Hello, and welcome.
Here are this Software Update V.4’s highlights. You should imagine them served on a platter, just like that:
In Essence
The Birth of the Second Law of Infodynamics;
An AI-generated Print Wins an Art Competition (and everybody loses their minds);
The Mental Health Effects of Ghosting;
Watch: Black Swan;
Read: The Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable;
Fiction Writing: Einstein’s Folly, Part 1 (A story from The Universe)
The World Without
Spinning Globe
The latest on Human Ingenuity.
“Unlimited Possibilities” – The Birth of the Second Law of Infodynamics
You’ve heard of the Second Law of thermodynamics? Essentially, it states that any isolated physical system tends to chaos through entropy (when left to themselves, particles tend to lose their specific arrangements from which work can be extracted).
Well, it seems researchers have just demonstrated another Fundamental Law™, but this time in the field of infodynamics (the dynamics of information). This law actually states the opposite of the Second Law of thermodynamics: information entropy must remain constant or decrease over time. This may sound antithetical - information systems are physical, after all, and thus subject to the same fundamental rules of physics. But there’s an inherent beauty to it - and it doesn’t violate the universes’ rules.
A USB drive with no information on it has a physical entropy. This entropy is what ultimately leads systems - such as the pen itself - to stop working.
When we write data into this USB drive, we’re actually adding (writing) information to it: a non-magnetized physical structure becomes magnetized, either positively (0) or negatively (1), becoming a bit. We now have the base physical entropy of the USB drive (which must always increase) and the added information (in the form of a trapped magnetic charge) that is now also subject to information entropy (the process where data degrades). Remember that information entropy, according to the newly discovered law, must always remain constant or decrease.
As time passes, these bits become corrupted; either they flip (a 0 becomes a 1), or their magnetic states simply dissipate through time. This dissipation releases energy and lowers the amount of useful work the system can produce - increasing its disorder and its total entropy (abiding by the second law of thermodynamics). But this energy release also reduces the number of structures that hold information - they become blank slates. This means that the total information entropy has gone down, as there’s a lesser number of elements of information that can actually degrade.
I have no idea what this actually means for the universe and humanity. But it does sound big, and the researchers made sure they passed on just how much:
The surprising result obtained here has massive implications for future developments in genomic research, evolutionary biology, computing, big data, physics, and cosmology.
Well, that sounds groundbreaking, doesn’t it? Especially the part where the researchers say there could be “a deterministic mechanism for entropy, one that isn’t truly random”. If decay isn’t random, but rather deterministic, and we can see through the pattern - then we can interact with it. This covers things ranging from genetic mutations (in humans or viruses) through cancer research and any other probabilistic scenario.
Interestingly, all the fields of application mentioned by the researchers sound like something a quantum computer would be especially able to crunch through.
An AI-generated Print Wins an Art Competition
(and everyone loses their minds)
This is the first in a series of events that will be following the AI art-generation world for some time yet. As we attempt to make sense of what effect should AI-generated art have in the world of artistry, AI-generated paintings are already winning art competitions.
To be fair, the image itself (a gorgeous, space-opera-like digital image with clear Dune vibes) won a relatively small event, and was picked from 17 other entries in the “Digital Art” category. It’s likely that in the future, “AI-generated art” will stand amongst other artistic pursuits as a category unto itself. I’ll actually eat my hat if that doesn’t happen.
I’m working on an essay that looks deeper into this issue, but for now, I’d raise a couple questions:
What is artistry?
What do we value in art?
Is it an outcome (the art itself); the process that leads to it; or both?
If we choose to focus on the outcome, then AI art is as competent a vehicle for awe as any other type of creation. It produces an output that can be perceived in the real world, allowing us to partake in its message (or abstraction) just like a photograph or an oil painting would. In this sense, one could use the argument “work smart, not harder”, and say that painters should sell their brushes and their easels and write prompts into an AI-powered text-box. If all that matters is the outcome, why bother painting for a year when you can guide an AI for a couple minutes?
If we however choose to focus on the process, then obtaining the final image isn’t the purpose; if we value the process instead of the outcome, we have to consider the artist itself; the artists’ life, the process and hours that led to the final creation, its thoughts and intention. We have to consider agency - how much of a person is imprinted in its work.
Whatever form this field eventually takes, I’d say we as humans have historically been too focused on outcomes rather than processes. That artists fear their place - their craft - will be usurped by an algorithm is little more than a symptom of that reality.
Just because we replace what we don’t value, that doesn’t mean the value isn’t there.
The Mental Health Effects of Ghosting
Ghosting has become an inescapable element to anyone that’s trying to date these days.
Hasn’t it?
Even as digital bridges have become more and more entrenched in the fabric of human relations (especially since the COVID-era), we’re also facing the fact that digital bridges are, well, virtual - they can be destroyed with a purposeful, easy, and all-encompassing flick of the thumb towards the “block” button.
Digital bridges are the equivalent of an origami paper swan being put to float on a river.
Researchers are now coming to grasps with the reality of ghosting, and naturally, they’re looking into its consequences.
It’s easy to see how ghosting is an actual escape from responsibility and conflict rather than a way of “reducing emotional damage” for the rejected party. And the researchers found consequences not only for “the ghosted ones” (can we start a group under that name?), but also for the ghosts themselves.
It’s also plain to see how a ghosted one could suffer from being ghosted - that ego-cleaving sting of overwhelming rejection; the shortness of breath from the moment of incredulity; the lingering confusion; the lack of a why and the lack of an eye to establish empathy with.
Such experiences often precipitated internalized rejection, self-blame, and feelings of low self-worth.
Researchers found distrust born from these scars could stretch across time and romantic interests.
As to the “ghosters”, they’re not free from consequences either; the researchers found that around 50% of them carried feelings of guilt or remorse. Repeated ghosting (like all repeated actions that turn to habits) tends to lead to a desensitization, a dehumanization of relationship ties. Researchers found that as it becomes easier and easier to ghost, establishing a romantic connection gets more and more unlikely.
It’s true that the world doesn’t owe us any closure.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t owe it to others.
Passive Quality
Content for nurture, not mindless consumption.
Watch: Black Swan (2010)
Black Swan is one of those movies that you’ll either love or hate.
To me, it’s a beautiful psychological thriller, with incredible ballet sequences, an awesome soundtrack (Swan Lake, anyone?) and great cinematography. I place it in the same overall category as Whiplash - Black Swan too follows an artists’ pursuit of perfection and its consequences.
But while Whiplash showed that conflict through internal and external perspectives (the apprentice and the master’s guidance), here the conflict is wholly internal. Natalie Portman’s Nina is at war with her competition, herself, her condition as a woman and her education.
Can the White Swan become the Black Swan too?
And at what cost?
Read: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
That’s a mouthy title, isn’t it? But Nassim Nicholas Taleb does much more than write large titles: he coined the term Black Swan as referring to the occurrence of a high-impact, high-improbability event. Taleb offers certain elements to define them - events such as 9/11 qualify as a Black Swan event. An active shooter in your classroom qualifies as a Black Swan event. And Harry Potter’s success (after 12 rejections) made J. K. Rowling a Black Swan too.
This book is an invitation to study the concepts of risk and reward; of cost, and effect; and the risks of disproportionate effects.
P.S.: Sorry about the consecutive Black Swans. I found it funny.
The World Within
Fiction Writing
Einstein’s Folly - A Story from The Universe
Well, this is another place. Another time. In the same Universe.
This time, I prompted Midjourney - the AI bot - to illustrate some elements from the story.
This is it - for now.
Click for another hop through The Universe.
Thank you for taking the time to read this Software Update V.4. Feel free to comment, to consider, to share.
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Take care.
Keep being curious, keep thinking - but most of all, keep being human.
Best,
Francisco