Today, the first 10cm of snow fell from the sky. I had to be at test by 10.00, so I left home at 9.05 to make sure there was enough marginal for possible problems.
At the bus stop, there were 10 people waiting, which is about double the amount that is withing normal daily variation. Some of them had waited for 20 minutes. When I was waiting, a car stopped at the bus stop and offered ride for some people. Then this happened again. It seemed to be the main way to get forward.
Well, I though that the marginal just may not be enough, if the buses don't come, so I started walking to ensure that I made it in time, while there still enough of it. Unfortunately I was stupid enough to choose a marginally shorter route, where the snow had not yet been pushed away, so I had to walk a kilometer in snow. In the end I made it in time, but only with ~5 minute marginal.
Anyway, I don't understand people who take stress about weather and curse it, even if it barely affects them during their commutes. Since weather can't be changed, it's a bit like being disappointed that you only have two eyes, while it would be sooo nice to have a third eye in the backside of the head.
(People working at transportation and farming sector have good reasons to be stressed about weather, so they are exceptions.)
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Fake Headlines
This has potential to become a meme ... started by Vera. Here are a few fake headlines on energy.
"EU has decided to cut economic growth by 8% in order to comply with Kyoto targets. The decision is expected to have no effect whatsoever."
"Environmentalists support a scalable electricity production method!"
Comment afterwards: This post is really lousy. I intended to write a longer one about electricity generation to support the attitudes expressed here; however, I don't have patience to dig up the numbers. The points would have been that(1) economic growth and electricity consumption are inseparably linked; there doesn't exist a single 10-year period of economic growth combined with a decrease in energy consumption. (2) burning hydrocarbons and splitting atoms are the only scalable ways to generate electricity; the post would have argumented against wind.
"EU has decided to cut economic growth by 8% in order to comply with Kyoto targets. The decision is expected to have no effect whatsoever."
"Environmentalists support a scalable electricity production method!"
Comment afterwards: This post is really lousy. I intended to write a longer one about electricity generation to support the attitudes expressed here; however, I don't have patience to dig up the numbers. The points would have been that(1) economic growth and electricity consumption are inseparably linked; there doesn't exist a single 10-year period of economic growth combined with a decrease in energy consumption. (2) burning hydrocarbons and splitting atoms are the only scalable ways to generate electricity; the post would have argumented against wind.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Behaviorism Is Alive And Kicking
Marginal Revolution linked to an article about a school/mental asylum that uses behavioristic methods to keep the special education students well behaved.
They use electric shocks as a punishment. The shocks are administered by devices that are all the time connected to the clients. If the clients behave badly, the staff members can zap them, producing a shock that is comparable to a bee string. The punishment is not arbitrary, but "each student has a sheet listing the types of behaviors that prompt a staff member to administer a shock".
One of the basic ideas of behaviorism is that punishments and rewards should be (1) immediate (2) recognized as punishments/rewards and (3) appropriate for the student's level of understanding. The immediacy is important to ensure that "even a student with a low IQ or a severe psychiatric disorder might be made to understand that whatever he just did was unacceptable". The shock is unquestionably recognized as a punishment. However, it is important to notice that a punishment is not always experienced as a punishment - the article lists counseling as an example: "School literature states that counseling is done "as needed," but not when it could be seen as a reward for bad behavior".
In addition to electric shocks, the school uses a wide range of positive reinforcement. Also the mere threat of shock is for many clients enough to keep the behaviour in line so that actual shocks are not needed.
My take? Wish I could buy an alarm clock that would deliver an electric shock if the I don't rise from bed and press the button three times during the next half an hour.
The article also mentions that the founder of the institute tried to manufacture behavioristic teaching machines in the 60s. I've written about them here. Basically, the 60s teaching machine movement was trying to build mechanical and electric teaching devices to help with rote memorization, but the 60s technology was too inflexible. Present-day flashcard programs, including the ones I've written, are descendants of this tradition.
They use electric shocks as a punishment. The shocks are administered by devices that are all the time connected to the clients. If the clients behave badly, the staff members can zap them, producing a shock that is comparable to a bee string. The punishment is not arbitrary, but "each student has a sheet listing the types of behaviors that prompt a staff member to administer a shock".
One of the basic ideas of behaviorism is that punishments and rewards should be (1) immediate (2) recognized as punishments/rewards and (3) appropriate for the student's level of understanding. The immediacy is important to ensure that "even a student with a low IQ or a severe psychiatric disorder might be made to understand that whatever he just did was unacceptable". The shock is unquestionably recognized as a punishment. However, it is important to notice that a punishment is not always experienced as a punishment - the article lists counseling as an example: "School literature states that counseling is done "as needed," but not when it could be seen as a reward for bad behavior".
In addition to electric shocks, the school uses a wide range of positive reinforcement. Also the mere threat of shock is for many clients enough to keep the behaviour in line so that actual shocks are not needed.
My take? Wish I could buy an alarm clock that would deliver an electric shock if the I don't rise from bed and press the button three times during the next half an hour.
The article also mentions that the founder of the institute tried to manufacture behavioristic teaching machines in the 60s. I've written about them here. Basically, the 60s teaching machine movement was trying to build mechanical and electric teaching devices to help with rote memorization, but the 60s technology was too inflexible. Present-day flashcard programs, including the ones I've written, are descendants of this tradition.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Dating meme: I am an asshole ... give me your candy!
Real men like me don't wait to be challenged to memes but take the initiative themselves, so I'll answer to Hurina's dating meme.
I'm short (163cm) and unmuscular. I like to wear yuppie-style collar shirts and cotton pants. I have a sense of humor, which I express mainly in writing.
Although I don't own a house nor a car and am not currently working, my financial situation is good thanks to disinterest towards the aspects of life that cost a lot of money.
My hobbies include writing computer-aided language learning software and playing go. It's also nice to play old Finnish popular music by electric organs, and go to electronic music events and dance myself legless.
I like to be in control of my own life, and I have succeeded in that a bit too well, since also in my sex life the initiative is in my own hands. Will you change it? I'd like to be tied up and shat on.
Update to avoid further misunderstandings: This dating annoucement is directed exclusively at women.
I'm short (163cm) and unmuscular. I like to wear yuppie-style collar shirts and cotton pants. I have a sense of humor, which I express mainly in writing.
Although I don't own a house nor a car and am not currently working, my financial situation is good thanks to disinterest towards the aspects of life that cost a lot of money.
My hobbies include writing computer-aided language learning software and playing go. It's also nice to play old Finnish popular music by electric organs, and go to electronic music events and dance myself legless.
I like to be in control of my own life, and I have succeeded in that a bit too well, since also in my sex life the initiative is in my own hands. Will you change it? I'd like to be tied up and shat on.
Update to avoid further misunderstandings: This dating annoucement is directed exclusively at women.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Happiness
| Topic | Absolutist view | Relativist view |
|---|---|---|
| What makes you happy | The absolute amount of resources determines your ability to satisfy your wants, needs and desires. | Humans determine their level of satisfaction with their current situation by comparing themselves to others, so that your status relative to others determines your happiness. |
| Game metaphor of life | Life is a positive-sum game, full of opportunities that benefit both parties and just wait to be exploited. Are you taking advantage of them? | Life is a zero-sum game, where the spoils of co-operation are divided unevenly between participants. Are you a wolf or a sheep? |
| Attitude to power | Power is legitimate, it hierarchy enables a group of people to get things done better. There's nothing wrong with being a servant in a legitimate hierachy that gives you better results than you could achieve alone. | Power is means for the strong to exploit the weak. You should get as much of it as possible. Serving others is necessary sometimes, but in the long run a sign of failure. |
| To gain happiness, you should be... | 1. Resourceful in order to have something to give, so that you can participate in exchanges and get things you want. 2. Trusted so that other people are willing to engage in activities that carry a risk. 3. Networked and Informed so that you hear about the opportunities. 4. Social so that you can organize things and exchange views and information. 5. Intolerant agaist people who break the rules in order to create a deterrent. | 1. Strong so that you can bully others into submission. 2. Ruthless so that you are not prevented by so-called "moral". 3. Cynical in order to prevent others from exploiting you. 4. Able to fake it to create a good impression. |
| Attitude to other people | Other people are an opportunity to gain information and get deals. You should take a positive attitude to socializing with other people, until they prove themselves untrustable or send signals that imply untrustability. | Other people are trying to manipulate resources from you by their emotions. You should be careful and wary of them. |
| Other people's happiness | Most people can achieve happiness, since if we set some reasonable standard of living, with suitable economic growth it is achievable for Joe on the street. | It is impossible for everyone to achieve happiness, since for each person who is above average in wealth or status there is another person who is below average. In the end, other people's happiness is your misery. |
| Opinion on current system | Democratic free martket system has achieved unprecedented standard of living. If you are not happy in this environment, the mistake is either in your attitude or the company you keep. The unemployed are nowadays enjoying many benefits unavailable for the nobility in the past, and this trend of improvement is continuing. | The income differences are starker than ever due to economies of scale and winner-takes-it-all competitions. Due to media, people increasingly compare themselves to the top, making them feel more inferior than before. Global competition for scarce resources is tougher than ever, forcing people to take desparate actions. |
| Attitude to information | Trying to talk true and insightful facts enhances other people's trust towards you. It is also important that other people know your interests, since it increases your chances to hear about opportunities to further those interests. | You should talk sentences that create positive/negative associations that serve your interests. Talking truth is unessential, since everyone knows it anyway and if they don't, it gives you a competitive advantage. The main thing is that the other believe you. You should always ask: Whose interests are these "facts" serving? |
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Werewolf Masquerade
A week ago me and my brother had a conversation about live gigs. He had seen an electro band Imatran Voima and was impressed by a combination of powerful music and good show. Since I used to visit rock gigs, he asked if that was usual in live performances.
I answered no, and listed the self-ironic bands ? the only ones that had made any impression on me.
Yesterday, I went to a gig by Moonspell, and it changed my views.
(By the way, it has nothing to do with my brother possibly listening to Moonspell in the past. I don't have any memories of being present when my brother put the cassette mentioned in the previous post to a cassette player. In high school, there was a metal fan named Leo who had Moonspell's songs Opium and Mr. Crowley in his hard disk, where I copied them via network share. Later, when I first connected to P2P network I copied more of Moonspell.)
In an earlier post, I?ve listed the reasons that I stopped going to rock gigs and preferred electronic music events: (1) that DJ music is better, since it is done by world-class composers and players, (2) that in your typical live gig the guitars, drums and vocals mix up into an incomprehensible mess, while record music tends to be well mixed, (3) the sound samples of the electronic music are optimized to stay clean and separate even in bad acoustic conditions, while electric guitar is not, and (4) the rave culture involves dancing, which is active participation; after getting used to it, it bores you to tears to just drink beer and watch bands come and go.
Well, in Moonspell?s gig it was all fixed! Moonspell?s musicians are some of the best metal composers and players. The sound was clear and instruments and vocals could be distinguished from each others without effort. And since they were popular, a huge mass of people gathered in front, making the participation more active than just sitting and drinking beer. Regarding the music, I had listened to some of the songs beforehand tens of times. That definitely helps immersion but that is a bit beyond point, since maybe 2/3 of them were still unknown to me.
And to top it all, the singer could really interact with the audience. Especially his hand gestures were really controlled, oscillating between sudden, violent movements that perfectly matched the rhythm on the one hand, and conscious, steady, fully-in-control movements that gave the audience guidance on when to raise hands. The hand dynamics are clearly visible in this video.
Earlier, I?ve noticed that the best of metal and the best of electronic music are equally good on record. Now I know that in the top end, also the live performances are equally good. However, this won?t make me a rock fan, since acts of this class are very rare and the quality of local, Tampere class bands is waaaayyyyy higher in electronic music.
A combination of heavy drunkenness on my part and dancing instincts trained on raves probably resulted in me looking distinctively like the drunken idiot I was, but that?s what people get drunk for. Immersion isn?t possible without a suitable level of drunkenness.
I answered no, and listed the self-ironic bands ? the only ones that had made any impression on me.
Yesterday, I went to a gig by Moonspell, and it changed my views.
(By the way, it has nothing to do with my brother possibly listening to Moonspell in the past. I don't have any memories of being present when my brother put the cassette mentioned in the previous post to a cassette player. In high school, there was a metal fan named Leo who had Moonspell's songs Opium and Mr. Crowley in his hard disk, where I copied them via network share. Later, when I first connected to P2P network I copied more of Moonspell.)
In an earlier post, I?ve listed the reasons that I stopped going to rock gigs and preferred electronic music events: (1) that DJ music is better, since it is done by world-class composers and players, (2) that in your typical live gig the guitars, drums and vocals mix up into an incomprehensible mess, while record music tends to be well mixed, (3) the sound samples of the electronic music are optimized to stay clean and separate even in bad acoustic conditions, while electric guitar is not, and (4) the rave culture involves dancing, which is active participation; after getting used to it, it bores you to tears to just drink beer and watch bands come and go.
Well, in Moonspell?s gig it was all fixed! Moonspell?s musicians are some of the best metal composers and players. The sound was clear and instruments and vocals could be distinguished from each others without effort. And since they were popular, a huge mass of people gathered in front, making the participation more active than just sitting and drinking beer. Regarding the music, I had listened to some of the songs beforehand tens of times. That definitely helps immersion but that is a bit beyond point, since maybe 2/3 of them were still unknown to me.
And to top it all, the singer could really interact with the audience. Especially his hand gestures were really controlled, oscillating between sudden, violent movements that perfectly matched the rhythm on the one hand, and conscious, steady, fully-in-control movements that gave the audience guidance on when to raise hands. The hand dynamics are clearly visible in this video.
Earlier, I?ve noticed that the best of metal and the best of electronic music are equally good on record. Now I know that in the top end, also the live performances are equally good. However, this won?t make me a rock fan, since acts of this class are very rare and the quality of local, Tampere class bands is waaaayyyyy higher in electronic music.
A combination of heavy drunkenness on my part and dancing instincts trained on raves probably resulted in me looking distinctively like the drunken idiot I was, but that?s what people get drunk for. Immersion isn?t possible without a suitable level of drunkenness.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Sudden changes in personality
Recently, Ilkka has apparently had a sudden change in personality. When I still lived with my parents and siblings, my brother also had two sudden changes in personality. I'll describe them in order to provide perspective to Ilkka's case. Markku seems to know more, but doesn't want to tell.
Before the first change, my brother listened to metal (he had at least one Sepultura's record and Moonspell's casette) and had wrestling as his hobby. He was very hostile towards me and my parents. Once he spoke about a potential fight: He said that if the other party initiates it, he will be looking forward to beating the other person.
After the first change, he started drawing. He attended a drawing school, switched from normal class to a dedicated artistic class (there were 4 normal classes and one artistic class at each grade) and listened to electronic music. He related to the past personality with shame and embarrassment: Once when Metal Union started in Radio Mafia, he quickly closed the radio: "But it's metal!". He was still hostile towards me and my parents, so I have no idea what caused the change.
This continued until the second change. The first change happened in comprehensive school; the second change happened when he was in high school (in an artistic class). He switched from high school with an artistic class to the same high school where me and my sister went. He started to be interested in math and natural sciences, and spent much more time with homework. It culminated in him applying and getting to the the same math-oriented highscool which I described earlier.
Again, he condemned his past. He despised artists and art. At this time, my sister was going to study graphical industry, and he also expressed his dislike towards my sister's choice. As far as I know, the seconds change had a lot to do with personal chemistry; he got fed up with the strongly religous person that was running the drawing school.
He described as liberating the experience of leaving the drawing school for the last time and knowing that he will never again step there, which reminds me of Ilkka's comment that he is finally free.
Nowadays, the only trace from the wrestling period is his attendance to karate classes; but I'm sure he has a very different attitude towards the activity. The despise towards graphical art has also dissipated, which is most visible in his interest towards fractal art (here is his first production). The changes were genuine, but they were partially reversed, and the old traits and skills took a very different form.
He probably had a third change between high school and university, but I don't know about that since I didn't see him often.
Before the first change, my brother listened to metal (he had at least one Sepultura's record and Moonspell's casette) and had wrestling as his hobby. He was very hostile towards me and my parents. Once he spoke about a potential fight: He said that if the other party initiates it, he will be looking forward to beating the other person.
After the first change, he started drawing. He attended a drawing school, switched from normal class to a dedicated artistic class (there were 4 normal classes and one artistic class at each grade) and listened to electronic music. He related to the past personality with shame and embarrassment: Once when Metal Union started in Radio Mafia, he quickly closed the radio: "But it's metal!". He was still hostile towards me and my parents, so I have no idea what caused the change.
This continued until the second change. The first change happened in comprehensive school; the second change happened when he was in high school (in an artistic class). He switched from high school with an artistic class to the same high school where me and my sister went. He started to be interested in math and natural sciences, and spent much more time with homework. It culminated in him applying and getting to the the same math-oriented highscool which I described earlier.
Again, he condemned his past. He despised artists and art. At this time, my sister was going to study graphical industry, and he also expressed his dislike towards my sister's choice. As far as I know, the seconds change had a lot to do with personal chemistry; he got fed up with the strongly religous person that was running the drawing school.
He described as liberating the experience of leaving the drawing school for the last time and knowing that he will never again step there, which reminds me of Ilkka's comment that he is finally free.
Nowadays, the only trace from the wrestling period is his attendance to karate classes; but I'm sure he has a very different attitude towards the activity. The despise towards graphical art has also dissipated, which is most visible in his interest towards fractal art (here is his first production). The changes were genuine, but they were partially reversed, and the old traits and skills took a very different form.
He probably had a third change between high school and university, but I don't know about that since I didn't see him often.
Friday, September 22, 2006
EU: A federation based on rule of law
Lately, the city center of Tampere has been full of policemen because of the EU2006 summit. I don't know what they decide; hardly anything that has a visible effect on my life. Certainly they have power to change significant things, but it is pretty much rendered insignificant by disagreements between different factions and the behind-the-scenes nature of EU regulation for those who don't work at administration and don't run a company nor a farm.
Even with its mild excesses, a society based on rule of law is infinitely better than one based on rule of mob and corruption.
That's why asylum seekers are queueing at our gates. That's why immigrants risk drowning to get here, and that's why new countries are constantly willing to join EU.
(What this is all about is providing an alternative interpretation against the baseless association of EU with a police state.)
Thursday, September 21, 2006
What worries me ...
... is that Lovelacen Testi and Danimal Archive are also gone. It would have been so nice to advertise Finnish Annotator as means to read a blogger censored by the feminists.
It's also a sign that the problems may be quite severe. Hopefully we'll find out what happened behind the scenes.
Disagreeing with Ilkka on many aspects, I have to admit that I feel a bit of the same schadenfreude that colored his writings so much.
Update: Answer to The Scientist: Yes, it was wrong for the reporter to do what she did, since she knew from the case of Lawrence Summers that such publicity can have dire consequences.
It's also a sign that the problems may be quite severe. Hopefully we'll find out what happened behind the scenes.
Disagreeing with Ilkka on many aspects, I have to admit that I feel a bit of the same schadenfreude that colored his writings so much.
Update: Answer to The Scientist: Yes, it was wrong for the reporter to do what she did, since she knew from the case of Lawrence Summers that such publicity can have dire consequences.
Finnish Annotator
Here's a webalized version of my old flashcard program.
The system includes:
1) A Finnish annotator,
2) a Chinese flashcard program,
3) exercise for drawing Chinese characters.
The annotator is the weakest part and barely functioning, but the other parts are quite ok.
www.finnishannotator.com
PS. I'll remove the open registration in one week.
The system includes:
1) A Finnish annotator,
2) a Chinese flashcard program,
3) exercise for drawing Chinese characters.
The annotator is the weakest part and barely functioning, but the other parts are quite ok.
www.finnishannotator.com
PS. I'll remove the open registration in one week.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Corporism^2
Should write a private biography someday.
The autobiography would consist of two parts: Firstly, authetic documents (diary notes, emails, blog posts) from the time. These documents would not be inteded to be read completely, but you could dip into them to get a better idea of past way of thinking.
Secondly, it would describe and analyze past events and worldview in the wisdom of the hindsight.
This kind of biography would enable to learn from past mistakes and get more invaluable life experience out of the same period of time.
It would be a monument to stupidity, silliness and embarrassment: The authentic documents would serve this purpose in "show, don't tell" style, and the hindsight part would be a constant ridicule of past me.
That kind of document would be too embarrassing to show for anyone else, which also decreases the motivation to write one.
The autobiography would consist of two parts: Firstly, authetic documents (diary notes, emails, blog posts) from the time. These documents would not be inteded to be read completely, but you could dip into them to get a better idea of past way of thinking.
Secondly, it would describe and analyze past events and worldview in the wisdom of the hindsight.
This kind of biography would enable to learn from past mistakes and get more invaluable life experience out of the same period of time.
It would be a monument to stupidity, silliness and embarrassment: The authentic documents would serve this purpose in "show, don't tell" style, and the hindsight part would be a constant ridicule of past me.
That kind of document would be too embarrassing to show for anyone else, which also decreases the motivation to write one.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Technical Skill And Maturity
Summary: Gifted young sometimes show a peculiar combination of high-level technical skill and low-level maturity. The lack of maturity is no excuse to belittle or dismiss their technical skill; it can and should be harnessed by methods that compensate for the lack of maturity.
Lately, Finns have discussed special education for gifted children. Since I went to a very ambitious math high school, I want to offer my view on this question.
The school was called Valkeakosken aikuislukion matematiikkalinja. It was located 10km from Toijala, a town with 8400 inhabitants. The students lived in the school.
I found out about the school, when they sent me a letter of invitation after I had done well in a competition. I entered the school in the summer 1997. The summer was a "probabtion period" where they checked if we were correct material for the school and prepared us for the following two years. The days were filled with math education, where we went quickly through a lot of material. We were not supposed to learn it, but to get a good overview which would facilitate more thorough learning later. Typically, every other week was education in Toijala and every other week was summer holiday in our homes.
There weren't that many applicants. If I remember correctly, there were 25 applicants for 20 places. Some of them didn't even want to continue after the summer. Rather than being a hypercompetitive pruning game, it was a test of whether we were prepared to leave our homes for fast-paced math education.
We also had a programming course in that summer. It was some kind of "Introduction to Programming", and it was lectured by two teachers from Tampere University of Technology. This programming course prepared us for internship in companies; that internship would pay our living costs. All students eventually passed the course, although many people had to return the exercise works several times.
With the fall of the autumn, we moved there permanently and started also part-time work. I was paired with Jarno, and we were given a work task by a nearby vocational school. They had a drilling machine, which made holes to chips in places where components should be inserted. The drilling machine took a list of (x, y) -coordinates and drilled the appropriate holes on an empty chip. Our task was to make a program, which would take a scanned picture of a chip as input. The program would identify the holes and output a list of coordinates for the holes.
They didn't just throw the assignment at us, but ensured that we would know what to do with it. Fortunately, I had done some simple graphics programming earlier; otherwise we couldn't have done it. Those past skills were put to good use in this programming task.
We didn't know enough math to rotate the scanned picture of a chip, so a student from the older class wrote a texture rotation code. Also, me and Jarno didn't have Windows programming experience; after we had done the basic algorithm, an experienced Windows coder from our class added a graphical UI to it.
The experienced Windows coder was one of the two persons in our class (2 our of 20), who had already developed almost industrial-strength coding skill before coming to Päivölä. What they had in common was that their parents could also code and gave them advice on their hobby. In addition, there were at least 3 persons (inclding me) who had had some earlier programming experience.
The vocational school headmaster knew how to extract productivity out of immature souls. He gave us a clearly defined technical task, and made sure that we knew where to start. We didn't need to do those parts that require maturity, experience and human relationship skills - negotiating conditions, choosing partners, finding out what needs to be done in the first place, etc. And frankly, I couldn't have done anything that required maturity. I had never had a summer job, my capability to take responsibility was low and my social skills were nonexistent.
The newspaper article ends with a sentence where the Finnish Minister of Education, Mr. Heinäluoma takes a stance against this kind of education by saying that "little Einsteins" would only be damaged if they were to be separated to their own caste.
First, I'll deconstruct the phrase "little Einsteins". The diminutive "little" can imply two things. Firstly, it can imply that these people are little mommy's boys, who do everything their mothers and teachers say and are in general spineless. This implies that they deserve to be insulted and bullied until they grow up to become sullen teenagers. Secondly, it can imply that these people only have "play" skills that are appropriate for children. As I have already explanined, the coding skills which I saw in Päivölä were very real, just waiting to be applied to the easy end of the industry problems.
The word 'genius' has two meanings. First of all, it refers to a person with extraordinary mental ability. Secondly, it is an insult against people who think they are smarter than they are.
We can conclude our deconstruction by saying that both "little" and "Einstein" can be considered as negative testimony against the character of the people involved, and as encouragements to insult and bully them. You wouldn't call a 25 years old fresh collage graduate a "little Einstein" who would be better off vandalizing, shoplifting and drinking himself into a gutter compared to using his skills in a productive way. Why is it completely appropriate to say such things about teenagers? Is it because our society so extremely low expectations about young people that doing something useful while you could just leech your parents has become a sign of profoundly un-indivualistic wimpyness?
Now, let's look at the claim that these people would be damaged by special education. I really don't think that the programming course, work intership, improved math education and likeminded company damaged me. If I was immature after it, that's only because I was even worse when I came there.
In short, Mr. Heinäluoma's comment demonstrates complete lack of understanding about the nature of giftedness; about the division to technical skill and maturity development, and about effective ways to harness giftedness in ways that are economically productive and good for the subject's development.
Lately, Finns have discussed special education for gifted children. Since I went to a very ambitious math high school, I want to offer my view on this question.
The school was called Valkeakosken aikuislukion matematiikkalinja. It was located 10km from Toijala, a town with 8400 inhabitants. The students lived in the school.
I found out about the school, when they sent me a letter of invitation after I had done well in a competition. I entered the school in the summer 1997. The summer was a "probabtion period" where they checked if we were correct material for the school and prepared us for the following two years. The days were filled with math education, where we went quickly through a lot of material. We were not supposed to learn it, but to get a good overview which would facilitate more thorough learning later. Typically, every other week was education in Toijala and every other week was summer holiday in our homes.
There weren't that many applicants. If I remember correctly, there were 25 applicants for 20 places. Some of them didn't even want to continue after the summer. Rather than being a hypercompetitive pruning game, it was a test of whether we were prepared to leave our homes for fast-paced math education.
We also had a programming course in that summer. It was some kind of "Introduction to Programming", and it was lectured by two teachers from Tampere University of Technology. This programming course prepared us for internship in companies; that internship would pay our living costs. All students eventually passed the course, although many people had to return the exercise works several times.
With the fall of the autumn, we moved there permanently and started also part-time work. I was paired with Jarno, and we were given a work task by a nearby vocational school. They had a drilling machine, which made holes to chips in places where components should be inserted. The drilling machine took a list of (x, y) -coordinates and drilled the appropriate holes on an empty chip. Our task was to make a program, which would take a scanned picture of a chip as input. The program would identify the holes and output a list of coordinates for the holes.
They didn't just throw the assignment at us, but ensured that we would know what to do with it. Fortunately, I had done some simple graphics programming earlier; otherwise we couldn't have done it. Those past skills were put to good use in this programming task.
We didn't know enough math to rotate the scanned picture of a chip, so a student from the older class wrote a texture rotation code. Also, me and Jarno didn't have Windows programming experience; after we had done the basic algorithm, an experienced Windows coder from our class added a graphical UI to it.
The experienced Windows coder was one of the two persons in our class (2 our of 20), who had already developed almost industrial-strength coding skill before coming to Päivölä. What they had in common was that their parents could also code and gave them advice on their hobby. In addition, there were at least 3 persons (inclding me) who had had some earlier programming experience.
The vocational school headmaster knew how to extract productivity out of immature souls. He gave us a clearly defined technical task, and made sure that we knew where to start. We didn't need to do those parts that require maturity, experience and human relationship skills - negotiating conditions, choosing partners, finding out what needs to be done in the first place, etc. And frankly, I couldn't have done anything that required maturity. I had never had a summer job, my capability to take responsibility was low and my social skills were nonexistent.
The newspaper article ends with a sentence where the Finnish Minister of Education, Mr. Heinäluoma takes a stance against this kind of education by saying that "little Einsteins" would only be damaged if they were to be separated to their own caste.
First, I'll deconstruct the phrase "little Einsteins". The diminutive "little" can imply two things. Firstly, it can imply that these people are little mommy's boys, who do everything their mothers and teachers say and are in general spineless. This implies that they deserve to be insulted and bullied until they grow up to become sullen teenagers. Secondly, it can imply that these people only have "play" skills that are appropriate for children. As I have already explanined, the coding skills which I saw in Päivölä were very real, just waiting to be applied to the easy end of the industry problems.
The word 'genius' has two meanings. First of all, it refers to a person with extraordinary mental ability. Secondly, it is an insult against people who think they are smarter than they are.
We can conclude our deconstruction by saying that both "little" and "Einstein" can be considered as negative testimony against the character of the people involved, and as encouragements to insult and bully them. You wouldn't call a 25 years old fresh collage graduate a "little Einstein" who would be better off vandalizing, shoplifting and drinking himself into a gutter compared to using his skills in a productive way. Why is it completely appropriate to say such things about teenagers? Is it because our society so extremely low expectations about young people that doing something useful while you could just leech your parents has become a sign of profoundly un-indivualistic wimpyness?
Now, let's look at the claim that these people would be damaged by special education. I really don't think that the programming course, work intership, improved math education and likeminded company damaged me. If I was immature after it, that's only because I was even worse when I came there.
In short, Mr. Heinäluoma's comment demonstrates complete lack of understanding about the nature of giftedness; about the division to technical skill and maturity development, and about effective ways to harness giftedness in ways that are economically productive and good for the subject's development.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Antediluvian Information Technology
1. One book that changed your life
When I was in the elementary school, I had an MSX computer. It was comparable to Commodore 64 in memory and functionality, but it was made by Microsoft and never became as popular.
Anyway, it had a 20-page getting started manual, which was written in clear Finnish and contained some of the most basic BASIC commands. It was my first touch to programming, being simple enough to be understoon without human guidance, which wasn't available anyway. There was also a 100 - 200 pages long reference manual, also in Finnish, which listed all BASIC commands. Without those books, I wouldn't have learned to code, so you could say that they changed my life.
2. One book that you have read more than once
Asimov's Foundation trilogy. A relative brought it to our house by chance, and it was my first touch to science fiction. Before that I had read Enid Blyton and comparable books, and science fiction was much better compared to those.
Somehow, I skipped the youth books almost entirely, since I didn't have any source that would have recommended specific authors to me. There was one exception though: I heard Steissi by Teija Niemi mentioned by a girl in our class. It turned out to be written in slang, and the events took place in Helsinki railway station. The 200 pages were turbocharged with drama and sexual and violent action. The picture it painted about young people was that a boy becomes a man only when he beats up his alcoholist father, and a girl becomes a woman only after trying prostitution. It was very captivating, and I read it in one session.
Matti probably meaned this kinds of books, when he ctiticized the fact that he was made to read books that advocated bad habits (the fucker has deleted the article, so I can't link to it). My opinion is a bit different. Firstly, if you want to induce a habit of reading to people who don't have that habit, then turbocharged action books that appeal to our biological interests in sex and violence are probably the correct way to go. Those who have more refined tastes also know how to satisfy them themselves. Secondly, although I spent most of my time in front of computer at the time, some people in our class were actually having wilder lifestyles. Once in a geography lesson, when Estonia was mentioned, a boy shouted that he had visited an Estonian prostitute. The boy had severe difficulties in concetrating on anything. I'm not sure but I remember hearing that his father was an alcoholic. Later, he started a relationship with a girl in the same school, and they sometimes showed their affection quite openly in hallways.
Thirdly, the suggestion for Steissi came from peers rather than by top-to-bottom channels. So it was hardly an ideological statement by the establishment on the only correct youth lifestyle. However, some of the official choices did reflected the same line, for example the gang violence book Run, Baby, Run by Nicholas Cruz.
3. One book that you would want on a desert island
Someting that requires concentration and repeated readings to be understood. Something that is useful but too dry to be read in normal conditions without a very good reason, like a test in one week.
Knight's: Mathematical Statistics is one option.
4. One book that made you giddy
Alan Sokal's prank is more funny than anything I have read on paper, so I'll skip this.
5. One book that wrecked you with sobs
Carrie by Stephen King is the only one that has ever had that effect.
6. One book that you wish had been written
Social Construction of Software Development by Peter Berger, Alistair Cockburn and Peter Naur.
7. One book you wish had never been written
Pressman: Software Engineering. It is very thick and the author leaves the task of summarizing the essentials to the reader. In a course in TAY (Project Work) it was presented as the authorative text of software development. Presenting a 2000-page tome that doesn't event get into subject matter in the first 100 pages for an audience where most people probably don't know quick-reading techniques is a sure way to breed rabid anti-intellectualism ("I don't read books, since they are useless").
8. One book you?re currently reading
None. Well, I have Venäjän Historia in toilet, where I read it 2 pages a day.
9. One book you?ve been meaning to read
Should read something about microeconomics. I bought a 40 years old Textbook of Economic Theory from a sale, and I've read 1/3 of it. Newer textbooks seem to contain pretty much the same material, which is good - it means that the information will stay relevant also in the future.
When I was in the elementary school, I had an MSX computer. It was comparable to Commodore 64 in memory and functionality, but it was made by Microsoft and never became as popular.
Anyway, it had a 20-page getting started manual, which was written in clear Finnish and contained some of the most basic BASIC commands. It was my first touch to programming, being simple enough to be understoon without human guidance, which wasn't available anyway. There was also a 100 - 200 pages long reference manual, also in Finnish, which listed all BASIC commands. Without those books, I wouldn't have learned to code, so you could say that they changed my life.
2. One book that you have read more than once
Asimov's Foundation trilogy. A relative brought it to our house by chance, and it was my first touch to science fiction. Before that I had read Enid Blyton and comparable books, and science fiction was much better compared to those.
Somehow, I skipped the youth books almost entirely, since I didn't have any source that would have recommended specific authors to me. There was one exception though: I heard Steissi by Teija Niemi mentioned by a girl in our class. It turned out to be written in slang, and the events took place in Helsinki railway station. The 200 pages were turbocharged with drama and sexual and violent action. The picture it painted about young people was that a boy becomes a man only when he beats up his alcoholist father, and a girl becomes a woman only after trying prostitution. It was very captivating, and I read it in one session.
Matti probably meaned this kinds of books, when he ctiticized the fact that he was made to read books that advocated bad habits (the fucker has deleted the article, so I can't link to it). My opinion is a bit different. Firstly, if you want to induce a habit of reading to people who don't have that habit, then turbocharged action books that appeal to our biological interests in sex and violence are probably the correct way to go. Those who have more refined tastes also know how to satisfy them themselves. Secondly, although I spent most of my time in front of computer at the time, some people in our class were actually having wilder lifestyles. Once in a geography lesson, when Estonia was mentioned, a boy shouted that he had visited an Estonian prostitute. The boy had severe difficulties in concetrating on anything. I'm not sure but I remember hearing that his father was an alcoholic. Later, he started a relationship with a girl in the same school, and they sometimes showed their affection quite openly in hallways.
Thirdly, the suggestion for Steissi came from peers rather than by top-to-bottom channels. So it was hardly an ideological statement by the establishment on the only correct youth lifestyle. However, some of the official choices did reflected the same line, for example the gang violence book Run, Baby, Run by Nicholas Cruz.
3. One book that you would want on a desert island
Someting that requires concentration and repeated readings to be understood. Something that is useful but too dry to be read in normal conditions without a very good reason, like a test in one week.
Knight's: Mathematical Statistics is one option.
4. One book that made you giddy
Alan Sokal's prank is more funny than anything I have read on paper, so I'll skip this.
5. One book that wrecked you with sobs
Carrie by Stephen King is the only one that has ever had that effect.
6. One book that you wish had been written
Social Construction of Software Development by Peter Berger, Alistair Cockburn and Peter Naur.
7. One book you wish had never been written
Pressman: Software Engineering. It is very thick and the author leaves the task of summarizing the essentials to the reader. In a course in TAY (Project Work) it was presented as the authorative text of software development. Presenting a 2000-page tome that doesn't event get into subject matter in the first 100 pages for an audience where most people probably don't know quick-reading techniques is a sure way to breed rabid anti-intellectualism ("I don't read books, since they are useless").
8. One book you?re currently reading
None. Well, I have Venäjän Historia in toilet, where I read it 2 pages a day.
9. One book you?ve been meaning to read
Should read something about microeconomics. I bought a 40 years old Textbook of Economic Theory from a sale, and I've read 1/3 of it. Newer textbooks seem to contain pretty much the same material, which is good - it means that the information will stay relevant also in the future.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
E-Health
Was drinking yesterday with Tommi and his philosopher buddies. One of them was a girl named Essi, who worked in some EU-funded information society assessment project.
She told that in Sweden, the recipe system has been digitalized. The doctor sends the recipe information to a database, and at the drug store the drug clerk fetches the information from the database.
One obvious advantage of this kind of system is that it produces a big data set that allows data mining - supposing that privacy concerns don't prevent experts from mining it. Half Sigma demonstrates in his writings just how much information you can mine from a good data set. He also compares his findings to real research, and often finds that the results are the same. I'd guess that good data sets and proper data mining could considerably increase the productivity of researchers in some areas.
One obvious candidate for digitalization are the patient records. Earlier, I thought that privacy concerns were the main concern here, but Essi told that not only doctors but also the staff has access to relevant records. Therefore, the patient records can't be very confidential. So, it's just data; why can't they digitalize it? What's the problem, damnit?
If I were a dictator, all health-related information would be put to a big database. This would include not only patient records, but also all research data sets. Then, a public interface would be created to the database. This interface would allow anyone to make simple database queries to find out about numbers and correlations between various factors.
Privacy concerns would be addressed by putting a lower limit to the amount of cases. For example, if some query returns less than 20 matches, the results would not be shown for privacy reasons. If the database contained 5 million people, the restriction wouldn't be that harsh.
This kind of database would help researchers in quick testing of hypotheses. For example, this research tells about a parasite T. gondii that spreads from cats to humans and may cause schizophrenia. If some earlier research had tested the presence and absence of T. gondii for whatever reasons and this information was saved to the database, then a simple correlation between T. gondii and schizophrenia could be computed. This wouldn't replace the actual research - feeding antipsychotic drugs to rats that have T. gondii - but it would enable better justifications before any expensive animal tests are done. Database queries are damn cheap.
More bang for buck in medical research would speed up the achievement of SENS, so anyone appreciating longer life should agree.
She told that in Sweden, the recipe system has been digitalized. The doctor sends the recipe information to a database, and at the drug store the drug clerk fetches the information from the database.
One obvious advantage of this kind of system is that it produces a big data set that allows data mining - supposing that privacy concerns don't prevent experts from mining it. Half Sigma demonstrates in his writings just how much information you can mine from a good data set. He also compares his findings to real research, and often finds that the results are the same. I'd guess that good data sets and proper data mining could considerably increase the productivity of researchers in some areas.
One obvious candidate for digitalization are the patient records. Earlier, I thought that privacy concerns were the main concern here, but Essi told that not only doctors but also the staff has access to relevant records. Therefore, the patient records can't be very confidential. So, it's just data; why can't they digitalize it? What's the problem, damnit?
If I were a dictator, all health-related information would be put to a big database. This would include not only patient records, but also all research data sets. Then, a public interface would be created to the database. This interface would allow anyone to make simple database queries to find out about numbers and correlations between various factors.
Privacy concerns would be addressed by putting a lower limit to the amount of cases. For example, if some query returns less than 20 matches, the results would not be shown for privacy reasons. If the database contained 5 million people, the restriction wouldn't be that harsh.
This kind of database would help researchers in quick testing of hypotheses. For example, this research tells about a parasite T. gondii that spreads from cats to humans and may cause schizophrenia. If some earlier research had tested the presence and absence of T. gondii for whatever reasons and this information was saved to the database, then a simple correlation between T. gondii and schizophrenia could be computed. This wouldn't replace the actual research - feeding antipsychotic drugs to rats that have T. gondii - but it would enable better justifications before any expensive animal tests are done. Database queries are damn cheap.
More bang for buck in medical research would speed up the achievement of SENS, so anyone appreciating longer life should agree.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Input/Output Brush
In the age of Amiga ~13 years ago, me and my brother happened to get our hands on an exceptionally good drawing program, Deluxe paint. The most notable feature was that you could cut a brush from any part of the picture you were editing, and use that brush to draw anything. That made especially all kinds of textures much easier to draw. In addition, you could pile various effects to the brush. It was years ahead of its time, best reflected by the absence of similar features in PC drawing programs.
Now, someone has made a comparable brush device for editing videos. Seems to have an infinite potential for highly psychedelic virtual illusions. Or at least draft versions of them.
Now, someone has made a comparable brush device for editing videos. Seems to have an infinite potential for highly psychedelic virtual illusions. Or at least draft versions of them.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Statue Spotting: Interlude
Noticed that there is another page listing less human-centric monuments (Thanks to Mette). These seem much more interesting. The Mannerheim statue - the king of military status in Tampere - is most suitable ending point for war monuments.
Statue Spotting 6: Mannerheim
Name: Mannerheimin patsas
Place: Mannerheiminkallio, Leinola (Mannerheim Cliff)
Mannerheim was desevedly voted as the greatest Finn ever, thanks to saving 5 million people from communism - twice. That kind of achievement is hard to beat.
Instead of being in a visible place, statue is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by somewhat messy suburban sprawl. There were 6 signs like this, and they were all needed to find to the statue.
They say that the city council didn't want to put the statue to a visible place, since it depicts Mannerheim in war garments. The opponents should learn more about Mannerheim, since he was more than a rugged general. Speaking fluently 5 languages, he also made a two-year expedition to China. The expedition started from the Central Asia, where the 'stans currently are, continued through the Xinjiang hinterlands of China all the way to Beijing. I'm not sure if any expeditioner in Finnish history has done better.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Statue Spotting 5
Place: Pyynikin kirkkopuisto
Name: Suru (Sadness)
It is questionable, if this can is can be considered a military memorial statue or not. The Vapriikki page told that this statue has been sculpted less ~15 years after the WW II. The sculptor has also made other monuments with the same theme, some of them explicitly war monuments.
The reason I concentrate on war monuments is that the nonmilitaristic monuments in Tampere are so boring, and don't even have funny texts. There is one notable exception though - the unnamed technophallocratic monument in front of the Viikinlahti water treatment plant. I'll save it to the last post.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Statue Spotting 4
Name: Punakaartilaismuistomerkki
Place: Vesisäiliönmäki, Pispalanharju
Unlike most military statues, this one was erected full 65 years after the war had ended.
Täällä Pispalan harjulla työväen joukot
Tampereella viimeksi seisoivat ase
kädessä asiaansa puolustaen vuonna 1918.
Here is the from scenery behind the statue:
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