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On upgrades
I have been thinking this weekend about what is within our locus of control. We often kid ourselves to think that we control a lot more than reality allows. Even our body, something we assume we have agency of, is by and large out of our control. I feel a temptation to say that we control our mind, but do we?
In ordinary situations, I think yes the mind is where we retain the most agency. After all, who is it that even asked this question. Albeit even the mind comes with its own restrictions. We don't necessarily control our innermost thoughts and subconsciousness. Not only that, this crucial piece of hardware that we rely on to experience and do almost everything hasn't had a factory upgrade at all. There are all sorts of bugs and memory leaks that have gone unpatched. And there are people in the world who are all too willing to tap into those bugs and manipulate it,
That's a silly metaphor. But I like it.
Because what I am learning is that although there are no factory upgrades, there are a ton of aftermarket patches that you can apply. Problem is, you have to identify these issues first. This is basically how 2022 has felt for me.
It has been a year of just identifying bugs and memory leaks in my system. All the while, reading firmware documentation trying to figure out what aftermarket patches work. It is such an unregulated marketplace for this kind of patch. If you need other hardware repaired there are shops you can go where they will repair it with existing materials or worst case - prosthetic replacements. But this core hardware, well there's no way to do any hardware swaps without lasting damage. You're basically left with in place upgrades.
And by in place upgrades, I mean therapy and reading books. I guess?
In ordinary situations, I think yes the mind is where we retain the most agency. After all, who is it that even asked this question. Albeit even the mind comes with its own restrictions. We don't necessarily control our innermost thoughts and subconsciousness. Not only that, this crucial piece of hardware that we rely on to experience and do almost everything hasn't had a factory upgrade at all. There are all sorts of bugs and memory leaks that have gone unpatched. And there are people in the world who are all too willing to tap into those bugs and manipulate it,
That's a silly metaphor. But I like it.
Because what I am learning is that although there are no factory upgrades, there are a ton of aftermarket patches that you can apply. Problem is, you have to identify these issues first. This is basically how 2022 has felt for me.
It has been a year of just identifying bugs and memory leaks in my system. All the while, reading firmware documentation trying to figure out what aftermarket patches work. It is such an unregulated marketplace for this kind of patch. If you need other hardware repaired there are shops you can go where they will repair it with existing materials or worst case - prosthetic replacements. But this core hardware, well there's no way to do any hardware swaps without lasting damage. You're basically left with in place upgrades.
And by in place upgrades, I mean therapy and reading books. I guess?