Josh Plovanic's Writings and Thoughts

Engineering has been a staple of human knowledge and creativity since we first started using tools and creating societies. Without engineering, most modern amenities and utilities wouldn't be possible, including the cell phone I am typing on right now.       A major catalyst for human ingenuity is conflict. Conflict creates the necessary sense of urgency to expedite the engineering process so we can have an advantage over our enemies.          Nuclear engineering got it's initiation in the heat of the Second World War in order for us to have an atom bomb before Nazi germany or Japan beat us to the punch and gave them a clear strategic advantage in the war.         Fields like civil engineering branched off of military engineering used in wars to sap enemy defensive structures and create physical bases of operations in foreign territories and design and construct roads, runways, and other transportation structures.         Engineering is one of the greatest demonstrations of rea...

I've argued that simple solutions to complex problems generally make those problems worse, or create new problems you weren't intending to create. Making  sweeping laws that leadership thinks will be a quick fix are often patches on bullet wounds.        Sweeping generalization laws like "ban all [insert boogeyman thing of the week here]!" when that thing or tool is used inappropriately or causes accidental or intentional damage is like taking a stinger missile to a housefly.        In doing so, you often take away the opportunity for those things to be utilized in a positive way. Those kind of laws are overkill, and overkill laws often end up being oppressive.           Complex systems have complex problems, and require complex solutions or solutions that are well thought out, strategized, and precise with respect to what kind of problems you want to address. Systems engineering does this kind of procedure in software and computer systems as well as mechanical system...

There is nothing wrong with loving your country. No rational, sensible person outright hates the nation that bore them, fed them, and allowed them to live a mostly free and mostly safe life (depending on where you are at, of course.) Unfortunately, a lot of people aren't rational and sensible      Even in my state of disillusionment and disenchantment, I don't outright hate this place. Even so, there are some dark evils in this society that are not being addressed accordingly, like human trafficking, racism, and the treatment of the poor, homeless, the drug addicted, and the mentally ill.   It's not the country itself I hate. It's the callousness and lack of compassion of some of the people here. Also, just because I love my country doesn't mean I'm super thrilled with it's leadership. We elect senile old men as our major leaders, they lie and spout silly rhetoric while they start wars and they wallow in taxpayer funded luxury while millions of people are li...

When most people think of a foundation, they think of the base of a "base-to-summit" protruding vertical object, like a mountain or a skyscraper. That is a common image of a foundation. It's pretty two-dimensional. Pretty basic. I, personally, like the idea of a spherical foundation, like the center of gravity of a massive spherical body like planet or a star. The center of those objects is the "base" of the sphere. The spherical foundation that pulls from all possible directions of 3-dimensional space because of gravity. That's the foundation of a massive sphere. Now lets factor in the foundation of a basic building block particle. That particle is a foundation stone in its own right. Now if you think about it, a particle that can't be broken down any further would, logically speaking, be infinitely dense. Even though it has extremely low mass, it's density would be absolute since it can't be broken down anymore. The spherical foundation of a ba...

In the highest realm of the infinite creation, there is a city of the purest light, whose glory and wonder exceeds any other city in all of existence. This city is the capital of creation. Here lies the palace and throne room of the Creator. It is a palace of shimmering white marble with silver and gold mixed in the framework of the walls and the cobblestones of the courtyards where God's children never stop playing, laughing, and singing.       There are thousands of rooms in this palace. Bedrooms, game rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, meditation rooms. God's throneroom is at the heart of the palace. I have my own room waiting for me when my time on earth is done. It's a small one. I don't need anything super fancy, just my galaxy blankets, and my space/science fiction memorabilia.       When I get back to my home with God, every night He is going to tuck me into bed, read me a story and tell me about adventures and heroes and He is going to smile warml...

As I watch the world start burning At least some parts of it I see I wish above wishes and want above wants A better life for mine and me A freedom to move A freedom to love A liberty like a bright light I most assuredly know The places I'll go  They all will have their fights Lo, and behold I try to be bold Be brave, big-hearted, and true Although I am told Fortune favors the bold Dear LORD, what I long for is you Faith opens my mind God's words always kind At least they are towards me My trust in Him's strong I won't be here for long Very soon I will truly be free God, you've given me gifts You mended some rifts You've cast out my doubt and my fear Though You must have your way Jesus, to You I must say Please don't make me live a failed life here

Little Ones stumble Sometimes they fall When they fall, worlds can crumble As if they were never there at all The rope around the necks Of those who trip the free, the innocent and meek Are tied to giant millstones Which get cast to the bottom of the sea When you violate an innocent life You cripple an entire world That world within this dying world Deserves a better living world That world within this dying world Inherits the Creator's world That infinite and endless Expanse of an existence This wondrous thing leaves you breathless A life eternal  A life of glory A life of safety  A neverending story

If we can't break the silence of the hatred and the violations occurring here, the consequences in not doing so are the spread of a cancer in the system.            Whether it be child abuse, rape, human trafficking and other forms of slavery, drug abuse, the abuse of the mentally ill, and the many other violations that occur in this system, if we can't address these problems, then these problems will only get worse and cut deep enough at our foundation where it becomes exceedingly difficult to manage.       The easiest way to get away with something is to scare witnesses and participators in crimes and violations into silence. The truth dies in silence. This will always be true. Unfortunately, many people don't speak up that often because they don't know what to say or even how to say it.       As a victim of abuse whose rights and dignity were violated and whose opportunities were stolen because of the abuse, I cannot afford to stay silent. Literally, if I want a futu...

The images above are a pretty well-done layout of what are essentially cyclical hierarchies. The "rock-paper-scissors" arrangement of power. As you can tell, some arrangements are more complex than others. I have this fascination with cycling a power structure. Ever since I started thinking about cyclical hierarchies, I have thought they were a much better arrangement than pyramid set ups, top-town hierarchies, or bottom up hierarchies.       Unfortunately, the United States, though it has degrees freedom, is still very much a top down hierarchal power structure. That's how human beings have arranged most power structures in history.  Unfortunately, unmanaged and unregulated top down hierarchies always end up being oppressive, are vulnerable to decadence, entropy, and decay, and eventually blow out their foundation because of the oppression.       Now cycling a power structure in a circle can possibly prevent this. Since the foundation often gives...

Applying the concept of generationalism, or genetics, to universes. Just like how an organism reproduces in a sexual manner and passes it's genes down its offspring. I like to play around and imagine that a universe would pass it's "genes" in a sense down to new universes at the microcosm. I wrote about this concept once. I called it, "sire universe." It was applying the concept of genetics to how a universe itself would reproduce, by having every basic building block particle in that Universe be a "seed" in a sense, and when the fabric of space and time stretches into oblivion, the fields that contain those basic building block particle's energy as mass start breaking down, and the energy within those particles form a new universe at the microcosm. Scale no longer is relevant, and the system breaks down into the infinitely small forever. Absolute existential liberty.

Thank the Lord for a Broken Dream I should honestly be thanking God that this society rejected me in the way that it did. I would not be as smart or as strong or as faithful to the LORD had I gotten to be a warrior in the physical sense of being in the armed forces.             The rejection of being barred from joining, or so I was told, honestly crushed me. It shattered my patriotism, my view of my country, and my outlook on life into a million pieces. I spent years fixated on that rejection, seeking out in thought and expressing with my words a strong desire for revenge, even in private wishing for the destruction of this place, even calling at times upon my master and maker to cleanse it or annihilate it.               I have regrets about these thoughts and words, but I must confess, this rejection cut deeper than any lover or romantic interest...

The village was peaceful. A few squabbles between people here and there over silly things. The kids played in the street, the boys kicking balls around or fighting with sticks like they were swords and exercising their vibrant imaginations with the antics of the heroes of old. It's been decades since a hero was last seen, or even needed, and the nation was at relative peace. There was a young boy born into this tiny village. The boy's mother labored for hours and hours giving birth to him, and she succumbed to the pains and strains of childbirth and died not so long after. She knew that she would not be strong enough to survive the birth of her only son. In her first and last gift to the boy before she died, she wanted to give her son a name that would be strong and a name that would give the boy courage as he grew to face the challenges of his life. She named the boy Valor, hoping that the boy would be blessed by a name that means great courage and that he would live up t...

 I don't want to be a leader here, at least in the sense of being in charge of other human beings. Even though I'm good at the high end stuff, I want the low. I have always wanted to be a warrior of sorts. It was never about the power and authority. I thought of a saying a little while ago. "Generals get all the power. Privates get all the fun." Kinda cheeky I know. It's the same principle as "Parents get to pay the bills, the kids get to have all the thrills." Kids get to have fun. I'd much rather be the one in the midst of all the action. I prefer the low to the high, as long as I'm not a slave treated like livestock. I don't want to be in a position of power. Powerful people abused me. I would much rather be a servant leader. One who leads by example, and forgo the temptations that come with extreme power, like grandiosity and violating the dignity and sanctity of others that powerful people do through slavery or rape. That's why milit...

Plausible deniability is a key strategy in keeping secrets. It is when an authority figure has the ability to keep their "distance" from a circumstance or situation they were the initiators of and bore indirect or even direct responsibility for, but because they separated themselves from it in terms of paperwork and physical traces, evidence for their participation in a crime or ethical violation can be denied.  This is absolutely because of human awareness limitations and the inability to sort through uncertainty.  Uncertainty naturally comes out of a lack of awareness or record, but truth remains true and physical and information evidence of a wrongdoing exists even if the crime or violation is covered up.          This is because you can't destroy energy, and you can't essentially destroy information, even if you break it into pieces, conceal it, or alter it.        The information still exists. It's just up to humans as receivers of information with limited fi...

      Helping your enemy when he is in a state of hatred toward you has profound psychological effects on your enemy's mind. Niceties, kindness, and compassion infuriate and cause great agony to someone possessed by hate and in a state of bitterness and resentment.        It confuses them and puts them in that searing, burning psychological state of "why is this person that I hate being nice and compassionate to me? Why is he patching up my wounds? Why is he giving me water? Can't he tell that I hate him and want to kill him?"  This confusion and uncertainty that compassion and kindness induces on the hateful is a major step in liberating someone from hate. Liberation from hate doesn't happen instantly. It is a process, and a necessary one at that. Unintelligent, unsophisticated, primitive people have an exceedingly difficult time letting go of hate, whether that hate be directed at Jews, homosexuals, Muslims, blacks, or other groups.          Overcoming hate requ...

Only a sith deals an absolute. It's a cheesy Star Wars quote, but it very much has real world applications. Us or them mentalities are the thinking patterns of the narrowminded and narrowmindedness always leads to conflict.  Narrowmindedness is essentially cognitive servitude. It also turns you into a tool for people a little more aware and a little more calculating than you are. It can turn you into something akin to an oblivious plaything to forces more powerful than you, and these people/forces can use your narrowmindedness to trick you into believing you are doing the right thing and you wouldn't know the difference.   The media does this to an extent. So do ideologies. So do very powerful institutions, organisations, and people. People don't realize they are pretty much being turned into tools and playthings.        Just like how lying and fear are paths to the dark side, small minds and narrow minds are the playgrounds of the darkness.

The only way a group, culture, or nation, or species survives in the long term is through mutually beneficial relationships between its members. Taking care of your own kind, healing your sick, and strengthening your weak is the only way your own kind survives, thrives, and outpaces your competitors.     Competition is a good thing, but when you turn competition into solely a fend-for-yourself free-for-all and let members of your own kind drown or fall through the cracks, your whole group loses in the end. You can toughen people up, keep healthy and mutually beneficial competition that makes a thriving marketplace of goods, services, and ideas, and teach the necessary lessons someone needs to learn for a well-rounded life without letting them slip into society pitfalls and through the cracks of your safety nets and end up homeless or even die.     Mutually beneficial, altruistic relationships coupled with healthy competition that brings everyone in the group up, even the lowest in it, ...

I have amassed quite a database of music in my mind the 28, almost 29, years I've dwelled on this world. Thousands, tens of thousands of songs, including the bad ones I don't like or don't listen to recreationally. Church songs. Childhood singalong songs. My hip hop. My rock. My metal. My singer-songwriter stuff. My electronic.      Over the years I began to associate music with time periods of my life. If I hear a song, a flood of memories from the time period of when I was listening to it. This is nothing special. Lots of people have this trait. I remember the year many songs came out, even the ones that I wasn't even alive when they were popular. My memory is strongly correlated to music and sound. It always has been        I went to this little gas station over by my new stomping grounds, and the radio plays a lot of adult contemporary on the speakers around the gas pumps. I heard a few songs I haven't heard in 20 years, not since I was a young boy. These 90...

As I await my liberation, I am going to show kindness even when I don't want to. As I await my liberation, I will put my relationship with God above all things as I sojourn through this dying world. As I await my liberation, I will be of service and a helping hand to whoever needs assistance in whatever areas of life they need assistance in. As I await my liberation, I will love my friends and love my family as strongly as I can and to the best of my ability As I await my liberation, I will try to treat everyone I meet with dignity and respect, no matter their race, their beliefs, or any other distinguishing trait. As I await my liberation, I am going to try to work hard, play harder, and find joy and purpose in a life that has had it's fair share of disappointment, heartache, and death As I await my liberation, I am going to try to stand up for the weak and sick, the oppressed amongst us who the system failed to protect, violated, and even abused. As I await my liberation, I ...

In the midst of despair. In the midst of the night. In the midst of dark days. There is an undying light. This light shines so bright, In time it purges all blight. All sickness, all pain, all darkness in sight, Cannot withstand the power Of this undying light. The wrongs will be right. The blind will have sight. Broken hearts mended tight By this undying light. This light gives life And liberty And hope. No darkness of evil, No plague or bleak fight, Can blot out the glory Of this undying light. This light lives within us. It shines when we love. It shines when we give. It shines when we help. It shines when we bless. It even shines when we fight, But only for what's right. The truth is shown through it All lies are destroyed, For truth itself is a light, Not emptiness or void.  Truth is what's real Truth is what's right All things true and real Were made by an undying light.

One thing I have observed in my long stint as both a psychiatric patient as well as my general life experience is that many severe mental disturbances have features of an inability to accurately process information, sort through its complexity, and the ordering of that information in the minds of the disturbed.     Fear and dread often comes with an unstable and often innaccurate processing of both someone's external world and internal mind, and information processing can be severely compromised by a malfunctioning brain. This can greatly cripple someone's functionality and operational capacity.       Trauma can cripple a mind, and fear and terror play a huge part in the disrupting of information processing and comprehending. The human brain is both an information processor, decoder, and can even generate and construct entirely new arrangements of information. We see evidence of this through art and creativity.        I will not dismiss the evidence of brain chemistry, nor the ...

So I'm looking for inspiration for writing tonight, and some of my best and most provocative writings have come at two in the morning after work walking around campus with my St. Michael hoodie on and just thinking and praying and constructing my thoughts and ideas. I thought to myself just now, "maybe I should ask for divine inspiration for my next post idea. I mean it worked for the CIA chemical lobotomy briefing post, maybe it will work for this one too." So my post idea for tonight is called, "The Shortcomings of America's government," and to start this brainstorm post, I am going to open it with a prayer.: God, our infinitely powerful Heavenly Father and Creator of the Infinite Existence, I humbly come before you to request your assistance in writing a scathing criticism of the United States government. Father, I know I am but a lowly janitor whose only want in life was to lay waste to the agents of terror and fear, but in all honesty I must confess to ...

There is a reason I write the kind of ideas and posts that I write on facebook and my blog. I want to challenge people. I want to catalyze and instigate deeper thinking in people. I want to catalyze and instigate deeper thinking in my friends, my family, and people who have more power, resources, and influence than I have. I am fully aware many people on facebook skip over much of my writings, just aren't interested in them, and some might not even understand some of the subjects I write about, and that's totally fine. I'd be a little overwhelmed and maybe even a little annoyed if I were on the other end of things myself.     However, I think it is imperative that we as a society, and we as a species, learn how to think deeply and meaningfully about reality, our lives, our nation, our history, and our universe. If we don't think deeply and meaningfully about these things, we may never solve some of the greatest mysteries, avert and resolve the most dire of crises,...

These aren't my dragons to slay. Their wings may have blocked my view of the stars, but they aren't my dragons to slay. Their tongues may have slandered and labeled and cursed me, But they aren't my dragons to slay. The fire from their lungs may have burned up my dreams, Their tails may have tripped me to my knees, Their claws may have ripped my mind into seams, But they aren't my dragons to slay. Vengeance, they say, is in the Creator's hands Thank goodness! My hands aren't that strong These foolish dragons, they think that they've won and I'm done, But that feeling won't be there for long The Creator's revenge is perfect The Creator's revenge is precise These dragons and monsters who've haunted my life. By the Creator's perfect hands meet their rightful demise They were never my dragons to slay.

Vengeance, it falls from a blackened sky. Many tears and blood shall be shed. A troubled world. Its oppressors deny Their role in the millions now dead. Their deceiving tongues, their arrogant minds They strip freedoms and shatter man's will The sins of foul men starts a war yet again Their bloodlust, I fear, never will be filled Hate needs a host, evil needs reason to boast Hate finds a host in the hearts of jealous men Their blackened envy sends them into a frenzy And the world slips into darkness again Truth must be told, God values the bold Those who stand up for the sick and the weak God's wrath falls on some, liberation will come To the innocent and meek who believe

One thing I have learned about human beings is that we often kill or cripple the very people who can make the world a better place, often over things as simple as keeping hold of power and putting a few more dollars in people's pockets. Either by jealousy, hate, racism, or predatory mentalities, humans have historically killed countless people who could have hastened the advancement and development of our species a lot further than it is today.        How many geniuses died in the holocaust just for being Jews? How many intelligent black people were brutalized for just being intelligent and black at the same time, whether under slavery or later acts of racism? How many brilliant homosexuals were castrated or brutally murdered just because they were gay? How many mentally ill geniuses had a needle shoved up their eye and had their brains crippled and lived like a zombie for years?          Humans are a vicious animal, and no matter how technologically advanced we get, we stil...

Whoever controls the flow of information controls the transmission of ideas, the interpretation of reality, and heavily governs the choices, thinking, and behavior of human beings who are within reach of the information.     Information is the key to the human mind. Whoever holds that key controls the incentives to people's choices, which essentially gives someone power over another individual's behavior. The media is the primary method by which information is transmitted to the minds of individuals and groups. It is how we learn about the external world outside of our immediate lives, and it is how we get much of our entertainment and leisure.        The word "media" shares a common etymology with the words "medium" or "middle." This is because media is the method or platform by which information from one point in the world or existence is transmitted to an audience or receiver in another point. The "middle ground" in that transmission p...

So I've been in and out of college for awhile now. I've accomplished a few things here and there and learned some minor tidbits about the world and reality that have been slightly useful in my life.    In my quite interesting, albeit difficult academic career, I have observed something that I consider to be a fairly valuable observation when it comes to education. I have noticed that there are three primary degrees of intelligence that have high market value and utility in academics, the private sector, and government/military institutions.  They are the following: Scary smart, spooky smart, and freaky smart. Scary smart, being the lowest degree of these essential forms of intelligence, is actually easy to identify in a human subject. They are the type of guys who when they can get their hands on a computer or smartphone it doesn't take long for them to hack into bank accounts or government databases and steal buckets of cash or high profile state secrets to sell on the bla...

If there are two freedoms I aspire to have above all others, they are not not the freedom to do whatever I want, go wherever I want, have any career I want, or have as much money as I want. The two freedoms I want the most out of this life are these; the freedom from fear and the freedom from hate.       Fear and hate are the liberty-killers. Fear imprisons our mind, and hate dehumanizes people and incites predatory behavior and prejudice. If fear imprisons the minds of the fearful, than hate poisons the minds of those filled with hatred.          Hateful people incite fear in those whom they hate. Even as hatred incites fear, fear is often the catalyst for hate. If you want to get someone to hate another person or thing, you first get them to be afraid of it.              Fear of something leads to the desire to eliminate the fear, and hatred becomes very useful in the attempt to eliminate a fear inducing threat. With the exception of reverence for powerful things, like the fear that ...

There has been a lot of focus on oppression, equality, and justice the last few weeks. Rightly so, as there is a lot of oppression, inequality, and injustice within the United States. However, I believe the focus of our ire and wrath is slightly misplaced.         Aside from law enforcement and the institutions of the government that are armed and can use brutal and sometimes lethal physical force, there are two other primary and essential sectors of society that contribute heavily to racial and wealth/class inequality. They are the healthcare system and the education system.         Let's start with healthcare. An old quote I remember seeing carved in Schreiber Gym at the University of Montana simply states health is the first of all liberties. If this is the case and there is truth to this statement, than a significant portion of the United States isn't free. In fact, one of the great tools of social oppression within America, coupled with the financial system here, is how th...

Wars start conceptually at first. There is an initial slight and an initial disagreement, but through slander and bitterness what was once just an initial disagreement over time turns hostile.       I don't think many Americans realize this, but they are being played with. I have begun to notice that a significant number of Americans are being manipulated and maneuvered in the interests of certain ideologies and in the interests of certain factions to further the objectives of particular ideological groups and powerful individuals.        From my vantage point, we are being systematically divided and pitted against each other, and whoever and whatever is doing it has the goal of destabilizing the American system. I would go so far as to say their goal is to start a war here. The ideologies that control the minds of many Americans use people as pawns and utilities to further their particular objectives.         People are simply tools. A means to an end, and many of us are very much...

The human experience is defined by many things. Our physical world is occupied by many vibrant and complex wonders. The colors, the shapes, the structures, the games. All these things form a core component of our experience.     Though the physical is an important and foundational component of our existence, so is the non-physical.  The abstract concepts and ideas of our experience are also absolutely essential for a full, well rounded, and enjoyable human experience.        Abstract social and cultural facets of our reality like love, liberty, friendship, faith, mythology, fiction, and beliefs all form just as much of a foundational experience of human beings as the physical realm. In fact, we would be nothing more than an instinct driven, base animal without the abstract.       The great problem of the abstract, non-physical realm of our reality is that there is enough uncertainty surrounding many abstract concepts and ideas where there is room for a skeptic or a cynic to deny the ex...

When I think of martyrdom, I think of someone who died defending their beliefs or sacrificed themselves for the cause of their faith and in the interests of protecting innocent lives. There is nothing inherently wrong about this. In fact, martyrdom can be quite noble and even honorable. It is a very successful form of spreading an idea or faith.       Dying in the interests of spreading an idea or belief has a profound psychological impact on the observors of the act or even those people who simply hear about it. The sacrifice affects the human mind in ways I don't quite understand.         All I know is that laying down your life for a cause is strongly correlated with the concepts of heroism, bravery, and nobility. These things are the goals and aspirations of many men and women who desire to serve bigger and better things and be a part of something greater than themselves. This can indeed be a beautiful thing.          Unfortunately, like every good and noble thing, there is a p...

Aside from the possession of the mind that certain kinds of ideas and ideologies take,  the fear of being wrong is the one of the greatest obstructions to the changing of someone's mind.       The fear of being wrong stems from a pride and a value of one's own intellect and one's own social and political position. Being right maintains a level of dominance in a social context. As a result, being wrong reduces your authority and position of dominance in a group. This is terrifying for people whose sense of self-worth is defined by their status and authority within a group.         The fear of being wrong contributes to antagonism between individuals, and a sense of rightness even in the face of immense uncertainty, doubt, or evidence that runs contrary to the person's beliefs all but ensures that the idea that you feel you are right about maintains its possession of your thoughts and mind.       This is why hostile arguing with people under the possession of ideas and id...