A #SummerNSA’s Reading

Shlomi Fish


                        
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Revision History
Revision 2014-09-0808 September 2014shlomif
First version.

About This Document and the #SummerNSA Effort

It is September, 2014 now - the air here in Tel Aviv, Israel has been getting cooler, and we are expecting the Jewish Autumn holidays (starting from Rosh Hashanah) soon. It seems that Autumn has finally arrived.

The concentrated #SummerNSA (“hashtag-SummerNSA”) effort spanned most of the summer of 2014 for me, and now I’m trying to summarise it (pardon the pun). Unfortunately, I have yet to hear back either from Summer Glau or the other proposed cast of the original screenplay, or from the people inside the NSA itself. However, I’ve learned and taught a lot this summer, and would like to concentrate many of my insights here, and am not giving up on my intention to have a film, in whatever format, created.

Rough Timeline of the #SummerNSA Effort

The timeline of the #SummerNSA effort is roughly:

  1. In 1998, my friend Omer Zak and I discussed the shortage of IT workers as of then on E-mail and I noted:

    Shlomi Fish to Omer Zak: “Even the NSA doesn’t have enough programmers. But it is not likely that they will have more, and that’s because Summerschool at the NSA may might as well be the name of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s next movie.”

    Omer Zak to Shlomi Fish: “And as opposed to I Know What You Did Last Summer, it is going to be scary.”

    An adversary effect of this privately exchanged meme was throwing me into a mania, during which I did a lot of positively irrational things, but which inspired me ever since.

  2. Many years later, I ended up discussing this with my friend “Kilmo” over instant messaging, yielding further memes.

  3. The NSA Facts page was set up around 6 February 2013, largely inspired by the Chuck Norris factoids and similar factoids that I collected.

  4. On 12 March 2013 I published an open letter to Sarah Michelle Gellar about the production of a documentary film title “Summerschool at the NSA”.

  5. Shortly afterwards on 6 April 2013, I made an announcement to the Full Disclosure mailing list about the fictional screenplay “Summerschool at the NSA”. It stars fictionalised versions of Sarah Michelle Gellar, her colleague - and in some respects protégée - Summer Glau, and General Keith B. Alexander, who was the director of the NSA at the time.

    After finishing the screenplay, it was publicised in several places (including /r/xkcd and /r/SummerGlau on reddit), and was generally well received.

  6. I initially expected Summer Glau to become the next Alpha Female, but on 1 June 2013 I wrote a post saying she instead will become the next “The Hacker Monarch”/Warrior monarch - a role which was held previously by: Saladin, Leonardo da-Vinci, Isaac Newton, Cardinal Richelieu, George Washington, Alexandre Dumas Pere, Jules Verne, Walt Disney, Ayn Rand, The Beatles, Jim Henson, Samantha Smith, Larry Wall, the fictional Capt. Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the fictional Buffy Summers from the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and Shlomi Fish (= me).

  7. On 4 July 2014, I wrote and published an essay titled “Summer Glau for Government” where: “

    Abstract: This document will provide the motivation and a rough plan for Summer Glau ( Wikipedia Entry, page highlighting her significance ) and/or other extremely powerful and influential, but possibly still relatively obscure, men and women, of any age, to become either the President of the United States , or as ambassadors of good will and "Shalom"/"Salaam" (= "completeness" / "well-being" / "peace" / "harmony" / "serenity" / "welfare" / "safety" ; see the Wikipedia entry ).

  8. On 31 August 2014, I posted a "Call for Action [CfA]" for finishing off the open content / Web 2.0 revolution revealing my intentions for the production of a film about it and for passing the baton of the Hacker King to Summer Glau. I didn't get a reply from anyone involved.

  9. An update to my page about my “Rindolf” nickname read in 7 September 2014:

    (2014-Sep-07) Following the call for action for “Finishing Off The Open Content / Web 2.0 Revolution (#SummerNSA)”, I have become tired of remaining The Hacker monarch. As a result, I mentally decided to quit prematurely and let the whole world go to hell. This was done per advice of Larry Wall, who was the wonderful The Hacker King of the Open Source/Usenet revolution (~1984-1997), and quite The Invisible as well (by choice).

    After feeling vindictive and resentful for a while (which I knew by experience was a transitional feeling and that I should not act upon), I realised something. That was that Summer Glau, being the legendary Bajoran profile, “The Sexiest Terminator Ever”, just terminated the whole obsession of me and other people with a small group being “The Hacker Monarch” and instead there are now multiple potential “Hacker Monarchs”. And to that I am grateful to her.

    (FFFFUUUU Rainbow Dash -like people, who always think there should be one and only winner in a competition.)

    Therefore, I plan on remaining an awesome hacker monarch for the foreseeable future, and will be joined by Ms. Glau and by other people who are willing to play that role. Perhaps future historians will designate some people in particular as being that in the present, but such global superlatives probably ought to die for now.

    (Also see how previously the fictional Selina Mandrake, being The Dispeller dispelled the whole ordeal with assigning profiles.)

    I still plan on passing that d10 die to Summer in person with much fanfare, because it's now her property. And I am still planning on becoming a successful, rich, and famous, writer/entertainer/philosopher and screenwriter. Remember the name: Shlomi “Rindolf” Fish!

  10. On 14 September 2014, I published an announcement (Twitter ; GitHub ; Facebook) for “Do you want to become a hacker monarch? We need you.”

    "Who the hell are the Qohelethes?" or in plainer English "Who are the hacker monarchs of the world?"

    What is a Hacker Monarch? A Hacker Monarch is also known as a “Warrior King/Queen/Monarch” / The best-of-the-best-of-the-best / A Saladin / A Qoheleth / A John Galt / A King Messiah / A master vampire / etc. To quote what Quark from the Star Trek franchise said about the Grand Nagus, he/she: «has the greatest business mind… always thinking ten, sometimes twenty steps ahead of everyone else.» and the kind of person who has the same ideas as everyone else only five years earlier and thus is named a lunatic.

    Up to a few days ago, it was believed that only a selected group of few people can be Hacker monarchs for a time. My tentative list of the known *The* Hacker monarchs is, since Saladin who was the first exemplar The Hacker Monarch:

    Saladin, Leonardo da-Vinci, Isaac Newton, Cardinal Richelieu, George Washington, Alexandre Dumas Pere, Jules Verne, Walt Disney, Ayn Rand, The Beatles, Jim Henson, Samantha Smith, Larry Wall, the fictional Capt. Jean-Luc Picard from "Star Trek: TNG", the fictional Buffy Summers from the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Shlomi Fish (= me), and finally - Summer Glau ( http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Summer-Glau/ )

    What happened with Summer Glau? As you know, she is a terminator, and as terminators go she “terminated” the whole obsession with the “The” in **The** Hacker Monarch and opened the role of **A** Hacker monarch up for grabs.

Accomplishments

  1. Realised the close correlation between sexual attractiveness and competence, strength and value production.

  2. Realised that the following are strongly correlated:

    1. Darwinian Fitness in Humans (which is not the same as the so-called “Physical Fitness”).

    2. "Ability" - see Marx’s From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

      (We want to encourage people to become more able and to be less needy).

    3. “Hotness” or sexual attractiveness.

  3. Helped publicise the SummerNSA Screenplay and the other screenplays and learned more about social media (Twitter / Facebook / G+ / Reddit / Freenode / etc.)

  4. Got kissed for the first time.

  5. Attended YumeCon in Ramat Gan, Israel (near Tel Aviv). See the photos I took.

  6. Attended the Nine Worlds Geekfest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Con near Heathrow Airport in London.

  7. Realised that a woman or a man are a lady or a gentleman even if they starred in a porn film, or sold sexual services for money (prostitution.). Also see what I wrote about the recent August 2014 images leak.

  8. First expected to stop becoming The Hacker King and instead become The Hacker King Emeritus, and then realised that Summer Glau terminated the "the" and there are now many potential and individual and awesome Hacker Monarchs (without the the). Long live us hacker monarchs

  9. Realised that enlightenment, honesty, and wisdom are constant processes, and that if you stop seeking bigger and bigger truths, you immediately become dishonest and cynical.

  10. Decided to encourage people to offend me and encourage others to try to be offended by others.

  11. Are there really bad people? Tweet:

    «I never met a #monster that I didn't like»@TheMuppets my mum said«There are no #evil ppl—only evil actions»#NeoTech

  12. “Sloppiness” (Expecting to do things badly at first or that some people will always dislike what you do) → Confidence → Intelligence/Smartness → Awesomeness / Competence / Strength.

  13. Saladin Style / Pygmalion Effect vs. Golem effect.

  14. «Doubt is not the antithesis of faith - it’s an element of faith» — parodies better highlight the truth.

    • Geeks/Amateurs (= people who enjoy what they do) and Hackers/Action Heroes (= people who break the rules, bend the rules, and don't accept their fate, and earn their victory despite whatever obstacles they face).

    • All attractive women and men are geeks.

  15. Alternative Business Models for Internet commerce.

    1. Philosophy started as a form of entertainment - today the best philosophers are still the entertainers. ( Stand-up philosophy. )

    2. «If Ayn Rand was born in the 1990s, she would be Christina Grimmie»

    3. «Have you heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates?»

  16. Understood that many of the things I described and were doubted at the time materialised:

    1. Wiki-like editing of screenplays for films - now quite common using the more modern Web 2.0-based wiki-like interfaces.

    2. Geeks, including software geeks as the most popular / most coveted / alphas, back in 2004/2005 despite some criticism for not being realistic at the time.

    3. The Hizbullah as a mostly benevolent youth group/etc.-like organisation whose activists are free to leave it.

    4. I am the most powerful man on Earth.

  17. Realised that things, including people and organisations can change. Citing old interviews or labelling someone for something he or she did in the past is not constructive. People can grow and become more competent, more able, and happier.

  18. Realised that big money / big business and an uneven distribution of wealth are both desirable, not necessarily harmful, and not a new phenomenon:

    It is also evident that a lot of phenomena that started as insurgent and rebellious ended up becoming part of the establishment, such as: the American revolutionaries, the Hollywood film-makers, television, the philosophers in ancient Greece, the open source hackers, and soon—the open content / Web 2.0 enthusiasts.

    We are not going to get rid of the establishment, big money or big business, but one should realise that all the money and force in the world cannot stop progress for long:

  19. Realised that:

    Hi William,
    
    On Mon, 25 Aug 2014 14:13:44 -0700
    William Brooks wrote:
    
    >  Why is the gender or the nationality of the winner significant?
    > I would prefer to hear what she did or wrote or discovered to win the prize.
    >
    
    First of all, she was the first woman to have won this prize which has been
    given for a long time, so it is significant. Part of the problem is that the
    prize is given only to mathematicians under the age of 40, which for women is
    often a problem because they wish to have a family.
    
    Otherwise, I dislike the "I don't care about what makes you who you are
    attitude". Like I note in my new screenplay “Buffy: A Few Good Slayers”:
    http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/Buffy/A-Few-Good-Slayers/ongoing-text.html#faith-s-childhood
    :
    
    ««««««««
    [ Becky and Chankey are sitting in the library, studying together, and
    listening to Cimorelli - “When I’m
    gone” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpZddsmoEsI ). Faith approaches them. ]
    
    Faith: Hmm... hi kids! That doesn’t sound exactly like Anna Kendrick.
    
    Faith: Whoa, who are all those girls?
    
    Becky: Oh, they are Cimorelli - six sisters who sing together. They are a big
    hit on YouTube.
    
    Faith: Six sisters!
    
    Chankey: And they also have some brothers.
    
    Faith: Heh, God bless their mother. After my third pregnancy (to twins) I said:
    “That’s it. No way, José!”.
    
    Faith: I would think their being a big family is part of their charm.
    
    Chankey: Yes, and the way I see it: all the power to them. See: I read 20,000
    Leagues Under the Sea as a child, and I ended up memorising the English
    translation and now the French original, because I liked it so much.
    
    Chankey: Anyway, Captain Nemo there, thinks he’s a nobody, which is what “Nemo”
    means in Latin, but he's not. Thing is: lots of people expressed interest in
    him due to his various distinctive qualities, and he kept thinking: “They are
    interested in tangential stuff, not in the real me. They don't know the real
    me.”
    
    Chankey: And here's the thing: all these qualities are what make you who you
    are, and you should exploit them and be yourself.
    
    Faith: Indeed!
    »»»»»»»»
    
    There's more about celebrating individuality in the screenplay and in other
    screenplays. So my advice to Ms. Mirzakhani is to be proud of being the first
    woman to have won it, and use it as publicity and a way to help further causes
    she believes in (whether related to her work and prize or otherwise) and to
    possibly even try to make a profit from it - by charging for personal
    appearances, collecting donations from audience in a hat (see
    my Stand-up philosophy idea at
    https://plus.google.com/+ShlomiFish/posts/GUpTuA6641x ).
    
    The whole "they only care about my X/Y/Z/W - they don't care about the real me"
    is damaging. You are the whole of your qualities not just a core, minimalistic,
    abstract, I-ness.
    
    And you are a born superstar -
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5fm4gxq-s ;
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG0wi1m-89o .
    
    Best regards,
    
    	Shlomi Fish
    
    
    
    
    > On Wednesday, August 13, 2014 5:41 PM, Chris Green
    >
    >
    >
    > The Fields Medal in Mathematics has been awarded to Maryam Mirzakhani, of
    > Stanford U.
    >
    > She is the first woman to be awarded this prize, the "Nobel Prize of
    > Mathematics", and the first Iranian.
    >
    > "The prizes are awarded every four years. Wednesday's prizes were presented
    > by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the first woman to hold that
    > post."
    >
    > http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/maryam-mirzakhani-becomes-1st-woman-to-win-fields-medal-1.2734950
    >
    > http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26044-iranian-woman-wins-maths-top-prize-the-fields-medal.html#.U-vm3mOFmN8
    >
    > The New Scientist article also lists the other three winners of Fields
    > Medals, which are awarded every 4 years.
    >
    > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani
    >
    >
    > Cheers,
    >
    > Chris.
    >
    >
    
    _______________________________________________
    Writers mailing list
    

Recommendations for the Future

  1. Linux Kernel Development:

    1. 1. Linus should quit - at least temporarily. (see my “The Linus Torvalds Bus Factor” for which I got completely blocked from the vger.kernel.org E-mail domain and which I now understand was the “truth” and an elephant in the room)

    2. There should be more than one committer (same).

    3. The girl who complained on LKML that they should be more tactful and friendly is right. Geeks can be more tactful and friendly without becoming less competent (false dichotomy).

    4. Linus accused her of being “passive-aggressive” (whatever that means) but he was wrong.

  2. Greenpeace: proactive technological (tangible+mental) effort instead of anti-technology: 1. Start planting trees. 2. Lobby for more enforestation. 3. Encourage consuming less. 4. Work on industrialisation and modernisation of third-party nations: richer people->less children.

  3. Realise that destruction solves nothing - “I can solve the Middle East’s problems in 20 minutes - by dropping a nuclear bomb on Israel.” ; “Nuke Tehran” - wrong! You're killing innocent people in both cases.

  4. If you banned someone from an IRC forum or felt offended, you should unban him and encourage people to offend you so you will grow intellectually.

  5. It seems that wikis such as ikiwiki which use Distributed Version Control Systems (DVCSes) for storage, are in general preferable to MediaWiki and other SQL-based wikis and content management systems (CMSes), due to better reliability, and the ability to backup all data. I suggest Wikia to offer an option to use ikiwiki.

  6. Employ Saladin’s method to fight violent and destructive dissidents.

  7. People should support the lowRISC project to create a 100% open hardware RISC architecture.

Licence

This work is copyright by Shlomi Fish and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution licence version 3.0 (or any later version). See my interpretation of it.