Disqus - Latest Comments for Jonathan

Re: Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”?

Jonathan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:26:38 -0000

Peak energy will change the world as we know it. You are deluding yourself if you think that globalization, commerce and culture will continue on their current trajectory given that the total amount of energy available to humanity is about to decrease in a very significant way. No amount of solar, wind, hydroelectric or nuclear power will replace the fossilized sunlight that we are rapidly depleting (in the form of Coal, Oil and Shale rock that is being turned into oil). This will be a massive change and no corner of the globe will be unaffected.

I believe this is the single greatest possiblity for transforming the world into a more peaceful, more human place. It also carries a great risk of devolving into unending wars for energy resources. Prepare for this and you will be able to achieve improvements in so many areas of people's lives...whereas if it catches you by surprise you will be less able to react to events, less able to understand the movement of history and less able to formulate a cogent response. The choice is yours good luck

Re: conjunctured, openID, semantics — all the stuff I love

Jonathan — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:32:52 -0000

Sounds like it was a good day! I'm just learning about the semantic web, but I don't feel like a total no0b b/c its something I'm not sure a ton of people have heard about, at least graphic designers.
Looked at the conjunctured web presence and it looks awesome!

Re: Quick thought

Jonathan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:20:42 -0000

Yeah, from talking to you and reading articles on the interweb it def seems like those are the long term trends on the web...at least in the tech community. Who knows if those will translate into the wider market of ideas and usage, right?
I went to the talk about trend forecasting I told you about, and there was definitely a process of trends being invented (or innovated), of people seeing those trends, early adopters and then wider or widespread adoption...and at every turn there is a 'gate keeper' someone who decides to adopt or not...and of course the book tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell...like what is it that finally tips the scale? Will twitter, or twitter-like apps ever attain the status of facebook?
I don't want to sound like an expert here I'm new to social media but even though it seems like such a niche its actually a vital part of the world in general and exemplifies other processes that are happening, mostly driven by technology....
Anyways back to work. Interesting post

Re: The way of the Tao

Jonathan — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:30:01 -0000

From what I understand (no expert) its main tenants are acceptance and flow - those are hard concepts to master, or even to step into. To accept the chaos around us - like not just out in the world but in our own minds, in our lives - and then to give up, and be pulled by those things... The Tao sounds easy, but its not. It says its supposed to be effortless, but that assumes that we can just step into our own suffering and own it with everything that we have. Its effortless after we have fought for so long against the flow of our lives, and we realize to simply stop trying to fight the river and turn and face down stream - but that can take an entire life, even with the knowledge that turning and going with the flow is what is needed.

Sometimes I don't want to be sad when its what I need most in the world, or I want to talk to people when really what I need is alone time - and sometimes I need to talk to people and I try and be alone and it never 'works'.

It really is easiest to 'give up' and accept the sadness, lonliness and alienation that come with being alive - and its crazy to think how much I've run in my life, run away from these things - and realize that so many industries are built around helping people run away from the sensations of sadness, lonliness and dispair. Drugs, dieting, medication, self-help, dating, alcohol, consumerism - almost anything can be used as a means to escape. And I get why people run, because those sensations are painful, especially when everyone around you is making these things out to be a failure - like if you experience these things you are doing something wrong. And I get why people stop running, because you wake up and realize that 5 or 10 years have gone by and you have little to show for the passed time, like you've been on a treadmill, and still with that basic, unalterable anxiety of just being in the world.

I think the Tao tells us to stop trying to obliterate what's in us, but rather to accept the basic anxiety, basic sadness and to give up and just accept it - and accept its energy and let it take us.

Re: Ignore Early Adopters

Jonathan — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:28:47 -0000

'Early-adopters' has become a prize almost, a label sought after by those in the tech community, as a mark of someone forward thinking. It seems like one of the biggest problems with the tech community is that it is so incestuous...with so many applications being made, is anyone stopping to wonder if these have any resonance with non-techies?
Anyways the problem with chasing that early-adopter label is that it really becomes much more about who is using the latest app, like a tech version of keeping up with the Jones' ... and less about someone seeing a great product and using it because it simplifies or somehow betters their lives.