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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Characterizing Consciousness and Will in Terms of Hypersets

This is another uber-meaty blog post, which reports a train of thought I had while eating dinner with my wife last night, which appears to me to provide a new perspective on two of the thorniest issues in the philosophy of mind: consciousness and will.

(No, I wasn't eating any hallucinogenic mushrooms for dinner; just some grilled chicken with garlic and ginger and soy sauce, on garlic naan. Go figure.)

These are of course very old issues and it may seem every possible perspective on them has already been put forth, without anything fundamentally being resolved.

However, it seems to me that the perspectives on these topics explored so far constitute only a small percentage of the perspectives that may sensibly be taken.

What I'm going to do here is to outline a new approach to these issues, which is based on hyperset theory -- and which ties in with various things I've written on these topics before, inspired by neuropsychology and systems theory and probabilistic logic and so on and so forth.

(A brief digressive personal comment: I've been sooooo overwhelmingly busy with Novamente-related business stuff lately, it's really been a pleasure to take a couple hours to write down some thoughts on these more abstract topics! Of course, no matter what I'm doing with my time as I go through my days, my unconscious is constantly churning on conceptual issues like the ones I talk about in this blog post -- but time to write down my thoughts on such things is so damn scant lately.... One of the next things to get popped off the stack is the relation of the model of will given here with ethical decision-making, as related to the iterated prisoner's dilemma, the voting problem, and so forth. Well, maybe next week ... or next month.... I certainly feel like working toward making a thinking machine for real, is more critical than exploring concepts in the theory of mind; but on a minute-by-minute basis, I have to admit I find the latter more fun....)

One of the intuitions underlying the explorations presented here is that possibly it's worth considering hypersets as an important part of our mathematical and conceptual model of mind -- and consciousness and will in particular.

A useful analogy might be the way that differential equations are an important part of our mathematical and conceptual model of physical reality. Differential equations aren't in the world; and hypersets aren't in the mind; but these sorts of mathematical abstractions may be extremely useful for modeling and understanding what's going on.

In brief, hypersets are sets that allow circular membership structures, e.g. you can have

A = {A}

A = {B,{A}}

and so forth. It follows that you can have functions that take themselves as arguments, and lots of other stuff that doesn't work according to the standard axioms of set theory.

While exotic, hypersets are well-defined mathematical structures, and in fact simple hypersets have fewer conceptual conundrums associated with them than the real number system (which is assumed in nearly all our physics theories).

The best treatment of hypersets for non-mathematicians that I know of is the book The Liar, which I highly recommend.

Anyway, getting down to business, let's start with consciousness, and then after that we'll proceed to will.

Disambiguating Consciousness

Of course the natural language term "consciousness" is heavily polysemous, and I'm not going to try to grapple with every one of its meanings. Specifically, I'm going to focus on the meaning that might be specified as "reflective consciousness." Which is different from the "raw awareness" that, arguably, worms and bugs have, along with us bigger creatures.

Raw awareness is also an interesting topic, though I tend toward a kind of panpsychism, meaning that I tend to believe everything (even a rock or an electron) possesses some level of raw awareness. Which means that raw awareness is then just an aspect of being, rather than a separate quality that some entities possess and not others.

Beyond raw awareness, though, it's clear that different entities in the universe manifest different kinds of awareness. Worms are aware in a different way than rocks; and, I argue, dogs, pigs, pigeons and people are aware in a different way from worms. What I'll (try to) deal with here is the sense in which the latter beasts are conscious whereas worms are not -- i.e. what might be called "reflective consciousness." (Not a great term, but I don't know any great terms in this domain.)

Defining Reflective Consciousness

So, getting down to business.... My starting-point is the old cliche' that

Consciousness is consciousness of consciousness

This is very nice, but doesn't really serve as a definition or precise characterization.

In hyperset theory, one can write an equation

f = f(f)

with complete mathematical consistency. You feed f, as input, f; and you receive, as output, f.

It seems evident, though, that while this sort of anti-foundational recursion may be closely associated with consciousness, this simple equation itself doesn't tell you much about consciousness. We don't really want to say

Consciousness = Consciousness(Consciousness)

I think it's probably more useful to say:

Consciousness is a hyperset, and consciousness is contained in its membership scope

Here by the "membership scope" of a hyperset S, what I mean is the members of S, plus the members of the members of S, etc.

This is no longer a definition of consciousness, merely a characterization.

What is says is that consciousness must be defined anti-foundationally as some sort of construct via which consciousness builds consciousness from consciousness -- but it doesn't specify exactly how.

Next, I want to introduce the observation, which I made in The Hidden Pattern (and in an earlier essay) that the subjective experience of being conscious of some entity X, is correlated with the presence of a very intense pattern in one's overall mind-state, corresponding to X. This idea is also the essence of neuroscientist Susan Greenfield's theory of consciousness (but in her theory, "overall mind-state" is replaced with "brain-state").

Putting these pieces together (hypersets, patterns and correlations), we arrive at the following working definition of consciousness:

"S is conscious of X" is defined as: The declarative content that {"S is conscious of X" correlates with "X is a pattern in S"}

In other words: Being conscious of a pig, means having in one's mind declarative knowledge of the form that one's consciousness of that pig is correlated with that pig being a pattern in one's overall mind-state.

Note that this declarative knowledge must be expressed in some language such as hyperset theory, in which anti-foundational inclusions are permitted. But of course, it doesn't have to be a well-formalized language -- just as pigeons, for instance, can carry out deductive reasoning without having a formalization of the rules of Boolean or probabilistic logic in their brains. All that is required is that the conscious mind has an internal informal language capable of expressing and manipulating simple hypersets.

To make this formal, one requires also a definition of pattern, which I've supplied in The Hidden Pattern.

OK, so much for consciousness. Now, on to our other old friend, will.

Defining Will

The same approach, I suggest, can be used to define the notion of "will," by which I mean the sort of willing process that we carry out in our minds when we subjectively feel like we are deciding to make one choice rather than another.

In brief:

"S wills X" is defined as: The declarative content that {"S wills X" causally implies "S does X"}

To fully explicate this is slightly more complicated than in the case of consciousness, due to the need to unravel what's meant by "causal implication." This is done in my forthcoming book Probabilistic Logic Networks in some detail, but I'll give the basic outline here.

Causal implication may be defined as: Predictive implication combined with the existence of a plausible causal mechanism.

More precisely, if A and B are two classes of events, then A "predictively implies B" if it's probabilistically true that in a situation where A occurs, B often occurs afterwards. (Yes, this is dependent on a model of what is a "situation", which is assumed to be part of the mind assessing the predictive implication.)

And, a "plausible causal mechanism" associated with the assertion "A predictively implies B" means that, if one removed from one's knowledge base all specific instances of situations providing direct evidence for "A predictively implies B", then the inferred evidence for "A predictively implies B" would still be reasonably strong. (In a certain logical lingo, this means there is strong intensional evidence for the predictive implication, along with extensional evidence.)

If X and Y are particular events, then the probability of "X causally implies Y" may be assessed by probabilistic inference based on the classes (A, B, etc.) of events that X and Y belong to.

In What Sense Is Will Free?

But what does this say about the philosophical issues traditionally associated with the notion of "free will"?

Well, it doesn't suggest any validity for the idea that will somehow adds a magical ingredient beyond the familiar ingredients of "rules" plus "randomness." In that sense, it's not a very radical approach. It fits in with the modern understanding that free will is to a certain extent an "illusion."

However, it also suggests that "illusion" is not quite the right word.

The notion that willed actions somehow avoid the apparently-deterministic/stochastic nature of the universe is not really part of the subjective experience of free will ... it's a conceptual add-on that comes from trying to integrate our subjective experience with the modern scientific understanding of the world, in an overly simplistic and partially erroneous way.

An act of will may have causal implication, according to the psychological definition of the latter, without this action of will violating the basic deterministic/stochastic equations of the universe. The key point is that causality is itself a psychological notion (where within "psychological" I include cultural as well as individual psychology). Causality is not a physical notion; there is no branch of science that contains the notion of causation within its formal language.

In the internal language of mind, acts of will have causal impacts -- and this is consistent with the hypothesis that mental actions may potentially be ultimately determined via determistic/stochastic lower-level dynamics. Acts of will exist on a different level of description than these lower-level dynamics.

The lower-level dynamics are part of a theory that compactly explains the behavior of cells, molecules and particles; and some aspects of complex higher-level systems like brains, bodies and societies. Will is part of a theory that compactly explains the decisions of a mind to itself.

My own perspective is that neither the lower-level dynamics (e.g. physics equations) nor will should be considered as "absolutely real" -- there is no such thing as absolute reality. The equations of physics, glorious as they are, are abstractions we've created, and that we accept due to their utility for helping us carry out various goals and recognize various regularities in our own subjective experience.

Connecting Will and Consciousness

Connecting back to our first topic, consciousness, we may say that:

In the domain of reflective conscious experiences, acts of will are experienced as causal.

This of course looks like a perfectly obvious assertion. What's nice is that it seems to fall out of a precise, abstract characterization of consciousness and will.

Free Will and Virtual Multiverse Modeling

In a previous essay, written a few years back and ultimately incorporated into The Hidden Pattern, I gave an analysis of the psychological dynamics underlying free will, the essence of which may be grokked from the following excerpt:

For example, suppose I am trying to decide whether to kiss my beautiful neighbor. One part of my brain is involved in a dynamic which will actually determine whether I kiss her or not. Another part of my brain is modeling that first part, and doesn’t know what’s going to happen. A virtual multiverse occurs in this second part of the brain, one branch in which I kiss her, the other in which I don’t. Finally, the first part comes to a conclusion; and the second part collapses its virtual multiverse model almost instantly thereafter.

The brain uses these virtual multiverse models to plan for multiple contingencies, so that it is prepared in advance, no matter what may happen. In the case that one part of the brain is modeling another part of the brain, sometimes the model produced by the second part may affect the actions taken by the first part. For instance, the part (call it B) modeling the action of kissing my neighbor may come to the conclusion that the branch in which I carry out the action is a bad one. This may affect the part (call it A) actually determining whether to carry out the kiss, causing the kiss not to occur. The dynamic in A which causes the kiss not to occur, is then reflected in B as a collapse in its virtual multiverse model of A.

Now, suppose that the timing of these two causal effects (from B to A and from A to B) is different. Suppose that the effect of B on A (of the model on the action) takes a while to happen (spanning several subjective moments), whereas the effect of A and B (of the action on the model) is nearly instantaneous (occurring within a single subjective moment). Then, another part of the brain, C, may record the fact that a collapse to definiteness in B’s virtual multiverse model of A, preceded an action in A. On the other hand, the other direction of causality, in which the action in A caused a collapse in B’s model of A, may be so fast that no other part of the brain notices that this was anything but simultaneous. In this case, various parts of the brain may gather the mistaken impression that virtual multiverse collapse causes actions; when in fact it’s the other way around. This, I conjecture, is the origin of our mistaken impression that we make “decisions” that cause our actions.

How does this relate to the current analysis in terms of hypersets?

The current analysis adds an extra dimension to the prior one, which has to do with what in the above quote is called the "second part" of the brain involved with the experience of will -- the "virtual multiverse modeler" component.

The extra dimension has to do with the ability of the virtual multiverse modeler to model itself and its own activity.

My previous theory discusses perceived causal implications between actions taken by one part of the brain, and models of the consequences of these actions occurring in another part (the virtual multiverse modeler). It notes that sometimes the mind makes mistakes in perceiving a causal implication between a collapse in the virtual multiverse model and an action, when a more careful understanding of the mental dynamics would reveal a more powerful causal implication in the other direction. There is much evidence for this in the neuropsychology literature, some of which is reviewed in my previous article.

The new ingredient added by the present discussion is an understanding that the virtual multiverse modeler can model its own activity and its relationship with the execution of actions. Specifically, the virtual multiverse modeler can carry out modeling in terms of an intuitive notion of "will" that may be formalized as I described above;

"S wills X" is defined as: The declarative content that {"S wills X" causally implies "S does X"}

where "S" refers specifically to the virtual multiverse modeler component, the nexus of the feeling of will.

And, as noted in my prior essay, it may do so whether or not this causal implication would hold up when the dynamics involved were examined at a finer level of granularity.

Who Cares?

Well, now, that's a whole other question, isn't it....

Personally, I find it interesting to progressively move toward a greater and greater understanding of the processes that occur in my own mind everyday. Since understanding (long ago) that the classical notion of "free will" is full of confusions, I've struggled to figure out the right attitude to take in my own mind, toward decisions that come up in my own life.

Day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute, I'm faced with deciding between option A and option B -- yet how seriously can I take this decision process if I know I have no real will anyway?

But the way I try to think about it is as follows: Within the descriptive language in which my reflective consciousness exists, my will does exist. It may not exist within the descriptive language of physics, but that's OK. None of these descriptive languages has an absolute reality. But, each of these descriptive languages can usefully help us understand the others (as well as helping us to understand the world directly); and having an understanding of the systematic biases made by the virtual multiverse modeler in my brain has certainly been useful to me. It has given me a lot more respect for the underlying unconscious dynamics governing my decisions, and this I believe has helped me to learn to make better decisions.

In terms of my AI work, the main implication of the train of thought reported here is that in order to experience reflective consciousness and will, an AI system needs to possess an informal internal language allowing the expression of basic hyperset constructs. Of course, in different AI designs this could be achieved in different ways, for instance it could be explicitly wired into the formalism of a logic-based AI system, or it could emerge spontaneously from the dynamics of a neural net based AI system. In a recent paper I explored some hypothetical means via which a neural system could give rise to a neural module F that acts as a function taking F as an input; this sort of phenomenon could potentially serve as a substrate for an internal hyperset language in the brain.

There is lots left to explore and understand, of course. But my feeling is that reflective consciousness and will, as described here, are not really so much trickier than other mental phenomena like logical reasoning, language understanding and long-term memory organization. Hypersets are a different formalism than the ones typically used to model these other aspects of cognition, but ultimately they're not so complex or problematic.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Psi, Closed-Mindedness and Fear

Some of the followup (private) emails I've gotten in regard to my just-prior blog post on Damien Broderick's book on psi, have really boggled my mind.

These emails basically present arguments of two forms:

  1. You're nuts, don't you know all the psi experiments are fraud and experimental error, everyone knows that...
  2. Look, even if there's a tiny chance that some psi phenomena are real, you're a fool to damage your reputation by aligning yourself with the kooks who believe in it

What shocks me (though it shouldn't, as I've been around 41 years and seen a lot of human nature already) about arguments of the first form is the irrational degree of skepticism toward this subject, displayed by otherwise highly rational and reflective individuals.

It's not as though these people have read Damien's book or carefully studied the relevant literature. I would welcome debate with suitably informed skeptics. Rather, these people dismiss the experimental literature on psi based on hearsay, and don't consider it worth their while to spend the 3-10 hours (depending on individual reading speed) required to absorb a fairly straightforward nontechnical book on the subject, like Damien's.

What shocks me about arguments of the second form is how often they come from individuals who are publicly aligned with other extremely radical ideas. For instance a few Singularitarians have emailed me and warned me that me talking about psi is bad, because then people will think Singularitarians are kooks.

(Amusingly, one Singularitarian pointed out in their conversation with me that, to them, the best argument for the possibility of psi that they know of is the Simulation Argument, which contends that we probably live in a computer simulation. This is I suppose based on the idea that the laws of physics somehow rule out psi, which they don't; but anyway it's an odd argument because whether we live in a simulation or not, the laws of physics are merely a compact summary of our empirical observations of the world we see, and so if psi data are real, they need to be incorporated into our observation-set and accounted for in our theories, regardless of whether we interpret these theories as being about a "real" world or a "simulated" one.)

Whoa!! So psi is so far out there that people who believe the universe is a simulation and the Singularity is near don't want their reputations poisoned by association with it?

This really baffles me.

I have no personal axe to grind regarding psi.

I have never had any unambiguous, personally convincing psi experiences (except when under the influence of various psychotropic compounds, but that's a whole other story ;-)....

I don't actually care much whether psi is real or not.

About psi and physics ... I am skeptical of attempts to explain psi based on quantum theory, due to not understanding how decoherence would be avoided in the hypothesized long-range quantum nonlocal binding between brains and other systems; but I recognize that quantum theory as such does not actually rule out psi. And, I am acutely aware that modern physics theories are incomplete, even leaving out psi data -- just taking into account well-accepted physics data. Modern physics does not provide a complete, conceptually consistent accounting of all well-accepted physics data. So all in all, our incomplete physics model doesn't rule out psi but makes it hard to explain. This does not seem a strong enough reason to ignore the available psi data on theoretical-physics grounds.

My observation is merely that, after spending a few dozen hours perusing the available data, it seems fascinating and compelling. Ed May's data is not the only good data out there by any means, but it's a great place to start if you want to dig into it.

I do not think we, as a community of thinking and understanding minds, should be ignoring all this high-quality data collected by serious, intelligent, careful scientists.

What is the reason for ignoring it? Presumably the reason is that a bunch of bullshit about psi has been promoted by a bunch of flakes and kooks. It's true. I admit it, Damien admits it, it's obvious. Let's get over that historical and cultural reality and look at the actual data -- quite possibly there's something to be learned from it. I don't know exactly what, but that's how science works -- you investigate and then you find out. What's frustrating is that in this extremely fascinating, important, potentially highly impactful area, research is proceeding so slowly because of excesses of skepticism and fear in the scientific community.

Scientists want to preserve their careers and reputations, so going out on a limb for something perceived as wacky is something very few of them are willing to do. As a consequence our understanding of the universe advances much more slowly than it otherwise could.

Finally, a brief aside.... For those who believe a Singularity is likely but who are highly skeptical of psi (a small percentage of the world, but disproportionately represented in the readership of this blog, I would imagine), I ask you this: Wouldn't it be nice to understand the universe a little better before launching a Singularity? If psi is real that would seem to have various serious implications for what superhuman AI's may be like post-Singularity, for example.

Well, anyway. I'm going to drop this topic for now as I have other stuff to focus on, like building AGI.... And I've been (finally) mixing down some of my music from MIDI to MP3; I'll post some on my website within the next month or so.... I don't have time to push ahead psi research myself nor to actively advocate for funding for those doing the research; but by writing these blog posts and reviewing Damien's book on, I've tried to do what I can (within my limited available time) to nudge the world toward being less closed-minded and less fearful in this regard.

Come on, people! Really! Have some guts and some mental-openness -- it's a big, weird, mysterious world out there, and I'm damn sure we understand only a teensy weensy bit of it. Experience gives us clues, empirical science gives us clues -- and the extent to which we manage to ignore some of the most interesting clues the world provides us, is pretty disappointing...

Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Scientific Evidence for Psi (is most likely stronger than you think)

My goal in this blog is to convince you to read Damien Broderick's book Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come in From the Cold.

Reviewing a host of research done by others over many decades, the book makes a remarkably and excitingly strong case that psi phenomena are worthy of intensive further investigation....

Let me explain why I'm so excited by Broderick's work.

Having grown up on SF, and being a generally open-minded person but also mathematician/scientist with a strong rationalist and empiricist bent, I've never quite known what to make of psi. (Following Broderick, I'm using "psi" as an umbrella term for ESP, precognition, psychokinesis, and the familiar array of suspects...).

Broderick's book is the first I've read that rationally, scientifically, even-handedly and maturely, reviews what it makes sense to think about psi given the available evidence.

(A quick word on my science background, for those who don't know me and may be new to this blog: I have a math PhD and although my main research areas are AI and cognitive science, I've also spent a lot of time working on empirical biological science as a data analyst. I was a professor for a 8 years but have been doing research in the software industry for the last decade.)

My basic attitude on psi has always been curious but ambivalent. One way to summarize it would be via the following three points....

First: Psi seems, on the face of it, is not wildly scientifically implausible after the fashion of, say, perpetual motion machines built out of wheels and pulleys and spinning chanbers filled with ball bearings. Science, at this point, understands the world only very approximately, and there is plenty of room in our current understanding of the physical universe for psi. Quantum theory's notions of nonlocality and resonance are conceptually somewhat harmonious with some aspects of psi, but that's not the main point. The main point is that science does not rule out psi, in the sense that it rules out various sorts of crackpottery.

: Anecdotal evidence for psi is so strong and so prevalent that it's hard to ignore. Yes, people can lie, and they can also be very good at fooling themselves. But the number of serious, self-reflective intelligent people to report various sorts of psi experiences is not something that should be glibly ignored.

Third: There is by now a long history of empirical laboratory work on psi, with results that are complex, perplexing, but in many ways so apparently statistically significant as to indicate that SOMETHING important is almost surely going on in these psi experiments...

Broderick, also being an open-minded rationalist/empiricist, seems to have started out his investigation of psi, as reported in his book, with the same basic intuition as I've described in the above three points. And he covers all three of these points in the book, but the main service he provides is to very carefully address my third point above: the scientific evidence.

His discussion of possible physical mechanisms of psi is competent but not all that complete or imaginative; and he wisely shies away from an extensive treatment of anecdotal evidence (this stuff has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere). But his treatment of the scientific literature regarding psi is careful, masterful and compellingly presented. And this is no small achievement.

The scientific psi literature is large, complex, multifaceted and subtle -- and in spite of a lifelong peripheral fascination with psi, I have never taken the time to go through all that much it myself. I'm too busy doing other sorts of scientific, mathematical and engineering work. Broderick has read the literature, sifted out the good from the bad, summarized the most important statistical and conceptual results, and presented his conclusions in ordinary English that anyone with a strong high school education should be able to understand.

His reviews of the work on remote viewing and precognition I found particularly fascinating, and convincing. It is hard to see how any fair-minded reader could come away from his treatments of these topics without at least a sharp pang of curiousity regarding what might actually be going on.

Perhaps my most valued discovery, based on Broderick's book, was Edwin May's work on precognition and related phenomena. Anyone with a science background is strongly encouraged to inspect the website of May's Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, which hosts an impressive collection of papers on his team's government-funded psi research.

What is my conclusion about psi after reading Damien's book, and exploring in more depth the work of May's team and others?

Still not definitive -- and indeed, Broderick's own attitude as expressed in the book is not definitive.

I still can't feel absolutely certain whether psi is a real phenomenon; or whether the clearly statistically significant patterns observed across the body of psi experiments bespeak some deep oddities in the scientific method and the statistical paradigm that we don't currently understand.

But after reading Broderick's book, I am much more firmly convinced than before that psi phenomena are worthy of intensive, amply-funded scientific exploration. Psi should not be a fringe topic, it should be a core area of scientific investigation, up there with, say, unified physics, molecular biology, AI and so on and so forth.

Read the book for yourself, and if you're not hopelessly biased in your thinking, I suspect you'll come to a conclusion somewhat similar to mine.

As a bonus, as well as providing a profound intellectual and cultural service, the book is a lot of fun to read, due to Broderick's erudite literary writing style and ironic sense of humor.

My worry -- and I hope it doesn't eventuate -- is that the book is just too far ahead of its time. I wonder if the world is ready for a rational, scientific, even-handed treatment of psi phenomena.

Clearly, Broderick's book is too scientific and even-handed for die-hard psi believers; and too psi-friendly (though in a level-headed, evidence-based way) for the skeptical crowd. My hope is that it will find a market among those who are committed to really understanding the world, apart from the psychological pathologies of dogmatism or excessive skepticism.

I note that Broderick has a history of being ahead of his time as a nonfiction writer. His 1997 book "The Spike" put forth basically the same ideas that Ray Kurzweil later promulgated in his 2005 book "The Singularity Is near." Kurzweil's book is a very good one, but so was Broderick's; yet Kurzweil's got copious media attention whereas Broderick's did not ... for multiple reasons, one of which, however, was simply timing. The world in 1997 wasn't ready to hear about the Singularity. The world in 2006 is.

The question is: is the world in 2008 ready to absorb the complex, fascinating reality of psi research? If so, Broderick's book should strike a powerful chord. It certainly did for me.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Yverse: A New Model of the Universe

A new model of the universe?

Actually, yeah.

It starts out with the familiar concept of the "multiverse," which is mainly associated with the many-universes interpretation of quantum theory.

According to one verbalization of the multiversal interpretation of quantum theory, every time a quantum-random "choice" is made (say, an electron spins up instead of down), there is a "branching" into two possible universes: one where the electron spins up, another where it spins down.

Similarly, if a bus drives at you while you're walking across the street, there may be two possible universes ahead of you: one where you get flattened, and another where you don't. (Actually, there are a lot of other choices going on in your life too, so it's more accurate to say there is one set of universes where you get flattened and another where you don't).

The collection of all these possible universes is known as the "multiverse."

In fact the language of "choice" used in the above description of the multiverse is a bit suspect. It's more accurate to say that corresponding to each possible state of the electron (up/down) once it is coupled with the external environment (so that it decoheres), there is a set of branches of the multiverse, and leave the ambiguous and misleading language of "choice" out of it.

Anyway, the multiverse is fascinating enough, but it's just the beginning.

It's easy enough to think of multiple possible multiverses. After all, there could be a multiverse in which Ben Goertzel never existed at all, in any of its branches.

One way to think about backwards time travel, for instance, is as a mechanism for selecting between multiverses. If you go back in time and change something, then you're effectively departing your original multiverse and entering a new one.

So, we can think about a multi-multiverse, i.e. a collection of multiverses, with a certain probability distribution over them.

I don't posit this hypothesis all that seriously, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway: It seems possible to conceive of consciousness as a faculty that facilitates movement between multiverses!

Well, I guess you can see where all this is going.

If there's a multi-multiverse, there can also be a multi-multi-multiverse. And so on.

But that is not all -- oh no, that is not all ;-)

What about the multi-multi-...-multi-multiverse?

I.e. the entity Yverse so that

Yverse = multi-Yverse

Math wonks will have already inferred that I chose the name Yverse because of the Y-combinator in combinatory logic, which is defined via

Yf = f(Yf)

In other words

Yf = ...ffff...

(where the ... goes on infinitely many times)

So the Yverse is the (Y multi-) universe ...

In the Yverse, there are multiple branches, each one of which is itself a Yverse....

Two Yverses may have two kinds of relationship: sibling (two branches of the same parent Yverse) or parent-child.

Backwards time travel may jolt you from one Yverse to a parent Yverse. Ordinary quantum decoherence events merely correspond to differences between sibling Yverses.

If there is a probability distribution across a set of sibling Yverses, it may be conceived as an infinite-order probability distribution. (A first-order probability distribution is a distribution across some ordinary things like numbers or particles, or universes. A second-order probability distribution is a distribution across a set of first-order probability distributions. Well, you get the picture.... An infinite-order probability distribution is a probability distribution over a set of infinite-order probability distributions. I've worked out some of the math of this kind of probability distribution, and it seems to make sense.)

What use is the Yverse model? I'm not really sure.

It seems to be an interesting way to think about things, though.

If I had more time for pure intellectual entertainment, I'd put some effort into developing a variant of quantum theory based on Yverses and infinite-order probabilities. It seems a notion worth exploring, especially given work by Saul Youssef and others showing that the laws of quantum theory emerge fairly naturally from the laws of probability theory, with a few extra assumptions (for instance, in Youssef's work, the assumption that probabilities are complex rather than real numbers).

And reading Damien Broderick's excellent book on psi, "Outside the Gates of Science," got me thinking a bit about what kinds of models of the universe might be useful for explaining psi phenomena.

Yes, quantum theory is in principle generally compatible with psi, so one doesn't need wacky ideas like Yverses to cope with psi, but it's fun to speculate. It seems to me that for quantum theory to account for psi phenomena would require some really far-out long-range quantum-coherence to exist in the universe, which doesn't seem to be there. So in my view it's at least sensible to speculate about how post-quantum physics might account for psi more sensibly.

This babbling about psi leads back to my wacko speculation above that consciousness could be associated with action in the multi-multiverse. In the Yverse model, the idea becomes that consciousness could be associated with action in the parent Yverse.

Could the difference between physical action and mental action be that the former has to do with movement between sibling Yverses, whereas the latter has to do with movement between parent and child Yverses?

Well I'll leave you on that note --

I've gone pretty far "out there", I guess about as far as it's possible to go ;-> ....

(Unless I could work Elvis into the picture somehow. I thought about it, but didn't come up with anything....)

-- (semi-relevant, rambling) P.S. Those who are interested in my AI work may be interested to know that I don't consider any of these funky speculations contradictory to the idea of creating AI on digital computers. The whole connection between probability, complex probability, quantum theory, determinism and complexity fascinates me -- and I consider it extremely poorly understood. For example, I find the whole notion of "determinism" in very complex systems suspect ... in what sense is a digital computer program determinate relative to me, if I lack the computational capability to understand its state or predict what it will do? If I lack the computational capability to understand some thing X, then relative to my own world-view, should X be modeled according to complex rather than real probabilities, in the vein of Yousseffian quantum probability theory? I suspect so. But I won't pursue this any more here -- I'll leave it for a later blog post. Suffice to say, for now, that I have a feeling that our vocabulary for describing complex systems, with words like "determinate" and "random", is woefully inaccurate and doesn't express the really relevant distinctions.


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Browse Book and Journal Content on Project MUSE

To the Other

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas

by Adriaan Peperzak

Publication Year: 1993

The fruit of the author's many courses on Emmanuel Levinas in Europe and the United States, this study is a clear introduction for graduate students and scholars who are not yet familiar with Levinas's difficult but exceptionally important oeuvre.

Published by: Purdue University Press

Series: History of Philosophy

Title Page

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pp. ix-x

Since 1961 the work of Emmanuel Levinas has slowly acquired a pivotal position in the world of philosophy. Notwithstanding a sort of radical simplicity, its textual difficulty resists any quick or facile understanding. Having taught several courses on Levinas's thought in various schools of Europe and America, I wrote this book in order to facilitate a fruitful reading of his main ...

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pp. xi-xii

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ONE: The One for the Other

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pp. 1-37

In 1963 G. Deledalle and D. Huisman published a collection of texts in which most of the outstanding French philosophers presented their life and work: Les philosophes franr;ais d'aujourd'hui par eux-memes: Autobiographie de la philosophie franr;aise contemporaine. Emmanuel Levinas's self-presentation is found on pages 325-28. Under the title "Signature," this ...

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TWO: A Commentary on "Philosophy and the Idea of the Infinite"

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pp. 38-72

Having taught several courses on the thought of Emmanuel Levinas as expressed in Totality and Infinity and Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essence, I have found no better introduction to the reading of these books, especially the first, than the 1957 article "Philosophy and the Idea of the Infinite."1 Not only does this essay show clearly how Levinas's works sprang ...

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pp. 73-87

Toute philosophie recherche la v

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FOUR: Text and Commentary

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pp. 88-119

Every philosophy seeks truth. Sciences, too, can be defined by this search, for from the philosophic eros,1 alive or dormant in them, they derive their noble passion. If this definition seems too general and rather empty, it will, however, permit us to distinguish two directions the philosophical spirit takes, and this will clarify its ...

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FIVE: A Key to Totality and Infinity

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pp. 120-208

The composition of Totality and Infinity can be understood as the unfolding of its twofold title. As we will see, through the concept of "totality," the author characterizes the whole of Western philosophy, whereas "the infinite" indicates the transcendence suppressed by that same tradition. Instead of "totality" and "infinity," the first section of the book, however, most often uses ...

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SIX: Beyond Being

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pp. 209-234

It is impossible to understand the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (or any philosophy) if it is isolated from the prephilosophical life (the experience, conviction, events, and the spiritual climate) in which it has its roots. The interpreter of a philosophy does not, however, need to consider explicitly its philosophical and nonphilosophical presuppositions if he/she ...

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pp. 235-241

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pp. 243-247

E-ISBN-13: 9781612490373
E-ISBN-10: 1612490379
Print-ISBN-13: 9781557530240
Print-ISBN-10: 1557530246

Page Count: 240
Publication Year: 1993

Series Title: History of Philosophy

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Straddling the Comfort Zone

Here's a simple game. Look at the circles above. Draw your own lines to define your "comfort zone." Which of these experiences would you include, and which would you put outside the realm of comfortability?

I finished reading the Museums and Social Issues journal on Civic Discourse, and it's brought up a groundswell of internal debate for me about museums and comfort. The crux of many of the articles in the journal is the difference between civic and civil dialogue, and the pursuit of energized, multi-voiced civic engagement that also feels safe and welcoming. How civil does the environment have to be to encourage civic participation? When does civil devolve into P.C. and stamp out civic possibility?

The hinge of this question is comfort. Yes, museums should be safe. But should they be comfortable? Should they feel familiar, or should they push you? How much safety do visitors need to feel comfortable participating, and how much squashes any interest in participation? It's the same question as the civic/civil. How do we balance comfort with challenge to create a great experience?

Four examples worth considering:
  1. Content comfort. An exhibit interprets a well-known and loved object or image as rooted in hate. Is that provocative in an insightful way, or overly confrontational?
  2. Interaction comfort. Visitors play a game that reveals their level of latent sexism. Is the experience revelatory or accusatory?
  3. Programmatic comfort. Floor staff pull visitors into an improvisational show. Do visitors feel like they have been swept into stardom or overexposed and humiliated?
  4. Creature comfort. Museums provide sparse seating and strict rules about food in the galleries. Does the furniture and rules promote "positive" museum behavior, or does it make visitors feel like they are in an unfriendly place?

My inclination in most situations is to challenge, confront, and yank people around--in the spirit of welcoming participation. So few experiences (museum or otherwise) encourage social, civic engagement. But I also appreciate the fact that inclusion in museums isn't just about participation--it's about safety as well. Some places, like the St. Louis City Museum, are able to offer a high level of comfort with a low level of safety. But the City Museum experience is more physical than emotional or intellectual. Maybe museums shouldn't offer cultural, civic thrills of the City Museum variety if the tradeoff is visitors feeling so uncomfortable that they avoid the institution.

Over the next four weeks, I'm going to dedicate a post to each of the four kinds of comfort mentioned above. There's often such a fine line with these things. The "Fear" exhibition currently at the California Science Center asks you to confront your fear of tarantulas, loud noises, and falling. Is that in the comfort zone? What about an exhibit that asks you to confront your fear of people from other racial or ethnic backgrounds? Would that go too far? How can we explore challenging content and encourage civic dialogue within a safe and positive--if not always comfortable--environment? Ultimately do some kinds of comfort (soft chairs? Supportive facilitators?) overcome the lack of others?

This is a post of questions. Hopefully we'll answer some over the next several weeks.

In October, I took a crew of ASTC attendees to the Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA. The MJT provides a dark, confusing, unclear, beautiful experience. Some members of our group revelled in it; others were repelled. Every turn at the MJT is surprising, from encounters with fictitious x-ray bats to real dogs in the tea room. The first time I visited as a teenager, I was entirely uncomfortable, but conquering that discomfort turned it into a magical place unlike any other in my museum experience. It is the most emotionally evocative, soothing, challenging museum I frequent. And I believe it couldn't do that without being dark, labyrinthine, obtuse, and generally uncomfortable.

When have you had a (positive or negative) experience with comfort in a museum? With an exhibit? A program? A staff member? Another visitor? A chair?

Please share your stories, and I look forward to exploring this further with you over the coming Thursdays.

3 comments, add yours!:

rikomatic said...

The different holocaust museums confront these issues all the time, I think. The US Holocaust Museum in DC does an amazing job of confronting visitors with uncomfortable images, sounds, video and objects while also providing frequent resting places for people who are overwhelmed by it.

Every time I have visited, I am profoundly moved and empowered to live the dream of "never again." No other museum or exhibit has touched me this way.

That said, I have many friends (Jewish and non-Jew) who are absolutely repelled by the idea of going to a holocaust museum.

N said...

Civility has indeed become political correctness. I've been reflexively wishing people "happy holidays" this month, even though I'm an atheist and don't care a whit about the religious divisions that can be exacerbated by apparently wishing some a "merry Christmas." So I decided this morning to stop with the "holidays" and return to "Christmas," because it's just a freakin' day and I like to argue anyway.

So that's my gift to my fellow New Yorkers this season: intentional discord. I agree that confronting oneself and others with clashing opinions is necessary and important.

...or is it?

I was reading about this in an article in the CHE this morning. Cass Sunstein's piece included the following:

"...Let's explore an experiment conducted in Colorado in 2005, designed to cast light on the consequences of self-sorting. About 60 Americans were brought together and assembled into a number of groups, each consisting of five or six people. Members of each group were asked to deliberate on three of the most controversial issues of the day: Should states allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions? Should employers engage in affirmative action by giving a preference to members of traditionally disadvantaged groups? Should the United States sign an international treaty to combat global warming?

As the experiment was designed, the groups consisted of "liberal" and "conservative" enclaves — the former from Boulder, the latter from Colorado Springs. It is widely known that Boulder tends to be liberal, and Colorado Springs tends to be conservative. Participants were screened to ensure that they generally conformed to those stereotypes. People were asked to state their opinions anonymously both before and after 15 minutes of group discussion. What was the effect of that discussion?

In almost every case, people held more-extreme positions after they spoke with like-minded others. Discussion made civil unions more popular among liberals and less popular among conservatives. Liberals favored an international treaty to control global warming before discussion; they favored it far more strongly after discussion. Conservatives were neutral on that treaty before discussion, but they strongly opposed it after discussion. Liberals, mildly favorable toward affirmative action before discussion, became strongly favorable toward affirmative action after discussion. Firmly negative about affirmative action before discussion, conservatives became fiercely negative about affirmative action after discussion."

The article is about how the Internet greatly enables niche and enclave building, for better but also for worse. I believe it is essential to progress and democracy that we, as educators, spur communication along the rift lines of opposing perspectives. Any teacher or museum that does so is doing a service to their students and society. I don't think you and I (and most other readers of M2.0) will disagree about that, Nina.

But that's the crux of the article -- we preach to our choirs. Can we get some anti-museum or anti-advocacy voices up here? Where's an antithesis to your thesis, Nina, so we might achieve synthesis? (Hail Hegel!)

I'll offer a weak attempt: there is a "too far," and I'm justified in staying away from it. Improv guru Keith Johnstone wrote that "those who say 'yes' have adventures, those who say 'no' stay safe." When does safety begin to trump adventure? When adventure becomes uncomfortable? Are the [generally older] people who stay away from discomfort wiser than those who seek it out? Does the natural aging process therefore foster conservative thought and action?

Also, are there some issues/exhibitions that can justifiably be avoided, because they're hollow? Many in the ASTC community favor ignoring the Intelligent Design movement over confronting or ridiculing it.

What about refunding? Can I ever ask for my money back after a contemporary art exhibition I didn't care for? (I send back unsavory dishes at restaurants, so why not?) Are there exhibits that are pointless, futile, annoying, deceptive? Should they exist (or receive taxpayer funding)? On the receiving end: M2.0 is about the user having a voice in the used, but are those voices ALWAYS useful?

...Is mine? :)

Yours in, as ever, temporary opposition,

Ariel Rolfe said...

I am so grateful to find this post - I wish there were more comments about it! I am a student of Museum Exhibition Planning and Design it seems like all we can talk about lately is controversy in museums. I came across this post because I'm researching for a paper about what it means to "push" visitors (Nina, your blog has been such a great resource for this, by the way). My paper is supposed to focus on the "real/unreal" in museums and my theory is that by consciously choosing to not present controversial issues or objects, museums are denying visitors a very real depiction of the world - of the things that they have confronted or will need to confront at some point in their life. The counter points, which you mentioned and "N" also pointed out, is that there is indeed a "too far." The problem, and maybe this is too simple but I'll say it anyway, is that visitors don't expect this out of museums... yet.

Many of us feel slightly vulnerable in regular museums because of the very rigid, structured and "no touch!" attitudes that so many places embody. And, then it seems museums are looking for how to can make a solid case for public funding, community/individual investment (of money and time) and as a vital tool with great educational value/resources... All while using the same old collections, buildings and other assets that they have interpreted in the same old ways they have for the past 10, 20, or 100 years. It's forcing museums and other types of institutions to re-think their strategic plans, missions and general branding. One of the popular ideas (at least in the Philadelphia area where I'm at - I assume it's a nation-wide occurrence) is for museums to be more involved with their communities and neighborhoods. I think that with the current trend of blurring the walls (literally and figuratively) which currently divide the museum from the communities surrounding it there is a really dynamic relationship that will happen in the future - where there will be expectations of museums surprising the visitor through exhibition design, content, participatory activities, and community/civic engagement. We're leaning away from the museum stereotype as a high-brow, school like environment to a more friendly conversation where people can feel free to agree and disagree (or, what I think as the "solving the world's problems" conversations after a couple of beers with friends/family). This in turn has potential to make museums places of communication and learning through conversations and in some cases, arguments. By presenting more of the controversial, or "real" issues, we as museum professionals, are showing vulnerability as an institution which in turn creates a special trust between museum and visitor. Eventually, it means a safe place for visitors and curators alike to engage in open dialogue about issues that would otherwise be awkward or offensive conversations.

Thanks for the topic - I guess I'll stop procrastinating and actually write my paper now.


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Update Victor Lewis Follow

Primary Instrument: Drums

Born: May 20, 1950

Internationally acclaimed drummer and composer Victor Lewis was born on May 20, 1950 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Richard Lewis, who played saxophone and mother, Camille, a pianist-vocalist were both classically trained musicians who performed with many of the “territory bands” that toured the midwest in the forties. Victor grew up hearing jazz along with popular and European classical music at home, and would go to the local theater with his father to hear the big bands when they passed through Omaha. The first people he remembers seeing were Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman....
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Posts Tagged ‘Fillmore’

Materialized during the Cosmic Love Ball 2013 at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA.

Materialized during the Cosmic Love Ball 2013 at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA.

I have really been digging on the band Materialized lately.

Give a listen and let me know what you think.

Materialized is a keys/drums live electronic music duo from Oakland, CA. that specialize in soul shaking, bass-quaking dance and electronic music played live.

Drummer Dale Fanning and Keyboardist/Synthesist Dave Pellicciaro have crafted a style that feeds on their trademark combustive energy. With live sets that don’t stop once they start Materialized collides big bass electro-house w/ deep-space, cinematic compositions leaving noise and textured ambience in the wake.

Synergizing the energy and vibe of live performance with the punch and consistent tonal impact of cutting edge electronic music is the destination. Creating layered, sonic impact live, Materialized keeps things moving without “press play” assistance to make the music. This is where the bond and connectivity between band and audience happens and what Materialized considers central to their focus…. unity w/ the audience, to be equally immersed together.

In the past 18 months, Materialized has released two recordings, “Magneto Delicti” and “Space Junk” on CD, digital download and vinyl. Materialized hosts a beloved San Francisco annual bash, The Cosmic Love Ball, at The Fillmore Auditorium and plays nationally.

Magneto Delicti

Space Junk

“Mighty Dave Pellicciaro (keys, samples, myriad noisemakers) and Dale Fanning (electronic drums/percussion) and their varied collaborators are up to is just about everything most electronic dance music is missing, most notably a prominent human element with the ability to shift and respond in real time with true musician insight and instinct. No question that these guys are masters of technology but in a daring, hang-your-ass-over- the-edge way that recalls the sonic spelunking of early Tangerine Dream and Aphex Twin. The more aggressive, intense and shadowy Materialized becomes the more I’m captivated by their evolution.”

JamBase | Northern California – Dennis Cook

Living Colour starts off their set at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA with “Preachin’ Blues” on 03/27/13. It was an awesome start to a rockin’ night as the band went on to play their whole “Vivid” album. We knew it was going to be a good night when Will Calhoun broke the skin to his bass drum on this song. Rockin’!!!

Galactic get the crowd moving at the Fillmore in San Francisco on 03/01/13 with “Hey Na Na.”

Check out more Galactic on their website here,

Welcome to the Cosmic Love BallHello Bay Area musical socialites! It was great to see you the other night at the Cosmic Love Ball with DJ Wyllys, the North Beach Brass Band, Materialized, and Rubblebucket! That’s right, it was another great year for the futuristic love circus called the Cosmic Love Ball, which is held at the Fillmore in San Francisco every year to celebrate life, love, and music. This year, the Fillmore was adorned with wall hangings around the auditorium with heart accents around the room, including a whole wall filled with heart lights. Naughty love was certainly in the air though. As you entered the Fillmore you were greeted by a statue of a blindfolded angel’s bust offering you the traditional Fillmore apples. It was certainly a symbol of how the night was to progress.

DJ Wyllys at the Cosmic Love BallThe evening started off kind of slow with people slowly trickling in, but the lively DJ Wyllys kept everyone energized in the main auditorium while the North Beach Brass Band kept people entertained upstairs in the Poster Room. Eventually, the North Beach Brass Band marched their way downstairs and onto the dance floor to announce the beginning of the evening. It was awesome having them come down and march through the crowd. It really got everyone moving and it felt like we were swept away to New Orleans for a moment. Once everyone was hyped up the lights went down and genre bending house band, Materialized, took the stage.

Materialized at the Cosmic Love BallIf you have not seen or heard Materialized go check them out right now. They blew the crowd away at the Cosmic Love Ball with their intense energetic beats, thundering bass, and killer synths. They either kept people standing in awe, or made people move uncontrolablly. Either way, people seemed to be transported to cosmic love bliss. It is really hard to pinpoint what genre Materialized really is though. In fact, on their website they actually say the following:

“Any attempt to pigeonhole Materialized as an electronica band, a jam band, a jazz band, etc. doesn’t really work since this band has giant antenna always scanning the airwaves for interesting new ways of combining the musical banquet of the 21st century.”

They seem to rely heavily on beats, but they seem to twist and turn enough to keep you guessing on what kind of band they really are. One thing is for sure – they are really good.

Lebo paints Materialized at the Cosmic Love BallAdding to the fun of the evening, artist Lebo was painting along to the music. It was great to see images appear before our eyes as he worked on them. It really seemed to add another layer to the music too. It was a great addition to the entertainment for the evening. Thank you Lebo! The Galactic Muses dancers also took the stage several times to add some drama and flare with their sexy dance moves and several costume changes.The Galactic Muses dancers

Rubblebucket at the Cosmic Love BallSoon after Materialized finished their set, Rubblebucket came on. They were pretty good, and accomplished musicians, but I did not really care for their set as much for some reason. They seemed to be too showy with semi afro-cubanesque influences and some pop thrown in, and the combination really was not working for me. However, their horns were really good and I was definitely moving. In fact, the whole crowd seemed to really enjoy them and everyone seemed to be moving their butts. It was a really good time. What I really loved the most was when singer Kalmia Traver would hop on the baritone sax every once in a while and took command of the stage. Even better was the end of their set when she hopped down off the stage with her sax and started playing through the crowd with the rest of the band and the North Beach Brass Band to end the show as they walked out of the venue. It was an awesome way to interact with the crowd and change the atmosphere of the venue before finishing the evening. Good times had by all!

If you are around the San Francisco area next February I highly encourage you to check out the Cosmic Love Ball. It is a wonderful evening of good vibes, good music, and good times. I hope to see you all there next year!

Cosmic Love Ball Stage  Welcome to the Cosmic Love Ball Might Dave Pellicciaro's Rig at Cosmic Love Ball DJ Wyllys at the Cosmic Love Ball The North Beach Brass Band at the Cosmic Love Ball North Beach Brass Band sax at the Cosmic Love Ball North Beach Brass Band bass in my face Materialized at the Cosmic Love Ball Mighty Dave Pellicciaro of Materialized Mighty D of Materialized at the Cosmic Love Ball Carlitos and Dale of Materialized Dale Fanning of Materialized Mighty Dave of Materialized The Galactic Muses dancers Galactic Muses dancers at the Cosmic Love Ball Crowd at the Cosmic Love Ball Lebo paints Materialized at the Cosmic Love Ball Dale Fanning rockin at the Cosmic Love Ball Dale Fanning patch change Mighty D rockin the Cosmic Love Ball Mighty D love pants coming off Materialized thanks everyone for coming Rubblebucket at the Cosmic Love Ball Finishing the Cosmic Love Ball

Genre-bending rockers Living Colour will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of their seminal album Vivid by embarking on a tour of Europe and North America and performing the album in its entirety at each stop. The tour starts in Europe on March 7th before heading to North America beginning on March 27 in San Francisco. From there, Corey GloverVernon ReidWill Calhoun, and Doug Wimbish will play Los Angeles, Boston, New York and more, ending on April 13 in Toronto. More dates are expected to be announced soon.

The current confirmed tour dates are as follows:

03/07/13 – The Garage in Glasgow, UK
03/10/13 – ECI Cultuurfabriek in Roermond, NL
03/11/13 – Melkweg in Amsterdam, NL
03/13/13 – New Morning in Paris, France
03/15/13 – Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland
03/17/13 – Komma in Worgl, Austria
03/20/13 – Huxleys Neue Welt in Berlin, Germany
03/27/13 – Fillmore in San Francisco, CA
03/29/13 – Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA
03/30/13 – El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA
04/04/13 – Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA
04/05/13 – Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA
04/06/13 – Irving Plaza in New York, NY
04/11/13 – Park West in Chicago, IL
04/12/13 – The Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI
04/13/13 – The Opera House in Toronto, ON

I am hoping to make it to the San Francisco show at the Fillmore to hear them play this classic album. Hope to see you there to rock out to this awesome tune:

Lagwagon wrapping up their set with “Alien 8″ and “May 16″ at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday January 21, 2012.

The Trespassers

The Trespassers
Sarah Cupery Ottley (violin/fiddle, vocals), Benny Lee Friedrich (upright bass, vocals), Andy “Tarantula” Roberts (banjo, guitar, vocals), and “Bronco” Ben Goger (guitar, mandolin, vocals)

So, what are you up to this coming Cinco de Mayo? Well, if you are in San Francisco and want to have some fun I highly recommend going and seeing The Trespassers at the Great American Music Hall in support of their CD release party for Road Time: Live In California! The Trespassers have been described in the following ways:

“Homesteaders, activists, educators, workers, philosophers, travelers; The Trespassers strive to live in harmony with this world. Their songs often times include critiques and solutions pertinent to life in the twenty-first century.”

“The Trespassers sing stories that make you feel at peace but also dare to remind you that we are not always alright in this complex, modern world. Strength, protest, anger, hope and, above all, love are the emotions that resound off canyon and concrete walls as this band drifts across the west.”

“This young band is coming into their prime, after eight years of playing in the underground. Honing their skills in taverns, barns, campfires, at grassroots music festivals and environmental rallies. They are ready to bring their music and message to a wider audience.”

I have been lucky enough to work with The Trespassers a few times in the past and I can easily say that they are a group of the nicest people you could ever meet. They are truely just down to Earth, good people trying to make it by in this world. They are always looking to have a good time and it comes across in their music. They always get the crowd moving with their infectious energy.

The Trespassers have been touring around the West for quite a while now, so you may have already caught their Sierra Foothill Folk music at places like the Strawberry Music Festival, Joshua Tree Music Festival, Fillmore Poster Room, Carter Ranch Music Festival, Café Du Nord, and the San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival.

To put together Road Time: Live In California, The Trespassers recorded all their live shows from their 2011 Summer and Fall tours. They then had the recordings mixed at Jerseydale – Ain’t No Studios by Peter Bogle. The album features 19 songs recorded live at 6 venues in 2011 and can be purchased now at CD Baby.

Tickets are now available for The Trespassers’ official CD release in San Francisco at The Great American Music Hall. Go to to buy tickets. Opening for them will be Windy Hill, Faux Renwah, and Melody Walker. If you know you’re going to the show, or you think you’re going to the show, please buy your tickets in advance! It’ll also be an awesome opportunity to get a great discount on their new album. I have heard from the band, and they are very excited about this show and hope to share the evening with you! Hope to see you there!!

In the meantime, here are some videos of The Trespassers performing at a gig I got them in the KPIG studios years ago:

Lagwagon playing “Coffee & Cigarettes” at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday January 21, 2012.
This is probably one of my favorite Lagwagon songs. I’ve always loved playing this tune on the guitar.

Lagwagon performing “Mr. Coffee” at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday January 21, 2012. Tried to get a little bit of the pit and got Joey doing some jump rope with the mic cable. Good times!

Lagwagon getting started at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday January 21, 2012 with “Island of Shame” and “Lazy.”


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4/24 Cubs lineup – UPDATED

Forgot Starlin Castro. Don’t know why. Just brain cramp. Let’s try this lineup with Tony Campana in center field on Tuesday for the Cubs in the second game of a three-game series against the Cardinals. Jeff Samardzija will start. He beat the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright on April 13 in St. Louis, giving up five runs on 10 hits over five innings. The Cardinals batted around against him in a five-run fifth. Here’s the lineup:

RF DeJesus

CF Campana

SS Castro

1B LaHair

LF Soriano

3B Stewart

2B Barney

C Soto

P Samardzija

— Carrie Muskat

wow playing with no SS? Bold strategy… lets see how it pans out!

Come on seriously???

I would like to see this batting order for kicks…. Dejesus, Barney, Castro, Lahair, Soriano, Soto, Stewart, SHARK, Campana…. just for kicks….

I’ve got a better idea… instead of Soriano in left, let’s go with Castro at SS and only 8 players batting. Neither team should notice.

just wanted to see if anybody was paying attention.

So, if Castro doesn’t make an error tonight, he will be on a pace to commit 63 errors for the season. Are they going to let him do that? Would they bench him because of his defense, and if so, at what point do they do so?

I’d rather see DeJesus bumped down in the order with Campana leading off and Barney REMAINING in the 2 hole where he’s BEEN GREAT…..what gives?

Sveum-Jamie genius Quirk–Let Campy have his bats.

you know this may be the bigging of something big. look Ryan,Matt, Mark solid 3 Marmol has some nice help in the pen. Stewart, DeJesus,good newbies. Keep Al fonse I love the guy hes really a TEAM guy!!!!

get off of Soriano’s back… the dude is trying… his defense is much improved… his approach at the plate is much improved… I am not saying he is worth anything close to what he is getting paid but he is at least trying out there this year

Yes sir petrey!! Yeah, give little Alfonso a gold star “for trying” to hang up on the fridge. Zambrano was “trying”, Silva was “trying”, heck even Hendry was “trying” GLAD THEY ARE ALL GONE. Now Hoystein is “trying” to include Soriano in that group, THAT’s the “trying” that matters. OF COURSE he’s improved his defense. Going from Completly horrible, embarrassing and afraid of the wall to below average is quite an achievment. I don’t care if HE or ANY player is “earning his pay” or not because I don’t care what they make, I care about them BEING GOOD and Soriano is far from good at playing the outfield, hitting for average, making contact with the bat and being a CLEAN UP HITTER. There’s plenty of room on his back, for Ryan and a bushel of apples. AFTER LaHair, who “can’t hit lefties” ties the game with a homerun off a lefty, Soriano drives in the winning run with a hard hit shot on an outside pitch and went 3 for 4 with his first extra base hit of the year raising his average to .225 …. we call that a career game for him nowadays. TRADE HIS BACK. mmmmmm….apples….

haha yep haters gonna hate… keep it up man… i forgot that “good” players never change or go through slumps… my bad… like I said I am not saying he is worth the salary we pay him. I am just saying give the guy some credit where credit is due. You want to talk bad defense you better be mentioning Castro NOT Soriano because his defense has been good this year SO FAR… now if we can add in Campana’s range Soriano and the OF should be even better.

HA HA HA HA HA so funnny, lableling anybody that does not have a bad player’s back as a hater. Castro’s defense is horrible, mentioned. If Soriano with his bad defense was hitting like Castro his defense would be tolerated. If Castro with his bad defense was hitting like Soriano….he wouldn’t be the starting SS, he’d still be in the minors. But the Cubs brought up a NINETEEN year old and threw caution to the wind and “control” meant nothing in HIS case, why??? THOSE are good apples too, anybody like them??? So much for the “control theory”. Sure Soriano is changing, he’s getting slightly better than terrible in the field, he’s getting older, slower, worse at the plate, and continuing his year long slump of 2011 into 2012. Yep, Soriano lovers gonna love… still stuck on his salary petrey? Bad is bad, no matter what players get paid and Soriano’s salary has nothing to do with me wanting a BETTER left fielder.
And if you think Soriano’s defense is GOOD this year….you must have missed a few games when he should have played balls on the hop keeping the batter to a single instead of trying to catch the ball and turning a single into a double. This so-called “improved” defense line that managment has been touting about Soriano may have gone to his head and he (and evidently others) now think he is a silk purse when in fact he is still a sow’s ear. The “improved defense” line is being bandied about to hopefully get ANY TEAM INTERESTED IN TAKING HIM ON….that’s part of the “trying” I referred to previously. Good idea by the Cubs’ brass, let’s hope there’s a desperate team out there willing to take the bait. Glad your’e finally seeing the light regarding Campana’s value petrey…maybe you’re changing…KEEP IT UP!

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Suitable for reflectometry measurements, model 3022B is a high-power calibrated dual-directional 20-dB coupler that operates from 1 to 4 GHz with as much as 30-dB directivity. It exhibits insertion loss of less than 0.3 dB with VSWR of less than 1.15:1 and can handle 500 W CW input power. Its absolute calibration accuracy is 0.1 dB per 10-dB step while tracking is 0.3 1 dB. The dual directional coupler, which weighs 1.9 lbs., is supplied with one Type N male connector and one Type N female connector; other coaxial connector types are available.

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Calories In, Calories Out

Many people subscribe to the belief that to lose one pound you must burn 3,500 calories. But if you have metabolic imbalances, you can’t find out how many calories your body can burn. Dr. Sue Decotiis, a board certified doctor based in New York City with a specialty in medical weight loss and hormone replacement therapy, stresses that every person’s body is different, so if you’re thinking of calories in, calories out, you could wind up not losing any weight at all.

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Can't find Playtex Ventaire Standard Bottles? We've got 'em!

My Brands is working with Playtex Baby to continue to provide the Ventaire Standard Bottle in both the 6 and 9 oz size. These have been pulled from retailers and for moms who may have used this bottle in the past with success, they have become harder to find. Until now!

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Seed Swaps

Cherry Tomato

These little babies are going in Jas’s Tomato garden. Being a vegetarian, he puts these in EVERYTHING from salads to burritos. Hopefully actually growing this plant will cut down on cost. =P

This planting is in the Jas's Garden & Sunflower Patch garden.

Purchased from The Home Depot

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Name Garden Gardener Location Planted Archived

  • 28 Mar 2012
    Planting Out

    Planting Out day 323

    After having this plant in the greenhouse all winter, we planted it back out in the garden today. It’s coming back to life! =D

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Bunny Blog

Zoo Gorilla Befriends Bunny

Gorilla and rabbit

Samantha and Panda: New friends. Photo by: Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News

The Erie Zoo in Pennsylvania houses an unusual pair of friends. Samantha, a 47-year-old western lowland gorilla, had been without a pal since the death of Rudy, a male gorilla, in 2005.

Zoo keepers decided she was too old to be paired with another gorilla, so they introduced her to Panda, a Dutch rabbit, in February.

According to zoo director Cindy Kreider, “To have something sharing their space that they can observe and interact with is always going to be beneficial.”

The two get along well. Samantha gently pets Panda and shares her food.

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MyMomShops Sponsor: BugsT Shirts

Introducing our latest sponsor, BugsT Shirts, whom I discovered when I went to Children’s Day at the New York Junior League a few weeks ago. In the midst of lots of prim & pretty baby clothes, these funky, squirmy, squiggly T-shirts stood out immediately. If your kid loves little creatures, these shirts are made for him or her.

Created by Claudia and Alexander Ngai from Brooklyn, New York (the pair designed products for museum gift shops & boutiques for more than 15 years), BugsT shirts make dressing fun for kids by displaying one small plastic creature- such as a lizard, dinosaur, and turtle- beneath a clear vinyl window at the center of the shirt. When I first saw these shirts, I thought, “What a great gift for a little boy,” but then I realized girls like my daughter (who claims “I love slimy creepy things, Mom”) would enjoy them just as much. If your princess prefers more delicate creatures, designs such as ladybugs are available, too. Either way, your little one will love to show off his/her newest friend on his/her shirt.

The shirts (which are available as Ts or baseball jerseys) are made of 100% preshrunk cotton and are machine washable and dryable. Sizes run from Toddler 2 to kids’ 16, and adult T’s are available, too. Prices start at $25 for a toddler shirt. Visit BugsT Shirts.

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Video: Jessica Alba and her Ferrari Red Nokia Lumia 920 (WP8 promo)

| November 14, 2012 | 9 Replies

Another promo starring the lovely Jessica Alba and her Red Nokia Lumia 920.

Category: Lumia, Nokia

About the Author ()

Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and Check out the tips, guides and rules for commenting >>click<< Contact us at tips(@) or email me directly on jay[at]
  • Muerte

    Full of Sweetness :)

    • Mariano

      ferrari red? picachu yellow? don’t be so nerd 😀

  • nabkawe

    I just preordered the RED Lumia 920 , Played with the phone in Nokia store … AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING.

    • Viipottaja

      Congrats ! I am typing this one my Red Precious! 😛

  • Mike

    They also have one for Gwen Stefani:

  • D Harries

    I like the charging lead socket at the bottom. Kinda makes sense when driving on charge with sat nav

    • Viipottaja

      Same here, also works better in my set up both in car and at home at night. Thought I would not like it but it’s actually better.

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Sat, May 17, 2014 at 8:26 PM

Billboard Music Awards

Billboard Music Awards is one of the best award shows I've ever watched. My favorite moment when Nicki Minaj performed last year with Lil Wayne and won an award for Best Rap Artist. She deserved it because she makes up the best raps & has the best albums that fans will listen to. I liked the moment when she performed Super Bass and with Britney Spears. I'm very excited to watch the show tomorrow night on ABC. I'll be singing and dancing while artists are performing.

  1. Ciara Vann avatar

    On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Ciara Vann said:

    I know, but at least she was there presenting. Don't be upset, she'll get nominated next year.

  2. Sabina15 avatar

    On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:33 AM, Sabina15 said:

    ya. it was too bad that she didn't get a single nomination this year! I was ticked off when I saw the nominees for this year's show...

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Snake Eyes: NLRB Throws Pair of Destructive Decisions

Obama Admin Rolls Dice With Jobs, Plays Risky Economic Game

WASHINGTON, D.C. // AUGUST 30, 2011 // Today, President Obama’s National Labor Relations Board issued two stunningly unfair, anti-growth decisions as former NLRB chair Wilma Liebman’s term expired. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace warned the apparently rushed decisions will harm employees, employers, and America’s economic recovery.

In a crucial case, Specialty Healthcare, Obama’s Board voted 3-1 to help labor organizers create swarms of “micro-union” campaigns by changing rules regarding how similar employees are counted with respect to bargaining units. Now, said CDW chairman Geoffrey Burr, “this added burden and uncertainty will only dampen the ability and interest of entrepreneurs and employers to create jobs and spur an economic recovery.”

In another decision, Lamons Gasket, the NLRB ruled 3-1 to roll back the right of employees to petition for an election when an employer and union agreed to a representation arrangement via “card check.” As CDW Burr said, “The Lamons decision further erodes a key workplace right for employees who want access to a federally protected secret ballot election.”

“Both decisions,” Burr said, “appear to be politically motivated and hastily assembled so that they could be published before the end of Liebman’s term and would have been well served to be more fully considered.”

Burr concluded, “These decisions not only fail to promote workplace democracy, but they also will do nothing to aid in puting Americans back to work or get the economy headed in the right direction.”

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constitutional monarchy is good for singapore

The Thai military coup could be the harbinger of a political change in Thailand. It is the first time that the king played a key role in engineering the removal of a popularly elected PM on drum up charges of corruption. It is so easy to prove such accusations on anyone in power, including kings and presidents, as people in such positions are often in compromising positions because of what they are. There will be many charges of excesses which can easily be proven. What may trigger off a backlash is the increasing awareness of the farmers of the political process. With higher education, the people will start thinking. Why should the land belong to the king and not to the people? Will this lead Thailand towards a republic? On the contrary, the politicisation of Singaporeans could go the other way. All signs point favourably towards a constitutional monarchy. How so? The majority of Singaporeans are of Chinese origin, steeped in Confucianist thinking that runs deep in their blood without them knowing. For several centuries, the Chinese fear authority. On the positive side, they become very discipline and easily led. On the negative side, they become very submissive and easily controlled. Or as proven in this region, they become very compliant even in the face of adversities and abuses. When there is a strong and virtuous leader, the Chinese will become a very powerful and organised force for progress and development, like what China has become. But when the leader is a crook or incompetent, the whole population will suffered in silence. They could not stand up to remove the leader, and thus be led or misled to their own demise. In a hypothetical case, if tomorrow a very powerful personality emerged and claimed to have the mandate of heaven to rule Singapore, like Yuan Shi Kai did in China, the people will obediently go along. Such a personality could instal himself as the next monarch, a constitutional monarch quite easily. And the Chinese population will accept it in acquiscience. No protest or protest feebly. But such a system may be good for Singapore. Under Confucianist ideology, the people are told to accept their stations in life. The monarch and elite deserve to be where they are and live a life of plenty. The poor farmers and peasants believe that life for them is to remain as good peasants and farmers. And if they have to toil for less, they are still expected to be contented with that. In the current context, the political elite will be very happy with such mindless mass that will quietly lead their lives in poverty. The compliant mass will resign to their fate and will not voice out about lack of opportunities or a widening income gap. Neither will they challenge the authority. Society will be at peace. The top and bottom are all happy to live their separate lives in separate worlds. See, a constitutional monarchy with a compliant people can save the country so many problems. Lim Swee Say need not work so hard to appease the demands of the unions. They know their station in life.

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The sixth season of True Blood has kicked off! Kristin Bauer van Straten, better known as Pam, just announced that the show’s sixth season is officially in the works.

First day back shooting on #TrueBlood  for Season 6! Better go get bitchy and beauty sleep on,” she tweeted earlier this week (Jan. 6).

Season 6 is now filming, which means it won’t be too long before we’ve got ourselves brand new episodes to get lost in. It’s only a few months, right?

With filming and production in the works, spoilers are slowly leaking out. Here’s what we got on Season 6 so far…

  • The season premiere is titled “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” And Stephen Moyer (aka Bill Compton) is pulling double-duty, starring in and directing the episode.
  • The episode is written by Raelle Tucker, a veteran True Blood writer who penned the Season 1 finale, among many other episodes.
  • Alan Ball is no longer the True Blood showrunner, his place was taken over by Mark Hudis.
  • Season 6 will only be 10 episodes long instead of the usual 12 due to financial reasons.
  • Golden Globe-winning  actor Rutger Hauer has been signed on to play Macklyn, someone who has a deep and dark connection to Sookie and Jason.
  • English actor Rob Kazinsky has been signed on as a series regular to play Ben, a highly charismatic faerie who takes a liking to Sookie. Ben will be helping Sookie and Jason delve deeper into the mystery of their parents’ murders. However, in spite of his charm Ben is an extremely dangerous individual, with a dark, violent flavor to his personality.

So far that’s all the dish we have on Season 6, but once there’s more you best believe we’ll be sharing it.

Who is excited about Season 6?

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Outrageous 25.7% Tax on parking!!!!
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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- I found it outrageous and immoral, possibly illegal to find that on top of the $8.50 for outside (Dirty) parking, there were the following Taxes?? added to the bill. Parish tax 4%, State Tax 4.75%, Parking tax (what the hell is this? 10%, and an airport fee tax 7.0%, adding up to 25.75%.

This is a crime. Is it even legal to add a 10% tax called parking tax? Is this not a illegal representation of the actual parking fee stated at $8.50 a day? The last is an airport fee 7%. I didn't park in the airport, I parked at an offsite location. Please forward this to anyone that will listen and take back America from the thieves!!!

Delayed Pick up and Drop off

KENNER, LOUISIANA -- For the second time in 2 months, I was left in the rain for over 15 minutes waiting for a shuttle to the airport. This time I had to call information on my cell phone and get the number in the booth, and call and ask them to please come pick me up. About 2 minutes later a shuttle arrived and dropped 2 customers off and the driver told me I could not get on that this was a 'drop off' shuttle, and another would be around. 5 minutes later a shuttle finally arrived. I also had to wait about 15 minutes for a shuttle back to the lot. For all of this I got to wait in line for another 15 minutes just to get out of the lot.

To help keep me as a potential future customer, I would like the following: I would consider parking in this lot again if I could receive the next parking for free. If this happens and my third experience is just as bad, I will certainly take my business to another lot. At the very least I would like a response from your company regarding this incident. Thank you for your time.

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Laem Phromthep
Laem Phromthep

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    Tambon Rawai, Amphoe Mueang, Phuket

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Category : Beaches & Bay

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Many people must have heard of the name “Phromthep Cave” (or LaemPhromthep) both from radio or from television. It is a strikingly excellent viewpoint located in the southernmost part of Phuket. Villagers call it “Laem Chao”(or Chao Cape). Phromthep cape is 2 kilometers away from Hat Rawai beach. It receives wide popularity among Thai and foreign visitors. During the dusk, trekkers will come to see the sunset before the golden horizon fades away with the giant sun. Especially, the place will be more crowded with tourists during the end of December to the end of March.

Phromthep Cape, called by villagers as ‘Laem Chao’, is the second southernmost cape of Phuket Island. From the cliff edge, there are rows of sugar palm trees lined up on the slope down to the sharp end of the cape, where visitors can stroll along while appreciating the shimmering emerald-green sea. From the cape, travellers can enjoy the sight of KohKiaow in front of them, and the beach line of Hat NaiHarn beach on the right. Looking a little further, “Kanchanapisek Lighthouse of LaemPhromthep” stands tall, surrounded by oriental sapphire sea, and beaches. It was built in honor of HM the king’s 50th Anniversary of Accession to the throne. The tower is 9 meter wide, 50 feet tall, with a giant lantern easily seen from distance—39 kilometers away. Travellers can visit inside which exhibits history of the lighthouse construction, standard time keeping methods, calculation of sunrise time, and its display. The top of the building is a ‘panoramic’ viewpoint, which will leave every visitor with everlastingly impressive memory as well.

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To travel to Phromthep cape, drive from Phuket town along Highway no. 4027. Pass Hat Rawai beach, and keep going straight on Highway no.4233. It takes around nearly 600 meters to reach the destination. The path is quite steep, trekkers must keep driving up the hill. It takes a short while before reaching the open-space parking lot for Phromthep cape visitors.

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