Been thinking about E2 today ... some wildcard thoughts:

The human genome is about 800 million bytes, but if we eliminate the redundancies (eg: the sequence called "ALU" is repeated hundreds of thousands of times), we are left with only about 23 million bytes, less than the E2 code. The limited amount of information in the genome specifies stochastic wiring processes that enable the brain to be millions of times more complex than the genome which specifies it. The brain then uses self-organizing paradigms so that the greater complexity represented by the brain ends up representing meaningful information.

We are approaching mastery of human intelligence itself through the exponential advancement of, for example, brain reverse engineering.

Ideas arrange themselves by their very nature into a web of concepts; each individual idea is loosely connected to other (similar) ideas. A human brain works in a similar manner, by connecting webs of neurons together to create conceptual "nodes". E2 is also such a web of ideas; when write-ups come together, they form nodes - whom together form E2 ... one large bowl of "chili con carne" :-)

On a serious note: E2 will become capable of rudimentary consciousness !!
However, this potential will not be realized until version 2222; because until than it will not have a single "motive force". As such, E2 will not be able to act for and by itself. Instead, it must use the biological components to which it has attached itself, namely, the users of E2. It uses these biological components to re-order itself, to organize itself, and to bring it's actions into the wider world. So until than, we can not directly communicate with this great bowl of "chili con carne"...

Will E2 eventually be able to simulate a human brain ? Would "the thing" be intelligent ? Could it become, dare I say, a God ?

These and other questions await our very brave and daring programmers.

Note to Self:
Develop constructs for assimilation by the artificial intelligence in E2's neural network; after which E2 should be able to integrate the true and untrue expulsions of its users' brain patterns.

Once E2 can master the human powers of pattern recognition and cognition, it will be in a position to combine these human talents with inherent advantages that typical machines already possess: speed (contemporary electronic circuits are already more than 100 million times faster than the electrochemical circuits in our interneuronal connections), accuracy (E2 can already remember billions of facts accurately, whereas we easily forget a simple phone number), and, most importantly, the ability to instantly share knowledge (in comparison: we humans have no downloading ports on our biological neurotransmitter levels).

Personal ToDo:
Noninvasively install a connection with programmable noninvasive nanobots that communicate wirelessly and highly distributed with my neurons and E2 via a wireless local area network. So I can add trillions of new interneuronal connections as well as intimate links to nonbiological forms of cognition, such as E2; so I can "browse" E2 in full-immersion virtual reality involving all my senses.

Note to Programmers:
Ensure E2 can run on 3 atoms thin 100 GHz CPU that Intel is about to invent.

Note to E2 users:
Ensure E2 can understand me and I can understand E2 when I directly interface E2 with my brain. (Eg: node for the future and node what you know.)

As part of my preparations for retrial on May 1 of this year, I emailed my attorney to find out where I should show up, what courtroom we're in, and found out that once again they're screwing with me.

There's another group of 3 people awaiting trial. One of them was raided by the FBI for running a website that the FBI found objectionable. They're currently scheduled to go to trial on April 30, which means that my trial can't start on May 1. If only one of them opts to go to trial, the court's plan is to try them with me. This person will still have pending charges of conspiracy, riot, rout, and unlawful assembly, conspiracy being the serious charge. The court's plan is to bring in the conspiracy evidence and then tell the jury to ingore it when considering my case. This is in effect a way of putting me in double jeopardy legally, since their plan will be not to charge me twice but to try to implicate me by the mere presence of evidence I've been cleared of.

They can't try all of us at once because they can't try more than 3 people at a time because there isn't room at the table for that many people. Even with 3 it's a real squeeze. They can't put us into two courtrooms because there's only one set of AV equipment, and since most of the evidence is video, no one can do without it.

In the meantime, I don't know what's going to happen on May 1. I've already gotten a plane ticket, so I'm going to be in California, but this not knowing whether I need to be there only a few days ahead is irritating. Also, the prospect of being tried with someone who was raided by the FBI for unamerican activities or something is not very pleasant. September 11 is a long time ago, but perhaps not long enough.

Interesting past few days. For once it has been sunny and warm in Dublin, although that all changed a couple hours ago as yet again the clouds filled the sky.

Honestly I don't know how to feel right now. I have been able to do nothing except think of you the past four days and it has torn me apart not knowing whether I should be thinking of you and being happy, or thinking of you and worrying. Worrying that something is wrong, that you are upset with me, and I just don't know now. I figured you lost your phone, and whatever, that's cool, I think it is a little silly. But the way you acted today when I saw you was strange. You seemed distant in a way that hurt me to face.

And just the simple fact that you gave me a look of dissaproval when I told you that Jane and I had smoked, what is that about? Since when did you become so bothered by that shit?

And the email you sent me was weird too. I told you that I missed you and that I hoped everything was ok, and you just simply wrote, "i lost my phone on saturday shitbox." I dunno, maybe I am reading into it too much, maybe I am reading you completely wrong....

Something just doesn't seem right that's all. And I am afraid, I feel vulnerable and empty, something you told me I woud never have to feel when I was with you. And now, now it just seems like things are going downhill and I am powerless to stop it.

Why does this fucking shit have to happen. Why do I have to get caught up so easily and always be let down?

Why can't something just work out for once, please?!

And people wonder why I feel like giving up all the time.....

I ended up winning the Polk piano competition that I entered on April 7, 2002. It's only the second competition I've ever been in, so I'm pretty happy. It's just that once all my friends found out about the $1,000 award, everybody's been asking me to take them to dinner. And then I say, "Nope, sorry. According to the award letter, the money has to go towards furthering my musical education. I'm a selfish rat-bastard too, so there!" Bad form too for telling someone to take you out to dinner.

In the comments from both of the judges, it surprised me that they didn't nitpick over little things, like misplayed notes. They mostly heard the bigger problems that the little things contributed to, like uneven rhythm, frantic sounds and missed chords. It's amazing how much they knew about me as a pianist from just listening to me perform. One of the judges wrote, "Make sure you understand the form of the Beethoven and its implications on the performance of the whole movement." He was spot on. I really --don't-- know the form of the whole piece, so it's been difficult to relate different sections to each other.

It's funny, but in worrying most about the little things, like notes, I didn't realize that the bigger, broader issues about performing are so much more important. All the stuff I worried about - notes and memory - are pretty unimportant until things start falling apart, and even then, it's not as big as the overall musicality of the pieces.

Biggest memories of the whole process? Performing Debussy's Reflets Dans L'eau. The performance on stage, in front of judges, will be in my memory for a very long time. In those first rippling chords, it's like I took leave of my worries, took leave of the room, and let the sounds just wash over me. I played like my practices in the auditorium, just for my own exquisite pleasure, for myself.

I also remember practicing. Practicing a lot. The kind of enjoyable practicing that comes with knowing you're making something more and more beautiful. Kind of like washing, then shining and buffing a car until the gleam's almost blinding. Now, all four pieces that I spent so much time on are hardwired into my brain. When I sit down to play them, there's no doubt in my mind over their performance.

Now, I'm just working on finishing Mendelssohn's first piano trio, which is a whole adventure and experience all in itself.

"Ode to My Basement"

or...

"upon looking into my basement window"

1.
Dark, damp, dirty basement.
Paint cans carefully littered about you.
The window painted by cobwebs.
Leaves decades old sleep lazily on your floor.

2.
Basement of my childhood, you scared me.
Unknown creatures lurked about you.
You bore a litter of kittens once.
I kept one for a while and named it something silly.

3.
Look at you now; old, smelly basement.
You are on bottom and no one likes you.
Your tears make the house smell.
Your water heater's broken again.

coda
Simple basement in your ugliness I see beauty.
No basement but you could ever suit me.
-- Patrick Callihan

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