go all the way through her. She does not do well in intense heat, can melt without being about to control it.

Costume description: she wears a tough material (usual hard to rip, water resistant and fire resistant fabric) as a leotard. Her shoes/ankles, bracelets, belt, and rubber band are actually hidden whips - each rectangular shape being a handle. (In her shoes’ case, the handles are built into the sole of the shoe). Her whips are gold in color. Her leotard extends in a drippy pattern to her legs. In the chest area of her leotard, there is a teardrop shaped keyhole though it is placed above her neck and is only there for decoration. (Its not there to show her breasts, That’s why it’s places a litter higher)

Character summary: Ran was raised by her parents for a short amount of time. Because they had seemed so busy with their “work” - some undescribed business they run- Ran was mostly watched after by her grandmother. The family lived in her grandmother’s house, all seeming to get along somewhat. Her parents raised her with a specific set of ideals, telling her to think for herself, to always question authority and question what the general public thought was right. Though she didn’t have much say, this was suspicious to Ran’s grandmother. Years of week long business trips and the occasional conflict between the parents and Ran’s grandmother flew by. This would lead to Ran being a sort of mature child, that tried to keep as in-the-know as possible whenever her parents were leaving and weren’t leaving - that way if she had needed them to be somewhere, she would or wouldn’t get her hopes up. Suspicion began to grow as the windows in which her parents were absent began to grow. This tense curiosity would breech it’s breaking point for Ran’s grandmother when an event was exposed on the news. Some sort of group, terrorizing the city and trying to spread their message- down with hero society. When the leaders of this group were identified, it was Ran’s house that was searched endlessly and the two were questioned. Of course both Ran and her grandmother had no idea what had happened, nor did they even know that both these people had the capability to do such an act. Though the event did not kill anyone, it did injure some with the use of firework-like bombs and some thick smoke that flooded the area. After this horrendous event, Ran’s grandmother was left to care for Ran. At this point, Ran had some vague idea of what was happening, though never asked her grandma about it- feeling she would receive no answer. Ran grew up very loving with her grandma. She was very close to the woman and acted as good as any kid could, though had always been mature for her age. Ran’s parents were on the run, though would most likely never return. As time went on, Ran became more and more interested in the ideas of justice and what it meant to be a hero. At first she was not fascinated by the glamor of heroes, their desire to help people, or the fame, but by the concepts behind it. She had become deeply interested in philosophies of what it meant to be a hero and though she had some mincsule problems about the hero industry, she decided what better way to change it for the better, than to become a hero herself. She also took interest in past crimes and organizations, wanting to be knowledgeable on all potential threats. This was when she had found out about her parents, leaders of some dangerous cult, once that had caused harm then vanished. This wasn’t the biggest effect on Ran, only taking her a couple months to get completely over. They had probably fled the country or something, and she wasn’t even particularly attached to them. With her interest in heroes now becoming a full on blossom, Ran found some interest in the genuine ideals of a hero- helping people and making people feel safe. And so, she had applied for U.A, general studies of course. Though she was excited to become a U.A. student, she hasn’t felt like she could transfer into the hero courses just yet. She hasn’t had much time to train and by entrance exams, the gooey girl wasn’t ready. After being accepted into the general studies, Ran worked extra extra hard to make sure she would be able to at least make an impression at the sports festival. In general studies, the girl found a friend in Hitoshi, who seemed to be one of the most, in her opinion, genuine people she’d ever known. The two hold a tight companionship. Around the time of her first getting in, Ran received a letter on her doorstep. This was one of the few letters that was ever addressed to her. Too early to be an entrance exam result, Ran was confused by its presence. Upon opening this mysterious note, she found it was sent from none other than her parents. A sort of “Good luck! :) We’re keeping an eye on you and Gramma!” Letter, which caused Ran to spiral into a paranoid state. Research and research and connecting the dots online led her to hints that the group might still be active. Rather than going to her grandma for help, Ran decided to take matters into her own hands. Apart from training, Ran protects her property as best she can, swearing that she will always take care of her grandmother and if her parents decide to somehow do harm to her, she’ll be ready for it. Though, the way that her grandma acted had made Ran feel she knew what was going on.

Fun fact #1: Ran must keep her PH from becoming too acidic. If she comes in contact with something too acidic, she may involuntarily melting. She may use this to her advantage though! Ran had a certain party trick where she will get everyone to gather around her. She demonstrates how her mouth looks, sticks out her tongue, takes a gulp of the freshest soda she can found, swirl it around in her mouth and swallow. She will then show everyone the damage it does on her mouth (mainly her tongue) which becomes a slimey and dripping mess. People usually react in disgust to this or think it’s really cool.

Also I’m always always always open to RP! I love OCs and I do literate RP so :^) RP also helps my characters develop more soo Thank you for reading!! Have an amazing day!!

[in-taylorland]

Technology in the New Era

Technology has been a substantial part of the transition to the New Age. Because of the Internet and social media, Light workers have the ability to share channeled information and new ideas with those around the planet that are seeking a higher vibration. 

Soul households are being united and other dimensional beings have the ability to talk about their messages with those intended to hear them. To understand the power of what's happening digitally, it's vital to comprehend the process of production. 

Even if a thought is only known to the thinker, it becomes a part that the consciousness of civilization. Since thought is energy, which can't be destroyed, the one thing that could happen to a thought is for this to be transmuted into a different form. 

This is accomplished through intention. If the idea is written, it becomes much more powerful, yet it may, sooner or later, be retracted and replaced with another thought. As new information concerning the ascension process is on internet pages and social networking sites, the vibrations which those messages carry is incorporated into the Light Quotient of humankind. 

Channeled messages which have a very significant vibration, have the ability to enlighten people who are open to and who vibrate with the message. This can be seen from the growth in the amount of Lightworkers moving in the New Era, which began in 2013; the base of which, has been constructed. 

As a result of infra-red satellite technology, remains of past civilizations which are still buried, are being discovered from space. These archeological discoveries reveal a legacy that validates what Lightworkers already know about from information received in stations and personal memories of different incarnations. 

It's becoming accepted, even ahead thinking scientific circles, there were much more advanced civilizations on Earth than the present one. What's yet to be accepted by science, is that and many who are living today also had other lifetimes in these cultures which are long gone. 

As ruins are excavated, carbon dated and the findings have been returned, it's being verified that innovative people thrived on Earth much earlier than conventional history books claim. As technology advances, it may be a fantastic idea for historians, who mean to re-write history, based on the new discoveries, to leave a window of opportunity open for the possibility that this isn't the end of what could be found. 

In light of these discoveries, the term ancient takes on new significance. Interestingly, when one takes stock of what's found in the ruins of these cultures, there's very little recorded history available. 

How can it be that these mathematically complex societies, which constructed with precision that exceeds that of present modern times, lasted as long, but didn't collect huge libraries containing the wisdom and knowledge that was accumulated over the centuries? 

Why is there more than a couple of wall carvings and hieroglyphics found on the sides of buildings. In modern day culture, it's supposed that all that is learned must be recorded for posterity. The more knowledge that's accumulated in the libraries of every civilization, the wiser the society believes itself. However, reading and writing aren't the only kinds of recording information. 

Ancient civilizations, truly ancient civilizations, knew of additional means of communication and preserving knowledge. Crystals were used to store information, move items give clean, free energy and heal the body and mind. None of these technologies are developed by modern science. 

However, at the speed the digital age is growing, many awesome changes may be right around the corner. Native cultures share their sacred wisdom, knowledge and beliefs orally from person-to-person. 

Thankfully though, this system is coming to modern-day culture in the shape of the Internet and social media, through which information is shared from person to person. Can you get it? The old ways are coming, but in a new stage. Technology is the expression of humankind's present big achievements, another step from the shadow and the canvas of communication of the New Era. 

Individuals are now reconnected through social networking. Boundaries of all types are abandoned and there's a worldwide community being formed. Do you find the beauty of it? At exactly the exact same time, many are removing themselves from direct contact with other people, that has become the main form of communication over time, yet, in doing this, other techniques of communicating, through voice, written word and video are taking its place. 

Can this take away something from human relations? Yes, but additionally, it adds something else in its place. Is one better than another? Moving away from this linear method of thinking of that is better, allows one to understand there are lots of ways for people to connect. 

In actuality, emotions are equally powerful between individuals communicating in these new ways as they're meeting face to face. Since so much emphasis is placed on physical appearance in contemporary civilization, many find it easier to be open and honest with somebody they're getting to understand. 

The ability to tune to a individual telepathically has been awakened and consequently strengthened in people as they connect with other people . It's just as easy to fall in love with somebody on the Internet as it is in person. 

Since the technological phenomenon of social networking happens, new neural pathways are being generated by an entire generation of mostly young individuals that are putting their focus on digital devices as they text and connect with the understanding of the world at their fingertips. 

These new activities are developing skills, both physical and psychological, necessary for the long term growth of individuals living in today's world. Right now, it may look like just texting, but the areas of the brain which are being used by this activity will be used for technology which has not yet been discovered.

Humans aren't creating new technology, for all technology already exists. They are only discovering and deploying it. 1 breakthrough contributes to the next, until little by little, in the not so distant future, there will be an entirely new reality in place. 

After all, not so long ago there was no Internet and a typewriter was the way of putting words on paper. Until the last century, education wasn't common among the masses and information was only available to a select few, but now, because of technology, anyone with an Internet connection can find an education. 

Significant universities provide free online classes and just about any subject can be researched on the net. This has caused rapid evolutionary changes in previously uneducated sectors of the populace. The results can be found in the substantial protests, organized on the Internet in very short amounts of time. 

Entire authorities can be toppled by a Facebook group. It was that these type of revolutions took much time, planning, preparation and years of battle. What was once a very long process can now be achieved in days-power has been returned to the people. 

Technology is evolving and changing in proportion to the speed of Conscious Human Evolution, there is no stopping it. There's absolutely not any precedent that we know of upon which to gauge the progress, no guidebooks and no manuals. We're in uncharted territory. However, those aware of the New Era, living away from the world of the collective consciousness, are aided by the technology that communicates their advancement. 

There's undoubtedly a plan within the creative consciousness of the world to aid humankind in rising to heights it hasn't seen for eons. At this moment, there are beings whose purpose it is to help humanity in its development and gratitude must be given to people who are sending Light and moving information through Light workers who are directing them. 

There's no denying that the new information is coming from an unknown origin. The expression extraterrestrial is supposed to describe not just beings living on other planets, but all those living outside the next dimension on Earth, such as Angels, Ascended Masters and other beings of light. The vibration of the messages which are received from them is an accelerator to the practice of moving into the New Era. 

[kirstymcneill]

A better world is on our power to create

This piece first appeared in the IPPR’s Progressive Review in June 2018. 

British politics is currently convulsed with contested claims about what we do know, and what we can know, about who has done what in global affairs. Whether it is the row around Boris Johnson’s claims about Porton Down’s findings on the Salisbury attack or Jeremy Corbyn’s equivocation about the suspected chemical attack in Douma, it can sometimes seem as if it is the nature of the facts rather than the appropriate foreign policy response to them that is dominating Westminster. The policymakers of a country that retains membership of the economic premier league, the UN Security Council and NATO seem to be spending more time commenting on the reality of events than determining the course of them. This is not inevitable: Britain could remain one of the most influential countries in the world, even as our new reality is defined by ‘the three posts’ of being post-imperial, post-industrial and post-Brexit. Retaining power will require using one of our unequivocal comparative advantages – our status as a development powerhouse – to better effect.

While the front benches slug it out over versions of the truth on security questions, the picture on development ones is different. The parties don’t have competing accounts of the same events, but they do each deploy a narrative which, in being partial, obscures the whole messy truth.

On the left the focus tends to be on the outrage which rightly accompanies what has been an incredibly bleak beginning to 2018. In January four Save the Children colleagues in Afghanistan became the latest in the litany of grim statistics of aid workers murdered in the course of their work. In February we released new research[1]showing that more children than ever – 357 million globally – are living in areas impacted by conflict. In March new figures[2]showed that at least 37 Syrian civilians had been killed every single day since mid-2017. April began with more deaths in Gaza and the Central African Republic and throughout the year we’ve seen the kind of extreme weather that climate campaigners have been warning for years could put all of our recent development gains in to reverse. Against that backdrop it is easy to see why Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Kate Osamor warned, in Labour’s recently launched paper A World for the Many Not the Few[3], that “we should be under no illusions about the scale of the global crisis we face today, or how far there is to go”.

For thinkers on the right there is tremendous frustration that the parallel story of progress remains largely untold. Fraser Nelson reminds us repeatedly that “the point cannot be made enough. We’re living through a period of amazing progress – in medicine, prosperity, health and even conquering violence”[4]. This too is true.

Above we’ve taken the gloomiest possible read on 2018. What if instead we applied a rosier lens? In January Rwanda implemented universal eye care, becoming the first poor country to do so in a world where over 200 million people can’t see clearly. In February Ruth Davidson was in Afghanistan with the HALO Trust to celebrate the clearing of millions of square miles of minefield. March saw Unicef announce new figures[5]suggesting action on child marriage had spared 25 million girls from this appalling abuse in the last ten years. April’s Malaria Summit celebrated the 60% drop in malaria deaths in the first fifteen years of this century. These are astonishing achievements and help explain why the development champions of the centre-right fret that the left’s focus on the work undone only serves to suppress public enthusiasm for the cross-party project of eliminating global poverty.

A complete account of life on earth in 2018 is one that reconciles these two. The hope that progress is inevitable breeds complacency, the fear that it is impossible generates paralysis. What is needed instead is the widespread national sense that there is still much that we can do, but that doing it requires us to deploy British assets of which we should be immeasurably proud. While the aid agencies, rightly, have spent the opening months of the year focussed on improving safeguarding and protections against harassment, we have also been working together to rekindle public enthusiasm for making poverty history. The UK remains the ‘Silicon Valley’ of development, with an incomparable concentration of charities, universities, corporates, foundations and research institutions with global reach. That eco-system could turbo-charge government efforts to build a Global Britain, but success will require picking a few issues on which change is both winnable and potentially transformative.  

To take just one example of an area where we could still lead, pneumonia is currently the number one killer of children under five worldwide. We should be hugely hopeful it can be overcome: after all, it has only emergedas a bigger killer than malaria, diarrhoea and measles combined because previous efforts on those diseases have been so successful. At the same time, we should be appalled that a disease that can be treated with antibiotics costing as little as 30p is still claiming two children’s lives every minute. Britain, long one of the biggest drivers of breakthroughs in global public health and the home of the globally-admired National Health Service, is well placed to convene partners to drive down vaccine pricing and target aid to building the universal health coverage and global supply of oxygen and antibiotics which can end preventable pneumonia deaths.

Or to take another: the protection of children caught up in the world’s worst conflicts. We can be proud that Britain has been at the forefront of international efforts on preventing sexual violence in conflict, for an Arms Trade Treaty and for action on landmines. But it cannot possibly be justified that we have agreed to sell 48 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia with no guarantees they will not be used as part of the aerial bombardment of Yemen, a campaign which has already seen the bombing of 800 schools. Once again, British expertise would be well deployed in protecting children. Two thirds of Syria’s children have had a family member killed, been injured themselves or had their home bombed. They are showing signs of what psychologists call ‘toxic stress’, a prolonged fear response which permanently impairs development. Children’s mental health needs a global champion with a track record of delivering predictable, high quality aid, but more than that it needs a foreign policy heavyweight prepared to end the culture of impunity surrounding the attacks which breed trauma in the first place. Britain’s armed forces are well placed to lead by example (by, for instance, updating training manuals to outline the specific steps the UK will take to mitigate civilian harm from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas), but we also need a political leadership willing to use every tool at its disposal, whether it is suspending arms sales or gearing every element of our defence and diplomacy strategies to the protection of civilians.

These are just two examples of causes a post-Brexit Britain could champion. We have just twelve years until the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals. Twelve years ago nobody would have predicted the Arab Spring, the Brexit vote or the victory of a nativist authoritarian after eight years of a liberal African-American President. The world can be transformed in just over a decade. The question for the coming one is whether Britain’s political leaders can inspire the public with a story of the world it is in our power to create – and whether they believe in it themselves.

[1]https://www.savethechildren.net/waronchildren/pdf/waronchildren.pdf

[2]https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/syria-casualties-soar-by-nearly-50-percent-since-creation-of-so-

[3]https://www.policyforum.labour.org.uk/uploads/editor/files/World_For_The_Many.pdf

[4]https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2014/12/why-2015-will-probably-be-the-best-year-in-human-history/

[5]https://www.unicef.org/media/media_102735.html

[dinomightofficial]

Analyzing Agre’s Text and connecting Ideas.

07/06/2017 - 18/06/2017

This is the research phase and analysis of the given text in which our assignment depends on. The following details is the building blocks and ideas that will become my visual essay, another blog entry will be made with the actual assessment contents.

After much proof reading and re analyzing of the content in the text with not only myself but also with other people in my table I have found out that or realized the inner context within these paragraphs from Agre’s text. These understandings are not merely from my own perception of the text but also through the boot camp exercise on day one of the debriefing and also through conversing with other classmates within the studio space. In a way, the construction of these paragraphs that highlight my and others ideas and understanding of the text can act as my note taking process as well as my research phase for the visual essay. To critically think is to be critical which I find is more often than not is despised which is ironic for the practice of this assignment.

Boot-camp

On the day of the debriefing the boot-camp took place and the *kinda-ish* triad group began discussing about our given assignment and the text in general. One thing I had noticed during the lengthy discussion was the fact that there were no focused and specific topic regarding what we were supposed to be talking about. Instead the group went off in a tangent and began talking about domestic violence and if anything to do with Agre’s text was mentioned it was always (In my opinion) out of context with the authors intention. I guess it makes sense to discuss and be confused about how violence in tech and the process of critical thinking practice has got to do with one another but never was AI and the texts context talked about which I though was quite interesting.

The topic of domestic violence and just violence in general was the core topic of the tables talk and I began to think that this exercise was redundant in that not just our group but alike many others in the studio discussions went off in a tangent to the topic the paper intended us to discuss. The term “Critical thinking practice” was barely ever mentioned. Not the most useful session for this assignment.

Taking notes

As for taking notes and logging down ideas that I gain from analyzing Agre’s text and also by discussing with many other people in the studio I have gotten a wider understanding of what the assessor expects to see in my visual essay. These paragraphs below are in a way how I have interpreted the text by discussing them with others and are the notes that are ought to be connected and portrayed in the visual essay.

Paragraph 1 - analysis

Computer technology is with no doubt revolutionary in our daily lives and its impact in the way society operates and the changes that it brings about it still ripples through to this day (1). However, I feel like it is kind of an overstatement to treat this technological revolution with specialty and exception because as a trend every generation has a new type of technology. From the jet age to the atomic age to the space age every sort of age declares itself to revolutionize the future and change every aspect of our lives. In the context of AI however I feel as though it is not quite there yet to be even considered a large impact in today’s society although its peak is to be expected incredibly soon at this rate (2).

Paragraph 2 - analysis

Innovation and technological advancements in almost every field now a days is so advanced that major breakthroughs are in the sub sub categories (3). Perhaps it is the psychological construct to believe that I for one will never make a ground breaking discovery or innovation that will change the world or it is merely pity to think so (4). I know that optimists will say I’m delusional to think like this. Communities and researchers do their daily jobs to advance human civilization on a daily basis as their day-job and here I am pondering not if I will ever make a ground breaking innovation but merely if I will even get by the next five years just fine or not. The author notes in this paragraph that he finds it utmost difficult to maintain “constructive engagement with researchers whose substantive commitments [were in his] perspective wildly mistaken” which initially sounded arrogant and and almost rude at first but later made better sense to me in the context of this assignment. To critically think do we ever progress through superstition and myths and to be skeptical is to make changes in society that would have otherwise remained misconceptions had people like this author did not remain skeptical.

Paragraph 3 - analysis

‘Be skeptical��� remains the continuing ethics for this segment of the text when being a researcher or technical innovator. Skepticism may be interpreted incorrectly in this context but for the purposes of Agre’s text it will continue to mean ‘critical’ or ‘to critique’. However, I would have to disagree with the author in this segment of the text: “Technical research can only develop from within the designer’s own practical work” especially for the context of development in AI. Artificial intelligence is a programming structure that can be taught to some extent, although to get a the best understanding self induced learning is optimal but AI development is so advanced these days that even the creators themselves do not fully understand how they work (5). However, I do agree that more often not the greatest and most effective insight of ones profession can only come from self induced learning and realizations through trial and error.

Paragraph 4 - analysis

Paragraph four mentions that critical technical practice is a combination of design and “reflexive work” in which “computer work brings uncomfortably together” in which I must repudiate. Computer work is incredibly dependent on logical thinking, electronics, mathematics and possibly in the near future; quantum physics and neuroscience (6). However, in the applications of critical thinking practice I feel like it kind of makes sense to reflexively build on your own work but perhaps it applies to so many other practices and professions and not only design.

Paragraph 5 - analysis

Build up on practice. Daily and continues work will build up your own skills and ideas that will eventually and inevitably become a critical thinker through its practice. 

Connecting analysis with violence and boot-camp

Agre’s text and my analysis of it derives from my new and influenced understanding of ‘critical thinking practice’. I initially found it difficult, cumbersome and almost pointless to connect these practices and ideas with ‘violence in Auckland’ which is tied to our exercises in boot-camp. From my newer understanding of the text I think that the intention of this text is for us to reflexively reflect on what we think ‘critical thinking practice’ is and be skeptical about everything but not so much as to deny all previous logic but to strive to improve on ideas and practices when I may think that is impossible to do so. Violence in Auckland is I feel an esoteric term that most people don’t even think about it. Perhaps to rein-vision our previous understandings of how to tackle this issue is to be the purpose of this process and to reflect on what could be improved on. To critically think about this topic in a creative technologists standpoint is to solve these issues through new and almost risky ways that combat and change the way people view these topics.

Addressing challenging issues as a creative technologist

To address, tackle and solve challenging issues around the world is to be an innovator, an inventor, an intellect. Barely would anyone ever say that ‘that person’ would be a creative technologist. Creative technologists are merely just artists with a techno vibe, maybe, but perhaps that ought to change. To think critically and tackle old and traditional ideas with a twist and a fresh perspective is a creative technologists job and perhaps this is the sort of mindset that could create innovation in fields people previously deemed fulfilled or exhausted. Agre’s text connotes the process of being a critical thinker with insightful personal experiences, these examples and ideas conveyed throughout the text inadvertently promotes critical thinking through all professions and lifestyles but as a creative technologists I personally feel that it best describes my work efficacy goal. The topic of violence in Auckland will be tackled by creating a visual essay that brings attention to the situation and label it with negativity to give people a perspective and mindset of violence and negativity. People who are violent don’t really think about it necessarily as a bad thing and in some cases can be brought in such a manner and just perceive it as a normal behavior.

The holy grail - The big reference in influence

(7) -  http://www.iep.utm.edu/skepanci/ (C.ii)

Below are four segments of this particular article that was in most humble ways an eye opening text for thinking critically and what it truly means to be skeptical.

“According to Sextus, one does not start out as a skeptic, but rather stumbles on to it. Initially, one becomes troubled by the kinds of disagreements focused on in Aenesidemus' modes and seeks to determine which appearances accurately represent the world and which explanations accurately reveal the causal histories of events.”

“One cannot intentionally acquire a peaceful, tranquil state but must let it happen as a result of giving up the struggle. But again, giving up the struggle for the skeptic does not mean giving up the pursuit of truth. The skeptic continues to investigate in order to protect himself against the deceptions and seductions of reason that lead to our holding definite views.”

“So it is more appropriate to look past the disturbance that may be produced by individual, isolated beliefs, and consider instead the effect of accepting a system of interrelated, mutually supporting dogmatic claims.”

“Arriving at definite views is not merely a matter of intellectual dishonesty, Sextus thinks; more importantly, it is the main source of all psychological disturbance. For those who believe that things are good or bad by nature, are perpetually troubled. When they lack what they believe to be good their lives must seem seriously deficient if not outright miserable, and they struggle as much as possible to acquire those things. But when they finally have what they believe to be good, they spend untold effort in maintaining and preserving those things and live in fear of losing them.”

References (Secondary sources)

(1)  http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab11

(1)  https://www.britannica.com/technology/history-of-technology

(2)  https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603216/5-big-predictions-for-artificial-intelligence-in-2017/

(2)  https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22930661-800-vision-of-singularity-questions-ai-intellect/

(3)  https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601441/moores-law-is-dead-now-what/

(3)  http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21569393-fears-innovation-slowing-are-exaggerated-governments-need-help-it-along-great

(4)  https://www.fastcompany.com/3044316/the-myths-we-all-believe-about-breakthrough-thinking

(5)  https://qz.com/865357/we-dont-understand-how-ai-make-most-decisions-so-now-algorithms-are-explaining-themselves/

(5)  https://www.wired.com/2016/05/the-end-of-code/

(6)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHMJCUmq28

(7) http://www.iep.utm.edu/skepanci/ (C.ii)

[peterdiamandis]

Are You an Exponential Entrepreneur?

Being an entrepreneur today is vastly different than it was 20 years ago.

Today, each of us has access to more capital, more technological tools, more information, more talent, and more computational power than the CEOs of the world’s biggest companies did just two decades ago.

As I think about what it takes to succeed in a world of Abundance and a world of accelerating returns, I focus on six mindsets and tools that every exponential entrepreneur needs to master.

Here’s a quick look:

1. You Must Understand Exponentials

We’re local and linear thinkers in an exponential world.

Our brains haven’t had a significant upgrade in over a million years, whereas our technology is doubling in power every 18 to 24 months.

Exponential technology is transforming products and services and disrupting industries. That’s why Ray Kurzweil and I cofounded Singularity University.

I often talk about my “6 D’s” framework -- it’s a lens through which I contextualize all technological change and opportunities:

The 6 Ds Progression:

Digitized: Turning every product or service into “1’s and 0’s.”

Deceptive: The doubling of small numbers is deceptive. Start doubling 0.1 to 0.2… 0.4… 0.8… and at this phase, it all looks like “zero.”

Disruptive: After we reach “1,” just 30 doublings later, we’re at 1 billion.

Dematerialized: Exponential technology turns tangible “things” into digital apps. I no longer carry around GPS equipment -- it’s an app on my phone.

Demonetized: The cost of duplicating and sending an app is essentially zero.

Democratized: Once products and services are digital, they go global and can become ubiquitous.

Exponential entrepreneurs use the 6 D’s as a technological road map to predict where technologies are going and when to capitalize on the opportunities. This framework gives them an unfair advantage over competitors.

2. You See the World as Abundant (vs. Scarce)

Exponential entrepreneurs understand that technology is a force that transforms things from scarcity to abundance.

Technology is creating a world of abundance in almost every major arena, including energy, knowledge, transportation, computation, access to education and access to healthcare.

Once these industries transform from scarcity to abundance, their products and services become cheap (or free) and their quality goes through the roof.

Exponential entrepreneurs understand that despite the constant barrage of negative news from the Crisis News Network (my joking term for CNN) and its ilk, the world is becoming better at an extraordinary rate on almost every possible measure, including food, energy, education, poverty and health. (Note: I collect detailed charts on “Evidence of Abundance here.”)

Exponential entrepreneurs also know that scarcity-minded, closed business models ultimately fail, and open platforms ultimately win.

3. You Leverage Exponential Technologies

Exponential entrepreneurs experiment constantly and have a deep sense of curiosity about a group of exponentially growing technologies:

AI/Machine Learning

Sensors & Networks (Internet of Things)

Digital Manufacturing/3D Printing

Robotics & Drones

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Synthetic Biology and Genomics

Quantum Computing

Material Sciences

Exponential entrepreneurs understand that these are the technologies that can transform and disrupt industries.

They see how these technologies are allowing individuals to do what was only possible by governments and the largest corporations.

And further, they know that today, you don’t have to become a technologist yourself, but instead take the first step: to understand the potential and implications of the technology.

4. You Have an MTP and a Moonshot

Mindset is everything. Exponential entrepreneurs have a Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) that drives them to power through hardship and attracts the best talent to join them.

The most successful entrepreneurs then use their MTP to power their Moonshot, a product or service in which they are going 10X bigger than everyone else.

Finally, these entrepreneurs subscribe to Google’s eight innovation principles, making them central to their startup mindset:

Focus on the user

Open will win

Ideas can come from everywhere

Think big, but start small

Never fail to fail

Spark with imagination, fuel with data

Be a platform, float all boats

Have a mission that matters

5. You Tap the Crowd for Expertise, Solutions & Capital

Exponential entrepreneurs have the opportunity to crowdsource nearly everything they need -- ideas, capital, design, software -- to grow their company.

We live in a hyper-connected world of 3 billion, growing to 7 billion+. Around the world, cognitive surplus can help you build your products, services and drive innovation, regardless of the size of your company.

As Bill Joy, cofounder of SUN once said, “No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.”

With current technology, people can work from anywhere in the world at any time, and large corporations can tap into this global knowledge base to improve their systems.

Perhaps one of the most powerful aspects of the crowd is its ability to provide you with capital -- either in the form of equity or advanced market commitments. Crowdfunding has grown into an opportunity worth multi-tens-of-billions of dollars, providing more capital to today’s startup game than any time ever in human history.

Access to startup capital is no longer scarce.

There are proven ways to run a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign; for exponential entrepreneurs, these capabilities are second nature.

Finally, you have the opportunity to create incentive competitions through platforms such as HeroX.com that allow you to crowdsource technologies, designs, solutions… whatever you want. This is an important tool in your tool chest.

All you need to know is *exactly what you want* -- if you do, most times, the crowd can do the rest.

6. You Launch Your Vision, Experiment & Disrupt Yourself

Exponential entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life.

These entrepreneurs understand the importance of action, rapid iteration and experimentation. They follow Reid Hoffman’s philosophy: “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

As such, exponential entrepreneurs understand the importance and means for rapid experimentation and iteration. They push tirelessly to reinvent and disrupt themselves.

They drive idea exchange and create a culture of idea interaction capable of fostering creative solutions to previously unsolvable problems.

They understand where, when, why and how breakthroughs happen inside of the communities they create.

They know how to constantly keep their companies, ideas and processes focused on the future, moving forward, and leveraging the latest exponential growth techniques in the pursuit of even bigger goals.

Join Me – Xponential Advantage

Last year, SUCCESS Magazine approached me about creating an online course that would deliver my core content from Abundance and BOLD, the keynotes I give to Fortune 500 executive teams, and the some of the material I teach executives who attend Singularity University.

I spent about 6 months reorganizing the materials and a week of filming at XPRIZE Headquarters. The program is called Xponential Advantage, and it’s aimed to inspire, educate and guide a new breed of “Exponential Entrepreneurs.”

Ultimately, my personal goal for this course is to mobilize a million entrepreneurs to take on the world’s biggest challenges.

There are 8 MODULES (8 hours of content) in Xponential Advantage. All are topics I teach from the heart. These are the areas I truly believe an exponential entrepreneur can leverage to have a billion-person impact:

Module 1: Introduction to Exponentials

Module 2: Evidence for Abundance

Module 3: Exponential Technologies, Part 1

Module 4: Exponential Technologies, Part 2

Module 5: Mindset & Moonshots

Module 6: Tapping the Crowd for Expertise, Solutions & Capital

Module 7: Launching Your Vision

Module 8: Driving Innovation

If you’d like to learn more, click here.

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to Diamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. My dear friend Dan Sullivan and I have a podcast called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

[morningrainmusic]

Untangling the Enigma that is Portugal. The Man’s Live Show

Photo courtesy of Joe Bertoni

6/16/17

It’s been a while since I’ve written a concert review, but I felt compelled to cover Portugal. The Man’s show Wednesday night at The Riviera. I went with my sister and brother-in-law. It was a warm, wet, overcast night in Chicago. We arrived in time for the last few songs of Electric Guest’s set, which I enjoyed. The show was 18+ so it was a relatively young crowd. Nothing unusual or outside the norm happened in the first hour upon arriving.

Before I go any further, I think I should break down where Portugal. The Man are at in their career and give some general background. The band is from Portland by way of Alaska and formed in 2004. They’ve put out seven albums since 2006. Their fourth, 2009’s The Satanic Satanist was their big breakthrough album and their last, 2013’s Evil Friends is their poppiest and arguably their best, though it has a couple duds on it. They had a big following before then, but the Danger Mouse-produced record really raised their profile. Their next album, Woodstock came out the other day. I haven’t listened to all of it yet, but if the four tracks they released before the full LP are any indication, P.TM is continuing down the road of shameless hip-hop-tinged pop-rock. Which isn’t surprising because the band has an excellent track record in that wheelhouse, and the album was produced by the Beastie Boys’ Mike D.

T-shirts at the merch table read in large capital letters “I liked Portugal. The Man before they sold out.” Another said something like, “Nothing can be counted on except love and the first twelve Portugal. The Man albums.” While P.TM’s new merch has some clear tongue-in-cheek connotations, I’ve always interpreted their lyrics as nothing but fully sincere and at times almost painfully obvious. Let’s put it this way: the band has a knack for making catchy, sometimes quite musically interesting tunes, but there’s not much digging to be done in terms of what they’re trying to communicate in the words. I doubt even diehard P.TM fans would refute that with much vigor.

But back to the Riviera. After Electric Guest finished up the three of us made our way to the back of the floor level, taking advantage of the post-opener shift that typically occurs, cautiously nudging past folks who’d already planted roots. Is it a bit of an a-hole move? Yes, I will acknowledge that. But it is also not at all uncommon at GA shows, plus there were only three of us and we were being mindful of the people around us so as to not blatantly block anyone’s view.

Whilst performing this delicate dance, the three of us settled (very temporarily as it would turn out) upon a spot near a group of girls that would best be described as “highly abrasive” and “having none of it.” One in particular, a young lady in her mid-twenties who was presumably paying rent on the spot she and her crew of urban pirates had claimed, got in my face spewing disapproval. She and her early bird cronies had been in that spot FOR HOURS and some 6-foot dickwad in a soccer jersey was not about to stand in front, next to, OR behind her. (For the record she didn’t call me a dickwad, she actually at one point said “you seem like a nice guy but…” in the way hostile/touchy people sometimes try to express that they don’t think you’re a total piece of shit despite their disgusted tone suggesting nothing but malice and contempt). On we moved down the line to a more accepting region of less territorial folk. A good spot was obtained, but it was also in the unfortunate position of within earshot of what must haven been the most annoying guy in the building. Way too vocally expressive of his effusive enthusiasm, chatty, yelling drum fills seconds before the actual drum fills, etc etc. “Let me know if I’m bothering you man” he kindly told me at one point. Looking back, I sort of wish I was the kind of person who wouldn’t think twice about telling him my honest thoughts.

Did these two instances taint my experience? Yes. Is it fair to judge a band based on your impression of some of its fans? That’s a tough question to answer, but in this particular instance, I’m going to say no. Nonetheless, it will very likely impact my impression of all P.TM fans going forward. These few folks probably aren’t representative of them all, but also, who’s to say for sure? I had zero negative interactions when I saw the band at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee in 2014, so I’m going to attribute this to Shitty Chicagoans, P.TM’s continued ascension in popularity, and all around bad luck on my part.

These unfortunate crowd encounters excluded, the show was equal parts entertaining and confounding. Portugal. The Man can be called many things, but slackers is certainly not one of them. They are performers. One might even call their set list “adventurous,” though I’d have to disagree. Opening with a Metallica song and playing a 15-plus minute opus of “All Your Light” with an Abbey Road track peppered in are certainly interesting choices, but I don’t really understand them. So many great tracks left out because they’ve made a habit of tossing in covers and closing with the Oasis anthem, “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” I get it, it’s a great song and a lot of fun to shout the chorus with 500 other people at a concert, but hit me with some prime Majestic Majesty tracks or one of your dozens of other good tunes. As for the drawn out “All Your Light” take, it was impressive, but also just exhausting, wasteful, and indulgent. Missed opportunity city.

Sometimes a band will have a track that’s so nice they can’t help but play it twice. For young bands one or two albums in with a huge standout crowd favorite, this makes sense. P.TM are definitely not one of those bands. And while “Feel It Still” is a really good song (their website describes it as a “global hit” which kinda makes me wonder who they’re trying to impress), there is absolutely no need to play it twice. Again, play more Portugal. I’m not being a hater…that is downright unacceptable.

I also don’t know that P.TM are quite qualified to have any business covering The Beatles. Here’s who should be allowed to cover The Beatles live: -Kids in high school bands who don’t know any better -tribute/cover bands -Superstar acts that have achieved or have been in consideration for “biggest band in the world” status -Rock’s living legends -Noel and Liam Gallagher in solo shows/side projects

P.TM fit none of these criteria.

Minimal talking from any band members between songs except for Zachary Carother’s comments about Chicago being a city they love to play because they’ve had so many wild and crazy nights in this town. He added “let’s party” before busting into the encore. “Let’s party” feels like a very appropriate phrase coming from the lips of any member of P.TM. It encapsulates the band’s ethos pretty nicely. These guys make such a concerted effort in their songs to put forth their anti-establishment attitudes, “fight the power” mentality, and rebellious “just for kicks” nature, it becomes a bit redundant at times. At least in a live setting, the band is at their best when they’re playing the catchy sing-alongs with lyrics seemingly built to be shouted by audience members doing that emphatic extended arm waving thing more common at hip hop shows. I’m thinking specifically of songs like “Hip Hop Kids” and the slightly better “Head Is A Flame.” These are not “thinkers” in any way, shape, or form. Party on, indeed.

Lastly, I want to address one of the more distracting elements of P.TM’s live experience: their video backdrop. In what appears to be part of their overall effort to incite strong reactions, the band has elected to use a series of befuddling, bizarre, and vaguely off-putting images of androgynous humanoid figures, usually in some sort of sexual position. The least androgynous one came towards the end: it was a largely jet-black mannequin-type figure thrusting against a beach ball held between its thighs in slow motion. This wasn’t all their backdrops, but it was a lot of them. I don’t really have anything to offer in the way of decoding or explaining this. I didn’t like it. And to say it was overdone would be THE understatement of this entire post. Be better, Portugal.

I came out of the show feeling like my relationship with the band had changed. Perhaps they’re more of a headphones band and not the kind I’m into enough to pony up $40 to be harassed/annoyed by concertgoers and visually assaulted with “artistically bold” rotating, flesh-colored crash test dummies. I wish they’d played a set closer to the one I saw in Milwaukee years ago. That being said, I had a great time and so did my sister and brother-in-law. And hey, they got a reaction out of me. It’s been two days and I’m not done thinking (and writing) about the show. May be over now, but I feel it still.

Setlist

1. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica cover)  2. Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd cover) / Purple Yellow Red and Blue  3. Feel It Still 4. Head Is A Flame (Cool With It) 5. Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)  6. Once Was One 7. Waves 8. Modern Jesus 9. All Your Light (Times Like These) / A Kilo / The Home / I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (Beatles cover) 10. So American 11. Hip Hop Kids 12. Holy Roller (Hallelujah) 13. Feel It Still 14. Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis cover)

Encore 15. Atomic Man 

 *People Say was also mixed in there somewhere

[annasinha]

Thought Leaders of Today

Information Technology, as one of the biggest industries in the world today, is constantly changing. Every day there are new developments and breakthroughs. And every day, there are just as many, if not more, dead ends and closed chapters.

With so much happening so rapidly, it can be challenging to keep track of the developments. And here is where the concept of thought leadership comes into the picture. Thought leaders in the world of technology, generate ideas and spark conversations based on the most recent, cutting edge technology. In a field where the only constant is the pace at which it changes, thought leaders are the best way to stay on track.

As technology guides us into the future, we must stay informed, now more than ever. By sharing their stories - of success and failure and using their experience to guide fellow professionals and amateurs alike, in the technological world, these thought leaders mediate the conversation between the technological world and the laymen and foster creativity that keeps the tech industry running.

1. Neha Narula:

Technology has changed much about the world, including the very concept of money and how we use it. If you’ve ever wondered about blockchain or been fascinated and highly confused by the concept of cryptocurrency, Neha Narula is the person to follow. A director of research at the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT, Neha Narula dominates the field of research related to cryptocurrency and blockchain and has some pretty cool ideas about the future of money - programmable money.

2. Evan Kirstel:

As the 5th most influential B2B marketeer in the US, Evan Kirstel has a ‘healthy obsession’ with social business. An expert in health tech, he has enabled the discovery of many startups guided the expansion of companies’ thought leadership and helped clients grow their audience from zero to hundred with his passion and expertise. His areas of interest are AI and predictive analytics, which he believes will bring in the age of disease prevention and early diagnostics along with telehealth, AR, VR, and so on.

3. Cathy Hackl

As though women weren’t already powerful enough, Cathy Hackl goes an extra step defining herself as a Futurist. A globally recognized AR, VR, and spatial computing thought leader, she stays one step ahead of the game at all times. Her work focuses on the use of augmented and virtual realities in the field of marketing - merging business with immersive technologies. To keep up and stay up to date with the fast-paced world of virtual reality, Cathy Hackl is the one to follow.

4. Mary Meeker

Partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers, Mary Meeker is practically psychic when it comes to predicting internet trends for the year. Her annual reports are among the most highly anticipated and for a good reason too, as she makes these predictions, year after year, with a bizarre level of accuracy. If you want to keep your eye on the ball without expending too much energy, Meeker’s internet trend reports are most definitely worth a watch.

5. Jeff Bezos

An all-time favorite, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos is one of the most extraordinary thinkers of our times. From building a company from scratch to leading the very same billion-dollar firm an entire decade later, very few can claim to have done the same. Bezos keeps his vision flexible and constantly open to change. And with his ‘be right a lot’ principle along with 13 of his other core beliefs, there remains much to learn from this technological thought leader.

6. QuHarrison Terry

A future thinker and founder and editor-in-chief of Inevitable/Human, QuHarrison Terry has dedicated his life to sharing knowledge and ideas across the tech world through his ‘futuristic newsletter.’ An emerging leader in the business world, Terry’s forward-thinking content is aimed at all those with high expectations for the future. As an inspiration among thought leaders, his work focuses on what technology holds for the future and how it will shape our lives. To have your mind just a little blown occasionally, click the follow button, and you will not be disappointed.

Stay current with thought leadership technology and let their ideas and innovation broaden your horizons.

[top1course]

What I Learned Losing $2 Millions Dollars (3 Best Lessons) – Multi-Millionaire Entrepreneur Dan Lok

Let’s bring on the man himself looking Dapper as ever again Mister deadlocked, thank you, is my mic on okay good, how is day 1 of socialized, artistic always works it does what let me ask you a question, no yesterday in the morning I share the seven lessons I’ve learned, i’ll building my my Timbaland on Empire, the second one in 10 million but doesn’t matter, is so today actually who could summarize the seven lessons from who could do that, who could do that, yes, loud and clear, nonono the seven lessons you can summarize the seven lessons, each one of them each one of them, what’s the first one, god’s Not Dead 1, like in order yes, yeah, yep, that’s the fourth one, yep number 3 Service Road, good, yes, yes, okay I’ll feel what the Obama boss, from me okay tell talk to me afterward I’ll mail you one so, today what I want to do is maybe Liberty Interactive, After these type of conferences other conferences before, that is not the first conference to go to, and what happens is entrepreneurs business owners attend different conferences, and then they get all excited all motivated all psyched up and hyped up and then they go home and then what, yes and do nothing, it all that all the self-help become self-help so my goal for you, is to make sure you actually take some action, get some ideas and some strategies that you can do so let’s see how much time we have a go through a couple of things and then, maybe you have time to do Q&A that sound good, people will not hear the missing out, they’re missing out because, the second day is all about implementation, is about what, quotation so what happened yesterday I should with you seven lessons right, Did I come give you three more, 3 more, 3 more, the lesson number one divided into the lesson is this, ., yesterday we talked about attention yes, cetaceans the new currency That Money Follows attention, so, and afterwards a lot of people come up to me and asked me different questions about their business, the first lesson I want to share with you is this in any business you want to get how many of you actually don’t have a business now but you kind of, i have an idea, so you think wow okay wow okay, so how do you know like to be boss with you, affiliated viable should I do this and this and that, i always say with me any industry any business I want to get into my first question is, first of all is there at the Mann, not just because it’s my f****** idea is there a demand, Are people actually spending money.

Buying this thing, people coming up to me and pinch me all the time do with idea investment, nobody’s ever done this before, let me share my idea with you, at a run, no one’s ever done this before I don’t want it, oh damn my my my text this this is going to be I’m going to be new next Facebook I run, no I don’t want that I look into an industry where this already existing demand, i don’t want to correct in that. This is my personal preference, when they argue with me a lot of money being a Pioneer the Pioneers arrows on their back, mosul money. Lost in my business career because I was a pioneer, trying to do something new nobody’s ever done this before let me prove to you what I could do right, Should I prove how stupid I was, so I don’t like to do that, so any industry Outlook it look into like a Suzuki Manson question is can I be the number one or number two index, category, can I be the number one or number two, if this already number one in the match you well can I, mGP. Do they have any weaknesses or certain things and not doing so well or can I create, a category within that I could be number one and two so let me give an example, how many have you have heard of a little drink Coca-Cola, okay how many have heard of Pepsi, have you seen those Pepsi what is it does a blind tasting test yes it how they do it, play blindfold you in each ran against 7 out of 10 say Pepsi taste as what, yeah, How come Coca-Cola always catch their ass, pepsi can never ever ever be Coca-Cola, because Coca-Cola is first, in any Marketplace better to be first, all different, but better to be first you have that person to Market Advantage so, level one is you want to dominate, not compete, dominate don’t compete, how many of hood of the idea that competition is a good idea, okay it’s a f****** lie, for who, for who you think you say apple compete or you think they dominate, they dominate in any category any industry leader they go in there not competing, they are crushing the competition they don’t want to win by this much they want to win by this much, by this much so any industry at getting to you want to dominate don’t compete, if I look at an industry look at a business okay if I cannot be number one can I be at least be number two, If a I’m Number 3 and 4, i’m not interested, i’m not interested, one of the greatest Business book I believe that it’s, ever, written, and most don’t think about it, is The Art of War, by Sun Tzu how many Reddit, the Art of War, new Year’s Eve Valkyrie board book called The Art of War for the new millennium, with the Art of War one of my favorite quotes is, every battle is won before it is ever fought, most princesses the truth is if you have to be a done your research most of them you would know if you want to succeed, no fail before you put in the dime, most entrepreneurs they always all ways and ideas, i did not worth anything is executions research, is everybody can come with idea, but one elegant idea is better than 1000 Sammy good ideas, What elegant idea soap.

Are these know what the lot is execution is to implementation, i’m not the most creative God I’ve never had an original idea to my life, don’t like them don’t want them, because I go to the bank when I deposit money tell is not going to ask me you know Dan, they should make the biggest money with the original ideas, no, she never asked me that, so I am not a an original thinker I’m not interested that I’m a synthesizer what I like, what to do is I like to take some best practices from different Industries, and I connect them together, so they say I traditionally I’m in this industry and everybody does certain same things a certain way right, set a time and I’d like to borrow some best practices from other Industries, let me do this, and then I got the Breakthrough fessel Brillion what’s so brilliant about it, And it’s been doing this for 20 years but this one was different industry, so one of the things I would suggest read Publications magazines block, outside of your industry, that’s how you get out of the box idea, play my podcast, one time I was interviewing, the founder of priceline.com heard of priceline.com, yeah I’m Jeff Jeff Hoffman I was talking with Jeff podcast and Jeff was telling, telling me that, how he came up with the priceline.com idea was, one time he was reading a magazine some kind of article about, fruit, fruit and how there’s a company basically they sell fruit, but they do in a way that, alyssa you have a banana and is scratching itself, those bad right so everyday that goes by this company they would lower the amount of, Not the amount of money they sell the price for this, please tap the fruit, so just read the article and that’s how he got the idea well how come we can’t do the same with Hotel, what is Hotel Des laube agency in just sitting there it cost us money for the cleaner to be there he cost us money, for the air conditioning, and all these space that they don’t sell that maybe we could we cancelled our website, that’s how you came up with priceline.com, i need the original idea, listen to interview it’s not that original, but that’s how you get breaks, dominique Jones, compete second is verify don’t assume, verify don’t assume, the number one key, the number one key to business success, is to avoid bad, assumptions, is the number one key, two pieces access avoid bad assumptions, most businesses fail because, the entrepreneur assumes, It’s a good idea, assume everybody would want this, assume the marketing woodwork, does ultra produce when naturally optimistic yes yes we we look at the good side of things yes, how is going to work I’m saying and I was very very optimistic and that’s how I lost most of my money, okay so now I’m more of a realist I’m more like a professor professor professor of, fox reality, through that experience so now I am optimistic, but the same time I verify I I go through I ask myself the questions what could go wrong that’s a very good, good questions to ask yourself what could go wrong, not what happens if everything goes right, now what could go wrong, another very good question I have on my desk, what could go wrong, and what don’t I see, what don’t I see, what do I say, Oh yeah when I launched this you know my business so you know I don’t have any business experience I’ve got this great.

Idea I’m sure when I launch it in 30 days I’m going to make $100,000, that’s an an, assumption, how do you know, when would it be doesn’t, what if only it doesn’t make $100,000, you don’t make any money the first month, what is Integrative Medicine second one, what else you don’t make any money the first year, what if you don’t make any money the second year, it’s way better to think about it, think about it, who has, a higher probability of success to people, this person saying you don’t want, i’ve got this idea I’m going to go to Marketplace, and it’s going to be so easy, you know I’m going to lunch and I’m going to be profitable day one, okay and people would love it and they would tell their friends about it, Once they see it oh my God man there they will beat a path to my door, and I’ll be rich, in one year, better start looking at a house in a new car, this entrepreneur you know what, i’ve got this idea, i think it’s a, decent product but I’m not so sure as some assumptions in my mind, let me verify who are the competitors in the marketplace, how long they been in there, what’s the profit margin other products good how big is the customer base what about the growth, what about new threats, can I pick a cheaper can I ask you to make a cheaper let me talk to some vendors baby from China from India, see how much they can manufacture their for what exactly is a marketing cost what’s my plan what’s my strategy, What if I run out of money, well better keep some savings that you know how long can it last, don’t have enough cash I can last one year or two year, who is going to more likely to succeed, this one is avoiding bad assumption, this one is in Disneyland, nothing, this is this is entrepreneur so with optimistic, but we want to verify you want to challenge your idea, that’s why sometimes you ask me questions, it just nobody’s asking you these tough questions, all your friends yes, awesome go forth and then let me stick my life savings into it and then, when the Party’s ready you go to demi sexual by something, above idea, i support you I love you but I’m not going to buy, shut up what to tell me earlier, sono when I talk to people and say I love your idea okay credit card, Nothing to order, would you buy some oh no I don’t want to buy something why do you say you love my dear, feel like my idea, so that’s what I mean, verified on resume, it’s because of bad assumptions so don’t assume, verify your Intel, think they’re thinking going back to the Art of War is, intel intelligence, business is an intellectual sport, business is a what, who is not about who has the most amount of money, is who has the most money intelligence, who has Intel but who has access, to information, that person that entrepreneurs going to win, make sense, okay, last lesson, send Tyson a little bit what Mike was talking about, and that is very valuable, i know the person you’re looking at numbers and all that I can see some of you are texting on your thing and, and not paying attention, I was observing.

Cuz it wasn’t that interesting, what is actually important, sometimes an entrepreneur, the stop the Isuzu, that you’re not interested, that’s the f****** thing you need, because at an entrepreneur if you cannot read financials you’re f*****, cuz I mean you would think, i’ll sit on clematis when I see my friends Revenue every single year, it’s like going up like that, suddenly, next year the out of business bankrupt, i said what the hell happened, they don’t we financials they look at the revenue oh yeah this year make it half a million next you’re making me lyrics There’s 1.5 minutes, play me high more people what they don’t know this is rubbing his going up properties doing what, the only purpose of a business is to provide you with the future stream of learning so I will go with an entrepreneurship, turn assets, into Revenue, Put apples into what, and then from revenue into profit, from rubbing to what, profit from property into, cash, cash, is cash, flow management, no company goes out of business, because too much is not Revenue, every single company goes out of business because they run out of, cash, is cash, they can meet the payroll they can’t they can’t pay for the lease, that’s what’s the problem, so they look at all your revenues good to even Prophet Prophet it just a theory because you can’t go to the bank and say and deposit them, they look at Pop is good but exactly identity how much are you put it into your pocket, how much cash you have in your bank account that’s why don’t you look it up, cash them in the background if they run out of cash, i’m paranoid, about my company’s paranoid, i want to have a lot of cash, Nhmi companies, is my company last lesson and that is, be somebody, be somewhere, and do something, be somebody be somewhere, and do something, be something be somebody meaning that you want to be, receive I see the expert in your field you want to be perceived, isaiah 40 in your few want to be perceived as a number one person in your fear be somebody how could you do that, what the experts do they have what, what do they do, what do they do, what do they do, the teacher to educate they have, they have a book, they speak, play Pablo, thank you interview was yes, so put on a different hat so if experts they write books they speak they published they teach, so if I do these things, it makes me on, an expert, it’s not like they are an expert then they do these things no you do these things, Dad you are an expert, a chicken egg, so be somebody somewhere meaning attending conferences, meeting with people, connecting with people, don’t just walk up to somebody you know what I’ve got this product you know what y’all can I tell you some stuff, not like that I’m talking relationship, being somewhere, and doing something, doesn’t matter what it is, little bit of something, everyday, is, like most entrepreneurs and his last thought I would leave you is that they get discouraged and to give up because, cuz again they assume they have this unrealistic expectation, let me tell the story, analogy, bellevue, think of, i got two people, who want to lose weight, this person is saying in a while, i want to look for it and I wanted it before summer I want to get a six-pack and I’m kind of single you know, That that motivation so you know what to do.

I’m going to go to the gym you know once a week and I’m going to do about you know 20 minutes of cardio and maybe, couple punches, then I have a six pack out, that’s how much massage parlor sting, incepto that’s an unrealistic expectation, that they what, what are the chances of this guy get a six pack out, on the other hand, this guy, you know what, i want to get a 6-pack abbottswell, and my instructor my training set, i got to go in you know three times a week I got to kind of watch my diet, i got to at least an hour of cardio, and then maybe you know a couple of hundred crunches everyday, okay, but you know what just in case, i’m going to go to the gym 5 times a day 5 times a week, 2 hours a day not a hundred crunches I’m going to do 200 crunches, plus I’m getting some cardio on top of that let me run in order to miles, what effect has activity of thinking that it takes, to cut through the noise whatever activity you think it takes to make that sell, to grow your company whatever amount you thinking, just 10 exit, dustpan exit, then you won’t get discouraged because now your expectation has been adjust, then you don’t get this car maybe it doesn’t take 10 x d activities in effort, but I guarantee you if you actually 10 times you’re thinking and 10 * 2 activities you expectation, chances of succeeding is way higher does that make sense, yes, that’s all I have thank you very much.

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[mastcomm]

12 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. This Weekend

KRIS DAVIS at the Stone (Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 8:30 p.m.). Last year was the moment Davis finally broke through, claiming her rightful place as the pianist of the moment in jazz — particularly thanks to the release of “Diatom Ribbons,” her latest album. It was a creative breakthrough but also a doubling down, throwing her particle-based, detail-oriented style of avant-garde improvising into conversation with a wildly diverse group of collaborators. Some of them will perform with her at the Stone in the coming week (including the saxophonist Tony Malaby on Tuesday and the drummer Ches Smith on Wednesday), when she will appear with a different configuration each night. thestonenyc.com

DIZZY GILLESPIE ALL-STARS at the Blue Note (through Jan. 26, 8 and 10:30 p.m.). In the past week the jazz world has suffered two great losses with the deaths of the saxophonist and composer Jimmy Heath, 93, and the trumpeter Claudio Roditi, 73, both leaders in their field. Though decades apart, each of them owed much of their success to the mentorship of Dizzy Gillespie, and played in big bands that he led. After that storied trumpeter died, Roditi and Heath did stints with the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star band, composed of Gillespie’s former mentees and collaborators. This week’s run by the All-Stars — appearing here as an octet with a three-trumpet front line featuring Terell Stafford, Freddie Hendrix and Jeremy Pelt — is sure to feature a number of tributes to the recently departed members of the musical family. 212-475-8592, bluenote.net

STEFON HARRIS AND BLACKOUT at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Jan. 27, 7 p.m.). With Blackout, Harris, a virtuoso vibraphonist and marimba player, has long been proposing a kind of fusion that links contemporary jazz with R&B and hip-hop — often by way of the Caribbean, subtly. At this free performance, presented at the Schomburg by Carnegie Hall Citywide, the group will likely draw from their strong 2018 album, “Sonic Creed,” which marked their return from a nine-year hiatus. Blackout features Casey Benjamin on saxophone and vocoder, Marc Cary on piano and keyboards, Luques Curtis on bass and Terreon Gully on drums. nypl.org/events/programs/schomburg

VIJAY IYER at Jazz Standard (Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). Over the past dozen years or so, Iyer has established himself as one of jazz’s top pianists, composers and thought leaders. He not only plays in and writes for a rich array of ensembles, he is a faculty member at Harvard and a connective thinker who collaborates fruitfully with artists across media. But at the center of it all is his lulling, reflective piano style, which is as easy to love as it is imposing and conceptually advanced. That will be on unfettered display on Wednesday, when he performs solo; from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, he will be introducing a new trio, featuring Linda May Han Oh on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. 212-576-2232, jazzstandard.com

JOE LOVANO AND DAVE DOUGLAS SOUND PRINTS at the Village Vanguard (through Jan. 26, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.). Two leading voices in jazz since the 1980s, the trumpeter Douglas and the saxophonist Lovano teamed up close to 10 years ago to establish this quintet, a fertile playground for their wily post-bop compositions. The group features Lawrence Fields on piano, Linda May Han Oh on bass and Joey Baron on drums. 212-255-4037, villagevanguard.com

BECCA STEVENS at the Jazz Gallery (Jan. 24-25, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the Jazz Gallery — which has always been an advocacy organization for New York’s young creative improvisers as much it’s simply been a jazz club — is inviting many musicians to revisit some of the works they have composed with commissions by the Gallery. This weekend, Stevens — a vocalist with a strong, dusty voice and an affinity for all sorts of jazz, folk and indie rock — will perform music from her 2017 release, “Regina,” which began with an award from the Gallery. 646-494-3625, jazzgallery.nyc GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

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