Shakespeare in the Park

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July 27 at 9:19 AM ·

Midsummer Nights' Comedy (satire):

City: Look there's no socially responsible way to be publicly engaged in making our world better than outdoor summer rallies right now, so we'd like to let this keep going, even support it.

Feds: oo oo, you make our buildings ugly, we sending apes, you not strict.

City: um, no really we know our people, that graffiti can be cleaned up. Our police can handle it, we know our own people, we'll make your building look like new down the road.

Feds: you not strict, we angry, you Portlanders don't respect authority of God

City: anthropological differences exist between us...

Feds: STFU, apes on plane. We coming now.

Experimental Prototype Communities

The military abuses AI, per Manning et al, which is why so many at Google advocate severing ties, with certain programs at least (death dealing by AI doesn't make anyone look good, least of all collaborators).

My philosophy is keep lowering the barrier to entry i.e. all the tools you'll need to build a utopia are within range of the pooled resources of the first investors.

Then grow your community by trial and error yes, but also by reading up on good ideas and/or better, visiting parallel utopias likewise experimenting with new ideas. Watch the video feed that comes from your competition. Send your spies to see if they're lying.

We all learn from the dystopias too (e.g. Rajneesh Puram as a great case study, speaking of Oregon).

What I try to get away from is any implicit assumption that the debate is about how "we all" as in "all of us" need to agree on some innovation before we try it out.

I think in terms of thousands, maybe millions of little campuses, dotting the Earth, each trying different mixes, different fusions of ethnicities.

Some will be more into AI and tech, wanting to dress unisex like on Star Trek. Others will be more into creative anachronism, dressing like we're in some Monty Python episode, lots of rustic implements, amidst some high tech (say for powering the place).

I think of theme parks. I think of EPCOT, the original meaning: Experimental Prototype Communities of Tomorrow.

We need lots and lots of epcots. The design science philosophy is about facilitating in their creation, less about judging them in advance.

Bump It Up

Memorandum to Global U

Memorandum

As y'all know, I'm into putting PWSs (personal workspaces) on like an AirBnB network, except I called it the Housing Project in the 1980s, and a lot of it was about swapping, so more like those timeshare vacation spots. 

Dorm space, faculty lounges, study pods...

Wiring up the Harrison Street facility to the global Coffee Shops Network (charitable) and to the connected think tank community, has been a long term project. 

Known to some as the "Blue House" in our Buddhist Ghetto (Portland proud of), or in Asylum District  (also celebrated -- named for the sanitorium that used to anchor the neighborhood), we've been a hub for Food Not Bombs, established covens (music bands).  

Portland's creatives called us Blue House to distinguish us from Pink House and some others.

Tomorrow I'm having a contractor spec the place for roof replacement.  Long overdue.  The other big project would be the upstairs bathtub drain situation.  

Then you'd have the perfect faculty housing or student group housing, with included study space and studio, just like it is now, perhaps re-furnished.  Do you like the diner kitchen, a relic of the 1950s?  The main timbers date back to 1905 according to my records.  There've been some add-ons.

In my dreams, I'd like to come back on a circuit and stay here myself from time to time.  The XRL (Extreme Remote Livingry) "middle of nowhere" type boarding schools, the mixed use skyscrapers, the other city-as-campus configurations... I might not be in Portland as frequently as I have been.

My daughters, friends and family would be welcome here, perhaps in some admin capacity.  Tara is next in line to help design the circuit.  

The family business is merging with the Global U in a way that keeps logistics non-onerous.

I'm a big believer in institutional wealth.  You don't need to own an aircraft carrier or submarine to live on one. Ownership of the supersonic jets, the space station, the racetrack, is likewise not my forte.  On the other hand, I'm into storyboarding, like an investment bank, or movie-maker.

As one more student-faculty member, I'm into enjoying the Global U responsibly.  That's how I bring credit to my school.

Air America Reunion?

I think we need to help Rachel Maddow pull out of her tailspin. Remind her it's a small world and all these networks, like the one she works for, interpenetrate in mysterious ways.

Maybe if Russia buys MSNBC and lets her keep her job going on and on about the re-education camp she's worried about, people will settle down and stop worrying. 

As it is, Russia basically bought up Air America (the radio network) which had Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, Thom Hartmann... some went to MSNBC, others ended up on RT. 

For RT to buy MSNBC would be like a family reunion in a lotta ways.