Words aren't enough

We need an interface that can pull more than just words from our minds. We need a new model. Words have always fallen short for capturing the mind truly - they only provide a glimpse. I need ideas for some new way to be more expressive. Something beyond writing.

The Ultimate Language

The ultimate language - maybe it's a programming language merged with common language. A language that can speak to machines but also communicate human emotions and abstract thoughts.

Fire

http://dazedpeace.tumblr.com/post/34643398506

To have goals or to have no goals? We already have everything. Yet we create this illusion for ourselves that we're getting somewhere. As though creation - the most hailed ability of man - is necessarily good. Just do something, really. "Just create" would be a good philosophy... if we were sure that creating was always for the better. Which it's not. But the drive from the world around us is there... to create.

Learn, I guess, is a better philosophy. Just learn. Just experience.

Trying to break free

Freedom. Such a universal theme to existence.

Weird thought: What if we ARE the result of artificial intelligence? Like we're just the discarded creation of some ingenious formation in outer space?

The Matrix isn't bad

“No, the Matrix isn’t wrong. Not at all. In fact the humans in the Matrix are the real villains of the series. Lets look at the facts of what lead to the actual Matrix. Humanity created the machines and AI, they used them as slaves, and they rebelled. In this war they were defeated. If you watch the animatrix you actually see that the machines were willing to make peace with the humans, but they refused any such notions. Instead they kept fighting to the point where they unleashed a doomsday weapon that blotted out the sun permanently. This was an effort to kill the machines, an act of genocide, but arguably this act would destroy them as well. As expected this act actually weakened the human race by starvation, but the machines adapted quickly.

Instead of leaving the human race to die, the machines in an act of mercy decide to preserve the human race to function in a forced symbiosis. It is my belief that the machines could have used other animals to power themselves, or even used geothermal power as the humans did. Indeed, the machines are the ones who show mercy to the humans, even attempt to make their lives utopian, something the humans could have never achieved themselves, but of course they reject this. One has to even ask why the quality of life in the matrix should even matter to the machines. I believe this also proves the machines to be empathetic and more so than the human race. We actually see this empathy later with the “rogue” program that has a family (the indian couple at the train station). This empathy is something the human have not shown the machines in anyway.

So yes the matrix is a prison, but it is a prison built for humanity’s and the machines’ own protection. Humanity had proven to be not only self-destructive but also genocidal. This would be grounds enough to let the human race perish, but the machines had more mercy than to let that happen. They did realize that humanity did need to be controlled, but they actually did it in a very benevolent way, and imo they were shown a mercy that they didn’t deserve.

Furthermore, you have the rebel humans. Now lets look at these guys. You might be asking “megatom but if the machines are so benevolent and merciful why do they hunt down and kill the freed humans?” The answer is very simple. The freed humans and “the one” had all proven repeatedly to be proponents of destruction. Six times before the matrix, both humanity and the machines were brought to the edge of extinction due to the actions of the one. Granted the machines had begun to see this as some inevitability, they still needed to defend themselves from this act of terror or in reality hope to destroy it, which is why they continue to try to kill all the people of Zion.


TL;DR: The humans are the enemy, and consistently act as a force of destruction bringing both the machine race and the human race to the brink of destruction. The Matrix is a merciful prison to contain a violent race that inevitably causes destruction.”

-megatom0, redditor

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/xtxtj/this_is_kindof_a_stupid_question_but_is_there/c5psoy3

Recursive inspiration chain for the better of society. A unified language for all - the ultimate language. Related to storytelling. State of Mind. Would bring World Peace. Firework artist...

A build order for conversation that is always effective, interesting, stimulating to the other person. Switch between possible topics, like abstract, story, you-oriented, them-oriented, etc.

Maybe stories allow mankind to escape mortality.

Has the screen shaped the way people imagine? Before movies, before the screen, did people imagine and dream differently? Can the mind only imagine events as though they happen on a screen? Thus, is screenwriting a succinct form of imagination writing?

When does a thought become an idea? When does an idea become a dream? When does a dream become a pursuit? And, ultimately, when does a pursuit meet its end?

There is no spoon

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see... that it is not the spoon that bends; it is only yourself.

--The Matrix, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Matrix

This recently resurfaced in my mind. I was trying to solve a problem - what am I supposed to do for a career? - when I realized that the problem I was trying to solve didn't exist.

Reading this dialogue also brought back thoughts about the importance of changing yourself.
"...it is not the spoon that bends; it is only yourself."

AI thoughts

What if AI really should be Artificial Biology, and you have to let artificial beings develop over time to achieve the consciousness that we have? What if there is a law that says time for growth is a required ingredient for AI?

What if every human being had an artificial being grown alongside the human being at birth and throughout life so the human being carried a handy algorithm he could use to answer arbitrary/opinionated questions, like which photos in a huge album he liked the most? That would be so cool.

Portal 2 Collection of Thoughts

(spoilers ahead)

Portal 2 has a story worth some more analysis: collected thoughts from around...

Greek myth?
"Scholarly fans claim the plot is a Greek myth. Prometheus and Epimetheus created humanity, but Epimetheus (Wheatley) was useless. To help, Prometheus gave humans fire (GLaDOS gave Chell the Portal gun) and was cast into the pit of Tartaros for it. Signs? Elysium was a heavenly field of reeds, and P2 ends in a field. The depths of Aperture have 'Tartaros 9' on the walls. And the painting of Caroline and Cave shows Aeschylus - writer of Prometheus Bound."
-http://www.computerandvideogames.com/311288/portal-2-10-incredible-secrets-you-might-have-missed/?page=2

GLaDOS cares for Chell
This video I found presented some great ideas on Portal 2's story.

About the lyrics to the ending song, "Want You Gone": The first time, based on your past experience with GLaDOS' vitriolic humor, you would think she despises you but masks it behind clever language. But it's conceivable that she actually cares for you:
--
Well here we are again
It's always such a pleasure
Remember when you tried
to kill me twice?
Oh how we laughed and laughed
Except I wasn't laughing
Under the circumstances
I've been shockingly nice

You want your freedom?
Take it
That's what I'm counting on

I used to want you dead
but
Now I only want you gone

She was a lot like you
(Maybe not quite as heavy)
Now little Caroline is in here too // Caroline is still here? possible! GLaDOS then fake deleted caroline
One day they woke me up
So I could live forever
It's such a shame the same
will never happen to you // could be cruel, saying I will die eventually, or have a tone of honest longing

You've got your
short sad
life left
That's what I'm counting on // could be counting on my life as a bad thing, or that I should live it up!
I'll let you get right to it
Now I only want you gone

Goodbye my only friend
Oh, did you think I meant you?
That would be funny
if it weren't so sad // it's true! I am her only friend
Well you have been replaced
I don't need anyone now
When I delete you maybe
I'll stop feeling so bad // shown as "[REDACTED]" on the credits screen, suggesting GLaDOS' conflict

Go make some new disaster
That's what I'm counting on
You're someone else's problem // continued conflict within GLaDOS
Now I only want you gone
Now I only want you gone
Now I only want you...
gone
--
The Opera's singing in Italian - the words being translated into "my love" and stuff like that clearly show sympathy for Chell - strong indication that GLaDOS fake-deleted Caroline.

Idea: Chell is GLaDOS's daughter. GLaDOS was Caroline, Caroline looked really close to Cave Johnson in that secret painting, Caroline seemed really excited with Johnson in that one record about lemons (she got really excited), the bring-your-child-to-work day posters, the "by Chell" label on one of the posters (meaning Chell was the daughter of someone at Aperture Laboratories)...
when Wheatley makes jokes about Chell being adopted, GLaDOS remarks, what's wrong with being adopted anyway? (especially ironic because GLaDOS earlier on teases her about having no parents, during the time before GLaDOS recovers Caroline and her memories)

GLaDOS continues to antagonize Chell right before releasing Chell so as to protect Chell from knowing the truth - that GLaDOS's conscience is Chell's mother's conscience. To think that the mother would put her child through so many tests... cool ideas.

Another interesting perspective: http://minecraftthekingdom.forumotion.com/t987-portal-2-story-line-contains-spoilers

More rambling
Where do you draw the line for identity? Some might say GLaDOS is Caroline, while others might say Caroline is only a part of GLaDOS, or that Caroline is distributed across the laboratories and the turrets (hence the singing at the end)...

The moon scene was alluded to in the painting in the room you woke up in.

Time zones in Rails

Don't use Date.today or Date.yesterday if you set config.time_zone / you do things similar to this post or this time zones railscast.

These two functions of Date don't mix well with Rails' time zone setting features.

Instead, use Time.now.in_time_zone to get the time in the right time zone you specified or Time.now.in_time_zone.to_date for the date.

Time.now just gets the time of the place where the server is running.

Basically, get a time object and convert as appropriate.

Portal

Just finished Portal, one of the games I've heard of for the longest time. It's nice to finally set aside time to play it. 

The story has lots of meaning: It makes us question the morality of what we do in the name of science. Creating weapons for those still alive. Is it okay to kill others to improve our knowledge of science?

The crude humor is intriguing too... stories.

Amazing how music can capture a moment.

This reminds me of the post I had about the stigma of video games when they can be very meaningful and engaging stories just like books.

"Difference is the Differences" by George Watsky

Catchy song that got stuck in my head recently...

His lyrics incorporate so many allusions - I find it really impressive. And his meaning is remarkably cool too - I feel that I'll never be able to dig up all the meaning from his works.

The difference is the differences I've got? I think that makes sense. There's a point when all the small differences you possess create you, someone who, as a whole, is just so different from everyone else. There's a point when miniscule distinctions lead to qualitative differences that engender individuality. Uniqueness.

A level of art not understood

I encountered an interesting pianist during a TEDx event I attended back during my first year of college.

He began his story saying that the tones of the piano - the sounds he heard - weren't enough for him after decades of mastery. He wanted more from between the notes, from between the C and C#, the A and Ab.

So he manipulated the piano.

The piano I saw was so strange - contraptions inside, padding here and there - it seemed like a violation of the strings of the piano. The strings were altered such that he got what he wanted - a variety of new sounds. A new world of art to explore.

It was stimulating hearing about his feelings toward the piano, toward music, but I felt bothered when he played his own songs on his modified piano. What he called music sounded like noise to me.

I realized later that he reached a level of art that he alone grasped and that stimulated him but not others. Most others could not understand or appreciate his music. I've played piano for over a decade, and I couldn't find any sense of awe or wonder in his music. It was just noise to me.

I write because I wonder about this level of art - and its implications. To reach something as this man did must have felt fulfilling for him, but it led him down a path of intrinsic value, where few others could appreciate what he was doing. Some might call it insanity. Situations like this create this divide between practical enjoyment and aesthetic value... his work became a pursuit for him, but not to the benefit of many others. His work became a pursuit that only someone who was truly dedicated to the art could follow. A pioneer in his field, I guess - one that might not be appreciated immediately.

It reminds me of a quote... "To be great is to be misunderstood." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

...

Images in public/ for error pages on Rails 3.1-3.2

For error pages found in public/ for a Rails 3.1 or 3.2 app, you might want to put a quick, simple image and reference it with the normal html img tag instead of any of Rails' fancy image_tag such and such.

Easy way that works:
1. Put images in public/images
2. Reference images like

<img src="/images/my-pic.jpg" />

The Two Keys to Success

The Two Keys to Success:

1) Don't reveal everything you know

#kidding

Change the world - or yourself?

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -Leo Tolstoy

People can be so ambitious, dream so big – aspire to do great things... change the world.

But internal reflection? Changing ourselves? There's something we should think of...

Maybe that's something I should think of...

Passion for activities, not ideas

I heard Steve Wozniak, the founder of Apple alongside Steve Jobs, speak today.

Something interesting happened when I returned to my college room: I was explaining something about ideas, passion, and creation to two suitemates and realized I was really trying to speak to myself. I proposed the idea that perhaps it isn't good to go from the idea to the desire to create and learn the tools, like programming. Maybe it isn't good to (1) have an idea and then because of that idea, (2) be inspired to learn programming languages and tools and whatever technical things. (These words were perhaps directed at myself.) Yet this is why I took up engineering. Because I cared more about the realization of ideas... but maybe that's not conducive to good growth.

It might be better to care about the activity. So many of the truly great builders, like Steve Wozniak, this kid on my floor - they're passionate about building, not necessarily any specific idea. They're enthralled by many ideas, and they go from one to the next, building things because they love building. I bet Mark Zuckerberg is similar - he just loves building things. It wasn't a pursuit for that one idea, a social network, that drove him; he had been building things for ages, and he had probably run through tons of ideas. That floormate, Steve, and Mark are all similar in this way, perhaps.

But me? I cared about specific ideas, and that has driven me to learn all these tools.

What do I learn from this? It goes to the passion of what. You get all this advice about "you have to be passionate about something" but you don't hear what category that something should fall into.

I've become passionate about understanding life's mysterious sequence of events, but this is a noun, a specific idea. Building, creation, playing piano - these are verbs, and they seem to be much more fulfilling. They provide avenues to do things, and you can create a lot from them.

*Is it better to have a passion about a platform (which can be used to create and express in many ways) - such as writing, programming, building, or playing music - than to have a passion about a specific dream, like being able to experience anyone else's life, a computer program that does X, or a device that allows teleportation?

Maybe so. A platform, which allows expression all the time, means you can feel the joy of your passion all the time, regardless of what you're actually creating with it or how skilled you are at it. Maybe this is a key idea I've been missing for so long.

Maybe I should not be so lost in a pursuit for a specific dream, but instead embrace a platform - an activity, a verb - that I can wholly enjoy all the time.

(This isn't to say that we shouldn't have passion for an idea. Passion for an activity just provides so much more happiness and fulfillment.)

...

Making connections: piano octaves

It's interesting how the mind works - particularly how difficult it can be for people of different ages to make connections.

Example: a five-year-old who (on the piano) can play the C-scale up and down one octave if she starts on middle C, but who cannot if her hands simply start one octave higher.

Debugging a Qt app with gdb

(On Mac OS X Lion)

How do you debug a Qt app with gdb?

A little advice from http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7-snapshot/debug.html#command-line-options-recognized-by-qt...

Without Frameworks:
When you tell qmake to generate a Makefile with the debug config, it will link against the _debug version of the libraries and generate debug symbols for the app. Running this program in GDB will then work like running GDB on other platforms, and you will be able to trace inside Qt.

...and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8949956/build-qt-project-in-debug-mode-from-command-line-aka-bash-script-in-linux helped bring me to this solution:

First pass CONFIG+=debug to your typical qmake -project command.
qmake -project CONFIG+=debug

Then:
qmake -spec macx-g++
(This is the proper qmake command on mac. It might just be "qmake" for other systems.)

Next:
make

Now let's say your app is called "Game":
gdb ./Game.app/Contents/MacOS/Game
(For Mac, the executable is here for whatever reason. Also, note the . in ./)

If you're not on Mac, then just do
gdb ./yourGameExecutable
or wherever your game executable is.

Another me?

This blog has been largely my technical side - a place for me to ramble about technical things I've discovered that might help people. It's sort of "geeky."

There's more than that to me, though, so I thought to have a separate blog for my profound and artistic self: dazedpeace.tumblr.com