Modern sophisticated houses

More of my friends have video doorbells that show those inside the house who is at the door.  The video shows in an app on a smartphone, even when the home owners are in Hawaii or Arizona and the house is in Wisconsin.  More and more aspects of the home can be checked online by the home owner wherever he is.  

The video doorbells can send sound to those at the door.  Some people at the door who know the owner is away are quite shocked to hear his voice asking how they are and what they want.  A man who comes to the house who shovels the driveway is surprised to hear the owner asking how the shoveler is and thanking him for his service.  The phone dings distinctively when a video is being transmitted. The videos are stored and can be viewed later.  Maybe people will take to reviewing old doorway tapes when they are bored with what is on tv.

My friend has monitors that watch over the levels of liquids in his expensive cars, such as brake fluid and transmission fluids.  So far as I know, he does not yet have a robot to add liquid when it is needed.  He has to ask a neighbor to do that.

Human or advanced machine?

The Bullis book club selected "Being You" for a book to read.  It is written by Professor Anil Seth, a neuroscientist.  He has a TED talk about how we humans get to feel we have a special internal presence or voice or center, much like what is often meant by saying humans are conscious beings.  This sense of an ongoing, continuous self that has been with us nearly since our beginning is one of the essential and expected parts of being human.

Various disciplines have been debating what we are for a long time.  The Hebrew-Christian Bible says that God took some clay and made us and breathed life into His creation.  Some people doubt the particulars these days.  I have read that Mary Shelley was inspired to write "Frankenstein" in 1818 after seeing a demonstration using cadavers that sat upright when some electricity was applied to the base of the spine.  The idea of building a very strong, very intelligent machine that looks and acts like a person comes and goes, these days.  Sometimes, the notion is a warrior or a servant, sometimes the creation is to be able to do what humans can't.

I studied computer basics in 1965 and have since heard about computers that can do amazing things.  A program called Eliza is well-known for its ability to hold a conversation with a human by way of sentences from a human and back from Eliza.  Online now, there are versions of Eliza to assist people who want to talk to a therapist using the sort of abilities Eliza has to understand and ask questions and seem to think.

In relation to the subject of very advanced humans (usually in matters of intelligence and communication, not as often about simulating human motions and physical abilities), the subject of the Turing test and the Loebner contest come up.  Alan Turing, a logician and important figure in WWII cryptography, proposed what has come to be called the Turing test.  Let people receive written communications from a person and a computer.  If the people can't tell which came from which, the computer is equal to the person.  The Loebner contest ran for several years and tried inviting computer scientists to provide their best programs in the contest.  Brian Christianson was awarded the title "The Most Human Human" in a run of the contest since he seemed to be able to convince judges he was a human easily.  I have read that one run of the contest caused a woman to be labeled a computer since the judges thought no one could know as much as she did and she must be a computer.  Christianson has two books related to this subject.

Steven Johnson and my brain

As I wrote yesterday, I have found Steven Johnson to be a helpful and interesting writer.  Something or other reminded me of his book "Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life".  When I see the cover design, I know I have held the book and read some of it before.

As often happens when I come back to a book (or movie or song), I find I am a different person from my earlier meetings with the work.  Sometimes I find it more worthwhile, sometimes less.  In this case, like some others, my reaction is mostly just different, probably because I know more about myself and mediation and my wiring than I did ten or so years ago.  

On the current re-read, I am only up to 8% of the book but I find plenty to think about already.  He starts with some statements about being in a biofeedback studio.  I haven't thought about biofeedback for years.  Just a few minutes ago, I saw a picture of a biofeedback device I used to own.  I am not ever sure if I have it anymore.  It looked like this:

I am a fan of "Incognito" by Eagleman and "Seven and a Half Lessons About Your Brain" by Barrett but the idea of considering how to make unconscious processes in me conscious and controllable is a new one for me.  

Just in passing, Johnson mentions areas of the brain, including one that seem related to feeling mirth (a great word).  

He also says this about gender differences in brain structure:

Viewed with modern imaging technologies, men's and women's brains are nearly as distinct from each other as  their bodies are. They have reliably different amounts of neurons and gray matter; some areas linked with  sexuality and aggression are larger in men than in women; the left and right hemispheres are more tightly  integrated in women than in men. And of course, those brains—and the bodies they are attached to—are  partially shaped by two totally different kinds of hormones, the androgens and estrogens, which play a key role  both in development and adult life experiences.

One thing leads to another

Every now and then, I come across writing by Steven Johnson.  It happens often enough that I notice.  Recently, a friend told us about The Villages, which seems to be an organization to assist elderly people to make themselves available to help each other.  That conversation led to books like "The Longevity Economy" and "The Longevity Project".  People are clearly living to greater ages than they used to.  Being interested in what greater longevity does to society, I looked for other items of interest and I found Steven Johnson's "Extra Life" in both book and PBS show formats.  

I have been interested in brain science since I retired more than a decade ago.  Looking at Johnson's books, I see "Mind Wide Open".  I was sent in the direction of Johnson by "Libby", an app for computers, tablets and smartphones.  Libby can allow me to borrow ebooks from libraries quickly and for free.  I have been trying to limit myself to getting any new books only on Mondays.  When I looked at what was available, I found "How We Got to Now" by, guess who?, Steven Johnson!  

In his Now, Johnson looks at the history and development of six subjects:

Glass

Cold

Sound

Clean

Time

Light

 

He is very good at helping a casual reader learn about long interesting chains of development and change.  

Gutenberg invented the printing press.  But that led to more books and papers leading to more reading leading to more people finding that they had trouble reading because of being far-sighted leading to more lens making leading to the development of the telescope and the microscope leading to better understanding of our bodies being made of cells and what that means.  

We are living in a new world and the old one at the same time and Johnson helps me understand them.

Intensification practice

Meditation is often about seeing the moment, where and what I am here and now.  But sometimes, when I sit to observe and feel, a current problem or pain comes to mind.  I can usually tell if I can shove it under the rug and ignore it.  But if it is persistent and not one that can be helpfully thrown away. I sometimes try mentally to emphasize it, grow it, make it worse.  As soon as I put some imagination energy into enlarging the problem, all sorts of ridiculous pictures emerge.  

Sometimes, "life is suffering" is said to be a fundamental tenet in Buddhism.  Aspects of other religions also recognize suffering and its place in life.  My life has been pretty smooth and pleasant and I haven't had much suffering.  I do run into irritants several times on most days.  I try to throw a tissue into the trash but it sticks to my fingers long enough that my aim is spoiled.  The paper releases from my skin at just the time and angle it needs to sail quietly far under the table, landing in just the most troublesome spot.  

I wonder if I should practice immersing myself in the feeling of suffering I experience with that paper going the wrong way.  I have noticed that when I practice something, I get better at it.  If I try getting into the feeling of recognizing suffering, I may be able to accept it better. 

I also find that what is suffering at one minute turns out to be a positive gift in a way I could not have predicted.  The other day when I was beneath the table retrieving that errant paper, I was protected from the falling chandelier.  Well, I could have been.

Writing to others

A friend surprised me with the gift of a Kindle ebook, Thomas Friedman's "Thank You for Being Late."  The title refers to being late for a restaurant meeting, not to being dead. Friedman is a commentator on foreign affairs and the author of 15 or more books on world affairs.  He is aware of people feeling overwhelmed by climate change and many other current issues and he found that he benefitted when a person he was meeting for lunch or a conversation was late.  During the time that the other person didn't yet show up, Friedman learned to unwind and cherish moments of quiet.  

The attendant at a parking garage in the D.C. area recognized Friedman and explained that he too wrote.  He was an immigrant from Ethiopia and was interested in presenting facts to the world about difficulties and issues in that area.  He has a blog and uses it to present issues, factors and positions that he thought important but glossed over or actively suppressed by various governments, corporations and groups.  

So, whether you are like me and wish to simply put out there ideas and experiences that are part of your life or like the immigrant and know facts and views that don't get aired but should be, you might want to write for the internet.  I use Google's Blogger but there is also WordPress.  You can also engage computer people or firms to create a blog for you.  There are 600 million blogs so you can't expect yours to immediately attract world attention.  Personally, I consider a single reader quite adequate.

As usual, I recommend limiting your time with news sources and spending 5 to 10 minutes in quiet each day.  Doing so is one form of meditation and can help immensely with knowing and appreciating yourself and your life, whatever happens.

Highlights from a Kindle book

One of my favorite features of reading Kindle books is the ability to collect the highlights I marked, using a finger tip when I was reading a book.  The best version of the feature that I have found is in the Kindle reader itself.  I make highlights of the text and then to the Go To tab, where I have two choices, Contents and Notes.  The notes show the text I have highlighted, a link to the part of the book where that highlight is found and a couple of buttons to share the highlight (with Goodreads, a sort of reading club space run by Amazon) and a button to delete that highlight.  

The best part of the feature seems to be available only in the Kindle ereader itself. It gives the option of sending the whole file of highlights to my email.  If you have seen a volume recently used by a student, one that is bristling with sticky note markers, you can imagine the work saved by the software collecting the highlights and sending them to me in a single document. I got my first Kindle book in 2008.  Back then, I read "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain" by John Ratey, MD.  I just checked.  I have a file on comments from reading then and it shows some remarks that mattered and seemed worthwhile.  I just now sent that file to myself.  

My highlights from back then include these passages:

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 104 

Psychologist and distance runner Keith Johnsgard found that conducting CBT in the context of exercise has  particularly powerful results. In his book Conquering Depression and Anxiety through Exercise, he explains  how he uses running as a mode of cognitive restructuring to treat agoraphobia. After several rapport-building  sessions, he accompanies patients to an empty mall parking lot in the early morning and has them do a series of  sprints. Nobody else is around, and they feel safe in his presence. He has already determined how far they can  sprint before coming to 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 105 

This approach fits into a broader concept highlighted by New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, a  renowned fear expert. Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, LeDoux and coauthor Jack  Gorman published an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry titled, "A Call to Action: Overcoming  Anxiety through Active Coping." Essentially, active coping means doing something in response to whatever  danger or problem is causing anxiety rather than passively worrying about it. It doesn't specifically imply  physical activity, but certainly exercise qualifies as a mode of active coping. And as it turns out, movement may  not be an incidental aspect of active coping.

Google aids

Many of my friends have Gmail accounts.  I want to mention that a Gmail account login and password are the keys to many services and tools.  It can be helpful to know that the name of a service or tool, a period, the word "Google", a 2nd period, and "com" can be inserted into the address window on a browser to get to that site. 

So, if you hear about the Google Drive (area for saving documents and spreadsheets) you can explore this service using "drive.google.com".  If you want to send text messages or make phone calls across the internet and you learn that Google has a tool for doing that called "voice", you can get to it using "voice,google.com".

Google uses web pages so when you connect to the appropriate page, you can use that service from any browser on any connected device, be it computer, tablet or smartphone. I make regular use of Drive, Docs, Blogger and Calendar.  Lynn and I share a Calendar so we can see what each other's schedules are and we share Google Photos.  

I like Google News a couple of times each day to get a quick handle on the state of the world.  I rarely read an article, mostly just looking at headlines.

I use Google Search nearly once an hour but the Search capability is primary so usually just finding "Google" brings me to search.  I have tried the search of Duckduckgo but I find Google searches better than Duck and I often go to Google. But I have left Duck as my default search for now.

In the upper right corner of an open Gmail on a computer is the little 3x3 set of dots called the Google Launcher.  It is a handy tool for a quick look at some of the offerings Google makes for free.  I was going to guess that there are at least 40 of them but I decided to see what Google search said.  I looked up how many services and tools does Google offer.  I found this:

Google Products, Services & Tools: The Complete List. Now I'm going to list over 251 Google products and services that I know of or tried in some way or the other. If you haven't tried any of them then I really suggest you check them out and see if it can make your life easier, better, and more productive.Mar 4, 2021

 

https://www.matrics360.com/google-products-and-services/

That reminds me

I tell an anecdote.  It is a good one and I can tell that it is.  The appreciative reaction gives me a lift and that files the story in my brain.  In another place and time, a good story is needed, you know, to counter the silence and fill the gaps.  Hey, how about that anecdote that is a good one and get appreciative responses before?

I tell it.  There are quite a few appreciative responses but some eye-rolling and some looking away.  Uh-o, I have told that story to many of those present before.  From the faces, I'm guessing some of those present have heard that story more than once.  How many times have I told it?  Can't rightly remember.

Quite a few of my friends are old guys, old enough to have many experiences and as a result, many good anecdotes in their heads.  From the relish that I think I see in their re-telling a story, I infer that it is good for the teller to re-tell a good anecdote.  You can hear in the speaker's voice, the pleasure in re-living the surprising, funny, memorable event.  I have found lately that just telling myself, usually without external vocalizations, an explanation, a plan, an intention ups my motivation and energy. 

Baby needs food

Last night, we watched our 2nd episode of the Netflix show "Babies".  It is about a baby's first food.  Prof. Katie Hinde of Arizona State University emphasizes that in general for us mammals, mother's milk is our first food.

We were both surprised to learn the composition and amount of a mother's milk differs, depending on where she just had a girl or a boy.  

The subject of nutrition, especially for babies and children, seems to be ever gaining importance.  It seems to me that keeping in mind the long, long history of human development and the need during that time to face obstacles, accidents and natural limitations is important for understanding some of who we are and what we are.

When I saw that the Roku device could be hooked to my TV and allow us to see Netflix, Amazon TV, Wisconsin PBS and Acorn, I bought one.  The basic set is what we have and it costs $24 on Walmart and Amazon sites. But you can see all those on a computer, tablet or smartphone.  Lynn adds that many smart tv sets these days come equipped to do all that right away.

Fwd: Central European talent

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bill Kirby
Date: Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 4:44 PM
Subject: Fwd: Central European talent

My friend is straightening me out about what happened by whom.  Bill

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Patricia Williams
Date: Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: Central European talent
To: Bill Kirby

Hi Bill, 

It's Slovakia not Slovenia that beat the US in hockey.....two different countries, 

Pat Williams

n/olympics/2022-beijing-olympics-hockey-slovakia-united-states-celebration.html

Central European talent

Lynn started reading "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by Olga Tokarczuk, a selection of her book club.  She really liked it and said I would, too.  She read a couple of snippets and they did sound good.  We have started "State of Terror" by Louise Penny and Hillary Clinton.  It isn't bad but is a bit too relentlessly "exciting" for me.  My sensitivity to throbbing excitement might be irritated by the Netflix show called "Jane, the Virgin".  It is a soap opera and a half, evidently called a "telenovela" in South America. 

Lynn said she would be ok with me reading "Plow" up to the point where she is, and then using that book as our reading-aloud book instead of the Penny/Clinton. The author of "Plow" won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2018 and is translated into English by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.  I have special respect for translators who offer me doors into places and people I couldn't be part of, except for their work.  Getting a little familiar with Olga Tokarczuk had reminded me of my respect for and enjoyment of some of the poems of Wislawa Szymborska. That Polish poetess won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996.

Being aware of central European nations has also happened lately because the Slovenian ice hockey team defeated the US team.  The population of Slovenia is estimated to be about 2 million while that of the US is about 330 million.  I wanted to see some of the Slovenian celebrations and found this:

https://thecomeback.com/olympics/2022-beijing-olympics-hockey-slovakia-united-states-celebration.html

no changes, please

Old people (those over 70, I guess) have it all figured out.  They have had lots of time to get it all figured out.  Since they have it all figured out, they don't want any changes.  Nothing should get better since it will interfere with what has already been found to be good, superior even.  Nothing should get worse since that too will change rankings, choices, expenses and add to the daily work.  

The situation is rather sad, though, since there probably was a moment there when life was all figured out.  However, aging set it, research was conducted, new fashions emerged.  Some people and some brands changed, you know, from retirements and all.  Deaths occured, young people reached maturity and the world would simply not stand still, damn it.

I have read a couple of times that many of the so-called 'senior moments', when an old person can't recall that cousin's wife's name, even though he knows full well that he knows her name and that her name will come to him before Christmas.  Maybe we will get additional processes for emptying or partially emptying our brains.  

When I search "Real brain actual washing, emptying"  I find this:

t.ly/uaBt

You use this shortened link to see the results of the search.  Turns out that our bodies do wash our brains during sleep.

We want you to open this immediately!!!!!!

My email includes some messages in my spam folder.  I just got back from Hawaii where the meat called "Spam" is adorned, so much so that the local McDonalds sell menu items that include Spam: t.ly/XGUK (this is a shortened link.  If you want to use it, copy and paste in the web address window on your browser.)

In the continental US, the word "spam" usually means unwanted email, including scams, that is, misleading offers that lead to loss, theft and trouble.  

The latest fashion I have seen is the inclusion of emoticons, red hearts and symbols in the subject line of spam messages.  Anything to attract my attention and convince me to open the message and pay attention.  Of course, I don't tend to be attracted to an offer by a woman I never heard of to meet her this evening when she promises to do whatever I want.  In case I don't get the idea, the subject line goes on with "f*ck?".  Stupendous wealth is implied as well as information about impending disasters and various ways the world might end.

Could be a sign

Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett of Cornell University makes clear in her book "Seven and a Half Lessons About Your Brain" that my brain has lots to do besides allow me to think.  David Eagleman makes the point even more emphatically in his "Incognito".  Here is a link to a web page that lists other books about human bodies and impulses that guide us and influence us without our conscious awareness.  

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/books-about-the-unconscious

Yesterday, I tried to list some of the factors that influence us aside of our conscious thinking.

https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2022/02/what-forces-tend-to-affect-us.html

My friend Adams commented that I had omitted the arrangement of the stars and planets.  He wrote that such an omission would be typical of a person born to my astrological sign.  His comment got me thinking.  

I have read that India includes many people with a strong interest in astrology:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=What+country%27s+people+have+the+most+interest+in+astrology

In searching "what country's people have a strong interest in astrology," I read that India is indeed such a country, but that 30% of Americans also have such an interest.  

Light pollution or not, a clear night sky sure shows many heavenly bodies.  If learned or respected people tell me they read the configurations of such bodies and get important ideas from them, I might believe them.  Some Indian friends told me they wisely consulted an astrologer to learn the optimal day and time for their marriage.  But I think they discarded the advice that 2 AM on a certain day would be best.  

My current beliefs try to downplay predictions since I want to concentrate on perceiving and enjoying my present.  I might ask an astrologer to help me gain insight into a person or phenomenon but I go by the idea that the heavenly bodies have little or no influence so the idea of "randomness" comes to mind.  I have taught many statistics lessons so the concept of randomness is familiar, but I admit that getting deep into thinking about what is random is as murky as my uses of my sign.

What forces tend to affect us?

• Gender - Of course, gender is a combination of hormones, personal tastes and learning from others what it means to be our gender

• Upbringing - Strict parents or not so much, childhood events that left a strong impression

• Education - Learning to read, learning to write, learning history and literature, learning physical skills like swimming, learning social skills such as public speaking

• Reading - Books can be a major source but these days, movies, tv and related media like YouTube can empower and broaden

• Emerging drives - Suddenly, I find the opposite sex so very, very interesting

• Diminishing drives - Candy isn't so magnetic as it was

• Chronological age - Life these days begins at 40, and 50 and 65 and 80 and 90

• Communications - A friend told me that, the news said…, an 

• eye-opening article in a magazine that comes to the house

• Economy - We can't afford that, the price on that car and that rocket ship is too high for my tastes and my wallet

• Body - I am not big nor heavy and that has affected my life and friendships and sports participation

Good luck supported by hundreds of employees

We traveled to Hawaii for fun and it was.  

    Hills

        The ocean views get a little too much emphasis, in my opinion.  True, this is the blue planet and it is mostly ocean.  Still the hills are what shock me.  Visceral, beyond breath-taking, the light and dark, the green, the rock, the black - Wow!

What I see now

    We made it

        We tried beforehand to be prepared for obstacles, Covid and others.  But none occurred.  It is a very long flight in one little seat from Minneapolis to Oahu.  On the way back, we flew from Maui to Seattle, helpfully shorter flight.

    Daughter and son-in-law

        We had companions, mature, intelligent people who are fun and eye-opening to be with.

    Hawaii license plates

        We have actually seen Hawaii license plates here in Stevens Point.   Spotting one is much less exciting when all the cars have them, including that one and that one and that one….