network complexity and chalk style

While contemplating about the theoretical aspects of something that pertains to networks, somebody came up with an impression on how complicated networks can be – maybe this also reflects the complicated aspect of anybody's mind. Well – of all the colors – we have a network in green.

<green>

 

To complicate the matter further, somebody came up with another impression. How is this related to the complexity of the study? Well, anybody can be overwhelmed with the amount of information that they work on, so coming up with something that is probably unrelated would make the prospects look better.

<blackboard>

 

And here's another one:

<chalkwork>

 

At least, we're glad to have a diverse community of impressions.

Conclusion:  polynomial-time reduction of problem complexity 

In Context

The Story:

Professor X presented his newly discovered concoction to his trustworthy apprentice. As the son of Professor X, my grandfather served as a witness to this important event. Professor X said to the apprentice, “This is a gem that will surely shine in the next generations to come”. My grandfather being aware of the secrecy that should be confined within our family and the successors of the apprentice recorded the event this way in his journal:

My father presented something important to Professor Y, his apprentice. He said to his apprentice, “This is a gem that will surely shine in the next generations to come”.

Around one hundred years after the death of my great grandfather, Professor X, he became very famous because of his achievements and philosophy. However, most of his descendants have bad reputation. The enterprise maintained by the successors of the apprentice has fallen into dismal credibility. My grandfather died thirty years ago, and he left his journal to my father. The contents of the journal made its way to the printed media accessible to anyone interested. Many found the journal entry above intriguing, and they came up with different theories about the “gem” being referred to by my great grandfather. In fact, sublime philosophical expositions came out about the “gem”, and many people accepted the sublime meaning of that word. In context, there is nothing philosophical in the “gem” being referred to by my great grandfather.

Somewhat related:

Sad to say, but many people jump to conclusions. In fact it is a common error to make conclusions on certain circumstances that are not fully understood. The highly opinionated ones are prone to make conclusions based on what they think about the matter. If they make an analysis based on their erroneous understanding, they will spread confusion. This is true if the person has built up a reputation of excellence in a particular field, which is enough to convince those that are not meticulous enough to analyze and understand the information that they receive.

I have read an article written by a graduate of a law school. He criticizes the approach of an institution with regards to a certain issue. This issue involves jargon unique to the institution itself. It so happens that a particular term is controversial enough that even people from different fields are familiar with it. In fact they are able to create their own understanding based on what they have heard from different sources such as printed media. This graduate from law school attempts to use the term against that institution despite the fact that he himself is not an expert with the matters pertaining to the usage; but since this person is highly opinionated, he has the tendency to assert his own understanding without being careful on how the institution uses the term. The result is a highly erroneous exposition driven by pride and prejudice. Many people may not be able to recognize this. In fact, the article is convincing enough in a sense that it is presented in a compelling manner – think about the skills learned from law school. Imagine the resulting confusion if the article is available in printed media accessible to a large portion of the population with little knowledge on the issue. This is trial by publicity.

Downpour of Wisdom (?!)

Downpour of Wisdom

Strange, but this is called "Downpour of Wisdom".

Q:  If this is your work of art, what title would you give?

A: 

Choleric:  "Dishallucination in the Bush with Orange Offshoots"

Melancholic:  "Weary Souls on Fire"

Sanguine:  "Fantastically Surreal!"

Phlegmatic:  "My Nephew's Work of Art When He Was in the Third Grade"

Note:  The one who created this image still insists that this should be called "Downpour of Wisdom".

Waiting for the Momentum

i'm writing this because i'm stuck

trying to work on a seemingly overwhelming task

to get started is really hard

really hard because i'm really stuck

I think I'm stuck.  So I guess it would be better to do some other things – maybe something worth doing.  It's quite hard to start when you are facing a seemingly overwhelming task, but the deadline's fast approaching.  No choice but to face it in order to accomplish something that would minimize the “overwhelm” factor.  You just don't know that you're already unconsciously fond of an entity called “cramming”.  Time is running out fast, but it's just that... simply it's just that... I can't do it as of this moment.  Yes, that's waiting for time to give the “kick”.  You may be spending a lot of time wondering when will it come.  For many of us, this really sounds familiar.  One may end up staring at the wall, doing other tasks of lower priority, dreaming in mid-air, or sleeping. There goes time: tick, tick, and tick; an alarm may go off, but hey I'm not yet ready.  The mood doesn't always come; it is such an unstable source of creativity.  So, one would better seek a stable source; then, there's an entity called “discipline”.  You might wonder what this life is all about with all of these processes that employ the law of “graduality”.  I think doing things with certain regularity and investing in something internal would help a lot, and then the punchline would always be: “just face it”.

what has transpired

[[Blurred/Unclear til now]]

mysterious world it really was and really is
meet people along the way and for some time you get the gist
random it may seem but maybe go with the sway
there's always a reason I think when someone gets on your way

some went long, some went quite for a while
some went like maybe it existed but just can't cope with the style
some were really profound, some warm and cordial
some were like I thought it was but I think it's really not

hey, let's fix it when things turn not good
some went great, some went cold
some went like is there anything that needs to be mended at all?
what a cool world it is, such a peculiar encounter to behold

[from my thoughts]

Phrase of the Day

There is a phrase called swarm intelligence.

Swarm intelligence (SI) according to Wikipedia is defined as "the collective behaviour of decentralized, self-organized systems, natural or artificial".  SI systems are made up of agents, and the interaction between them results to an
"intelligent" global behavior.  Each agent, however, is unaware of this emergent behavior.  An example is the observed behavior in flocks of birds.  In fact, based on this "swarming" inspiration, the Traveling Salesman Problem can be solved.  So there is actually hope for a system wherein each individual is acting "stupidly" because collectively speaking, there is a possibility that the system will actually "look" or "act" intelligent at the bigger picture.  I find this amusing because a "barbaric" crowd may be intelligent at a particular perspective.  If applied to an appropriate problem, a "barbaric" crowd may actually solve the problem for you.  I'm actually wondering what problem could that be. :)

school of fish  (Photo by: Alan Wolf)

bees  (Photo by: Todd Huffman)

 

flock of birds  (Photo by: Eugene Zemlyanskiy)

Wooden Freedom

think about pinocchio

created by a woodcarver, his master, his author

strings, wood features, wooden limbs

in every respect, there is something that controls the whim

puppet by default, considered as slave

with rules, with bounds, with limitations

limited movement, bounded crave

what about giving pinocchio a form of freeness

free movement, free thinking, free in all respects

maybe, maybe everything becomes unpredictable, inscrutable

there goes pinocchio - behaves unexpectedly from the design of his master

"in every respect i'm free"

free to fly, free to run, free to think, free to fall

always conquering the limits, beyond the laws, above the rules

full of molecules that defy the design

in every respect, there is always a sprawl

is it a coincidence that pinocchio will ever achieve harmony?

harmony with respect to what? with respect to whom?

perhaps harmony without respect to anything

did pinocchio ever lose his purpose?

perhaps but maybe not

is peace in there?

"what is peace?", he may ask

perhaps, perhaps, and maybe perhaps not

"who am i?"

and lo, that's the freeness independent of the master

what about without that freeness?

there goes pinocchio - in every respect controlled by his master

every movement, every thought, dictated in all facets

maybe, maybe everything becomes so predictable, humdrum

constrained to walk, constrained to run, constrained to think

always thinking based on the master's whim under the sun

will he ever achieve harmony?

harmony with respect to what? with respect to whom?

perhaps harmony without respect to anything

harmony with his master?

master moves the string here

master moves the string there

pinocchio goes somewhere, and then anywhere

did pinocchio ever fulfill his purpose?

perhaps but maybe not

is peace in there?

"what is peace?", he may ask

to be at peace with what? at peace with whom?

"at peace with the master?"

perhaps but maybe not

so much with the many perhaps

you might wonder why about the "why"

why did the master create pinocchio?

strings pulled from this point then from that point

strings released from here then from there

arms and legs go somewhere

is this such a bore?

would dispersing into molecules be better?

perhaps one may regret

pinocchio's very existence

perhaps the creation is such a big mistake

why, why, why master?

why create something like pinocchio?

probably peace, harmony, or boredom?

perhaps love?

perhaps but maybe not

so much with the many perhaps

 

what if there is another form of freeness?

slave or totally free pinocchio?

is there a freeness that is neither of the two?

with rules, with bounds, with limitations

with rules designed by the creator

what situation is this? with rules but can still be free?

free to follow but still free to defy?

follow the rules but still not a puppet, not a slave

such a peculiar form of freeness

is this peace?

is this harmony?

is this love?

design the rules, design pinocchio

give pinocchio a mind and a heart

what on earth is this?

it seems that there is such an excess of energy

would it be better that nothing existed at all?

[experimental tribute to Jack Philip's "I Choose to be Free"]