Geek Universalis

I am mildly annoyed every time I hear someone say "stimulus bill" with a straight face.

In order to get to the bottom of all of this, there are a few realities we need to consider:

I’m pleased to introduce Gaiatribe: Ideas for a Thinking Planet, the newest blog in the Geek Universalis Network.  It’s all about interconnection: in the environment, in communities, and within the human soul.  You can read more about the blog’s purpose on the “About” page, more about me on the “People” page, and more about Geek Universalis on the “Network” page.

Who am I?

I’m Elizabeth Barrette, the author of this blog.  (You may also see GUN’s editor, John Casker, in these pages.  Hi, John!)  I’m a writer, editor, scholar, and all-around wordsmith.  I’m a hobby-scientist of several stripes, including naturalist and linguist; I’m perennially fascinated with the world and how it works.

Some of you may know me from LiveJournal, where I write “The Wordsmith’s Forge,” or from iBlog, where I write “Hypatia’s Hoard of Reviews” or from my profile on MyBlogLog.  You might have come across my many tracks through the Pagan and speculative fiction fields.  If you’ve never heard of me before, that’s cool too; I like making new friends.

Who are you?

You’re someone who cares about the world we live in.  You’d like to make it a better place than it is today, and you’re on the lookout for resources that might help with that.  Maybe you focus on protecting the environment, or nurturing communities, or pursuing personal growth, or any other combination of positive goals.  Maybe you don’t know what the heck would help, so you’re interested in everything — because you’re smart and you’re curious and that’s given you a glimpse of the world that can be pretty alarming at times.  Let me know your favorite topics within Gaiatribe’s general sphere of influence, and I’ll try to cover them.

Then again, maybe you’re here by serendipity.  You read another GUN blog and you pounced on this new one, or perhaps you were surfing and washed up on my beach.  Look around; you’re bound to find something that intrigues you.  If all this is new to you, and I’m going too fast — speak up!  Ask me to slow down and explain things in more detail, if necessary.

What’s going on here?

We’re on an adventure.  We’re going to visit exotic places, and ordinary places, and learn what makes them special.  We’re going to meet interesting people and enjoy their unique perspectives.  We’re going to study some of the amazing, and awful, things that humanity has done.  And we’re going to make a difference.

We’re having a conversation.  I’ll talk about the things that interest me — green energy, wildlife, space exploration, intentional communities — and you’ll reply with your thoughts on those things, or other things that you think are related.  I’ll tell you about my writing, my garden, the great-horned owl who hollers outside my window some nights.  You’ll tell me about your career, the changing seasons where you live, your community’s triumphs or blunders.  We’ll make some new friends, and among the bunch of us, discover things we might never have discovered alone.

We’re sitting under a tree, thinking.  We’re walking along a beach, observing the tidepools.  We’re hiking through a forest … a prairie … a desert … collecting memories and metaphors.  We’re relaxing in a village, enjoying the company of fun people.  This is cyberspace, yet at the same time, this is Earth too.  Here we can visit any place, any time we need to visit in our journey.

So … where do you want to go?

There are a lot of charitable causes in the world. Heaps. Tons , even. The one that gets my support these days is the Electronic Frontier Foundation ("EFF"), "the leading civil liberties group defending your rights in the digital world." I know, there are a lot of causes out there that might feel more immediate - curing cancer, say, or providing service animals to the blind. That’s easy; everybody can get behind those causes. I can explain to my grandmother that blind people get along better with a dog, and she’ll pony up twenty bucks. On the other hand, if I tell grams that the EFF is behind the lawsuit to hold AT&T accountable for facilitating illegal NSA spying , or that they’re safe-guarding the future of cultural innovation , I’m going to be rewarded with a blank look. So here’s the thing - because I do understand what EFF does, and why it’s important, I’ve got a responsibility to support them on behalf of myself and those that are unwittingly protected by them .

And so do you. At least, I hope you think so, because EFF needs your help. To quote a recent email I received, "[d]ue to the tough economic times we are all experiencing (and maybe folks with spare cash to spend on activism feeling tapped out after the election), EFF is not getting the usual end-of-the-tax-year donation love." As a result, this non-profit organization that, to the best of my knowledge, never charges their clients for representation, is coming up short. Trust me on this, there are a lot of top-flight lawyers at EFF that are working waaaaaaaaaay below their market value because they believe in what they’re doing, but they (and EFF as an entity) still have bills to pay.

Please consider becoming a member of EFF. You can become a member here and get cool swag to boot, or just buy yourself some cool swag here . My personal favorites include the metal Bill of Rights card to set off airport security ("fun" fact: nobody will tell you under what law you’re being searched at the airport. It’s a secret. Now read the 4th Amendment .) and the mini LED flashlight specially designed to reveal the hidden tracking dots produced by laser printers . Whether you buy stuff or not, though, you really do owe it to yourself (as someone savvy enough to, at a minimum, read this blog) to help support this vital organization. Join EFF !

Bonus for reading this far: I’ll blog more about this later, but read Cory Doctorow’s latest collection of essays (c)ontent, about some of these very things, for free! Cory releases his books under a Creative Commons license, so this is a legal download of the entire book . Some % of you will buy it, of course, which is the point. I say "bonus," but it’s not like he’s doing this just for me - it’s just something I figure you don’t know about.

I oppose bailouts as a solution to a deflationary crash, because my theory is that the government will not be able to inject enough money to matter, and will then suffocate itself with debt in the process.

I never thought they would be this aggressively stupid

In other posts, I have written long expositions of why we are in a financial crisis. I have decided to write several short posts on the subject as well.

The root of the problem is counterfeit money. I’m sure that’s a statement worthy of a double take for most people, but it is true.

In today’s world, there is not very much difference between debt/credit and money. If you write a check to someone saying your bank owes them $100, that’s pretty similar to giving them a $100 bill. Businesses buy and sell debt like they buy or sell anything else.

Now, a relatively easy way to make money is to convince someone that some debt is good, and sell them the debt. If you know the debt is bad, this is really a form of counterfeiting. For those interested, here’s another take on the problem.

An everyday example of counterfeiting debt is writing a bad check.

Now there are three forms of debt we care about:

• Debt that will be paid back, or good debt.
• Debt that is good debt now, but will go bad later.
• Debt that is bad now.

And they directly correspond to:

• Money.
• Counterfeit money that will magically become worthless in the future.
• Counterfeit money that people realise is counterfeit, and won’t accept.

The housing boom, mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps, etc. was all about making counterfeit money, whether it be intentional or unintentional. Mostly, it was in some grey area really close to "intentional". Now, those same institutions dealing in this counterfeit money have been caught by their own creation.

That was the root of the problem.

The problem now is that lots of institutions are now holding counterfeit money that has turned bad, and they do not want to admit that they are bankrupt. Similarly, they are afraid to do business with other institutions, because they suspect those institutions have the same problem. They like to claim that they can’t sell their debt at the correct price, and that their "assets are illiquid". That is not true, if they were willing to sell those assets for what they were worth, they would sell like hotcakes.

Any bailout attempt that does not force businesses to come clean about how much counterfeit money they hold is doomed to failure. Markets will be frozen until trust is restored, and trust will be restored when institutions are forced to come clean, and not a second sooner.

Authorities are trying to paper over the problem by providing "liquidity"; that is, lending money for short periods to those in trouble. This is a fool’s errand, as I will cover in another post.

Hi!

Oh. Right. Welcome to Geek Universalis II: Wrath of etc… Ray and I messed around with blogging for a little bit, decided we weren’t going about it the way we really wanted to, and banged on some different possibilities until all but one fell apart. The result? You’re looking at it.

We want Geek Universalis to reflect the diverse interests that people (e.g. us) hold. The conventional blogging wisdom is that a blog needs to be focused on a topic. We can’t argue with that, but that doesn’t change the fact that we like to read, and write, about many different things. Not to mention our desire to have more of our friends join us here in time.

So, to compromise, we set up an unconventional blog network. We aren’t trying to leverage hundreds of writers into CPM riches, we just want to both eat and own cake. The main page of GU will read like the blog we really want, with subjects coming at you from many directions. However, there’s a 2nd layer of individual blogs that will have their own character and personality (moreso as time goes by; yes, right now they all look the same). We encourage you to find what works best for you; nobody will be insulted if you only like one or two blogs here and follow those, although we might think you’re missing some good stuff.

Who’s we?

I’m John. I’m a 36 year old living outside of Seattle who loves a lot of things about my life. My day job is not one of those things, so don’t expect to hear much if anything about it. No, I enjoy the time I spend with my partner, my friends, and my pooch, and in varying degrees that’s what I write about, along with my passions in the world at large.

My partner in crime is Ray.  As he puts it, “My day job is interesting, and I often jump fields. I hope to bring some of that enthusiasm and variety with me. I am something of a dilettante, so I can’t really predict what I’ll be posting on, but I suspect physics, computers, electronics, and remote control helicopters will all make a showing at some point. Maybe even finance, if I think it fits.”

So, let the games begin!