Not feeling so great about income taxes today, I researched a bit of history and found this video:
There, now I feel better. Wait… no I don’t.
Oh, how I love The Simpsons. I’m going to see the movie tonight, despite that I feel destined for disappointment. Will it be all a Simpsons movie could be? Probably not.
But any way…
What I really like about The Simpsons is it’s irreverence towards… everything. One of my favorite moments is this song, sung my Mr. Burns:
I especially like their religious humor as well:
<[>My favorite character is, by far, Homer. His idiocy, naivety, and bravery are endearing and make for the best commentary. In this video, my favorite Homer quote begins at six seconds in:
Perhaps my favorite Simpsons quote ever, however, comes from Lisa: “I refuse to believe, that everybody refuses to believe, the truth!”
Sorry, I couldn’t find a video of Lisa’s quote. Instead, I leave you with Ralph:
Dan Dennett talks about toxic memes and their virus-like ability to wipe out entire cultures. Dennett’s assertion that memes are, in some cases (communism, capitalism, Islam, Catholicism, and many more), essentially deadly parasites is an interesting perspective.
As interesting as Dennett’s ideas are, I tend to take a more simplistic view. While memes may be wiping out cultures, languages, and traditions I don’t blame the meme as Dennett does. I think it’s as natural an occurrence as ordinary, every-day pack behavior: The dominant “pack” – or culture/society/sect in our case – will ultimately be the most genetically successful.
I love the way the speaker, Jeff Hawkins, dismisses the “pit of metaphysical dualism” in this session at TED.
His general point about the proper definition of intelligence, reminds me that Google uses the approach of using “memory to make predictions” in it’s award winning translator. Interestingly, what is absent in this approach, and in Jeff’s assertion, is understanding.