Hulu - House: Broken - Watch the full episode now.

Hulu - House: Broken - Watch the full episode now.

What's so important about fiction?

From an engineering standpoint, it doesn't seem to do anything. It doesn't exert any force (F=ma), accomplish any work (W=F*d), generate power (P = dW/dt). Storytelling just seems to waste time. Creative writing isn't a real major. You don't earn money until you're a professional, one of the best, as opposed to engineering, where you just need a degree and a job.

But engineering doesn't feed the soul. There's no mathematical formula for hope. On the surface, fiction can make us laugh, release endorphins, space the day out so one isn't doing civil engineering assignments from sun-up to sun-down. Fiction also gives us examples, lessons from others' lives. Non-fiction can do that, too, and so can communities, but fiction can do it succintly.

Take this episode of House. Who doesn't secretly admire House's attitude and his courage in confronting others? We know it's not practical, but it's fun to imagine. This is an episode of consequences and of hope. No, most of us aren't on the same jerk level as House. We don't manipulate people like he does, but it doesn't mean we're any less broken. I love what the psychiatrist says at one point:

"Why do you value failures more than your successes?"
...
"Sucesses only last until someone screws them up. Failures are forever."
"So you accept that fact. You accept that there's nothing you can do."
"Okay, I accept the fact that there's nothing I can do. Now, what can I do?"
"You acknowledge failure, and you move past it. You apologize."
"Wow, powerful things, these apologies. You get someone to jump off a building. You say two little words and move on with your life. Hardly seems fair."
"Is that the issue?... You caused him pain. If the world is just, you have to suffer equally? ... You're not God, House. You're just another screwed up human being who needs to move on. ... Apologize to him, let yourself feel better. Then you can keep feeling better."

On a social level, too, this episode is important. I think, in general, people in the US are afraid of admitting they need help, and there seems to be a huge amount of disgrace associated with getting help. It's as though we are expected to do it all on our own, to be self-sufficient, to have everything in our lives under control, but in reality, we can't. If you're smart enough to handle everything life throws at you, you're not only a genius but also an abnormality. Use it to help the rest of us. The best feature of this episode is that it follows House's perceptions. It starts out with a load of resentment against the institution that builds and builds and builds as he sees more and as he fumes against it, but once he learns he can't always win, once he starts seeking for himself to find an answer, the people around him, the doctors and psychiatrists and even the other patients become real people, people he can care about and work with. The episode gets lighter, and I think his life does, too. That's something I think the viewers really needed to see.

political news for engineers - Google Search

political news for engineers - Google Search

One of the most irritating things about hearing the news, whether from a paper, from the television (or YouTube), or from the internet is the lack of information. These sources aim at a third or fourth grade vocabulary level, do they not? I argue that they also aim at a fourth grade level of understanding. A typical political article quotes what a politician says and what other politicians say about it. Through it all, scientific hypothesis that have arguable merit are tauted as fact. Global warming, for example, may not even exist; even if it does, there can be no conclusive proof that it is caused by humans. The use of fossil fuels as opposed to alternative energy is still quite arguable. And still, President Obama undertakes massive projects, committing the country to change that may not even be possible, let alone preferable. What if the world changes and there's nothing we can do about it? Why can't we seek to adapt rather than stop it?

I urge all those who can to go to databases for your news. Find the issues in the news media. Research them in academia. Even that may not be objective, but it's ten logarithmic steps up from the news.

And if you're an entrepreneur starting a new news source, do the world a favor: don't just get quotes from the experts. Present the expert's findings--in detail--to your audience. Maybe only a small percentage of the population has both the initiative to read what you say and the education to interpret it, but with a strategic marketing plan, you can find them. After all, your job is to keep them informed to the best of your abilities. If you don't understand what the issues boil down to, hire someone who does. If you need an engineer versed in comp sci or fluid flow or aerodynamics or efficiency--whatever--I know where you can find one.

Research, guys. Our world's getting awfully lax with its future.

(Me, most of all.)

Next USG symposium: How to defend Case in the event of a zombie attack.

Seriously, it is a common topic on campus (and hub-chat, apparently). Nominated defensible buildings include the Interfaith Center (ironically, but it does have enough concrete to block out wifi signals), Olin (has Project Club and the Formula SAE labs, among others), Clarke Tower (brick/concrete building with great "arrow-slits"), and, for some reason, Clark Hall.

In other news, the second quote of the year: "The issue 'X's computer finally bit the dust' has been resolved."

Time Travel

Do you listen to Stargate or Quantum Leap?

Not really the question here, but let's play with it for a minute. According to both, if you change the past, it changes the future. According to Stargate, the changes pop into/out of existance, maybe in a puff of blue smoke. According to Quantum Leap, history changes and no one really notices.

I've got a new theory.

According to the scifi laymen's terms of Multiverse Theory, every decision every person makes splits the universe into parallel universes: one for each choice (or rather, one for each plausible choice, given the psychology of the people involved, weather, etc., that influence decision-making). If you base your history-changing in such a multiverse, then changing something in the past should never affect the present. All you're doing is retroactively branching a particular set of universes. It's like adding a canal upriver. Some of the water goes into the canal, sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean the river dries up. It just means there's less water coming toward the natural downstream.

If you're assuming that there's only enough water for one track and the canal is deeper than that part of the river, well, sure you've got a problem. But if you assume an infinite mass flow rate, problem solved. All channels are full: the deepest along with the shallowest. Maybe time doesn't work like that, but maybe it does. As for the "mass flow rate" of time... Well, we have precious little data on how time works. Not enough information.

Quote of the year:

"It's a second order differential equation..." "...of deliciousness!"

I feel accomplished with computers today.

Even though CHRYSON isn't working any better than it was when I took it to PerceptIS, I did make great headway with VINNET. Yesterday, M. helped me install XP and showed me how to investigate inside. Today was a voyage into Project Club to look for more RAM. Unfortunately, I didn't find it, but I did find a way to update my network card so my slow computer could at least use the gigabit internet here. I was quite proud of myself when I finished installing the network card. Well, my attempts at password-protected sharing didn't turn out so well, but I did manage to get a background from CHRYSON to VINNET via the network...

Now if only VINNET would stop acting up...