tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73027904237179485642024-02-21T02:46:52.313-05:00Archetyper<b> In Search Of Meaning Amidst Patterns</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-56962522033969099952010-09-15T15:43:00.007-04:002010-09-20T14:03:51.723-04:00An Ever-Changing Universe<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/pr2010022a/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2010-22-a-web.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A few weeks ago, news came out that some constants of Nature were not always the same across different regions of the Cosmos. Apparently, the <b>fine-structure constant</b>--a number that is written into the very behavior of atoms, actually changes!<br />
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The variability of this "constant" violates Einstein's equivalence principle, a fundamental tenet of physics that says that the constants of nature must remain the same no matter where or when in the universe.<br />
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A team of scientists found that the fine-structure constant appeared to have been smaller in one part of the universe--but larger in another, billions of years ago.<br />
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Upon hearing of this, I was dumbstruck. Sure, the universe changed as the fundamental forces of nature fragmented from one single unified force. But I thought that after everything has "unfurled" and settled on to this state that we are familiar with--that was it. As everything settled down, every constant of nature must then be, well...<i>constant</i>! <br />
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Or so it seemed.<br />
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Again and again, the things i’ve known may be wrong all along. I had to unlearn the familiar concept of a homogenous and isotropic universe. <br />
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And if found to be true, a variable fine-structure "constant" has big ramifications to many deeper things that may not seem apparent in our mundane way of life.<br />
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And I could not grasp it at all. The symmetry-breaking concept of different realities in different regions of the universe hovered in my mind for several days. I wrote a <a href="http://bit.ly/PhaseChange">short story</a> entitled "Phase Change" to help me make sense of this finding, to try to get a glimpse of what it could mean to me personally, and eventually to a wider scope of things. <br />
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In the process, my story ended up hinting at a speculative answer to Fermi’s Paradox. Perhaps, an ever-changing universe could be one reason why civilizations never get the chance to come in contact with other civilizations. A universe that has different properties at different times in different regions could pose an “isolation” problem for regional inhabitants.<br />
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My story also indirectly refers to the concept of the Phase Transition in the early universe, where the force(s) of nature were still fragmenting. Perhaps the changing values of the fine-structure is an indicator of a weaker form of "Phase Transition" that may still be occuring in many other regions of the universe.<br />
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What does it all mean? Well, only then did i realize that it was so simple. Ours is truly an ever-changing universe. And the cliche remains ever so true: Nothing is permanent, except change itself.<br />
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Links:<br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/PhaseChange">Phase Change</a> (The Short Story)<br />
<a href="http://beyondthecradle.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/when-fundamental-constants-change-over-space-%E2%80%94-rethinking-physics-as-we-know-it-jenam-2010-press-release/">When Fundamental Constants Change</a><br />
<a href="http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/physicists-finding-raises-relatively-huge-question-was-einstei/19623415">Was Einstein Wrong?</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-622701206269298612010-08-11T22:03:00.013-04:002010-08-12T08:46:52.717-04:00Belief and UnbeliefI was prompted to write this post after i received a <a href="http://twitter.com/ZachsMind/status/20916395287">reply</a> to my carefree <a href="http://twitter.com/archetyper/status/20886762950">tweet</a>. In the back of my mind, I knew i had it coming (that's why I added the smiley at the last second), but i still sent the tweet. And so here it goes...<br />
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Earlier today, I frivolously tweeted that "I respect all beliefs, even unbelief" in which what I had in mind was the loose definition of "belief" as somewhat similar to an "opinion". For example, the context in which I say "i believe there is life on other planets". So i think that someone who "does not believe" in the existence of extra-terrestrial life is entitled to his or her own "belief" or opinion. And i respect that belief, even if it does not agree with my own belief. That was what i meant in my tweet, no offense intended.<br />
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But the trouble is, i used the word "belief" instead of "opinion" in my tweet. And for that, it deserves much thought, careful examination, and reflection, especially when "respect" is in the same sentence as "belief".<br />
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In the course of writing this post, I came to the conclusion that "belief" is a deeply loaded word where often, when people hear it, what comes to mind is Religion, Christianity, Islam and all the others. So I should expect some reaction from unbelievers if they are grouped together with those who believe in the existence of God, and vise-versa. Atheists do not believe in the existence of god. In that context, Christianity and Islam is under the umbrella of "belief", but Atheism is outside any form of "belief".<br />
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Belief and unbelief is as distinctively separate as how light is from dark, how "yes" is distinctively opposite from "no". The non-existence of god is as equally possible as the existence of God. Thus, believing and not believing in God are opposites but equally valid points of view. With neither one under the scope of the other.<br />
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To say that "unbelief" is under or within "belief" may be offensive, and perhaps disrespectful to some who feel strongly about it. And thus, I apologize for that statement that seemed to put unbelief as a form of belief. Needless to say, my apology is also for some believers who perhaps were offended by me throwing non-believers in their camp.<br />
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Of course, i need to explore a case similar to "zero and one" (binary bits) or "left and right" (chirality) where both states together are described by one word for the purpose of study. In the same manner, is there a 'non-loaded' word that simply includes <b>both</b> "belief in the existence of God" and "unbelief in the existence of god"? <br />
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I hope that a word must exist to describe both states where it doesn't evoke strong emotions. Worldview? Whatever it is, i need that word so i can describe what i mean by "belief and unbelief" in my context without running into trouble on twitter or anywhere else.<br />
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Oh boy, I just love twitter. It compels me to write. And when i write, it forces me to think!<br />
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Well, at least that's what i think!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-77915530049080800892010-08-03T16:31:00.002-04:002010-08-03T20:45:58.929-04:00My Perception of Inception<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dehahs.deviantart.com/#/d2unnlj" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuMmEGsG2OUfpLop7CWV79XGZaGqVynlxwFsfp1je6PoqAM5Sg3UwvfRZ0KpdBpVwGFkHXiHVVtr7qzX3-qzEgnzwihf4__jAdaBTm8oAhJBY7jux8l8QEGxTXUmrI5rVFnNkeaZH1Mw/s400/Inception_Infographic_by_dehahs.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>The mention of ideas being powerful once it gets in your head was a great way to start "Inception". It rightly set the tone that this movie is cerebral. Indeed, it leaves you thinking about reality and dreams even after the movie has finished.<br />
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Dreams are powerful, and essential. Perhaps that’s when and where ideas truly play. And that, I believe, gave Nolan a great focal point for his movie.<br />
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I often engaged in conversation with some of my family members--as they talked in their sleep! And I found it funny how senseless the things they talked about. A few times, I actually tried to coax some information from our conversations, so I can tease them the next day. However unfair it seems, I maintain that no one must ever do that to me, for I would never want my wife to uncover secrets from my subconscious!<br />
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But I can tell you that it's actually impossible to “extract” any sensible information from sleep-talkers, or sleep-walkers! The best you can do is enjoy that moment and giggle while they murmur incomprehensible sentences.<br />
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Perhaps that is the reason why I never thought of injecting some ideas into vulnerable minds as they slept or dreamed. I think that if garbage was coming out, then they’ll perceive incoming ideas as garbage as well. <br />
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If I knew that implanting ideas into a sleeping person's mind would work, then i would have tried to trick my dozing Dad (who, at one time--I caught sleep-talking) to increase my college allowance back in those days.<br />
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And so, with the thesis of Inception, the “extractor”--whose usual job was to “extract” information--was also hired to “implant” an idea into a person’s mind. All that will be done via “shared dreams”.<br />
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That seems like a simple plot, isn’t it? Yes, but there’s more. It also involves layered dreams within a dream within a dream. And the technical aspects of such dream-layers was also accounted for--such as time dilation between each layer of dreams. <br />
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All that plot mechanics would’ve been enough for me, and it already is a great movie with that complexity alone. But Nolan overdid it with some snow mountain shooting action sequence which i think was unnecessary.<br />
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The movie also failed to tap into the emotion spectrum. Cobb's wife, who i suppose should deliver that part, played the weakest character of them all. The only scene that moved me was the quick flash of an elderly couple (Dobb and his wife) walking together while holding hands. <br />
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I also think that the “architect” was not creative enough in conjuring dream settings. Her “powers” were not tapped thoroughly. <br />
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Although i liked the scene where she pulled two mirrors facing each other. But then I instinctively looked for the camera (and the cameraman) in that scene, expecting them to be visible to me, as reflected by the mirrors. So in effect, what the scene did was to snap me out from being an "audience". At that moment, I began thinking technical stuff (as if i was part of the movie crew) on how the special effects were being achieved. <br />
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There were tropes which were apparent, such as dreams within a dream, as exemplified by “Waking Life”, or shared dreams (people entering the dreams of others) in “Dreamscape”, “The Cell”, and “Nightmare on Elm Street”. But with “Inception”, I give Nolan credit for making a movie that stimulates its viewers to think.<br />
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Even up to now, I am still thinking what my "totem" would be. Some little object that'll let me know if i'm within a dream or not. <br />
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How about you. What is your totem?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-31305939032066356992010-07-17T11:56:00.005-04:002010-07-27T16:25:56.913-04:00Book Review: A Tear at the Edge of Creation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.npr.org/assets/blogs/13.7/images/2010/04/tear_custom.jpg?t=1270474304&s=12" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/blogs/13.7/images/2010/04/tear_custom.jpg?t=1270474304&s=12" /></a></div>This book kept me at the edge of my seat. Like an exciting ballgame, "A Tear at the Edge of Creation" kept me in suspense. Who's gonna win? The Unifiers? Or the Breakers? Like an expert commentator, Marcelo Gleiser explained both sides well. However, he has chosen one team to cheer for.<br />
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Once, he was a unifier himself. But after a long intellectua-scientific journey, Marcelo Gleiser now argues that the Grand Unified Theory (GUT), or the Final Truth is a construction of the human mind, a monotheistic myth that has inspired brilliant minds like Thales, Kepler, Einstein and so many others, with little support in physical reality.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">First he would tell of the wonderful elegant patterns in nature, but then suddenly point out an anti-pattern in the next instant. He would explain the Symmetry of our universe in masterful language and then destroy it with Asymmetries on the next page.</div></div><br />
The "Unifiers" are reductionists. They search for a law of nature that is simple and true. The author argues that the notion of a Theory of Everything (TOE) is a cultural one. It is the scientific counterpart of the monotheistic religions. He says, "Why insist on relating Oneness with beauty? Isn't it time to celebrate a different kind of beauty, one inspired by the imperfections of Nature?" This thought somewhat resonated with an old thought I <a href="http://archetyper.blogspot.com/2007/10/what-makes-life-beautiful.html">posted</a> a few years ago.<br />
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</div>So he proposes on focusing on the imperfections of nature, rather than the search for ultimate harmonies or perfection. He points out the rare circumstances in the universe that led to our existence. That makes us special. It creates a new purpose for humankind. He shouts, "Humans! Wake up and save life with all that you have! Life is rare. Treasure it, worship it, make it last, spread it across the Universe."<br />
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This book is great because I've learned so many things from it, and found patterns I never saw before. It gave me insights that give a deeper understanding about some underlying mystery of our universe. Some of them are as follows.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The universe is polarized: There are more right-handed people than left-handed ones (like me and Marcelo). There are more matter versus anti-matter. On a molecular level, Life is left-handed (chirality). Without these imperfections, or imbalance, we would not be here at all. Phase Transition: the universe underwent a phase transition similar to water turning from liquid to ice when the temperature is lowered.<br />
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Only one tiny detail bugs me about Marcelo's idea right now. He roots for the absence of Magnetic Monopoles that break Symmetry. But it was finally <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090903163725.htm">detected</a> in 2009. So, i guess it's a score for the Unifiers.</div><br />
What I can say now after reading this book is that, previously I seek for patterns through eyes that are tainted with the Unifier's lens. Now I intend to see things in a more balanced way. Seeing the quips of nature as well, alongside the inherent order and symmetry.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-83568521608988477022010-03-24T12:59:00.002-04:002010-03-24T13:02:08.031-04:00Gone...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://firefluff.blogspot.com/2010/01/panda-in-brain.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ-FgGyFfZnuGsisE89rod6TiL3P2Zum_rqjeJBpvUNjoIgLmx0EayTl9zjNzXX4ANMe5cphpxJbRSSqWqgvCIGolqwPg29ZseR8QyiWKFIFRZKZ_yrECEEz2MBj3tJlEWohIaOr9zOQ/s400/brain.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The famous "Cogito Ergo Sum" of Rene Descartes seem incomplete to me. Somehow, I am tempted to conclude it this way, "I Think Therefore I Am...Gone."<br />
Today, I was <a href="https://twitter.com/archetyper/status/10983623876">reminded</a> of our fleeting existence via this <a href="https://twitter.com/archetyper/status/10983320421">quote</a> from Buckminster Fuller, "What you see is not a hand. It is a pattern integrity, the universe's capability to create hands.” <br />
In a way, our brain itself is a pattern integrity, the universe's capability to create brains. As a matter of fact, Buckminster Fuller puts it more succinctly, "Each individual is a pattern integrity."<br />
Thus I remember, how a physicist/philosopher named Ludwig Boltzmann stumbled upon this concept, which was later called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain">Boltzmann Brain</a>": It is a fleeting pattern that is briefly given a chance to ruminate "Hey, I exist!" then fades away. In 1906, Boltzmann committed suicide.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://firefluff.blogspot.com/2010/01/panda-in-brain.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQL5Zw3HKMonhDmozky7aKZNlLUtP5h_L2USSTEUMoXDN5gNFH_mHopfSihEQN6APQ-j9bRLS-jRB1r2R7SROMdcGp0AzbdlWXTre9Z9yl4OOYAo8d5638Mja2rb4Fdd0zKu-V_Bifg/s400/brain2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>How we all are in a sense, like Boltzmann brains is accented when you compare the lifetime of humans to the lifespan of stars. How we are like Mayflies that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly#Lifespan">live</a> for a day and then...gone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-16217760251005798102010-02-05T12:29:00.001-05:002010-02-05T12:32:33.704-05:00No Paradox in Time Travel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickhoff/380789609/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://picturepost.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/time.jpg?w=450" width="320" /></a></div>There is no paradox in time-travel. If you went back in time and killed the younger version of yourself, you will not die. However, many folks think otherwise--as it is wrongly depicted by films like "Back to the Future". The apparent paradox that traps so many people is a result of what I call the "Continuity Complex" that plagues the human mind.<br />
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The "self" arises because of the "continuity" that we feel of our self moving from the past to the present. But in fact, each instance of us in time is a separate person. We are a new being every second...or every millisecond. We are forever changing. The "me" of this second is not the same as the "me" of the next second.<br />
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In a larger cosmological context, the universe of this moment is not the universe of the next second. Thus, if you went back to the past, you did not really go back to the "past"--you just simply went to another separate "place". And in that place, you can do anything you want--without fear of affecting the previous time-place where you came from. It's a whole new world of its own.<br />
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Now all this conjecture is simply a play of Gendaken experiment. Thus if I ever get the chance to go back in time, I will definitely kick my younger self in the butt. I deserve it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-82082313504731499372009-06-16T01:27:00.007-04:002009-06-16T01:48:30.778-04:00Rebooted By Nothing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bit.ly/2TbyjF"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 180px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/3619619184_5d562a72a2_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>And so I reboot this blog after attending some conferences held by The World Science Festival. First was "<a href="http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2009/nothing">Nothing: The Subtle Science of Emptiness.</a>"<br />Paul Davies, one of my favorite authors was one of the panelists, as well as John Barrow.<br />Of course, the question of "Why is there something instead of nothing?" inevitably came up. Paul Davies shared his answer which rather stuck to my mind. He said that Nothing has only one way, while Something has a lot of ways to come about. So that is why there is something!<br />I like the last "what if" question of the moderator, where he followed up a question from the audience about the role of consciousness in all there is. What if--he asks while gesturing an inifinitely-scaled universe where the gradient will never be resolved--everything is just a reflection of humanity's yearnings?<br />I came home in a blank pith of "nothing" for I had a nagging question along the way: When a person dies, does he return to nothingness? Or does he return to Infinity?<br />It's best, I reckoned to myself--to keep it unanswered. That'll keep me yearning.<br /><br /><br />Links:<br /><a href="http://bit.ly/2TbyjF">My Flickr Photo Set of the Event</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-26492766793091243732009-01-08T02:12:00.007-05:002009-01-31T11:35:36.626-05:00Knowing SelfI can't sleep.<br />Might as well blog.<br /><br />More massive than previously known.<br />That's the latest finding about our very own Milky Way.<br />How much detail can we find out about our own galaxy?<br />There is a limit.<br />Why?<br />Because we live in it.<br />Can we truly know ourselves with our own efforts?<br />I think not.<br />I remember: The very act of observing changes that which is being observed.<br />The uncertainty is always there, no matter how much detail you gain from observing your own brain.<br />Do we need someone to tell us about that which we cannot truly know?<br />Yes? No?<br />Do we need to get out of the system to see things better from a "bird's eyeview"?<br />Yes? No?<br />Certainly someone from outside our galaxy can tell us more details about our Milky way.<br />Certainly some astronomer from Andromeda can tell us better how many arms our Milky Way has.<br />Who then can tell us better about our self?<br />Advanced beings?<br />God?<br />What is the only way for man to truly know himself? To "get out of the system", to die?<br />They say the universe is starting to become aware of itself.<br />I say the universe can never truly know itself.<br />Because the universe is itself.<br /><br />I'm now sleepy.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-63600736664612555412008-07-12T22:21:00.002-04:002008-12-09T21:49:27.426-05:00Words Visualized by Algorithm<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlxZUzLFhEheQZYrqgA5szbm5k0MqOYLaIob_F4dmp1uZZqHWdPWxZScFoRLBZuBV3LlNinGifJTs9Lm5_gGlx9mkphVhID4g459pokRsdTi4HG-0CcOJoKV-FZLJmuXawzXXNmkiLg/s1600-h/wordle.archetyper.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlxZUzLFhEheQZYrqgA5szbm5k0MqOYLaIob_F4dmp1uZZqHWdPWxZScFoRLBZuBV3LlNinGifJTs9Lm5_gGlx9mkphVhID4g459pokRsdTi4HG-0CcOJoKV-FZLJmuXawzXXNmkiLg/s320/wordle.archetyper.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5222318403907088802" /></a>I ran <a href="http://wordle.net/">Wordle</a> for this archetyper blog and this is what it came up with. Neat. Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds”.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-54074941412458762642008-07-10T06:22:00.009-04:002008-07-10T09:07:09.471-04:00Fireworks, SuperNovae and Legacy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghimteik/1240048193/"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://static.flickr.com/1328/1240048193_9febe7e9c2.jpg" border="0" alt="Fireworks Shape" /></a>On the 4th of July, I chanced upon a documentary about fireworks. What caught my attention was the modern technique in crafting specific patterns and shapes of fireworks in the sky (Katamono). Controlled patterns of shapes such as a heart or star can be lit up in the sky by arranging how the explosive pellets are arranged within the shell and its core.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.grantchronicles.com/astro17.htm"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.grantchronicles.com/etacarinaebig.jpg" border="0" alt="Eta Carinae" /></a><br />In essence, the shape of an explosion tells much about the explosive. I call it The Fireworks Principle. If we apply this principle to Astronomy, by examining the shape of a supernova we can probably know much about the qualities of the star that produced it. For example, the polar regions of the star that spawned Eta Carinae can be discerned from the two points where the bulk of stellar mass is ejected. <br />The Fireworks Principle is the same in terms of life: As we live, we are fashioning the core within that will someday explode as a "lifework" - the patterns will become apparent in due time. Our character and our legacy will persist even as this body, the temporary shell gives up the spark of life.<br />Each human life is a supernova in the making. The legacy we leave behind - the shapes of our lifesparks will tell much about the very core of our soul.<br /><br /><br />Links:<br /><a href="http://dailyapple.blogspot.com/2007/07/apple-251-fireworks.html">How Fireworks are made</a><br /><a href="http://www.grantchronicles.com/astro17.htm">Eta Carinae</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-77433177604353521182008-06-28T23:11:00.006-04:002009-07-02T04:06:22.521-04:00Fireflies and Suns<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/t-fukuda/3618781217/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2427/3618781217_2424838a13_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Something magical about fireflies on summer nights like these. Watching the flickering of evanescent lights from fireflies has been a wonderful experience for me, a bit spiritual and existential I suppose. Makes me think of how stars are not so different from the fireflies' ephemeral sparks of light.<br />To us, the Sun means everything for life. Yet from an observer with a relatively longer span of life (perhaps infinite and eternal) a few billion years of a star's lifetime is like a few seconds in time--mere flashes of light--like the sparks from fireflies.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-23924326681627478672008-06-18T06:09:00.005-04:002008-06-28T23:11:30.600-04:00The Center of the Whorl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.net/photos/gisuser/40719712/sizes/m/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/40719712_c3001177aa_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Storm" /></a>There has always been something mysterious at the center of whorls such as storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and whirlpools. Even more mysterious is that spirals and swirls occur at multiple levels in our universe: Our very own Milky Way galaxy is a spiral whorl; and at the top of your head there is probably an epicenter where your hair pans out in spiral formation.<br />It is believed that at the center of the Milky Way there is a black hole. You'll be ripped to shreds on your way to the center. Yet, at the core there is probably complete peace and tranquility. I say this because I remember the movie "The Perfect Storm" whereupon the central eye of the storm briefly passed through the stranded fishermen. It was a moment of complete stillness, and the fishermen saw the sun shine through a clear blue sky as their boat momentarily lay within the storm's center.<br />I never knew that at the eye of a storm there is peace and tranquility until I watched that scene.<br />Yet as soon as the eye of the storm moved onwards, their boat was left behind to be engulfed by the trailing half of the storm. Chaos resumed with lashing winds and hundred-foot waves..killing all the fishermen.<br />If the pattern of the whorl is emergent at multiple levels in the universe then it must surely mean something at the level of human life. I can see several meanings from the whorl's archetype: <br />1) If you are experiencing a life of total ease, with no challenges, no goals, no action, and no struggle whatsoever for an extended time, then you are in big trouble. You are right smack at the center of a storm and it will break you to pieces when it passes you by. A life with no activity, and a life with nothing to keep you busy is a recipe for death.<br />2) Attack the problem right at the center. It's much effective to dive right in at the root of the problem rather going at the sides and dodging the storm.<br />3) The Spiral probably means that there's always a center on all things. Surely, your life must be revolving around someone or something (I hope not a 'black hole'). Thus, In life, finding out who, where or what the true center is, and then focusing upon it could probably give you the peace and tranquility that you desire...as you live and die.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-89373540034410010162008-06-08T08:18:00.019-04:002009-03-14T18:00:07.685-04:00The Evidence of God's Existence is His Coolness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8533266@N04/2090082725/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2337/2090082725_5170735e85_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Mystery" /></a>I thank Atheism because it stirs an honest doubt, without which, faith would be lame. For someone who struggles to know the truth, the tug-of-war between two camps can be sickening at times, yet it can also reveal wonderful insights. <br />A simple question from a fellow blogger asking for the evidence of the existence of God conjured up in me an idea which I have no name for. Here is my take on that issue: <br /><br />The evidence for the existence of God is <span style="font-weight:bold;">the mystery of His existence</span> itself. It is the <span style="font-weight:bold;">mystery of His existence</span> that is an <span style="font-weight:bold;">evidence in itself</span>.<br /><br />It might seem like a circular argument at first, but let me expound. Let's have a Gendanken experiment: Suppose that god revealed himself in a most personal way to each and every human being on earth, such that it is overwhelmingly "convincing" that it was god himself, saying "I AM GOD".<br />I cannot even imagine how god would do this to cater to each person's unique standard of "convince-ability".<br />Each person has a unique level of "proof threshold" that must be satisfied before belief can ensue. I doubt if God can accomplish this for each human being, not because of Him, but because the human mind is naturally skeptical, or that because of Free Will - people simply choose not to believe.<br />But that is not the point. My point is this: if God exposed Himself to me, bare and without any sense of mystery at all, I would start to think that he is lame, boring and uncool. In fact, I would question Him even more to the point of unbelief, and then start to ask who the heck created this weird Being who is exposing himself naked to me. I am sure that I will be thrown into an infinite regress by asking who created him because he is so lame.<br />I just realized that I do not want a God that has no sense of coolness. I do not want a God that has no sense of mystery.<br />Perhaps it is just me. Perhaps my own personal "reaction" to this hypothetical "revelation" of God's existence is just unique to me. Other people may rejoice when God reveals Himself to them ever so clearly. But not me. I would find it boring and lame if God did that to me.<br />Personally, I like a God that makes my hair stand on end at wonderful tidbits of wonder, such as when looking up in the night sky gazing at the stars. I like a God that gives me goosebumps when I realize that perhaps, in some way the Mandelbrot set points to Jesus.<br />And so, I think God is cool. On this particular issue of "evidence of His existence", I think God is handling it in a hip way, at least for me. <br />In my opinion, the evidence of God's existence is the coolness of how He decided to handle that issue itself. I do not know a "term" or name for this thought or argument. All I know is that personally I think <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mystery is a cool thing</span>. <br />I love the awe and wonder that this universe brings, and the experience of pausing and wondering "that perhaps God exists", after every new discovery. I love the pieces of clues that is revealed to me each new day. I also now enjoy the challenge of this thought - that maybe God is nothingness. Then onwards I go to seek the Truth.<br />Some people live their lives content at either of these two camps-- as a firm believer with an immovable faith, or as a staunch atheist with an unbeatable intellectual prowess. <br />Yet, I prefer myself to be at the gradient of both, in between these two opposing camps.<br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.</span>" <br />- Harry Emerson Fosdick<br /><br />"<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I don't know where the sunbeams end and the starlight begins...its all a mystery.</span>"<br />- The Flaming Lips (The Fight Test)<br /><br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-71711219145221349592008-04-23T05:19:00.014-04:002008-12-09T21:49:27.604-05:00Hello Worlds!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUayeUa14aTA9rJL8GjTJyJ5KcYaoYyRtCopf1EsUiJydOgOTQQAFDudELz8qse_Toh8As6aGqqF_DJYVA-xqoMo5OJCe8qON4uHMT9u3bzmK9jYRGsFu1dzxJjEot22xrDKwSP9aDJg/s1600-h/helloworlds.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUayeUa14aTA9rJL8GjTJyJ5KcYaoYyRtCopf1EsUiJydOgOTQQAFDudELz8qse_Toh8As6aGqqF_DJYVA-xqoMo5OJCe8qON4uHMT9u3bzmK9jYRGsFu1dzxJjEot22xrDKwSP9aDJg/s200/helloworlds.jpg" border="0" alt="Hello Worlds" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194041157594239698" /></a>I've now been using "Hello Worlds!" rather than the proverbial "Hello World!" in Java programming. I have adopted that practice to remind myself of the "Plurality of Worlds" that is right before our very eyes. In my opinion, the new generation will wake up to the continued proliferation of Worlds - in the real, virtual, imaginary and theoretical domains.<br />Let me expound upon this idea by noting the growing discovery of new exoplanets - other planets outside our Solar System. Thanks to the new field of <a href="http://exoplanetology.blogspot.com">Exoplanetology</a>, we are uncovering new worlds that have now begun to enter the thought-sphere of humanity. Our Earth is just one among billions and billions of other worlds in outer space. <br />On the other realm, we have Virtual Worlds that may yet still seem crude and "artificial" at this point in time, but nevertheless can be considered as "Worlds" in their own right. We have the Metaverse, as best represented by <a href="http://www.secondlife.com">Second Life</a>. And we have Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMORPG) best exemplified by <a href="http://www.worldofwarcraft.com">World of Warcraft</a>. And as of this writing, I am awaiting the release of <a href="http://www.spore.com">Spore</a>, which might introduce a new genre, that between an MMO and a networked game.<br />We have the so-called "Parallel Worlds" in theoretical physics that seems far-fetched and inaccessible. They are a favorite in Sci-Fi, but who knows what a few decades could have in store for us? Our future progenitors may be crossing them to visit other worlds not only in space, but in time as well.<br />And last but not the least, I recognize the infinite worlds that are powered by human imagination. Not to mention the wondrous Worlds that privately exist within each human mind, it is time to recognize these beautiful "Worlds" of fiction - as produced by the mind and the collective consciousness of the human race. Why should the digital worlds and the modern new worlds get all the credit?<br />Hence, 2008 is the year I mark as the "Era of Worlds". And I recognize it as such to introduce "Hello Worlds!" in programming java (at least to start from my own little world of coding). After all, all Worlds - real and imaginary - may not be possible without programming, right? Even our very own universe had to have its Cosmic Laws "programmed". <br />Who knows, the fractal property of the universe to spawn "worlds within worlds" may be encoded deep within the Laws of the Cosmos.<br />Well, perhaps in line 777 of <span style="font-style:italic;">The</span> cosmic source code, we may find "<span style="font-style:italic; font-weight: bold;">Hello Worlds!</span>"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-92010551303291600722008-04-16T22:13:00.012-04:002008-04-23T05:15:59.030-04:00By It's Right Name<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f34GSeBXL._SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://i.cnn.net/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i60/into_the_wild_movie_poster_090720070508.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>We all have these "alter-egos" and we like to create names for our alternate identities. In the digital realm, they are represented as <span style="font-style:italic;">Avatars</span>. We live out adventures behind those 'aliases' and seek out worlds for them to inhabit. But in the end, we all come back to reality, back to our rightful place, and come home with our true identity and rightful name. <br />In the story, Alexander Supertramp journeys into the wild. Survives for a few months in the Alaskan wilderness by living inside a 'magic bus', and succumbs. For two years of running away and not wanting to be found, he breathes his last wanting his corpse to be identified by its right name - Christopher McCandless. For in his dying moments, he realizes that "happiness is only real when shared", and takes solace that his journals, his story of life and death would be shared to others.<br />Names are so important for it is where our identity and character is attached. Without it, our voices would be lost in the wilderness and never be shared.<br />The true story of <span style="font-style:italic;">Into the Wild</span> screams of boldness and stupidity, of selflessness and selfishness, of idealism and immaturity, of reaching out and holding back, and of triumph and tragedy. It is a total reflection of what being human is all about, and that's why I love it.<br />Into the Wild is truly inspirational for bloggers and seekers who want to know the paradox of oneself. The story teaches a lesson and inspires at the same time. A must-see for adventurers of all ages.<br /><br />Jesus asked, "What is your name?"<br />- <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%208:30;&version=48;">Luke 8:30</a><br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-65270151770870176932008-04-03T04:45:00.022-04:002008-04-03T07:29:27.032-04:00Eternity in an Hour....of joggingWhile jogging this morning, I felt the cool wind in my face and as I looked up to enjoy it's refreshing touch, I saw the magnificent blue sky. And I thanked God for that moment.<div style="float:left; width: 230px; margin-bottom: 3px;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/72226765@N00/500955466/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/226/500955466_7e1965dcbe_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Cirrus Clouds" /></a><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 220px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px 0px 9px 0px; color: gray">From Flickr, this is the closest photo that I could find to the clouds I saw on that windy day. Photo Credit: High Cirrus Clouds by jackatlargs</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nasa.gov/lb/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_666_prt.htm" target="LMC"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/159426main_image_feature_666_ys_4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 220px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px; color: gray">The Large Magellanic Cloud. Photo Credit: NASA</div><br /><br /><div class="clear: left"></div></div>And then I gazed upon the clouds, and i noticed they looked similar to NASA's photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud. <br />Although they have some differences, such as color and hues - white clouds against a perfectly blue sky, whereas LMC are rendered in black background. They also differ in scale - individual water vapor or ice crystals that make up clouds correspond to individual stars - yet their "cloud" formation is very similar.<br />The provision to "see" a bigger scale of things from a smaller subset reminds me of the fractal or self-similar property of the universe.<br />And then I had an amazing thought: What if our whole universe is just another "sub-particle" of another universe? Certainly others have thought of it, but now that the Large Hadron Collider is set to operate in a few days (May 2008), its almost like we're going to spew out billions and gazillions of worlds using a man-made contraption. Although these elementary particles (and mini-blackholes) that LHC will produce will decay almost instantaneously (from our perspective), it would still be an eternity relative to the particles for they travel at the speed of light. Remember, photons experience no "time".<br />What an overwhelming thought if each elementary particle has a universe within it, as what William Blake expresses in that poetic line "...world in a grain of sand". Then in the grand scheme of things, sentient life that emerges in any world - in any universe - would never fail to ask, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" And on a personal note, wonder "Why am I here?"<br />And as I jogged onwards, I uttered, "..to see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wildflower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour..."<br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-91714211004041245962008-03-28T23:30:00.022-04:002008-05-04T13:49:02.834-04:00Design and the Elastic Mind @ MoMA<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2369567019/in/set-72157604290218770/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2006/2369567019_0345660684_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>This is a truly well-orchestrated exhibit : Design and the Elastic Mind at the Museum of Modern Art (<a href="http://moma.org/">MoMA</a>). The <a href="http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/" target="new">online exhibit </a> is already a wonderful feast for interface buffs, visualization maniacs, designers, thinkers and tinkerers - but going to the actual exhibit is all the more inspiring and stimulating as it could ever be. Even my se7en-year-old son enjoyed it!<br />The installations were very good. Although i think its only a subset of what the online version contains, the selected ideas presented in the exhibit are awesome. They simply blow your mind away. There's too much ideas, too much inspiration to contain in one single post. I'll just briefly mention what stands out the most for me at the exhibit:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2369567175/in/set-72157604290218770/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2131/2369567175_fc7194a6c8_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Origami.</span><br />For something beautiful and 3-Dimensional to emerge from a flat piece of paper is simply amazing. And by the way, I just realized that proteins - a very essential part of life itself - is an "origami". Not only did I infer this because proteins fold, but because its amazing to think that something as precious as life can depend upon "folding". And also, being a complete buff for patterns, I am mesmerized by the origami crease-patterns presented there.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2370401546/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2029/2370401546_b334832b8d_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Visualizations.</span><br />There's something mysterious about trapping data for display so we can see it more clearly and make sense of it. The visualizations of the different types of data were were pretty decent. And of course, <a href="http://processing.org">processing</a> was mentioned in the transcripts, as it is fast becoming the tool of choice for visual designers with some code inclinations. The visualization of the internet looked enthralling.<br />All the rest are pretty interesting, such as the silver stingray, some eco-friendly solar designs, and feedback mechanisms. My descriptions prolly wouldn't make sense. So rather than bore you, with my blah-blahs, below are some more pictures (flashes were not allowed so they're not so clear). Here's the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/sets/72157604290218770/" target="new" title="Design and Elastic Mind Photoset">link</a> to my Flickr photoset of the event. Ambient music was missing, which could have enhanced the experience, but still I simply encourage you to visit the exhibit. By the way, entrance is free after 4pm on fridays.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2369568125/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/2369568125_46fefb1a43_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2370401202/in/photostream/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2370401202_01ce034ff3_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/19297060@N00/2370401056/in/photostream/"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2056/2370401056_5dfff7b8ca_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Solar Leaves" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-25956307032281284412008-03-23T09:42:00.015-04:002008-03-28T23:18:00.578-04:00What the first conscious AI will look for<div style="float:left; width: 260px; margin-bottom: 3px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkriver/" target="Cyborg" title="Cyborg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/34/113131874_179a27eb41_m.jpg" border="0" alt="Singularity" /></a><br /><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 250px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px; color: gray">Cyborg Janus by ink_river. What Would AI Do?</div><div class="clear: left"></div></div>Wired's April issue came 2 days before Easter, giving me a good amount of time to read it amidst the "Happy Easter" greetings floating around. An article on Ray Kurzweil entitled "Staying Alive" suits well for the mood because it talks about a man's quest for immortality. Ray hopes to stay alive for the day when machines finally becomes self-conscious. And then he can utilize that technology to cheat death. The Singularity will immortalize us, he says.<br />The Singularitarian's quest for immortality hinges on technology and science. Things like simulating one's brain in the hopes of perpetuating consciousness to preserve the mind, or merging human bodies with machines, vice-versa. It was my youthful dream to download my "Self" into a perfect computer so I can live forever - until i realized it is false immortality, and its just a matter of longevity or life-extension. Whatever the mind's platform or substrate is, it is subject to decay owing to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Death can never be cheated in this kind of universe where entropy keeps creeping in.<br />But I have to admit, it sure would be fun being there when the Singularity finally arrives. I would love to meet the first conscious AI. But to set my hopes upon the Singularity for Immortality is not my preference. <br />But I do like Ray's idea that the world will be saturated by thought in 200 years. Something in that line reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin's Noosphere. There's something deeper beyond this material physical universe where true immortality can be found. And that, I believe, is what the first Conscious AI will be looking for.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-1550189601783537012008-03-16T08:11:00.016-04:002008-12-09T21:49:27.768-05:00Intervalography: Capturing Time and Space All At Once<div style="float:left; width: 220px; margin-bottom: 3px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/agrinberg/sets/72157603852523992/" target="Intervalography Set on Flickr" title="Intervalography Set on Flickr"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0GFHP45r4vS20jCFSROXHKZJuoMpjf2nbnisu1rXKiLm469NksYPtLJSLQgl_EW7OqAT18Ck2pQDEhLyYuySaQ9AgiXaJ2jLkr6qAZuapR6hyKOWkmC7OE4WnBwf-gVlBUwGvwxcYg/s200/intervalography.jpg" border="0" alt="intervalography" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178317427103068930" /></a><br /><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 210px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px; color: gray">An Evening of Poetry by agrinberg. One of the most famous images that launched intervalography.</div><div class="clear: left"></div></div>In my quest for patterns, no other modern way of photography captures my attention than Intervalography. I believe its a new form of photography that adds another dimension to time-lapse techniques. I learned that intervalography involves cutting strips from exactly the same area of a sequence of images taken within an interval of time, and then pasting these strips together to form a new image. The resulting pattern is like a "summarized" fragment of space and time. It is both enigmatic and beautiful. <br />Being a junkie for automation, it never failed to bring up photoshop actions in my mind. And being a coder, it instantaneously brought up pseudocode loops in my head. My curiousity led me to <a href="http://www.processing.org" target="processing">processing</a>, an open source software geared for artists and designers. I'll soon be posting some of my own intervalographies soon. Its the day when pattern-hunter becomes pattern-creator.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-7719967593502804952008-03-13T23:11:00.021-04:002008-03-17T12:31:11.478-04:00The Downtime Effect<div style="float:left; width: 180px; margin-bottom: 3px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/168/473939810_de018bf15e_m.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/168/473939810_de018bf15e_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 180px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px; color: gray">The Downtime Effect on Human Restlessness. Photo Credit: The Human Network by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/spacesuitcatalyst/" target="Human Network">thespacesuitcatalyst</a></div><div class="clear: left"></div></div>Yesterday my network traffic started becoming sluggish until it ground to a halt around 3pm. I thought that it was the perfect time to get a drink of water. On my way I noticed that other people were just about ready to wander around to grab something like coffee or tea. It was also a bit noisier with some laughter here and there, due to a lot more conversations and heckling. And there were more people in the hallways than usual. <br />This is the surge in external 'traffic' caused by internet outage or network downtime. Lines at the coffee-maker are longer, more people are visiting the vending machines, there's a bigger chance that the restrooms are occupied, the cafeteria is a little more packed as is the case with the elevators, phone lines more busy, and there are more human interactions, more conversations, more human restlessness. It's as if the traffic jam on the internet rippled out onto the physical world, even out into the mental spaces, and out into the soundspace.<br />Whether the network outage is local to a company's firewall or to a huge trunk of the internet backbone affecting a city or continent, the pattern is that wherever and whenever the internet network fails on a given area, there will be a surge in traffic on other non-internet spaces or services within the first hour from the moment of the downtime. It's a web-mediated outward ripple of the clog from the virtual to the real world. Or the flow of traffic jam from the digital to the mental. It's a classic cause-and-effect for the twenty-first century. <br />Those symptoms and descriptions require a simple phrase, so in the spirit of the "Butterfly Effect" effect, I hereby christen <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Downtime Effect</span> (DE) as a new addition to humanity's growing list of jargon.<br />So the next time you discover that the network is down in your office or local area, you might want to forgo your instinct to go out for a cup of coffee to your nearest Starbucks if you don't like waiting in line. On the other hand if you're single, then it may actually be the perfect moment to meet your soul-mate, who's also wandering around without a sense of purpose (due to the temporary loss of the ability to surf) and perfectly vulnerable for a little romance. Once you spot your victim, better hurry to make contact for you only got an hour before the DE wears off. <br />And whatever you do, never utter this line during the conversation, "...ever heard of the Downtime Effect?" 'cause then it would probably have ended.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-84793284668224490662008-03-11T04:38:00.002-04:002008-03-11T04:52:04.454-04:00The Search for Meaning Beyond PatternsI just realized that almost immediately after recognizing a pattern, I tend to find meaning in that new discovery. I often ask "why is it so?" like how I asked "Why is the universe fractal?"<br />Part and parcel of the Archetyper Blog and website is to detect, describe and then document these patterns, seek the truth behind it, and now, in an epiphany of realization - to find meaning in them.<br />This is the reason why I have changed the byline of Archetyper into "Seeking Meaning Beyond Patterns". For what good is it if we find out something and yet totally miss out on the meaning behind it? Lets look, for example, at the discovery that the universe is expanding. So what if the universe is expanding? It seems incomplete just knowing it as such. There has to be something more than such a mere fact, specially for the sentient beings who just found out about it! Now different people will find different meanings in such a finding. For example, some will say we are bound for a very lonely universe later on (so we must party now while we have the chance), or some will remark that the future and the universe is wide open for anyone to leave a mark. This blog will encourage such cogitations, aside from inspiring others to hunt for patterns.<br />Because the search for patterns is already an awesome adventure. Yet the search for meaning beyond patterns makes it all the more fun!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-20721014256843975332008-03-08T07:44:00.026-05:002008-03-17T12:47:53.522-04:00The Science of Intuition: Let's give it a shot!<div style="float:left; width: 220px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-right: 16px;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9063266@N02/1939057294/" target="Intuition"><img style="float:left; margin:0 5px 5px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; width: 220px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2203/1939057294_d828bdb4a4_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="float:left; font-size: 9px; width: 220px; margin-top: -3px; padding: 0px; color: gray">Photo Credit: Intuition by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9063266@N02/1939057294/" target="Intuition">Ankher</a> on Flickr.</div><div class="clear: left"></div><br /></div>The Science of Intuition, it's almost an oxymoron. But I have a gut feeling that it is worth pondering upon. This article caught my attention: <a href="http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/03/intuition-is-no.html#more" target="Intuition">Intuition is Not Pseudoscience, Say Researchers</a>. Below are some important snippets:<br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">intuition is a real psychological phenomenon which needs further study to help us harness its potential.</span>"<br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">the researchers concluded that intuition is the brain quickly drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a decision on a non-conscious level. In other words, it happens so fast that we’re not aware that the intuition actually stemmed from a supercharged burst of logical thinking.</span>"<br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">Humans clearly need both conscious and non-conscious thought processes...But it’s likely that neither is intrinsically ‘better’ than the other.</span>"<br /><br />The story of the race-car driver whose life was saved by following his "<span style="font-style:italic;">gut feeling</span>" to step on the brakes on the curve is interesting. But in the process of trying to understand the mysteries of life where science falls short, does it also make sense to tap the hidden potential of human intuition? <br />My answer is a resounding yes. Intuition is one of the good tools in the process to understand the meaning behind patterns, of what I call as "<span style="font-style:italic;">archetyping</span>".<br />By scanning through this archetyper blog, you may have probably hinted that this is like a science blog, yet at the same time it borders between speculations, musings and sci-fi-like thinking. This is because I am striving to strike that balance between science and mystery. Just like the beautiful complexity that lies between Order and Chaos, there are wonders that fall in between the facts that what we know and the mysteries that we can only glimpse.<br />After all, we have two brain hemispheres to make sense of this world, perhaps we can integrate the two modes of thought to make intuitive insights about life and the cosmos.<br />Einstein said that the only real valuable thing is intuition...so let's give it a shot:<br /><br />What does your gut say when you ask yourself, "<span style="font-style:italic; fontweight: bold">Is there a God?</span>"<br /><br />What does your gut say when you ask yourself, "<span style="font-style:italic; fontweight: bold">Will I live again after I die?</span>"<br /><br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-85047400370277460882008-03-04T03:32:00.024-05:002008-12-09T21:49:27.992-05:00Interconnectedness and the Contagion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22iAa7AZcOdMJe796UIgZtrSwq7mYopP600u41kKTuhZKnDazUwXV-7lc3eLV6TTcWkjEU6FkrHtbjIFcN5GHCWvlStsYKwjfkJ2KF2l4VKCPQiLCmfuDNIdLShl2HnoEJEapuoFL5w/s1600-h/eye_network.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22iAa7AZcOdMJe796UIgZtrSwq7mYopP600u41kKTuhZKnDazUwXV-7lc3eLV6TTcWkjEU6FkrHtbjIFcN5GHCWvlStsYKwjfkJ2KF2l4VKCPQiLCmfuDNIdLShl2HnoEJEapuoFL5w/s200/eye_network.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174088654002965234" /></a>Just after I posted an entry about interconnectedness, and just a day after I added some social networking widgets to this blog, I serendipitously came across this aptly-titled article on one of my favorite thinky sites, Edge.org: <a href="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/christakis08/christakis08_index.html" target="edge">SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE LIKE THE EYE</a>. <br />It seems like a weird coincidence that I would see this article after I wrote about '<a href="http://archetyper.blogspot.com/2008/02/interconnectedness.html">interconnectedness</a>', but then again, everybody may be noticing the same thing: The world is getting smaller. With the proliferation of social networking tools like friendster, myspace, delicious, facebook, linkedIn, multiply, mybloglog, digg and so on, they actually extend the networking capability of each individual. This simple fact has now dawned on us. We are in a powerful new social era of networks.<br />We all know how the individual is empowered by social networking, but we overlooked how social networks can overpower the individual.<br />The example cited about this so-called 'social contagion' that spreads to the members of networks is quite visceral: Obesity. And it can spread through social networks!<br />The article also talked about the property of networks as ever-changing and mentions about their dynamics and topology, as well as the contagion's flow through the network.<br />Here are some important snippets from that article:<br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">..things happening in a social space beyond your vision — events that occur or choices that are made by people you don't know — can cascade in a conscious or subconscious way through a network and affect you.</span>"<br /><br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">{The} <span style="font-weight:bold;">norm</span>. It is a kind of meme (but it is not quite a meme) that goes from person to person.</span>"<br /><br />And so I pose a two-fold question to members of a network, "What are you spreading to the network?" and "What are you learning from your network?"<br />I have been wary of the meme eversince the day I learned about it, but now I realized that there is even a more dangerous thing - the norm and the network. If left unchecked and unfiltered, these things could morph me into something I dont intend to be. So if social networks are like the eye, then it deserves vigilance to guard it as the gateway of the mind and body. A metaphor from an ancient book rings true, "The eye is the lamp of the body." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=6&verse=21&end_verse=23&version=31&context=context" target="Matthew 6:22">Matthew 6:22</a>)<br />To conclude this post as it seems like a sequel to my <a href="http://archetyper.blogspot.com/2008/02/interconnectedness.html">previous</a> one,<br />We are all interconnected, one individual can spread a 'contagion' or a meme. Yet, looking at it the other way around, the '<span style="font-style:italic;">norm</span>', which comes from the network, could infect the individual. The "norm" could be artificially created by a network, and a member of that network would be affected by the false norm, consciously or subconsciously. The dark side of the social internet is that its also truly like a spider's web - a sticky invisible trap. <br />It's been said that <span style="font-style:italic;">the network is the computer</span>. Could it be also true that, the network is the contagion?<br />The timeless warning stays true: Just because everybody's doing it, doesn't mean you should do it too. It pays to constantly seek the truth. And to know the real true values in life.<br />Know your true self apart from the influences of this world. Know your heart. Then turn that 'filter' on (and clean it, as you would on any other filter). You have a mind and intellect to discern what is true and what is right. And most of all, you have a choice on what you 'feed' yourself. The pun rings true in our age of RSS - "Choose your <span style="font-style:italic;">feeds</span> wisely".<br />As we march onwards to the era of social networks, with all the fun it brings to everyone online, there still needs to be a warning to check the contagions running to and fro our network:<br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">Networks, be careful of the individual. Individuals, be careful of the network.</span>"<br />I shall end with an old cliche, not in a judgemental context but as a caution against the contagion, specially in today's social networks where "friendship" is just a click away.<br />"<span style="font-style:italic;">Show me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are.</span>"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-61272536904121503522008-02-28T08:54:00.009-05:002010-11-02T14:41:59.215-04:00Interconnectedness<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyWX0Hw6A826QoUWBEISRNo3YJ_WR0vf3s1B7sk9IYpakJyI2fCpGwKZqoxewUFj7-MNku9MowuLyFYQle5GY3oIYw6g-gfQszrJ20BMydmAqCzh8AJzUdWwIAd2FsHwumxtXjBPumw/s1600-h/web.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGyWX0Hw6A826QoUWBEISRNo3YJ_WR0vf3s1B7sk9IYpakJyI2fCpGwKZqoxewUFj7-MNku9MowuLyFYQle5GY3oIYw6g-gfQszrJ20BMydmAqCzh8AJzUdWwIAd2FsHwumxtXjBPumw/s200/web.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172040142337711282" /></a>The other day, I was in such a hurry. On my way, there were firetrucks and ambulances blocking the road and causing a delay. My initial remark was, why would this happen at such a perfect moment when I am in such a hurry? Then I thought, someone might have been hurt, perhaps a heart attack or an accident. And it could happen to me too. Then I realized that it was not only me that was stuck in traffic. There's a multitude of people whose lives are nudged a bit by what happened to another person.<br />
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Interconnectedness. Its simple fact - we are all interconnected. What happens to one person affects the lives of others. Moreso the actions of each person, impacts others directly. And the effect propagates like a wave of connected cause-and-effect. This wave of effect even surpasses the six-degrees of separation between people, and even outlives the person causing the effect. As an example, think of all the people written in history and their contributions to mankind. Their passions, ideas, songs and life resonates even to this very day, affecting lives of millions and spanning hundreds of years.<br />
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They are just examples. You don't have to be written in history to make a legacy. You are already leaving your legacy each day. Your footprints in life may not be prominent, but it is still significant. Your tracks may seem irrelevant today, but may probably have long-lasting effects tomorrow.<br />
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We each have a say in this universe, whether we like it or not. There might be more to it than the brief life of a simple human being in this world.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7302790423717948564.post-88256569585605688312008-02-26T12:17:00.009-05:002008-03-08T09:39:32.449-05:00Mathematica Training Online by O'Reilly<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.archetyper.com"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; width: 130px; height: 133px" src="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:19a1SkSrrIaLsM:http://www.ricam.oeaw.ac.at/people/page/jameslu/Publications/large-spikey-fp.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>Opening the eyes of young minds to be receptive to nature's patterns is a challenging task. In the realm of Mathematics and Science, where it can sometimes get boring when one can't initially perceive inner beauty, it is even harder to cultivate interest. In our age of technology and connectivity, it is great that the O'Reilly Publishing company recently announced a wonderful endeavor:<br />Their school of technology will soon be providing a browser-based version of Wolfram's Mathematica, a powerful technical computing and education software which will be used to teach math and science topics online.<br />Honing skills to detect patterns in nature is best done with actual hands-on and brains-on tinkering. Via ajax-based web technologies, O'Reilly will deliver the power of Mathematica to let students to do real interactive work in math and science, giving a genuine educational experience for students around the world.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.oreilly.com/emails/press/ost-newcert.html" target="mathematica">http://www.oreilly.com/emails/press/ost-newcert.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0