You Shouldn't Be Here

A record of the intellectual (as well as unintellectual) endeavors of a 21st century kid growing up Singapore. He sincerely wishes you to enjoy his content but also to take the stuff he says with a pinch of salt and pepper. Comments welcome of course. "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts" -- Prometheus, 2012.

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As of today, this blog will probably no longer be updated. Check out my new blog at zephinzer.tumblr.com

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"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." -- C.A.R. Hoare The former is evidently Apple.

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Of Dungeons and Dragons

And Chinese New Year. I've never liked tradition much and today just serves to reinforce that fact. Well it is the first day of the New Year. A stark reminder of this hideous thing we have come to call Race. And in this case it just so happens we happen to have tradition intertwined into Race. Not that the two were separated in any other reality. We all bleed red, and that is enough to justify the breaking of traditions. Traditions serve to divide at the fundamental level, reminding us that we belong. The problem comes when logic kicks in and you realize one can never belong to two groups at once. Despite the similarities (which we usually are blinded to) among all of us, ie a need for security, the need for solidarity, the desire to *belong* et cetera, we still choose to identify the difference. But again, what is light without the darkness? People claim traditions ought to be upheld and maintained through the ages. Because it's a manifestation of our origins. Because we should celebrate diversity. Because of a whole lot of other reasons. Because... We (think) we are different. And war is because of unsettled differences. So much for a homogenous society; and so much for social solidarity that those who we have appointed leaders in whatever sense emphasize upon. True peace and harmomy (and progress I must add) can only be achieved where differences have been neutralized, and when tolerance (the brutally true synonym of acceptance) is acceptance. And this can only happen when these walls of tradition are broken down. We have passed the Middle Ages, and there is no place for tradition if we so desire greater progress; For to progress, we require the willingness to accept we are wrong sometimes, and that others *might* know better. Not unlike how the Chinese were not willing to learn from the Europeans but not the other way round, with one ending up so far ahead of the other. Break tradition, yearn for change, and be free.

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The Morning Fix

I've always wondered why coffee was termed 'Morning Fix'... And i came to a conclusion: Well, it is BREAKfast after all.

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On Lances and Arms

Just random thoughts but is the hate that "fallen" cyclyist getting proportional to the motivation he has given to millions? In fact, was it even ethical to expose him and destroy the hope of every individual and organization that came from his inspiration? What about the many others who take performance enhancement drugs but dont get caught? His arrest was because of a tip off and it represents the failure of the organization that imposed such restrictiins. In anyways, if the sole aim of any sport is to beat your rivals, why impose such rules and regulations on everyobe? Whats the problem with having a free for all fight? I personally see nothing wrong with performance enhancement drugs. Competition is after all competition, and it is not the size, strengtg, agility or intellect alone that will let you win but all of them put together strategically. So what is wrong with enhancing your performance via your diet?

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The Creative Muvo N100. Old school still works the best. Got this in 2004 and it's still working perfectly right now less a broken battery cover which (scotch tape has assured me) will not be falling off anytime soon. If its still working next year, it'll be a decade worth of songs. And this cost less than a hundred. #Creativity>Fruits.

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Perhaps a century down the road, people will realise the universe is continuous. Like how the world was discovered to not be flat. I believe the universe has no edges, and it is in fact curved in nature, a curve in a dimension we have no means of perceiving, and that there is no 'edge' of this thing we call the universe. The basis of this argument? The rate of expansion of the universe. It is like how the horizon never ends; We perceive expansion only because we are moving 'forward' in that particular dimension we are doing so in.

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It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption. I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis in our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society. The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evil.

Albert Einstein, 1949

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On Programming and Genes

After some thought, computer and eukaruyotic genetic programming are really just analogs of each other and I believe it is possible to properly simulate a gene and its gene product out of machine code. Think along the lines of how an executable (exe) often has much code we do not actually execute (the introns), and the parts we actually do execute are only called upon when we click, say, a menu item. Taking a well designed program as a cell, we can draw parallels such as the source code being the DNA of the cell. To understand this DNA, we require it to be transcripted to RNA transcripts (think compilation to OBJ files), spliced to form mRNA (think linking of OBJ files via function-level-linking which excludes unused functions) and finally translated to polypeptides (to machine code). And even as executables, they mimic how proteins would operate. Differently coded functions can have different inputs and outputs which parallels can be drawn to the receptors of the cell. The Graphic User Interface (GUI) is like the cell surface membrane, accepting user input (environmental signals) and processing them so the cell alters its functions (think function overloading where a function can accept different variable types and process information differently). If we identify exactly what receptors a certain cell has and how the said cell responds to certain user input, perhaps we could generate code that is like a cell, taking in information and returning values (effectors). It can even pass the user input to another executable or dynamic link library (dll) for processing. Something like how protein coupled receptors function. Perhaps if we apply machine code reverse engineering together with a dash of cryptography we just might be able to 'decompile' the genetic code into 'source code' we are familiar with, and understand it instead of just knowing it. In that sense, DNA is like the quantum physics of the life sciences, everybody knows what it is and how it will perform but nobody knows why it does so in the way it does.

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This really makes you ponder upon how the world is going to be like in the near future. The speed at which we are developing is scary. It is like a second Renaissance, except now, everyone knows what each other is doing, even from the other side of the world. Imagine a Renaissance with no reinvention of wheels or repeated concepts, everyone just builds on each others knowledge and work. Well, we still have quite awhile to go before the third world catches up, but when they do, the world just MIGHT become a better place.

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Welcome to Microsoft's vision for future computing. Funny how we become more disconnected as we become more 'connected'. The video highlights near zero social interaction less the family scenes where it's perhaps politically mandatory to be interacting.

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Square watermelons from Japan. Because they "fit better into a refrigerator". Watch the video at: Huffington Post

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Psychiatric elata // Hooker's Flower The surprises nature offers.

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