Can the human mind cope with extreme longevity?
A few weeks ago someone infected me with the “All Your Base Are Belong Us” meme by way of the e-mail vector. I’m not going to explain this because you probably already know about it or will hear about it soon. However, before the multinationals catch this meme and attempt to sell stuff to us [...]
Miscommunication and ambivalence will never be reduced to zero. People get sloppy in communicating and get sloppy in understanding. Also many times they aren’t entirely sure what they want. Ideals must always be compromised. There are few rules without exceptions but this appears one of those few.
The Programmer’s Lament: “The world is built upon endless, essential yet trivial detail.” Another one: “Everyone wants to be special but has to settle for being unique.” In order for the world to be interesting there must be error. In fact, this may be a defining characteristic of reality: Error only exists in reality. The [...]
Gödel proved that mathematics will remain forever incomplete. The implication is that the mathematics is infinitely rich. Another implication is that all science, being ultimately based on mathematics and logic, is infinitely rich and will never be a finished thing.
Or why, after many years, I still can’t get over the fact I flunked complex variable analysis I’ve got something to prove.
Or, why I decided to form a terrorist cell to serve a sadly neglected cause Okay. How many of you remember when they promised us in grade school, back in the Seventies, that they’d convert this country over to the metric system by the time we were in college? Remember that? Remember the “brave new [...]
Music My musical tastes tend towards the eclectic. Perhaps a good expression to use in characterizing them is “college radio.” The stuff you hear on college radio at 3 in the morning gives a good example of what I listen to. Pop music from Africa is horrifyingly cool. Also, despite being a geezer, I have [...]