I am finally at a point in life where the major goals of a younger Nemo have been realized. At least explored thoroughly enough. Currently I am financially stable, my life is relaxing, I can live anywhere, and I can pursue any leisure activity I want. I have mastered the art of work/ life balance. Leaning heavily on the life side. It’s pretty great.

Looming in the background is a feeling that society is weightlessly drifting towards a bleak horizon. Seemingly, we are on a path to royally fuck things up. Theres a 0% chance humanity can stay its current course. Earth’s ecosystem is barely holding on. We continue to squabble over resources, and power. Nuclear armageddon is ~30 minutes away at all times. That’s not even mentioning the future risks barreling towards us while we quibble.

I optimistically believe that doom can be avoided, and I want to be part of that future. Slow incremental reform can get us to stable ground. If we survive that long… Enormous luck and heaps of skilled labor will be involved. Done right the transformation could look closer to the 1960’s civil rights movement, rather than any major revolutions of the past. Even though that period was not peaceful in any sense of the world. The longer we delay a transformation, the bleaker my outlook becomes. Redistribution, disarmament, global governance, self determination, and more scary, seemingly heterogenous ideas are what my future holds. Admittedly, 2050 may be a bit soon for some ideas.

What is my purpose?

A version of this question has been rattling around in my head for close to a decade now. The most encompassing answer I had come up with is to “do good“. The answer was vague for a reason. I was not sure how I want to do this in ways I found interesting.

Previously, I have tried to make this a side project. Outside of work I would pursue interesting ideas, hobbies, or pet projects. None of these lead anywhere material. Only to cerebral exercise. A change of tactics is in order. At this point it is not feasible to drift along taking pot shots at destiny. Making a difference takes an enormous amount of effort, and a decades long time commitment. These essays are an attempt at becoming more focused, and figuring out the next steps.

Priority

Working on important problems is the key. I have prioritized the issues humanity faces as I see fit. Other’s broadly agree. I’m sure your list is different. My calling feels like it is to the P2 space. I can assist with the environmental stuff, but 3/4 of the topics are unreachable to me (at least atm).

P 1

The important stuff.
The most pressing problems in the 21st Century.

• Nuclear war
• Environmental degradation
• Synthetic biology
• Runaway AI

P 2

Creating space.
Making places where people can work on P1 issues, and live a great life.

• Governance
• Geopolitics/ Revolutionary politics
• Worldwide Demilitarization
• Anti authoritarianism
• Human rights
• 3rd world poverty
• Food systems
• Disruptive AI
• Asteroid Impacts
• Pandemics

P 3

Not important.
I may like doing these, but I should not kid myself about their impact.

• Increasing shareholder value
• Selling shoes
• Video Games
• Art

🐠 Nemo

Turning the attention towards myself. Over the last 30 years of life I have acquired some skills. In general I enjoy these things. The non-exhaustive list includes:

• Translating technical content. I can explain complicated things to people who don’t understand it. From talking to my grandparents to working at Apple. I have done this a lot.
• Creativity. I am an artist. As a programmer I design creative coding solutions. I built my own van. I started my own business.
• Teamwork. I have pretty good team communication skills. All large projects I have worked on were a multi-person operation. However, I think I function best in a duo.
• Leadership. I was a coxswain. I have older brother syndrome. I try to lead by example. I had to take a leadership role in my 3 professional jobs.
• Learning. I like it. Everything I enjoy has a high skill ceiling: Art, DOTA 2, Biking, etc.

Instead of listing things I’m bad at ( ’cause nothing would be on it). I should be pragmatic about what i can achieve. I must play to my strengths.

• I am not equipped to work on all problems. I think I’m smart, but grinding linear algebra or getting a masters in biology is out of my reach (And frankly beyond my interests, as I’m an ~artist~ ).
• Breaching certain sectors might take too much time to be fully worth it. I was not born into a connected family within DC. I have not studied biology, or physics…
• I must have some sense of self direction. Getting told what to do by incompetent people is my least favorite thing.
• I do not have a mind that can give 100% attention to anything. My work needs to have variety in it
• I greatly value personal enjoyment in life.

Getting to 2050

I have identified three major ways in which I will affect change on the way to 2050.

1. Having a high impact career.
2. Donating to important causes.
3. Working with my community to make local improvements.

CAREER.

Change my career to align with my values.

Professionally I have only ever been a corporate programmer. I had worked in big tech, and currently work in fashion. Working a corporate job had always been tempestuous. Leadership tells me my work matters, my internal compass tells me otherwise. This contradiction at the heart of work has lead me to nihilism and lethargy. I do not wish to live in this swamp of despair any longer. The solution is to work in a P1 or P2 sector. Otherwise I am spending countless hours working on things that do not matter, just to get a pay check.

A career should consist of what I’m good at, what I enjoy doing, and working on important problems. Anything outside of that Venn Diagram is not sustainable for me. There are a couple different transitions I have thought up.

• Kick the can down the road – Stay in web development. Switch to a P1/P2 sector. Eventually change careers because front end programming is dying ☨.
• Stay in software – Expand my programming knowledge in sectors I think will be useful in the future: backend, prompt generation, data science, copilot, etc.
• Retrain and switch sectors – Find an area thats interesting. Spend resources to retrain. Quit my current job and move there.

☨ Front end programming seems to have a lifespan on it. My ten year forecast is twofold. AI programmer assist will allow 1 person to do the job of ten current devs. The front end CMS systems will become much more sophisticated, removing technical barriers. Less opportunities, more competition. Not the best for job security. (This timeline feels like it has accelerated..)

DONATE.

Be the change I want to see in the world.

This one feels self explanatory. I make over $60,000+ a year. Globally I am in the 1%. Even though it may not feel like it, I have disposable income. Just a matter of prioritizing budgets. Yearly, I will donate a portion of my income to organizations I find worthwhile (P1 and P2 issues essentially). In hopes they will provide safety to us all.

COMMUNITY.

Make my neighborhood better than when I found it.

I want to leave a positive impact in every community I live. Something tangible for people to interact with even if I am not around. I have some little ideas I want to work on in Bend. The primary one is to build a bench on a one of my favorite bike trails.

I have been mobile for a long time. I think it would be fun to do the opposite of that, and “settle down” into an area I really enjoy. Get to know it deeply. That way I can make local changes and make the community better. I will make a large impact simply due to time spent there.

TLDR;

I want to do good… How? I will switch careers into a P1/P2 sector, donate to important causes, and make local improvements.