"How 'bout the power to kill a yak from 200 yards away...
with mind bullets! That's telekinesis, Kyle."
-Tenacious D
Ever since I first read about presbycusis, testing myself with The Mosquito Tone Audibility Test on my birthday has become something of a tradition.
I'm not exactly worried about getting older as much as I'm worried about my mind and body decomposing while I'm still using them. An inevitable fact I like to ignore by setting these benchmarks.
The day these frequencies no longer register, I will be forced to admit to myself that I have begun to breakdown into simpler constituents.
And apparently this decline is certain become inescapable in another way at age 40, when the myelin -your brain's bandwidth according to Dr. George Bartzokis- begins to unravel and is no longer repaired as often as is should (or could) be, thus bringing us forward into the years of a mental dial-up connection.
Meanwhile, as much as I like to capriciously complain about personal decay, there are other people with real problems that overcome them in the most technologically fascinating and inspirational ways.
Neuroscientist Scott Mackler discovered, at the age of 40, he had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.
This did not stop him.
Despite being trapped in his body, he is able to continue to communicate and work via telekinesis (via computers). Personally, I imagine using the absolute deficiency in controlling any of my body's appendages whatsoever as an excuse to never have to work again, however this man is bloody determined.
There's a 60 minutes video here that covers just how amazing his situation has turned out.
On a sci-fi note, we're one step closer to robot bodies or uploading our consciousness into computers.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Points Lost for Humanity
A Man wants to marry an anime character
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?Man_wants_to_marry_cartoon_character&in_article_id=380269&in_page_id=2
Proposition 8 set passed in California
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gaymarriage5-2008nov05,0,1545381.story
Young woman stoned to death by 50 men
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7708169.stm
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.ht
Proposition 8 set passed in California
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/l
Young woman stoned to death by 50 men
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/77081
Future Forecasts of the Future
"Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!"
-George Bernard Shaw
And now, here are the top ten futurist forecasts for 2009 and beyond:
http://www.wfs.org/Sept-Oct08/Nov-Dec%20FUTURIST/topTen.htm
The most frightening and dubiously obvious forecast was made by Gene Stephens in "Cybercrime in the Year 2025," where he writes, "Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030."
Are we already seeing the beginning stages of this in social networking sites and items like digital dog tags?
There seems to be a fine line between safety and invasion of privacy.
Perhaps in the future, with "Access to electricity reaching 83% and Urbanization hitting 60% of the world by 2030," people can dispense with the literal witch hunts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/3407882/Child-witches-of-Nigeria-seek-refuge.html
-George Bernard Shaw
And now, here are the top ten futurist forecasts for 2009 and beyond:
http://www.wfs.org/Sept-Oct08/Nov-Dec%2
The most frightening and dubiously obvious forecast was made by Gene Stephens in "Cybercrime in the Year 2025," where he writes, "Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030."
Are we already seeing the beginning stages of this in social networking sites and items like digital dog tags?
There seems to be a fine line between safety and invasion of privacy.
Perhaps in the future, with "Access to electricity reaching 83% and Urbanization hitting 60% of the world by 2030," people can dispense with the literal witch hunts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne
Monday, November 10, 2008
Positive Distractions
I’m frightfully good at procrastinating, and after reading an article on ‘how distractions can facilitate creative problem solving’ I feel as though I ought to employ the technique more often.
http://www.physorg.com/news142012820.html
Sometimes I use absurdly cosmic events to procrastinate or simply be lazy. Most times it happens when I’m faced with everyday chores or simple maintenance.
For instance, when it has reached approx. 2am – I’m still editing but at this point falling asleep in front of the computer– and it is clearly time to retire, I use the inevitable destruction of the Earth by the Sun (http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4031) as an excuse to skip brushing my teeth until the morning.
Then I wake up the next day and ask myself, “Why should I continue this project if the entire galaxy will inevitably be sucked into the giant black hole at its center?”
So then I find other things to do, like go out to buy an envelope and…
“...have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around.”
-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
There is of course an obvious danger in too much of this sort of thinking.
http://www.physorg.com/news142012820.ht
Sometimes I use absurdly cosmic events to procrastinate or simply be lazy. Most times it happens when I’m faced with everyday chores or simple maintenance.
For instance, when it has reached approx. 2am – I’m still editing but at this point falling asleep in front of the computer– and it is clearly time to retire, I use the inevitable destruction of the Earth by the Sun (http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4031) as an excuse to skip brushing my teeth until the morning.
Then I wake up the next day and ask myself, “Why should I continue this project if the entire galaxy will inevitably be sucked into the giant black hole at its center?”
So then I find other things to do, like go out to buy an envelope and…
“...have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around.”
-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
There is of course an obvious danger in too much of this sort of thinking.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Season of Conviction
"The most merciful thing in the world... is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." -H.P. Lovecraft
Belief can alter observations, sometimes to the point where evidence to the contrary will reinforce one's belief.
For instance, people who continue to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon after it has been proven false, even by the author of the event, will mutate the proof into something that further verifies their belief.
What's most curious is that the evidence isn't being denied, it's being accepted but mentally designated to another part of the brain.
How does this happen?
Q. When was the earth created?
A. Archbishop James Usher, working out a chronology from the Bible, calculated in 1654 that the earth was created on the night of October 23, 4004 B.C. Other timetables reach back as far as 10,000 years.
Q. What about oil and coal, which seem to have been generated from ancient forests millions of years ago?
A. They are evidence of a Great Flood about 4,400 years ago, which laid down all the layers of sediment at once. They are nowhere near as old as evolutionists and archeologists say. A fossil claimed to be 200 million years old, found in Nevada in 1917, shows a shoe print.
Read more here:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080921/COMMENTARY/809219997/-1/RSS
I think this type of mental gymnastics is the result of age and our brains decaying.
How many people do you think would believe in Santa Claus if they weren't told he didn't exist until 30?
When someone is still young it is easier for authority figures to tell blatant lies and get away with it. The same authority figures are also the only ones that can undo the lie, but not without tarnishing their credibility.
After someone has aged they become the authority on certain aspects of their life, mainly their beliefs, and no longer allow those they consider equal or beneath them to influence these beliefs.
Conveniently, anyone who doesn't share their beliefs is automatically beneath them.
"We must observe that the moose probably does not seem absurd to itself."
Belief can alter observations, sometimes to the point where evidence to the contrary will reinforce one's belief.
For instance, people who continue to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon after it has been proven false, even by the author of the event, will mutate the proof into something that further verifies their belief.
What's most curious is that the evidence isn't being denied, it's being accepted but mentally designated to another part of the brain.
How does this happen?
Q. When was the earth created?
A. Archbishop James Usher, working out a chronology from the Bible, calculated in 1654 that the earth was created on the night of October 23, 4004 B.C. Other timetables reach back as far as 10,000 years.
Q. What about oil and coal, which seem to have been generated from ancient forests millions of years ago?
A. They are evidence of a Great Flood about 4,400 years ago, which laid down all the layers of sediment at once. They are nowhere near as old as evolutionists and archeologists say. A fossil claimed to be 200 million years old, found in Nevada in 1917, shows a shoe print.
Read more here:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc
I think this type of mental gymnastics is the result of age and our brains decaying.
How many people do you think would believe in Santa Claus if they weren't told he didn't exist until 30?
When someone is still young it is easier for authority figures to tell blatant lies and get away with it. The same authority figures are also the only ones that can undo the lie, but not without tarnishing their credibility.
After someone has aged they become the authority on certain aspects of their life, mainly their beliefs, and no longer allow those they consider equal or beneath them to influence these beliefs.
Conveniently, anyone who doesn't share their beliefs is automatically beneath them.
"We must observe that the moose probably does not seem absurd to itself."
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Double-Think
Making an informed decision is one of the more difficult tasks a person will encounter in life, especially if it is an informed decision about death, since that appears to be where the choices cease to happen.
I would like to purpose a thought experiment.
The world is maddeningly filled with Religions to believe in:
Abrahamic, Indian, Iranic, Taoic/Far Eastern/East Asain, African diasporic, “Pagan” Historical Polytheism/Indigenous/Traditional, Nonsectarian and Trans-sectarian, Spiritual movements, each with its own fascinating and dubious history and each including a considerable variety of subcategories to choose from.
In addition to the traditional religions we have the new religious movements to consider as well.
At this point I think it’s safe to say we have established the entire spiritual catalog, each with its own thick tome to sift through and aide in the decision making process.
One difficulty with making a decision on a religion is that it seems so final, you only get to choose one.
Except for the Jubu who have combined two major religions into one amalgamation of what was previously thought to be conflicting faiths (and they are not the only ones).
This brings us around to the final series of questions in the thought experiment.
Some of the religions listed in the “new religious movements” are the result of combining separate belief systems. How many religions do you suppose one can combine before there are too many structural conflicts?
The dictionary defines faith as: A belief that is not based on evidence.
Without evidence every possibility becomes an option therefore one's beliefs becomes limitless.
Would it then be possible, with all the conflicting beliefs found in each individual religion, to have faith in them all at the same time (including atheism and agnosticism)?
I would like to purpose a thought experiment.
The world is maddeningly filled with Religions to believe in:
Abrahamic, Indian, Iranic, Taoic/Far Eastern/East Asain, African diasporic, “Pagan” Historical Polytheism/Indigenous/Traditional, Nonsectarian and Trans-sectarian, Spiritual movements, each with its own fascinating and dubious history and each including a considerable variety of subcategories to choose from.
In addition to the traditional religions we have the new religious movements to consider as well.
At this point I think it’s safe to say we have established the entire spiritual catalog, each with its own thick tome to sift through and aide in the decision making process.
One difficulty with making a decision on a religion is that it seems so final, you only get to choose one.
Except for the Jubu who have combined two major religions into one amalgamation of what was previously thought to be conflicting faiths (and they are not the only ones).
This brings us around to the final series of questions in the thought experiment.
Some of the religions listed in the “new religious movements” are the result of combining separate belief systems. How many religions do you suppose one can combine before there are too many structural conflicts?
The dictionary defines faith as: A belief that is not based on evidence.
Without evidence every possibility becomes an option therefore one's beliefs becomes limitless.
Would it then be possible, with all the conflicting beliefs found in each individual religion, to have faith in them all at the same time (including atheism and agnosticism)?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hobson's Choice
After very little consideration on what I thought to be my only two choices in the matter, I had decided on cremation over burial. The deciding factor was an effort to not take up any more space and resources than I have already (plus movies make the spreading of my ashes look like cathartic fun for family and friends).
I have now changed my mind and will instead help further scientific research.
A friend, knowing my interests in what I suppose could be categorized under morbid, loaned me the book “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” by Mary Roach.
Absolutely fascinating read, it brought to light the many options one has upon meeting up with the indisputably inevitable. For some reason I had overlooked donating my body to science as an option.
You could save the life of a patient by helping future surgeons study anatomy, or you could help solve a murder by assisting the ORNL study rates of decay, or you could become a crash-test-cadaver and come to the aid of everyone who will ride in a car after you have departed.
It baffles me that I could have easily died and become a costly burden without benefiting anyone or anything.
I know, I know, call me frugal.
Some institutions will even cremate your remains at their expense and give your ashes back to your loved ones… after the body has been studied of course.
They may use "tissue digestion" or "water reduction" as an alternative to cremating the remains, since it is more environmentally friendly.
Should I never achieve anything in life, make no considerable contribution to the progress of information or science, I can at least rest assured that my corpse will (unless I'm so unlucky that my body falls off the cadaver truck or something equally silly).
I have now changed my mind and will instead help further scientific research.
A friend, knowing my interests in what I suppose could be categorized under morbid, loaned me the book “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” by Mary Roach.
Absolutely fascinating read, it brought to light the many options one has upon meeting up with the indisputably inevitable. For some reason I had overlooked donating my body to science as an option.
You could save the life of a patient by helping future surgeons study anatomy, or you could help solve a murder by assisting the ORNL study rates of decay, or you could become a crash-test-cadaver and come to the aid of everyone who will ride in a car after you have departed.
It baffles me that I could have easily died and become a costly burden without benefiting anyone or anything.
I know, I know, call me frugal.
Some institutions will even cremate your remains at their expense and give your ashes back to your loved ones… after the body has been studied of course.
They may use "tissue digestion" or "water reduction" as an alternative to cremating the remains, since it is more environmentally friendly.
Should I never achieve anything in life, make no considerable contribution to the progress of information or science, I can at least rest assured that my corpse will (unless I'm so unlucky that my body falls off the cadaver truck or something equally silly).
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