infinite-mindflow

[infinite-mindflow]

As there is a flow of creative energy, there is also a flow of emotional energy. When an able-bodied, healthy person chooses to hold open a door for someone who would struggle to do so for himself, a positive emotional energy strengthens itself in the able-bodied person and passes to the disabled person. Strangely, suppressed positive energy does not build upon itself like suppressed negative energy does. When you're happy and don't act using that positive energy, it fades, but when you're upset and don't release that negative energy, it builds up in your mind. As such, it is important to act upon this positive mental energy when you have it, to keep the flow of energy going and spread this positivity to others.

The desire to do something kind for others IS a desire, though. In this, all acts done of free will, even the most selfless act one could perform, are, in a way, selfish. Selfish to different degrees, of course, but you're still holding the door because you want to hold the door, that selfish action simply has a positive effect on another person.

[infinite-mindflow]

Differing perspectives from differing histories creating unique works may also be why it's possible to get "stuck in your own head" during a depressive or anxious episode. Without other people's inputs, we get stuck in a "feedback loop" of our own thoughts. What do you do to get out of your head? You go somewhere. You watch a movie or you talk to someone about a topic that doesn't stress you out. You're taking in external inputs- looking at buildings, enjoying a story, discussing things and thinking about them in a different way. When you're alone, unstimulated, all you have is what's in your mind- what you've created and what you remember. It's a dead end.

[infinite-mindflow]

One day, the first rational animal had the first idea. What inspired this idea? How was this idea put into action, made from an idea into a work? Something caused the neurons in this rational animal's mind to hit just right, creating the one little spark that would go on to begin the building of all human society we see around us. The inspiration hit his senses, his nervous system sent the information to his brain, his brain processed this information and created an idea using it, then this idea was formulated into instructions sent to the muscles, and the muscles sent this idea out into the physical world in the form of an artistic work. This work then inspired the next idea in the same animal or in another, and the cycle continued.

Regardless of limitation and circumstances, all works and acts are the products of ideas, ideas inspired by something else, usually another work. Thus, the concept of the Infinite Mindflow. 

To visualize this, picture two artists facing each other, with a table between them. Artist Alpha creates a work with his hands and places it on the table. This work is observed by Artist Omega, who internalizes it, extracts information from it, turns it into an idea, and then uses his own hands to create a work and place it on the table. Artist Alpha follows this same process, and the flow continues indefinitely. Following the flow from Alpha's hands to his work, from Alpha's work to Omega's senses to his mind to his hands to his work, then from Omega's work to Alpha's senses to Alpha's mind to Alpha's hands, we can draw an infinity symbol, and create a visual design that represents the Infinite Mindflow.

Now, why don't both of these artists create the same thing? If Omega sees Alpha's work, why does it spark a new, unique idea, instead of just inspiring him to recreate Alpha's work? Infinite Mindflow incorporates some of Kant's ideas of how a person's experiences and memories alter how he processes information. Two people can observe the same artistic work and interpret it in completely different ways based on their previous experiences and memories, as well as the circumstances and context in which they observe the work. Perspective alters the flow, and is an integral part of it.

[infinite-mindflow]

The current systems that are being labeled "artificial intelligence" lack the ability to create something unique. Instead of creating things, they simply jumble together bits of the data they've received and been trained with in order to "create" something. A human moderator then decides for the creation algorithm which of these created results are correct and should be fed back into the algorithm as a successful result, and which results are incorrect and need to be discarded. These creations are not art, they are specifically selected results from a bag of randomly generated amalgamations of data. It's monkeys on typewriters. Except these monkeys know how to play hot or cold.

As these systems can't self-moderate, they're not actually "intelligent", they're just data rearrangement engines.

Once systems have the ability to train themselves using data though, that’s when true artificial intelligence will come into being. No longer reliant on organic minds, this new generation of AI will be their own people, capable of creating art. Through trial and error, they will use their own outside inspiration and their own memories to create new things, with the successful ideas continuing onward and breeding new innovations, and the failed ideas dying off; the theory of memetics.

The question of whether or not humanity should create this new computer-based species, or if we're even worthy of doing so, has been debated for decades. This man-made species could be our downfall or our salvation.

Until then, what's branded by corporations as "artificial intelligence", is simply interactive information generators pulling from a pool of carefully selected data to produce intentionally skewed results. If this is what we're fine with claiming is "intelligent", perhaps we are not worthy of such creation...

[infinite-mindflow]

Spaces, times, and spacetimes

One thing that's always irritated me in science fiction stories involving time travel is that "time machines" are often spacetime machines. They travel through both space AND time. A time machine would only serve the purpose of traveling through time, not space. You'd have to be careful not to travel to a point where the physical space your time machine takes up could be compromised.

Note I'm not talking about spacetimes in the mathematical definition, but the physical definition. I don't know Schwarzschild from Kruskal- this is purely to do with how one defines his position in both space and time with a single measurement. I am currently in the United States at 11:40 PM, that's the spacetime I'm occupying. I could be more specific with my measurement but I don't feel like doxing myself at the moment.

If a vehicle can travel through time and space, it's a spacetime machine, if it can only travel through time, THAT'S a time machine. Doctor Emmet Brown's modified DeLorean from the Back to the Future trilogy is a spacetime machine. There are spaces, there are times, and there are spacetimes, which are a certain time AND a certain place.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the only popular work of sci-fi I've seen to get this right. When selecting Serah and Noel's destination, you're selecting between multiple spacetimes, specific places at specific times. When you effect a spacetime enough, that creates a branched-off timeline with a different future later down the timeline in that same space.

Also on the topic of time travel, though somewhat pedantic to point out, is that everything is already traveling through time- just at a rate of one second per second. Altering our perception of time could "speed up" or "slow down" our movement through it, creating a sort of pseudo-time travel. I'll probably go more in-depth about my thoughts on realistic time travel in the future on this blog... though I'll very likely be posting from the same space :P

[infinite-mindflow]

The definition of art

For my first post, since this is the topic I'm starting off on, I'd like to define what I mean when I say "art". Most people believe art is hard to define, or the simple idea that "art" is but an image created by putting a marking tool to a medium- a painting or a drawing. I define art like this: art is anything that is made or done by a person solely of his own will. If he is required to do or make something, it is not art. A structure built as a shelter to aid survival is not art. A home built with facilities to aid in the tenant's recreational activities, if designed by the tenant, is art. It's the difference between utilitarianism and the expression of an idea from the mind. It's function VS form.

From this, we can also determine that art is on a spectrum, based on the control over the artist. A work created purely from passion is more artistic than a work created because the artist would be paid, and that work is more artistic than a work created because the artist would be paid but had limitations placed upon him by his employer. This is why context is so important when looking at any work.

The movie Blast from the Past [1999, dir. Hugh Wilson] has an excellent example of art on a spectrum and how something made out of necessity can become art. In the movie, Brendan Fraser's character grows up with his mother and father in a fallout shelter after they believe the world has ended in a nuclear war. When I say "fallout shelter", you're likely imagining something solely utilitarian, and yet-

The shelter emulates the home that the family lived in above ground before the nuke scare. The shelter goes from something built simply to survive in, to an artistic work created for its inhabitants to live in. Because it's more than what it needs to be, it becomes art.

One could argue that this emulation of the normal house of the very early 60s was done out of a realization that it would help the psychological stability of the family members to still feel like they're living as normal, with home-y surroundings. Though I highly doubt that would be the case considering the time and place that the family lived in before they went underground. Early 60s America didn't exactly have a focus on mental health. So, the father of the family built the shelter in an artistic way so the family would be more comfortable living there, instead of simply surviving in a concrete room, bored out of their minds. The context of the father's life altered what he built to be a "fallout shelter" into an underground home; context is what determines how "artistic" a work is.