In my Math class, we have started a unit on probability. It also has some permutation and combination work, which I found rather easy at first and perhaps even enjoyable. I think that was due to its ease. Most of it has presented itself to be common sense or knowledge I have already obtained. I'm almost looking forward for it to become more difficult so I may be able to still do it without any problem. If there is difficulty in it, I am very willing to work at this topic until it becomes less difficult and more routine.
Anyways, my Math teacher, who I am beginning to approve of more and more as the class flies by, has a wonderful vocabulary and set of phrases that she uses. I write some of the phrases down in my Idea Book often and she inspired me to put my first real entry into my idea book. It revolves around probability, and I will be putting it on my Blog soon (or so I plan).
Also, TheUnromantic has inspired me to go back to my Blog once again. I'm sure my writing two essays for my classes (two more are soon to come) helped a bit, but the main reason why I am putting this post here is because of her. During Psychology/Philosophy/Theology/Sociology Class (well, it's called Psychology but there is so much more to it; I love it) we were given forty-five minutes to write replies. I have abandoned much of my hand writing for that class, despite my decision to avoid typing assignments which came about at the beginning of the class, and gone to a more electronic method of working. This means the time I'm given in class can (somewhat) be used in conversation more responsibility if I was planning on just writing. During the time given I read something we were given a few weeks ago and I should probably of had finished reading shortly after we were given it. I also had a great conversation with TheUnromantic about religion, government, a couple people appeared in our conversing, and sleep. What I was reading about was revolving around sleep, and it fit very well into our conversation.
We actually started to speak about sleeping before I started to read (I think), and then as I read much of the information I ran into was at a great time to aid the conversation. I love it when that happens. I probably didn't get as much reading done as I could, but I can do that outside of class. Having conversations that are that great don't always happen without the aid of the education system. I'm sure they could happen, but being forced into social situations is great.
Do you ever notice reoccurring themes in life? I have, and I do very frequently. If anything I have been noticing themes and coincidence's more and more often. I have already mentioned how I started to talk about sleep, then I started to read about it. In Math class we have just started probability, and you would never guess what I ran into; but you will have to wait a bit longer.
In my great conversation with TheUnromantic, a book who someone we both know is reading, also appeared in our conversation. I brought it up, for it was mentioned on his blog. I am tempted to link to it, but I think I will wait for my next post about this book to do so. It will put a little bit of a push for me to write my next post, and I decided he will get his link later. No reason around it, just because I have the free will to do so (Oh, I hope some of my readers will understand and argue this. Once they run into what I am referencing to they will smile.. just a little at the least; that is if they don't already know what it is I am referring to).
This book is called God's Debris. A PDF of it can be found here. Infact I am reading the PDF file because I do not have access to the book at this time.
It is by Scott Adams, the writer of the Dilbert Comic Strip.
Woah! Guess who was mentioned in the reading I was doing in Psychology today? It was Scott Adams. That's the third time his name, or his comic strip, has come up today. I can't say I've spoken about him or his comics, or even thought about him or his comics, for a long time. There use to be a cartoon featuring Dilbert, but I was not permitted to watch it. I'm rather curious to view it now, or atleast the comics. I'm sure I will get to the comics after I read this book.
Reoccurring themes in my life? Yes, I am sure I can always find a couple that have happened recently if I look for them. Sometimes I don't need to look for them, or perhaps I have just become tuned to look for them without doing so consciously.
So this is the reason why this post has come to be, this book. It is described to be a "132-page thought experiment wrapped in a fictional story" (Adams; page 9 of PDF file, not numbered) which "For maximum enjoyment, [should be] share[d] ... with a smart friend and then discuss[ed] ... while enjoying a tasty beverage" (11 of PDF file, numbered as XI).
Please Note: I will be referencing quotes to pages as they appear at the bottom of each page, as they would in the book from here on in. The first few pages are not all titled, or titled with a modern number but rather a Greek number. I'm rather impressed with my quote integration. I'll have to thank my English teacher for this. She has done a great job at teaching us how to integrate quotes, however we have never had to deal with quoting pages that are not marked traditionally. I hope to send this post to her actually. I can also thank her for improving my grammar and punctuation, in exponential amounts compared to my previous years of English class. I'm sure it is far from perfect now, but I'm confident it is better than my first few posts. If you wish to take a look, I would love for you to do so. Back to why I wish to post this post. Now that I think of it, I've typed up a fair amount and I haven't even gotten to the full reason why it is here in the first place.
I figure what smarter friends do I have other than the ones I know in real life and interact with via the Internet. I'm not saying that the people who I don't interact with over the Internet are not smart, for so many of them are amazingly intelligent, however I beleive this will reach the people who I have mentioned and several other people who would appreciate it and whom I may not end up having a conversation with in person about this book. I would not be surprised if I did have a conversation with them regarding this book, our thoughts on it, and the thoughts I have posted here; but just in case I would like to put my thoughts into text here. It leaves my thoughts open for everyone to read and think about themselves.
The line that sent an unresitable urge to come to Blogger and share my thoughts was this line quote:
" 'If you toss a coin a thousand times, how often will it come up heads?' " (6)
Immediately I thought of the same reply as what is presented by the character who is being questioned: " 'About fifty percent of the time" (6). The numeric value of this, about five-hundred, never occurred to me. Rather I thought about what we had been doing in Math class. Illustrations of various situations revolving around chance (dice, coins, and tops mostly). You start with your base situation, and then branch it out to show every possible situation and the chances of these situations occurring (also allowing you to see the situations that could occur with various restrictions). As this thought was conjured up I realized how large the tree resembling illustration would be. There would be 2^1000 possible outcomes, each being a series of 1000 H's or T's, and then the number of H's in each. Nothing that could be done with paper, within reason. I'm sure it is possible... just no one would want to do this.
This was the last coincidence that I was planning on running into today (and most likely the last one I would find unless I viewed something on TV before I fell asleep) that would occur without it being shared with the world. It was a mind blowing moment, the kind that makes me want to tell everyone about. Misfortunately at the time between 11:30 PM and 12:00 AM, no one is really around to speak to. Even if they were they would only be one person. I want more than just one person to read about this. The ten or so people who will read this will suffice for now.
I intend on keeping a new post, or perhaps a slightly older post in it's editing stage, open in the background as I read God's Debis. I will be taking note of various things I find interesting, quoting them, and replying to them. According to the disclaimer, this is okay for me to do, so I will. If you want to read the disclaimer I am going to leave you to find it yourself. It's on the PDF file.
--Break here, or atleast I am from typing. I am going back to reading after typing out the last part of this post which will not be related to the current topic but I wish to put it here anyways. Sorry if I ruined your thought that all my posts are typed in chronological, or any sort of logical manner at times--
" 'The answer,' he said, 'is that the question has no why.' 'You could say that about anything.' 'No,' he replied ... 'every other question has an answer to why. Only probability is inexplicable.' " (7)
I can already see this is going to be very well written. If you are to look a few lines back, before this set of lines, you would discover that the elderly individual (the first speaker in this set of quotes) asks the simple question of "why?" I just wanted to point that out.
" 'Did you deliver the package, or did the package deliver you?' " (9)
I saw this to be a trick question, or atleast a question that is put in place to set something else up. I decided that it is a mutual effort of each, in theory. I know the package does not put any effort into moving or moving the individual moving it, but the address on it inspires the individual who is moving it to do so. This is the same result that the page seems to end with, unless the next page happens to have more insight into this statement. So far I can say the thoughts that have been presented are definitely different than my own, but several of them follow a thought process I can identify with. I beleive I am going to enjoy this more and more as I read it.
On page 12 I ran into the word Omnipotence, and found myself unsure of what it meant. A quick run to Google brought me to the page I have linked to. Links on that page brought me to Omniscience, Omnipresence, and Omnibenevolence. That last one brought me to The Problem Of Evil, and upon this I decided to not get sucked into the temptations of pressing just one more link on Wikipedia, filling my browser with pages that I would wish to read and never getting back to what I was doing. I initially related the word omnipotence to omnipresence, of which I was familiar with the definition. I was able to use my understanding of that word to get a makeshift idea of omnipotence, omniscience, and a bit of omnibenevolence (but much less this one compared to the others). If any of these words catch your attention, or if the concept of evil is attention holding, these links are here for your use. Enjoy.
" 'If God is omnipotent, wouldn't he know the future?' 'Sure' 'If God knows what the future holds, then all our choices are already made, aren't they? Free will must be an illusion.' " (12)
This slight paradox occurred to me several years ago. I enjoy reading and writing bringing back memories and thoughts that I had once, and stored away in my brain to be used later. This idea is expanded, tested, and eventually leads to the next idea in a very fluid manner. It caught my attention enough to note it down here, although I am starting to become concerned that I will have too many side notes. I have no limit of room to type (far as I know), and if I did reach one I could just start a new post, but I am looking at time. I do not expect to finish this book in this sitting, for it is already one in the morning and I should try to get some sleep soon. I do not think I will get much reading of it done if I continue to make notes at the speed I am doing so now.
" 'In theory, yes. But a person with that much knowledge doesn't exist.' 'To be fair, you can only be sure that you don't know whether that person exists or not.' " (16)
So many paradoxes, I love it. I enjoy the concept presented also; regarding you cannot be sure of something, but you can be sure there is chance of it. I'm sure that could be worded better, and if anyone can do so please do. This quote would make more sense with more context, but it should be understandable when lacking. At the moment the topic is "someone very wise who knew how the world was designed without God's hand" (16), and I suspect he may be referencing to himself. I also would like to predict he is going to try to explain, or persuade his conversational partner, how this is the case.
" 'Omnipotence is trickier than it seams' " (17)
Yes, yes it is. To sum up the issues around omnipotence that have arisen so far; An omnipotent being must be able to see into the future. Therefor are the events in the future already set in place? If so, or if not, does free will exist? If the events are predetermined, does free will exist? Also, if an omnipotent being is able to look into the future, they can look into their own future. Therefor, are the actions of this being of free will? Perhaps, in order for free will to exist along side an omnipotent being, this being must turn a blind eye to the future. Perhaps this idea of future ignorance is not the case and free will is just an illusion given to us? Ofcourse, this omnipotent being being referred to is God, though I think at looking at this as a set of theoretical views surrounding an unnamed being will make it less biased to readers. In God's Debris the topic is about God.
" 'Consider magnets,' the old man said. 'If you hold two magnets near each other, they are attracted. Yet there is nothing material connecting them.' " (18)
" 'So you have a word for it. It's a 'field,' you say. But you can't get a handful of this thing for which you have a name. You can't fill a container with a magnetic field and take it with you. You can't cut it into pieces. You can't block it's power.' " (19)
This reminds me of Grade 2 science. We did a lab, experimenting with magnets and what would stop their magnetic properties. It turned out nothing we had would do so. I want to look into what particles are related to magnetism, if there are any. This is going into particle/wave physics, of which I know a fair amount of (by my opinion, comparing to my peers), but I've never looked into the forces involved with magnets. I think the solution to these statements, and some of the following statments, is to consider that magnatism does not exist in a physical state but as a force. It is a push or pull, just as if you were to push or pull a rope. You cannot physically bottle a force, but it is observable.
I enjoy how this is looking at aspects of reality that are outside of the three (perhaps four) states of matter. In Elementary School we are taught that matter exists as a solid, liquid, or gas (and I always remember it in that order). There is talk about plasma, but not all that much work or thought goes towards it. In Middle School and High School these concepts are hardened and explained in increasingly better detail and explanation. The concepts move away from solid, rote facts; and become more resembling explanations. I remember when being taught about solids, liquids, and gasses the teacher made a very small note at the end of the unit. It was not very emphasised, and I don't think it was in the curriculum, but it was still noted and discussed very shortly. There was a mention about what exists outside of these three, or four, states. Light and electricity stand out. I think there may of been a mention of forces, but I also think that may just be me unconsciously patching in information to memories that are not perfect. My grade eleven physics class inspired me to look into what these were a bit more, though by the time I had gotten to that class I had learned a small sum of information surrounding the topics already.
Ooh, shortly after the last quotes I put in there is mention of Einstein, scientific filler, and then string theory that I love so much.
" 'All we can do is 0bserve and record patterns' " (22)
I have nothing to reply to this last quote. I just like it. I'm using it as a slight marker to where I am at with my reading through this. It is page 22, or page 34 of the PDF file. I am becoming tired, my hand is becoming sore. Some sleep would be nice. Time to spell check, word count, then come back to this tomorrow. I wish I had flex block tomorrow so I could continue this then.
--Below this is what I mentioned I was typing in my last break--
Today I went to a local pizza shop with some friends after school, to get some pizza. It was great. After some confusion about how the menu worked, and how much pizza we would be able to get, a few of us pitched in and ordered two large half and half pizzas so everyone would get some of the toppings they wanted. I was the only vegaterian in the group, and was told I could have all of the vegaterian pizza. Half of a large pizza all to myself, it was great. I did lose one piece, but only because the six other people with me ate the other three halves in the time I ate seven out of the eight pieces I had at my disposal. I think I did quite well regarding speed, not that it's a competition or anything.
After this we went to the mall. In the process of getting there our group split apart, only to regroup and split apart a couple more times in the mall. I helped Z (I believe I have referenced to him before, he has no Blog that I may link to) find gifts for his family. 'Asian' (a friend's alias, as of just now, who has a Blog but I will ask him if he wishes to be linked to and what name he wishes to be referenced to over the Blogosphere) also helped.
I was told of some shoes that I thought looked nice, and were on sale for a great price. Normally thirty dollars, on sale for five? I wanted them. I rarely buy something because it's a good deal, but I thought I might as well. They were girl shoes, so I may not wish to wear them myself. The only pair left were also far too small for me. They did happen to be close to my girlfriend's shoe size though. They were bought as a half gift, for if she doesn 't like them (which I am fairly sure she does, and if not I am trying to persuade her to change her mind.. I wonder if she'll read this?) I can sell them to someone else for the amount I paid, perhaps more or less, just because I can. I might give them away, the might fit my sister. I really am not sure if they would or not. If I cannot find them a new home, I would be more than willing to put them on my shelf where I display all my treasures. They could sit there for a while until something to do with them showed up.
After shopping we walked to a grocery store that was near buy and got some energy drinks. I don't consume much caffeine (though my mother purchased decaffeinated instant coffee of which I am disappointed about), so the one can was enough to get me a bit hyped up. That in combination with exciting violent video games played over xBox Live was enough to get me rather wound up. I crashed a bit two hours ago but I feel much more alert again. I've been typing at this for some time, watching the time for the majority of the time. I decided I do not care when I go to sleep tonight. It is Friday tomorrow, I don't have anything important happening at the school that I can think of, and sleep will be sacrificed a little bit more than normal. I may not be able to sleep if I tried to right now anyways.
I have debated not sleeping for a full night then going to school in the morning for some time. I just haven't found a good day to do this. I think this night would be the best night possible, but I think some sleep would be good. I'm not sure how much sleep I will be getting over the weakened. At the moment, the best time that is coming up soon in my mind will be next Friday. It is the last day before Winter break, and my sleeping patterns will be pulled way off course due to the break anyways. I might as well start a little bit early. I doubt I will have much work on that day.
This is interesting, my left hand feels warm. Mostly in the palm and interior of it. I think it is from typing so much. I have not been doing as much typing as I normally would recently so I think the muscles may be not use to such a work out. It is an interesting feeling, I'm almost glad I am running out of thoughts I wish to press into the computer at the moment. I wouldn't want to get a sore hand, that's never fun.
- Bugworlds -
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