Everything is In It's Place

Yesterday afternoon I was listening to RadioLab (science show on NPR) and the topic of discussion was "limits." The theme of this entry will differ from that, today I am writing about Order. The program featured an experiment conducted in some lab at some graduate school by some scientists, who wanted to see if they could build a computer with the ability to find order in what is seemingly chaotic. So where did they themselves some chaos? In a contraption that is basically a double pendulum. As you know a single pendulum sways back and forth at a regular pace, but throw another one into the mix and it's apparent chaos. Take a look for yourself:

Erradic, no? Well, what this computer found in a mere 24 hours is something that took humanity millenia to discover... a beautifully simple equation: Force = (Mass)(Acceleration), otherwise known as Newton's second law of motion. This revelation caused me to wonder if chaos is even possible. Apparently things only have a tendency to seem chaotic to us because we don't really understand them; Comprehension is everything! Our knowledge is limited, but theorhetically speaking a computer's isn't. Still, we can't understand the formulas the computer's spits back out to us. In other words, the order is there, but it is incomprehensible. For centuries now humankind was at a high note, where we not only made observations regarding the universe, but actually understood the meaning behind them. This was a brief luxury in our species' history and with the advent of insanely complex technology our limits of comprehension will be left in the realm of mystification.

Everything is in it's place. The bible says that before the universe was created there wasn't "nothing," but something that cannot really be literally translated from the Hebrew ("tohu va vohu"). In a way of speaking, it's nonsense! Chaos, chaos is nonsense. In the beginning there was no order then according to the myth, God made order out of the disorder and it worked just like a well tuned machine. Machines can't run on nonsense, you know. I'm not a religious person, but I think there are insights within these ancient myths that carry a timeless relevance. Thousands of years ago we had an feeling that there must be a system to this topsy turvy world in which we live, and ya know what? We were right.

I find it somewhat poetic that we can't see past the nonsense, past the chaos and disorder. We have a feeling, an inclination towards a universe where all that happens occurs simply because it must. Personally we want our lives to make sense, we want them to mean something within the larger framework; to have all of the injustice and suffering exist for a reason. A reason amidst the chaos that is the human experience. Life makes sense to other creatures, they know their place in the world, to go on existing until it's their time not to. We complicate things because we can't understand where we all fit in this most excellent machine that is the universe. Perhaps it's this very ignorance which provides all of those amazing qualities that make humanity so great (and so terrible... sometimes I feel the two are synonymous.)

You may feel differently, but I can take solace in the fact that I exist because I must. It all happens because it has to.

I'll end with a quote that seems appropriate and funnily enough was my "senior quote" in my high school yearbook. The quote is by author Kurt Vonnegut.

Nice, nice, very nice

Nice, nice, very nice

So many people in the same device

p.s

check out Radiolab. It's fantastic.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

A Summer of "First World" Problems

I've been a bit of a complainer this summer between having trouble finding a steady income, preparing to write my senior thesis, taking standardized tests, working on applications to graduate schools, beginning to learn French, and trying to keep in shape.... life's not easy ya know!

Well, not really. Life can be pretty easy, especially when all of your problem are that of the "first world." (I use quotations around the phrase because I don't necessarily agree with the word choice, but since it's common vernacular I'm going with it anyway...) This just got me thinking about my woes, to what end they exist for, and how I could possibly try to justify them.

I'm on a track, you too are most likely also on the track. We're raised understanding certain "truths" about life, schooling leads to job - hard work, have fun, decorum, self-maintenance etc. I'm not going to make one of those arguments we've all heard towards the end of high school, "Man, it's like we're just EXPECTED to go to college. Well, I don't want to be part of THE SYSTEM man. Imma make my own future!" I know people who've relinquished their privilege, started dressing in clothing that went out of its way to look mismatched and old, and train hopped the country living la vie boheme - right out of a Kerouac novel. No, that's not what I'm going to argue. More and more I find myself partial to the utilitarian perspective, whose mantra is "minimize pain and maximize pleasure" doing so in the most utile ways. I have opportunity and I am happy to make use of it, not let it go by the wayside in the hopes that I can maximize my potential to do good - to minimize other's pain. I have to say that studying philosophy itself can be a bit masturbatory. I mean it's not like becoming a doctor where your affect is hyper-tangible. I still worry about my choice in academic career for that reason.

So what's my point. I'm not sure. I think that's part of the idea. I'm at a really stressful and confusing time in my life (I feel like ya'll might be able to relate), but despite this I just need to remember that whenever I complain I do so from a point of privilege. I need to remember why I'm trying so hard to get into grad school in the first place. Easy to say, harder to do.

Also in connection with an older post, I would just like to say that the man sitting next to me in the library today was looking at photos of female body builders for at least 30 minutes.

School of Wrock

WARNING!

The following blog will reveal extremely nerdy truths about me. I am choosing to disclose them to you in the hopes that they will not be held against me. With that said, let it begin:

The word "Wrock" is derived from the words "wizard" and "rock" and is thus more formally known simply as "wizard rock." Now, raise your hand if you've ever hear of it... not to many of you. The Harry Potter fandom is huge and like any large movement it's bound to produce music. My journey into this seedy underbelly of what is far less than most would care to categorize as "rock," began on Youtube. I love Youtube, I really love Youtube.; in fact I do so much so that I will probably have to dedicate another blog entry completely to the subject. Anyways, it was by means of a group of then teen-aged vloggers dubbed "The Five Awesome Girls" that I was introduced into the wizarding world. The girls video-blogged about their lives to each other (and in the process over the years to approximately 33,090 other people as well.) Two out of the five are members of wrock bands: the Moaning Myrtles and the Parselmouths, respectively.

I had loved Harry Potter growing up. At one time my room was completely decked out with HP merchandise, so much so that I avoided having my Born Again Christian friend come over in fear that she would scold me for my worship of the satanic figure. If Harry Potter meant that I would be going to hell, then I was ok with it. I went so far as to rig a broomstick on a tree branch so that I could have my chance at flight. Let's just say it was quite literally a painfully stupid idea. My love of the series of novels hasn't faded, although my die hard dedication to them has, which is to be expected of most people in my age. Yet, this just isn't the case for the brave few who have decided to hold strong by attending annual conferences, writing fanfiction, and making Harry Potter themed music. I am not one of these people and so I always have felt like an anthropologist of sorts when it came to my fascination of them; a cautious observer, who looks but doesn't actually meddle. This method has afforded me the ability to learn a lot about the community, while never actually amounting to a full-fledged member of it. So let me tell you what you probably don't know about Wizard Wrock.

The internet is the most valuable tool a Wrocker has and this group of people has truly become adept at utilizing it. Youtube, blogs, something called "blog TV" (essentially live vlogging), twitter, dailybooth, etc. These folks live on the internet and put their lives out there for the world to see in a fashion that isn't uncommon these days, but with a certain factor that is: the following they receive in response. This is an international community, but it is still tight-nit. Unlike your run-of-the-mill rock star, Wrockers know they're fans even if they have yet to meet them in person. In fact they most likely may never meet them in person, a circumstance that doesn't seem to at all inhibit these friendships. The internet has also given them opportunities that most underground bands couldn't dream of, a.k.a large record sales. It costs them next to nothing to produce their music and they can turn a profit from it due to the hype-machine that is their Youtube channels. It doesn't end there. Kristina Horner of the Parselmouths and ALL CAPS (link to her sites below) for instance received a free car as a participant in the Ford Fiesta Movement due to her highly active internet life.

Wrockers write songs about Harry Potter, dress like characters from the books, adopt stage personalities that reflect kitsch names of their bands, and in typical nerd fashion they play most of their shows at libraries. Their music, is on the whole horrible. They are almost all amateurs, whose voice talent shouldn't go beyond high school musical theater shows, and whose use of instruments reminds me of the band I was in "The Rock Tragedies," which is to say it sucks. That's not really what it's about though. Wizard Rock and the Harry Potter fandom at large, provide a safe space for those of us with quirkier tastes. At these shows you'll see a myriad of nerds, doing what they do best... being themselves. I think that if we were all better at staying true to ourselves there'd be a lot more "nerds" out there.

So kudos Nerdfighters and Wrockers alike, for following through on your passions and doing what most of would be to ashamed to do. I really think you make an addiction to an (in retrospect) overrated children's book cool, and for that tip my black pointy hat. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to join in on the fun, but for now I think I'll just watch.

The Parselmouths

Five Awesome Girls: http://www.youtube.com/user/fiveawesomegirls

Nerd Fighters: http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers?blend=1&ob=4

Parselmouths:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpGsoEgmOd4&feature=channel

Other bands you may want to check out include:

The Moaning Myrtles, Harry and the Potters, the Ministry of Magic, The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, etc.

For further info check out: http://wizrocklopedia.com/