Thing's I'm Passionate About Part 5
A Brent Salmon Memoir
Hello, and welcome to Part 5 of this series, written in an attempt to help me focus myself and my writing and maybe to help you find a similar focus or at least be amused. Enjoy!
1. Learning
As a life-long student of (nearly) all fields of science, both hard and soft, engineering, maths, technology, and seemingly countless other subjects one might say I’m obsessed with learning new things. Ironically though, the meta-cognitive idea of “learning to learn” didn’t really impact me until I was in university in my mid 20s (yes I took several years off to work, play, and have a family, sue me). It was at this time I really delved into things like mnemonics and memory championships, learning all kinds of different techniques for recalling info, developing my own, learning to use flash cards and spaced repetition, taking a “minimal effective dose” approach to subjects, delving more into nootropics (I had tinkered some in my early 20s), diet, and exercise and how they related to intellect and learning, biohacking for purposes of cognitive enhancement, sleep engineering (I was a 6 week polyphasic Uberman sleeper when I was 20), and so much more. My plans to write for this subject are along all such lines, profiling geniuses and hyper-learners I admire, review technologies, and even more.
2. Dungeons and Dragons
Being a lonely nerd and a precocious pre-teen/teenager, I wasn’t popular and had not a lot in the way of friends beyond fair weather people who’d hang around me, as long as no one else was able to see us together. Terrible children resulting from terrible parenting aside, I found escapism wherever I could, especially if it involved maths. Naturally, I found Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D as people lovingly (or mockingly) call it. The idea that I could create idealized versions of myself, or aspects of myself, or identities I might have wanted to experiment with but never had the opportunity or the bravery to enraptured me. Especially given I could use those avatars to create long fantasy epics akin to those found in Tolkien, Zimmer-Bradley, and others that were every bit as engaging, well I was hooked.
Sadly however, all I could do was READ about them, make characters, and imagine as I was so lonely, and our town was so small, I had nobody else to even play with. And none of my siblings were interested in it really either. It didn’t stop me though, I collected as much info as I could from the fledgling internet. Digitized books in text format, simple text-based adventure games and programs for creating characters, and even actual videogames during the era of console emulation in its baby-steps. Now I play a game every Sunday with my teenage daughter, and some friends and family. I’ve come a long way.
3. Weaponry
Since I nearly blew up the neighbour’s garage when I was 6 years old using a pipe-bomb I made from chemicals I found around their house, all in the name of science mind you, I’ve been obsessed with weaponry. These beautiful tools that can be used to defend or destroy, humankind’s propensity for wanton destruction and its ability to lead to new and conceivably better creation. I’d rather no weapons needed to exist and to only discuss them as historical curiosity, but alas that’s not yet the world we live in. Maybe one day. After I got interested in medieval literature when I was in the 3rd grade, I became obsessed with getting my very own sword. When I was ten my Dad finally got me one, a ceremonial rapier. Now I have an ever-growing collection of them. On this subject I hope to write more about weapons from all eras and their developments and origins.
And that was Part 5, tune in soon for Part 6!
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Things I'm Passionate About Part 4
This is part 4 in my series of subjects I’m passionate about, buckle in! 1. Cyborgs, Cybernetics, and Transhumanism This is a long-time love of mine stemming as far back as 80s sci-fi action movies. The idea that we can combine our biology with technology to create something new to define as “humanity” still makes my imagination get excited with the possibilities even after all these years. I was one of the original users of the Better Humans original website about transhumanism I think 17 years or so ago and one of the first subscribers to h+ magazine as I recall. I’d like to expand on this interest with profiles of my favorite cyborgs from fiction and reality, what I think a cyborg is versus say a pseudo-cyborg, cybernetics technologies and how they’ve advanced over the years both in sophistication but also in social acceptance, and transhumanism itself as a concept in my personal viewpoints. This subject is as much about pop-culture and technological advancement as it is about philosophy, psychology, and the progress of humanity as a whole. It’s a far-reaching umbrella that I have a LOT to say about.
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