Disney’s Tomorrowland

Disney’s Tomorrowland

A few days ago at lunch my friend asked me what science experiment I would perform if I could choose anything at all. My response was this: What would happen if everyone on Earth was focused on the exact same thought and feeling – at the same exact time. Would the physical world change – even if for a moment? We laughed, but realized this may very well be possible really soon. Everyone on Earth will have a smartphone in the coming years, so a simultaneously experienced video broadcast could really happen – and achieve this experiment.  The next day we happened to watch Disney’s newest movie Tomorrowland. This scenario doesn’t happen in the movie, but the premise of a reality created by our imagination is certainly nothing new to Disney. No spoilers ahead.

Tomorrowland, like many other science fiction futuristic films, shows our current day as the end of times. It was good to see the topic of the future approached in such an entertaining way, while still broaching the big issues of our time. The emphasis on a future filled with incredible technology is not so far fetched considering the incredible changes upon us. The latest special effects are spectacular and fresh, but the storyline of “believing” is in the bones of Disney. Most of their movies seem to have very similar premises: the archetypical bad guys or world threatening crisis beat by the underdog powered by truth, heart, and courage.

The big take away from Tomorrowland is that the future is in our hands. This may seem like hot air, and not seem like anything profound or special at all. We all know this. We are independent, self willed and in control of our destiny. We are free and at the pinnacle of progress. Our technology will come to the rescue and science will be our savior. But if this is the case, then why are conditions getting increasingly worse for earth’s health, and seriously threatening life for future generations. All the while there appears to be many well funded organizations and powerful governments tackling the problems. yet the headlines keep getting more disturbing with each passing day.

What will the land of tomorrow really be like? Will some fantastical story unfold like we see in Disney’s latest sci-fi adventure. Is the world of a better tomorrow just a fantasy – or to be molded by our own hands? This is the important question this latest movie poses. It is nothing new to ponder these macro matters, but perhaps the time has come to dream up solutions. Walt Disney famously said, “If you can dream it you can do it.”  He also said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Disney has done what it does best, and has framed the solution in fantasy. It is up to us to remove it from the realm of fantasy and truly “believe”.

 

 

 

Disrupting Housing- Tesla Powered Dome Home

Disrupting Housing- Tesla Powered Dome Home

It seems everything is getting disrupted these days with clever apps and new business models that harness the new digital landscape. Cheaper taxis and multitudes of ways to communicate are nice, but the status quo has yet to be shaken to it’s core. Bitcoin offers a monetary disruption, and a significant second is housing. Buying and maintaining our boxes seems to be a lifelong endeavor. We don’t believe it has to be. A little scratch of the head reveals there are lots of alternatives emerging that could end the 30 year mortgage, a paper chain commitment most folks still consider the American dream.

We’ve been pursuing a new way to build a solid inexpensive home now for nearly 2 years. At the dawn of our first prototype we got a wonderful surprise. Power is one of the biggest challenges we’ve faced on our road to a new self sustainable housing model. You’ll see our current power cell design uses old lead battery technology packed in recycling bins. Multiple units with heavy batteries are needed in our first power source plan. Everything just changed now that the new and exciting home battery was just announced by none other than Tesla.

Jeff Evanson, Tesla’s investor relations director notably revealed that CEO Elon Musk believes rivals’ batteries “suck”. So starting last year testing began with SolarCity customers in 230 houses in California, and 100 out of the state. Early reports said the battery will cost $13,000 and would be installed 1.5 feet off the ground and need about a foot of space around the perimeter. The April 30th announcement revealed a 6 inch thick wall mounted battery that is a real good looker that comes in different colors too! The cost is an affordable $3,500 for a 10kWh unit and a cheaper $3,000 version with a 7kWh capacity. Solar power is ideally stored in this beautiful clean and quiet milestone to the future.

The new battery will be available for home and large scale needs, and is capable of being controlled via smartphone or web applications, Charging happens via solar, the grid, or generators, and can feed power back to the grid. Initial beta users are reporting making $10 – $12 a month selling power back to the utility company. Now that is a nice reversal of roles. This wonderful new Tesla home battery is a perfect companion to power our portable and completely self sustainable dome homes.

The future is certainly upon us, and it is looking pretty good right about now. With changes happening so quickly, it seems our initial dreams of disrupting housing are getting closer to reality with each passing month. It seems the world is ready for the big solutions and we are excited to offer our contributions. We look forward to building our first prototype dome home powered with Tesla batteries. Soon a truly free and independent dome home community will sprout and show a clear path off the grid. The solutions are already here, we just have to reach out and grab them.

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Dome Home with Tesla Battery

 

 

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BEFORE: Lead Acid Batteries

 

The Digital Renaissance – And, Or, and Not

The Digital Renaissance – And, Or, and Not

I can still remember my first day of philosophy class. It was a lecture about how logic had been stripped from the educational curriculum, and the reason why the world had run amuck. The points of the lecture were valid, yet there were no resolutions in reality. So I concluded the teacher was jaded and over thinking things. Lately it’s been getting more clear that there is certainly a void of rationale and reason that is drifting the world into dangerous waters. Using logic may be a real solution now. It is possible that the underlying premises that spew our daily headlines, can be rewritten with the emergence of real time data, the internet of things, and everyone on Earth watching and interacting online.

If technology does what it could, then we we will enter an era where logic and reason reign. Much of computing power comes from the boolean – where everything ultimately ends up as a 0 or 1 representing variations of True and False. “Boolean algebra has been fundamental in the development of digital electronics, and is provided for in all modern programming languages. It is also used in set theory and statistics.” – Wikipedia. This most basic of mathematical methods to determine truth could readily be applied towards constructing a better structure for our future.

There are many ways booleans are used, most simply it’s defined: AND: True & True; OR: True & False; and NOT: False & False. Many mathematical compositions can be built from here, but at it’s core it boils down to Conjunction (and), Disjunction (or), and Negation (not). Using web applications to assess what is best for earth has never been available like it is now, with the rapidly evolving technology and ever growing human data. The processing power and information are now here. We are not talking about a computer taking over our lives, but rather using the information and insight from real time connections and assessments, to make decisions with logical discernment. The era of politics and power have left much to be desired, and hopefully will soon be relics of the past.

The world situation gets more clear now that we are increasingly connected with constant communication and online sharing. About 2 billion people are online now. What happens when the other 5 billion come online and voice their vote. It is planned for everyone on earth to be online by 2020 or so. Online access now is only about 28% in Asia, 15% in Africa, 43% in Latin America, and 40% in the Middle East. Things could get interesting as real time interactions become ubiquitous. How will this technology be used? There has never been a time in history like now. We can correct our past errors or further entrench them. A digital renaissance is upon us. Will logic and reason prevail?

In memory of Leonard Nimoy. Rest in Peace.

 

1111 - The Digital Rennaissance

3-D Object Print Your Own Home

3-D Object Print Your Own Home

Do you remember the days of typewriters and TV antennas? These were great technologies for their time, but are relics of history now – and largely unknown. The developments of the last few decades have certainly changed the world rapidly. It is safe to say that the technologies and methods we use today will soon become history as well. Now we have the quickly growing development of affordable machines and printers that create objects. Your imagination is the limit.  We believe today’s emerging technologies will help bring back our dependance on each other instead of the current set up where banks and insurance companies are in charge of our homes and security. The ability to print your own home is here now. We are currently creating the first prototypes of a geodesic dome home kit cut with a ShopBot, using the most common 2×4 lumber and plywood.

For the majority of human existence (pre-civilization), humans have lived together in daily cooperation and communication.  This is the story we would like to build our foundation upon – what we believe is the true human story – before the grid. This story involves minds and souls freed up to live, communicate, and create everyday. The tools and technologies at hand allow us to continuously improve on the design and building of our homes as well as most anything else we may need. Our plan includes the use of modern technologies to form a self sustaining housing system that has human needs at the center of every design, material, and construction method. Human’s cooperating, building, and playing together is the basis of a true community. We will leverage all the latest technologies and tools to demonstrate that this is a potential alternate reality.

This is not a plan for building new grids that separate us into boxes to endlessly compete with each other under a veil of scarcity. This same premise permeated the recently cancelled Fox show Utopia that was billed as the largest social experience ever. They attempted a utopia with characters abiding by the same principles and attitudes that define our current system – but severe our natural inclinations to help and support each other. Fox made sure that the most “diverse” types were cast for optimum “reality”. It turned out to be a good example of the fears and anxieties that govern and separate us – but especially the desperate desire to transcend them. We look to create a Utopia based on a completely different script that cuts out the middle man.

We are putting our efforts into starting a new type of community that is fundamentally different from the foundations of the grid system. We are approaching this venture embracing all the technologies and information available today. Thus we are building a community where anyone can create anything they need with the help of 3D Printers, ShopBots, open source software, and the collective creativity and coherence of everyone in the circle. We are now printing the first geodesic dome home which will be completely self sustaining and designed with humans and life as the focus – and a better way of living together as the goal.


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Living a Lie to Borrow Our Birthright

Living a Lie to Borrow Our Birthright

It is the 4th of July as this is written. Liberty flows the flags flying everywhere. The belief in freedom is America’s greatest strength. We are proud to live in a country that is a beacon of light, leading the world into a new era of human rights for all. If only this were true. If only all the recent history, politics, prisons, wars, resource privatization, bank bailouts, and continuous scandals weren’t true. If only what we were taught in school was meant to benefit us all – instead of giving credibility to a small group of controllers. If only humans were born into a world where they had an unequivocal right to land, food, and water. These are truly the basis of life, liberty, and freedom. Instead, our birthright is lent to us, with interest. This may seem blasphemous to some – but the numbers don’t lie.

These numbers are everywhere and affect everyone on earth everyday. See the numbers on your bills every month. The bare necessities that are truly human birthrights are being sold to us at ever growing prices, for the vain profit of the few. We accept this because we are taught that the economy is as natural as the weather and capitalism is synonymous with democracy and freedom. Without it we would live in a worse world then we have today – which is only conceivable if a meteor hits. They say we need banks, global corporations, and puppet leaders for order and “security”.

The numbers that govern us are presented on the screens of Wall Street that collapse regularly, but always gain huge profits for the same groups – especially if there is war. All the numbers point towards the same trajectory. We are not free – we are in an escalating state of debt, and our children will be even more so. But at least we are not starving or enslaved like so many humans on earth. So surely we must have the best system – right? Perhaps if we believe our only real choices are bad and horrific.

A recent New York Times article, “Income Inequality Is Not Rising Globally. It’s Falling.” argues everything is getting better. This comes from a “consultant of the World Bank” and a “senior scholar of a Luxembourg Income Study Center.” These are the smart folks – so surely anyone who doesn’t agree is ignoring the facts, is a radical, uneducated, or ignorant. This article argues one must look at the global picture to see how the economic numbers show success via a growing middle class (new slaves) especially in China (who needs clean air). Perhaps this has a  small semblance of truth if you take human calamity and earth’s critically injured ecosystem out of the equation. This “reasoning” is how the lies persist. Maybe some numbers do lie under coercion.

Numbers can transcend rhetoric and tell us what is really happening. It is estimated to cost $30 billion to end world hunger, while the U.S. alone spends $737 billion on defense per year. Who are we really defending? A human dies every 4 seconds of hunger. Fifty million is the number of displaced persons worldwide in 2013 according to a recent U.N. report. That’s the highest number of dislocated people since World War II. Half of the refugees are children. How about  the 57,000 kids at the U.S. border? More than a third of the bees are dead . Fourteen thousand people die of water pollution per day. Dead zones will make fish extinct in a few decades. These are the numbers that affect the real world?

These are the troublesome numbers that the world leaders would have you believe are caused by lack of money, education, or the wrong religion. They claim to help the world by privatizing all the land and resources, then lending money so we can borrow our birthright back. They claim that the masses are too ignorant to govern themselves. Consider this recent headline: “Americans Are Too Stupid For GMO Labeling, Congressional Panel Says.” This latest congressional “discussion” reads like a Monsanto play script. Years of “education” ensure we are well trained to sit down, shut up, and listen to our overseers – otherwise they could never get away with these lies.

What we truly have is a system of greedy players in a demented world monopoly game. The senators, ministers, directors, officers, czars, senior scholars – are all funded by the power profit monster. Simply follow the funding trail of organizations, foundations, and “educational” institutions that all support our destructive system. It seems our programmed perspective is used to blind us to the ever growing atrocities against humans and our home – Earth. We quarrel over a political puppet show while our birthright is held as ransom. As you check your mail for the latest debt account statement – ask yourself:  Who are we borrowing from?  Do they have a right to sell human birthrights?  Is this the legacy we want to pass on to our children? To become more than a SSI number we must reject being allocated as consumers and become responsible citizens of Earth.

It seems our current world is sort of like the movie Blackfish. Instead of being born free into an open ocean where we can live with our family groups of four generations – we are forced to do tricks for fish so we can live in a controlled boxed environment. Our offspring are born in the same pool with the same fate while the corporate owners make billions. What is presented as a wonderful show is actually enslaving powerful spiritual creatures. Most endure it, some go psychotic, most have bent dorsal fins. The whales smile, the crowd applauses, and the trainers takes a bow.

Why don’t we just walk away? Why do we refer to those responsible as “they” instead of “we”? Who are “they” – and most importantly – who are we?

Introducing an aquaponic geo-dome kit that can be easily built by anyone

Introducing an aquaponic geo-dome kit that can be easily built by anyone

What if you could provide food, shelter, and security for your family without enslaving yourself to a lifetime of debt and stress? We believe it is not only possibel, but very easy, cheap, and fun all in one.
 

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Future of the Free is a new venture from the Santa Cruz Mountains of Silicon Valley building community bio-dome’s using aquaponics and nature’s design to create an alternate future. This project introduces a bio-dome kit that anyone can build with parts that are recycled, free, or very common and low cost. The goal was to create an alternate path to provide the necessities that many on earth seem struggling to secure.

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We like to call this an open source project for humans since the goal is to create the most with the least – for the benefit of all. We used barrels, containers, and parts found everywhere for free or cheap. We used 3-D Printing technology to design, teach, and test construction. We hope to raise enough funds with our Kickstarter.com campaign so we can produce the kits quickly with a ShopBot next time.

We love to inspire the imagination towards the possibilities and power of working in harmony with nature and each other. Our focus is to accomplish our goals through community movements that demonstrate real live examples of how cooperating with nature and each other reap rewards never to be seen in the current system of competition and profit above all else. We are already working with non-profit farms to build the first community domes in Northern California. You’ll see dome raisings from Garden to Table of San Jose, Team Tierra in San Martin, and Garden of Hope in Redding.

Organic Food & Home independence is not only possible – but is now necessary considering recent droughts and revelations regarding GMO’s, pesticide use, and bees dying in mass. Aquaponic systems yields more produce using only 10% of the water as commercial growing. Super strong weather resistant solar powered domes provide the easiest to build and strongest structure known to man using only a third of the materials – per the American Institute of Architecture.

The idea started when planning the first year of home-schooling for our young sons, ages 5 and 7. The boys had lots of questions about how our world works. We had to explain money, energy, war, poverty, jobs, taxes and so on – in a way that made sense and wouldn’t be scary to them. Answers to seemingly basic questions always required a string of explanations that showed that every aspect of our lives and relationships are governed by money – but has little to do with human needs – or logic.

We asked the most basic questions to get the simplest solutions. We decided it all starts with depending on our local communities that have our same interests at heart – instead of organizations that represent the blind corporate pursuit of profits.

For the last seven years our group has focused on projects that create better alternatives for our future. We’ve developed several sustainable products like the hemp surfboard, art canvas, jeans and more through U.S. Hemp Co and Museum. We’ve spent lots of time promoting change at events and online. We’ve shifted our focus further down the road now with the successful shift of public perception towards acceptance and legalization of Industrial Cannabis (Hemp) and Medical Marijuana.

This year we’ve joined our commitment to a better future with our love of innovation and technology to create our latest and greatest development – Future of the Free. Please join us.

 

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