by Johnny Majic May 2019 (manuscript) Homepage | Next Chapter Back Page Even before this pandemic, middle-class Americans and Canadians had serious problems: rising debt, stagnating wages, expensive healthcare. Not too long ago, we could relax and assume our political culture would solve our everyday headaches. Not anymore. Today, politics on both sides of the border is controlled by ideologically obsessed reporters, columnists, and pundits finding new ways to sing to their Left-wing or Right-wing choirs. COVID-19 will only make middle-class problems worse, and therefore make traditional Left/Right politics even more dysfunctional.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Intermissions are an excellent time to stretch our legs, buy a snack, and also ask some questions about the story so far. Here, I want to go more in-depth on some terms and characters. I especially want to emphasize why funding, making, and using open-source Internet Age levers of power will make the middle-class happy again. Recap The game of civilization never stops. It goes on forever because it's the game of life; evolve or die. Thus, we're always that person on Main Street trying to figure out what's right for ourselves while trying to help our civilization prosper. I think we all try our best. We try to educate ourselves, eat well, use green products, and join movements like sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. Although we try our best, we have a huge problem—we're running out of time. Canada, Britain, France, America, and the rest of Western Civilization peaked in the Industrial Age, and we still haven't updated our ruling philosophy to the Internet Age. Still obsessed with the era of mass-production, we've been digitizing our society using ideas designed to industrialize it.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Evolution Yea or Nea Act three is the nail bitter. The time when a good writer rewards the audience with the final duel and the discovery of who's going to win. Noble Jedis or Evil Sith, the Ministry of Magic or the Thugs of Voldemort, Open-Source Heroes, or Darth Blockbuster Antagonists. But this isn't a movie Stargazer. Life is a real-life game, so you decide the winner. Today, we've upgraded to the Internet Age with our technology. But not our culture. Thus, act three is a simple question; do you believe in Techvolution? Do you think Left/Right extremists must stop running our politics? Do you hate antagonism even more than racism and communism? Do you see why the era of mass-production must be replaced by the era of mass-collaboration?

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Welcome Hello Stargazer! I'm glad you came aboard. If it wasn't for you, the future would exist only in science fiction. Now because of you, we can start the era of mass-collaboration. There's lots of work ahead. But we've done it many times before, the Minutemen, Abolitionist, Civil Rights, Environmental movements have all changed the world. While I, unfortunately, can't tell you what your journey will be like. You can follow your own heroes, or better yet, be your own celebrity. I'm sure you'll soon love to tag #installsolarpanels, #forgetrushhour, #newsmallbusiness, #smallhomeliving. And if you like, you can follow my trek to make our society better. I'll be a guide. My Frontline Problem

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter A Techvolution Battle Scene. Internet Age vs. Industrial Age Before we return to the battle with Darth Blockbuster Stargazer, let's learn from another battle in the war to upgrade to the Internet Age. Let's talk about how we used modern technology to better record and access knowledge. Humanity is always asking questions. Some of those today might be, why are the movies so expensive, are candy applies real apples, or, more importantly, what are proven techniques to stop the coronavirus. Humanity deals with all these questions by creating a reference tool. Our first reference tool was the wisdom of our elders. We eventually upgraded when inventing papyrus scrolls and ink (around 2300 BC) and books (about 300 BC), which turned some elders into experts like Hippocrates and Aristotle. When wood-pulp paper (1200) and the printing press (1456) were invented, humanity unleashed mass-produced books. Now experts could share knowledge between themselves and educate the masses. We called the reference books encyclopedias.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Blowing Up the Death Star Evolution Overcomes All Rules Life's been evolving for billions of years. Humanity continues life's evolution by creating technology. We develop new and better tools in stages like the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Industrial Age. Unfortunately, transitioning between stages is hard. Human Nature being what it is, the powers of the old age hold back the modern era. Since entering the Internet Age in 1970, Darth Blockbuster has continuously defended his mechanical tools by making digital tools against the rules. Some examples. From the 1950s to the 1980s, AT&T defended its telephone monopoly by successfully lobbying the government to ban devices such as internet modems connecting to its network. In 1984, the broadcast television industry tried to ban video cassette recorders (VCRs) and only lost by one vote in the Supreme Court. In 2001, the music industry defended compact discs (CDs) by successfully suing Napster for giving people digital songs. Likewise, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb's most significant competition has been in the courtroom. Throughout society, antagonists have found rules that force people to keep using Industrial Age tools.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter The Beginning It all started with a door in my face. And then, actually, a few more. I was either being too stubborn or too hopeful. Either way, I eventually learned my lesson. I was selling a web app that those in upper management were never going to buy. Before you wonder, it wasn't a matter of price, because there was no price. It wasn't a question of competition. None of that either. And I can promise it worked because I had spent years in a cubicle doing the frontline job it serviced. After years of thinking about political and economic theory in the Internet Age, I'd written a book (Starting Starfleet) about some untapped possibilities of new tech like smartwatches, bio-monitors, and bitcoin. I only made this simple web app (using open-source technologies) to validate my ideas. I was right to. They were good ideas. I figured out how to solve a problem and save 100 million dollars, 300,000 hours of worker productivity, and even dozens of lives every year. All I did was enable mass-collaboration with a free app. Why wouldn't I want to tell people about the theory behind it? Sadly, I was a fool. I didn't know it at the time, but I wasn't even knocking on doors. I was knocking on gates. See, I wasn't talking to frontline workers (who thanked me). I was meeting with the layers of bureaucrats, lawyers, managers, and executives who paid themselves a lot to meet, discuss, delegate about "garbage problems."

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Goalline Techvolution gives us the political justification to upgrade our society. With this new philosophy, every person on Main Street has the moral right and duty to upgrade their society with the almost magical possibilities of computers and the internet. Yet, something essential is missing. Techvolution is indeed the politics of the Internet Age. But politics doesn't open businesses, generate electricity, or grow food to eat. To live in the future, America, Canada, and the rest of the Western world must also upgrade our economics. Only with a modernized way to work and grow families will you and I be happy with our society in the future. We change our economics by learning a familiar lesson. Your real economic power isn't being a consumer or an employee. Brand loyalty and retirement funds don't make a person powerful.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter Politics Donald Trump is the savior of Western Civilization. If that turns your emotions on, with tears or cheers, then you are missing the point of politics. Politics isn't about voting for a political party, advocating for a political cause, and it's definitely not screaming at a Twitter feed. The government is so big—with so many politicians, civil servants, companies, and interest groups fighting for control, it will never respond to your small voice. Tears or cheers don't make a person powerful. On the contrary, you see, exercising, composting, teaching your kids mathematics does change the world. Good decisions change and improve your world—giving you freedom from dependency and power over your part of society. And, since power is to politics what money is to finance, your personal choices are always your most potent political weapon. The question is, how do we increase your powers. The answer, we'll find out in this book, is better technology, and the self-awareness to use it to improve your life. But this isn't a self-help book about making you "happy." It's about making you powerful so you can earn your happiness.

Contents | Prior Chapter | Next Chapter This Pandemic "People are angry, man! Most people's lives suck...Even if like the economy is doing better, the vast majority of people aren't doing what they want to do with their lives." Joe Rogan, November 2019. This book was going to deal with your levels of anger and happiness in life. It was going to begin with analyzing your take on the economy, nation, and life at large. Now we've hit the Great 2020 Pandemic. I don't need to inquire about your happiness anymore. If you're like most Americans and Canadians, you're likely downright terrified about getting sick, and perhaps more frightening, wondering what's going to happen next in the economy or international relations. For years, North Americans suffered under troubling trends: micro-management at work, antisocial behavior at home, political hatred in government. We got by because superficially we're "doing great": we have full employment, luxurious homes, and stable politics. Whenever things got too bad, and we got too unhappy, we visited the shopping mall for therapy. If we were still angry, we'd install a new political party. Over the years, Canadians and Americans gave Left and Right control of our government again and again.

Contents | Prior Chapter Other Stuff Hello. Thanks for sticking around. The appendices is some stuff I couldn't fit into the narrative of the book, but I thought might be cool to know.... Contents | Prior Chapter THE END

What's Rails? Rails is a web-application framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. Understanding the MVC pattern is key to understanding Rails. MVC divides your application into three layers: Model, View, and Controller, each with a specific responsibility. Reader Mode