Tag Archives: ideas

Easy Beliefs

a stylized yellow and orange sun over a patchwork green field

It’s easy to believe:
that this is it
it’s all over.

Optimism foolish,
and hope a meager meal.
Seeing a pattern of life defeated:
prevailing winds all sailed.

Much harder is the challenge
to recover, to rebuild
to end the cycled brooding
where harvests never yield.

And it surely doesn’t help
that complexity seems fraught
little nooks and crannies
that only seem to rot.

Yes, simplicity is charming
like an easy winning smile.
It can seem a deft decision
to prune away denial.

But shutting off and shutting down
just mimes an early death,
barely meeting definition,
of fire taking breath.

And it would also be mistaken:
to paint a happy-lucky wash
grimness has its uses
to avoid perspective lost.

Oh, but it’s overwhelming
the grinding of this wheel
scraping skin and breaking backs
under boots of steel.

Which is all the reason
to keep the bridges open
to bind and knit the friendships
that soothe us when we’re swollen.

Because there are no saviors
no single points of success or failure
instead its threes and fours of us
that move this stubborn glacier.

No, it’s not quite the end
not this partial apocalyptic;
we humans still have centuries
despite naysayed insistence.

Hope is still the worthwhile choice
with meaningful resistance
neighbors helping neighbors
mutually aided persistence.

Flash: The Rising Cost of Automatons

Taendragor Ends Trade Negotiations with Galania

Nosson's skyline.

Business leaders pressured government trade representatives to halt crucial talks.

Breysa Eyon introduced an international petition against discussions aimed at new international treaties. The Eyon Industries CEO and Taendragonian powerhouse of netwabi production brought all talks to a standstill. A delegation of company leaders met in secret over several months to organize the movement. Their message focuses on spirit use and sustained interaction with the gods. Supporters implore resistance toward government intervention and spirit-directed treaties.

Officials granted the industry giant a visit to the trade conference after weeks of delay. Attendants within the meetings cited a concern about bribery and corruption. However, it seems that curiosity won out as the conference leaders allowed the visit.

As usual, Ms. Eyon attended in the latest fashions and with her personal bodyguard. This time, her oft-seen party-crazed tabloid persona was noticeably absent. Instead the young woman presented herself with a stern grace more-reminiscent of her departed mother. Without more than a stilted curtsy, Ms. Eyon presented a signed statement with approximately 150000 signatures. The statement was co-signed by twelve partnering spirit-tech CEOs. Additional signatures were from community leaders across the Taendragor continent. An infodisc, reportedly containing an additional million signatures, was said to represent “additional peoples of Nalan that choose to resist unrepresented choices toward a dark future.”

Delegates from every kingdom, nation, and state-entity were at the negotiations. The visit initially garnered intense scrutiny for its interruption of international politics. However, Ms. Eyon’s position in the market has left an expectant caution toward her presence and the petition’s demands. Analysts discussed the possibility of shared technology agreements that could arise from forced alliances. The petition may be a perfect catalyst for the change long-desired by private-sector markets. However the results fall, industry experts warn that this power-play has begun a larger movement to negotiate directly with world governments. Eyon Industries may be positioning itself toward a takeover unseen in recent history.

From the Company to the World

The Automaton Doctrine, an Eyon Industries internal policy, provides much of the groundwork for Ms. Eyon’s petition. Many tenants are pulled straight from pages of company guidelines. Normally, the doctrine’s audience is intended for participants of high-level acquisition decisions. The Automaton Doctrine sets her political beliefs as a matter of company policy. Every employee attends mandatory training on Spirit Singing and its dangers. Weekly regional briefs include an overview of regional gods and cultural foci.

These company policies have been examined and ridiculed before. Opponents state that the training is useless and dangerously biased. Others feel as if the practice is understandable though a little heavy-handed. Ms. Eyon maintains that the training is crucial for a company environment so steeped in the use of Spirit power. For safety or not, Ms. Eyon is a well-known proponent for open-spirit laws. Her policies have been used to make notable progress against Taendragor’s restrictive practices.

Now, that policy has been rewritten into demands toward an international audience. The petition is outlined in a prioritized list with the following sections of argument:

  • A restriction of government interference in all matters of Spirit.
  • A call for the immediate and complete deconstruction of any wards and netwabi that trap, limit, or otherwise influence the gods.
  • Limit, or end entirely, any practice that knowingly redirects worship toward mortal deification.
  • Destroy any records of true-names, god-names, or Aldyati.
  • Consolidate idolized imagery into one of the four elder gods.

The Cost of Automatons

Outside of Eyon Industries, the largest contributors to the petition are well-known Automaton manufacturers. This has been identified as a key reason for the sudden intervention. Technological limitations have kept Automaton development stagnant for years, and the proclamation of true automation still seems ages away. Researchers have been complaining about restrictive legislation for years, even outside of Taendragonian borders. There is little public research that reveals how legislation has limited the Automaton developers, but recent polls show that popular support is on the rise for deregulation on Spirit Singing.

Advanced Automaton models seem more than capable to serve as household assistants and constant workhouse aides, but the cost of such devices has hardly diminished over time. Netwabi-borne machinery has been developed for the better part of a millennia in most developed state-entities. Despite this, critics argue that their functionality is mostly refined rather than improved. Miniaturization has led to advances in the number of functions available to customers, but these gains are incremental rather than transformational.

These claims, and topics, were discussed in earnest in a little-seen interview with Ms. Eyon several months prior to the meeting. She stated that “…transformation will only arrive when we let go of these power-hungry caches that we have developed. Everyone has them now. Has had them for ages, I suppose. They have to go.”

Ms. Eyon’s opinion on the matter seems to have grown more serious. She left the trade meeting after this brief speech: “I know that you think of me as something of a fluke. I take it, from your rather shocked expressions, that I have surprised you with this bit of seriousness. But let me be clear. We need to change. And I will no longer idle away my time waiting for government to reach the conclusions that we must all arrive upon. Nalan will die if we do not release our control on Spirit. The world needs the gods returned to their natural state. This petition guarantees that.”

Shock and Ambivalence

Galanian Counselor, Deffar Eyresia, disagreed with the intent of the petition and its source. “Breysa Eyon is well-respected for her company’s contributions to the world, but we are not beholden to her whims and beliefs. International law is no place for profit-minded decisions, and the spiritual nature of these demands is an affront to the multitude of religions we represent as an international consortium.”

Counselor Eyresia has been a long-time defender of religious freedoms and has rejected 90% of all bills brought before the Galanian Council on religion. Galania is also home to the world’s leading research institution on netwabi development. There seems little chance that the Galanian Union will capitulate to Ms. Eyon’s demands. It is, as of yet, uncertain as to how the young CEO plans to enact her proposal. Eyon devices are fashionable and well-loved by fans of the company, but Galania markets account for less than 5% of Eyon profits.

Taendragonian leaders were unavailable for a statement on this developing situation.

 

Reporting by Lefon Anterah
Nosson Journal

Cliques: The Importance of a Writing Circle

Clique to Continue

Double-Clique to ???

The Lost Generation found each other to create their own popularity.

Aw but that’s a bit of an over-simplification isn’t it? Alright. Accepted. Generalizing anything into one distinct statement is Bad. Capital B. Intricacies are lost in simplicity. But then again, maybe that’s Good? Capital G. Are intricacies really all that important?

Yes! Yes we shout? We must understand the details. Get into the nitty gritty specifics on even the little bitty. Oh. But who has the time? How can you possibly get into the weeds about everything that exists? There’s simply too much, and not enough of me, nor you, to know everything. But of course not. There’s not enough time for anything, so let’s do nothing instead. Anyway, you’re a nerd if you’re really into something. I mean, nerds are cool now, so maybe that’s alright. So go ahead. Get good at something in particular. But not too good, because that’s also bad? Specialize just enough in something that you aren’t a Mary Sue. Except Batman?

Broad sweeping brush strokes are a stylistic choice that some artists use to evoke much through abstraction. Abstraction is an interesting thing to think about. We abstract to understand. And then? Once we understand the abstraction, we abstract the abstraction so that we can understand even more. Programming is great at abstraction. It’s all about taking something and encapsulating that something into something else until you have to do less to get more while hiding the fact that you did anything at all. Ask a programmer what took four hours and watch them cry. I like to think of it like the gas pedal of a car. You press on a pedal and the car moves forward. That is a lie. So is the following: All humans are murderers.

We accept some abstractions, but not others, because some are offensive.

But back on subject, which is that the Lost Generation were a group of creators that interacted to some extent and made beautiful things. How’s the saying go? “Surround yourself with greatness, and you’ll get jealous quickly?” But it’s inspiring. Sure. But it pushes you further. Farther. Sure. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard in a while is that you should find someone’s work that you can’t help but imitate, and then try to be better than that. Try to be better than someone else. Yet. We are all equal, and be humble.

Balance. Is boring.

If you have a clique you will be more successful. Active social interaction helps things, and people, do better. Unfortunately, that better may worsen something for someone else. Give here, take there. Either way, you gotta group together to survive. That’s a basic thing. Cavemen did it and so do we. Not that they all really lived in caves, right? But don’t hang out with more than 150 of those people at once. We gotta have meaningful relationships or you’re just being promiscuous. Speaking of meaningful, the articles with meaningful data, meaningful research, and great information are all behind paywalls that require hefty sums. That sucks.

So. What a predicament we’re in as people that all want to be successful. That’s impossible. We can’t all be successful. Plus. In order to be successful you’d need to pool your resources together with a bunch of other people that want to be successful in the same way. And you all probably have to agree on some of the directions you’ll take at the same exact time! At least for a little while.

What’s the tipping point? It’s a myth. There is no tipping point. There is no breaking point where things begin to cascade. Have you ever played one of those quarter machines? Coin pushers? Wait. That’s wrong. There is a tipping point. Things do cascade. Once they’re already cascading? Luck can be made though.

Get enough people together, in one spot, to do one thing, and you will change something. We want to believe that this is a truth. But it is a lie as well. It is an abstraction of what actually happens. It grossly ignores the work and effort that goes into actual change. Unfortunately, we can’t all just spontaneously change.

I remember the day I stopped believing in prayer. I remember lying in bed and wondering about what I wanted to pray for. We should pray for good things to happen to other people, right? Pray for world peace. Pray for that dude over there to get his leg healed. Pray for that lady to get a better job or at least a raise. Give here, take there. Someone else prayed for another dude to get that same job. We can’t all be successful. But prayer is a great placebo. And more.

Certainties are helpful. They help us get along in the world so that we can keep on walking. Doubt is crippling. But, be skeptical. How much so? Should we believe in anything? Absolutely. Just believe in yourself. Be certain that you exist and that you can Do. After all, you’re breathing. But… There’s always a butt.

Join up with a bunch of people and do your damned best to follow a dream. Find a community that’s online, or next door, or down the street, or maybe it’s made up of four houses and a mythical boy with a lightning-bolt scar. Being part of something is crucial to facing loneliness and accepting that maybe loneliness isn’t always bad. Try everything at least once?

Eventually your dream will change, or someone else’s dream will change that you used to depend on to help carry your dream. But that’s not bad. Losing a friend, or a family member, or a dream, is good. It means you are progressing. It hurts. It makes me want to curl up under a blanket and stare at the hidden nothing behind my eyelids. Eventually I’ll start to think again. Perchance to dream.

Dreaming is good. Changing your dream is good as long as you keep dreaming. I want to dream of great things and magnificent achievements and wondrous  journeys that are impossible to ever achieve. And that impossibility is fine.

 

-J.A.

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