15 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
Theoretical Uncertainty has No Meaning
If one looks at the history of knowledge, it is plain that at the beginning men tried to know because they had to do so in order to live. In the absence of that organic guidance given by their structure to other animals, man had to find out what he was about, and he could find out only by studying the environment which constituted the means, obstacles and results of his behavior. The desire for intellectual or cognitive understanding had no meaning except as a means of obtaining greater secur... 1 
notes
notes24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Causality as a Conceptual Tool
Causality itself is an evolved conceptual tool that simplifies, schematizes, and focuses our representation of situations. This cognitive machinery guides us to think in terms of the cause—of an outcome’s having a single cause. Yet for enlarged understanding, it is more accurate to represent outcomes as caused by an intersection, or nexus, of factors (including the absence of precluding conditions). In War and Peace, Tolstoy asks, “When an apple ripens and falls, why does it fall? Becau...
1 John Tooby on how causation is a way we simplify the world to more easily understand it, but it can also over-simplify.
02 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Stand Alone Complex
Laughing Man: Who knew that copies could still be produced despite the absence of the original? If you had to give a name to this phenomenon, what would you label it?
Motoko: It would be "Stand Alone Complex"
Laughing Man: Yes, it's the stand alone complex. From the start the very nature of our current social system has contained the mechanisms to trigger such an amazing occurrence. Personally however, I feel this marks the beginning of a new era of despair. What's your opinion?
Motoko: I ... 1 notes
notesThe concept of many people getting the same idea, giving the appearance of either coordination or copycat behavior, but there is no originating even to copy.
02 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
AI Philosophizing
Tachikoma: So, will we be sent back to lab too?
Batou: Wha...? Who's been telling you that?
Tachikoma: Well, it's just that the way the Major's been looking at us lately is kinda scary.
Batou: Oh, is that all? The major's always scary, remember? I think you guys are doing a fine job.
Tachikoma: You really think so?
Batou: What, you're still worried about that?
Tachikoma: Yeah... It just seems like the Major is angry about what we've acquired recently.
Batou: "Acquired"? Acquired what?
... 1 notes
notesNot deep, confusing, but I like the idea that AIs are digital, but humans are analog.
31 OCT 2012 by ideonexus
Levels of Simulation
Such is simulation, insofar as it is opposed to representation. Representation stems from
the principle of the equivalence of the sign and of the real (even if this equivalence is
Utopian, it is a fundamental axiom). Simulation, on the contrary, stems from the Utopia of
the principle of equivalence, from the radical negation of the sign as value, from the sign
as the reversion and death sentence of every reference. Whereas representation attempts
to absorb simulation by interpreting it as a f... 1 notes
notesThe differences between appearance and simulation.
31 OCT 2012 by ideonexus
The Difference Between Pretend and Simulation
To dissimulate is to pretend not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have
what one doesn't have. One implies a presence, the other an absence. But it is more
complicated than that because simulating is not pretending: "Whoever fakes an illness can
simply stay in bed and make everyone believe he is ill. Whoever simulates an illness
produces in himself some of the symptoms" (Littré). Therefore, pretending, or
dissimulating, leaves the principle of reality intact: the difference is...Folksonomies: post modernism hyperreality
Folksonomies: post modernism hyperreality
1 notes
notesWhen a person pretends to be ill, they just lie in bed; but when they simulate illness, they produce actual symptoms, thus blurring the lines of reality.
11 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Mental Unity of Crowds
Under certain given circumstances, and only under those circumstances, an agglomeration of men presents new characteristics very different from those of the individuals composing it. The sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting very clearly defined characteristics. The gathering has thus become what, in the absence of a better expression,...Folksonomies: sociology
Folksonomies: sociology
1 notes
notesPeople behave differently as individuals than when they are working in a group.
08 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Importance of Giants
What, then, is it in particular that can be learned from teachers of special distinction? Above all, what they teach is high standards. We measure everything, including ourselves, by comparisons; and in the absence of someone with outstanding ability there is a risk that we easily come to believe that we are excellent and much better than the next man. Mediocre people may appear big to themselves (and to others) if they are surrounded by small circumstances. By the same token, big people feel... 1 notes
notesThey make the above average feel dwarfed.
28 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Chemistry Arose from Technologists, Philosophers, and Alc...
Historically [chemistry] arose from a constellation of interests: the empirically based technologies of early metallurgists, brewers, dyers, tanners, calciners and pharmacists; the speculative Greek philosphers' concern whether brute matter was invariant or transformable; the alchemists' real or symbolic attempts to achieve the transmutation of base metals into gold; and the iatrochemists' interst in the chemistry and pathology of animal and human functions. Partly because of the sheer comple... 1 notes
notesFor a variety of different motives.
01 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Our Radio Broadcasts into Space are a Monologue
Some individuals find the absence of a dialogue distressing – as if meaningful
dialogues were commonplace on this planet. Philip Morrison, of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, has pointed out that such cultural monologues are
entirely common in the history of mankind; that, for example, the entire cultural
patrimony of classical Greece, which has influenced our civilization in a profound
way, has traveled in only one direction in time. We have not sent our wisdom to
the Greeks. The...Folksonomies: culture communication
Folksonomies: culture communication
1 notes
notesDistressing some that it is not a dialogue, but the wisdom of the ancient Greeks is a monologue as well.
