For those have not seen the Symphony of Science videos yet, I highly recommend you go watch all of them. There are five so far and a new one is added every few months.
In the most recent one, “The Poetry of Reality,” I have found that a few of the scientists in the video think that is “great not knowing”. I understand that all of the phrases and audio clips are taken completely out of context. Even so, I feel that these statements are poorly worded. Surely, Richard Feynman was not advocating ignorance as an alternative to absolute certainty and knowledge. Neither of these are logically tenable positions to try to maintain. Also, both tend to be associated with organized religion.
Absolute certainty means holding a very specific position on a topic and not wavering from it, even in the face of new evidence. An opinion can seem perfectly reasonable at one time, but then will appear more and more absurd to others as time goes on.
Absolute certainty breeds a terrible type of ignorance, willful ignorance. When one is willfully ignorant of reality, they will do everything in their power to avoid newer, uncomfortable evidence. In extreme cases, they will become immune to reason and become a risk to themselves and others.
In order to become inquisitive, one must first admit ignorance where no publicly verifiable evidence exists. Ignorance is not the equivalent of stupidity and it is easy to solve the problem of ignorance. Even if you do not have access to the internet or a library, you can still become a rational, thinking human being.
Also realize that whatever you hold to be true is not invulnerable to new evidence. Be ready to accept that new evidence and incorporate it into your over-arching world view.
Then again, that’s just me. I could be wrong.
Update: If you would like some additional reading, consider Bob Carroll’s “Becoming a Critical Thinker.” It’s a good introductory book to logic and reason applied in the real world.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cd36WJ79z4]
I know that this has been done to death, but I felt that I should persist in beating a deceased horse. When I am at work and don’t want it to be obvious that I am on Twitter, I use this nifty little Terminal trick that lets me send out tweets. On my laptop, I took it a step further and wrote a command-line Ruby script that does that and more.
Here are the basics of posting to Twitter through the Terminal. Somewhere on your computer, create a new shell script file. In my case, I will call it twitter.sh. Type this into the new file:
#!/bin/bash
curl -u username:password -d status="$1" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml
echo Message sent.
Now it is as simple as running a shell command with your message attached.
./twitter.sh "Hey, I am screwing around at work!"
It is as simple as that. You can create shortcuts that make using this even easier. The most common thing I do when I write this script is to alter the .bash_profile file to save myself the trouble of typing out ./twitter.sh.
Open a new terminal window (or tab) and enter “nano .bash_profile”. (It is not necessary that you use nano, I just prefer it for quick text editing in the Terminal.) Add the following to a new line to the file with the path in quotes being the path to your twitter.sh file and save.
alias tw="~/path/to/twitter.sh"
Now close that Terminal tab and open a new one. That is the only way to get the newly edited .bash_profile to load and your new alias to take effect. To send a message use your alias in place of ./twitter.sh.
tw "I am screwing around at work more efficiently!"
You’re welcome.
I am a middle-class, white, 22-year old male living in the United States and I only recently received my first cell phone. The reason that I held off for so long was because I never had the need for a cell phone. It just was not something that I ever felt was lacking in my life. For many years my friends all looked at me as though I was nuts when I mentioned I did not own a cell phone.
I believe in simplicity. Less is more in my book and if you are about to bring something new into your life, like a cell phone, ask yourself, “Is it necessary and if it isn’t, will it give me some kind of happiness?” Every time I asked myself that question, the answer was an unequivocal “No.” I say a cell phone as just another bill and an another excuse for people to whine because I choose to ignore them sometimes.
Why do you have cell phone? Did you just get one because it is in vogue to have one? Do you have one just because it is expected of you? I know I bought mine because I needed to be able to make phone calls when I did not have access to a land line. It seems that sometimes people just buy their cell phones without considering whether it is necessary.
If you do have a cell phone, consider how you use it. If if rings, do you trip over yourself to pick it up of do you flip the ringer switch, finish what you are doing, and get back to it later? Perhaps you are doing something important, like driving, and taking or making a phone call in the middle of it would hinder your ability to do both.
Consider why you have cell phone and how you use yours. It seems like a central part of modern life for many people. Perhaps we should all think more deeply about its impact upon our lives.
I will be plain here. I do not understand how people can call themselves “new media experts” when “new media” has been around in its present form for four or five years. To me, it is like being a guy living in Detroit in 1910 and caliming to be an expert on the automobile industry.
I follow self-proclaimed new media experts on Twitter because they can often provide valuable insights and knowledge into marketing and making connections. I love these people. I think they’re great and I have a lot of respect for them but every time I hear someone talk about how much of an expert, it makes me cringe a little on the inside. It feels as though they are just hopping on a tastefully decorated trendy bandwagon.
Lewis Black said, “I’m the greatest fucker here and all you sniveling shits would die with out me. Hahahaha.” Granted, he was talking about America’s general attitude towards the international community, but I feel it applies here. There is a difference between talking about the merits of social media and what you have learned about it so far and trumping up social media as practically the second coming of Christ.
I apologize if I seemed harsh. It is frustrating, however, to see people referring to themselves as experts in an area that is still in its first few years of existence. “Student of Social Media,” perhaps or “New Media Connoisseur.” Those terms would be a bit less grating. I realize that I am not in a position to tell anyone how to brand themselves. It just makes me cringe to hear people refer to themselves as experts in a field that is still being shaped.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSP8xm_gaK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00]
I am a caffeine addict. As a demonstration of how truly pathetic I am, I have not broken myself of my attachment to the nectar of the geeks. Don’t get me wrong. I think that caffeine can be pretty awesome in some cases. However, as hypocritical as this sounds, it probably should not be a daily habit. Withdrawal is just no fun.
Yesterday, I had no caffeine whatsoever and it felt like somebody parked a tractor trailer on my head. It was one of the worst, most vicious headaches I have had for a while.
Caffeine withdrawal can have a number of unpleasant symptoms, mostly headaches, fatigue, mood swings, and irritability, though it varies from person to person. When caffeine consumption becomes a part of your daily habit, it can be a difficult habit to break. The physical symptoms that I described earlier are just one part of caffeine withdrawal. There is also a psychological component. You get used to picking up a bottle of soda or a cup of coffee. It is just part of your routine.
Caffeine, to me, is a good booster. It should act as a “safety net.” If you feel like your energy or concentration is waning, then it should be there to give you a little boost until you have completed whatever it is you are working on. I think that it should not be used first thing in the morning and it should not be a source of energy. I think it is much better to get your energy from healthy food and sleep. I feel sluggish and depressed after I come down from caffeine. After going a couple of days without it, I find that I can focus better and get through my day much more easily.
When I began my college experience, it was August 2006 at IUPUI. My major, though unofficially declared, was a BS in Geology from IU. That one year at IUPUI taught me a lot. I had only one geology-related course and it bored me to tears. I thought I might enjoy it because I had always had an interest in the field in the past, but it turns out that it was completely unsuitable for a career path for me.
After my first year of college ended, I decided to do an intercampus transfer and headed down to Indiana University’s main campus in Bloomington. My new major? Astronomy and Astrophysics. As it turns out, there is a great deal of math involved in such a major. I became depressed more than usual down there and was unable to focus. I eventually flunked out of Calculus I. I ended my stay in Bloomington after only one semester and returned home to Indianapolis.
After my second intercampus transfer and major change, I was back at IUPUI majoring in Informatics in January 2008. I thought the classes were pretty interesting and I definitely saw myself coming out of this program with a fun, well-paying job. At the end of next year’s spring semester, May 2010, I will have graduated with a BS in Informatics. I left Bloomington and never looked back.
Now, I am looking back. A few days ago, I went to visit my sister, who is now a sophomore at IU in Bloomington and loving it. I had not been back there since I left in December 2007. This came up in conversation and my sister and mother asked me if I had considered going back to Bloomington to finish my Astrophysics degree. I have to say since I had such a miserable time down there, the thought had never occurred to me until that moment. Then I started doing research, figuring out what classes I would need, how long it would take, and where I could live while I was down there.
I do not know what my attitudes toward going back for another Bachelor’s degree will be in a week or two, but at the moment I really want to try it. It could be fun, presuming I am able to pass Calculus I the second time around.
I realize that the title of this blog post is a bit loaded. This is not a simple situation to understand. There is so much controversy in American politics regarding climate change. It is extraordinarily frustrating to see one’s own leaders, the people who can make the greatest strike against a global problem wasting everyone’s time with endless bickering. Then the bickering that starts in Washington spreads out to the general American public, polarizing many people.
The question is why? Why do our leaders waste precious time, energy, and money fighting each other over trivial issues when the real fight goes ignored? They are used to fighting. That is all Congress has done over the last twenty years. Passing meaningful legislation that will benefit the majority of the American people has become a secondary concern. What really seems to matter to them is winning the next little argument, the next tiny spat. It all seems to be about members of Congress masturbating their own egos at the expense of America and the rest of the world. It is disturbing, it is unproductive, and it is selfish.
As for the American people, it comes down to laziness, fear, and an unwillingness to change. For the last sixty years, we have become accustomed to a way of living that, while very comfortable, is unsustainable. The resistance to accepting the reality of climate change stems from natural conclusion that a large part of the solution and keeping our planet habitable for human life involves them making life changes that they are unaccustomed to and will probably be difficult. We are indeed a nation of whiners and fear-mongers. It would be terrifying for us all to accept the reality of the situation is because the situation is so dire and the moral imperative to do something is inescapable.
The fact is we need solutions and change, not one or the other. We need to make changes in our lives so that we threaten the status of the global climate less. We need technology innovation and risk-taking so that we will have the tools to implement an industrial transformation. We have can have the ability to avert a catastrophe for mankind, but we must have the courage to admit to our mistakes and our flaws.
We all breathe the same air. Despite this, we put massive amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, long-chain hydrocarbons, benzene, and all kinds of other poisons into the air that we all breathe. China has some of the worst air quality in the world. About 400,000 Chinese die every year because of poor air quality. I used to think we humans don’t shit where we eat. I guess I was wrong.
Related reading:
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/27/declassified-ice-loss-images/
Back in March, I was driving through Broad Ripple when I had an interesting idea. I have driven through that part of down hundreds of times in my nearly 22 years. However, I haven’t left Broad Ripple Avenue or College Avenue too often. It occurred to me that there is a huge part of this interesting, nearby neighborhood that I haven’t seen, despite the fact that I have been driving/riding through it my entire life.
Then it occurred to me that the warmer months were fast approaching and I would need places to ride my bicycle. I also want to practice my photography. As I was heading home, I decided that I would pack up my camera, mount my bicycle, and explore some of Indianapolis’ interesting neighborhoods that I had given only a casual glance.
So far, I have only committed to exploring Broad Ripple and the area surrounding Massachusetts Avenue. I have already spent much time riding around the canal downtown, but I don’t mind doing it again and again.
So, there’s my summer project. Anyone want to join me for a bike ride?
Over the last eighteen months, I have taken a keen interest in programming. I can do C and PHP pretty comfortably. I have toyed with Objective-C, Ruby, and even a little Python. I am still relatively new to this and am still routinely mystified by object-oriented programming, the cornerstone of most major development projects. I have also taken an active approach to learning Cocoa and, by extension, Cocoa Touch. I have gone from being completely ignorant about programming to cranking out little command line programs to writing for the Macintosh in less than two years. This got me thinking, “Who else is going to do this?”
I got a little bored a couple of weeks ago and wrote a simple, 5-function calculator in C. That took me about 5 hours, 140 lines of code, and half my attention span. That was when I had an idea that I am positive others have had: Will people start writing their own programs? I grew up around computers. They are firmly entangled in my life. Logic suggests that younger generations will have lives even further enmeshed with computers and information technology. If I did not like any of the applications out there in a given category or if I found one I liked and did not want to pay what they were asking for, I might be inclined to write my own. It would be a good, fun project. It would give me skills that I could easily transfer to the workplace. If my employer and I think the application I wrote is good enough, the skills would not be the only thing transferred to the workplace.
My programming skills are not too advanced yet, a situation I hope to rectify soon. I do anticipate being able to write more and more advanced applications as my skills grow. I do not see why this would be different for anyone else. I would hope that computer programming classes become a part of high school curricula across the country. If kids came out of high school with an interest in programming from the start, they could figure out how to make their own applications. Instead of relying on overpriced software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, or someone else, they would have the ability to create their own tools.
I think a trend that we will see more and more over the coming years is computer technology becoming increasingly integrated with our lives. (I suppose that is like saying the sky is blue.) I envision people going less and less to major corporations for their software and turning to themselves. This has been realized to some extent with the open source movement. There, friends and communities create their own software and distribute it to others. What I am proposing here is that people will create tools for their own personal use, not so much to share with others. I think ordinary people creating their own software will become a larger part of the overall developer community.
I have been wracking my brain for blog topics. I suppose the best way to go about writing an interesting blog post is to actually go out and get some real-world experiences. Then come back to the computer and write about them and reflect on them. The problem for me is that I do not really get outside the house very often.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe all I need to keep pumping out 2-3 posts a week is just a steady stream of information from the web. Of course, people are so interconnected on the internet, that it becomes an echo chamber, where the same five ideas and ten stories bounce from person to person. I do not wish to become like that. I try to develop my own opinions about various tech and political issues.
I can definitely see how getting out and experiencing the world first hand could potentially help me to become a better writer and a better thinker. I do not believe it can be healthy to simply get all of my information and opinions from the web. Taking into account all of the interconnectivity that goes on online, the web can be thought of as a single source of information. However, I do enjoy listening to many of the TWiT podcasts and reading Ars Technica. I love it when I find a little personal blog with a keen insight into a given topic. That is always fun.
I guess I need to try to grow my offline social circle a bit. It would help to get some thought and insight from people here with me. Maybe I should even try taking a few trips around the Indianapolis/central Indiana area. This is going to be fun.
Patrick Proctor was here 