Another aid site.

I just became aware of another education/donation site. It's called Aid to Children, and they work in similar principles as the Free Rice donation site I've wrote about before. Both of them doesn't cost you a dime, so you should drop by sometime and play around a bit.

Tired. Notes for now.

I've been keeping tabs on the 'food crisis', and came up with a few interesting conjectures... Regarding the unstable network infrastructure that supports the food and energy resources of the planet, both physical and economical. Some of the steps being taken by the United Nations might prove to be interesting. I'm currently gathering more data on that one. Did I ever mention that I'm a huge supporter of the United Nations and similar global systems? I should really do a post on this one.

I just found out that Leslie Feist is having a concert in NYC tomorrow. I'm trying to get a ticket but I think all the normal tickets are sold out, and the cheapest VIP or box seat costs sixty dollars... Her music isn't my favorite or anything, but they have certain charming quality to them I think.

note

Today's PA comic presents a disturbing insight into the nature of freedom in market based society. My favorite part? The ice cream salesman dreaming of killing Gabe.

Those guys certainly do make interesting comic, and considering the kind of social activities they arrange, they are quickly becoming a big part of this strata of subculture... This is quite a demonstration of the power of the human network, I think.

Nocturnal despoliation?

I can't sleep tonight. Despite the amount of physical and mental exhaustion I am going through at the moment, I find it harder and harder to fall asleep. I must have my earplug on all night just to make it through... I am extremely sensitive to sound, which is quite weird considering that I often have trouble making out what people are saying. It might be psychosomatic.

There are a few things I do at times like this to ease my mind. I read while drinking my favorite cup of tea, black or earl grey with a tint of bourbon or wine, or a cup of green tea ice cream. I might turn off all the light in the house and turn on all kinds of screens and displays, each playing different feature-length film. The sound is muted of course. I almost always play videodrome on one or more of screens/displays when I am doing this.

However, there is one activity that I prefer over any other. I open all the windows and doors of the house, and practice violin. I am particularly fond of Maito Itsui's melody in D# major... An obscure piece from a mediocre composer no one even remembers anymore... The particular piece itself doesn't even have a proper title, and calling it a piece in D# major would be a little inappropriate since it merely begins out in D# major and returns to D# major, while transversing all sorts of different acoustic terrain in between. Is this tune a forgotten gem from an unknown genius? No. It certainly isn't. The structure and execution of its musical structure is horrible. I'm an amateur in all things musical and even I can see that. However, there is certain elegance and silent, dignified longing that occasionally slips through the rough surface of the music, a peculiar trait that helps to wash away all the other sounds in my mind... It's like garnish. As a standalone plate it is lacking, but when combined with certain setting that goes beyond music, a strange moment in time, it helps the listener/player to see something beautiful. Hazy and momentary phantasm, but beautiful nonetheless.


This might come off as an immature sentiment, but there's always been this strange feeling of obsession coupled with strange hatred toward what I collectively refer to as the world in my mind. If only it was possible to shed the filth of the world and reach some sort of state or place or being...
It's very hard to describe despite bringing such intense sensation to my heart when I think of it... Something that's only fleetingly glimpsed in highest pursuits of arts, sciences, and philosophy, something so ephemeral yet seemingly ever present in different forms and substances that are all united in the strange sensation it evokes in the human mind. Even the wildest interpretation of the term 'divinity' doesn't begin to describe the profound depth 'it' seem to possess. I've long suspected 'it' of being in some way related to the origin of all human endeavor, the very activity of human life that goes beyond the pursuit of sustenance and reproduction... The sublime and evolving act of creativity that goes beyond simple ingenuity in face of adversity, so to speak.

Listening to the strands of melody let go into the air from the vibrating strings in my hand, I can't help but to be reminded of the reason why I chose my life to be what it is now.

Curry joint in NYC

I just became aware of authentic Japanese style curry joint in NYC.

I just loved having curry when I was in Japan. It's good to see that I might be able to dine in dedicated curry place in America. I'm definitely paying a visit to the place sometime this week. The prices are pretty darn good too.

I can't believe it's been four days!

I can't believe it's been four days since I post anything on livejournal... But then it is no big surprise. I've been coming home at around eleven and twelve in the night for much of the past week. This synthetic biology and related techs are quite intriguing. To be honest, I've been spending more time on catching up to my SB studies compared to the time I spent doing something with my major, plasma physics.

I know in my heart I would shoot for studying the physical theory of life, but the quick and dirty path laid by the easy-to-understand discipline of synthetic biology is very, very seductive... I've been going through their massive iGEM related database, simulating bunch of stuff and linking iGEM compartments together on paper. I just can't believe how easy it all is. The artificial blood, the synthetic genome expression, the multi-bacterial processor running in massive parallel capacity... It might even be possible to fabricate carbon nanotubes using modified synthetic bacteria! I'm more interested in synthetic morphogenesis at the moment, however. I'm thinking of paying a visit to the bio department, maybe coax them into participating in the iGEM competition next year... The possibilities are killing me.


At least I haven't been starving (much) lately. I ate in Todai last night, with a few 'colleagues.' Buffet style Japanese food, ranging from tempura to lots and lots of sushi... I have particular fondness for sushi and sashimi of all kinds. They have certain... Succulent taste and textural quality that can't be had in any other food. Of course, I've eaten in finest sushi kitchens in Tokyo and Osaka (with devastating consequence on my wallet), so it was easy to see how the sushi were low-quality throwtogether fit for a buffet... Still, it wasn't a bad deal at twenty dollars a head for maximum face stuffing.

I have been starving all day today, though. I think I should go get something to eat and rest.

A little hope

My primary field of study is plasma physics. Interdisciplinary plasma physics to be precise, but then there really is no other kind.

Interdisciplinary in this case means that I am applying methodologies of different fields of study to the study and manipulation of the standard plasma physics nomenclature, and vice versa. I am particularly interested in the application of biology to the study of large scale complex plasma systems... With the dream of applying whatever skill and knowledge gleamed from the study to inorganic artificial life, or rather, physical theory of life applicable to all things of the physical universe regardless of the specific nature of the component involved. Of course, this is all highly speculative and I'd have to be braindamaged to think I'm anywhere close to even starting the real study.

As such, synthetic biology always held a special place in my heart. Admittedly with the job market in US being what it is, changing my primary pursuit of choice to synthetic biology, even at this point would make a lot of sense. And with all the hype generated by synthetic biology, I'd be able to work in places like this, the kind of high profile opportunity rare for someone in the field of applied(ish) physics...

I am seriously considering changing my field... I am confident of my academic abilities and frankly see no problem in learning one or two of other disciplines (the kind of snobbish mindset shared by all physics students I should add). But then I really want to study the physical basis of life-like systems, something I am not confident that I'd be able to pursue within the disciplines of synthetic biology... Choices choices...

Evening after twilight

The twilight had come and passed. I'm pleasantly soaked in the aroma of some cheap yellow tail Merlots I found in the closet (I use for wine storage), listening to solo licks in the Pink Floyd single, shine on you crazy diamond. Such wave of deep nostalgia and comfort is hard to find these days without the aid of intoxication, of chemical and, or aesthetic nature.

Good, cool, and dark evening. Suitably windy and cloudy I think. It's almost a shame that I have to wake up soon. This is the benefit of living in an apartment high atop a hillside. I can look at where the sky and the land splits even in this darkness. I don't really feel like waking up, but I'd have to be insane to remain in the state of intoxication. I have the future I have to build, after all.

It's good to see that I still retain the capacity to relax and free my mind from my work and desires, at least for a little while. It's these little human things that helps me to act like a human being, without causing much ruckus in the greater scheme of the human society, I think.

Drinks

I love alcoholic drinks. Of course, I never drink enough to get drunk and act in loose or unseemly manner. And I never drink beer unless I'm with people very close to me. Those two are my drinking ethos I've never broken so far and plan to never break.

I love the exquisite aroma and taste of well crafted drinks, and the slight feeling of drunkenness that is pleasant without being overdone or nauseating. I believe the best drink ever conceived by any human mind is wine. Grape wines to be precise. I've tried my hands with some foreign wines like the Japanese sake, but never quite enjoyed them as much as I enjoy the traditional wines. I have particular softness for midrange Italian wines. They have certain honest and rustic quality that cannot be found in some of the overly industrial or excessively delicate wines of other regions. Good, rich wines crafted from cabernet sauvignon are enjoyable like a good book without being pretentious or extravagant. The French wines are fine too. But many of them cost more than their worth for the virtue of being from France, though it's changing these days. Among the French wines I enjoy are the Medoc and Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, and I prefer them young, for their distinct pepper tannic taste and aroma that is simply amazing with good food. 

I hate sweet alcoholic drinks. I particularly disdain the recent waves of 'sweetened' alcoholic beverages that taste like cheap Fanta. If I wanted sugar water I'll drink sugar water. Leave alcohol out of it please. I avoid any and all drinks that are sweet. There's really no point in drinking sweet alcoholic beverage I think. That's what juices are for.

I've been trying my hand with the cocktails. Of course, as usual I don't drink the sweeter ones, which narrows down my choices since many of the cocktails are strangely sweetened despite their classic descriptions. The plus about the cocktails is that they must be drunk by the glass unlike wines which I purchase by the bottle. So I'm much less likely to gulp and leisurely enjoy the taste and texture of the drink itself. There are four cocktails that stand out to me.

1) Jack Rose 
I can't quite put my finger on why I like this one, there's just this strange attraction about the drink. Easy without being sweet.

2) Bloody Mary
Classic. I love the spice factor inherent in the design. This is my favorite so far.

3) Martini
The cocktail name associated with bunch of famous dead people, like Oppenheimer and Churchill. I like the dry and precise quality of this drink. It might become my favorite cocktail someday, but I've never actually been to a place that can make a killer martini. Just average ones. Nothing much I can do on lab assc salary.

4) Manhattan
This one is quite peculiar. There is this formal quality to this drink, old and classic, nothing fancy yet elegant. I go for this one when I need to think through bunch of stuff.

The biggest gripe I have about the drinking scene in NYC is how overpriced and pretentious everything is. When I go somewhere to drink I go to that place to drink. Not to look 'hip' (whatever that might be), not to socialize with random strangers (though well thought out conversations are always welcome, such are rarely encountered), and not to reinforce some failing personal attribute. I've been to some of the places frequented by youngsters in NYU and such, and hated the experience for the most part. At least fix the drink decently damn it. 

I'm still looking for that quiet and decent place for casual drinking and occasional eating. There's this cafe that gives cheese and a glass of chianti for a decent price, but it's a wine place, and I'd rather not drink cocktail from there.

The broke city dweller

According to the livejournal community "The Broke City Dweller", there will be a street festival today, Apr. 19th, at the Times Square on 45th from 6th to 7th avenue. Maybe I'll visit and have a bite. They always have some interesting street food at these things, no matter where you visit them, in China, in Japan, in Korea, in Australia, and etc etc. Actually, to some people it's the whole reason for going to the fair in the first place!

Even better, I found this website that details all festival schedules in NYC for the coming year. I think I'll make some time this year and pay a visit to some of them. Since the weather's so beautiful the place will no doubt be crowded, which might or might not be a place depending on the person. The fresh air and crisp sunlight beckons me. Though somewhere in my heart I have a special place set aside for a cool thunderstorm and calm twilight.  

Tired.

Just came back home.

A little note:

Kill the fools who leave the window in subway open. Extract blood and sell as molecular universal immunity toolbox.



Oh, and did you know that complex plasma with designer impurity can still achieve fusion state? It all depends on the density and thermal level configuration, took a hint from Stuart Kauffman. Wonderful stuff. I'm making future.

Vagrant Story

Today's my day off, so I have a bit of time for some contemplative rambling about nothing.

Does anyone remember the game Vagrant Story? It was a game for the PSX that came out at the end of lifecycle of the system. I happened upon it by chance and was completely captivated by its unique brand of aesthetics and gameplay. I've always been curious as to what kind of real world inspiration was drawn for the Vagrant Story universe, so I did a little bit of researching while on one of my excursion to the Met.


Overall, the general aesthetics prominent during the gameplay is definitely 15th~16th century Italian, the period of high Renaissance on verge of crossover to the Baroque, another primarily Italian movement. However, being an artificial construct designed to represent a thematic world, the Vagrant Story and its version of Ivalice show certain interesting qualities while depicting the chronological changes within its own world using the subtle hints in architecture. The 15th~16th century Italian flair of the Vagrant Story universe is used in depiction of the 'present time' of the world from the player's perspectives, against which the story of the forgotten city of Lea Monde and subsequent search for the Gran Grimoire are set. However, as apparent from quite a number of architectural stylings of the older part of the city of Lea Monde, like the Kildean Temple at the center of the city (which is told to have been built at the height of the city and the cult of Mullenkamp's power, which in terms of the Vagrant Story timeline would possibly be ancient) shows distinct and unmistakable influence of the Byzantium art and architecture. The structure of the deities of the more ancient part of the city, the tiled backgrounds of the inner Kildean Temple, the majestic yet definitely not European or Middle Eastern arches of the walls, towers and ceilings, and the exquisite structure of the central dome of the Kildean Temple where the climatic battle between Ashley Riot and Guildenstern Rosencratz took place shows distinct Byzantine milieu, most likely taken from the real world example of the Hagia Sophia in the city of Constantinople, present day Istanbul.  Indeed, the vast underground network of crypts and libraries beneath Lea Monde shows certain unusual Roman influences, putting it squarely within the timeline of the real world Byzantium.

It is somewhat interesting to note that surrounding public quarters of the Lea Monde, unlike specialized constructs like the aforementioned Kildean Temple, displays consistent central and southern European themes, reflecting their real world counterparts where magnificent architectures of old are preserved while the 'normal' housings surrounding them change with the times.

The most unique characteristic of the composite civilization of the Vagrant Story, the one that made the study of the real world influence on the Lea Monde architecture so appealing to me in the first place, is the novel use of lighting through out the changes of scenery surrounding the architectural works themselves. No doubt a technical decision was made at the time to compensate for the aging hardware of the PSX, it nonetheless proved to be a genius decision that made the world come alive to the player (thought the music and sound effects also had great part in it).

Within the engine utilized by the Vagrant Story, each scene is placed within a world with its own lighting and default color cue, a sort of universal ambient lighting saturated into every single texture within the scene. It means that for the most part every single cityscape/building in the game was placed within an even greater box of light. This gave each physical locale within the Vagrant Story universe to possess incredible range of lighting effects, each area becoming living and breathing worlds unified by architectural themes. The undercity has the atmosphere of the Styx, and the perpetual sound of running water and shades of bluish darkness accentuated by light sources of different, yet suitable color and scale. The lower Kildean Temple is perpetually basked in burning glow of yellowish crimson sunset, looking out into the violently crashing oceans formed during the violent earthquake of the past, while the red sun hangs suspended in the sky. The upper Kildean Temple makes extensive use of the contrast between the opaque red permeating through the sky and the deep darkness between the falling columns and crumbling extremities, giving us the profound feeling of holiness intermingled with the unspeakable decadence. It  clearly displays the theme of eternally dying cathedral for a forgotten deity.

The psychological impact of such brilliant yet low tech use of lighting, and design decisions made to accommodate such lighting condition made profound impression on my then young mind. I still can't forget the bleak, opaque red sky seen from the upper edge of the Kildean Temple, perpetually bathed in ominous sunset without gradient, the sun itself nowhere to be found. Only the darkness leading to the depths below in stark yet harmonious contrast... It had the ominous qualities of the best of Clifford Still paintings, and it still retains certain nostalgic quality for me.

In terms of realism, Vagrant Story is lacking. Yet I still remember each memorable scenes vividly, enough to draw and write about it despite not having experienced the game in six or seven years. Quite clearly, physical replication of the real does not equate the mind's perception of the real. There seem to be a few immutable essences of the world that makes an impact of the mind's eye to perceive that specific information as real (in such light, I am beginning to feel that most of the works of 'modern art' not currently in museum to be severely anemic in terms of true contemplature of the real and the simulacra of the real). If true, human perception of 'beauty' should be intimately linked with the perception of the outside world by the human cognition. Human cognition, physiology, and the illusive 'human psyche' are all interlinked with each other when in light of the aesthetic fulfillment of the self. Mind and body are inseparable when in observance of the world.

Writing this post made me think about a few things of art I would love to see (or, provided that I have the time, do myself). Painting of cityscapes. Just as the artists of the Bohemian era wandered the world painting landscapes (Gustave Courbet comes to mind. Interesting person. I should do a post on him someday), people of today should wander the world and paint cities at its most unexpected and beautiful/hideous moments in time (being that both are aesthetically fulfilling). Or even, take a cue from the Eastern landscape painters. Draw beautiful pictures of imaginary cityscapes, the ones where the viewer can walk through and dwell, perhaps learn a thing or two through the mind's eye.

Just an idea

On my way to the lab I looked at the sky. Today's sky is the clearest shade of blue, a little light for my taste but still beautiful nonetheless. The sunlight, although too intense for my taste, is healthy and bright enough to be satisfying. Yet I think there is one thing missing from this sky.

An airship.

This sky is missing an airship. Not those pathetic blimps, but a real full-fledged airship seen in Hayao Miyazaki's works.

The world needs more airships I think.


Oh well.
Time to work science. 

Beautiful weather

The weather today was great, the empty fresh kind you go through without thinking about a thing. It's bright outside at seven PM. I guess the winter times are really over. I should prepare for the summer.

I got to visit the city and eat a fresh ice tea at an outdoor cafe I frequent. Quiet, small place, leagues different from the masses of pretentious cafe filled with wannabe writers, artists and whatnot in the city. The kind of place that does what it does best. Serve good tea and coffee at reasonable prices. I could feel my heart getting calmer, the fresh breeze outside really did wonders for me. A good day to dream.

I know I should always try to write something of substance for my own sake, but sometimes I just want to jot down random things falling out of my head. Maybe I'll post again later today, the day is still young.

Rice shortage-network demonstration

This is a cross post from my other blog, http://bookhling.wordpress.com , to tide me over until I can finish that Jasper Johns post.

The work, or rather, the vision of Jasper Johns is so profound for me, I'm having hard time actually writing about it.

The matter of rice shortage is becoming increasingly mainstream. The warning of possible shortage and dangerous increase in price had been around for a long time, and unusual price hike of rice in major exporters like Thailand had been reported in (relatively) mainstream media about three to four months ago. In fact, major United Nations advisers and IMF personnel had been giving warnings since mid 2007 in mainstream sources. I myself remember scoffing at a particular warning given by a United Nations forecaster, warning of possible food shortage and criticizing the rapid increase in biocrop cultivation as a major player. I guess such is the evanescence of appealing to mainstream media, where the specific sources and logistical data to support novel claims are frequently invisible or simply unavailable.

The warning was in place, and the back-up system for possible shortage in each of the nations most heavily affected had been more or less in place. So why do we have a developing crisis at hand with reported casualties? The answer I believe, lies in the lack of distribution network in the world today. Of course, with the advent of the technology the world itself is ever more networked than before. As each second passes it is predicted that the network of the world will become thicker and wider, someday possibly encompassing every single member of humanity in direct and accessible way. But that is the network of information. What about the physical network, the infrastructure, the ones we use to ship the things we order through the virtual spaces of the net? The airlines, the shipping lanes, the railroads and the expressways. I have on reliable sources that the actual range and volume of physical shipping across the world had remained at similar or lower levels since the height of the age of imperialism so long ago (the specific source I can’t find at the moment, if someone knows otherwise please correct me). It is somewhat unlikely that there is an actual shortage of food (at least not to the degree that some sensationalist media would have us believe). What we have at hand is more akin to the lack of distribution network, so that the flow of resources are channeled into the most readily available physical network without regards to economical balance, or even, the need. In the type of eschewed free market system we have in place at the moment, there is virtually no incentive for tapping into parts of the world without pre-built infrastructure. And without the resources of the world available at hand, popular discontent is bound to rise, leading to further instability.

Living in New York city, I am physically and mentally insulated from most of such problems plaguing the world. Hipsters in fashionable clothings walk into fashionable restaurants and eat a plateful of vegetables, supposedly crafted from fashionable ingredients, possibly grown in fashinable dirt, as they clutch their fashinable laptops while hoping someone sees them writing down a ‘novel.’ In the subway a woman so bloated that she has to take up two sits and a half holds onto her third bucket of KFC. Is there something wrong with this picture? I do not particularly think so. Of course, the scene I’ve just described is certainly distasteful, but I do not believe people should be judged and criticized for utilizing the resources made available to them by the environment. The physical network of the world is configured in such a way that massive amount of cheap resources and resources expensive beyond their actual value exist hand-in-hand, composing the greater fabric of the market system.

We are all cogs reinforcing the current system of the world. And this system of the world, this world-wide system of ‘free-market’ seem to be suffering from some sort of bug. A free market system without proper physical distribution network for the market to take place on is fundamentally oppressive and exploitative, even without malice, even with good will of the individual members of the system. Perhaps it is possible to speculate that the fiasco experienced by certain biocrop based national economies are very similar to that experienced by planned and enclosed economies of the old communist nations. There had been a few novel attempts at readjusting the system of the world through various means, like freer access to information network from poorer places of the globe allowing development of a market system based on information and knowledge, but outcome of such works-in progress are unpredictable at the moment.

All I can say is, I think the problems like the kind we are seeing right now seem to stem from certain inadequacy of the global network itself, and will persist in different forms so long as that inadequacy continues to plague the system of the world. And the developed nations of the world are making a huge mistake in allowing such unbalance to continue, as such difference in network-system tend to cluster individual components into groups sharing similar traits, which in this case would be poverty and isolation of economic and cultural nature.

This reminds me, how about donating some rice to the UN? It won’t cost you a dime and you’ll probably have fun doing it.

Jasper Johns lecture

Just came back from the Met. I attended the Jasper Johns public lecture there today. I must say that I am bitterly disappointed.

I am fascinated by Jasper Johns, both in terms of his personality and his work-philosophy. I scour over any book or articles I can find regarding his thoughts and visions. Yet this lecture bored me to tears. The first one about the form-meaning relationship of Jasper Johns' work was alright. A little dry, but there were quite a few interesting interpretation of his work which allowed some interesting and novel perspectives upon his works I previously glossed over. The second lecture on Jasper Johns, titled "Gray is my favorite color", given by a famous Harvard alumni with a degree in arts was simply horrible. The problem wasn't that it was too hard to follow or too far away into the realms of professional nomenclature. The problem was that there wasn't any content. The doctor droned on and on about his personal feelings for the work of Jasper Johns while listing bunch of lackluster theories on his works with the depth of cheap art analysis text books for an hour and a half. I believe about half of his lecture was composed of "uh", "ahhh", and "ehh." I actually had to tear at my hair to keep myself from falling asleep, and I am used to my fair share of mind-numbingly boring classes. This is something I don't ever want to go through again.

The highlight of the lecture series was the panel discussion between the museum curators about what they've learned while working with Jasper Johns' work. Quite interesting stuff. Nothing with too much depth, but one cannot expect much in public lectures I guess (the lecture on Poussin's landscape series a few days ago, however, was amazing, which leads me to believe that today's lector was simply sub-par). Interesting comparison on Jasper Johns' past and present works and techniques and manifestations of his philosophy were shared. I am a little too tired right now. I'll share the details on the lecture and Jasper Johns in general with you after I catch some sleep.

Interesting service

Just came back home around thirty minutes ago. It's interesting how my whole body aches when I'm only doing some labwork, a desk job.

I came across an interesting service awhile ago, thought I'd share it with you.

http://vixy.net

It's an online application that transcodes FLV files into other format of choice, like mp4 for ipod or avi for desktop viewing (for those who don't have flv viewer). Although there are free desktop applications that does the same thing better, this one is useful in that it doesn't eat up your computer's resources. I'm transcoding some music videos and interesting TED talks into mp4 format right now.

Oh, and in case you don't know what TED is, it's an annual meeting of brilliant minds across the globe, giving talks on issues related to betterment of humanity. Their topics vary widely, from performing arts to particle physics, and each of those talks are truly a gem. I've been binge watching/listening Craig Venter these days. He is currently attempting to build a minimal genome network for construction of a base life-like system, so it has a lot to do with my obsessive interest in artificial life. It's interesting how easy it is to find genome and synthetic biology relevant talks among the TED list. Whatever the result may be it certainly is the trend of the times... Makes me want to live forever. 

The weather outside is the cool shade of a thunderstorm. I hope it continues into tomorrow.

New Tablet

I finally got a new tablet. I went for wacom's low end mass production model bamboo, which was a bargain at only forty or fifty dollars. I was worried about quality issues but so far the tablet had been satisfying in its utility and sensitivity.

I can't wait to scratch something up. Maybe I'll get to post something nice around here at last.

Apple envy

I read about an interesting demonstration of the capability of ipod touch.
Ipod touch might be really worth it in the future.


I already have my 80GB ipod classic, the first and only apple product I've ever owned. But I must say, there was always a place for an apple product somewhere in my heart, ever since my old high school gave out G4 ibooks to students (a small, rich, and elitist school can do wonders) for the duration of the school life.

Strange thing is that I don't like the apple corporation. I don't like Steve Jobs (though I don't particularly hate him either), I don't like the apple corporate tactics, and while I do appreciate the beauty of OS X and physical design of the apple products themselves I was never infatuated with the stereotypical apple target demographics or the apple 'style', if there is such a thing. What I can't forgive about apple is how they attempt to lock in their customers to their own proprietary softwares and hardwares, to the extent that anyone thinking of breaking from apple brand products must be prepared to dish out significant sums of money and time.

Yet despite my predisposition against apple practices, whenever I am considering getting a new portable media player or a computer (something I should be thinking about, seeing how laptop is almost at the end of its lifespan), I can't stop thinking about apple. I am beginning to think that I am not the only one in this predicament. Everyone seem to have something to say against apple, yet its products are always glooming around the horizon like ever present fatality.

Will my next main computer be macbook pro? Or will it be something from lenovo or dell? Ugh. I really want a macbook pro. My principles seem to be the only thing standing against going out and purchasing it right now.

Solemn dictations

This is a cross post of something I wrote a long time ago in middle of nowhere. I kind of like this one, so I thought I would move this one to somewhere more accessible.


 

             

This is something I ran across in my visit to the Met today. It's a funeral marker of the ancient Greece, around 500 B.C. or so. According to the description given by the little placard at the bottom, there was an inscription on the stele at the original site. The translated version of the inscription reads like this.

"My daughter's beloved child is the one I hold here, the one that I held on my lap while we looked at the light of the sun when we were alive and that I still hold now that we are both dead."

The time was almost three thousand years ago, but the human sentiment runs the same. I might even argue that the dying grandmothers of the old were much more articulate than the living young ones we have right now. Nonetheless, I feel saddened and glad at the same time when I remember this scene, bathed in a solemn and melancholy light, phrases and situations telling its story through subtle hints which later echo in the heart of a young man from three thousand years in the future. Will we leave something behind as such? Will we leave behind something so that people living in three thousand years in the future would shed a tear or feel their heart wrench at the tales of people long gone and forgotten? Will the human identity remain resonant throughout the times?

                            

Another something I picked up. It's from roughly the same era as the above funeral marker. This one depicts a little girl saddened to let her pet pigeons go. This clumsy photo of mine doesn't do justice to the subtle nuances and expressions that were retained in this piece despite its age. People talk of evolution and change all the time, but what we consider to be fundamentally human trait doesn't seem to have changed much, if we can communicate across space and time like this through frozen motions and facial expressions.

I am beginning to suspect that what we consider to be the nature of humanity has deeper roots than previously imagined, perhaps even locked up with the characteristics of the human body/nervous system. In that case, it should be possible to engineer psychology to create the most fundamental, minimal model of 'mind', possessing consciousness yet universal enough to be applied to every physical system, akin to the stripped down version of gene sequence for the most basic life form to act as a template for synthetic life.

Good things

You know what's good?

A long hot bath with Claude Bolling's cello collection in the background, at 2AM.

And a cup of green tea ice cream while running a dvd of videodrome.

That's what's good.

Singularity and the legacy of the world.

I'm cross posting this from my other blog.

I’ve been reading up on quite a bit of transhumanist literature recently, both arguments for and against it. I must say, I’m beginning to think that the biggest hurdle to any kind of transhumanist and historical/technological singularity ideas is the shallow naivety of the transhumanism/singularity proponents themselves.

Technology will not magically fix the ailing of the world, and the nature of intelligence and consciousness will take much longer to understand fully; it is only that we will be capable of simulating such characteristics using artificial medium. Electric networks certainly catalyzed some great changes for the system of the world, but in the end it was merely catalyzing of the potential already there. The human network and corresponding complex system of human-nodes and social-economic-cultural links were already put in place long time ago, to the extent that we classify such trait as a fundamental part of humanity as organisms. This also means that simple increase in technological capacity will not be enough to surpass the nature of the human network itself, only speed the process already in place.

Mind you, I am very enthusiastic about the future potential of humanity. And I do certainly believe that some sort of chapter-opening change of human civilization will take place sometime soon, not necessarily while I’m alive (I’m 21 by the way) but definitely soon when viewed from the scales of world history. I am simply becoming increasingly skeptical of the kind of change expected to take place by the transhumanist community at large (if there can be such a thing). Massive information processing and storage ability does not translate into intellectual capacity without human input. There simply aren’t enough scientific evidence to support such a claim. The very idea that some sort of external intelligence engine would be able to fix the world’s problems is a vague notion that makes me want to question the degree of understanding possessed by some of the more radical supporters of transhumanism regarding matters of intelligence, brain physiology, and complex system dynamics. Certain degree of performance boost in brain capacities will definitely change the face of human civilization. Artificial intelligence in its ideal form will transform everyone’s lives. There is no doubt about that. I am just very irked about the underlying notion that such advances would be the singular answer to the singular problem of the world. Does anyone remember the concept of legacy anymore? I suggest you to find and read Jaron Lanier’s essay on irreducible complexity (I’ve read it in a book) if you don’t know what I am talking about.

I believe in singularity-esque future, and all the good things it will bring. I also believe in reasonable ideas and sound scientific basis for reality, something some people seem to be forgetting in their rush to live forever.

Ideas, ideas

I have the problem of being burdened with overwhelming number of ideas to think and write about. So far, I have drafts of Jasper Johns, the significance of form, Sherlock Holmes, Introduction to artificial life, the concert I attended last friday, mathematical construct of complex dissipative systems, playing violin, and so on and so forth... And none of the ideas are complete to my satisfaction... All the increasing workload with the gradschool preparation doesn't really help matters either.

Sigh. They'll be done sooner or later.

Two interesting free events at the Met this week.

Wednesday
Medicine at the Metropolitan Museum—Ancient Near East and Byzantium
Discusses medical practices in ancient Mesopotamia, Iran, Cyprus, and Byzantium, as illustrated by objects in the Museum's galleries. Intended for the general public; no medical knowledge is presumed.
David T. Mininberg.
Free with Museum admission.
11:00 a.m., Gallery Talk Stanchion, Great Hall 

Friday
The Ambivalence of Interpretation: The Case of Poussin Landscapes
This lecture is made possible by the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.
Willibald Sauerländer, director emeritus, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich.
Free with Museum admission.
3:00 p.m., Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Uris Center for Education

I'm defintely going to these.

Damn my body.

Some very interesting experiences and thoughts today, which will have to wait until tomorrow since I'm too tired to think right now.



I really hate how my body can never measure upto the expectations of my body. My mind must stop at every turn and wait for this body to catch up. Darn it.

The world science festival!

The world science festival 2008 is in NYC from late May to June.

I am so excited! I just can’t wait to attend the events. They have bunch of big-name Nobel-laureates giving talks in conjunction with performance/conversation with artists, on wealth of interesting topics like the human identity, the ever-staple nature of quantum universe, future cityscape and physical basis of life.

I'm already jotting down notes and marking down stuff on my calender (so I can ask for time off at my job). I'm definitely attending on all of the artscience events/performances, as well as everything related to robotics, human identity, and origin/nature of life-like systems. I may be attending one or two quantum-string physics symposium/panel/lecture, though given how all I hear about science in popular forums all revolve around the quantum universe I might as well skip them. I am definitely taking any and all Nobel-laureate panel/conversation events I can take, as well as any event in art museums. I believe a few events are taking place right inside the Met!

Some of these events will be rare opportunities. I suggest anyone even remotely interested to plan to attend at least one of the events they might be interested in, even just to show support for art and sciences (and artsciences).

Hmm. I wonder how much the tickets will cost. Will I have to live on instant noodles from now on?

 

Just a few notes (since I can't sleep)

http://community.livejournal.com/imaginarybeasts/

It's a creative writing/arts community on the livejournal. I've been reading some of them, and I must say I'm quite impressed. Their new theme for the coming issue is steampunk. Maybe I can write something up.


Oh, and Vernor Vinge posted the full copy of his book, the Rainbow's End on the net. It's an old news, but if you weren't aware of it, I suggest reading it. It's a sci-fi based in coming-of singularity age.


I've read an interesting essay using the concept of irreducible complexity to argue against current version of singularity espoused by the majority of the so-called transhumanists. I found them quite compelling, but maybe it's because I don't really agree with the unreasonably exaggerated vision of what 'singularity' of a human civilization would be like to begin with. Maybe I'll post something on that end later on.

Ugh, my head hurts.

Twilight

Thinking of Olin Levi Warner's Twilight.

The sky outside my room-size balcony is in the thoughtful shade of blue. The field of trees extending into the horizons are shimmering in the last rays of the sun, already sinking into the other end of the land. I can see thin lining of clouds turning violet just above the tree line.

I love the twilight. This is my favorite time of the day, neither light nor dark, everything feels so calm, and everything feels as if they are thinking. At this time everything seem to regain their true shape, lost and twisted during all the happenings of the day, and will be lost in the opaque obscurity of the night. In this hour, something seem to reach out to my being beyond the veil of the world, scattering strange, indescribable feelings. It's a feeling that reminds me of all the beautiful things I've ever seen in my life.

In this hour, I feel like I'm truly alive, and the mysteries of the universe brushes silently against my windowsill.

The city of dreaming books

I read this one a long time ago. I can still remember it vividly, filled with fantastic beings and locales. This book is a sort of crossover between creative fantasy and fairytale, though when I think about it practically every single creative writing can be said as a variation of the two categories. The style of the book is very reminiscent of the free-form fantasy /anything-goes style that seem to be all the rage these days, and the general scenery is sketched down in very imaginative and carefree manner tied together by meticulous storytelling ability.

Majority of the book really does revolve around the city of dreaming books, Bookholme, which is said to be inspired from the used books stores from the East Coast USA. Bookholme is an ancient city built upon giant network of caves and dungeons originally dug up to store precious and/or dangerous books away from prying eyes. As the time passed and the city got larger, people began dumping more and more books into the underground, which led to the formation of people called book hunters. Somewhat different from the book hunters we are familiar with from works like the Club Dumas, the book hunters of Bookholme are hunters first and book readers second (if they even know how to read), capable of dealing with giant monsters and blood sucking insects nesting in the subterranean book dungeon, as well as the ‘dangerous books’ created by book alchemists of the old.

As you can probably realize, this book is a real treat for the little bibliophile in all of us. Illustrated and light on tone, there is no mistaking that this is a children’s storybook, although I must say that the book is never childish like some of the forced children’s literary content out there. I’d rather classify this as a family content rather than a book aimed straight at children. Nothing beats a sunny afternoon, a good cup of tea, cute pastry, and a chapter or two of the city of dreaming books for relaxation.

The humanity’s obsession with information containing medium had been around since the beginning of history, and it might even stretch further than that, into the primordial side of us as life-like constructs. I’ve always been curious about that. Why would there be such mysterious appeal to information containing medium in nature? Books, monoliths, codex,and drawings, the signs are a plenty. Will it be too much to understand them as an attempt to create some sort of artificial life through the means at hand? A layer of translation between the world and humanity perhaps?