When you just finished reading The Sign (great book, by the way, except for the parts where the author decides to spontaneously express his views on abortion and faith) and your mathematics teacher raises a question about the meaning of life, and you are the kind of loquacious, extremist sucker I am, there is no getting away from it. The subject to me is like a glowing lightbulb the size of the Indian Ocean to a moth. Here it goes.
I believe that there is no God. In the very beginning, some quantum conflux and the most insane of contrived coincidences combined to make the universe in which we now reside. Through cascading and improbable happenings of chance, life was created and slowly adapted over the millenia into what we are today. This is my belief because there is no evidence to suggest otherwise. The obvious argument of how ridiculously unlikely this is is easily rebutted by the comparison of humanity to an intelligent goldfish. Imagine the goldfish wondering why its tank is filled with water; the answer is that without the water, it wouldn't be there to ponder it.
So... the creation of everything as we know it was a purely mathematical coincidence. Without a postulated guiding intelligence involved in its formation, it becomes apparent that our existence is completely and utterly meaningless.
However, we being the fallible creatures of impulses and desires we are, humans are unable to accept this. Given this conclusion, by logic it can be seen that even if we were to firebomb everything and wreck the planet, there are no true repercussions to our deeds. Yet we have not (except for a minority of affected individuals who are outside the reach of this post). The reason for this is simply that we are unable to truly accept this idea. With this insight in mind, there are two options for the human mind: create a coping mechanism, or go insane.
Let me talk a little bit about the first option. Creating a coping mechanism in this case could mean blanking out this realization. It could mean fabricating a meaning of one's own to append to life. It is my belief that religion is such a fabrication.
My coping mechanism is strange. I acknowledge that life has no meaning, but I persist in the clockwork operation of daily life. This is because I believe that humanity as a whole has given our lives meaning. Out of those initial caveman struggles to survive has grown a complicated social system, with nuances such as castes, responsibilities and human interaction. I make it a point to adhere to these rules, as though I may feel that the burden of life holds no water, others do not think the same. In effect, I am bound by my responsibility to my friends and family. This allows me to continue.
But another, and yet more powerful, aspect of my coping mechanism is this. It is my conclusion that life has no meaning, but it can be given meaning by the actions of humanity. Is it not then my responsibility to give meaning to the lives of others, and to enrich others' lives, so that they do not recognize the terror of nihilism? This is why I tell jokes, I exercise my wit and why, in fact, I have embraced life.
To me, the meaning of life is to give meaning to it.
Showing posts with label analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label analysis. Show all posts
26.1.10
Somewhere In The Caribbean... Tremors
I hate how the Haiti earthquake is so overhyped right now. In school, everyone talks about it and teachers somehow make opportunities to mention it every three minutes. On Facebook, an app and about a million groups have spontaneously appeared, promising to make dubious donations of varying amounts of varying currencies to the Haiti relief effort. In real life, the aftermath of the disaster dominates the newspapers, the televised news, and pretty much any media you can think of. I wouldn't be surprised if an upcoming documentary movie was announced titled "Haiti: Eye of the Storm" and its tie-in video game and toys.
We all know Haiti happened. People died. Those who didn't, lost everything in their lives. Horrific photos have been circulated around the world. But do we, the relative upper class, really feel sympathy for these people? When we read the newspaper and see the death tolls, we don't wonder about the personal hell each of the disaster-struck people must be going through. We have not experienced the doomed feeling you have when you are trapped under meters of rubble, slowly losing blood, asphyxiating to death in the darkness. We comprehend these matters with a detached fascination. We cannot emotionally connect, because we don't know those who are really affected by the earthquake. Such is one of the many intrinsic flaws of humanity.
So stop pretending you do. Those Facebook groups claiming to donate to the relief effort for every member who joins are bullshit. They are scams to get more members, preying on the tendency to 'donate' to ease your guilt for being the lucky elite that have never experienced the harsh life that the Haitians are now going through. Stop mentioning the Haiti earthquake in daily conversation, because it won't change anything. The masquerade of public concern is just that - a masquerade.
If you really care about Haiti, take a plane there and work in the relief effort yourself. But know that if you have the money to buy a computer to read this post, you probably don't. I know that's true for me, and I am not afraid to admit it.
We all know Haiti happened. People died. Those who didn't, lost everything in their lives. Horrific photos have been circulated around the world. But do we, the relative upper class, really feel sympathy for these people? When we read the newspaper and see the death tolls, we don't wonder about the personal hell each of the disaster-struck people must be going through. We have not experienced the doomed feeling you have when you are trapped under meters of rubble, slowly losing blood, asphyxiating to death in the darkness. We comprehend these matters with a detached fascination. We cannot emotionally connect, because we don't know those who are really affected by the earthquake. Such is one of the many intrinsic flaws of humanity.
So stop pretending you do. Those Facebook groups claiming to donate to the relief effort for every member who joins are bullshit. They are scams to get more members, preying on the tendency to 'donate' to ease your guilt for being the lucky elite that have never experienced the harsh life that the Haitians are now going through. Stop mentioning the Haiti earthquake in daily conversation, because it won't change anything. The masquerade of public concern is just that - a masquerade.
If you really care about Haiti, take a plane there and work in the relief effort yourself. But know that if you have the money to buy a computer to read this post, you probably don't. I know that's true for me, and I am not afraid to admit it.
19.3.09
Anthropological Confusion
Here's the thing: if one day, you met a robot who could think, speak, feel and love... is it a man?
Should it have human rights? Or should it be treated like a super-advanced toaster?
Some would say, yes, it has human rights. Under the surface, it may just be a collection of electronics, but it behaves exactly the same way as a real human would in that situation. In fact, we're no different from highly advanced, biological robots.
Some would argue, no, it's just a machine. We organics have something special inside, a soul, that makes us different from anything we could possibly fabricate. Any machine, even a supercomputer or artificial intelligence, is lower than the tiniest bacterium because it doesn't have a heart.
What do you think?
Should it have human rights? Or should it be treated like a super-advanced toaster?
Some would say, yes, it has human rights. Under the surface, it may just be a collection of electronics, but it behaves exactly the same way as a real human would in that situation. In fact, we're no different from highly advanced, biological robots.
Some would argue, no, it's just a machine. We organics have something special inside, a soul, that makes us different from anything we could possibly fabricate. Any machine, even a supercomputer or artificial intelligence, is lower than the tiniest bacterium because it doesn't have a heart.
What do you think?
14.3.09
Scatological Response
Today, I will express my disappointment over what people are calling art today.
Art is bullshit.
First, to discuss art in any sort of meaningful manner, we must first understand the question: What is art?
Wikipedia says "Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions".
By this definition, everything is art. I mean literally everything. The chair you are sitting on right now is designed to evoke a sense of comfort. Is it art? Some people think so. How about that research paper my friend is working on? It's an arrangement of elements in a way that appeals to the teacher to give him a pass mark. That's art too.
I'm sure you see what I'm talking about now. Essentially everything man-made is art, from this laptop I'm working on, to the Mona Lisa, to Taipei 101, to the air-conditioned air a billion people are breathing across the planet. If you believe in a Creator, everything that even exists is art.
So why are there "art galleries" and "art classes" that exist in society? Art galleries claim to display art. So why are their walls overflowing with canvas paintings when they should be filled with things from every corner of life? Art classes only teach you how to represent shape and form in two-dimensional spaces, not how to build and grow truly beautiful things.
The term "art" is a misnomer. What we label as "art" is getting more and more muddled over the years. Modern art galleries, by clinging to the old (and at least comprehensible) notion that art is created with skill, have confused themselves and opened their floodgates to utter mockeries of talent. Take this installation. Does it show you any universal truth? No, of course not. But if the artist made a simple write-up about how the destroyed trailer represents the emotional baggage that we as human beings leave behind in our lives, everyone would hail it like the next Michelangelo masterpiece.
I leave you to ponder this. This is a long-standing problem that challenges the identity of art and who we are as human souls. If we can't solve it, then we are lying to ourselves about beauty, nature and the universe.
Art is bullshit.
First, to discuss art in any sort of meaningful manner, we must first understand the question: What is art?
Wikipedia says "Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions".
By this definition, everything is art. I mean literally everything. The chair you are sitting on right now is designed to evoke a sense of comfort. Is it art? Some people think so. How about that research paper my friend is working on? It's an arrangement of elements in a way that appeals to the teacher to give him a pass mark. That's art too.
I'm sure you see what I'm talking about now. Essentially everything man-made is art, from this laptop I'm working on, to the Mona Lisa, to Taipei 101, to the air-conditioned air a billion people are breathing across the planet. If you believe in a Creator, everything that even exists is art.
So why are there "art galleries" and "art classes" that exist in society? Art galleries claim to display art. So why are their walls overflowing with canvas paintings when they should be filled with things from every corner of life? Art classes only teach you how to represent shape and form in two-dimensional spaces, not how to build and grow truly beautiful things.
The term "art" is a misnomer. What we label as "art" is getting more and more muddled over the years. Modern art galleries, by clinging to the old (and at least comprehensible) notion that art is created with skill, have confused themselves and opened their floodgates to utter mockeries of talent. Take this installation. Does it show you any universal truth? No, of course not. But if the artist made a simple write-up about how the destroyed trailer represents the emotional baggage that we as human beings leave behind in our lives, everyone would hail it like the next Michelangelo masterpiece.
I leave you to ponder this. This is a long-standing problem that challenges the identity of art and who we are as human souls. If we can't solve it, then we are lying to ourselves about beauty, nature and the universe.
9.3.09
^^ Accent Accent
I'm sure you know what an accent is. In this context, it's that funny-sounding rendition you make of a foreign language when you attempt to speak it, or conversely, the skewed version of English foreigners speak. What I am going to explore today is, how do these exactly come about?
Basically, an accent appears whenever you pronounce a given syllable in a foreign language wrongly. Take, for example, the word "rendezvous". In English pronunciation, that would be "ran-dez-vuhs", but in its actual French roots, it is "ron-dei-voo". This disparity in spelling and phoenetics comes because the English language takes many foreign words, but attempts to preserve the spelling, which is bad.
Foreign languages often have vastly different syllabic alphabets, and Romanization only attempts to synch the sounds with the best possible letters or sets of letters. Unfortunately, the Roman alphabet is heavily limited and these efforts usually end in pain for everyone involved. Accents appear here because the foreigner to the language is attempting to pronounce the syllables inherent with his own language's syllables. Only a very good understanding of the language and phoenetics can allow one to avoid producing an accent (or to purposely produce an accent, as in performing arts) and this is why accents occur.
Thus lie the failings of the Latin alphabet. It fails to take into account all of the potential sounds that a foreign alphabet can make, and increasing the confusion, its own pronunciation system is inherently flawed. In fact, for some languages it actually adds dïáçrîtìcs and иⅇw ϟϒµβøζs, adding to the confusion. If someone were to radically redesign our current linguistic system and invent a new lingua franca to replace English, these problems would be solved. ¡Hasta la revolución lingüística!
Basically, an accent appears whenever you pronounce a given syllable in a foreign language wrongly. Take, for example, the word "rendezvous". In English pronunciation, that would be "ran-dez-vuhs", but in its actual French roots, it is "ron-dei-voo". This disparity in spelling and phoenetics comes because the English language takes many foreign words, but attempts to preserve the spelling, which is bad.
Foreign languages often have vastly different syllabic alphabets, and Romanization only attempts to synch the sounds with the best possible letters or sets of letters. Unfortunately, the Roman alphabet is heavily limited and these efforts usually end in pain for everyone involved. Accents appear here because the foreigner to the language is attempting to pronounce the syllables inherent with his own language's syllables. Only a very good understanding of the language and phoenetics can allow one to avoid producing an accent (or to purposely produce an accent, as in performing arts) and this is why accents occur.
Thus lie the failings of the Latin alphabet. It fails to take into account all of the potential sounds that a foreign alphabet can make, and increasing the confusion, its own pronunciation system is inherently flawed. In fact, for some languages it actually adds dïáçrîtìcs and иⅇw ϟϒµβøζs, adding to the confusion. If someone were to radically redesign our current linguistic system and invent a new lingua franca to replace English, these problems would be solved. ¡Hasta la revolución lingüística!
6.3.09
Lingual Inter-Relationships
I like linguistics. It's seriously a fascinating study, of how language can affect one's culture and even one's thinking. I've been studying other languages apart from English for a while now, and I recently came across this:
"Night" in 10 Languages
My idea is that all these were originally dialects, seperately spoken in different parts of Europe. As the settlements became more distinct, the dialects became different languages, but as you can see above they're still pretty similar.
Linguistics is cool. Not only do you get to research how words came about and how they affect human thinking, you also learn a fair bit of foreign languages. ¿Los lenguajes es maravilloso, usted no está de acuerdo?
"Night" in 10 Languages
- English: night
- German: nacht
- Dutch: nacht
- Swedish: natt
- Danish: nat
- Latin: nox
- French: nuit
- Portugese: noite
- Spanish: noche
- Romanian: noapte
My idea is that all these were originally dialects, seperately spoken in different parts of Europe. As the settlements became more distinct, the dialects became different languages, but as you can see above they're still pretty similar.
Linguistics is cool. Not only do you get to research how words came about and how they affect human thinking, you also learn a fair bit of foreign languages. ¿Los lenguajes es maravilloso, usted no está de acuerdo?
27.2.09
Figures of the Actional Variety
Action figures are pretty neat. I know they're just poseable lumps of plastic, but there's something inherently awesome about having little figures of your favorite characters on your shelf. You can take them down and mess with them, customize them with paint and glue, or just leave them as a beautiful display. Call them dolls, whatever you want, but you have to admit that some of them get to look pretty sweet.
Cool Series
- Bionicle, a line from Lego, is a series of huge buildable figures. Not only do the finished sets look incredible, you can also tear the apart to build pretty much anything you like. Recently, they've just restarted the line to feature post-apocalyptic themed characters, and some amazing vehicles (think desert bikes) are to be released in August.
- The Star Wars line from Hasbro is generally hit and miss, but it contains some truly awesome figures, like their latest Darth Vader or the numerous Stormtrooper variants.
- Transformers is an interesting concept, and Hasbro's latest Animated line is generally composed of nice toys with plenty of poseability and good aesthetic in both modes. Of course, other lines, especially those intended at adult or older fans, are worth a look. You never know when you may stumble across a gem.
- Apparently, the Japanese really know their stuff, because they make friggin' sweet figures. Most are presented as model kits, since the figures require assembly, and as such they have a ridiculous amount of poseability and quality. Especially of note are the Gundam kits and the odd rare anime/game figure. Rock on, Nippon.
Thus ends the rant.
Cool Series
- Bionicle, a line from Lego, is a series of huge buildable figures. Not only do the finished sets look incredible, you can also tear the apart to build pretty much anything you like. Recently, they've just restarted the line to feature post-apocalyptic themed characters, and some amazing vehicles (think desert bikes) are to be released in August.
- The Star Wars line from Hasbro is generally hit and miss, but it contains some truly awesome figures, like their latest Darth Vader or the numerous Stormtrooper variants.
- Transformers is an interesting concept, and Hasbro's latest Animated line is generally composed of nice toys with plenty of poseability and good aesthetic in both modes. Of course, other lines, especially those intended at adult or older fans, are worth a look. You never know when you may stumble across a gem.
- Apparently, the Japanese really know their stuff, because they make friggin' sweet figures. Most are presented as model kits, since the figures require assembly, and as such they have a ridiculous amount of poseability and quality. Especially of note are the Gundam kits and the odd rare anime/game figure. Rock on, Nippon.
Thus ends the rant.
20.2.09
Orange
You may notice that orange is appearing more often nowadays. Maybe it's just me or this particular region, but it can't just be coincidence that EC House recently revamped its appearance to orange, Velocity Sports Mall opened with a certain color theme for its logo and signs, Comics Connection just opened a new outlet which is orange, Action City... yeah. Even supermarket Giant is now using an orange theme. (remind me to go there more often)
Why orange? If you take a moment to analyze the color, you find that it's a relatively newly used color (most older brands use easy-to-print colors such as red, blue, white, etc). I suspect this is because orange materials were difficult to find previously, but now that plastic and color printers have surfaced, orange has become more widespread.
Also, orange is a relatively bright color and hits the viewer with an energetic punchy feeling. Orange is probably also used to symbolize youth and action, and thus to appeal to young adults and teenagers. If we take EC House's example, its new color scheme is orange, white and black, a highly contrasting yet elegant combination and really conveys professionalism.
This is why orange is so prolific recently. Not a bad thing either, as it just happens to be my favorite color. Neat, huh?
Why orange? If you take a moment to analyze the color, you find that it's a relatively newly used color (most older brands use easy-to-print colors such as red, blue, white, etc). I suspect this is because orange materials were difficult to find previously, but now that plastic and color printers have surfaced, orange has become more widespread.
Also, orange is a relatively bright color and hits the viewer with an energetic punchy feeling. Orange is probably also used to symbolize youth and action, and thus to appeal to young adults and teenagers. If we take EC House's example, its new color scheme is orange, white and black, a highly contrasting yet elegant combination and really conveys professionalism.
This is why orange is so prolific recently. Not a bad thing either, as it just happens to be my favorite color. Neat, huh?
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