It’s a great little service; you install a small client to your computer and it then automatically synchronizes a folder with its storage system. Oftentimes I use email to send myself projects at work. Now I don’t worry about it; I Dropbox it. By the time I go to work my folders are already synched up. It’s a cloud-based thumbdrive and you should use it.

The gist of the book is Hawkins’s theory that the function of the neo-cortex is to form predictive models of the world based on past experience, communicated to it as inputs through the senses. He points out that each sense is processed similarly to one another even though they seem to be radically different to the untrained eye. An example Hawkins uses that caught my attention was of the transition between typing, speaking, and hand-writing. Hawkins points out that to communicate the Gettysburg Address one need not consciously learn it for a new medium. Our brain learns the famous speech by hearing it or reading it and our brain can rehash it by totally different means. The example is rather simple but amazing nonetheless.

The neo-cortex is called the neo-cortex because it is the “new” brain when compared to a lesser species that did not evolve it. Our “lower” brain is also called the reptilian brain, since that’s the sort of brain we have in common with Gojira and his friends (not Mothra of course, that’s another blog post). What I found fascinating about the descriptions of the neo-cortex was its uncanny ability to discern and absorb information. Watching a baby in a new room gives one a sense of this. As the baby girl looks around you can visualize all of the identification and cataloging that is going on inside her head. The cortex functions by translating any possible input into what it already knows. If the cortex does not have a pre-existing model to translate to, it files the new input away as a potential model.

Areas of the cortex work on bits of input to determine if they are suitable towards the purpose of that particular identifying bit. An oversimplified example would be a tiny part of the brain that looked as some input (say, something that was translated from the optic nerve and further broken down into vague shapes) and determine if the input contained an eye. If the input did contain an eye, further processing could then take place and our brain would communicate back and forth to tell the optic nerve to expect a nose in this general direction.

According to Hawkins this is how we work. Given this, Hawkins expects electronic brains to be feasible in ways that traditional artificial intelligence will never be. Some day Google may actually fully understand what the following question means: “is a dandelion more yellow than a canary?” Based on a lot of input (and correctly labeling such input) software should be able to learn about qualities in the way humans do. Whether or not this is a good thing and will actually be truly useful is to be seen (hopefully in my lifetime).

I think that one could easily create a sociopath computer just by taking advantage of how it learns. I joked with my wife one time about purposefully teaching the incorrect words for various colors to the children of some friends of ours. “What color is the grass? That’s right, it’s pink.” Giving a learning machine similar false positives could really screw up its view of the world. I wonder if such a thing could cause a machine to feel hate, or would emotion truly be more complex than a brain mechanism (i.e. necessarily involving hormones).

Based on my listen I also wonder about whether or not organized society is simply an evolutionary step. If our neo-cortex is all about taking in input, cataloging it, and making predictions based upon that stored knowledge, perhaps society rose about as a way to distribute such knowledge? What would the implication be if we determined that the entire function of families, cities, and nations was simply to propagate knowledge? If this would be the truth, in what direction are we evolving?

One final thought I wanted to share from this book was one on DNA and species-memory. Hawkins describes a scenario that explains the course of evolution by way of DNA being the most primitive form of brain: certain aspects necessary for survival are encoded into our DNA and this is how further generations know certain things. I don’t really know if I buy into this (I’d love to see more evidence and experiments for it) but the notion is intriguing. If this is true, the notion of clones becomes interesting to me, if nothing else but for the purpose of seeing how different they become over time. Not in a Multiplicity way of course but over generations of “self-duplication.” Would clones evolve over generations? Perhaps a series of clones would become impotent based on the new way of propagating genes? Okay, now I’m beginning to sound like some cheap sci-fi.

All in all, this work has been wonderful to listen to. Though it’s taken me weeks to get through, “On Intelligence” is a book I’d recommend to anyone interested in a journey of abstraction.

Anyways, Dreaming in Code tells the tale of the Open Source Applications Foundataion and their flagship product Chandler.

The book is encouraging and discouraging for many of the same reasons.  Software development is depressing.  Chandler is described as a wonderful goal but a nightmare of disorganized processes that keep the schedule slipping.

Dreaming in Code also describes a bit of the history evolution of software development.  Reading this book reminds me of just how young my discipline is (and whether or not it has the right to be referred to as a discipline at all).

★★★☆

It’s an inspiring movie that left me feeling ashamed. Not that the movie actively attempts to leave the viewer feeling ashamed, but (especially) seeing the efforts of Daniel Abol Pach caused a sadness to well up in my heart (more on that later).

The movie has a lot of ups and downs emotionally. It’s hilarious to watch these three young men interact with electricity and apartments and many other aspects of Western culture for the first time; it’s particularly funny after seeing the things they’ve gone through to get there. The young men attempt to adapt to the new culture, often grieving over their beloved homeland. It’s very moving to see these three change and work and fatten up (ever so slightly) through the course of the film. One of my favorite parts was the discussion of the Christmas tree, and its significance. One of the three asked “where is Santa Claus in the Bible?”

The movie had a profound effect on me in that I faced my own complacency and selfishness. Daniel (at times) works three separate jobs in order to send as much money home as possible, putting off his educational opportunities in order to do everything he can to save his family. I ask myself, “Would I work a second, part-time job in order to help the world?” I find myself shamefully answering, “no.”

I do not know how to respond to such a film. As a recently married man I find myself concerned primarily with ensuring the care and well being of my wife and some vain attempts to plan for a future. While I do this, people are being killed by their own government for not believing in the right faith. These people are being driven from their homes and starving for being themselves. Much like “Hotel Rwanda” I lose all pride in my own self when exposed to the lives of truly great people.

But enough about me.

Go! Rent the movie. Watch and be horrified, hope-filled, saddened, and amused all at the same time. Perhaps afterwards consider writing your Senators and Representative in Congress, praying, or sending money. But don’t let this movie pass you by without some response.

Tags: movie review “The Simpsons”

Here’s the long story (jump to moving, jump to wedding, or jump to honeymoon:

The story of the wedding is as follows. Both Danielle and I took extra time off of our jobs (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) in order to have enough time to pull things off. It seemed as though every second was needed. We made decisions that most people would have made months before (including inviting some friends in the last few days). The stress was incredible. I have no clue how I slept as easily as I did during the week prior to my wedding. Friday finally came and we decided to de-stress by taking my nieces and family to the McLean County Children’s Discovery Museum. It was a lot of fun watching them run around and play and it left us both feeling pretty happy and relaxed.

One funny thing about stress is that it causes different parts of my brain to shut down. At 3:30 we drove to the chapel for the rehearsal. My family followed my car and for the life of me I could not find Market Street in Bloomington. My brain was empty and I hated every second of it. We arrived at the chapel at about 4:15 for the 4:00 rehearsal. Everything went swimmingly (except for the nieces—Kenna needed a nap). Afterwards we went to Central Station Caf� for dinner. There’s an episode of Futurama called “300 Big Ones.” In that episode Fry has 300 cups of coffee and at cup 300 he gains a golden aura and became immaculately relaxed and able to function. That is exactly how I felt once the rehearsal was over. There was so much comfort in the fact that there was no time left to worry about anything!

The next morning I woke up and ran a few errands (picking up the hotel keys, buying roses for our mothers, and getting the car ready to drive to Canada).

I opted for my groomsmen to transport me to the chapel this time—I wasn’t going to be responsible for being late this time. My groomsmen and I had about two hours to hang out and get ready for the day. It was all great. Mike Klunke (who officiated the wedding) led the men in prayer before the action began. 2 p.m. arrived and the pictures really ramped up. Danielle and I had our “first look” photos (she looked so beautiful; it was amazing). The wedding party had our photos in the backyard of someone from the town of Stanford. They went pretty well (though it was a bit hot).

Soon the family arrived and family photos were taken. Not everyone Danielle wanted in the photos was there early enough for the session, but it was good nonetheless.

The ceremony started soon after and there was again that blissful feeling of not being able to control the situation. I escorted my grandmothers to their seats (though I tried to seat them on the wrong side—oops); I escorted her grandmothers to their seats; I escorted my parents and my future mother-in-law to their seats. All the while I was breathing and calm. Then the bridesmaids came down the walkway. Heart in throat; pulse at 100. I motioned to the ushers to close the doors as I forgot about the flower-girl/ring-bearer portion of the commencement. Whoops. The girls did well and it was a lot of cuteness and fun. The doors closed and reopened and a breathtaking site was taking place. As Danielle and her father rounded the corner a very loud yell scared the living crap out of the crowd. My mother nearly had a heart attack and nervous laughter proceeded before she was escorted to me. I warned Danielle beforehand that I may not be able to contain myself. (Apparently I also frightened one of the bridesmaids. I won’t say which one, let’s just call her M. Kiolbasa, no wait, let’s say Mary K. instead)

Curt gave me a hug and then he gave me his daughter’s hand and I escorted her to the altar. Tears were in both of our eyes all the while.

Mike began the ceremony despite fighting a fever and did a wonderful job. The rings fit and there weren’t any mistakes with the vows. We were married!

We left the chapel and made our way downstairs to the reception. We traveled through a tunnel of our family and friends and were met with a surprise: Danielle’s aunt who wasn’t supposed to be present made it somehow!

The wedding party was introduced by my good friend Frank James Kerous. He did a great job and we sat down to dinner. Everyone seemed to have a great time and the whole party was pretty much a blur. We were talking to everyone and sharing hugs and handshakes and it was great. We then went upstairs to cut cake and dance. The whole night was amazing.

The next day we left for our honeymoon.

We took the GO Bus into Toronto the next day and walked until we couldn’t stand it. We saw the CN Tower, the Casa Loma, and had a wonderful dinner. Chuck Palahniuk was doing a book signing at a bookstore in Toronto, so we stopped in to listen a bit. Unfortunately my back was killing me by then and we cut it short. Chuck didn’t seem to notice our departure

We spent the next day touring Niagra Falls’ wine country. So much fun. If you are looking for a great gig sometime, go work for a vineyard in Canada. All of the vineyards comp. your tasting fees if you can prove you’re also in the business. We then drove around Hamilton, Ontario for a while looking for the Royal Botanical Gardens of Canada. We found most of what we were looking for (but didn’t ever find the Cootes Paradise Sanctuary).

Our fourth day in Canada was great; we saw the Ontario Science Centre and caught a showing of Evil Dead: The Musical. I cannot promote the public transportation of Toronto enough: the buses and subways were excellent. Nearly everything we wanted to see was easily accessible.

The science centre was huge. This translated into us not seeing all of it (though they had a wonderful exhibit on truth and another on the human body). My personal favorite moment was when an exhibit sneezed on Danielle and she screamed. Shortly afterwards two other people checked the same exhibit out and it was hilarious (and disgusting).

Evil Dead the Musical was pretty good. It wasn’t nearly as well-written as the one I saw previously in Chicago, but the acting and effects and presentation was great. This musical told the story of Evil Dead 1 and 2 (the Chicago-based one just told Evil Dead’s story). My biggest complaint was the lack of cleverness in the jokes. Many of them were forced and there were a lot of un-clever sexual jokes and swearing. These things made the writing appear to be a bit on the cheap side to me (and I really like “crude” humor when it’s used properly). The music more than makes up for the deficiencies of the script though, and it’s worth catching if you can.

Our trip back was longer than expected, as we missed an important turn onto the 402 in Canada. At a rest area in Michigan my car’s electrical system nearly gave up the ghost but we were fortunately met with a mechanic named Moe who got us back on the road out of the goodness of his heart.

Thanks for reading!

The golden rule of Jesus really works well to avoid assholishness: treat others how you want them to treat you (no ifs, ands, or buts).

In particular, I like how he emphasizes humility in overcoming assholishness (that’s a word, right?) It’s a tough challenge to face ones past, but it’s worthwhile. You’ll (hopefully) experience healing when you show courage before that which owns you. Letting things in your past define your present is no way to live.

His advice on dealing with work jerks is sound as well: be hopeful and careful. I can’t help but think of The Art of War when I read his advice. It’s all about knowing your environment and the people you deal with and the games they try to play. With proper knowledge situations become easier to avoid (and control, if that’s what you want to do).