Hofstadter pwns Kurzweil

There was a summit on The Singularity. It's what Ray Kurzweil likes to talk about a lot. It's basically the exponential increase of technology which will reach a point at which acceleration is so high we can only say our entire world has changed. That point is the singularity. Ray says it will be in my lifetime, and even in his (and he is old). But my dear friend Douglas Hofstadter (who organised the summit) is not that optimistic, and i agree with him. In this video he basically tears down Ray's optimism, all while Ray is sitting in front of him (in view). I laughed my ass off. Now to hope Ray is right in that we soon have the technology to live without asses.



Here are more videos from the summit.

More Cat

Meerkats or sticktails as we call them here. They must be the most easily tapeable mammal on the planet. They are fun to look at, always acting nervous. I always imagine them guarding a huge stash of premium coffee. But then again thats what I guard myself.

A Meerat Family Saga


Meerkat unmasked Pt 1


Meerkat unmasked Pt 2


Meerkats united.


Meerkats divided.


You see? Who needs stupid Sam Gamgee and his bleedin Meerkat Manor. Not me. Well, maybe later.

Plaid Off Acid

This piece is quite alright. A shame that its so popular that I regret to name it as one of my favorites. But it is. (Bows head down in shame)

Goldberg Variations:



About Gould:



The whole docu is on youtube.

Emperor:



The whole concert is on youtube.

Shameless Selfpromotion

This is how they used to do it.





This is how I do it now.



The results are ready to be listened to online here.

Thanks to JF Sebastian for granting me some space to put my music.

Both links can also be found on the right of the posts, as can some others.

What's new, Cheshirepuss?

You are probably reading this because you're bored. That's the internet for you. A way to fill the time you save by using new technologies like the internet. So if I can assume your boredom hasn't disappeared after reading this small text, here is something else to occupy your mind with:
Reddit.

(A social bookmarking website where users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the reddit home page.)

Its supposably very Web 2.0, and therefore at least liked by the community making up Web 2.0 phenomena. I like it because its pretty fresh every time I check it.

Zah-mah-ki-bo

"I'm suing a cigarette company because on the package they promised to kill me, and yet here I am." - Kurt Vonnegut

Or rather there he was. He was one of the few people who wore a moustache and got away with it. And he wrote some nice books.

He will be missed. (Though not by me, I never even met him)

Game Theory

Adam Curtis has made a new documentary: The Trap.

1. F**k You Buddy


2. The Lonely Robot


3. We Will Force You To Be Free

Please try this at home

Here is an example of laziness. With this you don't even need to invite your friends over to watch a terrible movie and make comments about it. It's all included. It's Mystery Science Theater 3000.
This show really sucks. It's not funny. The premise is intentionally lame, and they seem to think lame equals funny. The films they show are mostly funny because they are bad, but watching the show in any other setting then the theater is mindbogglingly annoying. If they had just gone with the idea and presented it as something by itself, instead of tacking on these characters, it would have been fine. But then again, they seem to know they are lame. If only that would help.
But enjoy pieces of classic sci-fi or other vintage footage, while sitting in a theater with loud and obnoxious beings who think they are funny (and sometimes are).









There is a lot more where this came from.

To Err Is You, Man

Mistakes will be made. There are reasons for this. Only perfect knowledge will rid you of being imperfect. And I think then still Gödel and Heisenberg would object. Just take a look at this list of cognititve biases, which clearly shows that our conscience is not made to perceive reality, but to make a depiction of it that seems best for us. Thats not bad, its actually very nice I can imagine. But it does create a problem for handling a valid scientific method. What you think is not what is there. It's an approximation finetuned by evolution. And though science seems something scientists do, its actually a very commonplace thing. Most people expect the world to behave according to science, even though they wont check in detail. But there is a difference between what science tells us and what we perceive (and not analyse to deeply). This means we have to put effort in our perception in order to do what we think is best, and even to know what best might be.
Maybe not at all a new point, but a nice way to try to releave myself of the burden of being afraid to make a mistake. It does seem that there is literally no escape from them, because my genes hid my perceptional flaws from my mind. I gotta be kidding right?

Here is a site with all kinds of video lectures, where you can follow complete university courses. If you happen to have the time.

Here is one of my heroes mr. Dennett in an interview, where he also adresses subjects which relate to what I was blabbering about. Maybe it gets you interested to view those university courses. For a while.

Sociobiology

It's EO Wilson-time!!!!
This guy has filled in some more of the links between what we think and why we think it, namely through sociobiology. Basically its about the pressure of social behaviour on evolution, or how life adapts to dealing with groups. It's something which is really present everywhere (except in solitary species), and which has massive implications on how to view and describe humans and human behaviour.






Wilson says he never got out of his bug-period and likes ants. And so do I, what a surprise. They are really fascinating. For some.

Industrial fruit

The secret life of machines is a series of shows, which explain how things used to work in what seem the seventies but are actually the late eighties. Of course now we fly our hovercars and use the internet. But stroll through an antiqueshop, and you will find some of the appliances explained here, like the video recorder, fax machine and telephone, and even some your grandparents used to gain status in their neighbourhood like the vacuum cleaner, and the refrigerator. Its an old show is what i'm saying. But nonetheless both entertaining and informative. Like all good things in life.

Here are some more episodes.

And if you dont like sitting through those stupid videos here is the cartoonversion of the same thing.

And if you are now really turned on about wanting to know how stuff works, there's How Stuff Works.

Links

James Burke made a fascinating documentary series called Connections. All in all it spans 40 episodes of near an hour, and its all about how things change, and the serendipity that's involved in this. Here is the first episode,with the first series here.

PSATIW

People suck and this is why:









Yes you suck. You. Suck.

(Apologies to any non-human intelligence interpreting the previous words)

Whatnow?

Politics:

Alternative 3


Electromagnetic warfare


Trials Of Henry Kissinger


Science:

Horizon: Nice guys finish first


The pleasure of finding things out


Fractals: Colors of infinity


Yeah, some videos. I'm lazy, go figure.

How to know how to be perfect

If you are reading this you are probably not very successful or happy. Just a guess. Lucky for you there is a way you can change. All you need to do is put all your negativism and cynicism aside and do what this site tells you. Trust me, it's that easy. And if you don't manage to change, remember, it's your own fault. Now go get 'em.

Vital Gore

Gore Vidal is a writer and political commentator. He is both well informed and cynical, a combination of qualities I can appreciate. Here is an interview with Alex Jones. It seems they cornered Vidal in some alley, which I guess is supposed to give the whole thing some underground feel. Quite weird actually.








I know, it's more of the same old 'the world sucks and this is why'-crap. I also get tired of it. Next post will feature some mindless entertainment again. But I must say that the more people I can find who agree with me, the better I feel. And isn't that what life is all about?

Ambidextrous

Dexter, boy genius, one of the Cartoon Cartoon characters. More of them later. And no, it's not stooopid.








And lot's more.

Intermission

Docus about:

Bill Hicks


Life Of Brian


Thats all for now, medialeeches.

Puppets

The Muppets, by Jim Henson are pretty cool. Of course we were brand-fed with it by propagandistic child-indoctrinator Sesame Street (or Sesamstraat if you live near me). That pinballmachine producing some number still haunts me to this day, as do the various news episodes of Kermit the Frog (or Kermit de kikker). And lets not forget Bert & Ernie, they are in my head forever too, talking about glasses of water. Jim Henson is personally responsible for all of this. All the puppets I have seen in my life were either handcrafted by mr Henson, or at least operated by him. For this reason I am still quite confused about things like the muppet show. So praise be upon him, and by him I mean that Henson guy.

My biggest achievement yet

I always dreamed of being original. Of thinking up something which doesn't already exist. But even this post is not original. It is very hard to think of something good which is not already all over the web. Now some time ago I thought of a word. I think its a very good word, and initially I used it as a searchterm for something I was looking for. But there were no matches. The word didn't exist. But it just seemed so unlikely and counterintuitive. The word is obviously useful, but apparently not every likely thing ends up being used even in such a redundant system as the world (or at least what google catches of it (and equating this with the world is another matter for which I must seek professional help)). Enough about me... judge for yourself.

The word.

Neotenic Weapons

Even as they say a cute tooth has rational roots, scientists admit they are just beginning to map its subtleties and source. New studies suggest that cute images stimulate the same pleasure centers of the brain aroused by sex, a good meal or psychoactive drugs like cocaine, which could explain why everybody in the panda house wore a big grin.
Referencing this article.

Let me just hook you up with some primo-quality QTness.

CuteOverload. Watch out, this is some hardcore cuteness!!! They show everything!! You have been warned.

Cute Rats. Yes the ones without the bubonic plague.

Cute Cats.

Cute Dogs.

Cute Humans.

Cute Birds.

Ok, first time is free, the next nose close to eyes is gonna cost you!

Wikiality

The Wikipedia is a fabulous phenomenon. Just a basic call: Write down what you know, and how you know it. The consequences are people improving on each other, and a huge amount of knowledge which is open source. Just so you know, I think its great. It certainly has its disadvantages, but I so much enjoy to clicketyclick through it, finding lists and references and weird facts and things.

Here is Colbert on Wikiality (on onegoodmove.org) Here is the actual wikiality site.

A wikipedia spoof.

Some lectures about wikis and Wikipedia.

Wiki Faqs

Where rejected wikipedia-articles go to die.

A category of unusual articles.

A Wiki blog (basically an extended version of this post)

And of course a list of all wikipedia articles lacking sources. Just to remind you: Help Wikipedia! Become a legitimate source!

Mr BA

Mr T, the T-man, BA Baracus, actor, wrestler, educator, angry person.














I think that should cover that subject.
Oh wait, mr T also fights against everything!

Unwasted time is wasted time

Games, who hasnt played one? They are a part of human life. Just like aids. To name something inappropriate. But in all fairness... isnt aids just a game of tag with keeps? Anywhat, I made this post to put something down about pc games and how to find some good ones. Not really about aids at all actually. Dont know why I mentioned it.

Metacritic pc game list.
This lists all types of pc games ranked by the average score of multiple professional reviews. Quite a nice top-list.

Wiki Video Game List List.
Wikipedia has a nice list of lists about video games, listing a large variety of categories. For more broad-browsing and exploration.

Wiki Cooperative games list.
Another wiki list of coop-games, to play with instead of against each other.

Gamefaqs.
Here you can find all the walkthroughs, cheats, userreviews, and lists, even an enormous list of gamerelated top 10 lists.

Gamespot.
A good game-site with good reviews and video-reviews. Which are good.

Isohunt and btjunkie, to download the torrents for games (remember, if you like it, please steal it from an actual store!). Here is Azureus, with which you can download the actual games using the torrents. Of course everything can be downloaded in this way, even the kitchen sink.

Of course, if you have played all these games, you can always get a life.

Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose is an interviewer who has his own show on PBS. He is pretty good, interested and intelligent. But most of all, his program is an hour with some of my favorite people.

The Charlie Rose Google Video Section (or CRGVS as I like to call it (but dont)).