A Synthesynaptic Response

For me, learning is all about finding that groove where I can imagine cool pictures and interesting things, while searching for ways to allow the symbolic mind to "catch up." It's a process of synthesis; I have to combine the crazy shit my brain experiences with the actual information about what is. I feel like I can imagine so much more than I can actually do, and at times, it's really frustrating. The feeling makes me think I understand things I think I don't, and try to ask questions that I haven't even properly formed. But at the same time, that feeling is the whole point. When you get somewhere you can imagine something you can't describe, that gives you a reason to either study more, or start writing science fiction. Once I'm on the far end, though, it's worth it. If I can ingest a physical theory well enough, it becomes a piece of my imagination. Once I understand something, it is synthesized into all of my future thinking.

A Cultural Leader

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing today to ask you a personal favor, as one American citizen to his President. I simply ask that you take a moment, and consider yourself in your position, as not an administrator, but a cultural leader.

My name is Tabor, and I've had a privileged life. I was raised in middle-class suburban America, and I'm barely aware of an era before the Internet. Needless to say, my perspective is limited. While I still feel more like a boy than a man at 22, men my age have seen combat and come home to tell about it (or not). At my age, some men have their first, or second, or even third child. At my age, some men have responsibility.

Wikispectrum

As useful as it is, Wikipedia can undoubtedly be better. I think an important part of this is seeing what it has to offer as a non-traditional encyclopedia. Wikipedia articles represent the evolutionary synthesis of ideas. A new article format could let users see this process. A many-layered dynamic format, as an optional setting, can be much richer than a traditional single-page article format.

Cell phone orgami photography

It is what it is, man.

Once I'd picked my favorites, it was easy to de\ete the rest.

I wore my hat a lot today.

Quite.

There is no democracy

...there are only 7 billion tiny dictatorships.

mathematics for psychonauts

            A blank white expanse sears your eyes, and you squint. The horizon is a razor-straight boundary between the brightest white and deepest dark you can imagine. As your eyes adjust to this strange polar world, shapes start to resolve on the white surface below you. First, you encounter a cluster of points, and find them completely textureless. There are enough that you don’t bother to count, they’re fixed to the white ground, and seem almost a part of it. You look into the black sky and notice directly above you a light smudge, which slowly focuses into the inverse of the points on the ground.