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Here is what it looks like.
My email is Lens4anEye@Modalchoice.com
My ClickaSnap profile is Lens4anEye and can be seen at ClickASnap.com/Lens4anEye
The popular idea we are living in a simulation proposes there is some massive computer and sysop which programs us and our environment for some unknown purpose. The hypothesis goes: we are merely subroutines running in a cyber world. Each of us only experiences what we are thereby programmed to see, hear, feel, smell and think.
One variation of the hypothesis is we are humanoid biological units kept suspended in life support pods and are being fed our experiences directly into our brains. We are like comatose patients being maintained and dreaming our lives. Of course this would also be true if we were some other species instead. Zhuangzi, Chinese philosopher, wrote about dreaming he was a butterfly. Upon awakening he was not sure he was not indeed a butterfly dreaming he was human.
The other hypothetical variation is we are only the machinations of a computer code and there is no other realm for us to escape to. This variation of the simulation asserts there is no objective reality but only what the computer programmers code into our memory segment. This is not unlike the atheist belief of the “bricks and mortar” flesh and blood version most people accept.
The comatose human version is more palatable in that there is a possible escape and possibility of a better world outside the simulation. Religions preach of such sanctuary with a perfect transfiguration of our bodies in a heavenly realm.
The comatose human version posits there is someone somewhere outside of the simulation who has a purpose for our existence and the resources to maintain our bodies while we are fed our experiences. But then we may only be disembodied brains sitting in bell jars of nutrient-rich oxygenated synth-blood. For that scenario there would be no reprieve.
Both of these variations suggest there is a super computer with the IO ports to connect to each of us. We do not know how many of us there are. The sysop programs the statistic of 8 billion humans at this time stamp: 1697042266. There might only be as many simulated humans as YOU interact face to face with in your entire life or this day only. All the others are merely variables coded in your program. Even a nonexistent yesterday could be merely an encoded memory.
Now as I suggested in the title of this essay, it’s a simulation but not what you think.
Every molecule, atom and subatomic particle is like a data bit in a computer. The Cosmos is a massive database. The data is churned and changed constantly according to a few rules. Newton’s laws of motion, Lord Kelvin’s laws of thermodynamics, Einstein’s Relativity and a host of other Natural Laws govern how mass moves and where particles will be at some time later.
Along with the Universe shifting masses on a cosmic scale we humans dig holes and shovel dirt and rock around to suit our own purposes. Collectively all this action makes the world we see.
Then there is us. Each of us is a CPU which accesses the database. For the universe to be, there is no need for computation. Only the initial conditions need to be and the natural laws take care of the rest.
Our conscious connection with this universe is accomplished via our self replicating brains. Those brains contains short and long term memory with which we can navigate our minuscule speck of the grand cosmic database. For most intents and purposes we have no use for anything off planet or outside our slice of time in which we are alive and in connection with the Universe.
Our eyes, ears, nose and skin cells receive stimulation by electromagnetic energy and our bio-electric bodies conduct signals to our brains. There they are processed and projected out into the void around us. Some how those processed signals are perceived by our consciousnesses.
The world around us we experience is not the same as what we see and hear. It is a reproduction. You never see the apple on the table. What you experience is the light which reflects off of the apple. While there is an actual apple to touch and eat everything about it is a reproduction to our senses.
Sounds are different. You cannot experience a person’s voice without intermediary mass to conduct the larynx vibration to your ears. The sound starts out as an intent by the person talking. It becomes a mechanical vibration which moves from one medium to another until it vibrates little tiny hairs in the cochlea of your ears. It’s all energy, waves moving in a medium. Our brains receive the ears’ EM stimulation and project its source out to a place where it appears to originate.
The perception of the external world is quite detailed and complex. We don’t see the graininess in the optics. We don’t see the edges of our field of view. We don’t perceive world behind our heads or inside it for that matter. Our vision is not like being inside a room looking out through a window.
Even as our experiences are a reproduction of the objective world, we ourselves do run simulations. In a dream state (simulation) we are able to see light where there is no photons. We can hear sounds where there are no vibrations. We can feel sensations where there is no touch. We can place ourselves in settings which have no analog in the objective world.
The curious fact is we have a ChatGPT-like function built into our brains or minds. In a hypnotic state a hypnotist can talk to this function and conjure experiences, images, sounds, actions and emotions. They make the suggestion and we do the manifesting. In the end they can cause us to delete the memories or save them. A current craze is to practice lucid dreaming, a mental state where we are essentially asleep but keep active a part of our brains where intent can manifest. We seek to control what we see, hear and do in the dream state. Now there is where a simulation can exist.
For our conscious existence to be a simulation doesn’t require a micro-managing programmer. There doesn’t need to be a physical central “mainframe” type processor on which algorithms and subroutines are run. There doesn’t need to be a place where a different body resides. There doesn’t need to be anywhere else but here in which to exist.
But on the other hand, if programmers have written computer code which manifests you as a conscious being they only need to code one day which runs endlessly as a loop. It would start when you open your eyes, contain all the memories you have of past days and restart when you open your eyes again. No need for there to be any massive infrastructure because there is only you and enough bytes to hold one day. You would never know there was no previous days or a next one. At some Unix Timestamp the sim will terminate and you will cease to exist. Fin.
Hello to the nation and people of Singapore.
The statistics of this blog indicate a lot of web traffic from Your country. The issue is there are no specifics for what anyone is reading or looking for. Every view is anonymous.
Are there those people who are willing to tell me what their interests are? I would really like to know.
If you click on this image you can get a free download of the full sized image.
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| Neon Holiday Inn Sign |
I have over 1400 varied images for you to view. Many are listed for purchase as downloads or prints of various sizes.
Please take a look. Lens4anEye
QR codes.
The easiest way to access my "Lens4anEye" photography at ClickaSnap.com.
Give it a try. Especially from an iPhone or Android.
This is just one of over 1300 photos in my numerous Albums on ClickaSnap.com
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| House in New Mexico |
Photos are copyright by Robert Carlson. Most are available for purchase for personal use. Email Lens4anEye@modalchoice.com for commercial licensing.
The E.T.s are Coming! The E.T.s are Coming!
Whatever could interstellar or inter-dimensional beings want?
Hypothesis have been made since about the date we humans first discovered nuclear fission. There were science fiction tales sensationalizing the nature and appearance of off-world creatures who come to earth to conquer us, enslave us and exploit our natural resources.
So now the dominant theory is they are travelers from some distant planet. The Big Question is why would any species of beings muster the resources and invest their time coming to our speck of dust in the vast universe?
In the 1950s and 60s they were monsters here to eat our brains, fornicate with women, make zombies of us, and turn us into slave labor. How odd it is they wanted to do to us exactly what we do to each other on a daily basis.
Not too much later we speculated they want our resources. Gold and diamonds were common lusts they had. Our water. They wanted our water. Our land. They needed a new place to live and thrive.
Even today with our 8 billion people vast expanses of land is uninhabited. If they could travel interstellar space surely they could comfortably live in the interior of Australia or the Saharan Desert. If they preferred cold, there is Greenland and the northern latitudes of Canada and Russia. Only if they behave like us would we need to be concerned with how they treated our planet.
They would have traveled for generations in their spaceships maintaining a perfect ecological balance and environment. Why would they suddenly despoil the earth when they got here?
If they needed water our planet is not a great exploitable source. Comets and asteroids are composed of far more water than here on earth. Some of the moons of our neighboring planets have plenty of water and no one to complain about them taking it.
Humans make for a poor source of manual labor. We are high maintenance and prone to resistance. Almost every high-tech and industrial process is easier handled with robotic machines. We are seeing the loss of labor requirements in every field of endeavor.
Humans are not very good food sources. Pound for pound we are far too lean for industrial level meat production. Pigs, cows and chickens produce far more protein than do people. Furthermore the livestock doesn’t complain or mount resistance. The procreate quickly and mature fast. Birth to mouth in a year or less. A good human it’s 15 to 20 years.
Scientific exploration of our gnome is not really necessary. Why abduct an adult to probe the butt and drill into it eyes? We find non-invasive non-destructive means of exploration with MRI, CAT, and other technological devices.
If they need our DNA they could rob a sperm bank or grab some frozen embryos from a fertility clinic. No need to abduct women and men. If they can genetically engineer an entire hybrid species bovine gestation would be a cakewalk.
Now we are getting down to the last reason for visiting. Trade. They could exchange their resources for ours. What could they have brought with them we could use in exchange for something we have that they don’t. My supposition is: nothing. They could get anything we have for free if they scanned our Solar System and harvested/mined unclaimed sources.
My concerns are that arriving aliens behave just like us. Sloppy careless exploitive authoritarians who take take take and leave their pollution behind. Mostly I am concerned they might be deeply devoted to a deity who demands everyone praise his name or be killed. There would be no negotiating with that sort of thing. They would ravish and destroy with no end in sight. We would be in a state of eternal war or submission.
Legacy Streetcar Tracks in Pittsburgh
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| Click here to view larger image |
Here are a set of
streetcar Legacy Tracks leading into and out of what at one time was the
Rankin Car House in Braddock, PA. {G3130} Pittsburgh once had hundreds of miles of streetcars
and interurban passenger rail routes. The Port Authority of Allegheny
County rebuilt a few miles of ROW into the T, but most of the other
tracks have been pulled or buried under a layer of asphalt. The Legacy
Tracks, as I refer to them, have never been covered and remain in
isolate places around what remains of the former Pittsburgh Railway
Company service area.
Legacy Streetcar tracks still exposed in the Pittsburgh area. {11039} I've researched more old trackage and have placed images in my "Pittsburgh" album. Photo by Robert Carlson. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have undertaken to obliterate all vestiges of its once extensive passenger rail system. The tracks have been pulled from streets where new concrete pavement is placed. Where an asphalt layer is placed, the tracks are merely buried under the pavement. Those tracks occasionally reappear when the asphalt weathers, cracks and crumbles. Even so, there are seven locations I have documented where legacy tracks have never been buried under pavement.
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| Dooker's Hollow Tracks |
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| #40 Line on Soffel Street |
400 yards of streetcar tracks have been hiding in the weeds parallel to Bell Avenue in North Braddock near Dooker's Hollow. The recent replacement of the bridge revealed the tracks when they cleared the roadway as a construction access. This section of tracks was abandoned when the first Dooker's Hollow bridge was constructed. They lay there in the weeds known only to locals who continued to use the road as a pedestrian route. {10297}. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have undertaken to obliterate all vestiges of its once extensive passenger rail system. The tracks have been pulled from streets where new concrete pavement is placed. Where an asphalt layer is placed, the tracks are merely buried under the pavement. Those tracks occasionally reappear when the asphalt weathers, cracks and crumbles. Even so, there are seven locations I have documented where legacy tracks have never been buried under pavement.
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| #56 Line at Dravosburg |
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| #96 Line in Morningside |
Legacy Streetcar tracks still exposed in the Pittsburgh area. {11036} Several other location still exist in the region:
You’ve heard of ClickaSnap.com probably from some Youtuber or Tiktok star who makes claims of getting rich sharing your snapshots. Put most of that hype out of your mind and concentrate on what it is that makes you take photographs and want people to see them. Mine are all located at “Lens4anEye.”
Some people are long-time practitioners of the Optical Arts, others have only recently picked up their first camera. Most people fall somewhere along the wide variation of interests and experiences. ClickaSnap.com is for sharing your own pictures, not images you saw on the internet and think you’ll share them. The platform has a list of Terms of Service which enumerates acceptable and unacceptable imagery. Don’t ignore them.
In order to determine how the platform can be useful to you, you must decide whether you are in it for
1. the exposure of your craft to strangers around the world,
2. for being a place for your friends and family to see your snapshots,
3. to get feedback as a critique of your skills,
4. access to a Seller’s Shop at which you can sell digital files and prints of you work.
Pause here while you ponder what your level of work will be to meet the above expectations. While there are hundreds of thousands of ClickaSnap subscribers they won’t trip over your profile without your efforts to get them to see your pictures. I don’t have access to ClickaSnap’s statistics but it would be safe to say most of the subscribers are the FREE ones. Those profiles represent people who want to see if it is worth their time and effort to prepare pictures, upload them and properly identify them so others will “trip over them.” The other subscriber level cost money and breaking even will take a while.
In the four months I have been a subscriber on the ClickaSnap platform, 933 subscriber have visited my Profile and looked at at least one of my pictures.
The chart above is the frequency of visits. 70% have only visited once. Another 15% stopped by twice. The number drops off rapidly after 3 visits (5%). A good factor is most views of my photos come from non-scribers through Twitter, Facebook, Google searches and other as yet unknown (to me) sources. Those views did not just happen. I made posts to Facebook groups which might like my pictures. I utilize a Twitter feed and widely employ hashtags [#streetphotography #BlackandWhitephoto #PhotooftheDay] et al. A good description with the images is essential for Google to index them. Leaving your uploads titled as IMG_1234.JPG is wasting that way of getting views. If your intentions are as a hobby, don’t worry it will remain known only to you. Even your friends and family are a hard-sell to get them to look.
Generating Views
Twitter and Facebook are free. You can create accounts and post links to your pictures. It remains to be seen if you can reach the right people. When you do, the results can be good.
When you are a serious photographer you must use as many platforms as you are able to pay attention to. It has to do with that saying about putting “all your eggs in one basket.” Diversify. Even when you do find a productive place to post about your images, keep in mind they age rapidly. Even the best post will get “pushed down” very fast in 2 days or less. On Twitter it may be a matter of hours before other peoples’ content pile on top of yours. Few people, including myself, take the time to scroll down beyond the first 3 pages of any website. Keep something of interest at the top of your Profile for when visitors come looking. In the newsprint business they talk of keeping a story, or at least the headline, “above the fold”. Think of the newspapers stacked for sale, “above the fold” can be seen when looking in the direction of the stack. Many stories never get seen because they are on the bottom, or they get buried on Page 6.
So far I have said nothing about photo quality or subject matter. Those factors will shape whether or not people will come back to see your material. When a subscriber visits your Profile and starts to scroll, they make the decision for whether or not to click on a picture. If they don’t click you will never know they were there. The Notifications page will show you their activity if they actually click something.
They make their decision within several seconds: Scroll, bail or click. Too many out of focus frames; bail. Crooked horizons: bail. Pets, babies, fingernails, food and the ubiquitous airplane wingtip; they are gone fast. Yes, there are subscribers who love those subjects but look at other Profiles and see how many Views those pictures get.
There is no shortage of sunrise/sunsets, beach shots and Cappuccinos. You love those shots, but do others? Again look at the view counts of those pictures.
Follow others. It is difficult to justify following a subscriber who has only 12 pictures unless they are extraordinary. Make sure you have enough content to encourage a return visit. Keep in mind 2nd and 3rd visits are difficult to obtain. Subscribers who Follow you will see your new posts in their Feed and have the opportunity to check them out.
Making Sales
One of the big advantages of ClickaSnap.com is that they are a fulfillment house for sales of your pictures. You do not need to have a printer, a shipping account nor a method of receiving payments. They will handle all of that as part of the price to the buyer. Once upon a time I was making 13"x19" prints for sale. Business was good. The printer cost me $600 and a full set of inks was about $130. Printing went well until the Print Heads needed to be replaced. The manufacturer wanted $77 for each of the four devices. At $308 the cost suggested a different approach. I needed inks too. The price of $438 was above the cost of a new printer at $399. At about $10 profit on a ClickaSnap fulfillment sale I would need 40 sales just to make up for the investment. Then there would be packaging and shipping to pay. With their fulfillment process I have zero investment to make. Of course, many subscribers don’t have access to the funds necessary to print for themselves. The fulfillment services are important.
Conclusion
Image sharing via ClickaSnap.com is a labor intensive endeavor as it is with every such platform. Pictures need to be their best presentation. Descriptions and tags need to be relevant and extensive. Your commitment to your goals is essential.
In January of 2023 I learned of the existence of the photo sharing platform "ClickASnap.com". It promised to generate revenues from user views of my photos. While it does what it claims to do, the ROI for the effort incurred is very low. At 7/10ths of a cent per "Authentic View" one needs needs 14,285 of them to earn $100. An Authentic View is one where the user views the photo for at least 5 seconds.
With the Free account, the $100 needs 100,000 authentic Views. even at the Pro level the $100 needs 11,111 Authentic views. Obviously, the more photos uploaded the more opportunities there are to garner the requisite number of views. The ratio of ordinary views to Authentic Views in my experience is about 25%. That is a lot of work for the revenues.
Maybe as time moves on, the number of Authentic Views might approach 14k per month, i.e. $100, when more users discover my account. Meanwhile, the jury is still out on whether this platform and its revenue policy is worthwhile.
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| A few of the images I posted |
