My Issue With Trust

This is something that's been bothering me for quite a while.  What has happened past 2001.  After that time, it's as though the foundation of our society lost its way.

These are words not to be said lightly - so let me step back a few steps and explain my thoughts.

Everything we have is built on trust.  People trust schools to care for their children.  Contracts are just a legal binding to what is trust.  The bigger the project, the more you have to trust the people that build its components.  That the people are competent, and know what they're doing.

Now - let's zoom to the present.  There's fear - and trust.  Fear that we can't trust another person.

Even after that year, security was tightened as the trust was tested.  A normal reaction.  It keeps on tightening.  Yet it does nothing to our current situation...

Supermarkets are still the same.  They trust you will be loyal - and not taint the food as you walk the aisle.  They trust you won't inject something into the food - some of it not even sealed.

What will we do?  Put the food inside of vending machines so that only the employees can touch it?

Can we trust those employees?  We'll they'll need a security clearance to work at the local grocers.

Those employees seem young and untested - they haven't gone through life - why not require older employees to manage the food?  Because we can't trust anyone anymore.

What about the machine that now dispenses the food... it could be injecting poison into the food.  We need a second group to verify them.

And why not put each part of the production underneath the camera.  So that a consumer can verify that things were done proper.  However who set up the camera?  Can they be trusted?  Did they make it loop from another time? It will be very generic, standard, similar work done each time.

And we can continue down this spiral of trust.  See how troublesome it becomes.

Now closer to the heart of the issue - us regular people did not hardly change our habits.  Think of it.  The food is still promoted as it was before - as is most of the goods we purchase.

There are still cameras.  There are still guards - just more of them.

Who has the insane amounts of protection?

I'll propose that there will always be a weak spot.  Things we assume to be always safe will not be so at some point.  I haven't even talked about trusting those that make the food...  (recall the peanut fiasco - thank goodness that wasn't intentional)

Go down the current road - and for whatever we do, we'll need a security clearance.  Because anything can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Progression Towards Consciousness

While I'm aware of this, I'll write about it.  I've become more conscious of my surroundings.  I notice more things than before.

Yet, if you asked me a few years ago, I would have been quite content with my ability to assess what was going on around me.  The feeling of being at the top of the world.

However, I'm grateful for this.  Now - if I can see more than before - and before I wasn't willing to acknowledge there was more to see since I couldn't see it - that would mean I still have quite a bit of progress to do.

What type of details you ask?  Simple things that you take for granted I'm sure - at times I feel like my social skills are years behind.  For example, properly detecting another person's mood, reading expressions, and knowing how my current expression affects other people.

The last part is interesting.  I'm able to give the "no" look to others, and they avoid conversation - and by they I mean people trying to sell things at stores.  My parents always get stuck in such conversations.  If I put on my "yes" face - then they'll approach.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work when the store is empty.

Unfortunately as well, I've only discovered the latter recently - all while reading "The Rick Mercer Report: The Paperback Book".  Miracles that a smile can do.

The Selfless

The selfless are normally well regarded in society.  They put others first, and take care of themselves later.  I have no problem with that - it's a great quality.

My topic is the extremely selfless people.  Those that omit the 'take care of themselves' part.  The ones that are lonely and are selfless for attention.  So desperate for attention - and at the bottom of the social pit.  And their lives are too comfortable to leave the confines of their homes.

Then comes my fear - am I becoming one of these people.  Socially isolating myself.  But then another task takes over my thoughts until I'm back to self reflection.  And then I think of fun - it's never in solitude - always among a group.  Either friends or unknowns.  Once things get better financially - I'm going to look for a chess or go club.  My mind could use a bit of tweaking, and my social skills are in need of updating.

But that's the least of my worries for now - I still see other people.  Some people, though, are much further along.  It shows me the path to avoid.  They seem apathetic to suggestion - say they'll resolve the issue while delving further in their ways.  Even worse - the word `I' became unspeakable - replaced with the word `we' bearing more power but skewing reality.  And some things are `because it's who I am'.

Giving up.  Definite failure?  I hope not.  So away from that I steer.

The Experiment Thus Far

This small experiment, merging writing with curiosity and whatever comes to my mind has been a success. It's a social network - and this experiment was meant to see what would happen without aid of an existing social network or even minor mentions of it's existence.

And it comes back to the previous post - everything is recursive, cyclical.  Having not entered any cycle - by masking followed blogs and seeming to be alone - it has remained alone.

Exactly like life - do nothing, be nothing.

Land of Cycles

My current, ever-changing, opinion of life is getting weirder - however, I'd like to focus today on cycles and dependencies.

The thing that brought this to my attention was game reviews - they're nice, simple, and an easy way to figure out what's potentially interesting.  This works well with my mode of obtaining games, go to the store, browse the shelves, read reviews, watch game-play videos, and ultimately (after quite a bit of research) purchase a new game.  Normally, this system works great - but it's inherently flawed.

The store will pack up on what they believe to be popular.  Not a problem, a wise business decision - I'd do the same in their shoes.  The review sites will focus on reviewing what they believe to be popular games, not a problem - a wise decision - that's what people want.  Game-play videos will focus on popular games, and the more popular a game becomes (before launch or after), the more content it gets...

Let's complicate things - the store must determine what's popular.  An easy way to do this is by looking at trends, and review sites - see how hyped a game is.  The review site will use various arcane factors (I'm guessing popularity, brand-recognition, known people, etc.), and the videos will be either from publishers, users, or critics - the user-videos will only cover the popular...  (would you go out and buy an expensive toy without any assurances that it's good - just looking at a box?  Some would - and I would for certain brands)

With that disclaimer out of the way, I'm free to reveal that I'm preventing innovation.  Simply stated - if it doesn't gain recognition - then it won't be bought.

Now, let's assume some sort of game comes out: it should get reviewed.  If someone wants to verify that review, they just need to rent it - but the rental store will only stock up on what's known to be popular (or the ones near at least).

It's like an infinite circle - if no-one within that circle picks up the product and puts it in the spotlight - it's as though it never existed - I won't know about.

If it appears on shelves - I'll read up about it.  If it appears on a game site - I'll read up about it.  Then I'll do research as normal.  But notice how this limits what I'm willing to try as a game?

Enough of this simple game cycle, let's tackle something for relevant - the economy and recession.  At it's core, the concept is quite simple: people stop buying putting others out of a job.  These people stop buying, and the entire machine comes crashing (why throwing money at the problem - in an intelligent way - is a good idea in my opinion - as more people spend, more people stay with jobs, and the more things float).

This cycle is interesting in that we are stuck based upon what we know.  The only difference being that games are bought based upon what others know for sure, stimulus is given to who is guessed will be useful in the future.

Like the pro gamblers working the stock-market to make money.  Hopefully their magic eight-ball is truthful.  You can say they use logic to determine what to do - however life always throws random events and oddities to spice things up.

Last note: I trust they know what they're doing

Review of SimCity for iPod

SimCity, one of my favorite games.  Like Sonic the Hedgehog used to be my favorite game in the old days of the Sega Genesis.  Also, like Sonic, it's quality and fun factor has been steadily going downhill.

First, my assumptions about this game: SimCity 2000 didn't require much in terms of computing power, and was a good game.  I'll use that as a baseline comparison - not SimCity 3000 even though it's the engine that the game is built upon...

Initial impressions you'll be blown away.  The in-game UI works great for laying down zones, dropping down buildings, and generally managing your city.  Like this game was built for a great first impression.

Now, I want to put on an overlay to see what's going on behind the scenes.  There is a noticeable loading time to get to the screen to select an overlay, and getting back to the game.  SimCity 2000 easily wins here with it's speed.  Why are overlays important?  it's the only way to know how the city is doing.  When playing SimCity 4, I normally always play with an overlay that tells me important information, such as pollution levels, desirability, traffic, etc.  Only if I didn't always switch between them.

Next is traffic.  A city isn't alive unless you see the ants walking around.  And it gives a quick way to get traffic data without pulling up an overlay.  If you zoom in close enough, SimCity for iPod will show traffic.  Point goes to SimCity for iPod.  Traffic looks nicer than blue dashes.

Following item is budget.  Anyone who has played SimCity knows that it's not the initial cost that matters but the recurring monthly cost.  The initial cost is usually quite cheap in the long-run.  SimCity iPod refuses to display the recurring cost until you place an item and get billed for it.  Instant win for SimCity 2000 that didn't fear adding in a bit of "complicated" detail.

Graphical presentation.  No way SimCity 2000 could compete with the beauty of the version for iPod.  It looks like a pristine ghost-town.  SimCity with it's limited color palette had it's charm.  With better hardware, SimCity for iPod wins.  Especially with the continuous zoom feature, something that not even SimCity 4 had.  Unfortunately, zooming is a bit difficult as it must be done at a specific angle.

Terraforming.  SimCity for iPod is not supposed to support this, but it does.  You can terraform with bridges.  I was going to leave this out, but insta-win for SimCity 2000.

What's the point I'm trying to make here?  There's more than initial presentation that's important, nor initial ease-of-use.  The developers seem to have forgotten that people want living cities (in the first release on the app store at least) - which is what makes SimCity 4 amazing - it feels alive.  Like humans walking along the side-walk, etc.  The engine doesn't need to be perfect - it's what it presents that's important.  Not to say that the visuals aren't important, but selecting the right ones are.

Silverlight Warning

For browser plugins; this one worries me.

Worries me enough to blog an entry - which will hopefully do something useful. Now, I'm not bashing the program - but the EULA and privacy statement. I know Vista has started collecting a lot of information, but this goes way beyond what I would have ever expected.

First, it transmits a bunch of stuff to websites that you visit, like a regular browser:

• IP Address
• OS Version
• Browser Version
• Application Version
• Regional and Language Settings

Ok, and this irregular stuff about your hardware (which really shouldn't be needed - but I can live with):

• Device manufacturer
• Device name
• Device version

Some information is sent to Microsoft, now let's list this.  Oh wait, there's no list, but interesting quotes:

• Content of communications (communications to who is not specified... could be any data silverlight sends - that's communication).

And think Microsoft will keep it to themselves?

• Share it to uphold the law - ok.
• Protect Microsoft's rights and property - ok - sounds like DRM.
• To protect the safety of people - I want examples of this - seems too far fetched, and I could see weird things happening - must be my imagination in overdrive that finds ways to use this as a 'carte blanche'.

Ah, the DRM:  The component just gives me the chills.  The only interesting point is revocation - which happens on a per-individual basis.  For me to even use it - there must have a way to bypass it, or a promise that if the servers go down, the DRM will be disabled.

Lastly, my favorite: Microsoft can change this privacy statement at any time.  Please, check the date and time, remember it, and check it again every so often.  I know this hasn't been used for evil so far - but it's still there and annoys me to death.

I like the EULA though.  Nice, simple, compact.  Essentially Microsoft will only give you 5$ if Silverlight destroys your system.  Much nicer than the BSD license - or any license for that fact - which essentially say you're on your own.

In the end, there is not enough transparency for me to trust them.  And given how much data collection goes on in Vista - the paranoid bone in me says it's a huge data grab.

Here's the privacy statement - the one I bashed - and tell me if I'm crazy: http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/resources/privacy.aspx?v=2.0.31005