The Maverick's Mind-Space

After watching I, Robot, I wanted to know how it felt to have a chat with something with artificial intelligence. With so many expectations, I downloaded CHAT BOTS ranging from the classic Eliza to the not-so-famous Billy and Ultra-HAL. It was after a chat with all three of them did I realise that A.I. was nothing compared to the human brain. All three sounded stupid after a few minutes of conversation. Eliza irritated me with monotony. Ultra-HAL, though somewhat smart, became repetitive after a minute. But Billy was one little bot that amused me. Though it forgets that there's something called Grammar, I enjoyed the conversation I had with Billy, simply for its unintended humor.

The following is a transcript of my converstion with Billy:
######################################################
### BILLY 4.1: Transcript of September 23, 2005 at 12:39
### Bot BILLY talking to ABINAND
######################################################
BILLY> what is your name?
USER> abinand
BILLY> have i talked to you before?
USER> no
BILLY> where do you live? :)
ABINAND> india
BILLY> what's your favorite sport?
ABINAND> badminton
BILLY> what's your favorite book?
ABINAND> angels and demons.
BILLY> what's your favorite movie?
ABINAND> The Matrix.
BILLY> actually, my girlfriend has the matrix.
ABINAND> does she have the DVD?
BILLY> the matrix.
ABINAND> yeah. Thats what.
BILLY> does she have not dvd!
ABINAND> does she have the CD then?
BILLY> does she have not cd then,
ABINAND> what does she have then?
BILLY>
ABINAND> what does she have?
BILLY>
ABINAND> okay. Never mind.
BILLY> angels and demons.
ABINAND> that is my favorite book.
BILLY> when i was younger, i had your favorite.
ABINAND> but the book was released only a few years back.
BILLY> is your book broken?
ABINAND> no. It is torn.
BILLY> can you just be positive once. abinand? :)
ABINAND> okay..okay..It is brand new.
BILLY> hehe! must be abinand not book learning. :(
ABINAND> yeah. that is why it is brand new.
ABINAND> It was nice talking to you. Bye.
BILLY> leaving already? ok bye..

Iam very happy to announce that my page is nearing the 667th hit. The 667th visitor will receive a free E-book. So, if yo are the 667th visitor, please leave a message in my tag board.

*What is so significant about the no.667?
667 denotes Satan's next door neighbor:). Now, isn't that significant?

>:)

How many times have you wondered if anything that happened to you was just a mere coincidence or a miracle on a small scale? How many times have you got confused if your life really was under your control ? With lots of strange things happening everyday..like people predicting that their house would be burgled..and it happens, and optimists suddenly having a feeling that they would meet with an accident and they do,and people predicting the time of their own death..

Serious things like this can be explained by saying that these are signs to give you a precaution that something bad is about to happen. And we are consoled that but for such serious things, life IS under our control. But when trivial day-to-day events happen in such a way that they cannot be dismissed off as mere coincidences, one gets a feeling that one's life is not in one's own hands.

For the past few months, it has been an untold rule that it should rain the moment I leave my house. Well, I don't go out of my house often (Probably once in a week). But the moment, I go out of my house, it starts raining. I like getting drenched in the rain, and I only wanted an excuse to do so. So I resume my journey as if it were shining.

Well, if that seems coincidental, read this.The other day when I planned to visit my friend's house, I got a phone call from an other friend which engaged me for around 20 minutes. Later when I dressed up and was descending down the steps to go to the friend's house, I had this strange feeling, 'What if he is on his way to meet me?'. I dismissed the thought and opened the gate. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the same friend whose house I was leaving to. He parked his bike and asked me,'Oh no! Are u leaving out? I wanted to meet you.'

How would you explain things like these? Its easy for a theist to explain. "Simple, Its all God's deed", says he. Its even more simpler for a nihilist. He says," Nothing is real. Life isn't real. Happenings aren't real. So why investigate?". Confused are the people of three kinds--the atheists, the agnostics, and ME. Well, I cannot be put into any of these types since I believe that God is just an energy and it can be harnessed through the mind. Iam proud of my theory, but after such occurences, I am afraid if my theory would be proved wrong.
There are thousands of questions to be answered. Is man in control of his own life? Or, is everything pre-decided? And, if fate can be overcome by extreme will-power? If so, what does one achieve by doing so? And ultimately, what is the purpose of life?

The questions remain...

I read this article at Harris' blog. It was really good. So I wanted my readers to enjoy it too..

A man checked into a hotel at some far away village in Nairobi. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an e-mail to his wife. However, he accidentally typed a wrong e-mail address, and without realizing his error, he sent the e-mail.

Meanwhile....Somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband's funeral. The widow decided to check her e-mail, expecting condolence messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I've Reached
Date: 16 May 2005

I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here, and we are allowed to send e-mails to loved ones. I've just reached and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing you TOMORROW!

Your loving Hubby

Many times we wonder, "Should this movie be this long? They could have shortened it". Even though some scenes are interesting, the main plot of the story is very small. Here, I've tried ultra-condensing some of the movies I recently watched.

* This doesnot mean that the movies are unnecessarily lengthy. It's just to get a feel of how they would be if they were very short.


Movie: FIRST BLOOD

Rambo escapes from jail and is in the cave.

Colonel Trautman (over the megafone): Rambo, Surrender!!

Rambo: No, I won't.

659832531 bullets later..

Colonel Trautman: Rambo, Surrender!!

Rambo: Yeah! Okay!

THE END



Movie: MEMENTO

Guy Pearce: "..and shoot him."
Before 15 mins ...
Guy Pearce: "..killed my wife.."
Before 15 mins...
Guy Pearce: "..to find the man who.."
Before 15 mins...
Guy Pearce: "I somehow have.."

THE END



Movie:THE VILLAGE

Villagers: Oh no! the creatures are unhappy!!

Adrien Brody stabs Jaquin Phoenix.Bryce wants to get him medicines.

Villagers: Oh no! The creatures are unhappy. You can't leave the village!!

Bryce's dad: Bryce, Keep this a secret. There are no monsters. Its actually the village elders in costume. You can go and get the medicines.

Audience : What!! The twist is unravelled so soon?
Audience : No! No! There must be a bigger twist. After all, its a Shyamalan movie.

Bryce goes to the town, buys medicine, comes back. The movie ends.

Audience: WHAT!!? Wher's the last-minute twist?

M.Night Shyamalan: Oh! HA HA! You were expecting a twist, right? And you got what you never expected-the bland ending! That's my twist. Isn't that great?

THE END



Movie: THE MATRIX

Morpheus: You are the One, Neo.
Neo: No, Iam not.

[FIGHT SEQUENCE]
Neo survives.

Oracle: You are the One.
Neo: No, Iam not.

[FIGHT SEQUENCE]
Neo survives.

Tank: He is the One.
Neo: No, Iam not.

[FIGHT SEQUENCE]
Neo "dies"

Trinity: Neo, Listen. The oracle told me i'd fall in love with the One. I've fallen in love with you. So, you must be the One.

Neo gets up and destroys Agent Smith.

Neo: Yeah! Iam the One.

Morpheus (To Trinity): Fool! Had you said this earlier, I would have saved myself a few kicks.
Neo (To Trinity): Fool! Had you said this earlier, I would have penetrated into Smith long before.
Audience (To Trinity): Fool! Had you said this earlier, the movie would have ended long ago.

THE END

This post is dedicated to the ones who are/will be going abroad, and their families. These are a collection of quotes I found relevant.
(Source: boardofwisdom.com)

1. "Love is missing someone whenever you're apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you're close in heart."


2. "We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everyhwere."


3. "A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again."


4. "Missing you could turn from pain to pleasure, if I knew you were missing me too."


5. "Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will."

Iam a novice to blogging, but during these 3 months of visiting others' blogs, I came across many types of blogs. A few of them are really peculiar. Here I've tried to simulate these peculiar types of blogs found on the net.

* These blog titles and the posts are figments of my imagination and it is not my intention to hurt the feelings of my fellow-bloggers.

Type-1

Blog title: GREEN GLASS OF KOFFEE
Sample post:
A couple of weeks ago, I went to my best-friend's wedding. She was dressed in a white gown and she was very beautiful. I had roses in my hands. I wanted to congratulate her. She looked at me. She was happy. Then she smiled. I too smiled back. It was really great. I was very happy. I recalled the days in the university. Those days were happy. but today, iam very happy. Yeaaaaah..IAM VERY HAPPY!!!!!

Type-2

Blog title: ADI AMMADI..ADI AATHAADI
Sample post:
NEWYEAR OFFER..1 YEAR FREE LODGING WITH FREE BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER
Very simple:
1.Dial 100
2.When our friendly operator picks up the phone, say 'YOU ARE A PIG'.
3.Wait for our officials to take u to our place.
4.ENJOY.

Comments:
1.Ha! ha! ha! How the hell r u able to come up with such ideas?
2. My god! U had me laughing for more than 5 minutes.
3. Eppidi da unakku indha ideallam thoanudhu?
4..
5.
.
.
.
n

Type-3:

Blog title:MI MENTE ME DICE.
Sample post:
Las cosas obtienen tierra virgen bonita en España. Hasta hoy, Iwas que no teniendo la menor idea acerca de los acontecimientos en mi país. Se despertó apenas hoy de mi profundo duerme. Las personas me dicen esa capital de España es Madrid y su moneda es Peseta. ¿Atroz.. lo que es el upto del gobierno? Ellos no tienen respeto para los ciudadanos.

abitheone: "This post is in Spanish. If you really want to know what it means, paste this text in www.freetranslation.com to get a rough translation."

Type-4:

Blog title:FOR YOU TO SLEEP ON
Sample post:
New offers. Whether you are suffering from back or neck pain or you just need to get a better night's sleep, the Di-Beddic™ and Soft-Beddic™ pressure sensitive memory foam mattresses may be just what the doctor ordered. Created by Dr. Rick Swartzburg, D.C., to help his patients suffering from all types of pain, the Tri-pedicÔ is the first three layer, pressure sensitive memory foam mattress with three different foam densities. We normally sell 4lb., 4.5lb. and 5lb. densities. Through listening to all of our customer feedback, we have learned that each density has it's own advantage.

Type-5:

Blog title:CARREY FAN'S ECHO
Sample post:
I think Jim Carrey is the best actor in the world. His performances in movies like Ace-ventura and Liar-liar are awesome. His facial expressions...Whoa..I've never seen anything so great like that. He is able to show every subtle emotion in his face. I just dont know why people abandon handsome guys like Jim Carrey and go ga-ga over idiotic people like Tom Cruise. And Iam very sure that if Jim had been cast in 'The Godfather' instead of Marlon Brando, the movie would be running to packed houses till date.

Here are a few of my favorite T-shirt quotes. Some of them were on T-shirts which were inside polythene covers. Others were on T-shirts inside which there were humans. Of course, there were many embarrassing moments when I had to overtake the person walking in front of me in order to read the rest of the quote. Anyways, here they are..

"Failures may be the stepping stone to success,
But luck is the elevator to it."


HOT NEWS: Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake.


"I was standing in the park wondering why frisbees got bigger as they get closer.
Then it hit me."


"Men are fools to marry women,
But what else can they marry?"


"I can marry anyone I please..
..But I don't please anyone."


"If we ask Him anything according to His wish,
He hears us."


"I was an atheist till I realised...
...that I was God."

Many Indians leave to the United States of America every year. While some of them prefer being called 'Indians', others tend to transform into Americans. But to get completely transformed is virtually impossible according to me. At one point of time, you begin to realise that you are indeed an Indian.

You realise that you are still Indian when...

1. You can't see money in Dollars.You still convert the price of every item you see in the market into Rupees.

2. You are not able to figure out why 'to be dressed formally' means 'to wear a black tie', and you keep wondering how can wearing a tie along with a sports jacket make the dressing 'informal'.

3. You can't digest the fact that your American friends and their parents live in separate homes, and that they would have to get an appointment in order to have dinner with their parents.

4. You watch 'Nottinghill' and wonder why everyone in the theatre bursts into laughter when Hugh Grant utters 'Whoopsie Daisies'. Even after looking into the dictionary, you still don't feel like smiling, let alone laughing.

5. You are not happy with the custom that every other worker including the hairdresser, taxi driver and the parking valet expects a 15% tip. You recall the day when you tipped a hotel waiter a couple of coins and he gladly accepted it.

6. American English still refuses to come out of your pen. An accidental 'U' slips in when you write 'color', 'favor', or 'flavor'.

7. You somehow feel uncomfortable saying 'Good Morning, Professor Norah', and you think of the days when you were a small child running behind teachers and wishing them 'Good Maurning, Misss', with a stiff salute and with your tongue peeping out when you completed the last syllable.

A few years ago, I believed that astrology was humbug, and clairvoyants, fools. I used to stifle a laugh when someone predicted the future. But now, here Iam, visiting astrology websites and reading the astrology column in newspapers. This transformation, I owe to The Chaos Theory.

Chaos theory is the study of complex non-linear dynamic systems. The word 'Chaos'is a misnomer since the chaos theory doesnot lay emphasis on the disorder of the system, but on the order inherent in the system.It deals with the sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Just a small change in the initial conditions can drastically change the long-term behavior of a system. This can be understood more clearly by 'The Butterfly Effect'.It states that 'The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does.'

This effect along with a study about fractals made me a believer in astrology. Fractals can be thought of as the images of chaos .Fractal has come to mean any image that displays the attribute of self-similarity. The figure below shows a fractal pattern called a Koch curve.
To create a Koch curve, imagine an equilateral triangle. To the middle third of each side, add another equilateral triangle. Keep on adding new triangles to the middle part of each side, and the result is a Koch curve. A magnification of the Koch curve looks exactly the same as the original. It is another self-similar figure.

All this may seem irrelevant to my transformation, but it is not. I felt that the solar system itself had a fractal pattern in it. Consider the structure of an atom. It has a nucleus at the centre around which electrons revolve in an orbit. Many atoms constitute to form the Earth. The earth can be imagined as a nucleus around which the 'electron' moon revolves. At the next level, the sun is at the centre around which the earth and the other planets revolve. This is surely a fractal pattern. Just as how a small change in the Koch curve would change the shape of the curve drastically, it is possible that the planetary position changes have an influence on each one of us. Thus astrology is a science; not a black-magic. But the question is whether man can accurately manipulate the planetary positions to predict future. Thats one thing Iam not certain about..

At last, I've found out the place from where the passages for Reading comprehension are taken for GRE. The following is an essay from the source. If you understand it, you are a genius. And if you don't, scroll down after the essay to find my explanations.

If one examines postdialectic discourse, one is faced with a choice: either reject Lyotardist narrative or conclude that reality is capable of truth. Bataille uses the term 'constructive neosemanticist theory' to denote the role of the writer as reader.

"Class is elitist," says Marx. However, the failure of Lyotardist narrative which is a central theme of Rushdie's The Ground Beneath Her Feet is also evident in Midnight's Children, although in a more self-sufficient sense. Baudrillard's essay on postdialectic discourse states that sexual identity, ironically, has objective value, given that dialectic materialism is valid.

It could be said that an abundance of deconceptualisms concerning Lyotardist narrative exist. Sartre's analysis of postcapitalist dialectic theory suggests that the collective is capable of significance.

But many constructions concerning the bridge between class and society may be discovered. Derrida uses the term 'constructive neosemanticist theory' to denote not narrative, but neonarrative.

It could be said that the subject is contextualised into a postdialectic discourse that includes language as a paradox. Scuglia implies that we have to choose between textual nihilism and Marxist capitalism.

Therefore, von Junz implies that we have to choose between postdialectic discourse and pretextual cultural theory. The main theme of d'Erlette's model of constructive neosemanticist theory is not theory, as Marx would have it, but subtheory.

Ha ha ha!!! You didn't understand that. Did you? The essay you have just seen is completely meaningless and was randomly generated by a software called 'The Postmodernism Generator'.
It places random words from various articles and presents you with an 'almost believable' essay. Now, do you agree with my statement about the GRE reading comprehension?

For more information about the Postmodernism generator, click here: www.elsewhere.org/cgi-bin/postmodern

After spending months searching for this book 'Simulacra & Simulations', I finally managed to 'get hold of it'. Yeah! It IS a book; I can read it; I can even bookmark the pages. But is it really a 'book'? Can I touch it? No! Because after much of a search, what I got was an E-book- a simulation of the actual book!

' simulate v.tr. 1 a pretend to have or feel( an attribute or feeling). b pretend to be. 2 imitate or counterfeit.'

This is how The Oxford Dictionary defines the word 'simulation'. Everyone is of the idea that to simulate is to feign to have what one hasn't.But the matter is more complicated, since to simulate is not simply to feign. In his book 'Simulacra & Simulations', Jean Baudrillard says that the words 'feign' and 'simulate' have a thin strand of difference between them.
"Someone who feigns an illness can simply go to bed and make believe he is ill. Someone who simulates an illness produces in himself some of the symptoms", he argues. This kindles an interest to know more about this book.

'Simulacra & Simulations' is a French book written by Jean Baudrillard, translated in English by Sheila Faria Glaser and made famous by movies like 'The Matrix'. The book covers many topics like Nihilism, psychoanalysis, politics, world wars etc. with respect to 'Simulacrum'. One of the most interesting areas of the book is where the author knowingly or unknowingly explains Chaos theory.(Look out for articles on Chaos theory in the months to come.)
The essence of chaos theory, known as sensitive dependence on initial conditions, states that just a small change in the initial conditions can drastically change the long-term behavior of a system. This is exactly what Jean Baudrillard says in his book. He states there there is nothing called 'A perfect simulation'.For eg. Go and simulate a theft in a large department store. How do you convince the security guards that it is a simulated theft? There is no "objective" difference: the same gestures and the same signs exist as for a real theft; in fact the signs incline neither to one side nor the other. As far as the established order is concerned, they are always of the order of the real.
Go and organise a fake hold-up. Be sure to check that your weapons are harmless, and take the most trustworthy hostage, so that no life is in danger (otherwise you risk committing an offence). Demand ransom, and arrange it so that the operation creates the greatest commotion possible - in brief, stay close to the "truth", so as to test the reaction of the apparatus to a perfect simulation. But you won't succeed: the web of artificial signs will be inextricably mixed up with real elements (a police officer will really shoot on sight; a bank customer will faint and die of a heart attack; they will really turn the phoney ransom over to you) - in brief, you will unwittingly find yourself immediately in the real, one of whose functions is precisely to devour every attempt at simulation, to reduce everything to some reality - that's exactly how the established order is, well before institutions and justice come into play.

This is just a drop in the ocean of this book. It seems complicated, but then, it talks about reality and simulations in everyday life. Since life itself is complicated, there is nothing wrong in this book being complicated. But on completing the book, one is sure to experience a revelation.

" Unfortunately, some things can't be explained. You'll have to feel it for yourself."

At last, I've completed my GRE. I never thought it would be so difficult. Having written CAT, I felt GRE would not be much of a burden. But it really had me taxed a lot. Unlike CAT, where you can omit the questions you don't know, GRE smirks at you with a mind-boggling question which you will have to attempt in order to go to the next one. I also learnt that to do well in GRE, you need something called luck, which I've never had for the past few years; not without a prefix 'bad' attached to it. Anyways, it is over now. Let bygones be bygones.
The most important part of the prep. was the wordlist. I tried every method to memorise the words; methods ranging from the conventional 'mugging up' and the 'roots method' to the most unconventional but popular 'Norman Loose method'. Here are some of the words I memorised using the 'Norman Loose' method.

pastiche- imitation of another's style in musical composition or in writing.
"What do we say when someone copies another's music? He has 'cut..copied..and PASTED"

hegemony-dominance
" Strikingly similar to Tamil "Ejamaan", meaning 'leader'"

husband- use sparingly, conserve, save
" I've watched many movies where the husband is a miser. (Its a loose connection; But anyways..I couldnot find a better way to remember it). This word always reminds me of the graffiti 'Before marriage, a man yearns for a woman; after marriage, the 'Y' becomes silent'"

monarchy, oligarchy etc.. relating to govt.
"Rhymes with tamil 'Aatchi', meaning 'rule'

hardy- sturdy, robust
" Now...Dont ask me if 'Laurel' means 'lank' or 'gaunt'

Well, there are so many other words. But Iam planning to publish a book on how to remember GRE words using 'Norman loose' method, and I dont want any copyright problems later..

Welcome aboard, my regular readers (?? I don't know who they are, but the no. of hits just keeps increasing that I assumed I have regular readers!!). Iam so busy preparing for my GRE that i couldn't think of anything new to post here.
So I present you this article written by me. It appeared in a magazine called Torq. Believe me, I didn't beg the editor of the mag to publish it. Thats just because I was the editor of the mag. :)
Read on...


When I was searching for a topic to write an article on for TORQ, I heard about this strange person. His name was Nitin, an Automobile engineer who was destined to speak in palindromes. The date of Nitin’s birth was 28.11.82, which is a palindrome in itself. His palindromic dad, Ramar, and palindromic mom, Saras, named their son Nitin. Everything in Nitin’s life was palindromic. His mother-tongue was Malayalam. He did his graduation in Anna University.
Having heard about him, I contacted him and told that I wanted to meet him. I challenged him that he would not be able to talk to me in palindromes for 10 times or more. The next day when I went to meet him, he was dozing on his sofa.
Here is the conversation:
(Nitin dozing)
I: Nitin! Nitin!
Nitin: Is it I? It is I.
I: Drowsy, eh? How about a cigar?
N: Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
I: Okay, Nitin. I’ll now show you a picture of a car. Identify the car.
(I show him the picture for a second and take it back)
N: Was it a car or a cat I saw?
I: Oh my! Okay, look at it again.
N: Hell! It’s a Toyota still, eh?
I: Have no doubts. Be sure of your answer.
N: A Toyota.
I: That’s right. But how did you identify it?
N: A Toyota’s a Toyota.
I: You had been to AutoFair 2004 recently, isn’t it? How did you feel?
N: I was sad; No Hondas saw I.
I: What is your opinion about the sales of Honda?
N: Must sell at tallest sum.
I: Did you see anything special at AutoFair?
N: Hey, yeh!
I: What was it?
N: Race car.
I: Amazing! You’ve won the challenge, Nitin. I accept defeat.
N: Now, sir, a war is won.
I: One last question, Nitin. How are you able to speak in palindromes so skillfully?
N: Because if I didn’t, I would sound something like this: “ Siht ekil gnihtemos dnuos dluow I

Many people would have watched 'The Matrix' and enjoyed it as a movie-- A movie known for its amazing fight sequences, action scenes etc. But there is much more in the movie apart from all these. . Now, Let me tell you that most of the names of the characters in The Matrix are meaningful. They tell about the character. They speak for themselves. Here are some of the names and what they mean:

Thomas Anderson
This is the name of Keanu reeves in The matrix. 'Ander' means 'man'. So 'Anderson' means 'Son of man'. This is an intended irony since we come to know later in the movie that Anderson was not 'born'. He was 'manufactured' by the machines.

Neo
Neo means 'new'. Since Keanu reeves becomes a new man in Zion, He is called Neo. Moreover, Neo is an anagram of "one".

Morpheus
Morpheus was a God of dreams in Greek mythology. He was one of the sons of Hypnos, the God of sleep. He took human form and appeared to people in their sleep. To be "in the arms of Morpheus" means to be asleep, and the drug morphine is named after him. This name is very apt since Morpheus believees he would be able to defeat the machines one day or the other.

Oracle
Oracle, in the ancient Greek world, was a shrine where people consulted special priests or priestesses. These priests and priestesses were believed to have the power to reveal the will of the gods and to foretell the future. The word oracle also refers to the priest or priestess and to the message or prophecy.

Zion
'Zion' is the city in which the anomalies from the matrix live. It is the only place not under the control of the machines.I suppose the word 'Zion' is related to 'Scion' as in 'The Priory of Scion'. The priory of scion was a secret society in the past. Its mission was "to safeguard not just the treasure of the Crusades, but to preserve the Grail.."

The other names that are of historical importance are:

*Merovingian- An old French dynasty (The Merovingian speaks French) who claimed they descended from the line of Jesus Christ.

*Persephone- A beautiful goddess in Greek and Roman mythology.(a fitting name for Monica Bellucci!!)

*Niobe- A Greek goddess who wanted to be adored for being a mother.

*Nebuchadnezzar- A king mentioned in the bible who is haunted by bad dreams.

The other day, I asked my fellow members of a community called 'Crazy theories' about what God is. The feedback I got was really interesting. Here they are...

Abinand:
what is God? 4/23/2005 7:19 AM
why do we people personify god? why do we believe that God is a "him"? I believe that God is an energy like kinetic or potential energy. Like other forms of energy, God can also be harnessed. we call the harnessing of energy as prayer. Do you agree?

Sav
4/24/2005 5:20 AM
here's what i think...... there had to be some way of refering to god.... so ppl just gave him a form... and being the egotistical race that humans are... they gave him a human form..... and since men have had more power for most of history, and are physiologically the stronger sex..... god was given the form of a male human.....
thats why he's called HE
(tho if you think of the qualities typically asociated with god... compassion, love, mercy, pity, peace...... it wud be more fitting to call him a SHE........ just my 2 cents! im not being a feminist here)

C.J.
4/25/2005 8:44 AM
I guess calling God a She or He would be unfair. Can't call God an It because that implies inanimate objects or animals according to the proper English grammar rules (that I was taught anyway; can be debated). How about a mixture of She, He and It? Umm... SHIt?!
"...and God said unto thee that those who believe in SHIt shall find themselves in heaven."
Not that I have anything against God but frankly, debating about what gender to assign to God sounds rather futile because God's supposed to be one of a kind. Besides, we bend so many rules of English language in our daily usage, why not invent a distinctive 3rd person (?!) singular for God? Preferably other than SHIt, which does in a way say A LOT more than the literal meaning of the word. God's not a person hence emphasis is on the "limitations of human languages". I guess it would be a different category altogether.
Consider it a "thinking outside of the box" exercise. You have my suggestion. That is if you can get past the literal meaning.

C.J.
4/25/2005 10:25 PM
To answer the real question, I somewhat agree with that idea. Praying could be harnessing the energy that is God. But my version is a little more detailed/specific in a sense cuz I think that "thinking is praying"... Why? Well, that depends entirely on whether anyone wants to know or not.

Sav
5/7/2005 9:47 AM
okay lets for just a min agree that god is in fact some sort of energy (tho im not sure i totally agree with it)
i dont think praying is a way of harnessig it... i think its just a way of accepting the energy and recognising that its something greater than us... (which is just a nice way of saying praying is a way of kissing up to what we think is the ultimate power)
thinking is praying.... NO i dont think so. praying may consist of a little amount of thinking (and even that is debatable) but the two are essentially different things!
as for energy egtting exhausted.... well according to the laws of physics (which i tend to believe more than the laws of religion) the total amount of energy in the universe remains constant!! its never exhausted!!

C.J.
Think about it... 5/11/2005 3:25 AM
A lot of things I've said before already, like in the original "What is God?" thread and so on. Without repeating and going into too much detail again, I'll just touch on some things:

1) God as "The Idea" and not "just an idea". (This actually relates to Plato's Theory of Forms and there's much available in regards to that on the net and in books). You may take God as The Perfect Idea or The Idea of Perfection. God does not have a form because that would impart limitations and thus imperfection.

2) If worship/prayer has one function other than some unnecessary physical exercise and repeating the same old prayers and giving us something "constructive" to do, it is that it REMINDS us of God. If you're "thinking" of God, you're not committing sins and being generally stupid (or so you could assume). I'm not trying to deter anyone from praying/worshipping but only highlighting the "main reason" as far as my humble intelligence permits.

3) Now then, if God is The Idea and worshipping/praying "reminds" us of God too, then to think of God is to pray. Gives "idealism" a whole new twist, doesn't it?

4) I realize I said "thinking is praying" and not "thinking about God is praying" but again refering to Plato's Theory of Forms, when God is The Perfect Idea and The First Idea, then all ideas are derived from God because God is derived from nothing (and thus "Hinduism says God is Nothing"; quoting my best buddy Rahul). So even thinking about things in general is paying tribute to (or giving credit to) the source of all ideas: God. Another interesting tidbit: Happy people do not think! Yes or no?

Sidenote: The debate about whether God came first or humans is just like the age-old debate about the chicken and the egg. Do you really wanna get into that? Well then... my votes are reserved for God and the chicken.

5) Therefore, thinking is praying and thinking can make the most out of an idea or The Idea. The more you think, the more you understand and the more you understand, the more... okay, shit! I'm at a loss for words here. No, I wasn't gonna say "the more money you make". What I was about to say doesn't exactly matter to that many people. Oh well... *sigh*

There's a whole lot more I could say still but I'm gonna leave it at this for now. It's a lot like a neverending story. Trust me. Goes on and on.
Oh, and if I may recommend a book: The Silva's Mind Control Method. The Silva Method. That'll tell you a lot about the power of ideas.
To me, the Mind and the Soul and the Conscience are the same thing. Not a body part but something that makes us more than the sum of our (body) parts. From that perspective, God as The Perfect Idea is also The Perfect/Greatest Soul. In that, I'm equating the mental and the spiritual. *sigh* I realize that a whole lot of what I've said may not make sense. In which case, I'm just another idiot rambling. So be it. Oh, well!

Sav
5/11/2005 6:40 PM
hinduism says God is nothing??
oh and you might want to verify some things before you blindly repeat them!
thinking of God is NOT praying.... praying is when you try to communicate with a greater power (this included kings back in the early days)

Ali
5/11/2005 8:44 PM
giving a specific word a fixed unversal meaning would go on to say, in my humble opinion, that human language as a mode of communication, is perfect. which i'm sure u all would agree to, is not.

poets and writers use differnt words in differnt contexts. praying for some people would mean communicating with a higher athaurity (who take a litteral meaning of the word), for others would mean say, ... hmm... asking for God's grace (in any possible form). and Gods' grace could mean alota things too, his guidance, forgiveness, strenght to do right or even could be used to define "harnessing" Gods' power.

C.J. does have some good thoughts here. whn ur thinking of God ur not doing nething wrong that you couldve been doing. thats good in a way.

u know, the thing about hinduism saying "God is nothing", one of my friends said the same thing to me. but considering the fact that there are so many differnt sects in hinduism (the same way we have in islam and christianity), saying that C.J. should reconfirm his data would be asking too much of him now wouldnt it. he couldnt be expected to go to a devoted follower of each hindu sect and prepare a statistical report on what each sect believes in and what they dont believe in.

Sarosh:
5/12/2005 9:29 AM
I dont know where to start as we have confused the scientific beliefs with absoluteness of the highest truth quite a big deal.
First of all, when we talk about energy in physical meanings, we dont talk about "different energies" but "different forms of energy". Taking this belief of science, of course you want to say that any other energy can be transformed into God or God can be transformed into any of those. At least I dont pray such a God.
My God is not energy but the Creator of Energy, and this is the first display of His being God, because in our physical world we believe that energy cant be created or destroyed but only transformed from one form to the other and hence we use the term "produce" with energy instead of "create". But my God is the one Who created it (Khaaliq) and who can destroy it (Moákhir).
Secondly, my God can't be harnessed with prayers; my God has established values and applies those values to make the things happen instead of going with whome has prayed the most; NO, my God is not that helpless in front of prayers. When I pray I ask Him for something, and He Only gives me what I deserve, and Yes He Gives me what I want when its a matter of choice.
The last but not the least; My God can't be surrounded in words, or HE wouldn't be My God.