Wow. I've learned a lot in the last few weeks, and for brevity (which is clearly my strong-suit), I will resort to an itemized format-Top Three Things I've learned this week.
1. Stanford (Men's Basketball) is going to have an entertaining season. Okay, maybe this shouldn't be first, but they JUST lost to a buzzer-beating shot...and it's very, very painful :(.
2. From Cog-Sci (and then a little more from NPR): Our decisions are influenced by a number of non-logical, non-rational factors. Things such as whether we hold a warm or a cold cup of coffee for just a second or two can heavily influence things like whether we judge a person, based on a few sentence description, friendly or non-friendly. There are likely tens of thousands (that's just a made up estimate, but it sounds impressively accurate) of these seemingly bizarre correlations, ingrained by evolution (and quirk effects of evolution), and we are unlikely to discover all of them in my mind. To find out more, including why holding a cup of warm coffee might be correlated with friendship I highly recommend the NPR Radiolab program on decisions: you can find all of Radiolabs programs at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ (product placement for NPR baby!) Some people have suggested this strongly challenges the notion of conscious free-will (since there are so many of these correlations that are unknowingly and strongly influencing our decisions). I take a much more moderate approach. For many decisions, I know am not fully and rationally thinking about why I make them--and I think it is quite likely that these 'heuristics' are influencing my decisions in non-rational ways--and I am not overly concerned. I know my choice of cereal is a matter of non-rational, emotional love--it's not conscious free-will, it's destiny! I nonetheless believe, however, that for more significant decisions, while some of these heuristics are nonetheless influential, rationality and consciousness can be the most influential components. At a minimum, our own consciousness of rationality suggests it plays at least a partial role (unless it is a post-fact phenomenon, but I doubt this, but I'll leave that topic out for now). Further, I think by learning some of these heuristics, we can be aware and attenuate their impact (if it is harmful) in our more important decisions.
3. From Constitution Class (section): The official Washington D.C. License Plate has the moniker "taxation without representation." My prediction: this stuff is going to be more popular than tickle-me-elmo was in 2001 this holliday season.
I think that's going to do for tonight. Much more to come tomorrow night
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Lab Report
So I've been 'working' for 30 minutes now, and I have the header "Results and Calculations: Part 1." Productive 1/2 hour. I think I need to learn how to study on Friday nights for the next couple of weeks.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Grassroots Philosopher
Hey!
So the first open-slam for Teeth (website) is next Friday, November 13th, which is pretty exciting. I've been working for a while on the first poem I will perform for the slam (if it goes well, I will perform another poem for the final round of the slam).
I think this poem has a lot more imagery than past poem's, so I like it in that sense. I've also been trying to play a little more with word-play, which resulted in a trade-off with a little less syllable structure and rhyme scheme. So those are just stylistic things, but hopefully the main component of any of my spoken words is always the structuring through vocalization of a sort-of-abstract idea I've been mulling over, so I hope you get a good sense of the idea! And with that, I've wasted enough blog space, so I'll paste my poem below. Hopefully after the show, I'll have a video of my performance to post.
Will this one’s for you.
See Will Shakespeare says “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
And while I didn’t particularly like Romeo and Juliet in school
I promise it’s not for lack of love
When I say I can’t agree with Shakespeare
Because if only all men and women were players
Were actors
But take me for example
Me, I’m not yet an actor
Me, I’m just a wannabe
I’m just a wannabe good in life cuz that alone would suffice
I’m just a grass-roots philosopher
Theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
I guess that’s what makes me a Writer
So I write this as I continue to ponder
Hoping that through thought, I become stronger
Knowing that it’s damn cliché to take life as fodder
When you realize that thought goes much broader
I hereby certify I understand,
But I also stand under
the weight of being a wannabe
Because if you stopped me today, see
And you asked me for what this life is
If you asked me for my two cents
I’d be compelled to ask you to take a mail-in rebate
Because I couldn’t quite provide you with fate
But I wouldn’t leave you empty-handed
I’d tell you sir or ma’am, I’ve been branded
Right where my ventricle conjoins with my amygdala
And if you look close enough, you can see it
I haven’t sold out, so the brand isn’t commercial
No the brand is philosophical
And I wear my philosophy on my sleeves
I just don’ know what to do with my sleeves
So they just hang there with their insignia proclaiming
“I’m just a wannabe,”
And I know as a wannabe
With my two, too-long philosophical sleeves
I make a sight that’s little more
Than a child dressed up in a Self-Righteous costume
Hoping that all the now-closed doors I knock on
Give way to treats, not tricks
Illumination, not confusion
And I know like all wannabe’s
I’m little more than a cacophony of loud uncertainty
But I promise that I’m a unique brand of wannabe
a wannabe good in life
A grass-roots philosopher
Theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
Compelled by my realization that this life is valuable
And I keep an open mind, but that point is non-negotiable
So let me repeat
This life is valuable
See I contend sometimes we’re too preoccupied with studying what’s inherent
With our A,C,T and G’s
the lettered building blocks of DNA
And for good and edifying reasons
But it’s been established
That l-i-f-e is more than the four letters in the word
More than the four letters of DNA
More than what’s endowed from the start
You see reality is far more than a sum of inherencies
And I’m not implying life does not have a sufficient, inherent meaning
Endowed from God or religion, objective and ad perpetuum
I’m just saying if that’s the case
I couldn’t prove it
But I’m not overly concerned
Because if life has no-inherent meaning
Then life at birth is simply a blank refrigerator door, definitely stainless steel, probably modern and chic
but also barren
And it is no more right to add the fridge magnets and pictures and notes
It’s just more beautiful
You see without an inherent, objective meaning
If our refrigerator door does not come
With alphabetic magnets that spell out destiny
It is no more right for me to leave the doors un-lettered
Than to arrange the colored magnets thematically
To spell out love or human rights or happiness
If I am not tasked a task
That leaves me the victim of a beautiful strife
To decide to write or not to write the poem of my life
To be or not to be
And I’ll be straight up I’ve chosen Shakespeare
But just like I can really only scan Shakespeare
Stopping to Glance at the left-hand definitions of old-English words
I can only point to an fMRI scan of my life’s script
and show you right there, right there where the image lights up like a neon site proclaiming “We’re open.” That’s where my life has meaning
and I can tell you with my personal assumptions
I’ve localized the meaning of life to
in the simplest terms-being good.
But like the scientist that can’t explain
the mechanism that produces that thought
lit up in the fMRI scan
I couldn’t tell you how I plan about validating my meaning of life—of being “good.”
And it east me up like there’s a 100 undergrads converging on free food
Until I’m left footing the bill working as a wannabe
A Wannabe good in life
A grass roots philosopher theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
And I know that makes me loud and self-righteous
Unsure and cocky
But I assure you
That's only because I do believe
in Shakespere's Vision
in which all the men and women can be actors
So I’m working and growing
And my manuscript will be written
And then I’ll be able to see through Shakespeare’s eyes
And I’ll be ready to join the Thesbians
Through my actions I too will become an actor
And that’s a reassuring thought
Because they say a picture is worth a thousand words
And I spit cuz I don't that's true
But I do know an act is worth at least a thousand pictures.
So right now I’m just a wannabe
All moralizing sentiments and hand-drawn pictures of righteousness
But one-day I’ll just be an actor.
And, so Will, this one’s for you.
So the first open-slam for Teeth (website) is next Friday, November 13th, which is pretty exciting. I've been working for a while on the first poem I will perform for the slam (if it goes well, I will perform another poem for the final round of the slam).
I think this poem has a lot more imagery than past poem's, so I like it in that sense. I've also been trying to play a little more with word-play, which resulted in a trade-off with a little less syllable structure and rhyme scheme. So those are just stylistic things, but hopefully the main component of any of my spoken words is always the structuring through vocalization of a sort-of-abstract idea I've been mulling over, so I hope you get a good sense of the idea! And with that, I've wasted enough blog space, so I'll paste my poem below. Hopefully after the show, I'll have a video of my performance to post.
Will this one’s for you.
See Will Shakespeare says “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
And while I didn’t particularly like Romeo and Juliet in school
I promise it’s not for lack of love
When I say I can’t agree with Shakespeare
Because if only all men and women were players
Were actors
But take me for example
Me, I’m not yet an actor
Me, I’m just a wannabe
I’m just a wannabe good in life cuz that alone would suffice
I’m just a grass-roots philosopher
Theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
I guess that’s what makes me a Writer
So I write this as I continue to ponder
Hoping that through thought, I become stronger
Knowing that it’s damn cliché to take life as fodder
When you realize that thought goes much broader
I hereby certify I understand,
But I also stand under
the weight of being a wannabe
Because if you stopped me today, see
And you asked me for what this life is
If you asked me for my two cents
I’d be compelled to ask you to take a mail-in rebate
Because I couldn’t quite provide you with fate
But I wouldn’t leave you empty-handed
I’d tell you sir or ma’am, I’ve been branded
Right where my ventricle conjoins with my amygdala
And if you look close enough, you can see it
I haven’t sold out, so the brand isn’t commercial
No the brand is philosophical
And I wear my philosophy on my sleeves
I just don’ know what to do with my sleeves
So they just hang there with their insignia proclaiming
“I’m just a wannabe,”
And I know as a wannabe
With my two, too-long philosophical sleeves
I make a sight that’s little more
Than a child dressed up in a Self-Righteous costume
Hoping that all the now-closed doors I knock on
Give way to treats, not tricks
Illumination, not confusion
And I know like all wannabe’s
I’m little more than a cacophony of loud uncertainty
But I promise that I’m a unique brand of wannabe
a wannabe good in life
A grass-roots philosopher
Theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
Compelled by my realization that this life is valuable
And I keep an open mind, but that point is non-negotiable
So let me repeat
This life is valuable
See I contend sometimes we’re too preoccupied with studying what’s inherent
With our A,C,T and G’s
the lettered building blocks of DNA
And for good and edifying reasons
But it’s been established
That l-i-f-e is more than the four letters in the word
More than the four letters of DNA
More than what’s endowed from the start
You see reality is far more than a sum of inherencies
And I’m not implying life does not have a sufficient, inherent meaning
Endowed from God or religion, objective and ad perpetuum
I’m just saying if that’s the case
I couldn’t prove it
But I’m not overly concerned
Because if life has no-inherent meaning
Then life at birth is simply a blank refrigerator door, definitely stainless steel, probably modern and chic
but also barren
And it is no more right to add the fridge magnets and pictures and notes
It’s just more beautiful
You see without an inherent, objective meaning
If our refrigerator door does not come
With alphabetic magnets that spell out destiny
It is no more right for me to leave the doors un-lettered
Than to arrange the colored magnets thematically
To spell out love or human rights or happiness
If I am not tasked a task
That leaves me the victim of a beautiful strife
To decide to write or not to write the poem of my life
To be or not to be
And I’ll be straight up I’ve chosen Shakespeare
But just like I can really only scan Shakespeare
Stopping to Glance at the left-hand definitions of old-English words
I can only point to an fMRI scan of my life’s script
and show you right there, right there where the image lights up like a neon site proclaiming “We’re open.” That’s where my life has meaning
and I can tell you with my personal assumptions
I’ve localized the meaning of life to
in the simplest terms-being good.
But like the scientist that can’t explain
the mechanism that produces that thought
lit up in the fMRI scan
I couldn’t tell you how I plan about validating my meaning of life—of being “good.”
And it east me up like there’s a 100 undergrads converging on free food
Until I’m left footing the bill working as a wannabe
A Wannabe good in life
A grass roots philosopher theorizing on what’s wrong and what’s righter
And I know that makes me loud and self-righteous
Unsure and cocky
But I assure you
That's only because I do believe
in Shakespere's Vision
in which all the men and women can be actors
So I’m working and growing
And my manuscript will be written
And then I’ll be able to see through Shakespeare’s eyes
And I’ll be ready to join the Thesbians
Through my actions I too will become an actor
And that’s a reassuring thought
Because they say a picture is worth a thousand words
And I spit cuz I don't that's true
But I do know an act is worth at least a thousand pictures.
So right now I’m just a wannabe
All moralizing sentiments and hand-drawn pictures of righteousness
But one-day I’ll just be an actor.
And, so Will, this one’s for you.
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