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## Archive for the ‘Video’ Category

October 3rd, 2009 by Sean Solution to Determinism/Free Will

Hi there… My great friend, Stephen Wolfram, has clued in me to the solution to the apparent contradiction between determinism and free will. He told me about it here.

In philosophy, there is a debate between determinism and free will. The idea goes like this: if the world is deterministic, that means there is a math formula for everything. As a result, if you knew the initial conditions of the universe - you could simulate the entire universe using the math rules. However, if that is true, then free will doesn’t exist. If everything is just a math formula, then YOU don’t really ever make a choice… you are just making pretend choices governed by the chemical reactions in your brain, which are governed by math.

The appeal here is that we all feel like free will exists. I feel like I make choices. I don’t feel like a robot, calculating my next move - I feel like an individual with a soul, that somehow magically makes real decisions. I choose whether to write this article or not… I choose what I’m going to say, or what I will eat, or how I spend my weekends. I choose.

So, if I have free will, where does it come from? If free will exists, then that means reality can’t be deterministic, and that a soul of some sort must exist.

Luckily, Mr. Wolfram has cleared this up. It turns out determinism is true (despite our ignorance in the field of quantum physics). But there’s a catch…

Reality is something called a “universal computer“. To explain this concept, let’s talk about our intuition…

In our minds, we might think of “problems” on a sliding scale of difficulty. Some problems are really easy to solve. Some problems are a little hard. And other problems are really really hard.

For example, if I give you the length of two sides of a right triangle, you can figure out the length of the third size. You would just use the Pythagorean theorem (a2 + b2 = c2), pull out your calculator, and figure the solution. Fairly simple.

However, if I asked you for a prediction of what the weather will be like in London on 15 March 2010… you can’t just plug that question into a formula and figure it out. You could give a best guess, but you won’t have a definite answer.

Or how about - how will humans evolve in another million years? This question seems much harder than the weather question! How would you even begin to estimate an answer? You might as well just make something up off the top of your head.

Our intuition tells us that there are many different levels of difficulty in answering problems. However, our intuition is wrong. There are really only two: things you can plug and chug in a formula… and things you can’t know for sure, and just have to wait and see.

Predicting the weather is the same level of mathematical difficulty as predicting the evolution of humans. The questions are equivalent. Likewise, any sort of formula-based question is the same level as well - just about all of math, physics, and chemistry is just figuring out which formula to use, and how to use it correctly. Plug and chug.

Now here’s the kicker (if I haven’t bored you already): it is mathematically IMPOSSIBLE to have a problem with MORE difficulty than predicting the weather. Our intuition tells us that problems can be more and more difficult. This is not true. Once a problem reaches a certain level of complexity, it is basically maxed out. It can’t get more difficult.

That tells us something about reality though: since we witness these difficult problems in reality, then reality must be complex enough to contain them. And since there is a limit to complexity - reality can’t be any MORE complicated. Therefore, the laws that govern reality MUST create a system of maximum complexity.

How does free will fit into this?

When a system reaches maximum complexity, the only way to predict the future is to wait and see. There are no short cuts. For example, I can’t write a computer program that predicts the output of another computer program. I can’t do it. It’s mathematically impossible. The ONLY way to predict how a computer program will run is to run it! You can sit back and analyze it all you want, but you CAN NOT predict the results without actually running it.

We are deterministic. However, we have reached the maximum level of complexity. Therefore, the only way to see what we’re going to do is to wait and see.

In our original thought in the second paragraph, we thought that if the universe was deterministic, then we could simulate the entire universe. Yes - in fact, that’s what we’re doing RIGHT NOW. However, we can’t predict the future. Our universe is moving as fast as it can… we cannot skip ahead, and predict the results before they happen.

Reality is deterministic, but unpredictable. Math saves the day. Thank you, Mr. Wolfram.

Posted in Video, Philosophy, Science | 16 Comments »

January 18th, 2009 by Sean Disclosure Project

I watched an interesting video the other day, consisting of individuals giving testimony at a press conference, about their experiences with alien spacecraft. It’s a little long, but it is interesting:

Disclosure Project Press Conference - May 9, 2001

There are two main themes that caught my attention:

1. The witnesses are (assumed to be) credible. Some are high ranking military officials, and many have high security clearances. On a subjective level, they all seem to be telling the truth.

2. Many of them describe the alien spacecraft as red/orange orbs of light, that show up on radar. This consistency suggests they are experiencing the same phenomenon (or at least, they are all delusional in the exact same way).

But there is a third theme that also caught my attention:

3. No one has any evidence. Everything is in the form of an anecdotal story, or documentation of an anecdotal story.

I don’t doubt that world governments research unidentified flying objects secretly. It’s in their national interest. I don’t doubt that people see strange lights in the sky. The question that remains in my head is: are little green men the only explanation for floating orbs of light? Sometimes it feels as though we’ve conditioned ourselves to think that if anything bizarre is flying around in the sky, it MUST be aliens. I’m not asserting aliens don’t exist - I’m just saying that perhaps some experiences are the result of an unknown natural process?

For example, imagine a society conditioned to believe that intergalactic spirits are attempting to possess the Earth. What would that society make of this image?

My god! The spirit is getting ready to take over the world! Or maybe it’s just magnetisim.

Of course, I could be completely wrong, and I’m open to that. The point is: without real evidence, there is no way to figure out the truth. At the end of the day, a story is still just a story. Show me shrapnel from a ship. Show me body parts. Show me advanced technology.

Either way, if you have some time to kill, check it out. It’s very interesting.

Posted in Video, Conspiracy | 2 Comments »

October 5th, 2008 by Sean Zeitgeist: Addendum

This one is pretty good. I thought it was better than the previous one:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912

Posted in Video, Conspiracy | 8 Comments »

March 31st, 2008 by Sean DemonTales

I stumbled on the site DemonTales.com today. It’s another paranormal blog, and it mostly focuses on videos. A lot of the footage seems fake, but it’s still fun to browse and check out. Here’s one that didn’t set off my bullshit detector:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsVFN_yvI2s

Check out the site if you have some time to kill. It’s pretty cool!

Posted in Video | 6 Comments »

January 24th, 2008 by Sean My First OBE Video

My previous post was made just a few hours ago, so please don’t forget to read that if you missed it.

Cutting to the chase: I got a video of myself having an out of body experience, but it doesn’t look like anything amazing is going on from the video :-P. I suppose I should be bummed out or something, but honestly I just feel really excited! I can’t believe I was able to catch the experience on tape - even though there isn’t anything amazing in the video itself.

I’ve uploaded the uneventful video to YouTube, for those that really want to watch it. The second half is a zoomed-in high-contrast version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxyy8ulhkQw

(Note that in my excitement, I accidentally typed the timestamp of 3:55am, when it was actually 3:38am - I must have been thinking of my previous night’s OBE when finalizing the video).

I had been trying to get an OBE on video for about a week, and had just recently perfected my technique. Last night I had an OBE, but it turned out my camera ran out of tape mere minutes before the OBE actually happened. This night, I tried again. I found another setting that extended my tape length from 92 to 94 minutes (by changing the sound from 16-bit, to 12-bit). I pushed the record button, and jumped in bed ASAP - in order not to lose any time on the tape.

I tranced out from 2:05 to about 2:45, listening to music. I shut the music off, then did some more meditation for another 30 minutes. Then I rolled over to my side in order to get more comfortable, and attempt an OBE.

I fell asleep and started dreaming. I was dreaming I was laying in one of my old beds, trying to trance out :-). My mother came into the room and laid next to me. She started talking to me about my sister, and I was getting annoyed, because I was really focusing on trancing out, and wanted to get the OBE on video. My desire to OBE was so strong that even my dream-self kept the mission alive :-).

Eventually I told my mom about my frustration, and she didn’t say anything - just gave me this really strong bear hug. It was really painful, because it wasn’t a nice hug or anything. She grabbed me and started squeezing the breathe out of me. This snapped me out of the dream state, and propelled me into having an OBE. I “woke up” out of body, but laying inside my body.

My right arm was free to move. I checked the clock (while out), and it was 3:38am. I did some quick math and realized I only had a minute or two left on the tape! I started to frantically wave my right arm, and tried to escape my body, but I was mostly stuck (probably because I was trying so hard :-P). All I could do was wave my right arm. So I just kept doing that. After about a minute of that, I jumped back into my body, and wiggled around to wake myself up. I got up, waved at the camera (with my left arm, instead of my right), in order to show the camera where I had just been waving.

I got over and looked at the camera - Tape End! Oh no!, I thought :-). I was about to flip out, thinking I had just missed my OBE for a second night in a row. When I checked the tape, I saw that the tape actually ended right after I had woken up and waved at the camera. I literally had about a 10 second buffer :-). The end of the video on YouTube is the exact end of the tape itself (I just trimmed off the first 92 minutes of trancing out).

It’s 5:40am now, and I really need to get ready for work. I just played the tape again, and it’s getting corrupted for some reason. There are large green bands across the video. Luckily I was able to extract and watch the end before the data corruption took place. I’ll have to mess around with it to see if the tape is really corrupt or not. At least I have the digital data :-).

Posted in Video, Dream Phenomenon | 13 Comments »

November 2nd, 2007 by Sean Muahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5J5X2BhzqQ

Posted in Video, Lottery, Random Stuff | 17 Comments »

October 8th, 2007 by Sean Berkeley on YouTube

I have to pass this link along… it’s totally sweet.

It seems the Berkeley, the University of California, is posting lectures on YouTube. Full lessons, ranging from biology, physics, and search engine technology. Right now I’m watching the quantum physics series. The link is here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ucberkeley

Here’s one of the 200+ videos on their directory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsnEUApVHgI

Enjoy, science nerds!

Posted in Video, Science | 8 Comments »

August 17th, 2007 by Sean ALW Advertisement

My dad had an idea for promoting A Little Weird, and wanted to turn it into a short video. Somehow he convinced me to play along :-P. I was skeptical at first, but I’m fairly pleased at the outcome now that we’ve finished. That’s me in the video. Please leave comments because my father wants to know what everyone thinks about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqeSchXca_I

Posted in Video, Website | 20 Comments »

August 13th, 2007 by Sean TRV News Story

Here is an old story that I like to keep handy. Every time I get in a discussion with a “skeptic”, they eventually use the line that “if psychic abilities were real, I would have seen it on the news”. I like to give them this clip immediately afterwards :-).

(Taken from TRV.COM)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V05-Iv2FvxM

Posted in Video, ESP | 9 Comments »

July 26th, 2007 by Sean Faith

Faith is tough. Faith is something I struggle with.

Really, I believe there is only one application of faith. Having faith that things will be ok. Things will work out.

It’s interesting to see how different root beliefs will filter their way through to behavior. I had a friend who was very controlling and manipulative. She was two-face, and always had to take control of a situation and make things turn out exactly how she wanted them to. One day we were talking about things we struggle with, and she mentioned that she knew she was controlling, but she couldn’t help it.

I asked her: Do you believe in God? The question really threw her off balance. She started saying that she was raised Christian, and while she didn’t take religion too seriously, she was pretty sure she believed in God. I told her that her controlling behavior could be a byproduct of not believing in God - that when someone believes in God, they have faith that things will work out on their own. But without a belief in God, things don’t work out on their own unless you control the situation and make them work out for you.

She looked at me in shock, then walked away. (Telepathy, anyone?).

Without faith, we become controlling, or feel victimized. With faith, we allow things to happen naturally, and we get through tough times knowing that everything will work out. Faith is good.

I believe that modern religion has hijacked this idea of faith to include other things. When someone doubts the Christian God, they are told to have more faith. Faith shouldn’t be used to remove doubt about a subject. If I start to doubt the existence of gravity, a scientist doesn’t tell me to have more faith. If I doubt that President Bush is doing a good job, it’s not because I don’t have enough faith. If you doubt something about Christianity, then explore the doubt. Don’t bury it out of fear of not being “faithful”.

Faith in the future though… faith that things will work out and be ok. That’s where the value is. It stomps out fear and worry in a heartbeat. It removes the desire to control everything. It tells us that things happen for a reason. It allows us to let go and move with time, instead of against it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uENHisKdgQU

“We just had a near life experience.”

Posted in Video, Philosophy, Personal Development | 5 Comments »

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