Dream A Little

Foreword

I met up with a cousin at a coffee shop the other day and she brought her 2-year-old son with her. I was quite amazed at how this little guy could communicate and his natural curiousity directed him through decision-making. It’s such a shame to see this wonderful trait of wanting to learn about the unknown all the time cease to exist as we age. 2 years isn’t a long time though! How was this little man so advanced after 2 god damn years? Mind you I haven’t been around kids that close in years too. Especially not in this analytical version of myself where I view everything as science.

It made me wonder, “Will artificial life be the same or different to a child?“. It’s the experience of visually seeing infants that makes me want to build a life. It’s an unexplainable feeling. This burning sensation persists from the moment I wake injecting itself into my very dreams. It never leaves my mind. Even if I try, I’ll end up getting anxious and still thinking about it because I want it so bad and willfully avoiding it is a disservice to myself and those around me. The mere fact that I have such a powerful ambition is not something to take lightly, especially when equipped with such a superpower of persistence. One day the world will see my vision, for I have to show them.

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Whitepill

After doing some reflection over the past few weeks I realised that fiction is quite beneficial in its way — inspiration. See, anything that isn’t mathematically proven is philosophy.

Everything in the world we see and use is made by humans. But there’s a hidden secret: all of the world’s biggest inventions were due to mathematical advancements. Buildings: trigonometry, refrigerator: physics and thermodynamics, medicine: chemical reactions and calculus, fighter jets: trig, LA, calc, and the list goes on. Want to do anything revolutionary? You need to fall in love with the beauty of this language called mathematics. This bulletproof language can explain what’s in front of us. The tool that will design futures to come and change the lives of billions of people. The only thing that will take us to venture out to see planets like we’re going from country to country.

So Outlandish

But…why do people not dream of going to the stars, exploring the abyss as an independent mercenary like Cowboy Bebop? Or being in control of a fleet of IG units capable of sieging enemy bases with human-level coordination and adaptability? Imagine building a PMC company and instead of human agents being dropped into an area to do a job you throw in 3-4 of these highly intelligent droids to get the job done. HOW SICK WOULD THAT BE?!

What about creating a new form of technology that revolutionises the world? Have you ever seen the game, Scorn? TLDR; it’s a world where biomechanics (mix of bio and mechatronics) is all around the player and you walk through this world using your arm as a key, moving consciousness into different bodies as a body is now disposable, etc. Doesn’t this get you thinking of how you can use robotics and some sensors to create something similar?

What’s The Point?

See the entire point of fantasy is to spark creativity and curiousity. It is the dreams we see in our sleep and the wandering of our minds that lead us to wanting to discover and invent things. We see people explore incredible niches over the new fad because they’re genuinely interested in it, cultivating a vision about how the world should look and feel like when they reach the end (or maybe even halfway) through their journey.

This curiousity is an infinite positive feedback loop:

1. you make a bit of progress, unlocking understanding
2. new knowledge sparks new ideas
3. new ideas spark curiousity about what is possible
4. repeat

And there’s a momentum factor too. Some unlocks are bigger than others and cause massive leaps in understanding. This curiousity also leads you to explore new fields you would have never imagined. I would never have ventured out into math and AI without going through building my heuristic cybersecurity exploit tool. I would never have done cybersecurity if I had never done compiler dev and MEV (crypto HFT) and would have never done that unless I messed around with protocol design. It’s a stream that never ends. You acquire new skills to tackle bigger dreams and eventually, you look up one day and see the progress you’ve made.

Reality

Speaking of looking up, I noticed I look down, a lot. And it’s hard to dream when you look at the boring old concrete. When I lift my head I see the ocean, crashing waves, complex continuous movement, a world beneath, and the stars, moon, clouds, a blazing sun. I often think to myself, “What is out there?“. Stepping outside to star at the constellation at 1-2 am only to be in awe of the beauty of the universe. It’s moments like these that capture my attention and make me want to achieve great things and ultimately push past simple pain to get there.

Most people don’t fantasize!

They’re shrouded by their 9-5 job, wasting away at some meaningless job that causes them to never even consider wandering off into the abyss of curiousity. They’re too honed in on their deadlines and making others like them so they get that little promotion. Don’t get me wrong, most people need to work to survive. But if they were smart enough they would learn a new skill in their downtime, get good enough to automate making money or take on side jobs and eventually switch over and ramp up. But then again, people lack the discipline to do the hard things. The choice is a decision and 99% of people decide to take the path of short-term least resistance.

Seize the moment and yearn for the future you want. Don’t merely exist, live. Conquer. Explore. Embrace all that is you and your mind. Show the world what amazing things you can do. And those who try to put you down are simply too insecure about their limitations that they need to try to drag others to their hellhole life to not feel so lonely. I think this is why some visionaries go towards the dark side of being malicious to cut down on those who look down on them. There is a reason there is a class division in all walks of life. It is because people who have visions and execute them change and control the world. Do you want to be one of these people or be at the mercy of them?

End

What is it like without risk? We all die eventually, may as well do the most crazy shit possible before then. What’s to lose? Life? Live a life worth living and stop watching this limited-time gift go by. You can do anything, you need to do the thing. It’s as simple as that. Do. It. Why can’t you be the next big thing changing the world? The average age is 75-80. What’s stopping you from putting in the hours?

I hope you’ve been inspired, anon-kun. Until next time, godspeed…