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Live in Computer

Imagine a program that simulates all the connections between 100 billion neurons in your brain. Then the program is put in a Lego robot. Yes, now you have a robot equivalent. Sounds like BS? But the OpenWorm project recently announced that they did what I just told you, but only on a worm whose brain contains 302 neuron. They posted a video of the Lego worm. Notice that the worm robot, seemingly stopping and backing like a stupid robot that children play for fun, actually interacts with the environment, like the real one in water. In other words, the robot has the mind of a normal worm. The robot, unlike the artificial intelligence (AI), is created by nature but only cataloged and transferred to a robot.

Here is another video that shows the simulation of the worm in computer.

It was insane to say that human mind can be uploaded into a robot. Now, with the groundbreaking project of Lego worm, it only becomes ridiculous to say the same thing. But the speed of technology development is always an exponential curve. It took around 10 years for the OpenWorm project to succeed, but it is only the starting point. Just like the computer, whose development in the beginning was desperately slow and disappointing , comparing to today's computer. In short, the coming of Lego human will be much faster than we expect. Those sci-fi movies which look impossible may turn true before the end of this century.

Suppose everything of your brain is finally uploaded to a robot, and now you have Lego twin. He or she shares the same traits with you, not only the innate traits but also the acquired traits, because your Lego twin has the same genome and memory as you. This raises a ton of interesting philosophic questions. Can we say you reach digital immortality? Since it is the Lego you who is immortal but not you. Since the robot knows everything you know, including those secrets that you never want to share with anybody, what are you going to do with the Lego you. To deactivate the robot? The Lego you, as you, knows what you think, don't want to die for sure and will probably fight back, which you will realize too. Now, it becomes that you have to turn the Lego you off before he or she kills you.

No one knows what will happen when simulation of human brain becomes possible. Nonetheless, keep your eyes on the newly development of AI and computer science. An unprecedented storm is brewing.

Sleeping & Studying

You did not wanna sleep because you had a test tomorrow, but you never read your textbook or reviewed your note until you have to. Finally until 11:30 pm, only 100 pages were left, and you were tired and sleepy. Should you give up and sleep or keep reading? This question only stayed in your mind for few second before you dismissed it and guzzled another cup of coffee.

Sounds familiar? It happens to many students or people who were students. Today I am not here to appeal you to stop procrastination and live a happy life, since I actually don't know how to do it. Of course, it will be much better if you can plan your time properly. But when you decide to burn the candle at both ends, there is a better way to burn it.

According to an article from Harvard Medical School website, sleeping is important to memory. Sleep deprivation reduces your ability to study. This fact is known by many people. So let me tell you something you may not know.

If you are studying for a test, stop cramming to midnight. Here is a better way: study until 11 pm and sleep normally, then wake up early in the morning, depending on how many hours you need. The reason is that different types of memory are related to different stages of sleep. Formation of memory of basic fact knowledge happens in early stage, which is the stage that you need to consolidate what you study for a day.

Maybe next time you should go to bed earlier and get up earlier.

Nonetheless, this trick doesn't really work that well, according to my experience. Studying a little bit everyday is much better than cramming a huge chunk of information, which you can go to my last post for information about spacing study.

For more information and specific explanation, go for this video.

Spacing and Interleaving: counterintuitive way of study

Have you ever tried to cram 100 pages of textbook at the night right before history test? Or recite all those complicated Calculus formulas 3 hours before the quiz? I have. It just seems so reasonable to put all the work, spend few hours or a whole day, and finish it together. Doesn't it?

However, researches have showed that this is not how our brains work. Here are two of  those principles that researches find efficient for students to apply on subjects such as science, and art.


NO.1 Space your study time

If you have a test next week, you'd start to review right now and plan your study time evenly throughout the 7 days. Seemingly a clique, starting early is based on the findings demonstrated by years of research. When spending same amount of time, you wait longer between two sessions of studying. According to Williams College psychologist Nate Kornell, PhD, his research paper proposes that spacing is much more efficient than cramming. The more time you space between two period of study, the more you forget, and therefore the more reinforcement of your memory when you review again, though a really long break will be negative to memory.


NO.2 Interleave your subjects

It is common sense that students focus on one subject at a time, which seems to be more organized and concentrated. However, Robert Bjork, PhD, a psychologist in UCLA, thinks differently. His research paper which discusses the effect of interleaving points out that interleaving, by pushing students to distinguish the differences and similarities between two or more subjects, improves memory significantly.

In general, both spacing and interleaving enhance the long-term memory of students. For more information, check out the article from American Psychological Association that introduce even more surprising and useful principle for study.

One name, different minds

I once saw an intriguing statement that your body atoms change completely every 5 years. I was interested in it and googled for more specific information. It turned out that in just 16 days, around 72% of our body will be replaced, since 72% of our body by weight is liquid water -- H2O. Almost all of the water is renewed every 16 days. Other atoms of different organs take various time. Go here for more interesting fact about atom exchange in your body.

This data, seemingly based on urban legend, was pointed out in a landmark paper and led to a stunning conclusion that every atom in your body will be replaced every year. It evokes a philosophic question that If every atom in our body is replaced each year, who are we if we are not our atoms and we are not our cells?

It is common to argue that as long as your mind, or your soul remains the be you, it doesn't matter that your body is renewed, especially when everything functions the same as it did. However, the presupposition of this assertion is the constant of your mind. It is possible that your worldview and morality remain the same, but things in your brains like information, logic, way of thinking, emotion would have undergone radical transformation every year.

This is especially true for students in middle school who are growing rapidly in terms of knowledge, emotion,  even morality and worldview. It is not exaggerating that they become different people in a year in the most blooming time.

I can not really understand my thoughts and feelings few years ago. Not only because I have a different point of view, but also I don't particularly remember the old days. If I could talk to younger me, we would probably quarrel with each other. I do things that he would find it immoral, while I think he was stupid.

It is true that what I did in the past had a huge influence on me today. My past experience would somehow effect my current thoughts, and my old belief led to decision that formed my life today. Nonetheless, I believe that we are correlated but different. This is how I feel every time I recall my past. It feels like my life is composed of different but kind of similar people who share the same name.

If so, it is important to keep diary, in order to compare different me in different time so that I can know how I become who I am now.

A funny thing for this: sometimes it feels like I have only lived for a year, since my past was lived out by another me who just left a piece of vague memory in my mind.

Why do I hope my friend fail when I fail

When my friend gets an F on a test, I feel bad for him; when my friend gets first place, I feel even worse. This is what Rancho learns from his human behavior class after a test in the movie 3 Idiots, one of my favorite films. What Rancho learns is almost true for me. Sometimes, when I get a bad score on a test, I cannot control to wish that my classmates will get a bad score too. So why does this thought happen to me or even most people.

To explain it, there are three premises we need to know first: 

1. Most people has the motivation to compare themselves to others, in order to gain accurate self-evaluation. (Social comparison theory)
2. Most people has the need to maintain self-esteem by working to perceive themselves positively. (Self-enhancement)
3. People are inclined to use information to arrive at casual explanations for events. (Attribution theory)

When I get an F on a test in calculus class, I will first find out how my friends do on the same test because I want to know if I suck at calculus or the test is too difficult. (Self-evaluation) Because I have already failed my test, the motive to feel good about myself is even stronger. (Self-enhancement) Therefore it is inevitable that I hope everybody gets a bad score on the test, so that I can conclude that the test is too difficult for us and it is not my fault. (Attribution)

On the other hand, if my friend comes to show me that he or she gets an A on the test, my mind will automatically realizes that I get an F because I SUCK. This feeling is terrible, because the need to feel good about myself is not fulfilled. At this point, I will probably be overwhelmed by various negative emotions, such as depression and jealousy. At this point, I will automatically hope that my friend will fail his or her test in another class.

According to Leon Festinger, people will compare with others who are similar to one’s opinions and abilities, because it ensures the accuracy of evaluation. Festiger uses a chess novice who won’t compare himself or herself to a chess master as an example. That’s why sometimes instead of being jealous, I find it admirable that my friend gets the first place in a pencil drawing competition, because I know nothing about drawing.

This is just a simple explanation for what confuses me. Thank you for reading.

Pride

In 1984, Thatcher government decided to shut down 20 coal mines with the loss of over 20000 jobs. Strike led by the National Union of Mine began following the revelation. Pride is a movie about the story between two special groups of people, homosexuals and miners during the longest miner strike happened in UK. Homosexuals at that time faced pressure and bias from the society and government, though in 1984 government shifted their focus on miners due to the strike. Mark is a gay who came out an idea to create an organization named LGSM to help miners. At first the team only contained no more than 10 people. They called the national union which ignored them, so they decided to bypass the union by helping a mining town in Wales picked randomly. The first contact was embarrassing. People in town are prejudiced against homosexuals, and some refused their donation. However, as LGSM gradually brought some change to the town, the bias against them started to fade away. They made a huge change to the life of people in town, though they faced many problems.

I am a little bit amazed by Mark who led the team to do many things seemingly small but hard to achieve by a normal man. I saw how people gave an inspiring speech in front of people who were once alert and defensive without preparation. I realize the importance of cheering any people in any situation at any time by giving an amazing speech.

The process to ask for donation was also a hardship because of their special identity as homosexual. People called them perverts and even threatened them. There are two scenes in the movie so awesome that I hope I can do it one day. The first one happened in the town when people and members of the organization were eating and celebrating. Suddenly, Mark who looked thoughtful stood up and burst out his feeling and promise for the miners. 

Another scene happened in the gay bar where a miner gave a speech to express his gratitude to homosexuals in the bar. People were vigilant against the miner due to the social prejudice against homosexuals. However, the miner gave a normal speech that was humorous and sincere, which mitigate the tension between them. These impromptu speeches were affecting, therefore I want to learn to give a normal but great speech.

Despite of people’s disgust against them, they raised a lot of many money by standing in front of their gay book store yelling “Gay and Lesbian support the miners”, holding a concert to raise money, and sticking their special post everywhere to let everybody know about them.

I dreamed of becoming wealthy and famous in the future, because everybody wanted to do it. I worked so hard on Math, because everybody spent a lot of time on it. I chose my future university according to the ranking of US News, because everybody believes in it. I am proud of what I did, but nothing belongs to me. My sense of superiority simply derives from being part of the majority.

That’s why I have always been embarrassed of doing or being something different from people around me. But in the movie Pride, even those who face most bias from the world are brave enough to stand up for themselves and change the world. The meaning of pride is to be proud of being yourself, because both your “flaws” and “virtues” are unique. I am still trying to understand the meaning of being proud…