Limbo

I'm thinking ETs of an inter-dimensional extraction oughta be said to be from Limbo. There's no reason we can't remap that old lingo to whatever the new physics allows. 

Of course many are rolling in their graves at this point, as inter-dimensional species have not been establishment authorized nor mandated, neither from Limbo nor anywhere else.

I took the bus 14 downtown, along Hawthorne, through Asylum District, then walked to Office Depot near Pioneer Courthouse Square, then to Apple (like a temple, bitten apple icon), coming back on the new FX2 articulated bus, on route 4, along SE Division. 

I got off across from Tom's (Greek restaurant) and had a healthy breakfast similar to the one we had (also here at Tom's) with Terry of ISEPP the other day, with Andrius and Ryan. We talked about the Carnots (father and son) and thermodynamics (as a precursor to QM).

Limbo is a phase between phases, we might make it that space of the still juxtaposed, which the new physics posits as probabilities in some as yet immaterial landscape, with material rapidly colonizing and moving forward into this space, making it real. 

Limbo comes before the real, before a heaven or a hell.  Not that we posit Heaven or Hell as eternally real for ourselves at the moment, we the still living. We're in a kind of limbo of our own here, before the afterlife, before that  ever-postponed Final X Day (here the Catholics and the Subgenii come together).

Connected with Limbo (pre-judgement, pre-reality), is the concept of Neutrality. The two must be neighbors in most of the general purpose word vectorized semantic spaces, wouldn't you say so? We haven't decided between good and evil yet. The tape is rewound. The apple is back on the tree and the snake is sliding backwards, in a downward spiral. In myth, time may indeed be reversible.

Neutral comes in connection with Polarized.  We need a sense of the spectrum, the extrema, to make sense of what the average is, the most middle of the road.  It's not like polarize and neutral are arch enemies, but that you need the one to tune the other.  When you "take a neutral tone" it's probably because you have done your homework, and seen it from both sides.

What to remember here, is that one spectrum need not preclude another. You have whole different ways of being neutral within a system, depending on what stars you steer by. An experienced comedian steers a fun path through the Matrix, for having been around the block a few times.

Extra-Dimensional ETs

The back and forth Andrius shared, regarding his rejected math contest video, reminds me of the ordeal I went through with Bridges that time. 

True, I hadn't jumped through all the hoops regarding formatting. I'd been hoping for encouragement and a chance to do a final set of fixes in response to editor feedback. No such luck. They didn't like my focus on "wedges" (the Synergetics modules). I saved some stuff on EduSig about it.

However this isn't about me and my travails. All that happened a long time ago. Andrius and I collaborated on this latest, as did Ryan. However I counseled ahead of time he might run into problems, if this were a mathy community at all similar to the Bridges one. I reiterated my points in a postmortem analysis.

We live in tender times, when ETs might be squeezing into our reality from an inter-dimensional one, according to Congressional hearings. If ETs can do this, why not Russian trolls?

The pundits brought on a Harvard physicist countering that we should not need new physics e.g. string theory, which owns the multi-dimensional stuff, to explain (or explain away) the UAPs and their pilots. 

UAP pilots are made of ordinary meat until proved otherwise. Races of multi-dimensionals need not clutter our conceptual horizons.

Of course said physicist was wrong to circle the wagons around multi-dimensional stuff in the name of string theory, as the former has been a vista feature long before the latter made its reach for the brass ring, as the carousel turns. String theory capitalized on pre-existing art is what I'm saying.

We've chronicled the rise of hypercross dogmatism in these blogs and elsewhere, starting with Edwin Abbott's Flatland, and in connection with non-Euclidean geometry and the various art movements going back to P. D. Ouspensky (1878 - 1947), Claude Bragdon (1866 - 1946),  and before. 

The idea of a "fourth dimension" didn't first come up in connection with Einstein, and once you have four, the sky's the limit.

Bucky Fuller (1895-1983) threw his hat in the ring around this time (4D Time Lock, 1927), with his own 4D meme, which he continued to shepherd, making ripples in that shared n-dimensional space of vectorized word-meanings. 

When you have enough dimensions, you can have a lot of close friends that might not be that close to, or even aware of, each other. The freedom to associate, without guilt by association, is an important freedom.

Nowadays, we're free to use multi-dimensional models in ML without thinking twice about the "spiritual implications" i.e. talk of higher dimensions no longer inspires any sense of religious awe, either towards a supreme being, or towards minor beings, e.g. priests, who might know SB's mind better. 

We use higher dimensions in the linear algebra sense, with no sense of mysticism. We're computing credit-worthiness for mortgage lending for crying out loud. 

Enough with the inter-dimensional ETs already. We need some sexier language. "Astral planes" are dated too.

Remembering YouTube

My title "Remembering YouTube" might sound like I mean to eulogize, as if YouTube is behind us now. It isn't, not in 2023. The title is more meant as a mental exercise: for me. I'm taking a fresh look, and remembering YouTube in a way I've never imagined it before, according to the coordinate system (memory scheme) of an experienced content creator.

Let's remember, for context, that I'm a content creator myself, but not one with mass appeal or even monetization. I might as well not exist, in terms of the YouTube subcultures talked about above, vast and sprawling, with their own memes. However, as the tip of an iceberg, I do represent a subculture more generally, just one with a strictly limited tip on YouTube (as well as on Rumble, while we're at it).

You might be thinking: "how do you have the time to dive in to pop culture in such a time intensive way, don't you care about the design science revolution?" Ah, but I do care. Study of pop culture is essential to my work. Education automation. Freeing the scholar to return to his studies. Memes. Like I said.

I'm cutting and pasting from Zachary's description, in hopes of giving myself more guidance as I proceed with my project (of remembering YouTube): 

0:00 Introduction
1:20 What is YouTube Subculture?
5:30 Smosh Subculture
9:48 h3h3 Subculture
15:50 Gus Johnson, Eddy Burback, and Abelina Sabrina Schism
20:15 Idubbbz Subculture
25:46 Creator Clash 2

Channels primarily featured in this video:

   / @anthonypadilla  
   / @smosh  
   / @h3podcast  
   / @h3h3productions  
   / @gustoonz  
   / @eddyburback  
   / @abelinasabrina  
   / @idubbbztv  
   / @idubbbztv2  

:: MoPOP ::

Weather Watch

I've got a live channel going in another browser tab, as I follow the action regarding the tropical storm currently battering the state of Mexico and parts north.  Residents are wary, many having experienced flooding before. California properties are not exempt from the "laws of nature" as nature would have it. My sis filed a report about her situation (looks safe).

Some of the TrimTabbers on Saturday were likewise feeling safe enough, and therefore somewhat excited about the coming storm. I know the feeling. The satisfaction of having sufficient protection, while weathering dynamic force fields is an exciting experience sometimes. Lots of people tune in. Roller coasters are designed to be this kind of experience (and sometimes designs fail).

Events in Maui did not follow the slow buildup of suspense. The fires swept through before people had much information, if any. More like getting bombed. They surprise you. I heard an interview with Tulsi Gabbard on duty and not at liberty to play politics.

My situation is different: Portland is now getting the atmospheric effects of burning Canadian forests, more like in Calgary, where TrimTabber Ramsay is from. He was also on the call. We got to goof off on Mt. Tabor yesterday, where the Adult Soapbox Derby came off as post-covid, even though covid is still with us. I had a good time. I hadn't ascended Mt. Tabor by foot in awhile. Sydney got her walk in prior, and was happy enough to enjoy the shade of an insulated indoors.

Indeed, my environment has notched up in comfort in that Dr. D. finally induced me to allow him to install a living room aircon, one perfectly adapted to this environment. I've been one of those "only a few really hot days a year" Portlanders, stubborn about entering the air conditioning market. However this one was free, long story involving homeowner associations not always liking the aesthetic of home units. I'm not subject to such homeowner rules (beyond city codes) plus the unit is unobtrusive anyway.

This is the morning (before noon) time of August 20, and I'm in the same timezone as Angelinos (denizens of Los Angeles). What sounds like real time coverage is coming from my other browser tab. Portland is enjoying a break in its heat wave.

Given my situation is not dire, my focus, outside of mathematics videos, were climate change videos, rising water levels in Miami and Florida more generally.  I've lived in Florida in my formative years. I've visited in subsequent chapters, as my wife was from there too, east coast (Satellite Beach) versus west coast (Bradenton). I don't claim to be a southwesterner to the extent Glenn was (from Glen Canyon in formative years), but a feel like I know California and New Mexico to some degree, with still expanding horizons in some areas.

My study of rising seas led to the more general science of climatology, which is all about the Gibbs Phase Rule. Temperature and pressure, plus chemical composition, results in specific exo- and endothermic processes (aka chemical reactions) designed to achieve equilibrium among the phases:  gas, liquid, crystal (air, water, stone). That's an old timey alchemical-sounding formulation. The focus needs to be on the maths, the algorithms, if the goal is precise predictive models.

Humans still have a lot of optimism about their cosmic environment, in terms of solar output and projectile trajectories we know about. We're not expecting immanent incineration from outside the planetary ecosystem. We're far less serene about our internal situation, as we're a volatile species known to have some auto-immune disorder tendencies. We keep fighting ourselves, in ways that amaze even the entomologists.

"Please do not panic" the public official is saying. The public will thank you. The soap box derby was funny in that the adults were on the side of the megaphone flag people seeking to keep the track clear for the down-bound gravity powered vehicles, pushing off from the starting line. The crowd was welcome to hustle-bustle during announced intermissions.

The crowd would boo and heckle when scattered others would disobey barked instructions and try grabbing a little more distance to some better location, often a temptation. I was reminded not to sit on a hay bale, as these were collision protection devices, not spectator seating.

Both the barker and the heckling crowd were being good humored about their mannerisms i.e. the air of self parody and self mocking ("how could you?") had been achieved. No one disobedient was in danger of being mobbed or gunned down. Portlanders were simply enjoying their telepathic ability to create community theater, or perhaps the hecklers were volunteer plants. Either way, this was part of the fun we city dwellers enjoy, when not under threat from external force fields.

A takeaway from my studies: the thermal expansion of the oceans, with global warming, is a distinct phenomenon vs-a-vs melting ice, which is also happening. Or should I say "distinct cause" (same phenomenon: rising sea levels in Florida)?

The recent storms and flooding in northern China, including in Beijing itself, have been another YouTube obsession. Cleanup is more prosaic yet is just as dramatic in its own way and worthy of ongoing coverage, as is infrastructure more generally. Post-war Ukraine will be quite the undertaking, as is the refurbishing of the Donbass region (American and otherwise) is being.

Touring in the Silicon Forest

The exact boundaries of the Silicon Forest are nowhere specified to my knowledge. Although one may make the case it all started in Asylum District, my neighborhood, on Hawthorne Boulevard, with Tektronix and Electro-Scientific Industries, there's no need to get that specific about its origins, either.

In my own thinking, since we're talking often about Casino Math, and the many tribes intrinsic to the region, and given casinos are likewise vast data centers, Silicon Forest is to some degree a N8V American enterprise. From that platform, we embrace the Pacific Rim economies. If the Pacific is an American Lake (a nickname in this region), it's also a N8V American lake (that's just descriptive).

Although we drove by many casinos on this tour, we didn't go in. Instead we talked about the binomial theorem and probability from the standpoint of Pascal's Triangle, a grand central station, a focal point, on Maths Planet (with lots of train tracks coming and going), and the theme of the M4W movie currently under development, Andrius Kulikauskas directing. He's shortly to fly off to visit his brother, likewise an artist.

This was also a family visit for both of us. After leaving Andrius with his sis, I visited my haunts further north and this time managed to visit the grave of my great great grandmother, Lena Bjorklund. Her daughter Helena married Swan Person (Beth was able to find their marriage certificate in a heartbeat) and the rest is history, with Mercer Island a focus.

We pulled over in an all-electric Mustang (cooler than a Tesla if you ask me) and were thinking "the Jetsons" i.e. here we are in that 21st Century far future people wondered about. We're the colonists of that time. We're colonizing the future, that is, a space we create together.

Andrius asked me how Oregon Curriculum Network connects to Silicon Forest high schools. "By abduction" mostly, to steal a meme from Peirce the Pragmatist. I work backwards from the future, leveraging hindsight (mine to concoct), assuming folks wake up to the potential of the IVM and 4D in complement to the XYZ and 3D (the normie stuff).

In be-knighting Andrius "the Erdős of Wierdos" I wasn't meaning to be offensive or insulting. Rather, I'm extending the Esozone language, Subgenius tinged (overlap: "slack"), wherein "weirdos" form a peripheral network surrounding centralized normies (the normal mainstream programmed). 

You could call us "unprogrammed" (as some Friends do) but I'd prefer "auto-programmed" as in highly customized (by God, by prayer, by Bob, by whatever).  Andrius, like me, is sometimes itinerant, plus he recognizes and chronicles some really talented individuals, most of them likewise into esoterica.

Esoteric knowledge is not the same as Occult: the latter working overtime to deliberately obscure itself. Esoterica is often in full throttle outreach mode, yet nevertheless has limited appeal, because the content is difficult and challenging, like mountain climbing, or like endocrinology. 

The Silicon Forest is deeply into the esoterica of metallurgy and electronic bit manipulation (software development). That doesn't make us occult in the sense of secretive (unless you mean patent protective). We invite visitors. We invite tourists. We also tour.

Alternatives to Violence

I'm hosting an alternatives to violence guy -- spelled out in lower case because he's never heard of Alternatives to Violence (AVP), a formalized training workshop often held in prisons. 

He's worked in a prison, in a program designed to recruit and/or cultivate Independent Thinkers. 

Andrius Kulikauskas is Lithuanian, though born and raised in California. His main interest these days is his Math 4 Wisdom network / community, of which I am also a member.

I met his plane on Friday night. He was coming from a Category Theory conference at the University of Maryland. He is aware of my project and agenda: to track the progress we're making, with some of the ideas from Synergetics in higher ed.

Today I plan to introduce him to Quaker meeting at the meetinghouse nearby.

Some of his past work focused on tensions in Africa. Without visiting in person, but with strategically targeted $100 wire transfers, he was able to network with folks on the ground who were able to help diffuse situations in which armed youth gangs had taken over roads, to/from Nairobi for example.

Andrius is rather well versed in Lithuanian history, unlike myself, and so I'm using this opportunity to get more of the story. By filling in more of the gaps in my knowledge base, I'm better able to appreciate unfolding events in Ukraine and so on.