Stay Grinding

We all get tired, especially after doing the same thing over and over.

Runners really get tired, because they perform a physically taxing action over and over.

The prescription to fatigue or feeling tired is usually to rest.

Good runners though, when they hit "the wall" or the point during a run or race when the feeling of exhaustion seems almost overwhelming, they break through that fucking wall and keep grinding.

After breaking through that 'runner's wall' a lot of runners get what they call a second wind to propel them until they reach the end of their run or race.

For non-runners, the equivalent of a run or race is the targets and goals we set for ourselves.

It may seem trivial, but one of my goals is to post on this blog (or hopefully on Cent soon) every day until I die or it just doesn't make sense to do so anymore. A couple other tasks I've set for myself are to post at least one Tweet a day on the Cent Twitter account and publish one Spotlight article every week on Cent's Medium page.

Regarding the latter two tasks, it felt as if I were hitting a mental wall yesterday morning. I just couldn't think of anything, but then I put my fingers to the screen and tapped out this Tweet:

And that sparked this convo beneath the Tweet:

Which ended in this priceless moment:

And that episode sparked the thought that helped me decide what this week's Cent Spotlight will focus on.

Boom.

Product Evolution

Last night on Telegram I had an interesting little chat with Cameron (aka Cam) from Cent.

At one point the conversation turned to an unassuming bounty that user @tote posted as a simple way to chat with a few other like minded Centians.

Viewed by an outsider - an Un-Centian or someone with no Cents - the post looks and sounds no different than the random thoughts people post on Facebook or Twitter.

Those random posts on social media don't normally get 23 immediate replies though. But by attaching a trivial bounty - just $1.68 in this case - everything changes.

And everyone wins: @tote gets to have some side chats and responders get a few cents for their time and efforts.

Cam said he thought this was like what happens in sub-reddits, only with incentives. It kind of is, but Reddit is super specific, whereas Cent is (potentially) everything - just like Facebook.

To that Cam said:

"True. Facebook is everything related to your friends, and isn't bound to a particular topic. Cent today is like a group of Facebook friends."

These groups are only going to grow as will the possible modes of interaction between Centians. For me personally, I can't wait until I can have this kind of conversation over on Cent. But that's coming soon.

My AVC.com

After just two more daily posts I have passed the 30/30 mark. That is 30 blog posts in 30 days.

I didn't set out to post daily, it just kind of happened. But I like it.

As Fred Wilson put it so succinctly in a recent tweet: "Writing is remembering."

These posts allow me to reflect on the day and return to what was top of mind, or interesting, or thought provoking. Put simply, writing helps me focus on what is worth remembering.

Since I think I will keep this little habit up, now is as good a time as any to pen one of my very quaint dreams: I hope that I can earn a few readers who want to join into a daily discussion below my posts.

I have said it many times, but the comment sections on AVC.com and Wolfstreet are amazing resources. The discussions that go on there by a steady cast of characters is food for my soul on a daily basis.

As an unknown, I know that discussion will never happen here. Why would it? It'll probably never happen on Steemit either. I will write about 'why' later.

My belief is that it will happen on Cent. Very soon (I hope) the site will add a section for content creators. Hopefully it will allow for two-way funding (i.e. a way for me to support those daily, commenting readers and for readers to support my writing). And hopefully I will be able to anoint my own Centurions - my steady cast of commenters.
Hopefully.

Anyways, until that becomes a reality, I will keep plugging away, writing things worth remembering.

Precious, Precious Tech

"Yes...but [in those recent job cuts at major tech firms] who are they cutting? [They are] cutting redundancy and adding highly skilled workers [it's] is part of life."

Right, those laid off or made redundant lack those highly specialized skills. Those who are made redundant need different skill sets for the software-defined future that they simply don't have, right?  Of course each position that needs to be filled is a special snowflake that in turn needs its own special snowflake to fill it and be able to unlock those miracles and incredible experiences that makes everyone involved super proud.  Everyone is precious about these things.

And - to be absolutely clear - that is why these companies are great.

Ok, that said, are these companies getting too precious? Are we - you and I - getting too precious about those companies?  Are there any negative externalities caused by so much preciousness? 

I think the arguement can be made that we are subsidizing preciousness too damn much.  If you had the option to increase the size of a bucket - one that is replenished year after year -  that is not only full of the exact snowflakes you are looking floor, but  is actually flown direct to you INSTEAD of having to fill your own bucket up with regular old water, then freeze that bucket into a workable mold before you husk off chunks that basically will get the job done and could be chisled out over time, who the fuck would ever choose the latter? This is what is happening.  We are subsidizing precious companies and their desire to select their precious snowflakes.  

The claim that there is an absolute lack of domestic STEM talent versus actual jobs and forecast jobs is not a tenable arguement to hold. The reality, as the US Bureau of Labor Studies made clear here (https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/stem-crisis-or-stem-surplus-yes-and-yes.htm) is much more nuanced and the reality is that it is frankly impossible to unequivocally assert such a lack exists. The amount of anecdotal evidence relied on - most of which is provided by the groups that would benefit the most by having a bucket of talent pooled exclusively for them - is astounding.  

What the real focus regarding HIRING REFORM should be - because any visa reform would essentially be a reform on hiring practices - should be to monitor real wages amongst other factors of course; I'm not a PhD for faks sakes.  Those sectors/positions that see a quicker rise/spike in real wages obviously would indicate an area where companies - especially smaller companies - may have a need for easier access to easily recruitable talent in order to compete. This would also benefit the larger ecosystem with a diversity of product solutions that would give consumers more choice and expedite future improvements. 

And let's talk about global diversity and a global ecosystem of competing businesses.  Let's say Trump pulled a knee jerk reaction and yanks the whole H1B program, hundreds of thousands of Indians and Eastern Europeans amongst others will have to go home.  They will be pissed, and heartbroken and everything. They will leave behind friends and have to move back to countries with backward ways of doing things. But how much of that backwardness and corruption can be attributed to a comparative lack of competition for better leaders, better business people etc...?? These people would return with global networks, best practices, and a fucking chip on their shoulder bigger than the tumour that took out Steve Jobs...

Adaptive Versus Creative Powers

Below I will end the year and leave you dear reader with one important question.  While you and I are surely on the train of the digital re-cognizing of life and the world - to use the word 'revolution' to describe what is happening is to not clearly see the possibility cresting over the horizon - many, many others are most definately not.  But, unlike the past two major ages (i.e. the colonial and industrial ages) those most at risk to be "left behind" reside in the "advanced nations" and not those parts of the world that are fiscally disadvantaged (imho).  So, is this really a problem? Or, simply Karma?  Anyways, happy new years everybody!

The problem of valuing adaptive qualities/powers of an individual higher than creative powers.

The increase in the degree of information threatens the loss of identity of people today (contrary to the belief that it is strengthening social reason).  Those who feel independent and helpless in the face of technically mediated forms are more likely to become incapable of establishing an identity.

Adaptive power refers to the ability to become a specialist or expert and thus at the same time a functionary.  Functionaries by their very nature must be completely concentrated upon the administration of their function (e.g. scientific, technical, economic, monetary processes, administration and politics).  Smooth funtioning of the apparatus is the ultimate aim of inserting an expert.

The problem: As ever fewer persons are making the important decisions and ever more are manning the apparatus, modern society is thus oppressed by imminent structural pressures.  This in turn leads to the degeneration of practice into technique and - through no fault of the experts themselves - to a decline into social irrationality.
It would be propitious at this juncture to emphasize the gravity of this last sentence - and to ultimately show that every word was thoughtfully chosen - by providing the meaning of 'practice' as defined by Heraclitus and re-cognized in the modern word by Gadamer: Practice is carrying and conducting oneself in solidarity; solidarity of course being the basis and foundation of social reason.

Wind & Words

You and I, we are trees.

Whilst wind upon leaves
rustles our senses, we understand not.

Language be mere wind upon words towards Thought.