Being truly free [with the help of Robots?]: 'Whatever You Wish' by Isaac Asimov

What the future holds: Plotting new systems of living in Vilcabamba, Ecuador
GardenofParadise.net

One of the interesting things about my time in South America is seeing people adopt realities that suit them. Travellers in general live lifestyles outside the norm but often times this is only a temporary endeavour. Because of its relatively low cost of living and the culture of lucha and revolution in South America, people all over the world come here to forge new lives.

A reality above the clouds
SacredSuenos.wordpress.com

Hippies trade their wares and perform their craft. Entrepreneurs and free spirits open Hostels and eateries. Dreamers start Eco Farms and assemble intentional communities. Retirees swarm to stretch their lifesavings or get a headstart in spending it. A few people are even escaping governments they feel are on a downward slide.

You can't help but ponder what it would be like if everyone had the means to create their ideal future. If everyone had the time, money and access to pursue their long held dreams. Whilst in Quito, Ecuador crashing with a lovely couple and their newborn I read 'Robot Visions' by Isaac Asimov. A collection of short stories and essays envisioning our possible future with Robots. It provided an insight into what that utopia might look like:

Will future generations live in a utopia made possible by robots?

'Whatever You Wish' by Isaac Asimov
What about the majority of the human species in this automated future? What about those who don't have the ability or the desire to work at the professions of the future—or for whom there is no room in those professions? It may be that most people will have nothing to do of what we think of as work nowadays.

This could be a frightening thought. What will people do without work? Won't they sit around and be bored; or worse, become unstable or even vicious? The saying is that Satan finds mischief still for idle hands to do.

But we judge from the situation that has existed till now, a situation in which people are left to themselves to rot.

Consider that there have been times in history when an aristocracy lived in idleness off the backs of flesh-and-blood machines called slaves or serfs or peasants. When such a situation was combined with a high culture, however, aristocrats used their leisure to become educated in literature, the arts, and philosophy. Such studies were not useful for work, but they occupied the mind, made for interesting conversation and an enjoyable life.

Exploring Worlds in life and in Video Games - The Indoor Kids #59: Why we Play, with Pete Holmes

This world is "Super"

Funnyman Pete Holmes in a discussion with the Indoor Kids' Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon describe the appeal of video games. The liberty and achievement found in them that isn't always as accessible in real life.

The Indoor Kids #59: Why we Play, with Pete Holmes
EMILY GORDON: (28m 22s) When you're a kid there's so little you have control over... when I was a kid playing games, part of it was that I got to exert control over a world. Because in this world I was a f*cking kid, I had no control whatsoever. And the older you get and the more control you have, you're just using the knowledge you have. "I can f*ck this up"
KUMAIL NANJIANI: And you trying to f*ck it up it is the ultimate expression of control. Like you're now even trying to control the boundaries of the game and get outside it.

What are we waiting for?

Travel to me is taking the time to discover the wonders the world has to offer. Exploring the many people, cultures and landscapes.

PETE HOLMES: (24m 38) Kids get more excited about how is this game going to be made, or what details and Easter Eggs are they going to put into the game... when I was kid I wanted to take it apart... let me give you an example because I'm not being very clear... everytime I got a new Sonic game the first thing I would do was start the level and then have Sonic stand still
KUMAIL: Oh yes so he could do the things, tap his foot, look at his watch
EMILY: Cause you feel like somehow its a communication between you and the people who made the game... what did they think of to thwart what you were thinking of
KUMAIL: So that's interesting for you its more of a dialogue between the makers and not what's inside the world. You're trying to sort of, in a way break the game but just sort of see what the boundaries of what they've thought of are

Backpacker life

In my travels I'll walk around aimlessly looking for things that pique my interest. I never found the appeal of guide books, preferring just to stumble onto things or take suggestion from others. Better yet ego-tripping with new running mates.

PETE: (30m 07s) Everytime I get Grand Theft Auto and I start from the beginning [I like to play the story] but then I'll try to go to parts of the island you're not suppose to because I want to see what happens
EMILY: and there's always a Police Line or something really stupid set up
KUMAIL: and you know what's really awesome, if you find a place that you're not suppose to get to and when you get there, there's like a little message on the wall and you're like "You knew I'd be looking for this. You win this one"

Other posts on "Life as a Video Game"
- Dan Harmon and Duncan Trussell: We are in a simulation echo. God was originally a mortal programmer who "sacrificed himself as a player"
- Exploring Worlds in life and in Video Games - The Indoor Kids #59: Why we Play, with Pete Holmes
- Onnit Blog: Self Improvement in Video Games VS the "Real World"
- Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes talk about "affecting the world TODAY"
- Skateboarders GoPro Train Derailment aftermath - 'Strange Days' visceral experience
- On being a Badass: Comedians Harland Williams and Pete Holmes featuring band 'Biting Elbows'

Technology VS human instinct: From Inuits in Northern Canada to jungle guides in the Amazon

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines 
The hunters’ ability to navigate vast stretches of the barren Arctic terrain, where landmarks are few, snow formations are in constant flux, and trails disappear overnight, has amazed explorers and scientists for centuries. The Inuit’s extraordinary way-finding skills are born not of technological prowess—they long eschewed maps and compasses—but of a profound understanding of winds, snowdrift patterns, animal behavior, stars, and tides.

Spending a few nights in the Amazonas I was mightily impressed by our Ecuadorian guide. I'm fascinated by human intuition and curious about the effects technology has had on our natural instincts and abilities. With his experience in the jungle and routine habits formed in a job, our guide was able to spot monkeys, frogs and tiny mushrooms with ease in the dense forest.

One of his most incredible feats was to steer the boat in pitch black darkness for 15 minutes after a night hike. I told him I'd recently read an article in 'The Atlantic' that referenced the astounding prowess of Inuit tribes and how recent forays using modern technology like GPS had dulled their abilities.

I quizzed him on his approach and how he viewed his own skill navigating the waters blind. He replied "To me, its just like a video game".

Like this. Except in pitch black.

All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines 
Whether it’s a pilot on a flight deck, a doctor in an examination room, or an Inuit hunter on an ice floe, knowing demands doing. One of the most remarkable things about us is also one of the easiest to overlook: each time we collide with the real, we deepen our understanding of the world and become more fully a part of it. While we’re wrestling with a difficult task, we may be motivated by an anticipation of the ends of our labor, but it’s the work itself—the means—that makes us who we are. Computer automation severs the ends from the means. It makes getting what we want easier, but it distances us from the work of knowing. As we transform ourselves into creatures of the screen, we face an existential question: Does our essence still lie in what we know, or are we now content to be defined by what we want? If we don’t grapple with that question ourselves, our gadgets will be happy to answer it for us.

- Comedians Pete Holmes and Eddie Pepitone on the phone as a "life companion"
- Comedian Louis C.K. on what smartphones are taking away

National Geographic: The Japanese perspective on aging and happiness

Ecuador is an intriguing place, easily the most striking Country I've seen. A place you truly believe you could relocate too. You'll find many others have had the same idea and followed through. From retirees and escapees to young hippies and entrepreneurs. One of the perks of these settlements are the fancy eateries and artesan spaces that crop up for a fraction of the cost back home.

I found this rasta joint in Baños with some old school National Geographic's for table reading.

Vintage 'National Geographic' magazines at Afro Caribbean joint in Baños, Ecuador

National Geographic, January 1994
Kyushu: Japan's Southern Gateway
"Life is more comfortable than when I was growing up," he said, as we watched the sun dip behind the emerald hills that bordered his rice fields. But he added mischievously: "Too bad people have become so boring".

"Our village has a big electronics plant here now employing 1,200 people" he explained. "Golf courses are popping up, and we've got plenty of tax money rolling. But something's missing. The young people stumble around with a dazed look on their faces". The old folks, whose stories of village life were once the riveting source of entertainment and wisdom, can't compete with MTV...

Nowadays, the old folks watch Game Shows on TV. What good is long life asks Yoshihiro, if it ends in loneliness and boredom?

Comedian Louis C.K. on what Smartphones are taking away

I celebrated my birthday alone in Rio de Janeiro because of a mixup connecting with one of the few people I knew in the city. It was partly because I didn't have a phone. 

I spent the day alone watching 'Gravity' (2013) in the cinema.

There was a melancholy to the day but stumbling onto this video that night really cheered me up.
I got to hang with my buddies the day after. All's well that ends well.

VIDEO: Louis C.K. Hates Cell Phones
   

Louis C.K.'s Explanation of Why He Hates Smartphones Is Sad, Brilliant
You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That's what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there. That's being a person. Because underneath everything in your life there is that thing, that empty—forever empty. That knowledge that it's all for nothing and that you're alone. It's down there.

16-Year-Old Malala Yousafzai's message on the 'Daily Show': "That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want"

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Malala Yousafzai delivered a powerful message on the 'Daily Show', the Pakistani teen shot in the head by a Taliban soldier in 2012 when she was only 14. An advocate for education and women's rights, she has released a memoir co-written with veteran journalist Christina Lamb. A book the 'Washington Post' says should be read "not only for its vivid drama but for its urgent message about the untapped power of girls."

VIDEO: 'The Daily Show' Extended Interview - Malala Yousafzai

'The Daily Show' (September 2013)
MALALA YOUSAFZAI: I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, 'If he comes, what would you do Malala?' then I would reply to myself, 'Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.' But then I said, 'If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.' Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that 'I even want education for your children as well.' And I will tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.

Apollo Robbins, master pickpocket featured in the New Yorker

I've often wondered why the things I'm most fascinated by are the things I should be most fearful of. I've always been drawn to charisma, psychology and manipulation. My most memorable encounter with it in real life was in Istanbul, Turkey when I was exposed to the "clip joint" scam. Now that I've been in South America a few months I've been alert to pickpockets. So far, only the sauce scam has been attempted on me;

I'd seen Apollo Robbins on one of my favourite shows, 'Brain Games' with Jason Silva but had never heard his full story until I found this interesting New Yorker article in a Porto Alegre hostel.

VIDEO: Apollo Robbins, The Master Pickpocket: Tricks of the Trade

A PICKPOCKET’S TALE: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins
by Adam Green for The New Yorker
Recently, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and the military have studied his methods for what they reveal about the nature of human attention. Teller, a good friend of Robbins’s, believes that widespread recognition is only a matter of time. “The popularity of crime as a sort of romantic thing in America is profoundly significant, and Apollo is tapping into that,” he told me. “If you think about it, magic itself has many of the hallmarks of criminal activity: You lie, you cheat, you try not to get caught—but it’s on a stage, it has a proscenium around it. When Apollo walks onstage, there’s a sense that he might have one foot outside the proscenium. He takes a low crime and turns it into an art form.