Tag: humanity

The Internet as a Means of Self Expression

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life, Technology

It is the year 2024, almost halfway through the decade. Within a month presents while be bought, gifts while be wrapped, alcohol while be drunk and the new year will arrive. With it comes the facts of this day and age, five billion people are online and have internet. Somewhere around four or more billion people have a smartphone with internet access, and more time is spent on the internet than watching cable television. The internet is a strange invention, you don’t just consume content like a television, newspaper, or book, but contribute back as easily as typing a YouTube comment or liking a Tweet. It allows humans from any culture, any society, and any background to not only browse the internet, but shape and form it as well.

The Internet can change interaction

What does it take to make an internet site? All, it takes is an internet connection and a computer; either Windows, Linux, or macOS, and time. You first need to figure out the basics of HTML, then, some CSS, and if you are feeling lucky you can dabble with JavaScript. HTML is the backbone of the web. It stands for Hypertext Markup Language and is an electronic document that can be sent from the server to the client (you). It uses tags which look like “<h1>This is a Heading</h1>” to enable the transfer of information to your web browser. CSS is the look and feel of the web, it is how you can style your website to look like a graphic artist’s dream or nightmare. It allows the structure of the internet (HTML) to look different by affecting the styling of HTML elements. JavaScript is the interactivity like Facebook’s infinite scroll newsfeed. That at its basics is all that is sent from the server to your internet browser. That is how the web works. That is the complexity and simplicity of the internet.

Can anyone create a website?

Anyways, back to the point of this blog post, if anyone can make a website and anyone can be online, what does it mean to express yourself as a individual human being in the modern age? Are we content to simply consume the web, or do we also want to contribute back? And, if we want to contribute back, with the rise of large tech companies, how do we know that we can without being inhibited by censorship from companies or states? What are the rules underpinning the internet?

Does self expression cost money?

Sure, it is great to imagine that anyone can be on Facebook, but, in actuality, is it possible to be banned? Is it possible to be blacklisted from Google? And does Twitter really need to change its name. Is it possible to release a CD on Spotify and it never be heard? Is it every one’s dream who spends time on YouTube to have their own YouTube channel, in theory that is great, but imagine this scenario: you develop a channel as large as Mr. Beasts only to be thrown aside by the YouTube algorithm over something controversial. And, if that is possible, who is to say it is done for a good reason, whether on YouTube or elsewhere, and if that can be done, is it being done as we speak? Right now, are there people who are banned from Facebook? Websites that are banned by Bing? Or even YouTube channels blacklisted for no good reason. Even if there is a good reason to ban someone, where does self-expression start, and censorship stop? What are the rules of the actuality of the internet?

If the rules aren’t known, how do we know they are being followed?

At the end of the day, the world of the web is managed by a few dozen large internet companies for the western English language web. The rules are often stipulated in their terms of service but those are long are complicated to read, even if they are read, are they what is actually followed or is there some element of the unknown involved. When you have poured your heart and soul into your chosen hobby and want to share it with the world, why should a corporation theoretically have the right to destroy your life and your means of individual self expression. With little to no court cases based around internet organizations blacklisting individuals or even small companies, we are left with two options: either they don’t ban people, or they do. If they don’t, how come? What are the actual rules of the world wide web. And, if they do, how is that building an open an inclusive society of the future. How is that respecting the rights of the individual and the whole of society.

The web is a fundamental human right

I believe, that if what we are aiming for with the internet is to build a better future than is possible without digital technology, then there needs to be some actual laws underpinning of human self-expression on the internet. If it were possible to establish such laws that all web sites must follow, then we would need to make sure that the laws are actually followed by every major web site. At the end of the day, there are laws that involve website cookies and internet privacy that are commonly followed on the web, but as our civilization goes online, I hope we can ensure no one gets left behind. With the dawn of the digital comes a change in how we live our lives and how we interact with each other. Individual self-expression is just as important as money, and our humanity needs to be respected as we express ourselves online and embark on the frontier of tomorrow.

Loving Life and Staying Happy

by Matt the Pioneer, posted in Life

The key to living a happy life, is to live a good life, and the key to living a good life is to chase your dreams or they while chase you. Dreams are a funny thing, everyone has them. Some strive to let them define them, mold them, and shape them in character. Others’ choose to let them slip past, but, it is never to late to start a new life goal. Over my life I have started many different things, some I failed at, some I did okay, and some, I am even proud of. The key in life is perseverance I have found as I age. If you simply keep putting the sneakers on, running as far as you can, get exhausted, wait to recover, and then try again you will be eventually able to run a marathon. If you keep that going for many years, I know you could even make it to the Olympics.

Life is love of reality itself

Practice makes perfect, but to become a rock star takes years. That is what makes the difference between the latest EDM artist and someone who has yet to put in the hours. To become anything, anyone can is something I believe. And if you love life and want to be happy, all it takes is to chase your dreams. If you let them slip away, it is never too late, they may have changed, but you can always succeed, with just the right mental mind state.

Hobbies are what makes us human

I have many dreams myself personally, I love learning as much as I can, maybe not everyday, but I work towards it to the best of my ability. Every night, I reflect on the day and think how I can change to being more productive tomorrow. The best person to compete with for motivation is yourself. You from yesterday is someone to strive to be better than today. With the coming of life, comes what to do with your time. I don’t think it matters what you do with your time, as long as you don’t waste it. If you practice guitar, you are happy, if you become better with time management, that can lead to fulfillment, and even if the dream of releasing your own CD never works out, you can always be happy playing in a cover band knowing that you gave it your all.

When you age, you change

Age is what brings wisdom, I like to believe, if you have a life goal, that is where tomorrow’s destiny lies. When i was at university, I didn’t think at my current age, I would still find joy from an online course. I do though, and I hope so do you. Love life. Live long. Be happy. And be around people who make your life better. If you love what you do with your time, that is the key to the universe’s rhymes. So, in parting words, love yourself and strive your best, you will become content and never regret it.

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

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.