Machine Dreams - Conscious realities and what we see with our eyes

I am taking this time with coffee and icy outside of the window to brush up on some thought patterns which I haven't touched in a while. The ability for me to have this at my fingertips while I drink my morning coffee may very well be what propels our minds into the future, or destroys us.

Joscha Bach has something for those who are but the least bit curious about what we perceive opposite of blind perception. What do you perceive?

"Many of us when we try to understand anything in the world we do so because we think something needs to be debugged. Our self concept might actually be an attempt for our system to debug itself. At some point the baby thinks the world is pleasure and pain and then it realises that pleasure and pain is not a feature of the world but of itself. At some point it realises that it's not a direct representation. For instance, you might realise that you cut yourself and it hurts a lot but it's only a very tiny cut and you need to downplay this. You realise that it's a signal that is very strong, not objective reality, you do this step by step and at some point you get to the point where you realise "I'm not my values, I'm not this person anymore". It's a process of reverse engineering and you make a model of yourself."

- Joscha Bach during Q and A of Machine Dreams (33c3)

Want more Joscha?: http://bach.ai

Flying Car Engineer Nanodegree - Udacity

I really want to say this course was easy.  I want to tell you how much confidence I have now after a successful completion of the course and required projects.  Have you heard of the imposter syndrome?

At what level does one begin to apply one's skills meaningfully in gainful employment?  When is one ready to give back to the world?

Right now, feeling the surface of my mind, I don't feel like I have a working knowledge of anything that I completed over the past fifteen weeks.  Python, C++, rotor physics, PID controllers, probability, path planning, Gaussians, Kalman filters, Jacobians, Quaternions, what is this stuff?  I get it, all of the details of the more advanced math and physics are fresh and new to me.  Struggling is a part of learning.  One must learn to crawl before learning to walk.  Einstein also needed to learn to crawl. Etcetera, etcetera.. insert your favourite inspirational quote here.

I guess what I am searching for is that feeling I once had standing on the quarterdeck of a well tuned full rigger in a fresh breeze and knowing deep in my existence exactly where the wind is, when to toss off her tacks, brace about, and be gracefully on her way.  

For now, I must quite simply, push on.

Don't believe me?  Check it out for yourself.

FCND - The Flying Car Engineer Nanodegree at Udacity

What well-tuned full-rigger do you speak of?

SOIC - Ostindiefararen Götheborg

Invaluable heroic resource for learning math and clarity of physics concepts without the putdowns one might acquire querying stackexchange.

Khan Academy

"You just keep pushing. You just keep pushing. I made every mistake that could be made. But I Just kept pushing"

- Rene Descartes

MITx - 16.00x Intro to Aerospace Engineering: Astronautics and Human Space Flight

Upon reflection on my pool of values and peering towards a possible future, I arrive at a realisation that constant intellectual pursuits and thorough examination of life are undeniably important.

This course in particular will give me a small reflection upon what it means to exist in a space in which some humans may consider hostile.  Knowing what it takes to live in conditions unfit for life as we know it should increase my own love of life, satisfy some small part of my curiosity and constant strive for wisdom, and fortify my appreciation for the details of what makes being human in general, and on this planet, so wonderful.

Check it out for yourself.

Aerospace Engineering MITx 16.00x at Edx