It’s the archetypal child’s drawing – family, pet, maybe a house and garden, and the child themselves. Yet, how do children represent themselves in their drawings, and does this representation alter according to who will look at the picture? A research found that children’s expressive drawings of themselves vary according to the authority of and familiarity with the adult who will view the picture. (1)
Drawing the cosmos.
Drawing your mother.
Drawing your father.
But do you know… you?
The hardest things to draw are the ones we know the most. Because the essence of things lies not on the outside. But on the things which are left unseen. Any line on paper will not reveal more about who you are. But it will obscure the true self that lies beneath the veil of existence.
Analog computers were used to predict tides from the early to mid-20th century, guide weapons on battleships and launch NASA’s first rockets into space. They first used gears and vacuum tubes, and later, transistors, that could be configured to solve problems with a range of variables. They perform mathematical functions directly. For instance, to add 5 and 9, analog computers add voltages that correspond to those numbers, and then instantly obtain the correct answer. However, analog computers were cumbersome and prone to “noise” – disturbances in the signals – and were difficult to re-configure to solve different problems, so they fell out of favor.
Digital computers emerged after transistors and integrated circuits were reliably mass produced, and for many tasks they are accurate and sufficiently flexible. Computer algorithms for those computers are based on the use of 0s and 1s.
Yet, 1s and 0s, pose limitations into solving some NP-hard problems. (e.g. the “Traveling Salesman” problem) The difficulty with such optimization problems, researcher Toroczkai noted, is that “while you can always come up with some answer, you cannot determine if it’s optimal. Determining that there isn’t a better solution is just as hard as the problem itself”.
[Note: NP-hardness is a theory of computational complexity, with problems that are famous for their difficulty. When the number of variables is large, problems associated with scheduling, protein folding, bioinformatics, medical imaging and many other areas are nearly unsolvable with known methods.]
That’s why researchers such as Zoltán Toroczkai, professor in the Department of Physics and concurrent professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, are interested in reviving analog computing. After testing their new method on a variety of NP-hard problems, the researchers concluded their solver has the potential to lead to better, and possibly faster, solutions than can be computed digitally. (1)
Breaking a problem into pieces can do so many things.
But at the end you will have to look at the problem itself.
And the problem does not have any components.
But only a solution.
Visible only to those who do not see the problem.
You cannot ride the waves.
All you can do is fall into the sea and swim.
You cannot live life.
All you can do is let go and prepare to die.
Look at the big picture.
You can solve anything.
As long as you accept that you cannot…
At the end, the voltage will reach zero.
At the end, the computer will shut down.
You might see this as a sign of failure.
But it would be the first time it really solved anything…
New Michigan State University research suggested babies who are less active get less sleep, something new parents may want to consider when looking for possible solutions for the long, sleepless nights. Napping doesn’t help either. In fact, babies who slept less at night, yet napped more during the day, still weren’t able to get as much sleep overall as those who slept more at night. Plus, the tired tots weighed significantly more based on their length, indicating a potential risk for early onset obesity. (1)
In the beginning there was One.
And this is now broken.
Only those who remember that simple truth can see that there is nothing to see.
The universe is full of opposites.
And everything needs its opposite to be complete.
This is not a question to be answered.
But the answer which produces all questions.
Humans try to answer questions and understand things. But every new answer adds more questions, simply because from the beginning we have started travelling in the wrong direction. Our need to understand does not stem from the existence of questions to be answered, but from our resistance in accepting the fact that there are no questions in the first place.
There is no positive and negative charge, there are only particles.
There is no staying awake or sleeping, there is only living.
There is no living or dying, there is just being.
Stay awake more. And you will sleep more.
Do things. And you will need not to do anything.
Live a more intense life. And you will welcome death.
Ask more questions and provide more answers.
And you will get to know the value of doing neither…
A novel insect-inspired flying robot, developed by TU Delft researchers from the Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab), is presented in Science. Experiments with this first autonomous, free-flying and agile flapping-wing robot – carried out in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research – improved our understanding of how fruit flies control aggressive escape maneuvers. Apart from its further potential in insect flight research, the robot’s exceptional flight qualities open up new drone applications. (1)
We believe that mimicking insects is
easier than mimicking humans.
But it’s quite the opposite.
It takes a lot to mimic something
which does nothing.
For especially because of that, it
does everything…
Look beyond the thunders in the storm.
It is the calmness before it which is
the source of its strength.
Look beyond the fragility of the
butterfly.
It is because of that that its
existence is so substantial.
Look beyond the chattering arrogance
of humans.
It is only because he talks too much
that he can’t listen to anything…
Look beyond that robot which does
everything.
It is because of that that it cannot accept that it just Is…
There is a great hype lately about how some new billionaire must be our new idol. And I totally disagree with that hype. Billionaires are not only overrated. They are constantly advertising all those things that should not be part of the principles in a man’s life.
To begin with, there is nothing wrong with being successful. I am not arguing against that. I am arguing against the definition of successful though.
Successful is raising your kids without having money.
Not creating companies with your dad’s money.
Successful is having a hard life and still smile.
Not being a rock star and being praised for working more than eight hours.
Successful is having a family and raising your kids.
Not changing women like shirts and buying your kids yachts.
Successful is creating a good company without subsidies.
Not posing as an entrepreneur with my money.
Successful is finishing your phD or your bachelor’s degree.
Not quitting school because you had an ‘idea’.
Successful is having humble beginning and still stay humble.
Not pose as the new Tony Stark while governments (or agencies) support your ideas.
Successful is breaking your will to accept the world.
Not breaking everything to impose your own will to the cosmos.
Does that sound like failure to you?You might be right.Because at the end, success is not measured by success. No, these are not excuses for me not being a billionaire. I am sure I would be one if I had the Jedi-mind ability to convince people of things which might lead them to jail or if I managed to convince NASA to give me money to build spaceships with a company I owned which could not make spaceships (random example). I am sure I would be a zillionaire if I decided to leave all my family and children and friends while pursuing my dream to save the cosmos from something it never asked to be saved from.
People admire Bruce Lee for being a master of the martial arts. But there is nothing magic in being one. All you have to do is practice all day long every day until you die. See? You can be Bruce Lee too. And a billionaire (but then you wouldn’t have time to get that black belt). And a phD holder (but then you wouldn’t have time to be a billionaire). And a family guy (but then you might not even have time to get a phD)…
It is all a matter of priorities. So get your’s straight. And stop admiring false idols.
At the end, every man (and woman) can go on his own path. What we need to make sure though is not that the path is enlightened. But that the path leads to light at the end…
If that difference troubles you, then cheer up. You are in the right path already. Only some tears away from a smile…
