Are you digital?

 

Mike Wazowski is digital, he is made of nano-blocks. The more blocks we use, the closer he gets to the ‘real’ smooth Mike Wazowski.

We used to record music using a big horn (ehem!) which focused the vibrations of the smooth sound waves onto a needle which cut a groove of varying depth in a wax disk. This was ‘analog’ recording where the shape of the grooves is analogous to the shape of the sound-waves of the music. Because of the mechanics of the process, the recordings were never truly faithful to the original.

A digital recording can get very close to the smooth sound-wave patterns by using lots of bits (building blocks) of information. The more bits it uses, the closer it gets to the analog original and so the more faithful is the recording. We have now got to the point where we can use enough bits to make the recording indistinguishable from the original to the human ear.

Digital technology has rapidly become our favoured method of representing the real world, so whilst the real world is an analog world, we have started to think of the world we have designed – which is the world we increasingly inhabit - as a digital world.

The analog world is evolved, female, and yin; whist the digital world is designed male, and yang.

Nature or Nurture?

‘Nature’ is the result of the process of evolution. We were not designed for a purpose, we evolved to be human by genetic imperatives constrained and adapted by our changing environment. The whole of nature is mysterious to us – it has no purpose – we try to understand it through observation and metaphor. Currently, our favourite metaphor is the computer.

A computer is designed for a purpose, it is not the result of an evolutionary process. So it’s behaviour should be predictable.

A computer program uses the assets of the computer to intentionally produce specific results. Because we understand the computer, we can program it to produce the results we want.

‘Nurture’ is a process by which we create an environment using (intentional or unintentional) rewards and constraints to enable certain results. We don’t understand how the human works so we can never produce predicable results by nurturing.

The chap in the picture doesn’t know how he got to be like that. Clearly his eccentric clothes are the result of cultural influences. His white gloves and deferential expression suggest he might be some kind of servant. In his ‘natural’ naked state he might have been an insect.

But of course he could never have evolved – he was designed for a purpose – as a character in a (Disney?) film and a happy-meal toy to promote the sale of junk food.

Help!

‘Now, before you press that button, let’s sit down with a cup of tea and talk this over. What’s your name? What does your mother think about this? What if there is no heaven? Would you like a biscuit? Why do you want to kill? Who is your favourite super-hero? Do you want to have children? How can this do any good? Fancy a game of cards?’

An Israeli study of the psychological profiles of suicide bombers concludes:

 “They usually were very timid people, introverted, their problem was always communication…They are not violent at all." 

Quotes from a suicide bomber in the moments leading up to pressing the button (which failed to operate).

 "I never felt so calm in my life," 

 "It was the will of God.” 

 “I was very happy…waiting for the time to come."

Be Patient

Is the tiger giving sage advice “Be patient like me, I have to prowl around for days before an opportunity for a kill comes along. Even when I give chase, my quarry often escapes and I have to start prowling all over again.”  Or has he got a sinister message for us “Just you wait there, be patient and  I’ll get you in while you're prevaricating.”

God was watching a movie of The Creation. The opening sequence of the Big Bang was terrific. The dispersal of matter and the formation of galaxies and stars was really cool. But then nothing much happened for thirteen billion years.

God got bored and switched off.

I wish I was real

 Mr Potato Head has reason to complain. He is a plastic copy of the Toy Story version, which is itself a copy of the original - the ‘real’ potato-based Mr Potato Head.

We often have the feeling that things are ‘not real’, that we are in a film for example. Only occasionally are we conscious of being conscious. Can we be conscious of being conscious of being conscious? How far does this hall of mirrors have to recede before we know we are real? Language has an important part to play in this bizarre process and mindfulness is a way of being aware of it.

On the other hand, perhaps we are more real when we forget this nonsense and experience reality directly, not filtered by language. This might happen dramatically in a trauma or a moment of ecstasy but it is not sustainable for long (we would not be able to function as human beings if it was).

We all live in a fantasy world. It is not possible to plug ourselves into the real world directly without the filters of our senses, our minds, our language, our prejudices, our education or our religious and cultural backgrounds.

As it becomes more possible to have experiences through the virtual world (which by definition is not real) the boundaries between virtual and real have become blurred.

Perhaps none of us is real.

What are we like?

Suppose you were the only human to survive an apocalypse and you knew you were the only survivor.

There would be no purpose.

Language would only serve to torment you.

Everything would be pointless.

There would be no future.

If you did not kill yourself, how would you spend your time?

What would you be like?

Suppose you were brought up by wolves and never saw another human being.

Would you be like a wolf?

What would you be like?

Suppose your entire brain-function was transferred to a super-computer.

What would you be like?

Suppose you were struck deaf, blind and dumb and were unable to move.

What would you be like?

Suppose you knew you were going to die in the next five minutes.

What would you be like for those five minutes?

Suppose you were dead.

What would you be like?