Perpetually Perplexing

Another year has come and gone.


With Christmas now in our rear view mirror, the sights are re-set to the road ahead – to the new year we will call 2012.

Time continues to march forward. The world continues to spin, the sun rising and setting continuing to march forward – never stopping – effortlessly plodding on.

The spin of the Earth – as with all the other planets in our local solar system – continue to their relentless path around the sun.

The ultimate perpetual motion machine.

Seemingly never slowing. Seemingly holding each component’s position perfectly.

Yet we believe that creating a perpetual motion machine here on our big blue marble to be impossible. The friction created by passing through the air, and the constant force of gravity created by the spinning of this planet we live on its axis and the pull from the planets around it – the very perpetual motion machine that makes life on Earth possible – is the reason we cannot reproduce perpetual motion of our own.

Or maybe we are just not smart enough yet?

We can remove the impact of air on such a machine by simply building the machine in a vacuum. But we don’t know how to turn gravity off in a given location.

We could build the machine in outer space?

“Why do you want to build a perpetual motion machine?”

Well, it’s the holy grail of engineering. Such a machine – one provided the right amount of energy to get started, would regenerate that same amount of energy with the completion of a cycle, an engine that would only need to be started that would run forever.

Learn how to make such a machine, and all our needs for energy would be answered.

“But we have solar panels now, and wind turbines powered by the slightest breeze, and water turbines that are powered by the energy of the oceans?”

Yes we do. But they are still very inefficient. They do not yet produce enough energy to account for the human races tremendous thirst for power.

But the good news is we are getting there. A perpetual motion machine would take us to that next level that could allow us to end our dependency on fossil fuels – and nuclear power.

“But wasn’t the universe created by nuclear power?”

The big bang? Yes I guess that’s likely true.

The universe appears to have harnessed that power tremendously efficiently, little if any wasted as our own Sun as an exhibit proves – continuing to burn for eons yet to come.

We as mankind are so arrogant to think how intelligent we are. But in comparison to the bang that God set off that one single bang those billions of years ago? We hook a couple of pistons and gears together and dig out the fossil fuels from the earth from life that lived here a millennium before us, and we make a big explosion to make the stuff move, only to have to make another explosion milliseconds later to keep it moving – to drive to the store to get milk.

What we have been able to accomplish however is to provide the means for all of humanity to connect their collective thoughts – ideas – dreams – concepts – stuff in our heads – headstuffing – so that we can collaborate on these next steps forward.

But in our most inefficient way – we squander this technology on menial sentiments – telling the world that we just had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast – or that we are out walking the dog.

I am no better, do not get me wrong and think that I am spouting off here in some superior voice to say the rest of man is fat and lazy. I am a prime example of the epitome of inefficiency.

I take more than I give. I use more than I make. I am like a termite consistently eating away at the very resources – in my own gluttonous pace – until all are exhausted.

We need that perpetual motion machine.

We need that divine revelation – that inspiration that removes our dependency on fossil fuels. We need to be smarter.

I am not that smart.

Nor likely are you.

But if we put our collective minds together – and push full steam ahead to brainstorm on a singular common goal … we need to overcome ourselves.

We need to overcome what we have become.

And we had better hurry. Because the Earth continues to spin, and the sun continues to rise and set, the moon continues to circle us, as days to into months then into years.

Because time, as relative a concept as physicists insist it to be, time waits for no one. But while time is limitless – our quantity of time is not.

We expire.

And time will continue on without us.

Seemingly perpetually.

If We Could Really Capture a Moment

Well, tomorrow I have to hop on a train again and ride back north to Toronto.

The purpose of this trip is “knowledge transfer”. I am to transfer a portion of my knowledge to those taking over our contract in November.

I am to perform this knowledge transfer without the use of tin head covers strung together with curly wire and electric flashes bolting the knowledge from my brain to theirs.

Instead – I am simply to tell them. And they are to remember what I said. Maybe they will take some notes, write some stuff down - depending on the quality of knowledge I provide.

Kind of simple, don’t you think?

But it does bring to mind the device I hope to invent in my mad scientist laboratory one day.

If you’re a sports fan, you will appreciate this.

Imagine if you could put a cap on somebody that would capture all aspects of their brain – like Tivo-ing a live sports event.

Everything that person experienced would be captured in this recording.

Then you can take that recording and give it to another person. They put on their cap, hit the “play” button, and play back everything the first person experienced.

Imagine if you had this recording cap on Hank Aaron when he broke the Babe’s home run record. We have all seen the tape of when he did it. But imagine if you could actually see it through his eyes, feel the adrenalin pump through his veins and his heart beating as his hands felt the bat make solid contact and the ball fly’s over the fence, and the explosion of emotion that erupted in that moment of realization.

Imagine.

Imagine Tiger woods watching that magic chip shot that rolled down the slope and on the last rotation hang before falling in the cup in the 2005 Masters.

I know that I would pay most anything to play a round of golf like Tiger, even if it wasn’t me playing. Just to know what it feels like would be incredible.

Or imagine recording your own emotion as saw your newborn child for the first time. You could play it back like a home movie.

It would truly be remembering. Although some may argue that the memory is sweeter than when it happened.

Imagine how diplomats could use such a device to establish a common ground. “Oh, now I understand how you really feel about that”. Of course the political ambitions and the lies they inspire would also be captured.

And think of the way that the education institutions would be changed. A lecture from inside of Steven Hawking s mind. The greatest experts knowledge would simply be copied into your brain.

But of course, like all new technologies, there are darker ways this would be used:

Governments would use the device to find out their enemies secrets.

Military Intelligence would use the device to uncover enemy plans.

Of course, pornographers would use the device too. I am not so naive to not realize this would be the devices first immediate use. I believe this is how VHS actually beat out Beta.

But the sickest would be from those who would create “snuff” experiences. Killing themselves or someone else while wearing the device and capturing the experience.

But imagine what man could learn from such a device. Imagine how our collective intelligence would skyrocket. Imagine how our social barriers would tumble. Imagine how our ability to agree would be increased.

Imagine. Or would it better for some inventions to not be invented?

If only we were smart enough – disciplined enough to know what truly is best.