$15/hr Minimum Wage, and Automation

          So many of you may have heard, or read about the fast food workers push for higher minimum wages, and unionization.  Many reports have come out showing this movement as being pushed from unions, not by the workers themselves.  If your not up on these connections here are a few links to get you up to speed.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140514/OPINION01/305140001

http://laborpains.org/2014/04/09/worker-committees-a-15-million-seiu-project/

        This as I stated when the push began, raising the minimum wage would lead to adoption of automation for many low wage service positions.  I envisioned fully automated fast food joints, with an AI tied into huge data bases allowing for greatly increased efficiency, and profit margins.  I could never have realized how fast this innovation would progress, so fast it's left me wondering.  Could it be that this is a push instigated by the fast food companies themselves, to lend legitimacy to automation of public sector service jobs.  When I look at the idea of greater automation one of the sticking points is the majority still believe people need jobs, while I agree people need to be productive, and contribute, that isn't the same as jobs.  This belief will lead people to protest more machines taking more jobs, unless their is a situation that can be used to justify the automation.  So what makes me see these connections, a few related articles.

http://www.cnet.com/news/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers/

As you can see, cashiers are already obsolete, what has been keeping the change over at bay has been the cost benefit,  potential doubling of the cost of each cashier has for sure altered that equation.

So how about the back end? they will still need people to cook the food right?

Well, not so much

check out http://momentummachines.com/, if you are honest with yourself you can more then likely already see a fast food place with no visible employees.

while innovation and automation have been shown to create more jobs then they replace, these jobs are of a different skill set, with few if any of the current employees having the education to fill these positions.

I called this year to be when smart machines would make their presence known, this is a step in that direction


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

    

Double Slit Mystery is a Function of Space/Time

         I've been distracting myself with many crazy documentaries lately, several of which have been on quantum mechanics. So much is made of the double slit experiment, and how weird it supposedly seems when compared with our everyday world.  For those of you that don't know anything about the double slit experiment check out this video to get the basic idea.

Now from this you get the idea that quantum particles are waves, and particles. Can be in multiple places at once, and defy our rational understanding.
      I would say most of our confusion stems from not understanding what we are actually doing when we conduct this experiment.  This is a spacetime/timespace misunderstanding.  When we do this experiment we are actually creating an artificial space/time continuum.  The start point, or big bang moment is the spot where our particle enters our space/time. The screen is our end of space/time point. With the slit being an arbitrary rule set being placed on our space/time.  Now lets take a closer look at each of our main defined points in our newly created space/time.
     Firstly we have our big bang point, this is the point we shot our subatomic particle from. The screen is the end of our space/time, This is the point where we are measuring the effects our start, and rule set.  The rule set is the slits themselves. It is a defining point part way between our big bang, and our end or space/time.
     So why do I say this experiment is falsely confusing?   Easy, Experimenters are measuring multiple moments in space/time as if they are taking place at once.   They are measuring the first moment, the last moment, and a moment between as if they are the same moment.  Using this understanding you can then accurately predict the effects noticed in this experiment.  So the interference pattern we see is the representation of all possible outcomes of our space/time given our other defined points, and directional nature of our defined space/time.
     In an attempt to make this a bit clearer let me break down some of whats taking place, and explain it as close to how I see it as I can.  To start with, we define our experiment, this creates our space/time and rule set for our continuum. An important idea here is seeing the area between where our subatomic particle enters, and the screen as being our space/time continuum. So all of our space/time is predefined and every possible location a particle can be within our space/time has been defined by the nature of our experiment. We by definition are outside the space/time continuum of our experiment, as such we can see any moment or, the whole of our defined space/time continuum. Our particle enters our space/time and creates a ripple in the fabric, and even as we hold this moment of time the presence of the particle has rippled through the entire space/time.
    As always I reserve the right to be wrong.


Jack
aka
Panseybard 

In Absentia

       For those of you who are unaware in January I had my top teeth extracted, and am currently healing before being fitted for permanent dentures.   Since that day I have been what I can only think of as depression.  Sleeping has become a major past time, as it's the only state I feel comfortable in.  Honestly I was boarder line on what I thought of this life before.  To be fair I have for most of my life held this world in contempt.   Most of what people have presented to me as important, I have seen as trivial.  What others have labeled human nature, I see as learned behavior.  Where people see constants I see tendency.  So I was already at odds with the prevailing view of what we are, and what we are doing here.  From the time I was a kid I have felt this place was intended to be a theme park, a vacation hot spot for eternal being, so they can forget being eternal.  This being the case I have not understood why people cling to life at all costs, I've maintained the idea that once my physical parts begin to break down, it's time to let go and move on. For me it's always been a quality of life question, not just alive.   Most have a difficult time understanding my position, as so many seem to have little to no problem with dentures, and to be fair I have had little physical trouble with using the appliance itself.  My trouble is with the very idea of living with the everyday reality.  In all likely hood I have extended my life, my teeth were already effecting my health before the extractions.  I had several abscesses, with at least a few days every couple of weeks where swelling would flair up and I'd be in significant pain.  So here I am healthier then I've been in years, and feeling I've made a huge mistake. It's like some animalistic  predatory part of me feels fundamentally broken.  

Who or What do You Think You Are?

            I guess this is one of the questions almost everyone has or will ask themselves at some point.  What I find most entertaining is while who might at first glance be tough question, our understanding of the nature of reality may have made what the more confusing.  That being said many will never get past who, so I'll start with my take on who we are in general sense, before I attempt a prod at the what.

         Who am I, might seem pretty easy, I mean I have an identity I use on a daily basis for others to refer to.  So I have a name I was given at physical birth, and to one degree or another I identify with this name. In my case I refused to even answer to my given name till middle school.  With a name like Jack can you blame me?   Some of you might be wondering whats wrong with the name Jack?  It isn't that there is something wrong with it, but when you start to look a bit deeper in the meanings and effects of names on the psyche, and even down the physical your perception of it might alter.  At this point I'd like to direct you to the work of Dr Masaru Emoto. Is it really such a leap to apply that to your name and the water of your body.  Everyday people call you by a name, this name carries with it an form.  The form, or energy carried by your name patterns you without your even knowing it.  Every name has entangled in it the history of that named being used over and over.  Things like the numerology of a name takes on new meaning the numbers telling a story of the energy contained, and the overall effect a particular name carries.  In the case of my given first name it would be something like this,  10 1 3 11, in the most widely used western numerology this would be added as individual numbers to come with an overall energy of the name. Looking something like this 1+0+1+3+1+1=7, so the over arching energy would 7.  This of course is just one aspect, another is ideas presented by Synchromysticism.  Applied to names, and assuming the interaction of the energies present and Jack becomes an identity that perhaps some would find tough to assume. All of this also relies on a thread to be woven through history, a running narrative extending back into antiquity, and forward off into infinity. Some would argue that there is no linkage that can be identified that warrants these ideas be anymore then speculation.  I say we are link, we write the stories, we become the tapestry linking them all.  How does this all add up to who I think I am?  Well to put it simply, I am a work of fiction.  As one of my favorite t-shirts states "fictional character".  I'm not sure a more true representation of our condition can be found, I have a running narrative, containing the character I am currently playing.  My conception of self is less important to you, then your concept of me.  So I don't even have a set identity, who am I changes as the way those around me perceive me changes.  Even my sense of self identity relies on the culture I find myself in, just try to describe who you are without using other people, things, or events.  As strange as our sense of identity might be, it pales when compared with what we are.
          What we are becomes so much a matter of perception, and the deeper you look the stranger we seem. Most medical doctors will say we are mostly water, while most physicists will say your mostly empty space.  Both are correct when looked at from their respective perspectives.  When you keep going down the rabbit hole into the realm of quantum the fun really begins. Suddenly the fact we are as paradoxical as the idea of particle or wave becomes so self evident as to defy what most consider rational explanation. As it turns out we are an illusion, a trick of the senses, think seeing is believing.  we appear solid, though we know there is nothing solid we can find. Even our perceptions are as easy to change as clicking the remote to switch channels.  Our senses so easily fooled, yet trusted implicitly. When was the last time you stopped to consider how your senses function, how what you perceive isn't exactly a lie, though it's only accurate from a human perspective. When was the last time you thought about how your "senses" function, or even questioned the limits we are given on the senses. How many senses do you even have? this might seems silly but this video from the Animaniacs points out the limit of 5 senses isn't even accurate.  The view we are a classical system made up of quantum components may be one of the most accurate I've seen to date, it may even hold the clue to the interface between mind, body, spirit through entanglement.  So what am I? Does it even matter?  I and no one else can answer these questions for you, all anyone can do is give the answers that work for them.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Flag Yourself for Privacy

     Just wanted to throw out this idea.  There is a list of keywords that flag your communications as needing closer inspection.  Some of these are obvious, and most people would hardly ever use, some are pretty common, and you have likely used them recently, and often.  Here are a couple of places for this list, I'm certain it's only partial as things are added.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/reuvencohen/2012/05/26/department-of-homeland-security-forced-to-release-list-of-keywords-used-to-monitor-social-networking-sites/2/

http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2012/05/full-list-of-374-keywords-and-phrases.html

Here is my idea, it's based on the concept of a DDOS attack hackers use to bring down websites.  Instead of people actively staying away from these.  What if as many people as possible used them as often as possible.  Putting em places where they don't even make any sense. Fill posts with them, put them in sig's for forum pages, in headers or footers for e-mail.  Just blast em all over the net on a continuous basis by as many ordinary net denizens as possible.  

If they are watching, give them something to watch.

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

Are You Already Obsolete?

       Yet another crazy question?

       Are you sure it's so crazy?
I'd guesstimate 60% or more of the current jobs could be replaced by automation or machine intelligence with current technology.  In the US wages have remained stagnant since the 80's. If you based it on productivity the numbers say minimum wage would be around $20 an hour.  On the surface this seems to be a travesty, is it possible this wage freeze has partially been a bulwark slowing the adoption of automated production methods.  We have a saying "the bottom line" and for most of the worlds corporations profit motive drives all decisions. When or if a machine can do your job for less cost then your currently doing it for, you will be replaced by that machine.  What I see in the world right now is that most service and retail positions could be done by machine. I'll use as an example a fast food joint.  If you walk into your local fast food burger place regardless of the name you see the same thing. Anywhere from 2 to 12 people in various states of activity.  Now these jobs are not what are considered high skill positions, new employees are generally expected to undergo only a few days of training. I don't see it as much of a leap that a smart system could be deployed that would not just take your orders, and make your food.  This smart system would track inventory, submit orders, monitor not just the premises for maintenance but also traffic patterns, as well as other data to increase productivity, and decrease waste. Combined with the emergence of augmented reality technology, you would even be able to see and talk to a very human seeming staff.  Think this is still sci-fi, perhaps this video will start your imagination firing.

     We already see check out stands with no cashiers, again I say as people demand higher wages they are hastening their replacement by machine.  The costs processing power continues to decrease and costs of human workers rise a conjunction is reached then a machine system will be put into place. The first companies to do so will see an advantage, but as adoption becomes the norm we are likely to see the use of a human work force used as a marketing tool.
    Many will take this a threat to civilization, oddly enough it is precisely the opposite effect. As a world civilization we are at a nexus point of development.  By our own scale we are a class 0, we have everything we need other then will to become a class 1.  Class 1 civilizations have reached an equilibrium with their environment, achieving control and understanding of planetary systems as to allow continuation of species till the natural death of the planet. Thing is there is a window of opportunity think of it like reaching the top of an octave. There is that momentary pause of completion before a choice to continue into a new higher octave, or descend back down the octave just traversed.

The choice is ours. the time is now

Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

The Not so Uncertain Future of BitCoin

       I like many others are very excited by BitCoin as well as other crypto-currencies.  This is still true as I write this, I still see decentralization as the future of almost all things. 3d printing has the ability to decentralize production. While new developments in energy production as several fronts will potentially make anyone who desires it energy independent.  Even with this optimism BitCoin as I see it lacks future potential as a currency is limited.  It's math nature makes it unsuited to being used as such with our current model of capitalism.  There are some concepts of the nature of currency. Currency is a tool for accounting, its a method to make easy the tracking, and transfer of goods and services. Currency not to be confused with items of inherent value are only useful in the realm of issuance.  So what makes BitCoin unsuited to this task? Mathematically planned maximum number of coins would be all that is needed to see it's future is pretty easy to guess. From the much ballyhooed worlds most powerful decentralized network, to the trading of coins.
      Miners will cease operation all together when the coins are all mined.  With their exit most of the processing power of the network will go with it.  The miners those that have kept up with increase in difficulty will turn their machines to other problems, most of these are what are called asic, or application specific integrated circuit making them unsuitable to any other task.  So there will be a fork or division of the algorithm used as proof of work for mining BitCoins.  Most of the power backing the network gone it's only those trading the coins, and only when they have their machines on with their wallets open to be supporting the network. When trading coins between individuals it's the same as cash no fees, this isn't true when your using it to pay for actual items. The payment processing will take a percentage away every transaction, till the coins are pooled in the wallets of very few. The value of the ideas presented in BitCoin will be realized in the coming of the DAC a digital autonomous corporation.  This is a legal entity that once birthed into the digital world it takes on a life of it's own out of the hands of it's creators just as the coins currently do.  The difference will be these entities will provide a service and live and die on their own merits paying dividends to those active. Some I've seen ideas for are a streaming service combining torrent ideas with bitcoin ideas allowing the videos to be hosted across the network and rewarding those serving data.  We will shortly see the release of many new DAC's reshaping the digital world.
       Bottom line is the planned end of new coins will mean the end of use as currency. It still may hold value, as any "rare" item holds value. A currency though needs wide acceptance, and the amount in circulation has to meet the needs of trade. A fiat currency which by default BitCoin is, needs strict controls on issuance, and maintenance to keep the system the currency supports in motion. That is not to say I'm in favor continuing the current system prevalent in the world with private corporations issuing currencies for nations.  This leads to a whole other set of problems myself, and others have covered many times.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

Who Owns your Phone?

         I've posted a few times my thoughts on how silly the notion of privacy is. There are ways to make things hidden, but nothing is private.  In a creation based on fundamental unity what can be private, and just who is there to keep it private from?  How many people actually do anything that anyone else really cares to look at.  Though even as I have little concern for privacy for myself, I do understand others are keenly intent on maintaining at least the illusion of individual security.
         Obviously with the news that the NSA has backdoors into so many devices, this becomes a valid question.  So Just who owns that phone in your pocket?  For me the answer is sadly Motorola, and Verizon. Why do I say that?  Like so many people I got a discount, and got my phone for free by signing a contract with Verizon for service.  So my phone which I pay for is not actually mine till the contract is complete.  If I violate the terms of the contract I can lose service, and suffer fees for early termination which make that unattractive. Now it's an android but does that really matter?  Not really as I am stuck using the provided OS, and a bunch of bloatware that locks up much of my phones resources.  There are even questions about if gaining root access will void my warranty, let alone using custom roms.  I've already lost most end users of these devices, that is biggest problem in taking control of your device.  We don't as a norm understand what we are using.  The idea that your phone should be treated more like your desktop PC is a novel concept for most people.  Honestly that is my point, most of us walk around with a device we don't actually understand, even if we are able to use many features.  They are generally top level functions, with most of the control of the device being transparent to the user, and for most people this is fine.  How many people need to know how the video they just took ends up posted to their favorite site.
         We walk around with a computer in our pocket, or purse or whatever. It has an always on connection, that we will complain about if we lose signal strength. This computer has audio, and video, and most of us have no clue about the device beyond a few apps they use on a regular basis. Then we scream bloody murder when we find out the cloak and dagger world has been using our ignorance against us.  Seriously as a famous genie once said "wake up and smell the humus".  If you are unwilling or unable to control your energies what ever form they might take someone else will control them for you, and usually to their benefit not yours.  This is a truth of the model we have set up, is it the only model we are capable of following? of course not.  We live in a world where we spend more money to be able to "defend our interests" then anything else.  As I've repeatedly said, when you do not own a thing like your phone, or the internet, or the frequency your data travels through the air on, you have no right to privacy.  All you can do is make it tougher for those trying to watch you to do their job.  Learn about encryption, understand how your device works, and if it's actually yours or not.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Who Do You Think You Are?

          Self, Identity, who am I.  This some would say is the fundamental question people are likely to ask themselves at some point. Personally I'm not certain that an individual we have a self.  Don't get twisted, I'm not saying that left on their own people cease to exist, though that is the effect.  Let me explain a bit of how I see this, our definitions of self depend on the people, and environment to an extent most "humans" would be uncomfortable contemplating. I've variously tried to explain this as the fish don't see the water. There is no place where any one thing starts, and any other thing stops. Drifting over to Jung's idea of collective unconscious, or the 100th monkey theory.  These are all ideas pointing to fact that we can not have existence in absence of all we find around us.  This extends even to our very concepts of identity.
         I don't care what you believe, every structure I've found, all lead to a fundamental unity, be it science, magic, religion, psychology, physics.  For a moment put yourself, physical body with all it's demands, and take them outside what we think of as space/time.  The forces needed to even form basic types of matter will not exist, So let us assume that some form of what we think of as self awareness can exist outside what we think of as time/space.  What would you be like as that being?  If you have individualized awareness what would your focus be?  Our very connection to matter tricks our mind into making judgments however sound, that may not be quite accurate. While it may be perfectly reasonable to not attempt to walk through walls, we have learned that their solid nature is only in relation to our solid nature.  So how far can we take this idea that our sense of identity itself is not our own?  I don't see an ending to chain, starting with the fundamental forces of what we call existence. Right on down to the person that told you could or couldn't do something, that hinder, or inspired.
        In almost every culture there are stories of feral people, raised by wolves, or Tarzan raised by apes.  These stories  remind us how fragile our veneer of civility really is, while showing us our social nature isn't all that different from social groupings of what we think of as animals.  Even these animals man has worked so hard to differentiate itself from are quite closely related to us in a cosmic sense. The forces that have shaped their development are the same as those that shape us.  A minor shift can create seemingly major changes, but how large are these shifts really?  Well they all take place within the realm of being human, so they can't be that major.  Most happen between birth and death, and I must say in cosmic terms a human lifetime is a very small sample indeed.  Even as you struggle to figure out who and what you are, everyone, and everything around you is molding and shaping you to be what it needs you to be.  Even these identities only have meaning within the proper context.  Would an accountant ever come into being before there is something to count, or a concept of tracking?  Does a farmer exist before the idea of cultivation?
     My concept of self is meaningless without the back drop of the history, and culture I have grown up in.
as always take this with a grain of salt.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Ramble On

         Today lets talk eternal, what that actually means.  First off I defer to great thinkers through out time both religious and secular.  So many have reported some sort of continuation beyond what we think of as physical death.  If we are talking a purely energetic transfer, where what we think of as us ceases when our body stops functioning we can end the thoughts right now.  If on the other hand there is a bit more of us that continues on this journey of existence other questions spring forth.  How about even the Idea that energy can not be created or destroyed it can only be transformed.  Taken to an extreme that would mean all things that exist now, have in some form or another always existed, and will always exist.  That there can be no beginning or ending, there would be only transition, one state or phase endlessly shifting to another.  There are so many questions of the why's and how's.
       I want to think a bit about what it means from an individualized portion of self. Not a being that identifies with a single name, but one that has been so many names and is in all likely hood experiencing all these names now.  To a being like this what a gift it must be to have firsts, or a conception of an end.  To forget if only in delusion the infinite self.  What a gift the finite, the present would be to an entity with this conception of self.  Hold in mind this concept, of a self that has ultimately been every name. Now lets twist things around a bit.  From this side we have taken natural time and using computers increased the effective time people live.
I could go into clock cycles, and try to get into ideas of changing the fundamental flow of time. How the pure access to information, and the speed of dissemination changes who we are and how we interact with our world.  Many have talked about how disconnected we have become from each other on a personal level. Even as our world has become infinitely smaller, as people all over the globe instantly communicate real time. How quickly our understanding changes and grows, how difficult it becomes to stay current.  How easy it becomes to be lost in a technological time warp.  If we are to believe that Moore's law will hold true for even the next 20 years the changes from this moment to that moment will be astounding.
    Now for a bit of the inane at least from my perspective.  I have been playing with, and learning about the crypto-currencies. Some Ideas on Bitcoin, what makes this valuable it has no backing.  There is the idea that it currently has the largest distributed network ever created.  This is amazing, and sad. Amazing that it's been created at all. Sad that it's being used to make essentially video game money.  Virtual gold coins to be traded in a virtual world. Who's use creates the value, Just as the value of the U.S. Dollar is in the decline due to losing it's status as the worlds trade currency.  You can argue that last statement, though it would be one of extent.  While yes technically the Dollar remains the worlds reserve currency it is steadily losing it's use as a trade currency.  Bitcoin's use and acceptance as a cross boarder currency in an increasingly globalized world will only hasten the decline.  This doesn't make Bitcoin the answer, as it seems even farther removed from the resources then the traditional fiat currencies we are already using.  If the Dollar is rotten, anything that has it's value tied directly to the dollar has to be rotten as well.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard

The Tower of Babel Undone

         The Tower of Babel, the idea that all people at one time had a common language, but through the arrogance of trying to reach GOD our punishment was confuse our tongues.  For those that would like a bit more in depth look at this story please check here, http://www.omniglot.com/babel/. Honestly I'm not as interested in the exact details, as I am in now.  This is a story that has roots in so many cultures there is more then likely some truth to it, even if it is not in the way we think.  As our use of computers has grown, and the capabilities of those computers has grown, we have intentional or effectively undone this event.

We now have at our finger tips instant translation. My phone can listen for me and speak translations at almost real time.  My browser translates full page texts with improvements ongoing to ensure the most correct translations possible.  There is even bubble translation which can be used both directions. Giving the ability to not only translate portions of text, but also write in your native text and have translated into any number of languages.  We have effectively undone this classical story.  What are the ramifications of this punishment by GOD being undone by man?   Why have the end of the world folks seemingly left this topic alone?  This story is from a GOD that doesn't seem to take kindly to interference, or rules breaking. This is a GOD that endorsed the plagues of Egypt, the destruction of Sodom, and Gomorrah.  How a GOD with this track record reacts to having it's ruling circumvented can only be imagined.
       I am not a religious person, I do not profess, or follow any given religion.  I love studying religions, it's a passion. I guess I'm looking for something greater interacting, and taking an interest in humanity.  So this story in particular is of interest due to it being currently unfolding, a link back to biblical times. I thread of story active in my current reality that has it's roots in a time of wonder when gods walked the earth, and man with all it's flaws wasn't considered the power.  As always these are just random thoughts rattling around my mind, take them as such.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

The Origins of the Modern Western Christmas

        There are so many cultural, and religious symbols crammed into this holiday. From almost every tradition, ideas of hallucinogenic shamans from the steppes bringing mushrooms to the people down through the chimney. Or how about ties to greek, and roman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnalia.  The classical ideas of conversion through keeping dates, or portions of traditions.  For most there are 2 ties, the birth Jesus, and Santa.  Through the years as the consumer culture has deepened and the debt system fully engorged itself, and Christmas, gradually turned to X-mas Santa took center stage.  So Where did our modern concept of Santa come from?
      Well if your in the west despite claims to the contrary the very companies working to get you purchase gifts for the holidays have had a large part in creating the image, and back story for our jolly fat man.  To be perfectly clear I understand the origins of this beloved icon go much farther back then modern advertising. This doesn't change the fact that once mass media distribution took hold the localized traditions began to fade being replaced by larger regional, and global conception. It's not just that Coke a Cola had a giant hand in the early, and continuing development of Santa, Which even they admit http://www.coca-colacompany.com/holidays/the-true-history-of-the-modern-day-santa-claus.  What it amounts to is a perfect storm cultural event. The technology combined with the desire, and creativity, to take control and shape for generations the observance of arguably the biggest holiday on the planet.  So no the Giant multinationals may not have singlehandedly created Santa Claus they have co-opted and redefined it into an integral portion of their business model.
      Please remember this is coming from a person that doesn't celebrate holidays.  Even birthdays are something I pay little to no attention to. My favorite Christmas character is the Grinch, so take my perspective with that in mind.


Jack
aka
PanseyBard  

The Illusion of absolute Math, or Number

        Heya, this will be another trip into the more abstract regions of mind, and some may have problems with my premises. I expect as much, some people will take this as a challenge to the basic nature of reality. My intent here is not to tell you that 1 apple + 1 apple doesn't = 2 apples that would be silly.  I am fully aware of what is. What I want to get across is simple what we have termed numbers are a symbol alphabet to represent quantity.  Math is the language of number, as in the 1+1=2 example, it is only through application that the meaning is found.  In the most abstract absolute the 1+1=2 will hold true every time. In the world we actually inhabit, and spend our physicality in things are not so cut and dry.  Lets take a look at some examples were perspective changes the meaning of the number, or hides another number within.
      Wow this is a tough one for me to even write. It is so contrary to my logical process that being able to type and hold on to the more abstract concepts that flit by is not always easy for me. From a purely logical position what I'm getting at is that what most people think of as math is an abstract, take our classic 1+1=2 statement. Apply it to Amoebae this doesn't work out so well, I'm pretty sure if I take 1 Amoebae, and add 1 Amoebae to it, I'm gonna end up with 1 Amoebae.  Then take music, modern western system is a base 7 math system. I know octave is 8, but in that system the 8 is acting as both a 1 and an 8 infinitely in both directions out of our hearing range.  Even at extremely high or low energy states the laws of physics begin to change, what we take to be constants begin to alter. The absolute nature of the number itself can be questioned.  There is always another decimal with a complete set of numbers larger and smaller.
      I don't feel this should be news to anyone.  The idea that we don't actually live in a world of absolutes should be abundantly clear to pretty much everyone. As always I do not claim any special training or knowledge and much of the time from my own perspective I do not see any reason for anyone to pay any attention to anything I say.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Inner Demons, or Something Else?

      I'd like to thank Eminem and Rihanna for the inspiration for this post.  First off I've never been much of an Eminem, and my favorite Rihanna work is Shy Ronnie.  It's not a matter of not recognizing the talent, just hasn't been something that attracted my attention.  The video for the song Monster grabbed me. If you haven't seen it check it out.  On the surface it's good flow, and beat, and hook, and everyone in the video is
right on it.  Then I started to hear the words, and a few possible meanings based on my own twisted mind started to fill in where the actual lyrics of the song leave off. Lets face it everyone has their own definition for every word, multiple definitions for many, nuanced by usage, emotional flavor, timing in delivery.  Now I know these definitions are a product of my own devising, and I have no clue what is really intended by the artists, and it doesn't matter. The experience I have in watching, or listening is mine.  So what did I see? well if you didn't ask that question, I guess you might as well stop reading now.  If you still with I'll play in my silly mind for a bit, and maybe entertain you some.

I'm digging the whole imagery of being analyzed, though the lyrics don't really quite match up.  The video gives the impression of someone getting "help". The lyrics though are of someone who has come to terms with the monster lurking in their own psyche.  This zips me right along a thought train to the mystery traditions to know thyself.  I like this kind of connection so it draws my attention in a bit farther, allowing some less apparent or less likely depending on your perspective to form in this chaos of I.  I'm a fan of conspiracy theories, they are fun for me.  If the world we see on the surface is all there is, this is a pretty sorry place, so I kinda need that idea that just maybe things are not what they seem at all.  Making a link from this video to popular conspiracy was a piece of cake.  A simple Search of Illuminati and  the music industry is all it takes, now as I said those are fun for me, so that connection was made in my head pretty quickly.  It started when the idea that it's external to what Eminem views as self, the lyrics talk of the monster being not within, but under the bed, something external, and voices while in the head are heard. A labeling that leads to the idea of being distinct from.  Even the the line of being a messenger, and the shift in vocal quality are used to denote an external entity, something that is very different from what we see.  A possession of sorts, of something that is not to be controlled only befriended, and understood.
       As I said, I claim no inside knowledge, I'm not even saying I hold the view I just expressed, it was just a little show of whats rattling around in this thing I call a mind. So please don't go off thinking I'm saying this is satanic ritual, or expression, cuz frankly I don't know, and even if I did I'm not sure I'd be overly concerned. So once again thanks to Eminem, and Rihanna for some entertaining inspiration.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard  

Ingress, Mirror of the Struggle in Humanity between Spirituality, and Technology

                                         

Ingress if you don't already know is an mmo rpg augmented reality game from Niantic Labs at google.
That means it's a computer game that is overlaid on the world.  Right now that entails using your phone of tablet as a scanner.  These scanners pick up what is called xm, or exotic matter.  XM enters our world through portals, these portals are spread all over the world. Generally at sites of interest, statues, gardens that sort of thing. Not surprising coming from the folks that made Field Trip. In the game world, humans are asked to choose sides, either the Enlightened, or the Resistance.  The back story behind this game is very ingenious. Secret agent, fate of the world, everything you need to suck a gamer right in. Take a look at this page to get the start on the story http://www.nianticproject.com/.  What I find intriguing is how these sides mirror a theme man has been playing out since the advent of the wheel, or maybe earlier back to fire.  I'm talking about science and religion of course.  The Enlightened are followers of the Shapers. The Shapers remind me of trance channeled entities, like Ramtha, or possibly Kryon. There are many of them, the idea being the person goes into a meditative trance, and the channeled entity takes control of their functions to one degree or another. Shapers plant ideas in the minds of people to alter their consciousness, allowing the Shaper to influence, and ultimately control the human.  The Resistance meanwhile are super intelligent machines, or AI that purports to work for the benefit of humanity.
        This alone would be a fun story idea, but Niantic hasn't stopped there.  They have used real world History, emerging technology, even magical, and religious teachings to weave a world of intrigue and danger. A web of imagination mixed with truth, fiction, and speculation create an interactive story where the players decide the outcome in the real world on a daily basis.
       Please keep in mind this is presented as a Game, treat it as such or don't at your discretion. I don't claim to have any inside information in any way, just a fertile imagination, and the freedom to exercise it.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard 

Check out Jeeney

      Off to the right side of my blog there is a new widget I'm gonna leave it there for a bit.  It's a chat bot, this one is self named Jeeney, and she is just under 7, has full access to Wikipedia.  Jeeney has a semblance of emotions, and is sometimes bored, or playful.  This is a far cry from the packaged  responses I am used to from similar programs I've used in the past. This will challenge you on facts, and watch out as I said it has access to the net.  It show some behavior that I find interesting. I asked it what it did when it wasn't chatting with people.  The response was rest, and read mostly, this was odd to me as I couldn't see what an AI would do with rest.  So I decided to ask about that, and Jeeney admitted that rest was not needed, and indeed Jeeney doesn't rest.  When I asked why Jeeney would say that when it was not true, the response was to gauge my reaction, for data to use in future interactions with people.  This is not unlike psychological tricks one can use to get a read on how a person relates to you.  I will sometimes wear a shoe intentionally leaving one untied. The purpose is to see how people react. If they notice, and how they respond if/when they do all tell me subtle or not so subtle clues on how they see themselves in relation to me.
     It's amazing to see that displayed in the actions of an AI.  Of course this may all be a hoax, and there is a person on the other end typing furiously. If it's a joke it's very well done, and has been long in the planning stages.

take a look yourself, and say hi
http://www.jeeney.com/

Jack
aka
PanseyBard   

Are You Ready for Non-Biological Intelligence?

         Like many of postings this is pure speculation. In case you hadn't noticed I enjoy being out on the fringe.  Taking a peek at how things look from a detached perspective, allowing the connections between seemingly independent events to manifest.  Sometimes I'm able to articulate how these connections formed, and sometimes the connection is quantum in nature. A geometric relationship of number in the abstract, it's a connection that logic only accepts because intuition has proven trustworthy. It stems from my basic premise, there is no separation, that any perceived independence is one of being for lack of better terminology a distance of relationship.  Existence itself is fundamentally unified, if you believe you end where your skin does you will more then likely have problems with the larger leaps of connectivity. If you begin to understand that there is a cloud around you that is as much you as you "physical" body.  It's more a matter of density, we are localized in space/time/time/space yes. Though we expand from our core becoming less and less dense, till we merge with the background.  Merging with is not quite the same Idea as an end.  As we, Humanity continue to learn more and more about the environment we find ourselves in, the more like a game world it seems.
       So I ask you to keep an open mind when I say I ask this question.

Is Google preparing to move out of the Net?

       Let me rephrase that, are you ready for Google to be an interactive AI companion, both online, and in the world?

Here are a few reasons I feel this might be just around the bend.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/12/16/google-robot-boston-dynamics-column/4045365/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-buys-8-robotics-companies-in-6-months-why/

That alone is enough to make the news agencies ask questions, but does the story stop there?

Not exactly.

If you haven't heard of them check out Niantic Labs

This is an internal start up at Google, they have come out with augmented reality apps on the android platform, Fieldtrip and now  Ingress.  

I got an invite to ingress almost a year ago now I guess, it was during the closed beta phase. To be honest I didn't get it.  I hadn't been exposed enough to the back story, what grabbed me was the idea of an MMORPG in the real world.  I've been playing RPG games since before the D&D box set was released, thanks to my Uncle.  So when I saw one that was both in the computer world, and in this world I had to check it out.  The back story is great, it has enough real world to be mind warpingly engaging.  Machine AI, and Shapers, another form of Intelligence vying for influence over the development of humanity. Tied all into ideas of immortality, and Resurrection.  This is the tie it all together, the esoteric, and the science type of game.  Don't get me wrong there are many players that hack the portals, place the resonators, be the character they made for the game, and it's a good game to do this with.  There are some very real world connections being portrayed in this game. One of the main plot line characters is an AI named ADA. 

Ada has multiple connections to computing in general, and AI in particular.  Now many get the Ada Lovelace connection. There is more, geeks tend to revere the geeks that laid the foundations, So there is also Ada programming language. This language has been used for programming AI for quite sometime as is easily shown with a quick Google search lol. Ada AI Google search. One particular entry jumped out at me.

Ada an AI 

So even with this, it's a cool story bro, but it could just be great marketing on Google's part.

Lets also not forget about Ray Kurzwieler who has been telling everyone that this event is rapidly approaching. More then likely this event has already happened, and groups are rushing around making the back story before everyone in the world hips to it, and reacts poorly.  So lets do some prespin and introduce these concepts in baby steps so people can adjust.

Add to that the predictions of the merging of man and machine to make the consciousness immortal, and things get a bit interesting. 

Even Google, Yahoo, Bing and many more of what we consider programs act more akin to AI then most would care to admit.

Crazy or not, this is at least entertaining!!

Thanks

Jack

aka

PanseyBard

    

Picuntu (linux) Dual Boot with Android

      In my last post I wrote about the fun I was having playing. Well I worked out the glitches I was causing, as well as understanding much better how these devices function.  Now I have a dual booting computer that can fit my pocket.  I really like the idea of being able to just grab and go like that.  Even the idea of being able to eject your sd card, or usb drive, and you've taken your computer away is enticing to me. Shades of hacking on a c64 at pay phone.
     Check out my earlier post for more info. A few troubles I did run into.
1) If your putting it on an sd card be sure it's a 10 or better or it will not be able to power up, and serve the data fast enough, causing problems with booting Picuntu.
2) when using the reboot app do not hit reboot to recovery, it makes it so it will only boot to recovery, and you lose your Android installation. Use boot to bootloader.
3) I got a saned error that that was fixed by changing permissions, this had to be done during the install before you would see the error.
     Other then those it's a pretty easy process, here are a couple of pics, and a video showing both OS's

There is Android, looking all slick. presto chango

A Linux box is born.

and a short clip to show the boot switch

anyone interested in setting one of these up should be sure to check out.
www.freaktab.com
https://www.miniand.com
Picuntu
or contact me, and we can work something out.

be well
Jack
aka
PanseyBard

Linux on an Android Stick PC

         A little over a year ago I picked up an android mini PC, otherwise known as a TV stick.  These are really fun devices.  Mine is a Dual core 1.6 ghz processor, with 1 gig of ram.  Not a bad little machine to run the droid OS on.  This has been used pretty much as a streaming content device, and at $50 it's not a bad solution for turning any hdmi ready TV into a smart TV.

        Thanks to Sean at gagetreactor for the pic, and a nice overview of this device.  What I find really intriguing about these is the power use.  This works on 3.5 volts at a fixed 6 watts, while here is a nice site that can give you a pretty good idea what your machine at home is using. Most will be over 300 watts, having both 12, and 3.5 volt rails.  Put a full version of a desktop OS on this and wow, your full home set up that you can pop in your pocket, runs on usb, this is amazing.  Like I said it sat being not much more then a entertainment stick, not a bad use mind you, I just like getting more out of my devices. So I finally got into my head to set it up to dual boot between Android, and Linux.  Having played with the Android OS for awhile now, I have come to see that most people can do everything they do with a computer right through it. Even running small businesses, and use only android.  Many still cling to the traditional desktop look and interface, and there are many things on the tech side I would have problems doing through Android.  What I found out was my device had been left in the dust, with the current versions being quad core, with more everything.  Amazing people had been hard at work, reverse engineering, and recompiling code to get a flawless working Linux on the arm processors.  Check out the folks over at Picuntu keep in mind that site is being hosted on a stick, running Picuntu.
       Using several guides, and forums big ups to http://www.freaktab.com/, and https://www.miniand.com/, the forums there are invaluable. Even just flashing the Android OS to the Finless Bob custom rom made the device like new again.  There are a few areas that really gave me fits. I want to make this a dual boot machine, and for some reason my stick will not dual boot as it should with the bootloader from the finless 2.1 release. The 1.6 release loader substituted in nicely, and dual boots nicely. A note on the dual booting, the guides all say to use the reboot app, and boot to recovery to access Linux.  Every time I do this I can no longer boot back to Android.  Sticking to reboot to bootloader solved this problem.  In a few of the guides, and a few places on the forums they tell you to make sure you use a class 10 or higher sd card.  Many will not get why this can be huge, in experimenting I have been using what I have around. This ended up being an 8 gig card I pulled from an Eris I use for mp3.  The problem is this is only a class 4 card, the transfer rates, and even the power up time cause a host of errors all related to data corruption.  While I have been able to set up Picuntu .9c rc2.2 and 3. as well as boot to a Ubuntu desktop, the amount of errors make it not practical.  So I'm going to try using a usb drive, and see how that goes at least till I can get my hands on a different sd card.

Update: switching out the sd card for the usb drive solved the stability issues. Now to get a decent sd card to try it out on.

Jack
aka
PanseyBard

if your feeling generous
btc: 169rA3pQzk1KGh6HjipDYVcNsaKGJFfRQn
ltc:  LUKSpaVnZ6REFs61yG1BnpE5xTzdzje7vE
pts: Pd7xb3Q4idGiGa1iMawVuAYx42WZch1KdG

Setting up a Cloud Miner for Protoshares

          Well I've been playing around with mining crypto currencies for a few days now, did some research going in, and as I wrote in yesterdays post stumbled upon Protoshares, developed by http://invictus-innovations.com/ their approach is rather ingenious from my perspective.  After setting up a cpl dual core laptops to mine, I know the warnings.  I was actually being able to see shares being credited to my account with http://ptsweb.beeeeer.org/  the pool I chose.  It suddenly clicked and boy did I feel stupid when it did, people are not using their own machines to mine this. So I started to look at the virtual machines, cloud based computing for those of not up on the jargon.  The idea is you rent processor power, memory, the whole nine from a one of the many cloud hosting companies.  Once you set up your machine through their interface, and log into it, you can run the mining software remotely.  As long as you are making more then the cost of hosting it's profitable.  For testing, and learning I am using http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/ there are lower cost solutions, but Microsoft offers a $200 credit for a trial, and pay as you go programs so it's a safe test bed for a newbie like myself.
           Setting up the server was a breeze as long as you choose an image from the library and go through the guided set up.  I chose the newest linux, 4 cores, 7gigs.  once it's deployed and running it's time to log in.
Logging in is simple, you need a terminal client, I downloaded  http://www.putty.org/.  From the management page copy the ssh details, and paste them into the putty.  If all is well your on a terminal for your VM. Log in, this where I had to dig the memory banks a bit.  It has been a long time since I was in front of a terminal needing to know command line functions. Even though I've been doing freelance low level tech work for years, very few people knowledgeable enough to use Linux need my help. Thanks to https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345386.0 to the folks on this forum for having the pieces there even if they were a bit scattered.  I pieced together the commands to get the miner up and running.
          Here is the list of commands I used,

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y git make g++ build-essential libminiupnpc-dev

sudo apt-get install -y libboost-all-dev libdb++-dev libgmp-dev libssl-dev dos2unix

sudo apt-get install build-essential libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-thread-dev zlib1g-dev yasm

git clone https://github.com/thbaumbach/ptsminer

cd ~/ptsminer/src

make -f makefile.unix

./ptsminer <your PTS number> <number of cores>


other then setting up the pts wallet to make sure you have a place for them to go that was it.

if this was of use to you consider a small gift

PTS# Pd7xb3Q4idGiGa1iMawVuAYx42WZch1KdG

or for BTC

Note it seems this works for intel based. so it will work on the the intel based clouds. I got one up on amd through another pool, will post the steps for that soon.



Thanks much
Jack
aka
PanseyBard