After several years of blogging,
Blah blah
blah has sadly come to the end of its natural
life and is, even as we speak, donning its pipe and slippers for a long and
happy retirement (Alzheimer's disease and sudden heart attacks notwithstanding).
However, my new personal, philosophy and technology blogs can be found on my equally new web site, which is located at www.keithwilson.org.uk. Although the existing site will stick around for some time yet, I will no longer
be actively maintaining it, so please see the new site for all the latest news
and philosophical
reflections.
It's not often you get to have a glimpse of the
future. However, after watching this
video demonstrating the use of a multi-point touch screen user
interface, I couldn't help but think that this is the way we will all be using
computers in the next five to ten years.
Shortly before Christmas, Heike and I received a
letter telling us that we had to move out of our new flat by the end of January
because the landlord had decided not to extend our contract. It later transpired
that he was having some kind of financial problems and the letting agency had
decided to warn us in their usual cack-handed and unprofessional manner that we
may be forced to vacate the premises in case the bank decided to repossess the
property as had happened on a previous occasion with another landlord. In the
end, the matter was resolved, but the landlord then decided to hike the rent
quite substantially, effectively forcing us to move out anyway, as we were
already paying as much as we could afford and had made that clear from the
start.
A couple of things I forgot to mention in my
previous post were that, contrary to expectations, the MacBook Pro
doesn't
support dual layer DVD burning (although the new iMac apparently does), and that
both machines
are
reportedly capable of running Windows (although don't expect any help from Apple
in getting it installed!). The latter should not be beyond any reasonably
tech-savvy user, however, and I would expect many 'How to' guides to appear on
the Internet shortly after the new machines begin shipping.
As an avid Applewatcher, I was of course glued to
my browser yesterday evening watching MacOSRumors'
live transcript of Steve Job's keynote address at Macworld 2006.
True to form, Jobs did not disappoint, with announcements of new releases of the
iLife and iWork
software bundles and, more importantly, the very first Intel processor based
Macintosh computers: the new iMac and MacBook
Pro (sic).
Presumably having been stung by the phenomenon of
going to bed with an apparently gorgeous beauty only to wake up with Maureen
from the typing pool, a group of scientists have come up with a mathematical
formula to explain the euphemistically named ‘beer goggles’ effect.
Interestingly, the research was funded by a major contact lens manufacturer and
found that poor eyesight in a dimly lit room had roughly the same effect as four
pints of lager—a fact the sponsors would presumably like to exploit in an
effort to sell more contact lenses (I can't wait to see the TV commercials for
that one!).
G W F Hegel is widely acknowledged to be one of
the most difficult philosophers to read, largely because of his extensive use of
highly obscure and technical vocabulary, and his opaque writing style. This
term, I've been studying Hegel's
Philosophy of Right and have found that a lot
of the words used in the current Cambridge translation are either misleading, or
are confusing in a modern context, where they are generally used to mean
something completely different (e.g.
corporation,
which we take to mean a company but to Hegel means a professional guild or trade
union).
In an attempt to overcome this
confusion, I've been keeping a list of some of the worst offenders and the ideas
that they seem to be intended to convey, which is reproduced below on the
off-chance that it may be of use to other would-be Hegelians. Although this list
is by no means exhaustive, it should hopefully give a general introduction to
the most important terms, such as the
universal-particular-individual
dialectic, which features so heavily in Hegel's moral philosophy. In many cases,
simply substituting the word (e.g.
Idea)
with the proposed alternative (e.g.
Form)
makes for a much clearer reading. In others, it is necessary to reinterpret the
text in light of the intended meaning. For example…
Did you know that November 26th (that's a week on
Saturday) is officially Buy Nothing Day? The idea is to raise awareness
of the environmental and ethical consequences of consumerism, and to reacquaint
people with the joys of frugal living. Sounds like a good excuse for not
Christmas shopping to me…
Call me an old hippie, philistine or romantic,
but I do genuinely think that technology is changing our view of the world, and
not for the better. By making everything so hyper-efficient (at least, when it
all works, otherwise it takes ten times longer to sort out…), there
precious little time left to sit around reflecting on things, or to enjoy the
sheer simple pleasure of existence and all that it brings. This is described
rather well in Tony Long's article for Wired News, which has
the rather apt title of Eat, Sleep,
Work, Consume, Die.
One of the interesting things about having your
own web site (even one that you don't update very often—sorry about that!)
is that at some point, it will get indexed by the major search engines, such as
Google, Yahoo, and so on. This means that you get all kinds of people visiting
your site looking for all kinds of content (and very welcome they are too), but
it never ceases to amaze me both what people search for, and how they manage to
end up here of all places…
After re-watching one of my favourite sci-fi
films,
Dune,
for probably the fifth time (I first saw it in the cinema when it was originally
released in 1984), I was struck by the unmistakable—some might say
glaringly obvious—parallel to the ongoing situation in the Middle East
over the manipulation of nation states and the supply of oil.
94 years ago today, the Parliament Act received
Royal Assent. In it, the present House of Lords was established as an interim
measure until a democratically accountable and mainly elected second chamber
could be set up. However, 94 years later, we are still waiting for this
democratic deficit to be corrected, and the original hereditary body has now
given way to a largely appointed chamber that is neither democratic nor
accountable, and dangerously close to becoming a rubber-stamping body for the
government of the day, as opposed to the effective and informed scrutiniser of
legislation that was originally
intended.
Why should this concern us?
Because it directly affects the character and quality of our democracy, the way
our country is governed, and the effectiveness of laws that affect our daily
lives and those of generations to come. This blog is part of a wider
effort to draw attention to this issue, and is dedicated to the late
Robin Cook MP, who was a passionate and eloquent advocate for House of Lords
reform, and whose voice will be sorely missed.
What is it with Ikea furniture and wheels? It
seems that you can't buy anything in that shop doesn't come with its own set of
castors. It rather reminds me of my childhood when I used to build things out of
Lego and, inevitably, ended up putting wheels on everything just because it was
possible, even when there was no earthly reason why it should require the
ability trundle around the floor on four little black tyres. (For example: a
tree with wheels. Well, why not?)
Anyone who knows me will attest that I am a fan
of good design, in whatever form it takes. I've recently moved into a new flat
and it's the first time I've had the opportunity to live in a completely modern
building. Apart from having all the mod-cons as standard (built-in
fridge/freezer, dishwasher, washer/drier, power-shower, to name but a few), the
house has some pretty nifty design features that I thought were worth commenting
on, and so I did.
I am writing this while sitting in my new flat,
surrounded by half-unpacked boxes and random bits of furniture, so I guess it's
safe to say that Heike and I have now officially moved to York. The new place is
great—very hi-tech—and the move itself actually went quite smoothly,
despite the fact that it took three days and involved driving over 250 miles
across the country in a large van. Seeing as this is our fourth move in as many
years, I think that we're finally getting the hang of it, although I'll be happy
if we don't have to do it again in for at least another couple of
years.
I'm not generally given to speculation about
psychic powers and parapsychology, but the following two articles really caught
my imagination. Both involve electronic devices that can allegedly
‘sense’ things to which they have no apparent connection. The first
involves a device that is apparently influenced by the thoughts of a human
subject who is asked to concentrate on influencing the outcome of an event that
is determined purely by chance. The
second concerns a mysterious ‘black box’ that supposedly
reacts to major world events, such as the recent Asian tsunami, or the attacks
on the World Trade Centre, even before
they happen. Although both of these are most
likely hoaxes, or perhaps some kind of neo-urban myth, if there is even the
slightest bit of truth in either, then scientists have a hell of a lot of
explaining to do…
Well, I received the final results for my first
year at University and am pretty happy. I got just under 72% overall, which my
supervisor tells me would give me a ‘good first’ if I keep up the
standard for the next two years, although of course it gets harder as you go on.
(I'm not quite sure what an ‘ordinary first’ would be, but
presumably somewhere in the 67–71% region—they round up from a high
2:1 here at York provided your other marks fall in roughly the same
area.)
To my great surprise I was also
awarded a University prize for “academic performance, commitment and
important contribution to the Department”, although I'm not sure which
part of that conjunction (sorry, logic-speak) I fall under. I first got wind of
this in an e-mail from one of my lecturers who said that as Chair of the Board
of Studies for the summer term he was putting me forward for an “Ede and
Ravenscroft prize” (they make academic robes, apparently) and was
“hopeful that I would receive it”. Sure enough, about a week later I
got a letter through the post saying that I had won the prize, along with a
cheque for £150… Nice one!
Last week I finished a couple of essays on the
apparently unrelated subjects of Bertrand
Russell's Theory of Definite Descriptions, regarding the relationship
between formal logic and language, and John
Searle's Chinese Room Experiment, about whether machines could ever
exhibit true understanding or intelligence in the sense that human beings
presumably do. Oddly enough, I found making almost almost opposite arguments in
each. The first was that purely formal logic is insufficient to capture the
richness and meaning of natural language, and the second that a formal system,
such as an appropriately programmed computer, could in theory possess the sort
of cognitive states that characterise complex self-aware organisms, such as
ourselves. The notion of levels of abstraction also crept into both essays,
indicating that these subjects may not be as unrelated as I first
thought.
Great news! Heike and I managed to find somewhere
to live practically in the centre of York. It's a great little one bedroom flat
on the first floor of a brand new building, close to the river and about half an
hour's walk from the university. In fact, it's so new, it doesn't even have a
postcode yet! We signed the contract yesterday and are very much looking forward
to living in the city, as the place I'm in at the moment doesn't really feel
like it's part of York at all. Plus, it's very handy for buses and trains as the
train station is just around the corner, which will be useful for Heike getting
to and from work, wherever that turns out to be…
I can hardly believe it but last week I finished
the first year of my degree at the University of York. I think it's fair to say
that I worked a lot harder than I thought I would in the first year (who said
studying at university was easy?), but I have enjoyed the experience
tremendously and certainly have no regrets about my decision to return to
academia, and particularly the choice of philosophy as a subject. Although I'm
not sure I'm much closer to solving the mysteries of life, the universe and
everything (sorry folks…), I do at least have a clearer idea of what some
of the issues are, and my own position on them, even if I'm not always able to
justify it in purely philosophical terms.
Realisation #8: We shape reality to conform to our ways of
thinking
Being in the world is not a passive activity. We
engage with things and other people to create a reality that reflects our ideas,
conscious or unconscious, of how things are or should be. If our ways of
thinking are confused and fragmented then we create a world that is confused and
fragmented. If we do not understand ourselves and are full of turmoil, we create
a world where nothing makes sense and there is no peace. This is why it is
important to change ourselves before we try to change the world, and in so doing
we will find that the world has already changed.
Realisation #7: What we see reflects our way of looking
When we look into the world, what we see is
determined by the way we look at it. Because reality is more complex than our
ideas of it, we tend to focus on those features that we recognise, thus
confirming our existing beliefs about the nature of things. Physical appearances
are fundamentally determined by our ability to perceive certain aspects of what
is through our senses. Understanding is similarly limited by the ideas that we
hold, and the ways that we think and act.
While searching for a picture of Bertrand Russell
to put on the cover of an essay
I'm writing regarding his theory of definite descriptions, I came across the
following image, which made me
chuckle:
I
love the expression on Russell's face, which just seems to say it all
really!
: Keith Wilson’s Weblog
THIS BLOG IS NO MORE!
When touch screen displays take over the world…
Another one of life's little ironies
3.14159265358979…
Beer goggles explained
A Hegel Translator
You've been Googled!
Reforming the House of Lords
Realisation #8: We shape reality to conform to our ways of
thinking
