A Quantum Internet

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514581/government-lab-reveals-quantum-internet-operated-continuously-for-over-two-years/

I can’t help but recall how many times Japanese science fiction has used quantum mechanics as the basis for the plot or a world creation. The fact that they expect the common consumer in Japan to understand these things while the US is mostly concerned about making money off of Hollywood gun violence, porn, and abortion is its quantum paradigm.

Assignment in Eternity: How humans think

“We defined thinking as integrating data and arriving at correct answers. Look around you. Most people do that stunt just well enough to get to the corner store and back without breaking a leg. If the average man thinks at all, he does silly things like generalizing from a single datum. He uses one-valued logics. If he is exceptionally bright, he may use two- valued, ‘either-or’ logic to arrive at his wrong answers. If he is hungry, hurt, or personally interested in the answer, he can’t use any sort of logic and will discard an observed fact as blithely as he will stake his life on a piece of wishful thinking. He uses the technical miracles created by superior men without wonder nor surprise, as a kitten accepts a bowl of milk. Far from aspiring to higher reasoning, he is not even aware that higher reasoning exists. He classes his own mental process as being of the same sort as the genius of an Einstein. Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal. “For explanations of a universe that confuses him he seizes onto numerology, astrology, hysterical religions, and other fancy ways to go crazy. Having accepted such glorified nonsense, facts make no impression on him, even if at the cost of his own life. Joe, one of the hardest things to believe is the abysmal depth of human stupidity. “That is why there is always room at the top, why a man with just a leetle more on the ball can so easily become governor, millionaire, or college president- and why homo sap is sure to be displaced by New Man, because there is so much room for improvement and evolution never stops.

“Here and there among ordinary men is a rare individual who really thinks, can and does use logic in at least one field-he’s often as stupid as the rest outside his study or laboratory-but he can think, if he’s not disturbed or sick or frightened. This rare individual is responsible for all the progress made by the race; the others reluctantly adopt his results. Much as the ordinary man dislikes and distrusts and persecutes the process of thinking he is forced to accept the results occasionally, because thinking is efficient compared with his own maunderings. He may still plant his corn in the dark of the Moon but he will plant better corn developed by better men than he. “Still rarer is the man who thinks habitually, who applies reason, rather than habit pattern, to aU his activity. Unless he masques himself, his is a dangerous life; he is regarded as queer, untrustworthy, subversive of public morals; he is a pink monkey among brown monkeys-a fatal mistake. Unless the pink monkey can dye himself brown before he is caught. “The brown monkey’s instinct to kill is correct; such men are dangerous to all monkey customs. “Rarest of all is the man who can and does reason at all times, quickly, accurately, inclusively, despite hope or fear or bodily distress, without egocentric bias or thalmic disturbance, with correct memory, with clear distinction between fact, assumption, and non-fact. Such men exist, Joe; they are ‘New Manf-human in all respects, indistinguishable in appearance or under the scalpel from homo sap, yet as unlike him in action as the Sun is unlike a single candle.”

DaWade. ASSIGNMENT IN ETERNITY (Kindle Location 1206).

This miniature essay on human thinking was something I thought quite applicable to the modern day status quo. The number one advantage humans have over any other species is our ability to think. We cannot outmatch the physical or body power of other animals nor the persistence and numbers of insects. This has formed a key part of my education in H2H training.

Many people, even with the tools provided to them by the internet, do not make effective use of such tools. Things are tl;dr, meaning it was too long for them to read. They want something summarized in 2 or 3 sentences, usually at your expense. They want to hear the interesting and fascinating thoughts of the creative author, but don’t want to deal with the process and work required to produce that product. It’s as if they are parasites and they get angry if you refuse them or call into question their vice-full lack.

In the current environment of welfare, redistribution of wealth, nationalization of American companies, and socialism writ economically, politically, and spiritually, this is just as, if not more, important to understand than ever before.

If you wanted to fly in your car…

People are still working on them. Unless the government slaps them with death taxes and nationalizes their business, that is.

A Chinese History Lesson: Shaolin Legends

Part 1

Part 2

And so it begins…

It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind… oh wait, we’re talking about Chinese history. However, the Shaolin history shares one thing with Babylon 5: they’re both long as heck.

Not for semi-literates living on the internet and not for people who get bored reading anything longer than 2 paragraphs. Oh you’d be surprised how many of those there are on the net.

Here’s a modern example of Shaolin conditioning.

Story Telling

When I first read/watched Fate/Stay: Night, I had never encountered the particular Japanese form of story telling it contained. I was familiar with time paradoxes and loops from Star Trek, and they were certainly interesting in a time, causality, and quantum mechanics perspective. People have done some work on alternative worlds such as historical fiction or alternative fiction. It was the first time, however, that I was just blown away by the sheer verisimilitude and impact of this mode of story telling. Fate/Stay Night is basically 3 stories that all start from the same space-time coordination. The same day, the same location, but because the characters made a few different decisions, it branched off into one of the 3: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, or Heaven’s Feel. What was most well done was that these stories are told in order. In the beginning of the game, you are given some seemingly inconsequential choices. But none of them matters because you’ll always go into the Fate story line or die. Only until you finish Fate and get to the end, can you then loop around start a new story, and proceed to Unlimited Blade Works. It was very surprising. I was like, “Oh, Fate was a pretty good story. Some things I wasn’t too sure about, but generally very nice”. Then I went to Unlimited Blade Works and I was like, “What more can they do with these characters and settings, isn’t it getting boring now”. Well, I spoke too soon given my inexperience with Japanese visual novels. There was a whole heck load of more stuff to discover and read, because Fate was only… an introduction. Only an intro, even though Fate took tens of hours to finish reading and had a great beginning, interesting middle, and moderately satisfying ending. Stuff I would expect from a really good American tv series or book… but there’s 3 of em. And each one is better than the one before, in terms of expanding the characters, their motivations, the world, and the plot. Something my mind had trouble encapsulating and comprehending. How is this kind of art and craft possible.

Visual guide

A lot of wiki links concerning FSN is full of needless spoilers. But this one is very clean. FSN being the first visual novel I ever experienced, yet also the one I have yet to reread, occupies a special place in my memories.

Muv Luv Alternative Review

In reply to this post.

Alternative is really a test of how much your heart can withstand. Visual novels often seek to put you in the protagonist’s shoes and this one certainly does a great job of it given the amount of time they had to “educate” you, the reader.

Of course the ending is sad. But it’s also a testament to not giving into despair. I’ve already integrated most of the lessons Alternative had, but until you really accept in your heart what the various characters are saying, your emotions will not be moderated or balanced out.

For example, one of the most effective ways to fight despair at the loss of a loved one is to overcome it with positive emotions and memories. Pride in what they had achieved. The happy memories you shared with them. Such will provide the will to live on.

That’s the whole point of why fighter pilots and small unit infantry tell jokes when faced with death. Many people assume that they don’t take it seriously because they don’t care, but the opposite is true.

Leaders must radiate supreme confidence and optimism, regardless of what they believe or feel inside. That is part of the duty and responsibility of being given authority, for authority has its perks because it has its costs as well. Human emotion is infectious. If you start feeling sad, soon enough everyone around you will as well. And when it comes to fighting in battles and wars, that kind of thing will kill people. When they lack the will to live, when they stop caring, they will also stop caring about the mission. They won’t pay enough attention in combat to survive. They will get themselves killed. That’s why leaders project an optimistic and positive aura. To defeat despair before one can defeat the enemy.

To a commenter there: Check all torrent tracker sites as well as hongfire forums which posts torrents, file server links, and various other download sources.

Continuing on more issues with MLA.

As previously mentioned, I finished reading ML Extra/Unlimited and Ml Alternative. It’s a combination of many different things such as a thriller, science fiction, military war drama, romantic love triangles, and so on. When I say war drama I also mean a life and death drama: one that focuses on the meaning of life and death. A military war drama can be about the military or the war, but it doesn’t necessarily touch upon the concepts behind the meaning of living.

One of the things I’ve heard mentioned a lot is the dramatic dichotomy between chick flicks and movies suited more towards a male demographic. Unmarried single women under 30 in a career. Married women with a family. Teenagers and those in college. Demographics can tell much about a group trend, hence the whole importance placed on age and demographics in marketing. Insurance companies also charge teenagers (15 year olds) much greater premium rates. Regardless of the individual variance in your demographic, the demographic itself is a very accurate portrayal of what the group is trending towards. Thus chick flicks have lately become specialized only for certain demographic groups of women, to the point where it turns off any other demographic. This is, in fact, an indication of plagiarism, un-originality, and a degradation in artistic talent. True artistic talent allows dramatic moments to touch any human, regardless of barriers. That is true artistic skill. There can be no art without a human utilizing artistic skill. When I see movies that have skewed positive reactions amongst a certain demographic, yet the format and themes are so derivative and unbalanced, this is a sign that they are specializing not because they are good at making movies that appeal to women but because they need that kind of specialization to cover up their own incompetence.

That being said, ML Alternative is such a hybrid of so many different other things, which is in fact usual not unusual for the Japanese, that it becomes a stark contrast. In chick flicks, the focus is mostly on relationship issues and on guys apologizing. There’s no war to portray manly virtues or courage. There’s no external enemy or even competent rival. When the Japanese does love triangles, they make it as complex as humanly possible. Such things as two best friends falling in love with their childhood friend, while the childhood friend loves both girls, makes for interesting drama. There is more emotional bonds connecting all 3 together, so the pain or the joy becomes higher in nature. On the other hand, Hollywood does love triangles in a superficial sort of fashion. Either it’s a competition between boys and immature males or it’s a case of Pearl Harbor. There’s rivalry between friends, but they stop being friends for some reason when they compete against each other. There’s no such thing as a friendly competition or the old line “may the best man win”. Meaning much of Hollywood’s love triangles are backstabbing, deception orientated. Such negative emotions tend to affect everyone in a love triangle. It’s not as simple as conservatives prefer positive and happy relationships and LibProgs prefer backstabbing deceptions, but that’s how it tends to turn out given what I have read in America. I do not claim Japan is conservative by the measures Americans can judge, but the culture has several points of compatibility with American conservative culture.

To get back to the main point, Alternative has many things women and men would find captivating. Relationship difficulties are present. Victory and defeat in war are also present. I’ve watched the last Pearl Harbor movie out of Hollywood. Could have been worse. Doesn’t compare to Alternative. If Alternative is the sun, Pearl Harbor is a beach. Both are hot and shiny. What makes Alternative extremely appealing to many demographics is simply the skill with which it has produced the hybrid intermingling of different characters, themes, concepts, and events. Instead of feeling like a jumbled up puzzle, it is a very clear and comprehensive picture. Almost a visual illusion.

One core example I can give is this. Hollywood treats death as either a convenient plot point or as a convenient way to support the main characters. They do not and cannot do what Serenity or the Japanese do, which is bitter-sweet moments. Sanctifying the importance of life, yet serene in the acceptance of dying for something of great importance. That’s because those who value their lives the highest, have a hard time understanding why anyone else would risk theirs for abstract ideals. Patriotism, love of country, is taught as being a bad thing that leads to wars. Such is true especially in Germany and Japan. The Japanese love of tradition and family values has allowed them to retain much of their history in societal sub groups. Their history is replete with warfare and tragedies, thus they can draw much from it even though they lack modern day experience. Our Civil War happened only recently in the eyes of world history, and we aren’t even over it. Japan’s last great civil war happened in 1600 at the battle of Sekigahara. Americans have not had enough time to see things as they really were. And for wars fought in other countries, that is even harder to comprehend for the ordinary citizens of America. It is hard enough to attempt to understand your mortal enemy that speaks another language, but if they are all fighting thousands of miles away from your peaceful life, how much understanding can you really obtain given the normal disinterest civilians have in such affairs?

In an interesting state of affairs, the Japanese have better literature on the topic of war sacrifices and patriotism even though the US has a much higher institutional knowledge in patriotic parts of America and in the US military. Such is life, an infinite amount of contradictions.

Some here may have read David Weber and may recall me mentioning him. Weber does war drama quite well and goes to great lengths to attempt to portray human factions honestly and as they truly are. Instead of the cookie cutter, absolute black and white, portrayal of reality by Leftist ideologues.

This is why I laugh whenever Leftists say that we are parochial and mired in tradition and old ways. The Left is so bigoted, arrogant, and intolerant of other beliefs, so reactive, and so regressive that they don’t even have the right to call anyone else “traditional” to begin with. They have no such right. They have no power to generate such a right. They have nothing to deserve power or rights. All they can do is to beg other people to sacrifice for them. They don’t work. They don’t contribute to the community. They suck off of other people’s wealth. They damage the common good for selfish greed and arrogance. And yet they believe they should have rights?

Things in the Night Sky

I thought of it as artificially gerrymandered districts for Congress.

John Hancock

Even though I couldn’t hear 3/5ths of the words in this movie, it was still hilarious, moving, and surprising in terms of plot and characterization. Okay, maybe not so much on characterization, since movies aren’t notorious for good character building. That’s what novels are for.

All you need to know about this movie is that it is about an anti-superhero going into rehab and turning a new leaf.

The first part is comedy, in the vein of Vin Diesel. Meaning, it’s grim humour designed to favor those that like violence, sports, or various other expressions of competition. Given today’s anti-man, anti-aggression, anti-gun, anti-independence, but pro-Islam and pro-Statist dependence, it is very easy to relieve an audience’s tension by showing a character that isn’t limited by current society’s political correctness.

The second part is the meat, so to speak. It’s much more serious and consistent with the “John Hancock” title. Just look at Hancock‘s signature in the Declaration of Independence.

I would have preferred that a significant villain be an Islamic terrorist, however. All these white guys are kind of PC and a sign of indoctrination. Hollywood can not do heroism until they can get the villains down right. (Seriously, they don’t even talk about why these people are the villains. They are white, so they are. TO be or not to be.)

*****
Pet Peeve time. One of my notable complaints about Hollywood’s moral midget personas, involves them being incapable of comprehending criminal psychology. A criminal does not demand that you “shoot him via execution by gun” when you have him on the ground at a disadvantage, solely to test your “moral purity” and “moral high ground”. No criminal is dumb enough to want to make the “good guy” stain his hands by killing the thug criminal. That’s not a good trade off to the thug, no matter what Hollywood wants to think in their metha-amphetamine induced party orgies.

A criminal does not, once he has seen the consequence of resistance, talk back or otherwise act tough in front of an executioner, killer, or anyone else with huge amounts of power relative to the thug.

This isn’t about the film so much as it is about Hollywood’s attempt to influence the film. These are Hollywood’s traits, and if you see it in Hancock, it is only because Hollywood produced the film.

Compared to Tom Cruise’s movies, Hancock only has one or two such moral midget moments. So you can mostly ignore them. Mostly.

Forever Peace and Tranquility

It was an old tenet of the peace lover that the madness of
the violent people had no end. So never get involved. Make
no counter moves. Avoid reacting.
Let them win.
Easy winning softened aggressors. True it was sometimes
inconvenient, but still if you could avoid getting involved
afterwards, or as little as possible, it was better to keep the
peace that way. Even if a few people got hurt, it was better.
With that reaffirmation of his most basic truth, Modyun
slowed back to a walk.

“I am a general of the Gerd. Doer is my name.”
“General Doer, I represent the … Earth
ship. Let us stop the carnage.”

There was a long pause. Then, grimly, the reply: “The
battle will be stopped only with the total annihilation or total
surrender of the invading force.”

Modyun sighed as he had seen Ichdozh do, by opening his
mouth and exhaling. What he finally said was, “That is an
unnecessary solution. After all, we both know the only people
being hurt are dupes. Naturally, the leaders will neither surrender
nor expose themselves to annihilation. So your alternatives
are unrealistic.”

“The punishment must fit the crime.” Savagely. “They are
members of an invading, aggressive force, and it was their intention
to take over Gunya.”

“Dupes have no meaningful intentions,” said Modyun.
“Besides, whatever the individual responsibility, the conditions
have changed. They are now willing to withdraw from
this planet and this attack, if your bridgehead group will get
off the ship and we are allowed to reembark our men.”
The thought-form of the creature facing him showed the
same grim attitude. “War, once engaged in,” he said, “is not
that easy to disengage from. We require the total surrender of
this ship and of the planet—Earth, did you call it?—which
dared to send forces to invade Gunya.”

Modyun shook his head. “These are old-fashioned
thoughts,” he said. “War is not fixed one way or another. It’s
just something that should never start in the first place. But,
if started, should be ended as soon as possible. It is your good
fortune that the attack has failed. The sooner you think of it
from that point of view, the sooner you’ll see that nothing is
to be gained by your adamant answer. End this war while my
group feels defeated. It is possible they may think of something
or get charged up with the same emotion that you have,
and then they won’t give up.”

There was a long pause. General Doer stood and stared at
him from those deep-set eyes. He seemed to be grappling
with the meaning of what the human being had said. Finally:
“Are we discussing the same subject?” he asked.

These are excerpts from AE Van Vogt’s Battle of Forever. The main character is an artificially evolved human being that obeys the tenets of pacifism. The link, btw, goes to a chronological and by series look at his entire life’s work.

In the course of things, we see how people who believe in total war, violence as being a definite solution to things, compares to those that believe in peace, decadence, multiculturalism, and moral relativism. If everything is the same, why fight about it? If everything is the same, one way or another in this universe, why should you persist in preserving your life?

This was written around the 1950s, so you must surely understand that socialism and the philosophy of self-extinction have been around human history for awhile now.

Correction, this book was written in 1971. After AE had seen the rise of Communism and the advent of the peace and non-guilt crowd. The ending, for those that want a hint about, will satisfy American Total War students and philosophers.

Science Fiction: Future and Past

If anyone wants to know what I think of science fiction, just read the comments I left here at Synova’s post on sci-fi.

I also took the opportunity to go look up something on George Lucas.

Born in May of 1944, in Modesto, California, George Lucas lived a world away from the horrors of Fascist Germany. Yet its imprint is more than evident in Lucas’ life’s work and creative brainchild, the Star Wars Saga. Admitting that the Galactic Empire was based on Germany’s Third Reich, Lucas drew from history the characters and imagery needed to paint his evil regime. While some parallels are obvious-such as the robotic white soldiers Lucas named “storm troopers,” the same name Hitler gave his personal bodyguards during World War II, other comparisons require a little digging. These comparisons make for a fascinating study.

Senator Palpatine and Adolf Hitler: The story of Senator Palpatine as fleshed out in Episodes I, II, and III bears remarkable resemblance to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Both men rose from obscurity to power, outwardly embracing democracy and the republic, while behind the scenes they worked for its ruin. In Episode II Senator Palpatine faces the dissolution of the senate with, “I love democracy…I love the republic,” while reluctantly accepting supreme power. It is unknown that he is also the Sith Lord, orchestrating the downfall of democracy. This echoes the history of Hitler, who also outwardly supported democracy, promising to play by its rules, all along forming a shadow government and an army among the ranks of his Nazi party. The similarity is most striking in the burning of the Jedi temple and the 1933 burning of the Reichstag which effectively dissolved the German senate. These spectacles were both masterminded to bring Palpatine and Hitler into power. Afterwards, Palpatine installs himself as Emperor, while Hitler declared himself “Fuhrer,” or supreme leader.

Another article from the Objectivist.

Myths often manipulate our understanding of current events. Thus it is appropriate to comment on mythmaker George Lucas’s latest Star Wars prequel, Attack of the Clones. Yes, the series is principally entertainment, and Episode II is enjoyable, with great special effects, lots of action, and an outstanding John Williams film score. But what messages does Lucas hope we’ll take home from the theater?

Lucas has been thinking about the fall of republics since he gave us the first installment of his epic 25 years ago. In Clones we find the Galactic Republic threatened by separatists. The Senate must decide whether to create a Grand Army of the Republic (the name of Lincoln’s army during the American Civil War!) to meet the threat. Peace and order in the Republic normally are ensured by the Jedi, philosopher-knights aided by the mystical power of the Force, but those protectors cannot fight a full-scale war.

Lucas correctly sees republics potentially undermined by large armies fighting foreign wars. After all, the Roman republic was destroyed in part because Julius Caesar used his armies and conquests to expand his personal power. That’s why America’s Founders were suspicious of peacetime standing armies. But while the American military has never directly endangered our republic, the concentration of power that results from permanent overseas conflicts has. And let’s not forget that a reluctance to fight for freedom, for example, against terrorists, born from moral uncertainty, can also lead to the death of a republic.

The Galactic Senate also must decide whether to give the Supreme Chancellor broad, supposedly temporary emergency powers to deal with the separatists. Lucas offers a clear parallel with Chancellor Hitler who, in 1933, acquired such powers to deal with a supposed internal threat to Germany. In the Roman republic a dictator could be elected by the Senate for a six-month term to meet a direct threat. But it gave Julius Caesar a ten-year term and when he sought to be made dictator for life, he was assassinated by defenders of the republic. (By the way, in Clones we find that the elected Queen of Naboo is actually term-limited!)

Last part about assassinated by “defenders of the republic” is based upon a historical inaccuracy. The Senators and what not feared the reforms of the Grachii and their alliance with the plebeians. Plebes that liked Caesar. The Senators wanted to keep their life and their riches. They got neither. They wanted to keep a dictator from the throne. They ensured that an Emperor for life would be installed and the Senate broken. Defenders of the republic indeed *snorts*

Other than that however, the Objectivist makes a good point about George Lucas