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My Ted Message… June 3, 2009

Posted by Tyson McDowell in Uncategorized.
Tags: change the world, Ted conference
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I am applying to attend the Ted conference in February 2010 (www.ted.com). My good friend Cliff (www.offacliff.com) said it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, and he’s right. This is the place where Al Gore made famous his global warming talk (at least I am told that this is where it hit the big time), so why not me.

The application process is very cool… you have to come up with a “Ted Message” which is the elevator pitch, basically, for why you are important and interesting enough to have the privilage to attend. Here is my “Ted Message”:

This is a time of critical moments. A multitude of issues are truly being “driven off a cliff,” and most of us are completely unaware of the consequences we are committing to as a result. From the environment to global economics, and right down to healthcare, these issues are crossing over dramatic thresholds…we are out of time. The root of the unawareness is lack of accountability to hard data, interpreted by hard analysis. My corner is US healthcare sustainability, and that mission has taken me down paths that are technical, political, educational and entrepreneurial. I feel I have uncovered the viable path to sustainability and that the effort along the way can have positive effects on other issues critical to this country. I want the world to understand what I and those around me have come to learn, because I am too small to fully leverage the true power of this knowledge by myself.

Has the world really changed? February 11, 2009

Posted by Tyson McDowell in Uncategorized.
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It has been 6 months since I have written here, but what a 6 months! Words like “unprecedented” and phrases like ”once-in-a-lifetime” are thrown around on the news and coffee break rooms like the latest celebrity scandal. But are these really such unique times?

What isn’t unique is that the times are changing rapidly. Such change should be expected, it’s just a matter, for most, of seeing specific changes coming. The solace in reality is that so long as you keep on keepin’ on, and keep your eyes peeled and your hands dirty… it’ll be fine. Real changes are meteor impacts effecting global extinction, or the acquisition of your one true love. All this financial stuff is just another undulation in the road, but the road is still there underneath.

I promised myself I wouldn’t speak in platitudes, yet here I am. Who am I to be so confident in these times? Well, I am just someone entertained by complexity and driven by challenge. Here and now is an utter playground.

Know What You Deserve September 28, 2008

Posted by Tyson McDowell in Uncategorized.
Tags: Life's Lessons
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Thoughts rattle around in my head constantly, and many are vivid images from my past. One of those images, I realize, has served as the basis for a major part of my personality… that I push everything hard and do nothing with less intent than grandeur.

When I was about 5 years old, my Mom was driving me somewhere and we were caught behind a slow vehicle on the freeway. It was a Volvo V70 Turbo, with the word “Turbo” printed boldly under the model tag. She said, “Come on! Use that Turbo and get moving!”

That image played over and over in my mind for most of the days that passed between then and now, and I took from that a basic truth: Always know what you deserve. Don’t buy a turbo if you don’t drive hard. Don’t fly fighter jets unless you are prepared to do formation, canyons and dogfights. It just doesn’t do the equipment honor if its master and commander isn’t willing and capable to let the instrument stretch its legs at least once in its life.

This principle is important in all aspects of my life. Friends included. I see people that are great who hang around with mooching low-lifes. The person who is great is great so they try to bring the mooching low-life up a notch. But the mooching low-life should know that they don’t need this great person as a friend and so they should do the great person a service by saying, “you are too good for me, move on.”

In any event, you get the idea. Know what you deserve and then make decisions accordingly. Only then will the universe balance itself out.

Dedication and Honor August 25, 2008

Posted by Tyson McDowell in Uncategorized.
Tags: FSX, L39
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I got to meet a very dedicated and honorable man this weekend… Mike J, also known as Lotus. I mentioned him, actually, in an earlier post because he put a pretty cool comment on my YouTube L39 video. It turns out that he is a passionate person all around is is trying to build the very best Flight Simulator airplane ever, and chose the L39. All I can say is that his work is awesome, his dedication is unmatched, and his honor for reflecting reality in his work is second to none.

You MUST check him out. He is a true artist: http://lotus-films.blogspot.com/

Thanks Mike!

Super-Serendipity June 29, 2008

Posted by Tyson McDowell in Pontification.
Tags: philosophy, super-serendipity
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I was at the Sunday market, downing Juanita’s ridiculously fantastic tamales with Magno (short for magnificent), a retired teacher who inspires one to think.

Our conversation turned to the philosophical and the basic question of serendipity and chance arose. What follows is my treatise on the matter.

The are mountains of cliches (which of course are true, or they wouldn’t have achieve the status of cliche): opportunity knocks, success comes to those who seek it, planets are lined up, don’t rest on your laurels, and so on. These are the most true basic framework of laws when contemplating the meaning of life, so I think any theory of everything must permit these truisms to exist within it.

My theory is one of super-serendipity. The idea that there are combinations of times and places where things are incredibly perfect for some other thing to happen. Taking the omnipotent view, there are millions of these coincidental happening occurring at each moment. Taking the personal view, they don’t happen too often, but I think they happen more often than most people recognize.

In the great world of complex systems, serendipity is a reality and is defined as the occurrence of a mathematically significant event. If we think of a large family of complex mathematical formulas which were randomly defined, those which result in a prime number, for example, would exhibit mathematical serendipity. Out of a family of trillions of formulas, only say, a million are super-elegant and therefore super-serendipity has struck. These are your lotto winners. A hundred times more events than that are merely serendipitous, like finding a great friend, and the remainder is just noise. The key here is that serendipity is a reality, and given any level of complexity, is certain to exist in a system. The real problem is, how does one make sure that he, as an individual, is the one to experience this serendipity and super-serendipity, and not some other lucky chap?

Well, if the above mathematical matrix of trillions of random formulas and were our world, it is just a matter of being someone that checks the values on as many times as possible. You must get out there and get in the way of lots of happenings before you find one that is serendipitous or super-serendipitous. You must be consistent, and willing to try a lot of mundane things to find the ones that shine. Interestingly, this process, over a fairly short period of a few months, should overturn unheard-of serendipity. It is just a matter of the mechanisms of this world. But so many people are daunted by this effort, that they don’t bother to look and they develop the excuse that chance is at hand, and there is nothing they can do to affect chance. Bullshit. This isn’t a casino, the house isn’t rigged to win. Its a non-biased complex system. The more you play, the more it will pay.

Then why are there those people that play a great many hands and still turn up fruitless? Because they don’t really believe and they aren’t open to opportunity when it knocks. You can go through the effort of trying a great many things and getting involved in a great many happenings, but many people don’t capitalize on serendipity when it strikes because they don’t trust that it is real. It’s too good to be true.

So you must not only be persistent and put yourself out there, a lot, but you must be ready and willing to recognize and act on and believe in serendipity.

But that is only part one of a two part story. Once you are on a path of aligned planets, because of the nature of this system I describe, those particular planets won’t be aligned for long. You must keep hunting, and never rest on your laurels. As long as you hunt and are open to new and unforeseen serendipities, your success will continue.

Interestingly, science is confirming the existence of statistical harmony in the formation of super-string theory, but for now, I will just ask you to believe that science backs this up as opposed to penning yet more paragraphs as proof.

So what does this mean for you? You absolutely can make unrealistic success happen all by your own initiative. They key is that you cannot predict or control what serendipities you will happen across, you can only control your willingness to embrace them as they come along. Be driven to constantly look for new serendipities, and never settling for less than that. Only then can the world be your oyster.