White Noise

Glass

I have been learning Lampworking (GlassBlowing) for about 9 months (6 months full time)

I spend most of my time making tons of the same thing over and over.. Such as this


Some times I get to play with color



For the holidays I got to stretch my legs a bit and make some gifts for the fam. These are my 3rd and 4th attemps.



Here we see my 1st and 2nd attempt in vases I made to hold them.

Excerpt

From: Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson

------

In 1977, Dr. IlyPrigogine won the nobel prize in physica chemistry.

Perhaps he should have wond a Nobel prize for intelligent optimism.

Dr. Prigogine's work deals with the processes we have been discussing -- the emergence of negative entropy (coherent order out of tochastic process --but he has taken a giant leap beyond the pioneering insights of Schrodinger, Weiner, Shannon and Bateson.

Any organized system, according to Prigogine, exists in dynamic tension between entropy and negentropy, between chaos and information. Th more complex the system, the greater is its instability. Prigogine demonstrated this mathematically, but in everyday terms, what he means is that, for instance, it is easier to lead two children through a department store than twenty children. Or: A toothpick "house" of 101 pieces is less stable than a smaller toothpick "house" of 1o pieces.

Instability is not always bad: in fact, it is absolutely necessary for evolution to occur. Insect societies are highly stable and have not evolved at all in several million years. Human societies are highly unstable and are in continuous evolution.

Prigogine demonstrates the evolutionary value of instability by his concept of the "dissipative structure."

A dissipative structure is highly complex and therefore highly unstable. The more complex it is, the more unstable it is, mathematically, certainly; and the more unstable, the more likely it is to change -- to evolve.

All dissipative structures are teetering, perpetually, between self-destruction and re-organization on a higher level of information on a higher level of information (coherency).

If that sounds grim, it isn't really. Prigogine's math is highly optimistic, He shows that the more complex structures -- such as our world-round human society today, midway between Second Wave indust-reality and the emerging Third Wave -- are mathematically more likely, much more likely, to "dissipate" into higher coherence than into self-destruction.

In other words, in the intellectual conflict between Utopians and Dystopians, the mathematical odds actually are on the side of Utopians. Our human world is so information-rich (coherent) that it is almost certain to "collapse" into even higher coherence, not into chaos and self-destruction.

Prigogine is the mathematical demonstration of McLuhan's intuition that many seeming symptoms of breakdown are actually harbingers of breakthrough.

A note to confirmed pessimists: Prigogine's analysis is based on portability-theory and, hence, is not certain. Thus, if you have found these lyrical pages unduly alarming, take comfort in the thought that, although human success is highly probable, there is still a small chance that we can blow ourselves up or that your favorite apocalyptic scenarios might still occur, despite the general trend toward higher coherence and higher intelligence.

Meanwhile, of Course, even if humanity seems condemned to overall success, you can still mess up your personal life. Nothing is this book is an attempt to prevent the really resolute misery-addicts from continuing their pursuit of frustration and failure.

Fractal Wrongness

Science and Religion

Killer web comic if you like nerds and stick figures

http://xkcd.com/

Prometheus

They retreat into this dark place more often than I care to admit. I would like to go in after them walk them back out but it's impossible. They are buried in a maze of their own creation and they burn the map. It's all a farce really. They make it a maze and burn the map so they can point to the fact that no one came in to get them and they use that as an excuse for why they are in there in the first place. Silly silly. They are the only ones who can get them selves in. They are the only one who can get them selves out. The best I can do is wait patiently by the exit. Every once in a while I call in to the void.

"You done in there yet? You should see what's going on out here. It seem cold in there. Come warm your self by the fire. I've got some good stuff cooking."

The fire burns bright where I'm at, but I have not gotten to a point where I know how to pull and stick from the fire and fashion a torch. I'm working on it though. May be some day soon I'll be able to shine a little light into their dark place. Still, it would be better for everyone if they just came out of there on their own.

Run From the Cure

I thought It would be good to issue the following reminder...

If there is a cure for cancer out there... that cure would pose a significant threat to the profit margins of the health care industry. The cost to cure cancer is far far far lower than the cost to treat cancer. No more repeat business... no more giant machines... no more expensive drugs... that is what it would mean if cancer were cured.

That being said...


www.phoenixtears.ca

3 Wise Women

I wonder what women think when they see scenes such as the one found in O Brother Where Art Thou, the one with the sirens... A remake of Homer's Odyssey.

For those of you not familiar with this... 3 women sing an enchanted tune and the travelers find them selves lulled into false sense of security. Comfortable, they forget their mission and laze about contented with the company of dames.

What do women think when they see other women playing to men's weakness'?

Are they thinking "I would never do something like that"?

Do they think "I remember the time I did that to a guy"?

Or "My man would never be that weak"?

Possibly "Why is that man so weak"?

What is the parallel parable for this other gender. What is a woman's weakness? What makes her put her goals aside and dance about in haze of deluded contented illusion?

I am horrified at the fact that the first things that spring to my mind are handbags and shoes.

I was reminded by friends and family that a woman's weakness is often their need for security or approval....

Ahhh. Of course. It makes perfect sense. On the one hand we have the man, lured in for eternity with the promise of one night. On the other hand, our woman is lured in for the night with the promise of an eternity. Very poetic.