Build That Wall (Zia's Theme)
I dig my hole you build a wall.
I dig my hole you build a wall.
One day that wall is gonna fall. /foreshadowing; also, an incessant obsession to security is a self-fulfilling prophecy -paranoia invites harm/
Gonn' build that city on a hill.
Gonn' build that city on a hill.
Someday those tears are gonna spill. /building a city on a hill hints to motivations of security, similar to stanza 1/
So build that wall and
build it strong cuz
we'll be there before too long.
Gonn' build that wall up to the sky.
Gonn' build that wall up to the sky.
Someday your bird is gonna fly. /"bird is gonna fly" - a loss of freedom; restraint of the psyche by hunkering down in material and mental sense/
Gonn' build that wall until it's done.
Gonn' build that wall until it's done.
But now you've got nowhere to run. /An ultimatum. The final choice for which there are no do-overs; the 'weapon' is the proverbial finished wall/
So build that wall and
build it strong 'cuz
we'll be there before too long.
A song with a rather straightforward message, though taking the background of the singer into context makes it more complex. Who exactly taught this song to Zia? Was it meant to be a prophesying folksong from ages past charting the route of Caelondia to ruin based on its zeitgeist? Or was it taught by her father implying that rebellion was long afoot in his mind?
Either way, it brings a very human message that a wanton devotion to security of the individual (state), at the cost of external considerations assures mutual destruction.
Mother I'm Here (Zulf's Theme)
I set my sail
fly the wind it will take me
back to my home, sweet home
Lie on my back
clouds are making way for me
I'm coming home, sweet home /implication of smooth sailing/
I see your star you left it burning for me
Mother, I'm here /belief that mother wants him back as well/
Eyes open wide
feel your heart and it's glowing
I'm welcome home, sweet home /a great joy of returning/
I take your hand
now you'll never be lonely
not when I'm home, sweet home /a belief that his return benefits mother as well i.e. he's wanted/
I see your star, you left it burning for me
Mother, I'm here
This song can be taken in one of three ways, and in a certain aspect, is bittersweet, fitting in with the melancholic tone.
The first manner is to reflect upon Zulf's unique attachment to his homeland. Born an Uraen, raised by a Caelondian and ingrained with the philosophy of peace, he was truly a man of both nations. Having stayed in Caelondia and proposing to a Caelondian woman just before the calamity happened, he had his life crumble before his eyes. However, it can be seen that Zulf holds an equally strong attachment to Ura as he "worried about his first home". Upon learning of the betrayal of Caelondia, Zulf wrecks the Bastion and heads to rally the people of Ura, hence his theme of returning to the terminals (an intepretation of 'mother').
The second manner is the consequence that befalls Zulf toward the conclusion. Battered by his country men for bringing more ruin upon them, he is attacked and left for dead, a deadly juxtaposition to the tone of this song. It is from the understanding that Zulf was a man of both nations, that we realize he is a man of no nation, no identity. He may be Uraean by race, but his upbringing and inclinations are not those of his country men, and neither do they view him as a native son of Ura. This song may reflect the bitter return to Caelondian land should the kid decide to rescue him, made more prominent by the fact that 'mother' in the chorus makes an explicit reference to Micia, the Caelondian Goddess of loss and longing.
The third manner would refer to the kid's choice of evacuation at which point Zulf's theme would not belong to Zulf himself but rather a reflection of the whole cast. Understanding the backgrounds of the main cast of characters reveal that none of them truly have a place to call home. The kid had his family taken from him, with only his work to call his 'home'; Zia was an Uraen in Caelondia with no particular inclination toward the place; Zulf as was mentioned was a man of two and no nations; even Rucks himself was a Mancer who did not agree with the ways of the institution, thus the construction of the Bastion as a fail-safe. Without roots and identities in their lives in the pre-Calamity days, there cannot really be any place to call 'home' they can return to as in the song. One can then abstract that by evacuating and starting new lives after the Calamity, the cast is effectively creating a new sense of identity and a new 'home' by leaving it all behind. This ties into Micia being the mother as well, as the cast is forced to come to terms with their loss and longing.
More pointless points to ponder:
-The degree of ties the cast had to pre-Calamity life affects the attitude they have in the end decision. Zia had just experienced a shit-hole life and is willing to evacuate and never look back; Rucks stands as a man undecided, a Caelondian through-and-through who doubts the wisdom of the governance; Zulf a man who was slowly anchoring his identity with marriage and settling down, dying to recover the world as it had been before.
-The end song being a composite is beautiful as it is interesting. The juxtaposition of pre-Calamity Caelondia's ruin and the post-Calamity search for a home is akin to the opposites of life and death, stagnation and growth.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
When you have wings, but cannot fly
When you have wings but cannot fly,
You'd much rather despair and die
Than lead on such a putrid fate
when you have wings but cannot fly.
When you have feet but cannot run,
With heavy limbs and burning lung,
Though you wish to reach the ends of earth,
when you have feet but cannot run.
When you have gills but cannot swim,
Such a curse most unnatural may seem,
Form developed, but functionless,
when you have gills but cannot swim.
When you have dreams you cannot chase,
Cowering from fear's baleful face,
The caged bird turns to you and smiles.
When you have dreams you will not chase.
You'd much rather despair and die
Than lead on such a putrid fate
when you have wings but cannot fly.
When you have feet but cannot run,
With heavy limbs and burning lung,
Though you wish to reach the ends of earth,
when you have feet but cannot run.
When you have gills but cannot swim,
Such a curse most unnatural may seem,
Form developed, but functionless,
when you have gills but cannot swim.
When you have dreams you cannot chase,
Cowering from fear's baleful face,
The caged bird turns to you and smiles.
When you have dreams you will not chase.
Monday, September 12, 2011
How to live
It is kind of funny how people seem to work so hard all the time, forgoing sleep, balanced lifestyles and passion as a trade for 'survival' - not even concepts like 'duty' or 'discipline'. With our current technology and capabilities, basic needs of food, housing, clothing and entertainment could be very well satisfied allowing us to pursue higher callings, but in the ever-sprawling web of power transfers, schemes, dreams and projections, everyone fights to survive. We are pushed to forever produce more, for material things to sate our empty hearts, for population growth that is never allowed to recede, and to push technology ever forward to solve issues conceived of this push in the first place.
What am I missing out in this mess? I don't think I'm the only one to feel this way, but from observation of the majority, most have accepted and subsumed into this lifestyle so expertly. Does the social mingling suffice in sating our higher needs? Is it hope that drives people to accept that this situation can be resolved in the future? Or is it an abject surrender to circumstance? If there is satisfaction to be found in subsuming into this society, then I want to experience it, but this occurs at the risk of losing the 3rd-person vantage point of an individual assessing a society. If the world moves in an air of defeat that 'this is life', then I want to defy convention and carve a path free of these expectations and uncertainty - but the issue is, how will I find out which situation is truth?
Before I resolve to act, I wish to understand both sides of the coin, but perhaps it can never be objectively assessed due to the inherent nature of the conflict. All I can do then is to make a choice, decide; and so here I stand at a crossroads, looking at a vast expanse of possibilities, never knowing where the horizon ends - in ruin or in hope, and I fear the possibilities, the first step. I fear the first day of the rest of my life, and so I shall lie at this junction, to sleep the time away...
What am I missing out in this mess? I don't think I'm the only one to feel this way, but from observation of the majority, most have accepted and subsumed into this lifestyle so expertly. Does the social mingling suffice in sating our higher needs? Is it hope that drives people to accept that this situation can be resolved in the future? Or is it an abject surrender to circumstance? If there is satisfaction to be found in subsuming into this society, then I want to experience it, but this occurs at the risk of losing the 3rd-person vantage point of an individual assessing a society. If the world moves in an air of defeat that 'this is life', then I want to defy convention and carve a path free of these expectations and uncertainty - but the issue is, how will I find out which situation is truth?
Before I resolve to act, I wish to understand both sides of the coin, but perhaps it can never be objectively assessed due to the inherent nature of the conflict. All I can do then is to make a choice, decide; and so here I stand at a crossroads, looking at a vast expanse of possibilities, never knowing where the horizon ends - in ruin or in hope, and I fear the possibilities, the first step. I fear the first day of the rest of my life, and so I shall lie at this junction, to sleep the time away...
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Aural bliss
I can hear the amplifier gain before the song starts. As the song begins, I first notice the keyboards coming in from a mile away - distant in the background. When Gwen Stefani starts to sing, I can hear the echo they dubbed in... All so artificial, all so beautiful. The room starts to fill as an orchestra appears in different corners, near and far. I hush myself and listen to the private show streaming through my aural devices - bits and bytes on a hard disk, travelling through a decent sound card, to a small hippo box amplifier, to either my Sony MDR-7506 or Beyerdynamic DTX800s. You know your ears are ruined to sub-standard audio when you start complaining about mp3 fuzz and rant about how only flac (or any lossless format) sounds wholesome on Rihanna's 'Love the way you lie' - you wish there were no other formats available in the world.
To do a lightning comparison, I would have to say I indeed got the Sonys at a steal for 200 SGD back then. When compared against the unamplified Beyers, they provide just the right oomph - the appropriate distance or soundstage while only sacrificing a modicum of clarity. The Beyers in comparison whilst scoring in treble clarity, lacks the punch or clarity of bass probably due to a wider soundstage, sometimes sounding a little too far away. Unamplified, the Beyers serve to give me excellent reproduction of audio with unrivalled tonality at the higher frequencies, but the Sonys one up that and manage to bring a smile to my face as I listen to flac recordings of Professor Layton.
Amplified with a hippo box, things are a little different. You can tell you have excellent headphones when you can hear the amplifier gain as you pop the jack in - these are the Sonys. However, I can't confirm if it is a flaw of the headphone drivers, or with the flac recording itself, that I can hear buzzing as high notes are reached: I believe either the drivers are straining to reproduce sounds it can't as more juice flows through the amp, or simply just due to crappy recording on the part of the production. The Sonys amplified, sound even greater than normal - more audible nuances, greater separation of tones, greater enjoyment. One peeve for people like me (who prefer a neutral balance), is have is that the amp pushes the bass to be a little strong.
The Beyers (I'm listening to them now), pair even better with the amp - a match made in heaven in fact. The wide soundstage is now a boon as sounds are louder, clearer, and the bass is more distinct - Music now sounds like an actual reproduction. The Beyers now pretty much supersede the unamplified Sonys while offering very very pleasant and enjoyable sound while amplified Sonys can be grating on certain songs.
Of course this is just a comparison between the two headphones I have. I also auditioned Grado Sr80s and Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros. Grados are excellent for the entry level, offering excellent balance and sufficient clarity, but cannot compete at the level I reference in this lightning comparison. The Beyerdynamic DT 770s are heaven in a head-can, and its more expensive cousins even more so. However for 100 SGD more and being super-unportable, I settled for cheaper instead.
Conclusion: Sonys unamplified, Beyers with an amp - Now I just have to decide which set to use as my travel cans and which as my home relaxing set-up - They're both horrendously big =S. Perhaps in the future, when I can afford to splurge 1k+ on in-ear Shures, I can throw this problem out the window, till then, c'est la vie.
Songs used for comparison:
The Eternal Diva - Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva [FLAC]
4 in the Morning - Gwen Stefani [FLAC]
Derezzed - Daft Punk (Tron Legacy OST) [FLAC]
Pirates of The Carribean (On Stranger Tides) OST [FLAC]
Final Fantasy XIII OST [FLAC]
Love the way you lie (Part 2) - Rihanna [mp3]
(buzzing as Rihanna sings high notes - lossy mp3 at fault)
Animal - Neon Trees [mp3]
(production values not as good, closed sound on both cans)
and many more I should not bother to list...
Both headphones + 1 amp obtained from Jaben Network, at The Adelphi, Singapore.
Sony MDR-7506s approximately $200 purchased in 2009
Beyerdynamic DTX800 and hippo box purchased as a set for approximately $199 on the day of this blog post.
To do a lightning comparison, I would have to say I indeed got the Sonys at a steal for 200 SGD back then. When compared against the unamplified Beyers, they provide just the right oomph - the appropriate distance or soundstage while only sacrificing a modicum of clarity. The Beyers in comparison whilst scoring in treble clarity, lacks the punch or clarity of bass probably due to a wider soundstage, sometimes sounding a little too far away. Unamplified, the Beyers serve to give me excellent reproduction of audio with unrivalled tonality at the higher frequencies, but the Sonys one up that and manage to bring a smile to my face as I listen to flac recordings of Professor Layton.
Amplified with a hippo box, things are a little different. You can tell you have excellent headphones when you can hear the amplifier gain as you pop the jack in - these are the Sonys. However, I can't confirm if it is a flaw of the headphone drivers, or with the flac recording itself, that I can hear buzzing as high notes are reached: I believe either the drivers are straining to reproduce sounds it can't as more juice flows through the amp, or simply just due to crappy recording on the part of the production. The Sonys amplified, sound even greater than normal - more audible nuances, greater separation of tones, greater enjoyment. One peeve for people like me (who prefer a neutral balance), is have is that the amp pushes the bass to be a little strong.
The Beyers (I'm listening to them now), pair even better with the amp - a match made in heaven in fact. The wide soundstage is now a boon as sounds are louder, clearer, and the bass is more distinct - Music now sounds like an actual reproduction. The Beyers now pretty much supersede the unamplified Sonys while offering very very pleasant and enjoyable sound while amplified Sonys can be grating on certain songs.
Of course this is just a comparison between the two headphones I have. I also auditioned Grado Sr80s and Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros. Grados are excellent for the entry level, offering excellent balance and sufficient clarity, but cannot compete at the level I reference in this lightning comparison. The Beyerdynamic DT 770s are heaven in a head-can, and its more expensive cousins even more so. However for 100 SGD more and being super-unportable, I settled for cheaper instead.
Conclusion: Sonys unamplified, Beyers with an amp - Now I just have to decide which set to use as my travel cans and which as my home relaxing set-up - They're both horrendously big =S. Perhaps in the future, when I can afford to splurge 1k+ on in-ear Shures, I can throw this problem out the window, till then, c'est la vie.
Songs used for comparison:
The Eternal Diva - Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva [FLAC]
4 in the Morning - Gwen Stefani [FLAC]
Derezzed - Daft Punk (Tron Legacy OST) [FLAC]
Pirates of The Carribean (On Stranger Tides) OST [FLAC]
Final Fantasy XIII OST [FLAC]
Love the way you lie (Part 2) - Rihanna [mp3]
(buzzing as Rihanna sings high notes - lossy mp3 at fault)
Animal - Neon Trees [mp3]
(production values not as good, closed sound on both cans)
and many more I should not bother to list...
Both headphones + 1 amp obtained from Jaben Network, at The Adelphi, Singapore.
Sony MDR-7506s approximately $200 purchased in 2009
Beyerdynamic DTX800 and hippo box purchased as a set for approximately $199 on the day of this blog post.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Singularity
Having read Gizmodo's article on Google Translate and learning of Larry Page's 'belief' of the Singularity, and the future Google envisions, firstly I have to say that Google is AWESOME - I would love to be able to work there - and I also carry some thoughts on this Singularity issue though no conclusions on this topic yet.On what is the Singularity, I'll just leave this quote right here, from the same Giz article: "The steady improvement of its learning system flirted with the consequences postulated by scientist and philosopher Raymond Kurzweil, who speculated about an impending "singularity" that would come when a massive computer system evolves its way to intelligence."
Envisioning sentient A.I., possible futures come to mind: one would be a 'Skynet' situation where 'useless' humans would be ousted from sentient dominance, or there could be a bright future wherein the dominant species is an amalgam of humans and technology.
So we have to consider, how would these situations come about, and in what ways can we act now? To address this, we would have to try and anticipate these issues - should A.I. keep learning and become sentient, would they develop emotion? Would they have some form of a moral compass? Would they question purpose as we do? Would individual machines/brains/nodes think autonomously or participate in a hive-mind? What societal structure can be set-up within this intelligence?
On AI developing emotion, the possibility is that either they (1) pick up emotion from their 'learning activities' ala Google, (2)we hard-wire it into burgeoning tech, or that (3) it somehow develops through a natural progression of thought. Before we can even consider a stance to take on this issue, we would have to explore the purpose of emotion in living beings. I can only define emotion as a primal form of thought solidified by life experience and societal values, wherein emotional feedback direct us toward a course of action for some purpose, mostly self-preservation or upholding social order. Examples I can give include righteous indignation to crime or something which conflicts with our social values, love/lust linking to reproduction and preservation of the species, and fear wrt. self-preservation. I had read an article describing a man who took a bullet to the brain and lived, albeit with the section of his brain dealing with emotion damaged and subsequently, he was described to have 'changed' and started committing unlawful acts.In case (1) then, the A.I. could pick-up emotion from having scoured through tons of forums and news-sites where angry angry people comment on Obama Osama or TPL, or love and loneliness from the dozens of emo blogs and updates from 15-year olds around the world. What I then wonder is - would the A.I. then deem this exposure to emotion superfluous and junk it? Or maybe it would be incorporated into their systems through some trick of the adaptive programming? Emotions serve any living-being well at a basic level; we release adrenaline due to fear in life-threatening situations, love (whether natural or inculcated) keeps the institution of marriage, monogamy and the family unit strong, lust allows us to pick desired partners and possibly desired genetic traits etc. However in this day and age, most people would have experienced a flurry of emotion leading to supposedly irrational behaviour (current knowledge of marketing exploits this), and we as a species, whether in bouts of navel-gazing or processed through the genius minds of philosophers, have considered the relevance of emotion in our modern world.
I think (though unsubstantiated as of now) that emotions as we know it are just a form of 'reflex-thought' which kicks in in simple situations where we may not have the time to undergo deep thought, and in the case of A.I., can be considered almost useless should they adopt a purpose, vision, and social structure distinct of our current human landscape. An example of this is how we have self-preservation built into our systems (at least I have), but yet through proper indoctrination people would be willing to sacrifice for love, religion, or in war. If A.I. develops into a hive-mind, then the mother-brain would have the luxury to deem a physical vassal disposable and preservation of the physical state could be thrown out the window if the servers are kept safe. Fear as an emotion would be altered to only preserve the mother-brain but individual machines could very well do without it.
Case (2) could be a course of action should we determine what we define as 'emotion' could keep A.I. from developing past human possibilities and deeming us to be 'useless meat-bags' - a form of moral compass where machines could bring themselves to do a human no harm ala Asimov's 3 laws (lest a paradoxical situation occurs where every course of action leads to a different degree of human harm, but that depth of discussion shall not be reached in this note).
(3) is likely as in my definition of emotion as 'reflex thought', emotion would then be akin to the process of indexing, where common queries or situations have their answers stored in easy to reach places and the process of retrieving said information could be described as reflex. The only difference being that dependent on the 'world view' the A.I. takes, it would develop its own system of emotion e.g. [Situation: Human asking me to make him a 'sammich' | No. 1 indexed response (a.k.a. anger): Human is useless. Smash puny human].
//Will complete note tomorrow, should really be studying for my paper =S. Thoughts to include: Relevance of humans in an age of Singularity | In what situations would autonomous thought of nodes develop/what is the significance of free will | Would there be a possibility of isolated communities set-up to mirror our current reality of nations and states, and if so what is the significance? | Examples: KOTOR's droids, Mass Effect's Geth, Asimov's Foundation novels - ima geek//
Envisioning sentient A.I., possible futures come to mind: one would be a 'Skynet' situation where 'useless' humans would be ousted from sentient dominance, or there could be a bright future wherein the dominant species is an amalgam of humans and technology.
So we have to consider, how would these situations come about, and in what ways can we act now? To address this, we would have to try and anticipate these issues - should A.I. keep learning and become sentient, would they develop emotion? Would they have some form of a moral compass? Would they question purpose as we do? Would individual machines/brains/nodes think autonomously or participate in a hive-mind? What societal structure can be set-up within this intelligence?
On AI developing emotion, the possibility is that either they (1) pick up emotion from their 'learning activities' ala Google, (2)we hard-wire it into burgeoning tech, or that (3) it somehow develops through a natural progression of thought. Before we can even consider a stance to take on this issue, we would have to explore the purpose of emotion in living beings. I can only define emotion as a primal form of thought solidified by life experience and societal values, wherein emotional feedback direct us toward a course of action for some purpose, mostly self-preservation or upholding social order. Examples I can give include righteous indignation to crime or something which conflicts with our social values, love/lust linking to reproduction and preservation of the species, and fear wrt. self-preservation. I had read an article describing a man who took a bullet to the brain and lived, albeit with the section of his brain dealing with emotion damaged and subsequently, he was described to have 'changed' and started committing unlawful acts.In case (1) then, the A.I. could pick-up emotion from having scoured through tons of forums and news-sites where angry angry people comment on Obama Osama or TPL, or love and loneliness from the dozens of emo blogs and updates from 15-year olds around the world. What I then wonder is - would the A.I. then deem this exposure to emotion superfluous and junk it? Or maybe it would be incorporated into their systems through some trick of the adaptive programming? Emotions serve any living-being well at a basic level; we release adrenaline due to fear in life-threatening situations, love (whether natural or inculcated) keeps the institution of marriage, monogamy and the family unit strong, lust allows us to pick desired partners and possibly desired genetic traits etc. However in this day and age, most people would have experienced a flurry of emotion leading to supposedly irrational behaviour (current knowledge of marketing exploits this), and we as a species, whether in bouts of navel-gazing or processed through the genius minds of philosophers, have considered the relevance of emotion in our modern world.
I think (though unsubstantiated as of now) that emotions as we know it are just a form of 'reflex-thought' which kicks in in simple situations where we may not have the time to undergo deep thought, and in the case of A.I., can be considered almost useless should they adopt a purpose, vision, and social structure distinct of our current human landscape. An example of this is how we have self-preservation built into our systems (at least I have), but yet through proper indoctrination people would be willing to sacrifice for love, religion, or in war. If A.I. develops into a hive-mind, then the mother-brain would have the luxury to deem a physical vassal disposable and preservation of the physical state could be thrown out the window if the servers are kept safe. Fear as an emotion would be altered to only preserve the mother-brain but individual machines could very well do without it.
Case (2) could be a course of action should we determine what we define as 'emotion' could keep A.I. from developing past human possibilities and deeming us to be 'useless meat-bags' - a form of moral compass where machines could bring themselves to do a human no harm ala Asimov's 3 laws (lest a paradoxical situation occurs where every course of action leads to a different degree of human harm, but that depth of discussion shall not be reached in this note).
(3) is likely as in my definition of emotion as 'reflex thought', emotion would then be akin to the process of indexing, where common queries or situations have their answers stored in easy to reach places and the process of retrieving said information could be described as reflex. The only difference being that dependent on the 'world view' the A.I. takes, it would develop its own system of emotion e.g. [Situation: Human asking me to make him a 'sammich' | No. 1 indexed response (a.k.a. anger): Human is useless. Smash puny human].
//Will complete note tomorrow, should really be studying for my paper =S. Thoughts to include: Relevance of humans in an age of Singularity | In what situations would autonomous thought of nodes develop/what is the significance of free will | Would there be a possibility of isolated communities set-up to mirror our current reality of nations and states, and if so what is the significance? | Examples: KOTOR's droids, Mass Effect's Geth, Asimov's Foundation novels - ima geek//
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
mugging
Mugging astronomy yesterday, and math today, it is soooo much easier to internalize and vomit all the theoretical aspects in astronomy than constantly internalizing and systematizing the hard mathematical concepts.
But I feel I am learning so much now (1 semester's worth in fact, considering I slacked off math to focus on physics =S) and truly without all the symbols, abstractions and methods developed by geniuses gone by, our world would be very far backward indeed.
Who knew sequences and series could hold so much use?
And then again, I find it insane that a university course could cram this much knowledge into a person in 3 to 4 years. Either there are more geniuses around than we realize, or most people are just taking in knowledge to spit it out, forgetting all these wonderful lessons after a few years in the workforce. I vote the latter, I don't see how anyone devoted to truly learning can juggle all this together with their other commitments. There is a reason why Kepler spent most of his waking moments working just to develop what is now considered part of foundation physics in Uni. I resolve to be more devoted to the science which I love, though resolutions hardly come through (heh).
But I feel I am learning so much now (1 semester's worth in fact, considering I slacked off math to focus on physics =S) and truly without all the symbols, abstractions and methods developed by geniuses gone by, our world would be very far backward indeed.
Who knew sequences and series could hold so much use?
And then again, I find it insane that a university course could cram this much knowledge into a person in 3 to 4 years. Either there are more geniuses around than we realize, or most people are just taking in knowledge to spit it out, forgetting all these wonderful lessons after a few years in the workforce. I vote the latter, I don't see how anyone devoted to truly learning can juggle all this together with their other commitments. There is a reason why Kepler spent most of his waking moments working just to develop what is now considered part of foundation physics in Uni. I resolve to be more devoted to the science which I love, though resolutions hardly come through (heh).
Monday, May 9, 2011
Scientists
Men are born with a measure of curiosity, and it is such that we have developed the field of science and rational thought. Those born of this era are especially enamored of the discoveries of the past and wannabe scientists hastily devour this information to make discoveries of their own. What we may not realize is that the knowledge to be handled today has already grown past the confines and capabilities of the individual, and is assembled and improved by a system or 'free hand', that no person can truly understand where our undertakings lead us.
And so as our curiosity beget a system, we are pulled into it to further its confines and produce more discoveries to consume the next generation. And the cycle is complete.
And so as our curiosity beget a system, we are pulled into it to further its confines and produce more discoveries to consume the next generation. And the cycle is complete.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Photographs
By Jamie Cullum. A very poignant line - "When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life / I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time."
As someone who doesn't really keep photographs or delve into sentimentality, I feel somewhat unbalanced after exposure to the lyrics. I stand to my view that too much sentimentality is just navel-gazing, but I also realize its ability to keep us grounded.
Having not recorded a large portion of my life, here's a virtual toast to the 'photographs' in my brain - that whenever I believe I have an 'ordinary, ordinary' life, I can see the magic that has existed over time. Reduce the sadness, rationalize the boredom, and remember the tales of the superhero you are in your own life.
As someone who doesn't really keep photographs or delve into sentimentality, I feel somewhat unbalanced after exposure to the lyrics. I stand to my view that too much sentimentality is just navel-gazing, but I also realize its ability to keep us grounded.
Having not recorded a large portion of my life, here's a virtual toast to the 'photographs' in my brain - that whenever I believe I have an 'ordinary, ordinary' life, I can see the magic that has existed over time. Reduce the sadness, rationalize the boredom, and remember the tales of the superhero you are in your own life.
Monday, January 3, 2011
On Excellence
The key to achieving great things with a normal disposition (i.e. one born of the masses, with a NORMAL motivation and moderate drive) is to have a strong support network/web.
I have witnessed this in my own life where I have been hoisted into a position where one may say is 'excellent' or rather to note that I have excelled, not by the virtue of any genius, unwavering determination or uncommon capabilities, but by a crane and hook constantly lifting me above a 'normal' life.
I shall define 'normal' as simply being the largest percentage of lifestyles led, as may be illustrated by statistics and census everywhere. To have a good education, be in a good university and study an esoteric subject as physics is an extreme privilege though many of my peers may not acknowledge or be aware of such a fact as submerged in our social webs, we think we are the norm.
The allegory of the crane and hook then, will refer to that strong support web I have mentioned composed of parents, systems, teachers and peers. Firstly to be born in a safe and nurturing domestic environment is a blessing in itself as youth shelters can always illustrate the devastating effect domestic violence/negligence can have on a person.
The system then plays a very important part on how focused it is in raising the individual rather than being a system for systems' sake, and this is where students find interests in scholastic academia, sports or other interests.
Finally, what I find is the most important point is having peers to freely communicate with. No man is an island entire of itself, and so being social beings, we cling on to parental expectations and progress together with the rest of our social circle as a group in a dogged tail-biting race not to be left behind.
As the quantity in my immediate social circle has dipped for whatever reason - cultural differences, differing mindsets, plain laziness to socialize - I find that 'excellence' is not so instinctive as it was, and the reason is now clear that a fundamental drive has been removed.
A multitude of benefits arise from strong social support, as one is called upon to fear, critique, envy, learn, humble, and be proud of oneself, running through the spectra of base emotion that arise from interaction. We fear being outcast and left behind, and fear humiliation thus we strive not to fall far behind. We critique works and achievements in our pride and envy and thus we learn and teach simultaneously. We are humbled upon being bested, and proud when achieving beyond our immediate peers though far greater talents may surpass us. And in this isolated system of apparent irrationality, we hold on to our sanity and act as we always have.
Our friends give us this yardstick to measure ourselves against, and the larger the circle, the more accurate the stick as per the law of statistics. Therefore once removed from a substantially strong network, we enter a system void of measurement; less of measuring sticks and more of a new ball game.
And therefore in our later years when we are removed from the artificial construct of this perfect social amalgam known as a 'school', we have to adapt in functioning differently. Unless we upkeep our networks, we are bereft of information used to plan and motivate ourselves. Furthermore in areas of cutting-edge development, we lose an absolute in the standard of achievement as things are not so clear-cut as As or Bs, 4s or 5s, or dollars and cents. We have to find the reason for constantly nudging ourselves forward off the brink of the 'possible', to know what we are doing.
And so comes true excellence that will surpass age, time and social constructs. These are the people we deem to have genius, unwavering determination, and uncommon capabilities. In other words, they have found their raison d'etre.
I have witnessed this in my own life where I have been hoisted into a position where one may say is 'excellent' or rather to note that I have excelled, not by the virtue of any genius, unwavering determination or uncommon capabilities, but by a crane and hook constantly lifting me above a 'normal' life.
I shall define 'normal' as simply being the largest percentage of lifestyles led, as may be illustrated by statistics and census everywhere. To have a good education, be in a good university and study an esoteric subject as physics is an extreme privilege though many of my peers may not acknowledge or be aware of such a fact as submerged in our social webs, we think we are the norm.
The allegory of the crane and hook then, will refer to that strong support web I have mentioned composed of parents, systems, teachers and peers. Firstly to be born in a safe and nurturing domestic environment is a blessing in itself as youth shelters can always illustrate the devastating effect domestic violence/negligence can have on a person.
The system then plays a very important part on how focused it is in raising the individual rather than being a system for systems' sake, and this is where students find interests in scholastic academia, sports or other interests.
Finally, what I find is the most important point is having peers to freely communicate with. No man is an island entire of itself, and so being social beings, we cling on to parental expectations and progress together with the rest of our social circle as a group in a dogged tail-biting race not to be left behind.
As the quantity in my immediate social circle has dipped for whatever reason - cultural differences, differing mindsets, plain laziness to socialize - I find that 'excellence' is not so instinctive as it was, and the reason is now clear that a fundamental drive has been removed.
A multitude of benefits arise from strong social support, as one is called upon to fear, critique, envy, learn, humble, and be proud of oneself, running through the spectra of base emotion that arise from interaction. We fear being outcast and left behind, and fear humiliation thus we strive not to fall far behind. We critique works and achievements in our pride and envy and thus we learn and teach simultaneously. We are humbled upon being bested, and proud when achieving beyond our immediate peers though far greater talents may surpass us. And in this isolated system of apparent irrationality, we hold on to our sanity and act as we always have.
Our friends give us this yardstick to measure ourselves against, and the larger the circle, the more accurate the stick as per the law of statistics. Therefore once removed from a substantially strong network, we enter a system void of measurement; less of measuring sticks and more of a new ball game.
And therefore in our later years when we are removed from the artificial construct of this perfect social amalgam known as a 'school', we have to adapt in functioning differently. Unless we upkeep our networks, we are bereft of information used to plan and motivate ourselves. Furthermore in areas of cutting-edge development, we lose an absolute in the standard of achievement as things are not so clear-cut as As or Bs, 4s or 5s, or dollars and cents. We have to find the reason for constantly nudging ourselves forward off the brink of the 'possible', to know what we are doing.
And so comes true excellence that will surpass age, time and social constructs. These are the people we deem to have genius, unwavering determination, and uncommon capabilities. In other words, they have found their raison d'etre.
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