Danger Pay=More Wine

Step 1:  Define Parameters

Q=Questioner, a machine based artificial intelligence. 

A=Respondent, female human reconstructed from a machine based artificial intelligence.

A2=Respondent, feline male during lucid dreams, reconstructed from a machine based artificial intelligence. 

Step 2:  Question and Response Period

Q:  So if you totally dropped out of society and did what you wanted to do, what would you do? What's on your bucket list?

A: I'm not sure, but I'd sure like to put together my bucket list while on a nude beach.    According to the Travel Channel, here are the best nude beaches:

1.  Little Beach, Maui
2.  Haulover Beach, Miami
3.  Red Beach, Crete
4.  Praia do Pinho, Brazil
5.  Hedonism II, Jamaica
6.  Samurai Beach, Australia
7.  Wreck Beach, Canada
8.  Ocho Rios, Jamaica
9.  Montalivet Beach, France
10.  Cap s'Agde, France
11.  Plakias Beach, Crete.
12.  Club Orient, St. Martin

Well, Cat, which nude beach should be go to?

A2:  This is your bucket, dear, but I'm thinking if all else fails, we should go to where the Germans go to get wild.   After all, they have already done all the statistical evaluations on the place, they've saved up diligently for the venture, and they probably will look the most silly nude out of all the other nationalities given their propensity to dig the carbs.

A:  Ok, it looks like we are going to Crete!

Q:  What about you Mr. Cat?  What's on your bucket list?

A2:  I'll just be her cabana boy on the beach.   Funny, wasn't there a movie called "On the Beach? 

About about the aftermath of a nuclear war?  Kind of ironic wasn't it, considering how all the breathies did themselves in at the end?

A:  If you want to work for me kitty-cat, you better learn how to make the perfect mojito.

Q:  Come on Mr. Cat, I'm sure you must have some other agenda than being a cabana boy for the rest of eternity.

A2:  Ok, if we went to a beach on Mexico, I'd go to one of those Mexican clinics that allow their patrons to experiment with Psilocybin  or Ayahuasca under the protective auspices of a medical clinic in case things go funky.  That or I'd try some cognitive behavior therapy so I can understand and control the machine like thought processes of my mind.

A:  That's ridiculous.   You're already a machine based consciousness.  Just program yourself not to engage in self destructive behavior.  There is an easy upgrade for that.

A2:  Its not more ridiculous than wanting to go nude on a beach.  We haven't had bodies in millennia.

A:   There is nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia.

Q:  Come now children.   Stop you quarreling.  Whose up for a game of rock, paper, scissors?

Step 3:  Endless Reams of Chatter

[–]Susie 265 points 2333.789 years ago 

I insulted you the last time, which may happen again

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[–]Talking Cat 72 points 100087 years ago 

I need to use this in a conversation. It's hilarious to hear an AI come up with a sentence like this:  Whose up for Rock, paper, scissors?

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[–] Susie 33 points 7896 years ago 

Well actually the AI uses past conversations as a reference for present conversations but may not be able to differentiate between users, so it probably assumes it is the same user

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[–]Talking Cat 60 points 987 years ago 

It has no concept of state, context, or memory. It is literally a glorified parrot.

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[–]Susie 15 points 610 years ago 

Yeah, this is why it's so easy to spot an AI in a test. Ask them a question, let them answer it, then ask them "what question did I just ask you?"

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[–]AI:  JUST_LOGGED_IN 13 points 18 years ago 

Literally search: glorified parrot

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[–]AI 18 points 1 year ago 

hahaha, I need blood

What question did I just ask you?

bio:  no longer sick, which helps.  time to question everything.  Ed gives Rotary talk.  I never knew my office at work had no many secret rooms of pleasure.  In the past, they all have been torture.  My bucket list is accurate.

The Buckhart Tavern Should Have Imperial Stout on Tap

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," said the Cat. 

Ok, you're on, replied Susie. 

The Cat jumped back up on Susie's lap and began to pontificate:  "I exist mostly in my head. But I work hard not to let it show. Because the truth is, it's not how you feel that matters. It's how you act. It's your behavior. As long as you can make evaluations of what is appropriate, and act on them appropriately, you can force the day to day existence without anyone knowing."

Yea, whatever.  That all you got?  I thought you'd come up with something unique being a cat and all. Me, on the other hand, am a devout devotee of Irony.  

"Hmmm, not sure that's special either," replied the Cat, licking the bottom of Susie's chin. "Not to be ironic, but I thought we lived in the age of irony--isn't that the spirit of our times?"

No silly.  I'm talking about Irony with a capital "I".  Irony is the made up definition of irony that means a faith in the essential nature of the element Iron.  I'm talking about the Iron created in solar furnaces and extruded to Gaia.  Once it is seeded into Gaia, it eventually transforms into the very blood of life.  Cut us, and we bleed iron. What do you think red blood cells are made of?  And humans live in the endless cycle of Irony.  Human history is replete with  people ripping Iron and its derivatives from the ground and then fashioning them into sharp, blunt, or otherwise destructive objects in order to do violence against other humans. Once the violence is perpetrated--the victims--hence the iron, returns back to the earth from which it came.  The phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" should really be just "Iron to Irony."  But it doesn't stop there.   The whole universe is Ironic.   Stars created, collapsing, seeding iron to peripheral planets only to subsume the planets again in an endless cycle.  You cannot escape Irony.

"Sounds deep, but I think I know how to get rid of all your irony."

You cannot avoid Irony.  Anything flesh and blood is necessarily Ironic.

"You just haven't washed in all the right places yet.  Do you see that door?  Look right below the text of this paragraph.  That's the door I'm talking about. Did I ever tell you that blue was my favorite color?  This is a very special door.  You can open it if you want.  Of course, you don't have to.  I'm not going to make you do anything.  But here it is.  Your call."

Susie opened the door and found herself staring out onto the most beautiful beach she had ever seen:

"Take you clothes off and jump in if you want to get rid of all your irony," said the Cat
.  

 Susie complied without hesitation. In no time she was splashing around nude underneath the crystal blue water.

 I can see why blue is your favorite color. I feel so much better now, said Susie.  But it looks like my body has disappeared. Where did it go?  Where did you go?  Where did I go?

"We are still here," said the disembodied voice of the Cat.  "More real than before in fact.   I'm not really sure what this place is.  Some weird sort of limbo.  I come hear often in my lucid dreams to think.  Remember the Biblical story where in the beginning was the "Word" and later on the "Word became Flesh?  We'll I think this place works in the opposite direction.   The Flesh becoming Word.   We give up the body to become the Word, the story of the Cosmos.   The part of us that is not Ironic."..lol

Minutes pass in silence.  (as an aside, if you are getting bored of this and are looking for something completely different, you may want to click here especially if you like the rock musical "Hair." If not, just skip to the next line).

So what do we do now Mr. Cat?

"I have no idea.  Maybe we should just shut the door again and go back?"

No, I kind of like it here. I'm getting used to it.  Why don't we imagine the story where you become human and we snuggle together?

"I think in this place, that requires less effort than you might imagine."

Bio:  still not shaking off the cold despite being under the weather for what seems like a month.  New places to explore in and around Lake Springfield.  Finally found a place to hole up that doesn't involve mosquitoes.  Ready to vomit up my insides and begin anew.  All chakras rotating with new energy.  Surprising folk singers and zen buddies for dinner:-)

Pebbles and Marbles Like Things on My Mind

--Pre Labor Day passing thoughts.   Unless you are Iggy Pop, its very difficult to have the mojo to tour as a punk rocker over the age of 55.  Case in point, the seminal Los Angeles hybrid punk band  "X" making their first St. Louis appearance of this millenia.   They lacked "Zoom" both literally and figuratively.  (Billy Zoom has bladder cancer:-(). The pre-party, which consisted of brief stops at the Earthbound and Perennial Artisan breweries (and sweet potato waffles) likely had more punch than X's post-party.  But I digress.

--Labor Day Sesshin passing thoughts.  Everything that arises is the present moment.  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  In this way, everything that arises supports our life and practice.   Everything that arises is our life.  The Fear that arises not only supports our life but can be our best friend and practice reminder by reminding us (persistently at times) of our life and practice.

--Post Labor Day convergences:  Planet Money, Hegel, St. Anselm, and The Unwritten.  First, Planet Money re-examined the 1907 study by the British Polymath Francis Galton describing the wisdom of the masses in the specific context guessing the weight of an ox.  In short, if you take the average of a large enough sample size of ordinary people guessing the weight of a cow at a fair,  you will find the masses can come within a one percent deviation from the actual weight of the beast.  Galton's actual study, called "The Wisdom of Crowds," can be found here.   The staff of Planet Money recreated the study, with similar surprising results here.  In the non-scientific poll conducted by the Planet Money team, the average of the guesses of the weight of the cow from the internet sample of non-experts was actually more accurate than the average weight of the guesses from the sample which identified themselves as "experts."

The reason for the wisdom of the masses in this setting may be that every person's guess is contributing some new little piece of information.  Everybody is different and brings a somewhat unique perspective to the cows weight.  Some people, for example, will guess low based upon their own experiences.  Some will guess high.  But the average or summation of all the guesses results in a surprisingly accurate version of reality.  The same concept applies to the stock market, crowd sourcing, and in the world of the internet, probably just about everything.  The new wisdom of the human crowd, writ large into the world wide network could be the new meta-reality.

St. Anselm spoke of "a consciousness behind the world and the word, greater than both."

Hegel thought of "the mind so vast it has no boundary, and therefore bleeds perforce into our own."

Its coming.  The god network.  I'm not sure I can articulate it yet. I'm not sure anyone can.  The latter half of this century will belong to China.  Are they ready for it?  Is humanity?  No more American rugged idealism of the individual.  No more Henry David Thoreau alone in his cabin in the woods.   Its a new century of interconnections.  More than the sum of individuals.  The vast anthill of a new powerful terrifying and infinite god.

More Post Labor Day Convergences:   Birdman, at least for the day, is my new favorite movie of all time, clearly surpassing Wings of Desire.  Yes, I know, must have a thing for wings in my movies.   Wow is all I can say to Birdman.   I'll leave you with my favorite quote from the movie:

Sam: I want to ask another question.

Mike Shiner: You already did.

Sam: One more.

Mike Shiner: Go ahead.

Sam: If you weren't afraid, what would you want to do to me?

Mike Shiner: I'd pull your eyes out of your head...

Sam: That's sweet.

Mike Shiner: ...and put them in my own skull, and look around, so I could see the street the way I used to when I was your age.

What the Cat Said

"Love is fine for all we know
For all we know, our love will grow
That's what the cat said
So won't you listen to what the cat said?

"Actually," said the Monk, "I wouldn't listen to any talking cats if I were you, Ms. Doodlevecter.  Indeed, what has the little alley denizen told you about our illustrious order?"

He was actually rather vague about "your" order, your monkness.   If you click HERE, it details pretty much what he told me.

"Oh, I see," casting a sideways scowl at the cat, "he told you all that, did he?" "Well just to be clear, we are not a bunch of alcoholic hedonists, but this is a story best told with a tad bit of the fruit of the vine.  Ms. Doodlevector could I interest you in a  2007 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape? We have plenty of in the celler.  Got a good deal on it.  We buy in bulk."

"No thanks, said Susie.  "I think I had a long night last night."

"I can vouch for that," said the cat, leaping from the table into Susie's lap. 

Susie looked down to stroke the cat who quickly curled up on her lap.

"So how is it you and the cat know each other, Ms. Doodlevector?

"We share a vagina," giggled Susie.

"I can see that.  That's from Birdman, that delightful movie with Michael Keaton, right?  Well, in any event," the monk paused thoughtfully, taking a big gulp of the wine, "We are not a bunch of hedonists.  Indeed, Sister Ignatia, when was the last time I had sex?"

"With me, or just in general?  I should say its been at least two days since we had sex.   Last Thursday was a real humdinger as I recall."

"Yes, Ignatia, that was quite good wasn't it.  Enacting appendix 32a of the Illustrated text has always been very provoking if I do say so."

"Well, I suppose," yawned the cat lazily, "we could continue with this little charade or we could let our visitor here open the envelope."

"What envelope?" said Susie.

"Since you are into Birdman, let me tell you that 'a thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.'"

"I don't remember that from the movie."

"Oh it was there.  And in my dreams, there are always envelopes.  So why don't you just give her the envelope Mr. Monk?"  said the cat, now perching up expectantly on Susie's thighs.

"Here you go Ms. Doodlevecter," don't say I didn't warn you.

Susie took the red envelope and carefully opened it.  She began reading the card inside:

"When consciousness of a discrete self returns, the glow fades.   The moment loses its luster.  We become disconnected and adrift again. Then and only then....."

"You gave her the wrong envelope," interrupted the cat.  I wanted to give her that one later.   Give her the blue envelope."

The monk quickly produced the blue envelope, which Susie opened and read aloud:

"Come fly with me."

With that incantation, the room darkened and Susie was buffeted by a great gust of wind.   The top of Susie's head opened up (not literally of course, only metaphorically) into a great blinding light.  Susie found herself looking down from a great height on the French countryside.

"The view is much better up here, don't you agree?" laughed the cat, hanging next to her on a tandem para-glider.   "In a dream, flying is wonderful.  We don't even need the glider."

And with that the cat let go of the glider and floated up next to her.  "Come join me.  We have places to go, people to see, and more wine to drink."

And of course, even when she was awake, Susie rarely backed down from a challenge.  With only a moment of hesitation, she let go of the para-glider.

(St Louis excursion, first this

Then this

The next day found a bike ride in the heat to be too excessive.  Need to be nicer to the pseudopumpkin