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Stop. Right now. Just stop.

Stop!

Just take a second to appreciate how amazing this all is.

This is traveling to you through a series of wires and beams of light. Over air, land, sea, and outer space. With a language translated into several different languages only to then be translated back to you, anywhere you can access it, in near real time. Less than a second after I tapped a button with my finger on a device that is small enough to fit in my pocket you could read this from any other point of connection into this network on the planet.

The thing is, those in their 30s and above have a unique memory. We have a solid memory of a time before any of this was possible and today when it all is. We have memory of a time when to call another country required turning a rotary dial so many times and was so expensive that most of us sent paper letters instead — except for the most urgent of news. Now, we can type or record video or sound and have it reach thousands or millions or billions all over the earth, instantly, for free.

Those born today will not remember a time when none of this was possible. This is the new normal. They won’t see it the same way. To them, what we have lived through will be something they read in a history book.

Therefore, it is up to us to not take it for granted. To treat the Internet and all surrounding technology with reverence, respect, and care. To stop, every now and then, and take some time to appreciate it.

And, then, to get back to work and start making it even better. To fuel the innovation, ideas, and giant leaps that will give the ones behind us something to stop and be just as amazed by. To write the next history.

I’m a full-time independent writer who does my part in writing the next history by bringing you things to think about every day. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

What is truth anyway?

We all know it when we see it. At least we think we do. But what we often call truth is merely consensus. We should always be wary of confusing the two.

For instance, you can’t have an argument with someone who fundamentally believes that the sky is red. The reason they believe this is because the color that everyone else calls blue, they call red. No matter how much you argue with them, or show them examples, or find other people to back the fact that the sky is blue and not red, as long as they believe blue is red you can’t have a rational conversation about the color of the sky.

But here, you are not arguing about the truth (though you both likely believe you are). You are arguing about consensus. What is at stake? Who does it harm, really, if that lone outsider calls the sky red, or orange, or purple?

The truth is really that thing that you can’t deny. That thing for which, all names aside, there can be no disagreement. Let’s all work better at coming to agreement and consensus (or agree to disagree) around that which is, in fact, perception so that we can have more truthful discussion.

The answer to:

…is this all there is?

…is this all I am?

…is this all I can be?

Is always, “No“