Levels of Consciousness

Apparently people have a hard time pinning down a definition of consciousness, though perhaps they want a litmus test to identify whether of not something is conscious. In any event, I tried laying out a definition and resulting 'levels' of consciousness. (Note: This was related to 'Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind' by V.S. Ramachandran).

Consciousness == blackbox modelling == approximations of a system allowing prediction

To understand == to model accurately enough to make good predictions

L1 = ability to store and run models
L2 = ability to incrementally adapt models to input (building)
L3 = handle big jumps in input (non-incremental building)
L4 = adapt models without input (= to think?) (imagine/daydream/dream) (= traditional definition of consciousness?)
L5 = ability to hold conflicting models at the same time (= genius or 'a first rate mind')
L6 = model randomness (= no information or infinite information depending on your understanding) (= God?)

That final level is interesting because it is non-standard, basically unsolvable with our current understanding, and really shows the limits to traditional definitions of consciousness.

If you rank current AI (artificial intelligence) in these levels you find that L5 is easier for computers, but L2 and L3 are more difficult. Also, L4 is very difficult. For a biological entity such as a human brain, the levels get more difficult from L1 to L6. This emphasizes the fundamental difference in approach of a biological (highly parallel) system and normal (mostly sequential) computer systems.

Vote for 'none'

I'll admit it, I didn't vote in the last provincial election. Frankly, none of the candidates are worth voting FOR, and no single one is so especially bad to vote AGAINST. But I'm expressing an opinion that is not being reflected in our government mechanism; to reflect my opinion we should have a 'none' candidate ('none of the above' for you multiple choice types) who gets all the votes that weren't cast or were protest votes. Now, if the leading candidate gets less votes than the 'none' candidate, then NO ONE is elected in that riding, and we all save money. We can extend this to say that these NMPs (Non-Members of Parliament) automatically vote AGAINST everything proposed, leading to ineffectiveness of the government and then people might actually care about voting, or getting better candidates, i.e. a POSITIVE feedback cycle. That's something we desperately need in governments the world over.

iPod to replace most switches/dials/etc. in your car

When will the car manufactures finally bite the bullet and just put an iPod in place of the often confusing console of controls found in a modern car? This would be cheeper, and more usable. In fact, software upgrades and customizations could open a whole new world for car makers and car modifiers. There are some other benefits too; standardization could bring down costs substantially, weight savings, space savings, and wireless integration means things like stereos can be placed anywhere in the car to benefit weight balance.

Give it a few years perhaps...

Separate Sales From Manufacturing to Unlock Market Efficiencies

In the presence of monopoly (single seller, i.e. Microsoft), monopsony (single buyer, i.e. Walmart) and vertical integration of companies (single owner of raw material production to manufacturing to end user sales), the market can be highly inefficient. You can greatly improve market efficiency by enforcing a separation of manufacturing and sales using a public auction of all goods transferred between them using standardized distribution costs.

Monopoly: Prevented from separate pricing for different distribution channels, i.e. Preinstalled vs. OEM vs. end user prices. This reduces pricing power of the monopolistic company and frees up market effects.

Monopsony: Any seller can purchase the manufactured goods at the same price allowing small sellers to compete with large sellers.

Vertical Integration: Any seller can get the manufactured items, so the exclusivity pricing model comes under pressure. Forcing a similar break between raw material producers and goods manufacturers would help greatly.

Other Benefits: You could tax at the auction level and remove goods and sales taxes (HST). This would be more efficient (less sources) and probably remove lots of black/grey market tax avoidance (i.e. under the table deals to avoid tax payment).

Use military budgets to help the poor?

Helping poor people earn a living by making sellable items, a la Ten Thousand Villages, seems to be a rather effective method of helping the poor help themselves. Why not do the same for camouflage gear used my militaries world wide? Mandating the military purchases to come from such a non-profit organization would mean some of our military budget would ACTUALLY help the poor, an immensely novel idea.

RE: As Alberta gets richer, what happens to Canada (Maclean's Magazine June 2005)

I sent this to Maclean's magazine in June 2005, some of it was published as a letter to the editor. It still sounds useful, so:

Alberta is getting richer, Quebec is still getting special treatment,
the Maritimes are getting energy royalties and Ontario is getting sick
of the squeaky wheels, this sounds like a nightmare for Canada. The
June 13 article about Alberta getting richer reminded me of
"semi-autonomous units" in a business. My company used this idea for
many years, creating a SAU of each acquisition they made.
Unfortunately this created huge political infighting between units and
the company has suffered as a result. The same thing is happening to
Canada and we need to fix the problem quickly before Canada is
internally compromised. How? Create visible connections between the
people and Canada rather than the provinces, the Canadian legal tender
is a good example of this. Unfortunately drivers licenses and health
cards are still created by the provinces (and they're still separate
cards in Ontario, ugh). To associate with Canada rather than a
particular province you should be able to move to another province
without having to change any government information other than your
address...

Netbooks v2.0 - remove the internal drive, add more SDHC and USB slots

Netbooks are intended to be lightweight computers with basic functionality and access to the web with more powerful functionality supplied by the 'cloud'. Based on this definition, why do netbooks have internal drives? The OS and applications needed for such a device should fit on a simple 4GB SDHC card. For user files, an SDHC card or USB key would suffice. Rarely used files can be stored in the cloud.

Such a system would be cheaper and have a longer battery life. The system could be thinner, or have a larger battery. The OS/applications could be sold separately (delineating the cost structure) and later re-sold privately. In fact, the user could easily try multiple OS/application setups.

Perhaps people are already ignoring the internal drive; using a netbook with a USB key for portability and a desktop at home/office/school seems smart to me, how about you?

Parts of this were printed in PCWorld November 2009, see page 9 in:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20918212/PC-World-Magazin-November-2009

Day dreaming can make you successful

Scientific American Mind : July 2009 : Observing Others' Self-Control Can Sap Your Own - How your peers' goals and efforts trick your brain - (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=waning-willpower&print=true)

Quote: "And neuroimaging studies indicate that mentally simulating another person’s experience triggers the same sensory and emotional brain pathways that are activated when one actually performs the action."

'Mentally simulating' sounds a lot like 'day dreaming' to me. This suggests that day dreaming about positive things/success (winning gold at the Olympics, winning a Nobel prize, finishing a marathon, being a powerful CEO, etc.) makes you feel more positive and successful, and that increases the likelihood you will become a positive and successful person.

'How I became successful by day dreaming', sounds like the perfect self help book, or perhaps even a cult. I can see the infomercial: 'Cures mild depression 70% of the time...'