Category Archives: Ideas

English, Ideas

Wondering In The Dark

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The importance of a map

We might say a map is a representation of something else. A pirate’s map would represent an island or a strand, with a red X to mark the supposed location of the treasure chest. A navigation system in your phone, coupled with a map, performs a similar function in a much more refined and precise way; yet the principle is the same.

Which or what is the map of reality? Even better, allow me to ask: what reality really IS?

Such an ambitious query.

Let’s refer, for simplicity, just to the “mere” physical universe.
Armed with their senses, wits and guts, men and women advanced our collective knowledge of the portions of universe we can experience. The entire corpus of human knowledge, it’s actually another map. Or, as scientists would say, a model, or a series, structure, organism thereof.

They taught me that’s what science’s about. Observe, construct hypothesis, predictions, then craft experiments to verify them. Determine what’s true. And that is simply amazing, astonishing; just thinking about the technology involved in the creation and peruse of this article is staggering: the whole tech tree from the first tool ever made to telecommunication, microprocessors and whatnot… unbelievable.
And yet, something baffles me even more, or to better say, on another level or dimension. All that has ever been discovered, achieved and built… is based on a kind of a dream.
Not that is unreal, no. It’s the reality itself that poses a problem.
We achieve titanic feats, as well as menial tasks, by making use of an insanely complex technology (and ridiculously immense computational power), which exploits the measurable and predictable effects of this or that physical phenomenon.

What’s strange with this?
Let me quote Richard Feynman: “It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy IS.”

Even if scientific models get increasingly refined and become more and more precise or efficient, they are still – and always will be – models, or maps, of something else, something bigger, wider and fundamentally weird. The universe. Reality.

We aren’t able to grasp not even what energy is, one of the things we take for granted the most. We use it every day. We store it in batteries, extract it from many sources, understand that it equals mass times the squared speed of light; we literally breathe and metabolize it, we use it do write and display this article, we use it to think about the words in this article, and yet, no one knows exactly what it is, what it’s made of, its substance or nature.
We are familiar with its many manifestation – heat, electricity, movement or potential and so on – but those are all effects, symptoms of its working.

And what about time?

We don’t even agree on what space is.

We might bluntly reduce and approximate with this: you need not be a mechanic nor an engineer to drive your car. It works. That’s what matters for most people. But ultimately, it’s the act of wondering on the nature of things that allows mankind to shed some light on this or that aspect.

This light is nothing more than a matchstick burning in a dark cave at night. It’s all we have. And it is exhilarating.

So we keep wondering, wondering in the dark.

“He has even put eternity in their heart; yet mankind will never find out the work that the true God has made from start to finish.” – Ecclesiastes 3: 11

English, Ideas, Scriptures

The Reality Language

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Galileo Galilei said that ‘Both the Holy Scriptures and nature proceed from the Divine Word ‘.

Galileo was a great scholar of the Bible as well as of nature. He came to understand things about God and his prophecies as very few others did for a long time before (and much later) his era.

In contrast to the myopic and authoritarian position of the clergy, Galileo sincerely investigated the fields of knowledge accessible to him, placing faith in the Bible as inspired by God’s word (and therefore truth) and in science as a cognitive tool of material reality. In accordance with this, those who today study the Bible with humility and sincerity, discover that it is never in contrast with true science (on the other hand, dogmas of false religion are today and have been in the past, because they are not based on ‘the Holy Scriptures’).

The thing that struck me about the sentence reported at the beginning, however, was the concept, very simple indeed and if we want to be obvious (Occam), that the information contained in the Bible and nature come from the same source.

We often mention the writing of Isaiah 40:26 to affirm that God is the source of energy, and therefore of everything that surrounds us (matter = energy), and this also agrees with the idea of ​​a “Big Bang” thought as an unimaginable “ignition” of energy that develops in the universe and all that it contains.

But I like to dwell on thinking that, given that all the energy (and matter) existing in the universe is not prey to chaos but follows a cloud of very precise physical laws (even if they are not all known yet, and it seems that not never will be), it becomes clear that Jehovah God is the source of information . Everything around us can be thought of in terms of energy configured according to certain parameters. It is easy for me to make a comparison with an immense software: every particle, each quantum, could be represented as a variable of an infinite weaving of equations programmed to support the material existence , fed by the spirit of God (energy, dynamics).

Natural laws, so to speak, assume the value of “divine programming language” .

Now, what does the Bible have to do with this? Galileo, in the quote above, does nothing but declare his agreement with 2 Timothy 3:16, which tells us that the Holy Scriptures (all those belonging to the biblical canon, and not just some, nor others) are inspired or breathed by God. Galileo also confirmed the need for the information contained in the Bible in order to have a notion of what cannot be investigated with material means. The information contained in the Bible comes from a higher level tan that in which the physical universe resides.

In a nutshell, through the Bible God speaks to us of truth that we cannot see with our eyes. There are many things that we cannot see with the naked eye, but spiritual things are not visible even with the aid of technological tools: they can become only with instruments of the corresponding and right nature, that is spiritual. The Holy Scriptures are the container of this benign gift that the Creator has given us.

Zephaniah 3:9 speaks of it: “For then I will change the language of the peoples to a pure language, So that all of them may call on the name of Jehovah, To serve him shoulder to shoulder.“ this pure language, and to enjoy a supranational brotherhood. Whoever serves Jehovah knows this well. This pure language is not a spoken language, but is the truth about God and his purposes, contained in the Bible. Why does this make it possible to “serve shoulder to shoulder”? Is not the purpose of all religions, in theory?

Many make the mistake, conditioned by the culture of Christianity, of thinking that the Bible or religion must be a series of rules such as “do” and “not do”, detailed in an age different from ours and therefore having a validity that has now lapsed if not at all, at least in good part.

That is not the case.

Jehovah invites us to know and study his word for this reason. The sincere and humble scholar (like Galileo) will be able to learn this “pure language”: the values, the way of thinking of God. As in learning a new language it is not enough to memorize the words, but it is necessary to acquire a new way of thinking, new mental patterns, the same is true when we begin to learn “pure language”. This language comes from the source of information, from above, and is therefore something unique and superior to any other human notion.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that “For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints from the marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.“ A simple book could not do this. Instead, a book that contains the thought of God, can. And it does.

Beyond the style with which human writers physically composed the writings that went to make up the Bible, the information that lurks within their words (they were inspired or guided by God) is of a higher order, and logically is not linked to the language (and related sounds) in which the manuscripts were composed or still translated.

The Bible is the only valid guide for man because it was written for us by the Creator of all things; it resonates in reality . Whether we can understand it or not, we are able to live in one reality, and the rules behind its working do not depend on our will. We can choose whether to abide them or ignore them, but they persist independently of our choices; they existed before the individual and will continue to do so even afterwards. These rules, laws, principles, are immaterial and as mentioned before they represent the “programming language” or code with which Jehovah God has produced this reality.

Man has experimented with and analyzed some of these laws, and by acquiring a certain degree of knowledge he has produced a certain technology. But man has chosen to do another experiment, which affects us all. He decided to ignore the principles that God has given to living beings with a conscience and intelligence, endowed with free will.

If you have followed me here with this reasoning, it is clear that a “programmer”, or better, a creator, establishes from the beginning what should happen within the system he devised and what would be harmful for it instead.

This is called establishing what is good and what is bad.

The world is permeated by the crazy idea that man can decide for himself on this. Moreover, it is the (universal) issue on this point that generated the situation in which we are now (see Genesis 3: 5 ).

Many object that the free will of the individual is not compatible with the moral values ​​established by someone else. Good: think of any physical law. Example: free will cannot prevent you from getting your hands into the fire. But the simple will does not allow us to escape the consequences: no matter what, you burn yourself. [It is useless to bring up arguments like “but what if I wore asbestos gloves – but what if I invented an entropy-clearing field – but what if donkeys could fly” because any invention or material product is still based on the rules and protocols of the physical universe. The act of ignoring a physical law is not achieved by exploiting another, but only by being above, outside, the universe system. The programmer can alter any variable at will, he has the power and authority (and he also knows what he’s doing); small entities inside the running software can’t do that.]

So besides talking about spiritual things, the Bible contains the only real message .

The Word of God is living.

English, Ideas, Scriptures

(the)EVIL inside

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The struggle

Ephesians 6:12 – because we have a struggle, not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.

The most evident part of this struggle is in front of us every day, with every wicked influence, pressure, temptation or trial we face in Satan’s world.

There is another danger though, represented by another kind of warfare. In the wars of this world attacks are both physical and cyber; the same it’s true for the spiritual war. We have to face attacks that leverage our imperfect nature, and that seem coming from the inside of us. They are dangerous because it’s often hard to detect them.

Of course among these there would be impure thoughts or negative thoughts about our brothers and sister or even the organisation. As if these kind of thoughts weren’t treacherous enough, there is still another variety of mental attacks we want to defend ourselves from.

Consience

1 John 3:20 – regarding whatever our hearts may condemn us in, because God is greater than our hearts and knows all things

Consience is a precious gift. If we keep it trained, it will allow to stick to Jehovah’s will. We must not take it for granted though, and remember that we are still imperfect. So our conscience is too: often the heart tries to justify its own wrong desires, but sometimes it can condemn ourselves.

We may found ourselves, even on daily basis, questioning our own motives, trying to “unmask” the wrongdoer in us, because we know how much imperfect we are, how easily misled and temptable, how many are how weaknesses. We may repeatedly point at the worst in us as the most important part of us, building and ever increasing sense of guilt and self-disrespect. We end up deprived of energy and of joy in serving Jehovah.

Is this the true work of a christian consience? Doesn’t this hypercritical spirit remind us of someone?

Accuser

Job 1:9 – At that Satan answered Jehovah: “Is it for nothing that Job has feared God?

Revelation 12:9-10 – So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down, who accuses them day and night before our God!

2 Corinthians 11:14 – And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light.

Yes, we may found ourselves doing the work of Satan, recreating his attitude inside of ourselves! This is an appalling prospect indeed! Yet it’s what we imperfect humans could tend to do, even without realising it. We said at the start we want and must fight Satan and his propaganda and his spirit, so it’s just natural we should fight this tendency as well.

Victory

2 Corintians 10:3-5 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful by God for overturning strongly entrenched things. For we are overturning reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are bringing every thought into captivity to make it obedient to the Christ

Psalms 94:19 – When anxieties (or: disquieting thoughts) overwhelmed me, You comforted and soothed me.

To win this mental fight, we must internalize Jehovah’s way of thinking and feeling, meditating on his word, finding verses and principles that guide our mind in the right direction. Like with computers, we could want to install an antivirus program in our mind, trying to actively intercept harmful or negative thoughts during the day. We may have to examine every single thought we make to see if it matches Jehovah’s principles and requirements. This requires a constant effort: I’m not talking about the thoughts we know are wrong, but about the non-suspicious looking ones.

But sure it’s worth it: with exercise, it will become less hard. We will feel much more joy and we will be able to serve Jehovah “with all our minds”.

English, Ideas, Scriptures

Hierarchy of the protocols of Creation

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Some premises:

– the physical universe is entirely constituted, ultimately, by energy (matter E = mc², dark matter, various forms of manifestation of energy, dark energy). Moreover, matter is mostly empty space, from this we observe that the solidity and materiality that can be experienced with the senses are actually an illusion. I conclude that the universe is more like software than anything else: information encoded and conveyed by energy. The source of all energy is Jehovah, the great architect of everything that exists and becomes.

– Jehovah God is the Eternal, has neither end nor beginning. We have read the illustration about the lines with positive and negative numbers saying that the existence of God extends to infinity in both directions, but this does not satisfy us fully. Even if we cannot completely understand certain things, on the book All Scripture we find something more. Among many interesting things, I quote: “Jehovah himself lives in eternity. As for his creatures, he was pleased to place them over time. The angels of heaven, even the rebellious Satan, are fully aware of the passage of time. “ That is, for all God’s creatures, the temporal protocol is valid, He alone is exempt. Since time itself is defined as the consequence of change, or the fruit of becoming, and that the meaning of the name of God has directly to do with it, we could imagine time as a consequence of God’s actions, or as something that He emanates.

– space and time are essential between them. Curiously, even if we take them for granted, the very definitions of what time is and what space is (see encyclopedias) are not univocal and absolute, but relative and multiple (and unsatisfactory). Evidently, as in the case of energy (of which we can only observe the effects), it can be an infrastructure, a protocol, so fundamental in the nature of the universe, that we can only experience some aspects of it. I will call it a space-time protocol , as the experimental evidence so far apparently shows that space and time are one.

–

Now I am not a physicist, nor an astrophysicist, nor something similar, but I wonder: is it possible that this space-time protocol is not limited to the physical universe? Could it not be something, a larger infrastructure within which our universe is located? This would at least explain how spiritual creatures other than God are subject to time and interact in “our” spacetime in certain ways. That is, time could have begun with the first creation of God, which is not the Big Bang but the creation of Jesus as the first-born son.

And, given that time and space are part of the same protocol, we could imagine a sort of spiritual space, indeed this is necessary: ​​obviously not a three-dimensional geometric space. If it is true that the protocol is space-time it is also true that it is not a physical object or something tangible, but rather a set of rules or laws within which the events of that “place” occur (place not intended as a space; the example of software returns: a network protocol is not something solid, but a system that manages traffic and data processing within the site, the network, in which it operates). And many events occur in the spiritual realm, and they must have an unimaginable complexity for us …

And all this leads me to think that the Protocols of Creation operate in a cascade (see OSI ); that from every level one can freely access all the lower ones, but none of the superiors. Similarly, that every valid protocol in a level is valid in all the underlying ones, but not necessarily in the above ones. Examples: time (or spacetime) is valid for all but one, and matter applies to the physical universe but not to the spiritual one …

What do you think?

English, Ideas

learn UV mapping in 8 hours

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Such a catchy title, yet it is not an advertising. More of a personal experience.

As an architectural renderer, I’ve been acquainted with the concept of uv mapping for several years now. But i never actually delved into it – up until last week.

I received a proposal, an invitation, to submit a test job. The task was to model an object, then create physical-based-rendering textures, then map the texture to the model, export the finished product. Nice and neat. Or so it has seemed to me.

The major challenge: how on earth am I supposed to map a texture in a SketchUp model? What exactly do they mean by PBR workflow? And what’s all this fuss about quads, n-gons, triangles?

The truth is I have always been aware of such issues, and that sooner or later i would have faced the moment when I would have been “forced” to deal with all this stuff. That is one reason I accepted the challenge.

Long story short, let’s break up the work in phases (links below as footnotes):

Step 1 – Love your QUADS

The average SketchUp user does not bother much about quads. And it is not a coincidence. If you actually want to SEE them, or even work with them you will need QuadFace Tools, a free extension. Nice tool, quite simple to learn and use. Enough video tutorials to teach you on YouTube. A couple of hours or so, and you should be able to produce your first quad-based works. So far, so good.

Step 2 – PBR doesn’t stand for PoopButtRigging

There would be so much to say about physics based rendering and material, and as a fan of MaxwellRender I could go on for quite a long time. I spare you, feel free to search around.

Just be aware that is more of a workflow than a specific tool or software. Yes, you will stumble upon Unity and Substance Painter as well, and for good reasons too. But once understood the principles behind the PBR maps (BaseColor/Diffuse, AmbientOcclusion, NormalMap, HeightMap/Roughness) you shall realize that with some work you can get out of Gimp what you need. (Just remember to install the normal map plugin, again, free).

Step 3 – The hardest part. UV mapping is not to be joked about

Sad but true: SketchUp won’t let you directly UV-map anything per-se. You need another plugin. This time I used the one-week trial version of WrapR, a nice plugin made specifically for SketchUp. But you can obtain the same results with a very slightly different workflow using the free software Roadkill. Again, nice video tutorials, lots of people helping us out here. Thank you, by the way. After some 3-4 hours, you should be able to do you first and barely satisfying UV map of your model (given that it is your first try, like mine).

The last step – a sad conclusion (?)

The file was supposed to be delivered in a .fbx format. After all the effort and the work, I discovered that is not possible to directly export to this format from SketchUp. One more proof that the entire workflow was thought with 3dStudio in mind. Besides of this, it has been a really learning experience.

I do not have anything against a specific tool or software. But I actually do have a LOT against forcing people to use specific software rather than the ones they are familiar with. Even more if such software is heavy to run, costly, and made by huge software houses.

Power to the Open Source. Do your part and share with me in the fight for the freedom of software and workflow choice and interchangeability of formats. Woe to proprietary formats!

LINKS:

Work with quads in SketchUp – QuadFace Tools

Download Gimp, just do it please.  And the Normal Map plugin here.

UV mapping – Roadkill

You may also be interested in WrapR, SketchUv and a number of other tools which I am to lazy to list now.

 

Ideas, Scriptures

L’amore è un d4… o un tetraedro. I diamanti sono sopravvalutati?

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Dio rivela la natura dell’amore, avendo fatto scrivere così tanto al riguardo nella sua parola. Di conseguenza sappiamo che ci sono quattro tipi di, o aspetti riguardo al, amore: agàpe, filèo, storghè, eros (grafia italiana).

Agàpe è il protocollo di base, la portante universale. Si faccia riferimento ai link. Se di fretta, cito dal Perspicacia: “Agàpe, perciò, ha il senso di amore guidato e governato da un principio. Può includere o non includere affetto e simpatia.” E: “è più ampio, abbracciando spec. il giudizio e il deliberato consenso della volontà in materia di principio, dovere e correttezza”.

Filèo rappresenta l’amicizia, o affetto. Può essere provato anche verso cose, ma non ci interessa questo ora.

Storghè è l’attaccamento naturale, tipico dei legami di sangue.

Eros, sebbene non sia  menzionato nelle Scritture Greche, è evidentemente l’amore romantico e sessuale.

Come si connettono questi vari aspetti? Certamente non sono mutuamente esclusivi. Ma voglio parlare dell’amore che un cristiano dovrebbe provare e mostrare per il coniuge.

Non c’è bisogno di dire che la prima cosa, o meglio, lo step di livello 0 è essere sintonizzati con l’agàpe. In realtà non possiamo amare davvero nessuno in alcun modo se non riflettiamo questa divina qualità al nostro meglio. Fare ciò comporta vivere, pensare e sentire in armonia con la personalità di Dio. Questo deve essere il vertice del nostro tetraedro: il sentimento nello spirito. E gli altri tre seguono, come subordinati.

Potremmo dare agàpe per scontato, eppure è la parte più dificile. Comunque, l’amore coniugale sarebbe incompleto senza gli altri aspetti. L’eros è la parte più immediata, e in effetti è fondamentale. Ma non sottovalutiamo gli altri due.

Filèo: risulta che la friendzone sia una condizione necessaria ma non sufficiente per raggiungere un amore duraturo (a meno che non si sia destinati a rimanerci a tempo indefinito). In altre parole: il coniuge deve essere il proprio migliore amico. Oso dire che non ci si può aspettare che lo diventi naturalmente col tempo. Bisogna costruire una vera amicizia prima del matrimonio. Penso alle affinità elettive, alle menti simili. Il sentimento nella testa.

Storghè: è richiesto anche affetto, attaccamento. Attenzione a non fraintendere l’attrazione per affetto. L’eros tende ad essere invasivo e ad ingannare il nostro cuore. Penso alle affinità emozionali, ai cuori simili.  Il sentimento nello stomaco.

Più sarà completo il nostro tetraedro, più  sarà forte l’amore. Analogia carina:

Anche la struttura del diamante è un tetraedro. Ovviamente sappiamo collegare tutti l’amore ai diamanti. Ma ora pare che condividano anche la stessa struttura geometrica. Se l’amore è propriamente costruito, condivideranno anche la stessa durezza, e saranno entrambi per sempre.

Quindi i diamanti non sono sopravvalutati, dopo tutto.

Cantico dei Cantici 8:6:

“Mettimi come un sigillo sul tuo cuore, come un sigillo sul tuo braccio, perché l’amore è forte come la morte, e la devozione esclusiva è tenace come la Tomba. Le sue fiamme divampano come un fuoco ardente, come la fiamma di Iah.“

Images credit: http://sciencesolve.blogspot.com/2015/09/diamond-structure.html

English, Ideas, Scriptures

Love is a d4… or a tetrahedron. Are diamonds overrated?

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God reveals the nature of love, having had written so much about it in His word. Therefore, we know there are four kinds of, or aspects about, love. Agápe, philéo, storgé, and eros.

Agápe is the base protocol, the carrier frequency of universe. Please refer to the links. If you do not have time, i quote from Insight: “A·gaʹpe, therefore, carries the meaning of love guided, or governed, by principle. It may or may not include affection and fondness.” And: “is wider, embracing espec. the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety.“

Philéo is the friendship love or affection. It can be felt for things as well, but that doesn’t interest us now.

Storgé is the natural affection, typical of blood ties.

Eros, though not mentioned in Greek Scriptures, is evidently romantic and sexual love.

How are all of these facets connnected together? Surely, they aren’t mutually exclusive. But I want to talk about the love a christian is supposed to feel and show for his or her spouse.

No need to say, the first thing, or better, the level-0 step is: being attuned with agápe. We can’t actually love anyone in any way if we don’t reflect this divine quality at our best. Doing so involves living, thinking and feeling in harmony with God’s personality. This has to be the vertex of our tetrahedron: the feeling in your spirit. And the others three follows, as subordinates.

 

We could take agápe for granted, yet it is the most difficult part. Anyway, marital love would be incomplete without the other aspects. Eros is the most immediate part, and it is indeed fundamental. But don’t underestimate the other two.

Philéo: it turns out that the “friendzone” is a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieve lasting love (unless you are bound to be indefinitely confined into it). In other words: your spouse has to be your best friend. I daresay: you can’t expect he or she will become such at some point. You have to build your true friendship before marriage. This gives me the feeling of special affinity, similar minds. The feeling in your head.

Storgé: affection is needed too. Careful: do not mistake attraction for affection. Eros tends to be invasive and to deceive our heart. This gives me the feeling of emotional affinity, similar hearts. The feeling in your stomach.

The more complete your tetrahedron, the more strong your love. Cute similarity:

 The diamond structure is a tetrahedron as well. We can relate love to diamonds, of course. It appears now they share the same geometric structure. If love is properly built, they share toughness too, and are forever.

So diamonds aren’t overrated after all.

 Song of Solomon 8:6:

“Place me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm, For love is as strong as death is, And exclusive devotion is as unyielding as the Grave. Its flames are a blazing fire, the flame of Jah.“

Images credit: http://sciencesolve.blogspot.com/2015/09/diamond-structure.html

Ideas, Various

Why I love 2B character (and NieR:Automata)

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Themes in this game aren’t new; the story focuses on the adventures of three androids fighting for the sake mankind, and the player is brought to reflect upon what makes one human and what doesn’t.

But the job done has been truly great about how they tell you the story. This game has in fact rightfully been defined a masterpiece.

How not to mention the inspiring soundtrack, the skillful animations, the dubbing and the dialogues (as for me, listened in Japanese, original language, with subtitles on, as for everything I watch or play to anyway) the incredible characterization of 2B, 9S, A2 and basically every other character in the game..!

I’d like to focus on 2B characterization. At first I did not get exactly why i was liking her so much, I mean she is one in a long list of eye-candy female characters… But it wasn’t just that.

2B is a machine who knows to be such. This kind of awareness alone should invalidate the definition of machine (or automata)… but let’s move on anyway: she fights for what she considers important, and not just because she is bound to, like it would seem at first. These machines do have free will, and this theme will become more prominent as the game goes on.

So 2B starts in the story as a stoic samurai (it is not by chance that she wields a katana) serving the android-shogun devoted to the cause of YorHa: For the glory of Mankind. Mankind.

Before I go on, i forgot to mention another main theme in the story, which is a typical japanese teme: giri and ninjo. Giri is the duty, implying suppression of own desires and emotions, namely ninjo.

At the very beginnning she meets another fellow-fighter android, in the guise of a boy, named 9S. The player could get a bit puzzled by the humanity (ninjo) so clearly present in 9S while 2B still sticks to duty (giri) so much.  It almost seems she tries everything she can to look like a merciless machine, slaughtering literally tons of enemy (alien) machines.

Without adding too many spoilers (if you still haven’t play the game, just do yourself a favor and go buy it), I SO LOVE the psychological definition and evolution of this mech-girl. We’ll watch as she learns the true meaning of her emotions (which she always had) and to recognize them (and accept them) in the machines of foreign origin. And, then again, she and her friends will face the responsibility to make their own choices, trying to understand what is good and bad.

And so the being evolves and gets to know friendship and love, experiencing first-hand and by means of other characters’ stories happiness and sorrow, and the pain of loss. Thus she is very human, in spite of her artificial nature.

–

Is mankind merely a biological property, or are we more than that?

Are good and bad actually relative, or do they exist regardless of our feeble existences?

Ideas, Scriptures

Il Linguaggio Reale

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Galileo Galilei disse che la ‘Scrittura Sacra e la natura procedono di pari dal Verbo Divino’.

Galileo era un grande studioso della Bibbia oltre che della natura. Arrivò a comprendere cose riguardo a Dio e alle sue profezie come pochissimi altri fecero per molto tempo prima (e molto dopo) la sua epoca.

In contrasto con la posizione miope ed autoritaria del clero, Galileo indagava sinceramente i campi del sapere  a lui accessibili, riponendo fede nella Bibbia come parola ispirata da Dio (e quindi verità) e nella scienza come strumento cognitivo della realtà materiale. Concordemente a questo, chi oggi studia la Bibbia con umiltà e sincerità, scopre che essa non è mai in contrasto con la vera scienza (i dogmi della falsa religione invece lo sono oggi e lo sono stati in passato, perché non si basano sulla ‘Scrittura Sacra’).

La cosa che mi ha colpito della frase riportata all’inizio però è stato il concetto, in verità molto semplice e se vogliamo ovvio (Occam), che le informazioni contenute nella Bibbia e la natura provengano dalla stessa fonte.

Spesso menzioniamo la scrittura di Isaia 40:26 per affermare che Dio è la fonte dell’energia, e quindi di tutto ciò che ci circonda (materia=energia), e questo concorda anche con l’idea di un “Big Bang” inteso come una inimmaginabile “ignizione” di energia che si sviluppa nell’universo e tutto ciò che contiene.

Ma mi piace sofferarmi a riflettere che, dato che tutta l’energia (e la materia) esistente nell’universo non è in preda al caos ma segue un nugolo di leggi fisiche ben precise (anche se non tutte ancora note, e pare che non lo saranno mai), diventa chiaro che Geova Dio è la fonte dell’informazione. Tutto ciò che ci circonda può essere pensato in termini di energia configurata secondo determinati parametri. È facile per me fare un paragone con un immenso software: ogni particella, ogni quanto, potrebbe essere rappresentato come una variabile di un’infinita tessitura di equazioni programmate per sostenere l’esistenza materiale, alimentata dallo spirito di Dio (energia, dinamica).

Le leggi naturali assumono per così dire il valore di “linguaggio di programmazione divino”.

Ora, la Bibbia cos’ha a che fare con tutto ciò? Galileo, nella citazione di prima, non fa che dichiararsi d’accordo con 2 Timoteo 3:16, che ci dice che le Sacre Scritture (tutte quelle facenti parte del canone biblico, e non solo alcune, né altre) sono ispirate o alitate da Dio. Galileo confermò anche la necessità dell’informazione contenuta nella Bibbia al fine di avere nozione di ciò che non è investigabile con mezzi materiali. L’informazione contenuta nella Bibbia proviene da un livello superiore a quello in cui risiede l’universo fisico.

In poche parole, tramite la Bibbia Dio ci parla di verità che non possiamo vedere con gli occhi. Ci sono molte cose che non possiamo vedere a occhio nudo, ma le cose spirituali non sono visibili neanche con l’ausilio di strumenti tecnologici: lo possono divenire solo con strumenti della corrispondente e giusta natura, ovvero spirituali. Le Sacre Scritture sono il contenitore di questo benigno regalo che il Creatore ci ha fatto.

Ne parla Sofonia 3:9: “Poiché allora darò in cambio ai popoli una lingua pura, perché tutti invochino il nome di Geova, perché lo servano a spalla a spalla’.” Già da ora, in questo sistema disgraziatamente poliglotta, si può avere questa lingua pura, e godere di una fratellanza sovranazionale. Chi serve Geova lo sa bene. Questa lingua pura non è una lingua parlata, ma è la verità riguardo a Dio e ai suoi propositi, contenuta nella Bibbia.  Perché questo consente di “servire a spalla a spalla”? Non è lo scopo di tutte le religioni, in teoria?

Molti fanno l’errore, condizionati dalla cultura della cristianità, di pensare che la Bibbia o la religione debbano essere una serie di regole del tipo “fare” e “non fare”, circostanziate per giunta a un’epoca diversa dalla nostra e quindi aventi una validità che ormai è decaduta se non in tutto almeno in buona parte.

Così non è.

Geova ci invita a conoscere e studiare la sua parola per questo motivo. Lo studioso sincero e umile (come Galileo) potrà imparare questa “lingua pura”: i valori, il modo di pensare di Dio. Come per imparare una nuova lingua non basta memorizzarne i vocaboli, ma occorre acquisire un nuovo modo di pensare, nuovi schemi mentali, lo stesso vale quando iniziamo a imparare la “lingua pura”. Questo linguaggio proviene dalla fonte delle informazioni, dall’alto, ed è quindi qualcosa di unico e superiore a qualsiasi altra nozione umana.

Ebrei 4:12 ci dice che “la parola di Dio è vivente ed esercita potenza ed è più tagliente di qualsiasi spada a due tagli e penetra fino alla divisione dell’anima e dello spirito, e delle giunture e del loro midollo, e può discernere i pensieri e le intenzioni del cuore.” Un semplice libro non potrebbe fare questo. Un libro che contiene il pensiero di Dio, invece, può. E lo fa.

Al di là dello stile con cui gli scrittori umani e composero fisicamente gli scritti che andarono a formare la Bibbia, l’informazione che si annida dentro le loro parole (erano ispirati o guidati da Dio) è di ordine superiore, e logicamente non è legata alla lingua (e ai relativi suoni) in cui i manoscritti furono composti o tuttora tradotti.

La Bibbia è l’unica guida valida per l’uomo perché è stata scritta per noi dal Creatore di tutte le cose; essa risuona nella realtà. Che noi possiamo comprenderla o meno, siamo in grado di vivere in una sola realtà, e le regole del suo funzionamento non dipendono dal nostro arbitrio. Noi possiamo scegliere se assecondarle o ignorarle, ma esse persistono indipendentemente dalla nostra volontà; esistevano prima del singolo individuo e continueranno a farlo anche dopo. Queste regole, leggi, principi, sono immateriali e come detto prima rappresentano il “linguaggio di programmazione” o codice con il quale Geova Dio ha prodotto questa realtà.

L’uomo ha sperimentato e analizzato alcune di queste leggi, e acquisendone un certo grado di conoscenza ha prodotto una determinata tecnologia. Ma l’uomo ha scelto di fare anche un altro esperimento, che ci condiziona tutti. Ha deciso di ignorare i principi che Dio ha dato agli esseri viventi con una coscienza e intelligenza, dotati di libero arbitrio.

Se mi avete seguito fin qui col ragionamento, è chiaro che un “programmatore”, meglio, un creatore, stabilisce dall’inizio cosa dovrebbe accadere all’interno del sistema da lui ideato e cosa invece sarebbe dannoso per esso.

Questo si chiama stabilire ciò che è bene e ciò che è male.

Il mondo è permeato dalla folle idea che l’uomo possa decidere da sé in merito a questo. Del resto, è proprio la contesa (universale) su questo punto che ha generato la situazione in cui siamo ora (vedi Genesi 3:5).

Molti obiettano che il libero arbitrio dell’individuo non sia compatibile con i valori morali stabiliti da qualcun altro. Bene: pensate a una qualsiasi legge fisica. Esempio: il libero arbitrio non vi può impedire di mettere le mani dentro al camino acceso. Ma la semplice volontà non ci permette di sfuggire alle conseguenze: comunque vi bruciate. [È inutile tirare in ballo ragionamenti del tipo “ma se mi metto i guanti di amianto – ma se invento un campo azzera entropia – ma se gli asini volano” perché qualsiasi invenzione o prodotto materiale si basa comunque sulle regole e sui protocolli dell’universo fisico. L’atto di ignorare una legge fisica non si ottiene sfruttandone un’altra, ma solo essendo al di sopra, al di fuori, del sistema universo. Il programmatore può alterare qualsiasi variabile a piacimento, ne ha il potere e l’autorità (e sa anche quello che fa); le piccole entità interne al software in esecuzione non possono farlo.]

Quindi, oltre a parlarci di cose spirituali, la Bibbia contiene l’unico messaggio reale.

La Parola di Dio è vivente.

Ideas

Che cos’è la verità – il sano scetticismo

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Dato il proliferare di bufale, sòle, pacchi e mattoni, mi sono sentito attratto da questo post dal provocatorio titolo, il quale a sua volta mi ha condotto su un sito che mi sento di segnalare come interessante e meritorio: https://www.brainpickings.org/, lascio a voi la facoltà di interessarvene.

L’articolo citato come fonte su questo secondo sito parla del libro “Il mondo infestato dai demoni” di Carl Sagan, che contrariamente a quanto potrebbe sembrare dal titolo, tratta del metodo e dello scetticismo scientifici. Non entro nel merito delle materie citate… Ribadendo di prestare attenzione alle strumentalizzazioni e agli estremismi propri dell’interazione tra scienza, fede, pseudoscienza, credulità e scetticismo, vi cito un breve estratto anche definito “rilevatore di bufale” (traduzione impropria e libera di “baloney detection kit”), ovvero nove punti applicabili in ogni ambito, non solo scientifico, che ci consentono di mettere alla prova la veridicità di un’affermazione o idea.

  1. Ogni volta che è possibile, deve esserci una conferma indipendente dei “fatti”.
  2. Incoraggia il dibattito tra esperti in materia che hanno punti di vista diversi.
  3. Le tesi sostenute dalle autorità hanno scarso perso – le “autorità” hanno fatto errori in passato. Lo faranno di nuovo in futuro. Forse un modo migliore di dirlo è che nella scienza non ci sono autorità; al massimo ci sono degli esperti.
  4. Fai più di una ipotesi. Se c’è qualcosa che deve essere spiegato, pensa a tutti i modi diversi in cui lo si può fare. Quindi pensa a dei test tramite i quali poter sistematicamente smentire ognuna delle alternative. Quella che sopravvive, l’ipotesi che resiste alla smentita in questa Darwiniana selezione fra “multiple ipotesi funzionanti”, ha la probabilità più alta di essere la risposta corretta piuttosto che quella che potresti tenere per buona perché ti ha attratto per prima.
  5. Cerca di non affezionarti troppo ad un’ipotesi solo perché è la tua. È solo una tappa intermedia nella ricerca della conoscenza. Chiediti perché ti piace l’idea. Paragonala onestamente con le alternative. Vedi se riesci a trovare motivi per rifiutarla. Se non tu, lo faranno altri.
  6. Quantifica. Se ciò che stai spiegando può essere misurato, o è relativo a qualche quantità numerica, sarai molto più in grado di discriminare fra ipotesi in competizione. Ciò che è vago e qualitativo è aperto a molte spiegazioni. Naturalmente ci sono verità che devono essere ricercate nei molti temi qualitativi con i quali siamo obbligati a confrontarci, ma trovarle è più impegnativo.
  7. Se nel ragionamento ci sono “anelli”, ogni anello della catena deve funzionare (inclusa la premessa) – non soltanto la maggior pate di essi.
  8. Il Rasoio di Occam. Questo comodo principio ci spinge, quando siamo di fronte a due ipotesi che spiegano i dati ugualmente bene, a scegliere la più semplice.
  9. Chiediti sempre se le ipotesi possono, almeno in linea di principio, essere falsificate. Le proposizioni che non sono verificabili né falsificabili valgono poco. Considera la grande idea che il nostro Universo e tutto ciò che vi è contenuto sia solo una particella elementare – un elettrone, ad esempio – di un Cosmo molto più grande. Ma se non potremo mai acquisire informazioni dall’esterno del nostro Universo, non è l’idea impossibile da smentire? Devi essere in grado di verificare le asserzioni. Gli scettici inveterati devono avere la possibilità di seguire il tuo ragionamento, replicare i tuoi esperimenti e vedere se ottengono gli stessi risultati.

Ora, provate ad applicare questi punti alla teoria dell’evoluzione.