LegendaryLife Blog

It struck me this morning after waking-up just how much happened in the 20th century. How much society, knowledge and even various influences that shape our world dramatically changed. Looking back, here is just a short list off the top of my head about what happened in the 20th century of which I only participated a quarter of my life in.

• modern medicine was developed… the practice of bleeding out diseases left our collective consciousness
• microprocessor which I couldn’t imagine life without… just about everything has them from computers to razors!
• internet allowing you instant access to ALL the world’s knowledge within a few keystrokes
• discovery of genetics and very recently, the study of epigenetics (fascinating stuff!)
• astronomy has now mapped most of the known universe, we now know where we are not only in the Milkyway but also in this exponentially expanding space!
• electricity became mainstream, allowing us to live a 24/7 lifestyle with relative ease
• air travel replaced boats as the main form of global transportation
• globalization, internationalization, multiculturalism… we are now truly ONE people with artificial borders slowly fading away!
• …. and so on!

Wow… now what does this mean?

First, it means that the generalists of the 20th century will no longer be able to find employment in the 21st century… you are seeing this globally. For instance, if you use to work in a car factory in the USA… you were a generalists, adding part A to part B and getting a few greenbacks every few weeks. Why is this gone? Because this kind of work has fallen into the “there is always somebody willing to do it cheaper than you” category. Mainly the third world has replaced much of the labor constraints that use to exist in the “modern” world. If you are specialized in one aspect of automotive manufacturing, you have a job to this day, and will continue to have one… but if you just had the same knowledge as your colleagues, well, you have been – if you haven’t already – replaced by somebody who can do it faster/cheaper/better.

Second, thanks to the internet, there are no longer any gatekeepers holding knowledge from you to keep themselves important (or in a job). I’m looking at teachers, professors and other types of academic teaching institutions… including universities, colleges and even schools! When I was a kid, a teacher (both my parents were teachers) was a guaranteed job for life, there are always new kids being made and they need to be taught! NO MORE! Today, most teachers are UNDER CONTRACT… meaning every year or every few years, they need to apply again for their job. Teaching has become a commodity. You can teach science? Great… so what? 10 other people can do this too… thanks to the internet and globalization, this number now will be in the millions. Teaching knowledge, unless incredibly specialized, is a dead-end. UNLESS you have a class of thousands to teach (HowToChinese.com is a prime example, I prepare one class but taught thousands of students already!) When I have children, they will go to school… mostly for the social interactions with their piers, but I will of course teach them far more in a home setting using video and other media.

Third, economics of mass distribution will start to kick in. For example, more and more teachers will become facilitators than actual lecturers and teachers as media (like YouTube videos) can do a more efficient job at teaching than any one person can. Businesses will rely on a remote global workforce and contract workers to stay in business thanks to distributed manufacturing and on-demand supply/consumption models. Put another way, those huge factories that use to employ thousands of people to build chairs are GONE. Replaced instead with manufacturing hubs around the world, maybe even in the stores themselves, making a product when a customer wants it. Shipping things globally, made out of plastic or wood… no longer needs to happen. Instead, if I want a chair, I can order it from my laptop and get it made and shipped to me from a local manufacturer.

The 20th century was about “control of knowledge” in which generalists worked for specialists for the bosses or governments good. This model is old and as we see globally, slowly dying away… being replaced with extreme specialists.

I find the more I progress in life, the more knowledge and passions I accumulate in it. I completely by far the most ambitious book I ever did about 6 months ago and after countless rewrites, edits and getting all that stuff out of my head… I’ve acquired the writing bug again.

It’s hard to describe, try to imagine growing a tree within a small greenhouse. Each day, it grows a little taller, stronger and begins to expand to fill its enclosed environment. Sure, you can prune the tree, give it less water and do other things to slow its growth down but it doesn’t take away from the fact that the tree is still there, slowly expanding and filling the empty space within the greenhouse. Eventually, one way or another, the tree becomes tall, strong and dense enough that it begins to exert increasing pressure on the greenhouse. Slowly but surely, the pressure builds then, all of a sudden, a panel pops, followed by a few more… until the greenhouse can no longer maintain its form, haven been conquered by what began as a small, inconspicuous seed.

I began on a sequel to my original science fiction story after I finished the first but then needed a mental break… focusing on WoodMarvels.com instead to satisfy my desire to “create” but much like the Ying/Yang Chinese symbol of balance and unity, I’m starting to produce a little too much Ying (design) and an adjustment is needed in the Yang (writing).

I learned a TREMENDOUS amount writing my first novel, so much so… that it gives me the urge to apply it, learning from my mistakes and doing something even more unfathomable. Bigger, Better and Uncut. I have this movie in my head that keeps replying, each time, with a little more detail, ideas all the more fleshed-out and if you read the book… a few major plot lines that need to be closed with others created.

Although writing and design may seem like world’s apart, they are actually very similar. In design, you start with an idea… and with time and passion, transform it into a real product. Writing is the same way except the only limitation is your own creative thinking… unlike design where it’s still limited by the tools you have at hand.

The amount of time required for a book is tremendous compared to the design of a product, but the sense of accomplishment grows in proportion as well. I really enjoy design and I see one field of endeavor helping the other. My ability to design improved dramatically as writing exercised my mental muscles in a different direction than how it was use to working.

So many passions, so little time. The story of my life

It has been a LONG road from start to finish but I’m proud to say that you can now purchase a digital copy of 2847AD, the science fiction book I wrote and researched for extensively and physical form of 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons from Amazon! YAHOO!!! This has been a major accomplishment for me, I never knew publishing a science fiction novel could be so much work but now that it’s done, it feels wonderful to have achieved this major goal of mine.

If you wish to follow the journey pretty much from start to finish, I have chronicled it on my blog. I mention this in several other postings but these are the major ones.

• 2847: Going Science Fiction
• 2847AD: Writing Science Fiction is Hard!
• Getting through the home stretch
• 2847AD is finally done!
• Transforming your life from Blah to Legendary now available on Amazon!

What made the book especially challenging is that I tried to integrate almost everything I knew about science and then some, at the time. There is so much information out there, it’s really astounding and trying to condense it into a readable form, not only for me but for the general public takes a lot of effort.

I wanted to write a book that was scientifically accurate while at the same time, within the realm of possibility AND readable by somebody who has little to no scientific knowledge.

I believe I have accomplished this goal. I already started on a second volume of this book but had to put it on the back burner for several reasons, including but not limited to the amount of work I’ve been putting into my WoodMarvels.com company. I love design so much… it’s a true passion, as is writing but I think a long break is necessary to get most of the ideas fleshed-out. The further you jump into the future, the more difficult it becomes to imagine the unimaginable and this is really taxing mentally as I discovered. Exhausting even!

My delight: Hydrogen Sulfide

In the book, I describe in detail why I used this very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, as a mechanism for suspended animation during long space travels. Today, I watched a TED video and much to my delight, what I described and envisioned is actually coming true! Yes, they have human trials of this and the results are astoundingly positive. Watch the video to learn more about this important toxic gas

TEDTalks : Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp – Mark Roth (2010)

The Bottom Line

Research, hard work and tremendous passion can even bend even the most impossible of challenges into reality.

I like goal setting, so here is what I hope to accomplish this year and what I did or didn’t for the last.

Goal setting for 2010

Here are some my goals for 2009, I’ve crossed-out the ones that were accomplished:

• publish my first inspirational/motivational book
• publish another WoodMarvels.com volume (current book one is already in pre-press)
• triple the total traffic from all my sites
• create lasting change in at least 100 people using LegendaryLife.com (thousands will join but not everybody will use it as intended)
• create two new sources of revenue for myself (online or otherwise)
• try to win some sort of award somewhere, somehow
• get WoodMarvels.com pre-cut kits into retail stores (online or otherwise)
• enjoy the gift of life even more!

Things I wasn’t able to predict

• I would write my first science fiction book around the same time as working on my WoodMarvels.com Volume II book, hoping to have it published sometime in February
• I got mentions in newpapers, blog and magazines around the world regarding my design work
• Due to WoodMarvels taking up so much of my time, I haven’t had as much time to dedicate towards this blog or LegendaryLife, though I did launch it already, it’s only a shadow of what it should be, something I hope to rectify sooner than later
• I would accomplish my dream of living in China for a year and learning Mandarin (something I’m doing now)

My 2010 Goals

• I really think this is the year that WoodMarvels.com blows-up on me, in a good way! All the things that I track regarding this site are on a steep upward trend with no letting-up. You can read what’s been happening right here: WoodMarvels 2009 Year in Review as well as the goals I’ve established for that property.
• I want to become fluent in Mandarin, it’s a tough language, but one that I enjoy and being in the country where that’s all they talk is my chance to turn this long time dream into reality
• I still want to win an award of some kind, somewhere, somehow but it seems that my focus for this year will be on WoodMarvels more than anything else, which is great fun

The Bottom Line

Focus still leads to opportunities hitting you from unknown origins.

I saw this animation and absolutely loved it… it’s a great summary of our life cycle and even better… it’s all explained visually!