How Many Monkeys Does it Take to Write the Bible?

[stilltrucking]

http://www.astronomybuff.com/how-many-m ... the-bible/

It is high time to recognize that we humans are far better at doing than understanding, and better at tinkering than inventing. But we don’t know it. We truly live under the illusion of order believing that planning and forecasting are possible. We are scared of the random, yet we live from its fruits. We are so scared of the random that we create disciplines that try to make sense of the past–but we ultimately fail to understand it, just as we fail to see the future. (Full Article)

I’m beginning to think I don’t recognize often enough the role randomness plays in our universe. But randomness is unsettling, it makes me uncomfortable, it feels so out of control somehow.

[stilltrucking]

The Black Swan: Quotes & Warnings that the Imbeciles Chose to Ignore

"My major hobby is teasing people who take themselves & the quality of their knowledge too seriously & those who don’t have the courage to sometimes say: I don’t know...." (You may not be able to change the world but can at least get some entertainment & make a living out of the epistemic arrogance of the human race).

http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/imbeciles.htm

[stilltrucking]

Shattering the Bell Curve
The power law rules.

Mr. Taleb is fascinated by the rare but pivotal events that characterize life in the power-law world. He calls them Black Swans, after the philosopher Karl Popper's observation that only a single black swan is required to falsify the theory that "all swans are white" even when there are thousands of white swans in evidence. Provocatively, Mr. Taleb defines Black Swans as events (such as the rise of the Internet or the fall of LTCM) that are not only rare and consequential but also predictable only in retrospect. We never see them coming, but we have no trouble concocting post hoc explanations for why they should have been obvious. Surely, Mr. Taleb taunts, we won't get fooled again. But of course we will.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110009979

[Jacob]

This actually reminds me of a series of books written by Isaac Asimov, in which Psychohistory could predict what would happen based on history and statistics. always wanted to read about it...

[stilltrucking]

Foundation
A long time since I read that, and I only read the first book

It reminds me of a book by Normon O Brown called Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History



The last science fiction novel I read was A Canticle For Liebowitz

Listen, are we helpless? Are we doomed to do it again and again? Have we no choice but to play the phoenix in an unending sequence of rise and fall? Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the Empires of Charlemagne and the Turk. Ground to dust and plowed with salt. Spain, France, Britain, America –burned into the oblivion of the centuries. And again and again and again.

Are we doomed to do it, Lord, chained to the pendulum of our own mad clockwork, helpless to halt its swing?

Thanks for reading Jacob and for taking the time to comment

[Jacob]

Watchmen, the comic, gives an idea of how things work out as well. Life is like an intricate watch, in which all parts, be they people are actions, are set in a predetermined path. If you can figure out the patterns of the watch, you can change the path.

Don't know if we can change the path just yet, but we are certainly getting better at it.

[stilltrucking]

Speaking of outcomes and comics reminded me of the the fuss the child psychologists were making about comics in the nineteen fifties. They said it led to juvenile delinquency. Such a quaint phrase; juvenile delinquency.

Random quote:

“Among things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the. future”
Kurt Vonnegut

[Jacob]

Except comics aren't just for kids anymore. Or maybe the generation that grew up with comics is simply creating something new for themselves, beyond what was felt in childhood?

[mtmynd]

i wonder why all comics are called 'comics' when there is very little comical about so many of their stories? funny.

[Jacob]

i wonder why all comics are called 'comics' when there is very little comical about so many of their stories? funny.

The context refers to the artform, rather than the subject of the artform. The english language is so broken.

[stilltrucking]

I know it is not just for kids anymore. I hope I did not sound condescending.

Comics changed in the fifties, they took a macabre turn. In the forties it was all super heroes and Bugs and Donald and Porky.

If you have the time you might be interested in checking out this blurb from a book about those years in the evolution of the artform

This is from a book called Foul Play

Foul Play!
The Art and Artists of the Notorious 1950s E.C. Comics!

When originally published, E.C. Comics titles like Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and Weird Science became best-selling titles, embraced by readers for their macabre wit and stunning illustration. Eventually, E.C. Comics ran afoul of a full Senate Subcommittee investigating (but never proving!) the link between comic books and juvenile delinquency, but not before winning a legion of fans that still treasure E.C.'s output. Foul Play! demonstrates -- in glorious, gory detail -- exactly why these are among the most beloved comics stories ever published.

[Jacob]

I'm sure it's a must read for almost every comic fan these days. I'm saying that simply because I want to, of course, so I may be biased. Then again, we would never HAVE such amazing stories if the senate went through with their censoring. Thankfully it never passed, and who knows how much would have been suppressed in today's standards.

[one of those jerks]

I still remember one comic book episode from the fifties.

A fireman wraps his arms and legs around the pole in a fire house and slides down. His enemy seeking revenge has put a razor edge into the pole. I forgot the gory details, maybe there was a picture showing his amputated limbs.

Have you noticed how many TV shows these days have autopsy scenes?
.

[Jacob]

I still remember one comic book episode from the fifties.

A fireman wraps his arms and legs around the pole in a fire house and slides down. His enemy seeking revenge has put a razor edge into the pole. I forgot the gory details, maybe there was a picture showing his amputated limbs.

Have you noticed how many TV shows these days have autopsy scenes?

*falls back in shock* Okay, that was honestly revolting. Wow. All the same, I would be angered if someone tried to suppress such images from being created, because it's a story trying to express ideas to others. Sure, it can be repulsive, but it's still a means of expression seeking outlet, which will only find it another means if not in fiction.

[sonofthesun]

really enjoyed that book(canticle), and yes we are going to live out repetition, unless certain characters make certain choices at certain times, the fabric doesnt change just the color