Introducing myself

[golem1]

Will introduce myself by saying how I would have responded to several of Stef's videos. Much to say, will try to be terse.

 

Atheist -- a footnote, not an identity.  Like Sam Harris, don't go around calling myself an "atheist", and certainly don't go around debating people on the subject.

 

Lifetime Mensa member, non-participant.  Joined only at urging of family.  Probably a bit over-qualified. 

 

Retired computer programmer/analyst.  Engineering degrees (summa cum laude at baccalaureate level) never practiced professionally. 

 

Like many with such background, have Asperger-like personality, though never diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. 

 

Ears perked up when I heard Stef use Randian buzzword "initiation of force".  Glad to learn from him much more than I knew about Ayn Rand.  Glad to see that he doesn't ape Rand's rhetorical style, and differs from her on several points, as I do.

 

Read _Atlas Shrugged_ summer 1964.  Subsequently read other novels, newsletters etc.

 

Many years ago, asked myself what is worth seeking in life.  Only answer that popped up was "information".  I dismissed that, but many years later decided my "instinct" was right --  Information is how life differs from inorganic chemistry.  Three forms of information are basic: DNA, engrams in brain, and external media (print, audio/video etc)  That summarizes what life is about, what life "means".

 

Not a mystic, no use for the supernatural, but noticed long ago that software has most or all properties traditionally ascribed to supernatural entities e.g. soul, demons, gods, ghosts, etc.  Software is non-material, has no physical properties (mass, weight, energy, temperature, location etc) though must have some physical substrate (hardware) to have any effect in reality.  Is potentially immortal,   doesn't wear out, needs debugging, etc.   In particular, computer "viruses" correspond to old ideas about demonic possession. 

 

 

 

[mbalrog6]

I like your writing style golem1, it paints a vivid picture. I wish my writing was that good. I would have to practice a lot more then I care to on my grammar however. It was not a subject that held my interest. I find it amusing that your username is an apt reflection of your proscribed view point. 

 

Golem is typically a lifeless machine or statue that is most often animated by magic although it could in a technical sense be controlled by software or a computer in a sci/fi version. Golem's are a construct of some form of advanced intelligence while in and of themselves soulless and devoid of intelligence. It is more like your the one behind the Golem the intelligence that made it. It in one sense shows your love of information, intelligence, science and in another sense shows your lack of belief in religion. However, it could be argued that you still may have a small belief in the supernatural as a golem has strong ties to magic, even if that magic is just the naive view point of technology as a aboriginal might view a modern day machine as magic. That or you could just be a Tolkien fan. 

 

I find it fascinating that inspiration has of yet not been an emergent property of any software or machine. That engineers have long since relied on the inspiration of the artists usually writers to power their desires to produce amazing devices of technology. Cell Phone can be argued to be inspired by Star Trek or other authors. I would not be surprised to hear that the Wright brother could have been inspired by the story of Icarus. Thus the pursuit of life in my opinion would have to be for more then just information, but also a drive to connect with the source of that inspiration. However, I like your view too. I also am a programmer although only as a hobby. (As a side note I think you might like the idea of Property Dualism)

 

So what I am interested in knowing is if I just read to much into that name and your just a fan of Tolkien, or if you were thinking along the lines above, or maybe you just thought it was cool?

[golem1]

Thanks, glad you like it

You're on the right track, the Golem is a figure in Jewish folklore -- an artificial man, constructed to serve and protect the Jews.  Those who thought up the idea greatly underestimated the amount of information (software) it would take to animate the Golem. For background you could google "golem of prague".   (I'm not Jewish myself, but, trite as it may be to say it, some of my best friends are Jews, and public figures I greatly admire very often turn out to be Jewish.)

 

I've used that name, or a variant of it, for years in various forums.  Mainly the idea is that the persona I present online should be, not my real self, but a construct, driven by software.  I have yet to write the software, but still hope to.

 

A lot of people confuse it with Gollum, a fictional character invented by Tolkein, I believe.  

 

I've always taken grammar very seriously, which for me is very useful -- essential for a professional programmer.  In instructing a computer, correct grammar is absolutely  critical.  

 

***

 

One thing I forgot to mention is the other half of me, my interest in graphic arts, music, etc.  I claim to be a professional artist because I have sold a few paintings.   Some people might think that's strange, but I don't.   Leonardo da Vinci is world renowned as both an artist and an engineer.   My opinion (though I can't prove it) is that, to be a good artist, you have to have an engineer's understanding of  things.

 

I hope to combine the two interests in computer graphics.  Exactly how?  More about that later.  

 

Incidentally, "inspiration" means literally to "inhale", to breathe in.  The modern term would be "input".  

 

Again, thanks for your interest

[mbalrog6]

Your story just gets better and better. I like you the more I find out about you. I have also done some fine art. I have sold several pieces in my past, including one piece in a gallery although that was when I was in 7th grade. Was a rough lesson. Sold a Tempra Painting of a Still Life on cardboard for $35.00. At that age I thought wow $35.00 for some paint on cardboard decent amount of money. The gallery's cut was 50 percent which I did not know until I open my envelope of money and it only had $17.50. My art teacher told me it was a lesson on what real life would be like. Ouch!

 

I love art and engineering. I think engineering is not an essential part of art. However, I do love the artist that used mathematics in their painting. People like Escher and Da' Vinci both have amazing work. Knowing ratios is awesome for realism. However, that would not explain people like Van Gogh or Salvador Dali.They painted raw emotions on their canvas's. The world needs both types.

 

I think that computers can express peoples idea's as well as any canvas and paint. It can do it in many ways not just graphically. I see science like that too. They are all tied together by philosophy. All the truly great people in history I see as true renaissance men. Nothing really great can be accomplished if all you do is devote yourself to one limited field of study. The ability to see how something seemingly unrelated can be tied in very nuanced ways to other things allows for those truly innovative ideas and constructs. It just happens that some engineers are like that renaissance men, people like Da' Vinci, while other engineers could never come up with their own miraculous machines but are quite capable of expressing other peoples ideas into reality as that is what an engineer does. Again the world needs both types. 

 

As Stefan would say we should live in a world of K's but we will always need our R's. We just dont want the R's to out number us K's or rule us K's. 

[golem1]

Wow, lots of stuff there to reply to.

 

Got some things to do today.  Maybe the easiest thing to do, for now,  is introduce you to other things I've done.  Strong hint:  google golem1.

 

You may or may not like the opinions I've expressed in journals elsewhere.  I'll take that chance...

 

BTW : why golem1, not just golem?   The idea, way back when, was that I should reserve "golem" for the final account I would use forever when I got around to replacing myself with software.   Silly idea, "golem" turns out to be a very popular word, which other people will have grabbed long before I get around to it.  But that was early days for the World Wide Web, had no idea how popular it  would become.

[golem1]

If you googled "golem1" you probably found golem1.deviantart.com near the top of the listing.  That is the only one that has anything to do with me.   I've been contributing to that account for about 12 years, so there is a lot of material there, some of which may interest you.

[golem1]

Have a little more time to reply now.

 

My history with respect to art has some similarity to yours.   I dabbled in art in elementary and high school.   My first work of any note was a tempera painting of a tree, which appeared, not entirely accidentally, as background in a photo in the highschool yearbook.  My mother wanted it, so I took it home to her.  But idiot that I was, I folded it in half for convenience in carrying it, which of course ruined it.

 

I wouldn't say engineering is essential to art. What I would say (and believe I did say, more or less) is that an artist must understand the world in much the same way that an engineer does -- i.e. intuitively, not just by way of mathematics, though math is a big help, and essential to get above a certain level of quality.   In studying electrical engineering, I found that I absolutely had to reach a stage where I had a "feel" for how a circuit would behave.  People outside the profession of engineering may not understand what is meant by an engineering intuition, they may be surprised that it would even be mentioned, but in fact it is essential. 

 

I know I'm not alone in that.  I was told, as a freshman studying elementary chemistry, that I had to acquire a "feel" for chemistry.  I was puzzled by that, and I went to my professor to ask what could possibly be meant by that, and he couldn't tell me.   Now I think I know.  

 

I count M. C. Escher as my favorite artist.   I also like Salvador Dali, for the very careful way he represented objects,  though I doubt that I understand the "meaning" of his surrealist works.

[mbalrog6]

How funny you stated that intuition is a big part of engineering. Your are in good company, Nicola Tesla said as much as well. He was inspired as all great inventors are I imagine. 

 

I have to say I understand just from an art perspective. There are times where I have painted or drawn something with no real intention, I just felt like I needed to get something out. I usually did not even spend that much time on those pieces. However, in hindsight I realized that it was these pieces that I always got the most positive responses from by other people. It was more like I was a conduit to a force of creativity. This is juxtaposed by the pieces where I had a definite and deliberate intention and spent lots of time on, these pieces while liked never got the same response. 

 

As an introspection I feel that a person just need not think to hard. You get in your own way when you do. Get lost in the work is another way to say it. That goes with anything you create.