Information Asymmetry

That is the power between the rich and the poor. Information. In the middle ages, you could say that strength was measured in the power of arms, but it was not true. It was just that the powerful had more access to learning materials than the poor. Nowadays, it is the same thing. The rich have social networks that is far beyond the power of the poor. As well, they have some resources available that would not be available to the poor. It would take a lot of the resources of the poor to equate to the resources of the rich. However, there are ways around that.

The Internet is one of the best use of the information flattening. Fortunes have been made on it because it has the power to distribute information and communication, so that the information asymmetry between the poor and the rich is not that great. The information asymmetry is there only if one closes his or her eyes to the truth.

The Internet helps because now the only difference between the rich and the poor is 2 things instead of 3. It used to be resources, information/knowledge and social network. Now information has been stripped. Resources can also be acquired through loans, and that brings it to 1.5 things. Social networks. Also information. All that one is required to do now, is to never stop learning.

New Worlds

Every day, it is a struggle. It is a fight to get up, and face the day again. The unseen world expects nothing of you. It is a comfort, and while it may not be happiness that it grants, it gives contentment. Sometimes I wonder if I could stay in bed all day and live in that world of dreams where everything happens but nothing ever changes. There are no consequences for actions, nor is there any pleasure gained from any achievements there.

Each person has a world inside their head. A paradigm. A world-view. Different people see things through different eyes. One of the recent manga I've read is Mirai Nikki. It describes a bystander with an observer mentality forced into a fight to the death. He's portrayed as almost an extreme introvert. And yet, I find that observers, by their very nature, need to be participators. Otherwise, they will not be around to observe. The internet, as a voyeur/stalker tool, isn't advanced enough yet. Observers, by their need to record, will join things. Maybe not actually do a lot, but they will be there.

The Tipping Point has several pages in there that describe cool people as the extroverts with a devil-may-care attitude. In a way, I may say that I have that mentality. And it may be true. My world-view is certainly different from most other people. And I could care less, or else I'd align my world-view towards the general public. But I also don't have the overwhelming compulsion to extrovert and party hard. I do have the desire to find out about other people's world-view though. It is strange enough that I have yet to meet any similar people. But then again, I guess I just haven't met enough people.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm two different people. Two different mentalities. Fused into one. Similar to a facade or a mask, but more than either. Two aspects of the same person. That isn't that strange is it?

Regardless, I think that David Wu is right. That we may learn about a lot of things through books or experience, but all we're doing is to prove something that we already know instinctively in our hearts. Reading the Tipping Point and other business books so far certainly feels so.

Till I see you in my dreams, my dear Valkyrie.

Motive force

Everyone has a motivation to do what they do. After all, they wouldn't do it if there wasn't motivation behind what they were doing. Whether it is peer pressure, parental pressure or monetary pressure, each decision is carefully weighed by preception, emotion and thoughts.

However, one wonders how people can be so passionate about art. Or one can wonder how people can be passionate about anything but art.

Art is one of the great mysteries that we have in the world. It reflects something that simple language can't express. Music, poetry, prose, sculpture...the list goes on and on, all for the simple expression of a feeling, emotion, thought as light as a breeze. Just because language is so inept at doing so.

How about technical people? For the rest of us that aren't artists...the rest of us that are just making a living in the world... what is our motivation? Are we trying to express ourselves with our jobs, our money, our lives?

Sometimes I wonder if our lives are truly empty, as some people have stated, and that art is just a way of expressing our fleeting impressions of the world to the rest of us sheep. Then art fills us up for a while, before it becomes dull and mundane. I wonder...

Either way, music is good. Although I'm more of a fan for listening than writing it. Prose on the other hand, I might want to write. It's been said that everyone has a novel or two within him/her. All it takes is the motivation to do so.

New ideas are awesome

because innovation is the very stuff of life. We make do without a lot of things, and we keep going. But what exactly allows us to create ideas that would eventually be the wide reaching, paradigm shifting innovations is a sharp mind, and a lot of analysis.

List of books to read:

Tipping point.
Wikinomics.
Any book on human factors.

Soundtrack of your life.

Well, I hate to delete notes but then I realize linking tags to it makes it intrusive into other people's lives. So here is it, imported from facebook.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes)/ MP3 player
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie

Title - Artist

Waking Up:
Time Management - EBison (Chrono Trigger Remix)
-Well...this is strange...I don't have time management...

First Day at High school:
Seperate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Journey

Falling In Love:
Only When You Leave - Spandau Ballet
-Well...so I fall in love only when she leaves? This is sad.

Fight Song:
The Waiting Room - Sixpence None the Richer
-Certainly suspense building, since this song is about waiting for God...

Breaking Up:
Heart to Heart - Kai
-fits perfectly I guess.

Prom:
It Might Be You - Kai
-Egotistical much?

Life:
Face the Change (Album Remix) - Every Little Thing
-Yes, apparently I need to face changes in my life.

Mental Breakdown:
True Colors - Every Little Thing
-Now my music is telling me I'm crazy!

Driving:
Three Small Words - Josie and the PussyCats

Flashback:
Shapes of Love - Every Little Thing

Getting Back Together:
When Darkness Falls - Secret Garden

Wedding:
Is this feeling love? - Tommy February6
-cold feet?

Birth of Child:
Wrong Impression - Natalie Imbruglia

Final Battle:
Halfway Around The World - Thievery Corporation
-So I travel halfway around the world? Cool! Just for a final battle!

Death Scene:
Over and Over - Every Little Thing
-Wow. I don't ever want to know how I died there.

Funeral Song:
Come on Home - Natalie Imbruglia
-So I get shipped home in a casket. Or is there a religious implication here?

End Credits:
Killer's Waltz - Thievery Corporation