Musings of a Demon-ted Mind

Have you ever woken up and realized that you had woken up in a different world than you had gone to sleep in? It’s a serious question, one I’d really like you to think about for a moment. The reason I ask, is because all of us have, only we didn’t realize it. And the majority of you still don’t. The reason is that the difference is so subtle, so small, that it passed without notice except for a very few. In the year that I was born, Man landed on the moon, and it seemed the future would be a glorious adventure of man’s conquest of space. We would soon have a lunar colony, and preparations for the colonization of mars couldn’t be farther than the turn of the century… It was an exciting time to be alive. Then political reality set in. The government couldn’t care less about people going to the moon. It only cared about the space program because it was a salve to the ego blow of the Russians getting a satellite in orbit. Once it had been done, the government lost interest in a technology ...

I've just had a very enlightening discussion with Mr. David Brin, read many of his posts on his blog:  http://open.salon.com/blog/david_brin , and a few that he directed me to. The outcome of which is a little piece of introspection. Mr. Brin correctly points out that the chief ideological divide of our time is not truly Left/Right Liberal/Conservative or really any sort of "political" split at all. It is rather more precisely a forward/backwards split. It is the divide between walking forward into the future, or running screaming into a never existent "golden era" of a romanticized past. It's the divide between advancing into a uncomfortable future, or demanding we retreat to a mythological "safe womb".  It's the divide between GO and STOP. Between pressing the gas and slamming on the breaks. I believe in ecological sustainability, but I refuse to support the AGW movement.  Why? Because to me, far too much of the AGW dogma is "STOP!...

Alright, this blog post might end up being rather long, but it has become entirely too necessary. I’ve had to repeat myself far too many times. I’ve been arguing with people all over the net about “Government” First, let me define what I mean by Government. Government is a system of organization within a collective which directs the actions of the collective, controls the shared resources of the collective and which distributes those shared resources in the way which benefits the collective most efficiently. A government will always arise as the natural result of human pack instinct because it enables efficient division of labor and allocation of resources. It doesn’t matter what form this organization takes, be it a tribal council, a council of elders, a Men’s or Women’s council, a Fiefdom, a Vassalage, Dukedom, Republic, Monarchy or Democracy, the very organization itself will always be created by any group of people . This organization “Governs” the collective, and is thus a “Go...

The following is the opening chapter of a book which I am thinking about writing about Second Life and it’s value as a testing ground for the future developments of cyberspace, as well as it’s value as an indicator of the social and moral issues humanity will face over the next few decades as our technology continues to advance at an ever increasing rate.  Any views, questions, advice, or suggestions are welcome.  I am not yet certain of exactly where I wish to go with this, in terms of what topics to cover, questions to ask and answer, or even how I wish to format it.  *************************************************************** Chapter One: Welcome to Your Second Life “Why am I here?” I asked myself for the twentieth time in the last hour. I felt like a fool.  Why had I allowed Shasta to talk me into this?  An idle fantasy?  A chance to escape the humdrum daily grind and allow myself the freedom of just being myself?  This was crazy.  It ...