3 posts tagged “philosophy”

My services were requested by my sister to explain to her while the Internet was going to die on December 25th. Those fans of Top5Tech will know that in Top5Tech #004, we discovered that the Internet was going down because of the increase of IP Addresses, leading to IP conflicts. We know it's a joke, but what's the point of a joke if it isn't shared? So I drew up this diagram to illustrate the ploy to my younger siblings.

I give you The Aardwolf Philosophy (named after it's announcer)

The Aardwolf Philosophy

Technology has brought the world much happiness. Not only has it been beneficial in areas of increased entertainment, but it's also accelerated the world in terms of finding cures for diseases, and discovering the mysteries of our existence. Modern technology has improved all aspects of our life. Look around you. Things you take for granted were unheard of a hundred years ago (or even as recently as 20 years ago. A portable phone smaller than your palm? As if that could happen!).
Technology has also brought much sadness. As with all things, there is a good and a bad side to modern technology. Advanced computer systems have been implemented to create terrible weapons of destructibe power. A person with the resources and the appropriate technology available today can send a missile down your chimney, into your bed room, and blow apart a chunk of your neighbourhood.

A question often asked by ancient philosophers throughout time is "How much knowledge is too much" (paraphrased).
This means "When will we reach a stage where we know too much, or have advanced too far in technology, for our own good".
Consider this. Most things are available over the Internet. Need some groceries? Forget getting off your chair, just sign up for a delivery service, offered by most major grocery outlets. It's coming up to the end of the month. Better run down to the post office and pay your bills, otherwise you'll be out of gas and electricity (water isn't an issue, all you really need are instant coffee satchels and milk). Hold on there, Speedy McFitness! Why leave the house when with a few clicks, you can just pay the bills from the safety of your personal confuser? Your favourite band just release a new album, but you can't be bothered going down to your favourite music store? Perish the thought, that's why they invented iTunes (or if you're really naughty, BitTorrent).
Currently, there are some things that you can't rely on the Internet for. For example, how can you pay bills online if you haven't talked to the banker at the bank with your details? Things like these are at least keeping the number of laziness-induced cardiac arrests down, however sooner or later, everything will be automated.
I don't say that loosely either. Everything is being converted to automation. An ATM is a classic example as well. No need to speak to a real person when you can just insert a card, hit some buttons, then walk away.
This automation of services is leading towards two major issues for the future of the human race.
- Decrease in social skills
- Increase in obesity, dependence on technology, and asshole attitudes.

Concern for social skills
http://studentsopinion.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-sunday.html

Earlier this year, in April, I wrote about a subject that at the time, I called "electronic seclusion".
"On the drive up to the show, as soon as we got in the car everybody whipped out their phones and iPods and started listening to music etc. Luckily I hadn't brought any electronic distractions, which meant I was able to think for a while."
Electronic seclusion is the term I have for people being secluded from social interaction by technological barriers. And by barriers, I don't mean constraints in technological inadequacies, but instead technology acting as a barrier to communication in person. The example I used there was something similar to being able to do everything via a Skype-like universally standard program. Order groceries, do the banking, pay bills, etc. all without leaving your own home. You'd never need to see a real person ever again, let alone meet them face-to-face.
Of course, with the current state of affairs, kids spending too much time away from face-to-face communication start to lack in that area of speech. Before I go on, I'd like to say that I'm an advocate of playing online games, and being on the Internet all the time, is very social (contrary to the majority of parental views). However I know that after spending 18 hour days on World of Warcraft for a couple weeks, you start to make mistakes when writing and when speaking to someone's face. You also begin to develop tendencies to avoid looking at someone when speaking to them.
I have a theory about this. When speaking to some via text, it's harder to be manipulated or persuaded by their words (fact, not speculation. Now comes the speculation). I believe that this is why people begin to avoid eye-contact, because they know that not seeing the person's face means that they can develop an independent frame of mind easier.
So if technology is already beginning to create speech-retarded generations, will technology of the future amplify this effect? It would be logical to think so. However, perhaps we will find a currently unthinkable solution to this. A solution so far out of the box, it has it's own box. A swanky pad in a metropolitan area, bay views. I digress.

Fat jerk nerds
What's the stereotype for nerds (viewed from the eyes of the mass consumer population and the popular media)?
It's this: http://i.somethingawful.com/404/egad.jpg
How are we to improve our image to the thin, slightly lanky-yet-geek-trendy that better represents our slexy selves? It's going to be very difficult to. This is because the media is very powerful, and with the flawless facts that are stereotypes (/sarcasm), they have the power to persuade the masses.
How did these stereotypes evolve? Witness accounts of people who have seen the terrors of obesity brought on by overuse of technology, and underuse of THEIR LEGS. These poor fat people just loved their internets too much to go outside and feed the dog, so they spent their time inside, eating the year's supply of ramen that they'd bought the previous week (Mmmm... ramen). Why? It was simply too easy NOT to go outside. Through natural progression, I've determined that the example used above will, in the future of modern technology, look somewhat similar to this:
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/4551/mcdonaldstp2.jpg It was so horrible, Imageshack blocked it.
As you can see, not a pretty sight.
Also, fat nerds may take to eating their roommates (that is, if anybody was kind enough to stay with them even after their stench obliterated local wildlife).
Gross obesity isn't the only issue though. Only now are we beginning to see the effects of long term sessions on the computer, and the effects of obesity. However a factor on the Internet we've been familiar with since the dawn of the Internet era is the genre of morons who I called the "assonymoholes". This is an intelligent collaboration of the words "asshole" and "anonymous". I direct you to Exhibit Apple:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040319h.jpg
The modern prophet and philosopher, Jonathon Gabriel, has diagnosed a problem that has long been present on the Internet, and that is the problem of the so-called "assonymoholes". In case you didn't understand Gabe's concise math (even I had trouble comprehending it's advanced formula at first), then I'll explain it for you. Hey, it's okay, don't be embarassed.
The Internet provides a free medium (eg: easy to access for everybody). This medium allows people to share information and such with each other. However, sometimes the generousity of Internos, the interweb God, is exploited. How is it exploited? By people who want to voice their opinion, using mediums built within a medium, by using a blog. However, these evil generousity-exploiting fools' blogs are full of hatred, and stupidity. An excerpt from a certain blog I came across.
"lolz so hi agin,i hav anutha sumthin to tell u abt my day so today i went 2 da park n wit sum friends n wat we did is we saw these stupid kidz hu luked liek dey new wat dey wer talkin abt. dey were talkin abt how da internet is used 4 sharing of informashin n shudnt be used by da stupid ppl n they menchund ppl dat spell liek me. neway i tuk my ignorant ass ova to der grupe n i said to dem "hey dats not nice n the internet is for everybody" n then dey threw rocks at my face 4 bein a dopy bitch".
You can't make this stuff up. Luckily, this quote coincides with my point. Actually, one of the rock-throwers may have been me, and this stupid twat of a girl was another lurker at this park (it's right near a milk bar). To continue with my explanation, the Internet gives people anonymity. This power of being unknown gives people the false belief that by saying things on the Internet that they wouldn't be prepared to say in face-to-face conversation, there will be no consequences. I say falsely believe, because if you piss of the wrong group of people, they will make you wish you never heard the term "MySpace".
Therefore, with this shallow power, they feel the need to talk like an educated and opinionated person, and give their views on important matters that they, in reality, know nothing about, and would not be prepared to speak about face-to-face, because of their own insecurities (which could possibly stem from the electronic seclusion theory above).

I used to be one of these assonymoholes. I plagued the boards with my poor grammer and awful spelling, and just flamed the shit out of some people. Then, after watching several episodes of Seinfeld and Scrubs, I realised how pointless it was to be a little shit who appeared as little more than an uneducated moron, so I began to spell properly, checked my punctuation, remade my attitude to a cynical/sarcastic yet witty and opinionated writer. I've seen it happening a lot. I think that the kids growing up today are realising more and more that being a stupid prick on the Internet doesn't translate to any respect or power in real life, so why not try and appear more intelligent? I think you'll find that displaying that quality on the internet will translate into respect in real life (especially because people will know that you're willing to call it like it is, and speak your mind, making you a trustworthy person).

To summarise, technology is beginning to reach heights never thought possible. We're achieving things that even Leonardo Da Vinci hadn't dreamt of. First we need to ask ourselves "What is the ultimate goal of humanity and the human race?". If it is to reach a situation via the use of our own creation to achieve a lifestyle free from pain, suffering, sadness, and create a eutopia, like a simulated Eden, then technology may not provide that answer. However if the answer is to stagnate human growth by removing the need for exercise and fundamental care for our bodies and minds, then we're heading in the right direction.

How much knowledge is too much knowledge?

Suggested listening: http://www.twit.tv/sn69
On this, Steve Gibson basically mentions some similar points to do with anonymity and the effect it has on free speech.

Roy - http://roy.outerweb.org/ says:
fuck i'm bored.
JC - We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. says:
Me too
Which is funny, because that just gave me a brilliant blog post idea

Two men, two blogs, one intarweb.
The Internet is a funny place. There are a lot of stupid people on the internet. I think this is probably because of how easy it is to get access to the Internet. Even if you don't have a computer at home, you don't have to walk far to find an Internet cafe. Got a buck fifty? Have half an hour to waste the brain cells of other people.
IRC is a breeding ground for stupidity. Speaking of IRC (but not stupidity, hilarity)

[23:13] <woody> hey hey, everyone i have a joke :)
[23:13] <Akis> joke O_O
[23:13] <Phrax> George Bush
[23:14] <Phrax> ZING
[23:14] <woody> im australian so this is gonna be funny
[23:14] * Phrax is also Australian
[23:14] <Phrax> Go
[23:14] <woody> what does american beer and canoeing down a river have in common?
[23:14] <Akis> make you wanna pee?
[23:14] <woody> close to fucking water as u can get

Haha, silly Americans. I guess that's why Kevin and Alex always drink foreign beer, because the home grown stuff is shit. They thought Australians love Fosters... what a bunch of losers.

I'm so tired right now. For some reason I can't go to sleep though. I suppose the rapid and immense intake of caffeine over the past couple of hours isn't helping.
So I was watching Call For Help this evening. Sadly I don't have the How-To channel, so I have to torrent it.
So I was watching Call For Help, and I was so disappointed because first I noticed that Cali Lewis was co-hosting. Cali Lewis is pretty fun I guess, but her voice is extremely irritating, and her smile is wider than her gums, which makes for an awkward look (especially on a low res video expanded. The expanded pixels make her look like she has plaque in her teeth like you've only seen in microorganismic close-ups). Ever since Amber MacSexy left the show for CityNews, Call For Help just hasn't been the same. I would know, I've seen like three episodes since she's left. Phew, lucky I only saw three. Poor Leo is not only struggling to host his amazing amount of netcasts, but he's also captaining a sinking ship. That's not to say that Call For Help is failing, because Darren Kitchen and Wess Tobler to the rescue! Their segments are gold. Anyway, as I mentioned a first shortcoming, I'll also mention a second.
Mike Lezazz annoys me to the full extent of my sanity. Watching him for -LOL, just found the funniest shit on cosmos blog. http://www.slexy.org/paste/439. We now return you to your scheduled blog-all of the CommandN episodes up until last episode almost because unbearable to the point of skipping past scenes were Mike was blocking out the majority of Amber in his camera whoring scheme. That's not to say he's a bad person, but just like moonlit whores stats, he hogs the camera (moonlit is also not a bad person). Up until I read Mike's blog, I at least had some kind of what I call "ignorant respect" for him. That means that I respect him in the same way as I respect somebody I ignore completely because of their level of annoyingness (I think retardedness is too harsh a word, though possibly applicable?). If you have an annoying voice, charisma to match The Terminator, and humourless humour, you shouldn't be doing IPTV. In fact, you probably shouldn't be allowed in public. You should be mandatorily confined to a cubicle, slaving away with your code and pretending that it will some day get you somewhere.
Mike claims that he uses a spell checker, yet he still misses the ball on half of his words. Fortunately since last time I checked, he's began using some sort of awesome spell checker that makes him not sound like a completely oblivious-to-english moron, which is good, because spelling is good. Especially in a blog, which can convey a personal message, and an impression, to all those who read. I also just read the top post, apparently he isn't going to be doing CFH anymore either. Maybe because of the fact that he wasn't any good. Back to the show. When I heard he was on the Call For Help episode I had downloaded, I was in a forgiving mood (after just subduing several panthers trying to attack a Giraffe in my backyard), so I decided to give ol' Mikey another chance. I figured that maybe if he could effectively present an app that I might have some use for, then he would be back in the good books. That's an easy thing for me, if you can present to me something that will enrich/enhance my life, then I will respect you forever, because I believe that's like charity. You're being charitable. Like Brainkill the other night was teaching me some cool stuff, and I deeply respect him for not being a complete fucking loser like a lot of the other hackers that I've asked questions to. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU BECAME GOOD IN THE FIRST PLACE? YOU ASKED QUESTIONS, ASSHAT. People are so self-centred.
So I eagerly anticipated Mikey's segment. I was watching with eager eagerness, when I realised that Mikey was presenting his application on a Mac. "Okay, calm down Jake, it's just a mac. Maybe he grabbed it by accident". Yes, I had that much faith in me that Mike would finally emerge as one of the good guys. It was an application which I could actually use, integrating Google Calendar with your desktop, allowing you to make changes offline. However I was then disappointed with the line that no sole Windows user who watches Call For Help wants to hear:

"This is mac only"

So I'm terribly afraid that you lose Mike. Make your time.
He presented it in his usual edgy and nervous manner, which as I progressively watched caused me to have even less respect for him. Also it turns out that even though he's a scene whore, he's no man whore, because when Leo says "And Mikey's free for the ladies", Mikey replies with a high pitched voice, and then Leo pinches him on the cheek, as you would a full grown man who just acted like a coy 12 year old after just being asked out by the blonde girl in the miniskirt from the playground. He then proceeded into singing a phrase from Britney Spears' song "Ooops, I did it again".
Then at the end of the show, he DECEITFULLY STOLE from Leo a brilliant Sanyo camcorder, and continued to run like a "nancy-girl" across the set, like he was some kind of fairy man. Only he wasn't one of the pure-blood fairies, he was some kind of fairy/ogre hybrid.
Otherwise, Call For Help was spectacular. Leo as always delivered quality service to the callers, as well as presenting professionally. /leofanboy
If you're a friend of Mikey, then I apologise if I somehow offended you. I merely wished to point out his inadequacies from my point of view. I don't know him in real life, he may be a completely different person. But the Mike Lazazzera that I have seen from his various appearances, it seems to me that he's ill suited for his chosen career path. Oh well, make do with what you can I guess. Better than pushing mops.

I kind of went off on a tirade there. I was originally planning to write something long and meaningful. Ah well, it's very early in the morning. That's an excuse right?

What's happening at the moment? Let's see... I'm listening to Less Than Jake in iTunes.
I've compiled a fairly up-tempo playlist in iTunes which is good for staying alert. It's nothing too acoustic, pretty fast and has a good beat. Let's take a look at what's in it.
Dropkick Murphy's - Album: The Warrior's Code (I took out the song Tessie, because I don't want to hear a song about a horseshit team of athletes that play a game I have no interest in)
Less Than Jake - Album: In with the out crowd. A lot of people don't like this latest album from LTJ, because they feel it isn't contrived from Less Than Jake's original ska punk roots, and is more leaning towards a pop sound. However, the ska sound is definitely there, and the theme of the lyrics is at least mostly punk still. The songs seem more synthesized though, which is a bummer, because Less Than Jake play well without it (Album: Losing Streak)
Sonata Artica - Album: For the Sake of Revenge. I got this album last night, and I've played through it six times today. They've got a good sound. I like it.
Millencolin - Album: No Cigar. iTunes says Rock/Pop. I say Sexy/ness
Pennywise - Album: Various songs from all their albums. I'm a big fan of Pennywise, and I've got about 30 of my choice songs in my playlist. Songs from The Fuse (their latest "explosive" album, with political themes, but my favourite song from this album is Disconnect, which is about how everybody is connected via technology, and sometimes we just have to disconnect), Unknown Road, Land of the Free (Key song from this album is Fuck Authority, which I first found out about while watching Rage (Australian MV show). It's got great lyrics, a political message, and is punk rock. What more can you ask?) and Full Circle.
NOFX - Album: The War on Errorism + Pump Up the Valuum + Punk In Drublic + Wolves in Wolves Clothing. I like NOFX a lot, and these four albums symbolise NOFX's greatest material (despite the name of the album The Best Songs Ever Written (By Us) which only features few of the songs in the aforementioned four albums.

Hehe, my download is 69% complete. I'm so fucking tired.

Wow, so so many PSP's get a bad rap. "Oh, the screen is faulty all the fucking time, just look at what Google says, there's 300 and twenty infinitillion articles about PSP dead pixels". Well of course you'll find that many articles, because you searched for "PSP Dead Pixels", you fucking moron.
People only see what they want to see. Just like the raging Linux v Windows debate that constantly goes on (which I have been involved in twice in the last two days via IRC, and it's gotten pretty nasty because of stupid kids voicing their uneducated fanboy opinions). You will never convince a Linux fanboy that Windows is better. I'd like to say "and vice versa", but before when I was a dedicated Windows user, I was shown the capabilities of Linux, and wouldn't have any shame in switching over if I needed to. I can't see why I would though, unless I needed to use a UNIX terminal for some reason. Everything I do can be done on Windows.
Anyway, I think PSP's are great in the same way I think Zune's are great. And that is because they have a large community dedicated to hacking the shit out of them to make them better than their creators are allowed to. There are so many useful PSP homebrew apps that you can get by simply downgrading your PSP to 1.5 (or following complex steps so you can have fw2.7, but trick the PSP into thinking it has 1.5 so you can run homebrew). Despite raging claims that PSP's have major issues with dead pixels, my PSP has never worked anything but flawlessly. I've never experienced unexpected crashes (expected crash = out of battery) from supposed battery failures/leaks. I've never had the memory on my sd card flashed to oblivion. And I've never had dead pixels.
Perception is reality. Although I despise SONY in all shapes and forms (all of their products are shit out of the box, end of story. Hacked... that's a different library full of volumes of stories), I have to commend them on being stupid shitfucker fuck shit asshats by (with each firmware updated) making it increasingly harder to hack your PSP. I guess the morons in the upper echelons don't realise that there's a chance you'll fuck up the downgrade, and destroy your memory in the process, as well as destroying the firmware stored in the PSP. This effectively means you can brick your PSP, forcing you to buy another one. Now, because I'm a marketing fucking genius and the drones and SONY are just simple-minded... well, drones, I'm going to use this post to give them a pointer. I'll use math to illustrate.

Downgrading PSP firmware = Chance to destroy your PSP (percentage variable is determined by how stupid you are).
Customer = Money
Failed downgrade + Customer +  Money = SALES!

Yeah, pure mathematical geinus. I don't think I need proceed with High School anymore, because I'm going to build a business model where people buy products which are incredibly easy to destroy, destroy them, then buy them again. Maybe if SONY's marketing department pulled their thums out of their asses and stopped ROFLMAOing around the office, and realise this equation, they wouldn't be such a disrespected company. They should instead of preventing downgrades, encourage them. Seriously, saying SONY makes me want to spit on the nearest leper. See what you've done SONY? You're given lepers a bad name, assholes.

/me is extremely tired

Some ads placed on websites are so stupid. I don't click on ads based on principle. Who clicks these ads anyway?

Heh, so my friend was telling me about XFN, which I still have no fucking idea is about. We're thinking of creating an XFN-oriented project, just to see what it's like to work into a PHP back-end and create a social service. Should be a fun occupation of time.

I suspect that I don't have a lot of meaningful-thought juice left in me, and I don't want this post to develop into a series of short irrelevant sentences, so I'll end it here. My friend just got back from his parkour session, so maybe I'll talk to him until I die of exhaustion.

Sayonara.