re:hippies, part 1 (metadata and understanding)

There are two different subjects that I want to touch on re:hippies. I just had to get that first post out to lay the groundwork for a larger discussion on (1) social boundaries/PCorrectness and (2) whether patterns or metadata could be used to reconstruct personality. I think I'll start with the latter.

I used my love/hate affair with hippies to highlight the peculiar human dilemma (as far as we know it is only our burden) of having multiple emotional responses to a macro thing without always being able to understand (on the micro level) what discrete pieces we are responding to. In other words, if I were able to truly break down my personal understanding of "hippie", could I ever really separate out what I hate from what I love? Does my mind have the capacity to see and understand trends and patterns, or would a computer be much quicker, potentially smarter, than I at this task?

I have been reading a lot lately about Web 3.0 and the Semantic web. One of the most intriguing aspects of the semantic web is the effort to use metadata to connect and teach computers (or a larger AI) to recognize what is being represented and to not just simply represent it upon command. In other words, there is a large-scale push to make it possible for computers to not just display a graphical map but to understand what is being displayed and relative connections that might exist within it.

umm...at least that is my personal understanding of the terms today. I'm not quite sure if I "get it" yet...

So...I wonder if my personal metadata could be understood by a force more powerful than myself (AI), and, if so, could algorithms and connections be used to (1) understand me and (2) reconstruct me (not physically, of course, but virtually).

I have to begin with music and my personal musical tastes since music is prepacked with metadata, and it is easy for us to understand what exists in that space. So, given enough data about my musical likes, dislikes, and indifferences, could the metadata of said music lead to an actual understanding (and accurate prediction) of what my musical-tastes profile is?

So, here is a random list of some of the songs on my current playlist that I love (truly random; just hitting shuffle and listing the first five songs):

1) Brokedown Palace by the Grateful Dead
2) Shooting Shark by the Blue Oyster Cult
3) Homesick by Kings of Convenience
4) A Good Country Mile by Kevn Kinney
5) Said I Loved You...by Michael Bolton (oooohh...this one hurts to admit. bad shuffle luck).

Granted, way too small of a dataset, but you really don't want me to list all 64 songs (and I don't want to admit to some of them).

Let's look at the metadata and patterns that could emerge:
Metadata
1) Song title
2) Artist
3) Producers (and the like)
4) Date of publication
5) etc.

musical patterns
1) rhythms
2) chord progressions
3) harmonies
4) instances of diverting from internally-established patterns
5) etc.

"non-musical" patterns (admittedly a misnomer)
1) lyrical (though it will be quite some time before a computer will understand "you drove me to the wall")
2) linguistic (frequency of interdental sounds, fricative, etc.)
3) voice tonality
4) rhetorical patterns
5) etc.

And what about other characteristics of every particular song: levels (how loud/soft is voice compared to instruments), blending, background noise, etc.

I am starting to think that music might have not been the simplest place to start this discussion... :o) At this rate, you would think it matters whether the singer was facing east or west (and perhaps it does).

Back to the larger question. Could a program analyze and gather data from a representative set of my musical likes and dislikes and understand my taste? I certainly don't understand the connection between loving Billy Joel's "The Downeaster "Alexa'" , Vengeance Rising's "Fill this place with Blood" and Patty Griffin's "Rain." And I think I would be quite miffed at a report that explained what the connections are and why I love them, essentially reducing my musical taste to a number.

However, the idea intrigues me. Is there a connection? There must be since some music resonates with me and some does not. So, what is that connection?

The problem for the AI would be having to account for non-metadata influences, like moods and memories. Of course I have emotional ties to many of my favorite songs/musicians, and it is very hard to fathom a virtual entity being able to quantify such things.

Color me interested, however, in how the semantic web might evolve beyond 3.0 and not only understand meanings and connections but perhaps even digest, dissect, report, and recreate them.

shanti,
mjh

p.s.--if some of these posts seem random, incomplete, suddenly-ended, scatterbrained, jumpy, etc., it is because they are. I am still trying to get my writing/thinking/time-management legs back. And I have a 2-year old.

the last resort

for something slightly different (and something I love without question). It's time for Mr. Henley to preach:


shanti,
mjh

hippies

So, let's talk hippies for a moment. Why? Because they have been on my mind for quite some time. First, a couple of disclaimers: 1) I use "hippie" like some use "ninja". It's an over-generalized label that might or might not actually refer to or represent hippies. So, if you think you are an overly-sensitive hippie who might be offended by my characterization of hippiness, this post is probably not for you. 2) Yes, I will over-generalize, bend the truth at times, contradict myself, and probably flat out lie a little bit to get my point(s) across. It's not about the journey, my friends, it's about my new year's resolution. [and, for you serious folk, this is (almost) a joke.]

Depending on who you are and what your relationship is to me, you might characterize me as someone who really, really hates hippies. OR, you might characterize me as someone who really, really loves hippies. Both statements are very accurate and are not rhetorically constructed to be parallel for kicks; i really, really hate and really, really love hippies...every minute...every day. It's kind of a problem.

If there is one truism here, it is that I certainly don't not have an opinion about hippies (read: I have an opinion...I just like the pompous-sounding emphasis of the other). I want to explore the contradiction in feeling and see where it takes me, and where better to do so than a very public forum. Gotta love www, huh?

HATE:
First of all, I hate the individual and collective introspection-without-action of a hippie. Sure, hippies will sit around and "figure things out, man", but when was the last time a hippie did anything about it? Or, perhaps I should say, when is the last time a hippie succeeded in doing something about it (whatever "it" may be). When is the last time a hippie changed the world? And I am not talking about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who used to be a hippie. A used-to-be hippie is not a hippie.
Speaking to that, where have all of those hippies gone who were going to beat the system back in the late 60s? Weren't about 1/2 of them going to infiltrate the system and change it from the inside? The other 50% are still waiting.
I hate the non-action of a hippie.
I hate the borderline-anarchism of hippies. Look, if you dig anarchy, then dig it, live it (and not in that ignorant punk-band way; those aren't anarchists, they are just know-nothing destroyers). Don't participate in the system; that's totally cool. There is power in non-action if done completely and without faltering. What would happen if 95% of people did not vote, did not pay their taxes, did not participate? If you are going to make a non-action statement, just make it. And make it loud and with numbers.
I hate the temporary action of a hippie (yes, this contradicts my over-generalized statement that hippies are, in essence, inactive, but I disclaimed, so I am safe). Sure, I will honk for peace when I pass you and see you and your honk-for-peace hippie buddies holding your "honk for peace" sign...but what then? I have a hard time recognizing the logical leap between beeping my horn and the world hearing, listening, and laying down arms. I don't see the benefit in showing up for the world's largest paint-by-number-a-thon. It's temporary; it's fake-action; it's hippie.
I hate that hippies don't loudly fight the co-opting of hippiness by society (corporate, government, on both macro- and micro-levels). Allowing car companies and clothing lines to co-opt your essence, to co-opt and water down your beliefs, to diminish your power by cheapening it, come on, at least fight (peacefully) for your passion and your (sometimes) good name.

LOVE:
I love the entrepreneurial spirit of a hippie. A hippie will pick up rocks right off of the ground and sell you one for a quarter (usually in the name of peace). You might think I would hate this, but for some reason I don't. I'd probably buy one.
I love the stillness of a hippie. Most of the hippies I have ever known have been very slow to anger, slow to unhinge, slow to unsettle. I dig that a lot. Sure, this leads to non-action, but I dig the detachment of a hippie.
I love the music of a hippie. Period.
I love the love of a hippie.
I love the karmic/cosmic view of a hippie.

See my problem? See a solution? I don't. I even tamed my hatred of and purposefully did not over-love-gush about hippies. If you ever see me at a coffee shop, don't get me started b/c my fingers won't tire out when talking.

so...New Year's resolution time. I think I want to be more hippie in 2009 (ugh, that "other" side of me can't believe I just said that). Let me rethink...

Actually, I would like to be kinda hippie-2.0; that's what I think the world needs. a hippie (you know: loving, still, peaceful, karma-centric) that is socially-connected on a global- and local-level. A hippie that recognizes that "the man" is more transparent and malleable now (and that the power has shifted from the gov't to this www). A hippie that places action above inaction and uses that super-hippie-introspection-power to spread peace, love, and identity beyond co-optable catch phrases, cartoonish figureheads, and nobody-notices sit-ins.

Perhaps what the world needs is a plethora of hippie-ninjas, organized globally, and all tapped into the hippie 2.0 hive mind.

or perhaps I just need to leave hippies alone, move them to the back-burner of my mind, and use my virtual real estate to say something meaningful. I'll work on that.

shanti,
mjh

back, back, and moving foward

Contrary to how it might look, getting more involved in the virtual social world is not a new year's resolution of mine. However, for better or worse, I have plunged back in. I'm back on Facebook for the third time and have added Twitter to my web arsenal. Why, you ask? A dash of Jaime, a little bit of James, a pinch of Rob, society-wide peer pressure, and lots of curiosity.

so...time to integrate (or try to) and see what the combined power of social media is all about.

shanti,
mjh

p.s.--my new year's resolution? it has to do with hippies, and i'll explain another day.

poetry Tuesday

in case you have never read it:

"Not Waving but Drowning"

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

--Stevie Smith

I am neither waving nor drowning, just sharing some poetry. I hope to begin writing again soon...

shanti,
mjh

kinda random post part 2

I don't often bring my family into/onto my blog. I like to keep my little place on the web separate from my day-to-day life. However, there's been lots of great pictures taken lately, and I thought I would share a few (translation: I still have no time to write, so I am using pics as a filler post).

shanti,
mjh

kinda random post part 1

My friend Rob started a thread asking folks to list their version of MLA's 100 Best Novels. See his insightful list here, see the wonderful Dr. Wright's list here, and my list is below:

1. Crow by Ted Hughes
2. The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell
3. Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. Paradise Lost by John Milton
5. Psalms 46:10a by David
6. Walking by Henry David Thoreau
7. From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea by Robert Smith
8. God by Tupac Shakur
9. Holy Sonnet 14 by John Donne
10. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
11. The Bhagavad Gita by Vyasa
12. Ulysses by James Joyce
13. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
14. The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
15. Watership Down by Richard Adams
16. Raising Holy Hell by Bruce Olds
17. The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker
18. Everville by Clive Barker
19. A Forest by Robert Smith
20. The Over-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson
21. Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
22. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
23. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
24. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
25. The Spiral Road by Jan de Hartog
26. Hyper Ballad by Bjork
27. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
28. SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian
29. The Food Chain by Geoff Nicholson
30. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
31. Macaria by Augusta Jane Evans
32. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
33. Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
34. Happy Days by Samuel Beckett
35. Dream of the Rood by unknown
36. The Tempest by Shakespeare
37. Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
38. The Great Lawsuit by Margaret Fuller
39. The World of the Dark Crystal by Brian Froud
40. Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

As soon as I whittled my list down to 40 (he only asked for 20), I immediately was unsatisfied, both with the contents and ordering. However, for now, it will stand.

Feel free to post your own list here or over on Rob's blog. He's cool like that.

shanti,
mjh