Standing in Judgement

Quick quiz :: When you judge someone, there is an associated feeling.

Does this feeling get aroused every time you observe a wrong act? Does this feeling sometimes get aroused by an act which you do not think is wrong?

Cheers,
-MP

Can you see what I see?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10239783/

This fascinating article calls into serious question an old first-year problem -- "How do you know that things look the same to other people?" How do we know, for example, that red looks (subjectively speaking) the same to other people?

Perhaps you and I percieve colour differently, and when I point to something with a "red" wavelength, and say the word "red", I'm actually experiencing the same thing as when you see yellow. Of course, due to a lifetime of conditioning and learning, we both have learnt to respond in exactly the same way -- but we still have different experiences.

These images of people's retinas suggests there may be more to this conundrum than first thought.

Cheers,
-MP

I Can Save Telstra

In light of the continuing decline of Telstra share prices, and most likely their business, I would like to stand up and offer my services as CEO. I believe I could turn around the current decline and work within existing laws.

I would stand on a platform of open governance, working with small providers as an infrastructure provider to ensure access to high-speed internet services, new telephony technologies and rural access going forward into the future. Costs will be cut by (sadly) dropping some staff, and re-concentrating efforts towards infrastructure investment, new technology adoption and a streamlining of existing services.

Retail and wholesale divisions would be split in terms of accounting, with the retail divisions of Telstra competing on the same basis as external organisations. Business components should succeed on their own merits, otherwise it is (by definition) not worth having them. Obviously, access to company funds in order to meet this challenge would be made available, but clear accounting and Key Performance Indicators would be publically tracked.

In order to fully support bush services, I would place a bush support surcharge on all wholesale products offered, which would go directly to a new business unit whose sole responsibility would be planning and deployment in this area. This already occurs with Optus and telephony, but the charge would be extended to every use of Telstra baseline products.

To achieve economy, telephony would be migrated to VOIP, and in the longer term be merged with mobile services. A ubiquitous telephony infrastructure would allow Telstra best advantage from their technical expertise, as well as provide a truly reliable and decentralised exchange mechanism. This is in keeping with global developments and should allow much greater efficiency.

There is not the space in this small post to outline the detail of my broader platform. However, I believe I have the expertise to understand the industry, the tenacity to succeed where others have failed, and the intelligence to avoid disaster. Never before has a national icon been so in need of my assistance, and I offer it gladly. I would accept a salary on $150,000 per year plus a company car. This in itself would offer significant savings to the organisation, especially if this attitude were to permeate upper management. I simply have no need for any more.

Cheers,
-MP

Ubiquitous computing coming to an Xbox near you

In my other life, I'm a Big Geek. I was reading slashdot , and I came across this story about Microsoft selling the Xbox behind profit.

The journo covering the story decided that the motivation could only be making a profit on games.

Myself, I think the motivation is more clever and more long-term than this. The Xbox is, oh so nearly, a fantastic media center for the home. With appropriate gadgetry, this device could replace the home PC for those interested primarily in email, web surfing, music and DVDs. We're almost at the point that I wanted to be at 10 years ago.

Forget the games. The Xbox gets Microsoft into the home via the children, but wins over the household when they discover they can replace their DVD player, they can buy all their hokey favourites using iTunes and pipe them straight through that lovely 5.1 system which is being frankly wasted by having to shuffle through the music collection one meagre CD at a time.

Microsoft are starting the media revolution, and they've got several years head-start on Linux or other commercial vendors when it comes to offering a unit which parents and children alike will eventually learn to love. Watch it folks, the PC has left the study...

Cheers,
-MP

Crappy story in today's "Age"

I won't dignify it with a link, but there was a real shoddy-journalism article on page one of the online edition today, covering Internet addiction by teenagers.

While I don't doubt that Internet is a real and unfortunate problem for some people, the article was centered more around scare-mongering.

Statistics of 14 hours a week of Internet usage were cited as example cases. Most families easily watch this much television in a week. Why single out people who are using the Internet? At least email is a form of social interaction, and at least gaming is an interactive process.

Rather that worrying about "addiction" with a stick-only attitude, I think that people should simply concentrate on ensuring that any addictive activity is balanced by other inputs also.

Parents should not worry about their children's Internet addictions during the ad-breaks of their favourite T.V. programs. Pot, meet kettle.

Cheers,
-MP

Some Extra Domains

Sorry for the silence. I've been messing about with my other websites, and now MelbournePhilosophy.com and tennessee.id.au both point to this blog. I've come to a number of realisations -- mostly to do with my own modest limitations. I'm not doing anything good with the other websites, so I'm going to point everything to the most dynamic site that I manage, namely this one.

I had an idea which I wanted to post. It was to do with analogy, which I am coming to believe is the central method of both learning and conversation. Every analogy is an analogy with the self. The stronger the analogy to the self, the better our understanding of the object.

While we obviously come to understand some things in themselves, we usually approach new things through metaphor. The hardest thing to understand is that which is alien to us. Some people react with curiosity, some with fear. Some will make a false inference, linking new ideas in ways which are simply not correct.

I was thinking about this originally in the context of interpersonal relationships -- smart/stupid, rich/poor, educated/uneducated etc etc. I think that in extreme cases, there is a very wide disconnect between ourselves and the people we are trying to relate to, and the breakdown is due to the problem of analogy. We cannot see things from their perspective.

It then occurred to me that some people might be entirely unaware of this process of analogy. The "Us and them" mentality of so much cruelty to me speaks also of a breakdown in analogy. People are able to disconnect from other groups despite their humanity because they aren't the same kind of person. Without any bridge between them, there can be no real relationship.

Ach, I don't know. Just an idle musing.

Cheers,
-MP

Collaborative News

http://www.digg.com/

Okay, here's where the good new is today. It's simple. A page of links, arranged by vote, submitted by readers. Tech-oriented, but if you don't like that, vote for something else and be a part of it.

A bit like what I tried to do for a while with philosophy news aggregation. Unfortunately, stuff broke and I never fixed it, but I still like to keep an eye on similar grassroots news sources. I tend to feel that such sites are more likely to reflect my tastes, and less likely to reflect vested interests.

Cheers,
-T

Exam Completed

Hi all,

Sorry for the sorry silence of late. I've just finished my final philosophy exam, thus wrapping up my diploma, and I will be returning to blogging next week.

I had intended to blog throughout this period, but I've just been too exhausted, as I have had to keep up appearances on many fronts.

Next week: What is philosohy?, the philosophy of local politics, analogies with the self, and why morality is not idealistic...

Cheers,
-MP