Mike Smith Cosmos

Tonight a BBC ' Horizon Presentation ' revealed a coincidence for our time . A researcher in Russia .. Dimitri Iscoff in conjunction with Prof . Kahall . Are building an Android with the mental. capacity similar to a Human being . They mention the equivalent in electronics of 80,000,000,000 storage and processing cells. Which they state is coincidentally , to , a similar capacity as the Human Brain. Dimitri believes it might be possible to transfer his life to a metallic devise , which he says in Theory he may be able to live for Ever. The Coincidence being that , Now , is the time it is possible to have the capability to build a female looking android ( metallic ) , with the same capacity of the human mind (Physical Brain cells ) . They even showed us what she looked like ! ( quite Cute ! ) Mike Ps . There was talk of transferring the experience in the opposite direction , as the Female android has already been taught quite a bit already ! Eek ! Watch out you might be smiling at an android !

. Several of you have mentioned the ANTHROPOCENE as being a possible designated term for our present era . Wikipedia has a whole entry discussing ANTHROPOCENE , Quote " The human impact on biodiversity forms one of the primary attributes of the Anthropocene. Humankind has entered what is sometimes called the Earth's sixth major extinction. " An image they propose demonstrates this likely effect follows :- If an outside observer were to 'home in ' on our current situation , would a close inspection , show the human race to be a good ' house keeper ' ? And therefor say " Carry on , you are doing fine ". Or " Your Global society , is in danger of well and truly spoiling your Earth, you really need to change . PDQ (Pretty Darn Quick . ) " Mike PS. As previously quoted by EdEarl. And AJB Wikipedia ..link :- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene

.Well yes , I am sure this communication does make us receive a near instantaneous view and thus big impact of what is happening . But none the less , these things are still happening , and it does illuminate the ' concurrency ' of events . Perhaps ,up through history it would take decades for the true picture of what was happening throughout the world , to reach an historian or writers of philosophical thought to make things public. However my understanding of feedback in electronics is that :- fast rise times , yes , can overshoot. Then fall cyclically to the ambient , real ,level . And damped or slow rise times can creep gently up to the True ambient real level of signal . They none the less ultimately reach the same ambient level. ( truth-will-out ) . Perhaps in historic times it was difficult to fix things , as it was too late before people knew what was going on. Today we know practically as it happens. Certainly within 24 hrs.( with Humanity issues) , perhaps years ( for Geoligical issues) . Either way today (We) are in a position to know all the facts and (we ) in a sort of condition to do something about it. Unfortunately , the rate of response seems inversely proportional to the size of the organisation that has assumed responsibility. If that is correct , we need a small rapid response organisation ( with the clout and facilities) , set up to do world wide emergency rescue instantly . A bit like Helicopter Rescue , but on a much more massive scale ! May be the 'political baggage', gets in the way . I suppose the charities fit this brief , but they may have their hands tied, by again organisational size , finance or regulations . Or just not set up for these type of international disasters . We need ' Superman ' ! Mike

.Well yes , I suppose a case could be made , that from the beginning of human history , ' mans inhumanity to man, ' has always been present. However , it does seem a bit of a coincidence , that it is reaching a rather significant peak at the time other conditions are peaking . Like human population explosion, use of natural resources, human scientific development and achievement, looking and reaching for the stars , etc, etc. and now almost daily news reports from around the world that , things are far from ' all right ' . Mike

BBC. Report how families, men , women , and children are trying to find there way across streams and rivers , from Troubled areas, through Greece to Macedonia in order to escape , because of untenable living conditions for the migrating families, at the border to Europe . They are trying to find alternative ways into Europe as part of their flight from the War zone . These people are fellow humans who look like any one of us , with husband , wife , child with toy , even Baby .They 'must ' be allowed to flee from , what they fear for them selves and family, is a dangerous place to be! Surely ! Mike

.Some U.K. Reporters and documentary makers have been down to where the escape ' Rubber Boats' are coming ashore . They have found they are ordinary people trying to escape the war zone , bringing their wives and children . I think I would be doing the same if I lived in those areas. There appears to be a need for some form of ...."Open Borders and a World Wide relief operation " ....We need to hurry , as it seems to be getting quite critical. Nearer to England , the last time I travelled to/ from France through the Tunnel a few years ago , I saw bunches of people crouching in the Woods near the boarder post . When I asked the security police . They said , "we give them some thing, some times , and hope they go away ! " I do not think any of this is " going away " When I attended a ' New Scientist ' conference in London , a few years ago. Sponsored by Microsoft. The presenters spoke of the 5 or 6 drivers in society , such as the economy , population , etc and the " difference in the ' have nots ' to ' the have's ' was presented as a future Driver. The ' have nots ' will come to 'the haves ' . When asked how to handle this 6 th Driver , the last of the major drivers of society , his reply , ( which he said ' I was hoping you would not ask for that one ' ) which I remember to this day . 'You have no choice ' YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM WHAT THEY ASK FOR ' * In the distant past , animals needed to be free to Roam across vast distances , and continents, to migrate and survive . Similarly , for the animals , the means to survive , food and shelter was Free . Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from History in here somewhere. Mike * It was asked at the conference " Why do we have no choice ? " the answer given " because , if you do not give them what they ask for , they, in the end , will just take it ! "

.Where can we run for cover ? I have a wife , four daughters, their associated male partners , their children , not to forget the Jack Russell dog . How do I get this lot on the road , and where can we go ? Mike --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Ps, I was in the financial recession , with my entourage ( family and lots of kids ) at around 1985/1992 ( ish )time . The Banks were being silly , the economy was slowing down drastically, . I asked a friendly Bank Manager ,( at the time, and there were not that many friendly ones around then ! ) I asked , being in business , " What is one supposed to do , in these circumstances? ". His reply was " Keep your head down ". That's when I went back to university to relearn electronics, which had changed ( over 30-40 years), from when I started in the 1960's with slide rule and valves and separate components. It Changed to home computers , integrated circuits , embedded software in the late 1990's /2000. I trained in my late 50's to become a teacher. All my friends said " what the he-- are you doing mike , you are trying to get into teaching ! ..why? we are all trying to get out!

Definition :- The anthropic principle (from Greek anthropos, meaning "human") is the philosophical consideration that observations of the universe must be compatible with the conscious and sapient life that observes it. Can you explain , quite what you mean ? Mike

There appear to have been Notable events throughout History . Are we going through one NOW ? One could rhyme off a number of Notable events, like :- The Big Bang , the recombination , the formation of Earth, the collision with earth by Theia , Life on Earth, the 65 million year ago asteroid strike , Mankind, some monumental occurrences In our history ( like World war 1 & 2 . ) We appear to be in ' something ' at this very moment ? Self Destruction. Mass Migration . What is it ? What is going on ? .

I bet you I can look through the human body and make an immediate discovery , which if applied would improve the U.k. National transport system . Just by using the analogy of the human body distribution and collection system . Now there is a wager! Mike

I think one can gain insight into new ideas if we can take the idea of going to see your friend who has just done some extension on his/ her house . And you are just embarking on an extension. Here the friends house is like a sort of analogy . You have no intention of living with them , and there are things you would never do . But that idea about the ,.......raised bedroom , now that could dork with us... So with a carefully chosen analogy we might make discoveries that we would not otherwise make . I think I can give an example of a discovery not yet put into practice . It is to do with the human body and the u.k. Road system . I had often wondered why they are always digging up the roads . Having just surfaced them , blow me a month later they dig it up and lay some fibre optic cables. Now the surface is all bumpy. Why ? Well because it's the only way .the roads are the common conduit system for the country . All services , or most . Follow the roads . The analogous system is the conduit system around the human body . Why do they go the way they do? Because they have to. Now the human body has been going a long time . So is there anything we can copy to make our road systems improved? I think there are a few discoveries waiting to happen there ! All from an analogy ! Mike

Yes I agree , but it shows a use of analogies . Now I need to go one better and use an analogy to devise NEW understanding of a concept . Mike Ps. Give me a moment as I need to deliver tree lopping cuttings to the community tip . ( that's not an analogy )

That last sentence , That's the sort of comment my mother would make ! Your comment about some examples . ( remembering , I am not just referring to High School ) but using an example from that time. I remember being taught about refraction of light through a Glass Block. Young or some one spoke of light having a ' wave Front' bit like the front row of a marching battalion of Scottish highland soldiers . The front row marched toward a swamp , under orders , but at an angle to the edge of the swamp , so the soldiers on the end of the row would enter the swamp first. We were told , imagine the whole column of soldiers , representing a light beam entering a glass block at an angle . As the soldiers entered the swamp , the end ones would be slowed , by dint of it being sludgy and difficult to march in. You can then imagine that as the first row followed by the next rows , row by row , would slew ( by being slower ) , such that the rows ( many now in the swamp) , were again marching in a straight line , but at an angle moved toward the 'normal ' ( a line at right angles to the edge of the swamp or glass block ) ...... And the opposite story at the other side of the swamp/ glass block , those out first can move faster outside the swamp, so the angle becomes greater. From this , the concept of light moving through a glass block ( towards the normal , on entering . Away from normal when leaving ) . Thus the Teacher said this concept demonstrated how light slowed in glass and thus was refracted. Later a Mathematical formulae was furnished . Giving the ...refractive index = i/r . I remember the story some 50 years later . Mike

So if I am looking for a target for the " Analogies " it must be the " Concepts " that are supported by experiment , and Math. So I need to find two practical experiments where (a) an Analogy WAS ................used to establish the Concept , with an experiment to support it and a formula to supply the Math Model (B) an Analogy COULD yet be used to establish the Concept , with an experiment to support it and a formula to supply the Math Model Mike

I am not a kill joy . It's just when I remember my school days . Physics was my favourite , and I was good at maths . But physics was all about the CONCEPTS , behind each new exciting revelation about the world . The experiments illustrated it . And the FORMULAE were there for doing calculations . So Physics was about Concepts which I would link across to these Analogies . With Formulae for calculations . Maths was really a maze of different Formulae and Proofs that would come in use full when required. I think there has been a tidying up over the many decades , which has given different structure to the whole thing . Renaming things like Models . Oh well , I see the concepts somehow integrated into ( models and Analogies ) and Science , which used to be all the Experiments and Fun has become maths dominated. Good luck to those entering , hope they do not get spooked by all the emphasis on maths . I am sure somewhere there are individuals who are totally fired by the Principles , Experiments , Concepts behind science , and will learn the maths to enable them to do the Formulae . My Analogies have a place in ...Principles , ..Experiments and ..Concepts . ... Maths can be found in Formulae . Mike In my day models , were aeroplanes you built in Balsa wood .

I know there is a lot of maths in much of science . There are some shapes , processes , activities , and a host of other entities which surely can not be described mathematically . Otherwise this forum , would just be a sea of lines of maths , a bit like a computer program . Surely the model can include these pictorial analogies that we have been talking of here . If not in a verbose language . But parts of the model are surely better described pictorially. Diagrammatically, descriptively , verbally . By an eloquent speech , such as presented by Nobel Prize winners , at a university lecture . You are surely not trying to tell me there is maths at the root of every discovery . What about the double helix for DNA . I would like to see that described with all its different cross links by formula. No I can't go with that , that's a dead end . You will limit discovery too much . If science heads blindly down that route , it will hit a dead end with a Bump! No wonder a lot of potential , budding school children scientist run away from Maths and Physics . It's like saying come and play in this playground , it's one solid block of grey concrete . No thanks they say , I will take up Art and Design , Geography , History , theatre, languages , Humanities . Etc Mike

Yes but it does already work in science . This is how science in university , competes all over the world . Those universities that hypothesise a good idea , may be successful and thrive and prosper , others don't happen to hit on any bright ideas and sink . Then like mutation , someone just accidentally gets hit on the head one night , and gets a bright idea . Other miss deadlines , and so the whole saga goes on . I think you would be hard pushed to say this does not follow some genetic algorithm flow . What possibly is not done at the moment is having a selection system that is run with ideas ( in analogy form ) on a genetic algorithm computer program. Selection is done using other criteria which may well not be engaged into the genetic algorithm method . Mike

Well a really bad working analogy would be one you mutate , by in principle turning it upside down , reversing its numerical identifier , or other such crazy , then by circulating it through the computation genetic algorithm , it will either DYE OFF or grow itself numerically over a number of generation , to become a new possible helpful solution to the problem . Then you are into a period of ... Those that are better analogies prosper in number , those that are mediocre analogies just tick along , and those that are naff die off numerically. There are clearly requirements for selection , and a few other criteria, but once you get the selection process sorted . You can sit back and watch it perform , growing into one of a small number of solutions ( one of which you mY have to choose out of the few . Mike Yes but you can code the analogies into a numerical equivalent ( maths ) and process on a computer that has its own numerical binary coding . Maths here just works like a number crunching tool . And a computer speeds the process up. I have done this exercise with students and bits of paper. Scissors and someone doing the sums on a calculator . It still works . A bit slow . The maths is just a tool .

Analogies plugged in to a genetic algorithm But the way genetic algorithms work with such matters is to award a multiple of solutions , depending on how near the solution or analogy helps the solution ( say 10 x analogy solution that is near to where you want to be , 3 x if only just recognisable as a useful analogy , and 0 x analogy if useless . Run the algorithm over and over and watch the analogy that works grow into a dominant solution and the useless analogy fade away to zero. Obviously the selective mechanism on analogies must be capable of discerning improvement to the prescribed requirements . ( and awarding multipliers to the favour solutions ) . It's quite an experience to see success grow out of nowhere . You also need to build in a bit of horrific mutation from time to time ( not too much ) just enough to explore new ventures . Mike Ps of course if you plug this in to car design , you go from the model T Ford to today super swish cars . Where the selective algorithm is mainly us the Consumer . Mutations are the crazy designs that never worked , yet occasionally a mutation is loved and we get a new strain of vehicle . If you observe this process , say in the natural rock environment , 400,000,000 years of tides in and out or rivers down and land masses up the solution is where I am sitting now 4:30 pm Thursday 10 th march 2015. This has gone into a stable solution for some 10,000 years , but will get mutated into a new direction when the techtonic plates next take a major collision. Mike

I think you might be just touching the edge of the issue I am bring to the fore. Others in life have found my approach to problem solving a little frustrating . This can be in life generally but also in engineering problems that I have been confronted with in the past. Some of these problems have been anything from ( life threatening ) to (simply does not work ) problems. My first reaction in a disaster , is not to run around like a headless chicken, but to sit down , and have a good think . In the presence of somebody in the disaster , this seems like negligence and lack of care. I usually want to go back to basics , like " is it actually switched on , how do you know , etc etc and work my way up to the problem , rather than dive headlong in. Or I might want to do a test after I have thought which goes to the seat of the problem . I think one could compose a SET OF ANALOGIES , like a set of Algorithms , which would test any potentially , unsure understanding of a matter , and the algorithm or set of analogies , would have no way of not homing in on the solution ( inc scientific and mathematical) . I have had some exposure to Genetic Algorithms and feel there is a good chance that this is a possible way forward for scientific research as well as an understanding of Nature. Because I suspect genetic algorithms are at play here also. Hence my interest in the functioning of Analogies as . With genetic algorithms , one does not have to be precisely on the mark when starting . The genetic algorithm will take you on towards the correct solution , which may be one of many solutions . Mike

If what you say is true ( which it might well be currently true ) . We are going to miss out on things that possibly do NOT have a mathematical derivative , or for that matter may not have a ' science as we know it '. Derivative . And by not using a different tool ( like one heavily packed with Analogies ) , we might be in danger of ' missing a trick ' , like driving a ship in dense Fog , past an island , that could do us some merit in an ensuing storm . Mike

. This was an experiment by such a man :- What happened to those times ? Where is the fun and excitement ? ? Oh ! Those Halcyon Days Mike

Why do I have this romantic notions , of yesteryear. Then bearded, grey haired men , and tightly combed women in lab coats , pouring over fumes , test tubes, electrical coils sparks , breaking ground in the sphere of experimentation . They , with no other driver , than finding things out . Driven by an inner feeling that they personally believed might allow them insight into some inner secret of nature. What happened to those times ? Where is the fun and excitement ? Mike

Does the model not include ' analogies ' , what quite do you mean , when you say model ? And I thought science , was an attempt , amongst other things , to understand nature . What have I been doing all these years , I thought I was getting somewhere near to understanding nature . Or are you going to tell me science is just procedures that work ? I think I had better go out and shoot myself ! Mike

Yes well, I agree , whole heartedly with what you say here . I have always felt that about the ' rubber sheet ' picture. That is why I am saying you need almost a pack of cards , style of analogies, one is insufficient ! But similarly a mathematical prediction , though true , may only be one small facet description of what is going on , countless other values may be required to give a complete picture. So with Analogies! Also similarly with physics explanations. A particular physics explanation may only cover one small aspect of what is actually in Total " what is going on ? " Ps. What I am not saying is that An individual Analogies can stand totally in their own right . As you say the analogy will break down . As it is not the real thing . But I would contend that an individual aspect of analogy , maths calculation , or physics theory . Will each be only a facet, an incomplete picture of Reality! Mike