What makes us different?

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

What are we? The most advanced species on earth? The product of billion years of evolution?

We were apes weren't we? That wasn't so long ago to be honest. We evolved fairly quickly compared to many other animals.
So , did God decide to suddenly lead us into the path of evolution that would make us the most advanced beings on earth?

No.

We evolved because we felt the need to.
With as much intellect as we had , we figured that in order to make our lives better , we must become more intelligent and more efficient. And thus we adapted , becoming who we are now. We are still evolving. We seek to be able to do more and to be capable of thinking more.

So that's settled. We are all humans. And if that made classification any simpler out of the 1.7 million discovered species on earth , we all are different. Yes , different. In every way that matters we are all humans. The way we think , behave is all common to our society but the answer to "how so" varies with every person.

I have often contemplated on this topic for hours and hours struggling to take in the complexity of the human mind and the way it functions with every different person. Predictably similar yet startlingly different. I know that a person who is watching TV is not going to turn back and look across the room unless it is of utmost importance. The same may not apply when you might be watching a movie on your computer because you can always pause it or play it back from the part where you got distracted from , but there's no watching it again on TV if you missed it.

We are all similar to the point that we all are humans. And different to the point that we all are different humans. There was a time before a couple of years back when I used to think that citizens of foreign countries probably think differently or have a completely different approach to situations. That was probably the most inaccurate assumption that I have made till date. When I conversed with a few American and African acquaintances of mine , I figured that we were so similar that even our major philosophies coincided. All of them went to school and learnt pretty much the same subjects and lived in quite the same way as we do. I guess I should credit that to universal concepts like money and power.

And yet our cultures and social behaviors are so different. That of course is due to the society that they were brought up in. But these days , due to this new social element in our life known as the internet , we are getting shaped by common factors as well. Putting aside cultural and social influences , I shall now lay down my final deductions on this matter.

Humans are unique. It's just how we're made. Every person born has a unique identity to themselves. Unique fingerprints , unique DNA. It's like you have a certified position on this planet where you have been already registered with a unique ID. Genetics and hereditary factors make sure that we are always unique. A combination of 2 unique ID's making another unique ID and this cycle continues. I remember spending a week by itself pondering about how unique we can get to be. A position in this planet that no one else can take. And well it isn't possible to cram a week worth of philosophy into this blog , so i'll just delve into the basics. The rest might be for some other day.

Alright , I began by formulating a simple experiment that I named the Parallel Thought Experiment. It isn't exactly simple to perform in real life so I asked a few high ranking doctor's (it's good to have friends who can contact you to the right people) about their conclusions on it. It basically involved taking 2 twins born at the exact same time to have no conscious memory of any past event and placed in two different but exactly identical rooms. (the point here is that they must have experienced the same things at the same time)
Now , will these two people think along the exact same lines? Will they both get up , and think "Where am I" at the "exact" same time? The doctor's were impressed. They told me that such experiments had already been conducted in many places but in all cases , the responses were never same. This seems to indicate that we are all different mentally. Even though we might be physically the same and have gone through the same influencing factors , out response will be as unique as the next person's. In short , parallel thinking is never practically possible. The question "why" has been of great controversy. And most people (including me in the past) have used this opportunity to fit in the concept of the "soul" and such.

Another concept that I had thought of a long time ago was this:
We all have our favorites don't we? Favorite color , favorite movie , favorite song etc
I found this intriguing as well that what I find pleasant , may be disturbing for the next person. For example: I like beats. I don't care how crappy the actually song as , as long as it has a good enough beat to go along with it , i'll swallow the whole song up. And it's actually so surprising that other people don't even care about it. I mean , when there's a catchy beat going on , others might say "Meh , change that song" , and all I can do is stare in awe. I mean , how on earth is it possible for someone to not be interested in something so awesome.
Now , the reason why I like good beats so much is because I'm tuned to it. I'm more comfortable to it and thus my ears are always on the lookout for it. It's how I grew up. Your tastes depend on how you build them. In the same way , I might not enjoy electronic so much , where as there might be a hell load of people who have claimed to not have heard music so fine as that. Again , this is how you hone your tastes. All our favorites are what we are tuned most to. We find it better than the others because that's what we have sharpened our tastes to.

But then again , a revelation struck me. Lets take our favorite colors - mine is blue. My brother's is orange. Different. Colors , one of the most basic factors of influence , happen to differ in taste as well. I asked myself "why". And at the end , I thought of something. What if we actually see different colors? I mean , what if what I see as blue is the same as what my brother sees when he looks at orange? He knows it by the name "orange" so that's what he calls it. But what if the colors we actually saw were different from what each other person sees as well? It would make perfect sense wouldn't it? What I see as blue , is everyone else's favorite color. Only , they know it in different names than mine. Now , take hearing as well. People may not share their favorite song with mine because maybe they don't hear it in the same way as I do. Relate this to everything else.

Finally , we can say that whether we like it or not , whether we'd choose to or not , we're different. Different in personality. And again , we are similar. Similar as a whole being.

In the end , it all depends on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist.

Quote:
‎"Order is your next Anarchy" ~ EnKrypt

My awesome dream - Bloggers Day

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

Well today is world blogger's day and it would really be a shame to not use this opportunity to post a blog. Well I don't really have anything in mind. So i'll just post this awesome dream I had today. I'll just copy paste the description of the dream I wrote on facebook and G+ . Here it goes:

Whoa , i had one of the most awesome dreams on earth today. I don't even know why im posting this here but well , i want to keep track of it before i forget the details. Anyway , heres what happened. I was supposedly a Russian Spy sent to Germany to find out what they were going to do next. I think its set into a WWII scenario. And weirdly , I was a girl. AND it was in 3rd person view. My dream always changes to third person whenever i'm a girl. Anyway , so this wasnt any stupid girl, this was one of those chicks you'd really like to hang out with. As of now , the details seem to be pretty sharp , so lets go on. She was wearing a kind of shirt , well maybe a top? im not sure. Anyway , it was like those pirates outfit. The material was a bit thick and velvetty. And she also had blue pants , or trousers or whatever. So , first thing i know , i went to bar disguised as a German. I had a drink with a few german friends of mine while trying to overhear what the nazi's next table were saying. They were talking in whispers so i couldnt really make out at the beginning. All i remember was that i was staring hard at the table and the wine bottles while concentrating very hard on what they were saying. I guess because my attention was fixed on listening so hard to what they were telling , i paid no attention to my friends and so i cant tell you anything about how they looked. I can tell you though that the pub was like any other local bar. It had poor lighting and the furniture was old and reeky. OK , heres the catch which made it most epic. EVERYONE WAS SPEAKING IN GERMAN. EVEN ME. I mean , wtf? , i dont even know german. So my mind literally tried to make it sound german , yet made me understand what all that bullshit means. I mean , whatever i heard and spoke , im sure it isnt even german , it probably just SOUNDS so. Anyway , the nazis started arguing after a while in raised voices so i could hear what they were telling. It was mostly stuff like scheisse and beisten and halten and ist echt and der aschlok. I have a feeling some of them might be legit swear words, but idk. Yeah , so the point is that i found out what they were going to do , and i got out of that place and walked to the park to relax a bit. And I saw my (HER) boyfriend after a while and they started talking some crap and then they kissed (intesting). At this point though , I turned into the boy in first person view. She started to say something to me like "I think I should tell you a secret". I whispered somehting like "You dont have to tell me. I know who you are. You shouldnt have betrayed us. You were sent to russia in the first place to act as OUR spy". I took out a gun from my waistbelt and aimed it at her stomach. I said I was sorry. And then there was the bang , she fell in slow mo , i think i cried and then I went back to the german base ( the walk to the german base was pretty long ) and told them that the spy was dead. Then i was sent to a factory building nearby where i would be joined by an army and we had to destroy the russian barricades on the opposite side of the building. I used some old jeep sort of thing to get there. Ok , so about this guy who i was. He looked pretty decent and well he looked sort of like those blonde german guys you see running around with guns. Well for some stupid reason he wasnt wearing army. He was wearing a loose shirt and shorts? wtf , idk. Anyway , when i reached the building , i was given rifles and grenades and was told to go to the open front on the third floor which the russians had blown open previously. And our goal was to exterminate all the guards in the vicinity. We reached the opening and uncovered it. I just hid in one of the corners of the opening. And occasionaly turned around to look who were where. I found out that along the horizon , which was pretty close , there were two gatlling guns mounted on either side. and a random 4 people strayed on the roof with rifles. My team fired at random and the russians seemed to be doing the same. The gattling guns werent that fast at shooting bullets at a rapid rate but the bullets themselves were very fast and the bullets were big . I could feel it as they whizzed past in front of me. Then all of a sudden , as one of my members peered round the corner , a bullet hit him square in the chest and he fell down right in front of the opening. All of a sudden , all the gattling guns and the rifles tore in front of us. When i recovered my vision , his body lay splattered all over the room. This freaked me out. I dint want to stay there anymore. I climbed the stairs all the way to the seventh floor and then to the terrace. At this point , I was at a higher altitude than the russians. While they were busy scanning the floors below , i sniped clear headshots at the men who manned the gattling guns. But then one of the other guys shot my arm and i lost support and my head hit the ground knocking me unconcious. When i woke up , there was this guy standing above me. A gun at his hand aimed at my head. He told me that my team had been defeated and that they had now declared russian rule of the city. He told me "You should have stayed away from this battle. That german girl whom we brainwashed into a spy whom you just killed? I told her to convince you to stay away from us. But you killed her before she could say so. Dont you know , it was YOU who was russian . The betrayer was YOU. You were tortured by the germans which resulted in a memory loss. You were a good asset. But now you can join the friend you wronged" . and then there was the bang and then i woke up. 5 minutes later when i started to recall my dream , i was like "hell yeah!" Well , if you have a good imagination here , then a dream like this would be really fun im sure , especially when your mind is trying in every way to make this realistic. Bit of paradox here and the revelation in the ending is awesome. Anyway , im losing bits of the details now but atleast i've typed it all out. So thats it. Wait , did you read THE WHOLE THING? omg , you're awesome i tell you that. Cheers

Artificial Intelligence

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

Note from author: 
None of this text is guaranteed to be true or considered a fact as the field of study has a considerable margin for error. This is just an approach at calculated assumptions to better understand the beginning of AI and how it functions and propogates behind the scenes. There is a high chance that some lines here can be proven WRONG as per standards

Allright then , Artificial Intelligence -
What it means in the simplest level:
The ability to make a decision by oneself based on a combination of circumstances , advantage , consequences and personal favours

Aim:
To simulate the human thinking process whose characteristic features are to be parallel and seemingly random

And thus we arrive to-
The root of Artificial Intelligence:
Random. Just being randomly random. The key to AI is to implement this randomness which is similar to the random thoughts of the human mind

Level 1 - Random choice between 2 options :
Technical - 0 , 1
Application - Yes , No


Level 2 - Random choice between finite options :
Technical - A , B , C , D , E , F
Application - Red , Blue , Black


Level 3 - Make an independent decision
Technical - Corrupt Memory. Decision to proceed
Application - Someone unknown to you , throws a punch at your face all of a sudden. Response to that action



Artificial Intelligence at its maximum will be capable of distinguishable characteristics of a human. Keeping secrets , having dreams , emotion etc. Although it is technically impossible for a machine to feel emotion , an imitation is what could be achieved.

The ultimate evolution will take place when the AI will be powerful enough to develop AI by itself. The potential of development then will be massive. But with every shred of success , comes a significant amount of danger. Machines , if out of control , could end up wiping out the whole of the human race with the mental capabilities of a human. Alas , with the opportunity of a gigantic scientific evolution comes the potential of the  Armageddon.

Levels of AI simulation:


Level 1 - 100% random
No relation of output with input and output generated would probably have been the same if another input was given


Level 2 - Imitation at reality
Not what we call REAL AI. But behaves into making you believe that it is. Just an imitation of intelligent talk.
Dis-functions when you try smart conversation


Level 3 - REAL AI
Behaves in every way that matters , as another human would with Level 3 of the random levels.


Level 4 - FULL AI
Processing and non redundant capabilities of a machine combined with the mental superiority of humans would be able to create AI by itself and will be a master at perfection.

OCD Boon or Bane?

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

I was rifling through a Wikipedia article about René Descartes , supposedly a great patron of mathematics and philosophy when all of a sudden I remembered about something called OCD which I always wanted to know more about. I don't know why I thought of it at that time , but the next thing I knew , I was on Wikipedia again. This time staring at a different title:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Also known as Obsessive Compulsive Syndrome , this is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. In short this means that people having OCD often have random/unwanted thoughts/habits (this is common even among other people) , but they feel uncomfortable or anxious unless they carry out their compulsion.
I read on and realized that the description of the symptoms was quite precise , if not exact , with what I did
I never really thought before that I actually had a disorder of such sort. One major symptom of to always keep things arranged and organized in a systematic order. That made sense like nothing ever did. I opened my school bag and stared at the books inside. Not only were they arranged according to height , but also subject-wise. To accept what I had seen and to admit that I functioned a bit differently from others took me some time.

At first , when I started writing this , I originally titled it as 'God isn't really funny'. Seriously , if you look at it , I have the weirdest combination of abilities and disorders. Who the hell will like it they've been informed that they have the ability to learn and cope with new concepts/environments really fast , but on the other hand , they will also have OCD. So that means you'll get the hang of Java in only an hour but you'll take days to write a good enough project on it. Oh yeah , I may have forgotten to mention this - OCD doesn't seem to have any effect while you're learning or understanding new principles. But it haunts you in full measure when you apply them. In this case I consider myself quite lucky that this is one of the only drawbacks to what I have to endure. The main disadvantage is supposed to be that it will be hard to ignore irrational thoughts and anxiety and uncomfort will be felt unless the compulsion is carried out. I don't know if I'm just "used" to this uncomfort but I don't seem to have any problem at all at discarding irrational thought. If the thought , however is completely sane or will deal no harm , then I don't see any reason not to carry it out.

As I read on , I was greeted by more revelations:
The article said that people diagnosed with OCD commonly share personality traits such as high attention to detail, avoidance of risk, careful planning, exaggerated sense of responsibility and a tendency to take time in making decisions.
And all this while I just thought that I was good at covering up my tracks. Ironic as it seems , I have almost never been caught for any offense I made till now. Makes sense now I guess. You will be quite surprised at how I would think about the hundred possible ways I could get caught and then take steps to eliminate them all. Always thinking a couple of steps ahead was my forte.
Within moments , I realized that I had more advantages than disadvantages at my disposal. Take the ability to learn fast and add careful planning and avoidance of flaws , and you will then have attempts at perfection. Only , it just takes twice the time.
At this stage , I would like to assert that the personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency is also known as Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Although I feel that I have OCPD and not OCD , it is said that symptoms are very similar and since OCD is more widely known , I will stick to OCD for now.

Secondly , this 'careful planning and thinking' allows me to pull out my strengths even in the most hopeless of situations .OCD is probably the reason that I can outline these advantages in the first place. It allows me to first think what is helpful and what is not in particular circumstances and then do whatever necessary to gain the lead. All I have to do now is make sure that I play on my strengths and avoid falling into occasions which are to my disadvantage. If I can somehow make sure that over-thinking , mental pressure and time consumption are not limiting factors , then I will gain the upper hand.

Thirdly , I realized that OCD can come at one certain point of time from several factors. For example , if I start to feel mentally tired when I'm doing some hard thinking , then due to fear of getting too tired I can abandon thinking about it and divert thought to somewhere else. Just now , before I started typing out this paragraph, I started to feel a bit weary so I just took a round in my house thinking about this anime I was watching yesterday before I continued typing the rest out. So this means that if the task at hand proves to be uncomfortable or tiring , then I can choose to divert my concentration on something less trivial.

Alright , for those who are interested , lets step into my shoes and feel how it is to face OCD.
First , OCD can become seriously inconvenient while doing something will full concentration/dedication. In my case , that will be Programming. Writing a one file program is pretty easy (and fun) and will probably make no difference if any other person programmed it. The problem kicks in when the content increases (or the complexity of the logic). Usually  , you keep track of the features to implement in a program. Lets say I've got Login , Chat and a 'Users available list' left to implement while I am programming a Register feature. My mind constantly keeps telling me that you've got 3 more features to finish coding. My subconscious however , delves further into each feature. This tells my mind that I've got to make a prompt system for Login , A userbase to keep track of the users' records , a password checking protocol , keeping track of who logged in from where , etc . Then it goes into the next thing I was yet to do. My mind realizes that to implement Chat , I have to configure socket connection , make a working protocol to send , receive live messages , make sure every username is unique, etc.
This entire deduction builds up and finally gives the illusion that I've got millions of stuff left to do which finally results in headaches or feeling mentally fatigued. This illusion can be intimidating and while you're trying to remember every one of those features that you were going to implement , you miss out on concentration on the actual task at hand and this results in your work slowing down considerably. Unless I don't actually look back and realize that I've actually got just 3 simple features to complete , this mental stress continues.
This can also happen when you're try to read/understanding certain logical components which was programmed by  a person other than you. You're trying to figure out what programming in that particular fashion will result in . You're just trying to figure out what the output of his logic will be. Simultaneously though , your subconscious will question WHY he coded in that peculiar fashion. Although most of the components make sense only at the end of the program , till then you're constantly bombarded with questions like - "why hasnt he used that variable yet?" , "why did he use that specific datatype?" , "why didnt he do something simpler?". This again leads to mental fatigue and slow progress.

Lets take an example more common and more applicable to people on a day to day basis.
Now , if you step into the room of a person suffering from OCD , you will see that every thing is arranged in one order or another. It may not make sense to you but it certainly makes sense to the person who arranged it in that fashion. Most likely , it will also be clean to the last speck. Now , you might think its not a big deal if you just pick up one of those books from that neat pile to read , you'll just put it back later. Now , if you happen to be close to the person , he will not mind. Else , he might tell you to keep that back down. In either case , he will certainly feel a tinge of annoyance. This is not because he thinks you will be careless with his belongings. He is mostly afraid that you will disturb the order in which it was originally arranged and he doesn't want to put everything back again.

To make things clear , let me state this. A person suffering from OCD is NOT aggressive or violent , or acts strange in public. He's just ignoring stupid thoughts in his mind and forming plans , slowly , but a completely perfect one , when done.

Also , everyone , yes EVERYONE has OCD in very negligible forms if they dont have it on a larger scale. Example of this : Whenever you set the TV volume or the computer's volume , most of us , always set it in multiples of 5 if say the volume ranges from 0 to 50. Although you may have set it to 33 once , you will , or at least tend to set it to 30 or 35.

SO , through this , we come to an end of another one of my blogs. God , I can't believe I ruined another one of my blogs with stupid random stuff about me. My promise to you - next time , I will post about a more general topic which will be way more interesting.

I probably bragged out a lot about myself in this blog. I did so with the sole motive that I want to know myself to the maximum. What I'm good at and what I'm not. So forgive me if I bored you too much with how great I am and stuff. I wrote this in a stretch so I'm scanning for typos and grammatical errors. Forgive me if you fall across one.

Alright , so did you like this blog? Do you think it was too long? Any inaccurate information? Do you think that I'm wrong and that I'm mistaking something else for OCD, and that I'm not really suffering from it? Want to share your experiences too? Any specific parts about this blog that you liked? Any other thing you might want to tell me?
Just leave a comment below or email me at arvind@enkrypt.in

Ciao

Quote: "Action is the real measure of intelligence." ~ Napoleon Hill
Another Quote: "I think , therefore I am" ~ Rene Descartes

This is my Blog. My first Blog.

This post is part of the "First Few Old Blog Posts" archive.
You could expect a certain lack of coherency/maturity from these posts.

When I was younger, I always thought of keeping a book where I could pour my thoughts into when I was in a pensive mood. Well I kept one for a few months too in my 2nd grade. I had lost it a long time ago. And never thought of doing it again. But these days, all I seem to do is think So, here's my blog which allows me to model my thoughts to present to you all and also to keep up with the latest trend of "blogging"

No. I'm not the writing type. You won't catch me carefully writing an essay just for lulz. If my homework demands it, then it would probably just see another one of those retarded writings which are not dissimilar to those of my classmates. Its not that I can't, in fact, i'm pretty sure my levels of creativity are above average, its just that whenever I try, I always feel like I can do better. Unfortunately, I never end up reaching the level of expectation I have for myself since I pay to much attention to even the slightest detail and carving all of them into symbols of perfection can be a bit tiring. So this blog also serves the purpose of allowing me to be creative without really giving much thought about how its presented.

Wow. You just read me rant about my childhood and essays, and you're still reading. You must really like me. Unfortunately, this first blog happens to be related about me and stuff, so since you've read this far, it wouldn't hurt to know more about me now would it?

Right, so I'm a programmer living at Bangalore,India , currently doing his ninth grade at high school. My interests would involve discussing/contemplating anything on the topic of computers, science (mainly physics or biophysics), or mostly Philosophy and Life in general. I am also inclined a bit towards religious symbology and history (Not Indian), this maybe because I've been reading Dan Brown again and again. Oh, i must have forgotten to mention - I read a lot. I just love to read. I've been reading different authors' works but when I read Angels and Demons, I knew that Dan Brown had hit me home. He was my perfect author. Nothing had inspired me more than his books had.

I haven't kept a blog before and I need to start this new habit, so it is hard to tell when I may post again. It can take from a day to a week and also maybe to a month. This post however was restricted to lame talk about me (and you read it all , you're awesome) , however hopefully , the next posts will be more enlightening and really get your attention far better.

Cheers.

Quote: "Genius always finds itself a century too early." ~ R W Emerson