Moving On

Already halfway done with my intro Coursera class, trying to look into practical applications now.  Seeing if I can write something that will help me every day, or at work, etc.

In the meantime, I've typed out what I think they should do once written, but I have a bit more to work through before I am confident that it will succeed.

Signed up for classes at a local city college so I can begin working towards a piece of paper that acknowledges my course completions, as well as allowing me to have dedicated time to learn instead of be distracted by other things that need doing.

I figure, get a certificate in programming (learning ruby-on-rails, C++, and a course on linux, plus the other requirements) that requires 30 hours, use those credits to get an associate's degree, then use those to move on to finish my Bachelor's degree (which already has all core classes completed and at this point a bunch of useless ones also completed).

While working though this will take many more years than intended, but so long as it is applicable knowledge I have no trouble with that.

Irrationality, and other mind problems

Today will mark 4 measly days since my goal was established and I'm glad to say I have both a much further way to go and am a lot closer than I imagined all in one.  It's like a long road trip, when you can finally see your destination at the horizon, but then as night falls it still seems so far away, but at least its in your sights now.

I would not claim to be a smart man, but I would estimate somewhere around average, if not a little below.  I have taken classes though in debate, reasoned argument, persuasion and philosophy, and have always believed myself to be a fairly rational person.  I was wrong.  These things merely helped to cover up or justify my irrationality, and led to complacency in thought.

Lacking knowledge is one thing, that ignorance can be rectified by seeking out where you are deficient and gaining the knowledge that was missing previously.  I can deal with being ignorant because I am pursuing my goal which will alleviate some ignorance and put me on the path to eliminate as much of it as I am able to.  What I cannot deal with is my brain slacking off as much as it wants to.

I have to constantly catch myself and redirect my attention, force myself to continue reading to try and make sense the words my eyes see, while my mind lingers on other, far less important, topics.  My brain will not simply read past a problem it has with subject-verb-agreement even if the problem is rectified later on in the sentence.

I feel as if my habits have attenuated my brain to expect regular dopamine drips from reading blurbs and looking at funny pictures rather than the ways I used to behave.  I hope, with effort, it can be converted back to the way it used to function, and that this setting is only temporary.

It's only been four days, and I'm even more determined now than before.  I have a long way to go, longer than I thought originally, but the change should be very much worth it.

Goals

I've spent a lot of time under the impression that I do not have anything unique to contribute to humanity/society/art/science/etc, and that has lead me to believe that living a mediocre life, with a solid internet connection, and simply watching the world pass me by was acceptable.  The goal was to live and see the future happen around me, while maximizing fun and happiness.

This is no longer an acceptable goal to me any longer, as I refuse to be merely ambitious without an ambition.

I am no longer content to sit by and watch the world happen around me, I choose to contribute to it.  This blog is not viewed by anyone, but it is enough of a start for me to get this down in writing and have it made -technically - public.

My aim is to be less wrong about the world around me, more rational in every day thinking as well as problem-solving, and I will learn, in detail, how to affect the world around me through computing.

My specific goal is to end up working on artificial intelligence.  To achieve this I am returning to school to learn programming, how computers work in general, logic, and rationality.

Wish me luck.

ME3: Conclusion

Indoctrination theory can be discounted, Bioware has let it be known that they have no intention of changing the ending of the game, but sometime this summer will release free clarification DLC that 'should' clear up the plot holes and major problems, even though they tried to sell it as a favor to the fans who "Need more time to say goodbye to their stories."

Aside from a complete re-write of the ending this is pretty much as much as anyone could have hoped for, so I'm at least happy that they took this issue somewhat seriously, though I wish it wasn't done in such a patronizing way.

Bioware, you didn't need to do this, so I appreciate it. Don't think you're off the hook yet though.

Re: Religion and the Constitution Under Attack in America -- Fox

In an interview on CBS Sunday, Cardinal Dolan called the Obama administration’s mandate on contraceptive coverage a “radical intrusion of a government bureaucracy.”

There are several points to be made about the misinformation in this opening paragraph. First of all, the Obama administration did not produce the mandate, congress did, so it is the previous congress's mandate.

Secondly, there is no radical intrusion by the government in this one issue. How much sense would it make to craft a mandate for health insurance and then have no parameters by which to say what is and what is not health coverage? That'd be like the bailout ~$trillion dollar debacle that the government basically just gifted as there was no oversight.

Ensuring that health care companies are required to provide certain things is just common sense. Birth control is an extremely widely used prescription that helps in many more ways than simply preventing pregnancy and it makes sense to make sure people have access to it as it is a medical prescription that has to go through a doctor.

Why would your health insurance, that you're mandated to have now, not cover your medical prescriptions?

He continued, saying, “Our problem is the government is intruding into the life of faith and in the church that they shouldn’t be doing.”

This does not make sense to me. The government mandating that insurance companies (and the companies that provide these insurance packages to their employees) provide medical coverage regardless of preexisting conditions seems to be a larger affront to this idea than birth control.

Jehova's Witnesses don't believe in getting transfusions, does that mean that they should be able to inflict this belief onto their non-JW staff? No. So why is it different for birth control?

The Ending of Mass Effect 3

Ok, so the ending made no sense... and there are a bunch of theories, but this one makes the most sense to me and actually brings a lot of hope for the future:

The reapers have an ability to indoctrinate, basically slow-rate mind control where you don't realize it but you start to see things their way and work for them even if you think you are fighting them. This was shows numerous times with important characters in the first game, and in the last one it looks like Shepherd and The Illusive Man are being put under the influence of indoctrination.

In the final mission you rush this portal that beams you up to the citadel where you can make your choice (destroy the reapers, merge all synthetics and organic life, or attempt to turn the reapers under your control). On your way to the beam you get blasted by a giant laser and almost die. You spend the next sequences limping around and visually impaired.

These three choices represent what various characters tried to do throughout the game while being indoctrinated. Saren (the bad guy in the first game) wanted to merge the reapers with us to make us all stronger. It turned out he was indoctrinated, meaning this idea might have been put in his head rather than it be his idea to begin with.

The Illusive Man was always out to control the reapers and put them under his thumb to make humanity stronger. The reapers used this to their advantage and indoctrinated him as well, making him think he could accomplish this. We were told numerous time though in previous games that this would be impossible, meaning either T.I.M. had something super-special or he was just indoctrinated to think this way and the reapers were still pulling the strings for him. Then there is Shepherd's only real choice, but it's a bad one. Kill all Synthetic life, including the Geth (who he just helped raise into full-sentience and sapience) EDI (who is now a friend AI) and the Reapers.

If you pick Synthesis (which is supposedly the 'good' ending) you effectively choose to be exactly like Saren from the first game. This means that it cannot really be the good ending as you fought against it previously and must only seem like the good ending when compared to the rest. This is something the reapers are already doing as well, so choosing this basically agrees with your enemies.

If you pick control you are effectively choosing to be exactly like The Illusive Man, who failed and was also indoctrinated. The cannot be a good ending either and is an option they wanted T.I.M. to choose under indoctrination.

If you pick destroy you are actually freeing the galaxy and all future generations of species from the reapers, but it's made to be tragic because you're agreeing with the reaper child who just spoke to you in saying that organics and synthetics cannot co-exist and will always end up with Synthetics rebelling against their creators. This simply goes against everything you fought for in all 3 games because you finally get the Geth and Quarians to share the planet and you develop EDI by sharing her growing experience. By choosing this option the reaper makes you think you are destroying all synthetic life. Their purpose was to basically regulate this conflict eternally by storing advanced organic life in reaper form (Sythesis of organic and synthetic life through reaper control).

If you pick either Synthesis or Control, you die in the cut scene. If you have enough points, and completed most of the game and pick Destroy though, you wake up on Earth, barely conscious laying on concrete. Now, this is impossible, and is either a huge gaff in the story (I'll explain) or is a clear indication of something else (which I'll also explain).

The beam portal took us to the citadel, which was orbiting the Earth in space. There is no way you would survive the crash back to earth in a monolithic space station and just wake up on concrete without any wreckage of the many miles-long spacecraft. Again, this is either a terrible oversight or something deliberate.

I think it is a clear indication of something else, namely that after the laser blast you entered an indoctrination-induced hallucination where the reapers attempted to finally control you and convince you not to destroy them (and perhaps work for them). This means that if you pick the good option (Synthesis) you give in to the reapers and they control you. If you pick Control, they have turned you into another Illusive Man and you are also under their control. If you pick Destroy, you would be the first person to ever overcome indoctrination and reject their control and carry on to continue your mission even though it has other bad results.

Basically, if you pick destroy, you wake back up on earth and the whole choice had been the reaper's attempt to control you. This leaves room for Bioware to release a REAL ending in Downloadable content and a far better epilogue, etc. Either that or when Shepherd gasps for breath after rejecting indoctrination, he dies there on Earth and the Reapers win, perpetuating the cycle again and meaning that it is the true end.