Failure in the New Year

We're a month into the New Year, and I'm already falling down on my resolutions. Not that I had anything formal, but I was hoping to finally meet my one-post-per-week goal and start flossing regularly. I have been successful at brushing my teeth left-handed.

It's interesting: I had a giant post planned about How to Make 2015 better. It won't be published, though its content will probably slip out elsewhere. I missed a major point, though: conceptualization. I'll be doing a proper post on it soon (maybe), but the problem we have is that we don't adequately conceive, plan, and execute our goals.

Resolutions fail because we use them to wrap up self-improvement in glittering generalities. Success requires concrete percepts and a clear vision forward, covering all the necessary points. That's hard, so most people don't bother. Who cares about making progress when you can feel good?

I do.

Stuff for the Mars Colony

It's not difficult to find conventions and cultural artifacts that really aren't very good. For instance, the customary system of measurements, or telling time on a 24 hour clock. It's relatively easy to develop solutions, but getting them implemented is always a struggle.

The problem gets even worse when you spend time talking about big ideas with smart people. Over the last several months, my friends and I have identified quite a few examples. I've been keeping track of them as "Stuff for the Mars Colony." Here's what we have so far

• Time Scales
• Electrons are positive
• Base-12 system
• Better way to measure acidity/baseness
• Logical engineered languages
• Reasonable sleep schedule
• Standardized education terminology

I'll be doing posts about some of these over the next few weeks. The discerning reader will notice almost all of these are examples of coordination problems--a running theme we'll be exploring.