How many times have you been told, "Just let it go"? How easy has it been for you to do that? It's probably easier for some things and harder for others. I wonder why. Recently I've been through one of those experiences, and let me tell you this experience hurt me like there's no tomorrow. Just thinking about it stings my heart. My emotions tell me I'm right, my mind would love to agree, I doubt that it does.
As an aside, if there is anyone I've caused this kind of pain to, please accept my sincerest and humblest apologies. It was never my intention to do that. I realise it comes off as cold comfort, but it's all I can offer (e-mail me if you feel different).
Carl Sagan once said, "Where we have strong emotions, we're liable to fool ourselves". It's a true statement, but I wonder if in this instance I am fooling myself or not.
In any case, I keep telling myself to 'let it go', to just let it pass through. This is easier said than done. Why? Well, if I can borrow from my previous post, then it seems likely that this thought process of mine mentally resonates in a stronger way than other thoughts, overpowering them.
So how does that, in fact help us? Well, one way it helps us is to find other pathways to activate. That is, do other things that help us make the more productive thoughts grow in intensity. In fact, this is what is suggested for most people when they're mired in the pit of an emotional down.
This means that if you're hurting, then you need to do things that reduce the hurt. This is as true physically as it is emotionally. Do not dwell on the things that hurt you emotionally. How? Well, focus on other things. Focus on the things that you've always wanted to do and try to do them.
I know, this is easier said than done. I doubt there is much in life that's easier done than said if it's worth doing. I know that it's hard for me to do, there's just so much sometimes that feels like it needs to come out. However, I suspect that part of the process of growing up (and even adults grow up) is learning to deal with this type of problem.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Back to that selection thing....
If you've never read anything by Richard Dawkins, I suggest two books:
- The God Delusion
- The Selfish Gene
The latter book is what the author rose to fame for, it's a work of art really. I can't describe it in any other way. I'm reading this now and I cannot believe how much my view of the world has been changing because of it. Things seem clearer.
The other book was actually the first one I read. It's a powerful book, but there's so much anger in here. Dawkins is an avowed atheist and basically lambasts religion (he focuses on the Old Testament based faiths).
But I'm not writing this to discuss Dawkins' work per se. His book 'The Selfish Gene' (and I'm not even finished with it) got me thinking about something I hadn't thought about in a while, the nature of thought.
The process of Natural Selection works like this; You have many organisms that live, but only some can survive. Nature (or some selection mechanism) 'picks' those organisms that, by accident, are better fitted to survive (they get to breed). The others either breed less or die without breeding.
With any luck, I've defined that correctly, but what does that have to do with human thought or even consciousness? You see, the human brain (most other mammalian brains too) contains several hundred million neural connections. Neural impulses fire ad nauseum in a living person's brain.
Assume for a second that a thought can be broken down into a collection of neural impulses (we can assume that it's been stimulated by sensory input). How do we become aware of that thought? Well, assuming it's competing with several other thoughts, we may never be aware of it... unless it fires with more strength than the other thoughts. Then, it gets selected to become a conscious thought. The thought lives, perhaps spawns more thoughts, mutates, and then dies (well, moved off to the subconscious anyway).
In 'Cosmos', Carl Sagan mentions that, as genes are the units of human evolution, ideas are the units of cultural evolution. Dawkins calls this the 'meme', a cultural gene that is selected to continue or die. In human breeding, you have the slots in the chromosome that two alleles (genes) compete over. You have the same thing in culture. In a war, the two opposing sides would be the two genes competing for space on the cultural chromosome.
Here's a thought, what about religion. Could that not also be a meme? Could the idea of religion also be a unit of cultural evolution? Why not? How could it have arisen? Well, many thousands of years ago, we didn't have knowledge of germs, real causes of lightning, earthquakes, etc. So in an effort to answer the question, we created explanations (ideas). Many of them. The ones that stuck (i.e. were selected) were the ones that we could easily appreciate (or relate to). If you look at the old religious stories (or histories, take your pick), how many of them are about two competing ideas (alleles) fighting over mindshare?
I'm lucky in that respect I guess. I'm Hindu, which acknowledges that there may be no God, or perhaps there is. The best lines I can think of that describes it are:
Back to human thought. Could internalized natural selection be how we think? How we reason? It sounds like it should be. This would explain why people are seen as 'creative'. Why? Because the selection mechanism that picks the resulting thought(s) that pop into their minds when solving a problem are different from what others might use.
All this sounds great on paper, I have no proof of this I realise. But it is something to think about, isn't it? How many phenomena could we describe accurately with the aid of natural selction (the process)?
- The God Delusion
- The Selfish Gene
The latter book is what the author rose to fame for, it's a work of art really. I can't describe it in any other way. I'm reading this now and I cannot believe how much my view of the world has been changing because of it. Things seem clearer.
The other book was actually the first one I read. It's a powerful book, but there's so much anger in here. Dawkins is an avowed atheist and basically lambasts religion (he focuses on the Old Testament based faiths).
But I'm not writing this to discuss Dawkins' work per se. His book 'The Selfish Gene' (and I'm not even finished with it) got me thinking about something I hadn't thought about in a while, the nature of thought.
The process of Natural Selection works like this; You have many organisms that live, but only some can survive. Nature (or some selection mechanism) 'picks' those organisms that, by accident, are better fitted to survive (they get to breed). The others either breed less or die without breeding.
With any luck, I've defined that correctly, but what does that have to do with human thought or even consciousness? You see, the human brain (most other mammalian brains too) contains several hundred million neural connections. Neural impulses fire ad nauseum in a living person's brain.
Assume for a second that a thought can be broken down into a collection of neural impulses (we can assume that it's been stimulated by sensory input). How do we become aware of that thought? Well, assuming it's competing with several other thoughts, we may never be aware of it... unless it fires with more strength than the other thoughts. Then, it gets selected to become a conscious thought. The thought lives, perhaps spawns more thoughts, mutates, and then dies (well, moved off to the subconscious anyway).
In 'Cosmos', Carl Sagan mentions that, as genes are the units of human evolution, ideas are the units of cultural evolution. Dawkins calls this the 'meme', a cultural gene that is selected to continue or die. In human breeding, you have the slots in the chromosome that two alleles (genes) compete over. You have the same thing in culture. In a war, the two opposing sides would be the two genes competing for space on the cultural chromosome.
Here's a thought, what about religion. Could that not also be a meme? Could the idea of religion also be a unit of cultural evolution? Why not? How could it have arisen? Well, many thousands of years ago, we didn't have knowledge of germs, real causes of lightning, earthquakes, etc. So in an effort to answer the question, we created explanations (ideas). Many of them. The ones that stuck (i.e. were selected) were the ones that we could easily appreciate (or relate to). If you look at the old religious stories (or histories, take your pick), how many of them are about two competing ideas (alleles) fighting over mindshare?
I'm lucky in that respect I guess. I'm Hindu, which acknowledges that there may be no God, or perhaps there is. The best lines I can think of that describes it are:
Who knows for certain? Who shall here declare it?Exactly.
Whence was it born, and whence came this creation?
The gods were born after this world's creation:
Then who can konw from whence it has arisen?
None knoweth whence creation has arisen;
And whether he has or has not produced it:
He who surveys it in the highest heaven,
He only knows, or haply he may know not.
Back to human thought. Could internalized natural selection be how we think? How we reason? It sounds like it should be. This would explain why people are seen as 'creative'. Why? Because the selection mechanism that picks the resulting thought(s) that pop into their minds when solving a problem are different from what others might use.
All this sounds great on paper, I have no proof of this I realise. But it is something to think about, isn't it? How many phenomena could we describe accurately with the aid of natural selction (the process)?
Monday, March 20, 2006
A new year, and a new Idea
Wow, it's been a year since I last posted. My friends had been bugging me about putting something new in here, and I kept postponing it. I think one main reason has been a lack of things to talk about. I wanted this space to be a set of ideas that I could put out in the ether. A place where I could make a difference.
That's the thing though isn't it? Exactly what does it take to make a difference? Do you have to do something grand? Or is it the case that [all?] you need to do is some small things here and there and hope it adds up? I'm hoping for the latter, but something tells me that you need some of the former as well. If you consider what it means to do the little things, those take much more discipline than doing the one big thing, because you have to be disciplined and make your efforts consistent.
Kinda like blogging.
I just read this on slashdot. It was a response to an article about the current US government censoring scientists, essentially by inserting enough ambiguity into their statements. The statement was:
---- SNIP ----
When the Polynesians found Easter Island, they found a paradise.
Seas teeming with porpoises, huge edible palm trees, bountiful flightless birds and tillable soil from coast to coast.
Unfortunately, they also brought rats with them on their canoes.
The rats ate the birds and bird eggs. The trees were cut down for timber and kindling.
The land was farmed to exhaustion.
And the entire civilization that arose there quickly collapsed under its own weight.
The whole time, people thought things would last forever,
but they couldn't see the end coming.
We have our rats too.
---- SNIP ----
There's something missing there, the rats are never identified. Now, it's easy to pick on the US and say that they aren't doing anything. But that's not fair. Every nation has a responsibility. In the 80's the world was concerned about being nuked left right and center. This is our new world concern. Seriously, every nation needs to look at this.
Why couldn't we manufacture cheap solar cells in India and China and use them in their deserts? Why couldn't groups of people pool their resources together and buy some panels and hook them to thie windows and roofs to help add to the power supply of the local region?
Think about it for a second. India is one of the hottest places I've ever lived in. You could replace the windows with solar panels, make a dome on top of the roof with transparent solar cells and plug that power into a generator that feeds electricity to the occupants of the building. Now, it's not going to be much, but it's a start. As technology improves, the models will improve, but you need to start somewhere.
I'm a fan of the bottom up approach to doing certain things. I like the feeling of getting my hands dirty doing something productive. I think most people like doing this. It's easy to give up, to say that 'this country is corrupt' or that things will never work, but do you want your children to think that you're a quitter?
That's the thing though isn't it? Exactly what does it take to make a difference? Do you have to do something grand? Or is it the case that [all?] you need to do is some small things here and there and hope it adds up? I'm hoping for the latter, but something tells me that you need some of the former as well. If you consider what it means to do the little things, those take much more discipline than doing the one big thing, because you have to be disciplined and make your efforts consistent.
Kinda like blogging.
I just read this on slashdot. It was a response to an article about the current US government censoring scientists, essentially by inserting enough ambiguity into their statements. The statement was:
---- SNIP ----
When the Polynesians found Easter Island, they found a paradise.
Seas teeming with porpoises, huge edible palm trees, bountiful flightless birds and tillable soil from coast to coast.
Unfortunately, they also brought rats with them on their canoes.
The rats ate the birds and bird eggs. The trees were cut down for timber and kindling.
The land was farmed to exhaustion.
And the entire civilization that arose there quickly collapsed under its own weight.
The whole time, people thought things would last forever,
but they couldn't see the end coming.
We have our rats too.
---- SNIP ----
There's something missing there, the rats are never identified. Now, it's easy to pick on the US and say that they aren't doing anything. But that's not fair. Every nation has a responsibility. In the 80's the world was concerned about being nuked left right and center. This is our new world concern. Seriously, every nation needs to look at this.
Why couldn't we manufacture cheap solar cells in India and China and use them in their deserts? Why couldn't groups of people pool their resources together and buy some panels and hook them to thie windows and roofs to help add to the power supply of the local region?
Think about it for a second. India is one of the hottest places I've ever lived in. You could replace the windows with solar panels, make a dome on top of the roof with transparent solar cells and plug that power into a generator that feeds electricity to the occupants of the building. Now, it's not going to be much, but it's a start. As technology improves, the models will improve, but you need to start somewhere.
I'm a fan of the bottom up approach to doing certain things. I like the feeling of getting my hands dirty doing something productive. I think most people like doing this. It's easy to give up, to say that 'this country is corrupt' or that things will never work, but do you want your children to think that you're a quitter?
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Second Idea
Okay, we're talking solar panels again. This should actually be called something like First Idea: The Sequel or somethingl ike that, but scre it, I'm lazy and I'm already on this line.
And now this line.
Anyways, you know, it occurs to be that you could make solar panels really cheap by doing the manufacturing in India or China. This would make them cheap. Heck the entire middle-east and deserts in India, China, the US could be used as power plants. Also, you could out them on houses, make power meshes, heck, even out them on oil rigs.
And on that note, why not have desalination plants out in the ocean like oil rigs? Why have them on the shore? You can pipe the dirty water out to these areas as well and get them cleaned there. They could become like self-contained ecosystems that clean up the waste, grow plants, etc.
Hmmm, more on this in a later post. Some morons near me are smoking and I can barely breathe.
And now this line.
Anyways, you know, it occurs to be that you could make solar panels really cheap by doing the manufacturing in India or China. This would make them cheap. Heck the entire middle-east and deserts in India, China, the US could be used as power plants. Also, you could out them on houses, make power meshes, heck, even out them on oil rigs.
And on that note, why not have desalination plants out in the ocean like oil rigs? Why have them on the shore? You can pipe the dirty water out to these areas as well and get them cleaned there. They could become like self-contained ecosystems that clean up the waste, grow plants, etc.
Hmmm, more on this in a later post. Some morons near me are smoking and I can barely breathe.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
First Idea
Do you know what Genetic Algoithms are? They're this really cool technique for finding the best solution given a certain set of inputs. It almost removes the need for actual thinking when it comes to certain things. Only certain things though . . .
Like where to put a solar panel to produce the most electricity.
I was thinking, why not have an array of transparent solar cells in the desert? Lay them out like massive flowers, producing electricity that can be stored in a grid. I'm serious, why not? Heck, you could probably put more transparent solar cells underneath them and produce even more. If you put them on poles, then atop the poles could be windmills that add to the energy production in times of desert storms.
But how would you place them? What would be a good arrangement? Well, if you don't want to blanket the surface, this becomes a serious issue to think about. It's actually not that hard to implement really. Just write a program that would do the work of figuring it out based on the position of one unit you could mass produce.
Could you fund this? Sure you could. This could be made an open source-ish venture. Have people provide the funding, get the solar panels produced in Mexico, and buy the cheap desert land (death valley, I'd guess, has an enormous amount of sunlight and not much else). Make regions that are considered not worth human effort powerhouses.
My humblest of humble opinions is that this could be done. My not-so-humble opinion is that this idea has a lot of merit.
Thank you for your time.
Like where to put a solar panel to produce the most electricity.
I was thinking, why not have an array of transparent solar cells in the desert? Lay them out like massive flowers, producing electricity that can be stored in a grid. I'm serious, why not? Heck, you could probably put more transparent solar cells underneath them and produce even more. If you put them on poles, then atop the poles could be windmills that add to the energy production in times of desert storms.
But how would you place them? What would be a good arrangement? Well, if you don't want to blanket the surface, this becomes a serious issue to think about. It's actually not that hard to implement really. Just write a program that would do the work of figuring it out based on the position of one unit you could mass produce.
Could you fund this? Sure you could. This could be made an open source-ish venture. Have people provide the funding, get the solar panels produced in Mexico, and buy the cheap desert land (death valley, I'd guess, has an enormous amount of sunlight and not much else). Make regions that are considered not worth human effort powerhouses.
My humblest of humble opinions is that this could be done. My not-so-humble opinion is that this idea has a lot of merit.
Thank you for your time.
Intro post
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Honestly. Do you feel the same way when looking out of a window into the world? Some days, I do. I feel cold looking in the mirror, and looking out into the city's cold and dead landscape. Toronto is a nice city, but there are times the place seems dead even with tons of people out in the streets. Freud used to think that we see in people the things we perceive in ourselves. So then the question would become what is it that I see in myself that's got me feeling cold?
I think it's because there's so much potential in all of us. When we see it being squandered, we feel lost, helpless, angered. I've been listening to that Green Day song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", where the protagonist talks about walking down a street all alone. While my dreams are hardly broken, I suspect that I do walk alone. The potential that's there in each and every one of us can be reached. We can make changes in this world that will sove all the problems we see and hear about. It's easy to think about how each of us is only one person, incapable of doing anything.
This is true, but only to a certain extent.
You see, we're in an unusual age, one where information flows freer than water and as fast as light. It's interesting to see how quickly events are happening now, as opposed to their speed even a decade ago. When was the last time we had a pro-democracy uprising in a bunch of nations (like Syria, Kyrgistan, and Ukraine) within the space of four months? Think about it, FOUR months is only slightly longer than the regular 'probation' period for an employee. I'll bet you that it happened because the people there finally saw the free world and decided they wanted to join it (now don't be cynical just yet, bear with me).
So, how do you and I figure in this? Well, there are many reasons I get that cold feeling I spoke about up there. One is loneliness. Yes, being a geek, and not a talkative one at that, I walk alone in life. But the biggest reason? I know that half my ideas will never be implemented. Why? Partly because I'm paranoid as hell. I've had my work stolen before, so since then, I've been just a little paranoid (no more than the usual blood test and handing over of the first born mind you).
So, dear reader, if you are looking at this space, then I suggest a deal. I'll give you ideas, and I'll do my damndest to make them the best ideas. If you can't see yourself pursuing them, fine, but could you tell someone else the idea?
If we all did this, shared our ideas, there's no telling what could be accomplished. Just like the recent rash of freedom, maybe we can create something totally new.
Thank you for your time.
I think it's because there's so much potential in all of us. When we see it being squandered, we feel lost, helpless, angered. I've been listening to that Green Day song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", where the protagonist talks about walking down a street all alone. While my dreams are hardly broken, I suspect that I do walk alone. The potential that's there in each and every one of us can be reached. We can make changes in this world that will sove all the problems we see and hear about. It's easy to think about how each of us is only one person, incapable of doing anything.
This is true, but only to a certain extent.
You see, we're in an unusual age, one where information flows freer than water and as fast as light. It's interesting to see how quickly events are happening now, as opposed to their speed even a decade ago. When was the last time we had a pro-democracy uprising in a bunch of nations (like Syria, Kyrgistan, and Ukraine) within the space of four months? Think about it, FOUR months is only slightly longer than the regular 'probation' period for an employee. I'll bet you that it happened because the people there finally saw the free world and decided they wanted to join it (now don't be cynical just yet, bear with me).
So, how do you and I figure in this? Well, there are many reasons I get that cold feeling I spoke about up there. One is loneliness. Yes, being a geek, and not a talkative one at that, I walk alone in life. But the biggest reason? I know that half my ideas will never be implemented. Why? Partly because I'm paranoid as hell. I've had my work stolen before, so since then, I've been just a little paranoid (no more than the usual blood test and handing over of the first born mind you).
So, dear reader, if you are looking at this space, then I suggest a deal. I'll give you ideas, and I'll do my damndest to make them the best ideas. If you can't see yourself pursuing them, fine, but could you tell someone else the idea?
If we all did this, shared our ideas, there's no telling what could be accomplished. Just like the recent rash of freedom, maybe we can create something totally new.
Thank you for your time.
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