Mandatory Update

Posted on by Dave Stucky

I’ve been off the map for a while. I promise I’m not dead, though you may have noticed if you’ve been listening to my podcast. It’s probably a good time to give something like an update, so here we go.

News

No news on my children. My ex-wife (bureaucracy pending) continues to gatekeep them, so it has now been 2 years since I last saw them. They were 4 and 7 when she took them, and so they’re now 6 and 9.

I’m at peace about it, though, now that I’ve done some research and received some privileged information from some very kind people. She is in far worse legal trouble than I think even she realizes. I just have to keep waiting to see it all unfold, so I’m carrying on with the things I can control.

What I Did

Not too many updates on my essays:

I’ve also fixed whatever weirdness with the mailing list, so go here for that. You can now subscribe without RSS again.

And speaking of things within my control, I’ve been noticing the trends ever since my last only 10% tinfoil post about age verification in computers. Here’s what I’ve found:

  1. Everyone really likes their privacy, and it’s a very personal issue.
  2. People don’t notice when obscure nerds like me say something, and we will likely see Google wall off Android OS before anyone notices.
  3. However, people definitely notice Flock cameras everywhere and technocrats trying to spin that it’s a good thing. They also notice when the surveillance marketing apparatus becomes a surveillance state.
  4. Not everyone follows the rules, and a bunch of people will certainly try to take down Flock cameras on the one day it’s socially acceptable to wear costumes in public.
  5. Even if people resist, everyone stands with their cause.
  6. Over time, this creates a counter-trend that overthrows the rights violators. Since it’s public (free press and all), it’s less likely to veer into total anarchy like history has shown usually happens.

So, in light of the current trends, and because my ex-wife (bureacracy pending) was morally flexible enough to kidnap the two most important people in my life, I’ve decided to take up a new mission.

I’ll spare the details of my vision, but you can read about it here. The simple idea is that the Average Unwashed need three major things to preserve their freedom of the press:

  1. They must be able to run websites on computers they control.
  2. They must be able to put more than websites, but also social media, on those computers they control.
  3. Big computer systems are complicated and need lots of power, so they must be able to arrange for other like-minded people to share computers for that reason as well.

And, therefore, I need to really get into the tech industry to get this going. That’s my goal, and I’m preparing everything I have for that reason.

What I Learned

“Good enough” is better than “perfect”. Or, “perfect is the enemy of good”.

I haven’t really learned this, but have grown to accept it, since 44 essays are waiting for me to actually finish them. I’ve devoted myself so heavily into getting that last 2% right that I’ve declined asking whether it was worth the effort.

What I’m Doing Now

I’m still getting a feel for what I need to do to accomplish my vision. Lots of ideating and mental effort, but not many buttons on a keyboard have been pressed yet to make the things in the brain become things in the logic machines.