Starting Fresh, Staying Motivated

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life, Technology

The destination is often not the goal, even though if the road is travelled upon for long enough, one eventually gets there. They say the journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step, and this is my first step in such a journey. I have decided to do something new, bold, unique, and I am done inflating my own ego, now, I promise. Instead I’ll simply describe to you my undertaking, it involves the word Meta Verse and may even include some programming of a Raspberry Pi. I have decided to start fresh, take a chance, gamble, and maybe even profit or at least have fun, not, again. In short, I have decided to start a company, although not a normal or boring company, not that many actually are when you are involved with them.

The challenge with strategic situations is you don’t always have the best strategy.

What this company does is attempt to create a sort of different version of a Meta Verse that I believe might become a different way of interacting with technology. The Meta Verse is often talked about in the news, but what is it actually, what defines it, and how will we know when we arrive at The Meta Verse? I’ll start with my opinion that there while be many Meta Verses each doing slightly different. There will for certain be one coming out of both Apple and Meta, they are both aiming for mixed reality and virtual reality. They most likely will succeed and I hope it changes the way we interact with technology, not only that, I hope it transforms our social interactions because despite all the technology in the world, when we actually hang out with other people, it tends to be the exact same as it has been for generations.

The Meta Verse is a collection of all possible Meta Verses.

It is always either meet at the bar, coffee shop, or over dinner. On the occasions where you do go to someone’s home the time spent is great but then it is mostly talking, and sometimes you run out of things to say. That is where the Meta Verse comes in, it solves the problem of how to socially interact with other people in meaningful ways. For instance, you could interact with each other while all at your own homes, be physically present, and be socially interactive. Sometimes it could be a simple game like Settlers of Catan only in Mixed Reality so that you have something in common to bond over. Other times it could be a gamified virtual reality game of truth or dare that bonds you together. By being able to encourage social interaction to be different than it ever has been is the real allure of a Meta Verse.

Being social, is being human

That is the type of company I am starting, a new way to interact socially, a common hobby that draws acquaintances to become friends and friends to become better friends. It is also a Meta Verse in the sense that it is digital but not in the sense that it needs a virtual reality headset. Instead it relies on another piece of technology to give that same level of immersion. Right now, I am about to launch its main page, so I won’t expand on that in this blog post.

Sometimes waiting, is caring.

Instead, I’ll say what I would like the version of the Meta Verse I am working towards to achieve, long term, when it is ready to launch. I hope it is able to make bridging the gap between being total strangers and being acquaintances as easy as possible, from there comes the start of friendship and with a common hobby that is not so hard to do. In short, I hope it is friendly enough (both the people and the technology) to allow better forms of communication than could exist without it.

Motivation is the bread and butter of starting a new company.

I also hope, that it is so much fun to pioneer in our version of the Meta Verse that it becomes one of those who have tried favorite ways of passing the time. I believe it could be, and now all that is required is to start, launch, and run it into that unforeseen future, knowing I could fail, again, but trying my best to succeed all the same. Wish me luck, or hate me, I don’t really care.

Sometimes when you start off liking someone, you end up loving them.

Main Image

Spend Time on Life

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life
We’ve all been told the stories, the tales, the outright embellished words, the downright existential lies, and everything in between. In fact, when we are faced with time being time, we are often left wondering, did I waste today? That tends to compound and as the decades roll past the question changes to, did I waste my life? Now, I know what most people would say, and I may know what I would say, but as the decades roll past, and you become an adult, and every second of everyday in the past, builds and builds, until it reaches a crescendo of, maybe this is my life, maybe I achieved what I could, maybe I am the man I am, not because I wasted time, but because that I did the only thing I could, I lived my life.
Everyone lives life, and through life lives everyone
And that really is all there is to it, perhaps. Perhaps living life is never a waste of time and if you believe you could have done more, then you probably aren’t dead, so try again tomorrow and fight time instead. Fight it with every waking breath, fight it by outsmarting your primal brain, do what you want with your life even if it means just living life.
Because, at the end of the day, does it really matter what you or I or he or she actually does with his time? Maybe not on a cosmic scale, for in that when faced with the enormity of existence, it tends to belittle what matters. For we do not have brains the size of planets. We do not dance with our feet in different galaxies. We do not even occasionally smoke a cigarette on The Moon. Instead, we are surrounded by people, we love and care, we have friends and family, and, after all, we are human. So to compare ourselves to the heavens above, to say that nothing matters at all, is really failing to grasp what it actually means to be a thinking being.
Being human means realizing your limitations
Sure it may be fun, to imagine what lies beyond the sun. Yet, when it all comes down to it, what matters to most is what happens in those moments of time that are always aligned with the present. So back to the question, does it matter what you do with your time? Yes. Yes it does. For even if you believe, we are just a speck in the cosmic sea, then wouldn’t you have dreams, of one day venturing out there among the stars, wouldn’t you believe that space is mankind’s destiny? You might or you might not but back to the present, the only moment in time you have any aptitude of.
If you make good use of your time, think creatively, intellectually, and use your street-smarts, then doesn’t that tend to make the present better for many others? Doesn’t chasing your dreams and realizing that what matters is Earth and human beings change the fabric of the cosmos, so to speak, and make life better for all of humanity. If more people cared about what they do with their time, then you would think, our lifespans would extend and we would have more time, so to speak.
A life philosophy tends to be about life
So at the end of the day, I realize there are many life different life philosophies, but, no matter what you believe, if you make excellent use of your time it is easy to see that with only your brain, you can turn the tides of the human race. You can make life better for those around you and in the end, that is easy to overthink, but wouldn’t you like your life to be as good as it can possible be? If you work on the present then that well mean, in the future someone else’s present will be an outcome of your commitment to humanity. 

The Spirit Of Exploration

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life, Technology
Some people are content just to sit at home all night and work in the morning. Sometimes I’m like that but other times I like to explore, go on adventures, wonder what more is there to see, but, most of my adventures in my neighborhood have gotten lame. Video games sometimes help but really, where did adventure go? It seemed, to people living previous to the twenty-first century always had a new technology that was going to change the world, lands unexplored, or a change in understanding of philosophy that led to an entirely different worldview. I want that sense of adventure back. Maybe not the danger, but the sense of danger. Not just on my TV, and not just on some lame-ass VR.

Real life FTW

I want a real adventure, and I have an idea, perhaps it will be something you might find interesting. I call it adventure apps. Instead of just scrolling through cats, what if your smartphone could take you some place else. It could bind together strangers, and send them on a quest, nothing illegal, just out of the ordinary, for that is what adventure is, change in your daily routine, and what could be more fun than meeting some people and searching at best, for the nicest place in town to hear an old man’s tale, of where he hid the treasure, which could just be, an old note, if you find it, he would emote. What about if there were places to go, so amazing yet you’d never know they were there, old relics, statues, places with history.

History is an inaccurate measurement of the past

What if you took the show on the road, in another city to find an ancient ruin, stand there and wonder what it was like, for those ponderers of existence, in that place in time. It could be a social opener, allowing you to make friends, obviously the app would have to verify them. As they say, give a group of strangers an activity to do, they will bond and the bonds will start to hold true. Now then, with enough activities encompassing many cities, a sense of adventure could carry on, although, we need more than just exploring, we need to find someplace new.

A sense of unity comes from doing things together

Sure there is open source, that is nothing new, but, what about a different open-source movement, like how Columbus open-sourced the ocean blue in 1492. What if we established something that was worthy of time, an idea that is something we could accomplish, given enough time. Something like the Space Race, for this generation and place. One in which all humans who want to could participate. Not in just a new operating system, but in something truly grand. What about robots, for labor, sponsored by something like Kickstarter, where countries and people can donate, and there is teaching to get you up to speed. Then we could all have a sense of adventure in creating something new, open-society for the twenty-first century.
Why not?
How to organize this, is another story completely and maybe people want to do other things than create. What if we came up with a plan that anyone could contribute to that was nothing more than fun in another way. We could use our smartphones, to map the Earth in extreme detail. Instead of just relying on Google Maps, both satellite and car, what if we mapped it all by taking pictures with an app. We could map the interior of buildings through to the most remote trails. We could discover all the secrets the world has to offer through its natural, and man-made beauty. With our current level of technology we could do it, with the right incentives it could become economically possible, and then we could have our finished map, the world in so much detail down to plants. So now that we have that established, I believe it is in need of a name. I call it #mapEarth.
Use the hashtag #mapEarth if you dare

Being Wrong

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life
Everyone goes through that stage of life where you think your ideas are best, you are always right. Sometimes it comes as if in passing, other times it sticks with you your whole life. Ironically, it often gets in the way of actually being right. For when you cannot admit you are at fault, how are you suppose to grow as an adult.

Growing up you realize, that life is fun at all times

No matter who you are, or what you want to be, to tame the ego is a noble task and part of being human. We all think, at times, that despite all the evidence pointing at you, the evidence is wrong and so is everyone else. This can be called conviction, or if it happens often enough, a sign that a person has an altered perspective of their own life.
It matters what others think of you and to a certain extend, if they agree with your worldview
For me, the stage in which this occurred in late high school and early university. It has flared up from time to time since then, and I don’t always realize it. In that part of my life, I didn’t realize why my social life was not at optimum. In fact, I didn’t even think to think about it. Sure, I had friends and looking back, we didn’t have the deepest connections. Then university came along, and I still wasn’t having good social interactions. I realized later in my life, that came not from not listening, but from not understanding. All I realized I needed to do, looking back, is to meet new people. People more like me, not everyone can be a friend and it occurred to me, that I was the problem not the other way around. I had always assumed, that because we hung out, we were best friends, but as we went down different paths, I admitted to myself, I need new friends to help get the most out of my life. As far as I saw it, at the time, the misunderstanding came about from very different goals in life. I didn’t understand them, even though I pretended to, and they didn’t understand me.
Friends equal quality of life times happiness
In everyone’s outlook on life, it takes a while to build character a while to develop personality and a lifetime to become human. As I grew up though, and became older, I realized that there were many people I know, some friends, some others, that would claim to believe they were making a mistake (often times small), although, in reality, they were just saying it. They wouldn’t internally believe they were wrong. They faked believing whatever they said, they weren’t genuine and when it came time to act or do something of the sort, it came to my attention they believed they were right about almost everything despite all the evidence surrounding them.
Evidence is often the truth
That is one of the strangest things about being human, that for whatever reason people can lose their minds and still put on a show, despite being wrong they don’t let anyone know. Everyone knows that type of person where their ego is to strong, it takes a while to realize though and hurts when the matter brings up what they truly believe. Sometimes it can happen sober, other times not, and no matter what, they are going it alone.

Drugs kill, your perception of reality

I believe in life, what matters most is not what everyone thinks of you, instead, it matters what you truly do. When you let your ego get in the way, it seems everyone disagrees with you, and they do, the point the ego misses out on though is that no one actually cares if you believe you are right, they care about your actions and your ability to do whatever you want with your own life. For friends come and go, as they say, but get caught up in the ego and you will waste your lie away.

The World Anew

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Technology
The challenges that await us everyday become less and less demanding with each invention of something new. Something fresh is always on the edge of technology and with it a task that before was hard becomes easier. This has been common for a long time, possibly since fire, possibly since humans spoke in rhyme. To really observe a single aspect of our technological life, brings within focus the journey it took in being made a thing, both the ideas generated in the past and the advancement upon advancement that needed to be made. Life has a tree of evolution, technology has the path of invention, with each new node building on the previous and leading into what seemed impossible, only a short time ago.
Without technology, our world would be dark
The standard smartphone seems simple when operated, it is easy to learn its operations, and still has all the features of a standard phone. It relies on so many underpinning technologies that broken down would take a book, possibly an app to describe. The glass, in its most current form, uses not just simple sand melted down but has consistent electrical properties for touch sensitivity and at the same time a special scratch resistant coating that is at the forefront of Materials Engineering. Something like an Android phone may use digital communication, yet it can still call a home phone line, it still has similar features, and although everything on it is done in a slightly different way it is at its basics a phone, with internet, and apps. Some of the components on it are custom designed such as the case, and the others are other inventions all formed together to make something new. Each component has a long history and chain connected to it dating back as far back as invention itself.
Every invention has its parts
It is amazing to think that not only is everything in the digital world as complex as inanimate objects get, it is also guaranteed given a year or two it will be improved upon. That is what humans do, and seem to do very well, take something whether alone or in a team and improve upon it, combine new pieces into one, and add a bit of their own ingenuity. There are many documentaries about nature and there are some about technology and the two have a slightly overlapping characteristic. They both tell the tale of how a new thing is born from an old thing. On one hand we have evolution, which adapts and splits organisms to better suit their environment, and on the other we have inventions, which adapt and splits the environment to better suit the organism.
Underpinning it all is the human mind
The beauty of the modern world is everywhere, our daily lives are touched by works of art, our minds are allowed the inter-connectivity they seek, we have many things to occupy our time, and if you really think about it the future will be the same. There will be more invention, more ideas, more art, more beauty, less danger, and more nature. Whether we are watching movies on a TV, or using the latest augmented reality app, it stands to reason those inventions will come from the past. They will span time, space, and physics, will occupy our minds and our hands, they will influence what we think and do, and if anything, they will make the world more beautiful too.

Ideas can sculpt the future

The Ebb And Flow Of Time

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life
As the eras dawn and fade, as time slips by in pace, as the past recedes, so does it change the course of history. Empires fall and grow, citizens become more liberal, and our human characteristics mostly remain the same, modified a bit by societal constrains. We don’t know where the future leads, for we are bound to the present and immune to the past. We don’t know if there will be times of despair or times of pleasantries, yet, one thing we know for sure, is that in the future we will bring with us the past, use the present, and remain human in doing along the way, for that is what we are, inventors, caretakers, lovers, and friends, capitalists, literate, and sometimes just odd men.
History is a repetition of individual days
To try and foresee the future, is a human fallibility, we know there will be one, we know one day we will see, that the future has evaded our grasp, and moved past the present to be someday soon. We know that time will continue marching on, although, what we don’t know, is how to increase the best possible chance, that the future will be the best possible future, from cities to space, political systems to society, engineering and the arts, we need to plan to get the best possible lucky break, a chance if you will, at becoming what we may. 
The luck we make, may in fact come through preparation
If we wish the future to be, more and more inline with contentment, prosperity, and what we hope, than someone or a group, must figure out how to plan for it all. How to plan for technology and the human condition, shifts in thinking to an epoch change, a discovery that remakes it all, to the plan of what to do with the land we know. In the distant future, we will be fueled by the past, so we should probably give it our best shot and bring together the brightest minds, we wish to arrive everyday into the future, with at least a good idea of how to make the best use of our resources.
No one knows for sure what the future may hold, perhaps we will undo the greats of history, perhaps we will arrive to a wave, a crest of innovation, a new governmental form for the people. How to implement all of those possibilities, is something I believe, humanity needs to study with its utmost care, invoke the brains of reason, the creatives of the mind, and get the people thinking, of what they would like humanity to become.
Never forget, there will be tomorrow too, the day before is always new
If we plan for the future, with all we got, perhaps that future will be more pleasant, a pathway to happiness and inspirational hope. I know that if we plan for as many certainties as possible, we will reach it no doubt. We will reach it and wonder, what comes next, for the tale of humanity is not a book you shut, it is not a book you put down, it is ongoing and eternal, it is the book of man and when the readers read, the past and present, we would like the book to get better as you flip through the pages, we would like for humanity to prosper and grow. So let us all help write the book, and we will all be grateful to those, who helped bring about the future when it sails through time, reaching us in the present with humanity at the high points of our lives.

The hardest part of planning, is writing something down.

Being Human

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life

As I age, I have realized that my ability to understand the complex workings of relationships is limited by the amount of time I am capable of spending thinking. I use to think that I understood peoples’ motivations well, and that I was a good people person. It seemed to be easy to understand why people did what they did and said what they said, but, as I age I have realized, that is not the case. My initial assessments are often wrong and everyone is so complicated. As I aged, I began to lose friends, and, after my mid-twenties, started to realize that as you get older, sometimes, even the people you like the most, become not-so-good people.

The friends you make, reflect you in ways that aren’t often apparent

This mostly happens for reasons I don’t really understand, but, when you are young you never think you will lose a best friend to Nihilism. Nihilism is the belief that there is no point to life. Personal life philosophies, for me at least, were mostly an intellectual pursuit. I didn’t really understand the difference they would make in the outcome of each of our lives. They make a difference though, a huge one, and everyone I know who didn’t have a strong belief in the point of life, faded out of the good, away from the light.

Ego and envy also start to play into peoples’ lives around the same time as some graduate from university. I don’t understand both fully, but in short those who choose not to accomplish the most in undergraduate, choose to hate people who do. Growing up I always viewed not accomplishing the most as more of a personal choice, it’s your own life after all. Now though, I believe that it ties back in to personal philosophies. Just because they thought they could slip through time, not working hard, and not really trying, it turns out, you become depressed and make fun of people who try, for no real reason, just to pass the time.

Many times, it is yourself who is not right

One of the biggest problems encountered as I left university and moved into the realm of the real world, is ego, it oftentimes means, you don’t understand your limitations, are quick to say you are right, and never care to learn. Being a lifelong learner typically means you are content, but, when you just say you are the best, you don’t work hard, you show off, and sometimes climb the work ladder without really knowing your stuff. You take other people for granted and lose friends, tend to never think the thought that you, yourself, might be wrong. And often, it isn’t even about something big, just might be wrong on one simple thing.

A personal philosophy comes from reading, learning, wondering, and asking questions. It something you build up over time, something important, something worth having. Without one, you lack motivation, lack common sense, and as you age, you tend to hang out with people with similar philosophies. When I was at university, I began to wonder if people really were going to stay my friends, I thought for sure that me and my close friends, would stay best friends. I was wrong though, they seemed to fade, out of my life. Slowly sometimes, and quickly other times. It wasn’t because of our differences in study though, it was due to many things, one of them being some didn’t have a life philosophy. They got jobs they didn’t like, failed to become their dreams, even though they could have. When you fail at your dreams at a young age, you begin to get envious and depressed, abuse alcohol and not care about anyone else.

My biggest personal failures that occurred in my twenties, tended to happen from either inaction, laziness, or failing at communicating. It is often that there is a misunderstanding among you and your friends. Those things hide in the whispers of what is said and over time build until the breaking point. At points in my life, I failed to act, I knew something regarding my friends and didn’t know how to fix it. It led to a falling out among our group. Finally, laziness seems to be something that affects almost everybody. It affected me at times, and that drove away opportunities to seek contentment long term. If I could have one more chance at my twenties, I think I would seek friendship among people who have similar life philosophies to me, not among people that just seem to fall into place. I would take a while to decide who is my friend, and I would make a better attempt to understand them. Now in my thirties, I know some mistakes that await ahead, and with some friends and people close to me, I know not to repeat them again.

I am my only caretaker

If, as you age, you keep one thing in mind, it is we are all limited by our time. Our daily time is limited by our goals and our goals are set internally by our primal brain, that means you have to try hard when you are young (and old) because if you don’t fully believe in a personal philosophy, one which is good, then when you wake up in the morning you will find your performance is less than stellar. Not that you will care, as you first start out, just as you age, the effort you put in to your dreams, is not ever wasted, for it makes you happy.

To seek contentment, you need to understand that, time is your ally, if you wake up everyday, thinking today is the day, that I will learn and have fun, prosper and ponder, then today will be grand and build a tomorrow fit for a man. Then if you work on your personal philosophy, from time to time, make sure it isn’t Nihilism, then you will find, as you age, time is key, it helps you grow as a human being. It enables the great and glorious, and no matter the end, it is the moment that perspires, persists, and gives purpose, for it is in the moment we reside. To make the best of each day, realize that your entire life lead to today the thing that matters most, is the present, your best friend, with the past as your ghost.

The summary of a life, is its social circle