Entries Tagged 'life' ↓

Edit: To avoid confusion, this is a copy-paste from the original post. I agree with the sentiment of this piece, which is the reason for the reposting. However, I’ve also heard comment about the rape allegations, and obviously if those prove to be true, then I don’t sympathise with that aspect of Julian’s character.

I am Julian Assange.

I want information so that I can hold my government accountable. If my country acts improperly and in my name, I want the proof. I want to know if there actually is no evidence proving weapons of mass destruction. I want to know if America is working with Israel to overthrow Iran’s leadership. I want data that has not been spun by reporters that work for publishers and broadcasters with political and business goals that conflict with the facts. I want to know.

I am Julian Assange because I know unfettered information is valuable to democracy and a peaceful world. I can make the best decisions with the most knowledge. I can vote for the best candidates. I can support the smartest policies to help my country and the world. I am not naïve; I know that not every operation can be transparent but I have a right to know its outcome and how it has affected my country and me.

I do not believe Julian Assange has done anything wrong. The cables that have been published have all been printed in newspapers and redacted to protect individuals at risk. I do not want my country to prosecute a man whose actions are changing the way we get information and how we make critical decisions. I now know that my president and my country’s military have not been honest about the war in Afghanistan. I know that my country has killed civilians and that we have refused to acknowledge our mistakes. I have learned that our allies are secretly consorting with our enemies.

I am also Pfc. Bradley Manning. I know that if I saw the disturbing information come across my desk that I would have confronted the conflict between my oath of service to my country and the immorality of its behavior. I do not believe I would have been able to ignore American helicopters gunning down journalists carrying cameras. I believe I would have acted on my conscience and found a way to reveal the facts. There was a reporter at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam but there was only a gun camera on the US helicopter in Iraq. And the Internet. And Bradley Manning.

I believe that governments are out of control and citizens have a decreasing belief that they can influence decisions. WikiLeaks and the Internet are empowering individuals and groups with information. Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are the first two faces and voices in a crowd that will soon be too big to control. Their arrests and charges and even prosecution will only spawn a broader resistance against war and deception and corruption. The Internet is now the reporter. This is the way the world is. I do not want to hear that there will always be wars and spying and death. I want information to prevent them and to build peace.

I am saddened that Australia’s government is once more acting as a lapdog for American interests and is not demanding sovereign rights for one of its citizens. I am also distressed that the president of my country who ran for office promising a transparent government is trying to find a way to prosecute a foreign national, and is preventing Pfc Manning from speaking with his family. WikiLeaks has shown there is an America in civics textbooks and an America that functions differently in the real world. Adequate information might move us closer to the ideal. I no longer trust my president. I do not trust my congress. I place my trust in facts and I do not get them from most of the media. But I still want to know.

I am Julian Assange. And if you care about the truth, you are, too.

Also at http://moorethink.com

This was originally posted here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/i-am-julian-assange_b_793583.html

To support Wikileaks visit here:

http://wikileaks.audreywatters.com/support.html

Edit: To avoid confusion, this is a copy-paste from the original post. I agree with the sentiment of this piece, which is the reason for the reposting. However, I've also heard comment about the rape allegations, and obviously if those prove to be true, then I don't sympathise with that aspect of Julian's character. I am Julian Assange. I want information so that I can hold my government accountable. If my country acts improperly and in my name, I want the proof. I want to know if there actually is no evidence proving weapons of mass destruction. I want to know if America is working with Israel to overthrow Iran’s leadership. I want data that has not been spun by reporters that work for publishers and broadcasters with political and business goals that conflict with the facts. I want to know. I am Julian Assange because I know unfettered information is valuable to democracy and a peaceful world. I can make the best decisions with the most knowledge. I can vote for the best candidates. I can support the smartest policies to help my country and the world. I am not naïve; I know that not every operation can be transparent but I have a right to know its outcome and how it has affected my country and me. I do not believe Julian Assange has done anything wrong. The cables that have been published have all been printed in newspapers and redacted to protect individuals at risk. I do not want my country to prosecute a man whose actions are changing the way we get information and how we make critical decisions. I now know that my president and my country’s military have not been honest about the war in Afghanistan. I know that my country has killed civilians and that we have refused to acknowledge our mistakes. I have learned that our allies are secretly consorting with our enemies. I am also Pfc. Bradley Manning. I know that if I saw the disturbing information come across my desk that I would have confronted the conflict between my oath of service to my country and the immorality of its behavior. I do not believe I would have been able to ignore American helicopters gunning down journalists carrying cameras. I believe I would have acted on my conscience and found a way to reveal the facts. There was a reporter at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam but there was only a gun camera on the US helicopter in Iraq. And the Internet. And Bradley Manning. I believe that governments are out of control and citizens have a decreasing belief that they can influence decisions. WikiLeaks and the Internet are empowering individuals and groups with information. Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are the first two faces and voices in a crowd that will soon be too big to control. Their arrests and charges and even prosecution will only spawn a broader resistance against war and deception and corruption. The Internet is now the reporter. This is the way the world is. I do not want to hear that there will always be wars and spying and death. I want information to prevent them and to build peace. I am saddened that Australia’s government is once more acting as a lapdog for American interests and is not demanding sovereign rights for one of its citizens. I am also distressed that the president of my country who ran for office promising a transparent government is trying to find a way to prosecute a foreign national, and is preventing Pfc Manning from speaking with his family. WikiLeaks has shown there is an America in civics textbooks and an America that functions differently in the real world. Adequate information might move us closer to the ideal. I no longer trust my president. I do not trust my congress. I place my trust in facts and I do not get them from most of the media. But I still want to know. I am Julian Assange. And if you care about the truth, you are, too. Also at http://moorethink.com This was originally posted here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/i-am-julian-assange_b_793583.html To support Wikileaks visit here: http://wikileaks.audreywatters.com/support.html

• OpenCog is getting get a bit of comment on twitter, which might in part be due to it being linked on Hacker News.
• I’ve started up at Jai Thai Kickboxing, which is just around the corner from where I live so I hope to get 4-5 sessions in a week. After my first session my shins and feet are somewhat bruised, this could indicate that my technique leaves something to be desired. Equally likely however is that my shins just need to harden up!
• I read in the paper that Avatar is the faster movie to reach a billion dollars at the box office. It was very pretty, but it was also only a passable story. I hope that Avatar’s success will show the movie industry that they need to adapt by making cinema an immersive experience so that they are providing people a reason to go to the cinema instead of watching movies at home.
• My life experience keeps expanding and it makes me feel alive. I stand by my assertion that the meaning of life is experience.

OpenCog is getting get a bit of comment on twitter, which might in part be due to it being linked on Hacker News. I've started up at Jai Thai Kickboxing, which is just around the corner from where I live so I hope to get 4-5 sessions in a week. After my first session my shins and feet are somewhat bruised, this could indicate that my technique leaves something to be desired. Equally likely however is that my shins just need to harden up! I read in the paper that Avatar is the faster movie to reach a billion dollars at the box office. It was very pretty, but it was also only a passable story. I hope that Avatar's success will show the movie industry that they need to adapt by making cinema an immersive experience so that they are providing people a reason to go to the cinema instead of watching movies at home. My life experience keeps expanding and it makes me feel alive. I stand by my assertion that the meaning of life is experience.

It’s Christmas time, and I enjoy getting gifts for people even though I’m not religious. I’ve also been enjoying getting rid of lots of stuff I don’t use/need. This not only makes me feel like I’m clearing out mental space (I have Tyler Durden’s words echoing in my head “The things you own, end up owning you”) but also makes me feel good that other people are getting something that they want/need. Especially since I’m either giving the stuff away or selling it cheaply on TradeMe.

I googled “It’s better to give than receive.” since that’s the quote that’s automatically been ingrained into my psyche. Turns out it’s from the Bible, Acts 20:35 (King James Version):

“I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

(I guess “more blessed” translates to “better” these days.)

Never mind that giving psychologically makes us happier than spending money on ourselves. It also physiologically affects us, by releasing, not only the good old reward molecule Dopamine, but also the love neurotransmitter Oxytocin (unfortunately the mention of oxytocin isn’t in the abstract, but it’s discussed here).

There is another aspect of gift giving I want to mention, which I haven’t got any references for, but is based on my intuition on the mechanics of intelligence. When we give someone a gift, we usually have a reason for it, and when we choose a gift for them we tend to think “Will the person like this?”. The act of that means we have to emulate, model, and predict what they want and by activation it re-enforces their pattern within our mind. Does this inadvertently get us thinking of other aspects of their personality and of what other people might like too? I’ve discussed how part of love is the strong bonding of patterns, one’s self in another mind, their mind emulated in the self. This twinning makes us feel connected to the other person. To me, it makes sense that going through this process while selecting gifts for other people will inevitably make one feel more connected in general. And as mentioned above, the neurotransmitter associated with love is also released during giving.

Maybe this is why the gifting economy of Kiwiburn (and the American equivalent) is such a central part of the festivals and contributes to them being such enjoyable experiences.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
– Winston Churchill

It's Christmas time, and I enjoy getting gifts for people even though I'm not religious. I've also been enjoying getting rid of lots of stuff I don't use/need. This not only makes me feel like I'm clearing out mental space (I have Tyler Durden's words echoing in my head "The things you own, end up owning you") but also makes me feel good that other people are getting something that they want/need. Especially since I'm either giving the stuff away or selling it cheaply on TradeMe. I googled "It's better to give than receive." since that's the quote that's automatically been ingrained into my psyche. Turns out it's from the Bible, Acts 20:35 (King James Version): "I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" (I guess "more blessed" translates to "better" these days.) Never mind that giving psychologically makes us happier than spending money on ourselves. It also physiologically affects us, by releasing, not only the good old reward molecule Dopamine, but also the love neurotransmitter Oxytocin (unfortunately the mention of oxytocin isn't in the abstract, but it's discussed here). There is another aspect of gift giving I want to mention, which I haven't got any references for, but is based on my intuition on the mechanics of intelligence. When we give someone a gift, we usually have a reason for it, and when we choose a gift for them we tend to think "Will the person like this?". The act of that means we have to emulate, model, and predict what they want and by activation it re-enforces their pattern within our mind. Does this inadvertently get us thinking of other aspects of their personality and of what other people might like too? I've discussed how part of love is the strong bonding of patterns, one's self in another mind, their mind emulated in the self. This twinning makes us feel connected to the other person. To me, it makes sense that going through this process while selecting gifts for other people will inevitably make one feel more connected in general. And as mentioned above, the neurotransmitter associated with love is also released during giving. Maybe this is why the gifting economy of Kiwiburn (and the American equivalent) is such a central part of the festivals and contributes to them being such enjoyable experiences. "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill

This is a piece of writing from Hubbards cereal newsletter #36 – I used to have it on my wall when I was incredibly depressed, it was a amusing light in otherwise dark time. I’m miles from that place now, so am going to throw the newsletter out, but the writing itself deserves transcribing.

Will it be okay?
by Crescent Dragonwagon.

Yes it will.

But what if a big dog comes?

You will know whether it is friendly or not, if it is friendly, you pat it, if it is not you stand perfectly still and unafraid and it stops barking and comes to you and sits quietly beside you.

But what if there is thunder and lightning?

Continue reading →

This is a piece of writing from Hubbards cereal newsletter #36 - I used to have it on my wall when I was incredibly depressed, it was a amusing light in otherwise dark time. I'm miles from that place now, so am going to throw the newsletter out, but the writing itself deserves transcribing. Will it be okay? by Crescent Dragonwagon. Yes it will. But what if a big dog comes? You will know whether it is friendly or not, if it is friendly, you pat it, if it is not you stand perfectly still and unafraid and it stops barking and comes to you and sits quietly beside you. But what if there is thunder and lightning? You sit at your window and watch the rain beating down over the houses and fields in the dark night. You see how special it is because the lightning shows the rainy sky and countryside and all the city. You pay attention because the loud thunder is calling you saying "Look, the world is receiving a deep drink". But what if there is lots of snow? You put on your thermals , gloves, coat and scarf and play in it. But what if snakes come in the night? You keep a flute by your bed and play a song and the snakes hear and are quiet. But what if the cabbages don't come up? We drive to the nursery, purchase seven tomato plants, just in case. Then we come home we dig seven holes in the garden and plant a tomato in each one. We pat back the earth around them and pour a bucket of water around them. Then we go inside and read a book. When we come out again, there is a tiny row of cabbage seedlings. But what if I hate everyone? You run away. You pack raisins, walnuts, oranges, crackers and a flashlight in a bandanna. You knot its four corners together and walk and walk until you come to the park. You stay all afternoon, sitting by yourself under a tree. When you come home again, you don't hate everyone. But what if someone hates me? You feel lonely and sad. You walk and walk until you come to a small pond. You kneel in the grass by the edge of the pond, you see something move. You put out your hand and a tiny frog hops onto it. Very carefully you lift your hand up to your ear and the frog whispers "Other people love you. Maybe that person will love you again, maybe not, in any case, it is all right". But what if nobody likes the way I dance? You go dancing in the woods, alone in the crackling leaves. One day you meet someone else dancing in the woods and you dance together. You throw leaves on each other, you lie down in the leaves. Then you go home and draw pictures and drink warm milo together. But what if you die? My loving doesn't die. It says with you, when you remember you and me, you say "What can I do with so much love? I will have to give some away". So you love thunder and lightning, dogs and snakes, snow and planting cabbages. You dance with other people in the leaves and run away with them. You love them and they love you, and you eat raisins together, so, yes it will be okay.

I’m not old, a mere 27 years in fact, but there are a few things I’ve come to discover. Things that it’d be nice to have been taught in school, but that instead I’ve discovered haphazardly:

1. The first step to doing anything is believing you can – One thing that I’ve noticed, is that some people sabotage themselves before they even try. They just believe that they can’t do something, or it’s too hard. Some people have told me I’m smart, whereas mostly I think I’m pretty average. What I do however, is have an absence of restriction. If I want to do something, the only restriction is time. This is important when you’re doing something like working on a thinking machine.
2. You can’t do everything – You’ll notice the caveat above about time being the only restriction. When I was a kid, I wanted to read the entirety of Encyclopaedia Britannica… I got to about “Aardvark” before I realised it was mostly dull (no offense to the long-nosed beasts!). I’m still struggling with this one, I have so many things I’d like to do, that I frequently wonder if I’m overcommitted and if the more optimal path would be to obsessively focus on one thing and one thing only… but then I realised that if I tried that I’d get bored. I’m too curious and have grown up in the age of variegated knowledge at our finger tips.
3. Emotions are cues – they give you an indication of something going on internally. Something that might not be able to be immediately expressed verbally, and if it’s a negative emotion it probably indicates something isn’t right. And by “isn’t right” I don’t mean it’s necessarily to do with the external world, it could be an indication that there’s something inside that hasn’t been resolved. However, don’t make them the focus.. since everyone likes analogies, and I’m particularly good at straining my analogies: think of emotions like the gauges on your car for temperature, fuel, etc. They are important, so that the engine doesn’t explode, or so that you don’t run out of fuel, but if you spend the whole time focusing on the gauges, you’ll miss the scenary. Anger specifically, I feel can be boiled down to “when something or someone doesn’t act the way you expect/want them to” – every time I’ve been angry, it’s because my expectations don’t match reality… so mostly it’s about having a world view that doesn’t quite match reality (or the consensus of reality, as described below).
4. Nothing is objective – you can argue whatever view you like, but most of us reach consensus about a specific interpretation of physical reality because of shared modalities and the wet-ware for interpreting them. That doesn’t mean you’re right if you subscribe to the current scientific consensus. Humanity collectively believed silly things like the world being flat, or the Earth being the centre of the universe. Knowledge and truth are dynamic, and they’ll continue to be so. Keep an open mind. And because I like loops, link back to point 1 about believing you can… since nothing is objective, you can believe you can do anything you like[1].

I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones that came to me just now. What do you wish they’d mentioned to you when in school?

[1] If you believe you can fly, you can (buy a plane ticket, or go sky-diving). But jumping off a building is just dumb, so don’t do that ok?

I'm not old, a mere 27 years in fact, but there are a few things I've come to discover. Things that it'd be nice to have been taught in school, but that instead I've discovered haphazardly: The first step to doing anything is believing you can - One thing that I've noticed, is that some people sabotage themselves before they even try. They just believe that they can't do something, or it's too hard. Some people have told me I'm smart, whereas mostly I think I'm pretty average. What I do however, is have an absence of restriction. If I want to do something, the only restriction is time. This is important when you're doing something like working on a thinking machine. You can't do everything - You'll notice the caveat above about time being the only restriction. When I was a kid, I wanted to read the entirety of Encyclopaedia Britannica... I got to about "Aardvark" before I realised it was mostly dull (no offense to the long-nosed beasts!). I'm still struggling with this one, I have so many things I'd like to do, that I frequently wonder if I'm overcommitted and if the more optimal path would be to obsessively focus on one thing and one thing only... but then I realised that if I tried that I'd get bored. I'm too curious and have grown up in the age of variegated knowledge at our finger tips. Emotions are cues - they give you an indication of something going on internally. Something that might not be able to be immediately expressed verbally, and if it's a negative emotion it probably indicates something isn't right. And by "isn't right" I don't mean it's necessarily to do with the external world, it could be an indication that there's something inside that hasn't been resolved. However, don't make them the focus.. since everyone likes analogies, and I'm particularly good at straining my analogies: think of emotions like the gauges on your car for temperature, fuel, etc. They are important, so that the engine doesn't explode, or so that you don't run out of fuel, but if you spend the whole time focusing on the gauges, you'll miss the scenary. Anger specifically, I feel can be boiled down to "when something or someone doesn't act the way you expect/want them to" - every time I've been angry, it's because my expectations don't match reality... so mostly it's about having a world view that doesn't quite match reality (or the consensus of reality, as described below). Nothing is objective - you can argue whatever view you like, but most of us reach consensus about a specific interpretation of physical reality because of shared modalities and the wet-ware for interpreting them. That doesn't mean you're right if you subscribe to the current scientific consensus. Humanity collectively believed silly things like the world being flat, or the Earth being the centre of the universe. Knowledge and truth are dynamic, and they'll continue to be so. Keep an open mind. And because I like loops, link back to point 1 about believing you can... since nothing is objective, you can believe you can do anything you like[1]. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones that came to me just now. What do you wish they'd mentioned to you when in school? [1] If you believe you can fly, you can (buy a plane ticket, or go sky-diving). But jumping off a building is just dumb, so don't do that ok?

An essay by Paul Graham on Why Nerds are Unpopular:

When I was in school, suicide was a constant topic among the smarter kids. No one I knew did it, but several planned to, and some may have tried. Mostly this was just a pose. Like other teenagers, we loved the dramatic, and suicide seemed very dramatic. But partly it was because our lives were at times genuinely miserable.

Bullying was only part of the problem. Another problem, and possibly an even worse one, was that we never had anything real to work on. Humans like to work; in most of the world, your work is your identity. And all the work we did was pointless, or seemed so at the time.

…

And there was no way to opt out. The adults had agreed among themselves that this was to be the route to college. The only way to escape this empty life was to submit to it.

Which, in my personal experience is completely true.

I’m a lot happier when the work and tasks I’m doing have a reason. Written problems bored me silly, and I got much more reward back from helping my friends with them. Scripted laboratory work was similar, although a little better.

Perhaps that’s why I liked computer science early on. It was possible to easily experiment with whatever you liked. You didn’t need the tutors to arrange the right chemicals or reagents beforehand (as in biochemistry or genetics).

An essay by Paul Graham on Why Nerds are Unpopular: When I was in school, suicide was a constant topic among the smarter kids. No one I knew did it, but several planned to, and some may have tried. Mostly this was just a pose. Like other teenagers, we loved the dramatic, and suicide seemed very dramatic. But partly it was because our lives were at times genuinely miserable. Bullying was only part of the problem. Another problem, and possibly an even worse one, was that we never had anything real to work on. Humans like to work; in most of the world, your work is your identity. And all the work we did was pointless, or seemed so at the time. ... And there was no way to opt out. The adults had agreed among themselves that this was to be the route to college. The only way to escape this empty life was to submit to it. Which, in my personal experience is completely true. I'm a lot happier when the work and tasks I'm doing have a reason. Written problems bored me silly, and I got much more reward back from helping my friends with them. Scripted laboratory work was similar, although a little better. Perhaps that's why I liked computer science early on. It was possible to easily experiment with whatever you liked. You didn't need the tutors to arrange the right chemicals or reagents beforehand (as in biochemistry or genetics).

In the past, I’ve written about the drug like effects of love. When I wrote that, it was from a retrospective viewpoint based on my prior experience but while single.

Now I find myself in love again, with a fantastic woman, and it’s interesting to be just a little bit more aware of the psychological stuff that goes on. The warm feeling of love, the companionship, and the equality.

However, there have also been the less pleasant effects. For instance, I’ve noticed that after spending a lot of time with my partner, and then going to a period of her absence, the day after I feel listless and generally down. “Of course” you say, “that’s what it’s like, you miss your partner when you’re apart!”. I understand that, and I don’t want to be indifferent to when the next time I’ll see her will be. It’s nice looking forward to spending time with someone. At the same time however, I wish the physiological effects were not so real, because they don’t actually contribute to my mental health as far as I can tell. After the initial down, I fortunately remember that I really appreciate and enjoy my time alone and get to work on a variety of fantastic and interesting projects. Time as an individual cements the concept of my independent self, which I think is important, so that when I spend more time with my partner I have more to offer.

In fact, she’s expressed similar ideas, but from a different angle. Bringer together two whole people is more amazing than seeking yourself in or minimising yourself for another.

In the past, I've written about the drug like effects of love. When I wrote that, it was from a retrospective viewpoint based on my prior experience but while single. Now I find myself in love again, with a fantastic woman, and it's interesting to be just a little bit more aware of the psychological stuff that goes on. The warm feeling of love, the companionship, and the equality. However, there have also been the less pleasant effects. For instance, I've noticed that after spending a lot of time with my partner, and then going to a period of her absence, the day after I feel listless and generally down. "Of course" you say, "that's what it's like, you miss your partner when you're apart!". I understand that, and I don't want to be indifferent to when the next time I'll see her will be. It's nice looking forward to spending time with someone. At the same time however, I wish the physiological effects were not so real, because they don't actually contribute to my mental health as far as I can tell. After the initial down, I fortunately remember that I really appreciate and enjoy my time alone and get to work on a variety of fantastic and interesting projects. Time as an individual cements the concept of my independent self, which I think is important, so that when I spend more time with my partner I have more to offer. In fact, she's expressed similar ideas, but from a different angle. Bringer together two whole people is more amazing than seeking yourself in or minimising yourself for another.

Recently I’ve been reading a combination of Undulating ungulate‘s book draft which discusses science, mysticism, and reality.

I’ve also been reading up some about quantum physics, and the idea of the evolution of physical properties of the universe. I’d like to read more about the ideas and work of John Wheeler and David Finkelstein (both being suggested researchers to investigate when I asked Ben Goertzel about a starting point on evolving physical laws).

This, combined with working on stuff for OpenCog, has led to several immensely surreal moments. Mostly while lying in bed about to drift of to sleep, when all reality and time collapses into a single point. Well perhaps not all reality, but at least my life and memories. Possibly this is a cognitive effect of memories being more easily retrievable in the state just before sleep? At any rate, given that: I think free will is just an immensely useful illusion of consciousness, and that physics tells us that the fabric of reality is space-time instead of two perpendicular concepts. It’s not infeasible to believe that seeing the future is possible. In fact, that’s exactly what intelligence does. We make predictions about the future. The question is, can we make predictions on things that, based on our limited of knowledge about the universe, are essentially random or make predictions that are more probabilistically accurate than our past experience allows?

I’ve also bought Outside the gates of science by Damien Broderick, which should be an interesting read. The book addresses some of the paranormal effects in experiments that have been deemed statistically significant but as of yet cannot be rationally explained (actually I bought this last year, I just have lots of reading queued up).

Recently I've been reading a combination of Undulating ungulate's book draft which discusses science, mysticism, and reality. I've also been reading up some about quantum physics, and the idea of the evolution of physical properties of the universe. I'd like to read more about the ideas and work of John Wheeler and David Finkelstein (both being suggested researchers to investigate when I asked Ben Goertzel about a starting point on evolving physical laws). This, combined with working on stuff for OpenCog, has led to several immensely surreal moments. Mostly while lying in bed about to drift of to sleep, when all reality and time collapses into a single point. Well perhaps not all reality, but at least my life and memories. Possibly this is a cognitive effect of memories being more easily retrievable in the state just before sleep? At any rate, given that: I think free will is just an immensely useful illusion of consciousness, and that physics tells us that the fabric of reality is space-time instead of two perpendicular concepts. It's not infeasible to believe that seeing the future is possible. In fact, that's exactly what intelligence does. We make predictions about the future. The question is, can we make predictions on things that, based on our limited of knowledge about the universe, are essentially random or make predictions that are more probabilistically accurate than our past experience allows? I've also bought Outside the gates of science by Damien Broderick, which should be an interesting read. The book addresses some of the paranormal effects in experiments that have been deemed statistically significant but as of yet cannot be rationally explained (actually I bought this last year, I just have lots of reading queued up).

I’ve going back through some draft posts which I never published. Here’s one from way back last year some time. I should note that I don’t really believe I have Asperger’s or anything like that. I also now believe that “breadth of ideas” is a natural consequence of the parallel nature of the brain. But, being the hoarder and preservationist of digital information that I am, I couldn’t just delete this… so here it is.

…

In the past I’ve read about aspects of Asperger’s syndrome and in the past have wondered if I’ve got some small inclination towards it. I function reasonably well now though, but this is only through years of practice and working on the things the are traditionally deficient in someone with the syndrome. On deeper reading of the wikipedia article, it’s more likely that they are simply surface similarities. I certainly learnt a lot from being in intimate relationships and am constantly trying to improve (and maintain) my social abilities, but the fact is that I taught myself to look people in the eye while holding a conversation, to exhibit confidence instead of trepidation and to use my empathy to feel what others feel (instead of shutting it out of my head due to it being overwhelming).
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I've going back through some draft posts which I never published. Here's one from way back last year some time. I should note that I don't really believe I have Asperger's or anything like that. I also now believe that "breadth of ideas" is a natural consequence of the parallel nature of the brain. But, being the hoarder and preservationist of digital information that I am, I couldn't just delete this... so here it is. ... In the past I've read about aspects of Asperger's syndrome and in the past have wondered if I've got some small inclination towards it. I function reasonably well now though, but this is only through years of practice and working on the things the are traditionally deficient in someone with the syndrome. On deeper reading of the wikipedia article, it's more likely that they are simply surface similarities. I certainly learnt a lot from being in intimate relationships and am constantly trying to improve (and maintain) my social abilities, but the fact is that I taught myself to look people in the eye while holding a conversation, to exhibit confidence instead of trepidation and to use my empathy to feel what others feel (instead of shutting it out of my head due to it being overwhelming). Certain characteristics I've noticed... and that others have commented on in the past, that match what I've heard people talking about Autism being similar to, is a high sensitivity to stimulus and being unusually observant. People have discussed the idea that Autism isn't an inability to interact or perceive the world, but that it's the mind shutting down interaction channels due to an Autistic persons perception of the world being extremely intense. More than the mind can handle. I find that in social situations of more than a couple of people draining after a while. I have difficulty in public speaking, not because I'm particular fearful of public speaking, but because I'm trying to process the entire crowds reaction. I get caught up in every subtle nuance of peoples motion and expression, and when you're trying to track 200 people's expressions, it's hard to keep your mind focussed on what your talking about. This inability to focus, or the high sensitivity to distraction, becomes a burden when trying to work on projects. Instead of a depth first search and actually getting to the end of chain of reasoning or the total completion of a concept, my mind will do a breadth first search. Scanning multiple possibilities, inundating me with numerous possibilities, and sticking me in a frozen position where I find it difficult to move forward (although perhaps it's just that spreading attention over 100 different ideas makes it look like no progress is being made!). In some sense, this might be why I'm in research and seem to be doing pretty well at it, I can see the different possibilities (my thesis had to be chopped back a fair amount because there was a lot of POTENTIAL ideas in it, that although interesting, were distractions from the actual real experimental work I did). In the past I've found the use of of stimulants such as caffeine to be beneficial in making my focus narrower. Such that the thinking is better for getting work done once an idea exists, rather than for creating novel thought. Another substance which is mostly for promoting wakefulness and combating narcolepsy is Modafinil, which also has the ability to cause me to be more motivated to make progress but doesn't make that focus quite as narrow. Ironically, I'm working on attention allocation in the open-source artificial intelligence system OpenCog, so perhaps we should have a caffeine mode in the attention allocation system (this is doable, in a narrowing of focus sense, since the attentional focus boundary is an adjustable level that indicates the cutoff for when items are in the attentional focus of the digital mind).

I’m not a particular regular updater with this particular blog (too many things have been demanding my attention lately), but I thought I’d drop a note to say I’ll be off the radar for a week or so…

I’ll be attending Burning man. I’m immensely looking forward to this as this is the first year in several that’s actually been feasible for me to get there from New Zealand. I’ll be with an Australian theme camp called Straya that a friend of mine put me in contact with, and who’ll also be there.

As well as Burning man, I plan to hang out in Washington D.C with Ben to talk about our work on OpenCog. Then I’ll stay in San Francisco for 5-6 weeks (end of Sep till start of Nov) to attend the Singularity Summit followed by the CogDev Workshop (an OpenCog coding jam, details to be finalised, but likely to be just after the Summit).

If you’ll be at any of these events and want to chat, drop me a line

I'm not a particular regular updater with this particular blog (too many things have been demanding my attention lately), but I thought I'd drop a note to say I'll be off the radar for a week or so... I'll be attending Burning man. I'm immensely looking forward to this as this is the first year in several that's actually been feasible for me to get there from New Zealand. I'll be with an Australian theme camp called Straya that a friend of mine put me in contact with, and who'll also be there. As well as Burning man, I plan to hang out in Washington D.C with Ben to talk about our work on OpenCog. Then I'll stay in San Francisco for 5-6 weeks (end of Sep till start of Nov) to attend the Singularity Summit followed by the CogDev Workshop (an OpenCog coding jam, details to be finalised, but likely to be just after the Summit). If you'll be at any of these events and want to chat, drop me a line :)