Virtuosity

I've been thinking quite a bit about the concepts of virtualization and abstraction over the past several months. Fundamentally, I've centered around the following question: Has humankind has begun the most significant migration in our history? Step outside your box for a second and consider the possibility that what we know now as reality may be in the process of changing at its very core. To start, let's ponder the parallels in the following two concepts...

Geostraction
It's no revelation that we live in a world increasingly abstracted from time and space. The pop-culture pre-realityshow fascination of a few years back, of watching people's entire lives fold out over a webcam turned out as just one example pointing to a much larger phenomenon: in the first half of this decade we've seen a massive move to "geostraction." WiFi hotspots, cellular phones, laptop computers, global communities make location an increasingly less relevant factor every day. Instant global electronic communication provides the framework for what's next.

Phystraction (the big whatif)
Considering our migration away from physical location and space, it's no surprise what we've seen happening virtually everywhere. Major market opps in the last 5 years have been all but defined by the migration of products, solutions, and corporations from physical to virtual space. From electronic marketplaces (eBay).... communities (MySpace, Facebook)... communication (email, IM, txt)... media (audio, image, video)... education (Blackboard, WebCT)... literature (Google)... recreation (WoW, xBox Live)... and relationships (Match) more segments of our lives go "live" every day. Business as usual? Think again. Consider the changes in technology in just the last couple years alone. The new playground, hang-out, or meet-up is imminently virtual. Precisely the virtualization that the negative media hype regarding isolated MySpace instances misses, is exactly what has (and will) drive both profits and people for many next generations to come. Naysayers, you miss the point... "the times they are a changing" plays out across all generations.

The crux of what I'm entertaining here are the possibilities and outcome of our ongoing migration of our lives from physical to virtual space. In science fiction the typical story is that humankind will someday fall unwilling victim to all-powerful machines (ala: Matrix, Borg, etc) that threaten to extract the very core of humanity, assimilate us into a cold collective intelligence matrix, then toss out our bodies as superfluous byproducts. Yet what if the virtualization of humanity has has already begun, just willingly, not forcibly? People from "my" generation (GenX) talk a lot about keeping their lives private and offline. People in newer gens are all but obsessed with uploading keeping their lives public and online. Good or bad is irrelevant, the question is this:

What if the uploading of our life experiences are little more than a start down an evolution into something entirely new and different than the what, who, and where we are now?

That's right, I'm talking Lawnmower Man style here - is uploading evolution? Good or bad, it seems we get closer every day. So at that broader level, the question remains: What do you think lies waiting for us as a humanity beyond the NextBigThing?

Evolution happens.
What's next?

Day 10: Muir Woods & Golden Gate

Starting off the day with a quick shot up to Sonoma Valley vineyards for some wine tasting. Good stuff, but the lady at Viansa keeps pouring me more. $90 later with a slight headache, but wonderfully relaxed it's off again to the next adventure...

Muir Woods (clic4pics)
Home of the infamous Redwood trees. Could I have been any less prepared for this? Take a step into these woods and one thing's immediately apparent:

I walk amongst gods here.

Thousands of year old trees, stretching their arms up over 250 feet into the sky. Words cannot describe it. Pictures cannot capture it. You must walk this path to comprehend. The sheer scope, sanctity, and timelessness of this place is mind-boggling. Dozens of inadequate photos later and I cannot help but sit and stare upwards again and again. Deer eating peacefully to the left, owls swooping through the trees to the right. Fallen trees older than our very nation itself. These trees have seen it all. And lived.

Golden Gate (clic4pics)
Coming over the hill towards the bridge again... out of nowhere this giant red tower emerges over the hill. Jump out of the car, run up the hill as the fog approaches from the west, fighting the winds, and it's all... totally... worth... it. Funny, it looks bigger in the books, yet not nearly as magnificient as when seen in person.

But today it's the sheer contrast of this red giant against these rolling green hills that really shocks me. Exposed from the fog, the question repeated to me over and over... is this truly the perfect intersection of modern civilization and nature? Lush green hills, towering mountains, and this awe-inspiring spanse of crimson steel spanning the shores? Looking around I see a city unlike any I've seen over 30 years. Not some concrete and steel tribute to the industrialization of our planet, but a perfect balance of land, sea, and man. A city ahead in the horizon. An island punching out of the waters. A glorious red archway connecting the shores. A mysterious fog pouring over the bay. The kind of scene you snap 50 times in a row hoping to capture even a whisper of the visual opera going on in your mind.

Beautiful.

Day 9, Part 2: San Francisco

Arrival in San Francisco, driving over the Golden Gate, the fog is so thick there's simply no visibility at all. People at the vista point staring off into the mist into... nothing. Yet there's something magical about this place. Coming into the city, overlooking each of the bays to the right of the highway as the sun comes down to rest, a recurring theme repeats itself in my mind's eye... Is this our time's modern Rome? Perfect little islands set amidst baby blue waters? Armies of little white boats floating in the bay? A picture out of a museum right off a major state highway. Is this a city at all or just some beautiful scene from straight out some museum I've yet to visit...

Day 9: San Simeon to San Francisco

It's been a lot longer getting up the Cali coastline than I had originally imagined. Stayed overnight at what seems like the edge of the world, San Simeon, California. Dinner at Mustache Joe's in Cambria. Not much else going on here. In fact, it's downright desolate out here.


Hearst Castle (clic4pics)
Start off the day with one of the most talked-about stops off the coast: Hearst Castle. Ticket guy rec's Tour 1. The positive is there's everything you can imagine of Rennaissance-era here. Ceilings pre-dating Columbus carted in and custom-installed, 500 year old fireplaces standing 30 feet tall, and a massive cross-bred pool clashing Hollywood and Rome. The downside? Your need 3 other tours to see the whole shabang and each one's $24, non-sequential. Fact is this is not even really a castle, just a once-summer camp of Willam Randall Hearst, turned big-house-on-the-hill, turned living art gallery. Fascinating, but not as much as what came next...

Route 1 Cali Coastline (clic4pics)
There's simply nothing like this anywhere. Traveling up the Pacific coastline showcased by California's Route 1 stretch from San Simeone to San Francisco is like nothing I've ever seen. Massive rock walls stretching hundreds of feel down into the crashing ocean waves below. Beach after beach. Canyon after canyon. Narrow, hair pin roads that make 30 mph seem downright terrifying. People said go 101, it's faster. People are seriously missing out on the most beautiful, awe-inspiring drives - anywhere. Everyone, at least once in their lifetime should make this drive.

Bixby Bridge
Along the Big Sur coastline. Hard to miss out on this one. A perfect example of form and function, man matching nature. Words cannot describe this place. You can almost see the early settlers coming over the top of those mountains, looking out over the ocean, the end of the world as they knew it. What a journey. What an experience.

Cali Coastal: La Jolla

LaJolla
Originally uploaded by clifhirtle.

There are certain places that epitomize things much bigger. Less than 1/2 way into the CaliCoastal Expedition and one thing is abudantly clear: La Jolla, California is the epitome of an incredibly beautiful Pacific coast line. Words are inadequate for this place. Huge cliffs, crashing waves, and a motley crew of seals sunbathing on the beach make for an amazing one-one with Mother Nature. Stone and rock sentries hundreds of feet up ward off the assault of a Pacific Poseidon. Beautiful. Yes indeed, this is truly what California is all about.

San Diego 4th

July 4th 2006. San Diego navy pier. There's a small crowd out on the piers and I'm terribly excited about spending my first 4th out in Cali... 30 minutes later the crowd's dispersing, families are packing back into their cars, and the night's over. No music. No silly USA attire. Not even many fireworks.

Perhaps I missed something here, because this is definitely not the way we celebrate Independance Day in Boston. Out East it's a sea of honking cars, a booming Boston Pops playing Tchaikovsky, and crowds of thousands upon thousands of drunken Americans who are all suddenly your best friend.

Sometimes East Coast style ain't so bad afterall.

Inspiration H20

Inspiration is like water. It flows through you, not to you. People talk about "finding inspiration." A better question, how does inspiration find you? Open minds receptive to the possibilities of a creative omnipresence, tap into the central flow of water all around them. Seek not that which flows freely. Don't fight the current, find out where it leads. Be more like the water itself. Consider possibility. Let inspiration find its way to you.