Log> My Japan this far

I traded Kyoto's sweltering heat for Osaka's soft summer rain today. The mere hour on the train made a huge difference. Kyoto had been surprisingly peaceful: as if the cultural heritage evident everywhere would cool things down even in the +35 centigrade heat I bicycled through to temples and shrines for two days. Central Osaka is like Tokyo but even a bit more condensed, perhaps magnified by a lot of the action concentrating in massive underground shopping malls.

So I'll reflect on Kyoto's tranquility instead. I've had a World Heritage temple completely to myself, and climbed the mountain of the Inari shrine seeing only one person every 15 minutes. Granted, the central areas were brimming with people, but I'd only need to go there to sit in an air-conditioned manga kisa (an internet cafe of sorts with a massive selection of comics and free drinks - you just pay for the time you spend there), and that was welcome energy.

The rain just subsided and the sky is glowing the tired, pale yellow that only Dali has ever been able to capture on canvas. It was a summer rain, so fittingly seen from the train window - a train that was on time, clean and comfortable, reminding me of criss-crossing Finland by train over the summer weeks there. The two nations have more in common than I thought before, and I'd always harbored expectations of commonality. The largest differences stem from the fact that though the countries are, in the ballpark, of similar landmass, Japan has just 25 times as many people. Yet, I can have a millennia-old buddhist temple to myself for an hour.

And tomorrow could be a good time to visit some national monuments in peace and quiet - it's the elections. The LDP, in power for almost 50 years, is said to 'need a miracle' to keep it's lead, especially now that Koizumi's charismatic halo has faded. And Japan is on a watershed - they need to address the problem of the aging population, further complicated by what Jim Rogers calls 'rarefied racism' and isolationism. Japan isn't close to admitting the hordes of foreign workers that are currently easing the the pressures of similar demographics in western EU countries.

Thoughts> Nonzero - cooperative evolution

An essay on assigning meaning to the evolution of consciousness (don't worry, more holiday photos coming up in the next post soon).

Abstract: The only quality separating humans from animals is our ability to craft elaborate excuses for our instincts.

On the train from Tokyo to Kyoto, I finished reading Richard Wright's Nonzero (thanks for the recommendation, Jon). It took me a while to get through it, and despite the author's ultimate conclusions, it's a very good pop-science book on the evolution of culture, cooperation in culture and genetics and the (potential) directionality of evolution. Here's what I thought, written on the Shinkansen train.

During the book, Wright carefully tiptoes the line between the Intelligent Design camp and the hard-core-scientific evolutionary camp. In the end, he states that evolution exhibits evidence of teleology - being designed for a purpose, or more robustly, exhibiting persistent, flexible directionality via information processing. But from the evidence he presents, and the little this armchair anthropologist has gathered this far, I claim that Wright misreads the evidence and that there is no mystery of consciousness.

Consciousness is the most important stepping stone in making any claims for or against a teleological design, but for Wright this is a tripping stone. He juxtaposes consciousness - subjective experience of the world and of existing in the world - with evolutionary needs on the basis that subjective experience, interpreted through modern science and behavioural theory is superfluous, an epiphenomenon: unnecessary.

Granted, the existence of consciousness is a tough nut. Intelligence, in general, is a positive thing for evolution of a species - fast, more complex information processing and communication of this information has been the ticket of our species, and is employed by many other successful species as well. Depending on definitions, you can claim that these properties correlate positively with the success of a species.

But what about consciousness? In setting the stage for claiming that consciousness can be ascribed as having almost mystical properties, Wright argues that it isn't necessary - we don't need to be self-aware, to be able to assign qualities to our own existence in order to evolve successfully. As long as we care for our offspring as efficiently as we can, we don't have to feel love for our offspring. Evolution doesn't call for it. In essence, he bases the appreciation of consciousness on the question "Why is it like something to be alive?", the sub-question "What is being alive like?" being answerable with adjectives and adverbs. Or as a little thought experiment, contrast "Why do we feel love?" with "Why are we able to doubt the love we feel?"

But in my subjective experience: subjective experience - self-awareness and the subscription to definitions of being alive - is perfectly in line with evolution. From reacting to a simple set of stimuli (threat, hunger, cold), we've over time grown to having to react to an increasingly complex set of stimuli, and the organism has started to prioritize both between stimuli and between reactions to different stimuli.

From the gene's perspective, sorting out the best prioritizations (not just the best reactions) has grown more complex as well. So we start to create mental taxanomies of our reactions. This is still far from subjective experience, and is merely algorithmic. But we are a social species, and the evolution of the species goes hand in hand with the evolution of society (it's just that societal evolution of a species doesn't really mushroom until communication skills evolve). As complexity grows (and our processing of sensory information feeds into this growth), we start to react to expectations of our reactions to stimuli. This means we need to plan our place into the future, and we prioritize this placement of ourselves. Feelings, urges, are the most efficient way of processing this. Fear and greed, the muscles in the arm moving the Invisible Hand, allow us to 'feel' our anticipated place after a series of reactions to an array of stimuli and in order for this to happen, we need to be aware of ourselves in relation to others. Self-awareness wouldn't evolve in a species that favors solitary existence.

Intelligence, consciousness and self-awareness are over-simplifications, they are just shorthand. They are not emergent properties of a supercharged brain, a brain that during it's evolution passes a point where it 'tips' into intelligence and self-awareness. It's not black and white. There are various stages in evolution of subjective experience as there are of consciousness - and not even stages, but a constant slope, or curve, or flatline - and we, as a species, are at a point where prioritization of our behaviour includes the prioritization of our own experience of the world. Subjective experience has a function and is thus a natural product of evolution. There is nothing mystical or metaphysical to it.

Just because we can play with the abstract concept of intelligence doesn't mean we're intelligent. And just because we are aware of our selves, of our experience in existence, doesn't mean we've somehow 'arrived' at a some peak of awareness, or even a waypoint, of evolution (Wright doesn't imply this either). A species, quite likely ours, will develop into being more intelligent and more self-aware: after all, our species, being highly social and having some genetics wired for social interaction and cooperation has jump-started collective self-awareness by being able to engage in (very) abstract communication (such as this essay).

Sights> Summer in Tokyo

Finally in Japan. I've wanted to come here for such a long time. The first 24 hours have been quite tourist-y, seeing some sights and just walking and wondering. I'm heading down to Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima already tomorrow.

It's pretty warm here, sure, but something in the light and in the air still tells one that it's summer time - that the country has seasons and not just the perennial heat of the tropical Asia I've witnessed this far. I don't have a reference point to other seasons in Tokyo, but even the hustle of the megalopolis seems to flirt with the idleness of a summer. It's a wonderful feeling, feels much like home.

Log> Diving in Living Colour

I've been a bit of an American traveller lately, which is to say that I've gotten by with my mother tongue in most destinations I've been at. Of course, Finnish isn't quite as prevalent a world language. The last destination I found by accident (they had a sleek-looking website so I booked with them), without realizing they're run by a Finnish couple, both diving instructors. I didn't even clock the website had a link for Finnish on it.

Living Colour on Bunaken Island in Northern Indonesia, right off the Northern tip of Sulawesi. The resort is built entirely around the beautiful diving offered by the Bunaken Marine Reserve, and after taking the first dip I decided to stay for a week and do my Advanced Open Water here, feeling more confident than I did at Madagascar.

But unfortunately you won't be getting any photos - my allegedly waterproof Olympus SW725 got a fit after submersion in only about 2 feet of water. Otherwise you would certainly, the diving is gorgeous, and Living Colour, as rustic and laid-back as its 9 bungalows are, has wifi (and even a little gym). The ocean teems with rays, turtles and dugong among beautiful reefs. A paradise to my liking, yes.

But why would I care if there's wifi or not? Am I not supposed to be on a holiday, equipped with a jungle hammock and ultra-light travel gear and everything? I don't need wifi just to write, true, but I've taken on a new project while I'm traveling, adding a completely new twist to my travels (especially in this area of low labour costs). If all goes according to plan, in a few months time there will be something fun for sale at Prize Pony.

Tech> MacBook flaking... literally

Humm. A piece just came off my MacBook. When the black version came out, there were some rumours about paint peeling off and the like, but nothing alarming. I've only had the laptop for about 4-5 months now, but it's been used in all kinds of conditions.

The 4cm long piece came off where my right wrist rests and slides between the keyboard, trackpad and the the arrow keys. There's still a little crack there, so more might come off. I'd like to tape it, but maybe the extra ventilation will mean that the bloody thing will be a bit QUIETER (and I only have white gaffer tape on me...).

I'm on my way to Indonesia. Bye, Hong Kong. I think I'll put my Apple Care to good use when I get to Australia.

Words> Inner Growth: a short story

On and off during the trip, I've been dabbling with writing a novel, and have about 2-3 chapters on paper so far. I had an idea of writing a fictional travelogue that more or less follows my route (or perhaps the other way around), and that idea waxes and wanes. To stop the waning, I decided to have a go at a short story, just to make sure I can put a coherent story together - something that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

I wrote Inner Growth in two days, and rewrote and edited it in another two or so. It has a few shortcomings that I can't figure out how to deal with now, so I'll just throw it out there. If you have the inclination, any feedback would be appreciated. I wrote it in Queen's English since I cast the main character as British. He is a proper cad, though, be warned. The link to the short story is below. Yes, the title is cheesy, but you'll get it.

Inner Growth (Google Docs link).

Sights> Hong Kong, 10 years with China

I landed in Hong Kong on the morning of July 1st, the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China by what's left of the British Empire. After the uber-friendly welcomes and customer service in South Africa, it took a few hours to re-adjust to the Chinese cold-shoulder treatment you get at shops and hotels and the public transport.

Unfazed, I was in Victoria Park by 3 pm (my hostel was next door), ready to join the hundreds of thousands marching for democracy and universal suffrage in Hong Kong. Later in the evening the occasion was celebrated by massive government-sponsored fireworks from Victoria Harbour and from all over the Hong Kong skyline with synchronized fireworks launched from the tallest buildings. There's some video and some photos, but they don't do justice to the panoramic experience, multiplied by the reflective walls of glass and steel of Hong Kong's skyscrapers.



My next ticket is to Tokyo, but I think I'll first go to Indonesia and the Philippines instead. I'll head off to the Cathay Pacific office after this post. Not that I couldn't see myself staying in Hong Kong for longer. It's quite beautiful. Right now, for example, I'm in Starbucks (yeah, don't start) and there's local models to the left (in a shoot, that's how I know) and western business guys and girls with immaculately cut suits and dresses that would make a Milanese trendsetter jealous. Hmm. Maybe I'll get a suit made. I'm easily influenced.