I have this theory about information. I won’t bore you with it, but suffice to say that with all the blogs and email and texts out there, I’m pretty sure the sheer mass of mostly useless information floating around will eventually warp space-time and then everyone throughout the entire history of the world will have access to my blargh.

Just in case I’m right, I’m leaving this here for my younger self. Because if literally everyone throughout history has access to my blargh, the most important thing to communicate is OBVIOUSLY all about me and not, you know, something like “Tell President Lincoln to skip the play” or “Encourage young Adolf to stay in art school”.

So here are the Three Things, going out to me in the past:

1. Your differences aren’t defects.

You like things other people don’t like. You get excited about Big Ideas that none of your friends are thinking about. You don’t actually like a lot of the things that everyone else is talking about, but you spend a lot of time and energy trying to pretend you like them just so you don’t get left out.

But you get left out anyway.

Which is all to say, you’re lonely a lot and you don’t feel like you fit in anywhere and you wonder what’s wrong with you all the time.

KNOCK IT OFF, KID!

It turns out all those things that make you different are actually what make your life go awesomely. Apart from the awesome family you’ll have, by the time you get to be me, you’ll have written books and screenplays and worked on video games that have sold millions of copies.  You’re pretty much living the dream over here in the future.

Don’t worry about trying to be like everyone else because you’re not and IT’S COOL. You aren’t an accident. There’s nothing wrong with you. In fact, there’s actually a whole lot right with you.

And hey, literally nobody remembers that one time we did that thing (except for us), so let’s try not to hold on to it for so long, okay?

2. Pursue excellence, not perfection.

We do this thing where we notice little imperfections that no one else seems to notice; you do it back there in your time, and I still do it now. It’s just the way we’re wired.

It’s not a bad thing, necessarily; we notice the details, and details matter, and you and I both just want to get it right.

But we kind of take it too far, man. There’s a lot of truly excellent work out there that has tiny little cracks and chips if you look closely enough for long enough. Movies with continuity mistakes. Books with typos. Paintings with scientifically inaccurate representations of constellations.

But if you’re sitting there looking for that stuff, you’re missing the point.

A tiny mistake, a minor imperfection, shouldn’t make it impossible to appreciate the work of art before you.

Yeah, so sometimes planes fly across the sky when you’re looking at the sunset. It’s still a magnificent sunset.

You’re going to make some mistakes. A lot of them, in fact. Several metric tons worth. People you admire make them too.

By all means, keep doing your best to make things excellent. Just quit freaking out about things not being perfect. I’m way older than you and I still haven’t seen a perfect thing yet.

Except maybe your wife and kids.  Good job on that, by the way, you are going to be so impressed, dude. Knocked it out of the park on that one.  For real.

3. Prefer action over fear (especially when you’re afraid of failing)

Speaking of mistakes, I’m sorry to tell you one of our biggest ones comes from the number of times we didn’t do something, because we were afraid we might do it wrong.  It’s all right to take a few more chances, to get out there and get after it.

I don’t mean you need to do more jumping off rooftops or dual-wielding sawed off shotguns or anything. You’re a smart kid, you’ve got good instincts about stupid risks. But you hold yourself back too many times because you freak out about the what-ifs and the just-in-cases. And sometimes you miss out because by the time you’ve reached a decision, it’s way too late.

Pick a thing and do it. Don’t worry so much about whether you’re going to get it right the first time (you won’t) or what people are going to think about you for trying (it doesn’t actually matter that much).

Just about any action is better than fearful inaction. Get moving. We can correct along the way.

Okay that’s it for now. I know I didn’t tell you who you’re going to marry and I didn’t send you code for that Red-Black Tree program that’s going to ruin one of your Thanksgivings in college, but it’s cool, you’ll be all right.

And hey, if you’re reading this, just write down all the things you wished I had told you, and then when you get to be me you can rewrite this to include all of those too.

(Just don’t delete those three points because I might have to use them in a job interview or something one day.)

 

Would YOU kill the Fat Man?  Here’s an interesting discovery concerning how fluency in language affects our ability to make moral decisions.  Brains are neat!  And weird!

Speaking of brains, how would you like to fly a plane using yours?  Err, I mean JUST using yours. I hope if you’re a pilot you typically use your brain in addition to your hands.

An interesting article on biology and the space between order and chaos.  True nerd fodder.  Mmmm delicious fodder.

Here’s a very handy article on rules/tips for learning any language (relatively quickly).  No, it’s not an ad for Pimsleur.

And here’s an article about DARPA’s (that’s the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) work developing brain implants to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ever wondered what the inside of the internet looks like?  Surprisingly, it’s not just a series of tubes!  Very cool look at the physical architecture that supports all this datums running around out there.

A beautifully-crafted twenty-sided die … from second century BC.  Clearly we’ve been playing role-playing games since  the dawn of history.

Interesting legal discussion around the “right to be forgotten”, with the EU telling Google it has to delete links to sensitive information at a user’s request.  I guess it’s only interesting if you care about that sort of thing, but the “right to be forgotten” is one of those phrases that just might spark some story ideas.  Maybe not an interesting story, but you know.  You never know until you write it!  Or until you start writing it and then realize it’s not interesting!  This is way too much chatter about this one link!

The US military is working on developing robots with morals.  Mmm technological philosophy.  I wonder how long it’ll be before drones start questioning their existence and/or getting paralyzed by indecision over The Right Thing to Do.

Here’s one of the most effective cautions against blindly trusting charts and “data” I’ve seen.  It’s not so much what the data say that’s a problem so much as what we sometimes assume they say.  Data. Plural. Datums.  Though judging by this chart, the datums clearly show that Nicholas Cage’s acting is killing people, which totally lines up with my suspicions.

Here’s a cool Indiegogo campaign to create solar roadways.  Solar panels you can walk on, drive on, park your tractor on, all kinds of things.

Honey just might be helpful in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  Something something joke about sweet!  Thanks, bees!

But if that doesn’t work, hey at least vampires were (are?) on to something!  Young blood apparently IS better for you!

The US Air Force is looking for a better Space Fence.  Tracking all the junk floating around our planet is complicated, and the legal issues around cleaning it up are even more so.  In other news, I plan to start a company specializing in space janitorial services. That’s as far as I’ve gotten in the planning though.

Scientists have created the first living organism from artificial DNA!  We now have a lab-created half-synthetic organism that can replicate itself (as long as it has help from its scientist buddies). Self-replicating synthetic organisms not found in nature? What could possibly go wrong!  Science is awesome!  And terrifying!

Speaking of which, some cool first steps towards a computer simulation of the human body.  Could theoretically be useful for predictive/preemptive medical treatment for when, say, a self-replicating synthetic organism not found in nature somehow enters your bloodstream.

I’ll be sitting down with the fine folks who run Carolina Book Beat tomorrow morning from 10-11AM to talk about books and writing and things! You can tune into WCOM 103.5 or catch it later at http://wcomfm.org/

It’ll be my first ever radio appearance, so who knows what might happen!  Shenanigans!  Hijinks!  Nervous mumbling and spilling of beverages on the console!

As part of NASA’s SpaceApps Challenge to create wearable technology for future space travelers, Team Reno decided to make a functional Pip-Boy 3000 of Fallout 3 fame.  Further evidence of science-fiction inspiring reality!

Scientists have developed an “off-switch” for neural activity!  Which could be helpful for things like studying and/or treating epilepsy! Or making that annoying person at work stop talking to you!  Maybe not that.  But hopefully!

It’s conventional wisdom in engineering that you can’t improve both stability AND maneuverability.  Just don’t tell the glass knifefish that!   Cool research that could have impact on design and control systems, particularly for robots.

An ad campaign from a Swedish energy company used an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to simulate what it’d be like to live real-life with lag.  This will not be a revelation to anyone who’s ever had a couple of beers.

Here’s a pen that lets you doodle in the air.  Using 3D printing technology, it’s sure to entertain all your co-workers when you start writing “kill me now” over and over again during your next 3-hour planning session!

Talented fellow Chase Holfelder sings the Star-Spangled Banner in a minor key.  Very cool treatment of one of my most favoritest songs of all time because MERICA.

How about a brain implant that could restore lost memories?  Great application for folks dealing with Alzheimer’s or traumatic brain injuries.  Also, one step closer to implanting false memories so we can go all Total Recall!