While not the most productive of hours, I feel happy and relieved I made it through the entire anime known as Ergo Proxy. My brother did hail it as a great show, and I figured it was probably like several others where I needed to devote a significant time block to it. The disks had sat near my TV, teasing me for a few months now. Now I have watched all of them, and I can honestly say it was the second best anime I’ve ever seen. That may not mean too much since I am not a frequent anime watcher. I prefer to only watch the deeper and well written shows that focus on psychology and mentality, such as the two mentioned below.

It is very rare that anything seen on a television screen can provoke not only emotion, but true thought as well. Nearly every episode sported notes to explain some of the more central (and usually more complicated) parts of the episode you just watched. Something that got an extremely brief mention or glimpse for seconds in the show might well receive a nice large paragraph to explain it at the end. This was interesting because many of the concepts covered may not relate directly to the show, but to the Ergo Proxy writer’s allusions. This had me not only interested in the show, but I was always eager to hit the end of an episode to see what kind of information I might receive.

The show tracks three main characters as they venture on a seemingly typical anime type journey for an amnesia-ridden male to rediscover his past. However, the technological twists are very interesting in this show. The characters hail from a dome world utopia where everything is efficient and perfect. The dome is supposedly the only safe place in some sort of post-apocalyptic world. Things run amok as powerful unknown beings know was Proxy’s start to appear and the government of the dome world tries to hide their existence. Later, the characters are troubled not only by the knowledge that there is a world outside the dome, but that it is, in fact, remotely inhabited by humans. The main character, Vincent, attempts a trek across the world to see if he can find his memories in his birth place, a now ruined dome. It is later revealed that the dome world the characters hail from destroyed Vincent’s home town in a bout of revenge for some ambiguous wrong doing. Later, the eccentric and seemingly insane security chief of the dome world launches a thermonuclear missile when he is stripped of power in an attempt to eradicate the ruins the characters seek to find.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the series is the revealing of several Proxy’s and the story behind them. As the world was destroyed (presumably by humans), “the Creators” sought to remake the world. They created Proxy’s, whose sole purpose was to rebuild the world as it healed from the previous destruction. The result is that the Proxy’s are essential God figures. Much to the dismay of most Proxy’s, they find that humans are ill-natured beings who are truly only capable of chaos and destruction. As the Proxy’s experience these failures they begin to begrudge their own existence, hating the Creators. They later realize that without souls they would have never been able to experience the love, hate, betrayal, and other feelings of their creations.

This anime comes in second to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex/GITS:SAC 2nd Gig and the movies associated with the series (I’m clumping them into one large mass). I’ve never done more personal research or been more intrigued by anything. The show takes place in a near future cyberpunk Japan when most people have cyber brains that allow them to hook up to the net. Many of the characters in the ensemble cast have high performance prosthetic enhancements. The Major, who would be the main character of the show if it had just one, has a fully prosthetic body. This show brings up many interesting points, such as how society would function if people were literally connected to the net, the new crimes that might ensue (cyber brain hacking), and the definition of what it means to be human. The show is extremely complex, well drawn, action packed and technological. Every topic, case, and conversation is interesting and each episode is fun to watch. It is, perhaps, the best animated thing a nerd could ever watch.

The name of the show envelops the proposed answer to the question of what is human. While a person’s body may be fake, you cannot fake the soul, or “ghost”. Each ghost is unique and completely unable to be duplicated or produced. Thus, even though the Major has a fake body and her brain can (and does) get switched to other bodies, it is her ghost that remains intact. So even though they may have advanced AI machinery (such as the thinking, spider-like tanks they use throughout the shows, knows as Tachikomas), none of them can technically be living because to live essentially means to possess a ghost, which you can only obtain through life’s standard processes. This is why ghost hacking is such an important issue, because it is tampering with the very human nature of people. Imagine a world so connected that people from across the globe could delete your memories, hack what your own eyes were seeing, or even delete your ghost (which would kill you).

Interestingly enough, the Tachikoma’s programmed curiosity and linking capabilities allowed what was supposed to be a group of identical machinery to evolve different personality traits. There is an entire episode where the tanks consider some of the greater questions of life: why they have evolved the way they have, and how each one “feels” about certain topics and outcomes. Eventually the Tachikoma’s are credited with having evolved their own ghosts due to their epic self-sacrificing gestures: first, leaving their jobs in the civilian sector after they were decommissioned to sacrifice their own physical beings to save Batou and the Major, and second, for crashing the satellite that contained their AI to prevent a nuclear detonation, which, in turn, stopped a potential war and saved the lives of their beloved coworkers.

Now, before my words and thoughts escape my rattling brain, I plan to have a flurry of posts discussing some of the topics brought up by these shows. They won’t have anything to do with anime, merely the content and thoughts proposed that I have found so interesting.

I dropped two of my classes. One was in the works since the beginning of the semester (unfortunately, it was also one of my most interesting classes), and the other was a lecture class I really did like to attend. With my flaky performance and attendance record (not to mention family and health problems), I decided I needed to minimize the damage to my GPA. I figured I would redouble my efforts in my remaining classes, but so far I have done so with lackluster results.

I am extremely disappointed in myself. I know I’m better then this. I know I’m smarter then the grades I am getting. And I know I can do more. I hate saying things like that because I don’t like to wallow in self pity or make excuses. I’m not doing well, and I need to fix it. It is as simple as that. And yet I can’t help but feel there is something more inherent, yet intangible and elusive, that needs fixing. I don’t know what that is, but I wish I could find out. I went into this week extremely energetic and excited to try and turn things around, and here it is 2am Thursday and I can’t get anything done.

I thought maybe it was my ambition. Where did my ambition go? I used to have such academic zeal. I later realized I have plenty of ambition, it just so happens that none of it lies with school. I want to learn to play the guitar and the piano. I want to go skydiving and learn to fly a plane. I want to write code and find a good job. I want to invest in stocks, plan finances, and work towards retirement.

While the end justifies the means for school, I can’t help but feel I could be learning more faster if I did more work on my own. The academic bullshit of college drives me nuts. True learning isn’t about tests, quiz’s, or even homework. It is about learning and understanding concepts that you can apply elsewhere. Thus, what good is it for me to work on a programming assignment for six hours when I know none of the code I wrote will be useful elsewhere? Perhaps this is why I am doing well in my Bio lab. It is one hour a week, and it is about applying our biological knowledge to various situations.

My summer internship played a role in breaking me. To be told that I’m good enough (or better) to do a job, but be denied that opportunity because I lack a stamped piece of paper is immensely frustrating to me. I understand what a degree represents, but I also feel like an active demonstration of abilities should count for more. In job adds I always see lines saying they’ll accept a mix between education and experience… why don’t I fit into that category? I think it was also the best learning experience I had. I would wager I learned more during my time at Lockheed then I will have learned over most of college. I’m not going to get that real world hands on experience in an academic setting.

If dropping to part time (which I’m not happy about) doesn’t change things then I’m going to have to make a more drastic move. I have given a lot of thought to joining the Air Force. The only disadvantage I can see is being away from family, which is part of this stage in life anyway. Worst case I would end up back in this situation a few years from now with more money and better experience. In a good scenario I could obtain my degree for relatively little and then find a job, or better yet, get promoted to officer and serve my time. This is attractive to me for many reasons. I have felt a strong connection with the military, and it is something I do actually want to be part of. I think it is something everyone my age should be a part of. It helps teach discipline, work ethic, management and a healthy life style. All of those are things that are lacking from most people in my age group, and to me it merely isn’t enough to obtain those skills by meandering through life. If I were to accept a commission and serve my twenty years, I’d be forty and I would be able to decide what career I would like to have while maintaining a certain degree of financial stability that is impossible to find elsewhere. Overall, if by around this time next year I still feel this way with my mitigating changes, I will probably enlist.

I know I had more to say on everything that has been running through my mind, but it is late and I will go to sleep. Perhaps I will expand this another time.

I went over my own time limit helping three students, so I’m curious how many will start showing up for more advanced help. It was wonderful to talk with some students about programming in a very non-academic setting. A setting where everyone could be perfectly honest and not feel bashful if they didn’t understand something simple. It is this candid setting I have wanted to promote for some time now. Students will learn better when the material becomes more relevant to them and they are able to be brutally honest about how they view it.

Interestingly enough, all three students were non-CS majors. I’m not entirely sure what that means overall. They are taking a class they don’t need -AND- they are seeking help outside of class hours. That alone is unusual. We also discussed all the concepts on paper and each student hand wrote their own notes, which was surprising to me as well. Overall I left feeling not only accomplished, but impressed. I hope these students return and more follow their example. I think it would help alleviate much of the frustration and anxiety many of them feel about the class.

That said, I was also pretty happy that we went through and wrote a program off the top of our heads. I didn’t write anything out ahead of time, so I was discovering how to solve the homework problem as they were. I think it was helpful for them to see how someone who has more experience thinks through the process and makes changes to the design as the program progressed. They expressed that they understand the concepts of what to do for the homework, but that initial leap into writing it out is whats so challenging. And I agree, it is hard to take idea’s out of your head and phrase them in a way a computer understands, which is why CS majors get the big bucks.

When all was done and I typed the program I came up with into my computer it also worked as intended (minus a few syntax errors), which is always a plus. I would hate to give them an example that I thought would work only to lead them astray. I think that next week, if the students aren’t pressed for time, I’ll try a more Socratic approach and see if they can come up with the ideas for each step.

Do you think the United States will lose its position as the world’s financial superpower?

This was a question posted at CNN.com. It was very interesting to sit and consider, so this was my response.

With the growth around the world, losing our financial superpower status was inevitable and happened long ago. It isn’t a bad thing, it is just fate. In economics it is known as the Catch-up Effect. We can’t sit alone at the top forever, and it shouldn’t be our goal to do so.

In my opinion, this crisis has changed nothing with respect to our financial standing or leadership. We will always be a strong influence, but we don’t make all the rules or control everything. What is happening now is the economy resetting itself after a bubble burst, and it is entirely normal for the economy to do so. The economy cooling off after a hot run is a painful process where people lose money, which is why everyone is freaking out. When the process is complete, the market will be back to it’s normal levels where it -should- have been during the bubble.

Company’s that do bad business will (and probably deserve to) get hurt. The only difference now is that those businesses are financial and everyone is crying because they are watching their 401k’s disappear. While severely unfortunate, this is the nature of the stock market. You may gain big or lose big. It is the privilege we pay for. If you don’t want to lose your money, tuck it under the mattress, but realize retirement may not be very easy.

As a side note, this was posted as a comment and I found it highly amusing:

A Pledge for Our Times (2008)

I plead collusion to the fraud of the United Socialist States of Amnesia and to the recession for which it stands, one Notion under Debt, unforgiveable, with sub-primes and bailouts for All.

These past few days have been a great time for reflection. I’ve finally had some time to lay down, think, and rest. Despite the rigorous nature of working and going to classes, it is refreshing to embark upon the journey yet again. I hope, like every year, that this one will be better then the past few. I feel that I have set myself up in a much better position this year, despite some obvious obstacles (such as my incomplete). Working less this year will help significantly, though I’ve just been informed two of our four technicians are graduating at the end of this semester. Plus, David is becoming increasingly adamant about an entrepreneurial opportunity, which is a very exciting prospect. But how does it all fit together?

There is a lot to consider over this next year as well. Transferring to the University of Minnesota is on the table, as is finding a full time job and being done with college. Yet I wanted to partake in NaNoWriMo and really get it done this year, and I wanted to spend some time working on my own coding projects. But is there any downtime in there to allow for relaxing, game playing, socializing, or even dating? I fear I’m digging too big of a hole to accomplish as much as I would like.

It is interesting that, with school starting up again, I feel this lonely. There are many people, and truly I am socializing plenty. But going to campus is a constant reminder of the life I lived last year. One short year and being in a relationship has embedded itself into the fabric that makes up who I am, and that scares me. I miss the cuddling, the talking, the routine tasks. I miss the comfort that there would be someone there when I come home at the end of the day. Instead, I come home to an apartment that is still covered in dust, like it was abandoned. I have dishes, homework, and plenty of things to do that don’t even involve anyone. On one hand it is disconcerting to be this lonely, but on the other I can’t help but feel I am certainly being more productive. The question is, is it better to get less done and be happy spending time with someone then to be more productive and spend less time with anyone?

As an aside, somehow my computer managed to blow it’s motherboard. I’m not really sure what caused it (my suspicion is the northbridge was too hot), but it is very unfortunate. I sat down to research what upgrades I might like to make and I realized I’d basically built another computer with many of the things I’d been tossing around in my head (SLI video cards, three monitors, better air flow, etc). Thus, I have opted to merely fix my computer for the time being and I’ll work towards gathering parts for a water cooled, more modern and desirable computer I plan to build next summer. Despite this, I decided to grab a new power supply along with my new motherboard, so I spent four hours taking apart my computer, cutting off the zip ties, and rerouting every single cable. I didn’t even do that when I originally put it together because many of the cables were routed from Dan’s previous setup. It was really nice to dig in and do a task, start to finish, with my hands (not to mention one I’ve wanted to do for a long time now). All of these little things, like doing dishes, picking up, cleaning, cooking… they are all helping me remember why I like this life. I have my own place with my own stuff in which I can spend my time. There is a visible and tangible result to these small actions, so it is very rewarding for me to spend my time doing these things every day. It helps keep me focused and sane.

I also found out my financial aid got mailed to Minnesota. It is kind of amusing (as was that my first paycheck from LM got mailed to Iowa), but mostly irritating. My money seems to be flowing constantly from my pockets. My yearly payment for hosting is due the end of the week, as is rent. I need a host of clothes, cleaning supplies, probably a new wireless router, and now these computer parts. Plus I finally took the plunge and got my textbooks and, at long last, replaced my DVD player with a PS3 (which I had to visit 8 stores to get the one that would play PS2 games). Thus, my bills are mounting, and yet I can only think about getting a new car and/or building a new computer.