Giving a speech is [for me] a primal act.
It is the ultimate in being purely “alive.”
At its end I die.
The exhaustion leads to odd thought patterns.
I’ve been thinking about Kurzweil’s singularity a lot.
And juxtaposing it with my work.
I have no idea what the singularity is.
But I’m simultaneously clear about what it is—in the primal part of my brain.
I think [GOD HELP ME] in tweets these days.
Take notes in tweet form.
Herewith a set that emerged from my keyboard during DL494 Santo Domingo-JFK:
The more things change the more they say the same. Not true circa 2011. The more things change the more things change.
Pretty sure I agree with Kurzweil on the meaning of the “singularity” except for timing—perhaps it’s already occurred????
Intensity of giving a speech—each speech always leads to copious tears when I return to hotel room and adrenaline evaporates. It’s a form of dying.
I start “going weird” about 72 hours before a speech. I stay weird for about 48 hours after a speech.
Kurzweil says “singularity.” I say The Great Flip. We labor and wear our fingertips to the bone to feed and clothe and educate our computers-networks.
We now [ALREADY] work for our computers-networks more than they work for us??!!
We barely have time to eat because it takes so much time to feed our computers-networks.
If computers-networks could laugh spontaneously [WILL THEY SOMEDAY SOON?] they’d laugh hysterically at “user communities.”
Business goes a lot faster these days not because of our needs or even our wants—but because the computers-networks require us to go ever faster.
Who’s in charge: JIT-driven computer networks determine [COMMAND] the moment-to-moment behavior of millions/tens-of-millions of workers worldwide.
1985: Speech prep 2 or 3 hours—shuffling my (almost) static 500 glass-mount slide set. 2011: I work for PowerPoint—50 to100 hours prep-per-speech.
Soon we may not be needed.
I talk ceaselessly about the “eternal basics.” Perhaps I’m wrong.
Are we already living in the matrix?
If Thos. Pink quit making shirts I’d probably quit giving speeches.
Twixt ’97-’05 back pain treatment up 65% to $90B. No improvement in back health per population self-reports. (Source: Forbes 03.27.08)
Is fusion surgery a pure and simple racket? (Rehab-exercise program just as effective per numerous studies.) (Source: Forbes 03.27.08)