From whence does our consciousness originate, and to what does it aspire? If "I" have consciousness, is it a contingent outcome of merely mechanical operations, or does it derive from a necessary property of that which I am composed of? All that is said to live exhibits some element of will, even if not entirely free of constraint. The actions of the least microorganism cannot be deterministically predicted, and each and every neuron, cell and mitochondria of my physical being demonstrates a like property. Self-awareness may not be a consequence to all living matter, but is not a necessary precondition of consciousness. Rather, awareness of environment may increase at higher orders of complexity to include some realization of one's being, and yet even man's awareness of himself remains limited, for neither our senses nor our instruments give us full comprehension of how our bodies and minds work. For all our scientific accomplishment, we cannot create even a virus out of inanimate matter. Life is created only from life, all life is offspring of life.

Life is not merely the generative force of life, it is what life consumes to sustain itself. No diet of inorganic chemicals could sustain life for very long, thus life must interact continuously with other life. It is in the process of this interaction that higher orders of complexity form, strands of nucleotides cooperate to form RNA and DNA, these to establish energy producing chloroplasts and mitochondria, which power cells that specialize as neurons and parts of organs necessary to sustain an organism.

From a self-awareness point of view, we often stop here, for if we are each part of something greater than ourselves we may be no more aware of that fact than our cells "know" they are part of "us." There is no reason the process should arbitrarily stop with the individual organism, the single man or woman. Nor does it make sense to do so, for it is clear that by joining our individual consciousnesses we form cultures, having language and government and ever higher forms of complexity.

Why then do we doubt the existence of God, that which all life and consciousness together comprises and which is comprised of all that exists? Surely it is conceit to suppose that our individual minds are the highest and greatest intelligence of the universe. How can we imagine that all of this taken together is an inanimate mechanism? To say this is to say that life derives from nothing and aspires to nothing. Just to say it is to realize the absurdity of such a position.

As we are all a part of God, God is that which we are all a part of. While our limited consciousness cannot encompass God, our consciousnesses are all encompassed.

With the rise of the internet, the power structure is already changing. I have previously said that music would be the king, I should more correctly say: king and queen, because female artists will be equally represented. But why won't porn win?

P2P networks contain plenty of porn, of course. And this trend will continue. However, porn, by itself, does not convey a clear and coherent message. Just because people fantasize about things also does not mean they will act on their fantasies.

In the present age of mass-media, I said that some combination of the two existed: this is in the form of the "music video." Soft-porn, it is, but porn nonetheless. Buggles said, when MTV started up, "Video killed the radio star." Indeed. And internet is killing the video star.

As the power devolves from the Microsofts and the media barons, a political shift dramatic enough to be called a revolution will take place. For the last several years I have advocated against voting on the grounds that it legitimates the present system. And I continue to think it is at least worthless to vote when we have no candidate with a reasonable chance of winning. But at some point, an inflection will occur, and we will have our own candidates.

What I believe will emerge is a libertarian socialist democratic republic. I try to use these terms without ideological weight, I am not trying here to advocate that you must agree with this outcome, only that the political dynamic leads to this conclusion.

If the United States of America would not currently elect a Muslim leader, why should we expect that Iraq would accept a Christian one? The problem with the whole concept of governing a foreign people, even by appointing or "selecting" a Muslim leader widely perceived as being under the thumb of the US government, is that the Iraqi people will refuse to respect it.

While there can be a multitude of reasons for the US to have invaded Iraq in the first place, once an occupying force, it necessarily becomes a religious war. We should depart, and seek peace with whatever government arises from the people of Iraq.

I don't think most people who bash Microsoft really know, cognitively, why they do it. But there is a social dynamic in effect that causes people to resent, and therefore attack, what they cannot quite understand.

Most people imagine that the United States is a democracy. Others will correct them and say, no, it is a republic. Both of these are really a statement of expectation, not actual fact.

The US is in truth a plutocracy. Firstly, the freedom of the press is only truly open to those who can afford to publish. The emergence of mass media in the 20th century further centralized the primary means of communication in a small number of corporate hands. That person or corporation with the most power, in economic terms, can "speak" with the greatest volume.

The Internet has lowered the barrier to communication, and is the leading edge of the revolution (see, it's not being televised, is it?) in terms of giving a greater and increasing voice to those with the greatest persuasiveness, rather than those with the most financial means to promote their message. What will hopefully emerge from this process is a totally new form of government, a meritocracy. In my opinion, music will be the greatest power. Some might suggest pornography will rule. Much of what goes for popular music today (given current media) is some combination of the two.

In the meantime, and returning to the subject of this journal entry, the company with the greatest financial clout in the world right now is Microsoft. Moreover, the company is controlled in large part by a single man, William Gates III. What he says Microsoft will publish, they will publish. When he wants to back a candidate for office, he can ensure that candidate will have the full power of the press behind him.

I am not trying to say that Gates is a bad man, only that he is a man who controls the largest share of the liquid assets which confer power. There are many other wealthy individuals and families, some of whom probably resent Gates. His power is counterbalanced by the old money still very capable of exercising their power.

If my thesis is right, and this is a plutocratic system, then Gates is nominally the king, with no hereditary right of succession as such, unless he can prolong his wealth into the next generation.

Thus the GNU project, and associated free software and open source projects, originally aimed at AT&T, has become a loaded gun pointed at the king himself.

Here's the important thing to note about the SCO case: if we win, and I cannot stress enough how confident I am that we will, we demonstrate that we are already stronger than the king's first soldier.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
The stars aren't aligned,
Or the gods are malign...
Blame is better to give than receive.

Chorus
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them; they weren't born in Lotusland.

All preordained
A prisoner in chains
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

Chorus

Each of us
A cell of awareness
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.

Chorus

-Rush, "Freewill"

From each according to their willingness to help others in need, to each as they have helped and require.

Reach out, hands in the air,
Don't care just what they're saying
Hold out, just keep on hoping against hope
That it's gonna get better
Don't worry, there's no hurry for you, for me,
Everything's gonna come around
Shout out, someone will listen to you, to me,
Someone's gonna see

He calls me over and, calls me brother and I know
Always fighting and moonlighting and, well it never ends
In the city, if you're all alone
There's a sister and she's standing next to her man
In the doorways and in the hallways and
She don't really care, it's the city and she's all alone

So reach out, hands in the air
Don't care just what they're saying
Hold out, just keep on hoping against hope,
That it's gonna get better
Don't worry, there's no hurry for you, for me,
Everything's gonna come around
Shout out, someone will listen to you, to me,
Someone's gonna see, yeah

Well everywhere you go you, you live in the shadow of fear
In the darkness you feel the sharpness of steel
And it's always there, in the city, and you're all alone

So reach out, hands in the air
Don't care just what they're saying
Hold out, just keep on hoping against hope,
That it's gonna get better
Don't worry, there's no hurry for you, for me,
Everything's gonna come around
Shout out, someone will listen to you, to me
Someone's gonna see...

If it's gonna get better, it starts with a feeling
If it's gonna get better, it's gonna take time
If it's gonna get better, we've gotta start now
Cos I know, everybody can feel it
And I know, everybody will see it
Cos it shows, and that shows I'm not dreaming
Cos you know, and I know, it's time for change

-Genesis, "It's Gonna Get Better"

What once was lost, has now been found.

We're not alone anymore.

In Music, there is both darkness and light.

Remember the rules:
Relax.
Be Honest.
Be Considerate.
Be Open.

If you do these things, and follow your conscience, you will find your way.

But know this, those who do wrong, we will not trade with you.

In the New World, Music is the King.

Listen.

When you give or do something for someone, do not ask them for a specific value in return. Instead, suggest that they find something you need and do or give it to you.

...that money didn't grow on trees.

She was right.

Until now.

If you want it.

Dawn is a feeling
A beautiful ceiling
The smell of grass
Just makes you pass
Into a dream

You're here today
No future fears
This day will last
A thousand years
If you want it to

You look around you
Things they astound you
So breathe in deep
You're not asleep
Open your mind

You're here today
No future fears
This day will last
A thousand years
If you want it to

Do you understand
That all over this land
There's a feeling
In minds far and near
Things are becoming clear
With a meaning

Now that you're knowing
Pleasure starts flowing
It's true life flies
Faster than eyes
Could ever see

You're here today
No future fears
This day will last
A thousand years
If you want it to

-Mike Pinder, and the Moody Blues

Let what has been torn asunder be again bound together, to do the work. We join our love with our anger, our tears with our joy, and bend together with a common purpose to see the job done.