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Notes

[Notebook: DB 57 Language]

[Sunday 17 July 2005 - Saturday 23 July 2005]

[page 176]

Sunday 17 July 2005

Hard work (ie intellectual?) looks like noise because it is densely coded (and hence hard to decode). On the other hand, music and dance (and play in genera) are 'sparsely' coded with lots of repetition and a

[page 177]

rather restricted discrete alphabet . Such is the complexity of the natural world that it appears continuous, and our attempts to manipulate it depend upon finding invariants that we can handle.

MATERIALS HANDLING / MATTER - INFORMATION PROCESSING / MEANING

Two opposing principles: 1) maximize abstract handling = minimize material handling - electrons rather than supertankers. 2) always act to maximize variety.

mass production vs hand crafting
many at low variety vs few at high variety
many cheap vs few expensive

But if everyone is to have one (eg water supply) we need to move to the many cheap end of the spectrum.

To say something mathematically is to say it with complete formal precision. To do this we need sufficient complexity in the mathematical symbolism to capture all the details of the form being described. We use the real numbers to give names to all the points on the real line and then say something like y = x*2 + 1, thus mapping every point x to a point y whose value is x*2 + 1. This method of defining functions depends on the existence of a measure which attributes equal size to each numbered point and can use a (symmetry)

[page 178]

arithmetic operation to find the name of the corresponding point.

Those who make war are deformed: Lord of the Rings Orcs; and those who made and used them. Tolkien

Sauron - poisonous magic

Analogies of good and evil.

Analogies tell the same story using different base states.

We can release ourselves from the need to kill by economic growth, but this may have its limits, and then we must control our birthrate.

Monday 18 July 2005

Information processing is a branch of materials handling. Many materials, like food, are moved for their own sake, from a source to a sink. In information processing, he material tokens are moved not for their own sake, but to represent movements in some other system, as the organs of speech arrange the air to represent states of the speaker's mind.

Tuesday 19 July 2005
Wednesday 20 July 2005

There are two extreme ways to deal with a new set of circumstances. The first is the activist, terrorist, conservative way which is to try to destroy it or ignore it. The other is the sensitive scientific

[page 179]

approach of trying to understand it.

Thursday 21 July 2005

Our mental modelling may eventually reach a point where the model is sufficiently sound to be acted upon. We have looked and nor it is time to leap (or not leap). The degree of certainty that we reach depends upon the 'importance' of the action (measured in terms of fitness)) and the time constraint under which the decision to made. Longer reflection may give rise to fitter action.

Friday 22 July 2005
Saturday 23 July 2005

A religion is the black hole around which a culture is organized.

PUPPET <--> AGENT

 

Related sites

Concordat Watch

Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty


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Further reading

Books

a Kempis, Thomas, and Aloysius Croft (Translator), Harold Bolton (Translator), The Imitation of Christ, Dover Publications 2003 Amazon Product Description 'This classic, second only to the Bible for religious instruction and inspiration, has brought understanding and comfort to millions for centuries. Written in a candid and conversational style, the topics include liberation from worldly inclinations, preparation and consolations of prayer, and the place of eucharistic communion in a devout life.' 
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de Jonge, Alex, Stalin: and the Shaping of the Soviet Union, William Morrow & Co 1986 Editorial review: From Library Journal: 'De Jonge has written a provocative biography of this major figure of Soviet history. He has drawn heavily upon emigre accounts and diplomatic reports; all the same his study is not free of superficialities. He sharply criticizes Stalin's rivals and his World War II allies, and he hides nothing of Stalin's savagery. Yet de Jonge's conclusions, sure to be challenged, are also clear: Russia could never have become a superpower without coercion (the national work ethic being what it is), and, in exercising that coercion, Stalin enjoyed support from every level of Soviet society. This biography will not replace Adam Ulam's Stalin: the man and his era (1973), but it is a useful, clear-eyed introduction for the general reader.' R.H. Johnston, History Dept., McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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Domb, Cyril, The Critical Point: An historical introduction to the modern theory of Critical Phenomena, CRC Press 1996 Jacket: 'The relationship between liquids and gases engaged the attention of a number of distinguished scientists in the nineteenth century. In a paper published in 1869, Thomas Andrews described experiments that he had performed on carbon dioxide. From this he concluded that a critical temperature exists below which liquids are gases are distinct phases of matter. but above which they merge into a single phase. Other natural phenomena were subsequently discovered to which the same critical point description can be applied. These included ferromagnetism, solutions and various types of lambda point transition.
This book provides a historical account of theoretical explanations of critical phenomena which ultimately led to a major triumph of statistical mechanics in the twenteth century.
Contents include Historical survey; classical theories of fluids, magnets and light scattering; the Onsager revolution; Reconciliation; renormalisation group.' 
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Feynman, Richard P, and Albert P Hibbs, Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals, McGraw Hill 1965 Preface: 'The fundamental physical and mathematical concepts which underlie the path integral approach were first developed by R P Feynman in the course of his graduate studies at Princeton, ... . These early inquiries were involved with the problem of the infinite self-energy of the electron. In working on that problem, a "least action" principle was discovered [which] could deal successfully with the infinity arising in the application of classical electrodynamics.' As described in this book. Feynman, inspired by Dirac, went on the develop this insight into a fruitful source of solutions to many quantum mechanical problems.  
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Misner, Charles W, and Kip S Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, Freeman 1973 Jacket: 'Einstein's description of gravitation as curvature of spacetime led directly to that greatest of all predictions of his theory, that the universe itself is dynamic. Physics still has far to go to come to terms with this amazing fact and what it means for man and his relation to the universe. John Archibald Wheeler. . . . this is a book on Einstein's theory of gravity. . . . ' 
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Mortensen, Chris, Inconsistent Mathematics, Kluwer Academic 1995 'The argument from pure mathematics for studying inconsistency is the best of reasons: because it is there. . . . It is always dangerous to think that a physical use will never be found for a given piece of mathematics. Nor is present-day mathematical physics anomaly free: witness the singularities at the beginning of time or in black holes, delta functions in elementary quantum theory, or renormalisation in quantum field theory.' p 8-9. 
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Tolkien, J R R, The Lord of the Rings, Houghton Mifflin 2005 Amazon Book Description: 'In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion. When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. This new edition includes the fiftieth-anniversary fully corrected text setting and, for the first time, an extensive new index.' 
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Links

Ann Patchett, The Guns of My Girlhood, 'Don’t ever believe the old saw about guns not killing people. They do and they will, again and again. Guns shoot children, parents, siblings, lovers, neighbors, co-workers, strangers and friends, in error and in fury. This will happen until we decide it should stop, which would mean getting rid of not only the AK-47s but the pretty little silver .22s as well. All of them. No one ever asks for that, maybe because it feels prudent to not enrage the many people who own guns, but the right to not get shot takes precedence over the right to bear arms.' back

Attractor - Wikipedia, Attractor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'An attractor is a set towards which a dynamical system evolves over time. That is, points that get close enough to the attractor remain close even if slightly disturbed. Geometrically, an attractor can be a point, a curve, a manifold, or even a complicated set with a fractal structure known as a strange attractor. Describing the attractors of chaotic dynamical systems has been one of the achievements of chaos theory.' back

Clarke Jones, FactCheck Q&A: has the Grand Mufti of Australia condemned terrorist attacks overseas?, 'Hanson criticised the Grand Mufti of Australia, a senior Islamic scholar, for not condemning recent overseas terrorist attacks. In response to a question from a Muslim audience member, Hanson said that “your Grand Mufti won’t even come out and condemn the terrorist attacks that’s happened overseas”. Is that right? . . . Pauline Hanson’s statement that “your Grand Mufti won’t even come out and condemn the terrorist attacks that’s happened overseas” was not correct.' back

Computable analysis - Wikipedia, Computable analysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics and computer science, computable analysis is the study of mathematical analysis from the perspective of computability theory. It is concerned with the parts of real analysis and functional analysis that can be carried out in a computable manner. The field is closely related to constructive analysis and numerical analysis.' back

Computable number - Wikipedia, Computable number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopdia, 'In mathematics, computable numbers are the real numbers that can be computed to within any desired precision by a finite, terminating algorithm. They are also known as the recursive numbers or the computable reals or recursive reals.' back

David Banks and Joseph O'Mahoney, After Brexit, Britain is free — but it will never be a global power again, ' . . . the idea that the UK will gain power by removing itself from the EU is based on a profoundly mistaken understanding of where the UK’s great power status comes from. While it is tempting to reduce state power to military capabilities and economic power, such a calculation fails to appreciate the other forms of power that states can accrue. But while harder to measure, less-tangible sources of power have been the foundation of the UK’s great power status for much of the last 70 years.' back

E J Dionne Jr, Trumpism's Ideological Wasteland, 'For all his faults, Nixon had public purposes and a nuanced worldview. Politics has deteriorated since his time. Trumpism is an ideological wasteland where anger is the only point and winning is the only objective. Here in Cleveland, we have seen what the wasteland looks like.' back

Elizabeth Farelly, Our culture of spearatism leads to a life of fear, back

Ewan McColl - Wikipedia, Ewan McColl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, back

Ewen McColl / Sean Keane, Tunnel Tigers, back

Ian Johnston, Altruism as more of an evolutionary advantage than selfishness, mathematicians say, 'Altruism is real and developed because it confers an evolutionary advantage that is ultimately greater than the benefits of selfishness, an international team of mathematicians claims to have proved. Evolutionary biologists have sometimes struggled with the idea that genuine altruism can exist, given the belief that all life is shaped by a constant Darwinian battle that allows only the “survival of the fittest”.' George Constable and Tim Rogers back

Jane Hall, The World Roger Ailes Created, 'I can’t speak to the allegations of sexual harassment in the lawsuit against Mr. Ailes filed by the former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, allegations that Mr. Ailes has denied, or to the reports of several other women coming forward in the internal investigation. I can say that I suspect that there is a connection between the unspoken requirement for many women on Fox News, and elsewhere on television, to be leggy and beautiful and smart — and the bullying, misogynist political culture in which we find ourselves today.' back

Real closed field - Wikipedia, Real closed field - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, a real closed field is a field F that has the same first-order properties as the field of real numbers. Some examples are the field of real numbers, the field of real algebraic numbers, and the field of hyperreal numbers.' back

Robert Mickens, Letter from Rome: Does Francis Want the CDW to Reform the Reform?, back

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