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A Mission statement, of sorts

What follows is a mission statement, a rough outline of the stance I tend to take in response to social issues, and therefore the stance I am likely to take in many of my posts. In its current form it is rough, a bit ranty, and somewhat incomplete. I really don't think it's possible for a rational person to sum up all of their views quickly, so I invite readers to simply tuck in for the ride and see where it takes them.

For now, this, I believe:

This blog will be a place for me to give air to ideas as I develop them, in hopes of working toward more refined arguments. The title refers to a general belief of mine that technology and technological advancement offer our most sure prospect for realizing ideals like justice, compassion, and liberty for all human beings. While moved by utopian dreams, my observation of the world has steeped me in cynicism. Political machines are hijacked by pirates and robber barons. Virtuous leaders fight entrenched systems of privilege, and markets provide the most benefit to those already advantaged. Social change cannot be legislated or enforced. It must emerge from the people themselves. Discrimination cannot be eliminated unless every person refuses to accept bigoted ideals, rejects them when they are presented in public, and shuns those who promulgate them. The challenge, then, is spread the memes of justice, egalitarianism, compassion, privacy, and freedom. Once those ideals have taken root, and individuals refuse to compromise on them, we will achieve our utopia.

Technology provides us the means by which those memes can spread. We now have the ability to connect every corner of the world. All we need is the will to do so, to reach out to one another across vast distances and make ourselves known to one another. Technology also provides the means by which we make our ideals reality. Replacing our human workforce with machines should free us from work, allowing us time to engage in intellectual, artistic, and recreational pursuits. Our livelihood need not be tied to our efforts. If there is not enough manual labor to go around, we should see that as a good thing, a benefit, a victory. Research and innovation must continue so that such goals can be realized.

As such, we must view technology as our path to nirvana, paradise, heaven. We will free ourselves by remaking ourselves and our environment so that we cannot be chained. Only through our own efforts will we realize our separate utopias. To craft ourselves in the image of what we can be, to craft our world, our universe, into the playground of our ideals, we must continue to learn about our reality and how to manipulate it. In this way, we will transform ourselves into living, cybernetic bodhisattvas and deliver the world from suffering.
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