A Million People

Consider the following:

• People's minds are machines capable of learning.
• The mechanism of learning is fallible (Ex. racism, sexism, fanatical religions, genocide, etc. ).
• Fallibility decreases if there is an increase in IQ, amount of knowledge, and critical thinking ability .
  
• An omnipotent intelligence could learn in an infallible way.
• The mechanism of learning is discoverable.
  
• One theory of learning is called "Society of Mind" where there are competing cooperative agents interacting in ones mind to form a single unified self.
  
• It should be possible to connect people through the Internet in a simple way that mimics the learning process of a single mind.
• The more people in this network the less its fallible.
  

Best Movies

I went through my Netflix rental history and picked out the best films.

Stand-out

• V for Vendetta
• Syriana
• Freedom Writers, 2007
• Orwell Rolls in His Grave, 2004

Excellent

• Serenity
• Firefly: Disc 1-4, 2002
• Run Lola Run, 1998
• Lady in the Water
• Cars
• Penn & Teller: Bullsh*t!:
• The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
• The Village
• The Incredibles
• Big Fish
• Million Dollar Baby
• Jesus Camp
• Who Killed the Electric Car?, 2006
• Why We Fight
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• Super Size Me

Ok

• Casino Royale
• In the Bedroom, 2001
• The Departed, 2006
• Memento
• The Boondock Saints
• Find Me Guilty
• Monster House
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
• Lucky Number Slevin
• Donnie Darko
• Hostel
• The Matador
• The Ice Harvest
• A History of Violence
• An Unfinished Life
• The Family Man
• Road to Perdition
• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
• Crash
• Finding Neverland
• The Legend of Bagger Vance
• Batman Begins
• Sideways
• Brazil

Avoid

• Shortbus
• Borat
• The Office: Series 1

Confirmation Bias

Everyone thinks they are reasonable, but on a wide number of topics people have differing opinions. Why is this ? Confirmation Bias is one explanation. This wikipedia article is worth a read.

The first day after the apocalypse is over

Picture this. World War three plunges mankind into a hundred years of brutality, famine, mob rule, cruelty, a general hell on Earth. People are stretched to the limits of sanity and most don't make it. But things get better and in a small area things return to normal, pretty much like it is today. And into town one day rides a Mad Max character, scar, squeaky metal knee brace, leather jacket, shot gun, covered in dirt. What is the first thing he does ? All that time when things were down, no food, injured, alone. What did he dream about. He would say, "If this is ever all over I am going to ... ? ". Fall in love and start a family? Kick back with some good friends, eat well, and tell stories around a campfire ? Find a place in the country where things are quiet ? I bet he didn't say " I'm going to find a pointless job and watch bad television every night". Is great hardship the only force that can motivate people to seek great happiness ?

Who killed the electric car

This is an great documentary on electric cars. Some interesting facts:

• The GM EV1 was a leased vehicle and when GM stopped making the cars they refused to sell any of the cars to their owners. All the cars were scrapped.
• Major oil companies are proponents of hydrogen cars even though they will not be on the market for a decade. Electric cars work now and continue to improve as batteries improve.
• Chevron Oil owns the patents on Nickel Metal Hydride batteries.

While this doesn't point to a smoking gun, it sure makes you think about fair markets, big business, and the development of disruptive technology.

Charlie Rose Episodes

All of the Charlie Rose episodes seem to be free and available on Google Video. Here are some of my recent favorites:

Science Series Part Two (Human Genome)
Robert Rubin
Science Series Part One
Muhammad Yunus, Founder of The Grameen Bank
E.O. Wilson & James Watson on Charles Darwin
Charlie Rose returns to the show
MacArthur Fellowship recipients
John F. Burns of The New York Times

Unexpected

In a moment of boredom I took aim at the refrigerator with a ball of sticky poster adhesive, hoping to make it stick, but I missed. Upon extracting the little traveler from behind the fridge, I discovered its fuzzy additions.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a odd thing to consider. It states that someone accepts something as true not by analyzing evidence available in a logical manner but instead by the degree that it conflicts with their own existing view of reality. Even if something is air tight provably true some people will not accept it. They will even makup some unverifyable theory to explain away the conflicting fact. What is interesting about this is that it illustrates how the mind is a learning machine that has no direct connection to the truth. If the environment that the mind finds itself in is different from reality then the mind will be different from reality as well. If someone never comes face to face with their own fallibility they will find it very easy to disregard any information that would make them fallible. To me this is a dismal realization, that so many people could be locked in to skewed realities that they would be willing to fight to preserve.

Edwin H. Land Quotes

• The bottom line is in heaven.
• The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
• Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
• Politeness is the slow poison of collaboration.

Fun with Photo Booth on a Mac

Fallibility

Watching a Charlie Rose interview with George Soros about his book “The Age of Fallibility” , I heard something I have believed so strongly since my escape from fundamentalist religion, and that is that we are incapable of knowing reality and must always be in a constant state of listening to the world and humbly changing our minds in the face of new information. The opposite of this philosophy is arrogantly believing that one knows the way the world works (or should work), and actively resist information that is contradictory to your view, especially when it is negative for you. Over and over between the peace makers and the instigators of conflict this idea emerges.

The Sun

Every second four million tons of matter disapears from the Sun, converted into energy via fusion and E=mc^2 and radiated out as light. Only one part in two billion shines on the Earth and fuels plants and plants fuel us and the thoughts we have about the Sun and everything else. Surely it must be possible to tap this system and never worry about energy again.