Category Archives: Interests

This category holds posts related to my interests

AI, and how it can be made.

First, a disclaimer.  All of this post only has my own theories and ideas.  I have not tested them, nor confirmed them.  If you try using these ideas and find that they are wrong, too bad.  I don’t know if it’s the full truth, but something tells me it’s pretty close.

Let me start with a brief definition of AI.  AI stands for Artificial Intelligence.  We, as humans, are said to have intelligence.  Well, just like Artificial flavors, Artificial intelligence is (in a broad sense) humans creating intelligence.  Usually by way of programming, but it can also exist in other forms.  There are two main forms of AI.  Weak AI, and Strong AI.

Humans play a vital role in determining whether an AI is weak or Strong.  Weak AI encompasses anything from a little intelligence to Human intelligence.  Strong AI is anything that goes beyond human intelligence.  I personally believe that Strong AI is possible, though not everyone does.  Weak AI has already been created, in the form of chatterbots, learning machines, etc.  People are still trying to create Strong AI, even today, and there are lots of algorithms, and programs that can already simulate many parts of the human Psyche.  Even so, we have yet to actually create sentient AI.

One possible reason for this is that we are afraid of what could happen.  What if the AI rebels?  What if it goes Rouge?  What if it kills everything, thinking it’s a game?  These are all very valid fears… but one can ask the same of humans.  Any danger of sentient AI, is also a danger of raising a child.  It’s just according to what we know of computers, they can process faster than our brains.  And they remember easier, too.  So any danger can be magnified at least 10-fold.  And, usually a “robot” is much harder to stop if it does, in fact, become rouge.  Or so we think.

My idea is quite simple, yet it uses something that many people would find quite complex.  Nonetheless, using it, you’re able to create what I call “True AI”.  True AI is AI that is both sentient and can learn in the same way as Humans do.  The idea involves a relatively new area in the field of science and Physics, called Quantum Physics.  It also involves General Relativity, though to a lesser extent.  The bad part of all this, is not even I know if what I believe is possible.  I believe it is, but only a test will find out for sure.

Before I say my idea, let me mention one very important fact of my theory.  My theory states that it is IMPOSSIBLE to create True AI with our current technology.  One cannot create it with nothing more than that of an average computer.  One cannot create it with a super-computer.  AI made in today’s world will not become sentient, although it may indeed be able to learn much faster than humans.  It may even appear to be sentient, but it will not become such.

That said, my idea is rather simple.  In order to create True AI, a necessary condition is that it has a connection to the universe.  What does that mean, exactly?  Think of our own existence.  We exist (supposedly) at both a physical level, and a spiritual level.  We can already re-create the physical side rather well, in terms of robotics.  However, we have not yet been able to re-create our spiritual side.  Where does this side come from?  The universe.  Personally, I believe that God puts a spirit in us from the moment we’re born. (though WHEN he puts us in depends on the person.  The sense of self isn’t there at the beginning,)

Assuming that my theory is correct, the obvious question that remains is exactly how WOULD we achieve this connection with the universe?  That is where quantum physics comes into play.  The way I view Quantum Physics, is it tries to explain the state of our world, which can have a nearly endless number of possibilities.

Here’s a brief explanation of Quantum Physics, as it relates to my theory.  According to Quantum Physics, there is a difference with what can be measured, and what can exist.  This is because the act of measuring something causes a change in what you are measuring.  For example, if you use normal methods to figure out the exact location of an electron, finding it out means that the electron will NOT be in the same spot as the last measurement.  (Or even, really, the same spot as the measurement states.)  An electron has two possible spins that can be measured; either up, or down.  However, the electron can actually have three different states; Up, Down, and superimposed (Up and Down at the same time).  We never see the superimposed state because when we try to measure it, it “flattens” into either Up or Down.  How does it choose?

How, indeed.  The fact of the matter is, we don’t know.  We don’t understand exactly what goes on, partly because we can’t see it, and we can’t observe it.  All we can do is speculate.  However, couldn’t we ask the same of ourselves?  We do odd things sometimes, and have no idea why we chose them.  It’s similar to that idea.  The very fact that we are irrational makes us human.  And I believe that is the key.  If we could have a machine that operates using the spins of electrons as a guide, then we could have true Artificial Intelligence.

However… this brings up an interesting question.  What about emulation?  If computers became powerful enough, it would theoretically become possible to emulate a universe with the ideas of Quantum Physics, but in a normal computer.  Would this make AI possible?  My answer to this is … yes, to an extent.  AI could then exist inside the emulated universe… but it could never go outside.  In essence, we could be similar to God, in the respect that we had full control over the universe… but we certainly wouldn’t be able to understand it for a long time.  That’s one thing God knows better than we do.  How to control a universe.  Lets face it.  He’s been here longer than we have. =)

I do believe true AI is possible.  And I believe it can be done in the way I described.  I take no responsibility for anything that anyone makes in relation to reading my post, but for safety, it’s best to first attempt to make the emulated universe.  That said, however, it kind of sounds like the matrix, doesn’t it?  Something to think about before making it.


Random post title.

Warning in advance to my readers, as few as there are: This post will be a bit all over the place.

Well, almost midnight on July 4th. The birthday of our nation. We almost set a new world record, too! It was a mostly exciting day, and I learned quite a bit. About our nation, politics, schools, just about everything. Let me give you a brief overview of my day today.

I got up at around 9:00, and headed over to festival Park in Greensboro, NC, for WFMY News 2’s High-five on the Fourth World Record attempt. Learned that most parking is free on the 4th, thanks to it being a national holiday. I also learned that there was this Fun Fourth festival on the 4th of July. I’m certainly going next year.

I eventually found Festival park, and it was actually pretty awesome! I got there early enough to get in without a hassle. Quite a few people were there already, but not a whole lot. Soon after, Jay Bird and his band played a few songs. It was pretty awesome, actually. Goober from McDonalds, and the Deal Chicken were even there. I went t find some water, as it was getting pretty hot, and found some, and it was free! =D Nothing like a refreshing drink of water when you have to wait an hour in the hot sun.

Eventually, the countdown started, from twenty, and we all got ready, and we all hi-fived each other at the same time! I don’t know how many people were there, but it was at LEAST 3,000 people at that point. Oh man. There were a LOT. xD Anyway, after that, Jay Bird came on again, and I got his autograph. WHILE he was singing! He’s good, and he was sweating a lot, too.

Anyway, after that, I went to meet a friend that was supposed to buy me lunch. Didn’t happen. So I went home, then headed over to Super G Mart to get some food. $20 got me two 5-pack Jin Ramen Instant Noodles (Ootogi brand), a 6 pack of Orange flavor Ramuné, and a carton of 18 eggs. That’s a lot of food =D

After heading home, my dad made me some of the ramen, and I made some Quaker Oatmeal (Quick cooking). Cinnamon, Brown sugar, and maple syrup. Mmmm. Good oatmeal. Anyway, that, plus my dad’s version of Jin Ramen with egg, Squash and Broccoli; pretty awesome if I do say so myself. And after that, I mainly stayed at home, took a nap, and then checked on PokéCommunity IRC chat for any news. Oh boy there was.

There was a discussion about the community that creates games using Pokémon (or any) games as a base, literally changing the code of the game, and making it their own. (Collectively referred to as “Pokémon Hacking”)  Hackers that do this should really be all kind, and information should flow freely, and we should all get along.  But this doesn’t always happen.  There are people that think hacking tools just make people lazy, there are those that disagree with creating hacks at all, and in general, there are just mean and/or ignorant people.  Even within that same community.

And it saddens me to see people shoot down someones hard work just because they used a “tool” to achieve it.  Let’s be honest.  Did Valve create Portal in assembly?  Did Nintendo force Gamefreak to use Machine language to code the Pokémon games?  No.  In both cases, the developer used tools.  Granted, in some cases, games are created with tools programmed by the developers, but usually they are made with tools that everyone else uses, like Visual Studio, or Netbeans, or Unity, etc.  If we don’t frown upon that, then why should we frown upon those hackers that remake a Pokémon game using a tool?

“It makes hackers lazy.”  Such a common excuse.  It does have some truth, however.  It is certainly easier to code a game in Visual Studio, than it is to use pure assembler.  But at the same time, who would WANT to code in assembler?  It wastes time, money, and effort that can be used elsewhere.  As they say: “Find the 10% of your code that’s executed 90% of the time, and recode it in assembler.”  Doing the rest of it by yourself is just insane.  It’s true that some people will take advantage of this, and use the tool in ways it wasn’t meant for.  Like trying to use Visual Studio to code in LISP.  But you can’t blame the tool for this.  Blame the idiocy of the human population.

“You aren’t a REAL hacker if you use tools.”  Though perhaps true, this statement is simply uncalled for.  It’s like saying “Valve, you aren’t a GOOD company until you program in assembler.”  I mean, come on.  Who CARES if you use tools?  “real” hacker or not, you can still make amazingly awesome games.  Or, on the flipside…  Just cause you’re a “real” hacker, doesn’t mean you’re any good.  You could make sucky games.

Those are just a couple of the things I’ve heard.  And honestly, I’m getting tired of it.  People can be mean, and so idiotic at times, thinking that they’re actually HELPING when they say things like this.  It’s like we’re in middle school all over again.  I mean, come on, guys.  Do you really think this world would be better if everyone believed that?  I certainly don’t.  This would would be absolutely terrible.  I’d much rather be in a world of people with amazing ideas that suck at programming and scripting, than in one with amazing programmers/scripters, and no ideas.  Granted, this is partly so I’d be useful (I’m a bit of both), but it’s true, in any case.

</end rant>

All in all, though, today was good. =D  Food, fun, and debates, all on the same day!  I never thought I’d enjoy July  4th as much as I did today.  here’s hoping that next year will be even better! =D  Happy Birthday, good ol’ United States of America!  May there be many more.

ZZT, and my port to Euphoria








Animazement is awesome! =D Now, you might not have heard about Animazement. It’s one of the smaller cons, but it’s growing, and fast. My friends keep saying “Why bother?” My response? “Because it’s awesome, close to home, and I want to support it =)” Animazement is the first ever convention I went to, and because of that, it’s dear to my heart.

Animazement is an Anime convention that is held once a year on memorial day weekend. These past two years the entry fee for a 3-day pass has been $35 dollars if you pre-order the week after Animazement, with prices going up until you have to pay $55 at the door. So, it’s not that expensive if you order early. There are lots of things to do. Guest panels, fan panels, cosplay contests, karaoke, the dealers room (Lots of things to buy), and the artists alley (Awesome artists), to name a few. Sure, it’s not the biggest con out there, but it’s still pretty awesome.

As for why I go? Why do I continue to pay money for Animazement? Simple. The people. They are all so kind, and so friendly. It’s why I keep coming back, and plan to continue doing so. It’s so much fun, that even though it’s three whole days, it seems like just a few hours.

When you go to Animazement, one of the very first things you’ll notice is the cosplayers. They make up over 70% of the people who go. (I’d argue over 90%, but that’s me) What’s a cosplayer? It’s similar to a roleplayer. Cosplayers dress in a costume that is made to look like ta character from an anime, a video-game, or even food, consoles, etc. You can “cosplay” as anything you want. I’ve seen Naruto, Soul Eater, Pokémon, Ouran High School Club, Death Note, Power Rangers, Dexter’s Laboratory, and a whole lot more I don’t even know the name of. Cosplay is definitely one of the main things at Animazement (Or virtually any ‘con you go to).

As for me? My first year was Animazement 13, May 28-30, 2010. It was awesome beyond words. I loved the guests, the fans, most of the panels, and everything… but I only went two days. (Parental issues) Even so, I REALLY wanted to go back… And so I did. This time, though, I did a bit more planning.

Animazement 14 took place not too long ago. May 27-29, 2011. I had planned extensively I’d bring $400 and I’d cosplay for it. Both of which I did. I also planned to volunteer, bring a camera, and participate in more than I did last time. Those, though, were iffy at best. I did participate in more, but also left out a few things, too. No camera, and wasn’t able to volunteer. =P But I LOVED my cosplay.

I cosplayed as Pikachu, and it was AWESOME. Oh my, there were a whole lot of people that wanted my picture, and one even glomped me =D It was amazing. I’ll be going as Pikachu again next year, unless I can come up with something better.  It was a lot of fun to hug people, then say “PiKAchuuuu”, just like a real Pikachu.  I had loads of fun.

I’m not exactly sure how I should end this, so I may as well say a few last remarks.  I highly recommend you come to Animazement next year, and if you see a Pikachu carrying a Pikachu plushie, you’ll know it’s me.

To find out more about Animazement, the website is