Third Week December 2023: SF Days

12/15/2023 - 12/22/2023

konradgnat

Dec 28, 2023

Organizing Robotics Club and Dev Clinic

This week I had this bold idea of doing something that I had always thought about doing. That of hosting a developer meetup. Not only that I went and hosted a robotics meetup too.

The hacker space noisebridge has a do-ocracy philosophy. This means it entrusts it’s members to take action and do what they believe in, in this space, as long as it is within the framework of it’s mission statement and purpose, that of fostering innovation.

Robotics has been my first true love. I very clearly remember being a kid of around seven or eight years old and having discovered the possibility of learning about electronics and building with electronics. I took things apart, motors, wires and put them together, with some legos and built all kinds of things. I remember the first thing I built was a wheel that turned another wheel at an angle, built with legos. Then I connected small electronic motors with batteries and was amazed at the possibilities of things you can build with this. I remember my life changing, like day and night, suddenly I felt happy, fulfilled, and I had a deep joy, when I could learn about electronics, and build with them. I felt the world was open to me, and that there was no limit to what I could do. We did have a computer in our home, a windows 95, but we didn’t have internet, and didn’t have anyone to guide us about what books to buy, what programming is and how you can learn it. I did sense that the computer was immensely powerful, and that if I was to get on the path of learning how to master it, I could be a world leader one day, a billionaire, and very powerful person. This to me, a young boy of seven or eight years in Poland in the 90s was crystal clear. Poland was emerging from behind the iron curtain, from the censorship and economic starvation of information from the West. We had Donald Duck comics every week, which were like a bible, and ‘Swiat Wiedzy’ - or in English ‘World of Knowledge’ a weekly encyclopedia series, with a few well written articles published every week that we added to our growing encyclopedia binder. These were very high quality media and educational content for us. In addition to this we had two TV channels, which sometimes played brilliant documentaries and films. Some I distinctly remember as being on neural networks (I remember having the realization that the operations of our brains have already been recreated in silicon chips), and the famous ‘Computer Chronicles’ from San Francisco, a TV series that covered latest computer hardware and software releases in the 80s and 90s. In this environment, scarcity bred clarity, as the Google founder Sergey Brin once said about his experiences in Soviet Russia. Some, as I did, in the long quiet winter nights, and long summer evenings where there was plenty of time to stare into space and wonder at the world, could glimpse deeply into the nature of our rapidly changing world and our brief moment in time.

Now back to the present moment, those distant interests and memories were not touched much over the years, but still they are as clear and powerful as ever. There will soon be a time when the roboticist’s will be in the hey day, changing every facet of our lives and economy. There is something magical about interacting with hardware and software together.

This week I bought a subscription on meetup dot com and setup two events at noisebridge. I got there on the day of and didn’t expect anyone to show up. Indeed I set it up only the day before. It ended up being very fortunate, I joined the community clean up session. We cleaned the upstairs electronics rooms, took out many bins of e-waste to the recycling center, swept up the floors, and made the place look really clean. I connected with many members of the community through this and we all had a really good time. My high spirits and enthusiasm for the space and for the potential there was sensed and it was reflected and amplified by others. I helped new visitors get started on a electronics fashion project, helped people in the wood shop, helped people in the sowing room, helped debug an electronic lights program, and at the end of the day we all celebrated over some drinks and talked a long time about electronics, possible projects and other relevant matters.

I pitched the meetup to many people and had a few agree to come to next weeks meetup.

What started as just a thought, a feeling, then somehow I felt this necessity that I needed to do it now. I sensed that the time was right, and it was now or never. I already bought a ticket to Saigon for February 1st, I needed to make the most of my time in SF, and this was the way. To build a community here that I can then bridge over to other locations, a community that I can grow as it is something that is very important to me.

On Working out of Startup HQ this week

This week the main thing was that I worked from Startup HQ, a coworking space a few short ten minute walk away. Here I mostly focused on working on a client project, then in the evening hours I brainstormed startup ideas with a collaborator.

On Working out of Founders Inc the next month

This week I was lucky to be admitted to join the very selective coworking / accelerator located in the historic and beautiful Fort Mason buildings. I will be working out of here almost daily until January 15th. Here I have already met some really interesting founders and made new friends. I have a premonition that this is the start of a really great new thing and new connections are made from this! It is so critical to achieving something great to have the right kind of environment that pushes you forward. This space is exactly that kind of space. My intention is to be an agent of change in this space, to be always ready with kind, helpful and insightful words to those working here, pursuing their dreams of creating with technology. Which are indeed identical with my own deepest drives.

On electronic music and dance

One of the most alive and innovative art forms is that of electronic dance music. This is one art form that is currently the most alive, the most innovative and the most transformative to it’s participants. Over the recent decades, it has been evolving and we are indeed seeing and taking part of this evolution when we participate in the music events. The dance floor gives a space to be free, to be yourself, to celebrate your life, to those that are able to open themselves to it, that are able to feel joy and freedom. It is not possible for everyone, as many have tragedies, depressions, and phases when they don’t feel being alive deeply. I myself have known this state for a long time. It also is a state of maturity. Some take longer to mature, to become their full selves, and to be able to feel true freedom. Free form dance allows you to express your essence, your emotions, your thoughts, and your body sensations in the most pure way.

On how we can change the world when working on new tech

The story of Steve Jobs is one of the most extraordinary biographies of all of history. I believe that most are oblivious to the magnitude of significance of his work. He demonstrated how only one person can change the trajectory of history. There are several factors that led to this, he is not an extraordinary genius, he is just a conscious being, a yogi, like that autobiography that he read and reread throughout his lifetime. He stood at the intersection of East and West, of Technology and Art, of meditation and action, and made very sensible decisions in his journey. The point that I am trying to make, and that keeps circulating in my mind, is that we, you and I and many people alive today, can have that same kind of drastically impactful life as he did, by building at these intersections, and building in San Francisco. This especially can happen when creating new worlds with software and hardware.