Ummagumma

Of course, the rise of personalized algorithmic selves is purely a speculation on my part.  Yet it does not seem so far-fetched considering the anticipated future of computing power and the fact that we are training all sorts of algorithms about our humanity right now.  There will likely be a major battle fought over their transparency.   Corporate algorithms will strive to survive (profit) from algorithmic selves but, in doing so, algorithms become transparent to the end-user in a way that they do not today.  Today you are surveilled without your direct knowledge.  Algorithmic selves could alert you to how your use of any service might be used by other companies.  This empowerment creates all sorts of legal and political questions that I will not address now.   Algorithmic selves threaten the existence of surveillance capitalism by making the surveillance itself transparent to the end users.  This is a “blockchain effect” by providing security through transparency.  This will have se

  Close-up of the buzzard posing for me on the tip of my roof. Yesterday afternoon a weather front passed through.  It had rained almost three-quarters of an inch during the early morning.  The skies were still overcast for most of the day though no more rain fell.  I was outside near the house with Kudo when I heard a scratching type noise.  At first I thought the sound was coming from one of the downspouts on our gutters.  "Oh crap," I thought.  "Some bird is trying to build a nest in my gutters."  But that wasn't what was happening. Kudo started growling and barking.  She has a fierce growl but a rather sissy bark.  I turned and noticed that her eyes were directed higher, toward the roof of the house.  Suddenly, a large buzzard casually walked along my roof to the highest point on the house.  It just perched there, unimpressed by Kudo's escalating tantrum.  I hastened into the house to fetch my camera.  Upon my return, the buzzard was still hanging

Image credit. Plasticity itself is seeking novelty.  True plasticity of mind does not wait to learn, it seeks.  This seeking makes a multitude of mistakes, but a few discoveries as well.  So the seeking is not to be silenced by "quieting the mind" as in some eastern traditions.  It is beneficial to possess a seeking drive, in spite of our errors.  Seek new things, keep learning.  Learn a language or take up yoga or play music or read more off of paper rather than a monitor (it improves your brain's comprehension).  Use your non-dominant hand for simple tasks.    If that is easy for you then strive to become ambidextrous.   Diet also facilitates neuroplasticity.  Walnuts, blueberries and avocado as well as sources of Vitamin D and magnesium maximize flex-brain potential.  Seven to n

Image credit. Nietzsche was actually incredibly cautious, even stingy, when it came to doling out personal advice.  He consistently affirmed his own life choices and personal way of Being but also said he could not offer specific advice to another, different multiplicity of drives.   “Insofar as the individual is seeking happiness, one ought not to tender him any prescriptions as to the path to happiness: for individual happiness springs from one’s own unknown laws, and prescriptions from without can only obstruct and hinder it."  ( Daybreak , Aphorism 108)   So, when it comes to discussing the psychological toolbox I want to chiefly follow Nietzsche's lead.  Theoretically, almost anything can be in a person's toolbox, any human experience can be used as a tool in any mom