Saturday, August 4, 2012
Final: Most Unusal thing learned
Most Unusal thing learned
The most unusual thing I’ve learned in this term would have to be “The Myth of Eternal Recurrence.” I was just amazed and shocked at the very idea that life is recurring over and over again without any changes in it. The very fact that I would be living the same life exactly the way it was, all the pain, all the joy, I mean exactly the very same challenged me to think about how I lived my life so far. Some questions popped into my head, “Would I live my life a little differently if I knew? Would there be any differences in how I did things?” I continued to challenge myself with this abstract concept of life reoccurring over and over again. It was just so unusual because the world mostly believes in just one life, where there may be an afterlife beyond our death, etc. I just loved thinking about this and it was a very interesting and unusual concept for someone that never thought about life this way.
Final: most interesting reading
most interesting reading
The most interesting reading from this term would have to be “Littlewood’s Law of Miracles.” It was just so interesting to read the fact that someone came up with a way to define and calculate how many times we encounter miracles. According to his theory, we would encounter, on average, one miracle per month from various calculations done. Just the very fact that Littlewood thought of this idea was incredible. I didn’t really care about his autobiography towards the end of the section, but the explanation of the law was very interesting and soaked my mind with various thoughts.
The most interesting reading from this term would have to be “Littlewood’s Law of Miracles.” It was just so interesting to read the fact that someone came up with a way to define and calculate how many times we encounter miracles. According to his theory, we would encounter, on average, one miracle per month from various calculations done. Just the very fact that Littlewood thought of this idea was incredible. I didn’t really care about his autobiography towards the end of the section, but the explanation of the law was very interesting and soaked my mind with various thoughts.
Final: Most Interesting Film
Most Interesting Film
The PEFECT COKE was my favorite film, it made me want to sit down and drink a nice cold glass of coke. I don't drink dark soda Ever! and this video made me want to go and get one. Professor Lane talks about his times with his brother and thier adventure on finding the perfect coke. After a long day at the beach the two brothers where running an erran for thier mother, while running the earran they discovered the PERFECT COKE.
Final: Himalayan Connection
Himalayan Connection
The translation of the U.F.O. experience to the reality of our consciousness requires scientific evidence and proof to explain these supernatural events. U.F.O. researchers have yet to completely accomplish this feature. The transformation of the U.F.O. experience connects this sight to the reality of the person witnessing or experiencing it. Although the experience may simply be a deception one’s consciousness, for that person, sighting is very real. Lastly, transfusion is a method of mixing both translation and transformation. Although we may not be able to correctly explain these kinds of phenomena and may ignore it, the person who experienced it will argue otherwise. The experience of the person, while not plausible and believable to regular minds, can be explained as a hallucination of his or her mind.
In the text “The Himalayan Connection,” Prof. Lane writes the U.F.O experience he witnessed in Delhi in July of 1978. It was not until he met a man by the name of Faqir Chand that he was able to fully understand why he experienced such a radical event. Chand clearly explained to him the philosophy of people like layman and gurus experiencing the supernatural. According to Chand, miracles and other forms of phenomena are basically nothing more than deviances away from our conscious state of reality. This is known as the Chandian Effect, the certainty that we feel in our waking state creates the reality in which we consciously live in. (The Himalayan Connection) When our mind enters dream mode during our sleeping hours, around the time REM step (Rapid Eye Movement) kicks in, our reality becomes the things that we dream. To relate the Chandian Effect to U.F.O experiences, Prof. Lane later on in the text also introduces these three terms: Translation, Transformation, and Transfusion.
This leads us to other phenomena such as religious visions and miracles. People may have visions that they perceive as real, but have no scientific proof to back their claims. This leads to arguments and discussions regarding the matter of whether they are true or not, or even how crazy a person is. People may clearly be influenced by outside influences such as psychoactive drugs that force them to have unimaginable visions or experiences. This also relates to people having visions while dreaming, where the dreams contain some type of prophecies or information for the future and become a reality to them because of the very fact that it is a dream.
Although I do not think Prof. Lane’s explanation to U.F.O experiences is completely false, it is still extremely difficult for me fully believe that it actually happened. Nevertheless, Lane’s translation, transformation, and transfusion design does offer a legitimate bridge to relate those types of ambiguous encounters with our conscious reality.
Final: What is Apophenia?
What is Apophenia?
A clear-cut definition of Apophenia is very simple. “Apophenia is the spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena. The term was coined by K. Conrad in 1958 (Brugger).”(skepdic.com) It is a simple, yet complex concept that really makes individuals think about the things that they see. People may often times recognize some bizarre and random idea as concrete and relatable. Our humanly nature forces us to see things as uniform and meaningful when they actually are not. The reason for apophenia may be explained through this reasoning:
There can be many examples of apophenia. One very real example would be this:
“Soon after his son committed suicide, Episcopalian Bishop James A. Pike (1913-1969) began seeing meaningful messages in such things as a stopped clock, the angle of an open safety pin, and the angle formed by two postcards lying on the floor. He thought they were conveying the time his son had shot himself (Christopher 1975: 139).” (skepdic.com)
Another example would be this:
“There on the ground I found two dry twigs, broken off by the wind. They were shaped like the Greek letter for “P” and “y”… [I]t struck me that [they] must be an abbreviation of the name Popoffsky. Now I was sure it was he who was persecuting me, and that the Powers wanted to open my eyes to my danger.” (dbskeptic.com)
Final: The Codex Funeral
The Codex Funeral
In the short text, “The Codex Funeral: Why Books are Dead, How iPad killed them,” the professor makes some incredibly shocking arguments. He states that hardback cover paper books are dead because of the introduction of the iPad on Janurary 27, 2010. The reasoning behind this was not because it was far superior to other e-books that were out at that time, but because of the millions of books and information he could access at any given moment. The fact that he was able to get whatever book he wanted to read anywhere and anytime granted him great freedom from carrying around paperweights all over the place. Rather than carrying his 10,000 book collection around, it was easier to just have one tablet in hand to read.
Ever since the rise of the internet, the value of hardcopy books has decreased to the general population. Surfing the web allows users to freely search for whatever information he or she wishes to find, whether it is magazine articles, biographies, or the dictionary, it was at hand whenever he or she needed it. Instead of buying a hardcopy to keep and paying a few dollars for subscription, it was much easier for someone to go online and read up an article of a magazine. There are millions of information readily available in an instant, which does not cost a dime to look up. When hardcopy books uselessly take up space depending on how many books a person has.
I most definitely agree with the professor’s argument that hardcopy books are dead. With the rise the iPad, the Kindle, and other e-book devices, it would be hard for us to go back to our old ways of physically searching for the books that we want to read. Because they are ready with a few touches on the screen, it would force us to throw away our desires of driving down to the local library to search for the book we want to keep. This very reason causes the decline in demand of physical form of books, which actually saves more money, time, and space. Not only is it convenient, where a book is just a few touches away, but its much cheaper and saves time to use an e-book. Some of the bookstore near my neighborhood has closed ever since these devices took over the book market.
Although there may be some people left in the general population that still prefers hardback copies of books rather than carrying around an electronic, it is most clear that our society wants to change the way we read. It won’t be long until hardcopies of books will become souvenirs and antics to collectors as e-books take over the market. My only wish is that this drastic change will not result in something too big for us to handle.
Final: Is Consciousness Physical?
Is Consciousness Physical?
In my personal opinion, I believe consciousness is not physical. It is discussed throughout the course that somehow our mind is related to our physical brain. Everything we sense and feel, whether it is physical or emotional, all connect to our brain and somehow to our sensory organs. This nature of our body being connected with our thoughts and the very fact that our brain allows us to think and be aware of our surroundings prove the how physical our consciousness is. “Why is it that when someone clubs you in the head with a bat, your awareness (consciousness) seizes?” (A Glorious Piece of Meat)
Another reasoning used to argue why consciousness is not physical is the Knowledge argument. It was formulated by Thomas Nagel, Frank Jackson, and Saul Kripke and goes like this:
Another reasoning used to argue why consciousness is not physical is the Knowledge argument. It was formulated by Thomas Nagel, Frank Jackson, and Saul Kripke and goes like this:
In the end, the question that we have to ask ourselves is not whether consciousness is physical or not. The real question that we need to focus on is, “Who is in control of our consciousness?” Is it our ego? Is it ourselves? Is it our brain? “I know that my consciousness is more than the sum of my neurons firing; or, at least I think so while my neurons are firing.” (A Glorious Piece of Meat)
Final: Patricia Churchland
Patricia Churchland
Patricia Churchland is a Canadian-American philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. (Wikipedia) The most common theme that is portrayed through her works is her belief that if we can understand the brain, then at some point we can understand the state of consciousness. This belief of “first understand the brain, then understand the mind” type of philosophy lead her to neurophilosophy.
Final: Alan Turing
Who is Alan Turing?
As a student, he seemed to have excelled in mathematics as well as physics. When he was 16, he was able to fully understand the works of Albert Einstein. Not only did he understand them, he even expanded upon Newton’s Law of motion.
Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, logician, cryptographer, and computer scientist. His works have influenced the development of computer science, as well as played a significant role in building our modern computers that we use today. Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence.
As a student, he seemed to have excelled in mathematics as well as physics. When he was 16, he was able to fully understand the works of Albert Einstein. Not only did he understand them, he even expanded upon Newton’s Law of motion.
Final: Celluar Automata
Celluar Automata
Basically, it is a code for computer cells which “side step” by time. There is a pattern to the cells movement. Wolfram has figured out how to anticipate the cells movement to further mathematics and engineering. Often times, he uses a snowflake as an example. A snowflake’s pattern is extremely complicated, just like computer cells.
Cellular Automata, also called "cellular spaces", "tessellation automata", "homogeneous structures", "cellular structures", "tessellation structures", and "iterative arrays," is a rule which is applied for physics, engineering, mathematics, and science. Here is a general outline of what this complicated concept is:
Basically, it is a code for computer cells which “side step” by time. There is a pattern to the cells movement. Wolfram has figured out how to anticipate the cells movement to further mathematics and engineering. Often times, he uses a snowflake as an example. A snowflake’s pattern is extremely complicated, just like computer cells.
Final: Mummy and the Wolfman archetypes
Mummy and the Wolfman archetypes
The Mummy represents Eastern religious beliefs of being reincarnated. A reincarnation is when the body dies but the soul lives on through other living bodies that does not discriminate human or animal. Eastern religions try to preserve the body, or use the term “capsule of the soul”. We see that humanity through the past have become determined to preserve the bought for immortality as was seen in the idea of the mummy. Egyptians believed that by preserving the body, immortality could be obtained. The physical bodies were preserved so that it would stay intact when it moved unto the afterlife. However, we see that the Egyptians’ attempt of achieving immortality was never achieved. This continued to grow and evolve and did not stop our drive to defeat death and obtain immortality. We see in Western societies the desire to prolong one’s life through scientific and medical advances. This can all relate to a concept called Eros. Eros, which is the Greek god of love but also in a philosophical sense the love of wisdom, can be shortly defined as a desire for eternal life. This belief is related to the Egyptians belief of preserving life, instead of fully accepting and believing the death of a person and continuing on.
Final: Littlewood's Law Of Miracles
Littlewood's Law Of Miracles
Littlewood’s law of miracles is a calculated theory that describes how many times we will be able to encounter a miracle in a given period of time. The short version of this theory may be found on Wikipedia which is nicely written as follows: “Littlewood defines a miracle as an exceptional event of special significance occurring at a frequency of one in a million. He assumes that during the hours in which a human is awake and alert, a human will experience one event per second, which may be either exceptional or unexceptional (for instance, seeing the computer screen, the keyboard, the mouse, this article, etc.). Additionally, Littlewood supposes that a human is alert for about eight hours per day.
As a result a human will in 35 days have experienced under these suppositions about one million events. Accepting this definition of a miracle, one can be expected to observe one miraculous occurrence within the passing of every 35 consecutive days – and therefore, according to this reasoning, seemingly miraculous events are actually commonplace.” With Littlewood’s reasoning, we can conclude that on average, we will experience one miracle per month.
The interesting thing about miracles is that we tend to only remember the “hits” rather than all of the other “misses.” By “hits” I am trying to say when miracles actually do happen. For instance, people at casinos tend to rely on luck for their “hits” in winning money at slot machines. Because they only remember the times that they have won, they are forced to forget about all those times that they did not win; only looking forward to the eventual “hit” they are going to experience. It is quite interesting to see that because of the fact that we can only see the good things happening, we will forget about the bad things, in this case losing money, and pursue after the miracles. I believe that this type of mindset will lead people into dependence on miracles, which will help them continue in their journey of life.
As a result a human will in 35 days have experienced under these suppositions about one million events. Accepting this definition of a miracle, one can be expected to observe one miraculous occurrence within the passing of every 35 consecutive days – and therefore, according to this reasoning, seemingly miraculous events are actually commonplace.” With Littlewood’s reasoning, we can conclude that on average, we will experience one miracle per month.
Having called for enormous waves, or being able to strike so many times may be more than one miracle, at the same time and to the same exact person. This may also be just a random occurrence of sequential events. Maybe those waves were also called for while they were chanting out loud. Perhaps I had hidden talents that I never knew. We never know how miracles will actually happen.
The interesting thing about miracles is that we tend to only remember the “hits” rather than all of the other “misses.” By “hits” I am trying to say when miracles actually do happen. For instance, people at casinos tend to rely on luck for their “hits” in winning money at slot machines. Because they only remember the times that they have won, they are forced to forget about all those times that they did not win; only looking forward to the eventual “hit” they are going to experience. It is quite interesting to see that because of the fact that we can only see the good things happening, we will forget about the bad things, in this case losing money, and pursue after the miracles. I believe that this type of mindset will lead people into dependence on miracles, which will help them continue in their journey of life.
Final: Gumby Land Thinking
Gumby Land Thinking
Here are some illustrations for Gumby Land thinking. When someone, without any clear evidence or basis, claims to have revived from the dead and people worshipped that person would be one form of Gumby Land thinking. Another would be when a house dog is somehow worshipped as the leader of this world because of this one claim from an unknown “prophet” that told everyone that dog will soon take over the world. Lastly, if a teacher were to say that the world is going to end in 10 days without any calculations or a foundational basis for that claim, and somehow many people believed it to be true. These are some examples of Gumby Land thinking.
Gumby Land thinking is simply the idea when a person creates a belief and many others believe in the same belief. This term comes from the popular animation made from clay, called Claymation "Gumby" which was a television show based on a little Claymation character named Gumby. The creator of Gumby, Art Clokey, apparently went to India for a short vacation while going through a difficult time period in his life, and brought along Gumby with him on his journey. He claimed that there was a change in his life after meeting a famous guru named Sathya Sai Baba. The guru sprinkled holy ashes on Gumby, and claimed that Gumby was an incarnation of spiritual love. The little character essentially had become a spiritual icon. Clockey then claimed that things started workout out for him after the encounter with the guru. Gumby became famous and popular once again, even helping Clockey sign an eight million dollar contract for the show. Back in India, where his experience first happened, a small shrine was put in place to the little character Gumby to worship it.
Here are some illustrations for Gumby Land thinking. When someone, without any clear evidence or basis, claims to have revived from the dead and people worshipped that person would be one form of Gumby Land thinking. Another would be when a house dog is somehow worshipped as the leader of this world because of this one claim from an unknown “prophet” that told everyone that dog will soon take over the world. Lastly, if a teacher were to say that the world is going to end in 10 days without any calculations or a foundational basis for that claim, and somehow many people believed it to be true. These are some examples of Gumby Land thinking.
Post: WEEK 6
Week 6
Voodoo Voodoo
This video is about professor Lane’s discovery of a magical mantra. While surfing in high school, Lane and his friends caught the ocean on an unfortunate day, where there were no waves. As a joke, one of the friends created a magical chant to generate waves. After jokingly chant the mantra in unison, mysteriously waves came across the flat ocean and they were able to surf. Over the years, Lane would remember his mantra when he came across a flat ocean, and amazingly it would work. One day while in Hawaii, Lane and his son went out to the ocean. Lane shared his mantra and its origins with his son. Fascinated by this tale, Lane’s son, Kelly, wanted to try it. As they chanted it, waves appeared. Later on, Lane explains that this isn’t a magical mantra, but it is actually probability or chance
The Mummy vs. the Wolfman
According to Earnest the primary suppression of the human brain is death. The primary question when thinking about this is why do we repress death? This idea goes back to for centuries. The Egyptians, which practiced mummification, attempted to preserve the body because they felt this is what housed and produced life. Obviously it did not work. After mummification, other methods of preservation were created and attempted. Through different methods, today we attempt to “preserve the body” through medicines, growth hormones, and other methods of prolonging life such as vitamins and pills. On the other hand, there is the story of the Wolfman, a half-human, half-beast that has eternal life. The Wolfman has eternal life, yet he seeks death because he continually lives through the cycle of life.
Through medicine and science we have prolonged the average life expectancy to which could now be 100 years old. This is a long period of time. I personally think that death is what makes life have meaning. I believe that people set goals and do all they can so that they may die happily. If death didn’t exisit people would not have a reason to be successful, set goals, or have a purpose to life because we will be living forever.
FLAME ON
The film Flame on explores the history of homosexuality and how homosexuals have been persecuted throughout history. This is interesting because it shows how vein people can be. They believe that their views are superior to others. Personally I have no problems with one’s sexual orientation. I believe the only criteria someone should be judged on are of how good of a person they are. It doesn’t occur to me what someone’s sexual orientation has to do with them as a person.
Later in film, it explains how things in the past that were once negative, can be viewed as positive in the future and vise versa. This reminds me of women having equal rights, before it was considered Taboo and not allowed. Now women have the right to jobs that men do, it began when husbands had to leave home to join the war and it was ok for women to take over the men jobs. Today some women even take care of a household by themselves.
Crop Circles
I always thought crop circles are fake and never really believed that not humans made them. Upon listening to the arguments I have a hard time giving the believer any credit or any of my belief. I too saw the video of the two men who would create crop circles. They would sneak out to fields late at night, using a crude stick attachment to press down the drops. While demonstrating they were able to easily create multiple feet of crops within seconds.
As professor Lane says in the video, any human could create these designs on a piece of paper. I believe that if we can create the same patterns on paper, then why not on fields? Another good point that was brought up was the time factor. These designs could have been created over months or years for all we know. There was never a case of someone constantly monitoring the fields. If we can plan it out on paper, and then measured with different tools on the actual site.
As the narrator said in the video, money is nothing more than just the future. A possible opportunity to play games, watch a movie, drink a cup of coffee, etc. Money, other than being physical, is more philosophical and abstract. It contains so many possibilities that cannot even be accounted for. This was the initial thought I received from the beginning of the video.
Voodoo Voodoo
This video is about professor Lane’s discovery of a magical mantra. While surfing in high school, Lane and his friends caught the ocean on an unfortunate day, where there were no waves. As a joke, one of the friends created a magical chant to generate waves. After jokingly chant the mantra in unison, mysteriously waves came across the flat ocean and they were able to surf. Over the years, Lane would remember his mantra when he came across a flat ocean, and amazingly it would work. One day while in Hawaii, Lane and his son went out to the ocean. Lane shared his mantra and its origins with his son. Fascinated by this tale, Lane’s son, Kelly, wanted to try it. As they chanted it, waves appeared. Later on, Lane explains that this isn’t a magical mantra, but it is actually probability or chance
The Mummy vs. the Wolfman
According to Earnest the primary suppression of the human brain is death. The primary question when thinking about this is why do we repress death? This idea goes back to for centuries. The Egyptians, which practiced mummification, attempted to preserve the body because they felt this is what housed and produced life. Obviously it did not work. After mummification, other methods of preservation were created and attempted. Through different methods, today we attempt to “preserve the body” through medicines, growth hormones, and other methods of prolonging life such as vitamins and pills. On the other hand, there is the story of the Wolfman, a half-human, half-beast that has eternal life. The Wolfman has eternal life, yet he seeks death because he continually lives through the cycle of life.
Through medicine and science we have prolonged the average life expectancy to which could now be 100 years old. This is a long period of time. I personally think that death is what makes life have meaning. I believe that people set goals and do all they can so that they may die happily. If death didn’t exisit people would not have a reason to be successful, set goals, or have a purpose to life because we will be living forever.
The film Flame on explores the history of homosexuality and how homosexuals have been persecuted throughout history. This is interesting because it shows how vein people can be. They believe that their views are superior to others. Personally I have no problems with one’s sexual orientation. I believe the only criteria someone should be judged on are of how good of a person they are. It doesn’t occur to me what someone’s sexual orientation has to do with them as a person.
Later in film, it explains how things in the past that were once negative, can be viewed as positive in the future and vise versa. This reminds me of women having equal rights, before it was considered Taboo and not allowed. Now women have the right to jobs that men do, it began when husbands had to leave home to join the war and it was ok for women to take over the men jobs. Today some women even take care of a household by themselves.
Crop Circles
I always thought crop circles are fake and never really believed that not humans made them. Upon listening to the arguments I have a hard time giving the believer any credit or any of my belief. I too saw the video of the two men who would create crop circles. They would sneak out to fields late at night, using a crude stick attachment to press down the drops. While demonstrating they were able to easily create multiple feet of crops within seconds.
As professor Lane says in the video, any human could create these designs on a piece of paper. I believe that if we can create the same patterns on paper, then why not on fields? Another good point that was brought up was the time factor. These designs could have been created over months or years for all we know. There was never a case of someone constantly monitoring the fields. If we can plan it out on paper, and then measured with different tools on the actual site.
The Zahir
As the narrator said in the video, money is nothing more than just the future. A possible opportunity to play games, watch a movie, drink a cup of coffee, etc. Money, other than being physical, is more philosophical and abstract. It contains so many possibilities that cannot even be accounted for. This was the initial thought I received from the beginning of the video.
Other than that, I did not know what the video was trying to portray, because it wasn’t very clear in its meanings. I tried very hard to think about the meanings each part of the video showed, but I could not think of anything special that really clicked in me. Other than the fact that Zahir are things that are left in the mind, haunting you for the rest of your life, I really didn’t know what the video was trying to tell me. It was too complicated for me to fully understand the true meaning behind the abstractness.
Post: WEEK 5
Week 5
Ray Kurzweil
Futurist Ray Kurzweil presents his theory of singularity and its impact on the future. His main idea is that by the year 2029 we will have technologies so powerful, we will have human like robots. These technologies will be able to simulate human behavior and will only help us to understand our brains more. Ray gives us examples of how technology has increased from 1800 when the average life expectancy was 27 to 1900 when the average life expectancy was 48. Other examples are of how much we already understand about our brain. We can determine through scans which part of our brains are active during different processes or activities.
I agree with Ray Kurzweil. When thinking about what types of technology was available when I was a kid, compared to now, I am truly amazed and I am only talking about a 15 year span. Technologies like iPhones that can understand random requests to tablets that are very thin and can allow access to all information within seconds. When thinking about the future, I like to think it will be like the movie idiocracy. If you are unfamiliar, it is about a man and woman who teleport to the year 3000 and are the smartest people on earth because of technologies. The technology is so powerful that people no longer need to learn anything because they are already taken care of by robots, machines, and computers.
Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram explains how random and how simple things are. An example he gives is how larger objects are created by smaller objects. Wolfram uses computer technology to show that even the longest and confusing algorithms are created from a smaller source. Wolfram says that we can plug information in a small scale to make it add up to something larger and complex. An idea of this can be found in graphing. You can plot a random number of points on a grid, and when you connect them they can be something grand and complex.
The Time Machine
This short film presents the idea that time travel is possible through the bending of light. It is explained that light is effective at bending light and time through the use of lasers to create a twist in space and time. Through these cylinders of lasers, particles can start to appear out of nowhere, which can actually be from the future. The concept is that these particles cannot appear without the machine. The only possible reality of time travel would be from the creation of this device, when it is turned on to the current time. For example, if this machine was created this year, we would only be able to send things back to this year. Only from the first moment the machine is activated.
This machine could be very useful to us. If it works as planned, we can learn many things from our future. Although we cannot travel to the past, our future selves can send information back to us and warn us to teach us about important future events. I think that it’s also a interesting concept, because we would be changing the future by acting on that information.
ALAN TURING
Alan Turing was called upon during the Second World War. Nazi Germany had created an encrypted code to guide their armies. Devoting a task force to crack the codes, the fate of the war depended on the British. This is where Alan Turing comes in, he created a different method of computing to crack the code. The Bombe Machine, which simulated the Encryption machine, “The Enigma” was created by Turing to help crack the codes. The Bombe Machine allowed the machine to cut down on the time of searching settings. This machine allowed an increased power of searching, and helped crack the codes.
Alan Turing understood that computers can absorb large amounts of information. He was an interesting man and I am impressed at how he constantly challenged himself. The Turing Test, where a human and a computer as placed in separate rooms while chatting with each other is fascinating. If the human believes they are communicating with another human and not a computer, a computer has gained artificial intelligence. I think internet bots like CleverBot are examples of artificial intelligence; you can have real conversations with it, and be convinced it is a human.
Gumby Land
Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, explains how he was going through a rough patch in his life. During this time, he visited India, to go on a spiritual journey. While in India, he met with Sathya Sai Baba, who produced a sacred ash, and blessed Gumby as the reincarnation spiritual love. After this was done, a small shrine was produced for Gumby, which many people performed prayers to because they felt a special power was created that helped them.
The idea of a shrine being created to Gumby is interesting. Although I may not agree with it, I respect those who choose to worship Gumby. It seems that many times, people look for icons or symbols to believe in because it makes them feel better. As long as people are respectful of one another, I choose to agree with Wolfgang Paul's famous witticism, "Not only is it not right, it’s not even wrong
The Perfect Coke
This video is one of my favorites so far, it starts off with the author reminiscing the times of his mother's bad cooking. Lane’s great moments took place when ever his mother didn’t cook because it meant that he would receive a coke along with pizza or a burger. The coke I'm guessing is one of Lane's favorite drinks. The coke beverage apparently comes in many different forms and with these many forms affects the taste.
The coke needs to be chilled, certain amount of sweetness and carbonation. According to the video things such as how a coke is stored, whether in a can, a glass, or filtered affects the taste. The drink is at its best when it is served with a food item that is salty, spicy, and dry. At last the perfect coke was found when Lane and his brother walked in to a store similar to COSCO and where served to them, described as the PERFECT COKE. I however believe the real reason the coke tasted so great was the fact that they had been dying of thirst for a long time and the cold bubbly beverage quenched their dyeing thirst.
Ray Kurzweil
Futurist Ray Kurzweil presents his theory of singularity and its impact on the future. His main idea is that by the year 2029 we will have technologies so powerful, we will have human like robots. These technologies will be able to simulate human behavior and will only help us to understand our brains more. Ray gives us examples of how technology has increased from 1800 when the average life expectancy was 27 to 1900 when the average life expectancy was 48. Other examples are of how much we already understand about our brain. We can determine through scans which part of our brains are active during different processes or activities.
I agree with Ray Kurzweil. When thinking about what types of technology was available when I was a kid, compared to now, I am truly amazed and I am only talking about a 15 year span. Technologies like iPhones that can understand random requests to tablets that are very thin and can allow access to all information within seconds. When thinking about the future, I like to think it will be like the movie idiocracy. If you are unfamiliar, it is about a man and woman who teleport to the year 3000 and are the smartest people on earth because of technologies. The technology is so powerful that people no longer need to learn anything because they are already taken care of by robots, machines, and computers.
Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram explains how random and how simple things are. An example he gives is how larger objects are created by smaller objects. Wolfram uses computer technology to show that even the longest and confusing algorithms are created from a smaller source. Wolfram says that we can plug information in a small scale to make it add up to something larger and complex. An idea of this can be found in graphing. You can plot a random number of points on a grid, and when you connect them they can be something grand and complex.
The Time Machine
This short film presents the idea that time travel is possible through the bending of light. It is explained that light is effective at bending light and time through the use of lasers to create a twist in space and time. Through these cylinders of lasers, particles can start to appear out of nowhere, which can actually be from the future. The concept is that these particles cannot appear without the machine. The only possible reality of time travel would be from the creation of this device, when it is turned on to the current time. For example, if this machine was created this year, we would only be able to send things back to this year. Only from the first moment the machine is activated.
This machine could be very useful to us. If it works as planned, we can learn many things from our future. Although we cannot travel to the past, our future selves can send information back to us and warn us to teach us about important future events. I think that it’s also a interesting concept, because we would be changing the future by acting on that information.
Alan Turing was called upon during the Second World War. Nazi Germany had created an encrypted code to guide their armies. Devoting a task force to crack the codes, the fate of the war depended on the British. This is where Alan Turing comes in, he created a different method of computing to crack the code. The Bombe Machine, which simulated the Encryption machine, “The Enigma” was created by Turing to help crack the codes. The Bombe Machine allowed the machine to cut down on the time of searching settings. This machine allowed an increased power of searching, and helped crack the codes.
Alan Turing understood that computers can absorb large amounts of information. He was an interesting man and I am impressed at how he constantly challenged himself. The Turing Test, where a human and a computer as placed in separate rooms while chatting with each other is fascinating. If the human believes they are communicating with another human and not a computer, a computer has gained artificial intelligence. I think internet bots like CleverBot are examples of artificial intelligence; you can have real conversations with it, and be convinced it is a human.
Gumby Land
Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby, explains how he was going through a rough patch in his life. During this time, he visited India, to go on a spiritual journey. While in India, he met with Sathya Sai Baba, who produced a sacred ash, and blessed Gumby as the reincarnation spiritual love. After this was done, a small shrine was produced for Gumby, which many people performed prayers to because they felt a special power was created that helped them.
The idea of a shrine being created to Gumby is interesting. Although I may not agree with it, I respect those who choose to worship Gumby. It seems that many times, people look for icons or symbols to believe in because it makes them feel better. As long as people are respectful of one another, I choose to agree with Wolfgang Paul's famous witticism, "Not only is it not right, it’s not even wrong
The Perfect Coke
This video is one of my favorites so far, it starts off with the author reminiscing the times of his mother's bad cooking. Lane’s great moments took place when ever his mother didn’t cook because it meant that he would receive a coke along with pizza or a burger. The coke I'm guessing is one of Lane's favorite drinks. The coke beverage apparently comes in many different forms and with these many forms affects the taste.
The coke needs to be chilled, certain amount of sweetness and carbonation. According to the video things such as how a coke is stored, whether in a can, a glass, or filtered affects the taste. The drink is at its best when it is served with a food item that is salty, spicy, and dry. At last the perfect coke was found when Lane and his brother walked in to a store similar to COSCO and where served to them, described as the PERFECT COKE. I however believe the real reason the coke tasted so great was the fact that they had been dying of thirst for a long time and the cold bubbly beverage quenched their dyeing thirst.
Post: WEEK 4
Week 4
Patricia Churchland Interview
During the interview Patricia Churchland talks about how she was selected to present information to the Dalai Lama. While explaining concepts to journalist Bill Moyers, she mentioned that the Dalai Lama has no dogma. He would not believe something just because someone told him to believe. Patricia says he was willing to change his mind depending on the strength of the evidence presented. Although viewed as a religious figure, he bases his belief on evidence, not stories.
One thing I took away from the interview with Patricia Churchland is that life is complex as she talks about life whether dead or alive. I think many religions emphasize the “soul” and how God influences us. What really influences is a complex mixture of proteins, neurons, and matter is our minds which are our brains. I believe that we are more than just brains and that our minds are cable of doing great things.
Brain Burn
Consciousness is literally a virtual simulator and with it human kind is able to live longer. The video Brain Burn talks about how the mind can literally paint a visual image of a certain out come. I think of little kids pretending to be super heroes and creating vivid scenarios on their life as a hero. Our consciousness is very important because it allows us to play out events before they happen, which is how some of us make decisions.
I really enjoyed this video it makes me think of pictures because when I look at them I like to think about what may be going on in the image. The video states that when someone is not conscious they are no longer able to use their mind to imagine. I find it ironic that they call it UNCONSCIOUS when a person is not conscious because they are no longer able to use their conscious thoughts.
A Glorious Piece of Meat
The video A Glorious piece of Meat starts off with this statement " And if it turns out that you are just stuff, that your brain is just meat, then wanting to be different isn't going to change it," Patricia Smith Churchland. I didn't get what the statement meant until listening further into the video, the film speaks about involuntary movement in the human body. The ability to open and close our eyes is controlled by our brains but there are some areas that we don't have control over, the beating of our heart, digesting food, or pumping blood throughout our veins.
A Glorious Piece of Meat suggests maybe we don't have control of ourselves after all; our brain is doing most of the work not us. "Consciousness talks about neurons, neurons don't talk about consciousness," this relates back to the idea about what our bodies do but we do necessarily control what they do.
Radiance without an Edge
When told to rember the excact moment I was born my immediate assumtion is that it was nearly imposible to do so. I already knew that no person on earth would know remmeber the very moments on entering this world because at birth the brian is not strong enough to store such information. The video then states that remmebering death is essentially the same way. What I find it confuseing is how do we know what we are going through when we are dead when we are still alive?
The video says that we should not fear death but we should fear life. This got me thinking, why should we fear life, maybe because of the unknown but death is unknown as well. Many people belive in religion and some may not but what about those such as myself who belive in a certain life after death, the truth is no one will ever know until they reach that point.
Consciousness as a mobius strip
Consciousness as a mobius strip is about our consciousness being endless and impossible. When trying to explain what consciousness, it is nearly impossible. If someone asked me how to describe what being conscious is like, the best I could say would be being aware of everything happening around you. Even then, that is a vague answer and someone would have a hard time trying to understand what consciousness really is.
The idea of our consciousness being compared to a mobius strip is a great analogy. A mobius strip, as explained in the film is a strip that has an endless surface as you contort it or run along it. Our minds, in the same way are endless. The way we may see something, may not be the same way someone else sees the same thing. For example, if I think of a flower as just a plant, someone else may think of it as a beautiful colored symbol of love or romance. This is the mind contorting our idea of something, which can be endless depending on the circumstances.
A Disneyland Consciousness
1960 was the era in which Disneyland was created. The video speaks about our consciousness and how it can alter our way of thinking whether it’s while dreaming, imagining, or simply just fooling our mind in to thinking something is real. An elderly woman was attending a Disney performance about Abraham Lincoln when she felt the need to approach him, as she got closer to actor she was astonished to find that it was indeed a robot.
After watching the film my perception changed on how my consciousness perceives things. Colin McGinn states that consciousness is a mystery that is essentially non solvable. I agree with Colin, I don't think anyone will ever know why and how we perceive things. I think of magic it’s simply just thinking the mind into believing something amazing is happening but in reality it’s just the magician performing an illusion in front of our eyes.
Patricia Churchland Interview
During the interview Patricia Churchland talks about how she was selected to present information to the Dalai Lama. While explaining concepts to journalist Bill Moyers, she mentioned that the Dalai Lama has no dogma. He would not believe something just because someone told him to believe. Patricia says he was willing to change his mind depending on the strength of the evidence presented. Although viewed as a religious figure, he bases his belief on evidence, not stories.
One thing I took away from the interview with Patricia Churchland is that life is complex as she talks about life whether dead or alive. I think many religions emphasize the “soul” and how God influences us. What really influences is a complex mixture of proteins, neurons, and matter is our minds which are our brains. I believe that we are more than just brains and that our minds are cable of doing great things.
Brain Burn
Consciousness is literally a virtual simulator and with it human kind is able to live longer. The video Brain Burn talks about how the mind can literally paint a visual image of a certain out come. I think of little kids pretending to be super heroes and creating vivid scenarios on their life as a hero. Our consciousness is very important because it allows us to play out events before they happen, which is how some of us make decisions.
I really enjoyed this video it makes me think of pictures because when I look at them I like to think about what may be going on in the image. The video states that when someone is not conscious they are no longer able to use their mind to imagine. I find it ironic that they call it UNCONSCIOUS when a person is not conscious because they are no longer able to use their conscious thoughts.
A Glorious Piece of Meat
The video A Glorious piece of Meat starts off with this statement " And if it turns out that you are just stuff, that your brain is just meat, then wanting to be different isn't going to change it," Patricia Smith Churchland. I didn't get what the statement meant until listening further into the video, the film speaks about involuntary movement in the human body. The ability to open and close our eyes is controlled by our brains but there are some areas that we don't have control over, the beating of our heart, digesting food, or pumping blood throughout our veins.
A Glorious Piece of Meat suggests maybe we don't have control of ourselves after all; our brain is doing most of the work not us. "Consciousness talks about neurons, neurons don't talk about consciousness," this relates back to the idea about what our bodies do but we do necessarily control what they do.
Radiance without an Edge
When told to rember the excact moment I was born my immediate assumtion is that it was nearly imposible to do so. I already knew that no person on earth would know remmeber the very moments on entering this world because at birth the brian is not strong enough to store such information. The video then states that remmebering death is essentially the same way. What I find it confuseing is how do we know what we are going through when we are dead when we are still alive?
The video says that we should not fear death but we should fear life. This got me thinking, why should we fear life, maybe because of the unknown but death is unknown as well. Many people belive in religion and some may not but what about those such as myself who belive in a certain life after death, the truth is no one will ever know until they reach that point.
Consciousness as a mobius strip
Consciousness as a mobius strip is about our consciousness being endless and impossible. When trying to explain what consciousness, it is nearly impossible. If someone asked me how to describe what being conscious is like, the best I could say would be being aware of everything happening around you. Even then, that is a vague answer and someone would have a hard time trying to understand what consciousness really is.
The idea of our consciousness being compared to a mobius strip is a great analogy. A mobius strip, as explained in the film is a strip that has an endless surface as you contort it or run along it. Our minds, in the same way are endless. The way we may see something, may not be the same way someone else sees the same thing. For example, if I think of a flower as just a plant, someone else may think of it as a beautiful colored symbol of love or romance. This is the mind contorting our idea of something, which can be endless depending on the circumstances.
A Disneyland Consciousness
1960 was the era in which Disneyland was created. The video speaks about our consciousness and how it can alter our way of thinking whether it’s while dreaming, imagining, or simply just fooling our mind in to thinking something is real. An elderly woman was attending a Disney performance about Abraham Lincoln when she felt the need to approach him, as she got closer to actor she was astonished to find that it was indeed a robot.
After watching the film my perception changed on how my consciousness perceives things. Colin McGinn states that consciousness is a mystery that is essentially non solvable. I agree with Colin, I don't think anyone will ever know why and how we perceive things. I think of magic it’s simply just thinking the mind into believing something amazing is happening but in reality it’s just the magician performing an illusion in front of our eyes.
Intro
My name is Patrice Patterson
website address: patricepattersonFinal.blogspot.com
Midterm Grade: C+
website address: patricepattersonFinal.blogspot.com
Midterm Grade: C+
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