What's Next

It is the second of May, 2011 and I'm thinking about what's next. today, I'm anticipating the results of the current Canadian federal election. More personally, I'm reflecting on what I have just achieved and what I hope to achieve in the future. Much of this is an ongoing process that will just lead to the next thing until there is no more me, rather than no more next. I hope that will be a very long time in the future.

My very good March featured winning a few bucks in a hockey pool; Completing my M.A.; and reconciling with my wife. The latter two help me vindicate myself as an okay guy. I supported myself, and my son, while completing an M.A. and working often as a carpenter, teacher and digital materials developer. My wife asked for the reconciliation, and I immediately said yes, but I didn't approach her. So far, we are all happy to be back together as a couple and a family.
As a family, we're all pretty invested in education. My wife coordinates a medical research group. I'm looking for new/additional teaching opportunities. Developing a focus for a Phd is also on the horizon.

I have started by a very simple statement "The Game is in the player". An analysis of this concept begins with Aristotle and how his doctrine of causes plays out in his discussion of psychology in his De Anima. This theoretical discussion combines my interest in aesthetics and creativity, with my M.A. thesis, especially with regards attributing agency to art objects, a line of thought I derive from the anthropologist, Alfred Gell. It also sweeps up my comparison of Nietzche's idea of Dionysian ecstasos with the experience of 'immersion' that we find in digital games. While I suspect that Aristotlean causes will fail to account for the placement of the game in the player, I think it will fail in an interesting way,setting the stage for games as performances that map onto Husserlian intersubjectivity. The creative elements of play that are discussed by biologists Neil Greenberg, the idea of 'meaning machines' as developed by computer scientist Deb Roy and asynchronous relationship of experiential phenomena to time in the work of neurologist David Eagleman provide data to consider the  digital game as an aesthetic conduit to Husserl's transcendental ego. This relationship between intersubjectivity, time, rhythm and experience would employ Martin Heidegger's Being and Time but also Henri Lefebvre's Rhythmanalysis as relevant text to exploring the interaction of shared experience in digital games.  Aside from continuing to explore the intentional experience, a frustrated goal of philosophy  this work offers the possibility of new means to conceptualising user experience of digital games. The experience of ecstatic temporality always seems to hover around my work, whether it is philosophy, game studies or music.

By continuing to blog my research, you can follow and make comments, if you are interested. I may attempt a more elaborate blogging site for that. This is partially to learn how to use such modern web/internet technologies as PHP, Python, Joomla and Wordpress. As a humanities scholar, I haven't invested in learning such technologies but now I feel I must.

A blog on my dissertation research would be good for a project focused learning experience. I also plan to learn to program/develop games with Unity and the Ios. For fun, create music, including some for games. This all represents an attempt to integrate all my disparate activities into a whole.

                                                                                                                 

Check your riding- see if you can help topple the Tories.

 Vote splitting between Liberals, New Democrats and Greens has allowed Conservatives to win many ridings with a minority vote. Check your riding- see if you can help topple the Tories.

Given that the Greens, NPD and Liberals are all generally more similar in policy than the Conservatives, here is a list of ridings where a strategic vote might help topple the Tories. I am not playing favourites. My goal is to minimise Conservative winners- For example, Liberals and NDP supporters should vote for Elizabeth May in Saanich Gulf Coast, otherwise the incompetent Conservative Minister, Gary Lunn(Co-author of the Chalk River nuclear reactor fiasco) will stay in office.



This information is drawn from ThreeHundredEight.com so you can check my information. If you didn't see your riding, it is because a strategic vote probably wont make a difference. If your incumbent is NDP or Liberal, simply vote for them. Likewise, Independents. If this strategic vote pattern were followed, the NDP would gain 12 seats, the Liberals would gain 24 seats, and the Green Party would elect Elizabeth May.


The Conservative party would lose 36 seats reduced to 107 seats out of 308.

British Columbia


Burnaby Douglas- NDP need Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Delta- Richmond East- Liberals need NDP and Green voters to defeat Cons


Fleetwood Port Kells- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Nanaimo Alberni- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Richmond- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Saanich Gulf Islands- Green Party needs Liberal and NDP voters to defeat Cons


Surrey North- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Vancouver Island North- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

West Vancouver– Sunshine Coast- Sea to Sky Country- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Alberta


Edmonton Center- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Edmonton East- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Saskatchewan


Desnethé- Missinippi- Churchill River–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Palliser–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Manitoba

Elmwood Transcona–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

 St.Boniface– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Winnipeg South–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Northern Canada


Nunavut- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Ontario
Brampton Springdale—Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Brampton West—Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Brant– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Essex– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Guelph–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Huron Bruce– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Kenora– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Kingston and The Islands– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Kitchener Center–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Kitchener Waterloo–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


 London West- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

 Oakridges Markham– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


 Oshawa– NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Ottawa Orléans – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Ottawa West Nepean–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons(Please let's remove John Baird from office)

Simcoe Grey– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons
  
Vaughn–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Welland–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

 New Brunswick

Fredericton – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Miramichi – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Saint John – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Nova Scotia

Central Nova – NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

South Shore St.Margaret's – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

West Nova – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Prince Edward Island

Egmont – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Newfoundland & Labrador

Random - Burin - St.Georges – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Nuclear vs Solar

The tragedy of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan have now raised the threat of nuclear radiation escaping from nuclear reactors melting down and releasing atomic radiation into the air. This danger, along with the difficulties of storing used and highly radioactive fuel and materials have long stymied the expansion of nuclear power. The Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. during the 1970's and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1980's pointed to the danger that nuclear energy poses. How ever, the threat from chemical & fossil fuel energies have become apparent in the last 20 years. This danger, both to human health and the global climate have suggested that the only way to power our advanced technological civilization necessarily involves more nuclear power.

The argument arises from the assertion that wind and solar power are insufficient to provide the necessary energy. Given that wind arises from solar energy– the heating and cooling of air masses by the sun's heat– how much energy actually reaches earth?  And how much energy do humans use?

It is estimated that the earth receives 1.8 x 10¹⁷ Joules/s (1) or about 1.6 x 10²²Joules everyday from the sun. In contrast, humans consume about 4.7 x 10²⁰Joules(I derived this figure by converting the Tonnes of Oil equivalent provide by BP into joules). Elsewhere I have seen figures of total energy consumption a magnitude smaller. So total human energy consumption seems to range between a 1/10 of a percent and 1 percent of solar energy. So why can't we gather that energy? It would require turning over 1 percent of the earth's surface to energy production with up to 3 percent to accomodate population growth and increased demand. On the other hand, we wouldn't be injecting an extra 1 to 3 percent of the energy the planet's ecology has evolved to cope with, with the attendant pollution.

So if we want to maintain the lives we enjoy, we either have to accept the dangers of nuclear radiation or that massive changes as we incorporate solar, wind and wave power.  



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(1) http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sun.html#sunenergymass

http://www.vaclavsmil.com/publications/

Microblogging

So I signed up for a Twitter account, and use it to update my Facebook status. The thesis continues apace- starting the fifth, concluding chapter tomorrow. finishing the dense conclusions of chapters 2 & 4 today.

Had a nice German-style breakfast of sausage, strong coffee, a croissant(let's hear it for Franco-German accord!) and a german beer. Since then I've been sorta reading and napping, after putting in a good few early hours on Lefebvre's the Production of Space and the countergaming chapter from Galloway's Gaming:Essays on Algorithmic Culture. My idea is that Wafaa Bilal's Domestic Tension performance was an example of both countergaming but also subverting current museological practice(countermuseology?) by reaching an audience with no investment or indeed an active disdain for contemporary art practices. This arises from the paintball gun that was the central element of the performance acting to tie together the space produced by the overlapping of the gallery, the art community that supported Bilal in Chicago during the performance, and the space created by the web-based actions- Youtube, chatroom and remote control of the paintball gun via the internet.

Now, does that all make sense to you?

Average low temperatures; a global warming hypothesis

If we were to remove the Earth's atmosphere entirely, presumably its surface temperatures would resemble that of its Moon's: Daytime high of 123C(about 253 F) and lows of -233 C (-387 F). The Earth's atmosphere reflects much of that heat energy, so our average daytime temperature rarely exceeds 40 C and that same atmosphere retains the heat that does get through, so the lowest temperatures rarely exceed -40 C.  In fact the average daytime temperature across the surface of the Earth is about 9C (and rising). My hypothesis is that as carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, heat will be retained incrementally, while daytime peaks will be somewhat mitigated as the CO2(and other greenhouse gasses) reflect some heat during the day but retain more heat overall, causing among other effects, warmer overall low temperatures.

Currently, Western Europe is suffering from a relatively cold, snowy winter. Many comments suggest that this is because the earth is getting colder. But Europeans, especially brits(I was born in Reading) live in latitudes farther north than much of Canada(Montreal sits roughly at 45 degrees N while London, UK sits at 51 N). The weather there is still currently milder than here in eastern Canada. Meanwhile, our current weather is milder than normal.

Britain, and much of western Europe have benefited from the Atlantic Conveyor, a stream of warm water flowing from the warm south Atlantic up to Europe's west coast. Most models of global warming have predicted this warm water will cease to flow due to the effects of global warming. Europe will get similar mild(for Canadians) winters as northern North America. Eventually, temperatures will all catch up, but for some, the effects will seem more ambiguous.

Since I don't have the raw data, I can only offer anecdote, but it seems to me Montreal's weather has become milder. Evening low temperatures are warmer across seasons, but the high temperatures haven't spiked as high. Winters offer warmer days but Summer days are less likely to be blisteringly hot. This is what inspired my hypothesis. Now perhaps some one can analyse the data and see if this is true.

Containment

Ref: Gell, Alfred "The Distributed Person" in Art and Agency. Oxford. Clarendon 1998
Externalist Theory of agency places agency in the viewer rather than what is viewed. In an idol "we can at least depict the possibility of a mind we cannot depict"(p. 132). Gell's argument is that we attribute agency- both when we look at a living person and perform idolatry with a relic. Both require a body which contains a soul. However, this system of Containment and concentricity is entirely dependent on the audience for agency, even when the audience looks into its self.

Betting On Climate Change

The evidence for the increase in global temperature and the indications that it is manmade are about as scientifically certain as to whether or not the sun will rise tomorrow. This will change our planet. It will not end life here, but it will become more difficult for many people. The worst effects will happen beyond my lifetime, and some may well be catastrophic to people and unforeseen. Using less polluting foms of energy and production seems sensible(why would you pay to make pollution? For that is what inefficient industries do when they pollute). Still we will not be able to duck the effects of what we have set in motion. However, we can look at how we can cope with these changes. Sadly, many people, especially in Africa, the Indian sub-continent and much of Central asia will suffer both from flooding due to sea level rise, and drought due diminished rain fall and diminished glacial run off as the glaciers in the Himalayas shrink.

Cities on the Mississippi River
-map shows 2m sea level rise.

However, the great rivers are unlikely to fail, as the Nile continues despite the encroachment of desert on its banks. So look to cities like Minneapolis, Memphis and baton Rouge to become more attractive as they are more likely to retain a reasonable supply of fresh water. Las Vegas on the other hand is not really sustainable, unless it can develop an alternative to siphoning water from the great plains. Those plains, in turn are using a non-renewable water supply. Essentially, they are drinking deeply from a great underground lake left over from the melting of the glaciers thousands of years ago. Those aquifers are rapidly being depleted.

The St.Lawrence river, flowing from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean can sustain the cities on it, as long as they do not grow substantially bigger, although its water level has declined, partially because most of the water taken by Toronto, Montreal and Quebec is used, treated and returned to the river.

Québec city and environs with 2m sea
rise. The current port would be under water

Some otherwise attractive cities—New Orleans and Quebec city, for example, will suffer from rising sea levels, although much of Quebec city is so elevated that if water washes over the citadel, then most of north America will be underwater. This is hardly so likely but the suburbs around it, like parts of Levis and of Beauport, as with most of  New Orleans, are likely to be submerged.

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maps: http://flood.firetree.net/