Gus Posey

It can be difficult to offer anything truly new to any significant discussion, and when it comes to matters of existence and the Universal order, it is especially easy to succumb to a sense of epiphany.

What does this look like to you?

This is a rendered image of a system of rivers and tributaries, created using the incredible tools in Bryce. In this example, the computer was asked to convert an image to a mathematical model of a terrain, equating the brightest areas with the greatest depths.

Can you spot Crocodile Rock?

This was highly effective, as you can see. The modeling of such a deeply organic process was not something that I could have come up with, at least not without an angle. I love my computer, but we both know that there’s not quite enough horse-power for something like high-level erosion simulations.

So, what’s the image?

Google's first image result for 'lightning'.

A bolt of lightning turned out to have all the information my computer needed to produce a really impressive system of rivers. This is fun and interesting for anyone interested in 3D-modeling, but I think that it also serves to make an interesting point about the larger system.

A difference map shows the rendered area.

There is nothing new in the discussion about the fractal Universe, the holographic world, and the general topics related to questions of how large systems are often represented by smaller, similar examples. A swirling drain does function a lot like a galaxy, after all, and the nautilus has made a quiet argument for spirals for millions of years, without opposition.

But when we see these relationships in action, should we not pause to point, and ask the question, “Why are those the same?” The process is so steadily represented within this reality that we take it for granted, but it is an example of efficiency, and a process of conservation. More interestingly perhaps, it raises other questions, such as where the data for these models is stored; why do the instant branches of a lightning bolt use the same twists and turns as water burrowing through the Earth?

You may be thinking, “Well, that’s interesting, all right, but that’s not a real river.” That might be just to start, when it comes to what you’re thinking, but that must be ignored for the moment. If you’ll take a moment to consult your atlas, I think you’ll find that many rivers on this planet resemble any collection of lightning bolts, tree branches, and tiny cracks in the sidewalk that you can find.

As I said before, I’m willing to identify this as a form of efficiency, and evidence of a system in motion that is not exactly what it appears to be. This is not to be confused with evidence of a designer or an omnipotent force. Merely an indication that there are additional connections to be made, and a deeper understanding to be had.

A human body exists in size at the halfway point between an electron and a red giant star. The exactness of this position feels like its own suggestion and, placed in scale as we are, I hope we’re willing to examine the situation with an open mind.

Only the row-boat is missing.

In the face of the Internet, as vast a space as any conceived by man, something like a personal blog can feel inconsequential, to say the least. And yet, even as I imagine a tiny voice railing against the maelstrom, I am glad at the chance to try. The question of whether or not anyone is listening, if, in fact, anyone is even on this channel, is an important one.

The attenuation of this particular broadcast device remains a fairly mysterious process to me. Even as I imagine a giant dish, rotating with painful slowness in the desert night, I know that somehow there is a subtler process required. That there is such a process seems clear, although those steps seem strangely elusive. It is nothing so simple as a signal modulated by frequency or amplitude.

It may be a matter of content. If I had perfected a method for sub-orbital sky-diving, as an example, this would be a very different blog. At this stage, that seems unlikely as a topic, so I must work on generating the correct signal based on what’s actually happening. It was exciting to realize that this was a method for tuning that array; what’s actually happening is up to me, and while it might not involve heat shields, there’s clearly a lot that can be done.

Lately, I have become fixated on the idea that I should be in Ecuador, teaching English. While there are certainly more exotic targets, something about that country seems especially appealing, and sounds right. I don’t know what makes a brain feel good or bad about a place a person’s never been, but it’s something that I like to rely on. And, of course, you can live there for $300 a month.

This requires a series of hair-raising steps, many of which may actually be more dangerous than my craziest ideas about parachutes. At its core, this is about quitting my current job (a reckless act any time, kind of insane in the face of the current economy) and spending a couple of months getting a TEFL certificate and making plans to leave Seattle. At that point, I would be on a new trajectory, heading south into a sea of new unknowns. It’s hard to imagine something better.

Another persistent question is whether or not that kind of path means the abandonment of my current freelance plans. One makes the argument that the world is wired, and that anyone with a laptop and a login can make the Internet work for them, from anywhere. I imagine the person who makes that work to be as rugged and capable in their way as the adrenaline junkies I imagine falling to Earth at super-sonic speeds, incandescent with the heat of re-entry.

The questions remain. Is anyone listening? Is there anything that I can do to make them listen? Does it matter where you’re standing, what you’re shouting? I will continue to send out the signals, and as I modulate that signal, by whatever method, I will await with great curiosity the reply.