All of existence is a series of interconnected patterns. This metaphor uses the idea that our existence, daily life and social structure is made up of music played by people in a great hall.
Thousands of people exist in this hall, each playing instruments of varying types and with varying play styles. Typically people play whatever they want and tend to harmonize either deliberately or accidentally with nearby players. There are no conductors that can be seen.
Nevertheless some people insist that there is a conductor and that the conductor wants everyone to read from the same sheet music which they write and then distribute. This may be an attempt to form a greater harmony among the room but such never occurs.
The main problem is that there are numerous competing groups insisting that their conductor exists and that their sheet music is correct.
When different areas play this music they often play it in a different fashion to the original.
Over time the sheet music is altered or reinterpreted to be played in different tones or by different instruments.
Often the sheet music will be played by an individual surrounded by a group of people who read from different sheet music.
Although these groups tends to have greater harmony together, they compete fiercely and often attempt to drown out the music of other nearby groups. This causes great disharmony, such tensions often escalate. This is irritating to people just trying to jam together or play with others nearby and enjoy resulting the experience.
Personally I hate hearing about young people getting their instruments broken because they wanted to play free-form rather than follow music written two thousand years ago.
Seriously. Chill out people.
Tl;dr
Religion disapproves of a metaphorical EPIC TRIANGLE SOLOOOOOOO!
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Social systems: data decay, contrast based defragmentation, debugging CBT
Social systems: data decay, contrast based defragmentation, debugging CBT
I read many books, but some are more mind opening than others. Re-reading Snow Crash(by Neal Stephenson) at the moment, the base setting seems to be a future society where overall social consciousness has been removed but localised/franchised ideals crystallise. This book seems ideal for english high school study as it provides both entertainment and numerous introspective themes for analysis that those teachers seem to love. From what I remember it might be a little high reading level for most students though.
Anyway, it got me thinking, which is sometimes good:
Flotsam and jetsam of the social consciousness. Degraded and fragmented data systems
Unfinished ideas, side tracked beliefs, social and political reforms based on fallacies and agendas. When positive associations with these meme sets grow too few for the social conscious to relate to... they are relegated to the background, devalued... but sometimes they remain potent within individuals or fringe groups of society. There remains the potential for these meme sets to become malignant or even actively malevolent.
In snow crash Neal Stephenson likens memes as the operating system of society.
(Side tracked a bit, reading about discordianism, it's like a bunch of benevolent, genius stoners created a religion just to mess with people)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism
http://discordia.wikia.com/wiki/Discordipedia
I see discordian activity as something which can fidget with the edges of the social system without opposing it or actively destroying it. These types of activities allow an improved contrast based analysis of the system(society) and allowing for clearer social defragmentation. Clearing the system of junk that builds up over time benevolently allows individuals and society to repurpose themselves/reconsider their established values. This is seen as threatening to people who rely on such systems for physical/social/economic survival. However, change does not have to be malicious. Change can be quirky and mischievous, eye-opening and inspirational, analytical and calming.
So if old ideals are re-evaluated and defragged, who is writing and developing the new programs filling up the social system. Popular culture, advertising, movies, tv shows, books, games, forums and bulletin boards all act as recursive programs, not only spreading and writing data to the system but also influencing the next generation with deep seated legacy code and fixed data structures.
Saw my psych today(if you read this and are curious: attention/anxiety/confidence/depression problems etc some markedly improved but some ongoing) and he referred me again to CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy. Which in this frame of reference I can liken to a social debugging/reprogramming tool that allows faulty recursive subroutines to alter their input/analysis/output structures without stripping and rewriting entire blocks. (Changing a persons consciousness/expectations/reactions without drugs, medication or blunt force trauma to the brain.) (NLP is to CBT what hacking code is to programming? kinda? maybe?)
How difficult would it be to make a metaphorical app or patch to effectively apply CBT to an individual and have significant short term outcome.
(Hey, how freaky would it be to create a literal app or patch to apply CBT etc? Excellent beneficial potential combined with extraordinarily scary potential if used to inject malware. Maybe that's what advertising is; social patching... or transmission vectors for viruses and trojans)
Back to the book, there are a lot of references to memes as a kind of social virus. Some more malevolent/benevolent than others but almost always from a self interested individual source.
In reverse it makes me wonder why there is so much malware but I had never heard of ben(evolent)ware until 5 minutes ago. How many programs go around entering peoples computers before fixing their security holes and optimising their graphics cards?
Interesting link on malware/benware with a bit of logic and discreet maths being used to define certain terms:
A General Deļ¬nition of Malware by Simon Kramer
http://www1.spms.ntu.edu.sg/~ccrg/documents/NTU_4on1.pdf
Wow, looking at the logic used and applying it to social systems... everything is social malware unless it is non-damaging or only damages social malware.
Discordian ideals have the potential to damage social malware.
Similar to the australian tv show, the checkout which scrutinises advertiser/consumer practices with an entertaining slant.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thecheckout/
I've got no idea where I'm going with this. At least it kept me entertained for a few hours. Posted for the hell of it.
I read many books, but some are more mind opening than others. Re-reading Snow Crash(by Neal Stephenson) at the moment, the base setting seems to be a future society where overall social consciousness has been removed but localised/franchised ideals crystallise. This book seems ideal for english high school study as it provides both entertainment and numerous introspective themes for analysis that those teachers seem to love. From what I remember it might be a little high reading level for most students though.
Anyway, it got me thinking, which is sometimes good:
Flotsam and jetsam of the social consciousness. Degraded and fragmented data systems
Unfinished ideas, side tracked beliefs, social and political reforms based on fallacies and agendas. When positive associations with these meme sets grow too few for the social conscious to relate to... they are relegated to the background, devalued... but sometimes they remain potent within individuals or fringe groups of society. There remains the potential for these meme sets to become malignant or even actively malevolent.
In snow crash Neal Stephenson likens memes as the operating system of society.
(Side tracked a bit, reading about discordianism, it's like a bunch of benevolent, genius stoners created a religion just to mess with people)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discordianism
http://discordia.wikia.com/wiki/Discordipedia
I see discordian activity as something which can fidget with the edges of the social system without opposing it or actively destroying it. These types of activities allow an improved contrast based analysis of the system(society) and allowing for clearer social defragmentation. Clearing the system of junk that builds up over time benevolently allows individuals and society to repurpose themselves/reconsider their established values. This is seen as threatening to people who rely on such systems for physical/social/economic survival. However, change does not have to be malicious. Change can be quirky and mischievous, eye-opening and inspirational, analytical and calming.
So if old ideals are re-evaluated and defragged, who is writing and developing the new programs filling up the social system. Popular culture, advertising, movies, tv shows, books, games, forums and bulletin boards all act as recursive programs, not only spreading and writing data to the system but also influencing the next generation with deep seated legacy code and fixed data structures.
Saw my psych today(if you read this and are curious: attention/anxiety/confidence/depression problems etc some markedly improved but some ongoing) and he referred me again to CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy. Which in this frame of reference I can liken to a social debugging/reprogramming tool that allows faulty recursive subroutines to alter their input/analysis/output structures without stripping and rewriting entire blocks. (Changing a persons consciousness/expectations/reactions without drugs, medication or blunt force trauma to the brain.) (NLP is to CBT what hacking code is to programming? kinda? maybe?)
How difficult would it be to make a metaphorical app or patch to effectively apply CBT to an individual and have significant short term outcome.
(Hey, how freaky would it be to create a literal app or patch to apply CBT etc? Excellent beneficial potential combined with extraordinarily scary potential if used to inject malware. Maybe that's what advertising is; social patching... or transmission vectors for viruses and trojans)
Back to the book, there are a lot of references to memes as a kind of social virus. Some more malevolent/benevolent than others but almost always from a self interested individual source.
In reverse it makes me wonder why there is so much malware but I had never heard of ben(evolent)ware until 5 minutes ago. How many programs go around entering peoples computers before fixing their security holes and optimising their graphics cards?
Interesting link on malware/benware with a bit of logic and discreet maths being used to define certain terms:
A General Deļ¬nition of Malware by Simon Kramer
http://www1.spms.ntu.edu.sg/~ccrg/documents/NTU_4on1.pdf
Wow, looking at the logic used and applying it to social systems... everything is social malware unless it is non-damaging or only damages social malware.
Discordian ideals have the potential to damage social malware.
Similar to the australian tv show, the checkout which scrutinises advertiser/consumer practices with an entertaining slant.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thecheckout/
I've got no idea where I'm going with this. At least it kept me entertained for a few hours. Posted for the hell of it.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Freemium Metaphor: The Free Feast
I play a lot of online games.
I have made several myself which I have made no money off at all. I put them up free for other people to play and enjoy(or not) as they like.
Reading comments on my games and more recently the comments others make about "Freemium" games(Games free to play but with options to purchase extras)... has started to annoy me. So I wrote a quick metaphor to try and communicate my frustration directed towards people complaining about... free stuff.
The Free Feast
A Restaurant makes a feast and allows anyone who can get there to partake for free. There are several courses and diners have quite a few options for a delicious meal.
The chefs and cooks like good food and like making good food and serving it to others for free... but even so the feast is expensive to make. So there are ways for the restaurant to make money.
Revenue
Advertisements:
Advertisers place small adds above the menus, for every thousand customers at the feast advertisers will pay 1 dollar. This can add up(eventually) but is not enough to pay for much.
Sponsorship:
Advertisers can pay 500 to 1500 dollars to put their logo at the entrance. Decent money for a coffee shop but not for a very large restaurant serving good quality free meals to thousands of people a day.
Extras:
this is where the money is made that allows the restaurant to serve free feasts.
Manners
Please do:
Please don't:
If you don't like your experience there are several things you can do:
1. pay for some extras to improve your experience
2. go to a normal restaurant, where you will be expected to pay a fixed amount for the meal and any extras
JRT - 25th April 2014
I have made several myself which I have made no money off at all. I put them up free for other people to play and enjoy(or not) as they like.
Reading comments on my games and more recently the comments others make about "Freemium" games(Games free to play but with options to purchase extras)... has started to annoy me. So I wrote a quick metaphor to try and communicate my frustration directed towards people complaining about... free stuff.
The Free Feast
A Restaurant makes a feast and allows anyone who can get there to partake for free. There are several courses and diners have quite a few options for a delicious meal.
The chefs and cooks like good food and like making good food and serving it to others for free... but even so the feast is expensive to make. So there are ways for the restaurant to make money.
Revenue
Advertisements:
Advertisers place small adds above the menus, for every thousand customers at the feast advertisers will pay 1 dollar. This can add up(eventually) but is not enough to pay for much.
Sponsorship:
Advertisers can pay 500 to 1500 dollars to put their logo at the entrance. Decent money for a coffee shop but not for a very large restaurant serving good quality free meals to thousands of people a day.
Extras:
this is where the money is made that allows the restaurant to serve free feasts.
- Sauces for 50 cents
- Soft drink for 3 dollars (a glass of water is free)
- reserve the table for an extra half hour for 5 dollars
- a seat at the window for 10 dollars
- an extra course for 20 dollars
- and for those with extra cash they can purchase a seat at the head of the table for 50 dollars
- and a bit of extravagance: for 5000 dollars a diner can buy a spectacular handcrafted dessert
Manners
Please do:
- feel free to inform the staff about any actual problems/defects with their food, they like to know if there is a problem.
- suggest improvements to the menu, the staff enjoy their work and are always looking for ways to improve the experience for everyone.
Please don't:
- complain about not being able to reserve a table for six hours or eat the expensive dessert without paying money.
- complain about how "unfair" it is that people with money get to sit at the head of the table, that person is paying for your food.
If you don't like your experience there are several things you can do:
1. pay for some extras to improve your experience
2. go to a normal restaurant, where you will be expected to pay a fixed amount for the meal and any extras
JRT - 25th April 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
What is Art?
What is art?
I once asked this to a class of people studying art, not one of them had an answer. None of them had really thought of it to the point where they were confident of their answer. In various essays and lectures I have seen a variety of people attempt to answer this in different ways but they all seemed to miss things, being too specific etc. I eventually came up with my own definition.
Art is an attempt at perfection of expression.
art can be anything. It can be seen in cooking, in making and serving tea, fighting, painting, speaking convincingly, playing - art can be anything... IF the artist has something they wish to express(even to themselves) and they wish to do so in a way that improves perfection of that expression(even if their definition of perfection leans away from beauty or harmony or even if their definition of perfection happens to be quantity or simplicity etc). Also, the art does not actually have to be successful and perfect, it just has to be an attempt at approaching perfection even the slightest bit.
However art appreciation is far from universal and that what one considers art is quite often scorned by those who consider themselves true artists. (personally I think this is as much a personal failing of pride as a lack of understanding) I don't appreciate a great quantity of the gallery art sold for thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of etc. I do appreciate a great deal of concept art, spun out in moments, for yearly wages that are relatively similar(or less) to the price of an expensive painting.
I worked at a game company where artists shaped points in space, clothed them in light, animated them in brilliant fashion to form wonderful people and creatures with shapes colors and actions out of the realm of real world possibility that interacted in ways that dragged forth reactions from the viewers that cant be replicated in a typical gallery. Beautiful and wonderful as they were, my art lecturers were far more respectful of the guy who painted a canvas completely blue, the guy who put a toilet in the middle of an art gallery and who painted a pipe, wrote that it was not a pipe etc.
http://twentytwowords.com/2013/05/16/canvas-painted-blue-with-a-white-line-sells-for-nearly-44-million-4-pictures/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp
If you want something a bit more humorous, interesting and about as artistic as the original fountain sculpture, here two guys try to pee in it... why it is in the art gallery and behind a glass case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojbegua2yKw
Moving on...
I had an art lecturer who couldn't appreciate that comics might have artistic value. Then when I simply referred to them as "sequential art", like a triptych etc, he suddenly made the slight allowance that they might have some value.
Just different perspectives.
Do you know that Chinese calligraphy is a well respected form of art such that well known pieces have sold for millions. Ever see the movie hero where a group of artists continue to paint calligraphy as arrows rain down killing people? The idea is that what they were trying to express was worth their lives.
So, today, a bit out of the blue I realized something else, art APPRECIATION requires the belief that the art is something worth perfecting. The viewer has to believe that there is an inherent aura, value or nobility about the art.
(after rereading this the following paragraph is a bit... pompous?... oh well, ill leave it in. If anyone has another view on this stuff feel free to comment)
If only people could understand that given the right perspective, anything can have such nobility of character, any action undertaken by a human being can be art. Sadly I think that this idea is being lost in modern society.
---
Bit of an idea that might work for a story, probably be an interesting twist to a fantasy world - what if there was a class based system dedicated to the perfection and standard raising of skills. any skills. someone could practice and reach for the greatest heights of perfection as an exemplary potter, woodcutter, fisherman, messenger etc and be called and treated like a lord for their skills and dedication. it would basically allow anyone anywhere to be recognized and rewarded for perfection in any region of their life. People could value effort and skill over speed and cost efficiency.
(I just remembered there was a fantasy world where legendary people gained some kind of magical power when the achieved high skill at something. Blademasters had to draw magical circles to stop the power from escaping when they dueled, can't remember the book though. Still might work as an idea less overtly magic based.)
I once asked this to a class of people studying art, not one of them had an answer. None of them had really thought of it to the point where they were confident of their answer. In various essays and lectures I have seen a variety of people attempt to answer this in different ways but they all seemed to miss things, being too specific etc. I eventually came up with my own definition.
Art is an attempt at perfection of expression.
art can be anything. It can be seen in cooking, in making and serving tea, fighting, painting, speaking convincingly, playing - art can be anything... IF the artist has something they wish to express(even to themselves) and they wish to do so in a way that improves perfection of that expression(even if their definition of perfection leans away from beauty or harmony or even if their definition of perfection happens to be quantity or simplicity etc). Also, the art does not actually have to be successful and perfect, it just has to be an attempt at approaching perfection even the slightest bit.
However art appreciation is far from universal and that what one considers art is quite often scorned by those who consider themselves true artists. (personally I think this is as much a personal failing of pride as a lack of understanding) I don't appreciate a great quantity of the gallery art sold for thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of etc. I do appreciate a great deal of concept art, spun out in moments, for yearly wages that are relatively similar(or less) to the price of an expensive painting.
I worked at a game company where artists shaped points in space, clothed them in light, animated them in brilliant fashion to form wonderful people and creatures with shapes colors and actions out of the realm of real world possibility that interacted in ways that dragged forth reactions from the viewers that cant be replicated in a typical gallery. Beautiful and wonderful as they were, my art lecturers were far more respectful of the guy who painted a canvas completely blue, the guy who put a toilet in the middle of an art gallery and who painted a pipe, wrote that it was not a pipe etc.
http://twentytwowords.com/2013/05/16/canvas-painted-blue-with-a-white-line-sells-for-nearly-44-million-4-pictures/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp
If you want something a bit more humorous, interesting and about as artistic as the original fountain sculpture, here two guys try to pee in it... why it is in the art gallery and behind a glass case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojbegua2yKw
Moving on...
I had an art lecturer who couldn't appreciate that comics might have artistic value. Then when I simply referred to them as "sequential art", like a triptych etc, he suddenly made the slight allowance that they might have some value.
Just different perspectives.
Do you know that Chinese calligraphy is a well respected form of art such that well known pieces have sold for millions. Ever see the movie hero where a group of artists continue to paint calligraphy as arrows rain down killing people? The idea is that what they were trying to express was worth their lives.
So, today, a bit out of the blue I realized something else, art APPRECIATION requires the belief that the art is something worth perfecting. The viewer has to believe that there is an inherent aura, value or nobility about the art.
(after rereading this the following paragraph is a bit... pompous?... oh well, ill leave it in. If anyone has another view on this stuff feel free to comment)
If only people could understand that given the right perspective, anything can have such nobility of character, any action undertaken by a human being can be art. Sadly I think that this idea is being lost in modern society.
---
Bit of an idea that might work for a story, probably be an interesting twist to a fantasy world - what if there was a class based system dedicated to the perfection and standard raising of skills. any skills. someone could practice and reach for the greatest heights of perfection as an exemplary potter, woodcutter, fisherman, messenger etc and be called and treated like a lord for their skills and dedication. it would basically allow anyone anywhere to be recognized and rewarded for perfection in any region of their life. People could value effort and skill over speed and cost efficiency.
(I just remembered there was a fantasy world where legendary people gained some kind of magical power when the achieved high skill at something. Blademasters had to draw magical circles to stop the power from escaping when they dueled, can't remember the book though. Still might work as an idea less overtly magic based.)
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Aquapunk Bubble Logic: Underwater Computing
Ok, so a while back I had an idea for a story set far future where everyone lives underwater. Humanity has deliberately modified their own genes to be able to survive... as merfolk, sea elves and some crustacean variant of orcs. I wanted a fair bit of modern day science to still be available even though modern day resources were not. i.e.:
Underwater means no combustion so no motors.
Projectiles would be lucky to more than a meter or two.
Electrical circuits are probably not going to work.
The ability of these people to breathe requires oxygenated water with low pollutants so any industrial activity resulting in pollutants/particulates(such as mining) would kill people off.
Anyway, two of the main characters in this story were responsible for researching/designing/maintaining computational systems that would work underwater. I figured this would be possible and was inspired by stories such as 'Souls in the great machine' by Sean McMullen and 'The difference engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
For other examples of mechanical logic see:
http://mechalogic.wordpress.com/
http://xiaoji-chen.com/blog/2010/the-linkage-computer/
Also inspired by: people who build working computers in minecraft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2pMeTYQo0 -Screen, keyboard input, calculator, music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqWorbrAaY -Screen, keyboard input, commands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzrFzkb3A4o#t=299 -Ohm's 16 bit computer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdnO1QZJ--M -Minecraft in minecraft
Yesterday I came up with a few ideas for bubble based logic gates, today I drafted them up:
They aren't quite up there with minecraft computers and they are probably as buggy as hell but it was interesting.
Simple piston raised by bubbles. The piston shaft has holes which allows the reservoir to output bubbles if the piston is in the correct position.
Considering possible issues with using bubbles as a... bit signal? or something, I added in the 'timing plate'(not really a plate) which I see as something similar to a rotating belt with holes that allow output bubbles to be sent before inputs get released into the reservoir as well as limiting the bubbles that can be output within a single computation cycle.
The use of gravity as power source requires a layered design but it should be easy to design a way to signal lower levels by having the piston shaft and output hang beneath the piston instead of above.
This system would have the advantage of being able to use simple analogue counters by collecting bubbles etc.
A quick spot of googling reveals someone has tried a slightly more professional job of designing bubble logic..
http://web.media.mit.edu/~manup/research/bubble-logic/
Also wikipedia has a page on fluidic logic with an interesting fluidic amplifier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidic_logic
So that's it.
The latest task on my maybe-later-but-probably-never TO DO list is building a functional calculator with bubble logic. Maybe have it set up within a glass tank as a lounge table. Brilliant conversation starter.
Underwater means no combustion so no motors.
Projectiles would be lucky to more than a meter or two.
Electrical circuits are probably not going to work.
The ability of these people to breathe requires oxygenated water with low pollutants so any industrial activity resulting in pollutants/particulates(such as mining) would kill people off.
Anyway, two of the main characters in this story were responsible for researching/designing/maintaining computational systems that would work underwater. I figured this would be possible and was inspired by stories such as 'Souls in the great machine' by Sean McMullen and 'The difference engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
For other examples of mechanical logic see:
http://mechalogic.wordpress.com/
http://xiaoji-chen.com/blog/2010/the-linkage-computer/
Also inspired by: people who build working computers in minecraft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2pMeTYQo0 -Screen, keyboard input, calculator, music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQqWorbrAaY -Screen, keyboard input, commands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzrFzkb3A4o#t=299 -Ohm's 16 bit computer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdnO1QZJ--M -Minecraft in minecraft
Yesterday I came up with a few ideas for bubble based logic gates, today I drafted them up:
They aren't quite up there with minecraft computers and they are probably as buggy as hell but it was interesting.
Simple piston raised by bubbles. The piston shaft has holes which allows the reservoir to output bubbles if the piston is in the correct position.
Considering possible issues with using bubbles as a... bit signal? or something, I added in the 'timing plate'(not really a plate) which I see as something similar to a rotating belt with holes that allow output bubbles to be sent before inputs get released into the reservoir as well as limiting the bubbles that can be output within a single computation cycle.
The use of gravity as power source requires a layered design but it should be easy to design a way to signal lower levels by having the piston shaft and output hang beneath the piston instead of above.
This system would have the advantage of being able to use simple analogue counters by collecting bubbles etc.
A quick spot of googling reveals someone has tried a slightly more professional job of designing bubble logic..
http://web.media.mit.edu/~manup/research/bubble-logic/
Also wikipedia has a page on fluidic logic with an interesting fluidic amplifier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluidic_logic
So that's it.
The latest task on my maybe-later-but-probably-never TO DO list is building a functional calculator with bubble logic. Maybe have it set up within a glass tank as a lounge table. Brilliant conversation starter.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
State of time
Thinking a little about time.
Is time a dimension or just a frame of reference?
Is there any way to prove that we are moving forwards through time rather than being 'sucked back into the past'?
Science fiction story fragment
Time travel is impossible but it can be faked by reversing the passage of dimensions through the frame of reference.
Is time a dimension or just a frame of reference?
Is there any way to prove that we are moving forwards through time rather than being 'sucked back into the past'?
Science fiction story fragment
Time travel is impossible but it can be faked by reversing the passage of dimensions through the frame of reference.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Consciousness, the barrier /channel mechanism, glial cells and a non-psychic sixth sense.
UPDATE: Alright, the following is looking less and less coherent the more I go over it. The idea of a channeling mechanism seems to be reinventing the wheel re. neural networks. I will try to do another post with a clearer idea of the barrier stuff(Dynamic Permeability Gradients in the Human Body).
I had an idea a few weeks ago that got me very excited. It was all about way the brain functions, the basic pattern that underlies consciousness. It is in part based on the following:
For a while now I had been thinking I had a previously undocumented sensory ability. Not psychic. ...More like the ability to sense the tension in areas controlling blood flow/nutrient supply in the brain and throughout the body. It started when I was thinking about my ability to 'feel' things with distinct locations within my brain - even though high school science classes left me with the impression that 'there are no nerves in the brain' and that as such we should be unable to feel anything there except for headaches.
Looking this sensation up online I stumbled upon:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf94692-0-45.html
The sensations reported varied but seemed to be similar to sensations I had experienced myself.
Then I started thinking about how I could feel similar sensations of tension and relaxation within my body before muscle movement. After looking at research on the subject I came to the conclusion that these are probably just part of my somatosensory system(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatosensory_system) or more likely baroreceptors(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreceptor) linking up to a kind of sensory homunculus(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus), allowing me greater ability to sense and to a small degree control over the locality and level of what I believe to be vascular constriction and/or nutrient supply.
This phenomenon is probably what is affected by ADHD medications. Also it makes me think that people have some control over this when they tense or relax and that this is a requirement of most muscle movement when related to sustained effort.
Back to the brain - I can feel sensations within my brain that, when I concentrate, seem to increase in intensity in certain locations. For instance when thinking about this stuff the first time the sensation was an upright slightly bent fan starting from the front right fanning out to the back left in a slight backwards lean. While rewriting this for the blog post there is a fan of sensation that is more upright and that starts from the front left and moves to the back right. As i sit here consciously focusing my attention on my brain the center of the fan started fading and dissipating into a small ball at the front left and a larger at the back right.
From this I theorized that what I am feeling is the physical mechanism the brain uses to focus consciousness and attention.
My understanding of how the brain works:
At its most basic the brain functions by connecting nodes of 'simple ideas'. This occurs simultaneously throughout the brain billions of times per second(or millisecond etc). Connections are made by formulaic associations and will eventually loop back to original ideas. Certain ideas connect more frequently and as such have greater associations with similar ideas. The looping arrangement allows feedback. The aggregate result of these feedback loops is consciousness.
- The CHANNEL idea is that feedback loops between nodes of similar ideas will begin to send signals more often and with greater ease making a kind of channel between them. These channels form over the short and long term.
- The BARRIER idea is that nodes which are not being accessed as frequently or with the 'right amount' of signals will actively reduce the signals they send.
- Consciousness is the buildup of active signals within feedback loops that flow mostly through channels while being constrained partially by barriers.
- The focus of conscious attention increases the signals being sent to corresponding nodes and the buildup of signals in nearby channels dictates the flow of thought.
- If the focus of attention receives insufficient positive feedback the channels will not deepen and the barriers lower causing new short term channels to connect as the person searches for a solution to an idea.
- If the focus receives too much negative feedback the barriers strengthen and channels will form between more relevant areas. This happens regularly when seeking the optimal way to complete a task Ie. the best solution to a maths problem out of several familiar alternatives. A slightly more extreme example happens when the task is unfamiliar and the usual channels don't provide feedback in the form of correct solutions to the mind starts searching nearby ideas for ways to achieve the correct solution
Example 1: a child multiplying 12 x 12 - known/remembered solution from times table is 144
Example 2: a child multiplying 12 x 13 - answer not remembered from times table - child associates a difference of 1 in the second number multiplied by the first number and added to the first remembered solution = 156
Example 3: a child multiplying 8236344 x 84642664 - known solutions are unhelpful so the child associates this with stupidly difficult maths questions - ...and gets out a calculator
Anyway. The BARRIER/CHANNEL mechanism relates to the organization and focus of consciousness but they are not the actual process of signalling.
From here on I start to ramble a bit and occasionally link to relevant online articles, if you see a question mark it means I am probably guessing rather than theorizing.
The latest extrapolation of the original idea: Consciousness is focused by (ion?) channel regulations and permeability gradients moderated by glial cells.
1. The formation of channels is linked to the strength and regularity of signalling ie. if a neuron either doesn't have enough charge to signal or is signalling more regularly than usual then it is likely causing changes in the cell. These changes will be thermal/chemical/mechanical effects which can cause drastic differences in the resultant signals such as by releasing or absorbing neurotransmitters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_channel) this stuff looks like it could support my idea if ion channels are capable of near(NEAR) immediate response... reading further... crap this stuff gets complicated.
2. The formation of barriers is likely to be based on signalling regulated by glial cells. Barriers include a component that is strongly chemical and mechanical. Regulation of blood flow as well as supply and collection of nutrients and neurotransmitters. Stronger barrier forming creates more focus.
Random wikipedia link - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glia_limitans)
Insects have an open circulatory system, so there are no blood vessels found within their ganglia. However, they do have a sheath of perineurial glial cells that envelops the nervous system and exhibit the same tight occluding junctions that are induced by the glia limitans in humans. These cells act as a barrier and are responsible for establishing permeability gradients.
In certain molluscs, a glial-interstitial fluid barrier is observed without the presence of tight junctions. Cephalopod molluscs, in particular, have cerebral ganglia that have microcirculation, often seen in the composition of higher organisms. Often, the glial cells will form a seamless sheath completely around the blood space. The barrier consists of zonular intercellular junctions, rather than tight junctions, with clefts formed by extracellular fibrils. In addition to protection from the blood, these barriers are thought to exhibit local control of the microenvironment around specific neuron groups, a function required for complex nervous systems.[5]
barrier mechanism can be regarded as a system for regulating permeability gradients in the brain?
3. The components of the various systems of the body work in similar ways but using varying components. Ie. parts of the nervous system which only signal electrically in one direction will still form feedback loops by signalling chemically.
4. Immediate thermal/chemical/mechanical effects are just as important as electrical in determining consciousness(if not more so).
5. Current theory: ADHD meds affect the chemical/mechanical regulation of the barrier mechanism. Tension related effects(throughout the body) of these medications are due to their basic function to be the increase of definition within permeability gradients and it is this effect within the brain which increases focus. I have noticed a kind of tension signal is sent to the area of a muscle when activity is occurring(Different to the nervous system signal used to activate the muscle). I believe this releases or supplies energy for the muscle to use. The effect of dextroamphetamine(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextroamphetamine) increases the effectiveness of this secondary signal and results in reduced feelings of fatigue. When this secondary signal is ineffective or does not get sent at all it results in a feeling of 'arms or legs giving way' even though the muscles are being sent the usual impulses to move through the nervous system.
6. Extended Consciousness - we interact with the world in similar ways as we interact with other portions of our own brains and bodies. = possible implications with regards to social studies and psychology/psychiatry.
7. There are numerous(hundreds? thousands?) of substances/chemicals/biological agents which make direct or indirect changes on the signalling processes. Many(if not all) of these have BOTH inhibition and excitation effects when applied to different parts of the signalling processes. Feedback loops ensure that many of these effects meet and are cancelled out. Completely different concentrations of substances will result in similar symptoms.
Implications? Pharmaceutical research needs to start human trials with far more control over subjects. You cant just try out a drug to see if it helps autistic people. You have to test it for autistic people with very specific sets of symptoms. Otherwise what appears to be an insignificant result could in fact be an incredibly helpful drug that is cancelled out by other effects. Problematic as it might be - the 'fix' for a specific individuals autism is likely a combination of drugs that target a variety of different mechanisms. This might seem obvious to some people but all the research in this area I see seems to focus on trying to find a general 'cure all' which will not exist.
I guess 7 should be - Autistic spectrum disorders occur across a multidimensional spectrum with hundreds/thousands of dimensions, same with motor neurone diseases I guess?
Ok where are we... Below are a few ideas I'm messing around with that I haven't looked at fully but still think they might have merit...
- headaches, particularely cluster headaches are likely glial cells mismanaging the microclimates in the brain
- Hypnosis is possible due to an individuals partial control over their own barrier/channel functions. The person being hypnotised allows their barriers to be lowered while still having their attention being effected by feedback loops. The hypnotist then stimulates certain feedback loops verbally which the subject then reacts to as if the stimulated feedback is the result of the subjects own conscious thought.
- People who can semiconsciously manipulate the barrier/channel mechanism but are unaware of it's action are those most likely to be hypnotised.?
- Some people are harder to hypnotise, these people either make too many connections outside the artificial channels or have less semiconscious control over the barrier/channel mechanism and cannot be inducted to lower it. problem - induction method of overwhelming attention and giving forceful command?
- sleep is the partial or complete lowering of the barrier mechanism(a reduction of definition within the permeability gradients). This allows long term channel formation from greater ranges information and associations while also assimilating and resetting short term channel formation. This allows the mind to learn and let go of unbalancing influences.
- query if MRI scanners track the diffusion of water within the brain is anyone researching what is preventing the passage of water in areas that do not light up.
- social interaction is the association of external signals to internal nodes which are then associated to via the same barrier channel mechanisms - in other words - to an individual, social interactions are an extension of consciousness. the same mechanisms are used. positive/negative feedback aggregation, permeability gradients and channel formulation.
- dominance is the act of impressing upon existing feedback loops to increase positive feedback with less regard for the effects of increasing amounts of negative feedback. Extrapolated examples can be seen socially(outgoing personalities), mentally(calm personalities) and physically(relaxed personalities).
- stroke is a collapse of the physical mechanisms used by glial cells to modulate blood flow within the brain???
- autism is the result of aggregate conditions which cause over-definition of either the permeability gradients or channels.
- Aspergers includes an element of addiction to focusing attention inwardly, when the focus on one idea stops returning enough positive feedback the long term attention shifts to something else which can be used to attain reward.
-If this mechanism is affecting an individual without the requirement of greater and greater reward then the inwards focus will remain - possible autism?
Some ways this stuff can be used in the future (or as a pseudo-scientific basis for science fiction)
regressing chemical conditions of the brain to a point when it begins to repair itself should be possible? although this would likely result in cancers due to degradation of the genetic structure within cells that then begin to multiply. If a way can be found to selectively isolate cancerous growth if it is known that it will occur - neural regeneration may be possible.
Idea: story about astrocyte bridges grown to connect parts of the brain and/or implants and then triggered to become neurons?
Simulation of consciousness for artificial intelligences.
Ok, that's enough. What does this stuff mean if any of it is accurate? It means that even if correct I will have no part in the upcoming research and will be thoroughly disheartened by the extraordinary advances in understanding obtained by others while I continue to wash dishes for a living. Oh well.
- Consciousness is the aggregate conclusion of association formulation that has been defined by a barrier/channel mechanism.
I had an idea a few weeks ago that got me very excited. It was all about way the brain functions, the basic pattern that underlies consciousness. It is in part based on the following:
For a while now I had been thinking I had a previously undocumented sensory ability. Not psychic. ...More like the ability to sense the tension in areas controlling blood flow/nutrient supply in the brain and throughout the body. It started when I was thinking about my ability to 'feel' things with distinct locations within my brain - even though high school science classes left me with the impression that 'there are no nerves in the brain' and that as such we should be unable to feel anything there except for headaches.
Looking this sensation up online I stumbled upon:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postxf94692-0-45.html
The sensations reported varied but seemed to be similar to sensations I had experienced myself.
Then I started thinking about how I could feel similar sensations of tension and relaxation within my body before muscle movement. After looking at research on the subject I came to the conclusion that these are probably just part of my somatosensory system(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatosensory_system) or more likely baroreceptors(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreceptor) linking up to a kind of sensory homunculus(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_homunculus), allowing me greater ability to sense and to a small degree control over the locality and level of what I believe to be vascular constriction and/or nutrient supply.
This phenomenon is probably what is affected by ADHD medications. Also it makes me think that people have some control over this when they tense or relax and that this is a requirement of most muscle movement when related to sustained effort.
Back to the brain - I can feel sensations within my brain that, when I concentrate, seem to increase in intensity in certain locations. For instance when thinking about this stuff the first time the sensation was an upright slightly bent fan starting from the front right fanning out to the back left in a slight backwards lean. While rewriting this for the blog post there is a fan of sensation that is more upright and that starts from the front left and moves to the back right. As i sit here consciously focusing my attention on my brain the center of the fan started fading and dissipating into a small ball at the front left and a larger at the back right.
From this I theorized that what I am feeling is the physical mechanism the brain uses to focus consciousness and attention.
My understanding of how the brain works:
At its most basic the brain functions by connecting nodes of 'simple ideas'. This occurs simultaneously throughout the brain billions of times per second(or millisecond etc). Connections are made by formulaic associations and will eventually loop back to original ideas. Certain ideas connect more frequently and as such have greater associations with similar ideas. The looping arrangement allows feedback. The aggregate result of these feedback loops is consciousness.
- The CHANNEL idea is that feedback loops between nodes of similar ideas will begin to send signals more often and with greater ease making a kind of channel between them. These channels form over the short and long term.
- The BARRIER idea is that nodes which are not being accessed as frequently or with the 'right amount' of signals will actively reduce the signals they send.
- Consciousness is the buildup of active signals within feedback loops that flow mostly through channels while being constrained partially by barriers.
- The focus of conscious attention increases the signals being sent to corresponding nodes and the buildup of signals in nearby channels dictates the flow of thought.
- If the focus of attention receives insufficient positive feedback the channels will not deepen and the barriers lower causing new short term channels to connect as the person searches for a solution to an idea.
- If the focus receives too much negative feedback the barriers strengthen and channels will form between more relevant areas. This happens regularly when seeking the optimal way to complete a task Ie. the best solution to a maths problem out of several familiar alternatives. A slightly more extreme example happens when the task is unfamiliar and the usual channels don't provide feedback in the form of correct solutions to the mind starts searching nearby ideas for ways to achieve the correct solution
Example 1: a child multiplying 12 x 12 - known/remembered solution from times table is 144
Example 2: a child multiplying 12 x 13 - answer not remembered from times table - child associates a difference of 1 in the second number multiplied by the first number and added to the first remembered solution = 156
Example 3: a child multiplying 8236344 x 84642664 - known solutions are unhelpful so the child associates this with stupidly difficult maths questions - ...and gets out a calculator
Anyway. The BARRIER/CHANNEL mechanism relates to the organization and focus of consciousness but they are not the actual process of signalling.
From here on I start to ramble a bit and occasionally link to relevant online articles, if you see a question mark it means I am probably guessing rather than theorizing.
The latest extrapolation of the original idea: Consciousness is focused by (ion?) channel regulations and permeability gradients moderated by glial cells.
1. The formation of channels is linked to the strength and regularity of signalling ie. if a neuron either doesn't have enough charge to signal or is signalling more regularly than usual then it is likely causing changes in the cell. These changes will be thermal/chemical/mechanical effects which can cause drastic differences in the resultant signals such as by releasing or absorbing neurotransmitters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_channel) this stuff looks like it could support my idea if ion channels are capable of near(NEAR) immediate response... reading further... crap this stuff gets complicated.
2. The formation of barriers is likely to be based on signalling regulated by glial cells. Barriers include a component that is strongly chemical and mechanical. Regulation of blood flow as well as supply and collection of nutrients and neurotransmitters. Stronger barrier forming creates more focus.
Random wikipedia link - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glia_limitans)
Insects have an open circulatory system, so there are no blood vessels found within their ganglia. However, they do have a sheath of perineurial glial cells that envelops the nervous system and exhibit the same tight occluding junctions that are induced by the glia limitans in humans. These cells act as a barrier and are responsible for establishing permeability gradients.
In certain molluscs, a glial-interstitial fluid barrier is observed without the presence of tight junctions. Cephalopod molluscs, in particular, have cerebral ganglia that have microcirculation, often seen in the composition of higher organisms. Often, the glial cells will form a seamless sheath completely around the blood space. The barrier consists of zonular intercellular junctions, rather than tight junctions, with clefts formed by extracellular fibrils. In addition to protection from the blood, these barriers are thought to exhibit local control of the microenvironment around specific neuron groups, a function required for complex nervous systems.[5]
barrier mechanism can be regarded as a system for regulating permeability gradients in the brain?
3. The components of the various systems of the body work in similar ways but using varying components. Ie. parts of the nervous system which only signal electrically in one direction will still form feedback loops by signalling chemically.
4. Immediate thermal/chemical/mechanical effects are just as important as electrical in determining consciousness(if not more so).
5. Current theory: ADHD meds affect the chemical/mechanical regulation of the barrier mechanism. Tension related effects(throughout the body) of these medications are due to their basic function to be the increase of definition within permeability gradients and it is this effect within the brain which increases focus. I have noticed a kind of tension signal is sent to the area of a muscle when activity is occurring(Different to the nervous system signal used to activate the muscle). I believe this releases or supplies energy for the muscle to use. The effect of dextroamphetamine(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextroamphetamine) increases the effectiveness of this secondary signal and results in reduced feelings of fatigue. When this secondary signal is ineffective or does not get sent at all it results in a feeling of 'arms or legs giving way' even though the muscles are being sent the usual impulses to move through the nervous system.
6. Extended Consciousness - we interact with the world in similar ways as we interact with other portions of our own brains and bodies. = possible implications with regards to social studies and psychology/psychiatry.
7. There are numerous(hundreds? thousands?) of substances/chemicals/biological agents which make direct or indirect changes on the signalling processes. Many(if not all) of these have BOTH inhibition and excitation effects when applied to different parts of the signalling processes. Feedback loops ensure that many of these effects meet and are cancelled out. Completely different concentrations of substances will result in similar symptoms.
Implications? Pharmaceutical research needs to start human trials with far more control over subjects. You cant just try out a drug to see if it helps autistic people. You have to test it for autistic people with very specific sets of symptoms. Otherwise what appears to be an insignificant result could in fact be an incredibly helpful drug that is cancelled out by other effects. Problematic as it might be - the 'fix' for a specific individuals autism is likely a combination of drugs that target a variety of different mechanisms. This might seem obvious to some people but all the research in this area I see seems to focus on trying to find a general 'cure all' which will not exist.
I guess 7 should be - Autistic spectrum disorders occur across a multidimensional spectrum with hundreds/thousands of dimensions, same with motor neurone diseases I guess?
Ok where are we... Below are a few ideas I'm messing around with that I haven't looked at fully but still think they might have merit...
- headaches, particularely cluster headaches are likely glial cells mismanaging the microclimates in the brain
- Hypnosis is possible due to an individuals partial control over their own barrier/channel functions. The person being hypnotised allows their barriers to be lowered while still having their attention being effected by feedback loops. The hypnotist then stimulates certain feedback loops verbally which the subject then reacts to as if the stimulated feedback is the result of the subjects own conscious thought.
- People who can semiconsciously manipulate the barrier/channel mechanism but are unaware of it's action are those most likely to be hypnotised.?
- Some people are harder to hypnotise, these people either make too many connections outside the artificial channels or have less semiconscious control over the barrier/channel mechanism and cannot be inducted to lower it. problem - induction method of overwhelming attention and giving forceful command?
- sleep is the partial or complete lowering of the barrier mechanism(a reduction of definition within the permeability gradients). This allows long term channel formation from greater ranges information and associations while also assimilating and resetting short term channel formation. This allows the mind to learn and let go of unbalancing influences.
- query if MRI scanners track the diffusion of water within the brain is anyone researching what is preventing the passage of water in areas that do not light up.
- social interaction is the association of external signals to internal nodes which are then associated to via the same barrier channel mechanisms - in other words - to an individual, social interactions are an extension of consciousness. the same mechanisms are used. positive/negative feedback aggregation, permeability gradients and channel formulation.
- dominance is the act of impressing upon existing feedback loops to increase positive feedback with less regard for the effects of increasing amounts of negative feedback. Extrapolated examples can be seen socially(outgoing personalities), mentally(calm personalities) and physically(relaxed personalities).
- stroke is a collapse of the physical mechanisms used by glial cells to modulate blood flow within the brain???
- autism is the result of aggregate conditions which cause over-definition of either the permeability gradients or channels.
- Aspergers includes an element of addiction to focusing attention inwardly, when the focus on one idea stops returning enough positive feedback the long term attention shifts to something else which can be used to attain reward.
-If this mechanism is affecting an individual without the requirement of greater and greater reward then the inwards focus will remain - possible autism?
Some ways this stuff can be used in the future (or as a pseudo-scientific basis for science fiction)
regressing chemical conditions of the brain to a point when it begins to repair itself should be possible? although this would likely result in cancers due to degradation of the genetic structure within cells that then begin to multiply. If a way can be found to selectively isolate cancerous growth if it is known that it will occur - neural regeneration may be possible.
Idea: story about astrocyte bridges grown to connect parts of the brain and/or implants and then triggered to become neurons?
Simulation of consciousness for artificial intelligences.
Ok, that's enough. What does this stuff mean if any of it is accurate? It means that even if correct I will have no part in the upcoming research and will be thoroughly disheartened by the extraordinary advances in understanding obtained by others while I continue to wash dishes for a living. Oh well.
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