Log 04 - Drowned World

I. Floodside thoughts

 Another road raising project is in progress in our area to mitigate the ever rising flood levels during the rainy seasons. Again, the houses and establishments on the roadside are left as the street rises higher.

If things continue like this and the government does not think of a more permanent, sustainable and future-proof solution to the rising water levels, I can imagine many years or decades from now a future where streets are very high like skycrapers winding up on the clouds while the old houses lay abandoned on the ground. Some innovative buildings standing on adjustable tall stone or metal stilts which they can increase height in a modular manner like a lego building where you add more and more blocks at the bottom. While some just add more and more floors above the water and just abandon the levels that get submerged underwater.

Song on the radio: Flood by Jars of Clay

II. Green Dystopian Future

We always think a green future is a good future. In fact we strive to have a green future for the next generations. 'Green' is a synonym for good. It is almost conflicting to have a green yet dystopian future. 

But just like any kind of technology or tool, 'Green' can be handled with the wrong hands and can lead to a dystopia. 

Where am I coming from with these thoughts? 

Well, these past few days I've been spending a lot of time cleaning up the plants that grow too fast in the garden around our house. Chinese bamboo grow very tall very quick and produces a lot of runners in just a few days of continuous rain. The two bougainvillea climbing on top of our gate quickly grows into a cluster of thorny and leafy and winding branches. The banaba and cherry trees quickly spread a wide canopy of leaves and branches. 

It has been a struggle to trim them to aesthetically good looking and manageable sizes. There is also a problem of caterpillars making the trees and plants their home and multiplying to scary numbers.

This was just after a few days to weeks of continuous rains.

In the movie 'Weathering with you', the ending scene sees a future where the rain continued with no end. The plants ultimately overgrow along the tall buildings and skyscrapers of the city  and soon dwarf the low houses and structures. The new landscape will be like an ocean with some concrete roads crawling up and down (after some road raising projects) and thick viny branches surrounding the tall buildings. It is a conglomerate of blue water, green plants and gray concrete with the blue and green dominating. And with the green comes the biodiversity, mostly bugs and crawling insects.

Log 03 - AI for World Peace

I. First the Voice

 AI Manny Pacquiao Is Covering Your Fave Songs

https://www.google.com/amp/s/complexphilippines.com/music/ai-manny-pacquiao-is-covering-your-favorite-songs/amp/

II. Then the Body

JAPANESE STARTUP BRINGS GUNDAM-LIKE TRANSFORMABLE MECH TO LIFE AND IT’S BUYABLE FOR $3 MILLION

https://www.yankodesign.com/2023/10/09/japanese-startup-brings-gundam-like-transformable-mech-to-life-and-its-buyable-for-3-million/

III. Then Supremacy

I can imagine a future where an autonomous mech with 3D printing capability (akin to X-men's Mother Sentinel) is installed with an advanced AI and given a prompt such as:

 Create an army of Manny Pacquiao-voiced gundam-like robots and have them deployed outside every household on earth and sing songs from the Top 10 billboard chart of the month. 

Maybe only with such extreme measures can we really achieve real and long-lasting world peace.

Log 02 - Foundations of Ecopunk

I. Bamboo Architecture and Technology

https://reelpaper.com/blogs/reel-talk/how-fast-does-a-bamboo-grow

"Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant, shooting out of the ground at an astonishing four centimeters per second. At this rate, certain bamboo species can grow 91 centimeters (about 35 inches) in a single day."

Story prompt:

The future shows civilizations relying on hyperresilient properties of plants especially bamboo and other grass species. They use bamboo for their machinery and for various structures. Due to the impermance of these materials, it is necessary to have regular maintenance on all bamboo-built structures. Regular replacement is necessary. An endless supply of the material is necessary. Thus the establishment of bamboo plantations which uses all cutting edge techniques.

II. Balangay Starfleet

https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/nuitblanche/all-art-projects/details/2023/project/balangay-starfleet/

"Balangay are ancient boats of the Philippines. Artist Leeroy New reimagines them as a fleet of Filipino retro futuristic space vessels made of bamboo and discarded plastics. New imagines a speculative (or not-so-speculative) future where the Philippines becomes the destination of the world’s waste and where its population adapts to this new ecology of nature, technology and trash — but mostly trash. 

[Artist Leeroy New] grew to realize that these visions of a sleek futurism produced in the first worlds did not have his specific cultural and historical context in mind. Therefore, he created his own brand of speculative Filipino sci-fi driven by the belief that the sci-fi genre has great power in determining the technological innovations and attitudes of the future. New refers to the nature-centric or animist principles of Filipino precolonial mythology and histories to inform this alternate futuristic vision."

Story Prompt:

Following the prompt from I. people began constructing huge transport vehicles using Bamboo as the main material. Intercontinental airships with bamboo hulls and propellers. Uses wind power and spring load technology to store energy. 

Captains need to map the route, since the materials are semi-permanent, the journey should pass through bamboo plantations for resupply and maintenance runs.

III. Forestry AI 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2023-09-tree-hugging-ai-brazilian-amazon.amp

Sensors were installed on tree trunks which detects and recognize threats (sounds of chainsaw, axes etc). These sensors also relay the information to other sensors on the network which is also recieved by a central points which deploys the appropriate action.

Sci-fi notes:

Central AI can be installed directly to the tree. The tree can directly assess if a threat is imminent.

Tree branches and roots (i.e. for balete trees) are also modified with nanotech mechanical attachments allowing the tree some movement capability.

The tree's central AI plus movement allows it to deal with threats in real time autonomously.

Future advancement on materials technology enables the tree to add more modifications using materials infinitely available to it, i.e. tree trunks, leaves.

Sensors are soundbased. Soon the trees were able to communicate by manipulating the flow of wind on the leaves and branches to emit certain sounds as a form of language. Treesongs.

Story prompt:

Legends tell the story of the Great Balete Tree whom they call the Old Mother, the guardian of the forest and known as the Millenium Tree in the province of Aurora. Stories say that, when faced with threats to the forest and its inhabitants, the Old Mother will sing a lullaby heard all over the entire forest. The song summons the Rootwarriors of the Green, an army of tall trees with thick roots dangling on its branches. These roots are their weapons, able to move with the Old Mother's songs to subdue any threat to the forest and its creatures' peaceful habitation. 

The song was never heard for thousands of years. The natives also forgot where the Old Mother stands or if it still is alive or already destroyed the Iron Conquerors that pillaged the country many hundreds of years ago.

Origins:

Many thousands of years ago: The ancient technotribe of Aurora started their technocrafting tradition. Using a mix of available materials (some native like threads or fibers  to something advanced like microchips), the weavers began decorating the great trees with all these materials. (Unaware of it, after years of this crafting tradition, the technotribe actually mechanized the trees.)

The technotribal priests also began chanting songs to the tree. Inadvertently, the priests were actually creating a new programming code based on enchantments. Soon the code evolved into a self-learning language. And an AI was created naturally with songs as its main language.

Log 01 - Pilot

Tactic 01

Create blog post for whatever ideas you have this week, whatever plans you think of, whatever discoveries you find in the internet or elsewhere.

Christmas 2023 theme - Santa's Workshop

Upcycle all the kids' toys into decors i.e. as if they are being made by the elves.
Dedicate one room as the Workshop. Make signs everywhere pointing to that room.

NorthSide Art Collective

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551892225467&mibextid=ZbWKwL

Newly opened art gallery that showcases steampunk art creations of Ram Mallari Jr.

New Religions, Old Beliefs

[Part 3 of the Future Perfect series]

In the year 3562, a group of archaeologists uncovered a tablet, believed to be a holy artifact, buried underneath the Avida Condominium Towers in Makatiland, a known place of religious worship in the Philippine Islands during the ancient times. The tablet has a Titanium casing and Gorilla glass screen explaining why it survived this long. They have dated the tablet to be about 1000 years old. 

When the archaeologists booted the device, they found data still intact. There are prayers to various ancient Gods, scriptures depicting ancient beliefs, gospels and other scriptures. The scriptures match with the ancient Religions during that time (circa 2500) like Technoism, Asian Cathalicism, and Microsoftism. The following are excerpts translated from its original English.

------------------------------- start data dump-------------------------------------------

Data snip #45

Clip title: A Prayer of Providence

Blessed be the God of the Internet
Blessed be the Goddess of Real Estate
Blessed be the God of Politics
Blessed be the God of Malls

Listen, O God of Technosingularity.

In the Handle of the Inventor and of the Spliced and of the Divine Programming, /end.

Our Inventor, whose consciousness is uploaded in the cloud, Your handle be unused, Your password be unhacked, Your interface be rendered in our meatspace, Your logic be replicated, 3D printed from the exact source code.

Provide sufficient bandwidth for the day and delete our faulty codes... [next lines incomprehensible]


Data snip #08
Clip title: The 19,872 commandments 

Commandment 98: Remember to keep the 59th line empty, for it is the Inventor's line and only his.
Commandment 155: You will not use Inventor's handle in pure lowercase.
Commandment 156: You will not use the Inventor's handle unbolded.
Commandment 412: Remember to create an open circuit on the 59th mesh, for it is the Inventor's mesh and only his.
 Commandment 1,659: You shall wear and use only the accessories blessed and sanctioned by the Inventor.
Commandment 5,977: You shall listen only to divine music downloaded from His Divine Store.
Commandment 8,516: You shall not desecrate His Divine Devices with illegal software.


Data snip #99
Clip title: The Gospel according to Bill Jates

Bill Chapter 8, Verse 2:
I look at my blinking screen in awe. It alternated from white to blue in dizzying speeds. Then He spoke to me, "The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency."


Data snip #109
Clip title: The First Emails of Zukerberd to the Haitians

1 Zukerberd Chapter 2, Verse 5

You made another application knowing that at some point the One Networking site would probably want to do something with jobs. This was pretty surprising to us, because you basically made something on the side that will end up competing with the One Networking site and that's pretty bad by itself. But putting ads up on the One Networking site to advertise it, especially for free, is just mean.

-------------------------- end data dump ---------------------------------

The archaeologists have concluded that the tablet's contents might be apocryphal. These are the scriptures that were not accepted as 'canonical' and hence not included in the current teachings of modern religions.

Along with the tablet other divine artifacts were unearthed. An Apple watch, an iRosary and a rare Google Glass. Archaeologists are still excavating the site as of writing.

- With reports from the Philippine Commission for Archeological, Historical and Hipster Studies

Chronicles of a Future Archeologist

[Part 2 of the Future Perfect series]

From the journals of Pedro S. Palanca, PhD in Archeology and Ancient Antiquities.

I arrived at the coordinates 14°33'24"N 121°1'26"E with the sun already setting at the horizon. This might have been a religious ritual place or an astrological site. The positioning of the structures prove it so. As the sun sets, it shines along a long, wide clearing, bordered on its side by tall, slabs of stone and metal ruins.

The year is 3231.

I marvel at the gigantic structures all around and wonder how the ancients are able to build these massive feats of architecture. Each structure might have stood two thousand meters up or even higher. Their width might have been half a kilometer on all sides. The corners are all perfect angles. The sides are perfect lines. On all sides, there are perfect patterns of repeating square holes, about 2 meters by 2 meters wide. Each with perfect lines and angles.

On some structures, these holes are covered by a thin clear material almost crystalline in form. For some, the holes are decorated by complex ornate patterns-- flowing, zigzaging, crisscrosssing each other.

From my ancient guidebook, I learn that they call these 'Skyscrapers'. It has been theorized that the ancients used them to clean the skies of the sins of the humans hence the name. During their ceremonial rituals, the guidebook says, the monks dressed in their finest, would fall in line in front of offertory cages on the onset of the sunrise. At anytime, about 20 monks can fit on these cages. They would get in these cages and the structure would bring them to the heavenly spaces or 'cubicles' to be purified of their sins and to contribute in the scraping of  the skies. At sun's fall, the monk would return purified and duty accomplished. They would do this every single day as a form of religious devotion.

This structure on my right is the tallest skyscraper. They call it the Pibikom Tower, most probably in honor of Pibikom, the ancient god of banking and finance.

In front of me lies an endless stretch of flat, black surface. It is about 20 meters wide and stretches beyond the horizon. I stand in awe at the perfect flatness made of hard and seemingly indestructible stone like volcanic glass. It is an amazing work of technology by such primitive people. It is on these endless fields where the ancients parade their monks on their way to their ceremonies.

According to the guidebook, monks alight on metallic carriages or 'buses' all link to each other via a ritual called 'traffic'. The carriages move ceremoniously to an orrery of sound, from low pitched hums to high pitched screams. The carriage move slowly in those rituals until they reach the corresponding skyscraper. They call these surfaces 'Highways', since they are the pathways that lead to the skies or the 'Highs'.

The long highway stretching across my coordinate is called the Aiala Highway, named from Aiala, the goddess of lands, dwellings and real estate.

It's already dark and I need to get out of this place. The guidebook says the place is teeming with the spirits of the monks who died on their cubicles in the act of skyscraping.

On my next visits, I'm planning on exploring the secrets of the underground passages, the 'Underpass' and take a look at another technological masterpiece, the Emarti and how it met its horrific and disastrous death.

This is Pedro Palanca, PhD signing off for now.

Tips for Time Travelers arriving at Manila 2015

[Part 1 of the Future Perfect series]

Good day Time Travelers and greetings from the year 4045!

This post will serve as a guide for all you tourist wanting to make the most of your visit in this very amazing point in our history. As such we have listed some tips on how to behave, to avoid being detected as a traveler from the future and to maximize your enjoyment of the tour.

Please read them carefully. If in doubt, please refer to the nearest PATT office in your area.

1. Don't ask help from other people to take a picture of you using your camera. They would instantly know you are not from this era. Take a picture of yourself instead (even if it may sound nonsense). They call it "selfish" or something to that effect.

2. Never eat you're food immediately. They have some sort of procedure here where they take an image of the food then upload the picture to a server somewhere. It is some sort of regulation here. You can only eat it once it is approved by the Department of Food Photographs. In your case, just pretend  for a few minutes that you are taking pictures of your food and uploading it online.

3. When dining with another person, never talk to that person while looking at his/her eyes directly for more than 10 seconds. It is a sign of disrespect. Instead, every 5 seconds or so, look into your phone and pretend that you are typing something.

4. In relation to #3, when you are in the act of doing anything (like walking or buying flowers or buying a drink) make sure to document every 5 seconds what you are doing by typing it into your phone. It is another policy. Just to be safe, it is advisable to do this even when you are alone, in case their Department of Documentation is watching you. Example would be "Taking a drink", "Brushing my teeth", "Peeing" etc.

5. This year, Manila will be visited by a lot of well known personalities all over the world, like the Pope, the French President, the Dalai Lama, Rihanna etc. NEVER EVER LOOK INTO THEM DIRECTLY. Or you will be charged with contempt or attempted assassination or sacrilege or something else. Instead, use your phone to capture a video and then look at the phone screen instead.

6. The people in this year are highly opinionated in terms of government policies and political stands. If someone would ask you what is your take on something controversial, just tell them its the fault of the previous administration. You can even apply to end any argument in general. I.e. "Why is it so dirty here?", "It's the fault of the previous cleaner's shift". Or "Why is this fruit so sour?" "It's the fault of the delivery guy." Don't worry, it is the countries' Official Stand on things.

7. If you happen to meet a local celebrity, it is customary to throw degrading insults at them and their family (like "You're son is gay", or "You're a slut.") They call it vashing in this culture. They would also offer salutatory insulting vashes at you which you should counter immediately until you both part ways.

8. Finally, if the worst case comes and you are discovered to be a time traveler just pretend you have a heart attack or any other sickness. They will let you go immediately. It has many precedents. It is foolproof.


Now, if you become confused by these complicated and nonsensical behavioural guidelines, you can always ask the interwebz for Mr. Google. From the very few documents we gathered, he seem to be a very wise go-to person and knows a lot about this time than anyone else. Just make sure to buy some of his products like Viagra or the rudimentary iPhone 6.

Next time we'll show you some of the best places to go to where you can find artifacts like CD's, DVD's  or even look at the ancestor of our quantum luminal machines, those they call laptops. Or visit the mysterious "malls" back on their heydays. Or even go treasure hunting on their Tyangges and visit the mother dungeon itself, the Devizoria.

That's all for today's tips. Until next time. Enjoy your time out there traveler!


This post is sponsored by the Philippine Authority for Temporal Tourism 

Google failed me (among other things)

1. How Google failed me

Yesterday as I was walking home, I saw a graffiti stenciled on one of the walls along the sidewalk. It is an image of a child with text "Rescue Us". I've seen it some place else before. And I was intrigued by the image. Who created it? What is the artist fighting for? What cause?

I initially assumed it is something like a cause fighting child labor, or save the street children or the like. Noble causes that I could support.

So when I arrived home, I fired up my laptop and searched in vain for the image using various keywords.
graffiti
rescue us
street art
makati
manila
So on and so forth and the combinations thereof.

To no avail.

Then, just a whim, I opened my instagram and searched for the hashtag #rescueus. Many results were displayed. And to my surprise, there on the first page, the 12th image or so is the one I'm looking for.

So there, it was probably the first time Google failed. (Correction: It was the second.) Instead, the power of social networking saved the day and showed me the light.

By the way, here's the image in question for reference.

#endrant


2. Rescue Us

As I was looking at the account of the artist in Instagram, I thought of asking him what is his cause. So I checked the exact "Rescue Us" image in his posts and thought of commenting with my question.

But Lo and behold, someone already asked! Another IG user asked what is the meaning of the images. And the artist already answered.

To paraphrase, the artist said he just want to share his stencils because it is his passion.

...

Elsewhere, graffiti has been used as a medium of expression and as a means of taking a stand. Look here for some Graffiti for a cause.  And who wouldn't know Banksy whose street art usually come with loaded imagery as a sort of opinion piece of the artist. And to every one passing EDSA or any of the main thoroughfares in Manila everyday, who would miss the "CPP/NPA" graffiti on the walls (with deep black ink) even if albeit no aesthetic at all.

...

Going back to the "Rescue Us" post, I just thought it could have been a great vehicle for a good cause. As evident on the comments, many people have seen it and was curious of the meaning. It could have raised awareness of certain issues if that is the least it could contribute.

But then again, who am I to question the intent of the artist, right? As they say, Art for art's sake.  (But who or what the hell is art?)

For more amazing graffiti art in the streets of Manila, you can check out this Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/StreetArtPhilippines

And look! There's actually a Kickstarter project! Here's the site.

Ultra Electro Nostalgic Power

I regret not watching the movie Blue Bustamante on its regular showing in the Cinema One Originals film festival last year or on any of its few re-runs this year so I was so glad they showed it again on the Teatrino at Promenade. I grew up watching A LOT of sentai and tokusatsu shows as a kid (of course I don't know they were called as such back then). Team shows like Bioman, Maskman, Jetman. Solos like Shaider, Machine Man, Mask Rider Black. Or the Ultraman series and Magmaman. Everyday, after school at 4 or 5 pm, I will sit down and be glued to the TV set for an hour or so (they used to show them back to back). I would absorb them all. Mind you, we only have a black and white TV set back then so I would only identify the characters when they shout their name. In class, I was very envious when my classmates talk vividly how Blue2, Red1 or anyone from the team looks like. For me the characters are just Grey1,  DarkGrey2, LightGrey3 etc.

Anyways, if you are a fan, or even just a kid who grew up watching these shows, then Blue Bustamante is a movie for you. There were many callbacks to the old sentai shows like a character disappearing in the background with that sound effect (Saito...), or the sights of cardboard buildings serving as an arena of a big robot and kaiju deathmatch; or the crude but cool costumes of the team, the monsters and the henchman among others.

But more than, it's  a very funny and entertaining movie despite a supposedly very sad premise of that of an OFW father who needs to live apart from his family for a long time. The humor is mostly provided by Jun Sabayton who has quite a natural knack for comedy. (You can check more detailed reviews at Pinoy Rebyu.)

And then there's the nostalgia. From the lead character's blue jeans jacket (of the tito from saudi fame), or the Family Computer (which I only got to play with courtesy of a neighbor who has one), Yanyan eating. "Blue Bustamante" used nostalgia effectively, providing instant relatability to the audience without even trying to.

A show that used nostalgia to this effect is the movie "Guardians of the Galaxy". This time, music is the nostalgic element used. Old songs were used in the background as an old Walkman served as a mcguffin. In the unbeliveably alien environment and setting, audience could immediately relate to the main character via the song he plays on his walkman which are actually all very good.

Another one I can think of is the episode "Wild Horses" from the anime "Cowboy Bebop". The setting is in a far future with a society very different from the present. This time the nostalgia comes in the form of an old relic, the Space Shuttle, calling back the beginnings of the Space Age. This is the same aura being portrayed in the comic book by Warren Ellis,  "Orbiter".

Of course I wouldn't forget "Hugo", a homage to the films of old directed by someone who has a real passion for movies themselves. Add to that "The Wrestler", calling back the vintage independent wrestling circuit and "Pacific Rim" an action film about kaiju and mecha films of Japan.

Anyways, nostalgia when used properly is a very powerful element. Just look at the latest Star Wars trailer. The first few scenes are already awesome by their look. UNTIL THAT JOHN WILLIAMS' THEME PLAY WHILE THE MILLENIUM FALCON FLIES!!!

That's it!!! Tune again next time for another episode of...
[Play ending Credits]

Project Proposal: Bullet-time rendering of the Ayala Triangle Christmas lights using Crowdsourced videos of the show

The Ayala Triangle Lights and Sound show is a yearly event, now on its fifth year, where about a million LED Christmas lights are arranged around the trees and posts in the garden and from 6:00 PM and every 30 minutes onward, the lights dance in sync with Christmas carols. More than 1000 people watch the show every day.

I watched it earlier tonight and I noticed that maybe half of the people watching are also taking videos of the show using their mobile phones or video cams. Each captures in a unique location. That would mean at least 200 video captures of the same event at different locations. And that is just for one 10 minute segment. The show repeats every 30 minutes until 10:00 PM. We would actually have about 2,000 unique videos of the event.

Those video materials can in theory be used to create a bullet time rendering of the entire show.

Bullet time according to Wikipedia "is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera(or viewer) from that of its visible subject". This effect, implemented most famously in the movie "The Matrix", was achieved by firing multiple cameras in an array at the same time or sequentially. Frames caught at a single time are then arranged to create a slow-motion, orbiting effect like in the scene where Neo moves as fast as a bullet almost dodging it (hence its name.)

One would only need to do a few things to compile the videos. Stabilize the videos so that each capture would be fixed capture. Normalize the brightness and colors of all videos so that each image would have same tone with others. Normalize the resolution of the videos.

Once done, run an algorithm to analyse the location of the camera based on a baseline camera and the distances between reference points (also Christmas lights ). As reference for the timing, we will use the background sounds.

After all processing is done, we could, in theory, freeze the show at any given time then zoom our perspective to a hundred multiple viewpoints as if you are flying around and between the lights. Anyone can then enjoy the show from multiple vantage points like seeing in everyone's eyes.  Now that would be a very different and amazing way to watch the show.