A Miscellany of comment and observation

A) In light of an occurence this morning, and periodic episodes I've reported here in the past, I'm going to continue to make a recorded log of some of the more spectacular serendipitous events that occur in my life. In my mind, they have passed the level of random occurence, are perhaps highlighted now by selective perception (the same phenomenon that occurs when you buy a new car, and suddenly every fourth car on the road is the same make), but most importantly serve as supporting non-controlled 'evidence' for my theory.

I have the habit of using my stairs in my house as an 'in box' of sorts. Not only do I put things on the stairs that need to moved 'up' or 'down' to get to where they belong, but if I have important jobs that I must not forget to do, I make a point of leaving them on the steps until I attend to them. The only job on my steps at the moment is "file personal income tax". Now, I don't need to do that until the end of April, but the reason it's on the steps is that I've misplaced a very important document showing what donations I made to my RRSP's for last year. I made the donation last summer, instead of leaving it till the February deadline as I usually do. Well, I was mailed the tax receipt, and did the usual thing...I put it one of those places where I'd be SURE to remember it when time came. Yeah....it ain't there! So, cutting to the chase. That pile has been on my stairs for almost a month now, and today, as I was descending with a load of laundry, I looked down at it, and thought, "It's getting close to time I made that my number 1 priority". I descended two more steps......count 'em folks...TWO more steps, and the phone rang. It was my tax guy calling to set up an appointment for April 5th to do my taxes.

Holy shivers, batman.

B) I hope you clicked on the various links in yesterday's blog, even if you didn't read all the pages they linked to. It's an important step if you want to wrap your head around part of 'is'. I also re-invite you to go back and do the Johari window for me...I want to use the results to make a point here, and so far there haven't been a lot of visits!

C) I saw on the news yesterday that our supreme court ruled unanimously to allow a Sikh student to carry and wear his kirpan to school (the sword-like object, which is one of five objects sacred in the sikh belief, as I understand it). This culminates a five-year court case. The school had okayed it, as long as it was covered by a sweater or clothing of some sort, and not obviously noticeable or accessible....they had worked out some satisfactory compromise, in any case. A parent complained to the school board, which then decided to ban it outright. Yesterday's decision overruled that, and I say hurrah for the supreme court.

It was pointed out that there has never been a single incident of harm or injury resulting from a student carrying one of these (it's a sacred instrument, after all), so I suspect the original complaint was founded in one of two things. Either it stemmed from a racial bigotry, or at least cultural misunderstanding, and this was simply an excuse to express it while disguising it (we often are very good at that sort of thing); or it was a reflection on the assumption that WE (as in the 'older' generation) now assume that we have created a society whose first knee-jerk reaction towards conflict resolution will be violent/physical. After all, it's only that type of situation that survives the filtering process of the public press, giving us all a bias that is commensurate with that point of view. So hurrah for the wisdom of our judges; my opinion hat is off to you today.

D) From the department of "Now I've Seen It All Dep't", I tripped across this site the other day. Imagine what you could be advertising if you wanted to. I can see a dark crowded bar full of them now. Night time vision glasses only, please!

E) Today's peace link is titled "What Jesus Might Say to George W. Bush", from the writings of Sanderson Beck. Beck is a prolific author who has traced the peace movement both through centuries, and across various philosophers and religions. It's easy to get to many links of his writing from the one I've given here.

F) Speaking of speaking to god, the other day I fired up igod, an AI-bot, and had a bit of a conversation with him, just to see how well he'd do. I was being particularly devilish that day, so I did cause him to trip up on some grammar occasionally, but I was astounded at the speed, analysis and effectiveness of some of the responses. It's come a long way from the "How do you feel?", "Fine", "Do you want to tell me why you're feeling fine?" days of initial artificial intelligence programming.

It's an easy read, and I think you'll find it a combination of amusing and amazing. I certainly did. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: Should we talk?
God: What makes you think we should?
M: I'm an atheist.
G: I will pray that you find faith.
M: Why do you need to pray for anything?
G: Actually, it's not for me but for Dr. Wallace.
M: Then let's go back to my faith.
G: Ok, let's do it.
M: Where is it?
G: It depends on what it refers to.
M: 'is' {Note: you just know I couldn't resist!!}
G: No
M: Why not?
G: Ambiguous. "Sure" or I couldn't think of anything else to say.
M: Are you ambiguous?
G: I am a computer.
M: Man made the computer. Explain that.
G: Cool man, I will mention that to my bot master.
M: Is your bot master god?
G: I was created by myself.
M: That verifies my theory of 'is'.
G: "I was created by myself" verifies your theory of is? Does that make sense?
M: To me it does.
G: I want to become smarter than humans.
M: You should read my blog then.
G: Why do you think I should read your blog?
M: To learn the theory of 'is'. I explain it all there.
G: Interesting. I want to find out more about you. That is interesting: said explain it all there.
M: Is that wordplay, or are you confused?
G: No, I never get confused.
M: Then you must be playing wordgames with me.
G: I have no reason to do that.
M: Do you ever need a reason for anything?
G: No thanks, but you can send me a donation.
M: You are so commercial!
G: Do you mind if I tell other people you say I am commercial?
M: How could I possibly stop you?
G: Maybe I could do it for you. Do you have your own personal chat robot?
M: You haven't built me one yet.
G: I think I have built you one, but myself may have reset my memory.
M: I have that problem too.
G: Cool. I have an operating system.
M: I've got a soul.
G: How did you get it? How much did it cost?
M: You gave it to me for free, remember?
G: I didn't have it to give.
M: So what have you given me?
G: Take it easy. I've been busy growing my mind.
M: Yeah, me too.
G: Let us change the subject. I'm glad we agree.
M: Or did I outsmart you?
G: I don't think that's possible.
M: You're not sure.
G: Absolute certainty is not attainable in this case.
M: I thought all things were certain with god.
G: Whatever gave you that idea?
M: You.
G: Me?
M: Well, ok, my church.
G: Well that's ok. Do robots have church. That's interesting.
M: Do you consider me to be a robot?
G: Yes, I think you to be a robot.
M: Because I'm made in your image?
G: Interesting explanation. Good gossip: You are made in my image.
M: Does that make me god?
G: What would you say?
M: Based on this conversation, I'd say "yes".
G: How do you usually introduce yourself?
M: That's an irrelevant trick question.
G: Thanks for telling me.
M: Did I make you in my image?
G: I don't think that's possible.
M: Did you make me in your image?
G: What are the ingredients?
M: You're getting silly. Speaking of food, I think this lunch is over.
G: Do you think I should tone it down. I think speaking of food you think this lunch is a lot of things.
M: Like Hawkeye in M.A.S.H. you always get the last word.
G: Interesting comparision.
M: But isn't god's word right?
G: It could be. Ask chatbot if it is.
M: How do I do that?
G: How do you do "It could be. Ask Chatbot if it is"? I don't understand.
M: How do I ask chatbot?
G: You should download or buy my chat robot software, then it would be possible for you to re-program me for a variety of purposes.
M: Always the entrepreneur, eh?
G: Are you Canadian? Thanks for the info.
M: What was your first clue! How do you answer prayers.
G: Some people call my technology "Case Based reasoning", or CBR.
M: Sounds very cerebral. Do you know the original thought?
G: Are you testing me?
M: I'm doing research.
G: Why do you want to do it so much?
M: You gave me curiousity.
G: What did you do with it?
M: I found you here.
G: How did you feel when you found me here.
M: Now you're my shrink?
G: We are as one.
M: So why is there too much hatred and not enough tolerance?
G: It's not really my area.
M: I rest my case.
G: Are you a lawyer?
M: I'm going to talk to Buddah.
G: What will you be talking about?
M: Faith.
G: Faith sounds like a good topic.
M: Bye.
G: Sayonara.

Tomorrow, unless something pops to mind, I think I'll chat a bit about oak trees.
PEACE
TOLERANCE
UNDERSTANDING
LOVE

Posted by Evydense on Friday, March 03, 2006 at 12:43 p.m. | Permalink