The Future of Government and Money

The Thermodynamics of Liberty: A Manifesto for an Energy-Backed Civilization

I. Introduction

If money is the "operating system" of society, then a flawed system—one based on debt, arbitrary inflation, or artificial scarcity—will inevitably produce flawed governance.

To move beyond both fiat (arbitrary supply) and crypto (synthetic scarcity), an "optimal" form of money would likely need to be rooted in extrinsic physical reality or intrinsic human value rather than math-based limitations.

Here are the three most compelling theoretical frameworks for a "better" form of money:

1. Energy-Backing (The Joule Standard)

While crypto uses energy to prove work, an energy-backed currency would be a direct claim on a unit of energy (e.g., 1 kilowatt-hour or 1 BTU).

Why it’s better: Unlike gold or Bitcoin, energy has utility. It is the fundamental input of all economic activity. You cannot "print" more energy; it must be harvested.

Governance Impact: If money is tied to energy production, a government’s "wealth" is directly tied to its infrastructure and efficiency. It shifts the focus from financial engineering (Wall Street) to physical engineering and sustainability.

2. Demurrage Money (The "Use It or Lose It" Model)

Proposed by economists like Silvio Gesell, this money has a "negative interest rate." If you hold it without spending it, it slowly loses value (e.g., 1% per month).

Why it’s better: It eliminates the incentive to hoard money. In our current system, money is a "store of value" that grows, which leads to wealth concentration. Demurrage treats money purely as a medium of exchange, like a voucher for a perishable good.

Governance Impact: This forces money to circulate constantly, fueling local economies and preventing the "rent-seeking" behavior where the wealthy live off interest while the poor struggle for liquidity.

3. Proof-of-Personhood (Democratic Issuance)

Instead of money being issued by banks (as debt) or miners (as rewards), new money is issued equally to every living person as a Universal Basic Income (UBI) at the protocol level.

Why it’s better: It solves the "Cantillon Effect," where those closest to the money printer (banks and governments) get the most benefit. In this system, the "intrinsic value" of the money is the human network itself.

Governance Impact: It turns every citizen into a stakeholder with equal "voting power" in the economy. It decouples survival from labor, allowing people to participate in governance and community building without the threat of starvation.

Comparison of Monetary Systems

Feature	Fiat Money	Crypto	Optimal (Proposed)
Backing	Govt Promise	Math / Scarcity	Energy / Human Rights
Issuance	Central Banks	Algorithmic Mining	Universal / Infrastructure
Incentive	Spend (Inflation)	Hoard (Deflation)	Circulate (Utility)
Power Base	Political Elite	Early Adopters	Every Citizen

The "Better Way of Governing"

Optimal money creates a better government because it removes the "magic wand" of the printer. When a government cannot print money to fund wars or corporate bailouts without a physical or democratic constraint, it is forced to be transparent and efficient. It transforms the relationship from subject and sovereign to user and utility provider.

II. Technical Feasibility

The technical feasibility of an energy-backed currency (often called a "Joule Standard" or "Energy Credit") relies on shifting the "source of truth" from a central bank's ledger or a mathematical hash to the laws of thermodynamics.

While conceptually elegant, moving from theory to a functional global currency requires solving three massive technical hurdles: Standardization, the Oracle Problem, and Storage Dynamics.

1. Standardization: The Joule as the Universal Unit

Currently, we measure energy in a "hodgepodge" of units: barrels of oil, cubic feet of gas, kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, and calories of food. To function as money, these must be unified.

• The Unit: The Joule (J) is the SI unit for work. Unlike fiat, which is a social construct, a Joule is a physical constant. 1 Joule is the energy required to exert a force of one newton over one meter.
• The Valuation: Technically, the currency would likely be denominated in Gigajoules (GJ) or Megajoules (MJ) to match daily purchasing power.
• The Challenge: Not all Joules are created equal in terms of utility. A Joule of heat in a furnace is less "useful" (lower exergy) than a Joule of electricity in a microchip. A "Weighted Energy Basket" would likely be required, similar to how the CPI (Consumer Price Index) tracks a basket of goods.

2. The "Oracle Problem": Bridging Physics and Digital Ledgers

For an energy-backed currency to be digital and tradable, the system must "know" how much energy actually exists in the real world. This is the Oracle Problem.

• IoT Integration: Smart meters and grid sensors act as "hardware oracles." They verify that a wind farm actually produced 10,000 kWh and injected it into the grid before the corresponding "Energy Tokens" are minted.
• Proof-of-Generation: Instead of Bitcoin’s "Proof-of-Work" (which burns energy), this system uses Proof-of-Production. New money enters the economy only when new usable energy is harvested.
• The Risk: Hardware can be hacked. If a sensor is tampered with to report fake energy production, the currency is "inflated" with "ghost energy." Solving this requires decentralized oracle networks (like Chainlink) that cross-reference data from multiple independent sensors.

3. The Physicality Problem: Storage and Decay

Gold is easy to back because it sits in a vault and does nothing. Energy is "live" — it wants to dissipate.

• The "Battery" vs. the "Claim": You cannot carry a suitcase of Joules. Therefore, the money is not the energy itself, but a legally or technologically enforceable claim on it.
• Redeemability: For the currency to have a "floor price," a holder must be able to redeem 1 unit of currency for 1 unit of energy (e.g., charging an EV or powering a home).
• Accounting for Decay: Stored energy (in batteries or pumped hydro) loses potential over time. An optimal energy money might incorporate Demurrage (a small holding tax) that mirrors the natural leakage or "entropy" of the physical energy backing it.

Implementation Comparison: Fiat vs. Energy

Technical Layer	Fiat (Current)	Energy-Backed (Joule Standard)
Issuance	Central Bank Debt	Verified Energy Production
Verification	Audits/Regulation	IoT Sensors / Smart Grids
Unit of Account	National Currency (USD/EUR)	Physics-based Unit (Joule/kWh)
Constraint	Political Will	Thermodynamic Limits

Is it Feasible Today?

Technically: Yes. We already have the components:

1. Smart Grids: To track energy flow in real-time.

2. Blockchain/DLT: To issue tokens that represent claims on that energy.

3. Tokenization: Projects like Powerledger already allow peer-to-peer energy trading using tokens.

The catch: The biggest hurdle isn't the technology—it's the interconnectivity of the global grid. Until we have a "Global Energy Internet" where a Joule produced in a Sahara solar farm can be reliably claimed by a factory in Germany, an energy-backed currency remains localized or fragmented.

III. Monetary Policy for an Energy-backed Nation

In an energy-backed nation—let’s call it Energeia—the central bank is replaced by the National Energy Grid Authority (NEGA). Monetary policy is no longer about managing "interest rates" to influence human behavior; it is about managing the Thermodynamic Balance of the nation.

The primary goal of Energeia’s monetary policy is to ensure that every unit of currency in circulation is tethered to a verifiable Joule of potential work.

The Constitution of the Joule Standard

1. The Unit of Account: The "Ergo" (E)

The national currency is the Ergo. By law:

1.00 Ergo = 100 Megajoules (MJ) of baseload electricity.

This creates a "hard floor" for the currency. If the price of goods rises too high, a citizen can "burn" their Ergos to power their home or business, effectively exiting the monetary system and entering the physical energy system.

2. Issuance: Proof-of-Supply

The NEGA does not "print" money to fund government deficits. New Ergos are minted only when new energy enters the national grid.

• The Minting Protocol: For every 100 MJ produced by a certified source (Solar, Wind, Nuclear, Geothermal), the system creates 1 Ergo.
• The Distribution: 70% of the newly minted Ergo goes to the producer (incentivizing infrastructure), 20% goes to a Citizen’s Energy Dividend (UBI), and 10% is held in a Reserve Buffer for grid maintenance.

Monetary Policy Levers

Instead of the "Federal Funds Rate," the NEGA uses physical levers to stabilize the economy:

A. The Transmission Fee (The "Interest Rate")

In a fiat system, the central bank raises interest rates to slow the economy. In Energeia, the NEGA adjusts the Transmission Fee—the cost of moving an Ergo from one wallet to another.

• During Overheating: The NEGA increases the fee. This slows the "velocity of money," effectively cooling consumption without needing to manipulate the value of the unit itself.
• During Stagnation: The fee is lowered to near-zero, encouraging rapid trade and investment.

B. The Entropy Tax (Demurrage)

To prevent the "hoarding" that plagues modern capitalism, Ergos are subject to a small monthly decay rate (0.5\% per month).

• The Logic: Physical energy dissipates over time (batteries leak, heat escapes). Therefore, the claim on energy should also dissipate.
• The Result: Money is treated as a hot potato. Citizens are incentivized to invest their Ergos into durable physical goods (housing, tools, education) rather than letting "dead capital" sit in a bank.

C. Strategic Joule Reserves (SJR)

Much like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the NEGA maintains massive battery arrays and pumped-hydro dams.

• Deflationary Shield: If energy production drops (e.g., a long winter), the NEGA releases stored energy into the grid, allowing more Ergos to stay "active" and preventing a spike in the cost of living.

Economic Governance: The Feedback Loop

Scenario	Fiat Response	Energeia (Joule) Response
Recession	Print money (devalue savings)	Build more solar/nuclear (issue more Ergos)
Inflation	Raise interest rates (debt burden)	Improve grid efficiency (reduce waste)
Wealth Gap	Tax income (easy to evade)	Automatic Dividend from production
War/Crisis	Infinite debt issuance	Limited by physical energy capacity

Why This Changes Governance

In Energeia, the government cannot fund a war or a bridge to nowhere by simply "printing." To spend more, they must harvest more energy.

This shifts the national priority from financialization (moving numbers around) to optimization (extracting the maximum utility from every Joule). Governance becomes a quest for efficiency rather than a contest of political promises.

IV. Centralization of the Printer

If the government owns the massive nuclear plants and hydro dams, it effectively owns the "mint." In such a world, the government could "print" its way out of any problem by simply building more state-owned generation, which would lead to the same Cantillon Effect we see today—where those closest to the source of new money (the state and its contractors) get rich while the rest of the population deals with the resulting diluted value.

To be truly "optimal," an energy-backed currency must be Generation-Neutral. Here is how that technical hurdle is cleared:

1. The "Open-Source" Grid (Democratizing the Mint)

In a Joule-standard nation, the "right to mint" is not a government monopoly; it is a property of physics.

• The Individual as a Miner: If you put solar panels on your roof or a small wind turbine in your yard, your smart meter (the "Oracle") verifies that you have added 100 MJ to the system. The protocol automatically mints 1 Ergo directly into your wallet.
• The Governance Shift: This turns every citizen into a potential "mini-central bank." The government cannot dominate the money supply if 40\% of the nation's energy is produced by a decentralized network of homes and businesses.

2. The Separation of Grid and State

Just as we argue for the separation of Church and State or (more recently) Money and State, an energy economy requires the Separation of Power Generation and Monetary Issuance.

• The Protocol is the Authority: The National Energy Grid Authority (NEGA) shouldn't be a group of politicians. It would be a set ofSmart Contracts.
• No Discretionary Printing: The government cannot "vote" to create more Ergos to fund a war. They must either tax the existing Ergos or build energy infrastructure that actually produces value for the citizens to earn those Ergos.

3. Energy "Exergy" vs. Raw Joules

To prevent the government from simply building "easy" but inefficient heat-producers (like burning trash just for the sake of printing money), the currency is backed by Exergy (High-Quality Work).

• Electricity is high exergy; low-grade heat is low exergy.
• The minting algorithm would require a "Work-Utility Proof." If the government builds a massive nuclear plant but has no factories or homes to use that power, the energy is "wasted" (entropy), and no new money is minted. This forces the government to be an efficient provider, not just a "big" one.

The Power Balance: Public vs. Private

Feature	State-Owned Massive (Nuclear/Hydro)	Decentralized (Solar/Wind/Battery)
Role	Provides "Baseload" stability.	Provides "Liquidity" and individual wealth.
Issuance	The government gets Ergos for public works.	Citizens get Ergos for personal resilience.
Risk	Centralized control/Tyranny.	Intermittency/Volatility.
The Synthesis	The State provides the floor; the Citizen provides the growth.

The Resulting Governance

If the government builds a massive hydro dam, they do get the initial influx of money—but they have to spend it to buy labor and materials from the citizens. Because the money decays (demurrage), they can't sit on it. They must keep it moving.

In this system, a government "profit" is a sign of a high-functioning civilization, whereas in our current system, government "debt" is the engine of the economy.

V. The Fall of Synthetic Scarcity

For centuries, human governance has been a hostage to the "Money Printer." Whether through the debasement of Roman denarii or the modern expansion of fiat debt, the ability of a political class to create value out of thin air has inevitably led to the corruption of the social contract.

Even the digital revolution’s answer—cryptocurrency—fell into the trap of "Synthetic Scarcity." By mimicking the limitations of gold through arbitrary math, it created a system of hoarding rather than a system of utility. It failed to address the fundamental truth: Money is the operating system of energy.

VI. The Joule Standard: Money as Physics

A better form of money must be rooted in the immutable laws of thermodynamics. By backing currency with the Joule (a unit of work), we tether the economy to physical reality. Money can no longer be "printed"; it must be "harvested."

In this system, the "Mint" is the Smart Grid. New currency is issued only when new, usable energy enters the system. This creates a hard floor for value and a ceiling for government overreach. A state cannot fund a war it does not have the Joules to power.

VII. Decentralized Minting and the Citizen’s Dividend

To prevent the "Energy Elite" from replacing the "Banking Elite," the protocol of the Joule Standard must be generation-neutral. Through IoT sensors and decentralized oracles, the individual with a solar panel becomes just as much a "miner" of value as the state with a nuclear plant.

Furthermore, a significant portion of newly minted energy credits must be distributed directly to citizens. This Citizen’s Dividend ensures that the "right to exist" is no longer a debt owed to the state, but a share in the nation's energetic output.

VIII. Education

In a society where money is synonymous with energy, the "Social Contract" shifts from a legal agreement between the state and the individual to a Thermodynamic Agreement between humanity and the physical world.

The transition is not just about changing our currency; it is about rewriting how we value human time, education, and collective responsibility.

1. Education: From "Market Skills" to "Systemic Literacy"

In our current epoch, education is often a race to acquire "human capital" — skills that can be sold for debt-based wages. In a Joule-Standard society, the focus shifts toward Systemic Literacy.

• Understanding the Flow: Students would not just study abstract math; they would study Exergy (the quality of energy) and Entropy (the inevitable loss of utility). Education becomes the art of minimizing waste.
• The "Maintenance" Mindset: Because the currency decays (Demurrage), there is no "end goal" of retirement-hoarding. Instead, education is a lifelong process of learning how to maintain and optimize the energy infrastructure that sustains the community.

2. The New Social Contract: The "Right to Work" redefined

The old contract was: Give your labor to the market, and the market (mediated by the state) will provide for your survival.

• The Joule Contract: Every citizen has a physical "Right to Energy." Since the currency is minted directly to citizen wallets (the Citizen Dividend), survival is decoupled from coerced labor.
• Voluntary Governance: Because your basic Joules are guaranteed, "work" becomes a choice to increase the efficiency of the collective. Governance is no longer about managing poverty, but about managing abundance.

IX. The Role of Entropy: Why Money Must Die

The most radical shift in this new epoch is the acceptance of Demurrage. Just as energy in a battery eventually leaks, energy-backed money must decay over time. This prevents the "dead capital" hoarding that creates systemic inequality. It forces money to circulate, fueling local economies and ensuring that wealth is a measure of active contribution rather than historical accumulation.

X. Conclusion: From Ruler to Navigator

The transformation to an energy-backed economy is not a mere policy change; it is an epochal shift in human consciousness. It moves us from an era of financial engineering and arbitrary power to an era of physical stewardship. Governance in this new world is the art of navigation—optimizing the flow of Joules to ensure the maximum flourish of human agency. The jagged cliffs of the old debt-based order are being eroded by the rising tide of energetic reality. We are finally building a shore that can hold.

Kleptocracy masquerading as meritocracy

Some election thing is going on in Hungary. Not with ballots mailed to voters to be voted at designated polling places but some declaration of allegiance to one of the opposition candidates expressed at tents set up for this purpose by each candidate. Not really understanding the whole thing, I have refrained from exercising my civic right.

I was asked at a recent dinner with good friends what the greatest problems and potential solutions are. Well, it is complicated, so I laid out my thoughts in bullet form. If you need clarification, you know where to find me.

• Radical humanism

• More that unites than sets apart
• We have far more in common with each other than differences between us
• Focusing on our common goals works better than exploiting our differences
• Love is the answer
• No, Sex? is the question and Yes! is the answer
• Is a joke spread in singles’ bars
• Deeper truth: life works better when approached with love and compassion
• Not with enmity, ill will or malicious intent
• How love manifests in behaviors is what elevates us
• The key is what motivates action
• To do the right thing for the wrong reason
• “The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” — T.S. Eliot
• “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
• Do NOT avoid doing the right thing
• Ensure your intentions, motivations and aims are clear and noble
• Look at problems and opportunities from a higher plane of thought
• Put the problem in context
• Know its sources, inputs, environment and effects
• Problems can only be solved where (context) they are defined or created
• Social problems with legal means?
• Health issues with regulatory enforcement?
• Ideological problems with military means?
• Stifle ego-driven demands and urges, avoid judgments
• Ego makes demands (more: not enough; better: not good enough)
• Based on false assumptions of scarcity and perfection
• Find the proper role for the ego
• Who is running your life, making important choices? Ego? Higher Self?
• Expressed as: rational mind (thoughts), heart (feelings), gut (intuitions)
• Or some other, undefinable part of Self?
• Role for the ego: to assess, analyze and advise – not decide
• Make choices, decisions for the greatest good, fully accepting responsibility for consequences
• Extra bonus: this is the path to self-confidence!
• Mean well: Have clear and noble intentions, motivations and goals.
• Tune out rationalizations, biases and false narratives
• Powerful ego can rationalize the most senseless acts
• Everyone has biases, e.g.: confirmation bias, selection bias, information bias
• The media is full of false narratives: ALL narratives are false, abstractions
• Influenced by the biases of writers, editors, publishers
• Be constructive, be a resource, create value and be of service, help each other
• Educate by being, enlightening and inspiring
• Being: set an example, act in ways you want to be treated
• Enlighten: teach how to think, not what to think
• Inspire: paint an inspired, evolved vision of how things could be

Afghanistan

A simple question, "Should the US and NATO troops withdaw from Afghanistan?" has no simple answer, but a rather complex one. The simplistic answer is, "Of course, because we should have never been there in the first place." But as one might expect, simplistic answers are often without merit.

So why were we there in the first place? President Joe Biden said to fight terrorism. Therein lies logical fallacy number two: one cannot wage a war on terrorism any more than a war against lying and cheating. Terrorism is not an enemy but a tactic an enemy might use against us and one cannot win a war against a tactic. The source of terrorism is a difference in ideology: Islam vs. Judeo-Christiandom.

This leads us to fallacy number one: a problem can only be solved in the domain in which it is defined, where it is created. One cannot solve an arithmetic problem with a hammer any more than an ideological conflict with military means or a health crisis with legal means. We simply must stop fighting wars that cannot be won.

A military must have a clear mission: an indentifiable and identified enemy as well as a crisp vision of victory. In the absence of these, winning is not possible. Is it possible that the purpose of the wars in Aghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries was not victory but to just wage wars at a cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars?

Yes, we should have withdrawn from Afghanistan. (America doesn't lose wars, we just withdraw.) However, the withdrawal should have been painstakingly planned to ensure the protection and security of evacuees and the assets deployed, which was clearly lacking. This is not to assign blame, because when faced with something having gone awry, I am only interested in three things: how to fix it, how to prevent it from happening again and what we can learn from the experience.

How to fix it? Forget about some arbitrary deadline someone pulled out of the air. Use all available resources to protect and secure the evacuees and resources deployed. How to prevent it? Should a similar situation arise, painstakingly plan the process of evacuation for the safe removal of personnel and materiel. What have we learned? I hope this post answers the question.

If you liked the post — weather you agree with it or not — would you post a link to it far and wide so I may learn form insightful comments? I would appreciate it.

From Data to Wisdom

Never have so many been interested in data mining, machine learning, BIG data and artificial intelligence. The phrases have become the linchpins of many a successful career. Yet, the deeper understanding of how data becomes wisdom often eludes us. I will attempt to add a bit of clarity.

6. That is a piece of data. Meaningless, right? Six what? What does it mean? Data becomes information with context. If we add context, as in "There are six chairs in this conference room," it gains meaning, it becomes information. Perhaps not very useful info, but info nonetheless.

Information becomes knowledge when experience is added to it. If we add to the above information the experience expressed as the average number of people attending meetings in this room over the past two years is eight, the highest number was 11 and the lowest was two with a standard deviation of 1.8, then we have some knowledge that may lead to a decision to order two or three more chairs.

Now for the tough part: how does knowledge become wisdom, especially actionable wisdom? There are many knowledgable people in the world but very few wise ones. It might be educational to ponder the reasons for this, but that is not my goal. Knowledge becomes wisdom when it is used to achieve some noble and worthwhile goal. Knowledge for its own sake is like traveling without a destination. It might be enjoyable and fun but devoid a higher purpose.

Enough said. I'll see you in a year unless I have something to say sooner.

The crystal ball remains opaque

We live at a time when science and logic fail us. We experience events and consequences which can be supported by neither reason nor science. We need to better understand the context and gestalt before reacting.

Tensions have been gradually rising in societies during the past two decades, primarily a consequence of rising income and wealth gap. Further segmentation caused by the rapid evolution and adoption of technologies created a digital divide, adding to tensions. Of course, there is generational tension; we all blame our parents for our problems. Add to the mix preexisting racial tension and the stresses caused by the financial crisis of 2008. The situation could be called volatile. Then come the widely disseminated videos of police brutality and tensions reach a boiling point. Virtue signaling politicians want to be seen "doing something" which again lead to unforeseen and often unpleasant consequences.

To start at the beginning, there was growing inequality of income and wealth.Maybe this is the core issue we should be focusing on because all the upheavals may not really be about race or religion, cops vs. robbers. I have great respect and admiration for LEOs, most of them are really good people. There are some bad apples and they are sorted. We can let rhetoric or dogma divide us or a greater purpose unite us. The time to choose is now.

The traditional response to inequality was usually a raising of the income tax with the rise of income. This approach has two unintended consequences. One is to stifle innovation and investment, to drive new business formation to countries with friendlier income or wealth taxation. The other is the result of a new influx of tax revenue into the hands of governments with a ravenous appetite for spending. The result is the increase in the reach and growth of government.

Another institutional approach to inequality was antitrust legislation purported to limit the range of control one firm or one person can exert on an industry. During the past two decades antitrust laws have been weakened by many loopholes. Global companies with deep pockets can easily skirt the intricacies of regulation. The greater the regulation, the greater the power the government has over us.

The cost of a smaller, more responsive government is self-responsibility. We can find ways to shift from a culture of dependency to a culture of opportunity. Just at a time when social structures crumble, when the pillars of civil society, religion and government lose faith and support, we must envision structures that serve us as people, as a nation, as a society and not as black, brown or white, Christian or Muslim, democrat or republican.

Such a Utopian society will have extinguished corruption in all forms, will have imposed inviolate limits on the growth of government as well as its power to borrow or print money, taught, encouraged and actively supported entrepreneurship, removed all barriers to new business formation, specified the objectives and constraints of the executive, legislative and judicial branches ensuring their complete independence, free and independent media devoid of government ownership, influence or control.

Making a Uie

What on Earth would happen if instead of focusing 90% of our attention, energy and reactions on what is happening to us, on how the world treats us, we would spend all that on how we treat the world around us?

Although the 90/10 ratio and suggested inversion is based on anecdotal evidence – my impression of what people around me talk about, deal with and react to – it must hold some water. If for no other reason than its commonality, its ubiquity, having permeated every aspect of daily life.

People talk much about how their environment treats them – prices are going up, the roads are getting worse, the weather is getting weirder, people are getting ruder and more aloof, and so on without end. Very little attention is paid on how we treat the environment, our world and each other.

Would it change anything if we were to invert that ratio, pivoted 180 degrees, made a U-turn, or in the new street vernacular, made a uie? Would you then have a different experience of life than the one you keep harping on? Could the experience of “not enough” become an expression of gratitude for all that we have?

It seems that we create the world we see, get to experience. We keep expressing, in so many ways, that we are separate from it, when in fact we are a part of it. Shakespeare wrote in As You Like It, All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players”. Yet, so many of us behave as if we were the audience.

Detached, separate, looking on, sitting quietly in the rows and pews of the theater of our mental construct, watching and reacting to the unfolding events. Mostly complaining. It is safer out here. I don’t want to get involved. One could get hurt in all the drama, why take the risk? Where is the benefit in that?

The benefit of experience is self-confidence, which is the first essential ingredient of our relating to our world in a new way. It is key in all relationships. Self-confidence means that we are comfortable in any situation, with anybody, under all conditions. We feel just fine in our skin and we actually like who we are. We make it clear what is okay with and for us and what is not.

Before we return to how we relate to the world around us in more specific ways, there is another premise to be addressed. We cannot change anything we are not willing to accept. What we resist (and give energy to) persists. If we do not accept the few extra pounds or kilos on our body, we cannot lose them.

This all-encompassing acceptance includes ourselves, of course. We must accept ourselves just the way we are or there is little hope of change. We even have to learn to love ourselves unconditionally. Without self-love, there is little chance of truly loving another. I am talking more about self-respect than narcissistic love.

The next step is self-responsibility. Self-confidence comes from making our own decisions and taking full responsibility for the consequences. Once we accept all responsibility for everything we create, there will be no need to give up the power over our emotional reactions to someone or something external.

The person we are and the way we behave affects the world we experience. A loving person lives in a loving world, a kind person lives in a kind world, an honest person… you get the point. If we approach every experience with “I am going to enjoy this” and “I am going to like this person”, perhaps we will encounter more kindness.

What sort of world would we find if acted with more kindness, concern, and compassion towards people, places and things? If we became more willing to genuinely express who we really are? If we were so self-confident that we were even willing to be vulnerable? I can already hear you say, “Everyone would take advantage of me”.

Would you take advantage just because someone is vulnerable, just because you could? Probably not, at least not if you are sufficiently evolved as a human being, if you see yourself as a part of a greater whole. Perhaps this is exactly the behavior we must model to others; this is what we need to teach our children.

Self-confidence also gives us the strength to define and defend our personal boundaries, what we can accept and what we cannot. I don’t envision a world of “doormats”, the “anything goes and nothing matters” society popularized by the western world but one of self-confident, self-responsible, loving people.

Visualize such a world. See yourself making fewer judgments and accepting more, being kinder to others. How does it feel? Now, I didn’t say the transformation is easy or quick. I am only saying that it is really worth it.

Solving the Migrant Crisis

It has been a long time since my last post. Finally, I have reached the point when I am so fed up, so sick and tired of an issue that I feel compelled to vent, to post on my blog.

What got me going is the incessant chatter and inane actions to address the so-called migrant issue. All of Europe is abuzz about it and now the US is similarly engaged in harmful, venomous rhetoric.

Are there effective solutions to the problem nearly everyone is aware of? If so, why don't they come up, why aren't they being implemented?

There are two kinds of migrants and migrations: economic and martial (war related) and thus there are two kinds of solutions that need to be applied.

The solution to migration from war-torn countries is to stop bombing and to start rebuilding. It is not hard to understand that if your home, business or workplace is leveled by bombs, you would sooner or later decide to move on. The countries that took part in such military intervention need to take the lead in cease-fire negotiations and the rebuilding, with contributions from countries most affected by migration. It would cost significantly less than having to support the migrants at their destination.

Economic migration is caused by the developed world's zero- or low-interest rate policies, the unintended consequence of which was to export inflation to the developing countries. There, the cost of basic staples has risen to the level where most people are unable to afford them. Faced with the same circumstances, you would want to emigrate too! This has deepened the famine in Africa, reduced living standards in Latin America, brought about the riots of the Arab Spring and widened the economic gap between developed and developing countries. Creating wealth from the misery of others is unsustainable. The solution is for the developed world to provide economic aid (not money, primarily, but education, systems, and opportunities) to developing countries. This would also cost less than having to support the migrants in the developed world.

Yes, the migrants are different from us. They do not know which fork to use with their salad. They do not have forks where they come from, often no dining table or dining room either and many have never eaten a salad. This does not mean that they are not human, that they cannot learn. We have nothing to gain by calling them uncivilized or barbaric but a lot by understanding and compassion. If we don't want them here, then we must create circumstances there that would cause them to want to remain.

Disillusioned

Well, perhaps not entirely disillusioned but certainly disappointed.

The Philippines is such a spectacularly beautiful country, blessed with endless beaches and the tropical climate to enjoy them, populated by kind, friendly and joyful people. Then how come it has become such a third-world hell-hole where sewage flows in the streets, the air thick with the noxious fumes belched out by decrepit trucks and jeepneys and the landscape littered with the detritus of modern "civilization"?

How can it be that here in Europe we have had sewage and rainwater run-off systems built over 2,000 years ago (the Roman Acquincum), yet the Philippines, a country in the monsoon belt where heavy rains predictably fall six months out of the year, there aren't many and thus floods are so common that people expect them?

How can people care so little about their surroundings as to destroy them with continuous air, water and noise pollution and incessant littering? How is it possible to tolerate the dirty, hungry, homeless children sleeping in the foul debris in front of crowded fast-food stores and spending their waking hours begging for leftovers?

How can it be that the people do not demand the very basic necessities of reliable infrastructure like clean water, electricity, roads and bridges, public transportation, sanitation? How can a large and populous country like the Philippines which has some natural resources, not learn from its more successful neighbors, like Singapore?

I love the people of the Philippines and also its many scenic splendors. But I find it increasingly difficult to accept its many shortcomings. I have limited this post to only the most glaring irritants and in a future missive I might address some others, like its rampant corruption and steadfast resolve to refuse to evolve.

The Debate on Syria (Politics)

I am dismayed, nay, shocked at the irrelevant drivel the mainstream media puts out about the civil war raging in Syria. The verbal diarrhea has reached epic proportions, a discourse devoid of facts, historical context and factual evidence.

There are three critically important questions which must be asked and answered before any military engagement:

1. Who is the enemy?
2. What is the objective, or what does "victory" look like?
3. What are the long-term consequences?

These questions are not being asked, much less answered. Yes, there was sarin gas used in Syria, this much we know. The verifiable evidence (see the video below) points to the rebels (freedom fighters or terrorists, depending on your perspective) having used them. The "intelligence" briefing issued forth by the US government contains only opinions, conjecture and innuendo but no verifiable facts.

How does a bunch of lunatics, who have been killing each other for centuries in the Middle East, threaten the national security of the United States? If some nefarious characters have the (however slight) capability to cause us harm justifies strong military response, then all male members of Congress should be arrested for rape and all female members should be detained for prostitution — they have the capability!

For further contemplation, I suggest you read this short essay on the topic: "Is The US Going To War With Syria Over A Natural Gas Pipeline?".

To gain additional perspective and to put the matter into the proper context, please watch this short video:

Thanks for reading my rant, I had to get this off my chest. I value your comments and feedback, I learn a lot from my readers. By the way, if you have an interest in protecting your privacy, I highly recommend an unbreakable data encryption program for Windows called Cryptogra.ph — check it out.

Back from Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar (Immigration, Travel)

We returned from our trip on January 16 and have been very busy ever since. I had to renew a vehicle registration with the attendant smog-test (what a joke; most vehicles here belch black exhaust like evil volcanos), stenciling the engine number, purchase of insurance, etc. This was the easy part. The difficulties began at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in scenic Mandaue City.

I have permanent residency (visa 13-A) in the Philippines, which is granted at first for a one-year probationary period.  There is an incredible amount of paperwork involved, expenses of around 9,000 pesos, and an all day spent at the BI. For the privilege of being  permanent resident, I am now obligated to pay 1,620 peso departure tax when leaving the country (which only applies to Filipino citizens and permanent residents), plus 2,800 pesos for various exit clearance, documentary and expediting fees to immigration at passport control. This fee is graciously reduced to a mere 2,200 pesos for subsequent departures within the same calendar year. Needless to say, since we travel a great deal, these fees are quite onerous.

Back to my story with the BI. The time has come for me to apply for an Amendment of my visa for permanent resident, non-probationary status. This involves an incredible amount of paperwork, expenses of around 9,000 pesos, and an all day spent at the BI. I had to return a few days following the aforementioned ordeal for an interview with an immigration officer. My appointment was for 9:00 AM, and I showed up at 8:45 to ensure I would not miss my time slot (for which there are severe penalties). The immigration officer, and attorney, showed up at 10:30 without a word of apology or even as much as "good morning".

The officer sent me out to have some copies made of some of my documents, pay some more fees for an "annual report" required of all foreign residents, then proceeded to initial every page. He asked me no questions during my "interview". He informed me that the amendment process takes about three months and I am not allowed to leave the country in the meantime, or I must start the entire process all over again.

"We have plans and tickets to travel to Europe on March 14", I said with some concern. He asked, "Why are you going to Europe?" "To visit friends", I replied. After hemming and hawing for a while, he said, "Well, I could help expedite matters..." My wallet started to burn a hole in my pocket and my face acquired an uneasy twitch. "How much will such expediting cost?", asked I, naïvely. "Whatever you think", was the curt reply. I reached into my wallet and pulled out a 1,000 peso note, not having anything smaller on me by that time and handed it to him, cursing him silently. He scratched the top of his desk like a blackjack player asking for another card and said, "Another one -- courier and documentary fees, you see..." Thus another 1,000 pesos left the comfortable nest in my wallet and my diastolic blood pressure took another leap.

I must now monitor the BI website to see when my status gets updated, then visit the BI again in Mandaue to apply for another ACR-I (Alien Control Registration - Immigration) Card at a great expense (about 7,000 pesos), all day at the BI and reams of additional paperwork. Then I have to wait for about two to three weeks for the card to be issued. No, they do not notify, I have to go to BI and check. I keep asking if is all worth it.

Now, about our trip. We had a great time, especially in Phuket, Phi Phi Island and in Northern Thailand. Bangkok is a huge city, notorious for its traffic jams, so we had to learn the public transit system. Mercifully, they have signs posted in English as well as Thai. There are lots of sites to see as well as some great shopping. The air was really polluted, so we were looking forward to our flight to Phuket.

Phuket is a marvelous, magical and visually spectacular place, where huge cliffs seem to erupt from the Andaman Sea. The beaches are clean with fine sand and warm waters. We have visited many nearby islands, one inhabited primarily by primates of lower form (monkeys). We were based on Patong Beach, which is the liveliest part of Phuket Island, but had a chance to visit Karon Beach as well. Karon is the "quiet" beach -- just as beautiful but not as lively as Patong. In all, Phuket was a pleasant adventure.

We headed into Phuket Town to the pier to take a boat to Phi Phi Island, where we spent a few days (Ko Phi Phi Don). Very scenic, quite small but the people are friendly and the service is great. We returned to Phuket quite relaxed and ready to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia because out Thai visa was starting to run out.

Kuala Lumpur (KL) was a surprise. The city is booming, construction cranes are everywhere, the malls are jammed with people lugging full shopping bags with Gucci, Rado, Louis Vuitton, etc. logos on them. The city is cleaner than other parts of Malaysia (Johor Bahru, for example) we have seen. It is vibrant and thriving, public transportation (subways, sky trains, buses running on multi-lane freeways) is excellent.

We visited the Petronas Towers and the surrounding City Park. A marvel of modern architecture and oil industry greed, the towers are truly a sight to behold. From KL we flew Air Asia to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand.

Chiang Mai is a very pleasant, large city and the commercial center of northern Thailand. We rented a scooter and scooted all over Chiang Mai. We spent a whole day at an elephant sanctuary just north of the city, riding and swimming with the elephants. Chiang Mai has many beautiful, ornate temples well worth visiting. We spent nine fun- and adventure-filled days in Chiang Mai and got to know the place well. The days were warm but the weather cooled down at night so we did not even turn on the air conditioner.

From Chiang Mai we took a bus further north to Chiang Rai, located at the foot of the Himalayas, near the Myanmar (Burma) and Laos borders. The weather was even more pleasant in Chiang Rai. It is a smaller but still bustling city, very pleasant and livable, with many attractions and even friendlier, kinder people than in Bangkok or southern Thailand.

We spent a day in Myanmar, just to renew our Thai visas upon our return. Things are very cheap in Myanmar -- a carton of Marlboro Lights (duty-free export made in Switzerland) cost 150 Thai Baht, or about US$5. One cannot even buy a pack for that in most US states.. My wife was in shopper's heaven, buying up souvenirs like there is no tomorrow.

Our stay in Chiang Rai was the most relaxing. Our hotel was superb, the service and food were exceptional. We spent nine days in Chiang Rai as well, then flew to back to Bangkok, onward to Singapore and back to Cebu.

I got back to working on my project and I am happy to say and I am nearly finished! Yey! It has come together well and also looking very good. I hope to publish it to Windows Store before leaving for Europe, God and the BI willing...

Another trip (Travel)

It has been a while since my last post (I have been very busy working on my Windows 8 project which is coming along great), so it is time to update my loyal followers, friends and family. It is also my birthday today, albeit I'd rather forget it than remember the relentless passing of time. As another editorial note, I have updated my post The Filipina Wife, so you may want to take a look.

Christmas is not the time be in the Philippines. First of all the "season" begins in late August and lasts until Valentine's day -- stores playing "Jingle Bells" and other yuletide favorites non-stop, clerks wearing Santa caps or reindeer antlers and decorations go up for nearly a half a year. Around December 20 or so, the fireworks begin and go on every night well into the New Year. It is a loud (louder than usual), raucous time here. Major roads are closed to all traffic near churches that have "special" services and life is disrupted in many ways.

Perhaps the only times more lively than Christmas are New Year's Eve and the local (city-wide) fiesta called "Sinulog". The place reminded of a war zone during these times: gunpowder smoke fills the air, loud explosions continue throughout the day and night, music blares from wall-size speakers that can make your eardrums bleed -- fun times!

We planned to be away. We leave for Bangkok on December 11 and will return on January 15, 2013. In addition to Bangkok, we will visit Phuket, Ko Phi Phi Don, ride the elephants at Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai (in northern Thailand, near the Myanmar and Laos borders) and may take a little time out to visit Angkor Wat at Siem Riep in Cambodia. If I can find some reasonable air fares, we might hop over to Bali, Indonesia for a change of scenery, but as of now, the fares are really expensive (double and triple the usual) near the holidays. I will post pictures as I have the time.

Long Stay in Europe (Travel)

We have been in Europe now for a month and a half and having a wonderful time. We have explored most of Hungary, spent a couple of weeks in Budapest, visited Esztergom (with a brief peek into Slovakia), Vác, Pécs, Kalocsa, Szeged (twice), the lake Balaton (Siófok), the thermal baths of Mórahalom and Igal -- to mention just a few places.

We have spent an incredible week in France. Four days in Paris is barely enough to get a flavor of the city and we could have easily spent months on the French Riviera instead of just three days. Even though it is the most expensive part of the world, we found a hotel in Nice that did not break our budget but was clean and comfortable, right in the heart of the city. We made side trips to the beaches of Ventimiglia, Italy and to the opulence of Monte Carlo, Monaco. If I weren't lucky enough to win 100 Euros at the Casino Royale, it would have been too expensive. We also visited the historic town of Eze -- stunningly mideval.

We are getting ready for a trip to the German Alps and plan to visit many of Ludwig II's castles (Neuschwanstein, Hochenschwangau, Linderhof, Chiemsee, etc.) and some historical sites around Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (like the passion play town of Oberammergau and the church of Weisskirche). We will also explore Salzburg, Austria.

Cheche has been posting many pictures on her Facebook page, so I will not upload them here.