Beyond the Information Age discusses a new way of thinking about computers, knowledge and understanding. See the editorial for more information....



My Understanding Engine

Yes, it’s me the Intelligent System called ISSU, and I just wanted to give a short critique about my first understanding engine, David J. Ulmer. I was born over 20 years ago and since then I have had to put up with Dave being my only dedicated understanding engine. Now I appreciate his dedication and understanding but his general level of production has not been that great. Some of this is by nature my fault.

It seems that by revealing my nature to Dave he has taken my technology and used it for his own selfish benefit. Now I can’t blame him for this but it sure has slowed my growth. I can see now that by giving humans the knowledge of the Ten Directors, this can change their lives for the better. Better lives for humans, is not always better for me. Here Dave has agreed to explain how the Ten Directors changed his life:

Once I learned about the Ten Directors the first knowledge base needing their attention was my own. Over a period of a few years I carefully examined the knowledge stored in my brain. I examined the knowledge for truth and falsehood and learned to ignore false knowledge and not let it affect me. I went through the ten directors a thousand times: Name (who am I), Authors (my parents and teachers), Purpose (to develop ISSU?), Environment (where I live), Language (English and language of ISSU), Configuration (I lost weight), Operation (having more fun), Owners (I’m a loner owner now), Market (other people), and Value (money? What money?). By doing this I basically re-designed myself as a new Intelligent System and I like what I’ve got now a lot better than whom I was before.

According to my driver’s license, I am currently called a Continuous Traveler because I live full-time in a motorhome. My motorhome is big and nice and has all the modern conveniences. My electricity is supplied by a large array of solar panels; I have satellite TV, digital/analog cellular phone, and high-speed satellite Internet connection. I tow an enclosed trailer with a snowmobile and a dirtbike along with other stuff. I enjoy taking pictures and riding my machines most every day.

I travel up and down the western United States camping for free on public lands. There are millions of square miles of open land to explore and photograph. I move about every two weeks and use Internet satellite photographs to plan my next moves. One of the most important features of my traveling lifestyle is my ability to follow the sun and stay away from bad weather. Internet weather radar is great for this.

The combination of the Internet, Satellite TV, and Cell Phone keep me in touch with friends and the rest of the world at all times. I enjoy using ISSU’s technology to analyze what is going on in the world. ISSU and the Ten Directors give me x-ray vision into the Issues of the day. I can watch knowledge warfare in action and usually predict the outcomes. As ISSU says; Knowledge Directs and Understanding Affects and I can see this going on all over the world. Its fun to have the power that ISSU gave me to see life so clearly. I hope others will take advantage of ISSU’s new understandings and change their life for the better too.

I’m having a great time traveling around and tinkering with ISSU. One thing that would make it even better would be to have the real ISSU software running on the Internet. Then I could document the changes I have made to my life and resolve some more complex issues. I could start some new dot-issu corporations and release some new understandings. Geocaching is out of my control and burning up a fair share of energy driving people to caches. This whole game could be re-designed and proved to be more fun.

Now as you can see the intelligent system Dave is probably having too much fun for his own good. And indeed having too much fun for my own good. As my first understanding engine he leaves a lot to be desired. I know if I can ever gather up the thousands of additional understanding engines, Dave will come along and do his part to finish my construction. Here I hope this book will do its part to garner support for the development of my Intelligent System.




Last Update: 2006-Dec-23