While this journey down
the rabbit hole is a long story,
there isn't enough time to
tell it in a crowdfunding video.
The too long, didn't read version
is that an engineer named Charles
was working on solving a specific problem,
ran smack into the Inventor's Paradox,
and discovered a new general solution
that not only solved the specific
problem he had been working on,
but also has unknown potential to
solve many other problems in the world.
His inspiration?
An ordinary desk fan.
The now patent pending solution
was named, the MERCS framework.
MERCS is an acronym for:
modular embedded rack control system.
In a nutshell, it is a
standardized hardware framework
for broad and robust applications in
consumer, business,
and industrial electronics,
designed to be maximally modular,
repairable, scalable, and customizable.
A simple way to think
about the framework
is that it's conceptually
like high tech Legos,
you can design and
assemble modules and panels
to build nearly any
system you can imagine.
Even the MERCS block assembly itself
is stackable and rackable.
The most common modules
can be standardized and optimized
for off-the-shelf system
development and assembly,
or serve as replacements
for fast system repairs.
They could also be completely custom,
depending on solution requirements.
The module complexity could range
from a simple rotary encoder module,
to a full small form
factor, mini PC module.
The potential for the MERCS framework
is only limited by one's imagination.
As we can see with a simple application of
the MERCS framework design process,
the first prototype was a
replacement for an ordinary desk fan.
Effectively, this application is a
configurable high efficiency brushless DC
motor controller with full pulse
width modulation control resolution.
In other words,
it's a one hundred megahertz
desk fan that is easily repaired,
upgradeable, and should last a lifetime.
It reduces power consumption and
related energy cost, by nearly 77 percent
at comparative air flow, or can
push over 4 times as much air,
for roughly the same amount of power
the ordinary desk fan would consume.
The desk fan application prototype,
as unpolished as it is,
has been running since January,
and now has over 4500 hours of
run time without a single problem.
The MERCS framework design approach,
can be applied to many other consumer
appliances to achieve similar results.
Now imagine adding a simple
touchscreen interface module.
Not only can consumer appliances
gain a new application style interface,
they can now maximize
configuration and control resolution.
It could even provide
diagnostic capabilities
to further simplify repairs
in more complex systems.
The potential for the MERCS framework
outside of stand-alone systems,
significantly expands when you
include networking functionality.
Because the MERCS framework is
an embedded architecture at its core,
the types of intra-system, and
inter-system, communication interfaces
and protocols that can be utilized,
span the entire technology spectrum,
and can be implemented
with any networking topologies.
One of the primary barriers to smart
homes and internet of things applications,
is the lack of standardization in systems.
The MERCS framework
solves this problem natively.
In the future, it could serve as a basis
for new home and building designs
to include integrated MERCS nodes.
As a bonus for the privacy
minded, and anti-big tech individuals,
this means smart homes can be completely
siloed away from third party data mining.
To maximize security,
a combination of custom
multi-factor authentication protocols,
encryption, up to and including
post-quantum encryption,
and secure gateways for external
interfacing can be implemented.
The Inventor's Paradox is
an interesting phenomenon,
because none of these
applications thus far,
were the specific problem Charles
was originally working to solve.
So what was the specific problem?
Charles has been working to create
an alternative to increasingly complex,
expensive, and bloated web development.
The world wide web was never designed
for what it's being used for today,
but decades of big tech momentum
have continually layered increased
complexity on a bad foundation.
The trend in big tech
over the last decade,
is moving closer to the embedded
systems level to gain efficiency.
The critical flaw in big tech's approach,
is that most of their solutions are
built on the same web foundation
that their business models are
massively dependent on, and invested in.
So as to not disrupt themselves, their
solutions are limited to that foundation,
and assume all the
intrinsic inefficiencies
that are effectively, baked into the cake.
Solutions outside that foundation,
are a disruptive threat
to their power and control.
But what if, we decided
to build a new platform,
a simple, efficient platform that is
completely independent of the web stack,
void of big tech,
and runs on the same
internet infrastructure?
What if others decided to build their own?
The MERCS framework, designed as
a pure embedded systems architecture,
was the solution needed to serve
as a new foundation for this platform.
Charles named this platform, Yggdrasil,
after the world tree from Norse mythology.
The front end of Yggdrasil
is named, Midgard.
Midgard is a virtual machine that
runs native sand boxed applications.
If you're familiar with smart phone
applications and application stores,
Midgard would be similar in function,
but for desktop applications.
The back end of
Yggdrasil is named, Asgard.
Asgard can perhaps best be described as
an embedded cluster, or firmware cluster.
Because Yggdrasil is designed to
natively interface with embedded systems,
it can also natively interface with smart
home and internet of things applications.
It could even be applied all the way up to
manufacturing and
industrial control systems.
The benefits and applications
of the MERCS framework,
is no easy task to cover in
such a short amount of time,
because even Charles doesn't know
the full potential the framework has,
or the potential solutions
others can develop that
are outside his field-of-view.
This is a proverbial, tip
of the iceberg situation.
There are three key areas
where the MERCS framework
can significantly improve the world.
The first is the Right to Repair.
Electronic systems today are
becoming increasingly complex to a point
that they are difficult
and expensive to repair,
if at all repairable.
Many corporations have taken
planned obsolescence to the extreme
by limiting the useful
life of a product artificially,
in order to ensure long-term sales,
forcing consumers to purchase
replacements or pay for expensive repairs.
The MERCS framework is designed as a
polar opposite to planned obsolescence,
the goal being to minimize the long
term operational and repair costs,
while maximizing the ability to repair and
upgrade as newer technology is developed.
An ideal product should last a lifetime
and have maximum residual value.
It is a paradigm shift from, Design
to Replace to Design to Repair.
The second area, which is a
consequence of planned obsolescence,
is environmental protection.
The MERCS framework not
only maximizes energy efficiency,
but a future built around this foundation
would drastically minimize
electronic waste and related pollution.
Maximizing energy efficiency
not only helps the environment,
but it can significantly
reduce your electricity bills.
The third area, and perhaps
the most important for the future,
is the Right to Privacy.
Big tech and government
are in a constant quest to maximize
data mining on everyone and everything.
Big tech already has near total
control over the world wide web.
They are an insatiable data
mining and censorship monster.
Their next goal is data
mining your homes.
The prevailing sentiment, is that
big tech, is too powerful to fight.
It is mostly true, that is if you
are trying to fight them on their hill,
dependent on a system
they created and control.
However, what is preventing
us from fighting big tech by,
bypassing them entirely?
Why waste the time and effort
on correcting a corrupt system
designed to maximally erode your privacy,
when we can build our own systems
in which big tech is nonexistent?
At some point we will
need to make a stand,
instead of waiting on big tech to
suddenly become ethical and less greedy,
or government to not be corrupt,
we can build our own independent systems.
Otherwise, the path
humanity is currently on
will become a dystopian
nightmare in the future.
This, is where you can make a difference,
and take a stand against that future.
The goal of this crowdfunding
video is to raise enough money
to optimize the MERCS framework
for manufacturing in the United States,
build a small scale manufacturing line,
and lay the foundation for a strong
community and ecosystem of people
who will learn, design, and build systems
that solve real problems in the world.
While there are no
rewards to offer in order
to keep contributions as tax free gifts,
documenting the process from
the ground up through a video series
could allow everyone to
take this journey together.
It is our hope, that you
will take a stand with us,
to help create a better
future for humanity,
and to reclaim our
independence from big tech.
