Archive for the ‘Quotes’ Category.
Dishwasher: Dead and Smiling!
I had a perfect nightmare
on a starry torrid sea:I am cast to prison at a
crippled demon’s plea.The demon has 3 faces
all are laughing down at me.The Banker with his filthy lucre
sets the game astride.The General with raging might
lets forth a battle cry.The Judge locks now the metal
tomb where I’m meant to die.… But vengeance is
a brutal beast
not held by any cellMy wit is steeled
My blade is wet
So sound the Reaper’s bell.Banker, General and Judge!
You all shall burn in Hell.
– From The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile‘s debut trailer.
Useless, Egoistic Self-pity
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
That’s Sir Walter Scott. I can’t say I know one end of poetry from the other… well, that’s it. I have no point to make there!
There Is No AI, Stupid!
My outspoken (and certainly prejudiced and groundless) stance on AI is very well known where I am known myself. I hate the current trends and implementations of what is called Artificial Intelligence.
And what’s with the “artificial” prefix anyway? What is “real intelligence”? Why we call human (organic? carbon-based?) intelligence “real” and silicon-based (germanium-based?!) intelligence “artificial”? Because we where here first? Because we are currently more complex and have the upper hand? Wait for the “Singularity” (definitely STFW) and see who gets the last laugh, folks! I guarantee that it will be soon and it won’t be us (almost by definition!)
It can’t be because our intelligence is emergent and evolution-based and computer intelligence is designed and creation-based, because it is not! As far as I know (which is admittedly not far) most successful and state-of-the-art “intelligent” software are evolution-based these days. (They are based on that singly most unique and most elegant idea Darwin had one summer evening (or one winter morning, or whatever) which so beautifully explains a significant portion of the mess that we call “life”.)
And to attack the issue from another angle, “What is real? How do you define real?” What makes you think that we are any more real than the data structures and code run everyday on our own computers?
And don’t even get me started on the “gods-created-us-therefore-we-are-super-special” bullshit.
In any case, my point is that whatever this intelligence is, it’s no more artificial than our own, and we are probably no more real than it.
Maybe we should call it Third Intelligence? Obviously, calling machine intelligence Second Intelligence would be wrong, because they are third after mice and dolphins. We are fourth at best! “So long and thanks for all the fish” anyone?
Let me quote a great quote from a (supposedly) great person:
The question of whether computers can think is no more relevant than the question of whether submarines can swim.
Obviously, there must be a reason that I’m writing philosophically about AI at 6:28 in the morning. I have just started reading “The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect” (a seemingly great sci-fi book, available freely online) which apparently deals with the Singularity and the post-Singularity world. I’m in the middle of chapter two (out of eight) and I must say that the opening chapter was refreshingly original for me and sweetly violent. I recommend it even if the remaining 6.5 chapters are total crap.
Happy Ostriches
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
George Bernard Shaw said that. If you are a religious person and you are happy, well… good for you. But you have traded reality for happiness and peace, which makes you like an ostrich.
Fight, Cut, Kill
(This has nothing to do with BiteFight. This was an old draft of mine which I took off the dusty shelf, in part by means of inspiration from this.)
I am finished doing what I swore an oath to God 28 years ago to never do again. I’ve created, “something that kills people.” And in that purpose, I was a success. I’ve done this because, philosophically, I am sympathetic to your aim. I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut.
Hattori Hanzo
Volume 1, Kill Bill
(He is talking about the amulet hanging from his neck, which is a symbol of war wizards’ primary edict.)
The ruby is meant to represent a drop of blood. It is the symbolic representation of the way of the primary edict.
It means only one thing, and everything: cut. Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut.
The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don’t allow him a breath. Crush Him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit.
It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death.Richard Rahl
Temple of the Winds, The Sword of Truth
Death rides on my shoulder, death walks in my footsteps; I am death…
Lews Therin Telamon
Lord of Chaos, Wheel of Time
In Vain In Love
“A mighty pain to love it is,
And ’tis a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain.”
No, No. Turn off the alarms and the flashing lights! This is not what it sounds like. And even if I resort to wandering the deserts, it would be out of “weltschmerz”, not unrequited love (which is not the point here anyway.)
