The last year has been a very interesting one. I can't decide if the increasing sense of insanity and surreality are by-products or foundational to the new ideas that have developed in me during 2013.
My hopes and aspirations have changed dramatically. Previously I wanted to study for a PhD and take a role in computer science research. I may still do this, but the drive to move in this direction has waned. I now want to write a book of the insights gained this year. In essence the theory goes like this:
1. Consciousness is illusory. We have brains, evolved to succeed in the world, that construct a sense of the world for our benefit. The idea that we are somehow "fit" for the current world is nonsense and is a complete arrogance (hence the title for the book - The Arrogant Ape).
2. Ego drives our actions.
3. The very structure of our perceptions and thoughts are overlaid upon our more primitive brains. For example our idea of Mathematics being somehow the intrinsic nature of reality is wrong. When we add one to one (and hopefully make two) our mind is simply aware of, and interpreting, the underlying primitive structures' work. This primitive brain doesn't actually use numbers, but a pre-existing set of structures evolved for the world. Maths is not a useful skill for us to have evolved the understanding of; we are able to use this because our Cortex is a set of structures that interpret the primitive aspects of cognition into something that makes sense. This is, of course, not to say that maths isn't useful and that it doesn't work. It does! What I'm saying is that it's a co-incidence that we have understanding of it and that we think it's a true reflection of reality. It isn't.
4. We have to consider ourselves much more similar to other animals than we currently do. Humans have a habit of thinking of themselves as better than everything else in the universe (that arrogance again!), when the truth is that we are simply slightly more thinky than other creatures. Our brains are bigger, but that part that's bigger has a function of giving us sets of awarenesses of our primitive brains. The Neo-Cortex does a lot more than that, however it seems that everything is ultimately filtered through the primitive brain since that's the connection to the world in which we live and thereby the imperative element in our existence.
5. Intelligence is not confined to humans (despite what we may arrogantly think). Intelligence is more accurately defined as a predictable reaction to an input. When we talk about intelligence we need to be more specific about what we mean. Trees are intelligent, atoms are intelligent. Humans, however, can build aeroplanes (trees can't do that yet).
6. The idea that we have now reached the end of an intellectual journey from amoeba to human is a false, but pervasive one - yet again linked to arrogance. In the same way that a field mouse probably cannot understand complex physics, there is a whole heap of understanding out there that is out of our reach - simply because we don't have the brain capacity to be able to comprehend it. The work of particle and quantum physicists shows this. When humans peer into the detail of how the universe works they end up with a theory that's completely crazy to us! Quantum physicist say that if you think you understand it then you probably don't. This is precisely because of the fact that we can't understand it - yet we believe that we should be able to - more arrogance!
It's still early days for the book and I have lots of work to do simply to understand. It feels to me like I'm probing that boundary at which humans can understand - a very difficult and, by definition, impossible task.
My hope is now to write the book that I've been working towards my whole life. Wish me luck!
Friday, October 25, 2013
Three reasons why I used to wear a moustache.
Movember is a fine modern experience for a fella to attempt to grow a moustache on their face whilst bringing more awareness of various male illnesses. It's not something that people of a certain generation do anymore. This is very interesting to me. I think I've talked about fashion and trends before (perhaps even the moustache phenomenon), but it's worth mentioning again briefly.
About one hundred years ago it would be very common for a man to wear facial hair of some description; probably a moustache. About one hundred and fifty years ago a full beard or sideburns would be very common. Up until the 1980s moustaches were fairly common, but there was certainly a trend against them during the last century. Why did these fashions disappear in the later part of the 20th century? There's certainly an inverse correlation between the extent of facial hair in society and scientific progress, but I don't think it's a valid one.
It's confusing to me why this happened, but not a huge problem. Similar things have happened for millennia - in ancient Rome facial hair was less common than in ancient Greece, but occasionally it would see a resurgence (e.g. Marcus Aurelius). Do I expect to see more moustaches and beards in the future? Well there's certainly a bit of a trend in that direction it seems. The fads of Hipsters to wear full beards with short head hair is a good one in my view, but ultimately is facial hair uncivilised? They are generally unclean things - being wiry and difficult to clean etc - and perhaps that's a factor too - men trying to reclaim their masculinity in face of overwhelming feminisation in society? As men learn to come to terms with their feelings do they feel imasculated and hence the need to grow a smelly, ginger beard and pretend like they're Grisly Adams?!
Anyway the psycho-social implications are interesting, but this post is mostly about why I chose to keep my moustache longer than the month prescribed by the Movember movement.
1. I'm a Britain. I mean that in the sense of someone from the British Isles - which includes Ireland and Great Britain. All my genetics (apart from some distant Scandinavian and Iberian connections) seem to be derived from these islands. That makes me a Northern European and whilst this might seem constrictive and I feel that I'm a human being and an inhabitant of Earth first and foremost, it does give me a sense of belonging. This sense is sometimes transient (I would very much like to emigrate to a hot country one day for some time), however I suspect that the ties run deep!
Prone to consider the history of things I wonder about the fashions of my ancestors and when trying to be objective do I wish to maintain their traditions? The British Isles were populated by a loose band of Celts for a long time and the most recent bunch of pre-Romans. The Celts are known for their particular fashions including facial hair in the form of the moustache! Part of why I wore a moustache is because of the connection to the Celtic peoples and history of that fashion. It would be a shame if no-one ever had a moustache again and so I feel that by wearing one it keeps that minor part of history alive (I draw the line at blue body paint though ..).
2. My father had a moustache for significant lengths of time during my childhood. For many periods during the 1970s and 1980s my dad wore one. Not only that, but growing up in a mining village in Yorkshire it must have been very common to see men with 'taches. I think this must have had an influence, although it's not a conscious one. It's still a stereotype of northern men (and a funny one), but there is something about it that appeals...
3. Confounding expectation is something I like to do. I don't want to upset anyone, but if, by sporting some unusual facial hair, I can change perceptions then it would be worthwhile. So many humans spend their lives in a daze - a sort of day-dreaming state where they question nothing and seek only pleasure and entertainment. It is a bad way to behave and by shaking things up a little it may be some remedy for this social malaise.
So there are three reasons. I'm not growing a moustache this year, even though I would like to. The social stigma is actually too great for me to take with the things I'm working on at the moment. In future I think I will, however, and these reasons will definitely form a part of the decision to do so.
About one hundred years ago it would be very common for a man to wear facial hair of some description; probably a moustache. About one hundred and fifty years ago a full beard or sideburns would be very common. Up until the 1980s moustaches were fairly common, but there was certainly a trend against them during the last century. Why did these fashions disappear in the later part of the 20th century? There's certainly an inverse correlation between the extent of facial hair in society and scientific progress, but I don't think it's a valid one.
It's confusing to me why this happened, but not a huge problem. Similar things have happened for millennia - in ancient Rome facial hair was less common than in ancient Greece, but occasionally it would see a resurgence (e.g. Marcus Aurelius). Do I expect to see more moustaches and beards in the future? Well there's certainly a bit of a trend in that direction it seems. The fads of Hipsters to wear full beards with short head hair is a good one in my view, but ultimately is facial hair uncivilised? They are generally unclean things - being wiry and difficult to clean etc - and perhaps that's a factor too - men trying to reclaim their masculinity in face of overwhelming feminisation in society? As men learn to come to terms with their feelings do they feel imasculated and hence the need to grow a smelly, ginger beard and pretend like they're Grisly Adams?!
Anyway the psycho-social implications are interesting, but this post is mostly about why I chose to keep my moustache longer than the month prescribed by the Movember movement.
1. I'm a Britain. I mean that in the sense of someone from the British Isles - which includes Ireland and Great Britain. All my genetics (apart from some distant Scandinavian and Iberian connections) seem to be derived from these islands. That makes me a Northern European and whilst this might seem constrictive and I feel that I'm a human being and an inhabitant of Earth first and foremost, it does give me a sense of belonging. This sense is sometimes transient (I would very much like to emigrate to a hot country one day for some time), however I suspect that the ties run deep!
Prone to consider the history of things I wonder about the fashions of my ancestors and when trying to be objective do I wish to maintain their traditions? The British Isles were populated by a loose band of Celts for a long time and the most recent bunch of pre-Romans. The Celts are known for their particular fashions including facial hair in the form of the moustache! Part of why I wore a moustache is because of the connection to the Celtic peoples and history of that fashion. It would be a shame if no-one ever had a moustache again and so I feel that by wearing one it keeps that minor part of history alive (I draw the line at blue body paint though ..).
2. My father had a moustache for significant lengths of time during my childhood. For many periods during the 1970s and 1980s my dad wore one. Not only that, but growing up in a mining village in Yorkshire it must have been very common to see men with 'taches. I think this must have had an influence, although it's not a conscious one. It's still a stereotype of northern men (and a funny one), but there is something about it that appeals...
3. Confounding expectation is something I like to do. I don't want to upset anyone, but if, by sporting some unusual facial hair, I can change perceptions then it would be worthwhile. So many humans spend their lives in a daze - a sort of day-dreaming state where they question nothing and seek only pleasure and entertainment. It is a bad way to behave and by shaking things up a little it may be some remedy for this social malaise.
So there are three reasons. I'm not growing a moustache this year, even though I would like to. The social stigma is actually too great for me to take with the things I'm working on at the moment. In future I think I will, however, and these reasons will definitely form a part of the decision to do so.
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