This is a paper I wrote a few years ago, this is the rough draft as there was only one final copy. My views may have changed or shifted and my writing wasn't the best, but I still like the ideas within. I hope you find it interesting.
By Matthew Macomber
=: Introduction :=
Another nation
has fallen into chaos, it happens all the time. Sometimes it happens quickly and efficiently, taken over by another system that thinks it's better or is just seeking power. Often the takeover is slow and painful, with many people shedding blood for the sake their or someone else's beliefs. A good example that everyone knows about is the Nazis. Think about how Hitler came to power and then what he did with that power. That was not the first time it has happened and it is certainly no going to be the last time. You can easily say that a nation is on of the most fickle and delicate of things that humanity has ever created. The real question is about what makes these nations, what are some of the reasons they fail while some appear to succeed? The components of a successful nation are numerous and would never fit in a reasonable sized paper, so I will be bringing to you 3 subjects that can or should be required for a nation to prosper.
=: Hacking :=
We have all
heard at one time or another about "Hackers", what they do and why they are so "scary". Popular media really enjoys giving their opinion on what hackers are, as in how dangerous and how all hackers are evil. The general belief of those who do not know better is simple: hackers are bad, hackers are greedy, corrupt, lying, thieves.
Only the bad
and the horrible stories of "hackers" ever make it to the public
attention, never stories of all the good they do, or the amazing things that hackers discovered and created that we take for granted. The real basis of hacking is only an idea and way of thinking, so anyone and everyone can and is a hacker at one point. The fact is, without hacking and those who apply it, we would still live in the stone age or even more likely, we would be extinct by now. It is important to remember that hacking did not start with computers and will not end with computers.
The word
"Hacking" itself is only a more recent labeling of what hackers have been doing since cavemen realized that they could use fire. This simple label was first coined in the 1960's by the MIT model railroad club. This club used the term hacking to apply to what they were doing: they hacked parts of other electronics and materials together to do what they were not designed to do and created amazing model railroads, trains and control systems. The definition of hacking that they use is quite simple: to hack is to take something(s) and adapt or use it in a way that they were not originally created to do and create or achieve something new or useful and to create new understanding of how things can work. Another definition that hacking was used to apply to, and is how it was first used for computers, is the act of "hacking" at the keyboard on the computer when programming. This was done in a fevered pace since these hackers usually had little sleep and were trying to get as much done before the next schedule time slot for the computer system cam around. So really what hackers are doing is learning and applying their time towards a goal and to seek new knowledge. Quite different from the rote memorization that is standard in today's schools that everyone goes through for the first twenty or so years of their life.
Today hackers
generally refer only to computer hackers and when the media is concerned, the evil that "hackers" performed. But what the media calls "hackers" are what true hackers call crackers. Crackers is a term used to apply to malicious computer criminals who may or may not be using computer hacking to do wrong things for bad reasons, like: stealing money, stealing infromation, ruining information, and more. This just goes to show that the computer hacking culture and society is complex. Just like any other group of people, there are always people with impure motives. Yes the more extreme hacker types usually have distinctly different views about many subjects and ideas, but that is no reason to condemn them for the mistakes of the few. For example, in 1985, in the hacker magazine Phrack, and essay written by a hacker called , The Mentor, gave a unique viewpoint of hackers speaking for themselves. The essay is called "The Conscience of a Hacker":
But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever
take a look
behind the eyes of a hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him
tick, what
forces shaped him, what may have molded him? (p. 73)... Yes, I am a
criminal. My
crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what
they say and
think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something you will never forgive me for. (p. 79)
("The Conscience of a Hacker." Appendix A)
Now that being
written in 1985 is would be considered outdated. However, "The Conscience of a Hacker" is still strong in meaning for many, like a religion, a moral code, or a standard idiom/ideology for computer hackers worldwide.
For a glimpse
of what a true genious hacker can do, think of Nikola Tesla, the man whose work, who's hacking, makes the world that we live in today possible. He holds around 300 patents wordwide; this does not include all of his invention that he did not patent, onces that were lost and any that were classified by governments around the world. He invented the radio, remote control robots, AC electricity, and even a wireless electricity transmission device. Nikola Tesla was a vigorous inventor and an even more amazing person and yet he died penniless. He died a poor man but also a wealthy man, for what money he lacked it was completely made up in his creativity and his enjoyment of life. Any money he did make went straight back into his inventions, which is his work that is also his life. Like a true hardcore hacker, Tesla pushed the envelope of thought and science, advancing the fields of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering more then any other. Nikola Tesla is one of the fathers of the modern age, just like so many other hackers who changed the world with their curiosity, their need to learn, and their perseverance. All of us have a bit of hacker in them, a hacker is just someone who nurtured their own creativity and curiosity, this meaning encompasses many people, children, adults, scientists, presidents, entrepreneurs, inventors, teachers, and more.
=: Free Energy :=
Free energy is
a controversy revolving around powering the world for generations to come. So what is free energy? The obvious answer, that is repeatedly shot down, is energy that is obtained for free or without work. Of course, standard science garuntees that it is completely impossible and goes against many scientific laws. However, what so many seem to forget, is that scientific law is in no way necessarily right or absolute.
A scientific
law is simply the current best theory that is considered true by
experimental proofs of its validity. This means that it is not going to be perfect, because it entirely depends on what we can observe and test. This is to say that is can be updated or even replaces by a theory that better encompasses the scientific field in question. For example, it was not long ago when it was believed with all certainty that is is impossible to ride a bicycle faster than 15mph because you would suffocate from the wind pressure on the persons face. But today we know, without a doubt, that it is possible, as people the world over ride faster than 15mph every day.
A few examples
of things that we were completely sure of never happening in the 1900's:
1. A airplane
made of metal that weigh's over 350 tons cannot fly.
2. It is
impossible to watch what someone is doing from thousands of miles away.
3. The fastest
way to get somewhere is obviously a galloping horse.
4. There is no
plausible way a machine could ever beat a man at a game of chess.
5. You have to
visit a person to talk to them if they live in a different country.
And we all
know that we break these "laws" all the time.
Now let us
talk aobut how people think, and various ideas that are right, but not right, or just flawed in some way, when people think about free energy. Let's use a simple analogy. Let's say we have a glass cup, which equates to our energy container or generator, that is full of water to the brim, which equates to the energy. now answer me this, how much water can be poured from the cup? In answering this question consider gravity, air pressure, and temperature will all stay constant for the entire experiment. Your answer would be "the exact volume of the inside of the cup." Though this would not be accurate, since you cannot pour all the water out as a small amount will always remain, keeping the inside of the cup wet. This is important because there ar no actions that are 100% efficient.
So keeping
that glass in mind, let us consider a very standard explanation for why free energy is impossible. "You cannot get more energy out of a system then you put into it." The emphisis is on the you and not any energy that may already be in the system. This creates the idea that energy coming out of the system is less than or equal to the amount of energy going into it, and disregards any energy that is in the system already. This means that a better statement is needed and this one would make more sense: "More energy cannot be taken out of a system then is put in it or is already in it."
Now going back
to that glass cup, suppose you are pouring the water out of the cup, but more water comes out then the cup's volume. What does this mean? The answer should come pretty fast; more water is coming from somewhere, so the cup is tapping into a source of water (an unknown energy source), which of course would be a faucet (zero point energy, magnetic cyclone effect, etc). This means the cup has "free" water because you put the same amount of energy into the cup to pour it and more water comes out then would otherwise be possible. That is how free energy devices work, some energy or work is put in and more energy then was put in comes out.
This brings us
to our next important point, the quantity call "Coefficient Of Performance" or "COP" for short. COP refers to an amount equal to the amount of power/energy coming out of a system divided by the amount of power/energy going into the system. Our glass cup from before had a COP less than 1 the first time and a COP greater than 1 the second time. A good example of this is a crystal radio set, which has an efficiency a great deal less than 100%, but its COP is greater than 1. This is because the user does not have to supply any power for the radio to work and it outputs power in the form of sound. So efficiency and Coefficient Of Performance are two very different forms of measurement, were no matter the efficiency, the COP can be higher or lower than 1. Efficiency cannot exceed 100% and in almost all cases never even come close to %100, this is because of losses that are inherent in any practical systems.
Another
problem that happens a lot during energy research and research in technologies that can save a lot of money, is a company or other interested party wants to end the research because they might lose a lot of money if it works. A few years ago this happened to Cal-Tech who spent millions of dollars to prove just how useful fuel reformers could be in vehicals, how they could substantially better fuel economy and help the air stay cleaner. To do so, they did long term tests with buses and cars to gather the information needed to prove it. Then they got together with Arvin Meritor to install the reformers in production vehicles. Then one day "One Equity Partners" purchased the division of Arvin Meritor that was doing all the work needecd to get the fuel reformers into every new vehicale. "One Equity Partners" then createdthe company EMCOM Technologies, which then dropped the fuel reformers from production. Not because the fuel reformers did not work, but because the reformers did work. That is no conspiracy theory; it is just a matter of easily gotten public records.
Now none of
this is to say there have not been many, many cheaters, liars, and frauds who claim to have created a "free energy" device. Many just want fame, fortune, or both, and do not care about others at all, they are just a group of very selfish people. Unfortunately, for the rest of the free energy researchers, this ruined what little image and credibility free energy researchers had. Combined with the scientific community constantly rejecting the thought of it, the general outlook for free energy research is very grim indeed. Even more so if you are one to believe in all the free energy cover ups that are done by those whose interests are far better off without the advent of a cheaper energy source.
The bottom
line is simple, energy can be drawn from the enviroment in many possible forms, from gas to charcoal, from magnetic motors to zero point energy fields.
The important
thing to wander is when will we, if ever, be able to harness these possible energy resources.
=: Government :=
Where does
government come from and why do we consider it so necessary to our way of life? Anywhere from a single person to a huge conglomerate of people make the face and functions of a governing body. Now for a surprising number, 30, this if the number of different types of government according to the CIA. This also notes that many governments fall into more than on of the thirty types. Now according to the Wikipedia article, List of Forms of Government, there are 47 types of governments, with some grouped together due to one or more similarities.
There are six
most common forms of government. The first is democracy, which quite literally means, "Rule by the people," meaning that in a democracy the people are the ones who govern. The second would be a republic. In a republic all the people vote to elect a representative to create and properly enforce laws. Considering that a true democracy is highly improbable for any political system that has more than a few people. Most democracies are in reality just republics.
Next on our
list is monarchy, which is a goverment ruled by a King or Queen.
The King or
Queen is in control of the entire government, makes all the decisions, and have a court of people to hear out their ideas and opinions. An aristocracy is a government controlled or ruled by aristocrats who are generally well-educated, rich people. An aristocracy is only different then a monarchy just because they have more then one person in control of government at any given time. Unfortunately, the word aristocracy is quite often used with a negative connotation, like "United States of America is an aristocracy since it is most obviously ruled by the extremely rich people."
A dictatorship
is the rule and control of people by a person or group of persons Dictators almost always claim to be leaders of a democracy, not a dictatorship. The most noted and probably the most hated dictator was Hitler, who controlled Germany and attempted to conquer the world. Lastly, we have the democratic republic, but are generally just dictatorships with communist dictatorships using the term more frequently than the rest. The Democratic Republic of Vietnem is a good example of this.
It is good to
notice how the balancees of "good" and "bad" governments are maintained no matter how much time has passed. This follows the basis of tin and yang, which specifies that good and evil or polar opposites are hrmonious and are kept in balance with each other. On that note, it is also interesting that, like tin and yang, good governments have some bad within them and bad governments have some good in them. The important part is how the government handles the parts that it does not want and which has a greater influence within the governments ranks.
=: A Nation :=
What thoughts
are rumbling around in your brain, information on these three seperate subjects, wondering or understanding how these are viably key ideas for a nation.
Of these three
subjects, I am sure that you have your doubts about the first two, thinking that government is an obivous part of a nation. Remember, all these ideas are for the understanding of how a nation may succeed or fail. The problem is that many get the wrong idea about what makes or breaks a nation by failing to look outside the obvious.
It takes a
great many things to have a nation that can survive the tests of time
without fading away. I am not in any way saying that these three idea are all that is takes to succeed; you need citizens (people of your nation), land for your nation to call its own to prosper from, a proper economical system and more.
Nations are no
simple beasts, according to the customary national law you need at least three things to declare your nation official. You must have land that is your territory. You must have a permanent population. And you must have a government of some kind. Also important on top of these is the capacity to enter into relations with other nations. Another part that should be considered is the United Nations (UN) that, since 1945, has been the standard for recognition and full acceptance as a nation. Now like I said the three things I discussed are not all you need, for example: all nations need a solid financial system, whether it is a classic trading or bartering system or a monetary system. Without it, a lot of problems will arise, people fighting for fair prices/barters, or ineffective means of trade and commerce within the nation and with other nations. International trade and commerce is very important for a nation and a financial system is required for it to work properly or effectively.
So why is
hacking important for a nation to have? The answer is simple, hacking is a starting point and an end point and every point in-between. The skills of people who apply the hacker ideology are what will decide the rules for a nation. The same or different hackers will continue to test those rules, changing them when needed and removing them altogether when a rule is no longer needed, and creating new ones when it is required. These rules or laws will be the deciding factor for the life of the nation, the very essence of what the nation will be built on top of. The process of hacking will also be the basis for new technologies, tools, and lifestyles of the citizens of the grand nations that are willing to cultivate this aspect of people. This will be important because it will make the difference between a nation and nations that seek to control ideas, control open thinking, control freedom. Hacking is the basis of applying ones freedom to explore, learn, and try new things, if a nation trys to stifle that, it will be damaging its own roots.
The lack of
power is continually causing problems in every nation today. We have burned away many resources and all of them are limited finite supplies that will dwindle away. renewable resources just don't fit the bill, generating very small amounts of power compared to the space they take up. Even nuclear energy is too inefficient and costs huge amounts of money per megawatt, on top of not being entirely safe. Ever hear of Chernobyl? One of the nuclear reactors that almost had a complete meltdown and radiated the entire area around it, killing all life and making the area uninhabitable for decades from now. With free energy, that can change, providing cheap clean energy to any nation that needs it. One thing is required for the possibility of free energy to survive, supporting researchers, hernessing their hacker spirit towards this goal.
As you can
see, the problems we have in nations today have many causes. The government has to much control or too little, there is no reliable source of energy to power your nation, creative people with hacker spirit are too few or the government cracks down on hacking or new ideas. Sometimes a nation is controlled by people with too much power, who make the wrong decisions, possibly for their own benefit.
Following our
example in the beginning, why is it that the Nazis failed? this can be attributed to the government being controlled by one person, Hitler, a dictator. It was also likely because of how he treated people, killing the Jewish just because he placed the blame on them for his nations ruined economy, which brought the retribution of other nations who could not forgive him for that. They had no powerful energy source that could keep the rapidly expanding nations boarders properly powered and supplied.
There are many
reasons that Hitler lost his conquest, largely being that if just was not ready to handle a war of such proportions. These many critical decisions is what a nation needs to decide on, the wrong decisions can bring a nation's downfall.