Imagination

 

While I was finishing up my degree at Fresno State University in 1999, I posted my first blog post on a new Google application called Blogger. At the time, I felt it was a good place for me to practice my writing skills, share my writings and hopefully gain some insight and pointers about public writing from people of all walks of life. That one blog post blossomed into what is now almost a dozen blogs on various aspects of my life and the interests those aspects have sparked.

I guess I like to write. I'm always at my keyboard, I like to sit and just imagine. Most of the time, those "imagination" articles make sense only to me. Imagination operates both spontaneously (daydreaming, creativity) and deliberately (planning, design), and relies on memory, attention and associative thinking. I also just sit and daydream at my keyboard, most of those articles don't even make sense to me. Humanity owes a lot to imagination and dreams. Most of our discoveries and inventions were once a dream in someone's imagination. Much like President Kennedy's dream: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." 

I wonder what the world would be like if every person was an academic nerd? I doubt that we would have landed on the moon. Ask anyone at NASA and they will tell you that not all answers come from math, physics and chemistry because sometimes even the problem has to be imagined with solutions coming from an engineer's dream. ... That is how we achieved President Kennedy's dream.

I also write about places I've been and places that interest me. Somewhere on my hard drive is an story about me landing on Pluto, you know, the planet we through away.  My imagination kind of "ran away" in that article. Although I have not published any of those imaginative and daydream articles, I often go back to them when I am writing factual articles from my research about technology.  After many years spent in technology, I find that dreams and imagination actually lead discovery, fact and solution. So, the next time you see me daydreaming, we could be on our way to Pluto (I'm an engineer). 

I love to research technology. I used to be a "retro" guy, Writing about the old computers and software on a card. I still do, but lately, I have turned to writing about Artificial Intelligence. If you want to let your imagination and dreams run wild, AI is the place to be. 

Take a moment right now, ask yourself, can you get through a day without using any type of computing hardware or software? Everything in your kitchen except, pots, pans, dishes and maybe a 5 year old toaster, has a CPU in it. Your garage door has a CPU, your television and radio have a CPU, your car has multiple CPUs, traffic lights are controlled by a CPU, almost everything in our world today has a CPU (even toothbrushes?). Now, sit back in your chair and daydream and imagine yourself living in the 1800s. Could you do it? The only problem with THAT daydream is that some idiot is going to come along and dream up a CPU, RAM and build a "computer" and you will be back where you started. Sitting back in your chair surrounded by CPUs. 

The hardest thing for me to write about is myself. We are all different. We have different experiences and even if two people have the same experience, they will both interpret it differently. It seems sometimes I always make someone angry with a post. There are many aspects of being human. There's the hardware, consisting of your skin, organs, muscle, and bones; software, consisting of electrical charges, chemistry, and nerve connections in the brain; and blood and water. Then there are the "feelings". Where do they come from? how are they made? Probably, they come from that same unknown factor that generates imagination and dreams (remember, attention and associative thinking are part of imagination).

 

 

Some folks say I am a contradiction within myself. My early life was hardened by living in a world of racial chaos, war and drugs. Even during those times that didn't know who I was or why I was here, I desperately wanted the ideals that John Lennon sang of. I wanted peace, unity of mankind and serenity in my life. They say John Lennon wrote this song for the world, but I think he probably wrote it for himself. We should not have to imagine a world in peace, we should live it. 

In the 60s, above the roar of race riots, the shouting in Congress and the cries of our men dying in Vietnam, you could hear the shout of the young "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

We achieved Kennedy's dream by pulling together, helping each other out and forgetting our differences. We can do the same for our dream of peace (we all have it!) by stopping our one-up-manship and forgetting our differences. If we can do that on an individual basis, we will all be pulling together, pulling in the same direction because it won't be a choice, it will be the only thing we can do. 

My Generation

The turbulent 60s, the generation I grew up in. Marked by intense social upheaval, political conflicts like the Vietnam War and Cold War tensions, the booming Civil Rights Movement, countercultural shifts challenging traditional values, assassinations of key leaders (JFK, MLK Jr., Malcolm X), and major protests, all leading to widespread activism, cultural experimentation, and deep divisions in America and globally. 

"Many have passed away, and those who are still here are called "the elderly.""

We were born in the 40s-50s-60s. We grew up in the 50's-60's-70's. We studied in the 60s-70s-80s.

We were together in the 70s-80s-90s. We got married or not and discovered the world in the 70s-80s-90s. Adventuring into the 80s - 90s

We're settling in to the 2000s. We became wiser in 2010s. And we’re going strong into 2020 and beyond.

Turns out we went through EIGHT different decades... TWO different centuries... TWO different millennials...

We've gone from phone with operator for long distance calls, pay booths, video calls worldwide. We’ve gone from slides to YouTube, vinyls to online music, handwritten letters to emails and Whats App.

Live games on the radio, black and white TV, color TV, then HD 3D TV. We went to the video store and now watching Netflix.

We've known the first computers, punch cards, disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones. 

We wore shorts all through our childhood, then trousers, ep pants or mini-skirts, Oxfords, Clarks, Palestinian scarves, jumpsuits, and blue jeans.

We avoided childhood paralysis, meningitis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19.

We've done roller skating, roller skating, tricycle, bicycle, moped, gasoline or diesel and now we drive hybrids or electric.

We played with the little ones. Horses and checkers, ostrich and marbles, 1000 threshold and monopoly, now there's candy crush on our smartphones

And we read... much. And our schoolmates religion was not a subject...

We used to drink tap water and lemonade in glass bottles, and the vegetables on our plate were always fresh, today we get meals delivered. 

Yes, we have been through a lot but what a beautiful life we have had!

They might describe us as “ex-annuals”; people who were born in this 50s world, who had an analog childhood and digital adulthood.

We should add the Biological Revolution that we have witnessed. In 1960, biology was very descriptive. We have witnessed the event of Molecular Biology: the molecules of Life have been discovered: DNA, RNA etc. When you see everything that has come from it: gene therapy, gene fingerprints, and others the progress is considerable.

We kind of have "seen it all"! Our generation has literally lived and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life. This is our generation that has literally adapted to "CHANGE".

A big congratulations to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE.. "

It's really sad that much of the popular music of the 60s, still rings true today.  

 

 

  

 

 

 

What defines my generation?

Although I wasn't there, I would have to say

WOODSTOCK 1969! 

 

 

On the third day of the festival, just before Joe Cocker's early afternoon set, Max Yasgur, the humble farmer who lent his land for the occasion  addressed the crowd at Woodstock:

 

"I'm a farmer. I don't know how to speak to twenty people at one time, let alone a crowd like this. But I think you people have proven something to the world — not only to the Town of Bethel, or Sullivan County, or New York State; you've proven something to the world. This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place. We have had no idea that there would be this size group, and because of that you've had quite a few inconveniences as far as water, food, and so forth. Your producers have done a mammoth job to see that you're taken care of... they'd enjoy a vote of thanks. But above that, the important thing that you've proven to the world is that a half a million kids — and I call you kids because I have children that are older than you are — a half million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music, and I – God bless you for it!"

 

 ... Max Yasgur, said this on stage the last day of Woodstock as America was sending Kids to Vietnam to die. 

 

My generation of the 1960s could land a man on the moon and bring him back safely, but we could not stop a war that no one wanted or look upon a people freed in the 1800s as our equals. Today is in the year 2026 and nothing has changed. We are headed for the moon again, in a war that no one wants and driving people who are not white from our country. It saddens me to think that in all these years America has still not learned what our fore fathers tried to teach us.  

 

Imagine all the people living life in peace. As we did at Woodstock.