To Russia With Love

KONSTANTIN@INSIDE_RUSSIA author of the excellent YouTube channel 

Dear Constantine, [Tchaikowsky, Boradin, Stravinsky, Chekov, Dostoevsky, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, Oespensky & Gurdjieff,  Liebow, Tsiolkovsky, Gargarin, & so many other Russians who have brought illumination to my life]

I have been watching your Youtube channel with delighted interest since February. I have concluded that you are very astute in grasping the "big" picture", the overview, by looking at the details. You have mentioned your faith and suggested that the angels ("St. Michael") are coming to assist. I'd like to suggest, as a citizen of humanity, that the big picture includes all of humanity. I have some information for you along that theme. So, I'm getting prompted to make sure this message is passed on by temporary sponsorship of your vlog. 

Let me first introduce myself so that you have an idea that I might have an insight or two. I have a degree in applied math with minors in history & philosophy. My professional career was centered around the computer industry of the 70's & 80's. I worked on software for the North American Air Defense Command as well as highly technical R&D software design for real-time simulation & real time monitoring of sulfur  dioxcide emissions. Some of the ideas I'm going to present are radical so I'm giving you this background to indicate that I have an analytical & thotful approach to my ideas.

It seems clear that the most severe problems facing humanity today are of a global nature and require global cooperation to be solved. It seems quite clear that these problems cannot be solved by current institutions political or scientific (or religious). The objects space ship earth is about to collide with (climate change, depletion of natural resources, famine...) will require an unprecedented planetary cooperation to avoid by instituting a course change. That it can be achieved was shown by the success of  yesterday's DART mission. If you haven't heard, an international mission made a successful deflection of an asteroid as the first step in building a system that will defend Earth from events like the one that contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs (& possibly the Tunguska event). It is in that spirit I want to pass on this info. 

As a physics major, scheduling made it easier to get a math degree than physics but the problem of first contact was my chief interest and has remained so. The physicist Fermi [developed 1st working reactor at University of Chicago] asked the question which has come to be known as "Fermi's Paradox". In essence the question is [given the math of the "Drake Equation"] where are they? Modern science indicates that the universe should have many worlds older and wiser than ours. Given the very short time in cosmological terms that humanity took to reach our current state of evolution it would be easy for those other worlds to have visited. Where are they? It is my opinion that Fermi's paradox is quite simple: they're already here. I shall return to this idea shortly.

Returning to the theme of global problems (I'm going to show possible relationship here) my conclusion has been that an elevation of the consciousness of humanities members seems necessary to solve them. Humanity needs to make a quantum leap in wisdom. Currents stir in the global brain connected by the internet that can lead to that leap in human empathy & awareness. My operating hypothesis is that this process is occurring and that it is being assisted by non-human intelligences. 

OK, there it is. I am convinced that Others, be they aliens or angels, are in telepathic contact. Yes, I too think this opinion is a little crazy, at least at first. I'd also like to think I have  sense of humor about my participation. I'm not saying it's a joke or a hoax, just recognizing (with a smile) how outrageous the claim seems.

 I think you have been called to aid in this process. You have consistently shown an understanding of how details lead to a bigger picture and indicated your recognition of the importance of a spiritual underpinning for your posts. My husband and I join in your prayers. So in a spirit of loving harmony. I pass on these thots to you.

1) Continue to the best of your ability to concentrate on the positive possibilities in your situation and that of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples.

2) Remember that the current chaos contains the energy for great changes to the joint good. Those of us praying for the world are a powerful force.

3) Put on the golden armor of love and fear not. Fear is the common enemy. Fear of loss of control is what drove Russia's leader to his current self defeating posture.

4) Prepare for the time when Russia and its people rejoin the world community. You, should you so choose, will have the opportunity to become a great leader of your people. How will you mend the fences with your Ukrainian neighbors & help repair the horrific damages done to both your countries?

5) Never forget that there are those of us all over the world with a broader perspective who support, not the Russian state, but you & the Russian peoples.

On a more personal note hubby & I pray for your joy (to share with others), your rapid reunion with your wife&family (best wishes to Natasha), & the rapid defeat of the Russian troops in the war (so the boys can go home to their families in one piece & help rebuild the mess that's been made).Your current situation reminds me of that faced by Solzhenitsyn and I anticipate an even more rapid resolution for you. Additionally, please let the misinformed older folk my age know that thinking people in the U.S. have no wish for suffering or conquest of anybody else. I had thot that it was likely Russia might actually join NATO at some point in the future. 

 I would welcome more communication on these subjects should you be interested. I'm on Facebook. My blog with essays on some  of thse subjects is janimue.blogspot.com. It lists (at top) my email address. I have a second blog on matters of faith in relation to making a better world: janimuefaith.blogspot.com. My attempt at transforming some of the spiritual work to technological tools is on the janimue YouTube channel.

With love & respect,

Janet Norman-Lidster and Vincent Lidster

The Flow of (TD)ao

 21/05/01

V& I know a great story about a Taoist sage.  I'm missing the source so here is my retelling - respect is meant for the characters and culture.

{Image courtesy oor https://www.firmani.com/uncategorized/crisis-in-chinese/}

For the past seven years the river had flooded the fields to the point of washing out the dikes between the pattys and washing away some of the tender, young rice shoots. The rice yield fell by a third. Once a prosperous community, the village was now on hard times. Something had to be done. 

The headman called a group together & strengthened the dikes. It didn't work. The emperor's tax collectors called in the emperor's  engineers. The next year the flooding was even worse.  The emperor's advisors proposed solutions but none could be found that calmed the river. Finally, in desparation, one of the younger  advisors said he knew of a Taoist magician who might be able to help. He was summoned immediately and brought to the village.

The next morning the village awake to find the magician gone. "Ahh, another charlatan who could not help us", they thot and resigned themselves to their misery. But, no! He was soon found nearby sitting and gazing at the river. " He's on the problem now!" they thot.  All day he sat and watched the river. That evening he came in collected a meal, then a bedroll and went to sleep in a peaceful corner of the head man's house. "Well," they thot. "He's tired from his journey yesterday. He needed to rest up." 

Next morning they again woke to find him lazing by the river. And again on the third morning.  On the forth morning the sage slept until the noon meal, ate, and wandered off until the small hours of the morning. As the days passed the pattern varied but the touted wizard could always be found helping himself to someone's meal, curled asleep in a comfortable corner of someone's house, or lazing by the river.

Grumbling was heard. "We are poor. Why are we wasting our food on this useless old trickster? The monsoon will soon be here. Our crops will be lost again. Our homes will be flooded and our live stock washed away. People may drown. We must appeal to the emperor again." 

The very next day the mandarin himself came on born on his litter. They spotted the old man gazing at the river. As the madarin's litter approached the sage ( with some fear as he knew more of the sorceror's reputation than most knew) the old man waved them off. He stood with his staff and waded into the river. Up to his elbows in water he planted his staff with great force  just upstream from a small islet. Silt began to accumulate immediately. Steadily the river split into two channels. 

The village never flooded again.

This story is a great application of practical chaos theory. A tiny change in additional conditions ( the staff) affected outcomes ( flooding) to such an extent that it improved and even saved peoples lives. The more chaotic the situation, the more opportunity for change. As the article accompanying it describes, the ideogram above also represents the concept of crux - crucial point - cusp. Covid, civil unrest, rapidly changing climate, economies, and social values all point to such a decision cusp for humanity. Mystic teacher G.I. Gurdjieff thot change was only possible at crossroads and (in my interpretation) the " midst of mass madness " was the best time to make a profit. When the branch is tender and puts forth leaves (Matthew 24:32). Rejoice! Great reward awaits for the grasping of this moment! Its the crux of the matter!

    

The Influence of Science Fiction on Consciosness

It is an iconic image.The serene and stately Michael Renee raises his hand in greeting to the circle of soldiers surrounding his  flying saucer.  It is particularly poignant moment for me because it's one of the few times I remember really connecting emotionaly with my father. We both sat in wonder at the possibilities of the universe. On the remote chance that you have never seen "The Day the Earth Stood Still", you owe yourself a favor..Please do. It's delightfully dated but the message is still relevant. Renee's character stoically presents an ultimatum and an opportunity to mankind - get your act together or face horrific consequences. For me it's more.  Today, contact experiences report receiving an almost identical message from many NHI sources. It's a movie that has entered into the collective consciousness.

Science fiction entered my consciousness several years after my first contact experiences and well before "Day". At age nine the older cousin I looked up to got me to read Robert Heinlein 's The Starbeast about a boy making friends with a large reptillian. This was in 1956. I was hooked on first contact. All the way to the  late 60s I was a nerd for s.f. It painted exciting possibilites for seeing the universe thru an entirely different set of perceptual filters. Other movies slowly followed from Hollywood, most notibly "Forbidden Planet" where a scientist grapples with monsters of his own subconscious made manifest by ancient alien technology, but this was a rare gem. Most Hollywood productions promoted  fear of the unknown somewhat like the grays have been said to do as a a control mechanism.

Meanwhile television, being a newer media, was more exploritory. Serlings "Twilight Zone", then "Outer Limits" led to "Star Trek". "There is nothing wrong with your television set" began Outer Limits, which then proceded to convince me that if I went outside I would see them landing. "Star Trek", despite a poor initial audience, went on to spawn one of the biggest francises ever with a new spin off currently airing on CBS. For the first time in mass media contact was shown as a phenomena as likely to be mutually beneficial as hostile.

Written science fiction was way ahead. Not only did it presage contacts of multiple types, it also delved deeply into questions about the process of consciousness.  Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination went further into the exploration of consciousness when he tryed to describe in prose the phenomenon of synesthesia wherein sensory input is scrambled so that vision becomes smell and touch becomes taste etc. As far as I know the idea of "telepathy" was primarily restricted to science fiction as in A.E.van Vogt's Slan. Mass media was still far behind but the cadre of nerds like myself who read s.f. had been inculcated with the virus.

Then came 2001. Overnight college populations began to read s.f. It became a respectable subject in college literature courses. It entered the minds of the intelligencia. On the screen most s.f. was monsters and dystopia, but the idea of communicating with  other beings in a meaningful wayhad arrived.

 At the end of 2001 is  a light show that left the audience stunned and ecstatic or confused. Ask yourself, just in speculation, isn't it possible that the lighshow at the end was a visual "download. "- A form of telepathy?

Hollywood as a whole still had not caught up. S.F. was still not popular with a large audience. That is until "Star Wars.- A New Hope" in 1977. There rapidly followed a series of movies promoting the possiblilities of beneficial contact: "E.T. - the Extraterrestrial", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (which envisioned using music as a common language) "Cocoon" (which had glowing golden NHIs similar to many contactee reports) and others less noteworthy.

 As was reported of popular science fiction author, Philip K. Dick, the weave between the open minds of creative minds of extra-terrestrial contactees and science fiction continue.  In my mind they are becoming indistiguishable. I am convinced I am in telepathic contact with extraterrestrial entities. As with Russian philosopher of  science, P.D. Oespensky in his description of "mental conversations with G[urdjieff - ed.] I am simultaneously elated and abashed that the information is recieved in such a subjective manner. I can't prove a word of it, much less meet Carl Sagan's criteria that it should require extraordinary proof. Yet, the synchronicity of serendiptous correlations grows in my conscioussness and, siren-like, beckons my curiousity forward with a caution "Beware of Mind Fields."  Am I to be proven a ludicrous loon should I continue my exploration?

The recent (five star in my book) s.f. movie "Arrival" strikes me as a far more likely first contact scenario than those traditionaly posited by traditional contact. The suggestion that the aliens in the movie percieve time in a non-linear way fits well with information I have. Further, the idea that the visitors are all humanoid is a sticking point for me. Nature is wonderfully imaginative and prolific. If I can imagine a eight foot high semi-liquid intelligent block of jello that knows how to manipulate electro-static fields thru the movement of its organelles inside the cell membrane, why would I expect mother nature to send only humanoids to visit us? I think these objections can be ultimately explained but I'm disturbed by generally the human-centric view of NHI experiences. Has the cosmic mind begun injecting a more generalized view of intelligent beings into Jung's collective subconscious?

The night I began writing this post, Julian May's "Intervention" was playing on an Alexis audiobook:

""Do you know that walnut trees will not bear fruit in the tropics? They need the winter. In the old days, they needed it twice! Once to stimulate the fruit to form, and again to rot the thick husks so that the inner nut would be set free to germinate. Our human cycle is much longer, but we, too, have passed through our first great winter and attained the power of self-reflection. Over the ages our minds have ripened slowly, giving us greater and greater mastery over the physical world, and over our lower nature.”

 

“Oh, very good! And now I suppose the superior nuts are ready to fall! The winter of nuclear war that threatens—is this what will bring about your mental revolution? Are we to look forward to supermen levitating over glowing ashes, singing telepathic dirges?" 

 

“It might work out that way,” the old man admitted. “But think: One doesn’t have to wait for the walnut husks to rot naturally, not if one is determined—and not afraid of stained hands.”""

I think a mass revelation/disclosure is upon us It should be interesting. Hell, I think it will be great fun. It will almost certainly be different than expected. But, I've been known to be wrong.

Service for Citizenship

The 11th of November is set aside in the U.S. for honoring those who are veterans of U.S. military service. My military service proved an invaluable experience for me. It's been over fifty years since  I slogged thru Southeast Asian mud so thick that we had to call in a huey (UH-1D helicopter) to pull the machine gunner out of where he had become stuck. Yet that experience still informs my thoughts on how to structure a compassionate and just society. We made mistakes. Undoubtedly we'll make them again. Still, I am proud that I did my best to represent the highest ideals of  our democracy  to the world by presenting a compassionate face to those I met as do U.S. servicemen all over the world today.

The pre-amble of Constitution of the United States of America defines its intent to include "promote the general welfare". Thus, our the founding fathers saw one intent of our government was to aid its citizens. This half of the relationship between citizen and government seems clear. It proposes that government has an obligation to its citizens. In the years I have been formulating my political philosophy, it has become clear to me that, for a citizen to contribute to the society as a whole, each of those citizens must have the necessary conditions to do so. It seems self evident these necessary conditions include food, shelter, and mental and physical health. For this reason I have long supported the idea of a guaranteed national income (what has become known as universal basic income - this could be supported by a Universal Transaction Tax in lieu of all other forms of tax.)

Yet the other half of the relationship between society and citizen, the responsibility of that citizen to the state (as administrated by the government) is not directly mentioned in our constitution. This is a serious, perhaps even fatal, lapse of rigor. There is, however, a proposed principle which could equitably rectify this lapse.

In his science fiction book, Starship Troopers, author and U.S. Navy vet Robert A. Heinlein postulated a society in which democratic participation is contingent upon (military) service. If you don't serve, you don't get to vote. Hear, hear! 

I don't expect to see even referendums disenfranchising voters any time soon. At the very least, measures requiring voters be veterans would have to be gradual. Yet veterans are the only group to have demonstrated their worthiness to vote by the reciprocal action in their relationship to the state of providing their service. We are the only ones who have proven our right by our service.

I don't propose that this service require willingness to bare arms. During the Viet Nam era in which I served, I greatly admired those of conscience who refused combat on grounds of personal conviction. I will always admire with gratitude the service of one of the medics in my unit who refused to carry weapons. Military service need not require a willingness to fight. Yet, for several reasons, I think that the obligation of an individual's service to society at large is best attained thru military service. Military service provides a common background of discipline,duty, and honor to all vets.

My service eventually provided me with the tools to participate more fully in our democracy. It gave me the confidence to assert my own path in life. It have me a broader view of the world by taking me places that introduced cultures different from my own. It gave me a broader view of the composition of my own society by introducing me to individuals, both admirable and not, of very different socio-economic backgrounds than my own. Eventually, my service helped secure an advanced education, a home, and ongoing medical care. These days, it also provides sufficient to give me have a low income, low impact, but desirable lifestyle.

It's currently considered good form to thank vets for their service. It always embarrasses me slightly as completely unnecessary. I am grateful for the experiences of my military service and for the benefits it accrued. I am convinced I am better, more informed citizen from my military experience. We vets earned the right to participate in our democracy. I think every one else should earn theirs too for their own benefit as well as societies. I support Universal Service. On this day of remembrance and re-dedication I commend this thought to all the men and women who honor their oath to the Constitution by their service past, present and future.









 

Patriotism

Yesterday I received an award for "California Patriot of the Year - 2015" from the Coalition to Honor America's Heroes. I have no idea why I was picked for this honor: somehow I got on their "one born every minute" mailing list. I know nothing about their organization. I suspect that they might think many of my views to be unpatriotic.

Nonetheless, it prompted me to scribe some thoughts I've had recently on the subjects of patriotism and heroism. I think Kipling gave the best definition of what society calls a hero in his poem if:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs...  (full poem @: "If," A Poem by Rudyard Kipling)

I don't think that doing your job in a stressful, possibly life-threatening situation is particularly heroic. In the case where I received an army award for valor I simply kept my cool while others were losing theirs. No bravery was involved, just simple self preservation. Those things which for which I was proud of my courage were small and went unnoticed at large. To me a hero is someone who puts himself on the line when he or she doesn't have to without expectation of reward or recognition.

But what I really wanted to address was the subject of "patriotism". In my experience 90% of what is called "patriotism" in the United States is not. It is jingoism. It is: let's jump on the band wagon and pound our chests while loudly proclaiming our tribe is better than anyone else's: "Our country (state,county, city, township), love it or leave it". While regional pride is a fine thing, this nonsense (I and my tribe are better than you and your tribe) is dangerous. To me, a true patriot opposes this type of thinking.

The true patriot is one who acts in a heroic manner for the good of their tribe. Especially those who sacrifice to that end. Most especially those who go oppose the mob opinion. I served in Viet Nam without regret. I laud those who throughout our history have given of themselves, perhaps risking their lives for their country.  I respect those who left the U.S. to evade the Viet Nam war but those who stayed behind and fought it were, in my book the at least as TRUE patriots.

For a democracy to function it is absolutely necessary that unpopular opinions be heard lest the democratic process be overwhelmed by the "tyranny of the majority". To publicly express an unpopular opinion requires courage. To be a heroic patriot means standing up to the crowd and saying "you're wrong" and "here's why."

Four Steps to a Rational Society

Four Steps to a Rational Society

    What does the obligation of the individual to society? What is the obligation of society to the individual?  In order to determine what a rational structure for a society might be, one must first ask what the function of that society is. In a democracy it seems clear that that function is to provide for the welfare of its members. When a society fails to provide the necessities of life for a member, that member is no longer capable of participating in the society. Thus food, shelter, clothing and health, both physical and mental are obligations of society.  Further when the society fulfills that obligation it seems only reasonable that the individual owes service of some form to that society.
    These conclusions lead to the first two of the four steps to a rational society:
1) UBI - Universal Basic Income (Guaranteed Income)
    The simplest way for a society to meet it's obligation of providing for the welfare of its members on an individual basis is what I originally called a guaranteed national income and has now come to be called "Universal Basic Income". This is a rational approach to equality under the law.
2) USvc - Universal Service (a universal draft)
    Any citizen not willing to provide service to the society in which they live is not worthy of that society. The mechanisms for providing that service under law must be, of necessity, of some complexity. However as a first pass it seems to this author that, as the working life of an adult is approximately 50 years, a draft for all citizens of 5 years service (10%h of adult working life) is not unreasonable.
    How then may the funds necessary to support step 1) and other public works be raised in an equitable? This leads to the second two steps:
3) Transaction Tax - a tax on all public exchanges of goods and services to the exclusion of all other taxes
    Providing the extensive funds necessary to finance UBI may best be achieved by a transaction tax in the absence of all other forms of taxation. The society provides the means for the transition to take place so ethical grounds for its taxation are established. The current system of taxation is so grossly unfair that it is laughable. The middle class experiences higher, & higher tax rates, while trillion dollar corporations use tax shelters to avoid paying. In the U.S. approximately 5 billion dollars in transactions occur every day. A 10% tax on these transitions would provide enough in a single day to yield over a thousand dollars for every U.S. citizen. Further, this would, in all likely-hood, result in a bureaucracy  greatly reduced from the current kludge. An old rule in design is "KISS: keep it simple, stupid." Simple is fairer.
4) Tax Use Choice - implementation of the citizen's right to determine how  his taxes are used.
    In today's society, an option that has never before been available is available: the choice of which public works (aside from the given UBI) to which the citizen's tax dollars are spent. The use of computers makes this possible. Every citizen should be able to say where their tax dollars are put to work. As an example, I am a proponent of space exploration. Many I know are not. I should be able to put my tax dollars into this public work while my neighbor, who supports better street lightening (which I think superfluous) puts their money into the lighting.
    Obviously, there are details to be worked out here should such a utopian scheme ever be adopted. Let me warn here that adoption of a 1)UBI without some form of 2)universal service can not work and I would oppose it. Today's political realities may prevent such a scheme from being adopted especially with regard to step 3) transition tax.  I am not holding my breath. . Further, there would be many technological challenges to implementing 4)a tax use choice though they are tech implementation problems, not theoretical limitations.
     Perfection is a goal that is likely unattainable practically yet should be the goal towards which we strive. I hope we have the wisdom to continue to do so.

Homecoming

Homecoming

    Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Clarke Down Station.  I am Dr. Pamela Diaz-Singh and on the behalf of Sol-Synch and Eden-Earth  I have the honor of  giving you your Earth-side orientation this morning. The Eden-Earth Corporation currently leases Clark Down for the administration of all visitors to planet-side. This gives Eden-Earth lobby influence in the Sol-Synch democracy process according to the performance of their contractual obligations.

    I want to take just a few minutes to review the briefing you received yesterday at Up Station. The crew of the Colony Research Vessel Hudson is the third to complete the return voyage to Earth.  We have found that short term memory loss  is significant for round trip passengers using cryopods. Be assured, your memory functions will soon return to normal. To assist in that, clean out remaining toxins, and rebuild muscle and bone loss for a terrestrial gravity environment you were injected yesterday with nanys. You'll probably experience some discomfort over the next couple of days so we recommend that you take it easy and rest in the guest quarters assigned you here at Clarke Down when not attending seminars. You may run slight fevers. Starting Thursday you will probably feel up to using Eden-Earth facilities and will be given passes to go any where you wish planet-side. Transport to a point within about a hundred kilometers of any destination on the planet via Entanglement Pads will be made available. Just use your ID badge at the EPad kiosk.

    As you've been told, your voyage from Bernard's Star has been highly successful. There was a 97% recovery rate. We sincerely regret the loss of  the Hudson's junior communications officer Lawrence Kelsey. There will be a memorial service in the Clarke Down chapel at 16:30 this afternoon.  Directions are in your handouts and will also be available  through the link.

    I know you were all hoping to make an important contribution to mankind's knowledge of possible human colony habitats but, as you were told yesterday, the scientific information you brought back with you is obsolete. A practical model of the Alcubierre drive was perfected 73 years after the Hudson left Earth. The SSV John Muir arrived at Benard's Star about 3 years into your return home. The information you carried including sample materials was brought here over 56 years ago by the Muir. All of this information will be available to you over the link as your nanys come on line over the day or so. We've scheduled a seminar on link use for 13:00 this afternoon in this conference room. Rest assured that your sacrifices have not gone in vain. As your individual nanys become operative (they will tell you when they are ready) we'd like you to spend an hour resting in your assigned quarters. At that time your subjective experiences will be added to the link models of many different fields including cryo-biology,  planetary formation, inter-stellar vehicle design, exo-zoology, and so on.

    I want to spend a few moments  in refresher on the salient points of earth history in the 172 years since the Hudson left Earth can be enumerated as follows:
1) At the time of the Hudson's departure increasing planetary temperature had released a number of extremely virulent pathogens from Antarctic ice where they'd been frozen since the age of the dinosaurs
2) Over 80% of Earth's human population was affected and unprecedented mass extinctions occurred in species world-wide
3) The development of successful nany technology in 2137, some fourteen years into the Hudson's outbound journey,  provided the mechanism for the inoculation of human and many other key species.
4) One specific type of nany with the ability to manipulate it's directional opacity provided for a mechanism clouds of nanys to  regulate the Earth's weather. The mean terrestrial  temperature has been reduced by 4 degrees since your departure.
5) The completion of the 5th beanstalk in Kiribati in 2142 provided sufficient orbital lift capability that mass migrations off planet to the O'Neill habitats, Luna, Mars, the belt and the outer planets began shorly afterwords.
6) During this entire time span incremental breakthroughs in chaos engineering provided the understanding to model and restore terrestrial eco-systems to park like conditions.

    Most of you will be concerned that your qualifications for employment are obsolete. While this is true, let be assure you that it is no cause for concern. First of all, no one in the Sol system needs to work unless they desire to do so.  As you have now discovered goods and services in the Sol system are not acquired by any medium of exchange.  What was called "money" no longer exists in any form as the nanys can manufacture any conceivable object on demand. However, most residents thru out the system do find some form of work fulfilling and over 98% are engaged in some employment. Should you find any field of employment that interests you, you can learn all the necessary skills for an apprentice position thru the link in a week or less. An increasing portion of Sol system population is currently engaged in arts and crafts. This form of employment now occupies over 50% of the population. I know you heard all of this yesterday at Up so forgive any boring repetition.

    Sol-Synch has automatically granted all of you citizenship for the duration of your stay in system should that be for a short time or in perpetuity. More on that in two seminars tomorrow on the Sol-Synch democratic process and on Corporate Entities such as Eden-Earth.

    I'm excited to tell you now of my own job. I'm one of the few thousand lucky people who currently have permanent residence planet-side. My job allows me Down residence and though any Sol-Synch citizen is welcome to come Down,  most only come for brief visits.

    I am, what would be called in your departure era, an ecologist.  My actual title when such rarely used things come into play is Senior System Ecological Engineer for the Greater  Grand Teton Area. It's located in the northwestern corner of what was Wyoming, U.S.A. My officious title is pretty pedantic.  I think a much more accurate description would be gardener or steward. I am happy to be one of half a dozen workers in the Grand Tetons area.

    As I said, I'm honored to have been selected to give you this briefing on the mores you'll be expected to follow while Down. Most of these involve mitigating interference with the control structures used downside and most are self evident. Firstly listen to the cautions given to you over the link. Don't kill, obstruct, or otherwise intentionally interfere with any life form. This includes things like swatting mosquitoes. For the first few days of your visit you will probably be bitten when you go outside in many areas. We are initially monitoring your blood chemistry thru the link. Some area's are fallow areas and you won't be allowed to enter them without prior approval. Some technological devices are proscribed in certain areas. As an example of this, my husband, who works in undersea engineering, is not permitted to use SONAR in several places even tho it would aid in his work.  We think that it's most unlikely but should you choose to intentionally disregard link cautions the link will, depending on circumstances, prompt you to exit Down. We haven't had a case of forcible ejection for over 30 years.

    While I was thinking of how to give this presentation on how we administrate Down, and why we do have some control restrictions,  I concluded the best way would be to give you a journal of a typical day for me. This is my story for June 23rd, three days ago local time.

    I began my day at 0700. Chandra, my husband, was already up and had made coffee for me. A quick kiss goodbye and he was off to work via telefactor. He's currently installing geothermal generators for the Eastern Pacific in the Marianas Trench. We're close enough that the machinery Moon, my husband, works with is not affected by lag and we're able to live at a nice location on Jenny Lake in the Tetons.

    While I was in the kitchen for my coffee that morning,  I noticed that a number of ants had exceeded the bounds of the desired attractor orbital and were crawling on my counter-top rather than scavinging at night on the floor. So I began my work day in my office by reprogramming the nanys I use to talk to the queen of the nearby ant mound. I instructed her via link to slightly adjust the amino acid ratios in her eggs. This caused the resulting workers to give a greater precedence to chem trails in the plane of the mound rather than chem trails in the up direction. By six that evening all of the ants had left the counter. Altogether this took about an hour and a half. I then uplinked the updated code to Sol-Synch. It will be then sent to a number of O'Neill habitats where it can be used as needed in their control systems.

    I then ran my daily monitor survey looking for any indicators of out of constraint parameters thruout the Jackson Hole area. Most everything was well within acceptable constraints but there was a minor problem with bighorn sheep over-grazing several meadows to the southeast of Mt. Moran. About two hours modeling told me that this was likely related to a lightening strike that caused a 20 acre burn-off on Paintbrush Divide two months ago. Since it wasn't a fault in the control structures for the sheep, I didn't do anything to change the programming of their nanys. We prefer to use minimal technological interferance  and completely organic controls whenever possible. This is why the burn had occurred in the first place. If you are at all familiar with chaotic systems, you will know that slight changes in initial conditions can cascade into unexpected consequences. This is not to say that chaotic systems are random, they're not. They still tend to stabilize around strange attractors. My task was to introduce the minimum control to re-stabilize the grazing of this particular herd of bighorn. I could have overlooked the over-grazing but we've been trying to reintroduce a spectacular extinct species of wild flower, the wood lily, to that area and I wanted to cut the possibility of seedlings or mature flowers being trampled by the sheep.

    As I mentioned, the preferred method of our management program is to use organic controls. It's an art form as much as a science. I decided that the best option I had to stop the over-grazing was to introduce another predator into the area. This would thin the herd slightly and could also be used as an incentive for the herd to re-adjust its grazing pattern to the southwest where there was more forage available. It's quite common to use apex predators in this manner as they are generally more intelligent individually and easier to communicate with.

    To this end I contacted an old friend. Felix is an eleven year old mountain lion whose range was centered 20 kilometers north of the area where the overgrazing had occurred. His ancestors were successfully re-introduced to the Grand Teton area around eighty years ago from frozen ARK stock. Felix had just finished siring two cubs with Felicity. Having an overlapping range with a nursing female would soon begin to cause problems anyway (as mountain lions tend to be solitary) so it was time to move him. I should mention at this point that, should you choose to visit our area, you can observe Felicity's cubs from an excellent maximal stealth vantage a quarter mile off the Whatever Ridge Trail. They are adorable and will remain with their mother in the area thruout the next year.

    I contacted Felix thru the link. I found him napping in a shaded niche between three granite boulders about 4 kilometers from Felicity's den. I began with a link to his audio nerve. I told him I wanted him to move and gave the direction south. Cats are a quite independent family of creatures but quite capable of understanding simple verbal instructions. Felix  was in a restless mood due partially to his instinct to move farther away from the den. Naturally, he balked at following instructions but I was quite ready for this. I used the nanys to stimulate hormone secretions in his brain increasing his desire to move while reinforcing the verbal connection to the direction south. I then triggered previously mapped brain areas that contained memories of our bonding sessions so that he associated these commands with a positive experience. For anyone interested in these bonding sessions feel free to join me this afternoon. I'm going to be working with a pair of black bear cubs in Paintbrush Canyon while their mother takes a siesta. I'll leave here for home via Epad at 15:00 and take a stealth lift into the canyon from there. The bonding session will finish around 17:30.

    Around 11:30 on the day I'm describing I broke for lunch with Moon and a short nap for myself. At 14:00 we both went back to work. I checked to see that Felix was, indeed, traveling to the southwest. I linked with my assistant Josh Spears who was camping near Holly lake while gathering data for wood rat modeling and asked him to keep an eye out for Felix later that night.

    Around 16:00  Moon and I took a tea break. At 16:30 we went for  short hike past Hidden Falls and up Cascade Canyon. I noticed  a large build up of downed aspen from beaver harvesting in the area and sent a link mail request to Josh that he look into that problem when he returned while I was here at Clark Down. Moon and I  returned home about 18:30 for a light meal. We spent about 2 and a half hours in and interactive fantasy VR that we both enjoy.  Around 22:00  I spent an hour analyzing the day's nany data and another half an hour uplinking all the results to Eden-Earth headquarters and to Sol-Synch. Then off to a good night's sleep. Which concludes the story of my day and my part of this seminar. I can't tell you how much I love my work and life. I assure you that such opportunities are available to each of you as are opportunities in larger, more human interactive projects such as my husbands.

    Thank you for your attention during this presentation.I hope it's given you something of an overview on how our home planet is currently managed and hope you've enjoyed it. I'm now going to turn you over to my apprentice, Will Carol, for a brief question and answer period to be followed by lunch.

    Again, on behalf of Eden Earth, welcome to paradise.

    Welcome home.