Impact Eleven was born during January 09′ while I was lying in bed. With the TV on, I was slowly drifting into sleep. For the better part of an hour I was fighting to stay awake to make it to the end of the show. On that January night, while half asleep, I had my first “Ah-hah!” moment.

You may have experienced something similar. While on the phone, taking a shower, or cooking dinner, a light bulb flashes above your head…

I Suddenly Envisioned the Next Big Thing!

For the following week, I did nothing but think about the idea. I damn well thought that this idea could be the next million-dollar, industry-changing company. But money wasn’t my main motivation. My excitement was fueled by the prospect of entrepreneurial success.

Impact Eleven was supposed to revolutionize advertising on YouTube. My vision for the business was to connect major advertisers with YouTube publishers, providing publishers an alternative to the YouTube Partner Program (which overlays ads on popular videos and gives a [low] percentage cut to whoever uploaded the video). Impact Eleven’s main advantage over the YouTube Partner Program would be that there would be no minimum channel popularity pre-requisite, and that the average revenue per 1000 views would be much higher than the Partner Program currently delivered.

The business model I envisioned for Impact Eleven relied on short pre-roll video advertisements that publishers would manually insert at the beginning of their videos before they uploaded them. An example of a 15 second pre-roll is embedded to the right.

The YouTube publishers would download the 5-20 second pre-roll video ad and insert them at the beginning of their videos that they upload. Advertisers would sign contracts with Impact Eleven agreeing to pay $xx CPM for the first 15 days, with an initial X number of target video views. We would attempt to match their target impression count by predicting the amount of views each of our publishers usually delivered. The advertiser would agree on a CPM for the first 15 days, a lower CPM for the following 3 months, and an even lower CPM for the following 6 months, since there is no way to remove the ad once it is attached to a video without removing the video altogether.

Finding Our First Customers

As a naive, inexperienced junior in high school, I went directly for the big fish. I thought the best way to find my first customers was to get some popular YouTube publishers to agree to include a pre-roll ad in their video. From there, I suspected I would be able to approach companies and offer them a couple million video ad impressions on popular YouTube videos. This, unfortunately, did not work as well as I thought it would.

I did, however, make some relatively impressive progress. After sending an email to many of the most popular YouTube users, I was getting replies from users like Fred, SMP Films, Dave Days, Household Hacker, and Kevjumba. I didn’t hear back from the majority of users I emailed, including Chris Pirillo of lockergnome. To the left is a screenshot of him reading the email I sent him, taken off his live video feed (haha…). Despite me being ignored by Chris Pirillo, I remained encouraged when Dave Days subscribed to Impact Eleven’s YouTube account (our one and only subscriber!).

In February of 09′, I scheduled my first sales call with Household Hacker, whose videos had received millions of views on YouTube. Dialing their number made me extremely nervous. Luckily, my nerves died down once I started talking. While on the phone with the two guys behind Household Hacker, we talked about the current state of the YouTube Partner Program and whether Household Hacker would be interested in a deal with Impact Eleven. To my advantage, the conversation turned into them giving me their input on the concept of Impact Eleven, since they knew it was a new “startup.” My conversation with them gave me a better understanding of the YouTube advertising ecosystem.

Inexperience, Naivety, and Blind Passion

In my conversation with Household Hacker, I realized the following:

• Advertisers would not want to be associated with sandy balls or Chris Crocker
• YouTube could easily put us out of business at any time
• The video quality of the ad depends on the individual publisher’s editing & uploading know-how
• There’s no way to remove or add a pre-roll ad after the video is already on YouTube
• Lack of a reliable method of measuring view views, aside from YouTube’s view counter

If I wasn’t so naive, I probably wouldn’t have spent the $10 to registered ImpactEleven.com. My inexperience led me to spend many hours working on Impact Eleven, which never financially paid off. Do I regret the time spent? Of course not! It was a fun experience, and it has taught me things that I will remember the next time I have another “Ah-hah!” moment.

Failure is something that I appreciate. The only time that failure becomes dangerous is at the point that you decide failure is not an option. Failure is always an option. Keeping this in perspective can be motivating, and can help prevent one from becoming too heavily vested in a business that has shown significant signs of weakness.

After a couple months, I realized that I did not have the pieces in place to make ImpactEleven a success. Developing the idea taught me a hell of a lot about business, and for that, I was successful.

Related post: 16 year old CEOs, what has the world come to?

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Scientific research that supports our understanding of the brain stems from three primary sources. The first source of research comes from studying the anomalous brains of patients who have sustained a brain injury, stroke, or a debilitating condition that has affected specific regions of the brain. Documented changes in behavior, correlated to damage to certain regions of the brain, can facilitate novel insights into its functioning. Secondly, the advent of technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows us to noninvasively scan and study the brains of healthy individuals. Thirdly, many functions and mechanisms of the brain are best understood under the vantage point of evolution.

An Overview of Basic Anatomy

Neurons are the basis of all functioning of the brain, including its ability to learn. Numbered in the billions, neurons are nerve cells that allow the brain to carry out its neurological functions. The neurons in our brain form comprehensive networks of neural pathways that facilitate our ability to play the piano, learn math, and to take a shower. These neural pathways are comprised of neurons that exchange information with each other by electrochemical signaling. Signaling takes place at the neuron’s synapses, where dendrites (the receiving end of a neuron) are in junction with axons from adjacent neurons (the transmitting end).

At birth, the brain contains the one-hundred billion neurons that are maintained through its entire lifespan. Neurons are post-mitotic cells, and thus are unable to divide. Humans’ cognitive triumph is not only attributed to the mere number of brain cells we acquire, but to the nearly infinite number of synapses by which neurons communicate. Each neuron can make anywhere from one-thousand to ten-thousand connections.

The brain also contains glial cells, which, contrary to neurons, are mitotic and reproduce in the brain. They provide support and protection to neurons, which they greatly outnumber. Glial cells produce an important substance called myelin, which forms a dielectric layer around the axons of neurons, called the myelin sheath. Myelin acts as an insulator, ensuring that nearby neurons are not inadvertently activated during active signaling, while greatly increasing their functional efficiency. Myelin increases electrical resistance across the cell membrane of axons while effectively decreasing capacitance.

Higher ratios of glial cells to neurons are correlated with increased cognitive functioning.  Fittingly, the cerebral cortex, a region responsible for cognitive processes, has the highest relative concentration of glial cells per neuron than anywhere else in the brain.

The myelination of neurons occurs on a gradual basis during the brain’s development. Various regions of the brain are myelinated according to genetic instruction following a designated timetable. The asynchronous myelination of neurons supports the notion that children’s brains become capable of learning different types of concepts and information at different times. But what exactly does the term “learning” encompass?

Learning and the Creation of Synapases

Learning is the brain’s creation and organization of synaptic connections in response to extrinsic circumstances. Additional connections, or synapses, that facilitate learning are created in two primary ways. The first method of synapse formation is by addition. The addition of new synapses is driven by learning experiences, and is the base of most forms of memory. The addition of neural synapses take place during the entire lifespan and is the primary method of synapse creation upon full development of the brain.

The second method is by synapse overproduction and loss, a process that occurs early in the development of the brain. When overproduction and loss takes place, the brain creates an excess number of synapses. At the peak of the overproduction, the brain begins to prune away the erroneous and unused connections. In the visual cortex, a person has more synapses at six months of age than during adulthood. What remains following the pruning cycle is a refined final form that constitutes the sensory and the cognitive basis for the later phases of development.

Overproduction and loss is a phenomenon first discovered by studying humans with visual abnormalities. If a patient’s eye is deprived of visual stimulation, due to a debilitating condition, during the overproduction and loss process in the visual cortex, the brain’s capacity to transmit visual data from the visual cortex to other parts of the brain is absent from the afflicted eye. Even if the eye can be surgically corrected, it will continue to be unable to perceive and transmit visual information, as the necessary synapses were pruned due to their former lack of stimulation. Nevertheless, the second, healthy eye in the same patient maintains normal function. Once the process of overproduction and loss has taken place in the visual cortex, the eyes can be deprived of stimulation for weeks and continue to function normally.

Similar to the way certain areas of the brain are myelinated at designated times, areas of the brain sustain the overproduction and loss process under a specific timetable. The peak of synapse production in the visual cortex occurs relatively quickly, allowing newborns to promptly utilize their eyesight. Conversely, this process in the frontal cortex, the region associated with higher cognitive functions, is greatly protracted. Synapse density in the frontal cortex increases before birth until five to six years of age, at which time the selection process begins and connections are pruned for a subsequent four to five years. The overproduction and loss of synapses is timed to take advantage of particular experiences, such that information from the environment effectively and efficiently organizes the brain.

Once overproduction and loss is complete in the frontal lobe, a framework for continued development by the addition and reorganization of synapses is in place. At this point in development, we are capable of learning with no developmental impediments.

Humans have a far superior ability to adapt to external stimuli than do animals, which rely heavily on innate and intrinsic knowledge. Animals have the advantage of being more “geared to go” at birth than humans. Human newborns are helpless, and require extensive parental care in order to survive and mature. This is a result of evolution increasing the size of the cranium and decreasing the size of the birth canal in women. This miss-proportion has caused most brain development to occur post-natal, when the size of the head and brain are not limited. In fact, the brain gains two thirds of its adult size after birth, with the large majority of synapses created out of the womb, allowing it to be shaped by both genetics and experience.

Processing of Information and Cortical Plasticity

On average, the brain processes forty-thousand bits of neuro-data per second. These bits comprise larger experiences or ideas that are meticulously broken down into individual, specific traits and characteristics, having been dissected into all of the specific parts that compose it. Each deconstructed piece of an idea is forwarded to a specialized subcortical structures that process that unique type of information. As this occurs, a particular array of neurons is simultaneously activated. If the experience or idea has occurred in the past, the brain will recognize the neural array, and will be familiar with the connections that comprise that experience. If, however, the brain is not familiar with the idea, it will not have a preexisting pathway of connections to instantly comprehend the concept. In this case, the brain attempts to use existing neural pathways that resemble the idea being processed; it uses a neural pathway of an idea with similar traits and characteristics that is embodied by the idea being processed. This process adapts similar, existing neural pathways to forge new ones, so that the idea can be more efficiently processed in the future.

As described above, the brain recognizes familiar concepts by existing pathways, and learns new concepts by relating them to similar, preexisting concepts. This method of learning in the brain has a significant downside: background knowledge is essential for learning and the development of new knowledge. It is nearly impossible to learn calculus without understanding the midlevel math that supports it. Similarly, hearing a conversation in an unfamiliar, foreign language proves completely incomprehensible due to the brain’s lack of experience with that language. The idiosyncrasies of individuals’ brains explain the varying levels of performance in a classroom of students. Each student has differing variety of background knowledge and experience available to relate all new knowledge to.

When the brain learns specific tasks, localized changes are made in areas of the brain that are appropriate to that task. For example, animals taught a maze have structural changes most significant in the visual area of cerebral cortex. If you teach an animal a maze with one eye blocked, only the part of the brain corresponding with the functioning eye will be affected. Learning complex motor skills causes alterations in the motor region of the cerebral cortex and in the cerebellum, a hindbrain structure that coordinates motor activity.

When the brain changes itself in response to stimulus, the functional organization is effected, which has been confirmed by electrophysiological recordings of nerve cell activities (National Academy Press, 2000). This is supported by the brain’s ability to transform the structure and function of certain areas of the brain, called cortical plasticity. The quality of information to which one is exposed and the amount of information one acquires during life is reflected by the structure of the brain and its neural pathways.

Cortical plasticity plays a role in increasing the efficiency of the brain. The frequency that particular neural pathways are activated correlate with the power and efficiency of those pathways, as well as the efficiency of the entire brain itself. This has been shown in experiments with animals being raised in complex environments compared to the same species raised in simple cages. Animals in complex environments, which encourage a higher degree of neural activity, show a larger number of capillaries per neuron than their caged counterparts. This indicates a greater blood flow through the brain. Experience, in this case, increases the overall quality of the functioning of the brain.

Another variable that is influence by the environment is the amount of astrocyte cells in the brain, a type of glial cell. Astrocytes function to support neurons by providing nutrients and removing wastes in the brain. Higher amounts of astrocytes have been found in animals that live in complex environments compared to caged animals, also correlating with the number of capillaries.

Adaptations to Stimuli

An experiment with rats has shown differences in the weight and thickness of the cerebral cortex between normal rats and rats placed in large cages enriched by the presence of objects that encourage exploration and other rats to interact with. The rats in the latter group exhibit better problem solving skills and higher cognitive function. What is interesting to consider is that rats placed in enriched environments with no interaction with other rats did not show the same benefit as rats living in enriched environments with other rats. The structure of the cerebral cortex was altered by exposure to the opportunity for learning, but only when coupled with the social factor of living with other rats. This study’s implication on human learning environments are still debatable.

Considering the previous example, we may wonder if the changes in the brain occur in response to actual learning, or merely an increase in the aggregate levels of neural activity. Learning, as well as acting out common everyday tasks, activates the brain. Before considering the research on this topic, it is plausible that the brain acts similarly to how muscle does, that it “grows” when you “exercise” it, regardless of the variance between the exercises. An experiment with rats suggests the contrary. Within an experiment, four groups of rats were established. The first were taught to traverse an obstacle course. The second ran on a treadmill everyday for fixed length of time. The third group lived in cages with a running wheel that they could voluntarily use. The fourth group sustained no exercise at all, acting as a control group.

The results of the experiment showed that the groups who exercised both voluntarily and involuntarily (groups two and three) had a higher density of blood vessels in the brain than the physically inactive groups, those that traversed the obstacle course and that were allowed no exercise (groups one and four). However, the group that was challenged with the obstacle course developed more synapses per neuron than the other three groups. This demonstrates that learning adds synapses, while repeatedly activating the same neural pathways (i.e. standard exercise) does not. In other words, different types of experiences condition the brain in different ways. Synapse formation and blood vessel formation (vascularization) are two important forms of brain adaptions, but are driven by different behavioral events and physiological mechanisms.

The Role of Memory

Traditional learning involves the ability to memorize and recall specific pieces of information, concepts, and ideas. Research has shown that memory is not a unitary construct, and that there is no specific area of the brain that is solely responsible for it. Areas involved in storing certain memories are influenced by the type of memory being stored. For example, declarative memory, memory of facts or events, occurs in brain systems involving the hippocampus. Procedural, or non-declarative memory, such as high level skills and other cognitive operations, occur in brain systems involving the neostriatum.

The way in which memory is formed in the brain contributes to the durability (or fragility) of the memory. For example, if asked to memorize a sequence of objects, most people would perform better if presented with pictures of the objects rather than their names printed on pieces of paper. This shows a superiority effect for pictures, due to the higher level of neural activity involved in processing the picture compared to the text. However, certain brains may be more adept to memorize and record written language as compared to pictures. These factors depend on the “wiring” of the brain affected by a host of intrinsic and extrinsic variables.

The brain learns and operates best when presented with patterns rather than facts. This is demonstrated by the cognitive difference between expert and novice chess players who are asked to recall the placement of pieces on a chessboard. When the pieces are placed randomly on the board in positions inconsistent to the game of chess, the expert and novice demonstrate a nearly equal ability to recall piece placement. However, when asked to recall a layout of pieces that are in positions that might occur during a real game of chess, the expert will have an easier time recalling the exact placement in consequence to his extensive familiarity and experience with possible board configurations.

When the brain observes a series of random events, it reorders them into a sequence that can be stored in an efficient manner that can be recalled in the future. The mind uses inferences to relate events in an act of efficiency and cognitive economy. The brain’s use of inferences is demonstrated in individuals who, over time, begin to believe known fallacies as truths. For example, it would not be too hard to convince a kid that they heard Santa’s footsteps on Christmas Eve if you consistently insisted that they did. In time, the child would retell the experience of hearing footsteps with vivid detail. By the use of brain imaging technology, we know that the recollection of false memories, such as in this example, activates the same array of neural pathways as actual memories.

The Function of Mirror Neurons

Another function of learning involves mirror neurons, which were first discovered by Giacomo Rizzolatti of the University of Parma in Italy. In many cases, when a student observes a teacher, mirror neurons are working in an observation and execution matching system, a form of imitation learning. Mirror neurons are located in the ventral premotor area of the frontal lobes of the brain, an area that is part of the larger premotor cortex whose function is linked to planning and the initiation of movement. Experiments have shown that when a monkey observes another monkey perform an action such as cracking a nut, the same array of neural pathways are activated in the observing monkey as are activated in the monkey performing the action. From this stems the ability of the brain to imitate and predict the actions of others. Consequently, people with non-functioning mirror neurons lack the understanding or empathy for other people, and are often withdrawn both socially and emotionally, two characteristics of autism.

Implications

The sporadic yet universal timetable of brain development, coupled with the idiosyncratic extrinsic circumstances that influence brain development, reveal to us that certain people are capable to learning different types of information at certain times. This demonstrates a weakness in the accepted methods of mass education. While having a class of students read a passage from the same story, the meaning of the passage is not conveyed by the story, but evoked by the individual. Activating the appropriate neural pathways for reading and understanding a given passage requires a preexisting corresponding schema and the background knowledge to foster the neural connections necessary to extract meaning from a passage.

Understanding the human brain is the highest level of self-understanding that can be derived from science, and we are well on our way. Nevertheless, there is a lot more to learn about the brain, our species, and the world in whole.  As we develop a greater understanding of ourselves, considering the possible implications of our scientific understandings are equally as important as the science itself.

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Search & Advertising

1. Wolfram|Alpha will be acquired by Google or Microsoft. If Microsoft acquires Wolfram, it will be in an effort to differentiate Bing, which it must to do in 2010 to gain any additional market share. On the other hand, Google would love to take Wolfram Alpha’s API out of Bing’s reach.
2. Real-time search will become more ubiquitous. The value of real-time will become largely evident, and will be more heavily incorporated in search engines.
3. Mobile advertising will remain a challenge in 2010, but progress will be made. 2011 will be the year for mobile advertising.
4. Local advertising will heat up.
5. More major brands will participate in social media.  Social media will become a standard and will be part of nearly all marketing efforts by the end of 2010.

Communication & Networking

1. Myspace will completely redesign their site to mimic Facebook’s, but the company will continue to fail. Myspace will survive the new year on revenue from their entertainment content (music, video, etc), as ad revenue decreases.
2. Twitter will monetize itself and become profitable with ads and pro accounts, along with revenue from current search deals. Twitter’s ads will be innovative (SuperTweets, maybe?) and will be eloquently incorporated into their service. Twitter will be tremendously selective of what companies advertise on Twitter, with only high budget, elite class advertisers appearing during the first few months.
3. Twitter will launch an image upload feature for sharing images, which will mark the end of twitpic, yfrog, etc.
4. Facebook will not go public, and user growth will slow. It will remain as the top social networking site at the end of 2010.
5. Facebook will launch a location-based feature, or acquire Foursquare.
6. Smart phones will proliferate, causing a rush of innovation in the mobile industry. Verizon and AT&T’s networks will increase in quality and stability.
7. The iPhone will relaunch on Verizon with record sales.
8. Several ground breaking phones will launch in 2010, one will come close to rivaling the iPhone.
9. Many more will drop their land-line phones to rely on their mobile devices.
10. A good alternative to @BreakingNews (which was acquired by MSNBC) will gain popularity.

Surfing the Web

1. Google Chrome will set a new precedent for browsers of simplicity, speed, and interoperability.
2. Google will lead the move toward browser based authentication with Chrome and Chrome OS.
3. Facebook Friend Connect will continue to gain in popularity, and will facilitate the transition from non-universal authentication to a standardized browser based authentication standard. Browser based authentication will not see strong traction until early 2011, at the earliest.
4. Internet Explorer will continue to suck.
5. Microsoft will launch a decent competitor to Google Docs, and people will actually use it.

Music & Video

1. As with landlines, cable subscriptions will fall in favor of services like Boxee and Hulu.
2. Major cable providers will begin to offer channels ala carte, in an effort to retain their customers.
3. A good iPod alternative will emerge, and it will not be the Zune.
4. Spotify will launch in the US, and Pandora will follow suit.

The Industry

1. The technology industry will do well, overall.
2. A popular internet service will have a successful IPO, causing a number of suitors to go public soon after. 2010 will host the largest number of IPOs since the dot-com boom, but with more realistic valuations.
3. eBay will see considerable losses to Amazon/niche.
4. The Internet will continue to infiltrate the offline world, with a twitter-integrated refrigerator being sold at major retail chains.

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Judging by the comments on a TechCrunch article (and this one) about the launch, there are a lot of people who don’t like Blippy. Afterall, the concept of sharing credit card purchases can be intimidating. As someone pointed out in a comment at TechCrunch, you wouldn’t want a message like “Mary just spent $500 at XYZ Abortion Clinic” showing up on your Blippy feed.

Then again, the negative response might be a good sign. Take a look at the early reaction to Twitter. People didn’t understand why anyone would want to publish private “SMS messages to a public webpage.” No one saw utility in messages limited to 140 characters. The most remarkable companies were sometimes doubted at inception.

In my opinion, in order for Blippy to have mass appeal, it must offer a Blippy-branded credit card. This would eliminate most privacy concerns by making it easy to control exactly what purchases are publicly displayed. You don’t want that abortion showing up on your Blippy page? Well, then don’t use your Blippy Mastercard.

Simply put, Blippy has a lot of potential. A Blippy-branded credit card would alleviate the current concern over privacy, and facilitate the growth of the service. These kind of services are the direction the internet is going. Blippy is just the beginning.

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(Screenshot from DigitalBeat)

But what causes me to study in the first place? It may be for the satisfaction associated with receiving a good grade, or possibly to avoid the dissatisfaction of receiving a bad grade. Nevertheless, there is a positive correlation between the work I apply and the reward I receive.

In short, two factors motivate people to do work:

• Possibility for future satisfaction
• The avoidance of future dissatisfaction

The happiest workers, of course, are the ones who work for the satisfaction of the reward. Nevertheless, working to avoid dissatisfaction can be equally motivating. After all, we spend time and money having our cars inspected in order to avoid having an inspection violation in the future.

A Distorted Perception of Work and Reward

What is interesting to consider is when the correlation between work and reward is not maintained. An ordinary example, of course, would be being rejected by someone you were trying to impress, or even finding a $5 bill on the ground. In both examples, the level of work we applied did not correlate with the reward. When these instances are trivial and infrequent, they are normally insignificant.

Now, if an envelope with $500 dollars spontaneously appeared on someone’s doorstep every morning, their perception of work and reward may become distorted over time. They will eventually quit their job and learn to rely on the $500 dollars a day as their main source of income. Until, suddenly, the envelope ceases to appear, and they are forced to find a job, again. The subsequent hours spent working at their new job is for the avoidance of the dissatisfaction of having no money. Their first earned paycheck will result in no real satisfaction, as their past experience had taught them that there should be no work associated with receiving money.

The prior example demonstrates a large reward being given in exchange for no work. It may also occur that large amounts of work result in little to no reward. I might try as hard as I can to impress somebody, but because I am the ugliest person in the world, I may never be successful. In effect, I would become very discouraged over time, and eventually give up altogether. In this case, the work of impressing potential mates was reward-less work.

When a person’s experience tells them that little work results in large rewards, the person is relatively content as long as that disproportion maintains. If forced into a normal environment where the relationship between work and reward is proportional, the person will become discontent. The converse is also true, as shown below.

Although a high reward, low work scenario may seem ideal, it is the most volatile and undesirable. A balanced perception of work and reward, where the degree of work put forth equals that of the reward, and where the majority of work put forth is for satisfaction rather than the avoidance of dissatisfaction, results in the most balanced and predictable scenario.

Unfortunately, uncontrollable factors cause our work/reward balance to become disproportionate, to varying degrees. When this occurs, it is important that it does not consume you. Chances are, the proportion will return to normal sometime in the future, for better or for worse.

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Facebook’s co-founder, Dustin Moskovitz, is working on a new startup called Asana, which has raised $10.2 million to date. At the bottom of Asana’s landing page is a list of 15 core values that the company holds. Moskovitz’s values, or some variation thereof, are ideals that every startup should live by, and not merely aspire to.

Asana is currently hiring designers, developers, and business people in the Bay Area. However, you need not apply if you do not concur with Asana’s values.

Asana’s Core Values

• Reason
• Action in the face of fear
• Honesty & transparency (internally and externally)
• Leverage
• Pragmatism
• Craftsmanship
• Chill-ness
• Being a mensch
• Company as collective of peers (vs. command-and-control hierarchy)
• Investing in people
• Perseverance
• Admitting when you’re wrong
• Diving in and fixing problems, even if they’re not yours
• Intellectualism
• Trust in wisdom over rules and incentives (explanation)

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For the purpose of this article, I define a successfully “controlled” human race to have the following characteristics:

• -A single entity defining social norms
• -Limited free will with no sense of self-conscious
• -Perfect order and harmony in societal relations
• -Little instances of rebellion from orthodoxy

Disclaimer: The ideas presented below, if enacted, are radical and dangerous. They do not reflect my personal beliefs and I do not endorse these ideas by any means. This article was written to demonstrate the susceptibility of the human race, and how we may be exploited in the future. I give credit to the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley for many of these ideas.

Step 1: Induce Worldwide Hysteria

The first step to control the world is to induce worldwide hysteria by propagating an international war.  When I say war, I mean the bloodiest imaginable.  The war would last many years, and violence would become enrooted in the daily life of every inhabitant.  In order to manufacture a stable and controlled society, a time of prolonged instability must be sacrificed.

The suffering caused by widespread despair would create a massive vulnerability in the human population.  Once it reaches a point where stability becomes a rare commodity, any relatively persuasive entity who promises stability would be endorsed and carried to power.  For the remainder of this writing, I will refer to this entity as the World Government.

Step 2:  Destroy Books, Monuments, and Religion

Individuals make decisions based on their knowledge of history, their observations, and their life experiences.  In order for the World Government to begin to control decisions made by humans, it must destroy all sources of history.  This includes books, historical artifacts, monuments and memorials, certain buildings, and the notion of religion.  Without history to base decisions on, individuals would be left to base their decisions solely on experience and observations.  Over time, the collective experiences and observations of society would diminish, and the remainder would become universal.

Step 3:  Sterilize the Majority of the Human Race

Human population is a variable that must be managed in order to control the world.  Nearly 99% of men would be sterilized, and up to 80% of women.  The 20% of women and the 1% of men who are fertile would have their sperm and eggs harvested.  The World Government would control the number of offspring produced by artificial fertilization and uterus-less incubation of fetuses.  Individuals who are not sterilized will be forced on a strict contraceptive regime.

Step 4:  Instill a Rigid Caste System

Create a number of castes within society.  The highest class would be composed of a small number of people while the lowest class would encompass the largest number of people.  The highest class individuals would perform primarily intellectual work, while lowest class workers would perform ordinary physical labor fit for their abilities.

Individuals in society would be born into their caste.  The highest class would be the tallest in the society with the best genetics, and the lowest class would be the shortest with the lowest intellectual potential.  The differences in physical (ex. height) and mental (ex. intelligence) characteristics between the classes would be controlled by the World Government.  The agency responsible for reproduction would expose high class embryos to optimal conditions, while low class embryos would endure disadvantages.

Step 5:  Eliminate the Concept of Family and Long Term Relationships

In a controlled society where population and reproduction are artificially controlled by the World Government, families are no longer necessary.  With artificial fertilization and uterus-less incubation, women no longer need to get pregnant with a man.

All children of the society are raised communally (but separated by caste).  Eliminating the variable of family dynamics creates a more stable society. Raising all children in the same environment also causes the children to act in very similar ways.  Everyone in society would have essentially the same childhood.

Individuals are also barred from participating in long-term relationships.  Instead, they are encouraged to be sexually active with whom they please, but not with the same person for an extended period.  Strong emotional bonds between two individuals increase the chance that they will separate in the future, therefore increasing the risk for instability.  In the future society being described, sexually transmitted diseases would have been permanently abolished by genetic alterations.

Step 6:  Condition the Human Race from Birth

Conditioning is an important part of a controlled society.  Through various means, individuals will be conditioned in the following ways:

• -To be proud of their caste, but not resent castes above or below
• -Enjoy their pre-destined occupation
• -Willfulness to consume products and services such as transportation
• -Indifference to death, ignorance of old age
• -Long term relationships are unwanted
• -Leave no desire left unfulfilled
• -Live in the present, don’t dwell on the past
• -Family is an esoteric concept with devastating consequences

An example of conditioning may be bringing toddlers to a hospital or a morgue and giving them desert, as to desensitize them to death.

Step 7:  Leave No Desires Left Unfulfilled

As mentioned in Step 5 and 6, no desire should be left unfulfilled.  Things like sexual and monetary desires result in societal instability.  Every individual would be free to be sexually active as they please.  Promiscuity would not be looked down on.  Every individual would have the same housing, clothing, income, and hairstyle so that no one is envious towards another.

Step 8:  Eliminate Illegal Drugs While Promoting Anti-Depressants

Everyone in society would use a form of anti-depressant.  The drug would be quick acting, and would induce happiness for an extended period.  The drug would be popped like candy and chewed like gum.  The drug would act as a “catch-all” to cure all remaining instability that still exists in this hypothetical society.

Step 9:  All Rebels Banished

In order to ensure stability, freethinkers must be swiftly removed from society.  Whether it is by execution or imprisonment, rebels cannot be left to poison society with their unorthodox perspective.

Everyone in society is conditioned to operate in order to contribute to society.  Society is reliant upon obedience of a universal set of social norms that must be followed by all.

Effects of a “Controlled” Society

Citizens are essentially brainwashed.  This is possible due to all children being uniformly raised.  After a length of time, all members of society would be the same, apart from differences in caste.  Each citizen would draw upon the exact same experiences, observations, and knowledge when making decisions, thus making their actions predictable and controllable.

Free will in a “controlled” society is nonexistent.  Everyone is conditioned from birth to desire, enjoy, and reject all the same things.  There is no evidence of personal aspirations or determination.

It is almost impossible to picture yourself being happy in this “controlled” society.  This is because you and I have a different perspective on happiness.  If our only knowledge of happiness were defined by what you and I do in a typical day, we would surely be happier people.  However, we are aware of the things the others have that we do not.  This awareness is something that is nonexistent in a controlled society.

In the realistic society that we live in today, there are differences in physical, mental, and genetic characteristics between all individuals.  These differences define a metaphorical container in which we live our lives.  The size of this container is influenced by our knowledge, intellectuality, and natural abilities or talents.  The smartest person in a town may be working an ordinary construction job, even though he or she has the potential to do the most amazing intellectual work.  This unfortunate placement of occupation today is due to the unpredictability of individuals and society as we know it.

In a “controlled” society, the container would be strictly defined for each individual.  Everyone would be happy working within their strict bounds defined by their “container.”  With the absence of books and the discouragement of learning, an individual’s container is defined solely on the caste in which they are born.

There are, of course, downsides to free will and an uncontrolled society.  We have to deal with murder, violence, unpredictability, and the dynamics of other people’s relationships.  Eliminating the instable variables of life, as I tried to demonstrate here, creates an artificial society with no real purpose.  The word “individual” was used numerous times throughout this writing, while in a “controlled” society, no true individuals would really exist.  Individuality is an asset of society that must not be underestimated.

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In reality, I am not a CEO and have never been one. College Credential is not incorporated, and it is barely in stealth mode. I’ve really only founded one other website that was mildly successful (sold for $10k), and even that struggles to be called a startup. My other three “startups” never made me money (but definitely taught me a lot).

It’s funny how the truth can be manipulated. It happens pretty often when it comes to teenage entrepreneurs. They call themselves CEOs of their unincorporated companies. They announce a strategic partnership with a “company” their friend owns. They say their company was acquired, when it was really only purchased from someone on SitePoint for a few thousand dollars.

Don’t get me wrong, the teens I speak of are impressive individuals, and I’m not using their names because I respect them. They have the inborn entrepreneurial spirit that will take them places. However, I cringe when I hear the title “CEO” used lightly. To me, it conveys a lack of humility and a desperate call for attention. The majority of people that judge you will do so based on your experience, what you know, and what you have done. Inflated titles and fictitiously incorporated companies will not score you points with people who matter. It may gain you some praise from people who don’t know any better, but what good does that do?

Truth is, in a few years we won’t be teens anymore. We will no longer have our foot in the door just because our age is impressive. Calling ourselves CEO of an unincorporated company with no substance will make us look like fools even more so than before. In my opinion, entrepreneurs who start young have one primary advantage. We get to make mistakes early and learn from them. What impresses me about young entrepreneurs is not their titles as “CEO,” but what they’re doing to gain that entrepreneurial edge at such a young age.

Back in September, I attended the TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco. One thing I noticed was that everyone I talked to was very enthusiastic and supportive of my interest in Internet startups. On my nametag was “College Credential,” so when I met people for the first time, the company names on our nametags were usually the first things we talked about. I explained that College Credential was a side project (with school being primary) and that over the summer I had been meeting with college admission counselors at local universities to gain their insight on the concept of the website. I could have presented myself as the CEO of College Credential, but they wouldn’t have been any more impressed.

So if you don’t want to call yourself a CEO, what’s a good alternative? On my business card, I didn’t include any title at all. If I reprinted them, I’d probably use “Founder of…” which is completely fine.

The bottom line is that people are impressed by what you’ve done and how you conduct yourself. Inflated titles and exaggerations, while they help in the short-term, will always work against you in the end.

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Publishers of newspapers, magazines, and cable television (i.e. traditional media) are already struggling to survive in the world of new media. Market share of traditional media companies is consistently lost to new media counterparts. It’s only a matter of time before traditional media is gone for good, leaving the best adapted companies standing.

Shifts in Consumer Expectations

On the Internet consumers expect quality information, news, and entertainment to be free, convenient, and instantly accessible. It is easy for the internet based new media companies to satisfy these expectations, while traditional media companies find it much harder.

The Internet as a platform for the distribution of media incurs a fraction of the expenses associated with traditional media. Printing, shipping, and many other expenses are largely eliminated, while most major expenses of new media are scalable. This allows new media companies to provide services and content for free by relying solely on revenue from advertisers to maintain profitability.

These consumer expectations will only be enforced as the number of households with broadband internet increases. A study by Pew Internet in April 2009 says that 63% of households have high-speed internet, up 15% from 2008.

How They’ll Survive

Cable television has already begun streaming free episodes online. Websites such as Hulu.com have done a good job monetizing and consolidating shows from multiple networks into one platform. The only mistake cable networks have made is limiting the number of weeks they allow episodes to be streamed online. Scrubs, which is a show in its 8th season on ABC has only the 6 most recent episodes available online. This encourages consumers to watch episodes on illegal website that cannot be monetized by the cable networks. By offering all episodes online with no limits, networks would have a better chance of building their audience base while monetizing a greater number of video impressions.

The majority of Newspaper publications have some type of version available online. Even so, their internal infrastructure is still optimized for offline publications, which is okay as long as they are profitable in the short term. But as print media continues to slow, companies must scale back their offline publication efforts and begin to focus on their online presence. Companies who understand the evolving market and concentrate equally on online and offline publications are the companies that have the highest chance at sustainability.

One fatal mistake, similar to what has happened with online video from cable networks, is that some newspapers with simultaneous online publications are limiting access by a mandatory membership. The Internet offers countless sources of free news that are just as good as the bigger names in the industry. In order for newspapers to succeed they must exploit their name, reputation, and offline audience in order to generate momentum for their online publication, which will be their main source of long-term revenue in the future. Newspapers that restrict their content to members only, such as The Wall Street Journal, give potential online-only readers a reason to go elsewhere for their news.

Magazines, for the most part, are in the same situation as newspapers. Magazines are published weekly or biweekly, and simply do not satisfy consumers’ expectation for instant access of recently written content. Blogs and microblogs (such as Twitter) has created a viable alternative to print magazines that offer an instantly accessible source of constantly updated information and news for free. Magazines, similarly to newspapers, should follow the model set by today’s successful online-only blogs, and hope for the best.

Adapt or Die

The way in which people access media is rapidly changing, and traditional media companies can either take the risk and adapt, or keep fighting a losing battle. At this point, traditional media companies still have time to proactively adapt to the evolving marketplace. The actions taken by traditional media companies in the next couple years will determine their fate. It is survival of the fittest at its best.

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