THE PERSON BEHIND THE JOURNAL
Santiago.
Between the stars and everyday life.
I divide my time between Shonan and places in the mountains and along the coast of Kyushu. Small ventures in places I have traveled to—a café in an old Japanese house and small guesthouses—are now my main livelihood.
As I wrote in the first essay, the night sky I saw on Yakushima when I was eleven was my way into the universe. In 2009, I read Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near. Since then, thinking about my life has also meant thinking about how to live with technology. In that sense, the distant universe and the evolution of electronic intelligence both feel, to me, like extensions of everyday life.
I studied electronic and information engineering in graduate school. I am not, however, a specialist in the universe or the origins of life, so when I discuss them here, I make a conscious effort to cite sources and show the calculations behind the numbers. I also try to distinguish what research tells us from what I think in response. Who are we? What do we make, and what kind of future do we want? I hope to write about those questions here.
I borrowed the pen name Santiago from the young shepherd in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.
WHY e⁺Life?
Beyond electricity,
toward a good future.
The full name is Santiago’s e⁺Life, pronounced “e-life.”
The e stands for electrons. It also stands for an electrified society building its future, from the electricity business I work in to the electric vehicles associated with Elon Musk. And, of course, it echoes ii, the Japanese word for “good.”
In the plus sign, I saw the image of the positron, with its positive electric charge. I’m not saying positrons mean good vibes. But as technology advances, what kinds of lives do we want to lead?
To return to that question, and for humans and electronic intelligence to build a good relationship and a bright future together. That is the wish I have placed in this small plus.
Toward a world where human sensibility governs technology.
My first question began with the stars.
Read “There Are Absolutely No Aliens” ↗