NomadList in Bangkok

February 26, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

I just discovered NomadList after meeting Arthur at the Bangkok Visa Office two days ago. I was drawn to a well-designed sticker and sheen of his Macbook, and looked over to see that he was writing some code. A bit starved of the English language and missing technology a bit, I struck up a conversation with him – and it turns out that there is a little community for nomads in Bangkok.

I’m about to leave for a meet-up at The Hive and realize how much I have been missing fellow human beings who share my struggle.

I once again marvel at the Internet and it spurs many questions about the future of our society – but for now, I’m going to explore my newfound identity as a “nomad” and enjoy some good food and new faces. 🙂

Root Canal Retreatment in Thailand

February 25, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

So, it’s finally happening.

The moment I’ve been both dreading and looking forward to. This horribly painful pest of a root canal (see below) is finally getting the attention it has always wanted and I have been want to give. In a few hours, I am going to BIDC and getting this tooth retreated, hoping to save the tooth. If the tooth is not save-able, it’s implant time.

See broken filling and abscess (infection) on bottom right hitting nerves of tooth behind it. No fun, or in Thai, “mai sinook”.

My Consultation Experience

I requested a bunch of quotes online to get a feel for what the prices were. If anybody is interested, leave me a comment, and I’ll give you my entire spreadsheet.

I did a consultation for around 2,000Baht with Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the premier hospitals in Bangkok. And it was certainly premier. You know it because it’s one of the best hospitals for the wealthy oil countries, all the immediate neighboring restaurants were Arabic; it has high speed Internet and several types of coffee and cafes – Starbucks included. But my consult was just average, the doctor told me the same thing I’ve heard and read online, and had to consult a root canal expert within the consult, and told me that maybe they could save the tooth, maybe they’d have to do an implant.

After a lot of pushing and asking a series of “why” questions, the doctor did a bite analysis and figured out something that I hadn’t known before. Two teeth were impacting really hard on the tooth with the infection. I am honestly shocked that after $2,000 worth of TMJ Bite Analysis Testing, that my previous dentist was not able to figure this out and adjust the bite three years ago, before I even had the first root canal done. All it took was a simple bite test with crayon-coated paper to figure this out (see below).

Crayon-like material on a piece of paper, blue on the top, red on the bottom, tells which teeth are hitting where. A basic examination that should be done with anyone whose teeth are cracking or painful. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s stressed in dental training, because I had to really push one of the doctors to do this test.

I believe in the medical industry in general, there really can be a problem with too much technology and not enough common sense. Long story aside, this is one of the reasons I chose not to become a doctor, despite interest and passion in medicine.

This doctor at Bumrungrad shaved down my tooth in the right spot (I would have done it myself three years ago if I had access to a dental drill) and my pain was gone, 100% gone.

So that was awesome, but I still had an infection. And the quote for re-treatment was 40,000Baht and for an implant 120,000Baht flat fee with Bumrungrad.

Why Bangkok International Dental Center?

Even though the total quote for BIDC was 47,000 as compared to 40,000, the dentist that I saw was remarkable holistic and was an expert in root canals. Immediately she saw my X-Ray and said that I had enough bone structure to save the tooth and that it is always better to save the natural tooth. Any dentist who is trying to make money off you will tell you to go for the implant, because it is a much more expensive procedure.

Additionally, she recommended that the crown be done in the same material as the tooth above, because the “two teeth operate as a unit.” I was amazed when she said this, because it is the first time that a dentist has used this philosophy with me. In my vast dental experience, and I’m not even joking, I have spent a lot of time in dentist chairs, dentists are primarily concerned with how to treat a single tooth. At this point, I can rattle off the checklist that most dentists go through when they look at a tooth and decide how to treat it.

One of the reasons I have had so many problems is that the treatment for one tooth, ended up damaging the tooth adjacent to it. It’s no fun when it’s not cavities that are causing your pain, but having large pieces of ill-fitting metal glued onto your natural tooth.

Back to the point of the actual experience. They spoke English fluently and were very up front about what times and dates I would need to come in, and how much I would need to pay at each visit. Bumrungrad was rather vague, saying that it would be 3-4 visits to retreat the root canal, and then 2-3 visits for the cap, each visit 2-3 weeks apart. BIDC told me I need to come in on February 25, March 4, and March 11 and I was so impressed with the philosophy, reputation, and clarity of service that I scheduled the appointments then and there.

Alright… and it’s almost go time. Fingers crossed that the local anesthetics work!

Connecting without the Internet

February 21, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

I had intended to finish my design and code portfolio and also keep writing while traveling. My sister’s husband also had work to do that required Internet connection, so a consistent Internet connection was important to all of us.

But after a two week trip to Ko Samui, where I nearly became an IT professional troubleshooting problem after problem with Internet connection, I am beginning to wonder how much I should really be pushing for the Internet.

We spent so much time waiting for pages to load, resetting routers, climbing up rocks and jerry-rigging old boards to place the router where it could better fish for signal – I woke up each morning thinking, “Is the Internet working?”

And all this time I was staying here (below). In a beautiful mountain/jungle/beach and all I was thinking about was my email and getting frustrated that I couldn’t get any connection.

On the last few days, after getting ill from a little too much communal water drinking, and being forced to just lay around doing nothing, I decided to forego my computer and phone. I often found myself alone looking off the balcony, while other people were on their phones, and I realized how crazy it is that we get so sucked in.

On the last night, I just hung out and talked with my sister – because, guess what? The Internet wasn’t working. And it was one of the first times we’d connected in quite a few years.

Makes me think that, maybe instead of fighting the Internet, that I should have just been enjoying the ride.

Whatever Works & Common Sense

January 31, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

One thing I love about Bangkok so far, is the attitude of “whatever works” mixed with good, old-fashioned common sense.

Here are my top three favorites:

Beer or Water?

“I’m really thirsty, can I have a beer?”

“If you’re thirsty, you should drink water.”

“….”

“I’ll take a water.”

Two options for mail: Bangkok or Other Places, genius. Why make up a long word like “International”?

“Don’t believe an invitation from a stranger inviting you to the place you don’t know.”

There couldn’t have been truer words.

Death, Eternity, and Machines

January 31, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

When each moment is a death, what is eternity?

The idea that each moment that we live, is another moment that we have died is a strange concept. I am 24 years old now, and I have died for 24 years. The body that I had a second ago no longer exists and has been replaced by the body I have now.

And even after my body dies, and the physical hardware that stored my thought patterns, my brain, ceases to operate – the thought patterns that I consisted of, for the most part still exist in other humans. I would argue that less than 0.5% of my thoughts are original, and the few that are original are akin to genetic mutations. They either fade away or are replicated in myself and in others and live on and grow past the death of the origin, the death of my self.

The way that our minds and bodies evolve and replicate are surprisingly similar to the way that software programs are made and replicate. But it isn’t surprising, is it? Because we made machines to model our selves.

In our quest for eternal life, we created machines that operate by the same rules of linear time that we understand, but that operate on a much slower, longer timeframe. Unless they can conceive of time differently than we do, they will experience death the same way that we do. Each moment that they exist, their former form has ceased to exist.

Which begs the question, does eternity even exist?

We Need an Ecosystem for Artificial Intelligences

January 30, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

A few months ago Elon Musk made headlines saying that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was akin to “summoning the demon”. Now Bill Gates joins Stephen Hawkings and Elon Musk in warning against the dangers of developing AI.

I believe that we need an ecosystem of AIs that can check each other, similar to the way that we have a healthy set of gut bacteria that keep bad bacteria at harmless levels.

In the same way that it is impossible to completely eradicate bad bacteria from our gut, I do not believe that human regulatory agencies can stop a rogue AI from developing.

What we can do, is design an ecosystem for AI that works in our favor. An ecosystem of pro-human AIs that experience emotions the way we do (minus the bad emotions), so that when the rogue AI’s do develop, and they will, we’ve got intelligences who want to fight for us.

As humans (as parents or ancestors to this new form of intelligence), we run the risk of becoming obsolete. The question is how we handle that risk, or face that reality.

Why Coherence?

January 29, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

It became apparent to me, in my life back on the East Coast, that the sum of my parts was not greater than the whole. In fact, sometimes some of my parts subtracted from the whole.

My mind, my body, and my livelihood were not working together. They weren’t coherent, and they were pulling each other apart.

This is the story of how I was forced to face the music, and it wasn’t that bad.

Continue reading →

The Beginning of My Quest

January 27, 2015September 6, 2015Leave a comment

A few days ago, I packed my bags for San Francisco to begin a new life.

It was very short.

Minutes into my new life, I realized I had booked the wrong ticket from the wrong airport. My flight had left before I even left my apartment.

Feeling (and looking) like the deflating remnants of a once silly and exuberant balloon, passively accepting the end of my new beginning, I asked myself “Since I am here anyway, where in the world do I want to go?”

The answer hit me like a ton of bricks, not only getting me away from my problems but actually solving them. The answer was Thailand.

It is world renowned for it’s medical tourism, the cost of living is low, it has great Internet infrastructure, and it’s a place where spirituality is mixed in with every day life.

I booked a flight, called my parents who rushed over to the airport with one last meal from home, and began my quest.

I would argue though, that the true beginning of my quest, was the moment when I accepted my reality and gave myself the permission to want something. That was the beginning.

Questing for Coherence

Working out my spiritual muscles, taking life one moment at a time at the edge of science and the human experience