louder than bombs

2011-08-17T22:07:00.003+01:00

Evolution Debate

2011-08-16T21:03:00.001+01:00

Hard to stop listening.

Midnight City by M83

Big Talk / Underwater / Acoustic / 7/27/11 Hollywood Tower (language warning)

2011-08-01T21:33:00.000+01:00

Are we a simulation?

2011-04-22T18:37:00.002+01:00

Via SamHarris.org

Should We Be Mormons in the Matrix?

Many people have noticed that there seem to be no new arguments for the truth of any of the world’s religions. I recently stumbled upon one, however, and it has given me a moment’s pause.

The Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom has argued that our entire cosmos could be running as a simulation on a supercomputer of the future. This, needless to say, is a bizarre claim, but it can be defended with a few surprisingly plausible assumptions:

Bostrom’s first premise is that human consciousness is the product of information processing in the brain. If this is correct, there is probably nothing magical about having the wet stuff of neurons doing the work, and it should be possible to instantiate minds like our own on a computer. Human consciousness, therefore, would be platform independent.

There are smart people who will leap off this train before it leaves the station—the mathematical physicist Roger Penrose thinks that consciousness cannot be the result of mere computation; the philosopher John Searle and the computer scientist David Gelernter believe that consciousness is a matter of computation, but there must be something special about biological neurons. However, these appear to be minority opinions in the scientific community. The assumption that minds like our own could, in principle, be realized on a computer seems to be on reasonably firm ground.

Bostrom’s second assumption is that if we survive the next few centuries without annihilating ourselves, it is just a matter of time before we build computers capable of running virtual worlds populated by virtual people. Our descendants will likely do this, the way we create video games like The Sims. They might create virtual worlds where simulated ancestors live in circumstances very much like our own. In his paper, Bostrom justifies this assumption using known principles of computation and without assuming any breakthroughs in physics.

Given these premises—that human consciousness is purely the product of computation; that our computing power will continue to grow; and that our descendants will build simulated worlds—it seems tempting to conclude that simulated people will eventually outnumber all the real people who have ever lived. Statistically, therefore, it is more likely that we are simulated ancestors, living in a simulated world, rather than real ancestors of the real, supercomputing people of the future.

This is, of course, a very strange idea. And here is my own contribution: add to this strangeness the possibility that the supercomputing people of the future will build into their virtual worlds the truth of Mormonism, or some other faith that seems like it could not possibly be true at present. In which case, we may, in fact, be living in a world in which Jesus will return on clouds of glory to judge the living and the dead. Perversely, this could be a self-fulfilling prophecy: given how beguiled people have been by religious mythology throughout our history, our descendants might engineer specific religious doctrines into their virtual worlds just for the hell of it.

Of course, this is not an entirely serious conjecture, but it is not entirely unserious either. It isn’t obvious to me that there is something wrong with Bostrom’s simulation argument. It really does seem that one of these propositions must be true: Either (1) consciousness is not a matter of computation and cannot be simulated, or (2) we never do simulate it as a matter of fact (perhaps because we destroy ourselves in the interim), or (3) we stand a good chance of living in a simulation—to which I add a theological twist: This simulated cosmos might be every bit as ridiculous as Joseph Smith said it was.

2011-04-20T16:22:00.003+01:00

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS from Astray Films on Vimeo.

2011-04-07T02:09:00.001+01:00

tuesday soundtrack

2011-04-05T19:07:00.009+01:00

Julianna Barwick - Bob in Your Gait
Dirty Beaches - True Blue
Beach House - Walk in the Park
PJ Harvey - The Glorious Land
The National - England

Chicken Breasts in Caper Cream Sauce

2011-04-03T05:05:00.001+01:00

Tried this recipe tonight and absolutely loved it. I don't think I've tasted this combination of flavors before. We used 3 chicken breasts, halved. Used a lot more cream than what was called for, and added a little white wine to the sauce (as suggested by a couple of commenters). For the side dish we made potatoes similar to this recipe except simpler: boiled potatoes, then simmered in olive oil and minced garlic. The caper cream sauce was excellent on the potatoes too.

The Desktop Wallpaper Project

2011-03-31T23:37:00.004+01:00

This design project is kind of cool. 30 pages of nicely designed wallpapers by artists and designers for all desktop resolutions, for iPhones and iPads. A few that look really handsome on my large LCD screens / Windows 7 machine at work:

Free Cloud Drive with Amazon

2011-03-31T22:35:00.006+01:00

Tech nerd tip of the day: You can get 5GB of free cloud storage with your Amazon account. Upload music, photos, and pretty much any type of digital file. It may not be a lot of space, but for extra special items you don't want to lose when your hard drive crashes, it's a decent option. You can access and download these files from any computer. True, you can upload pretty much any type of file to Google Docs these days, but I think the storage limit is about 1GB. Time to throw away our thumb drives?

Beach House - Teen Dream

2011-03-30T18:10:00.002+01:00

It's been a year and I'm still not over this album. It's brilliant, it's beautiful. Download it.

England

2011-02-15T19:31:00.001Z

2010-03-07T03:17:00.009Z

Tonight I watched Crazy Heart and surprisingly loved it. Jeff Bridges is amazing. And for some reason I felt a tinge of pride about the uniqueness of American landscapes and especially the desert west - and even a little pride of, dare I say... country music. Something about being in a theatre full of Brits inspired this feeling. After the movie I stood up and shouted "I'm from America and the desert southwest and this story is uniquely American and yeah you may holiday in the countryside of France for a month every year and you may be better informed about international affairs but.. look at that sagebrush! You don't have that shit here and country music could never have been inspired by the British experience"* (*note, segments of this blog entry may be exaggerated or entirely fictionalized).

Anyway. It's simple and cliche in many ways, but Jeff Bridges makes this film supremely enjoyable. I even felt uplifted. Go see it.

2010-02-08T21:59:00.003Z

lil wayner

2009-12-09T10:09:00.002Z

DEA Recruits Lil Wayne To Use Up All Drugs In Mexico

Foreigner (not the band)

2009-10-04T22:02:00.023+01:00

Today I traveled a few bus stops north of where I live to check out Church Street (Stoke Newington) - an area rumored to have a lot of boutique and vintage shops, record stores etc. My favorite was a curbside venture run out of a shoddy storage shed, with items strewn across the sidewalk. Two scruffy men sell furniture, movies, books, electronics, anything really. I almost bought a pirated copy of the movie "9" for three pounds (five bucks). The film is playing in America but doesn't come here 'til next month. They assured me the dvd quality is good - no shaky handy cam versions. But I passed.

Church Street runs west into Stoke Newtington Road, a busier area with loads of shops and markets - a lot of them catering to the apparent local Turkish residents. I walked South on this road for a while and peered down alleys and streets and into Turkish run shops with Turkish families and patrons. In one little private alley I saw a bunch of older Muslim men pacing slowly. It was a glimpse into a whole different world - what appeared to be a little haven or pocket of culture that stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding city. It looked so peaceful there, but felt so foreign to me. So thick with a way of living I know nothing about. London defines diversity. And I've been in similar business districts around town and I hear there are Muslim or other ethnic neighborhoods that make a westerner feel entirely out of place. But this was my first glimpse of that.

I walked further down the street and lurked at a bus stop studying maps and trying to find a route back to my neighborhood. I was done exploring and felt a little lost and wanted to get back to a familiar area. At the bus stop I overheard a girl in her early twenties talking on the phone who appeared to be the same ethnicity as the other locals, but she was modern and hip and clearly British born. She was talking about a friend of hers who's apparently making money from internet porn, and she seemed excited about how easy it was to make cash that way. "All you have to do it sign up online and make a list of things you're willing to do. She says you can make a lot of money." I thought about that little alley just up the road with devout Muslim men. Their little haven is probably intended in part to cut off the negative influences of western culture, which dominates the world just outside their windows - even in a business district that caters to their culture. I'm sure some of them 'lose' their own daughters to it.

An older lady finally pointed me in the right direction and I walked ten minutes to a bus stop and caught a ride back to my neighborhood, which turned out to be one stop away. For the past couple weeks I've become accustomed to my little area and haven't explored the surrounding neighborhoods much. I'm cozy here in Newington Green. I know where it is on the map, where to get groceries and midnight snacks and a bunch of places to eat. But it felt foreign again this afternoon as I walked from the bus, through the park, back to my room. I felt lost just a few streets from here, like I was in a different city! This neighborhood, this building and even this room don't feel like the same place anymore in the context of the surrounding areas that are blocks away. London is massive and sprawling and diverse in such a way that it feels unknowable. I think my assumptions and perceptions will be frequently challenged. It's naive to think that any part of it will ever feel like "my city" or neighborhood. Of course I've only been here a month, and I've spent the past decade in a small, dramatically less diverse town. I still rarely know what to expect here in London - even a few streets away - and that's exciting.

Film: Dry Summer

2009-09-27T02:36:00.000+01:00

Tonight I watched Dry Summer, a Turkish film made in 1963. Rarely have I been so wrapped up in a story and it's characters and felt so affected. Admittedly I haven't seen very many older films, and especially older foreign films. But I'm blown away at how superior the storytelling, acting, directing and overall craft is compared to most modern films I see.

Dry Summer is the story of a man and his older brother who are farmers. The older brother is greedy and selfish and decides not to share the water from his well with the neighboring farmers. The younger brother and his new bride get caught up in the consequences of the elder brother's reckless actions. That's a very dull description. Fortunately you can see it yourself for free online at http://www.theauteurs.com/films/1328. Amber showed me this website today. I'm super excited to see more of these films.

theboringdetails of where i live

2009-09-26T13:29:00.002+01:00

main building.

my residence.

room.

Kitchen shared with 5 others.

View.

Street I live on.

hallway. hotel?

war museum

2009-09-26T01:53:00.001+01:00

nazi propaganda poster (Imperial War Museum)
amber dobson look alike?

armageddon?

2009-09-10T12:38:00.000+01:00

I find no pleasure in the destruction. But why are California wildfires so photogenic:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/wildfires_in_southern_californ.html

glimpses

2009-09-09T23:45:00.000+01:00

Parliament.

Naomi's street.

Cozy?

Worth posting? No.. but there it is.

I tried to snap a covert shot from across the street, but the man in the middle, the one glaring your direction, pointed his finger and at me and yelled "You! Get the f**k outta here!" I instantly broke out into the heartiest laughter I've experienced in two years. It was uncontrollable. Why? I have no idea! Maybe because it was so surreal. The guy sounded more venomous than Mark Wahlberg in The Departed. He then screamed "I'm serious, get the f**k outta here!," pointing the other direction. I yelled "I love you too!" And he shrugged, puffing his cigarette. Fail. I'm truly an obnoxious American tourist.

Where Naomi lives.

Parliament still.

Seasoned.

2009-09-05T06:14:00.000+01:00

5am. Hostel. 45 drunk, boisterous, soccer fan chanting Slovenians took over the place. Nowhere to sit without alcohol. vomit, body odor. They crowd around every female and attempt communication until she is scared off. Ogres. They fall asleep everywhere. The one in the bunk over my head is blaring house music. Each song is 14 minutes long with the same monotonous beat. I pound on his mattress and yell turn it down. He mumbles in an alien language about not being able to fall asleep without it. Somehow it translates.

more castles/london canal

2009-09-05T06:00:00.000+01:00

More castle photos that include me can be found on Naomi's blog at http://www.naomiwin.com/category/adventure/

2009-09-01T19:32:00.001+01:00

Bored in London.

2009-08-30T23:15:00.000+01:00

Castle we visited a few days ago.