INSIDE: Andre' LaMothe

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Original post Your brain is a machine, you are a machine, machines think. We have the technology to exactly copy a neuron, let's replace 1 neuron in your brain -- is it still you? Yes, now 2, 3, 4, 10,000,000,000 -- is it still you yes. Thinking is just a word we use to describe an incredibly complex process. Not only will machines "think", they will easily surpase us since we will design them to. I suggest everyone takes advantage of the next 30 years while we are still the dominant species on this planet, after that you can count the days until we are just interesting parasites to the machines that we create in our own image that will be superior to us. Its simply evolution and envitable, we are destined to re-create ourselves. Nature created single cell organisms, then multicell, then organells etc. Then "we" (a collection of these smaller objects) take the next step and model ourselves and improve the driving goal of the "design" of the universe is to continue to evolve and create. We are just a step in this evolution, a normal function of the universe. We just have such huge egos' we can't see that we are nothing more than machines with a function just like any other naturally occuring process in the universe. Also, we use about 1-10% of our brain at any one time, the comment the teacher said is also true, our brains are incredibly redundant, therefore, we use it all, but don't need it all. If you were to destroy 90% or more of it (certain) regions you wouldn't know the difference. There was an interesting case of this, someone can look it up of a girl that literally had 5-10% of a normal brain volume, spinal fluid or some other defect as I recall caused the expansion in the center of the brain outward, until her entire brain mass was literally a "skin" pressing against her skull and not only was she smart, I recall she was a chemist or chemistry major and very intelligent. There are so many things that are alive. Internet is alive. The galaxy is alive. The universe is alive. etc. This is a fractal universe from your cells in your body to entire galaxies, all living, growing, changing, "thinking" on some scale. Just because we can "see" or understand how something else thinks (including ourselves) doens't mean it doesn't think. Anyway, this is a pretty serious concept. For the past 10,000 - 100,000 years humans have pretty much done the same thing, go to work, have babies, etc. But, in the last 30 years we have completely altered our trajectory and we are by our own hands going to alter our evolution 10-100M years manually in the next 30-50 years. Andre'

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Original post So its really a lose-lose situtation, 1 in 100,000 people that try to start a biz will be successful, 1 in 1000 of those will actually become wealthy, and 1 in 100 of those will actually have a life -- so the bottom line is that if the "work" isn't worth it then I suggest just working for the man, in the end you will be more happy. Any reasonable size project takes 2-3 years to complete, it takes 2-3 projects to get somewhere (if you are VERY lucky). And most people can barely survive 1 project, let alone 3. And most men cave in under pressure of girlfriends, etc. few are willing to do go the distance for their passion. Andre'

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Original post This is really a simple question with a simple answer -- its about risk. I never worked for the man really. My first job was at macdonalds when I was 15, I quit in 1 month and got a job selling software at software etc., but I sold more software than any adult salesmen in the chain, so the manager of my store fired me, the reason I found out later was the owner was going to give me his job, then I got a job as lead tech (16 now) at san jose computer and fixed Atari 400, 800, etc.s. I did this for a few months and basically started consulting for people. I would do little odd programming jobs etc., so at a young age I was trying to optimize my income and not be controlled. Then serious consulting started when I was about 18, 19 -- with a demo tape I made on VHS of my programming (unheard of in those days) I landed an R&D job at Software Publishing Corp and basically consulted for them as a contractor developing really advanced product concepts for 3-5 years in the future, that gave me the latitude to experiment with all kinds of stuff. Then I basically finished and then started consulting all the time, I would open the paper, find the most expensive job, go interview and do it for 3 months or so. In the meantime, I was always trying to start little biz's, but my friends would never have the maturity or stamina, so I could never find a partner and that always sucked. So I would write 8-bit games in machine language for the atari, sell them as shareware, etc. build disk drives and resell them, etc. Anyway, I am skipping a ton of details, but at some point in 1992/3 I wanted to write some books since I had made so many games, so I did the tricks and teach yourself books etc. then started xtreme games and wanted to do 1st person shooter, I did rex blade I,II,III, but had to do the game in 45 days and was under funded, I realized its better to do value games (at that time no one knew what that meant), so I started on that path since they were easy to make, took a month and you could actually make money. And then it goes on and on, the XGDC, nurve networks, etc. The bottom line is I finish what I start. And that is the single most important thing. Also, to take risk. You will NEVER have enough money, enough time, enough experience, you just have to say WTF and try. Also, you have to have the stamina to work all day to make money to support yourself and work all night on your biz. And you have to try thing after thing after thing. Also, never partner with more than 1-2 people, they will never finish anything and unless you all have the same goals it won't work out. Best to do it by youself, or with 1 partner. And of course, the practical reality is there is no time for all this, 24 hours is hardly enough, so girlfriends, family, friends, tv all have to take a far 2nd place to your goal in life. Time will pass so fast you will wonder where it went. I like to gauge my success by what have I done for myself, what have I done to help others, how much money have I made, how much do my ideas penetrate the world, and finally how much tangible "product" do I build. Of course, at the end of all this is you will truly be happy, very few people get there though As far as my day, I go to bed at 8-9am, get back up at 11am or so, I just lay there. Then I just work all day, I think, build things, read, try to make a task list and do at least 30-60 things a day. In between, workout 3-4 times a week, try to eat healthy, in my case this just means watching carbs, I never eat fast foods or soft drinks, etc. and then during the weekends I try to do stuff for a couple hours on a social basis, so I have so little time for that stuff, I tend to date very busy women that you have to make an appointment with practically since they are always doing stuff. I don't date needy chicks that have nothing to do all day, no jobs, etc. I like busy people. So that's about it, as far as funding, I have paid for everything myself, no one has ever once helped me out -- pisses me off, but true. But, then again no one helped out the founders of intuit, or cisco, or atari, and many others, so its par for the course. Lastly, I would say that you MUST make a schedule, deadlines and deliverables. And do everything you say you will. You MAY THINK you are good at something, or could do something, but until you actually try it you will never know. The funny thing is that they things you take for granted, the things you think are easy are actually hard. So my usual challenge is simple. If you want to be an entrepreneur and control your own destiny. Do this -- start a biz -- anything, an in 1-2 months get a client, have a meeting, talk another human being into giving you money, a complete stranger, then execute the contract, finish the work (or sell the product) and make $1. If you can do that repeatedly, and scale it then you have a biz. Now, some advice on what to do -- Do not manufacture anything, its way to hard and too expensive. Do not write software and try to sell it, nearly impossible and not worth the time, unless you have a market and / or the money to drive a ton of traffic to your site. Downloads on download.com mean jack, paying customers are another story and hard to get. Do start a service oriented biz. If you are a programmer, artist, web designer, if you can't get a job in 1 week then you suck, plain and simple. So if you know what you're doing, just get out there and look for clients and start doing it. Don't worry about companies, and LLCs, and all that crap, start simple, use you name or a DBA, and a sole proprietorship, make 1000 phone calls, send out 1000 letters and or email, that will get you 1-3 jobs, and that's it. Then after a while you can see the terrain in the market and you can start to develop software or products rather than construct them on spec and let someone elses marketings and sales machine distribute your work as part of a larger product. The worst thing you can do is overplan and think and think and think. Just get out there and do it, people think themselves out of stuff. You will make mistakes, but so what, who cares. Andre'

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From previous quote Do start a service oriented biz. If you are a programmer, artist, web designer, if you can't get a job in 1 week then you suck, plain and simple. So if you know what you're doing, just get out there and look for clients and start doing it.