A game of energy
It is motion-energy that makes everything happen, so the "game" we're in is game of energy. Everything; that includes your body and thoughts too. To know about energy is to know about the game, the game that contains every part of our lives. But understanding energy doesn't result in control over the game. One human brain can not even predict the behavior of one drop of water, not exactly.
Typical of motion:
- Constant, if not interrupted.
- Waves. A wide spectrum of frequencies and amplitudes.
- Acceleration. From a more to a less concentrated area.
- Interference. Constructive (harmony) and destructive (cancel each other out).
- Friction. Conflicts. Turbulence. Chaos.
More about energy here
Connected
Everybody in this universe is part of this universe, and everything is -more or less- connected, so it's impossible to not be of influence on everything else. To be in total control of everything or even part of everything is impossible, because there are far more forces around than the few you seem to control.
Living and trying to understand life
The more I try to understand life and all, the clearer it seems that life is more about being here, and experiencing whatever it is. Being a tiny part of the whole, and huge relative to the even smaller shapes. Doing the right thing, and keeping a healthy balance. Trying to discover more about reality can be a pleasant busyness though, especially when few other options are around, so.. I'll continue.
Being human
To be human is to:
- be born, grow and start leaning, together with your parents.
- breath, drink, eat. Pie and shit.
- maintain your body and mind in good condition.
- develop some specialized skills.
- become independent of your parents, practical and mentally.
- live with the friends and things you choose.
- fall in love, do sex, get kids and care for them.
- keep on going, until your last breath..
You know how it is, and you might know how much trouble can come from doing what you are not.
There once was a society where suddenly everybody tried to be a tree, and nobody even though about sex. They got extinct though.
Stupid human games
The original human game-set is pretty cool, but if we want to move further away from living stone-age style, up one level, we need to upgrade the way we live. Sometimes the human-game gets stuck in its own rules, creating death instead of life. I'm not sure if progress can be made without slowly turning into a new type of human, with different DNA and such. We should not suppress who we are, thus as long as we stay who we are, typical troubles like war and extreme poverty will stay. They original human game-set is already un-fit for how far we have developed, it is obstructing progress big time.
Energy, Shapes, and Code.
A better way to see reality is with your eyes and ears closed, because the mind sees and hears, not the eyes and ears, they only sense. Your skin can directly sense the energy space and force fields: liquid, solid, pressure, temperature, stickiness, flexibility, and such. The eyes can only sense light and the ears only sound. These waves aren't the objects themselves, they only you how they reflect light and sound. Eyes and ears are of course very useful for knowing about objects that are out of reach, but try what you see when ignoring the light and sound (this can be done without covering your eyes and ears). In my experience, I feel only energy in space; force fields and motions.
One thing that can't be sensed, but can be seen with the brain are: shapes. Shapes are non-stuff, but they do need stuff as a medium, even when being virtual. I see 3 kinds of shapes: Random, Organized, and Alife. Random is just a mess, no order, no life. Organized is caused by basic forces like gravity that separates for example land, water, air, and atoms forces that for example make a crystal grow so beautiful. Alife then, would be shapes that can reproduce themselves to prevent the kind to declay into randomness. And also the ability to react on its environment in such ways that will improve the chance on survival. (I know; not a very romantic description of life).
One more thing is code. Code is a compressed action script, that when started will cause a chain reaction of events. This can be an expansion of a plan. Typical is a code that reproduces itself, although it's not necessary. I'm not talking about computer software now. A seed that causes a tree to grow is one example. A biological virus is a good example too, of a shape that contains a code, a code that can enormously expand and have a huge effect on its surroundings. But a seed or virus, can only do so by using the power available in it's surroundings. If the surroundings don't support it, it will -as everything- slowly turn into randomness, a.k.a. die.
Yes agent Smith, you're right; people contain a code (DNA & culture) to that runs similar to a virus.
Amplifying an idea
An interesting question is how much one person's idea can be amplified to shape a part of the universe. Having a great idea is cool, but just that brings it nowhere. Big ideas cost far more power than a single person can ever control. If no special idea is amplified, then all just continues in a common fashion, and that will probably not lead to anywhere special soon -if ever.
Somewhere special is a rare shape, and to get to that shape, the will of a great lot of people have to be aligned, wanting and acting towards the same direction. Energy can -still- not be created by us. To get so much going towards one direction, you'll have to guide the energy that is already out there.
This would be very similar to how a seed becomes a tree.
Needed:
- A goal.
- An action plan, with is a code for a chain event that should lead to the goal.
- An environment that supports running the action plan.
- A whole lot of luck.
The knowledge of how to shape the world as wished, is nothing new. What many people still want is kind of disappointing though: more power than others, which causes a lot of people and other parts of nature to suffer.
Unfortunately; lessons can be learned from dictators and such. There have been so many power horny creeps who were able to lead countries into a living hell. How can one person have so much influence?!
Power addicted people
Everybody is afraid to lose what is precious. Often do people not feel safe, for numerous real and imaginary reasons. Fear is a powerful motivator. Some are thereby addicted to gaining excessive amounts of power & security.
Some are in the game at a better position than others:
Who is dying in a war, and who makes a profit from it?
Who is dying from poverty, and who lives in luxury?
Who is doing the hard work, and who receives the results?
Who is living on the beautiful spots?
But I don't want to give these people much credit for that. Someone's position in a society is not much of a choice; you'll get born somewhere and have to start from there. The "social" structure we live in is like that, and it won't change much if we leave it like that.
No; it ain't fair. So what are you going to do?
Can the quality of life on Earth be improved?
The quality can easily be lowered, so yes; it can be raised too.
Is the quality of life now (2007) of the highest possible level? I think not!
I guess I should start write a design for a better future now. (and why don't you?)
The game of cause & effect
The first moves of a game of Go or Chess are of great importance to the game; if you make a dumb move, it will effect the whole rest of the game and if your opponent plays well, you'll probably lose. A master of the game (not likely a human) knows who will win the game very soon because all possible effects of the first moves are clear. A game is fun as long as there's something to learn and a worthily opponent to beat.
Humans play games all the time, real games where the most important things are at stake. Here too can a dumb move early in life have great negative effects on the rest of the days. But it's not that simple; the game is complex and nobody is in total control of his/her life. The first years of life, probably the most important ones, are in the hands of the parents (if there are parents..).
It might on average be so that the ones who win one game have more chance to will the next one also, and the ones who lose at first will most likely lose the next game also. Of course this is on average thus there will always be opposite examples. If this is true, the government should make a choice how big the gab between losers and winners may be. If rich or poor is no matter of personal quality but of a continues effect of good or bad luck, we should support the ones with bad luck a bit more, especially in the first years of life. Too much a difference between the powerful and poor isn't good for the whole society, not good for just about everybody. One thing though; happiness is not for sale.
I don't believe in the power of money, I believe in the power of being well organized, working together. Money is simply a trade-tool, worthless otherwise. The effects of poring money into a "poor" country, is poor compared to organizing the country in a way that pleases most. I believe that there's no reason for a country to be poor, in theory. But most countries aren't well organized, have a government that's not fair to the majority of the population, and is especially unfair toward other countries. Powerful people don't wanna be less powerful, and powerful countries don't wanna be less powerful. All very childish, dump causes that will have their effects.
Do things always have a cause or do effects happen spontaneously also? This is a very important question. Many of today's (2006-01) scientist believe they spot effects without causes (on sub atomic levels). My instincts tells me the fact that they don't see the cause means that they don't see the cause. Creating the idea of a new reality is a complicated method of saying "I don't know". But what if my instincts are wrong? My instincts are adapt to this very narrow human environmental area, and thus blind to most of reality. If on nanoscale things just happen, without a cause, then the fate of our lives is not set also, and the power of choice is strong, but if there's nowhere a causeless effect to be found in this universe, then the idea of having a choice is yet another illusion.
Small choices can have great effects. If I hadn't trusted the young tired drivers in this cheap bus on unknown roads, and took a train instead, then I would not be paralyzed now (unless caused by an other event). But in most events, the effects of a little change won't be significant, like if I now do or do not blink my eyes, will probably not change the future much. Missed the train and met the love of your life? What if..
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Giesbert Nijhuis
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