Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Syria - climate change - global warming - environmental refugees

A few weeks ago a picture of a boy was all over the place:


At first I was thinking ‪#‎mediapropaganda‬ and ‪#‎newscorporations‬ playing on my emotions. I directed my first attempts towards obtaining reliable source of information. Computer phrase - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out - computers operate by logical processes, will unquestioningly process unintended, even nonsensical, input data ("garbage in") and produce undesired, often nonsensical, output ("garbage out")

Human brain is the most powerful computer that we know and I personally adhere to these values - https://genesis.re/wiki#Core_Values - Love, Peace and Respect are on top of the list - I treat them more important than respecting the law (that in some instances is obsolete, while Love, Peace and Respect are above all)

So I was presented with an unprecedented problem. Bombarded by Syria information and having no way of verifying it. And even if I receive a verified information - how do I ensure it presents the larger picture? (not just a view of a wealthy technologist who can afford satellite internet to transmit data)

So here is the root cause

GLOBAL FU**ING WARMING





If we don't stop it - read more on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_migrant - figure by 2050 might be as high as 250 million

Some of my views are controversial but the way how I see it - if we don't restore balance it will get even worse - it will affect future of planet and it may happen that we reach point of no going back... Where positive feedback loops will kick in:

* white ice cover (that reflects Sun) will melt and transform into ocean (that absorbs heat)
* Siberia will melt and release gases
* speaking of gases - just find some data how much water is required to produce meat - http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste - and how much 'gases' are produced in the process

Topic of veganism is completely different story. In fact my moral compass allows me accept responsible use of animal products (don't dwell too much on that). I actually did some research - http://health.stackexchange.com/questions/3660/is-it-healthy-to-eat-meat-of-an-animal-that-died-of-an-old-age - if an animal dies of an old age it might be better for environment to eat it, rather than allow to rot and provide environment for germs. But the animal exploitation on an industrial scale? Not cool. Just to name a few movies exposing the thing:






I highly encourage you to get familiar with work of Daniel Pinchbeck: http://www.pinchbeck.io

I had a privilege of meeting with him on various occasions (in person and online) and I highly appreciate his gift of telling stories.

Breaking Convention: http://www.pinchbeck.io/blog/2015/7/29/psychedelic-initiation-and-the-ecological-mega-crisis-qa-with-russell-brand


Daniel Pinchbeck - Psychedelic Initiation and the Ecological Mega-Crisis from Breaking Convention on Vimeo.

Daniel also announced on his Facebook than a new book is coming: "How Soon Is Now?"

Ecological mega-crisis is an initiation for humanity - much like a shamanic initiation - that will force us, as a species, to reach another level of consciousness, and embody that consciousness in a new social system, as well as a new technical infrastructure.

We must shift our industrial and commercial system away from "planned obsolescence" toward the production of durable and repairable goods. Doing this requires a change in the underlying "game rules" of our financial system.

If we want our civilization to survive - if we want to survive as a species - we will need to reduce meat eating, or eliminate it entirely, and curtail excess travel as well as production of unnecessary goods, reducing our burden on the Earth's natural systems. This is only conceivable through a broad-based, global movement of civil society.

A new social system, a new technical infrastructure

May the the Force be with you.

genesis.re - I don't engage in current affairs, matters, politics, economy - starting from the beginning - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_on_the_shoulders_of_giants - connecting experiences, connecting the dots...

It is not cool to mess with the climate

https://www.climategames.net

(watch the video from the tweet above)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Being homeless is not cool (especially in Winter)

I try to better understand the world, reality and things around me...



I see homeless people and on a few occasions I asked them a question: "is it your choice or necessity"? Most of the time they look angrily at me and I take is as "necessity" (not a choice)...

Is it really a necessity? There are so many safety networks in place, so many charities and organisations, social workers... To the point where it is called a "third sector" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_sector - to distinguish from public sector and the private sector.

In my opinion cost of being homeless is enormously huge:
* cost of not having good sleep
* cost of carrying around your stuff
* cost of not being able to cook
* cost of not being able to buy food in bulk
* cost of not being clean and fresh to apply for jobs
* cost of being sick and getting medical attention and medicines
* cost of... (list can go on and on)

Speaking of applying for jobs - https://www.pinterest.com/mstefanow/jobs-in-london/ - yesterday it took me 15 minutes to upload 8 job offers - on some occasions it was longer to upload via 4G than to find a new post:


(truth to be told it is an expensive area of London and a successful candidate would have to spend some time commuting)

Yet another cost - cost of being desperate. Some people may think that stealing that phone or that laptop will buy them food and bed in a hostel for a week. But for any person who is in possession of the device - the device itself is maybe 1/10 of the cost of the associated data and lost productivity.

That is why I dare to say:

Being homeless is not cool

Especially in Winter, when it is cold outside.

It is not cool and economy behind is not cool either.

It is £26 to provide bed & breakfast in a volunteer run place outside London: http://jimmyscambridge.net/about-us/facts-and-figures/


It is £8 to provide same service in a commercial enterprise in Central London: http://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/smart-hyde-park-inn.en-gb.html (just the cheapest option on Booking.com in a month from now)



Economy behind it is it not cool - volunteer run places outside London that provide "public benefit" shouldn't be three times more expensive than commercial enterprise in Central London.

(economy of being homeless just doesn't add up)

Homeless Home

I'm actually quite keen to try converting shopping trolley into a portable solution:

D.O.M.E.K on Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Aleksandra-Machowiak/dp/1877467669 

I love their website, I love their products - http://hipopotamstudio.pl

Author of the Homeless Home - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Wodiczko (Harvard professor)

Money saved on rent will be invested into:
* https://www.wework.com/pricing (or any other co-working space)

I may want to use a trolley as a standing desk too.

I may want to invest into a battery pack - http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/macbook-portable-battery/ - or buy an entirely new MacBook - http://mashable.com/2015/04/13/apple-new-macbook-external-battery-charging/

(sometimes I laugh at my problems - I live in a total bubble - and I try to better understand the world, reality and things around me...)

UPDATE:

I found this article on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeless_shelter#United_Kingdom - that links to charity dealing with homeless people - http://www.crisis.org.uk/pages/rough-sleeping.html

"Many people who sleep rough will suffer from multiple health conditions, such as mental health problems and drug misuse."

 The way how I see it - only people with mental health problems and misusing drugs can't be bothered to fill the paperwork and receive free housing. Suggesting that sleeping rough (which is another term for being homeless) triggers mental health problems and drug misuse ("will suffer") is a huge misconception or my very poor understanding of written English.

(or the following way of thinking - it's internet - we can write whatever we want - screw the factual accuracy - let's appear as compassionate and raise more money)

EXPERIMENT

https://genesis.re/wiki#Homeless_experiment

Triathlon and The Guinness Book of World Records were born from a discussion (an argument). I may well try to prove the point and run a 1 month competition: make the most amount of money given very limited resources and impaired circumstances.

I may as well try to do it without external motivation but it is easier when you have eyes watching you... #brainhacking