Phantasmaburbia

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Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Excerpt of a Scientific Philosophical Discussion at 2 AM

Hey, why not. A friend (whose name has been altered) and I had recently learned through wikipedia that some scientific theories proposed that there were 10 or 11 dimensions, which got us a-thinking about misc. physics and math philosophy questions. It was kind of fun and enlightening, and here's an excerpt for your reading pleasure/brain food.

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[2:00:18 AM] Rose: but doesn't it freak you out that in the end all math is just a bunch of symbols we've agreed are real?
[2:01:07 AM] Banov: but math totally is real! right?
[2:01:21 AM] Rose: i mean to humans
[2:01:41 AM] Rose: but maybe it's only true in our minds? whatever that means.
[2:02:22 AM] Banov: I want to say that math
[2:02:30 AM] Banov: can't be just in our heads
[2:02:42 AM] Banov: rather it's our way of defining what we observe
[2:03:07 AM] Banov: like if I have a bottle of orange cream soda on my desk and put a second one there, I have 2
[2:03:12 AM] Banov: 1 + 1 = 2
[2:04:00 AM] Rose: yes but once you get into higher mathematics... and even zero!
[2:04:20 AM] Rose: like what's a cream soda divided by no cream sodas? No one knows
[2:04:27 AM] Banov: well
[2:04:43 AM] Banov: it approaches infinity on a graph…
[2:05:23 AM] Banov: it basically is infinity. but there's nothing to actually divide by so really the entire problem, and its solution, can't exist
[2:05:33 AM] Banov: (…is basically how I explain it to myself)
[2:06:02 AM] Rose: my point is even our own math proves that everything's relative
[2:06:15 AM] Rose: and these are only the phenomena we can personally experience
[2:06:40 AM] Rose: like there are dimensions we can't experience...
[2:07:19 AM] Rose: how can math that was created for four dimensions work for more than that without becoming horribly inaccurate or strained?
[2:08:24 AM] Banov: ah, you're totally right
[2:08:51 AM] Banov: well I think there are 2 ways of looking at it
[2:09:18 AM] Banov: I mean the theories and equations that we've come to accept DO accurately define and predict the things we can observe
[2:09:27 AM] Banov: and that's what they were made for
[2:09:59 AM | Edited 2:12:51 AM] Banov: so in the eyes of a dude who just wants a simple definition to explain the relationship of x and y, it's all true and acceptable
[2:10:25 AM | Edited 2:13:06 AM] Banov: but what you and i are talking about is what happens when we look at other dimensions beyond what we can observe
[2:11:01 AM] Banov: x and y might be influenced by an infinite number of other indefinable unobservable factors and only APPEAR to be related 3-dimensionally to us
[2:11:52 AM] Banov: so the theories we've made to define them, while accurate, might not be "absolutely" true as they don't account for every possible factor
[2:12:30 AM] Banov: and they probably never will. so when hawking says we'll never reach an absolute understanding of everything, he's probably right : d
[2:12:35 AM] Banov: probably.
[2:13:35 AM] Rose: yes. I guess it comes down to like if truth isn't finite or absolute, how can it be true?
[2:13:44 AM] Rose: and nothing is absolute, so nothing is true
[2:13:55 AM] Rose: and therefore nothing's wrong
[2:14:06 AM] Rose: it's a weird mental asymptote
[2:15:34 AM] Banov: I have gained an all new understanding of this jar of salsa

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Banov Takes the Nuzlocke Challenge

It's been a while since I've posted here, and I apologize for that! Honestly lately I haven't been doing much game work (and for what I am doing, there's nothing I'm allowed to talk about yet), so I haven't had much to say.

Nuzlocke Challenge
I recently discovered Nuzlocke Comics, which revolve around a run of one of the Pokemon RPGs with special rules that make it much more difficult... and exciting! It's apparently spawned a lot of copycats, and on a whim I decided to do my own run + comic accompaniment. Below are the pages I've done so far. I'm not going to guarantee I play the run all the way to the end or that I keep doing comics, but these were fun to do for the time being.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

For those curious, a couple of the pokemon nicknames (specifically, Strider and Lalonde) are pulled from this really wonderful webcomic series called Homestuck. Lately it's become among my favorite places to visit on the internet, updating frequently (often many times per day!) and I'm completely engrossed in the story. It's tough for me to recommend it outright as it starts slow and then starts to get hard to follow as the story goes deeper. BUT, if you invest the time to read through the archives and immerse yourself in it, Homestuck is a story that will really pay off.

And now, a slice of Banov's non-internet life:
My particular school starts very late, and at this point all but a handful of my friends have long since departed for college. This leaves me home alone pretty often. It's vaguely depressing.

Formspring
I'd just like to point out that my Formspring account has been getting some pretty poignant questions lately concerning my future plans for game making so for those of you who are interested in that stuff you might like to check that out too. And I love getting questions, so if you have any for me or if you just want to give me something to think about or whatever feel free to send one my way!

Dubloon Deluxe CDs
Just letting you guys know that they're still available for a couple more weeks, until I leave for college. Get them while you still can!

Okay, that's basically all I have to say for now. Happy September!