Category Archives: Homework

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

First, two things from last time which I forgot to write up:

I mentioned Veritasium which is a video blog of interest.

I have a note here that says “ASI”. And that’s all it says. Not sure what that was about?

I did consider writing my response to Mark Fisher‘s work Capitalist Realism (which is available on the web here), but in researching him and his work this evening I have learned that he died by suicide in 2017. I think suicide is the worst thing ever and I can’t bring myself to write something which tears strips off people who are no longer here to respond. (I intend to read Mark’s PhD thesis Flatline constructs: Gothic materialism and cybernetic theory-fiction.)

You mentioned Pick of the Litter, noting that dogs are trained to sometimes ignore the command of their master, particularly when it wouldn’t be safe.

One good thing about arguments with friends is that there is always time to pee.

Norvig’s Law: Any technology that surpasses 50% penetration will never double again (in any number of months).

This marketing dude Rory Sutherland is actually quite impressive. I hadn’t expected as much from someone in advertising! He has given a number of TED talks and there are many interviews with him on YouTube.

The documentary about the 2008 financial crisis that I mentioned was Inside Job. Not to be confused with the TV series with the same name (which is excellent, by the way).

My favorite philosopher of the day is Iain McGilchrist. I suspect my own beliefs and preferences diverge from those of McGilchrist but I do really enjoy his thought. I have watched a number of interviews with Iain McGilchrist. He has written a number of books, a few of which I have purchased and intend to read: The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, and The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning.

The book Thinking, Fast and Slow by psychologist Daniel Kahneman demarcates two systems of thinking: one fast and automatic, the other slow and deliberative.

The quotation “the stupid are cocksure, while the intelligent are full of doubt” is variously attributed (including to Bertrand Russell).

Check out Mr Inbetween, it’s really excellent!

Love you my brother, see you on Christmas Day! <3

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

You mentioned this paradoxical thought: “Grieving the loss of something you don’t want back.”

One thing about evil is that it only cares about itself; it doesn’t care about you.

The RAND Corporation is an American think tank and the name “RAND” is from “Research ANd Development”, I don’t believe it has anything to do with Ayn Rand. The RAND Corporation is the first entity to be called “think tank”, it defined the category.

The parody metal band I mentioned, in the spirit of Spinal Tap, is Ten Times Your Master. Check it out, it’s pretty funny. :P

ur an aligned philosopher

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? is a 2009 book by British philosopher Mark Fisher. It explores Fisher’s concept of “capitalist realism”, which he describes as “the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it.” This book is available on archive.org.

My theory about contradiction is that when someone becomes aware of a contradiction they can either:

  • Laugh
  • Cry
  • Deny

Well adjusted people laugh. Some people get sad. Others suffer cognitive dissonance and deny.

But as you say some people just “don’t get it” and never become aware of the contradiction.

My theory is that at the heart of all humour is a contradiction, and not everyone will choose to laugh when they see the contradiction, some people will get upset about it or refuse it.

I have a note here “consistency with variation”, I think we decided that was a good idea?

David Graeber wrote a book called Debt: The First 5,000 Years. He presents his ideas in this video: Debt: The First 5,000 Years | David Graeber | Talks at Google.

When we were chatting I said that the father of Subjective Idealism was Bertrand Russell but of course it was George Berkeley.

Look forward to seeing you again soon! <3

Homework

Posted on by
6

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.

The Standard Model is our best quantum theory, not a new wave punk band.

Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It involves the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. One of the key tactics for exploring psychogeography is the loosely defined urban walking practice known as the dérive.

Mind-blindness is a theory that autistic people lack a Theory of Mind, which can lead them to a lack of empathy. This is discussed by Dave Plummer, over here: Mindblindness.

The fucking UX got fucked. Speaking of UX, I recently picked up this Complete Web Design and UX Mastery Bundle from Humble Bundle.

The Joker is a fascinating and dark character.

My theory about cynicism is that it leads you to the truth something like 99% of the time. The extra 1% is a rounding error, but that’s where the good stuff is, a cynic might miss it.

Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds is a famous book by David Goggins, an athlete and soldier. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve heard about it.

M*A*S*H started in 1972 and continued until 1983 releasing 256 episodes (a nice binary number!).

This Town looks pretty interesting! It premiered on 31 March this year (2024) and tells the story of a band’s formation against a backdrop of violence.

Entrapment should be illegal. In some jurisdictions, it is!

The expression from the river to the sea is a political phrase that refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an area formerly known as Palestine. The implications of the phrase depend on who is saying it and what they mean.

The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict proposes to resolve the conflict by establishing two nation states in former Mandatory Palestine. The implementation of a two-state solution would involve the establishment of an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel. The two-state solution is widely supported in the international community, as well as by the Palestinian Authority; however, Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state. One of my friends told me that they used to think this was a good idea, but now don’t believe it would be workable. I personally am not well informed enough to have an opinion on this one.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a satirical poem and Black Liberation song by Gil Scott-Heron: Gil Scott Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band from Chicago, USA. Their album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness featured significantly in my adolescence. We discussed their song 1979. Cool track.

The Holocaust is an example of when the bureaucracy didn’t save us. It was perpetrated by a bureaucracy. The essay on bureaucracy that I typed up is here: Inside Bureaucracy.

Homophily is a concept in sociology describing the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others, as in the proverb “birds of a feather flock together”. The presence of homophily has been discovered in a vast array of network studies: over 100 studies have observed homophily in some form or another, and they establish that similarity is associated with connection. The categories on which homophily occurs include age, gender, class, and organizational role.

She’s all kinds of fucked up, but she’s fucking cool.

If you don’t know where to start, just start anywhere!

Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury is an album featuring the track Television, the Drug of the Nation.

I’m not a criminal, I just want some drugs.

I have done a little crypto programming (Programming Lore says you should never do this, because it is fraught with peril). I have a PHP library called kickass-crypto which aims to make using PHP encryption library facilities a little easier. Not sure I succeeded. My blowfish implementation for JavaScript and PHP known as pccipher got listed on Bruce Schneier’s website, one of my triumphs in life. :)

Good name for a beer: No Alarms. (I think maybe that was the beer talking? I suspect this remark was inspired by Radiohead – Karma Police)

The xkcd comic I mentioned is this one: Dependency. It indicates how flimsy some of our practices are.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is awesome. I will get you a copy. <3

You can use the pulse reflection method to locate a fault in a cable. A pulse induced at the starting end of the cable reaches the cable fault with a speed of v/2 and then is reflected back toward the starting end of the cable. The elapsed time multiplied by the diffusion speed v/2 gives the distance to the source of the fault.

I think I’m paranoid (lyrics).

Judith Lucy wrote a few books. I read Drink, Smoke, Pass Out (because for me that title was clickbait) which was fun.

You mentioned Metallica: Some Kind of Monster again. I still haven’t got around to watching it!

“Existential angst” and “existential dread” mean the same thing. They refer to the horror and unease one can feel when they become aware of their temporary place in a vast universe and the responsibility they have for their own actions.

We discussed Adele – Hello, hello from the other side.

And to wrap up I have a note here that says “Colorize”. And that’s all it says. I can’t remember what that was about..?

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

I ended up getting these cards printed at clickmedia.com.au to take with me on Wednesday to ElectroneX:

John's business card for In The Lab With Jay

I mentioned Iain McGilchrist, he’s a psychiatrist who dabbles in philosophy. I think he has a really excellent and interesting view of things. It’s hard to summarise his position but he is very interested in the difference in perceptive capabilities of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. He has a YouTube channel over here: @DrIainMcGilchrist and if you search for him you will find many a fascinating interview.

You told me to check out Succession (TV series).

I found the Four Corners video you mentioned, over here: Self-defence or genocide? Asking Israel’s powerful voices about Gaza | Four Corners.

I mentioned Eben Moglen, who has a website over here: moglen.law.columbia.edu. I find Eben inspirational. He’s always talking in grandiose eloquence about the importance of free software, if you search for him on YouTube you are bound to find something of interest.

I mentioned Annie Jacobsen, she’s a pretty interesting cat. She has written a number of books on conspiracy-theory-like topics. I recently read her book Nuclear War: A Scenario.

I have a note here that says “positive view on nihilism” but I forget what that was about. Something I wanted to tell you, now lost to time. But searching for ‘positive view on nihilism’ turns up a bunch of interesting results! (Oh. Wait. Found it! It’s a video I wanted you to see: Optimistic Nihilism.)

Oh, another note I don’t remember: “void of ‘huh'”. I assume we were being hilarious.

There is an urban myth that the first human projectile that made it into space was a manhole cover from nuclear testing facilities for Operation Plumbbob in 1957. I dunno if it’s true, but it’s a good story!

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Per the Xbox technical specifications the Xbox CPU was a 32-bit 733 MHz, custom Intel Pentium III Coppermine-based processor using a 180 nm process.

A good essay from Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyperreality is On the Crisis of the Crisis of Reason.

Is the ABC’s postmodern philosophy thing you mentioned this one: The Postmodern Grand Narrative?

There is a good article on the topic of acronyms and initialisms over here: Acronym vs. Initialism vs. Abbreviation With Examples:

  • Initialisms are when you abbreviate a word to its initials. Then, you say those initials as individual letters, like how “National Security Administration” becomes N-S-A. The United States becomes U-S.
  • Acronyms are abbreviations that also use initials, but those initials are pronounced as a word rather than saying the individual initials. For example, “National Aeronautical and Space Administration” becomes NASA and is pronounced “nah-sah.”

In logic begging the question is jargon for is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion. This is often mistakenly used where “raises the question” is what is meant. Your best policy is never to use the phrase “begging the question” because it is not reliably understood. Say either “raises the question” or “assumes the conclusion” depending on what you mean to say.

In law mere puffery is when certain statements made by advertisers that are obviously not made in a serious manner can be exempt from usual rules relating to promises in open contracts.

A reminder to check out More, it’s brilliant.

There are some notes on Kraftwerk about the Moog and the Minimoog synths. You can listen to Kraftwerk on YouTube.

There is an article about the “roger beep” over here: Roger Beep – useful tool or annoying toy? As you know the roger beep is a small tone made automatically when the radio operator unkeys their microphone to let the receiver know they have finished speaking.

Heroin by The Velvet Underground was also covered by Billy Idol. The lead singer of The Velvet Underground was Lou Reed.

You mentioned the Song Exploder podcast. I will check it out.

If you can find some time to watch it I would definitely recommend Mr Inbetween.

You mentioned Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. Annoyingly it doesn’t seem to be available in ebook format.

The opposite of “hyperbole” is “understatement”.

After some ruckus of being canceled Scott Adams seems to have dilbert.com back online with some explanations about what happened here: https://dilbert.com/faq. His new thing is Dilbert Reborn which is subscription only and nsfw.

You mentioned Everything is a Remix which is available on YouTube.

User: define nebulous

ChatGPT:

The term “nebulous” is an adjective that describes something that is vague, unclear, or ill-defined. It often refers to ideas, situations, or objects that lack sharp boundaries or are difficult to describe precisely. The word can also evoke the image of a cloud or haze, suggesting something that is misty, indistinct, or without a concrete form.

The latest Mission Impossible movie is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. It is good fun!

Metropolis a scifi film from 1927. It is also available on YouTube.

Technological determinism is “a reductionist theory that assumes that a society’s technology progresses by following its own internal logic of efficiency, while determining the development of the social structure and cultural values.”

There is a good intro to some of Kant’s thought over here: Kant’s Theory of Judgment.

User: what are synthetic a priori judgements?

ChatGPT:

Synthetic a priori judgments are a central concept in epistemology, particularly in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. They refer to statements that are both synthetic and a priori. Let’s break down these terms:

  1. Synthetic: A synthetic statement is one where the predicate (the part of the sentence that describes the subject or assigns it a property) adds information that is not already contained in the concept of the subject. In other words, the truth of a synthetic statement is not determined just by the meanings of the words it contains; it requires additional information about the world.
  2. A priori: An a priori statement is one that can be known to be true independently of any specific experience. Instead, its truth can be determined through reason alone.

Combining these, a synthetic a priori judgment is a statement that is known to be true independently of experience (a priori) and whose predicate is not contained within the subject, thus adding new information (synthetic). Kant argued that such judgments are essential for the possibility of certain kinds of knowledge, particularly in mathematics and natural science. For example, the statement “7 + 5 = 12” is synthetic because the concept of “12” is not contained in the concepts of “7” and “5”, and it is a priori because it can be known through reason without needing empirical verification.

Kant’s introduction of synthetic a priori judgments was revolutionary because it suggested that humans have innate knowledge structures that enable them to understand the world in a certain way, which in turn makes empirical science possible.

User: define kitsch

ChatGPT:

“Kitsch” refers to art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way. The term is often used to describe art that is overly commercial, cliche, or banal. It can also connote a certain cultural appeal linked to nostalgia or popular aesthetics that are considered tacky or lowbrow by mainstream standards.

Jailbreaking is discussed in iOS jailbreaking. Basically it allows a user to run unsanctioned programs on their device.

Stop Punching Me In The Head. It’s about the idea okay!

I’m a little bit involved.

When I was in Melbourne I bummed a ciggie of Geoffrey Rush. He smokes Benson & Hedges Ultimate.

This is Head Like A Hole and Sin by Nine Inch Nails.

I know fucking heaps and that makes me feel like I know nothing.

Mulholland Drive is a 2001 surrealist mystery film written and directed by David Lynch.

Also from 2001 is Donnie Darko an American science fiction psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and produced by Flower Films.

You recommended Succession which is an American satirical black comedy-drama television series created by Jesse Armstrong that aired for four seasons on HBO from June 3, 2018, to May 28, 2023.

We listened to A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays” by De La Soul and The Distance by Cake.

I feel happy when:

  • I am in my lab thinking
  • I am home alone by myself
  • I am enjoying a cup of coffee
  • I am soaking in a warm bath
  • I am talking with my Dad in his study
  • I am hanging out with my mate on the veranda at his house
  • I get to see my mate’s dog, Ruben
  • my friends take me out for lunch or dinner at the Lappo
  • I complete a project
  • I work on a project and make progress
  • I let go of things which aren’t a priority for me
  • I let go of things which I have no control over
  • I write down a list of things that make me happy and that I can be grateful for
  • I eat less than 8,409 kilojoules in a day
  • I imagine how much better the future might be than the present
  • I do some maths homework
  • I learn and understand new things
  • my network backups are up to date
  • I am

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

You must watch this: Mark Osborne’s MORE (the homepage is here).

Death is the ultimate holiday. Never have to work again!

One of the most belligerent things you can say to someone is “you’re belligerent.”

The washing machine is a machine.

Aphyr is one of those one in ten thousand type geniuses, just next level. Also openly gay and into BDSM. He did this fantastic creative writing riffing on witch craft and programming interviews which I have made notes about over here. I don’t think you need to be a programmer to appreciate this, maybe give the first one a read.

I did a write up of Inside Bureaucracy by Anthony Downs. It’s long and High Modern. The five types of bureaucrats he identifies are: Climbers, Conservers, Zealots, Advocates, Statesmen.

The cargo cult phenomenon is truly bizarre and also quaint and understandable. During WWII a lot of native tribes saw cargo planes arriving full of supplies. After the war when the planes stopped coming the tribe members setup faux runways and did elaborate pantomimes with aircontrollers and radiomen etc in an attempt to mimic what they had seen the westerners do in order to bring the cargo back. Now “cargo cult” is used as a term to describe when people are doing the things they they will bring success because they think those activities will lead to success (but those activities won’t by themselves lead to success).

RE my hair: I can clip! I can clip! </Seinfeld>

This bloke Derek Muller has a video blog known as Veritasium. Recently he did a fun video about 37.

I would definitely recommend you get Authy and set it up on your phone so you can use it for 2FA (two-factor authentication).

TPM stands for Trusted Platform Module. It’s a hardware security feature which is probably in your computers. Apparently it is required by Windows 11 as explained by Microsoft over here: What is TPM?

Two fun quotes from the YouTube comments on my channel recently:

  • Lol, bald Jimmy Neutron, but its so cool
  • Look at this absolute chad flexing on all of us with his swag lab setup. Steady on king.

The 80/20 rule is known as the Pareto principle which states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the “vital few”).

Do Dogs Have Belly Buttons? (Spoiler: they do!)

Software is one form of hyperreality.

Thank you for loaning me your copy of Travels In Hyperreality by Umberto Eco, I will return it soon, along with a copy of GEB for you!

Crash Test Dummies – Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.

Matchbox Twenty – 3AM.

There is a full length version of Elegia from New Order, it’s an instrumental tribute to Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It’s a seriously moving piece of music. It’s the soundtrack to Mark Osborne’s MORE (linked above). The words elegia and eulogy are different but they connote something similar.

Substance is a compilation album by English alternative dance band New Order. It was released in August 1987 by Factory Records and reissued in 2023. Here is Disc 1.

On a related note, the 2007 film Joy Division is a documentary on the British post-punk band Joy Division.

More from 2007, Control a British biographical film about the life of Ian Curtis, singer of the late-1970s English post-punk band Joy Division.

The Jesus nut is a slang term for the main rotor retaining nut or mast nut, which holds the main rotor to the mast of some helicopters.

Fucking boat people.

The 2004 film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is a documentary film about American heavy metal band Metallica.

Metamodernism refers to a number of related discourses about cultural developments that move beyond postmodernism by means of postmodernism. There is a fun video on the topic over here: The Rise of the Meaning Economy – A major paradigm shift is coming, this will reshape life and work!.

It’s a simple silly little temporary thing.

Chicks man, fuck.

So there’s this American bloke out there Andrew Bustamante running EverydaySpy with his wife. They have heaps of videos on YouTube, you can get a taste over here: Leave The USA Before 2030? – CIA Spy On World War 3’s Timeline | Andrew Bustamante.

Eben Moglen is an American legal scholar and orator who is professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center. In 2019 he spoke on the 10 year anniversary of the FreedomBox: Eben Moglen: “FreedomBox Turns Ten” (Nov. 2019) .

There is a kickass documentary featuring Bunnie Huang over here: Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware (Full Documentary) | Future Cities. Bunnie has done some cool things, not least Hacking the Xbox. Here’s an interesting talk from him: An Alternative to the American way of Innovation | Andrew ‘bunnie’ Huang | TEDxPickeringStreet.

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but seriously fuck off.”

I was reading Being and Time by Martin Heidegger (the NAZI philosopher) but when I read the following quote I decided it was nonsense and time to stop reading:

“Temporality reveals itself as the meaning of authentic care.”

The definition of ‘gestalt‘:

  1. A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.
  2. A collection of physical, biological, psychological or symbolic entities that creates a unified concept, configuration or pattern which is greater than the sum of its parts (of a character, personality, or being).
  3. Shape, form.

This video about “metamodernism” is interesting: The Rise of the Meaning Economy – A major paradigm shift is coming, this will reshape life and work!. It’s about adopting Asian philosophy as a response to postmodernism in the West.

“I’m all in on everything.”

“I read Nietzsche but all I can… yeah nah but so what?”

“Just Kant.”

How do you make a room smile at you?

There’s nothing good about evil.

There’s nothing right about right.

“Postmodernism is a round hole.”

“So what is it with your meanings?”

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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

Hey mate. Thanks for having me again!

The Man Who Sold The World is my strawberry shortcake. I think this was funnier when we were drunk.

The Mole is the SI unit of substance. One mole contains exactly 6.02214076×1023 parts (atoms, molecules, ions, etc).

Apparently the Ancient Greeks considered themselves facing the past and going into the future backward, as discussed here. It’s actually a cool idea.

Speaking of the Ancient Greeks, there was one bloke Heraclitus who said:

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Not why should I, but how can I.

We listened to Weird Fishes/Arpeggi off Radiohead’s album In Rainbows.

In networking MIMO is multiple-input and multiple-output, wherein multiple signals are used at the same time.

Supposedly safe for humans. Supposedly. Are you brimming with confidence?

An opto-isolator is an electronic component that relays a signal using light and a light sensor. The idea is to make it impossible for high voltage to cross into a low voltage part of a circuit.

The Dave Grohl song I was talking about was The Pretender from the Foo Fighters back in 2007. There’s more info here.

As I mentioned I’ve stopped squishing bugs. I’m hoping to set a good example for future AI. :P If there’s a fly walking around on my computer monitor I just let it be. I did used to squish indiscriminately.

The computers I’m dreaming about are ‘contract‘ ($42,596) and ‘vision‘ ($20,486). Now I just need a cool sixty grand.

The recording settings I use in OBS Studio are these:

John's OBS Studio settings

The other options for Recording Quality are:

  • Indistinguishable Quality, Large File Size
  • Lossless Quality, Tremendously Large File Size

You can read more about Matroska over on Wikipedia.

The word “cromulent” was a made-up word which was used on The Simpsons to mean “acceptable” or “good”. Since then it has entered the English lexicon with the same meaning. ChatGPT has a good explanation.

You mentioned Bombs Over Baghdad.

There is a concept of “information hazard“, the idea is that just by hearing it you put yourself in danger. The classic example is Roko’s basilisk, so read at your peril. :)

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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

Hey mate. Sorry for the long delay in getting this one to you, I’ve been busy!

The book I mentioned was Overprescribing Madness: What’s driving Australia’s mental health epidemic by Dr Martin Whitely. I haven’t read the whole thing yet but I think it asks important questions.

Begging the question (also known as “assuming the conclusion”) is a logical fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion. Unfortunately this is widely misunderstood and usually when people say something “begs the question” what they really mean is that something “raises the question”, which is different altogether.

We discussed Philip K. Dick, a prolific science fiction author. At least I think we did. My notes actually say “Philip L. Dick”, but my search engine has never heard of him.

When they filmed the Landspeeder in the first Star Wars movie they put Vaseline on the camera lens. Apparently the Vaseline smear was nicknamed “the force field” during editing.

Existential dread (also known as existential crisis) is some negative emotional reactions many people who think too hard about the nature of life and reality often experience when they first come to realize they are living a brief life in an absurd world. It’s a real phenomenon. Actually happens to people.

I have a note here that some people pronounce UTS as “uterus”. Uncultured swine! :)

I’m listening, how can I help?

We discussed neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which is a fun idea, but probably bunk. I dunno. I do believe that what we say to ourselves (our inner dialog) and others does affect our reality though.

GAF = Gay As Fuck. (Let that start affecting your reality.)

I have a note here that “that’s where modernity fails, and postmodernity triumphs”, but what that was in respect to is now lost to time (unless you remember).

How many dead friends? Easily seven good friends lost to suicide.

The Northern Lights are amazing and beautiful. I suspect I will never see them live.

Homework

Posted on by
Reply

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

Hey mate. I had bit of an adventure on the bus up to visit you today. The bus ran out of AdBlue and we had to stop at the depot for a new bus. On the way I struck up a conversation with a few other passengers, talking about politics and philosophy and such. During the chat my interlocutors recommended two books for me to read, being Killing for Country: A Family Story and “Hold On, Let Go”, but there were multiple results for a search for “Hold On, Let Go” so I’m not sure exactly which book was recommended.

I found DisplayPort vs. HDMI: Which Is Better? which basically says DisplayPort is better but HDMI is good anyway.

Why are you giving me the secret signal to shut up?

So “EQ” is about “emotional intelligence”. There has been a lot written on the topic, this seemed like a good primer: How Can I Improve Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

This guy Kyle Kingsbury, a.k.a “Aphyr“, is a first rate genius and a rather wild individual into… leather, and such. He did some excellent creative writing about programmers and their craft which I’ve documented here: The Technical Interview.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

The above quote from Tolstoy gave rise to what became known as the Anna Karenina principle: a deficiency in any one of a number of factors dooms an endeavor to failure. Consequently, a successful endeavor (subject to this principle) is one for which every possible deficiency has been avoided.

You made the observation that these days our narratives are more about individuals than in the past when they were more around collectives such as nations and religions.

My comment about Leonard Cohen was that he is an apologist for decadence and immorality. Also we joked that we could rewrite his famous song as “Everybody doesn’t know”.

I have told you about this before, but I mentioned again about Musk feigning thought in an interview. Check this out. He totally pretends to think deeply about the question! It’s awful to watch, like bad acting!

The TED talk about using paper towels: How to use one paper towel | Joe Smith | TEDxConcordiaUPortland. The fun part of this talk (apart from its central thesis) is the bit where he says “Why twelve? Twelve apostles. Twelve tribes. Twelve zodiac signs. Twelve months. And the one I like best: it’s the biggest number with one syllable.”

When Kurt Cobain gets asked why he named the album Nevermind: “I don’t know. So I could brush off the question.”

I mentioned about the cool retro games console I picked up from Vinnies for $15. I tell more about this and demo it on my video blog over here: In The Lab With Jay Jay – October 31, 2023 – Uboxing of Mini Classic Game Console.

Everyone is just collecting a paycheck.

You played COLD WAR KIDS – WE USED TO VACATION for us.

I kissed the kids at noon
Then stumbled out the room
I caught a cab

Ran up a tab
On 7th and flower
Beth's recital I had to run
Missed my son's graduation

Punched the Nichols boy
For taking his seat
He gets all that anger from me
Still things could be much worse
Natural disasters on the evening news

Still things could be much worse
We still got our health
My paycheck in the mail
I promised to my wife and children
I'd never touch another drink

As long as I live
But even then
It sounds so soothing
This will blow over in time
This will all blow over in time

I'm just an honest man
Provide for me and mine
I give a check to tax-deductible
Charity organizations
Two weeks paid vacation won't
Heal the damage done

I need another one
Still things could be much worse
Natural disasters on the evening news
Still things could be much worse

We still got our health
My paycheck in the mail
I promised to my wife and children
I'd never touch another drink
As long as I live
But even then
It sounds so soothing
To mix a gin
And sink into oblivion
I promised to my wife and children
That accident
Left everyone a little shook up
But at the meetings
I felt so empty
This will blow over in time
This will all blow over in time

I will have to remember to get you some Hail Mary credit cards… with flybuys.

My favorite contemporary philosopher George Lakoff did some great work on the topic of “moral accounting” and how we conceive of that. There’s a good introduction to the ideas over here: Metaphor, Morality, and Politics.

I mentioned Raymond Chen who is a programmer from Microsoft who has a blog The Old New Thing.

I mentioned that experts (to the extent they even exist) usually know the boundaries of their subject, as in they have an idea of its full extent. In contrast non-experts are still trying to get a grip on the boundaries and extent of the subject, and there are still a lot of grey areas for them which they haven’t yet seen beyond.

Jordan Peterson. Conservative. Weirdo. Yuck.

You don’t have to eat everything on your plate! If there was too much food on your plate it was wasted when it was cooked and served, not when you didn’t eat it! If you want to be moral and less wasteful with your food stop the waste by not cooking or serving food which you don’t need, or save what you didn’t eat for later.

Mark Osborne of Happy Product, Inc. fame made this landmark video: MORE.

You said that in life we have to do things which are bigger than us. And I agree.

Mo Gawdat is an important contemporary intellectual (author, speaker, etc). He used to work for big tech companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Google. He came up with the equation for happiness: “happiness is greater than or equal to your perception of the events in your life, minus your expectation of how life should behave.” He has made a lot of videos about the challenges we will face with AI which you can find on his website www.mogawdat.com. Two of his recent books include Solve For Happy: Engineer Your Path to Joy and Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World. If you only have time for one of Mo’s video this one is a good one: Mo Gawdat: AI Today, Tomorrow and How You Can Save Our World (Nordic Business Forum 2023).

I mentioned the Curse of knowledge.

T-shirts:

  • I know you’ve got reasons, they’re just wrong
  • I grew up without a t-shirt
  • I grew up without a television, which is why I’m better than everyone else
  • &lt;3