Saturday, February 11, 2012

Innovation and the Loss of Privacy Worldwide

If we look at how innovation started during the late 1800s and move to the present day it makes more sense about what I'm trying to say here. The first big changes in innovation that I can get my head around (partly because in the 1960s I did a lot of term papers regarding these changes) are: The gasoline reciprocating engine and the diesel engine and before that the Steam engine. These three innovations changed society worldwide forever. Though it is true that gasoline refining and diesel refining technology had to be developed to go along with this, still these innovations changed everything that followed. Once the basic technology was developed in building steam engines, that same technology was adapted very quickly to building diesel engines (which are more similar to steam engines than gasoline engines are) mostly because diesel engines don't have spark plugs (although they often have glow plugs for starting on a cold day).

The development of the above technologies led to world exploration through steam and diesel powered ships at sea and on rivers and lakes and land vehicles and after 1903 air vehicles that could eventually circle the globe as well. It is important to consider that none of this was happening much until steam engines:


An aeolipile rotates due to the steam escaping from the arms. No practical use was made of this effect.
Steam Engine.ogg
The Aeolipile is propelled by the two opposing jet streams
The history of the steam engine stretches back as far as the first century AD; the first recorded rudimentary steam engine being the aeolipile described by Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria.[3] In the following centuries, the few steam-powered 'engines' known about were essentially experimental devices used by inventors to demonstrate the properties of steam. A rudimentary steam turbine device was described by Taqi al-Din[4] in 1551 and by Giovanni Branca[5] in 1629.[6]
Following the invention by Denis Papin of the steam digester in 1679, and a first piston steam engine in 1690, the first practical steam-powered 'engine' was a water pump, developed in 1698 by Thomas Savery. It proved only to have a limited lift height and was prone to boiler explosions, but it still received some use for mines and pumping stations.
The first commercially successful engine did not appear until around 1712.[7] end quote from Wikipedia under the heading "Steam engines"

So, even though steam as a power source was first discovered in the first century, it was not developed into a successful marketable engine until around 1712 in Europe. Once this steam engine was developed it became possible to "modify" the basic engineering concept to create gasoline and diesel engines eventually and to make them ever more efficient through evolving design concepts. 

However, somewhere during the Cold War innovation was turned on it's head by world paranoia because of the Cold War. It has now morphed into governments and individuals finding ways to tap into whatever people now do on land line phones, cell phones, texting, internet etc. to the point where ANY time you use Emails, phones of any kind or sometimes even talk privately in your own home, you cannot be entirely certain that someone or even hundreds of someone's are not listening to everything you say. I find this a very sad state of affairs and very stifling of innovation in its dampening effect upon all mankind.


So, because of this sad state of affairs the "Spontaneous" technological innovation seen over the last several hundred years tends to be stifled by this complete lack of privacy to develop and the capacity to make money off your own ideas without someone stealing your ideas before you can actually profit from these ideas. To make matters worse it can be very difficult to patent ideas and often people are bribed who work for patent offices around the world and steal people's ideas before they can profit from them themselves. This also dampens creativity and is often financed by the biggest corporations dirty tricks departments or governments themselves, especially in places like Russia or China and others. 


So, people who are idea people like I tend to be, are often disheartened worldwide at the almost impossible nature of actually patenting new ideas unless those ideas pertain in some way to the presently free Internet. So, for example, you will see new innovations like Facebook, for example, but you won't see new technological innovations for example in many types of hardware both related to computers and computer networks started by individuals separate from large corporations. So, the dampening effect of World Wide Big Brother looking over "EVERY SHOULDER" is ominous in a way I never expected to see in my lifetime.


So, the question might be asked, "Who is control of all this technology?" And this likely is the 64, 000 dollar question. Because it is basically unknown who is in control if anyone. The capacity of people to hide their surveillance of everyone on earth in various ways makes it basically impossible to know how many ways any of us are being spied upon by governments, corporations, individuals etc. It is also impossible to know if we are being harmed either directly or indirectly by any or all of these groups or individuals or corporations. So, how does one deal with all this? On the one hand one must use their instincts to survive these situations and circumstances and to be as practical and common sensical as possible because if one goes into too deep a paranoia over all this that isn't practical either. So, maybe the best way is to feel like an animal in the forest and that one is not completely safe so one is not lulled into unrealistic states of safety while at the same time realizing all these things are going on. However, I think the dampening effect of individual creativity worldwide should never be underestimated. Because until people feel like they have enough privacy to create wonderful things to benefit their friends, relatives and children, they won't.

Later: I realized that the innovations that inventors will tend to actually financially benefit from will come from wealthier inventors (and their proteges) going off the grid to research facilities where it will be much less likely that they can be spied upon in various ways. In this way inventors of almost anything can invent in relative peace to create the amazing innovations of the future while still garnering the fruits of their labor while still helping and mentoring future inventors to do the same for thousands of years to come. In this way the human race can continue to progress in completely unexpected  and ultimately creative ways. 

Also, I wrote something called 2035 

which is about someone sort of like a Thomas Edison or Nicola Tesla kind of inventor who is born in 2000 and who invents a "Sentient" Artificial intelligence that eventually becomes "Purple Delta 7, 
a completely sentient self Evolving Robot. And Silver does this by finding a way to electronically "clone" his own brain into the mind of a robot intelligence. Then since Purple has an identity she also self evolves like humans do through inventions and relationships and ideas. And since she can change out her own parts as she invents new ones there is no need for her to ever die. So, when she comes back to Silver she sees him as God or Jesus and worships him as her creator and eventually even has a child by him when he is about 70 and she 5 million years old in real time. She is also a time traveler.

Note: Added May 24th 2013: I was realizing when reading  the whole thing but especially the last few paragraphs that humans also are self evolving and are in the process of becoming immortal: (those that choose to become relatively immortal). The initial phase of this has already begun.

For example, by (acting as my own medical researcher online and wherever it leads me) I have survived the last 20 years of my life when most people would have died with my conditions by age 50. So, just by being innovative in my approach to life I have already increased my lifespan by 15 years. I may by riding the coat tails of scientific research  still be alive with a functioning body and brain when I am 100 and the same is true of you as well if you participate in your inquisitiveness and research and have a reason to want to stay alive a long time.

One of my teachers told me this in my 20s: "If you live to be 100 you will see 500. If you live to see 500 you will see 1000. If you live to see 1000 you will see 5000. If you live to see 5000 you will see 10,000."

At the time this seemed sort of crazy to me. It isn't crazy now though as I observe scientific and medical research of what is actually going on around the world. So, if one has enough medical insurance and enough money to be able to stay alive, it is now possible to see 10,000 years of age by just riding the scientific breakthroughs as they arise through the next 100+ years and beyond. Amazing!

My teacher was right after all!

I'm now 65 years old and I still ski and ride a dualsport motorcycle, ride a bicycle, hike all over the world and travel with my family and friends everywhere we want to. This quality if life on multiple levels may indeed increase my lifespan to 100 or even one day to 10,000. But first, you have to believe in the possibility. Without believing that something is possible you cannot accomplish it if you decide to. So, if you are convinced now or at some point then you will make it happen by the Grace of God!

One day one moment at a time by the Grace of God is how it will happen.



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