Behind the 42

Behind the 42 - 1

What if:
- all observations are correct
- all interpretations of these observations are correct
- all interpretations of these observations are biased

Hmm....

The yy

Why this series of posts?

At several periods in my life I experienced a strong feeling of restlessness, hungry for the unknown, the need for having a feeling of understanding, connecting the dots.
As being on the edge of an important change or insight.
Sometimes I describe myself as knowledge wolf and in these periods this aspect is extremely strong. The past few months where of this kind, and this period is not yet finished.

Thinking about the foundations of Gaia (the she artificial intelligence described in another series of post), thinking about the implications of artificial general intelligence and starting to build her certainly played a role in the start of the current process.

Image credit: http://goo.gl/1ciN43

Why this title?

Most (or at least some) of you will have assumed that it refers to Douglas Adam's "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything". And those who did are right.
When cogitating about a title of what I was going to write about, several options came across my mind. But as the final outcome was not clear, I choose the road that has some resonance in some of you.
And if it doesn't, I recommend to catch up.

The yy remembers me of:
YYUR
YYUB
ICUR
YY4Me

(if you don't know the answer just copy those four lines in the Google search box and you'll find it).

Context

I'll provide a few random questions to give you a feeling about what kind of things bother me in these restless periods. The order is random.

1
Why did the (proto) humans migrated to a hostile environment (ice age conditions)?
2
If some people experience para-normal things (telepathy, telekinesis, levitation, ...) why other's don't? Why is this more frequent in some cultures and less in others? Why is this more frequent at the adolescent age?
3
What is the real effect of earth magnetic field inversion? On shielding radiation, on animals using the magnetic field, on us?
4
We all agree that we all disagree on a practical definition of cognition. But why can't we agree? And what about the term knowledge?
5
Some past advanced civilizations didn't have a known writing system. Was oral transmission the only other way to transmit experience.
6
Why particular structures like pyramids and stone rings occur in various places on Earth at periods where communications (travel) between these areas seem improbable?
Why and how the enormous blocs of those structures where moved.
7
Why do we have gut feelings?
8
Why do we only use some 10% of our brain?
9
Under what conditions traveling faster then light is possible?
10
Why was there no social, theological and technical evolution in Europe in the Dark Middle Ages?
11
What does the Google "AI" make of my browsing and search history on all these topics?
12
What triggers in me the occurrences of these hungry periods?
13
Why don't we learn from the past as much as we could? On purpose I omit the topics here. Think about them in short-, mid- and longterm past.
14
Why in the past important inventions occurred apparently at the same time?
15
Do black holes exist or not?
Z
Why do we fail to come up with coherent answers to these questions? Or at least with answers that resonate positively? Why do some answer resonate positively and others don't?



How many questions there are between 15 and Z?

Endless.

Let me explain why. Many things I read, hear and see bring up new questions. Sometimes it is the facts, sometimes it is the explanation.

What to expect next

My next task is to synthesize all my notes, formulate the not yet expressed and make it into a consumable and digestible picture (and writing).

I'll try to maintain Einstein's

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

but don't nail me if I fail at some points. I don't like being nailed physically. Intellectually is fine, I see it as a challenge and/or a lesson in humility.

I don't pretend to have the answers to all of those questions (and the others).
But I will try to set up a framework (a way of thinking) having the potential to find them.



Keep tuned.


Ronald Poell
2014-08-08