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A Theory on People
Let me preface this with the fact that I will be using the term “schizophrenics” to mean those with dissociative identity disorder, which is where a single person has multiple personalties, to the point that each one is a different person; this is seemingly the public’s common interpretation of schizophrenia. This theory on life is not meant to be taken seriously insofar as mental disorders are concerned, and I apologize in advance if it happens to offend anyone. I came up with this theory late one night, and wish to publicize it not as a medical evaluation, but as an insight into how people act. I am not a doctor or a psychologist; I am just a guy who thinks too much.
It seems to me that schizophrenics are the only people who are true to themselves. They do not pretend to not have multiple personalities, they actually do. Those without mental disorders are the ones in most need of a reality check. We go about our lives as different people dependent upon our current situation and circumstances. We lie to ourselves that we remain the same single person throughout the day, the week, the month, the year.
At our jobs we are who we want our coworkers and boss to believe we are. At school, we are who we wish our friends and teachers to believe we are. At home, we are who we want our families and significant others to believe we are.
We pretend not to have different personalities. Schizophrenics do not pretend this, they embrace it.
I do not recommend we all start to eliminate these differences in order to be “our true self”. This true self is the compilation of the different people inside of us. In the words of Ben Bridges, it is the “average” of these people. Also, it is necessary for us to be different in order to work within society; anyone who argues that is possible to be one and the same person in every circumstance does not realize how civilization depends on people getting along.
P.S. There is a religion that believes every person is made up of smaller people inside them for each aspect. I believe it is Eastern Asian. If anyone knows the name of this religion, I would love to be enlightened. Google for once has turned up nothing.
The answer to “What was before the universe?”
I had an epiphany last night, and realized that there is a very elementary answer to the question of “What was before the universe?”
It’s a pointless question. By definition, our “universe” contains everything; there is no matter-energy or space-time-entropy or thought-consciousness outside of the universe. In fact, there is no such thing as an outside to the universe.
Gods and Higher Consciousnesses
Whether or not you believe in a god or a sort of elevated-existence where thoughts take place, they are within the containment of the universe, although possibly in dimensions other than the spatial and time-entropy ones which we experience. Any thought of an outer-verse must immediately become part of the universe. The Great Architect did not create the universe. By definition he must be part of it, but one may argue that he created the Big Bang.
The Big Bang to the Big Crunch
One might be asking, what was before the Big Bang, and what will be after the Big Crunch? The answer: the universe. The Big Bang created the matter-energy and space-time-entropy that we know, and the possible “Big Crunch” may very well take place, but it as all within the containment of the universe.
“Multiverses” and Other Places
The term “multi-verse” as used in theories where every possibility takes place in separate “universes” is illogical. Even if at every quantum decision a new place where to come into spontaneous existence, it’s matter-energy and space-time-entropy would nonetheless be part of the universe. One cannot exit this universe to some other place. Although one may (through wormholes and other unproven and unobserved methods) travel to wholly different worlds-histories that branched off, one would still be in the universe.
Conclusion
Thanks to semantics and definitions, the question of “What was before the universe?” has been successfully answered.
Iron Man 2
You may very well have already seen this movie, but I only just made it to the theaters (with a good friend by the wall), and I have something to say about Iron Man 2: It is spectacular.
I very much enjoyed the first Iron Man. These are movies that encompass all the best: action, beautiful women, good plot, geeky comic backgrounds, and great casts. Robert Downey Jr. again plays Tony Stark / Iron Man with uncompromising dignity. And I believe that I am now in love with Scarlett Johansson, Tony’s new “assistant”. Unfortunately, as Wikipedia just unveiled, she is seemingly married. The lucky bastard.
Go and see Iron Man 2 now, if you haven’t already seen it that is.
To Risk
I was browsing through the Art of Manliness feed which I had let build up in Google Reader, and came across this which I would like to share:
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
And the realist adjusts the sails.
If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it.
- Same guy
The Shawshank Redemption
I watched The Shawshank Redemption tonight (grabbed it from Netflix), and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a movie with a good theme, strong plot, and that captures reality.
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden (Bob Gunton). During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates — including an older prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman) — for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope.
Diaspora*
Today’s XKCD comic (in the alt-text) led me to discover the Diaspora project at joindiaspora.com. Four young college geeks (hey, be proud to be a geek): Daniel Grippi, Maxwell Salzberg, Raphael Sofaer, and Ilya Zhitomirskiy, are on a mission to create a “Personally Controlled, Do-It-All, Distributed [and encrypted] Open-Source Social Network”. An end-all be-all, if I may, to big business social networks. I have become very excited about this project, and hope to see it come to fruition.
Diaspora: Personally Controlled, Do-It-All, Distributed Open-Source Social Network from daniel grippi on Vimeo.
“In a world of grays, the black and white of law…”
“In a world of grays, the black and white of law can never hope to completely navigate the perilous thin line between freedom and safety. Once upon a time, it was the principles of the people and the seriousness of the times that dictated where the line of law was drawn. Now, its the wishes of the powerful and the excuses of the times that allow the line of law to be drawn ever farther from freedom in the name of safety. This effect is seen in nearly every major “democratic” society today. And it’s a shame.”
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