This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Lovely to see you again, as always. Can’t wait to do it all again soon!

Two interesting movies I’ve seen lately:

• Perfect Days (2023)
• The Man from Earth (2007)

The prompt for my breathing timer which I gave to ChatGPT, was: “please create a web page for me with HTML and JavaScript that I can use for breathing techniques. I want two modes: box breathing which is in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, out for 4 seconds; and 4 – 7 – 8 which is in for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, out for 8 seconds. I should be able to pick the mode I want and then the app will prompt me with timers about what to do next.”

The hard problem of consciousness is one of the most profound unsolved questions in philosophy and cognitive science. It asks why and how does physical activity in the brain give rise to subjective experience? In other words, why does it feel like something to be conscious? I’m not sure of course, but it seems to me that the capacity for memory is tied up with consciousness, inasmuch as we don’t seem to have memory without first having been conscious.

Cartesian doubt is a form of methodological skepticism associated with the writings and methodology of René Descartes, the idea being that we can find things which are indubitable, that is, beyond doubt. Descartes famously found “I think, therefore I am.” That he could think was an indubitable fact. I have a similar thing which I like that is: “I know that I am having a sense experience”. It’s kind of along the same lines but includes more primitive conceptions, such as knowledge, time, identity, sensation, and such.

Conclave (2024) was an interesting film about the election of the pope. It’s fiction and you don’t need to be a true believer to enjoy the movie.

We mentioned about Pamela Anderson, and her movie Pamela, a Love Story is on my list. Pamela was at one point married to Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe fame.

You recommended The King of Kong (2007) and I recommended Ready Player One (2018).

We discussed the Pareto distribution which is a type of power law distribution. These types of distributions can mess with our intuitions because they are not similar to bell curves or other less extreme distributions. The Pareto distribution gives rise to the “80:20 rule” where 80% of outcomes are for 20% of causes.