Automated Virtue

Picture your life as if you've got the career you've always wanted. You're doing what you love and you're getting paid well to do it. Now, you're watching the news and you hear about a fantastic invention. It will revolutionize the world, and it's definitely going to put you out of a job. This has happened, and will continue to happen. Machines will automate the world, and as a society we need to be ready. We must establish a virtuous society that will still cherish people even when they stop adding to the bottom line. I hope to automate the world. I hope society is with me, and with me in providing the best life for the greatest number of people. A better legacy than a lifetime of wealth will be a lifetime of charity.

Vacation in the Matrix

Thirty-two days. Thirty-two days seventeen hours and forty-three minutes. That's how much time my main character had logged in World of Warcraft. 785 hours I could have used to learn piano, to play sports, to get six-pack abs if commercials are to be believed. I did not neglect school, I didn't neglect friends, I didn't even neglect my family. What I neglected was the opportunity to live. So many people, adults and kids, are in the same position I found myself in. They vacate reality in favor of a fantasy devoid of meaning. Happiness is not easy, but escapism will not fill the same hole that social interaction fills. People need people. Relaxing with video games now and then is fine, but if not balanced with something meaningful video games can lead to a sad life empty and unfulfilled.

VAT (Vlog against trolls)

Here Comes Everybody

After the bombing of the Boston Marathon a lot of people were ticked. They wanted answers, they wanted to know who caused the attack and why they did it. On Reddit users began working together to answer those questions. They shared pictures and crafted theories, even going as far as to determine who the bombers were. Except they were wrong. Their witch hunt lead to false accusations and their actions eventually elicited an apology from the site's general manager.

Vigilante investigation is only one consequence of the level of information sharing we've achieved. Also on Reddit people were able to stay in touch and informed as the aftermath of the bombings unfolded. It was a platform to discuss and cope with the tragedy. I learned about the bombing on Reddit before I heard about it anywhere else. It's not an uncommon occurrence, news often breaks first through social media. People affected by the recent hurricane disaster quickly tweeted and shared images of the devastation. Normal people are filling the roles once held by huge industries, people united only through the internet and their ability to share.

We have the power to accomplish much that once required extreme structure and painful layers of management. Great works from news aggregation to operating system construction are done by communities with little or no outside guidance. As our world grows more connected, as we share more and more of our lives with each other, we will continue to see individuals and communities search for answers to general questions, to general problems. The barriers to communication have fallen, and with their fall a new social information age will come.

The Equal Environment

The barrier to learning computer science is not an aversion to math and science, it is more a disinclination to the geek culture surrounding computer nerds. Women excel in science and engineering and equally so when they involve themselves in computer science.  Fewer women involve themselves in the nerd culture, especially the action gaming culture that is ubiquitous in the software engineering field.  This is not a failure of educators or employers to make opportunities available to women, it is a failure of geeks and nerds to include women in their strange culture. Much needs to be done to bring women back into the computer science field and a change in culture is at the top of that list.

Open Source the World

Two heads are better than one and ten thousand heads are much better than two. As coding becomes easier and coders become more available the number of open source projects is bound to increase. Great public works will become open source projects. We won't need governments or giant corporations to accomplish amazing tasks, only the will of the public and the desire for higher quality life. We can open source the world, we can work to automate and improve the simple tasks of life, and we can accomplish together that which for a few is impossible.

Out of Obscurity and into the Internet

I'm writing a blog, and I'm a Mormon. Social media is providing a new opportunity for the LDS Church to connect with members and non-members alike. The Church encourages its members to share experiences, beliefs and values, and in doing so invite others to join in those experiences.  It's a great opportunity for a once misunderstood religion to spring out of obscurity and into the spotlight. Sharing strengthens the beliefs of the members involved in social media and allows others to glimpse the lives of members that might seem more private. The Internet provides a power to individuals like there has never been before.