The Beginning

What Is Synthetic Outlook?

I thought I needed a place to set down my thoughts and ideas, to provide room for new ones, and to expose them to comment in order to refine them.

What Does The Name Mean?
"Synthetic" could refer to any human-created thing, composed of materials not found in nature. Or it could refer to the process of reconciling two competing ideas (thesis/anti-thesis) to create a new unified whole. "Outlook" could be a place from which to view the upcoming future. Or it could be a predictive process, attempting to account for various competing ideas to create a coherent picture.

So "Synthetic Outlook" could be an analysis of the human-created future. Or many other things...

What Do You Believe?
I believe that the world is comprised of systems, and that these systems sometimes interact in strange and unpredictable ways. I believe that humans can design or harness these systems to our benefit. I believe that with the right information, or enough information, we can make good decisions about the future course of the world.

I believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

What Are You Interested In?
I'm interested in how humans interact with our constructed environment. I'm interested in how humans inflict their decisions on each other. I'm interested in human expression, and how we relate to each other, and how we interact with those who have come before, and those who will come after. I'm interested in the stories we tell about ourselves, and how those stories reflect who we think we are.

Who Are You?
I'm a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. I'm an officer and  civil engineer in the Civil Engineer Corps of the United States Navy. I'm a world traveler. I'm a voracious reader. I'm a contributor to the group-blog/shared space of MetaFilter.

I am someone who is interested in where we are going, and how we are going to get there.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0