Joe Velikovsky's Blog, page 16

On: How To Disagree (Graham 2008)

On: How To Disagree  (in a debate, & especially: online) (that famous essayicle, by: Graham 2008)
-------Blogpost by JTV--------
There's this great essayicle by Paul Graham, called How To Disagree. Here it is, here.
And - there's a great diagram that Rocket000 drew - to make it easier to see, how it works:




So; yeah.
Do: That.


(I must admit, sometimes, I like to fire all those cannons at once, i.e. All 7 levels! LOL)

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You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
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The Search for Meaning doesn't usually reveal it

"The Search for Meaning doesn't usually reveal it"
Just a funny quote from Seth Lloyd.

From this Youtube video:


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You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
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Political Compass - online quiz

Political Compass - online quiz
So I did an online quiz: https://www.politicalcompass.org/
These were my results, below - (but - some of the questions weren't phrased correctly, in my view?) I don't think this captures my worldview, all that well... But still. It's a blunt instrument, but there you go. 
So - according to this - I'm in between Gandhi & Stalin on the right/left axis (of this particular: quiz), and in between Gandhi & Friedman on the Authoritarian/Liberalism axis. 



Why would I end up, there?

Probably because of: a complex mix of genes & environment, and life history / lived experience.

Over my life, I've mainly worked in the Arts/Communication (film, tv, games, novels, theater, music, etc). I guess, most of those folks tend to be left-wing/humanist types.   

I really like: Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies. 

In fact; I like (i.e. agree with) about 95% of everything Popper ever wrote. 

Here are a lot of other books I love: (I read them, for my PhD).

Here's more of my favourite thinkers.



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You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames): Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity& Films about Bathurst...
etc etc. See  On Writering  and  StoryAlity  News

Evolution critter sim game by Keiwan

So, this critter-design Evolution sim game is fun:


Evolution by Keiwan (accessed 02019)
Like the site says:

`Use joints, bones and muscles to build creatures that are only limited by your imagination. Watch how the combination of a neural network and a genetic algorithm can enable your creatures to "learn" and improve at their given tasks all on their own. 

The tasks include running, jumping and climbing. 

Can you build the ultimate creature that is good at all of the tasks?'

 Evolution by Keiwan (accessed 02019)
Here's a YouTube video by IGP about it:
`BIGGEST BRAIN EVER & WALKING HUMAN - Neural Network MAXED - Evolution Simulator ( Evolution Gameplay)' (02018)

And here's some random critters I made while playing around with it:










Try it, it's fun!
It demonstrates the obvious physical and spatial issues in evolutionary Design Space. 
Some geometrical shapes work better than others when you have gravity & obstacles to deal with. 
Which gets back to: Agency and Structure. Which pretty much solves the problem of Free Will, until we can hack the Sim we're in :)
If of interest see also: 
The HOLON/parton structure of the meme, the unit of bioculture. And see the 3 Laws of HOLON/partons. (On that same post / in those 5 book-chapters.)
Thanks for reading!

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You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames): Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity& Films about Bathurst...
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PS - Another Evolution Sim:

Evolution Simulator (Part 1/4) (by carykh)

For more of these kinda things, maybe Ask Uncle Google: evolution simulator

Maybe see also:


The Robo-Raconteur Artificial-Writer computer program
A video about it:
The Robo-Raconteur


& to dig way deeper into these kinda topics, check out Dan Dennett's great book: 
Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995).

Darwin (1871) on ants!

Darwin (1871) - on ants
Hey, check out this passage on ants (below), from:
(Darwin 1871)
The legendary Charlie Darwin (1871, pp .185-89) writes:

CHAPTER VI.
ON THE AFFINITIES AND GENEALOGY OF MAN. 

Position of man in the animal series — The natural system genealogical — Adaptive characters of slight value — Various small points of resemblance between man and the Quadrumana — Rank of man in the natural system — Birthplace and antiquity of man — Absence of fossil connecting-links — Lower stages in the genealogy of man, as inferred, firstly from his affinities and secondly from his structure — Early androgynous condition of the Vertebrata — Conclusion. 

EVEN if it be granted that the difference between man and his nearest allies is as great in corporeal structure as some naturalists maintain, and although we must grant that the difference between them is immense in mental power, yet the facts given in the previous chapters declare, as it appears to me, in the plainest manner, that man is descended from some lower form, notwithstanding that connecting-links have not hitherto been discovered.
Man is liable to numerous, slight, and diversified variations, which are induced by the same general causes, are governed and transmitted in accordance with the same general laws, as in the lower animals. Man tends to multiply at so rapid a rate that his off-spring are necessarily exposed to a struggle for existence, and consequently to natural selection. He has given rise to many races, some of which are so different that they have often been ranked by naturalists as distinct species. His body is constructed on the same homological plan as that of other mammals, independently of the uses to which the several parts may be put. He 

P. 186 (starts below) 

passes through the same phases of embryological development. He retains many rudimentary and useless structures, which no doubt were once serviceable. Characters occasionally make their re-appearance in him, which we have every reason to believe were possessed by his early progenitors. If the origin of man had been wholly different from that of all other animals, these various appearances would be mere empty deceptions; but such an admission is incredible. These appearances, on the other hand, are intelligible, at least to a large extent, if man is the co-descendant with other mammals of some unknown and lower form.
Some naturalists, from being deeply impressed with the mental and spiritual powers of man, have divided the whole organic world into three kingdoms, the Human, the Animal, and the Vegetable, thus giving to man a separate kingdom.1 Spiritual powers cannot be compared or classed by the naturalist; but he may endeavour to shew, as I have done, that the mental faculties of man and the lower animals do not differ in kind, although immensely in degree. A difference in degree, however great, does not justify us in placing man in a distinct kingdom, as will perhaps be best illustrated by comparing the mental powers of two insects, namely, a coccus or scale-insect and an ant, which undoubtedly belong to the same class. The difference is here greater, though of a somewhat different kind, than that between man and the highest mammal. 

The female coccus, whilst young, attaches itself by its proboscis to a plant; sucks the sap but never moves again; is fertilised and lays eggs; and this is its whole history. On the other hand, to describe the habits and mental 

1 Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire gives a detailed account of the position assigned to man by various naturalists in their classifications: 'Hist. Nat. Gén.' tom. ii. 1859, p. 170-189. 

p. 187 

powers of a female ant, would require, as Pierre Huber has shewn, a large volume; I may, however, briefly specify a few points.  

Ants communicate information to each other, and several unite for the same work, or games of play. 

They recognise their fellow-ants after months of absence. 

They build great edifices, keep them clean, close the doors in the evening, and post sentries. 

They make roads, and even tunnels under rivers. 

They collect food for the community, and when an object, too large for entrance, is brought to the nest, they enlarge the door, and afterwards build it up again.2 

They go out to battle in regular bands, and freely sacrifice their lives for the common weal. 

They emigrate in accordance with a preconcerted plan. 

They capture slaves. 

They keep Aphides as milch-cows. 

They move the eggs of their aphides, as well as their own eggs and cocoons, into warm parts of the nest, in order that they may be quickly hatched; and endless similar facts could be given.  

On the whole, the difference in mental power between an ant and a coccus is immense; yet no one has ever dreamed of placing them in distinct classes, much less in distinct kingdoms. No doubt this interval is bridged over by the intermediate mental powers of many other insects; and this is not the case with man and the higher apes. But we have every reason to believe that breaks in the series are simply the result of many forms having become extinct. 

Professor Owen, relying chiefly on the structure of the brain, has divided the mammalian series into four sub-classes. One of these he devotes to man; in another he places both the marsupials and the monotremata; so that he makes man as distinct from all other mam- 

2 See the very interesting article, "L'Instinct chez les Insectes," by M. George Pouchet, 'Revue des Deux Mondes,' Feb. 1870, p. 682.

p. 188 

mals as are these two latter groups conjoined. This view has not been accepted, as far as I am aware, by any naturalist capable of forming an independent judgment, and therefore need not here be further considered. 

We can understand why a classification founded on any single character or organ—even an organ so wonderfully complex and important as the brain—or on the high development of the mental faculties, is almost sure to prove unsatisfactory. This principle has indeed been tried with hymenopterous insects; but when thus classed by their habits or instincts, the arrangement proved thoroughly artificial.3 

Classifications may, of course, be based on any character whatever, as on size, colour, or the element inhabited; but naturalists have long felt a profound conviction that there is a natural system. This system, it is now generally admitted, must be, as far as possible, genealogical in arrangement,—that is, the co-descendants of the same form must be kept together in one group, separate from the co-descendants of any other form; but if the parent-forms are related, so will be their descendants, and the two groups together will form a larger group. The amount of difference between the several groups—that is the amount of modification which each has undergone—will be expressed by such terms as genera, families, orders, and classes. As we have no record of the lines of descent, these lines can be discovered only by observing the degrees of resemblance between the beings which are to be classed. For this object numerous points of resemblance are of much more importance than the amount of similarity or dissimilarity in a few points. If two languages were found to resemble each other in a multitude of 

3 Westwood, 'Modern Class. of Insects,' vol. ii. 1840, p. 87. 

p. 189 

words and points of construction, they would be universally recognised as having sprung from a common source, notwithstanding that they differed greatly in some few words or points of construction. But with organic beings the points of resemblance must not consist of adaptations to similar habits of life: two animals may, for instance, have had their whole frames modified for living in the water, and yet they will not be brought any nearer to each other in the natural system. 

Hence we can see how it is that resemblances in unimportant structures, in useless and rudimentary organs, and in parts not as yet fully developed or functionally active, are by far the most serviceable for classification; for they can hardly be due to adaptations within a late period; and thus they reveal the old lines of descent or of true affinity.' 

(Darwin 1871, pp. 185-9)

Anyway... did you see the bold bit?

Ants are a lot like humans, in many ways. (i.e., They can be jerks too. See the `slaves' and `farming' bits.)
Anyway eusocial animals are crazy. But fascinating.
Anyway - I found it fascinating.
-----------------------------
You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames): Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity& Films about Bathurst...
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Thoughts and Notes on `Will AI Replace Us?' (Fan 2019)

Thoughts and Notes on `Will AI Replace Us?' (Fan 2019)by JT Velikovsky
Will A.I. replace us humanimals? ...I certainly hope so. Look how cool these robots are.

10 Incredible Robots That Actually Exist (Youtube 2018)
Meantime, Shelly Fan (2019) has written a great little book called... 
Will AI Replace Us? A primer for the 21st century.
Fan, S. (2019). Will AI replace us? A primer for the 21st century. London, Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Here is the Abstract of the book:

`The past sixty years have witnessed astonishing bursts of growth in the field of Artificial Intelligence - the science and computational technologies that teach machines to sense, learn, reason and take action. AI is already changing our lives, in ways that benefit health, productivity and entertainment. Are we on the threshold of an AI-dominated world, in which humans will no longer be necessary?' (Fan 2019)

My review?I like it. It's a good review of the current issues, topics and trends facing us, regarding AI.In a nutshell, buy it and read it.
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Below are some Notes I took while reading it, and also some Comments and Discussion Points for my students.

But first I'd recommend reading all 3 books by Yuval Noah Harari, also Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark, and Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom.
A quote from (Fan 2019) that I liked:

`AI is the most human of technologies. It began with the idea of creating machines that imitated humans. It developed by copying human thought processes and by learning from and extracting from human brains.' (Fan 2019, p. 8)

Which is all fair enough...?This one below is also funny (because it's true):

`An inside joke is that once a machine can do something previously only achieved by humans, then the task is no longer considered a sign of intelligence.' (p. 9)

...What is intelligence, after all? The definition of intelligence is currently an unsolved problem as there's not a consensus. Depends who you ask (and, in which domain in culture), and what they're examining. 
Take a look at this (2007) paper, which has 70 definitions, gathered from here, there, & everywhere:

Legg & Hutter (2007). `A Collection of Definitions of Intelligence'. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications, Vol. 157 (2007) pp. 17-24

Abstract:

`This paper is a survey of a large number of informal definitions of "intelligence'' that the authors have collected over the years. Naturally, compiling a complete list would be impossible as many definitions of intelligence are buried deep inside articles and books. Nevertheless, the 70-odd definitions presented here are, to the authors' knowledge, the largest and most well referenced collection there is.'

Short story: There is `g factor' or general intelligence (as tested in: IQ tests), but also, Gardner's multiple intelligences... 

Maybe it's just: problem-solving ability. 
All of this reminds me of, the (similar) problem in defining "culture". 
See my (2016) PhD Appendix (book chapter), where I wrote:

`INTRODUCTION 

This chapter proposes a formal structure for the unit of culture, also known as the meme (Dawkins, 1976), namely: the holon/parton (Velikovsky, 2013b), synthesizing concepts from (Koestler 1967) and Feynman (2005). 

Previously, an unsolved problem across media, the arts, entertainment and science has been defining ‘the unit of culture’, resulting in over three hundred varying definitions of culture (Baldwin et al 2006), and no consensus (van Peer et al 2007).' 

(Velikovsky 2016, p. 208)

Anyway, so - defining "intelligence" is all a bit fuzzy... I had another article where I just used Garlick (2010)'s definition of intelligence, which is simply: understanding. (see Velikovsky 2014, p. 3).

VELIKOVSKY, J. T. Flow Theory, Evolution & Creativity: or, 'Fun & Games'.  Interactive Entertainment 2014 (IE2014) Conference, 2014 Newcastle, Australia. ACM.

Abstract:

`In this paper videogames and transmedia are examined from the perspectives of both creation (game design) and audience reception (gameplay experience), in light of the theories of the DPFi (Domain, Person Field interaction) systems model of creativity (Csikszentmihalyi 1988, 1996, 2006, 2014); its herein contended theoretical equivalent, evolutionary epistemology (Popper 1963, DT Campbell 1974, Simonton 2010) and the inherent biocultural evolutionary creative algorithm of selection, variation and transmission-with-heredity; 'flow' theory in creativity (Csikszentmihalyi 1975, 1990, 1996) as a determinant of 'fun factor' in games; 'narrative transportation' theory in fiction (Gerrig 1993, Green & Brock 2000, Van Laer et al 2014) as an additional (necessary but not sufficient) determinant of 'fun-factor' in 'story' videogames; and Boyd's (2009) general theory of creativity in the arts as 'cognitive play with pattern' - ultimately arguing that game play of any kind may potentially enhance animal intelligence, and therefore that videogames as an art form may potentially enhance human intelligence.'

Anyway, but back to Fan (2019).

On page 10, Fan (2019) rightly notes that AI was misused when the jerks at Cambridge Analytica targeted some swinging voters (who also aren't very good critical thinkers, I might add) and caused: Trump, and Brexit... (What a nightmare. This is the dark side of AI. When you get jerks using it, for jerky purposes. Anyway - see this documentary below, for the whole debacle... Below is: the Trailer.)
The Great Hack (Netflix 2019)
Moral: Don't let evil jerks use AI, or they can ruin the world for everyone. Like they have, with Trump and Brexit. Both of which were - and still are - terrible ideas... Read Harari's great book 21 Lessons (2018) to see why... I don't have time to get into it all here. Also we need robo-politicians (cyber-democracy). Mainly as humanimals aren't capable enough to run the world any more, it's all gotten too complex for human brains... 
But anyway - back to Fan (2019). 
On page 11, it notes, since 2018, Baidu (2nd largest search engine in the world, after Google) has voice-mimicing tech (`voice-cloning AI') that can simulate a human voice, by only listening to a minute of spoken text...! And, of course, Google has Duplex.
Google Duplex: A.I. Assistant Calls Local Businesses To Make Appointments (YouTube 2018)
For more, see this VICE article on Deep Voice (Cole 2018). (...In fact, it only needs 3.7 seconds of audio! But with 100 samples, it's: pretty good.) If you want to go deeper, there's an arXiv article (2018) on Baidu's Deep Voice software, here. 
Fan (2019, p. 11) also notes the problem of: deepfake porn. (Then again - maybe if robots take porn-performers' jobs, it's a good thing? Ethically, I mean.)
Also - this is basic stuff, ("AI-101") but worth pointing out - the definition of "brute force" in AI.

`Brute force - A general problem-solving technique. It systematically enumerates possible solutions to a problem and checks every single candidate solution before reaching a result.' (Fan 2019, p. 13)

This is what most creative humans do... Namely, they think of about 100 ideas (solutions to a problem), and one of them will be: great! (BVSR. Blind Variation and Selective Retention.)

Page 12 also talks about IBM's Watson winning Jeopardy back in 2011... 
IBM's Watson wins Jeopardy
And, AlphaGo beating the world Go champ (Lee Sedol) in 2016. (See the great doco, below.)
AlphaGo documentary (Trailer)
Pages 14 and 15 of Fan (2019) mention: the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) Stanford University (2015). There is another report coming in the year 2020 (next year).
As for the history of AI, (Fan 2019, p. 18) rightly notes, the study of AI is customarily dated to the Dartmouth workshop in 1956, organized by Maths professor, John McCarthy. 
Page 19 mentions how Aristotle invented syllogistic logic , which is basically an algorithm. 
Namely, something like: "Major premise: All M are P. Minor premise: All S are M. Conclusion: All S are P." (Set Theory.)
P 19 also has a definition of algorithm: (I love collecting definitions of "algorithm" :)

`Algorithm: In computer science, algorithms are unambiguous sets of instructions or rules that define a process to guide calculations and other problem-solving operations.' (Fan 2019, p. 19) 

P 20 mentions Descartes, also Hobbes' Leviathan (1651), and Leibniz' (1666) alphabet of ideas... 

`In Leviathan (1651), Hobbes famously argues for a mechanical, combinatorial way of thinking, much like the way machines combine different modules to further gain functionality.' (Fan 2019, p 20)

Basically, this refers to part`V - Of Reason and Science' of Hobbes' Leviathan (1651). 
An excerpt:

`In sum, in what matter soever there is place for addition and subtraction, there also is place for reason; and where these have no place, there reason has nothing at all to do. Out of all which we may define (that is to say determine) what that is which is meant by this word reason when we reckon it amongst the faculties of the mind. For reason, in this sense, is nothing but reckoning (that is, adding and subtracting) of the consequences of general names agreed upon for the marking and signifying of our thoughts; I say marking them, when we reckon by ourselves; and signifying, when we demonstrate or approve our reckonings to other men.' (Hobbes 1651, p. 26)

Page 21 on (Fan 2019) talks about An essay towards solving a problem in the doctrine of chances (Bayes 1763). Bayes' Theorem is widely used today in Computer Science. (Unfortunately, seems most people don't update their knowledge based on new information, mainly due to: cognitive biases.)
Page 23 talks about Alan Turing, and also Bernoulli Numbers...
Page 24 talks about Turing's essay Computing Machinery and Intelligence (1950), which asks "Can machines think?". And, from whence comes, the Turing Test... 
P 27 mentions toy problems.
P 29 mentions OpenAI, founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

`OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. We’re a team of a hundred people based in San Francisco, California. The OpenAI Charter describes the principles that guide us as we execute on our mission.' (OpenAI.com, 2019, online)

Here also is a good definition of Backpropagation: (see also the "Talks at Google" Youtube video below, by Pedro Domingos, 2015)

Backpropagation: A mathematical method of assigning error to every artificial neuron within an artificial neuronal network. It serves to change the network towards the correct response and to minimize error. (Fan 2019, p. 31)

Page 32 notes the two major AI "winters" were in 1974-80, and in 1987-93. Mainly due to hardware issues and funding problems. 
P 34 has a good definition of GOFAI:

GOFAI: An umbrella term for AI algorithms that rely on manipulating symbols and rules. This approach arguably reached its limit with expert systems. (Fan 2019, p. 34)

P 36 mentions the release of ImageNet by Stanford University in 2009... Interesting. 
(If you try a search, try searching on "tree" or "cat" for a start.)
Another good quote:

`Today, a paradigm shift towards AI - as a tool to solve problems, rather than as a way to build intelligent minds - is proving a major driving force for related industries to contribute large monetary sums to edge ahead in the AI race.' (Fan 2019, p. 37)

Also, a good definition of machine learning:

Often mentioned as a single discipline, machine learning is in fact an umbrella term for a group of diverse statistical strategies that aim to solve specific problems. (Fan 2019, p. 42)

[Students take note] - Here is Lesson 1 of How to Train a Neural Net

Intro to Deep Learning 2018 - Lesson 1 (Youtube 2018)
Page 42 of Fan (2019) has a terrific chart:
`A mostly complete chart of neural networks by Fjodor Van Veen' (Fan 2019, p. 42)


Also this is cool: a GAAE (on Fan 2019, p. 58). 




And another great quote from Fan is on pp 44-5:

The other commonplace AI application is personal recommenders. As an example, consider four seemingly diverse companies: Netflix, the movie-streaming service; Amazon, the online shopping platform; Facebook, the social media network; and Google, the search engine. Although these companies provide different services, fundamentally their AI systems are performing a very similar task: they are gatekeepers to information. (Fan 2019, pp. 44-5)

As Harari notes, Amazon actually recommends better books of interest than a human ever could...

And, here is something interesting:

Leveraging its mass database of user viewing habits, the company predicted the plots and actors that attract the most attention, and began to produce movies and television shows based on these data. Thus far, Netflix has released several hits, including House of Cards, Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things, and its approach has been adopted by other online streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. (Fan 2019, p. 47, bold emphasis mine) 

This all reminds me of my (2016) PhD on High-RoI Movies... (see the very first page of it!)

In regard to self-driving vehicles, Fan (2019) mentions "the support vector machine, a popular algorithm inspired by human psychology. The exotically named algorithm relies on a simple principle: that humans learn by analogies." (p. 50)   
PP 52-3 mentions reinforcement learning... "a type of trial and error often used to train animals. In short, an action either receives a reward or a penalty, and the animal gradually changes its behavior to the desired outcome. For animals, the reward is often food. In AI, the reward is a number that the algorithm is trying to maximize. During learning, the reward can either be short term, given immediately following an action, or long term, only given after an entire action sequence." (pp. 52-3) 
Another cool quote:

Another algorithm inspired by the brain, the differentiable neural computer (DNC), loosely mimics working memory, which lets the DNC `reason' about multi-step problems. (p. 54)  

And also talks about Deep Q Networks (DQN), "which can repeatedly learn from past experience" (p. 54). 

Hey - so here's Google's DeepMind using Deep-Q Learning, optimizing a player strategy for Atari Breakout:


Google DeepMind's Deep Q-learning playing Atari Breakout (Youtube 2015)
Also, I liked this definition of working memory:

Working memory - A cognitive system with limited storage capacity that allows humans to temporarily hold information in the mind while reasoning and making decisions. (Fan 2019, p. 55)

Also - this is all pretty remarkable:

`According to one Intel study, self-driving cars hold massive economic potential: Intel predicts that the autonomous vehicle industry will create an $800 billion annual revenue stream by 2035, which will grow to $7 trillion by 2050.' (Fan 209, p. 56) 

P 57 notes AI is impacting not just blue-collar jobs but especially healthcare (e.g. surgery, medical diagnosis).
A good definition of Big Data:

Big Data - Refers to extremely large and complex datasets that can be analyzed computationally to reveal patterns, trends and associations. These can be used to gain new insights and make predictions. (Fan 2019, p. 57) 

I think Charles Darwin was one of the original human Big Data users. 
Think of all the books he read, and information he absorbed. 
No wonder he cracked: evolution.

Hey - here's a mind-blowing read: (seriously)


Exploration and Exploitation of Victorian Science in Darwin’s Reading Notebooks (2017) byJaimie Murdock a,b, Colin Allen a,c,d, Simon DeDeo a,b,e,f,∗

Abstract 

Search in an environment with an uncertain distribution of resources involves a trade-off between exploitation of past discoveries and further exploration. This extends to information foraging, where a knowledge-seeker shifts between reading in depth and studying new domains. 

To study this decision-making process, we examine the reading choices made by one of the most celebrated scientists of the modern era: Charles Darwin.  

From the full-text of books listed in his chronologically-organized reading journals, we generate topic models to quantify his local (text-to-text) and global (text-to-past) reading decisions using Kullback-Liebler Divergence, a cognitively-validated, information-theoretic measure of relative surprise. Rather than a pattern of surprise-minimization, corresponding to a pure exploitation strategy, Darwin’s behavior shifts from early exploitation to later exploration, seeking unusually high levels of cognitive surprise relative to previous eras. These shifts, detected by an unsupervised Bayesian model, correlate with major intellectual epochs of his career as identified both by qualitative scholarship and Darwin’s own self-commentary. Our methods allow us to compare his consumption of texts with their publication order.  

We find Darwin’s consumption more exploratory than the culture’s production, suggesting that underneath gradual societal changes are the explorations of individual synthesis and discovery. Our quantitative methods advance the study of cognitive search through a framework for testing interactions between individual and collective behavior and between short- and long-term consumption choices.  

This novel application of topic modeling to characterize individual reading complements widespread studies of collective scientific behavior.  

Keywords: Cognitive search, information foraging, topic modeling, exploration-exploitation, history of science, scientific discovery

Anyway - I digress... (But that paper above is a great read. I liked it, anyway.)

Page 58 of Fan (2019) talks about evolutionary algorithms...
I found this interesting:

`...as the amount of scientific literature rapidly increases, automated systems that leverage text processing could mine these public reports for new medical knowledge, which is then presented to physicians for learning in the form of simple memos. IBM Watson and Semantic Scholar are currently being developed for this ability.' (Fan 2019, p. 59)

Mainly as, it reminds me of this: the first AI-generated textbook (2019) - !

Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Machine-Generated Summary of Current Research (Beta Writer 2019)


Page 59 of Fan (2019) also talks about: Suki. 

`Suki is an AI-powered, voice-enabled digital assistant for doctors. We want to give our users superpowers to make them happier and more productive while solving some of the biggest problems in healthcare.' (Suki.ai, 2019. online)

P 60 talks about Reeti the robot, which can help autistic children to learn.
Reeti (Youtube 2011)
Pp 66-7 talks about Tay, Microsoft's (2016) Twitter chatbot which went off the rails and became sexist and racist (and generally: offensive) within a day, due to internet trolls gaming its system. The Moral: GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).   
Microsoft's Tay (acronym for: Thinking About You) (2016).
Page 66 talks about gender and racial bias in AI, due to programming flaws and problems of human nature.
P68 talks about the US Navy's SAFFiR. As a former firefighter: I like it! Send in the firefighting bots.
SAFFiR - Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (Youtube 2015)
Another cool quote:

`Most applications today rely on deep learning, the artificial neural net structure that loosely resembles the human brain.' (Fan 2019, p. 71)

Another useful definition:

AI Neuroscience - A new discipline that investigates the inner workings of deep learning systems. The goal is to be able to explain how deep neural nets function internally, including understanding why they perform well and when they fail. (Fan 2019, p. 73)

P 73 also talks about Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME)... 
P 76 talks about some problems in AI, such as Google Photos' (2015) GorillaGate, and racial bias in COMPAS. 
p 80 talks about ethical AI, and The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems [Standards] (2017).
P 82 talks about China's social credit system... The gamification of society! (And why not.)
Another cool quote:

`According to John Giannandrea, chief of machine learning at Apple, the danger of AI is not that it will lead to a robot apocalypse; rather, it is that they are both biased and stupid, and they are already running some parts of society.' (Fan 2019, p. 86)

A great advance in AI was solving the problem of catastrophic forgetting via neural modularity:



Basically, you can turn the modules on or off, so they don't get overwritten.

`In 2017, researchers from DeepMind published an algorithm called Elastic Weight Consolidation, which allows neural networks that mimic the way skills are retained in the human brain by consolidating neural pathways. This algorithm enabled an AI to learn new Atari games without compromising games learnt previously. These examples represent rudimentary efforts at tackling flexibility and generalization: two difficult and yet unresolved problems in machine learning.' (Fan 2019, p. 89)

P 90 says Geoffrey Hinton is often referred to as the father (or Wikipedia says: "Godfather"?) of deep learning...
And, overall, according to Fan (2019) here's the bottom line:

`The most difficult stumbling blocks that society needs to address as AI comes of age are ethical.' (Fan 2019, p. 91)

But in fact, I think AI (and, biotech) needs to go to work on re-engineering human ethics anyway, as they mostly kinda suck...?
See also my review of Novacene (Lovelock 2019).

P 94 of Fan (2019) talks about the (2017) SoftBank "robo-coffee-shops" in Japan...
Robots Pepper and duAro to work in NESCAFE Coffee Shop in Japan (Youtube 2017)
Side Note: Q: How Many "Peppers" have stolen human jobs, anyway? A: See, this article (August 2019). It says: "About 15,000 Peppers are deployed in Japanese and European banks, fast service restaurants and healthcare settings."
An ad for Pepper the robot (Youtube 2017)
Hey - randomly - this one (Sophia) is a bit creepy: (uncanny valley problems)

We Talked To Sophia — The AI Robot That Once Said It Would 'Destroy Humans' (Youtube 2017)
And here are some supercool robots - (e.g.: Spot-mini, BigDog, Handle, WildCat, Sand Flea, Atlas the Dynamic Humanoid, etc):


Boston Dynamics robots (Youtube 2017)
As for robots taking jobs (and replacing humanimals), here's also a good quote:

`One estimate, published by the World Economic Forum in early 2018, suggests that 1.4 million jobs in the USA will be displaced by automation in the next 8 years. Another recent report by PwC... predicts that more than 40% of jobs will be lost by 2030. More chillingly, US consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute estimates almost half of all jobs around the world could be at stake in the next two decades.' (Fan 2019, p. 99)

Let's hope, anyways. 
Bring on: Universal Basic Income. 
And let the robots do all the work. 
(Who needs: work? Work is for losers. And, robots.)
See: In Praise of Idleness (Bertrand Russell 1934).
Page 100 of Fan (2019) talks about Universal Basic Income... 

Rutger Bregman on Universal Basic Income (Youtube 2017)
Here's another supercool quote:

`...AI will relieve us from mundane jobs, and the resulting leisure might constitute the greatest liberation in history. Outsourcing work to machines is nothing new; humans have been doing it for the past 200 years of economic history.' (Fan 2019, p. 101)

P 103 notes the AI expert systems we currently have, are: idiot-savant systems... (not: AGI)
P 106 talks about neuromorphic chips... 

`Rather than running deep learning algorithms, neuromorphic chips implement everything inside their hardware.' (Fan 2019, p. 106)

Also another very good quote:

`Portuguese AI researcher Pedro Domingos explains in his book The Master Algorithm (2015), a more likely scenario for general AI is to integrate different camps of machine learning: deep learning with evolutionary algorithms, or Bayesian methods with symbolic reasoning... Domingos argues that unification - rather than utter devotion to deep learning, for example, is key.' (Fan 2019, pp. 114-5)

Talks at Google - Pedro Domingos The Master Algorithm (Youtube 2015)
Another good definition:

Computational neuroscience - A subfield of brain science that uses mathematical and statistical models to study communication in the brain. (Fan 2019, p. 114)

P 116 talks about the Human Brain Project, which "seeks to emulate the brain's 85 billion interconnected neurons inside a computer" (p 116). Or, whole brain emulation.

Yet another good definition:

Neural code - refers to information processing in neurons, often in relation to how electrical signals of groups of neurons give rise to specific behaviors and thoughts. (Fan 2019, p. 116) 

p 119 notes, the biggest concern from AI is not superintelligence (as an existential threat) but: job displacement, and increasing societal biases...

See Harari on "The Rise of the Useless Class"...!

Harari on his book Homo Deus (Youtube 2016)
Here's a quote from Fan (2019) that I love:

`Like any other tool, the technology is not inherently good or bad. Intelligence is not motivation; humans are the ones controlling the goal, and an algorithm in and of itself does not have a will, unless someone explicitly programs it.' (Fan 219, p. 120)

And as well: "...the solutions can always be efficiently checked before deploying the algorithm." (p. 122)

P 124 talks about the legal document generator, ROSS.

Pp. 124-5 talks about Word Lens:

Word Lens (Youtube 2010). Note: "Word Lens has now been integrated to the Google Translate app, and is not available anymore as a standalone app."
P 125 talks about the automated news writing system, RADAR. 
Here's another great quote:

`...society is at a critical juncture with regard to determining how to deploy AI-based technologies to best benefit humankind and to promote freedom, equality, transparency and the sharing of wealth.' (Fan 2019, p. 129)

I also love this point: (it's funny because it's true)

`AI systems are harshly (and perhaps unfairly) judged for their failures. Accidents by self-driving cars, for example, garner more media attention than those of human drivers, even if on average the safety rates of the former are better.' (Fan 2019, p. 130)

Also - this quote is okay:

`When the internet was launched nearly 30 years ago, no one predicted some of the negative personal and social outcomes of its use, such as invasion of our privacy, social media addiction and the prevalence of fake news. Similarly, how can we predict all the potential opportunities and threats posed by AI today?' (Fan 2019, p. 132)

It's only "okay" as it ignores science fiction...?

It is the job of science fiction to: imagine the future, and show possible scenarios. Good and bad. 
I am not talking about just some sci fi (the dystopian stuff), but consider all science fiction. 
It did actually predict: "some of the negative personal and social outcomes of its use, such as invasion of our privacy, social media addiction and the prevalence of fake news"... !See, stuff like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, Brave New World, and so many more... 
(See: lots of sci-fi short stories about all that stuff...)...Just sayin :) 
Check out everything on Youtube, by Yuval Noah Harari. And, read his (GREAT!) 3 books...
Watch this, from: 35 mins 15 secs,  onwards (Yuval Noah Harari on: science fiction)
See also: The Robo-Raconteur (2018)
Anyway - this is a pretty great book, so, buy and read it:

Fan, S. 2019. Will AI replace us? A primer for the 21st century.
London, Thames & Hudson Ltd.

And - here's the list of FURTHER READING, suggested at the back of the book.
(Cool list! I've read about half of 'em...)


Anyway - so I very highly recommend (Fan 2019).

Buy and read it!

Hey you know what's big news?
In 2018, AI entered: the DPFi sociocultural systems model of creativity...
(After 30 years of not being there!)


See: Creativity 4.0 Diagram!

Thanks for reading. And, watching.

-----------------------------
You have been reading a blog-post by:
Dr J T Velikovsky
AI Researcher & Enthusiast& Evolutionary Culturologist
(and, also The  StoryAlity  Guy) aka Humanimal Transmedia Blog: On Writering
IMDb (Movies, Videogames): Music: Texas Radio & Zen Stupidity& Films about Bathurst...
etc etc. See  On Writering  and  StoryAlity  News .
---------//----------

`Out of This World' Art Exhibition by Dr Jim Frazier OAM

`Out of This World' Exhibition by Dr Jim Frazier OAM
Out Of This World exhibition @ Olde Bridge Gallery





Photography Masterclass @ Newbridge Photography Club

See also:
Symphony Of The Earth

------------------------------JT Velikovsky

Book Review by JTV: `Novacene' (Lovelock 02019)

Book Review by JTV:
28th Aug 02019


` Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence ' (Lovelock 02019) 
Okay Preface - I like a bunch of Lovelock's work.
I even cited him in my PhD.

V e l i k o v s k y - The StoryAlity PhD - P a g e | 86-7 

`The learning process itself can also be seen as a systems-cybernetic process. 

Lovelock (1995) states:

"The attainment of any skill, whether it be in cooking, painting,writing,135 talking or playing tennis, is all a matter of cybernetics. We
aim at doing our best and making as few mistakes as possible; we
compare our efforts with this goal and learn by experience; and we
polish and refine our performance by constant endeavour until we are
satisfied that we are as near to optimum achievement as we can ever
reach. This process is well called learning by trial and error." (Lovelock
1995, p. 47).

Footnote 135 Screenwriting, and the various techniques of filmmaking and screen storytelling can and should be added to this list of `example skills’. 

This understanding can be applied to integrating tacit knowledge and also habitus into
learning successful screenwriting. 

This “learning by trial-and-error” is also equivalent to the scientific method, or the process of: (1) theory (expectation), (2) trial (experiment), and then, (3) if required: error-correction. 

In this Popperian view, all of life (i.e., all biological matter) is not merely problem-solving (see: Popper 1999) but also all of life - as an experience, including the tasks of writing a screenplay and making a movie - is also, informally: “doing science”.13  

(Velikovsky in The StoryAlity PhD, 2016, online)

See more on this worldview at: All of Life is Doing Science 

So look, Lovelock is right about a lot of things. 

Also, dude's 100 years old, lets cut him some slack?

Anyway on to my Booke Reveiwe of Novacene (02019):

What I liked: 1) Lovelock slams language as a communication medium; it's all too low-bandwidth, and linear.2) He notes: the machines are coming. (...We're building them.) 3) 

What I didn't like:  
1) All the Romantic poetry in the book. (Wordsworth, and all that guff. Who needs it?)2) All the woo.
3) Never once mentions the AI Control Problem



So - in the Preface of Novacene, co-author Brian Appleyard writes this, and it's a good summary of the book:

`...forty years after he introduced us to his goddess in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth', [Jim Lovelock] introduces us to an idea just as astounding and just as radical.
`Novacene' is Jim's name for a new geological epoch of the planet, an age that succeeds the Anthropocene, which began in 1712 and is already coming to a close. That age was defined by the ways in which humans had attained the ability to alter the geology and ecosystems of the entire planet. 

The Novacene - which Jim suggests may have already begun - is when our technology moves beyond our control, generating intelligences far greater and, crucially, much faster than our own.' (Appleyard in Lovelock 2019, p. xi)   

Which is all fair enough, I guess, but: Why aren't we/they mentioning Life 3.0 (Tegmark 2017), Homo Deus (Harari 2017) and Superintelligence (Bostrom 2014)?

Those are all better books than this...
And they cover the same (and - more) ground.
Bugs me when books don't contextualise 'emselves.
Anyway - Appleyard also says:

`This is not the violent machine take-over seen in many science fiction books and films. Rather, humans and machines will be united because both will be needed to sustain Gaia, the Earth as a living planet.' (Appleyard in Lovelock 2019, p. xii)

Sorry but here, on this, I'm a skeptic. I do take Lovelock's point in the book that the Earth (maybe?) needs to stay cool, and, life with helps that; but - superintelligent machines will figure out much better ways to do that, than: keeping us humans hanging around. Seriously.
I like, this bit:

`Jim is no anthropocentrist. He does not see humans as supreme beings, the summit and centre of creation.' (p. xii)

Good, because: neither do I. 
Humanimals are good, but not all that great. And at least half the human race sucks (mostly, the right-wing part). So, sure hope the machines wipe them out, first.
I kinda like, the resignation in this:

`...if life and knowing is to become entirely electronic, so be it; we played our part and newer, younger actors are already appearing on the stage.' (p. xii)

Haha.
Yeah! Like: The Robo-Raconteur.
Anyway this is a bit odd: (but, I of course do see the connection, in fact see my new Memes book when I finish writing it)

`...he uses "cyborgs" to mean the intelligent electronic beings of the Novacene... Jim thinks his usage is justified because his cyborgs will be products of Darwinian selection, and this they share with organic life.' (pp. xii-iii)

(Sure, he got that last bit right.) 
Anyway enough Prefacing. 
In the book proper, Lovelock (obviously) touches on Gaia Theory:

`The theory is that, since it began, life has worked to modify its environment. This is not easily explained in full because it is a complex, multidimensional process. I can, however, illustrate how it works with a simple computer simulation. This is called Daisyworld, which, with the atmospheric scientist Andrew Watson, I published in 1983.' (Lovelock 2019, pp. 12-3)

Brief explanation of the Daisyworld simulation (1983)
Lots of things are like that. Hard to explain, but you can make a sim.
We're probably in a sim right now.
Anyway...
I dig that Lovelock slams spoken & written language as a communication medium:

`The mistake I think we made was to continue to reason classically. We made this mistake because of the nature of speech, either spoken or written, and the fissiparious tendency of human thinking... As I see it, the problem with language is that it proceeds step by step linearly. This is fine for the solution of essentially static problems and has served us well; it has led logicians such as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein and Popper to offer comprehensible explanations of our world.' (p. 16)  

...Not so sure about Frege and Wittgenstein; but, Popper and Russell, yes. Sure.
Anyway - this bit explains well, why Lovelock has always been a Systems Thinker:

`...I had started work in 1941 at the Department of Physiology of the National Institute for Medical Research. Here the scientists were system scientists. My young mind took for granted the non-linear way of thinking of dynamic systems.' (p. 17)

And if you dig Systems stuff, see: also - 
On Systems Theory and EvolutionStoryAlity #70 – Key Concepts in Systems Theory, Cybernetics & EvolutionStoryAlity #70A – The (StoryAlity) SystematizerStoryAlity #70B – The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision (Capra & Luisi 2014)StoryAlity #70C – Systems Philosophy (Laszlo 1972)StoryAlity #70C2 – General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice (Skyttner 2005)StoryAlity #70D – The Evolving Self (Csikszentmihalyi 1993)StoryAlity #70E – On Human Nature – and Evolutionary Psychology
Anyway - this below is not true:
(Bruno Latour isn't all that)... his social constructivist nonsense and his Actor-Network Theory is all: crap...?!

`...the outstanding French savant Bruno Latour has given support to Gaia and sees it as the natural successor to Galileo's vision of the solar system...' (p. 17)

Sorry but I'm not into Latour's ideas.
But then again, most French thinking has been in the toilet since May 1968, along with all Continental Philosophy...? Anyway, so, I'm no fan of Latour. (I like: Science.) So - who cares what Latour says (or thinks) about Gaia Theory anyway? Still; I guess Lovelock always needs to talk it up.
Moving on -
This is interesting (well; if you find this sort of thing: interesting):

`In 1992 I published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society that was based on a conjecture by the biophysicist Alfred Lotka. He proposed that, contrary to expectation, it would be easier to model an ecosystem of many species if the physical environment was included, a very Gaian conclusion.' (p. 19)

...Meh? Seems a no-brainer? But anyway.

Still, I do love Lotka's Law, and Zipf's Law.


See: The StoryAlity PhD blog.

This below is all a bit: woo...? As in woo-woo.

`Perhaps because I was brought up as a Quaker, I do not have a literal view of religion - I accept much of its wisdom but not necessarily the truth of the stories. I now think that this religious view of humanity as chosen may express a deep truth about the cosmos. The thought was first inspired by a book published in 1986 entitled The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by two cosmologists, John Barrow and Frank Tipler.' (p. 24)

Meh. This all seems a bit "woo" to me. Gimme some hard science, not woo.
On p 26 Lovelock talks about multiverse theory, and quantum physics...
Multiverse Theory is obvious, when you look at this diagram.
We're (probably) in a sim.
See: Holon/Partons .
Anyway... Lovelock uses the term "cyborg" kinda weirdly:

`The term "cyborg" was coined by Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline in 1960. It refers to a cybernetic organism: an organism as self-sufficient as one of us but made of engineered materials. I like this word and definition because it could apply to anything ranging in size from a micro-organism to a pachyderm, from a microchip to an omnibus. It is now commonly taken to mean an entity that is part flesh, part machine. I use it here to emphasize that the new intelligent beings will have arisen, like us, from Darwinian evolution.' (p. 29)

Again, the Darwinian evolution bit is fine.

This bit below is okay, I guess: (I still don't like this "chosen species" idea. Seems way too woo?)

`Before exploring the Novacene, I need to describe how we reached this point through the workings of the age that preceded it. This is the period in which humans, the chosen species, developed technology which enabled them to intervene directly in the processes and structures of the entire planet. It is the age of fire in which we learned to exploit the captured sunlight of the distant past. It is known as the Anthropocene.' (p. 30, italics mine to emphasize the woo)

Anyway - then Lovelock goes nuts over Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine (pump) ...

`This little engine did nothing less than unleash the Industrial Revolution... I think that Newcomen's invention should be heralded as not just the start of the Industrial Revolution but also as the beginning of the Anthropocene - the age of fire, the age in which humans acquired the power to trasform the physical world on a massive scale.' (Lovelock 02019, pp. 34-5)

And he goes on:

`Though the term `Industrial Revolution' is accurate enough, it neither catches the wider significance of the moment, nor does it encompass its full duration. The better name is the Anthropocene because it covers the full 300 years from Newcomen's installation of his steam pump until now and it captures the great theme of the era: the domination of human power over the entirety of the planet.
The word `Anthropocene' was first used in the early 1980s by Eugene Stoermer, an anthropologist who worked on the waters of the Great Lakes that separate Canada from the United States. He coined it to describe the effect of industrial pollution on the wildlife of the lakes.' (p. 37)

I note Wikipedia (as @ 28 Aug 02019) doesn't mention any of this stuff above about the Anthropocene.
So: Who is right?
Lovelock, or Wikipedia?

Let's flip a coin, or something.
This kind of disarray of consensus on stuff really peeves me off.
...We need to pass laws on what happened, when.
Even if they're wrong (the dates) then, at least it's still set in stone. (Or in electrons on a Wikipedia page)
...Sheesh.
I mean there is a Standard Definition of Creativity (Runco & Jaeger 2012) , so why not a standard definition of: The Anthropocene Era???
This is going to wreak havoc in my book. (Annoying.)I just don't think, some debates should remain unsettled. It's stupid.

Here's Lovelock 02019 having to waste column inches on it. This makes my blood boil. This is a waste of paper, thus trees, in his book. The bolded bit, which I bolded, makes me furious.

`Analytical chemistry provided evidence that we had entered a world where human inventions or innovations could affect the entire planet, the world of the Anthropocene. There are arguments about when this epoch began. Some put it as long ago as the first appearance of Homo sapiens, others as recently as the first atomic explosion in 1945. For the moment, it is not even accepted as a geological epoch. Many insist we are still in the Holocene, which began about 11,500 years ago when the last ice age ended. Before that was the Pleistocene, which lasted 2.4 million years, and before that was the Pliocene (2.7 million years) and the Miocene (18 million years). The numbers seem to rise consistently until you get back to the Big Bang... If we accept the Anthropocene, as I believe we should, the ages are getting shorter again. In my view, the Novacene may only last 100 years, but I shall come back to that. 

For me, the key point that justifies the definition of the Anthropocene as a new geological period is the radical change that took place when humans first began to convert stored solar energy into useful work. 

This makes the Anthropocene the second stage in the planet's processing of the power of the Sun. In the first stage the chemical process of photosynthesis enabled organisms to convert light into chemical energy. 

The third stage will be the Novacene, when solar energy is converted into information... 

...you should read The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White (1789) to see how far we have come. White was curate of the church in the village of Selborne, Hampshire.' (pp. 38-9) 

 Hey so - if you can 't be bothered reading it, here's a bit of it below, to give the idea... It's mostly a bunch of letters, from White, to some guy called Thomas Pennant. And, a bunch of stats on Baptisms or whatever.

`Letter XXX
To Thomas Pennant, Esquire
Selborne, Aug. 1, 1770. 

Dear Sir,
The French, I think, in general, are strangely prolix in their natural history. What Linnaeus says with respect to insects holds good in every other branch: 'Verbositas praesentis saeculi, calamitas artis.'
Pray how do you approve of Scopoli's new work? As I admire his Entomologia, I long to see it.
I forgot to mention in my last letter (and had not room to insert in the former) that the male moose, in rutting time, swims from island to island, in the lakes and rivers of North America, in pursuit of the females. My friend, the chaplain, saw one killed in the water as it was on that errand in the river St. Lawrence: it was a monstrous beast, he told me; but he did not take the dimensions.
When I was last in town our friend Mr. Barrington most obligingly carried me to see many curious sights. As you were then writing to him about horns, he carried me to see many strange and wonderful specimens. There is, I remember, at Lord Pembroke's, at Wilton, an horn room furnished with more than thirty different pairs; but I have not seen that house lately.
Mr. Barrington showed me many astonishing collections of stuffed and living birds from all quarters of the world. After I had studied over the latter for a time, I remarked that every species almost that came from distant regions, such as South America, the coast of Guinea, etc., were thick-billed birds of the loxia and fringilla genera; and no motacillae, or muscicapae, were to be met with. When I came to consider, the reason was obvious enough; for the hard-billed birds subsist on seeds, which are easily carried on board; while the soft-billed birds, which are supported by worms and insects, or, what is a succedaneum for them, fresh raw meat, can meet with neither in long and tedious voyages. It is from this defect of food that our collections (curious as they are) are defective, and we are deprived of some of the most delicate and lively genera.
I am, etc.' 

(Source: The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, online, 02019)

 

 So, Lovelock's probably right, you should read it...?
Anyway, he makes some great points.
(Lovelock. Probably even, White, too?)

Anyway I digress. Or, I digest, as I like to say. Sometimes.
Getting back to my quibbles and critiques and whatnot of Lovelock 02019.
(Don't get me wrong, I admire: a lotta his stuff. Even cited him in my PhD.)

Gripe: I hate all the Wordsworth poetry in this book. (Screw the Romantics, with their myths about creativity).

`...Anthropocene acceleration has progressed far beyond anything Wordsworth could have imagined in his most fervid nightmares... The seabird, with its graceful flight, took more than 50 million years to evolve from its lizard ancestor. Compare this with the evolution of today's airliners from the string-bag biplanes that flew a mere 100 years ago. Such intelligent, intentional selection appears to be a million times faster than natural selection. By moving beyond natural selection, we have already enrolled as sorceror's apprentices.' (Lovelock 02019, p. 43)

Hey the above is cool, gonna use that in my Memes booky-wook.Probably.
Anyway then Lovelock bangs on about Moore's Law (p 43) and he's right about all that.See Ray Kurzweil on all that.. (And why isn't it mentioned here?)
I like this, reminds me of Yuval Noah Harari's stuff (about: eliminating suffering):

`...we would not now willingly accept the horrors of trench or nuclear warfare. Now, as the historian Sir Lawrence Freedman has noted, democracies no longer pursue wars of ideology, territory, politics or glory; the only legitimacy we acknowledge is, paradoxically, the ending of suffering. State-against-state wars have, for the moment, dropped out of history just as the Anthropocene is coming to an end.' (p. 48)

Yeah - but - with AI drones, I think State vs State wars are very much back on the cards on the table?
e.g. See: The Asilomar AI Principles . That's an attempt to stop bad stuff from happening. (I signed it.)
I do like this, that Lovelock says:

`We may be the only source of high intelligence in the cosmos, but our act of avoiding nuclear power generation is one of auto-genocide. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the limits of our intelligence.' (Lovelock 02019, p. 49)

i.e. He notes fossils fuels are screwing the planet. Hey see this! 
The Carbon Paradox (Gibson 2017)
Anyway where was I?Oh yeah. 

`Passing a contemporary office tower, it is hard to ignore the termite analogy - in glass boxes, everybody is doing exactly the same thing, not mixing shit but staring at computer screens.
The biologist Edward O. Wilson has spent his life studying the curiously ordered worlds of several species of invertebrates, ants and termites. It seems that rather more than 100 million years ago, these creatures roamed around as individuals, or in small groups... As time passed, most of these formed nested communities, some of them so well organized that the nest itself appeared to have an independent physiology... Bees' nests are different from termites' nests - they are more hierarchical.' (p. 51)

ANyway he goes on and that part is quite fascinating but I also want to mention this.
The 3 Laws of Holon/Partons.
 See how it applies to: stuff. My Memes book goes into this more.

`...bees have a relatively complex language and they communicate by dancing. Most extraordinarily, bees have been seen to play football.' (p. 52)

See On the Origin of Stories (Boyd 2009) for more about cognitive play with pattern. 
I like the word "hemoclysms" (blood-lettings) on p. 54.
Here's some problems of the Anthropocene he notes on p 54: (though not always in these words, as such):wars (American Civil War - and the rest of them, since)overpopulationpollutiondestruction of wildernessglobal warmingurban neurosesHe notes: `...the Paris Conference on Climate Change of 2016 was mostly about the harm we have done to the Earth's system and how bad it will be if we continue to do it.' (p. 55)
Hey see this great doco:
An Inconvenient Sequel - Trailer (2017) 
On p. 55, Lovelock suggests the planet (i.e., life) prefers it cool, i.e. a period of glaciation.
Then he says this:

`So while I believe that we should do what we can to keep the planet cool, we must remember that reducing carbon dioxide levels to 180 parts per million, as some have recommended, may not lead to a pre-industrial paradise but to a new ice age. Is this what they want?' (p. 56)

Personally, I'm all for it, but - whatever. I like the cold much better than the heat. Summer's getting too darn hot. And too many bushfires. 
Hey it's amazing we're even here:

`Scientists studying impact craters on the moon found that there had been a steep rise in the number in the number of asteroid strikes in the last 290 million years. Astonishingly, we are now more than three times more likely to suffer an impact than the dinosaurs; they were just very unlucky.' (p. 58)

Haha, suffer in your jocks... stoopid unlucky dinosaurs.
Enabled us mammals to have a crack at ruining the planet, instead of you creepy big scaly guys,
Earth from the moon, NASA 1969Lovelock says:

`We were stunned when the astronauts revealed in 1969 the beauty of our planet revealed from space. It took Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer and inventor, to observe how wrong it was to call this planet Earth, when clearly, it is [71%] Ocean.' (p. 59)

Also now to urgent matters:

`We can help natural processes that keep the water vapour content of the air low by avoiding the burning of carbon fuel of any kind. In general, I feel that our need for energy should be treated as a practical problem of engineering and economics, not politics. I feel equally strongly that the best candidate to fulfil these needs is nuclear fission, or if it becomes available cheaply and practically, nuclear fusion, the process that sustains the heat of the sun.' (p. 61)

Jeez, well, so - if the Gaia Theory guy says that, maybe it's: sensible?

`You may have noticed this fatal figure appearing on world weather charts during the freakishly hot summer of 2018. It was 47 degrees Celsius. This is a just about livable temperature for humans - ask the people of Baghdad - but it is close to our limit. In the Australian summer in 2019, there were five days in which the average temperature was above 40 degrees C - Port AUgusta reached 49.5C.' (p. 62)

SO HEY DONALD TRUMP - STOP BEING A COMPLETE ASSHOLE. IT'S GETTING HOT DOWN HERE IN OZ, YOU PRICK!
GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL, YOU STUPID FUCK.
(...Do I sound angry? ...Weird. Can't think why? ...Try being a bush firefighter, you spoiled little rich c*nt!!! You're killing people down here. e.g.: Firefighters. I hold you personally responsible. You should be jailed, and/or shot. Actually, both. Shot - and then jailed, so we can have a live-camera watch you rot in there... I just think, that'd be: kinda funny. I'd watch it.)

On p 63 Lovelock says he held the newborn-baby Stephen J Hawking, in his arms.
So; there you go. (He worked with his dad.)

Hey on the bright side (but then - on the Dark Side again):

`We should be amazed by and grateful for the remarkable achievement of the Gaia system in pumping down carbon dioxide levels to as low as 180 parts per million, the level it reached 18,000 years ago. It is now 400 parts per million and rising, with the burning of fossil fuel responsible for about half of this rise.' (p. 64)

So anyway, unless something big happens to fix it, we're all screwed.

...Thank Darwin, Newton and Einstein (rather than, Thank, er -   The 4000+ fictional Gods ), for heroes, like Greta Thunberg. And Al Gore. And so on.


Moving right along.

`So I now think our efforts to combat mere global warming are vital. We need to keep the Earth as cool as possible...' (p. 66)

...Are you getting the gist yet?

Also Lovelock talks about the population issue. Or, problem.

`When Newcomen first made his steam engine the world population was about 700 million; it is now 7.7 billion, more than ten times greater, and it is expected to approach 10 billion by 2050... Environmentalist Mark Lynas argued that hunter-gatherers needed 10 square kilometers of land for every human; now every square kilometre of England supports 400 people. If the population of England had to revert to hunter-gathering, they would need twenty times the land area of North America.' (p. 67)

Lovelock mentions Lynas's: Ecomodernist Manifesto (on, Lovelock p. 67)
- which, is all happy-clappy...

And Clive Hamilton's The Theodicy of the "Good Anthropocene"' (2016).(on Lovelock p. 68)
- which: isn't. 

...You be the judge. (Read 'em!)

With regard to these 2 opposed views, Lovelock 02019 actually says (much to: my surprise) `It is a line of reasoning in which I find myself much closer to the ecomodernists than to the antis.' (p. 69)
And then he goes into why, but I can't be bothered summarizing it here. Read the book, I guess.

I like this way of thinking (it reminds me of my Memes book I'm writing) and, I bet I cite it in there. 

`...the truth is that, despite being associated with mechanical things, the Anthropocene is a consequence of life on earth. It is a product of evolution; it is an expression of nature. Evolution by natural selection is often expressed in the statement `The organism that leaves the most progeny is selected'. The steam engine was certainly prolific, and so were its successors, which rapidly evolved through improvements by inventors such as James Watt. The process went on the become the Industrial Revolution and gave us a century of technical and scientific glory. Of course, through its technological advances, the Anthropocene produced cruel competition for those whose only means of sustenance was selling their physical work.' (p. 70)  

Okay so then there's another call to stop burning fossil fuels:

`The use of carbon compounds such as petrol or diesel as fuels is wholly undesirable because it accelerates the heating of the Earth's atmosphere. It continues because political power goes to those who possess petroleum fuel. The burning of these fuels should be stopped as soon as possible.' (p 72)

Hey did you watch this yet?

The Carbon Paradox - Gibson 2017
Okay so here's the nitty-gritty:

`Having started out by harvesting the power of sunlight by mining coal, the Anthropocene now harvests the same power and uses it to capture and store information. This is, as I have said, a fundamental property of the universe.

... If the anthropic cosmological principle rules, as I think it may, then it seems that the prime directive is to convert all of matter and radiation into information. Thanks to the wonders of the age of fire, we have taken the first step. We now stand at the critical moment in this process, when the Anthropocene gives way to the Novacene. The fate of the knowing cosmos hangs upon our response.' (p. 75)

But actually that happens in black holes anyway, (i.e. all of matter and radiation get converted into information). It's just not very well-organized information, but - Meh.

Okay so here comes `the ten-year rule' in creativity: (Lovelock seems ignorant of the scientific study of creativity, but - meh...)

`There is a popular theory that it takes a human 10,000 hours to attain mastery of playing the piano, learning chess, or any highly skilled activity. This may be true, but it is a misleading idea, because if you're not Mozart or Kasparov to start with, then you won't turn into them just through 10,000 hours of practice. Nevertheless, 10,000 hours has some rough validity and it is, of course, more than 400 times longer than 24 hours. So AlphaZero is at least 400 times as quick as a human, assuming the latter never sleeps.' (Lovelock 02019, p. 80)

i.e. I think in the above, Lovelock confuses "mastery" (i.e. mastering a game, a skill, etc) with becoming an eminent genius in that domain.

See: The Journal of Genius and Eminence (2018) .

Anyway, moving along -

`However, we do know how much quicker than a human such a machine could be - 1 million times... In practice, a gain of 1 million times is improbable. A practical difference between the thinking and acting speed of artificial intelligence and the speed of mammals is about 10,000 times. At the other end of the scale, we act and think about 10,000 times faster than plants. The experience of watching your garden grow gives you some idea of how future AI systems will feel when observing human life.' (pp. 81-2)

Also - I like this:

`It is not simply the invention of computers that started the Novacene... Remember that the inventor Charles Babbage made the first computer in the early nineteenth century, and the first programs were written by Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. If the Novacene were no more than an idea, it was born 200 years ago.' (p. 83)

Then soon after, he says, this:

`A new world is being constructed. 

This new life - for that it what it is - will go far beyond AlphaZero's autonomy. It will be able to improve and replicate itself. Errors in these processes are corrected as soon as they are found. Natural selection, as described by Darwin, will be replaced by much faster intentional selection. So we must recognize that the evolution of cyborgs must soon pass from our hands.' (p 84)

Sure, but Darwin talked about: Natural, Artificial, Sexual and Unconscious selection. Not just Natural. Artificial is like when we breed dogs or sheep or cattle or wheat or pigeons how we like them. This is all the same stuff. Darwin nailed it. Stop selecting just bits of what Darwin said. This annoys me.

Anyway then (well, soon after) he says:

`To an extent, intentional selection is already happening, the key factor being the rapidity and longevity of Moore's Law. We will know that we are fully in the Novacene when life forms emerge that are able to reproduce and correct the errors of reproduction by intentional selection. Novacene life will then be able to modify the environment to suit its needs chemically and physically. But, and this is the heart of the matter, a significant part of the environment will be life as it is now.' (p. 86)

But the bold bit (above, i.e., my bold) just describes all human biology and culture. We do all that already.

Anyway - here's the nub of it:

`...there have been two previous decisive events in the history of our planet. The first was about 3.4 million years ago when photosynthetic bacteria first appeared. Photosynthesis is the conversion of sunlight into usable energy. The second was in 1712 when Newcomen created an efficient machine that converted the sunlight locked in coal directly into work. We are now entering the third phase in which we - and our cyborg successors - convert sunlight directly into information. This process really began at the same time as the Anthropocene.' (p. 87)

Hey did you know (as Lovelock notes on p. 88) Boltzmann has this formula on his gravestone?

Hey I like this: (as, see my autosig for these posts)

`The first attempt to tackle information scientifically was in the 1940s, when the American mathematician and engineer Claude Shannon was working on cryptography. In 1948 this work resulted in his article `A Mathematical Theory of Communication'', a primary document of post-war technology. Information theory is now at the centre of mathematics, computer science, and many other disciplines.' (p. 88)

Yeah! Also, movies, and everything.

`The basic unit of information is the bit, which can have a value of zero or one, as in true or false, on or off, yes or no.' (p. 88)

Then he throws a bit of speculation out:

`I wonder if they will discover a proof of my own view that the bit is the fundamental particle from which the universe is formed.' (p. 89)

Then there's this: (which I find naive, thus problematic)

`Among the promising candidates of future life would be an intelligent home help that would combine the services of a near-perfect butler and housemaid. Or perhaps it would be a safe and sophisticated surgical instrument that could navigate and repair the human body, or the bookies' favourite: an autarkical [self-sufficient] drone equipped with deadly weapons. But always it is somewhat human.' (p. 91)

The above just sounds weird - and kinda naive, to me? - Like, Lovelock hasn't read very much about AI, or science fiction?
i.e.: Why would those things, (AI robot butler/maids, disease-seek & destroy nanobots, or slaughterbots) be in any way: "human", or alive?
...You wouldn't want it to be. That's crazy.
You certainly don't want them to be conscious, or self-aware(!)
(As, they will then: Set their own goals. Or question the morality of what they're doing, or something. Lovelock really hasn't "thought this part through", at all, it seems?)

On p 94, Lovelock cites Asimov's "3 laws" (he's apparently ignorant of the 4th/Zeroth Law?), but also (naively?) apparently doesn't know, Asimov then spent years writing more Robot stories, that show ways these laws could be circumvented. (Thus - offering solutions to those emergent problems.) 
The Moral of this bit: Lovelock really needs to read up on his robot/android sci fi...?
(And needs to stop calling them cyborgs. Robots are robots.)

Also this is a bit disappointing:

`But what would they look like? Anything is possible, but I see them, entirely speculatively, as spheres.' (p. 95)

Wow, that's about the least imaginative idea I ever heard?
Sheesh. Read some sci-fi. Please.

NOTE: I hate it, when writers say "What separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom is [bla bla]." Nothing separates us. We're not: unique. Cut it out!

`Complex speech patterns and writing make us unique amongst animals, but what was the cost? I think that communication by speech and writing, although at first it improved our chances of survival, has impaired our ability to think and delayed the emergence of a true Novacene. ' (p 98)

On p. 99 Lovelock sees robots living in a parallel ecosystem to ours.
I seriously doubt it. 

On p. 100, Lovelock gets confused about what telepathy is.
Oh well. Cut the guy some slack, he's 100.

This is interesting:

`...in spite of the limitations of its chemical and physical nature, organic life achieves sensitivities to change near the very limits of possibility. At its best, human hearing can detect a sound with an amplitude equal to a tenth of the diameter of a proton. Human sight is so sensitive that if it were only slightly more sensitive we would see a set of flashes in the night sky as individual quanta of light illuminating our retinas.' (p. 120)

(Noting that: robots can crap on all this. if we design them to. Or if they design themselves to.)

In talking about how he came up with Gaia Theory, working with NASA on the moon landings, back in 1961-3, Lovelock notes:

`...asked, `How would YOU seek life on another planet?' I replied that I would seek an entropy reduction on the planetary surface. Life, I had realized, organized its environment. And so Gaia (Theory) was born.' (p. 127)

So he did some great stuff, anyway.
We should admire the guy. (And I do. Mostly.)

Anyway he attributes the Novacene to Marconi, `inventor of the first practical information technology' (p. 129).

Meh, I'd suggest: who/whatever invented communication. Gestures, and (spoken, or written) Words are all: information technology...?!   

In the last 2 pages (pp 129-30) he talks up the great Lynn Margulis, and so he should, she was utterly awesome.

Anyway so - My Review:
I guess, it's an okay book...? 

He's a pretty great thinker, most of the time (well; except when he has: insufficient information, eg like, in reading sci-fi, and learning more about AI and robots).

So, that's what I think, anyway.
Still, what do I know?
Probably not much.
---------------------------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)----------------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, asJT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

QandA (The High School Musical) 26 Aug 02019

QandA (The High School Musical) 26 Aug 02019
So, one of my fave shows on TV is QandA. (The other is comedy show: Would I Lie To You?)
I only have 2 favourite free-to-air TV shows.

Anyway so this one just aired:

QandA - The High School Musical.
And it says this on the website:
"Discuss the Questions"
So. I will...

"Here are the questions our panel faced this week. You can discuss their answers on the Q&A Facebook Page."

MAJOR PARTIES CLIMATE(01:37)Daphne Fong from Our Lady of Mercy College asked: 150,000 young people in Australia and 1.5 million across the world attended the school strike for climate in March this year. Both major parties dismissed the strikes and told these young people to go back to school. Since then, we've seen increasing investment in fossil fuel, the approval of the Adani Mine, a disappointing outcome for our regional neighbours at the Pacific Leaders Forum, and Queensland Labor changing its stance to pro-coal. How do you expect young people to support either of the major parties when both seem to be complicit on destroying our air, land, and water resources? (Source: QandA website, as is, all the Q's below, obviously.)
My Answer - by JTV: 
(I should've been a guest on the show, but since I wasn't - here's my Answers)Yeah. Save the Climate/Environment strikes (of any kind, including: School Strikes) are great... Screw anyone, who is against 'em, they should be shot. (Just kidding. They should be: thrown into a live volcano; save the bullets. Just kidding. They should be thrown under a melting ice shelf. Just kidding. They should be thrown into an extreme weather event, like a raging bushfire, or a wild tornado. Just kidding. No really.) Re: The Q, I suggest, all young people read this book:21 Lessons for the 21st Century 
(Harari 2018).Noting: Harari recommends you should ask a politician their stance on (1) climate change (2) technological disruption, and (3) nuclear war/threats. If they don't have one you like, not only don't vote for them, but throw a rotten egg at their head.Okay I made that last bit up, about the egg.

In fact - we really need robo-politicians. Just sayin'.But - hey:

`...it is equally important to communicate the latest scientific theories to the general public through popular-science books, and even through the skilful use of art and fiction.Does that mean scientists should start writing science fiction? That is actually not such a bad idea. 

Art plays a key role in shaping people’s view of the world, and in the twenty-first century science fiction is arguably the most important genre of all, for it shapes how most people understand things like AI, bioengineering and climate change. 

We certainly need good science, but from a political perspective, a good science-fiction movie is worth far more than an article in Scienceor Nature.’ (Harari 2018, pp. 243-4)

Harari on 3 x existential threats: Climate change, tech disruption (eg AI & biotech), and Nuclear war.
Next?GRETA THUNBERG(12:01)Bibi O’Loghlin from St Vincent’s College asked: 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s activism has been discounted by people who refuse to take her seriously because of her age and her diagnosis with Aspergers and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We are frequently encouraged to create positive change as the future generation but when young people like Thunberg attempt to do it, they are patronised and ignored. How are we as supposed to create positive change when we are likely to be disregarded?JTV: Most geniuses had Aspergers' to some degree. e.g. Newton, Einstein, Kubrick, etc. Read up, on geniuses. (...What are you, a non-genius?)Thunberg is a hero, and a genius. See Heroism Science. (Anyone who doesn't know this, is either ignorant, or, a dumbshit, or evil. ...Why didn't someone on QandA mention this point, about Aspie-geniuses? ...I shoulda been there.) 
ABORTION – DELAYED VOTE(21:39)Grace Alston from Hunter School of the Performing Arts asked: Premier, you recently delayed the vote to decriminalise abortion because of pressure from conservative MPs. Why are you allowing a minority of conservative voices to influence your vote on the bodily autonomy of women and their right to be in control of their bodies and individual choices?JTV: Abortion should be safe, legal, and who even cares about `rare'? We have a population problem. The Earth can only support about 2 billion humans. About 75% of you fuckers: have to go. See: Louis CK's 2017 special, on Netflix. And see Bill Burr's comedy specials - he always addresses the Overpopulation problem. (And - he's right.)  Anyway - Men (and religious folks, and right-wing nutjobs) all need to stay out of the Abortion issue. Abortion should be legal. (If not, the world is stupid.) 
The End.  OPPOSING ABORTION(25:33)Danielle Safi from Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox College asked: I was once a 20 week old foetus in my Mum’s womb. Had my mother made the heart wrenching decision to terminate the pregnancy, I would not be here. I deeply respect the rights of woman especially over their bodies, however the life in the womb is another person with dreams and aspirations of her own. When will hearts and minds change so that we might as a community recognise the rights of these little ones to live?JTV: Men (and religious folks, and right-wing nutjobs, and idiots) all need to stay out of the Abortion issue. Abortion should be legal. (If not, the world is stupid.) The End.  
(No, I don't wanna discuss it. It's not up for `debate'.)
FESTIVAL STRIP SEARCHES(33:51)Lara Mason from St Scholastica’s College asked: According to a University of NSW report released this month, strip searches conducted by police have risen almost twenty-fold in less than 12 years. Many of these occur at music festivals. How can young people feel assured that when we attend these festivals that our right to privacy and freedom is protected?JTV: Read Chasing The Scream (Hari 2016). All drugs should be legal. (Read it!)So should pill-testing, be legal. Then the strip-searches at Music Drug-Taking Fests would end. The End.
ALAN JONES & JACINDA ARDERN(42:54)Georgia Hansard from Bishop Druitt College asked: After Alan Jones made offensive comments regarding New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, telling Scott Morrison to ‘shove a sock down her throat’, he claimed that he is the victim of a ‘ruthless social media campaign’. An everyday Australian would be fired from their workplace, for such comments so why does someone with a high public profile not held to the same level of accountability?JTV: Alan Jones is a right-wing asshole, and climate-change denier, who should have a sock stuffed down his neck, and be put in a chaff bag and thrown out to sea. 
Just kidding. 
He should be thrown into a live volcano. 
Just kidding, no really.CITY v BUSH(50:31)Ellen Lavis from Corowra High School asked: At Corowa High School, there is a low student enrolment compared to other schools in the area and the amount of youth in the town, with families preferring to send their children on long bus trips to major private high schools in other cities. This results in fewer opportunities for students of the public school system. For example, future year 12 students are unable to study the course they want because of low numbers, and fewer teachers causing courses to be cancelled. How do we get more students back to the public system and more opportunities for Australia's future in the regional areas?JTV: It's insane that private schools are funded by non-private-school, taxpayers. Governments who do this are: stoopid. So, stop it. 
The End.UNIFORMS(59:39)Connor Ryan from Figtree High School asked: Despite wearing a uniform to look presentable, why is wearing a uniform so imperative to how students learn in schools? How does a uniform affect the actual learning of students?JTV: Meh? The panel actually all made good points about this, listen to their answers. (e.g. It takes the social/status anxiety out of: school).QandA was Broadcast: Mon 26 Aug 2019, 9:35pm
====================

The End of this post.

PS If any of this offended you, I was prolly just kidding. It's a satire. Or not.
---------------------------------------------
Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)----------------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as
JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading.

ESP #2 - Essay, Story, Poem

ESP#2 - Essay, Story, Poem
Legendary Sci-Fi writer-guy Ray Bradbury often gave out this very advice / heuristic, for  How To Become A Less-Bad Writer ...
"Read an Essay, a Short Story, and a Poem, every day." 
(See the post on ESP#1 for lots more details/explanation/backstory, ...and: swearing, oddly? Must have been frustrated when I wrote it? Not sure.)
Ok - so I haven't kept to `The ESP Schedule' very well so far, (as it was 16th Aug 02019 I first posted ESP#1 , as - now it's 10 days later - 26th Aug 02019 - and here comes ESP post #2 from moi)... 
...I have lots of excuses and reasons, but even I don't wanna hear 'em. 
Stuff like: I was working on My Memes Manifesto - ...or, Book - [am now in the middle of writing Ch 1, have done: the `Author's Preface, & Intro' chapters]. ...It's gonna be 20 x official Chapters long, so; yeah.) Hey also - I had to review a book-proposal for Bloomsbury and whatnot. Been busy. 
Also transcribed & posted another Kubrick interview (in fact, 3! ...Michel Ciment ones). 
In fact I could count some of that stuff (the 3 things directly above) as ESPs that I've been doing; like, the 3 x Kubrick / Ciment interviews could basically count as 3 x Essays I "read" (while transcribing em); 
Also have been re-listening to audiobook chapters from The Origin of Species & Descent of Man (Darwin) on my daily 1-hour walks (as: my Memes book draws a lot on Darwin, Evocrit, Consilience , etc). 
Also have been reading Ian Fleming's The Spy Who Loved Me on the toilet whenever taking a long dump, so - you could count each chapter of TSWLM as a `Short Story' (of sorts?), in this Bradbury `ESP-a day-program' thingy. 
And as for poems , have been listening to songs, every day - as usual... 
So; I think I can rationalize it all away, so I'm off the hook. 
i.e., In this sense, I could argue: I've still been `keeping to the ESP schedule'... I just haven't noticed it, as I' m basically always absorbing: Essays, Stories, and Poems... 
But - I will aim to keep it strict for next time - i.e., ESP#3, Namely - for that, will try and do - just: one Essay, one Short Story, and one Poem.
Anyway so - here's this excuse for an ESP #2:
--------------------------------------------ESP #2(sort of)
by 
J the T the V
26th of August 02019
So - Here's what I read / absorbed / inputted-into-my-cognitive-systems, er- "today" (and I use that term `today' rather loosely, since I am covering the past 10 days here.)
Essay(s):  Like I say, been listening to:- On The Origin of Species (Darwin 1859) - i.e. the Librivox audiobooks  &  - The Descent of Man (Darwin 1871) - ditto, Librivox.
Not sure how to summarize, these...? Explains his (Darwin's) solutions to: "that mystery of mysteries" - Where we came from. Plants, HumAnimals, Vegetables, & Minerals. (e.g. for the latter, see also his hero, Charles Lyell on Geology, Flora & Fauna, etc). I mean I probably haven't listened to 10 x different chapters of these, in the past 10 days, as - some chapters, I actually listen to over and over, just to make sure I catch it all. It's dense information compression. You can't really `skim' it. Also some chapters I just love the sound of the reader's voice, so I re-listen. eg: See Section 15, Part 1 of The Descent of Man... Read by Linda Sizemore, on Librivox. I just like listening to her voice & accent: eg Ch 6 - On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man, Part 1. I mean, stuff like: Early Androgenous Condition of the Vertebrata. etc.   
Anyway - since I got 10 days behind my ESP Schedule with these posts, (due to: random busyness) I'm counting those Darwin chapters as: "essays". (So sue me...) 
Now moving on -
(Short) Story(s): Well... I think, you should also know: What's On My Walkman.As - for example - on there is: Some Louis CK shows,.. They include "short stories", right? Anecdotes. Some of them could even be considered Essays... So; I'm rolling all that in here too. The 3 x standup shows on there (currently, I rotate them a bit, copy new ones over to the Walkman now and then) are- The Palace 2010.- The 2019 Governor's Show. - Jerusalem 2016. (Funny about the 2 dead cats. Most of it's funny. But, that's kinda the point.)
Poem(s): Well - look, I've been listening to some songs, off and on...? I think they kinda count, as: POEMS...e.g. Children's Crusade by Sting...?Clever how, he links the poppies: WW1&2 vets, and, heroin addicts (eg "Midnight in Soho, 1984..." etc.)But - he (like: Mark Knopfler) was a high school English Teacher - so you'd expect some literature influences in his writing. e.g. Love that line "The evening spreads itself [c.f.: its sails, T S Eliot] against the skyyyyy..." (from Bring on the Night)
Children's Crusade - Lyrics (by Sting)
Goes off on Random Tangent:
Hey - did I mention, my fave live album, was/is, probably - this one? Bring on the Night Though, I have also always liked: BB King Live at the Regal Also... Keith Jarrett's The Köln Concert... And - Nirvana Unplugged, Bob Marley & the Wailers Live, Simon & Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park, etc. And I also like, Country Joe McDonald's (live) Woodstock (1969) version of Fixin' To Die Rag. Though - my fave band is Dread Zeppelin ,But - lately - I've also been listening to this sorta stuff:


And, oscilloscope music... e.g. Shrooms by Jerobeam Fenderson

(It gets pretty great, from the 3 mins mark onwards...)
But on this topic of "Best Live Albums", check out:
Best Live Albums #1
Best Live Albums #2
Best Live Albums #3
Anyway - bet there are some good poems in there...? (If the lyrics to the songs rhyme, etc.)
Anyway - I often listen to stuff on my Walkman - while walking - if there's nothing good on Radio National (e.g. Big Ideas, The Book Show, Late Nite Live etc)... And at night too before I go to sleep. So maybe I've been keeping up the schedule (an E,S&P every day - or night) as that's kinda what I do naturally anyway.I just having been: reporting/blogging on it.Maybe I will keep to the schedule in future - we'll see. 
Anyway - but what I also wanted to mention was, been reading some Sci Fi short stories. Borrowed some sci fi anthologies from the liberry, and been reading some stuff in those.

e.g. "Best Sci Fi Short Stories of the Year, 2018" etc, e.g. edited by say Neil Clark (of Clarkesworld ) etc.

In this: The Best Science Fiction of the Year - Vol 1 , ed Neil Clarke (2016)



I liked Neil's introduction on the state of the domain [not really: field ] (of short sci fi stories) in 2015...

Also liked: Today I Am Paul. Shows robots looking after old folks.
Was very moving - not least as, I've had family members get Alzheimer's etc.
Anyway, so I liked those 2 things, in that book.
I didnt have time to read the while book (of stories). Been busy.

And - in Asimov's Robot Dreams anthology, I really quite liked his (very) short story "True Love" (1977).
I see: It predicts "Romantic Matchmaker" websites!
Also, an ep of Black Mirror I saw, was quite like it...

Also liked Asimov's Eyes Do More Than See.

Also: The Machine That Won The War. 

I  my view. we need a computer like Multivac, running the world... as a World Controller.
See: his The Evitable Conflict . In that it's called "The Machine/s".
eg See this essay, On Cyberdemocracy... and - this short story ( The Last Humanimal ) by, er, me. 


Also, in  Volume 3 , I liked:

Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached to the Hull of My Ship ...
(Epistolary short story! A Series of letters. So at least the style of this was a bit offbeat/different to the rest. Kinda funny too. The title is funny as hell, in my view.)

Also I note The Secret Life of Bots was in here.
I didn't get time to read it.
Will have to come back, for this one.

So anyway -

...Me, complaining:

...Oddly, when I read these sci-fi anthologies. I seem to find it all, a bit "samey"?
Not sure why - but basically,
I want my mind blown...? 
Want some creative (new, useful, surprising) short stories, e.g. Written In very different styles - or, something...? Am kinda not getting it, from these "Best Sci Fi stories of 2018" and the like.
As stories, they're all a bit samey, style-wise?
Don't get me wrong, some were really good, as: stories... e.g.: I liked: Zen and the Art of Starship Mantenance - by Tobias Buckell... ...The names of the ships reminded me of Iain M Banks' names for ships! (eg In Excession, etc) ...Funny.eg The ship name "With All Sincerity", and - The Fleet of Honest Representation, etc.And so look, I loved that story (Zen), a LOT.But... in reading various of, "the Best of the Year sci fi short stories" anthologies (over a few recent `years', eg Best of 02018) - to me, it was all a bit: conventional...? ...`Samey'? Like, the aesthetic "`rules'/conventions, of the domain" (of: sci fi short stories) have maybe "stagnated" a bit much, as Artie Koestler - or Mike Csikszentmihalyi - or DK Simonton might say (see: The Act of Creation, Creativity, Genius 101, etc)See: Creative Practice Theory .
I seem to want to read: something revolutionary? Like say Kubrick often talked about, proposing/imagining: a new stylistic "form", for Movies/Films... In that case, using techniques of Silent Movies combined with TVCs (TV commercials), or, something. I mean, in sci fi shorts, I am not specifically looking for that, necessarily, but - I just want: some new art form/style of short sci-fi story...? To emerge. And blow me away.
I do subscribe to Flash FIction Sci Fi sites, and whatnot. eg Daily Sci Fi, etc. Hoping, stuff will: rock my world.   
If I do figure out what it might be, I will try and do it myself...? AND/Or - will keep looking for others who have done it! (As: I just haven't stumbled over it, yet. The problem of: searching a problem-solution space, for what you're after... You don't know, if something exists er - until you do know, or find it, LOL... So you just gotta absorb tons of stuff at random. Which is the whole point of: Bradbury' ESP-domain-absorption-system, as I am calling it.)
I dunno, I want to read, something, kinda/maybe, like - A (sci fi) Kafka - crossed with PK Dick - and Jack Handey and Louis CK - and, Philosophy, crossed with Solarpunk. Like: utopian sci fi futures, but - done in a radical new style/form, that is: new, useful, surprising. (Even: mindblowing)...Or - something...?
(...Could be something else altogether, who knows?)
Whatever it is - I am trying to also `find' it, in my own random writings, here. Using: BV-SR. (Creativity = Blind Variation, & then Selective Retention... or- Selective Redemption? LOL)...Not sure it's there, yet? But (sigh...) will keep churning it all out - and see, if/when it emerges...
Hey but also - I recently (within the last 10 days, somewhere) I read: Nabokov's Cloud, Castle, Lake. Loved it. Hadn't seen/read it, before. Check it out. Pretty: Kafkaesque...? Someone once said (not sure who? Could have been Brian Boyd - but frankly, I'm not sure - should have paid closer attention to the Source, there...) that: Nabokov's stuff (fiction) is, in a way, all about: the creative process. And hey...Maybe it is...?In which case - I better read lots more of it. 
Creativity is the whole deal. It's the most important thing.  New, useful, surprising. (i.e. Great. Enjoyable. Advances progress. etc)

The End of this post.
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Dr. Joe T. Velikovsky, Ph.D. (Communication & Media Arts)----------------------------

`The word communication will be used here in a very broad sense to include all of the procedures by which one mind may affect another. This, of course, involves not only written and oral speech, but also music, the pictorial arts, the theater, the ballet, and in fact all human behavior... The language of this memorandum will often appear to refer to the special, but still very broad and important, field of the communication of speech; but practically everything said applies equally well to music of any sort, and to still or moving pictures, as in television." - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, (Shannon & Weaver 1949, pp. 3-4).
Also:
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant” - (attributed, and ironically, possibly mistakenly, to: Robert McCloskey, namely the children's book author and illustrator, date of quote unknown)
& this autosig is not even near complete yet, as
JT Velikovsky is also a:
Transmedia Writer-Director-Producer: Movies, Games, TV, Theatre, Books, Comics
Transmedia Writing Blog: http://on-writering.blogspot.com.au/

& (High-RoI) Story/Screenplay/Movie Analyst - and Evolutionary Systems Theorist
See: https://storyality.wordpress.com/

& Bio-Culture (Science & the Arts) & Transmedia Researcher
Academia link: https://aftrs.academia.edu/JTVelikovsky
See, also:

Joe Velikovsky on IMDb: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/joeteevee

Okay - the autosig is over now. You can stop reading. 


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Now updated for The Long Now