M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 13

I would meet…

If you could meet a historical figure, who would it be and why?

If I could meet an historical figure, I’d like to meet Plato.

Of course, I wouldn’t be able to understand anything he would say, since it’s all Greek to me.

So maybe it’d be better to meet Nikola Tesla.

Preferably before he went a little cuckoo and ended his days feeding pigeons in Central Park.

Ah, timely, as usual, Duke Togo

From the beginning of the Golgo 13 story, 「剥がれた鍍金」(hagareta tokin, “The peeled away metal plating”).

Despite the fact that the manga Golgo 13 is about as conservative as you can get (openly misogynistic and racist at times, as well), I’ve been a fan since before coming to Japan in 1999. I hadn’t realized that the original anime movie that I saw back in Boston was based on what became the manga with the most printed volumes in the world in July 2021. This year marks its 50th anniversary, and the stories are being reproduced in larger format, grouped according to physical region.

The group of stories based in Japan came out a short while ago (I already got copies of stories based in France and the Middle East, and a book based in Italy is due soon). Interestingly, one of the stories is reproduced from December 2001 — four months after JAXA successfully launched the H-IIA rocket following a previous failure (hence, the “peeled metal plating” title).

Like all Golgo 13 stories, the plot is thus based on real events and uses fictional characters to explain nefarious behind the scenes action. In this case, the project lead programmer “Mr. Sato” has been secretly sabotaging the rocket in order to get money not only from the Japanese government to continue the project but also from foreign agents hostile to Japan (when foreigners in Golgo 13 speak in Japanese, their dialogue is always written in katakana — in this story, the foreigners are likely meant to be Chinese, although this is not explicitly made clear). Meanwhile, former government official-turned-farmer “Tenjo Kanzo” hires Golgo 13 to make sure the rocket successfully launches a new weather satellite, so that Japanese farmers can benefit (mention is also made of some dozen other countries that will use information from the satellite).

Golgo 13 stories are always incredibly detailed and intricately researched. Although the purported main “anti-hero” character shows up less and less in later stories — and the dialogue often reads much more like newspaper or history text book prose — it’s a fascinating glimpse into traditional Japanese culture and beliefs. Honor above all else, beyond good and evil.

Speaking of…

After aborting a launch back in February, JAXA’s new H3 rocket spectacularly exploded the next month (actually, the rocket blew itself up once JAXA realized it was not going to make it into orbit).

Hmm.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence this story was just reproduced.

Keep in mind that the original story was published just a few months after the H-IIA rocket failure/success — Saito’s manga team must have been writing and drawing at a furious pace in the fall of 2001. They refer to the rocket as “H2A” for some reason. Here’s more about the creator of Golgo 13 for interested readers.

Dear Diary – March 16, 2004

[Context: While chaperoning students on overseas study in Perth, Western Australia, I badly burned my feet and back on a beach.]

It is difficult to walk, but today was slightly better than yesterday. Maybe tomorrow will be slightly better than today, and so on. One can only hope; if only life were like that, there would be an end to suffering.

Bringer of Light, Chapter 42: Meditation — Philosophical Foundation

From “Comprehending the Soul of Diamond,” ascribed to Clarissa Kragen and Sanvi Janes ca. 2060 CE / Year Two UMC Calendar. Transcribed and edited for clarity by Brady Cooper with possible assistance from Far East Asian and Central African faction settlers, date uncertain.

Nothing remains the same. All things change with time; people seem to become different people, appearances of behavior alter slightly with age, like the facades of buildings. It is only the habit of daily exposure which masks the change. Underneath it all, there is a small kernel of truth. This is what the viewer thinks they see. This is what is not there.

But is there such a thing as soul? Not in the religious sense; nothing is undying, all things die and become another. This soul is a kernel, a core of personality. Yet personality itself is created by interactions and revelations of contact with others. The task is to remove the layers of appearances and find the core. The core does not change; the appearance and the perception of the does. But we can never see the core, for everything we see is by nature appearance and perception. Once we lay eyes upon a thing, it ceases to be that thing and becomes simply the appearance of what we think this thing to be.

Instead, we note that appearances change, as does the appearance of the person and the personality. If we can see the things that change, a measurable characteristic through comparison of years past and present, through removal we can uncover that which we cannot see.

Once we realize what has been changed through reaction to others, we then come to the conclusion that it is possible to prevent this change in certain respects. Some aspects of being which we cannot affect include cellular age and injury. But others may be prevented from alteration through force of will and determination. This is what we seek.

There is nothing which will change our personality; there are only things that we allow to change our personality. Similarly, there are things which we think make us change our emotions and our relationship to other people and to the world around us. But in truth we, ourselves, are the agent of change; we, ourselves, control this change, and this change does not control us. The way to maintains this control is to understand, and to accept; this is the soul of diamond.

There are many kinds of ecstasy. Ecstasy brought about through use of drugs; that which is brought about through music, playing or listening; that which is brought about by dance and gyration; that which is religiously inspired; that which comes as a result of physical exertion from work or play; that which comes from actively seeking nothing, in meditation; that which is the result of extreme deprivation, of sleep or food or water; that which is the result of extreme temperatures of heat or cold. This ecstasy is an intense feeling that: nothing matters, nothing can bother me, nothing can stop me, nothing can change me, because…there is no longer a “me” to be bothered.

Think: I have become part of a greater invisible-whole, I am merely a physical extension of this whole, finally aware of itself outside of itself. I am that which understands being, and is and is becoming, and has always been becoming. I exist; I do not exist; I am that I am, and was, and always shall be.

Believe: The realization comes that the self is no longer important; that, in fact, the self no longer exists, if it existed at all. One cannot change what does not exist. Only this moment becomes important, this task at hand, this immediate experience, this now. Past and future are not important because…they do not exist. They are only experiences, remembrances or visions, of this present; they are as unchangeable as this present, and as such are unimportant. The barrier we unconsciously erect between the worlds is torn asunder through acts of great physical, emotional or mental stress; and…the true self is revealed for what it is.

This, too, is the soul of diamond.

Understand: We live in a moral world by necessity, but not by truth. Morals are necessary because people constantly hide their souls from themselves…weak souls seek to harm others to compensate for a lack of self-understanding, to compensate for a weakness of soul and a frailness of spirit, to justify feelings of self-hatred and -condemnation. Whether seeking pleasure in another or seeking pain from others misery, both are acts to bolster the appearance of one’s self to one’s self; it is a lie within a lie, and all are acts of cowardice.

A soul of diamond need not harm or injure another in any way whatsoever. A soul of diamond is not needing of the opinions of others, or of the support of others, and does not flinch from the condemnation or bodily harm inflicted by others. A soul of diamond may stand alone, or may contribute to a group, or may become the center of the group; but always it needs no one and nothing.

It is itself. It is what it is. I am that I am. We are what we are.

This is not resistance; this is Being/Unbeing.

Ecstasy and the experience of ecstasy: To stand outside and within one’s soul will free you from yourself. Pleasure is not a goal; pain is not a goal; true knowledge has no goal other than itself. An ultimate world is an ecstatic world, free from pain, free from guilt, free from hate, free from hate, free from influence, free from result, free from cause, free from appearance and perception of appearance. It is a constant of ever change, but cannot be changed. It cannot be actively sought, only attained. It cannot be kept, only experienced. It cannot be taken or given, but its knowledge can be received and recognized. A true soul recognizes itself, and through this recognition, will in turn recognize others; for, this true soul is one and the same, only as seen through a different pair of eyes.

Remember: This is not about anger. This is not a closure to the outside world, an ignoring of one’s environment. There is no religion. There is no political message. This is not a message of inflexibility, a message of unbending resistance. This is a philosophy. This is an understanding, a flash of unspoken recognition. We see the self within the self, the self within others, the Oneness within the Other; and we recognize that, and that which is part of ourselves and of which we are a part.

We are that which is always being and coming into being; there is no loss of being and no loss of unbeing. All energy and all mass in the universe is preserved. We are one as we are all. Only the illusion of existing separately prevents us from becoming who we truly are and what we truly can do. 

Move beyond perception. Open your “mind.” Which, after all, is only a borrowed thing, for a time. Only then will we truly be free. Free from the constraints of the physical plane. Free from self-doubt. Free from any limitations, which only separate us when we place such limitations upon ourselves and our own understanding of the ways things be.

It is written: This is the way that is not the way. It cannot be taught, only accepted, understood, experienced, shared…as above, so below. The part is the whole, and the whole is the part.

This, too, is the soul of diamond.

(Yet) another apology for a brief absence

Dear readers,

Sorry to have been absent for a couple of weeks.

Things just got busy at work and at home. And influenza really is strong this year, as predicted (I found out long ago that teenagers – especially guys – completely ignore suggestions regarding ways of avoiding illness due to an unwavering belief in their invulnerability).

I’ll try to make it up to you over the next couple of days.

In the meantime, here’s an Apple IIe showing the matrix (“all I see is blond…brunette…”).

Ah, yes… 😅

Horned comet approaching Earth soon

The comet has a core of dust, gas and ice surrounded by a bright cloud of gas known as a coma. Sunlight and solar radiation can heat the comet’s core, sometimes causing violent outbursts like the ones observed in July and Oct.

Herman said the comet’s temporary horns are thought to originate from these icy eruptions. The comet’s structure may be shaping how the spewed clouds of gas and ice appear from Earth, creating the appearance of horns to ground-based telescopes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/devil-comet-will-bring-horns-swooping-earth-summer-rcna121989

Apparently some astronomers likened the shape to the Millenial Falcon.

I guess they have sharper eyes, bc I don’t see that.

Anyway, Comet 12/P Pons-Brooks only comes once every 71 years, so keep your eyes open next June. It may be visible even without a telescope.

Dear Diary – May 17, 2001

There is a difference between being alone and feeling alone; being isolated and feeling isolated; being rejected and feeling rejected. Reality and emotive perception have no relation, except that which the mind projects. Eliminate the projection, and the reality allows itself to become revealed.

Only I can permit this reality to become revealed; only I can perceive, how can another remove this perception from me, if I cannot myself? No one can rely on me, if I do not rely on myself. No one can be helped by me, if I do not help myself.

No one can help me not feel alone, if I cannot do it myself. Being alone is a function of reality and circumstance; feeling alone is a function of myself, not dependent upon external stimuli. This feeling is one I must remove myself. I cannot be two, if I cannot be one.

When AI becomes actual AI…

We compared current scientific theories of what makes humans conscious to compile a list of “indicator properties” that could then be applied to AI systems. 

We don’t think systems that possess the indicator properties are definitely conscious, but the more indicators, the more seriously we should take claims of AI consciousness. 

https://theconversation.com/why-chatgpt-isnt-conscious-but-future-ai-systems-might-be-212860

Last year, an engineer for Google who was working on what was then called “LaMDA” (later released as “Bard”) claimed that the software had achieved consciousness. He claimed it was like a small child and he could “talk” with it.

He was fired.

Bard, ChatGPT, Baidu, and so forth are advanced chatbots built on what’s called “Large Language Models” (LLM) and can generate text in an instant.

But the programs are not AI, strictly speaking. They have no sentience.

The classic way of determining consciousness (Alan Turing’s so-called “Imitation Game,” which actually was simply a mathematical model and not an actual machine – I’ve written about this before) no longer works. Chatbots have already pushed the “imitate a human conversation” well past what Turing thought possible in the 1940s and 1950s.

So how to determine true AI?

Several computational theories that are too complicated for me to adequately summarize in a single blog post:

Recurrent processing theory

Global workspace theory

Computational higher-order theories

Attention schema theory

Predictive processing (also called “predictive coding”)

Agency and embodiment

ChatGPT is pretty impressive at predictive processing.

But it utterly fails at agency. It has no ability to choose. It has no goals. It is not sentient.

It is not AI.

Sorry.

It’s also inherently racist, as well as illegal thanks to scouring random copyrighted text, images, and videos by those who did not give permission and did not get paid by a company that was given millions and millions of dollars to continue illegally using online data.

But it is not AI.

But is AI coming?

I really, honestly, hope not. People obviously don’t use enough of their brains as it is.

Bringer of Light, Chapter 41 (part three)

Having heard Captain (Ret.) Sergey Bardish’s final message, Weng dredged up old memories. Now, he must make a decision…

Sergey had done as he asked. He was on Mars. But Sergey had known Riss better. He should have listened to the old man.

Now, it was too late. Riss did not need him. Neither did Mars.

Mars—his Mars—was already fading in the past. Not in his future. But that was no reason to keep it from being in others’.

“Martin, we cannot win.”

Martin let his hand drop and stared at the floor.

“The gas cannot be used,” Weng said. “Lù yáo zhī malì, rì jiu jiàn rénxīn. This place no longer belongs to us. Live and let live.”

The Overseer yanked a lettuce cube from its resting place and threw it against one of the lab walls. He picked up another and did likewise. A third. Opened his hand, let it drop to the floor.

He stared at the floor, at the remains of the lettuce, its tiny roots spread out in a soggy tangled mess.

“We must ready to leave,” Huynh said. “Overseer, there are many who would support you still.”

Martin laughed, a thin, hollow laugh. “Me? I doubt it. And you had best start referring to me as Velasquez-shi.”

He stomped on the ruined lettuce plant, folded his arms.

“Sam, you must lead.”

“Me?”

“I am not in the best frame of mind at present. But I must agree. We can’t stay here.”

Weng nodded. His life here was not with Riss. He knew that, now. He wanted no fighting. No arguments. Just…to go somewhere else.

But where?

“How many 3D printers do we need? How many hydropons to set up? Gravity generators?”

Huynh replied, “We have already set aside the appropriate number of each, Sam. Some of us anticipated this possible outcome.”

“Anticipated? As in, you already have picked a location and constructed living spaces? Prepared water reclamation plants?”

Martin shook his head. “There are several land transports waiting. Two ships, as well. I have been in contact with those who did not trust…”

His voice trailed off before resuming, bitterly.

“…our new ‘leaders.’”

“And where do we go to start up a new colony?”

They said nothing for a few moments. Weng felt himself sighing and successfully resisted. So. They really hadn’t planned that far ahead, after all.

If they stayed on the planet, somewhere else far away from the current settler pod locations, he was sure Riss and her new “United Mars” would leave them alone.

For a while.

But eventually there would be conflict. It had happened before, with devastating consequences. Once, Weng had “flown” the Mars Warplane in a virtual museum on Lunar Base. The VR game left him with the distinct impression that it had not been a particularly enjoyable experience in reality. Certainly nothing they wanted to repeat.

They also couldn’t go back to Earth. Even if the conflict were to end before they arrived, the various UN nations would surely not forgive them for abandoning the colonies. Money and resources wasted. A new world thrown away, left to radical rebels. They would be blamed. Imprisoned, perhaps.

That left only one option.

“We will need to seek another planet for colonization,” Weng said.

There was a shocked silence.

He continued.

“Or a moon.”

Next: Bringer of Light, Chapter 42 — Meditation. A New Foundation