The new look for the GROK site.

We are redoing the GROK site, and we are almost finished. The new features of the GROK site will include: a totally redone site written in php and javascript rather than flash, a shop where you can download web commodities for free and buy others, a totally new portfolio system, and a uniform style across the whole site. To give you a feel for how the site is going to look in general we have started revamping the hatchery. I did a lot of programming today, and the few art assets that haven’t been revamped would be if it were not for internet explorer’s inability to get with the CSS program. Had to write a bunch of new fixed for IE. Anyway, hope you enjoy the preview, the completely new GROK site should be launching in the next week.

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Robinson’s Eco-Economics and Practical Applications

As you may know I consider myself a bit of an expert on science fiction literature. This may be a conceit, but there it is. Recently I have been working my way through Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. While I have really enjoyed these books, in some ways it has been a very difficult read for me, because my own personal economic and political philosophies clash drastically with those of Robinson. I’m more of a “Heinlein Libertarian”, while Robinson is a “Green Socialist”, and he refers to libertarians in Green Mars as anarchists who want protection from their slaves. I took a bit of offense, but I have to be honest this book has greatly influenced my thinking; especially when it comes to Robinson’s eco-economics.

I have never really believed in the validity of the labor theory of value. I agree in principle that ownership of labor should be every person’s intrinsic right. However, the idea that the value of a commodity is directly related to the labor used to create them only holds so much water. Sure, everyone should receive fair compensation for their work. But, if it takes me 5 hours to design a website layout, and it takes a brain surgeon 5 hours to remove a tumor from your noggin, which act has more value? I thought so.

But, eco-economics can be applied to a system where labor has different values. As I understand it the precept behind eco-economics is that one should put in an equal amount (or greater amount) into an economic system than one takes out of it so that the system remains anti-entropic. Robinson suggests a “need & gift” economy to institute this system, which has some flaws (such as taxes on personal savings to avoid wealth hording), but at a basic level is very practical. You’ll have to read the Mars Trilogy to learn more about this “need & gift” economy since I definitely do not have the space to write a dissertation here (nor the time). In economic times such as we are currently experiencing in the United States this eco-economics has a lot of appeal. Take the bailouts of 2009; they were a clear example that our Keynesian economic system is so slanted toward benefiting a small portion of our population that is damaging to our social ecology. When we bailed out these financial institutions be basically privatized wealth while socializing risk and loss. The idea that this benefits us all is completely beyond the pale. While there is some truth that allowing these companies to fail would be damaging to many the reality is that what these large corporations pay in is not what they take out by a long shot. When loss is socialized like this it does not benefit the general populous. In fact the nature of loans made to large corporations (whether banks or military contractors or whatever) is inherently counter to the previously mentioned eco-economical precept. When these companies borrow money from the Federal Reserve (Fed) the Fed prints that money for them, they get first use of that money and the interest they pay on it (in the quick turnaround time of such a lone) is below the devaluation of money caused by adding that liquidity to the market in the form of free floating capital. In effect these companies are sucking value right out of the system with out even directly producing a good or service. That sounds counter productive to me.

So what’s the alternative? Well off the top of my head I can think of a couple. One might be a loan fund where people had a minimum buy in of say $100. The fund promises a guaranteed return on that investment of say 12% so long as the needed funds are raised (otherwise money is returned or a lower rate goes into effect). Companies back the loan with reductions in personal debt or bonds depending on the company’s relationship to the individual. People can choose to pay into the fund rather than the government mandating the use of their money, and companies people feel will be more successful will receive larger capital contributions. These companies turn around and use that money just like they would use the bailout money, only now they are adding greater liquidity to the market, and they are paying back in more than or equal to what they take out (depending on inflation). Everyone gets what they need and no one has to give up ownership or equity. Obviously this is not fleshed out but I think it is a good start.

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Why Sci-Fi?

Many of you are probably asking yourself why I would be writing blogs about science fiction. Is this not a design blog? Well this blog is about understanding things from a new perspective, grokking. We hope that you will come to grok us on some level through this blog, and perhaps you will see how many different elements have an effect on hour work.

For me science fiction is almost a religion. I do not pray to some Sci-Fi god of chrome and steel, but I have been raised on it in many ways. Science fiction has had a profound effect on shaping my moral code and the other many ways in which I perceive the universe. I am not unique in this, when you think of the cell phone, a machine essential to the United States today; you should consider it was inspired by Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek. Sci-Fi has had a profound effect on our culture.

As a young body I watched taped episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation every Saturday with my father. As a doctor he worked a great deal, and I looked forward to the times we spent together watching Star Trek and talking about the future, or just what might happen in the series. I was not allowed to watch much TV; none during the week, an hour or two of Saturday morning cartoons, and Star Trek with my dad. My parents, through the mistake of putting a TV in my room, learned early on that I was an entertainment junky, and took steps to correct that. Even now, though I rarely indulge this behavior, I see how I could easily be addicted to entertainment. I have spent whole days playing a video game, reading a book, or watching a TV series.

When I learned to read, there was no stopping me. One can not hide a television set (at least not in the 80s), but one can hide a book. My mother would tell me to go to sleep for the third time in an hour, turn out the light, and watch to make sure I went to bed. I would wait in silence for ten minutes or so (what seemed like hours to a 8 year old), and then I would grab this huge flashlight (12 volt battery powered) nestle it between my head and shoulder, throw the blanket over us (being sure to prop the sides a little for air flow) and read until my neck and back hurt enough to force me to bed. I was highly prone to neck cramps that made me hold my head in awkward positions for long days. These were attributed to growing pains.

I am something of an expert in science fiction. I have read everything on the Peter Sykes’ Top 100 Statistical Survey List, all the series that branch off from those books, and a score of other novels, novellas, and short stories. I have read much fantasy, but mostly science fiction. This is not all that I have spent my time reading by any stretch of the imagination. Science fiction has leaded me to an appreciation of history, science, art, literature, philosophy, etcetera. Noted science fiction writer Isaac Asimov said:

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.”

“It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”

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