Renaissance Blog

There is a great TED talk by Kelly McGonigal about recent research showing that our outlook on stress has a large influence on if that stress impacts our health.  

It has long been shown that there is good stress and bad stress. Good stress causes us to build resilience and grow, while bad stress causes anxiety and health deterioration.  

The way I interpret this TED talk is drawing out the flaws in the old research where they have drawn reverse correlations. We were built for stress, what we were not built for is the anxiety that comes from letting that stress impact our perception of the world.  

Stress is natural, it is our body’s way of reacting to extensive external stimulus. When we get overly dramatic about the impact of that stimulus and situational circumstance then we get anxious. That anxiety is dangerous to your health and your longevity.  

Would Grok have worried about how his boss will respond to him handing in a report late?  

Get over yourself and quit creating drama and anxiety. Live a longer healthier life by taking a longer term view of these little events instead of letting them cause you anxiety. 

My favorite quote from an interview with Dr. Gabor Forgacs is: 

“Dream, dream, dream! […] We live in a time when it is really difficult to say: “This is impossible!”” 

I am deeply saddened when I hear people say that something is impossible. It is a window to their mind. The idea that anything that is impossible to man is almost inconceivable to me. Perhaps I am overly optimistic on when we can attain specific capabilities, but I am more conservative than many others. To me, it is never a question of “If,” only a question of “When.” 

It saddens me to think about how people could live in a world where they believe mankind is limited to what we can see in front of us today. It saddens me because of how dull the future must look to that person. It saddens me because that is one less person who is dreaming big and planning how to advance mankind. Imagine for a moment a world where everyone discards the word and the idea “impossible.” What if it was not even a concept in our language? History has shown time and time again that when one person demonstrates a breakthrough that proves the impossible is possible, countless people start to invent and develop well beyond that one limit within months. The human mind sees artificial limits and struggles against them. It causes great thinkers to doubt themselves. It causes the average person to get stuck in the current day. In a world where people believe that everything is possible, we could accomplish anything.  

Do yourself a favor, every time in the next month that you catch yourself thinking something is impossible, instead, ask yourself: “What would the world look like if it WAS possible?” Is that a world worth exploring? If there were enough brilliant people working in that one problem, for a long enough time, with confidence and creativity, could you really imagine that mankind would not find a way? 

This is from a 31 day journaling challenge activity: 

A 6-word memoir a-la Hemingway’s: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”  

What is mine? 

Here are a few I came up with: 

Driven to achieve, drawn into love. 

Struggle to balance body and mind. 

Fighting my nature, to chase dreams. 

For the love of a woman. 

Endless life, but what is life? 

Happily chasing a moving target forever. 

Peace in quiet, Joy in chaos. 

Hates people, energized by a crowd. 

Endless quest for knowledge, still ignorant. 

Father of two girls, empty wallet. 

Jack of trades, master of none. 

My favorite is this one is a tribute to Hemingway’s advertisement style. It reads more like a personals ad and defines who I am, how I got to where I am, and where I am going. 

Renaissance man: Seeks hedonism and purpose. 

What do you offer that cannot be replaced by a machine? 

Spend some time today looking at your contribution to society. 

Are you creating value to the world or to other people? 

Are you willing to adapt? Your job will not be the same in 20 years. What are you doing to advance yourself? 

In the beginning of the industrial revolution, fears abound that massive unemployment would follow as man was slowly replaced by machines for manufacturing and farming. 

One hundred years later we have the same fear growing that man will be replaced by a new kind of smart machines.  

Just because we don’t know what comes next does not mean that it is the demise of our race. It may be the demise of our current way of life, but humans are amazingly adept at adapting. 

Soon, there will come a time when we each must decide how we want to pave our way into this new world. 

One hundred years ago people would have been scared to death of climbing inside and driving a car 70 mph down an interstate surrounded by other death machines.  

Are you afraid of accelerating your mind? 

We have become accustomed to using external machines to advance our personal abilities of transportation, manufacturing, interacting, and thinking. 

Would it really be that strange to advance your personal abilities with internal enhancements? 

If you could be twice as smart as you are now – what problems could you solve?  

Would you really want to spend time solving the same kind of problems you solve today?  

It is time to let go of the fear that we will be replaced, and embrace liberation from our current limitations. 

You will have to grow and advance, or you will be left behind. 

It is time to evolve, or choose to stay behind. 

Complaint against the quality of AI as a form of denial that it will soon overtake you.  

Just as you belittle the man whom you are threatens by, so to do you thrash against the AI who will make you feel ignorant 10 years from now. 

Hide your head in the sand. 

Pretend that technology is not advancing.  

Get left behind. 

Humans are very good at cognitive dissidence as a means of protecting their world view.  

A while back I read the book “Average is Over” by Tyler Cowen. 

There are some interesting points as we look further into the future. In one part of the book, the author outlines a concept of threshold workers who have found an equilibrium where they work just enough to live off of and have changed their views on expected goals in life. There is currently a class of people developing who are perfectly happy living within the bare minimum limits of employment. Instead of viewing themselves as underemployed, they have embraced their situation and enjoy their liberties and freedom. They work very little, live off very little, and spend their lives engaging in “play.” This culture has a growing resistance to ambition and a general disdain for those who drive for more in their lives.  

This mentality is enabled by an economy of abundance. For as long as we continue to advance technology and provide the ability to live comfortably at a lower income, there will be more and more people who opt for this lifestyle.  

Some people look at the latest trend towards more and more income disparity in our culture and are indignant. That income disparity is not necessarily a bad thing if large numbers of people are content in their lifestyle. If your needs are met, you have access to all basic material goods and all the entertainment you want – then why complain? You want more, then go after more.  

Let’s look forward twenty years. 

Synthetic food is plentiful, housing is cheap, personal electronics are integrated and free. Everyone has access to the entertainment that they desire, and the tools to create all they desire.  

I see some interesting classes of people arising: 

Well Fed Artists: Imagine all the people who are driven to create, now that they do not have to sell their wares to get by, more and more people can commit their lives to creating art via all the old styles, and thousands of new technology enabled mediums. I am eager to see all the beauty in our world when any artists can thrive. Starving artists will only exist as a self-imposed creative influence. 

The Lazy: There will be even more people simply coasting and milking the system. They will be happy to be entertained day in and day out without contributing to society. This number will be dramatically higher than what we have today. The cost to society will be lower, so they will be left to their own devices.  

The Intellectual: Those who pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge with disregard for pay or occupations. These people will be enabled to explore areas which we never had financial incentive to pursue in the past.  

The Rich: Money will be different than what we think of today because it is used for different things. As we move past a scarcity driven economy we will evolve into an entirely different economic culture. There will always be those who acquire more than others, but it won’t be for the same reasons. It will not be “things” they buy. This is something else worthy of an entire blog post. 

The Powerful: 

These are sometimes different than the Rich. When money is not the greatest driving factor and not necessarily the result of success the powerful will live for influence. The will influence via new means and mediums outside of our current economic system. 

The Service Sector: There will be people who still drive for more capital and do not have the skills and capability to truly invent, but those with money will more and more desire, and pay for, a higher level of service. We will see more people desiring the personal touch and experience of a real human providing services, and it will be the new luxury. The rich will gladly pay for a human bank teller, a human waitress, a human on the other end of the phone. 

What other classes do you see developing?  

What’s the opposite of a person or organization that’s fragile? 

If you ask most people this question, they’ll likely say “robust” or “resilient.” But philosopherNassim Nicholas Taleb would say that’s not the right answer. 

He argues that if fragile items break when exposed to stress, something that’s the opposite of fragile wouldn’t simply not break (thus staying the same) when put under pressure; rather, it should actually get stronger. 

From <http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/12/03/beyond-sissy-resilience-on-becoming-antifragile/>  

This is an interesting outlook – and well matches the CrossFit mentality.  

I do not break. 

I do not survive. 

I adapt and grow. 

With every effort, I will either get stronger, faster, more agile, more flexible, or smarter. 

I will find balance, and I will progress. 

Have you plateaued? Step back and look at yourself. Where do you need to apply more stress? Where do you need to push harder? Do you need to be stronger? Move faster? Drive longer? 

Did you break? What did you learn from it? While you heal – plan. If you come back smarter, with a plan to move forward, then you did not break in vain. You will have gained from the pain. 

“May you live in interesting times,” has been a toast offered to good friends for hundreds of years. However, never have times been more interesting than now. 

Some days my mind reels at the possibilities ahead of us. There is so much going on, and so many incredible futures that could spawn off from where we are that I get a little ADD thinking about them. I have to intentionally focus in one area each day to contain my ideas. 

These certainly are interesting times. We have technology exploding in all directions. We have societies developing at astonishing rates. We have incredibly brilliant people working on ridiculously hard problems with the assistance of tools and information that was unfathomable 10 years ago.  

The exponential growth of technology will soon keep my mind and body young through enhancements and resistance or reversals to the natural causes of aging. I also find that I don’t have to wait, I feel younger each day that I allow myself to dream about the possibilities. I come up with more inventions each day than I could have considered in a week as a younger man. This is partially due to more experience in more areas – but also due to the rapidly expanding possibilities that I see all around me, inspiring me to reach further. 

Look around you, feel the vibe of the people and the technology. There will be unrest, and there will be growth. Some people fear what is coming. Those who find it fascinating and are inspired by the change will ride the wave through. It will take a strong mind, and there are likely to be situations that require a strong body. In interesting times we must be prepared for anything that comes our way. Prepare your body and your mind for what is around the next corner, we will be there sooner than you may think. 

I wanted to take a moment to talk about my favorite number. It is one small part of my largest tattoo and people often ask me about it.  

From Wikipedia: 

In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. The figure on the right illustrates the geometric relationship. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b, 

where the Greek letter phi ( 

) represents the golden ratio. Its value is: 

^[1] 

From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio>  

Phi represents the perfect goal. Nature evolves to meet perfection. There is a perfect aesthetic and symmetry in the golden ratio.  The ratio implies motion and fluidity. Music and dance, art and science.  When the world around me is in alignment, I am at peace. My future environment will maintain Phi at the core of every element.  

a + b is to a as a is to b 

A more comforting statement has never been made 

Perfection in ratio to internal balance 

The art of science incarnate in a single concept – Phi 

The heart of music and dance 

While math brings them together 

A static number that implies motion and tranquility 

As one number leads into the next we flow gracefully to infinity 

The greater contains the lesser, while perfectly nestling 

This is my goal, my target, represented in a single irrational number 

Should man travel into space? 

I’m going with a resounding “No.” 

Don’t get me wrong. I have every intention of exploring the universe, traveling to other stars, and expanding the human horizon.  

I just don’t intend to send this particular ugly meat sack beyond our atmosphere. It was just not made to handle the trip. Our bodies are squishy bags of mostly water, the relative vacuum and cold of open space is not conducive to human travel for one who values the longevity of self. 

Instead, let’s assume a better approach. I believe that we are much better off with a “tele-presence” type of approach in the near term, and a more safe transfer mechanism further out. We will be able to send sensor arrays to far off places much sooner than we will be able to safely send humans. We can send sensors that surpass the human sensory experience, and gather far more information.  

Later, once we have uploaded ourselves, travel will be far more interactive and reasonable. For now, we got shit to get done in our own back yard.