2nd post

One of the most interesting things to me, that we discussed in class were Aristotle's 3 laws of logic, or thought. Which is the study of reasoning. The first and most obvious is: identity. This is interpreted as: a subject is equal to the sum of it's predicates; or everything that is, exists/is. If it looks or feels like something, than it is that something.


The second is: non-contradiction. No predicate can be simultaneously attributed and denied to a subject. This is the law saying that nothing can both be and not be, in other words. If a flower is a rose and dead, it has to be that. If something is untrue, it will never be true. And the third is: excluded middle. Of every two contradictorily opposite predicates one must belong to every subject; or in other words, each and everything either is or is not.



Those are the three law's of logic, or thought. Logic was described as the art of non-contradictory identification. These law's lead to two thought categories. One is Induction, and the other is Deduction. Deduction basically says all men are mortal. And induction is like the sun always rises in the morning, therefor you know the sun will rise. I found a picture of the equations to go with Aristotle's laws:

Anna's 2nd blog

This week I was really interested in the information because it relates to my other classes. Right now I'm also taking computer science 101 and we're learning about the binary system. Honestly, I'd never heard of the binary system before two weeks ago. It is amazing that so much can be said through all 0s and 1s, but I think it would drive me crazy trying to convert everything into binary.

We also learned about measurements and their use in the business world. Measurements are used to make decisions in the business world so we thought of different measurements used in different business careers. I especially understand how important measurements are in accounting because I'm taking an accounting class right now. The link describes different measurements used in accounting, such as assets, liabilities and expenses.

The information about logic was familiar to me because I've taken a few philosophy classes. It is funny because computers and philosophy seem to be nothing alike but they actually both apply the rules of logic. I always like when my classes intertwine because it shows that what we're learning is applicable in many ways, and it helps me understand the information better.

Number Two

Last week I introduced a rather daft theory about Google possibly taking over the world. I would like to talk more about this as there have been some very interesting developments regarding Google's relationship with China in the past two weeks. However, since part of our last lecture was about measurements, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to discuss one of the most advanced systems of business measurements.

A great deal of Google's success as an advertising giant has been their unwavering commitment to measuring internet usage. No matter how important or irrelevant a person or piece of information may be, Google Inc. has taken it into their hands to ensure that no data slips through the cracks. At the beginning of our class, Dr. Drake posed a question; how do we determine what is important to our business? At one point in time Google executives probably asked themselves this very same question. In response, they deduced that Google aims to be the most elaborate internet company in the world and therefore any piece of information that uses the internet medium is relevant to their company. From click throughs on billion dollar company websites, to tracking search engine inquiries, to how many times "kittens inspired by kittens" is viewed on YouTube, every piece of data has its use in some way or another. (I am a firm believer that the extraordinary view count of the "new haircut" video was the main influence leading to the conception of the hit TV show Jersey Shore, but thats a discussion for another time and place.) This logic is what took this innovative company from a mere search engine to a technological giant. By taking responsibility for measuring every single aspect of how people use the internet, Google has positioned itself as one of the most powerful corporations on the planet. Their amount of intellectual property is second to none. However what is most impressive about all of this his how Google has managed to utilize this data. It's not just sitting around somewhere in a computer archive but rather it is being recorded, analyzed and applied to business decisions around the world. If a company wanted to launch an online marketing campaign, it would likely ask Google where its ads would be most effective in reaching their target market.

The problem inherent in all this is that if Google can obtain information from us electronically, certainly anyone can obtain info from them the same way. It seems that people are starting to recognize this. People are also starting to recognize the value of the data that Google has been able to amass. Proof of this notion lies in the recent attacks on Google stemming from Chinese hackers. They have been able to utilize extremely advanced programming language and algorithms to circumvent some of Google's safety measures. These attacks have caused a tremendous backlash and I will talk more about these events in my next blog.

Logic

Logic seems to be something computers are very good at and humans very poor at. A wonder, then, that humans invented the computer. One would think that a species capable of designing the computer might be able to take some of the logical structures it used to that end and apply them to their own lives. And yet, we as a species seem to act unreasonably more often then not. For an example of this, I would point quickly to war, poverty, crime, racism, environmental degradation, and a host of societal ills that plague us due largely to a lack of logical thinking.

Still, it does seem that some of man's (or woman's) greatest value creation comes from things that on their face seem illogical. Art, particularly abstract art, can appear completely illogical, although many times it is merely the application of a curious FORM of logic that yields abstract art. The artist's life in general, often fraught with poverty, societal pressure to conform, etc. seems also to be an illogically painful pursuit. But many an artist would make the claim that they feel compelled to pursue this end. I suppose my thoughts on logic perhaps need broadening. Particularly when thinking about the application of logic to various human pursuits. Logical attempts at desired results can only be judged through the lens OF the intended result.

Herein lies the reason computers still seem so far away from achieving what many refer to as Artificial Intelligence: desire. Computers are logical insofar as they can distill truth from existing data, as long as the data is factual. But computers cannot want. They cannot be driven to create art by some unknown combination of synapses firing in one of a seemingly limitless number of possible patterns. Will computers, with their architecture hardwired for logic ever reach man's ability to pursue (sometimes seemingly irrationally) the creation of art, music, literature for its own sake? It seems unlikely, but I would never say never based on what we've seen so far.