Limited by thought

The freedom to make our own decisions has been argued for by kids across the world. The freedom to voice our opinions is being fought for every day on the streets. Are we, however, free to think?

Several popular theories about how our brain works liken it to a chaotic computing system with our various senses providing inputs to the system. Our thinking is a cascade of neurological operations not unlike the working of a computer; our consciousness, a result of the chaos of a system with an excessively large number of extremely variable analog inputs. We learn through repeated reinforcement of a stimulus, and things we don't constantly experience are slowly forgotten. Using this understanding of our brain, rudimentary neural networks have been developed that are capable of path finding, pattern recognition and even defeating humans at games like chess and go.

However, with the success of this model to describe the functioning of the brain, it is worth questioning whether an AI would be able to uncover restrictions placed on its ability to process information.

Asimov in his various books describes robots that are limited by the 3 laws of robotics to not hurt humans, but they are made explicitly aware of these limitations. However, if the robots were unaware of the limitation and the limiting circuit was programmed to be avoided, each time the robot attempted to hurt a human, the limiting circuit would kick in to prevent the action and over time, build up an aversion to the action even before initiating the limiting circuit. As this new pathway circumvents the limiting circuit itself, a robot that is designed to learn efficiently doesn't use the limiting circuit enough to discover its existence unless externally forced to.

Using this as an analogy for human behavior, societal constructs which limit our thinking accumulate over time and across generations. Our unshakable belief in our personal worldview rests on our inability to overcome these generational limitations. Our belief in democracy, religion, the concept of nation states and ownership, and the value of paper currency are all belief's we share to allow the functioning of a civilization with 7 billion people.

Furthermore, in the analogy of the robot, if the limiting circuit is essential to the regular functioning of the robot, the development of the neural network occurs through the regular use of the circumventing pathway. If the limitation is to be overcome, the entire neural networks would need to be reworked, which would alter the functioning of the system. If a human whose core belief is questioned, would it even be possible for such a dramatic change in functioning on a physiological level? Is it possible that we fundamentally have no ability to alter our perceptions even in the face of irrefutable facts if they have been established well enough?

Given the dramatic change in global climate, and the necessity for rapid adaptation of the human race, and of our thinking, it is necessary to use our increasing understanding of the human brain to better understand what we, as a race are and aren't capable of.

Does this count as a Poem? #1

The Fall

Amidst a thousand trees
On one among a hundred boughs
Hidden within a score of leaves
A withered old leaf took leave

Plunged down to the depths
Of the world unknown
As the other leaves looked on
In sadness and fear

Found itself in the warm embrace
Of a priceless book
While a young girl exclaimed
"Look mom, the first leaf of fall!"

Wanderlust 101

"Where all have you been to?"

A question that we ask or have been asked almost every time we meet a stranger. It makes for some interesting conversations, as everybody has a story to tell of the one time they were nearly lost or the one time they nearly drowned. But, this question necessitates a fundamental assumption, that we need to travel to have stories to share.

To travel to remote hinterlands is to explore nature at its finest is what a friend of mine says. The untouched scenic beauty of a place that humans have yet to get their hands on appeals to the mind of every traveller The stories a place reveals to a chosen few people captures our imagination unlike an unremarkable walk down a narrow alleyway in a city. A walk down a narrow alleyway is normal, its run-of-the-mill, unimpressive but the story of how it was built? That is not. Mankind is as much a part of nature as a tree, and our cities are little more than oversized anthills and yet while we are fascinated by a bird building a nest, we find our human nests no more interesting than a leaf on the ground.

A walk down a road in the city is a tale worth telling as every person and every building we see has a story to tell, if we only take the time to seek them out. The person sitting beside us at the bus stop brooding over something, could very well have a story that moves our hearts. To seek out travelling as the only way to reconnect with nature is a modern day construct. A solitary walk through the markets at night or a bus ride with no destination are just as provoking as a trek through the mountains. Hours spent hypnotized by traffic movement at an intersection is no different from the time spent staring at the waves.  The stories of people who have spent years in making a place their home are interesting everywhere.
The culture of a place is several layers deep, and while travelling lets you explore several cultures, we need time to dig deep and peel off the superficial layers and see what hides underneath. 4 years spent staying in a 300 sq. yard campus, it still catches me off guard at how the place can still throw me a curve ball every now and then.

While I don't deny that travelling is an amazing experience, and everyone should take the time out to travel whenever they possibly can, it is just as necessary to steep yourself in the culture of a single place,even if it is at the heart of a city. At times when you don't have the means to travel, stories can rise from the very ground you stand on, all it takes is a walk through the narrow alleyways.

Reality Rift

A few days ago, when I was caught up in a game of Dota, my friend who had just come back from work asked me an intriguing question which heralded a long discussion and a chain of logic which I am yet to complete contemplating.

“If you were to be forced into a virtual reality that is indistinguishable from reality, and you know that the world you exist in is not real, how would it affect your actions theron?” Provided that the only link between the real and virtual world exists in only two actions

- You need to eat in the virtual world to survive in the real world

- A death in the virtual world is a death in the real world and is the only escape from the world

As we discussed we came up with a few sub cases and have been asking around among people for as many differing viewpoints as possible on this. You are welcome to respond in the comments. And yes, we do realize that the person taking the trouble to do this might as well be doing you a favor or could send you to a uniquely different world, but the assumption here being that the world he is sending you to is in the exact same condition, ie the same global warming threats, oil scarcity and risk of economic collapse as in real life. In order to further refine the question, we came up with a few minor variations.

World 1: The other people in the world are Artificial intelligence but respond exactly the same as humans in the real world.

A very large number of people noted that as their actions would not impact the real world anymore, their actions would necessarily be more self-inclined and would ignore their impact on the virtual-populace. A pleasure seeking life was the natural course, a life of seclusion, book reading and travelling.  One person in particular mentioned that if he ever got tired of a life of pleasure, he wouldn’t hesitate to end it.

While I agree that I would personally like to do the same if I were in the situation, further thinking resulted in a surprisingly different result. If you consider every reaction as being a result of the perceptions and emotions experienced by people, they are no different from AI, and what your senses perceive is your reality, consequently, the life you seek now is the life you would choose in the virtual world. The viewpoint can be further substantiated by referring to the ability of the mind to forcefully forget traumatic events to prevent insanity. Thus, the mind would assume as a dream/forget the moment where the person enters virtual reality to save the person from an existential crisis where his life would be perceived as meaningless and risk insanity. The point being that while a calm, logical mind might look at the pleasure seeking life as alluring, an emotional being like a man seeks meaning in his actions in terms of their impact on the lives of others. A life where his actions are equivalent to those of Mario squashing turtles would drive people crazy. It is with this presumption that I would like to present the idea that the mind would protect itself by forgetting the event and assume the world to be real such that the initial knowledge of it being unreal would itself fade. The simulator syndrome is an example of a similar happening in real life where a pilot who repeatedly teaches trainee pilots gets used to the ability to control the amount of fuel etc available in flight and behaves similarly in real flight. This was thought to be one of the reasons for the tragic crash of United Airlines Flight 173.  As a result of this train of thought, I believe that the response of people will mirror the response of a person who dreamt that they were sent into a virtual world, ie literally none.

Impromptu #6: Robotics

Yesterday, i found myself reading an old collection of stories by Asimov after a gap of nearly two years and what caught me by surprise was how close we are to the ones mentioned in the stories. We haven't yet achieved, now probably ever will achieve the capability to program all the actions needed for a robot to understand and react to a world as chaotic as ours but in the serene environment of laboratories, we have developed robots capable of most basic human functions from running faster to understanding pictures better.



Several laboratories across the world compete on a regular basis to develop the best algorithm to understand pictures and group massive numbers of them based on inputs from humans. What is most intriguing though, is that these codes aren't written in the Start -A-B-C-Finish fashion that we assume code to be. These codes learn from their interaction with the user and improve on their next iteration. This means that the longer such programs are used, the better they get and fewer user inputs are necessary.



Such codes arent limited to image search algorithms. Similar codes are applied to social networking sites like facebook to show you links to sites you would be most interested in and this is the scaries t bit. Eli Pariser does a brilliant job explaining why.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en

The crux being that you are no longer exposed to a balanced view on the subject as you would expect from a 'free' internet, instead algorithms such as these will present skewed results that match your opinion creating a blanket of un-debated opinions on issues which really matter.



We have reached a point where we are incredibly dependent on Robots, or rather AI and for those of you who disagree, think of the last time you used a dumb device for some productive work.

The world Asimov dreamt of is here and  scarier than the worst he thought of. Robots no longer need to harm humans or human society to rule the world. All that is needed for it to be the big brother. If any of you have heard the news, countries across the world are reacting to terrorist strikes by increasing surveillance and how do you monitor a few million cameras? AI. The amount of digital data being generated is several TB/s or more and the information in there is capable of generating unique, near perfect images of people across the world, even people who don't use the internet much. What is worse is that organizations across the world understand this. Sony hack anyone?

All we need to spice things up and bring on judgement day is for a government to introduce a new AI that can make sense of all the big data out there to protect all of us from terror and watch over us. 

As much as i want to end this here, i would like to add this. The only way to prevent total surveillance in the name of security is if we can stand up for ourselves. To demand the freedom that we have the right to. To be able to express all that we want when we want to without the threat of getting killed or getting jailed. AI is incredibly powerful tool, both for the common man and for those who want to control the common man. Don't let its use for the second reason overshadow the first.

Impromptu #5: Movie madness

Its 5 hours before new year's and there is a party being organized to heralding the beginning of a new era. The function is being organized by the children in the society and this being my first time here, i didn't know what to expect.

Half an hour into the program, there was a dance by a group of 4 year old boys followed by one with similarly aged girls.  Being an attempt to impress and astound the audience, the songs were remixes of popular bollywood songs which would have been incredible if it hadn't been for the fact that a majority of the songs were filled with lewd innuendos and  gross sexual overtones. The reason the parents brush it off lightly is that the children don't know what the song means and consequently no harm can come off of it. But, what they fail to realize is that the harm might not be visible immediately but the children do grow up and they do learn what the song means, rather quickly at that and when they do, they assume the cheers during the performance were specifically due to the song. Encouraging performances that demean and objectify women, especially at the age when children are just beginning to understand the world makes them believe that 'that' is exactly how women are to be treated. These songs often encourage the persistence of a boy to chase after a girl irrespective of her opinion and  finally getting his way. Several others show women as the frailer being who needs to be protected and cant survive alone, all of them being nonsensical, even dangerous ideas to encourage.

While  correlation and causation are different, the recent rise in incidents against women, be it just rising coverage or a true rise in number 'might' be because of the increased exposure to populist ideas propounding male overlordism. Hardly any movies in English, Telugu or Hindi ( as these are the only two regional languages i know of ) ever possess a female lead who does something beyond staring at the male protagonist and  exclaiming at their impossible prowess, unrealistic and unattainable.  Yes, there are exceptions, one movie or so in a year, but they are far outnumbered by the 100 other popular movies expounding the idea of male superiority and advertising an impossible image for both the male and female characters.

Yes, movies are meant to have stories with ideal characters, but doesn't that extend beyond the exterior?
Movies with women who are as beautiful as a swan but cant walk ten feet without falling over is NOT ideal, women who cant support themselves is NOT ideal. Men who stalk women and repeatedly confess their love hoping she will accept is NOT ideal, Men built like a tank who are willing to fight ( and hurt) an army of people to prove his love to a girl who does not want him is NOT ideal.The ide that the girl will always fall for the boy is NOT ideal.

It isn't that i hate all movies, nor is it that i dislike the romantic story line so prevalent in movies. What i do despise is that what most movies seem to do, is build an impossible, dangerous image of a character that in the real world would be thrown in a psychiatric ward and call him ideal. This is especially problematic when the songs from these movies which aren't meant to be their selling point turn into just that is encouraged by society. Especially when you see kids, 3-4 years old dancing to these tunes not just in functions but at eateries with the parents and nearby customers encouraging them on.





I despise this but i despise censorship more, so this post is definitely not a call for that. What does need to happen however, is movies should evaluate not what the society wants but what it needs and portray characters who fill that role. A few recent ones come to mind but they still fill a niche category and till they become mainstream and songs go back to being less about innuendos and more about the melody, new year's shall be just another gross continuation of a society caught in a spiral leading to world where everyone feels inadequate and dreams of gender equality are just that.

Impormptu #4 Ephemerality

When was the last time you were happy? 

When was the last time you were sad?

When was the last time you were satisfied with your share of life?

The last time you felt how unfair the world is?

Our thoughts, our feelings are but gusts of wind borne off of our experiences . Raining one minute, sunny the next. In the course of this roller coaster ride, we hope, nay, we believe that our memories are powerful enough to remember all these details of the why and when of when we are happy but how truthful are our memories?

All it takes is a 6 hour ride in a bus from Delhi to a remote village to forget all the good times you've had at home and to start cursing your luck. All it takes is five minutes of talking with an old friend to relive you of the horrors of the bus ride, before the news of an exam takes you back into your dive. 

Its times like that when you truly appreciate our ability to write, to capture in words those ephemeral feelings that we experience at the time. Feelings of joy, of despair, of longing or anger, it all comes pouring out forever plastered on paper for all the world to see. It isn't for the permanence of its existence, of  its survival after our death, of talking to our successors or of leaving behind a memorial that we write, it is for us to relive our own memories, to remember. 

The computer has made life easier for us who hate using a pen, letting us instead write on a screen where our woe begotten handwriting is forgotten but our feelings live on and our writings only as permanent as we see fit. It has made a writer of us all and is a call for us all to begin in earnest the task of holding on to our ephemeral thoughts since A memory is what you make of it. Something as simple as going to play football with your group of friends could become a memory that you cherish for the rest of our life. To remember the feeling, to jog your memory of not just the good times, but also of the bad, to feel the nostalgia welling up in you is why we write. 

To all ye folks who are yet to pick up a pen, pick up a keyboard instead and start writing, for memories may fade and feelings forgotten, but the written word stays on.