Aaron Decker, Software Dude

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2023-03-18 16:00:05

I was recently reviewing some slides my brother put together for a class on laser manufacturing technology and it got me thinking about the metaphors of a Gaussian Beam.

This was making me think about how attention in the Western hemisphere feels to me like a Gaussian Beam. There is only one true point of focus and when the “current thing” is moved into that focal point it is undeniable. The power is at it’s maximum and every member of society is bombarded under the energetic intensity. But there is only one beam and when it moves on the previous thing is left completely out of focus, illuminated only by the diffusion of the scattered light reflected off of the next current thing.

It’s a metaphor for how the media works, research funding at universities, regime politics, VC startup funding (now we only fund “AI” projects 🫠), etc. I’m not certain that it’s limited to the Western hemisphere either, that’s simply my experience.

I will omit the recently experienced list of “current things” here, it’s too exasperating for me type them all out here.