Monthly Archives: March 2016

March 27, 2016 · 9:24 pm

Science Fiction

The Martian Chronicles

This week I decided to read something a bit different, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, which is a series of stories describing humans colonization of Mars. Science fiction allows an author to make a commentary on humanity, or actions that humanity has taken in the past, and comment on them, in a way that allows them to be discussed without necessarily bringing up the reader’s prior associations with the event. By taking the context and freeing it from having anything to do with reality, such as moving it to an alien world, we can more objectively look at our actions and consider and judge them without our prior thoughts and biases influencing our perceptions.

Early on in the book an expedition from Earth arrives on Mars and encounters its inhabitants, but they don’t quite get the welcome that they are expecting. After being passed around from person to person the following encounter takes place:

Mr. Iii answered his door. He was on his way to a lecture, but he had a minute, if they would hurry inside and tell him what they desired. . . .
“A little attention,” said the captain, red-eyed and tired. “We’re from Earth, we have a rocket, there are four of us, crew and captain, we’re exhausted, we’re hungry, we’d like a place to sleep. We’d like someone to give us the key to the city or something like that, and we’d like somebody to shake our hands and say ‘Hooray’ and say ‘Congratulations, old man!’ That about sums it up.”

As we’re just now seriously considering the possibility of a manned mission to Mars, an event unprecedented, since the Moon landing, it would be probably the greatest accomplishment in human history to date. It’s funny but also kind of sad that they end up among a group that care nothing for their achievement, as they’re expecting them to have the same values and level of appreciation, when they know nothing about them.

Later after the initial pioneers have proved it’s possible to travel to Mars, echoing the European colonization of the Americas, the common people quickly follow suit and work to change things to feel more like home, as Bradbury says:

The rockets came like locusts, swarming and settling in blooms of rosy smoke. And from the rockets ran men with hammers in their hands to beat the strange world into a shape that was familiar to the eye, to bludgeon away all the strangeness, their mouths fringed with nails so they resembled steel-toothed carnivores, spitting them into their swift hands as they hammered up frame cottages and scuttled over roofs with shingles to blot out the eerie stars, and fit green shades to pull against the night.

Even as far from home as being on another planet, it is still typical of us to want to change things to suit our tastes, not being content just to survive, but to need bring along all of the comforts of home as well.

The Left Hand of Darkness

I was reminded of another science fiction book I’d read recently, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin in which a single human emissary visits a planet on which the inhabitants are androgynous until it is time to mate, when they take on a particular gender. The book opens with a brief introduction from Le Guin in which she explains that much science fiction is a thought experiment, in which the possibilities of a particular scenario are explored.

In the introduction, Le Guin explains the role of fiction writers in explain truths about humanity and human nature through the use of, what are essentially, lies, saying:

“The truth against the world!”—Yes. Certainly. Fiction writers, at least in their braver moments, do desire the truth: to know it, speak it, serve it. But they go about it in a peculiar and devious way, which consists in inventing persons, places, and events which never did and never will exist or occur, and telling about these fictions in detail and at length and with a great deal of emotion, and then when they are done writing down this pack of lies, they say, There! That’s the truth!

By imagining a planet of androgynous beings, Le Guin can explore the possibilities of gender equality without the restrictions of an Earth-like environment. The book’s human narrator explains the problem in trying to deal with a race without a definite gender, when gender is a fundamental aspect of our thought processes, saying:

When you meet a Gethenian you cannot and must not do what a bisexual naturally does, which is to cast him in the role of Man or Woman, while adopting towards him a corresponding role dependent on your expectations of the patterned or possible interactions between persons of the same or the opposite sex. Our entire pattern of socio-sexual interaction is nonexistent here. They cannot play the game. They do not see one another as men or women. This is almost impossible for our imagination to accept. What is the first question we ask about a newborn baby?

By combing both male and female traits into a single being, Le Guin creates a world in which many of the problems caused by differences in gender have been eliminated, but is still far from perfect, illustrating that some problems are caused by our fundamental nature. Without gender in some ways communication becomes easier for them, as they have the same basis upon which they perceive the world, but makes it quite difficult for the narrator, who has to figure out how to deal with the blended communication styles.

With the freedom to imagine impossible scenarios science fiction writers can make points that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to do in the context of dealing with only humans on the planet Earth. An intriguing context could also draw in readers and expose them to a message that might not receive elsewhere by wrapping a message in a story in which things can be taken to extremes to more fully explore a point.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Reading

Tagged as , ,

March 20, 2016 · 9:52 pm

Frugality

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

I’d been meaning to read a proper biography of Benjamin Franklin, having previously read his famous autobiography, and now finally have. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson gives a full account of his life and his numerous contributions not just to the creation and founding of the United States, but to humanity in general through his many inventions and scientific discoveries. Besides these great contributions Franklin is also remembered for his list of twelve virtues which he famously practiced in an effort at self-improvement, one of which he also frequently encouraged others to practice is frugality as a means of not just becoming wealthy, but to better aid mankind.

In addition to frugality Franklin also commonly espoused the virtue of industry, for together they allow one to secure a sufficient living to support oneself and not be indebted to others. For by remaining debt-free one can live for oneself and not be subject to the whims of others when payment comes due.

Perhaps the largest platform Franklin used to attempt to spread these virtues was in his Poor Richard’s Almanac in which they were a major theme, as Isaacson points out:

Frugality became for him not only a virtue but also a pleasure. “Industry and frugality,” he wrote in describing the theme of Poor Richard’s almanacs, are “the means of procuring wealth and thereby securing virtue.”

Franklin did not just practice virtues for his own personal improvement, but also tried to help encourage others to improve themselves and become part of the growing middle class at the time. Even as a child Franklin was already practicing the virtue of frugality, as Isaacson explains:

As a young apprentice, Franklin had read a book extolling vegetarianism. He embraced the diet, but not just for moral and health reasons. His main motive was financial: it enabled him to take the money his brother alloted him for food and save half for books. While his coworkers went off for hearty meals, Franklin ate biscuits and raisins and used the time for study, “in which I made the greater progress from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.”

Frugality does not mean that one must completely deny oneself of all luxuries, or even of seemingly essential necessities, like food, as Franklin did, but merely taking time to consider the value to be gained by spending money today, versus the value it could have if saved for the future. Through his industry and practice of frugality Franklin was able to retire at the age of 42 and could then spend his time studying and inventing and generally working towards more than just earning enough to survive.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin he describes how when he was first starting out in business he practiced the virtues of industry and frugality to build not only his business, but himself as well. Having helped to fund a subscription library in Philadelphia, Franklin took advantage of it to read and study in his free time instead of going out and spending money on less educational pursuits. Franklin describes his practice of the virtues and gives them as some of the reason of his success saying:

This library afforded me the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set apart an hour or two each day, and thus repair’d in some degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended for me. Reading was the only amusement I allow’d myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business continu’d as indefatigable as it was necessary. I was indebted for my printing-house; I had a young family coming on to be educated, and I had to contend with for business two printers, who were established in the place before me. My circumstances, however, grew daily easier. My original habits of frugality continuing, and my father having, among his instructions to me when a boy, frequently repeated a proverb of Solomon, “Seest thou a man diligent in his calling, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men,” I from thence considered industry as a means of obtaining wealth and distinction, which encourag’d me, tho’ I did not think that I should ever literally stand before kings, which, however, has since happened; for I have stood before five, and even had the honor of sitting down with one, the King of Denmark, to dinner.

Once Franklin became successful he allowed himself more luxuries, but still spread a message of frugality and industry to others as a means of securing their own wealth to enable them to more easily practice virtue, as he says in his autobiography:

In 1732 I first publish’d my Almanack, under the name of Richard Saunders; it was continu’d by me about twenty-five years, commonly call’d Poor Richard’s Almanac. I endeavour’d to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reap’d considerable profit from it, vending annually near ten thousand. And observing that it was generally read, scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it, I consider’d it as a proper vehicle for conveying instruction among the common people, who bought scarcely any other books; I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr’d between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth, and thereby securing virtue; it being more difficult for a man in want, to act always honestly, as, to use here one of those proverbs, it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.

By practicing both the virtues of industry and frugality, one can over time accumulate enough wealth to live comfortably. Industry being important for earning a sufficient income to have enough money to allow for some of it to be saved. And frugality being important to resist the temptation to spend all of the money that one earns through their industry immediately. While both virtues can be beneficial to have on their own, the combination of the two allows for a freer and less stressful life when one does not have to constantly worry about having enough money to cover current expenses.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Life

Tagged as , ,

March 13, 2016 · 9:55 pm

Privacy

Data and Goliath

Having just read Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World by Bruce Schneier it seemed like a good time to write about a topic I’ve been meaning to discuss for a while, privacy. In the wake of the revelations revealed in the documents leaked by Edward Snowden we now know a great deal about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been monitoring practically all global communications in the wake of the September 11th attacks. In addition to mass government surveillance, there is another source of mass data collection that is not discussed quite as much, but is also a major topic in the book and that is corporate surveillance, both through the data we voluntarily give to corporations in our everyday dealings with them, and data that they trade amongst themselves to attempt to build a complete picture of us. Schneier illustrates the problem with this type of information sharing, saying:

News stories about mass surveillance are generally framed in terms of data collection, but miss the story about data correlation: the linking of identities across different data sets to draw inferences from the combined data. … It’s also the ability to correlate that identification with numerous other databases, and the ability to store all that data indefinitely. Ubiquitous surveillance is the result of multiple streams of mass surveillance tied together.

There are companies whose sole purpose is to gather data from all of the disparate sources where it is collected, and compile it together in an attempt to build a profile of us. They then take this profile, group it together with similar profiles and sell the data to other companies who are looking to target particular groups of people. This all goes on without our knowledge and perhaps even indirectly with our consent, as we typically agree to it in those privacy policies that nobody reads.

Most websites on the Internet provide their services, seemingly, for free, although there is the implicit agreement that you will view advertisements on the site in exchange for the service it is providing. The companies that provide the ads have a great interest in knowing as much about you as they can, as that knowledge allows them to better target ads for you and make their money. As the saying goes, “If you’re not paying, you’re the product.” Often we’ll agree to this bargain without giving it a second thought and without considering what personal data we might be giving up in exchange for the service.

We frequently give out our personal information,with the assumption that it will only be used by those we are giving it to, without considering any potential privacy impacts. For the most part, we don’t actively recognize when we even have privacy, and therefore, do not value it properly, as Schneier explains:

The costs of insecurity are real and visceral, even in the abstract; the costs of privacy loss are nebulous in the abstract, and only become tangible when someone is faced with their aftereffects. This is why we undervalue privacy when we have it, and only recognize its true value when we don’t. This is also why we often hear that no one wants to pay for privacy and that therefore security trumps privacy absolutely.

Dragnet Nation

It is only through the loss of our privacy that we really notice that we had any privacy in the first place. I was reminded of a similar idea expressed by Julia Angwin in her book Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance where she says:

In essence, when you don’t have privacy, you feel less pain from losing it. Instead, you feel the pain of having to “buy back” privacy. This inability to accurately assign value to our data is one reason that most products that are sold to protect privacy fail. And it’s one reason that turning personal data into a currency–without any enabling legislation to make personal data scarce, and thus more valuable–could just enable and legitimize ubiquitous surveillance.

There are very few protections on what companies can do with our data, with the exceptions of health and financial data, they are pretty much free to do whatever they want with it, governed only by their own privacy policies.

One of the things I found most striking in Angwin’s book was her look at the beginnings of modern mass surveillance, she said:

In my quest to understand the history and origins of mass surveillance, I kept returning to the year 2001. Not only was it the year of the devastating terrorist attacks on the United States, but it was also the year that the technology industry was left reeling from the bursting of the dot-com bubble. These two seemingly unrelated events each set in motion a chain of events that created the legal and technical underpinnings of today’s dragnets. For the U.S. government, the terrorist attacks showed that its traditional methods of intelligence gathering weren’t working. And for Silicon Valley, the crash showed that it needed to find a new way to make money. Both arrived at the same answer to their disparate problems: collecting and analyzing vast quantities of personal data.

It’s not entirely coincidental that both government and corporate surveillance really took off at the same time, as they’ve developed a symbiotic relationship in which government collects data about us, which it sells to businesses, which then combine it with other data they accumulate about us, which they then sell back to the government.

Once we are aware of the shear amount of attempts to track us and collect our data going on, there are some steps we can take to work to reduce the amount of data being collected about us. Perhaps one of the easiest things we can do is change the search engine we use to one that does not track its users, such as DuckDuckGo. We tell a search engine more about us than we likely tell anyone, all of which could potentially be saved, possibly forever. By carefully selecting the companies whose services we use, and choosing those that place a clear value on protecting user privacy, we can try to ensure that at least some of our personal data remains private.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Privacy

Tagged as , ,

March 6, 2016 · 10:02 pm

Time

A Brief History of Time

This week I decided to re-read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time in which he describes the origins of the universe and the history of our attempts to understand the laws that govern it through science. In the book Hawking literally starts at the beginning, with the question of when time began, and if it existed before the beginning of the universe. He starts off by looking at some philosopher’s thoughts on the beginning of time, before going into an explanation of our current scientific understanding, say:

The questions of whether the universe had a beginning in time and whether it is limited in space were later extensively examined by the philosopher Immanuel Kant in his monumental (and very obscure) work Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781. He called these questions antinomies (that is, contradictions) of pure reason because he felt that there were equally compelling arguments for believing the thesis, that the universe had a beginning, and the antithesis, that it had existed forever. His argument for the thesis was that if the universe did not have a beginning, there would be an infinite period of time before any event, which he considered absurd. The argument for the antithesis was that if the universe had a beginning, there would be an infinite period of time before it, so why should the universe begin at any one particular time? In fact, his cases for both the thesis and the antithesis are really the same argument. They are both based on his unspoken assumption that time continues back forever, whether or not the universe had existed forever. As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed out by St. Augustine. When asked: “What did God do before he created the universe?” Augustine didn’t reply: “He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions.” Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.

Even if there was something that existed before the beginning of our current universe, as Hawking explains, any information about it would have been lost when our universe began. Just attempting to ponder what could have possibly existed before the beginning of the universe is enough to make one’s head hurt.

After giving a summary of our major scientific theories and discoveries, Hawking eventually gets to Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. One of the major aspects of the theory is that time is not absolute. Each person, or observer, depending on their speed and location can experience the passage of time differently, in relation of another observer’s perception of it. As Hawking explains it:

An equally remarkable consequence of relativity is the way it has revolutionized our ideas of space and time. In Newton’s theory, if a pulse of light is sent from one place to another, different observers would agree on the time that the journey took (since time is absolute), but will not always agree on how far the light traveled (since space is not absolute). Since the speed of light is just the distance it has traveled divided by the time it has taken, different observers would measure different speeds for the light. In relativity, on the other hand, all observers must agree on how fast light travels. They still, however, do not agree on the distance the light has traveled, so they must therefore now also disagree over the time it has taken. (The time taken is the distance the light has traveled–which the observers do not agree on–divided by the light’s speed–which they do agree on.) In other words, the theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time! It appeared that each observer must have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.

For example, for someone traveling at near the speed of light, they might experience the passage of a few years, only to return to earth and find that a few thousand years have passed there. Relativity also plays a very important role in the functioning of GPS satellites, where differences between the time on the satellite and that on the surface must be accounted for in order to accurately determine one’s location.

Although Hawking is talking about the actual passage of time, I was reminded of what Joshua Foer had to say in Moonwalking with Einstein in regards to our perception of the passage of time. We can find ourselves looking back at the past and wondering where the time went. As Foer explains, if we are not often having memorable moments, then our memories of our recent past will tend to blur together, leaving us with little to recall, and wondering what we did with our time, he says:

Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next–and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.

Our brains tend to ignore and discard common occurrences, which is why we might get to work and realize that we don’t remember anything from the drive there. By frequently having new and novel experiences or adventures, we create more opportunities for memories to form and stick, thereby lengthening our perception of time when we later recall our lives, even though time might have felt like it sped up during the experience. The opposite of course also holds, during a boring or routine experience, our perception of time in the moment may make it feel like it goes on forever, then later we will likely find that we can hardly recall anything about it. This phenomenon is known as psychological time, which Foer explains with a quote from the pioneering psychologist William James:

William James first wrote about the curious warping and foreshortening of psychological time in his Principles of Psychology in 1890: “In youth we may have an absolutely new experience, subjective or objective, every hour of the day. Apprehension is vivid, retentiveness strong, and our recollections of that time, like those of a time spent in rapid and interesting travel, are of something intricate, multitudinous and long-drawn-out,” he wrote. “But as each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic routine which we hardly note at all, the days and weeks smooth themselves out in recollection to contentless units, and the years grow hollow and collapse.” Life seems to speed up as we get older because life gets less memorable as we get older.

By attempting to live a varied and interesting life although it may feel like it goes quickly at the time, we will be able to look back and recall many of the interesting experiences we have had and hopefully feel like we have lived a full life. Whereas if we fall into a routine and experience little variety we may feel like our life is long as we live it, but then later find ourselves looking back at our life and wondering where the time went, as we have little to show for it. The passage of time is relative, we therefore have a choice as to how we would like to experience it, and the way in which we live our life is how we go about making that choice.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Life

Tagged as , ,