The Future(s) That Didn't Come

"To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." - R. Buckminster Fuller

Ever since last week, as the comic con geeks and sci-fi nerds were celebrating Star Wars day around the globe (May the Fourth be with you), I've been dwelling on the not-so-fiction based topics centred around the future and human society. I got to thinking about the ideas I had formulated back in the days of my youth about what I imagined the future (this present) would be like. Helping a friend re-organize and add fixtures to her garage over this weekend drew me to thinking about and the subject of the futuristic architecture and living space again; put into the context of the stuff of what I had envisioned decades ago in my teen years.

I wasn't very hopeful in those formative years that we would ever survive as a society, or that I would even survive to adulthood given that the media was always reporting on the sabre-rattling between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations, spelling out that the Cold War was going to turn hot any second with little or no warning. It was depressing knowing that the most radical advancements in technology then always seemed to be in the hands of the military, which made it feel even more like the race toward Armageddon seem inevitable. There was more than one teacher I had tuned into reminding us of all that gloomy business. I got into reading magazines like Omni*, Popular Science, and Popular Mechanics when I was about twelve or thirteen, more to escape that fear than anything: to turn toward looking into some sort of future that didn't involve some sort of annihilation. Back then, I was actively being a 'futurist': actively speculating what the future technologies and society would be like if we survived, or altogether managed to avoid such destruction. I'm, of course, thankful that events occurred where the scenario of being reduced to a pile of ashes or stricken with the lingering torturous suffering of radioactive fallout never happened, but sadly, neither did the better future that I was preparing for come to fruition either. The forecasted future(s) of technical innovation and social evolution that was to provide enough for every citizen on this planet to live comfortably with an abundance of energy and material resources for physical and societal well-being never came, nor is development coming quickly enough for such possibilities. It's great to see that for the most part, we have been able to stamp out and hamper hard-core global Communism to allow ingenuity, technology and efficiency to thrive. Now all what we have to do is stamp out and hamper hard-core global Capitalism and religious theocracies, and the respective crushing poverty, oppression and ignorance it brings to billions. All these radical systems I mentioned do nothing good for the ecology and environment of this planet.

I was very intrigued back then by the work and writings of Richard Buckminster Fuller. He was such a brilliant man. He got me turned on to his version and vision of applied geodesic geometry, the concept of tensegrity, and synergetics. Also, it was he who got me absolutely hating my geometry class in high school at the time, which seemed in comparison so backward, so primitive, so dull with all the in-class recitation, and rote learning of proofs that we would never have practical use for in the real world. There was nothing creative about it; learning from a teacher who didn't do much more than regurgitate from an antiquated textbook from the 1950's. Each minute in that class felt like a step backward into some sort of intellectual retardation. I dropped it. To do that for an entire school year was hell to me.

Today, I'm very disappointed to see that geodesic dome designs aren't more commonplace for being used as self-sufficient homes, or at the very least ones that are used as greenhouses for local sustainable food growth to avoid the cost of shipping. I'm upset that there still isn't a pan-global hydro line network, lines across the Bering Strait to make a Trans-Siberian/Trans-Manchurian hydro line that switches energy from one continent to another at times when low night time use occurs the surplus production gets diverted to the other side of the globe when and where the need is high during their respective daytime hours, thus making the use of that water powering turbines more effectively and efficiently, thus relying less on other more destructive and wasteful power production. It angers me that South Korea and China have more Mag-Lev bullet trains than this continent, a supposedly more technically advanced one. As a citizen of Earth, I'm pissed off that there is money galore to peck into pristine spots on the Earth to access oil and natural gas with methods that contaminate and pollute the water, but isn't yet an established infrastructure for a cleaner hydrogen economy.

The one established trend that I'm glad was predicted correctly by Becky Fuller and is the phenomena he coined as "ephemeralization" or dMass: the trend of being able to do more with less energy and material** and resources. Think of the mass of material that a smart phone has been able to do away with as computing memory capacity with a given amount of chip-space gets ever more faster and powerful as it falls within concordance with Moore's Law. I attached a You Tube video which gets the point across better than I can.

Another great thinker I respect is Jacque Fresco who was a peer to Bucky Fuller, the founder and creator of the Venus Project. He is a (yet) living contemporary architect and social engineer for resource-based synergistic systems.

 

 

In regards to having a better future all comes down to being a depressing realization that lot of great systemic things have not come to fruition because they fly directly into the face of people who are stupid, greedy, incapable of using common sense, and can't fathom what a paradigm of interdependence looks like, and the ideas are supressed because of some institutional propaganda, promotion of omni-ignorance and pervasive poverty in places; not allowing a better systems to get a toe hold to begin with. I'm still lost in wondering if I should be hopeful for a better future or not.

Buckminster Fuller would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that the average schmuck with a cellphone or tablet, something that has manifold times the computing power that was used to put a man on the moon, is using an obscene amount of time doing nothing more with it than trying to reach a next level of Candy Crush instead of using an app or apps to actually make a difference in their lives.

*- Omni was a futuristic magazine, but unfortunately, it itself didn't have a future. It stopped publication in the early 90's. However, I heard rumours that it may be revived in a digital edition. Omni is an interesting title, because as it relates to Fuller, it was frequently used as a prefix by him in a lot of his visionary writings.

**- Bucky would argue that there really is no such thing as solid "material", but rather "energy-events".

Weekend Photo Spontaneity

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd share a few random pictures of the rare times that I get a couple days off in a row, with no commitment to do anything that looks like work during that time, starting the instant that I wake up. Sleeping in is futile as the day begins with . . .

sniff ... sniff ... sniff ... SLURP!!!

getting woken up with a very enthusiastic "Good Morning!" kiss. Actually, it's more like a warm, wet, panting whisper telling me something akin to a, "Daddy, please take me outside to pee. . . RIGHT NOW!" request. My own enthusiasm and energy to move arrive much later.

A better view of the face of the dream-interrupting culprit.

I'm left feeling somewhat a little derailed mentally though, because I think that this is the first time since this year began when I was not sick, stricken with pain, or scrounging around trying to madly catch up with household obligations. Time to get up and move.

I'll spare the details (and pictures) of my ablutions and hygiene, except that showering and grooming happen after the running/fitness: the only thing I feel obligated to do on days like these.

An app-shot of my performance,
 during mid-run.

 I needed to make a scene like this better, it's such a sad affair. . .

Breakfast . . . usually I try to keep at least this meal of the day high in protein to accord with my regimen. I don't keep any bread for toast in the place. Today, however, I felt like I need some extra carbs. I succumbed to the temptation to slip out for something special.

add a hot buttered Almond Croissant and a slightly
better cup of coffee from Il Secondo, and I'm a little happier.

There's that cheeky "Yeah, I'm gettin' some cookies!
 WTF are you gonna do about it?" expression.

After breakfast, and regaining a little more energy (from the extra starch/sugar), a mind with no commitments starts craving new ideas, and gets desperate to seek them out. But first I'm strangely compelled to tour the old neighbourhood. Ella loves that idea, as she has quite a few aunties (kindly female merchants along Broadway) who she likes to visit, and from whom she likes to mooch treats.

Just some of what I perused.

I forgot how nice it is to immerse oneself in the stacks at the public library; losing all sense of time there. I took some time to do that. I went straight to the magazine section, checking out random things. It's just more comfortable than glancing at the same content through a computer screen.





Then came lunchtime. . .

I needed something a little bit Asian and really hot . . . but since
Olivia Munn wasn't conveniently available, this had to do instead.

Then after that, just on a whim, I thought I'd check out a local music shop. I think I'm now in love with Roland guitar effects systems.

I took some of these out for a test drive. . .

.

. . . and monkeyed around on these babies as well. It was great!

2012 Sport and Leisure Show

If trying to tune myself into leisure was my mission I'd thought I'd better check out the Sports and Leisure Show at Prairieland. It was disappointing for me. The showroom was dominated by hunting, camping, and fishing vehicles and equipment promoters, and there was nothing of what I construe as 'sports' gear, like bicycling, skiing, or running, or team sport gear. I threw my name in a few draws, but found nothing much else there to interest me.

After touring around there, I was tired to return home for a nap. Woke up, poured myself a brew, and switched on the TV to probe through the listings for anything that won't waste my time.

Homemade 5.7 % alc/vol Dark Ale, plus watching TV
indiscriminantly usually results in a whole lotta stupid.

 Finished beer; napped again. I started reading when once I awoke. Non-fiction choice: The Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. Fiction choice: The Outlander, by Gil Adamson. I'm sure I'll be continuing with them well into this evening, so I won't waste any more words on that. I could just as well as pass on supper if more beer becomes an option. 

As the day cycles to a close, it has all just been a reminder that confirms that I seem to have highly limited capacity for using energy for seeking or deriving entertainment socially, or from external stimuli. The only thing I like socially is chatting one to one with people, and finding comedy in things.* The most entertaining stuff for me that ever happens in my life occurs between my own two ears, and I don't need much to stimulate me to think. I suppose that's why I've felt such an urge to start writing more, so as to pick through and recover the myriad of the stuff, both deep and trivial, that is trapped in my skull that puts a smile on my face. Some (much) of it is way too complicated for others to get, and greatly loses its impact when I have to try to explain it verbally. And therein lies the value of spontaneity.

*- Well . . . actually, as far as social activities go, sex trumps everything; in my little world though, finding and drawing humour out of people is a hell of a lot easier than getting sex from them.

Some Magazines I Like

It was more than a little disheartening for me to wake up today and see twenty centimeters of new snow covering everything outside, and then hearing a report that another ten centimeters will be blowing in and accumulating throughout the day. There is more snow coming today than what I think we’ve had accumulated so far for all this winter. I saw my igloo encased car earlier and thought of how it totally sucks that I still have to trouble myself to go to work on a day like this. I thought about what I would rather be doing on a day like this with being holed up inside, apart from trying to regain some sleep. For whatever reason, all I could instantly think of was that it would be the perfect kind of day to just enjoy the simplicity of having some tea and reading all the latest issues of the magazines that I prefer if I had them here. I don’t though; so the next best thing I thought I’d do is hone my wit and writing skills by listing them all, or at least the ones I would read on a snowy day like today. 
 

National Geographic – I love nature photography, and studying the great diversities of biology and geography, and how human and animal life adapts and evolves to each one on a developmental and social level. This magazine has been around since 1888. Pick a subject from the size of an atom to the furthest extend of the cosmos, from viruses to blue whales and it’s a sure bet that National Geographic has done a terrific exposé on it. They do great focused editorials on nations and cultures without too much political or religious bias either way. After spending a little time studying the masterfully shot photos in National Geographic after a tough day, I regain some sense of not really being so hard done by; noting how beautiful this world can be if we only allow ourselves a chance to see it. On a day like today, I’d most enjoy the photos of tropical locales.

Colors – Kind of like NatGeo in that it’s heavily based on geography, but it’s more geared to social demographic research in an artsy, creative kind of way. It’s a publication from Europe by Colors by Benetton, which is renowned for their use of simple, yet alternative and sometimes controversial advertising photos. Each issue is dedicated to focusing on one central theme, and puts it in a global perspective; things like water, prison, death, money, fat, etc. The last issue of it I looked through was simply themed Shit, and yet somehow it wasn’t as disgusting as one would think. It was maturely informative, using just enough impact and shock value to draw one into and hold interest about a subject that one wouldn’t normally opt to read about. The pictures are striking, but many have a grittier edge to then that provide some very sobering glimpses on reality. Other languages are interesting to me; I like the fact that each issue is multilingual. It gives me a chance to learn more vocabulary and grammatical nuances from each one printed along with the English articles and captions for comparison.

Adbusters – A global magazine published here in Canada. It’s an (anti)advertizing magazine about the deplorable and irresponsible ways that advertising is being used, and strips the sugar coating away from the biased media and their messages. Marshall McLuhen would be so proud.*

Popular Science – As a younger teen, while every other guy my age back then was reading hot rod magazines or trying to scam a Playboy from somewhere, I was enjoying reading this magazine instead. I freely admit that I was a weird kid in that respect. The most fun thing for me while reading this magazine was comparing the technology we were actually currently using to the earlier bizarre Jules Verne-esque visions of science and technology that this same magazine was predicting we would be using in our present from their issues from a few decades earlier. With this magazine, I was always wondering why there weren’t any hovercrafts in people’s driveways yet; or why we weren’t living in geodesic domes, or why we weren’t having robots to do our ass wiping for us (or at least to clear away all this goddamned snow), or however the vision of things to come was so predicted. Popular Mechanics is of the same ilk as well. 

Men’s Health – For basically learning and reminding me how not to do stupid stuff that will put me in hole in the ground sooner than I’m due for. It’s important to consider, since I’ve reached that critical age now where my current state of health determines how rapidly it declines once (if) I reach my senior years. I object to the condescending tone of some articles in the magazine for speaking to men like they were complete idiots about some manners regarding general common sense stuff about health and wellness (especially cooking), but the sad fact is that most men are that way. There are a few good reasons why men generally die sooner than women. It would be generally due to our own stupidity and ignorance about what it takes to stay fit and survive: proneness to doing stupid and harmful risk-taking behaviour due to competitive one-up-man-ship, and the general avoidant behaviour when it comes to men learning anything medical about themselves. This magazine serves as a passable substitute for the time that I spend living apart from estrogen-based life forms, which generally are the ones with more vested interest and advice for men to live healthier**, or at least helping one to look a little less slovenly. It’s not a magazine for your average macho dumbass . . . that would be more like the next one on this list.

Maxim – I like booze and bar room humour, but I don’t like hanging around with other immature idiots in bars, and overpaying for drinks. Maxim is, at times, my substitute for that. I like boobies***; I confess I like the smoking hot swimsuit/lingerie models that some of the better ones are attached to. I like guy toys and gadgets also. Conveniently, Maxim covers all that too. I don’t read it that much anymore, but there are times I suppose when I don’t really want to over-intellectualize things, or times when I need to prove to myself that I have a few molecules of foul testosterone left in me, and I need such moments for getting in touch with my inner pig. So, I sometimes indulge in perusing through some articles of the odd issue of Maxim now and then, mostly for a good laugh. After comparing Maxim’s articles with those of an ex-girlfriend’s issue of Cosmo, I found Cosmo had equally, if not more, raunchy sex tips (just worded differently). So ladies, please spare me the backlash and hypocrisy. Maxim also provides the remaining unique and more curiously weirder bits of health and wellness advice and answers that won’t be found in Men’s Health. Like, for example, how to lessen your chances of being tortured and gang-raped in a Lebanese prison. As adult male entertainment, it’s definitely not a magazine for intellectuals or sophisticates, but it has just enough tastefulness to keep it from sinking into being something totally pornographic.

Flavours – A quarterly periodical released around the Solstice/Equinox seasons of the year through the Saskatchewan Liquor Board Store, about available stocks of wine, beer and liquors in the SLBS, sources for gourmet ingredients, and recipes of how to blend them together as pairings. It’s local, and totally free.

Puzzle magazines – Mostly logic or math puzzles, like sudoku, kakuro, or logic grids, or else the odd crossword. Just to keep those two scoops of grey matter active.

Woodworking Magazines – Small carpentry projects are probably another hobby I’d be doing more intensely during my retirement years.

Magazines You’d Think I’d Read More of (but actually don’t)

Running Magazines – This is the Zen of running: quickly putting one foot in front of the other, in a careful manner, and repeating that until you reach your goal distance or destination to the best of your ability. You may, or may not, do better than the last time you did it. When it begins to hurt too much, then stop it dummy! And that’s it. Yes, I run for my fitness, and to some extent the challenge, but I fail to see (or maybe just not yet where I’m at another new competitive level to see) what else could be so new or intricately complicated about doing it (for me) where 12 issues per year can be written/read about the subject. To me, that's about as sensible as making a magazine entirely devoted to pushups. 

Computer magazines – Reading a monthly periodical on printed paper about enhancing a machine that can automatically download updates for itself every day if need be seems like a waste of time/money for me. They are written in baffling tech language which bogs me down most times. They are only useful of IT tech is your actual trade.

Brewing magazines – I have a lot of respect for the kind of intellect needed to craft a decent pint of beer. To be a respectably better than average home brewer, you need to understand the fundamentals of biochemistry, organic chemistry, microbiology (specifically zymurgy), thermodynamics of heat exchange, fluid densities/dynamics, sanitization/risks of cross-contamination, food science, stoichiometry, and the general math formulae to take into account all of these variables, and the engineering know-how to create a good brewing system. The brewing magazines out there are for the hardcore brewing über-geeks who invest a lot of money, space, and time to make and drink it, which I just don’t have. It’s just practical to follow the simple kit instructions that I use now.

Tricycle – A magazine about Buddhist living. I appreciate the teachings of Zen Buddhism; I have enough books on the subject already. Honestly, after reviewing them all, I see the fundamentals of Buddhism as stuff that can all be completely written out on a fortune cookie slip, and Zen is just a matter of conducting yourself mindfully in the here and now. I confess and accept that there are some days when I’m better at doing this than others. I don’t need to look for things to be deeper than that; there’s nothing else I have to buy into. I don’t place too much gravity on matters of meditation; or whether or not there are cycles of reincarnation; or whether it’s ethical or not to drink alcohol or eat meat; or what kinds of karmic rewards and punishments there are, or other matters that most people mistakenly believe Zen Buddhism is about. Thus, like with case of the running magazines, I need nothing to be made more complicated by monthly issues on subjects that are cyclical anyway. No disrespect to the people who do find solace in this publication, or to the people who put effort into creating it. Each has their own path to find. I wouldn't dare say that this magazine is a wrong way to go about it, I just don't follow it as fervently as others think I might.

*- Warning: this magazine will make you madder than hell at the corporate machine, and the things they do to mess with your mental environment.

**- Men generally don’t care much about seeing and keeping other males in good health unless: it directly relates to their paying job, it involves a member of their own family, or if they are in some gay relationship. If it were otherwise, we wouldn’t spend so much time laughing when a buddy of ours has some clumsy, but non-serious, accident; or being engaged in, or spectators of bodychecking/tackling/fighting in contact sports, or be so willing and eager to witness and fight in wars.

***- To prove just how much I like boobies, I’m seriously thinking of having one of my running goals as joining in on the Run for the Cure event in October in my community: out of support and respect for my female relatives and friends who have been threatened with breast cancer.