Feb 06 2012
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Futurism, Movies, Philosophy, Science, Scifi

Post Humans Hate Scifi

By that I really mean, they will hate the science fiction of today. In all likelihood a passive experience like a movie or TV show will be of no interest to them at all. But lets just say it is still relevant, or at least it can be converted into a new entertaining format for super humans. In this case I think the new humans would only be able to, at best, muster some amount of historical appreciation. At worst, they may find it quite stupid and insulting, assuming post humans are capable of being insulted.

It seems to me that most science fiction stories are cautionary tales. They are so often about the failure of scientific advancements to account for the human spirit. I touched on this in an older post. Scifi today has to appeal to the emotions of people today. Continue reading →

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Feb 04 2012
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Gaming, Philosophy

Now We’re Thinking with Portals!

Well, hello there. Can you speak? Can you say “apple”? No? Well, let’s just jump through this portal and see what our soul says at the other end.

I see you enjoy playing with the funny physics of this world. Place two portals on the floor and toss a cube into there and watch it bounce out one, twirl in a graceful swimmer’s turn, and dive back into the portal to bounce out again. I also notice you like to place two portals on each of those parallel walls to look at yourself in an unending sequence of portals. You seem quite enthralled with your backside, watching yourself move around and shimmy from side to side. I wonder what Freud would say about that? And sometimes you enter the portal and stand there, frozen in space, unable to move forward or backwards. Is it fear that prevents you from moving forward? Or maybe it’s the comfort of being in the portal itself, a snug cocoon between the future and the not-so-distant past.

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Feb 03 2012
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Movies, Science

You’re asking the wrong Phil

So happy Groundhog day, even though it’s almost over. The movie “Groundhog Day” has more repeat value for me than almost any other movie. Is that ironic? Also, here’s a weather related question. Do we need to be able to accurately predict quantum behavior in order to achieve relatively perfect weather prediction? Is that even theoretically possible, at least for all intents and purposes? Would the Uncertainty Principle significantly obstruct such predictions? Would you need to know the impossibly precise position and speed of all environmental elements to know the exact weather for a month? Will meteorologists run into the limits of physics before even reaching the near perfect 7 day forecast? Well, I doubt it, but there may be a theoretical limit out there somewhere.

Jan 24 2012
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Philosophy

Butterfly Memories

Recently I travelled back in podcast time and listened to an old episode of Radiolab that covered memory and forgetting. It may have been one of the most fascinating episodes I have listened to so far.

Human brains are incredibly fragile things. The other organs, such as the liver and heart, feel solid and strong. They are dense, rich collections of tissue that hold together firm like buckey-balls. But the brain, in contrast, is a very loose collection of neurons and gray goo, seemingly held together by magic. I had heard that the texture was similar to jello, so was quite surprised when I did feel one to find that it was much softer than expected. If it is like jello, it is like jello that is a few minutes shy of completing the firming process and is likely to fall apart in your hands if you try to pick it up. And somewhere in this crumbly wet mess that we call our brains is our soul. And our memories.

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Jan 18 2012
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Futurism, Philosophy, Technology

The Node Corporation of the Future

I have long thought that one of the biggest problems with corporations is that they are designed to diminish accountability and personal responsibility, much like the military, like a controlled mob mentality, like the act of multiple people pulling switches to electrocute a singe man. Beyond that, their only driving force is to make money. So the things they do, particularly when they get too large are going to seem evil to an individual person. They will only act in a way that seems moral if that action just happens to line up with their profits. They will only tell the whole truth by coincidence, and when intentionally telling convenient truths, they will be so edited they function as lies. When a company does something that outrages the public, almost none of the people working there feel directly responsible. After all no one did anything wrong, they just signed a piece of paper, submitted a report, kept their mouth shut, felt responsible only for doing their jobs. Even the CEO and board of directors feel more responsible to the shareholders than to their own conscience. To me it seems like they are serving an invisible beast with an insatiable appetite

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Jan 15 2012
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Art, Scifi

The Stork episode 6

In this short but sweet tasting episode of “The Stork, Hunter From The Future” Mr Stork shows his hunger for life, in spite of the Mountain of trials he has yet to Face.

Jan 14 2012
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Science

A Negative and A Negative are POSITIVELY AWESOME

We are three dimensional beings. Just in case you weren’t sure. Everything we do, everything we understand, is in the squishy three dimensional world we understand in. The fourth dimension for current thinkers is a wibbly-wobbly concept of space-time. Human brains, unfortunately, are currently not equipped to experience the world in space-time.

We are three dimensional beings that use negative numbers. Cavemen did not have a need for negative numbers, and the fact that our brains can conceptualize it is quite remarkable. Natural numbers (positive whole numbers) were probably difficult enough for our ancestors to understand. But the idea of less than nothing? What a remarkable concept! I’m certain that our primate cousins could not only not understand negative numbers, but they probably could not understand why they would be needed at all. But being three dimensional beings, with enough brain power, a long lifespan, and the ability to build on previous knowledge, it seems inevitable when considered.

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Jan 12 2012
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Software, Technology

Put Flash in the Trash

There has been a lot of anti-Flash talk in the last year or two, but I am referring to Flash the authoring environment, not the browser plugin, although that kind of sucks too. I use Flash for all digital 2d animation,  mostly frame by frame, and it is the bane of my existence. It has causes me more aggravation (RAGE) than any other program, and is very high on a short list of most infuriating things on this earth. It is so bloated and buggy and inefficient and I feel stuck with it. I have looked into other software, but there’s always something prohibitive, usually cost. I also don’t want to invest the time in learning a whole new piece of software to find out it’s also unacceptable. This is kind of a review, but really it’s just a rant for those that already know this awful/useful software.

I would like to admit the possibility that some of my complaints may well have a better work around, or even solution that I’m not aware of, or is specific to CS4 (the version I use, since there weren’t ANY good new animation features that I’m aware of in the newer versions). If that is the case, please let me know. PLEASE!

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Jan 11 2012
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Philosophy, Science

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz

You are a conscientious person. You pay your taxes, and vote when it’s convenient and not raining. You always drop your empty soda cans in a blue bin and bundle newspaper with designer twine to set out on your curb for recycling day. You even bought a bike, intending to ride it to work. Think of all the greenhouse gas you can prevent by consuming a few extra calories as fuel for that bike ride instead of sitting in that gas guzzling monstrosity. In fact, you don’t even need to worry about the extra calories you need to consume, as you’ve been doing it for years in preparation.

But alas, there is one thing that you haven’t quite thought about while preparing your living will. How will you be buried? What is the most environmentally conscious way you can depart this earth, minimizing your carbon footprint at the critical moment of one week after your death?

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Jan 09 2012
3 Comments
Gaming, Music

The Portal Song on Dulcimer

At first I thought this song was creepy and it made me feel weird, but now I rather like it. Also this version by is quite nice.

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