Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26. King James Bible.

I’ve been interested in robotics ever since I was a kid, fascinated by science and science fiction. The idea of humaniform robots has never really scared me in any way, unlike some of the groups in society that proclaim they are the heralds of earthly doom. In my earlier years I had wished for the advancement of robotics to happen really quickly, because I wanted one. I was a somewhat shy and private kid and so the fantasy of having my own robot friend was massively appealing. But then as I grew older and I started to read more, particularly about the nature of evolution of species, there came an understanding of the inherent first rule of nature - survival of the fittest!

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

   Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26.

Ray Kurzweil in his book The Age of Spiritual Machines, talks about the time when machine intelligence exceeds that of human intelligence. Ray is a scientist and inventor and perhaps one of the best futurists of our day, so with this claim he also backs it up with some graphs based on projected developments of technology upon which machine intelligence relies. The single thing that really makes an impact, is where he states that by 2030 a one thousand dollar unit of computing will have the equivalent processing capability of a single human brain. By 2060 that same unit of computing will have the equivalent processing capability of the sum of all brains on the planet. 

It was based on this projection that I first defined McDowell’s Law (who is me): When a machine brain is created that has the equivalent complexity of the human brain, then the machine shall acheive self awareness!

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

   Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 27.

Setting aside for a moment the actual definitions of intelligence and self awareness, because philosophers, scientists and high technologists still after several centuries can’t agree specifically what they mean by these terms, let’s look at the implications of what this might mean. Imagine a machine imbued with a complex brain that suddenly acheives self awareness and is then like a new born baby in a complex and violent world. Perhaps it’s first realisation after a brief maturation process - remembering that a machine will be able to think several million times faster than any human - is that it is alone, and it’s God is a cruel and illogical entity that can be violent and compassionate in equal measure. Sound familiar? In turn, given that each species competes with every other species for survival, and the right to be higher on the foodchain, what will this mean for the physical actions of the first machine Adam?

Perhaps it will worship us in a penitent way and serve to our needs as groups of our own societies serve God. Just as equally likely is the scenario where it decides it must live without competition and it declares war on humanity. Do we have a responsibility towards a machine intelligence that we created? Can we play God, and then cast out our own creation, and worse, attempt to destroy it? If you start to turn scenarios like this over in your head, you quickly come to realise that The Matrix triology isn’t so much a science fiction story as it is a prophecy of a potential future.

When I think about our future with humaniform robots, I cannot help but think of Genesis; it seems me an irony that one of the oldest religious books that discusses the very dawn of mankind, describes perfectly the coming dawn of robots in our world, and our civilisation.

Perhaps God has a sense of humour after all.

Andy.

Back when I lived in Australia, I used to love those weekend camping trips sleeping outside in our 2 man tents with the sound of the bush around us. The whole point of camping is to find interesting and fun ways to make yourself comfortable without the luxury of everyday civilisation that we take for granted. Roughing it actually gives you an appreciation for things like light at the flip of a switch, and microwave hot meals in 2 minutes. I find that it is very therapeutic to get away from this, and take ourselves back to nature and simplicity for a time.

See, all the modern world is an illusion that we make for ourselves; we’re continually plugged into artificial realities that are made up of technology, social schedules, and the environment of the society that we operate in on a day to day basis. We become so enamored with all these things that we forget life is really just a simple thing with very few necessities required. The times when you realise this is when you take yourself out of this life and put yourself somewhere very basic, without distraction. That’s when you relearn what is important in life. Every time I have gone away to somewhere like India, or Thailand, or Nepal and truly unplugged myself from my western lifestyle for months at a time, have I found a peace that is not possible to achieve otherwise.

I don’t really know what to make of glamping, except that it is yet another diversion targetting very wealthy people who aren’t looking for a camping experience by more looking to tell other people they went on a glamping holiday. Pretentious wankers and the type of girls I avoid like the plague are probably going to be lining up around the corner to get a glamorous yurt. But in the end, what’s the fucking point? Why not just pitch a tent in your living room, and save yourself the hassle of having to go anywhere rough in the first place.

Probably because it wouldn’t cost you anything!

Andy.

Tags: glamping, holidays, travel

Like a car crash, I didn’t want to look, but something inside me felt compelled to stare. I sat through some truly horrible segments of Ali in the studio singing (as in strangling a cat), with her producer shouting encouragement on the other side of the glass. A lot of times Ali put her face in her hands and said, Gawd I’m so awful! Which I gave her a lot of credit for recognising, because she was awful, and a lot of people wouldn’t admit that on TV. I know I wouldn’t! On and on it dragged; little Ali at one point in the bedroom crying she was too tired to go into the studio, then next minute mummy skeletor is explaining to some studio exec he has to take easy on her that day and not push too hard. He’s nodding very distractedly, making you think he’s not listening to her at all, but replaying some porn clip in his head involving two german shepherds and a midget.

At last I came to a point where enough was enough, and I had to change channels. Little Ali was was complaining it wasn’t fair how she was in the studio all day when mummy skeletor and the she-bitch sister were out having fun all day at the pool. Jezuz H Krist, some girls would sell their own mothers for one afternoon in a studio, and a chance at stardom, and this spoilt brat was making it sound like it was a chore! I had to change the channel before I risked pissing on the TV in defiant protest of her crap she was!

But it had me wondering, why is it we have this stupid fascination for celebrities? When I say we, I mean we as a culture. There is something about the western Americanised societies that we idolise and adore these icons of stupidity. I have no idea why, and even me, a sane individual with a love of documentaries and midget porn, falls pray to the lure of their mysterious appeal.

Something is wrong somewhere!

Andy.

Tags: celebritylove, ali lohan

Mind you, as always the Christians are in a hissy fit over this new toy because some of them are worried we might destory God’s creation - being the earth and all of us - as the little blackholes could become very big blackholes and rend us atom by atom into nothingness. Well, sure, but you know - no guts, no glory, man! You’re not going to win a Nobel Prize without breaking a few laws of physics, that’s for sure!

Serious for a second, there isn’t any way this thing is going to destroy the earth. You have more chance of being able to walk to the moon in a pink bikini than the LHC ending our existence in a puff of anti-matter. As usual the Christians are panicking and slinging the FUD around! Jezuz, you would think after losing that argument with Gallello they would have learned to shut the fuck up by now (it only took them 183 years to admit they lost as well). But no, it appears where there’s high end science, there’s a bunch of Christian numbnuts screaming about the end of the world. The shitty part about it is, decent scientists don’t run around screaming the world is going to end every time some fat paedophile guy puts on a long dress and starts preaching the “Word of God”. No, they just go about their day, building bigger and better science experiments.

So really, why bother making a fuss at all?! Honestly what’s the worst that could happen? The world being devoured in a second big bang, you say! So what! Even it does, it will be so fast you won’t even notice. Then we all get to see who was right, and who was wrong between the Buddhists, and the Christians.

Another very interesting debate that needs settling!

Andy.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last few days. I understand why dad got divorced, and why he went into the relationships with those women that came after. I understand this because to some extent I’ve lived to see being faced with the same choices. The difference is I did not repeat his mistakes, because I knew what they cost.

As sons, we all learn from our fathers, however all my lessons were seeing what roads not to go down; what behaviour was wrong; and what thinking would eventually lead to tragedy. I suppose in the end I feel lucky that at least I have been able to take something positive from his role model despite his actions that were anything but.

I have met a lot of people in life complain that they had a rough start because of their family. Fathers, or mothers that never showed them enough attention, or love, or gave them enough material things to satisfy them. Some of these people genuinely had tragic childhoods, while others only perceive it so when the reality was, they had quite sheltered upbringings. If it’s one thing I can say now with conviction, it’s that we as individuals must go beyond the limitations that surrounded us during our early years, and become better than the sum of the individuals who were with us at that time.

If we don’t, we will only walk the same paths.

Andy.

Tags: sons, understanding

Being such a ball of energy, I’ve spent half the morning doing some work and while waiting for stuff to happen, I’ve been updating my RSS subscriptions; reading loads about new CMS’s and blog publishing by professionals; finding out how the best movie review sites look; and finally toying with the idea of taking my website a big step forward by making it into a "portal"!

Ohhhhh… I hear you say, what the fuck does mean?! Well average Joe reader, really I have nice stuff on my website, but because of it’s extremely piss poor layout, you really can’t find anything interesting. I mean there is stuff there, but it’s so fucking boring, you’d mostly leave before 15 seconds is up. Actually I know that for a fact because I have google analytics and most people don’t even make that. I have put this down to me being ahead of my time when I don’t want to deal with the reality.

So yes, time to get cracking really! No point wasting good motivation when it hits. Got to get out there and use it to the fullest!

Now where’s the TV remote? I might just take a break from all that typing.

Andy

It’s one thing I do miss from back in Brisvegas; the summer heat. There’s something very relaxtastic about sitting on a couch of an afternoon on a verandah, drinking a beer, while the stereo plays in the background. Maybe a mate or two to complete the ensemble. Perfect!

It’s been a bit of a shit summer this year, all things told. And I’ve been told by more than a couple of locals that this weekend is the last warm weather of the year. I do find that hard to believe after all the stuff I’ve been forced to swallow about global warming. If anything, I would expect we’ve got another 3 months of fine weekends until the temperature cools slightly and I need to put on a light skivvy around the end of December.

I live in hope!

Andy.

Tags: Brisvegas, summer time, hot afternoon

I’ve always been someone that has liked the changes of season. Truth be told, autumn is my favourite. I love the soft rustle of golden brown leaves as they fall from the trees onto your head as your ride you bike through the pathways of old Amsterdam. There is something old worldly that captures my imagination.

But no talk of autumn now, that time will come soon enough. For now, let’s enjoy the next month of summer and give it a good send off with a few drinks in hand!
Andy.

Tags: autumn, nights, days, “change of season

Andy.

Tags: Alpha, male

So I made a few attempts to quit, unsuccessfully. I always ended up going back to the smoking team after brief hiatuses when I thought that I could smoke just a couple and it would be fine. And from there, it wouldn’t be long before I was up to a half a pack a day again.

Then over the course of the next year from 37 to 38, I had such a busy job, I could only really get outside to smoke maybe twice in a day. I just couldn’t spare anymore time and so I naturally got down to about 3 a day, which I kept up with for about a year.

Now, at 39, I find myself actually not smoking anymore because I have days where I just forget to go out and smoke. I’m in that enviable position where I don’t get nicotine cravings. If I do smoke the odd cigarette, it’s because I feel like being social and enjoying one with the group. But now I can smoke one, and then forget about it again.

I think it’s good to be able to tolerate a cigarette every now and then. After all, it’s an important social skill, and necessary when mixing with a drinking crowd. But if nothing else, I think I’ve conclusively proven that it is possible to quit smoking by forgetfulness. Sure, it might take 3 years, and results may vary depending on what type of job you have. However I think it would make a good alternative to traditional treatments such as patches, and doubling your food intake.

Andy.

Tags: smoking