When I was in my late 20s, I realized that working in computers did not satisfy me. I had useful skills and some of the problems were interesting, but it was not fulfilling. I spent a couple of years exploring different paths.
Because of my experience and knowledge, I could have pursued business, multiple areas of computers, math, various sciences, and a few more fields. I had already experienced some fame, and I knew that would not make me happy. I had already experienced (relative) wealth when I had a high-paying job at 24 years old, so I knew that riches would not make me happy. I eventually realized that in every job and hobby I had ever had, I always gravitated to issues of fair treatment of other people. Through more soul searching, I discovered that the only way I would be fulfilled is if I lived a life dedicated to improving how we treat each other.
The items below all have a common theme: I want the world to be a safer, less violent, kinder, and happier place. If I were to heal, some categories I would want to work on:
- Expanding access to education: if I could only accomplish one thing, it would be to have a substantial impact on access to education. In the history of the US, expanding access to education has always lead to economic booms, from colonial Pennsylvania to the post-World-War-II GI Bill, education is the best way to improve economies and lives. Education has many other benefits: longer lives, more quality of life years, lower crime, fewer teenage pregnancies, lower healthcare costs, less juvenile delinquency, fewer sexually transmitted diseases, and more. We already pay the cost of not educating people: if we pay for more education, then we will dramatically lower our costs in many other areas.
- Governance, law, ethics, and morality. Those topics are not synonymous, but they do overlap. I have dozens, if not hundreds of ideas in those realms, and I believe I can add valuable ideas to the discussions about how to improve our lives and how we treat each other.
- Art. In recent years, media studies about body image have entered the mainstream. I have actively researched and explored this issue since at least 2003. I have already made notes for potentially thousands of art pieces that explore and expose our perceptions of “beauty”. I believe that I could use art (specifically photography) to contribute to a body-positive attitude.
- How technology intersects with many areas of life. Because of my experience in many areas of computers and because I am science literate, I sometimes have an advantage when examining how technology impacts our lives, law, society, or other fields. Because of my experiences as a teacher, especially teaching computer repair to people without computer experience, I am often able to explain difficult issues to people who do not have as much knowledge about computers and technology as I have. Law, in particular, has some absurd and bizarre understandings of computers and technology. With time, these factually-wrong ideas will be corrected, and I believe I can contribute to the discussions about those necessary changes.
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How ideas and knowledge spread through society and how to foster the spread of ideas that improve our world and our lives. There are already many rich ideas here, especially in sociology, linguistics, and advertising. Much of the knowledge, however, is isolated within its field and I would especially like to integrate the research from various disciplines so that advocates can have practical tools for spreading good ideas. One of my favorite examples of a good idea that spread through society in a short time: opposition to slavery in the US. Prior to the civil war, a majority of the US believed slavery was morally acceptable. Within 20 years, however, an overwhelming majority of people believed slavery was immoral. That is a fantastic transformation, and I would like to understand how those types of radical changes can be applied to issues such as state-sanctioned murder, science denial, gross limitations of liberty, bigoted oppression, and violence, especially violence against women.
