conskeptical

The Banquet Hamlet retold in an imperial Chinese setting....

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:58:49 +0100

The Banquet

Hamlet retold in an imperial Chinese setting. Awesome art direction, costumery, location, set design, floaty/balletic martial arts. For some reason ancient Japan/China seem to be brilliant settings for portraying highly ritualised power politics… by comparison my intuitions about historical Europe would be more akin to a continent sized bar brawl than the sort of majestic aura that the far east has managed to conjure about its past…

13 Assassins A bunch of battle-starved samurai are instructed to...

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:25:00 +0100

13 Assassins

A bunch of battle-starved samurai are instructed to assassinate the shogun’s sadistic little brother. So off they go on a meticulously strategised and executed bloodbath of an adventure to do so.

The film quite nicely shows how the political and strategic manoeuvring seamlessly transitions into life and death sword fighting. The martial arts is really nicely choreographed, totally unbelievable, but makes some nice points from time to time.

The film also interestingly explores what happens when obedience is valued more strongly than conscience, and vice versa.

I suppose the ultimate message of the film might be that it might be possible to be a warrior who benefits society, but only if you can empathise with the people around you (as the sadistic target of the assassination does not, and his subjects choose not to through unconditional adherence to their warrior code). If empathic disconnection is the enemy of right action… I wonder what that says about our current state of civilisation?

The Mind Made Flesh A collection of essays by Nicholas Humphrey...

Sun, 13 May 2012 21:15:16 +0100

The Mind Made Flesh

A collection of essays by Nicholas Humphrey about psychology, evolution and philosophy of mind and how those and related topics overlap and interrelate. There are some really interesting ideas really nicely articulated in here, from ideas about what the self is and where it might come from (using infant developmental psychology and also the phenomenon of multiple personality ‘disorder’ as an inspiration to suggest that ‘self’ is flexible and can reorganise in varying conditions) to interesting distinctions between sensation (located within the body) and perception (conjecture about the external world, extrapolated from bodily sensations) and why sense and perception should be separable (perception is prone to error in a way that sensation is not…). There is even an essay about why science might be privileged above all other philosophies in terms of being ethically reasonable to teach to children… (probably the most questionable essay in the book!)

Worth a read if you’re interested in taking a step beyond the typical pop-psychology debates that rarely manage to get further than ‘wow, this is inexplicable’ or ‘well, we recorded some brainwaves, clearly we now have an adequate explanation’.

There is a really interesting fusion of inspired creativity and methodical, logical thought all through the book, perhaps best illustrated by the essay ‘How to Solve the Mind-Body Problem’, where Humphrey uses dimensional analysis and algebraic manipulation as a metaphor for massaging both sides of the ‘mind’ ‘body’ ‘equation’ into commensurate terms such that the problem evaporates into an identity. Very very interesting.

Goes really well with Marvin Minsky’s ‘Society of Mind’, which is less rambly and much more modular.

Premonition Japanese horror, not earth shattering, but pretty...

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:38:33 +0100

Premonition

Japanese horror, not earth shattering, but pretty decent. Suspense rather than horror perhaps, in that there isn’t very much at all (good!) in the way of ‘urgh, that’s gross’ moments typical of typical modern horror films, and plenty of psychological tension and nicely textured and shot creepy corridors and other such ‘historically tainted spaces’.

Nice exploration of feelings of free will (set in a context of ‘knowing the future’) and our ability to affect the world and express ourselves in the context of sometimes formidable forces of nature.

In The Plex Very interesting and entertaining book about one of...

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:01:22 +0100

In The Plex

Very interesting and entertaining book about one of the world’s most recognisable brands: Google.

Main points from the book:

do first, sort out the problems as you go along. Avoid dealing with problems too far in advance: if you do your ideas will die before they get beyond your own skull.
there’s no such thing as ‘the one right way’ to do something. Use your imagination and surprise yourself and others. Commitment is worth far far more than slavish rule-following. (ie: cargo cultism doesn’t work…)
Montessori education seems rather interesting…
sticking to one thing is how to get really far
the time is always ripe for something big…
it’s possible to believe you’re doing good in the world even when you’re heading up a multi-billion dollar advertising monster. And to persuade someone to write a very positive book about your project too…

A worthwhile insight into Google anyway. Would be interested to see a more balanced ‘review’ of the company though :)

Equiano - and Anti-Slavery in Eighteenth Century Belfast The...

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:57:34 +0100

Equiano - and Anti-Slavery in Eighteenth Century Belfast

The last sentences of the book have a particular poetry to them:

From Voltaire to Gladstone men, who have gone down in history as friends of liberty, expended wealth derived from slavery on cultivating their minds and funding their political careers. Slavery itself has played a part in fertilising the roots of the liberty tree. Equiano’s career and his visit to Belfast offer a vivid illustration of this development.

In general, a very interesting snapshot into the life of a black guy who travelled around a lot in boats at a time when presumably that was pretty dangerous; partly as a slave and partly as a freed slave, in the 18th century. Apparently he got on well with the Catholics in Ireland who weren’t too happy with the way the British were treating them at the time (or so goes my crayola-tastic brief reading of the situation).

I’m not very historically aware in the traditional sense, but this short book seems to reinforce my feeling that however terrible slavery in centuries gone was, people of all sorts of types were being treated pretty terribly, and living in possibly a greater variety of good and bad and appalling conditions… to see the (historical and modern) world as ‘slaves’ and ‘free’ seems rather naive! And to consider, as seems to be the default collective-consciousness, that slavery is a thing of the past also seems rather naive too.

The North Of Ireland The Irish seem to be unusually friendly...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:59:39 +0100

The North Of Ireland

The Irish seem to be unusually friendly compared with other nationalities I have run into lately. Belfast is (much) more closed than open on a Sunday. The countryside is beautiful. Evidence of division is still very apparent. The Giant’s Causeway isn’t as big as I expected, and it’s very touristified, but it’s still a nice place to slow down in.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time The mood, aesthetics and pacing...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 10:37:20 +0100

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The mood, aesthetics and pacing on this are enough to make up for the almost complete lack of plot or story. Another one of those films where nothing happens, just a beautifully drawn portrait of nothing in particular. It does do a really good job of portraying how what is left uncommunicated can dominate the communication: time travel is a good mechanic for getting that across in a work of fiction! (Repeating scenes with things conspicuously left out and/or tried differently… great for highlighting what’s absent and highlighting the one-shot nature of real life…)

As with much anime, there is great signature audio of cicadas and level crossing sirens. Wonderful :)

gclamps on the ceiling so as to inspect some Japanese...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:36:34 +0100

gclamps on the ceiling so as to inspect some Japanese calligraphy.

Advertising the train at the petrol pump. Nice!

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:26:17 +0100

Advertising the train at the petrol pump. Nice!

Having Difficulty Managing A Reading List How to prioritize all...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:29:00 +0100

Having Difficulty Managing A Reading List

How to prioritize all the books that it would be nice, and/or useful, to read? It’s NOT EASY.

Bilderberg People Recently finished this book. If you’re...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:30:40 +0100

Bilderberg People

Recently finished this book. If you’re interested in the mechanics of world affairs, as they relate to the actions of a few hundred of the most influential people, you should probably read this book. Or if you think there’s no point, please let me know in the comments which books are more worth it!

Summary:

There are powerful people in the world.
They have a tendency towards attending group chinwagging sessions.
When people chinwag, they influence each other.
When powerful people chinwag, they influence each other.
Powerful people are still basically people, so if we consider how people influence each other, and then extrapolate to the powerful, and try and stay on track by interviewing a bunch of the people who attend (supposedly) the ‘most prestigious of all informal transnational networks’, then perhaps we can gain useful insight into the mechanics of global affairs.

The book is rather speculative, but eminently plausible and sensible. And although it’s impossible to verify the interview content, it’s all so… mundane… that it’s veracity seems reasonably safe.

Upshot: nobody’s really in charge. Yes, various people are at various (but quite numerous) nexuses of very large amounts of power (where power is some measure of potential to influence people’s lives or industrial/economic processes), but these people are limited in their ability to wield that power fully autonomously: by each other, by global power structures that have evolved over decades and centuries, and also by their own human nature and the inaccessible (including subconscious) processes that constrain us all.

A very, very interesting read.

Mixed Mode Development In this case, doing a maths assignment....

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:45:51 +0100

Mixed Mode Development

In this case, doing a maths assignment. Question paper on the top screen, graphical experimentation environment on the bottom screen, handwritten scribbling on paper. And interestingly, the hybrid: using the ipad to photograph the screen, so that I could then scribble over the diagram without having to copy the diagram by hand.

However, this is a bit of a mad flow: it’s all over the place, on a variety of applications on 2 electronic devices, and on paper. It’s not easy to capture the development process in a searchable/reproducible history.

Maybe this is going to be the killer app for augmented reality: allowing full mixed-mode development at the same time as permitting a fully cross-linked archive of the development process.

Mixed-mode is vital because thinking through a computer is very flat compared with thinking through a variety of media, and also thinking with physical materials (also, consider rapid prototyping).

Facilitated and cross-linked recording of the development process is valuable because it makes sharing and mining insights easier.

Mechanical Rapid Prototyping With Lego Mindstorms A few years...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:28:19 +0100

Mechanical Rapid Prototyping With Lego Mindstorms

A few years ago I got a Lego Mindstorms kit, and barely used it, as is often the case with ‘great ideas’ that don’t really have anything driving them beyond their ‘great idea’-ness.

Then a few weeks ago a colleague flagged up this example of lego being used for experiment automation at Cambridge university: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/growing-bones-with-lego/.

Also, I’ve been thinking about rapid prototyping lately, mainly prompted by http://mbed.org/.

Finally, the other day I replaced my wristwatch with one of the ‘kinetic’ variety (no more dead batteries!). It came pretty much discharged, and I preferred the idea of having it a bit charged up, without having to put in the elbow grease myself.

Bingo: out came the dusty lego kit, and a few minutes later I had a device for automatically rotating the watch.

Rapid prototyping is quite interesting, not particularly in this case, but in the way that small prototypes can lead onto more substantial prototypes. It’s worth thinking about how you can improve your environment in such a way that ideas you have can venture out into reality with minimum friction.

Bilderberg People: Elite Power and Consensus in World...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:00:06 +0100

Bilderberg People: Elite Power and Consensus in World Affairs

I’m reading a rather interesting book at the moment, about ‘the most prestigious of all informal transnational networks’. One quote I just came across really stuck out:

“The invited guests must sing for their supper. They can’t just sit there like church mice. They are there to speak. I remember when I invited Margaret Thatcher back in ‘75. She wasn’t worldly. Well, she sat there for the first two days and didn’t say a thing. People started grumbling. A senator came up to me on the Friday night, Senator Mathias of Maryland. He said, ‘This lady you invited, she hasn’t said a word. You really ought to say something to her.’ So I had a quiet word with her at dinner. She was embarrassed. Well, she obviously thought about it overnight, because the next day she suddenly stood up and launched into a three-minute Thatcher special. I can’t remember the topic, but you can imagine. The room was stunned. Here’s something for your conspiracy theorists. As a result of that speech, David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger and the other Americans fell in love with her. They brought her over to America, took her round in limousines, and introduced her to everyone.”

Fear or Laziness A hint at what separates the...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:14:50 +0100

Fear or Laziness

A hint at what separates the ‘doers’ from everyone else. See 38:45. If you’re viewing this on tumblr, click the title.

41:15 has a fantastic commentary on permissive gun laws too…

Waking life is now available, in full, on youtube. It’s definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it before, and probably if you have… It’s the film that really raised dreaming in my consciousness not just as a curious and often entertaining thing that happens frequently, but as one of those awesome aspects of being alive that, with a little awareness and intention, has limitless depth to contribute to this peculiar (but generally agreeable!) condition of… being alive…

The Moment Before Calligraphy, Recorded Forever If you load the...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:18:00 +0100

The Moment Before Calligraphy, Recorded Forever

If you load the brush with too much ink of the wrong consistency, that moment of preparation, meditation, possibility and tension before the brush hits the paper can be confounded by an unexpected consequence of gravity…

Apparently my teacher had never seen anything like it (ie, so crass, I suppose) in her life. It was a moment of hilarity that could do nothing but end the lesson…

Oddments from Milan, Genoa and Camogli Sometimes when...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:10:24 +0000

Oddments from Milan, Genoa and Camogli

Sometimes when photography is the not the purpose, the public photographic record is quite bitty. But maybe the results are still interesting to some degree.

Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas Paul Graham back on top...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:00:05 +0000

Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas

Paul Graham back on top essay writing form.

The Activity Illlusion Interesting book about how to manage...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 07:38:50 +0000

The Activity Illlusion

Interesting book about how to manage email and how to manage people, with an aim to doing both sustainably and in humane service to yourself and the people around you.

What strikes me about this book is that it is a book about communication by somebody who is ‘technologically old’, but functioning at a high level in a world that is populated by lots of technologically old people, lots of high and ‘low’ technology, and an incoming generation of technologically ‘young’ people.

Being technologically old or young doesn’t make you better or worse, but it does mean your communication abilities are likely to be differently organised and emphasized. This book is a good glimpse into the communication abilities/organisation/emphasis of the technologically old.

I wonder whether the pidgin/creole distinction applies here: dump people in a world of rapidly developing technology, and they end up speaking ‘pidgin’ technology to each other. Their children learn technology creole. But the difference here is that the new technology enables fundamentally different kinds of communication (and is rapidly developing even through the nativization process, leading to some pretty crazy/chaotic dynamics), and we have never road tested it on the kinds of things that need communicating later in life… so I think we are in for some interesting and probably turbulent times ahead!

This book is a nice spark for these kinds of thoughts, as well as containing useful advice for dealing with high-volume/frequency interpersonal communications…