About the grad school thing.

I am reading a fantastic book called Cryptonomicon. It's a brilliantly written book that includes many of my favorite things...math, computers, graphs, technology, history, and a horse-sized tongue-in-cheek. It is swell.

While reading the book, I have been thinking quite a lot about what my future looks like and where all of this, my trip to Japan, will lead me. It's a little early, I realize, but the reality is that 18 months isn't all that long and it would be preferable if I did not waste all of my time here fighting depression with outrageously priced booze in Tokyo's bars (that's mostly a joke, Mom...settle down).

Before I came, I thought that journalism sounded pretty appealing. On reflection, it sounds like a road to quick bankruptcy and enduring bitterness. No thanks. Medical school was also a possibility, but the reality is that 4 more years of school and another 3 of residency, and the accompanying 30 hour shifts, would suck shit. So, that leaves my original option, which is law.

I've been apprehensive about law because it involves working in a field that is largely regarded as soulless. I like my soul...I'd like to keep it. The alternative to soullessness, however, is poverty. After 5 years of sub-poverty income, thanks to college, I am well aware that I do not enjoy poverty, although I was wealthy enough to have tremendous luxury in comparison to my 3rd world brothers and sisters. Thank you, Mr. Credit Card. Thank you.

I've often talked about intellectual property law, recently, but I haven't really spent a whole lot of time thinking about what that means. I know, superficially, what the fuck IP law covers, but I haven't tried to define it for myself in a way that is really fascinating or even particularly interesting.

The book has changed that. The "Crypto" in Cryptonomicon refers to cryptography, the art and science of encoding information in ways so mathematically robust that it would take the most powerful computers known to man longer than the lifespan of the universe to decode them by brute force. Just think about that for a second...OK, good. Now, when you log into your bank account, you do so using a form of encryption that protects your private data from brute force attacks by vicious little Chinese hackers who will thoroughly enjoy bankrupting you for their own pleasure. It's there and you don't even notice. On the other hand, sending email is like sending a letter without an envelope and is possibly even less secure. Every email should be encrypted, and I, for the life of me, do not understand why they are not. Anyway, I digress.

So, I started thinking about the transmission of information and how, exactly, it falls under the umbrella of intellectual property and the many reasons why businesses and individuals would want to keep information secured with encryption or even more robust forms of protection.

Simply put, the entire idea of intellectual property is based around the concept of knowledge as power. Controlling information is power. Dissemination of certain, select information could potentially ruin the largest corporations in the world or turn a single average individual into a billionaire.

Intellectual property is the idea that information can be controlled and contained and manipulated by individuals and governments and corporations to their own advantage. I find this idea fascinating, both practically and philosophically, and my work in this field will likely touch on nearly all of my intellectual interests sooner or later. Math, science, technology, music, movies...it's ALL somebody's intellectual property. for example, the room that you are sitting in right now...look around. Virtually everything you see in your surroundings very likely either is, or was, the product of someone else's intellectual property. Paint on the wall? IP. Computer? IP. Varnish on the floor? IP. Your chair? IP.

I also look forward to exploring whether or not is even possible to own an idea, and if there is any merit to such ownership if, for example, the aforementioned Chinese hacker can break into your home or company computer, steal your valuable data, and shoot it, in a matter of milliseconds, all over the world. The idea of something so easily stolen and replicated stretches the idea of property to a length that, I suspect, may break it entirely in many instances. Information in the Age of Information wants to propagate itself freely.

So, here's the deal. I will go to school. I will get a JD in IP, which will allow me to pass the bar. I will probably get a PhD, if I still feel like it at the time when such decisions are required to be made. It would smooth my transition into academia, if I decide that I want to teach, it would be cool to have those letters behind my name, and it would probably tack an extra 50 to 100 grand onto my annual salary while I'm doing the fucking corporate work.

The fucking corporate work will likely be irritating, but the good news is that most of it should involve corporations trying to rob each other blind. Why would I care of X-Corp is trying to steal from Y-Corp or vice versa? Not so much with the getting upset about that. Additionally, my time in Japan and my ability to easily (or not so easily, as it were) get around Asia is going to look really, really good on my resume, along with the theoretical PhD and eventual recommendations, so I don't see why I shouldn't stand to make insane amounts of money at the end of the process. Once I have my loans paid off and maybe some extra cash stashed in the stock market and some bank accounts, then I can get on to the non-profit work and maybe teaching, if all goes well.