Imagine that you suddenly had a superpower - one day you woke up and found that you could literally hear people's thoughts. Everywhere you go, you'd hear what people are thinking, like they are speaking it to you.
When you walk into a room full of people, you'd hear their thought all at once. Like they are all trying to talk to you at the same time.
Your brain tries to focus on a few people's thoughts, but you find yourself unable to filter out all the noise. You find big crowds incredibly tiring because you cannot focus in all that noise. It sucks the energy out of you, like you're perpetually in a dance club trying to do your math homework. You spend most of your time indoors, going out only where strictly needed.
But you keep on trying, because you understand that you need to control this "noise" in order to function in society. After a few years of trying, your brain finally manages to filter out most of the noise except those who are within a few meters of you.
But big crowds still tire the hell out of you. You wished you could hear the thoughts of exactly who you want to hear.
But it seems that the sensory perception of thought doesn't work like that. It seems that your brain needs to work very hard to do all that filtering work, to remove what you do not need to hear. It's not like your senses can "target" someone - it's more like your brain functions like a superhuman firewall that monitors and filters every single piece of information coming in to decide if it's better you hear something, or you do not. If your brain had been doing something other than filtering, you probably would have been pretty intelligent. It kinda sucks.
You fight so hard just to function normally. Until one morning.
One morning you woke up and found that all the voices were gone. Not one single voice.
It seems that your brain had found it impossible to filter out single thoughts, and that all this filtering was a waste of energy. It seems that your brain has decided that being unable to tap into this super-power was better for you - it seems like your brain has given up fighting. At least you could now function like an ordinary person.
You wished you could keep some of that super power, but it doesn't work that way. But you do feel very relieved that it's all over. It's something you spent a lot of your life fighting, but not something you want to talk about. It's like an experience that made you so much more, yet you would be deemed so much less if you even hinted at it.
But sometimes you wonder, if there is someone in the world out there, who could live with having such super powers, hearing every single person's thoughts and responding to all their voices where nobody else could, living such impossibly extraordinary lives that you know deep inside you have given up trying to achieve.
Sunday, April 05, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
You are your own Master
Sometimes I think a life of knowledge can be like being in a sadomasochistic relationship with yourself, where you, instantly both the dominant and submissive, have decided to play by a pre-agreed set of rules to push through the pain to hit that orgasmic pleasure which simultaneously makes the world around you more real and completely unreal. That's why the knowledgable go around saying that the truth will set you free.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Music - another thought
Music is our most universal endeavor to consciously experience time.
Because music is made of vibrations.
And vibrations is made of rhythm.
Music is not in the pitch but in the beat.
The beat is always moving forward.
It does not stop, it does not wait.
But our experience of the beat is not mechanical.
Sometimes one whole sequence can feel like a split second.
Sometimes one beat can feel like forever.
But if we move with the beat, we become synchronized with it.
We don't feel its passing; we feel it dancing.
That's when we feel like the beat can last forever.
And in that moment, time stops, and we live in an eternity in the space-time of the song.
And we begin to think we understand,
for that moment,
how there can be a reality that continues in its motion
even when all time has ended for us.
Because music is made of vibrations.
And vibrations is made of rhythm.
Music is not in the pitch but in the beat.
The beat is always moving forward.
It does not stop, it does not wait.
But our experience of the beat is not mechanical.
Sometimes one whole sequence can feel like a split second.
Sometimes one beat can feel like forever.
But if we move with the beat, we become synchronized with it.
We don't feel its passing; we feel it dancing.
That's when we feel like the beat can last forever.
And in that moment, time stops, and we live in an eternity in the space-time of the song.
And we begin to think we understand,
for that moment,
how there can be a reality that continues in its motion
even when all time has ended for us.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
I can be anything but ordinary,
because ordinariness is an impossible ideal,
created by leaders and statisticians who want to make you think that
our very existence which makes us inevitably unique can be "resolved" when we align ourselves with Average Joe -
because managing identical "ordinary" people who behave predictably makes their job easier and their reward bigger - by punishing people who do not conform and labeling them "monsters", and by outsourcing the cost of management to the population at large,
who do everything they can to fit into the "average" ideals set in front of them. In that sense,
the only people who can actually become average joes are obsessive idealists - who have paid the price and perfected their art of fitting into that mould of average-ness - what a waste of exceptional talent that would be!
That is why I refuse to be ordinary.
because all life based on evolution hinges on being special.
You, are special.
Go and do your special thing today.
because ordinariness is an impossible ideal,
created by leaders and statisticians who want to make you think that
our very existence which makes us inevitably unique can be "resolved" when we align ourselves with Average Joe -
because managing identical "ordinary" people who behave predictably makes their job easier and their reward bigger - by punishing people who do not conform and labeling them "monsters", and by outsourcing the cost of management to the population at large,
who do everything they can to fit into the "average" ideals set in front of them. In that sense,
the only people who can actually become average joes are obsessive idealists - who have paid the price and perfected their art of fitting into that mould of average-ness - what a waste of exceptional talent that would be!
That is why I refuse to be ordinary.
because all life based on evolution hinges on being special.
You, are special.
Go and do your special thing today.
Saturday, March 07, 2015
Four Freedoms
Freedom is when you are happy getting tied up using a firm rope that makes visible your comfort zone, knowing that no distance you wander can lead you over the cliff.
Freedom is when pain is so rhythmical you learn ignore it by habit, and when it is taken from you you feel a release that makes you realize you never learnt to truly ignore it.
Freedom is the illusion of free will and informed choice, when you are made to think you are an individual capable of making intelligent decisions unswayed by something out there influencing you for its exclusive benefit.
Freedom is realizing that the experience of freedom is an illusion that exists only when your mind makes you think you are exempt from obeying, even though your act of not obeying in fact obeys the mechanisms of something outside your idea of free will.
Freedom is when pain is so rhythmical you learn ignore it by habit, and when it is taken from you you feel a release that makes you realize you never learnt to truly ignore it.
Freedom is the illusion of free will and informed choice, when you are made to think you are an individual capable of making intelligent decisions unswayed by something out there influencing you for its exclusive benefit.
Freedom is realizing that the experience of freedom is an illusion that exists only when your mind makes you think you are exempt from obeying, even though your act of not obeying in fact obeys the mechanisms of something outside your idea of free will.
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Scars
whatever we to do ourselves is what we conclude after agonizing rationalizing to be the best we can do to stay alive in minimal pain. and whoever says otherwise probably never knew what pain is.
Friday, February 27, 2015
The fabric of reality
One person believing makes an idea a dream.
Two people believing makes the idea a promise.
A community believing makes the idea reality.
Two people believing makes the idea a promise.
A community believing makes the idea reality.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Taxes
The rich are rich because they are connected to people who give to them.
But the purpose of community is not to create rich people. It's a direct result of us being social animals.
But being social animals is no explanation for community.
We are social animals because we have collectively decided that it is a better strategy to specialize in what we can manage, and allow others to give us what we cannot.
Our communities are strong because we have abstracted and virtualized our ability to collect and transmit our strengths and weaknesses. We are strong because we have things that help us do redistribute our strengths: the internet, logistics, social protocol, language, money.
In that sense, we could attribute part of our strength to taxes - it literally redistributes resources from those who are good at collecting it to those who aren't.
In that sense, taxation is the whole purpose of a certain class of modern communities.
In that sense, the rich are made rich because they are expected to give to the poor.
Unless - unless the rich do not live in communities. Unless the rich do not live in protection of the community: without the protection of law, the trust conferred by money, the mechanisms of efficacy afforded by infrastructure. Unless the rich had nobody to give to them. Unless the rich - were not rich.
That is why I think it's fair to levy extremely high taxes on the ultra rich.
But the purpose of community is not to create rich people. It's a direct result of us being social animals.
But being social animals is no explanation for community.
We are social animals because we have collectively decided that it is a better strategy to specialize in what we can manage, and allow others to give us what we cannot.
Our communities are strong because we have abstracted and virtualized our ability to collect and transmit our strengths and weaknesses. We are strong because we have things that help us do redistribute our strengths: the internet, logistics, social protocol, language, money.
In that sense, we could attribute part of our strength to taxes - it literally redistributes resources from those who are good at collecting it to those who aren't.
In that sense, taxation is the whole purpose of a certain class of modern communities.
In that sense, the rich are made rich because they are expected to give to the poor.
Unless - unless the rich do not live in communities. Unless the rich do not live in protection of the community: without the protection of law, the trust conferred by money, the mechanisms of efficacy afforded by infrastructure. Unless the rich had nobody to give to them. Unless the rich - were not rich.
That is why I think it's fair to levy extremely high taxes on the ultra rich.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Love on Cloud Seven
Life is like the internet. It doesn't start or end anywhere. You are part of it but you are neither it nor do you own it in any way, but by your very ability to be part of it, you are owned by it.
Your connection and disconnection may look like the birth and death of your life to you, but these alter it in no significant way. That's because life is not something that was birthed into you; you were birthed into life. Birth and death are not complementary to, or opposites of life: they are a strategy of life as much as unreliable connections a strategy of the internet.
Life is self seeking beyond reason. It is an unemotional, fierce, and self-centered force that neither forgives nor forgets but keeps record of all wrongs in its evolving DNA with the sole objective of preserving itself. Life is not about you. To life, you are just another statistic, like how a cell in your body or a bacteria in your guts - nothing more than a sophisticated "naturally" intelligent risk-aware machinery that preserves it.
Love, and love, is everything that you throw at life to make your experience of being conscious a narrative about you.
It is everything that life isn't. It is destructive but gentle, emotional but forgiving, it is personal but able to reach outside the skin, able to acknowledge and embrace other living things that are not physically part of us, and treat them as an integral part of us and call them community, body, enemy, or family.
Love is the cloud on the 7th layer of the internet, the application of life through which we gain faces and create meaning in the hardware that is us. Love is the stories we tell ourselves to makes sense of the world around us. Love is incapable of truth nor falsehood, because love is the stories in which we carve out our reality. It is the ground we stand on and the stars above.
Above all, we need love because it is the one force we have against life's harshness. It is the only thing that keeps is together, and the only real defense in the face of our completely irrational choice of staying alive.
Your connection and disconnection may look like the birth and death of your life to you, but these alter it in no significant way. That's because life is not something that was birthed into you; you were birthed into life. Birth and death are not complementary to, or opposites of life: they are a strategy of life as much as unreliable connections a strategy of the internet.
Life is self seeking beyond reason. It is an unemotional, fierce, and self-centered force that neither forgives nor forgets but keeps record of all wrongs in its evolving DNA with the sole objective of preserving itself. Life is not about you. To life, you are just another statistic, like how a cell in your body or a bacteria in your guts - nothing more than a sophisticated "naturally" intelligent risk-aware machinery that preserves it.
Love, and love, is everything that you throw at life to make your experience of being conscious a narrative about you.
It is everything that life isn't. It is destructive but gentle, emotional but forgiving, it is personal but able to reach outside the skin, able to acknowledge and embrace other living things that are not physically part of us, and treat them as an integral part of us and call them community, body, enemy, or family.
Love is the cloud on the 7th layer of the internet, the application of life through which we gain faces and create meaning in the hardware that is us. Love is the stories we tell ourselves to makes sense of the world around us. Love is incapable of truth nor falsehood, because love is the stories in which we carve out our reality. It is the ground we stand on and the stars above.
Above all, we need love because it is the one force we have against life's harshness. It is the only thing that keeps is together, and the only real defense in the face of our completely irrational choice of staying alive.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
If mobile phones survived the way human beings continue to go on living despite discrimination, disability, attack, abuse, hunger, unpopularity, unconnectedness and isolation, inherited imperfections, disease, hurt and self harm, chronic pain and relapse, we would still be using Nokia 8310s, repaired and upgraded beyond all recognition like a patchwork Frankenstein.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Saturday, December 06, 2014
Friday, November 07, 2014
Dark Freedom
Let there be light so that man will know darkness. Let there be bondage so that man will know freedom.
And the peace of the darkness will be taken away by oppressors in shining armor; and the stillness of freedom by the knowledge that blinds.
And man will hunt down the heart of Truth and call it falsehood, so that the whole Truth becomes unknowable.
There is no lie like falsehood - know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
And the peace of the darkness will be taken away by oppressors in shining armor; and the stillness of freedom by the knowledge that blinds.
And man will hunt down the heart of Truth and call it falsehood, so that the whole Truth becomes unknowable.
There is no lie like falsehood - know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
Monday, November 03, 2014
The Times
From the hole to the pole
From the cradle to the bed
We were all born gold
But the world ain't straight
Bent and torn to fit in the fold
Better hiding in the numbers than be written off dead
I'm a devil I'm an angel I'm a sinner I'm a saint
I'm just trying all I can to survive my game
I was dealt a hand I hate to play
But the Times is a sado-masochistic orgy
We create words
We create minds
We create the Times
We shuffle the deck
And deal it blind.
Who is the master delighting in the pain?
Who is the slave pleasuring in shame?
You could be a minority
Turn the tides of time and you're on our territory
So come and learn
This is how we cope
Music is our party and rhythm is the dope
Don't tell me shit about your law and history
Step into our world and see our reality
It takes a bit of wrongs to live out our rights
But it ain't no biggie this is HOW WE FIGHT!
From the cradle to the bed
We were all born gold
But the world ain't straight
Bent and torn to fit in the fold
Better hiding in the numbers than be written off dead
I'm a devil I'm an angel I'm a sinner I'm a saint
I'm just trying all I can to survive my game
I was dealt a hand I hate to play
But the Times is a sado-masochistic orgy
We create words
We create minds
We create the Times
We shuffle the deck
And deal it blind.
Who is the master delighting in the pain?
Who is the slave pleasuring in shame?
You could be a minority
Turn the tides of time and you're on our territory
So come and learn
This is how we cope
Music is our party and rhythm is the dope
Don't tell me shit about your law and history
Step into our world and see our reality
It takes a bit of wrongs to live out our rights
But it ain't no biggie this is HOW WE FIGHT!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Maybe the disciples told the reincarnation story the opposite way. Humans should be at the bottom of the ten worlds, and you progress up to poultry when you are enlightened enough to realize how fleeting life is. And you give your life to those of lower understanding than you so they have a living chance. So every time you partake a meal, whatever your struggle, remember someone who was there before you, saw it to the other side of the tunnel and decide to give himself to you so you can live another day.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Come
Come
To the north to the south to the east to the west
I'm roaming the world and I'm looking for rest
I'm high on adrenaline and low on faith
Purpose is a meme and flow is a place
While I walk while I run while I sleep while I fly
Where do the enlightened find heaven in their skies
When I shit when I fuck when I'm sick when I'm fly
Freedom is a drug but satisfaction a lie.
Fee-fye-foe-fum
I'm living on an addiction of teenage boy dreams
Stretch the hamstrings bring out the drums
Age is a bitch but I'm not quite done
Take chances make noise believe in the fight
It's all an illusion but it's worth the run
I don't believe in the soul I don't believe in the past
I am who I am under my skin in my blood
To the east to the west to the north to the south
Humanity is a cancer but we're living it proud
Fee fye foe fum
While life says go till death says come.
To the north to the south to the east to the west
I'm roaming the world and I'm looking for rest
I'm high on adrenaline and low on faith
Purpose is a meme and flow is a place
While I walk while I run while I sleep while I fly
Where do the enlightened find heaven in their skies
When I shit when I fuck when I'm sick when I'm fly
Freedom is a drug but satisfaction a lie.
Fee-fye-foe-fum
I'm living on an addiction of teenage boy dreams
Stretch the hamstrings bring out the drums
Age is a bitch but I'm not quite done
Take chances make noise believe in the fight
It's all an illusion but it's worth the run
I don't believe in the soul I don't believe in the past
I am who I am under my skin in my blood
To the east to the west to the north to the south
Humanity is a cancer but we're living it proud
Fee fye foe fum
While life says go till death says come.
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Think about it. Our technology is changing our surroundings and forcing the species around us to evolve more quickly. And we use the same technology to delay death and slow down our own evolution.
Think about it. Have have we come to terms we are an abomination of nature, a monster - part organic, part machine? Or have we become subconsciously enlightened, that we are as "renewable" as the forests, destined to be destroyed when we have perfected our weakness through the power of our strengths?
Think about it. Are we ready to modify our own genetic code and fast forward our evolution?
Think about it. Have have we come to terms we are an abomination of nature, a monster - part organic, part machine? Or have we become subconsciously enlightened, that we are as "renewable" as the forests, destined to be destroyed when we have perfected our weakness through the power of our strengths?
Think about it. Are we ready to modify our own genetic code and fast forward our evolution?
Monday, October 06, 2014
Saturday, October 04, 2014
Bee-beep bibibip
Bee-beep bibibip
Goes my alarm for six-thirty AM
I start to recall what I need to be awake for
Saturday; slam snooze, abort routine, coz
I love waking up early to weekends in bed; Nothing beats
Being alive pretending to be dead
Let the world go on spinning upside down
My world is mine
Till my time is up.
Boom-pah pukumpukumpah
The beat keeps my mind from thinking too hard
I somehow got bootstrapped into this irrational obsession
With glass-walling passion, with playing my part,
I always feel like I'm never living the life
I look the role but I'm fake inside
I'm trying, I'm fighting, I'm working on redemption
I'm better with living when I'm more ready to die
I have death in my blood, you have death in your genes
Goes my alarm for six-thirty AM
I start to recall what I need to be awake for
Saturday; slam snooze, abort routine, coz
I love waking up early to weekends in bed; Nothing beats
Being alive pretending to be dead
Let the world go on spinning upside down
My world is mine
Till my time is up.
Boom-pah pukumpukumpah
The beat keeps my mind from thinking too hard
I somehow got bootstrapped into this irrational obsession
With glass-walling passion, with playing my part,
I always feel like I'm never living the life
I look the role but I'm fake inside
I'm trying, I'm fighting, I'm working on redemption
I'm better with living when I'm more ready to die
I have death in my blood, you have death in your genes
We were not made to escape but to live is to defy
Life is a tattoo we wear on our skin
It can't be erased, but we can make it fly
Boom-pah pukumpukumpah
We all need a little zen to get by
But zen doesn't mean you don't get high
We all meet somewhere between the truth and the lie
Life is a tattoo we wear on our skin
It can't be erased, but we can make it fly
Boom-pah pukumpukumpah
We all need a little zen to get by
But zen doesn't mean you don't get high
We all meet somewhere between the truth and the lie
Monday, September 29, 2014
Saturday, September 27, 2014
We do not really experience time - we experience the discrepancy between our own change and our simulated version of time.
We panic when we start measuring out this discrepancy with our breath. If we breathed time the way a clock holds it between its hands, time, at least our simulation of it, would cease to exist.
We would be freed from our existential panic, and with any luck, we may indeed be freed even from ourselves.
In dance we synchronize ourselves completely with our simulation of time, and in meditation, we strip ourselves from our simulation of time.
Somewhere between dance and meditation is where we usually are when we actually experience the moment instead of our simulation of it.
But being in the moment is like being a raindrop falling into the sea, in that the line the separates ourselves from the sea of moments, disappears.
And thus we do not really experience time - because if we were really experiencing time, we would not be conscious of it. Ignorance is bliss, but how often do we get there?
Turns out ignorance is hard work!
We panic when we start measuring out this discrepancy with our breath. If we breathed time the way a clock holds it between its hands, time, at least our simulation of it, would cease to exist.
We would be freed from our existential panic, and with any luck, we may indeed be freed even from ourselves.
In dance we synchronize ourselves completely with our simulation of time, and in meditation, we strip ourselves from our simulation of time.
Somewhere between dance and meditation is where we usually are when we actually experience the moment instead of our simulation of it.
But being in the moment is like being a raindrop falling into the sea, in that the line the separates ourselves from the sea of moments, disappears.
And thus we do not really experience time - because if we were really experiencing time, we would not be conscious of it. Ignorance is bliss, but how often do we get there?
Turns out ignorance is hard work!
Monday, September 22, 2014
The problem with life is that because of what we do to survive it, we tend to want to believe there is something intrinsically valuable about the pain we live through - to the extent we do everything we can to remember that pain. That is how most countries write their own history for their children. But we know that pain grabs you and cripples you until your mind can think of nothing but the pain, leaving you little to absorb what history really meant to teach you. It is really no wonder what history tends to repeat itself.
All history has equal value to us because it's a database of behavioral patterns.
History should be analyzed as data, not sold to the younger generation like a patent portfolio used to make claims on powers based on historical precedence.
We are a connected people. All history is our history, because no history happened in isolation.
What you get when you try to isolate regional histories is not a different history, but a biased narrative of history.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Move
Don't cry don't stop
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When there's music in the air you give it everything you have
The past ain't worth reliving with the present in your hands
All the pain all the living
All the need to be existing
All the mornings waking up to yet another day's routine
No ifs no buts no wanting out of this
You choose your own game you gotta play it to the end
Don't cry don't stop
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When the day is in your face you give it everything you have
The dream ain't worth the talk with Chance riding on your breath.
Move on the beat
Groove to the flow
You have your condition I have my shit
Stay with the pain
Live through the blow
These are the qualifications I know
Improvise innovate absorb liberate
Here's the situation are you up for it?
Be real. Be fake.
Be there. Be safe.
You only live once
What is the risk?
Don't cry don't stop
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When life is breathing in the air you feed it everything you dare
This is your legacy
What do you have?
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When there's music in the air you give it everything you have
The past ain't worth reliving with the present in your hands
All the pain all the living
All the need to be existing
All the mornings waking up to yet another day's routine
No ifs no buts no wanting out of this
You choose your own game you gotta play it to the end
Don't cry don't stop
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When the day is in your face you give it everything you have
The dream ain't worth the talk with Chance riding on your breath.
Move on the beat
Groove to the flow
You have your condition I have my shit
Stay with the pain
Live through the blow
These are the qualifications I know
Improvise innovate absorb liberate
Here's the situation are you up for it?
Be real. Be fake.
Be there. Be safe.
You only live once
What is the risk?
Don't cry don't stop
Let's go let's dance
Move your hips to the beat
Let the rhythm take the run
Don't think don't recall
When life is breathing in the air you feed it everything you dare
This is your legacy
What do you have?
Friday, September 05, 2014
Thursday, September 04, 2014
An actionable definition of : computer program
An actionable definition of : computer program
The experience a user gets when interacting with a machine called a computer, created by controlling how a computer behaves in response to stimulus (called input) from a user, or by controlling how a user responses to the perceived characteristics of the computer's behavior.
It just struck me that there is so little difference between a computer program and music. That the only time you cannot deny it is a program is when someone is running it. That the source code can no more be the program as can music be heard on a manuscript. That while the process of creating the program may be in isolation, the user is part of the program as much as the listener is part of the music. That programs rarely exist in vacuum but run in an environment full of things such as process scheduling priorities, third party libraries, logic implemented in hardware, just as music is rarely heard in the absolute silence of sounds and personal histories.
The term "user interface" used to mean the pictures on the screen designed by designers for real programmers to follow. Now it's called "user experience" but programmers still think its secondary. So let me say it: the experience IS the program.
Certainly, "real" programs doing heavy duty computing for highly intelligent professionals don't "need" a pretty interface. But whatever "ugly" interface preferred by these users, is perfect only because it is in harmony with the tone of the user'a behavior - just as not all music need words or harmony or melodies.
This brings me to propose that there is a 4:33 of computer programs - shutdown.exe. It is the ultimate expression of what a program can be: the experience of a program can extend beyond the runtime of the program. Shutdown.exe demands a response from its user like no other program does. Sitting through a whole four minutes of it, is like a form of anti-meditation - you can't really sit down and focus on experiencing it.
It is a sad thing that few will get to appreciate the deep conversations between the user and the computer in the 4:33 of programs. Even more so that many platforms are removing the idea of shutdown from the user's universe completely. In a way it's
like claiming that 4:33 isn't music.
There is a host of reasons why well meaning people are in the business of removing shutdown.exe - but it is comforting that reality is currently winning; shutdown.exe has largely been upgraded to demand-reboot-after-updating-while-you're-halfway-through-your-essay.exe. Sure, there is a reality out there where shutdown.exe completely does not exist, but for now, before you say fuck to that annoying pop up the next time - treasure it while it lasts.
The experience a user gets when interacting with a machine called a computer, created by controlling how a computer behaves in response to stimulus (called input) from a user, or by controlling how a user responses to the perceived characteristics of the computer's behavior.
It just struck me that there is so little difference between a computer program and music. That the only time you cannot deny it is a program is when someone is running it. That the source code can no more be the program as can music be heard on a manuscript. That while the process of creating the program may be in isolation, the user is part of the program as much as the listener is part of the music. That programs rarely exist in vacuum but run in an environment full of things such as process scheduling priorities, third party libraries, logic implemented in hardware, just as music is rarely heard in the absolute silence of sounds and personal histories.
The term "user interface" used to mean the pictures on the screen designed by designers for real programmers to follow. Now it's called "user experience" but programmers still think its secondary. So let me say it: the experience IS the program.
Certainly, "real" programs doing heavy duty computing for highly intelligent professionals don't "need" a pretty interface. But whatever "ugly" interface preferred by these users, is perfect only because it is in harmony with the tone of the user'a behavior - just as not all music need words or harmony or melodies.
This brings me to propose that there is a 4:33 of computer programs - shutdown.exe. It is the ultimate expression of what a program can be: the experience of a program can extend beyond the runtime of the program. Shutdown.exe demands a response from its user like no other program does. Sitting through a whole four minutes of it, is like a form of anti-meditation - you can't really sit down and focus on experiencing it.
It is a sad thing that few will get to appreciate the deep conversations between the user and the computer in the 4:33 of programs. Even more so that many platforms are removing the idea of shutdown from the user's universe completely. In a way it's
like claiming that 4:33 isn't music.
There is a host of reasons why well meaning people are in the business of removing shutdown.exe - but it is comforting that reality is currently winning; shutdown.exe has largely been upgraded to demand-reboot-after-updating-while-you're-halfway-through-your-essay.exe. Sure, there is a reality out there where shutdown.exe completely does not exist, but for now, before you say fuck to that annoying pop up the next time - treasure it while it lasts.
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
An actionable definition of : reality
The collection of conditions perceives to increase or decrease your chances of dying.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Random Trains - Surviving Prostitution
1. Convenience is being able to enjoy a certain benefit without having to experience the unpleasant experiences usually associated with that benefit.
2. If you honestly think that the "unpleasant experience" is "the journey" that should be enjoyed, then the benefit is not a convenience but an inconvenience you honestly want to avoid.
3. Part of the daily business of surviving is using whatever resources we have to provide this convenience to other people in order to maximize your chances of surviving.
4. When you start considering that your body and time are among these resources, people start labeling what you do "prostitution".
5. They do so while making sure their friends think that whatever they label as "prostitution" must be bad, because they are invested in "the journey", and being able to bypass the unpleasant experiences modifies the game in a way they are unable to handle.
6. They don't want you to think that your body and your time are something that you can think about as resources.
7. But your body, and by extension your health, and your time, and by extension your company, is the only things you really have.
8. However, their proposition makes sense. Consider that all other resources are things that don't really belong to you.
9. It makes so much more sense to take something that isn't really yours and give it to someone else in order to give yourself a higher chance of surviving.
2. If you honestly think that the "unpleasant experience" is "the journey" that should be enjoyed, then the benefit is not a convenience but an inconvenience you honestly want to avoid.
3. Part of the daily business of surviving is using whatever resources we have to provide this convenience to other people in order to maximize your chances of surviving.
4. When you start considering that your body and time are among these resources, people start labeling what you do "prostitution".
5. They do so while making sure their friends think that whatever they label as "prostitution" must be bad, because they are invested in "the journey", and being able to bypass the unpleasant experiences modifies the game in a way they are unable to handle.
6. They don't want you to think that your body and your time are something that you can think about as resources.
7. But your body, and by extension your health, and your time, and by extension your company, is the only things you really have.
8. However, their proposition makes sense. Consider that all other resources are things that don't really belong to you.
9. It makes so much more sense to take something that isn't really yours and give it to someone else in order to give yourself a higher chance of surviving.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Random thoughts
Random thoughts
Insurance is just a complicated way to allow you not to trust the guy who's gonna help you out in the moment of your most dire needs.
Selfies are the most graphic expression of our fear of oblivion.
Equality is treating everybody like a different animal, lined up from small to big on a very, very long sea-saw pivoting on a fulcrum so that the whole sea-saw is exactly balanced. Inequality is when the fulcrum is shifted so far the sea saw becomes a slide, and the big animals tumble on the small animals while blaming the small animals for not being big enough.
Reality is a drawing made by painting layer upon layer of dreams on the canvas of social constructs around you. How your masterpiece turns out depends on the color of your imagination and what you see on a canvas that is almost never completely white.
Insurance is just a complicated way to allow you not to trust the guy who's gonna help you out in the moment of your most dire needs.
Selfies are the most graphic expression of our fear of oblivion.
Equality is treating everybody like a different animal, lined up from small to big on a very, very long sea-saw pivoting on a fulcrum so that the whole sea-saw is exactly balanced. Inequality is when the fulcrum is shifted so far the sea saw becomes a slide, and the big animals tumble on the small animals while blaming the small animals for not being big enough.
Reality is a drawing made by painting layer upon layer of dreams on the canvas of social constructs around you. How your masterpiece turns out depends on the color of your imagination and what you see on a canvas that is almost never completely white.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Perfection
The only imperfection that plagues our otherwise perfect being is our inability to see why everybody else is also perfect.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Depression
If depression has one thing to teach us, it must be that the present moment is the most powerful force at work in us, more powerful than all our personal history and collective civilizations combined.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
TNBT: gamed natural selection test tube babies
TNBT: gamed natural selection test tube babies
Imagine genetic material taken from eggs and sperms made to compete with a battery of other genes to gain successful traits before combining to form a foetus. If the whole mate finding game is to have superior offspring, why not fast-forward evolution?
Imagine genetic material taken from eggs and sperms made to compete with a battery of other genes to gain successful traits before combining to form a foetus. If the whole mate finding game is to have superior offspring, why not fast-forward evolution?
Saturday, August 02, 2014
Friday, August 01, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Why world peace is impossible is very simple : we have all been
brainwashed beyond being able to let our children really believe that
the "enemies", the "criminals", the "terrorists", the "deviants", the
poor, the foreigner, the "opposition", and the "uncultured" are exactly
like us and are just as deserving of what life has to offer as
ourselves.
***
Religions are man made. Cultures are man made. Politics are man made. Crimes are also man made. There is no such thing as crime in nature. By creating the idea of crime, we create a "society" and an "underground society" that cannot agree. Not that I support antisocial forces, but both society and underground society are part of a bigger picture.
For me the issue is beyond religion, nationalism, race, language, culture, history, and goes down to what we think collective living and societies are, spanning all forms of identity.
***
Selfishness is a key feature of our biology. So is empathy. But these two are not contradictory, but bound together by self-(less)-ness.
If you spread your sense of identity, your "self-ness" beyond your skin, beyond your kin, selfishness becomes essential for the survival of the Whole! In this light, heroes are simply superhuman-ly selfish people!
The beautiful thing about this model is that, when something goes "wrong", there is no need for punishment, no need to define Crime, because the Whole is in pain together.
***
Religions are man made. Cultures are man made. Politics are man made. Crimes are also man made. There is no such thing as crime in nature. By creating the idea of crime, we create a "society" and an "underground society" that cannot agree. Not that I support antisocial forces, but both society and underground society are part of a bigger picture.
For me the issue is beyond religion, nationalism, race, language, culture, history, and goes down to what we think collective living and societies are, spanning all forms of identity.
***
Selfishness is a key feature of our biology. So is empathy. But these two are not contradictory, but bound together by self-(less)-ness.
If you spread your sense of identity, your "self-ness" beyond your skin, beyond your kin, selfishness becomes essential for the survival of the Whole! In this light, heroes are simply superhuman-ly selfish people!
The beautiful thing about this model is that, when something goes "wrong", there is no need for punishment, no need to define Crime, because the Whole is in pain together.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Live
When everything around you has become measurable, scientific, and predictable, you know that you have stopped growing and started dying. Growth is always full of chaotic power, brimming with uncertain possibilities, and a refusal to be bound and tamed.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Reading
Why do you read, if not to live lives you cannot live, that your understanding of the mind be widened, that your capacity for compassion be deepened?
Monday, July 07, 2014
Pain
Pain is the struggle against death. It is the same pain of growing up. It is the same pain of growing old. It is the same pain you fear when you have substituted that pain with shrewdness and wealth, when you forget that the struggle against death is never over. No, it is not over. It is only over when you have learnt to breathe that struggle like air. It is only over when death overtakes you and leave you nothing to struggle against.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Focusing on individual differences is about not resorting to conformism, but it's not opposed to social cohesion. On the contrary, understanding the ugly details of how we are different makes us more integrated. A bundle of sticks doesn't break as easily as one single stick, exactly because each stick is different.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
10 things to do to stay young
1. Make young friends to stay in touch with what's happening.
2. Take care of your looks. Look at least relevant and approachable so you can make young friends.
3. Exercise. Young at heart is no good if your body isn't there to keep your heart pumping.
4. Try something new every day.
5. Start something you've never imagined doing before every year.
6. Listen to music you've never heard before. All the time.
7. Take risks. The older you are, the less you have to lose.
8. Discover yourself. If you think you know yourself well enough, you probably don't.
9. Seek new environments. New homes, new jobs, new lives - for some, new religions, new cultures, new countries and new families.
10. Stop talking about the past and dare to talk about the future. You're never too young too love, never too old to dream.
2. Take care of your looks. Look at least relevant and approachable so you can make young friends.
3. Exercise. Young at heart is no good if your body isn't there to keep your heart pumping.
4. Try something new every day.
5. Start something you've never imagined doing before every year.
6. Listen to music you've never heard before. All the time.
7. Take risks. The older you are, the less you have to lose.
8. Discover yourself. If you think you know yourself well enough, you probably don't.
9. Seek new environments. New homes, new jobs, new lives - for some, new religions, new cultures, new countries and new families.
10. Stop talking about the past and dare to talk about the future. You're never too young too love, never too old to dream.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
On slenderman
There's something profoundly human about the desire to believe - religion, philosophy, tradition, folklore, branding - are just some labels we use to artificially categorize things that feed on this mechanism because - giving things names helps us believe they exist.
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Wednesday Survival Guide
Stress is the result of allowing yourself to be tricked into believing you are responsible for things you have no ability, authority, or social liability to achieve. Don't try too hard; you have a right to be here. Focus on letting go of what you need not control, and enjoy whatever you have in your court. Strive to be happy. When in doubt, eat, sleep, and exercise.
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Silence
The wind never tries to blow
It blows because it is the wind.
When you sit in an open field
You hear silence
In the wind that doesn't try.
A duck by the stream
And all the fish in it
All live in the silence of the park
Because silence is the sound
Of not trying.
In Remembering what peace there may be in silence
You don't recall what soundlessness sounds like;
That would make you try too hard
To sit still.
Because silence is not soundlessness; silence is being conscious that doing is a kind of being;
Not a kind of trying.
It blows because it is the wind.
When you sit in an open field
You hear silence
In the wind that doesn't try.
A duck by the stream
And all the fish in it
All live in the silence of the park
Because silence is the sound
Of not trying.
In Remembering what peace there may be in silence
You don't recall what soundlessness sounds like;
That would make you try too hard
To sit still.
Because silence is not soundlessness; silence is being conscious that doing is a kind of being;
Not a kind of trying.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
It's the same 24 hours.
It's the same 24 hours.
Busy is what you do with it.
Happy is how you do it.
Fulfillment is why you do it.
Achievement is when you do it.
Busy is what you do with it.
Happy is how you do it.
Fulfillment is why you do it.
Achievement is when you do it.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
TNBT : world history reimagined
Imagine : baggage free history curriculum
What if archeologist and educationists of diverse backgrounds got together and formed a cloud to design a cross-national history curriculum for children between 8 and 18?
What if a generation grew up learning about the world not from one biased perspective, but from the perspective of artifacts and documents, intertwined with an education in human behavioral psychology?
What if a generation grew up seeing world history as a universal heritage instead of walls that divide cultures?
What if archeologist and educationists of diverse backgrounds got together and formed a cloud to design a cross-national history curriculum for children between 8 and 18?
What if a generation grew up learning about the world not from one biased perspective, but from the perspective of artifacts and documents, intertwined with an education in human behavioral psychology?
What if a generation grew up seeing world history as a universal heritage instead of walls that divide cultures?
Sunday, May 18, 2014
TNBT
The next-next-next big thing : Imagine Democracy Kickstarter
What if it became cheaper to provide mobile internet access than sinking billions into election campaigns, minister pays, and top-down decisions that don't work?
What if you voted not for people, but for causes?
What if funds available were divided equally among all voters, and your vote determines how much funds the cause actually gets?
What if policies were drafted by a Parliament which can present proposals and analysis, but the Parliament has no power to decide - the power to decide were given back to the people?
What if the government were not subjected to the power structure they build up, but are constantly subject to the vote market, proposal after proposal?
What if the ballot ticket had not only YES and NO, but also RE-PROPOSE to demand the proposal to be redrafted?
What if all the time you spent on Facebook and Twitter, actually counted in Policy?
What if it became cheaper to provide mobile internet access than sinking billions into election campaigns, minister pays, and top-down decisions that don't work?
What if you voted not for people, but for causes?
What if funds available were divided equally among all voters, and your vote determines how much funds the cause actually gets?
What if policies were drafted by a Parliament which can present proposals and analysis, but the Parliament has no power to decide - the power to decide were given back to the people?
What if the government were not subjected to the power structure they build up, but are constantly subject to the vote market, proposal after proposal?
What if the ballot ticket had not only YES and NO, but also RE-PROPOSE to demand the proposal to be redrafted?
What if all the time you spent on Facebook and Twitter, actually counted in Policy?
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Before you were born
Do things sometimes feel like they're not going right?
Let me tell you a secret:
Everything is working out exactly according to plan.
Before you were born
You had envisioned this day -
In fact, you planned every single event
So meticulously laying out every hour
In your Masterplan; and now
Everything is coming to life
Exactly how, exactly when, exactly where you had meant it to.
So the next time you're wondering
What's wrong? Why are things so?
Try instead to recall:
What was that single perspective you had taken
That made everything look right
Before you were born?
Let me tell you a secret:
Everything is working out exactly according to plan.
Before you were born
You had envisioned this day -
In fact, you planned every single event
So meticulously laying out every hour
In your Masterplan; and now
Everything is coming to life
Exactly how, exactly when, exactly where you had meant it to.
So the next time you're wondering
What's wrong? Why are things so?
Try instead to recall:
What was that single perspective you had taken
That made everything look right
Before you were born?
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Pascal's Wager
The dilemma of believing in the Christian God on the basis of Pascal's Wager results in the strange situation where the one thing you believe in more than God him/herself, is the value of your personal gain. If you keep that position in your faith, you will break the 1st commandment. If you don't keep that position, you invalidate the reason you chose to believe in God, releasing you from the faith. Applying Pascal's Wager to another religion would therefore be much simpler.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Love
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not compare, it does not rank, it does not favor top performers. It does not pathologize, it is not profit-oriented, it does not make short-sighted responses, it cannot be quantified for arithmetics. Love cannot be abused to hurt, but rejoices when the hurting are set free. It always takes the blow, always believes in the face of betrayal, always hopes when things go wrong, always runs the full marathon to the finishing line.
Sunday, May 04, 2014
Without the Grid
Without the Grid
How do you invite someone home for dinner,
If the land line
Is digital somewhere?
How do you get an invitation card delivered,
If logistics is real time
And digital?
How do you buy your ingredients,
If your retailer pays rent
Digitally?
How do you locate a local farm
If you cannot search that
Online?
How do you drive over
If traffic lights
Are controlled digitally?
You'd walk over to your friends house
Which is probably within walking distance
Because without the Grid
You'd probably not get to know
Someone living that far away anyway.
How do you invite someone home for dinner,
If the land line
Is digital somewhere?
How do you get an invitation card delivered,
If logistics is real time
And digital?
How do you buy your ingredients,
If your retailer pays rent
Digitally?
How do you locate a local farm
If you cannot search that
Online?
How do you drive over
If traffic lights
Are controlled digitally?
You'd walk over to your friends house
Which is probably within walking distance
Because without the Grid
You'd probably not get to know
Someone living that far away anyway.
TNBT
The next-next-next big thing : Just-In-Time Manufacturing
Imagine: You order a new handphone, selecting the customizations you want - features, design, customized printing and name engraving. You click "submit", and your new phone arrives the same evening.
Imagine: You enter your credit card number and click "submit" - and in that moment, an autonomous car starts driving your way, loaded with the 3D printers, weaving and painting robots and everything to manufacture your order. The car's route is optimally planned, considering road conditions and manufacturing time. When the car hits your doorstep, your product has just been sealed into the box.
Imagine: You order a new handphone, selecting the customizations you want - features, design, customized printing and name engraving. You click "submit", and your new phone arrives the same evening.
Imagine: You enter your credit card number and click "submit" - and in that moment, an autonomous car starts driving your way, loaded with the 3D printers, weaving and painting robots and everything to manufacture your order. The car's route is optimally planned, considering road conditions and manufacturing time. When the car hits your doorstep, your product has just been sealed into the box.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Happiness
My definition of happiness : the emotion invoked (1) by a memory associated with the release of dopamine, or (2) by the actual release of dopamine through the reward-motivation mechanism our brain uses to make us prefer actions that lead to decisions favorable for survival.
No happiness, no survival.
No happiness, no survival.
Monday, April 14, 2014
leadership
woke up this morning thinking, what is the most important skill leaders must have?
and it seemed to me today, that this is not engineering, not financial planning, not scientific belief, not cultural depth, but story-telling.
leadership falls apart once your people stop believing in your story. different cultures use different narratives, and the leader in that culture must master that narrative.
and this leaves me with the thought - there's something very magical about royal families and monarchies, because instead of telling the story, they have become the story. they are the people's ideals, incarnated in flesh. there's something god-like in them, in both their charms and their failures... but of course the people have stopped believing in this story...
what is the story your leader is telling you today?
is it working?
and it seemed to me today, that this is not engineering, not financial planning, not scientific belief, not cultural depth, but story-telling.
leadership falls apart once your people stop believing in your story. different cultures use different narratives, and the leader in that culture must master that narrative.
and this leaves me with the thought - there's something very magical about royal families and monarchies, because instead of telling the story, they have become the story. they are the people's ideals, incarnated in flesh. there's something god-like in them, in both their charms and their failures... but of course the people have stopped believing in this story...
what is the story your leader is telling you today?
is it working?
Monday, April 07, 2014
Diversity
1
Is anti-diversity not a tolerable position in a framework for diversity?
2
If we got rid of all extremely extreme extremists, would moderately strong opinions get recalibrated as the new extremist? If that's a natural response I hope extremists stay as extreme as possible!
Is anti-diversity not a tolerable position in a framework for diversity?
2
If we got rid of all extremely extreme extremists, would moderately strong opinions get recalibrated as the new extremist? If that's a natural response I hope extremists stay as extreme as possible!
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Friday, March 07, 2014
Ruthless
Culture is an ideology.
Religion is an ideology.
Political thought is an ideology.
I think we're so tame towards ideologies - we could let ourselves be more ruthless in tearing them up, changing positions, and fighting against something we used to believe in. We are not ruthless enough towards ideas, and not gentle enough towards people.
Religion is an ideology.
Political thought is an ideology.
I think we're so tame towards ideologies - we could let ourselves be more ruthless in tearing them up, changing positions, and fighting against something we used to believe in. We are not ruthless enough towards ideas, and not gentle enough towards people.
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Friday, February 28, 2014
It's easier to prove that homosexuality is
genetic than to prove that religion is real. Religion has the potential
to be as real as any suffering we go through, but if religion chooses
not to be genuine in the name of truth by refusing to feel the pain
within us, all doctrine lose their power and religion becomes an
imaginary "lifestyle choice".
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The Houses That Live In Us
The Houses That Live In Us
If you lay yourself in bed and close your eyes
And allow yourself to walk into the darkness in your mind,
You will find, dimly lit,
Spaces that stage you dreams -
And if you try to light that up
You will find in these rooms you used to live in.
If you allow your mind to take control of that space
And move furniture into existence
Arranging them once
And then again
Reversing how you rearranged the room as you would reverse time
You find yourself
Clearing outwards by your sheer will, a space of time -
Your childhood room, your new house, your boarding school -
You will find the spaces that house your memories
Well and alive.
If you allow yourself to sit in one of these spaces
And soak in your surroundings
You will smell the same smells and hear the same sounds and feel the same warmth
Welling up in you -
You connect with your past and realize
What treasures you have stored up,
Safely locked away,
In the heavens of the darkness
Of a night alone in bed -
You will be cradled in the warmth of those who have crossed paths with you
And fall asleep, excited about tomorrow,
As they call out to you in whispers
See you tomorrow, goodnight.
If you lay yourself in bed and close your eyes
And allow yourself to walk into the darkness in your mind,
You will find, dimly lit,
Spaces that stage you dreams -
And if you try to light that up
You will find in these rooms you used to live in.
If you allow your mind to take control of that space
And move furniture into existence
Arranging them once
And then again
Reversing how you rearranged the room as you would reverse time
You find yourself
Clearing outwards by your sheer will, a space of time -
Your childhood room, your new house, your boarding school -
You will find the spaces that house your memories
Well and alive.
If you allow yourself to sit in one of these spaces
And soak in your surroundings
You will smell the same smells and hear the same sounds and feel the same warmth
Welling up in you -
You connect with your past and realize
What treasures you have stored up,
Safely locked away,
In the heavens of the darkness
Of a night alone in bed -
You will be cradled in the warmth of those who have crossed paths with you
And fall asleep, excited about tomorrow,
As they call out to you in whispers
See you tomorrow, goodnight.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Science
Religion and Passion are always more seductive than Science because science fails us in two areas: its processes and its practitioners.
Science fails us because it does not consider inspiration to be part of its processes - science is based on data, and the data we collect is limited by our ability to imagine. If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist - and throughout the times we have depended on visionaries who think up new ways to measure the world around us, or accidents in science that lead people do discover the same. There is still so much of the world out there that doesn't exist in the eyes of science. Religion and culture always stand by us to assure us that we need to keep on believing, until science catches up with reality.
Science fails us because scientists always promise the ideal but reality delivers the sustainable. Scientists are very exact people - and that goes into the perception of their responsibility to the world. If an economic pressure prevents a scientific discovery from benefitting society, scientists don't own up to the failure. If a scientific theory is difficult, it is always the layman's fault that he doesn't find science accessible. I remember it was promised that music distributed on cd will be cheaper than music distributed on cassettes but that never happened. Climate scientists try so hard to prove climate change, but the fight is political. Activists on the other hand know how to connect facts to reality.
Scientists owe the world as much as the world owe scientists. The failure of science isn't the failure of the institution of science. It is a witness to how we work best together because we're all different in different ways.
iPhoneから送信
Science fails us because it does not consider inspiration to be part of its processes - science is based on data, and the data we collect is limited by our ability to imagine. If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist - and throughout the times we have depended on visionaries who think up new ways to measure the world around us, or accidents in science that lead people do discover the same. There is still so much of the world out there that doesn't exist in the eyes of science. Religion and culture always stand by us to assure us that we need to keep on believing, until science catches up with reality.
Science fails us because scientists always promise the ideal but reality delivers the sustainable. Scientists are very exact people - and that goes into the perception of their responsibility to the world. If an economic pressure prevents a scientific discovery from benefitting society, scientists don't own up to the failure. If a scientific theory is difficult, it is always the layman's fault that he doesn't find science accessible. I remember it was promised that music distributed on cd will be cheaper than music distributed on cassettes but that never happened. Climate scientists try so hard to prove climate change, but the fight is political. Activists on the other hand know how to connect facts to reality.
Scientists owe the world as much as the world owe scientists. The failure of science isn't the failure of the institution of science. It is a witness to how we work best together because we're all different in different ways.
iPhoneから送信
Random
Random
我认为无所谓人生的目地，只有你本身的目地。生存不是人生的目地，因为生存就是人生。还句话说，重要的，是你为了谁活着，为了做什么活着。思考人生＂目地＂的，是creationist 的paradigm.
Right and wrong in a society is never established by science but by
norms and ideals. Norms change and so do laws. Slavery was abolished but it's not based on scientific proof, but because someone challenged the norm. Courts don't exist to uphold "the truth" - that is not as importance as its calling, which is to dispense justice. Law is not about truth but about justice.
Religion is a free choice too. If you want to believe in a mixed religion you can form a new religion or denomination. It not common but it happens. And people do live in mixed environments where the the father is one race and religion and the mother is a different race and religion. In Japan, people go to the temple during new year and get married in churches. That is the norm in Japan.
I think when it comes to education students should be taught everything. Including both science and religion and politics. They should be taught both evolution and religious beliefs and sort it out for themselves. If science is self explanatory you should have faith that they will choose whatever works for them.
iPhoneから送信
我认为无所谓人生的目地，只有你本身的目地。生存不是人生的目地，因为生存就是人生。还句话说，重要的，是你为了谁活着，为了做什么活着。思考人生＂目地＂的，是creationist 的paradigm.
Right and wrong in a society is never established by science but by
norms and ideals. Norms change and so do laws. Slavery was abolished but it's not based on scientific proof, but because someone challenged the norm. Courts don't exist to uphold "the truth" - that is not as importance as its calling, which is to dispense justice. Law is not about truth but about justice.
Religion is a free choice too. If you want to believe in a mixed religion you can form a new religion or denomination. It not common but it happens. And people do live in mixed environments where the the father is one race and religion and the mother is a different race and religion. In Japan, people go to the temple during new year and get married in churches. That is the norm in Japan.
I think when it comes to education students should be taught everything. Including both science and religion and politics. They should be taught both evolution and religious beliefs and sort it out for themselves. If science is self explanatory you should have faith that they will choose whatever works for them.
iPhoneから送信
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Science
You seem to think that if you add all the circuits together you can get an iPhone. That's not true. The iPhone is an invention, not a scientific one but a cultural, a social one. You need all the science to put it together, but if nobody dreamed it up, no amount of research can create an iPhone.
Science can lead to discoveries but discoveries cannot change peoples lives unless someone dreams about using science to do so.
Science is a method of finding answers. It is inspiration that asks the questions.
Sometimes questions are answered by other fields, such as Maths. Maths knowledge is created by mathematicians who imagine mathematical hypothesis and proof them using mathematical logic, many of which can only be proven using even more mathematics. There is no science (experiments) here.
Another is in the field of literature. For example, the Korean Hangul alphabet was created with the inspiration of ying and yang. Without the Korean alphabet, Korea would not have a distinctly Korean identity and language which created the basis for Korean communication and literature.
iPhoneから送信
Science can lead to discoveries but discoveries cannot change peoples lives unless someone dreams about using science to do so.
Science is a method of finding answers. It is inspiration that asks the questions.
Sometimes questions are answered by other fields, such as Maths. Maths knowledge is created by mathematicians who imagine mathematical hypothesis and proof them using mathematical logic, many of which can only be proven using even more mathematics. There is no science (experiments) here.
Another is in the field of literature. For example, the Korean Hangul alphabet was created with the inspiration of ying and yang. Without the Korean alphabet, Korea would not have a distinctly Korean identity and language which created the basis for Korean communication and literature.
iPhoneから送信
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Reason
In an ideal world, reason would be unnecessary. You would be happy just because. Logic is just another basis for legitimacy, built to enable negotiations between peoples who did not previously share a common cultural language for communication.
Friday, February 07, 2014
TNBT
The next-next-next big thing : Big (Data) Brother 2.0 (Computational Legal Intelligence).
Imagine: You are unhappy with how you got treated at work. Legal Intelligence will give you the laws you can quote to help your company "understand" your problem.
Imagine: What your vendor did seems questionable. Legal Intelligence will give you the laws to quote to help your vendor come to terms with their legal responsibility.
Imagine : Entering your scenario into a website, and it will tell you all the relevant laws and policies, past judgements, and gray areas, and give you a sample approach how you can use the law to win your case. This is the rule of law, by the people, for the people.
Imagine: You are unhappy with how you got treated at work. Legal Intelligence will give you the laws you can quote to help your company "understand" your problem.
Imagine: What your vendor did seems questionable. Legal Intelligence will give you the laws to quote to help your vendor come to terms with their legal responsibility.
Imagine : Entering your scenario into a website, and it will tell you all the relevant laws and policies, past judgements, and gray areas, and give you a sample approach how you can use the law to win your case. This is the rule of law, by the people, for the people.
Saturday, February 01, 2014
TNBT
Next big thing : ubiquitous purpose-specific computing ("upc")
Imagine : direct mail flyers in your mailbox that interact with your mails to give you ads that genuinely interest you, without privacy leak.
Imagine : direct mail flyers in your mailbox that interact with your mails to give you ads that genuinely interest you, without privacy leak.
TNBT
The next big thing : wearable robotics?
Imagine : Typing gloves that let you type on an imagined keyboard with full-keyboard touch when you type.
Imagine : programmable nanorobotic underwear that guides you in martial arts and dance
Imagine : smart glasses that also respond physically to turn your head to look at what you're searching for.
Imagine : Typing gloves that let you type on an imagined keyboard with full-keyboard touch when you type.
Imagine : programmable nanorobotic underwear that guides you in martial arts and dance
Imagine : smart glasses that also respond physically to turn your head to look at what you're searching for.
Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Let me change my question
Let me change my question
If you fill a glass up to the middle with water, is it half full or half empty?
If you submerge the same glass of water into a tank of water, is the glass full, or is the glass empty?
iPhoneから送信
If you fill a glass up to the middle with water, is it half full or half empty?
If you submerge the same glass of water into a tank of water, is the glass full, or is the glass empty?
iPhoneから送信
Emptiness
Emptiness
A room can become full because it was empty. A room can be empty because it has four walls. If a room had no walls, how can it be full, how can it be empty? What is the purpose of emptiness and fullness? Is your heart full, or is it empty?
iPhoneから送信
A room can become full because it was empty. A room can be empty because it has four walls. If a room had no walls, how can it be full, how can it be empty? What is the purpose of emptiness and fullness? Is your heart full, or is it empty?
iPhoneから送信
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Religion
Religion is like a bank that assesses your credit risk based on the strength of how much you believe in your future, and then funds your dream with an equal amount of confidence so that when you invest your energies in your dream, you have enough liquidity to negotiate the uncertainties that stand in front of you.
iPhoneから送信
iPhoneから送信
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Chaos
Chaos
Your intelligence was not created to understand chaos.
Your intelligence was created by chaos.
You see order in chaos because the chaos of your mind resonates/correlates with the chaos of the universe.
It is not the irregularity, but the seeming regularity, that is the flaw in our experience of chaos.
iPhoneから送信
Your intelligence was not created to understand chaos.
Your intelligence was created by chaos.
You see order in chaos because the chaos of your mind resonates/correlates with the chaos of the universe.
It is not the irregularity, but the seeming regularity, that is the flaw in our experience of chaos.
iPhoneから送信
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Free Fall
Rock-a-bye, baby,
On the tree top.
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
Cradle and all.
Between birth and death, we happen.
We fall towards the life-bearing earth
Like babies off a tree
Living in a free fall.
Between wake and sleep
We cut time up into an eternity of nanoseconds;
Between truths we lie on
Our imagination of life on the ground.
Between now
And the eternity our minds can conceive
We hold on to the fall, believing
That only the fall, will set us free.
On the tree top.
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
Cradle and all.
Between birth and death, we happen.
We fall towards the life-bearing earth
Like babies off a tree
Living in a free fall.
Between wake and sleep
We cut time up into an eternity of nanoseconds;
Between truths we lie on
Our imagination of life on the ground.
Between now
And the eternity our minds can conceive
We hold on to the fall, believing
That only the fall, will set us free.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
What is your definition of forgive?
What is your definition of forgive?
I think forgive means deciding not to act on a misdeed against you towards the person who offended you.
Not forgiving means you plan to take revenge on that person sooner or later. It does not matter if you have forgotten what the misdeed was. It is possible to forget but not forgive.
Forgetting means writing off an event that occurred, meaning you decide to deny that a specific misdeed was ever done against you.
Changing what you believe or how you function in response to a misdeed against you is simply learning, which is independent of forgiving and forgetting.
World history shows us we are good at forgetting, bad at forgiving, and almost never learn.
All combinations of learning and not learning, forgiving and not forgiving, forgetting and not forgetting are possible.
Love gives you the ability to reinterpret an event so that instead of deciding that a misdeed was done against you, you decide that there was nothing wrong with the event, and therefore nothing to forgive.
iPhoneから送信
I think forgive means deciding not to act on a misdeed against you towards the person who offended you.
Not forgiving means you plan to take revenge on that person sooner or later. It does not matter if you have forgotten what the misdeed was. It is possible to forget but not forgive.
Forgetting means writing off an event that occurred, meaning you decide to deny that a specific misdeed was ever done against you.
Changing what you believe or how you function in response to a misdeed against you is simply learning, which is independent of forgiving and forgetting.
World history shows us we are good at forgetting, bad at forgiving, and almost never learn.
All combinations of learning and not learning, forgiving and not forgiving, forgetting and not forgetting are possible.
Love gives you the ability to reinterpret an event so that instead of deciding that a misdeed was done against you, you decide that there was nothing wrong with the event, and therefore nothing to forgive.
iPhoneから送信
How religions rationalize unbelieving
How religions rationalize unbelieving
Christianity: if you don't believe, you were meant never to believe.
Buddhism: if you don't believe, we still win because you actually do believe. its just that the time hasn't come for you to admit it.
Atheism: if you don't believe (in atheism) you could use a (downward) leap of faith.
Others??
iPhoneから送信
Christianity: if you don't believe, you were meant never to believe.
Buddhism: if you don't believe, we still win because you actually do believe. its just that the time hasn't come for you to admit it.
Atheism: if you don't believe (in atheism) you could use a (downward) leap of faith.
Others??
iPhoneから送信
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Saturday, August 03, 2013
Thinking about Service
Apart from upbringing and all, Japan has excellent customer service because customer expectations of the product has been leveled out by offerings that are consistently fast, good, and cheap (when compared to similar offerings), such that the most effective differentiating factor becomes service.
This leveling out may be coming to an end though, as Korean and Chinese companies are matching offerings that are just as fast, almost as good, and much cheaper. It remains to be seen whether economic benefits will affect the signature level of service offered by the Japanese, or whether Japanese upbringing will prove service to be something that cannot be created purely through economic incentives.
iPhoneから送信
This leveling out may be coming to an end though, as Korean and Chinese companies are matching offerings that are just as fast, almost as good, and much cheaper. It remains to be seen whether economic benefits will affect the signature level of service offered by the Japanese, or whether Japanese upbringing will prove service to be something that cannot be created purely through economic incentives.
iPhoneから送信
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Translation is an Art
Translation is an Art
The challenge of translation, is not so much about whether the listener has understood what the speaker had said - a job increasingly taken up by machine translation and AI. the challenge of translation, is about whether the listener understood anything that the speaker DIDN'T say - something that happens even when the speaker and listener are speaking the same language.
When you are listening to a translation, you are always listening to something the translator has created as he transplants an idea from another language, creating a context of words that highlight what he thinks the speaker intended to be read into, hiding what he thinks the speaker intentionally left ambiguous.
It can be a dangerous thing to read between the lines of any translated text, without first learning about the purpose and process of how the text ended up in the language you speak.
iPhoneから送信
The challenge of translation, is not so much about whether the listener has understood what the speaker had said - a job increasingly taken up by machine translation and AI. the challenge of translation, is about whether the listener understood anything that the speaker DIDN'T say - something that happens even when the speaker and listener are speaking the same language.
When you are listening to a translation, you are always listening to something the translator has created as he transplants an idea from another language, creating a context of words that highlight what he thinks the speaker intended to be read into, hiding what he thinks the speaker intentionally left ambiguous.
It can be a dangerous thing to read between the lines of any translated text, without first learning about the purpose and process of how the text ended up in the language you speak.
iPhoneから送信
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Dao
In the beginning there is dao. Then perfection was invented. Perfection gave birth to imperfection. But both perfection and imperfection are dao.
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Knowledge, Intuition, Experience
Knowledge, Intuition, Experience
No, experience doesn't allow you to skip steps. Intuition comes close by letting you take calculated risks when skipping steps. Experience on the other hand, lets you run through the steps so fast that you're done before someone can spell out all the steps. But knowledge through analysis, that's what allows you to skip steps.
iPhoneから送信
No, experience doesn't allow you to skip steps. Intuition comes close by letting you take calculated risks when skipping steps. Experience on the other hand, lets you run through the steps so fast that you're done before someone can spell out all the steps. But knowledge through analysis, that's what allows you to skip steps.
iPhoneから送信
Monday, June 03, 2013
Pre-Scientific Remedies
There are products that don't claim any effects.
And products that imply without claiming.
And products that claim without backing it up.
And products that back it up with folklore.
And products that back it up with positive user endorsement, ignoring the negative dataset.
And products that back it up with endorsement from researchers of dubious bias.
And products that back it up with dubious research.
And products that back it up with fake research papers.
And products that back it up with real research results.
How do customers choose between these products but try for themselves?
iPhoneから送信
And products that imply without claiming.
And products that claim without backing it up.
And products that back it up with folklore.
And products that back it up with positive user endorsement, ignoring the negative dataset.
And products that back it up with endorsement from researchers of dubious bias.
And products that back it up with dubious research.
And products that back it up with fake research papers.
And products that back it up with real research results.
How do customers choose between these products but try for themselves?
iPhoneから送信
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thoughts about war and tradition
Thoughts about war and tradition
The strength of a select, cooperative few is power, the strength of the diverse non-cooperating multitudes is resilience. And evolution is the dialog between them.
Power is always attacking resilience head on and resilience never fights back. It holds on until power runs out of steam.
And so we always have war and peace, the age of power and the age of resilience. Sometimes we have both at the same moment, in the same place.
In peace we build up and pile up all sorts of walls against enemies that do not exist. In war, the few come together and tear down the walls they can. And when we continually get the most diverse of people to build up walls that are strong in the most unique ways and then get the most powerful of people to tear them down, what we have left, is that which cannot be taken down.
Tradition and heritage is thus time proven. Except that the speed we build up and tear down isn't linear but exponential. Tradition isn't entirely about preserving what the dead have left us - it isn't carved in stone. Tradition is always in the making. And in the age, more so than ever.
iPhoneから送信
The strength of a select, cooperative few is power, the strength of the diverse non-cooperating multitudes is resilience. And evolution is the dialog between them.
Power is always attacking resilience head on and resilience never fights back. It holds on until power runs out of steam.
And so we always have war and peace, the age of power and the age of resilience. Sometimes we have both at the same moment, in the same place.
In peace we build up and pile up all sorts of walls against enemies that do not exist. In war, the few come together and tear down the walls they can. And when we continually get the most diverse of people to build up walls that are strong in the most unique ways and then get the most powerful of people to tear them down, what we have left, is that which cannot be taken down.
Tradition and heritage is thus time proven. Except that the speed we build up and tear down isn't linear but exponential. Tradition isn't entirely about preserving what the dead have left us - it isn't carved in stone. Tradition is always in the making. And in the age, more so than ever.
iPhoneから送信
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Is being a housewife a real job?
Is being a housewife a real job?
My short answer: it is a calling, not a job.
The female pronoun is consistently used below but only for convenience. Similarly, housewife should be interpreted also to mean house-husband.
The debate has been going on forever, but here's my take on the conditions it should satisfy in order for her services to be evaluated to be worth as much as services provides on a professional basis.
1. Do the customers have the freedom to comment and freely criticize on the services provided? Are customers allowed to compare the service of providers of similar services as an evaluation of the services?
2. Is it a monopoly? How are the conditions regulated?
3. What is the penalty for performance that does not match up to the customers' expectations?
4. Who is the employer and who are the stakeholders? How do they evaluate her performance?
5. Are services provided performed to the highest possible standard achievable, or is there any grounds to suspect negligence?
My conclusion is that being a housewife is more like a vocation or calling, like priests and activists. It is a noble role, but the services do not qualify to be rated in monetary terms; a housewife deserves to demand to be provided a standard of life that is worry-free so she can focus on the calling. And since it is a calling, all rewards should come from the providing of the service. Any additional material or monetary rewards should be received in exchange for a "real" job that she must perform outside this calling.
iPhoneから送信
My short answer: it is a calling, not a job.
The female pronoun is consistently used below but only for convenience. Similarly, housewife should be interpreted also to mean house-husband.
The debate has been going on forever, but here's my take on the conditions it should satisfy in order for her services to be evaluated to be worth as much as services provides on a professional basis.
1. Do the customers have the freedom to comment and freely criticize on the services provided? Are customers allowed to compare the service of providers of similar services as an evaluation of the services?
2. Is it a monopoly? How are the conditions regulated?
3. What is the penalty for performance that does not match up to the customers' expectations?
4. Who is the employer and who are the stakeholders? How do they evaluate her performance?
5. Are services provided performed to the highest possible standard achievable, or is there any grounds to suspect negligence?
My conclusion is that being a housewife is more like a vocation or calling, like priests and activists. It is a noble role, but the services do not qualify to be rated in monetary terms; a housewife deserves to demand to be provided a standard of life that is worry-free so she can focus on the calling. And since it is a calling, all rewards should come from the providing of the service. Any additional material or monetary rewards should be received in exchange for a "real" job that she must perform outside this calling.
iPhoneから送信
Monday, May 13, 2013
4 kinds of people
I think there are 4 kinds of people. Those who have a need to know and are able to learn (scholars), those who have a need to know but do not have the ability to learn (believers), those who do not have a need to know but have the ability to learn (evangelists), and those who do not have a need to know and do not have the ability to learn (non practicing believer) .
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Lottery
aka The Power of Personal Testimony
Q: Let's say there's a 3-digit lottery for one million dollars every week, in a country of 3 million people. I set up a fortune telling web site called lucky-number.com and give out lucky numbers. It's free, but if you strike it a second time, you have to give me a 20% cut on your second winning. That's just 200,000 out of your 2 million. Fair? Do you think I can make any money?
Disclaimer : I'm sorry if I did my math wrong!
A: Firstly, given that numbers are given out evenly, every week 1 out of every 1,000 will strike lottery. Thus the chance of anyone striking using the given number is 0.001. Let's call these numbers 1,000 and 0.001 n=1000 and p=0.001.
We always give people a second chance when they don't do well. That is, that they need to lose twice in a row to stop buying - meaning unless they lose the first 2 times consecutively, they will end up trying at least 3 times. So we first consider the following scenarios:
(win, win, win)
and believe that the site is true
The possibility of striking (win, win, win) is p3, which means 1 out of 1,000,000,000 people will get this. since we have only 3 million people, let's assume this does not happen.
(win, lose, win) or (win win, lose) or (lose, win, win)
and conclude the site is mostly right
People who experienced (win, lose, win) and (win, win, lose) and (lose, wine, win) will conclude that the site works most of the time. So the probability of people thinking that it mostly works is 3(p2(1-p)), meaning 1 out of 333,667 people will feel that the site is useful. That is 8 people in 3 million!This means we would get either 8 times our 20% cut which is $1.6 million by the 3rd draw!
(win, lose, lose) or (lose, win, lose)
and conclude that the site changed their odds from 1 out of 1,000 to 1 out of 3.
The probability of this is 2((1-p)2p), meaning 1 out of 501 people will come to this conclusion. For a population of 3 million, this is 5988 people!
So now we have 8 people convinced that the site is mostly true, and 5988 people who are not totally convinced, but "feel good" about the site.
Now, let's say each person is directly connected to 10 other people, and they tell these 10 people about their lottery. And their up to their friend's friend trust what they said - beyond that it's too far away to be trustworthy. Let's call this number c=10.
So many people can these 5996 people reach?
So we have friends who number 5996c and friends of friends who number 5996c2, and if we include the initial 5996, this is a total of 665,556 people. In a community of 3 million, this is 22%. That means 1 out of 5 will feel good about the site! If you're connected to 10 people, it means you will know 1 to 2 persons who feel good about the site!
Let's say these 665,556 people decide to buy a 4th time.
(win, lose, lose, win) or (lose, win, lose, win)
Those who struck 1 time the first time, would have to pay us if they strike this time - the 5988 people who stuck (win, lose, lose) or (lose, win, lose). What's the odds? (2((1-p)2p))p, that is one in 501,001. Bingo. We have another winner. Add $200,000
Unfortunately this doesn't grow our "feel good" crowd. But still, with some optimism, we would have collected $1.8 million by the 4th draw, all by giving out random numbers!
Moral of the story
1. Personal experience does not constitute statistics
2. Don't take information second hand.
3. Almost All isn't anywhere near All. When you listen to a testimony first hand, don't skip the details cos that's where the devil lives!
Q: Let's say there's a 3-digit lottery for one million dollars every week, in a country of 3 million people. I set up a fortune telling web site called lucky-number.com and give out lucky numbers. It's free, but if you strike it a second time, you have to give me a 20% cut on your second winning. That's just 200,000 out of your 2 million. Fair? Do you think I can make any money?
Disclaimer : I'm sorry if I did my math wrong!
A: Firstly, given that numbers are given out evenly, every week 1 out of every 1,000 will strike lottery. Thus the chance of anyone striking using the given number is 0.001. Let's call these numbers 1,000 and 0.001 n=1000 and p=0.001.
We always give people a second chance when they don't do well. That is, that they need to lose twice in a row to stop buying - meaning unless they lose the first 2 times consecutively, they will end up trying at least 3 times. So we first consider the following scenarios:
(win, win, win)
and believe that the site is true
The possibility of striking (win, win, win) is p3, which means 1 out of 1,000,000,000 people will get this. since we have only 3 million people, let's assume this does not happen.
(win, lose, win) or (win win, lose) or (lose, win, win)
and conclude the site is mostly right
People who experienced (win, lose, win) and (win, win, lose) and (lose, wine, win) will conclude that the site works most of the time. So the probability of people thinking that it mostly works is 3(p2(1-p)), meaning 1 out of 333,667 people will feel that the site is useful. That is 8 people in 3 million!This means we would get either 8 times our 20% cut which is $1.6 million by the 3rd draw!
(win, lose, lose) or (lose, win, lose)
and conclude that the site changed their odds from 1 out of 1,000 to 1 out of 3.
The probability of this is 2((1-p)2p), meaning 1 out of 501 people will come to this conclusion. For a population of 3 million, this is 5988 people!
So now we have 8 people convinced that the site is mostly true, and 5988 people who are not totally convinced, but "feel good" about the site.
Now, let's say each person is directly connected to 10 other people, and they tell these 10 people about their lottery. And their up to their friend's friend trust what they said - beyond that it's too far away to be trustworthy. Let's call this number c=10.
So many people can these 5996 people reach?
So we have friends who number 5996c and friends of friends who number 5996c2, and if we include the initial 5996, this is a total of 665,556 people. In a community of 3 million, this is 22%. That means 1 out of 5 will feel good about the site! If you're connected to 10 people, it means you will know 1 to 2 persons who feel good about the site!
Let's say these 665,556 people decide to buy a 4th time.
(win, lose, lose, win) or (lose, win, lose, win)
Those who struck 1 time the first time, would have to pay us if they strike this time - the 5988 people who stuck (win, lose, lose) or (lose, win, lose). What's the odds? (2((1-p)2p))p, that is one in 501,001. Bingo. We have another winner. Add $200,000
Unfortunately this doesn't grow our "feel good" crowd. But still, with some optimism, we would have collected $1.8 million by the 4th draw, all by giving out random numbers!
Moral of the story
1. Personal experience does not constitute statistics
2. Don't take information second hand.
3. Almost All isn't anywhere near All. When you listen to a testimony first hand, don't skip the details cos that's where the devil lives!
Monday, May 06, 2013
What is God? My take
What is God? My take
I think human beings are at the top of the pyramid very largely because of persistence, which comes through working hard at something though logic says that it is just impossible. This form of self delusion we prefer to call hope or faith or believing in oneself taken to the extreme IMHO is what birthed religion, which crystallized in the form of God. Subscribing to the concept of a real God then allows the everyday man to invoke a deep conviction in the realizability of his desires, and that conviction drives him to make his dreams real. In that sense, God is a kind of technology, ready for direct application by anyone who chooses to invoke it.
Consider asking another question. What is the Internet? Is it a specification of any framework that can support something like facebook and Google? Is it the collective sum of servers running it? Is it the tcpip stack? Is the Internet still the Internet if the middle layers are swapped, or if it interfaces with other networks by way of SDN? Is it still the internet if it gets fragmented into two or more disjoint networks? Which disjoint fragment will become the internet? Is it still the Internet if I use a quantum network to steam real time content from my brain? Will my brain become part of the Internet? Or is the Internet defined to be the sum of everything accessible from - the Internet?
I think the Internet exists in a real sense because we as a global community has come to a consensus of its existence. And this consensus of its existence is essentially what makes its existence real.
We tend to think of God as a person, so defining God as a non-person becomes somewhat heretic, but wait, what about the Internet when non-human AI interacts as much as human beings on the Internet? Will your brain be as much part of it as the non-human counterpart? Will it be then fair to say that the Internet is both alive and not alive?
iPhoneから送信
I think human beings are at the top of the pyramid very largely because of persistence, which comes through working hard at something though logic says that it is just impossible. This form of self delusion we prefer to call hope or faith or believing in oneself taken to the extreme IMHO is what birthed religion, which crystallized in the form of God. Subscribing to the concept of a real God then allows the everyday man to invoke a deep conviction in the realizability of his desires, and that conviction drives him to make his dreams real. In that sense, God is a kind of technology, ready for direct application by anyone who chooses to invoke it.
Consider asking another question. What is the Internet? Is it a specification of any framework that can support something like facebook and Google? Is it the collective sum of servers running it? Is it the tcpip stack? Is the Internet still the Internet if the middle layers are swapped, or if it interfaces with other networks by way of SDN? Is it still the internet if it gets fragmented into two or more disjoint networks? Which disjoint fragment will become the internet? Is it still the Internet if I use a quantum network to steam real time content from my brain? Will my brain become part of the Internet? Or is the Internet defined to be the sum of everything accessible from - the Internet?
I think the Internet exists in a real sense because we as a global community has come to a consensus of its existence. And this consensus of its existence is essentially what makes its existence real.
We tend to think of God as a person, so defining God as a non-person becomes somewhat heretic, but wait, what about the Internet when non-human AI interacts as much as human beings on the Internet? Will your brain be as much part of it as the non-human counterpart? Will it be then fair to say that the Internet is both alive and not alive?
iPhoneから送信
Saturday, May 04, 2013
Privacy
on privacy
another daydream post. i'm not an expert.
i read somewhere that the concept of privacy is a recent invention, and that people nowadays don't think of wanting to preserve their privacy, rather, they consider it as asset to be trade-able for goods or services, which might imply that the concept of privacy as a kind of personal freedom in the so called "traditional" sense, may already be fighting its last fight.
i have previously read of a few viewpoints on why you need privacy which i shall summarize briefly below:
1. Nobody is perfect. Given the correct conditions, some law can always be used against you, even if you think you have nothing to hide.
2. Knowledge is power. Knowledge of who you are and what you do (1) psychologically give people power over you, causing you to act differently by knowing that you are being watched, and, (2) gives people a means to social engineer a situation into deriving some advantage off you.
3. Victimless crimes are committed in private when people are experimenting or trying to sort things out and figure out their lives, and that ultimately leads to progress of the individual or society as a whole.
but i stopped to think today.
Human society has so far been in its nature once which is close-knit, where people are deeply involved, interacting which each other in ways that are beyond what the law provided clear-cut rules for. There always are people who want to get into your head or your pants to get something out of you so that they can gain some kind of advantage, or so that they can "help" you. Everybody always needs everybody's help so that the "greater good" is finally achieved.
Such an environment keeps society together. Put it in other words - society is self-perpetuating through the deployment of mechanisms such as the use of power to directly or psychologically affect or limit any actions to modify it. I say "deploy" because I think the State consciously created these mechanisms ether directly or indirectly. And given free rein, this mechanism can be exploited, perhaps, to the point where society is perpetuated for the sole purpose of perpetuation, such that individuals are continually born into the society, work for the society, but derive no innate pleasure or advantage from doing so.
The concept of privacy to me, is basically saying "beyond this line, I can manage on my own". Which means, privacy for me, is that line we draw to say, okay, this is as much you (society/State) need to be bothered about.
What if, the mechanisms that perpetuate society, do not work anymore?
What if one day, someone doing a term in jail is viewed at with the same attitude as someone who paid a speeding fine? And nobody would care less if who you slept with as long as you are doing a great job as the president?
How would privacy change?
another daydream post. i'm not an expert.
i read somewhere that the concept of privacy is a recent invention, and that people nowadays don't think of wanting to preserve their privacy, rather, they consider it as asset to be trade-able for goods or services, which might imply that the concept of privacy as a kind of personal freedom in the so called "traditional" sense, may already be fighting its last fight.
i have previously read of a few viewpoints on why you need privacy which i shall summarize briefly below:
1. Nobody is perfect. Given the correct conditions, some law can always be used against you, even if you think you have nothing to hide.
2. Knowledge is power. Knowledge of who you are and what you do (1) psychologically give people power over you, causing you to act differently by knowing that you are being watched, and, (2) gives people a means to social engineer a situation into deriving some advantage off you.
3. Victimless crimes are committed in private when people are experimenting or trying to sort things out and figure out their lives, and that ultimately leads to progress of the individual or society as a whole.
but i stopped to think today.
Human society has so far been in its nature once which is close-knit, where people are deeply involved, interacting which each other in ways that are beyond what the law provided clear-cut rules for. There always are people who want to get into your head or your pants to get something out of you so that they can gain some kind of advantage, or so that they can "help" you. Everybody always needs everybody's help so that the "greater good" is finally achieved.
Such an environment keeps society together. Put it in other words - society is self-perpetuating through the deployment of mechanisms such as the use of power to directly or psychologically affect or limit any actions to modify it. I say "deploy" because I think the State consciously created these mechanisms ether directly or indirectly. And given free rein, this mechanism can be exploited, perhaps, to the point where society is perpetuated for the sole purpose of perpetuation, such that individuals are continually born into the society, work for the society, but derive no innate pleasure or advantage from doing so.
The concept of privacy to me, is basically saying "beyond this line, I can manage on my own". Which means, privacy for me, is that line we draw to say, okay, this is as much you (society/State) need to be bothered about.
What if, the mechanisms that perpetuate society, do not work anymore?
What if one day, someone doing a term in jail is viewed at with the same attitude as someone who paid a speeding fine? And nobody would care less if who you slept with as long as you are doing a great job as the president?
How would privacy change?
Friday, May 03, 2013
Of Adam and Eve and Marrying Cousins
Of Adam and Eve and Marrying Cousins
Disclaimers: I'm not a creationist. Neither am I an expert on the game of life. This is not a paper, just a kind of mental scribbling aka daydreaming.
One of the problems I had with the Adam and Eve story was that of inbreeding, that inbreeding raises the possibility of recessive traits appearing, lowering the average survival ability of the population in general. How do cultures that practice reproduction with relatives survive? Does inbreeding mean that you end up with an inferior culture?
Enter: the game of life.
If you're unfamiliar, the game of life is simulation "board game", formed with a grid like a chessboard, where you place pieces that either "grow" or "die" according to rules as simple as the following set (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life, where "cell" refers to a square on the board):
What does this mean to me? That while inbreeding is the causes of a lot of genetically-based disability, it is not in itself fatalistic. But rather, whether or not we end up with an end-game where everything dies or everything keeps on growing, or everything is stabilized, depends also on the starting configuration - and that starting configuration, must be instantaneously created or there must be one instant where the starting configuration became true.
That is to say, if the creation theory needs to be true, it is not just the mechanism that needs to be proven, but that the starting configuration needs to be found. So maybe, just maybe, just because God created Adam and Eve, doesn't mean he didn't also create Adam and Steve.
Disclaimers: I'm not a creationist. Neither am I an expert on the game of life. This is not a paper, just a kind of mental scribbling aka daydreaming.
One of the problems I had with the Adam and Eve story was that of inbreeding, that inbreeding raises the possibility of recessive traits appearing, lowering the average survival ability of the population in general. How do cultures that practice reproduction with relatives survive? Does inbreeding mean that you end up with an inferior culture?
Enter: the game of life.
If you're unfamiliar, the game of life is simulation "board game", formed with a grid like a chessboard, where you place pieces that either "grow" or "die" according to rules as simple as the following set (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_Game_of_Life, where "cell" refers to a square on the board):
- First you start with a starting configuration, where you mark certain cells as "live". All other cells are dead.
- Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.
- Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
- Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.
- Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.
What does this mean to me? That while inbreeding is the causes of a lot of genetically-based disability, it is not in itself fatalistic. But rather, whether or not we end up with an end-game where everything dies or everything keeps on growing, or everything is stabilized, depends also on the starting configuration - and that starting configuration, must be instantaneously created or there must be one instant where the starting configuration became true.
That is to say, if the creation theory needs to be true, it is not just the mechanism that needs to be proven, but that the starting configuration needs to be found. So maybe, just maybe, just because God created Adam and Eve, doesn't mean he didn't also create Adam and Steve.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Common sense
Common sense: a habit or protocol people are obsessed in propagating because of a perceived benefit derived through a mechanism or reason considered taboo.
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