Thoughts of a TechnoWizard

What kind of music do you listen to? What art do you consume? How does it align with the type of world you want to live in? I share my own frustrations and ideas on how people can/should seek out art (and other things) more consciously. I argue that it is actually important whether you listen to someone like Drake or Kendrick if you give a shit about culture and building better worlds. Even beyond that, if you listen to just what is popular vs all the other amazing but lesser known art out there, then your worldview will almost certainly be limited. I think the things we consume, and the things we create, and the things we share, are all important facets of the world we are living and building.

Kendrick gives us a great example of the type of energy we need to utilize to take down corrupt systems. In this episode I discuss how we can use his crusade against Drake as a playbook for how we can tackle capitalism, patriarchy, hierarchy, and all these other terrible systems too. #notlikeus

Today I share some frustrations, ideas, and inspirations regarding the need for an overarching process for creating better futures...

Today I delve back into hip-hop to talk about the various problems plaguing the culture and where they came from. I then share some ideas on how we can fix them.

I'm just needing out about a game I finally started playing. I share some lore and lessons about the game.

I end up going on a long rant about the history and evolution of hip-hop and why diss tracks are a part of the culture, but also why/how the glorification of violence and misogyny became baked into the 'culture' even when it shouldn't be. I go on to dissect my distaste for Drake, my dislike for J Cole, and why I feel like Kendrick is indeed a GOAT! Come at me! 😁

I go on a long diatribe/exposition about the start of civilization and the research I've been talking about in my Afrofuturism 101 course.

Today, I share some updates on what I've been up to this month; from traveling in the mountains, to doing errands, to teaching my first class, to gaming and more.

I share some lessons I've learned from playing Mind Over Magic, and share other reflections and life updates.

Today I reflect on the past couple of years of podcasting/audio journaling. I also end up talking about the importance of ideas and the ideation process.

Today I have to give a heartfelt apology to all the folks I may have unravelled or otherwise had way too intense discussions with. After/during a recent discussion that did not go super well, I realized, or rather crystalized, something about myself: I like to pull at threads! And I will often do so relentlessly until something comes apart.. or proves resilient enough to stand. Though I greatly value this trait about myself as a major driver of my curiosity, it can be very tough for other people. I don't want people to be too scared of talking with me, or to think that I'm just trying to be antagonistic towards them. Though curiosity and a thirst for understanding is important, it does not bode well to put people in a defensive or floundering state in the process. So I am very sorry to all those I may have troubled in my thread pulling. I'll endeavor to be more tactful going forward.

It's been two months!! Sure I've been sick, and had some family events, and it's been the holidays, and I've been working, and it's been cold... But honestly a Huge amount of my time has been spent reading The Wandering Inn... One of the best stories I've read in my entire life. Today I share just a bit about why this story has captured my attention and imagination so much!!

Today I just vent and grouse for a while about all the frustrations I've been having, big and small... Then I get into a bit of some ideas on what we can be doing instead.

I'm back! And today I share thoughts about recent current events that you probably know about but I won't say here so as not to get immediately censored. Maybe it doesn't matter since this is a small lil podcast, but whatever helps.

I went to Vegas! In the first 30min, I share some thoughts while walking the strip. Then I recount my experience with a guest star while back in Atlanta!
I share my thoughts about everything from the hotels I visited, the Sphere, and the conference.

Today I just walk and talk, sharing my week, my experience playing with (off brand) lego bricks, and what I've been watching. I then share an idea for a solarpunk story that I had and more!!

Today I delve deeper into the various magic systems that were foundational to my idea of magic, and especially my unquenchable thirst to create a more magical world. I talk about how magical religion is, contrast between monotheistic and polytheistic ones, compare with various fantasy tropes found in books like Harry Potter and various urban fantasy and vampire books... then I also talk about how science and technology differs from magic, but also how it is still quite similar. Finally I end, as I often tend to do, with a sort of call to action, to imagine a world where our technology feels more magical in a more real sense... empowering us to channel the magic within us out into the world...

Today I share the story of how dissecting my beliefs around religion at an early age taught me a lot about magic and belief; seeing why it's important to believe in something bigger, but also to have a systematic approach to life.

I wanted to walk today, and ended up talking about what I like about magic systems and stuff, especially in communion with technology and science.

I share some of my frustrations and stresses, go on a tangent about magic/shamanism and fantasy vs sci-fi stories, and talk about my ideal job. I also talk a bit about the problem with longevity technologies.

Today I explore some ideas on how to build a better future and what that can look like. I talk about turning suburban waste lands into micro eco villages, as well as anarchistic businesses with egalitarian, cooperative business practices.

Today I talk through my anhedonia and share a bit about why and how I've been feeling especially constrained of late. I hope I can express more of myself going forward, and create a world where everyone can do the same...

I recap my week thus far, talk about my restless desire to create with my hands, and talk about the Death of Death... Different perspectives on immortality.

Today, I reflect on my self. My difficulties with self expression, self esteem, self confidence, and other aspects of my self. I also share and work through some ideas I learned about the inner Self... The core... The Omniscient, the Spirit, the Ancestors, the Source of all wisdom and consciousness or whatever we want to call it that is always (or often) right about what we should do (and so much more). We only need to listen, and engage in dialectic about what we (think we) hear, to better digest and act upon said wisdom. I reflect on the Self.

Working through my feelings of restlessness and fatigue. This is why I get so frustrated with the way things are and get so passionate about living in a better world.

I recount my trip to NYC

I finally walked the west side of the Atlanta Beltline while I had some spare time. I shared what I saw along the trail, some history, and some of the struggles going on in the area. I also share a bunch of ideas and such on how we could turn this hope and frustrations the area invokes to do better for the community. To build real community!!

I do a deeper dive into the pros and cons with the newly announced Apple VisionPro

Today, I have a long conversation about layoffs and the dream of how businesses could be in a post-capitalist world. I also get into the problems of AI today and how it is very much like porn. Then close out with how AI can be better, along with XR and spatial computing. I talk about the good and bad of the Apple VisionPro as well.

Today I recount my experience buying a new car!! Got a candy red 2022 Honda Civic and it has been phenomenal!

Today I finally get back to talking about spirituality. Today we delve more into my personal flavor of spiritualism in relation to my desire for technowizardry and other metaphysical magics.

I'm just complaining bout stuff. May want to skip if you don't wanna hear me be a grouch.
I complain about car issues, car financing, credit, car insurance, work, my lack of skills, wanting to create, feeling inadequate, being unable to move, and how stupid AI devs can be (excuse my language.. or not, whatever).

Today I ramble a bit about some of my thoughts and activities over the past week or so. I talk mostly about economics and how it's all a bunch of hot air.

Today I share some thoughts about fermis Paradox, Aliens, the consequences of our current technological development coming due, and the potential existential upside of developing more sustainable technologies (like better AI) that can help us live lives unfathomably more epic.

Today I vent a bit about my car troubles, then share some metaphors about capitalism, and finally end up talking about AI again

Today I share what inspired me about the folks working on solarpunk as mentioned in some recent Team Human podcast episodes. It's far better to inspire people through hope than through fear. And just because we are creating a better future doesn't mean it will be perfect. Conflict is inevitable, but we can hopefully limit that conflict through ever better systems.

Today I get back into effective altruism/longtermism to talk about how many people have a default setting of how they view time, and it greatly limits their ability to think about how history and the future works. So I propose a new way to view the world.

Today, I share my ideas and reasoning behind this community building solarpunk tool/suite of tools that I want to create. We need better tools to measure, visualize, and create real communities. We should set qualitative goals instead of quantitative. And we can raise human consciousness by making easier to become measurably more aware of every aspect of humanity and the universe.

Once again I'm talking about AI. There's been yet more news about the disaster that is BingAI so I discuss some of the issues I discovered, as well what other folks have been focusing on... And why that's the wrong thing to focus on. I also get a little into why we need to be more critical about technological development.

Microsoft is dropping an incredible implementation of OpenAIs ChatGPT system via BingAI soon. I discuss the exciting possibilities and the scary risks of this technology.

Today I recap my weeks, talk about the problems of value-based pricing, and share ideas on how revolution could happen even amidst capitalism and nationalism via community localisation.

I share a bit about my week, my first time being drunk, and then talk about how and why so many people are lost and angry today. I share some ideas of better futures that I want to visualize to help inspire and motivate people to really build a world that improves their material conditions.

Today I talk about critical thinking and try to explain the importance of looking deeper into any subject or idea. I discuss how and why being 'unbiased', apolitical, 'central/moderate', etc is actually pretty terrible and uncritical. I show why it's important to not take our current concepts for granted and always think about how it developed and how it can be better.

I start the new year off with a long ass rambling talk about my goals for this year, what I've been up to in the last few weeks, but mostly about why and how AI is not really intelligent.

Today I try to peace together some thoughts I've been having in regards to Avatar (James Cameron), a new book I read called 'The City We Became', white 'culture', and fiction in general.