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Thursday, February 21st, 2002

Time: Thursday the 21st at 2:05pm

Check your faith/logic

Memes: [ Meme me up, scotty ]

Monday, February 18th, 2002

Subject: Fate 101 Time: Monday the 18th at 2:43pm Mood: Pensieve Music: Iggy Pop - The Passenger

We start with the assumption that nothing is random. That is, given all possible information about a moment in time, and an understanding of how everything interacts, it should thus be possible to accurately depict the next moment in time. Perhaps this is flawed, but then we don't know for sure - this would require perfect knowledge. However, given that it's logically impossible to provide absolute proof for anything, one must start with some assumptions. This is fate. People who state that we are free to make our own choices assume randomness and magical properties of the brain - a brain is simply a computer, that given the same set of inputs will always give the same outputs. These inputs, however, can be hard to pin down; we cache memories to use as inputs for future 'calculations', and our body is constantly providing more inputs for the brain to deal with. My concepts in writing this essay are based simply on what I've been exposed to and the current state of my brain and body. Given all the needed information at any time in the past, it would have theoretically been possible to see that I would be writing this essay right now. Whereas I feel I made a choice to write it, given an identical set of circumstances, both prior and current, I would write it again, in exactly the same way. The idea of fate is useful to a human for one simple reason - it removes accountability. The concept of describing someone as evil is as ludicrous as calling a computer evil. However, the important point here is that this is completely unimportant. A concept of fate that we may hold is simply another input, that someone with perfect knowledge could see, and use to calculate future 'decisions' we will make. That we have thought about fate will be a factor in how the rest of our life is lived, but will not change anything. We have evolved to only be able to properly comprehend the present moment, and make predictions about what will happen in the future. When people talk about 'life-changing' decisions, they simply indicate that their prior predictions were wrong. You can't make a decision that will change your life, you can simply realise that a certain action has jeopardised or disproved predictions you once held. Taken to its logical conclusion, this would invalidate any ideas we might have about some kind of deity-based day of judgement. If we can't make decisions, how can we be held accountable? In conclusion, the question of fate comes down to if, given perfect knowledge, it's possible to extrapolate future results. This is made interesting by the fact that if everything is governed by fate, it is fundamentally unimportant that it is.

Memes: [ Meme me up, scotty ]

Friday, February 8th, 2002

Time: Friday the 8th at 8:51am

This thing is kinda ... scarily ... good. It was weird because it guessed that I had lied the first time, and then almost wouldn't let me retake.

Memes: [ 3 memes ] [ Meme me up, scotty ]

Thursday, February 7th, 2002

Time: Thursday the 7th at 9:47am

oh mandy, well you came and you gave without taking

Memes: [ Meme me up, scotty ]

Monday, February 4th, 2002

Time: Monday the 4th at 7:17pm Music: Ocean Colour Scene - The Day We Caught The Train

Were you a gifted child? Your Score: 74% Test yourself at geekykid.net As if. Jeek, I know you cheated dude.

Memes: [ Meme me up, scotty ]