Thoughts on Life

Life has an infinite number of approaches. There are many different ways to move up or down, side to side, or diagonally. Life is not organized in two dimensions. Maybe that is why it’s been challenging to understand concepts like “the corporate ladder” which is a very simple idea that many prescribe to.

Life is like a lattice structure made up of an infinite number of supports and voids which conceptually mimic nature. These are elements that are so complex and it is possible that their vastness is far beyond the capacity of the human mind.

This complexity can only be meticulously delineated at an algorithmic scale. It becomes a computational puzzle with minute outcomes. If viewed through the lens of nature that analysis would be expressed like this: “Based upon the various conditional inputs, large macro conditions tricking down into small miniscule ones, we have determined that the tree branch will grow here.” I would subscribe to the notion that an algorithmic approach can be correct and predict all outcomes through various tendencies.

I would also expand in that. An outcome is simply the best answer selected based upon an established tolerance level. When viewed in those terms, the outcomes are not the only outcomes, there is much more. This brings us to a point where things become indeterminate.

The perfect example is this blog post. It started out as a stream of personal thoughts about the vast number of approaches to life inspired by the idea of the corporate ladder which society has deemed an acceptable system to conform to. My writing has expanded on that and taken me on a written journey which is still connected to that main thought if we unraveled it.

That is what interests me, that idea of something beyond. Let’s go back to the algorithmic analogy. In that approach there is so much data that we may reach an outcome but not a truth. This is because the outcome is so small and the selected tolerance, which is usually a human input intended to determine finality, only sees a miniscule portion of the structure. Additionally, this “selected” finality allows us to focus on one point which would be similar to staring at a whale’s skin cell; you won’t even know it’s a whale.

The danger of approaching life from this sort of “algorithmic” scale is the amount of information and outcomes that are missed, overlooked, unseen, and unrecognized. That notion of “selected finality”, which I mentioned above, cannot compute the variations which naturally occur. That algorithmic finality cannot see beyond the end of its own determination. It only sees one point on a gargantuan plane where the actual shape of the structure cannot be seen. The algorithmic finality cannot see that the structure wraps in on itself or twists back around and collapses, or even implodes. The algorithmic finality cannot see what’s beyond, it can only see what is and what is is not what actually exists (sounds strange but makes sense to me).

A good analogy is a vindictive employee that hates a co-worker and makes moves to get that worker fired but that worker then goes on to create a company that puts the old company out of business. Let’s be creative and play with this idea since there is always more. Ok, but we will simply block every outcome that prevents that from occurring, which is totally possible. This “act” of blocking and channeling, which begins to mirror the creative process, only adds to the complexity of the structure. Eventually, those systems begin to break down and crushes itself. Back to the employee analogy ( and remember, I’m just having fun ranting about this). The vindictive employee realizes that the rival must be stopped and decides to wipe that person off the face of the planet. Done. Game over. The rival company can never be formed thus preserves the existing system which continues to move. That right there is an example of the algorithmic finality which continues on regardless of the action deemed necessary.

The question then moves to what’s beyond that selected result. If we are working within the determinations of an algorithmic construct, then the elimination of an element should result in a void which results in this and that and this and that. A key question would be: how big was the element that was eliminated? Does it leave a void? Unfortunately, this goes on and on until the system rolls in on itself and collapses. I know this thought is difficult to process.

Here’s how I approach these situations. Let’s use the same employee analogy. Rather than apply various inputs to achieve the result where a rival is fired, I would actually do the opposite. I would leave the employee alone and tell the manager that the employee seems to be performing well. The employee now remains stable in that position and does not open a rival company. The rival is not completely eliminated and creating an unknown vacuum is avoided. The rival stays locked into the position. The rival climbs the socially acceptable corporate ladder and inks out a great living. The rival makes $200k, even $500k per year. That seems like a lot to give away. But when you take a step back and see the vastness of the system, $500k is nothing compared to the potential earning power of that rival employee gets fired and goes on to create a new company. It is so easy to take that $500k void created and transform that into $500 million. It no secret and the system is built to have these sort of “anomalies” to occur.

That is why I would lock a rival into place mostly because I don’t really believe in rivals on that level. Sure there are those bent on setting you up to fail or even casting you off the face of the planet. I don’t subscribe to that because it is obvious that moves like that creates new rivals, rivals that become compounded and worse than what was eliminated in addition to your own system twisting out of control and collapsing from within. Thise notions are simply based upon how evolution occurs and our expanding universe.

As mentioned in the first paragraph of this stream of thought: there are many approaches to life. When I see someone on a corporate ladder, I want to keep them there. I want them to expand, even if it means that they will become successful. They are grasping the rungs of the system, thus holding together the network. To destroy that link entails that links are being created elsewhere, potentially much more powerful than those which were destroyed. The more I wrote about this I begin to understand how nations are created and dismantled. To preserve those structures and prevent implosion, we must bolster rather than damage or kill. We must make tough decisions and understand that continuity in what exists potentially more important than removal and renewal.

Sometimes the strongest links are created by elements seen as flawed. We naturally want to see structures that are perfect. Unfortunately, the approaches to life that I refer to are structured more like a tree than a building. The trunk can withstand various forces and the branches extend out to the limits of their supports. What is not seen is the roots buried deep within the ground. Our society desires and waits for those perfect structures but they don’t exist.

The more we ignore and depress, the more compounded things become, it is like deferred maintenance. As time passes, so does the cost. What once carried the potential of $200k per year compounds to a million, then five and ten and a hundred, then 300 million; what’s beyond? Stifle and destroy it here and it grows elsewhere even stronger because it is nurtured and properly maintained.

This makes me look at my own situation. I spoke with my neighbor this afternoon about the path ahead. I estimated that I had a few paths forward: One, is that I die; the end. Two, I start small like everyone says that I should because that is what convention dictates. No one is going to trust me at this level to manage that level of capital. At this level reaching my goals would take ten years. Three: an opportunity comes about where I am entrusted to reach my potential. I once heard that to ask how is not my concern because the notion of how is generated by powers greater than myself. So how this happens, I have no idea. Four: my first project is a tower and I become a powerful force in the U.S. economy and single handedly begin to solve challenge here in our cities.

If there is a lattice network that is life, who is to say where we begin or end. We naturally assume that financial wealth determines ones location of the lattice. Wealth comes in many different forms. What if one were to appear already at an elevated stage on the lattice of life? What if that was the anomaly that can be seen if we simply took a step back and viewed the space within the terms of totality. Does that anomaly go unrecognized and underutilized?

Well it’s time to land this plane. This was a fun and interesting stream of thought. Radio tower. Approaching runway bearing on this course. Soeed set. Decent angle reached. Flaps down. Landing gears deployed. Elevation ten feet. Pull back on the stick. Rear wheels touch down. Hold it back and the front wheels naturally ease to the ground. Contact. Foot pedal steering engaged. Breaks applied. Reverse thrust. Air brakes on. Ground speed slowed. The weather is outstanding. Welcome. Thank you for flying with All-City Airways.