Wednesday, December 13, 2006

3) Picture your soul

I know its early for the next idea/week post, but I don't care. The program is going to take 2 weeks, so this one will extend until then as well.

The idea is as follows:
Go around and take pictures of people at random.

Tell them right after you took their picture that you have their soul

Post their pictures on this blog

Tell them this blog site and say they can buy their soul back...or beg...whatever...

Then take their pictures down when they plead to...

No harm really intended..as the whole ordeal stemmed from irrational fears of camera technology...Enjoy!
(Pictures will go up when convenient)

Monday, December 11, 2006

matter matters?

You're right Rob, and I like the stick figure.

Our universe doesn't matter. The fact that one thing or another might or might not be true doesn't matter if it doesn't affect us. If the stick figure figured out that he was just here for our example, it would not matter as much to him as being hit by the talking train.

If we were to discover weather or not we have a soul, it would not change how we perceive anything. Everythough would continue as if the answer has not come up. Now, taken to a different extreme, if we were to discover that there was indeed life after death, that would matter inexplicable ammounts to us. It would shift how we take in our daily lives. Of course, this is why we argue about it though. If we do not know, and we are just philosophising, then it doesn't matter. me declaring all of this doesn't matter either because it is not changing your lives, nor is it changing mine...

The object of this blog is to get this off my chest and be informative. But that doesn't matter either!

The Truth about this world and universe doesn't matter.

The Truth about "Are you the same person you were before you read this sentance" doesn't matter...because it doesn't affect you!

I'm not saying this to be crass and calous to foreign nations...starving away as I sit here, comfortably and write this from my laptop...in my dorm room....

But I'm talking about the existencial difference in meaning of the universe...not something as close to home as 2 blocks from here where the man on the street is starving.

To him, this world is fucked up...but to the world, he doesn't even matter...nor should it matter to the world weather or not he stops existing or moves on to another place after death...

This world and this universe do not care about what we do. But the man on the street really only cares about his next meal. So that he can keep on surviving, because he cares about himself.

Worry about yourself and those you care about.

Again, all that matters in this life are creation and destruction, the end-all of human interactions is broken down into those 2 things, which can be said to be the same thing. Only scale is diffent.

Create and Destroy

Care about yourself and those who mean something to you.

-Bill

2) Program for Money

Having only minimal knowlege of programming this may seem like a difficult task, but alas, it does not take much knowlege in programming to create a program that can make you some quick cash. The uber basic skills I have consist of Visual Basic, Java, Java Script, C++, and PovRay.

In High School, I made a racing program that consisted of 3 cars running a drag race. There were many variables that increaced or decreaced each car's chance of winning. Given that I was the programmer, and knew all of the possible variables, weather, drivetrain, torque, mis-shifting, nitrous, etc, etc...it became very clear that I could not partake in the game against my freinds.

After some time I redesigned the game to be slightly more random, but still follow the same basic trends...nothing was preset, but the cars had tendencies to do different things. Now I could participate in the game, not win every time, and still have fun. After a while though, some people started taking bets against the game. Money was exchanged and people won and lost. I, on the other hand, stopped participating once this began because of my unfair, yet not complete, advantage.

The time has come to reinvent this game. The idea for the week is to code the game before finals are over (Extending my week-idea-time until the 20th) and make $20 here at college.

Friday, December 8, 2006

Truth vs. Relevance

Here is a true fact:

Lakehaven Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located about 10 km northeast of Wyong.



Here is a relevant lie:

I will kill you in your sleep, with DVD's.



The difference? While the second statement is not true, it alludes to a running joke between the two of us, and allows for better communication, and allows me to opt out of a situtation in which I have nothing to say by making a humorous theat.



Now, Socrates & Company had a little word they liked to throw around, 'Truth.' They argued that what is true is the most important regardless of anything else. The problem was that their definition of Truth had nothing to do with anything testable, but was rather just a series of weird assumptions made by philosophers that, they claimed, would instantly present itself as true to any human being.



Okay, so. They claim that something unobservable and totally irrelevant to daily life is more important to the nuances of a situation? One word, sir: zomg.



The Socratic idea of Truth is frankly one of the more dangerous and yucky ideas to have grown out of proportion and inserted itself virally into all the world's cultures and religion. The idea that something totally irrelevant to our lives is good enough cause to be angry at, or even kill another person. That way lies war. That way lies death, disease, famine. That way lies fascism, that way lies genocide, that way lies frenzy and evil. Am I now using a phraseology of moral absolutes? Yep. To make a point--that to hold so firmly to 'Truth' regardless of how much it actually affects us always, in the end, a bad idea.



So, what if, in reality, our entire existence has been the delirium of some bacteria festering away in a multi-dimensional bar? If we can't do anything to stop the Bar Rag of Eternity from eventually wiping us all out of existence, why bother? A character in a novel can't kill the person reading.


Look at it this way. If the 'Truth' is that we're characters in a story, there exists no mechanism for us to observe or prove this, and even if we simply assume this to be the case, all we have enabled ourselves to do is get mad at people who disagree with us.



Therefore, the best Truth we have is the testable. If it's not testable, why bother?



This little stick man is pondering whether his entire existence is merely a figment of someone else's perception, while simultaneously trying to come out of the screen to learn the Truth: That he isn't real, that he's just a stick figure. Think this is the best course of action for him? Hm? He's pondering the Truth real hard. You and I know the truth: That he's a little stick man about to be hit by a train.

EDIT: 'Truthiness' was named word of the year. Ah, Truthiness: That which Socrates, Politicians, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, & buddies all say is more relevant to your life than something that you can observe and measure. Close your eyes, inhale deeply, and feel the Truthiness. Isn't it so much better than anything you could read, see, measure, remember, sense, or make happen? Something that not everyone agrees on? Something you can get killed for, something you can kill people for? Luscious, lovely Truthiness.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/08/D8LSTU700.html

Thursday, December 7, 2006

4th Wall eh?

Its 1:57am when I begin to write this...please forgive any spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Nifty analogy between the actor in the the movie and the ticket price Rob. This leads me to another point I wish I'd made previously. I've now taken this philosophy course, and I've seen various lecutres on the subject. Besides the fact that Philosophy and Theology are more or less the same, the concepts are always based on what the philosopher understood...or thought...or liked.

Although the most acceptable philosophy may be the one everyone likes the best, what is true does not have to be even realatively close to that. Socrates and Plato searched for the soul though knowlege, they based their thoughts off of the "understanding" that knowlege is incorporeal...and therefore the only thing that is our soul....more or less... Besides believing in one thing or another dosesn't matter... what is true and what the true nature of the universe IS and nothing we think or hope or wish it to be will be. The universe is not here for us...we are here for it.

To regres back to Plato and Socrates, Their philosophies spawned from the belief that we even have a soul, and that our soul is our true selves. Regardless of what you (The reader) may believe or not believe, the truth will not change depending on that. Say, for example, you are a devote Catholic...well, if you spend your entire life striving for the ideals of the church, and then you die...and there is no soul within you...then thats just it...you are dead...and anything you've done on this plane of existance is all that shall be.

Will Update Later...with the continued expansion of the atual argument that you hve yet to see... sorry guys

I believe I perceive that I have the ability to alter my perceptions.

I believe I perceive that I have the ability to alter my perceptions.
If I have nothing else to work with, it doesn't matter whether or not my existence is real, or virtual. If, at the edge of the universe, all is encircled by a gigantic metal ring, or isn't, it's still the same universe. At least as far as we can tell. That metal ring doesn't affect us, and while it might fundamentally alter the way we think the universe is, if I can't see it, and it doesn't affect me in any way, then who cares? It's irrelevant to the way I live my life, or the way I perceive that I live my life. If we're in pods sucking nutreints through a straw with artificial reality being beamed into our skulls, well, if there's no way out and no way in, then it shouldn't affect how I live. Nihilism is stupid because if nothing is real, well- who cares? I perceive certain things, or hell, I've deluded myself into perceiving them. The end result is the same. If my life is a movie, I'm not in any position to start arguing over the ticket price, because I'm IN THE MOVIE. And no matter how hard a movie character strains at the fourth wall, he will never, ever break through.

Philosophy Class

Sitting in Philosophy class...can't sleep...its past 9:45am...why am i tired? Does it even matter anymore? Am I listening? Why is he talking around himself? There are so many questions we have for the final...why is THIS what were talking about? He still hasn't answer the question he's been asked...and the next one? Same. "The Distance between appearance and reality shows that we are immediatly aware of our own senses...and not pure objects." thats nice and all..but the question had much more to do with artificial intelligence...

uhg...break...the...ok....

Broken...

Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Gilbert Ryle, Daniel Dennett, and John Searle...

What do I have against them? Is it only the way the information is presented to us? I find this topic interresting...why Can't I enjoy it?
Have I lost interest? Or is it truly just this class? No, not just this class...Other classes as well...I enjoyed them months ago...why not any longer?
Crick...Crack...Snap...Pop...BREAK

ok.
.
.

Categorical mistake: Mental existance and physical existance are two species of the same genius of existance. This based off of Ryle.

Fof if they are the same...does it matter? Does it matter if we come to some understanding of the universe that is different from what we have already? If we discover that the universe doesn't exist and that it is all an illusion...does it change the fact that If I miss class tomorrow it won't be a valid excuse?

I don;t know...will edit later

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Wake up.

Above all, one must keep the flow of ideas moving out of one's head in order to keep a slightly negative pressure. Study is important, entertainment is important. Consuming to relax is dangerous, though. Hence, wakeful and outward flow of ideas is necessary to mental health.

With this in mind, I present to you the following short story.

________________________
I answered the phone for the eighth time in a row trying to get a signal.
"Hello?"
"Rob!" he was barely audible. "-'ve got to help me!"
"Calm down," I shouted into the phone. "Can you hear me?"
"-arely. I need to know something right now. Are y- at your comp-er?"
"Yeah," I leaned back, hand pressed against my other ear, trying to decipher what he was saying. "What do you need?"
"I need you t- look something up ab--- my truck!"
"What? What do you need?"
"-ash ratings, likelihood of the gas tank e-----ing , amount of force sustai-ed, speeds that occupa-ts--"
"What?" I was typing, trying to pull up anything helpful. "What exactly? What do you need this for?"
"-ob! I need to know ---eth- NOW!"
"What? I'll get it for you! What the hell do you need?"
"Too late! I'm through the front of the building!"
I put the phone down. There had been a low rumble and there were screams audible in the courtyard. I put the phone back to my head.
"Hello? What do you need this for? Do you know what just happened?"
There was no response. I looked down at my phone, but the call had already been terminated.
The fire sprinkler went off.
_______________________________________________

I'll post these as they occur to me or as I need to.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Time to work out the kinks.

Sometimes, you spend too long consuming and forget how to produce. I cracked out my brain on too much easy-to-consume Internet culture. I'm more or less unable to focus and barely am able to bring myself to write coherently.

However, I still got creativity. Now, granted, a random hobo on the street can start coming up with ideas. "Hey! What if they filled a rocketship with cheese and made a porn movie about it! And then handed out the cheese to people on the street. And I could star, and it would be awesome, just AWESOME. All the women and the free cheese. Awesome."
And they sit there, thinking how awesome it would be. Welll, my little buddy Ze Frank (Sports Racer 4 life... cough... www.zefrank.com/theshow) likes to call this mentality 'Brain Crack.' Mmm, brain crack. You come up with a concept and enjoy the hell out of it, and that's as far as it goes. It stews in your mind, and you enjoy the HELL out of it.

Anyone can do that, and most of us do. We're all trapped in the confines of our daily lives. We come up with interesting ideas to convince ourselves that we COULD do that if we really wanted to. According to Ze, the reason we don't do it is we're afraid of failure. I think we don't do it because we're afraid of the consequences. We're giving up the sureties of daily life for something new and different. And we're often guilted out of expressing our creativity too.

I like to think of myself as a creative person. I am well aware posting on Blogger doesn't make me an awesome contributer to the Blogosphere, or an Important Person. But as I rant and post doodles and escape for a moment from the dull repetition that is life, I hope that I can make the first steps toward breaking free of the expectations of the people around me, and do things that are truly inventive, new, and sane.

Here's to recapturing sanity. Here's to abandoning life as we know it. Here's to 1:30 AM and God knows what else.

Brainstorm. Then Do.

There is no try.

1) Roof Access

An idea we've been tossing around since the beginning the semester was to get us roof access to every building on campus. Although only odd feasible reasons for this existed...we decided to go through with it. Given the layout of our school...we decided to break it down into several parts. I'll give the ones we've accomplished thus far, then give a layout for those untouched.


1- To start this trial off we started with something very simple and went tot he top of the parking garage. They do have it blocked off so Cars can no longer park there...but people can, no problem. Its nice, usually windy... 8 Stories up.

2- Link Lee mansion, 2 Stories. Our school is Rather old, and the main office building is called Link Lee. On the outside of the building there is a ladder, most likely used for a fire escape, and has access to the very top of the roof. We've gone up several times as of now, and it has a fantastic view, but it is kinda creepy.

3- Our dorm building Guinan Hall. 3 stories tall, courtyard with exposed roof, and streets on every side. After hearing about access for a day or so, we looked around to see if such a point was even possible. We found it. An unlocked utility room granted us access to the only ladder capable of reaching the roof from the inside.

Left to go!

The entire academic Mall - consists of 9 buildings that are all interrelated through every level except basement levels. Counting this all as one will be adequate because if you CAN get tot he top of one...you can get to the rest of them no problem. We've located the entryways to the same utility rooms as the one in guinan, and we've seen from the top of the parking garage that every building in the Mall has roof access...now there is only time before we reach our next goal!

Jerebeck - Our gym, possibly the most difficult to reach the top of...it is tallest..has no visible or known entryway to the top...and would be impossible to scale...this one will require more time...

Crooker - the general area for students...where we eat...where we get our daily requests fulfilled...it has one very large peaked window that goes from side to side...and an interesting side building attached to it at a smaller level. Although only 2 stories, it has no known roof access...but an improvisional one is being made by us...and a ladder...

I think I've covered most of them...I know there are others...but I'll cover them in another post...and keep these updated with completion!

-Bill

An Idea A Week / Manifesto

Here's how this is going to work. Me and my Roommate Rob are bogged down with college life and life in general. To escape from this terrible place, called real life, we're going to successfully execute one new idea per week. These ideas range from well withing normal boundaries...to the unexpected... These ideas and events will be recorded on this blog and will come with as detailed a story as we deem permittable... This is for you...all of you...but mostly for us!

"An unlocked door is a resource, a locked door an invitation to greatness"
-Rob

You see, there are glass walls that bind us to our normal lives. We are surrounded by a traditions of concepts that limit and define our behaviour. We are surrounded by invisible wallas as it were. That trap us into the system of the same actions thoughts, living the same day over and over and over...the weakest of theses...is to keep us from doing anything new...the deepest ones keep us from doing the so called unthinkable... in our minds we temp escape...by thinking we can do the unthinkable...invent something...have superpowers...we are not truly free until we are free to pass through the most deeply ingrained...

Having these principles only redefines principles and barriers and thus creates a new principles to follow...

The real point Rob would like to get across is that...There are only two things that matter...destruction and creation. and they are truly the same thing...Aristotle would say that through destruction you are merely altering the formal cause...thus by destroying you are merely rearranging the components upon which are thus created into a new form...