AS Duel

今早一直在微調intro 動畫的速度，因為圖檔較大，人手tween 始終不太流暢上網找actionscript，幾經辛苦找到一個tweening script
整個script 以數學算式為基礎，放低數學已久，開始還勉強明白，後來作者突然跳級用一些script 去解釋為何算式A 行不通要改用算式B 時，我就徹底投降了

幸好橙仗義指點迷津。看來得好好找一本actionscript 的入門書，灣仔腦場不是沒有，但小弟放洋留學的後遺症是...看不懂中文電腦技術文獻

(例：今天才知道國內「小樣」即是英語的thumbnail，「激活」有時是click，有時是activate)

英語電腦書在灣仔區是不存在的，明天中午且去times square pageone碰碰運氣，不成就要去旺角或者amazon

今天得感謝Ken 兄crit 小弟的quotation design，原來設計公文格式也有不少學問，原本還想製作成為PDF form，理論上跟excel 是通用的，也較美觀，但excel 可以輕易做到的東西，無謂浪費時間

明天夜晚有約，改為今天練跑，獨自跑連貫3km，不錯

罐頭音樂日

早上再做了一陣trace 圖...舊同事警告我舊老細的奸狡特性
平衡mock up 與金錢回報之下，花了一個早上做了layout presentation email 給舊老細
坦白說那幅插畫遠遠未到我心目中那種Wow 的水平，再花點時間就可以解決
但總不能投資太多時間落一些不確定的案子上面，小城風光那一次吃的教訓可真不小
順帶一提，今天八卦去劇團的網站看過，一如所料，海報最終定稿就是paste 那張版權插畫稍稍改動了事，字款當然是細明體啦！

若果心中一早就有既定的方向，何苦扮open 浪費大家時間。不過話說回來，聽聞進x的高層也是這樣子，心中早已有答案，卻裝作向你問意見，看看你能否猜中，所以做文化sector的生意除了掙不到錢和花時間之外，隨時連創作的空間也沒有 (一面淪為「手」，還在幻想客戶很開通)。

happy hour 友人有事爽約，提早回家看電影。先抓一部「日落巴黎」，在澳門工幹時已經看過些許，印象不差，節奏快 (real time)，令人恨不得戲可以拍長些，讓男女主角多聚一會。

三十幾歲已婚男女的無奈和失落，也開始有些體會。男主角一句描寫自己婚姻很到肉：「我是跟一個前度情人合作辦託兒所矣。」

之前已經聽過不少此片的前傳和背景，此處不贅總之，作為一個要求簡單娛樂的庸俗電影客來說，此片沒有令我悶親。

看罷電影，整晚為kung的網站找sound loops，滿腦都是罐頭音樂，對上一次聽這麼多royalty free music大概是04年跟bang 搞賀年video的事，聽完大大改變我對romantic 和classical 的觀感，romantic 永遠最不romantic，classic 完全沒有class!

印象中最合適的音樂莫過於Yanni的Reflections of passion，從CD架上抓來聽 (非live 版本)，怎麼越來越像剛才的romantic 罐頭？

趕

謝謝mon的午飯!
祝你有得加人工啦 ~~

今日的時間過得特別快，做些少research，trace圖，不經不覺就六點

七點左右跟kung 傾網頁，幸好方案被接納了，只差細節需要做出來再微調暫時預定是flash intro + css, 需要跟programmer 夾一夾

之後跟他吃晚飯...做婚禮攝影師還真好賺...淡季也有兩萬多元，自問剛重新開張，一定做不到

而且turn around time 以及margin 完全不同，幸好做graphics 的器材投資不用那麼大唯有安慰自己一兩年後有機會扯平吧 (笑)

昨日太晚吃飯所以跑1 km就作嘔，今日終於報了仇.，一連氣3km 是也。跑完人也覺得輕了些許

暫時工作進度也尚算滿意，若果持續二至三天也有相若進度應該可以騰出時間搞漫畫

快看完how to be a graphic designer without losing your soul，好書，有機會獨立抽一節再寫。下一本是freakonomics，想看已久。

在人民書店見到的廉價英文版the world is flat 以及blue ocean，Seth Gobin 的purple cow 也有興趣，還有新買的Ocean Eleven, Ocean Twelve，還有...

Bring my family back

Briny my family back
-faithless

Beg you listen me, don't be kissin me til I'm done
unsung champion, a reason like seasoning ah
pepper your thoughts with spice,
and entice you to a space where I dwell with bass players and layers are loops
think what I think with my prayers its nice
my world is everything I've become
contained in the hum between voice and drum
I'm coming from the same place I'm a still running from
but even sitting in the garden one can still get stung

I'm on lonely street age nearly three
Recently Mama's crying all the time is it because of me or my younger sister,
even Dad was weeping when he kissed her.
Face all puffy like a blister,
crying like he missed her.
Since we moved away from the house,
where we used to play.
They say I'll understand one day but I doubt it,
Mama never say nothing about it.
How'd it get to be so crowded.
I found it a strain, everywhere I look I see pain.
And I can't escape the feeling, maybe I'm to blame.
So I strain to listen, Praying for a decision,
wishing they where kissing.
This feels like extradition or exile,
Mama finds it hard to smileSo I make pretend cups of coffee in her favorite style.
She says child I'm working so there's nothing you lack.
But she know I want my Dad I want my family back.

I'm on Lonely Street, age forty three.
Couldn't gauge when to quit so my wife quit me.
Took offense, took the kids,
I wish that was the end.
But before she took her leave
she took care of my best friend.
Working all the hours.
God send was not the tactic
You see, because after ten years I'm left with jack shit
Wanted to make the cash quick so I had to work real late.
Bad sex, my woman's vex, even if I stay awake.
And if I'm honest, I had a little cake at the office.
I was eating. We'd do our cheating over coffees,
making tea for the bosses.
Making free with me,
and I agree I got sleazy too easily.
But I'm forty three,
this doesn't usually happen to me.
Now I'm lonely,
I wonder what my son's doing today.
Suddenly I'm blinking like the screen on my computer display.
And I'm drinking.
Concerned about what's down the track
if I don't get my family back.
I want my family back

I'm on Lonely Street, number fifty three.
Boarded up property,
I'll probably get pulled down.
Litter all around inside there's
no sound and no light.
But yo it gets busy at night, People creeping.
Derelicts sneaking to fix. Speaking.
On the way my timbers creaking,Roof leaking.
And bricks coming loose,
knee high in refuse.
But even though I'm a slum,
I'm still of some use.
There was a time when my walls where decorated.
And under my roof children where educated.
But now paint's faded, windows are all smashed,
a crash in the economy robbed me of my family.
And no strategy, combats negative equity,
so that's it. Like violence it's drastic.
I'm freaking, and seeking to be
more than just a house for crack.
Somebody bring my family back.

第一次聽faithless 的歌是insomnia，但畫面、意思和感覺以這首最佳。
listen

熄火埋口

(事發於九月十二號)

繼之前ban 開有條癮之後，新的客戶接洽人於半夜send 了兩張圖給我，說是托朋友素描出來的，請看看合不合用。早上開email 看看，兩張圖都畫得不錯，就是有點蒙糊，擔心印出來效果水糊糊的不太好，我還很認真地嘗試調色和落filter 營造復古的感覺。

好心跟客戶提出這個問題，誰知細心一看，原來就是昨日版權問題未解決的圖片，那個接洽人把圖crop 出來，加兩個filter 就哄我說這是重新畫的。原先好不容易才壓住的火氣一下爆出來，不做了！已經講過我不願挺而走險，第一次當我是傻仔說沒版權問題，駁回後又使這些小手段，連最基本的尊重都欠奉，你們另找羊牯吧！

這時候說 un-ban 已經太遲，即使你們很「體諒」地「讓」我用回原來的設計，合作互信已經毀掉，若果你們想搏一搏，為何不跟我直接講？反而用這些小家手法希望瞞過我？若果我真的被你們騙倒又出事了，誰來擔當？你們大可以說不知情，到時我就要硬食了

要再數落去，最初你們就不珍惜別人的誠意，讓我當傻子畫了幾十個鐘才慢慢找些參考來「幫手」，還要講「我們也估不到你的畫功原來畫不出那個水平」、「原來你是做網頁的嗎？難怪你做海報就不太行...」這些是人話來的嗎？

不要跟我說你們不是pro 就搪塞過去，不是專業又怎樣？我不收費為你們工作，一是給朋友面子，二是給你們面子，也是在掏自己的工時(ie 錢) 送給你們 (甚至連stock photo 都用上了)，至少都應該有少少appreciation 吧？我連source file 都留下給你們跟進，還要跟我講侮氣說話 (接洽時態度也很差)，人品也太過惡劣吧？

朋友，這次你把友情信用卡透支得太盡了

(九月十三日)

巨峰豪乳，決定不回寫字樓工作。今天全力為另一個客戶的網頁繪插畫 (感謝Cece 的參考圖片，效果好多了)。畫到尾，發現自己真的缺乏透視訓練，唯有臨急抱佛腳罷！

找到這個illustration 教學網站，實在大開眼界，以前很多這類的technical illustration 也不知怎樣畫出來的。喜歡繪畫或者做設計的行家絕對要入去看看！

把幾火

第二次弄的poster 雖然沒那麼多時間，也很用心的花了兩天
完成後居然說甚麼圖片不夠城鎮 feel 又ban 掉，然後叫我用一張從網站 download 的圖頂上
先不講解像度夠不夠，光是版權已經成問題，還要拋甚麼作者死了五十年以上就沒事的敷衍說話
莫扎特也死了五十年以上，你試試將命運交響曲放在自己的商業作品內，看看演奏的管弦樂團告不告你？

很客氣的給客戶回了一個email，原文節錄大概是... it would be to your advantage to seek other designers should you require more major revisions onwards. 中文可以濃縮做五個字：「再改，唔撚做！」

再做落去不是搏掌聲 (更無利潤可言)，只是不想在生死關頭丟低客人自生自滅，我也超出自己本份再提供一張stock photo，以及說若果再不適合可以做一個typographic 的poster，但再ban 就不會再做，這樣也算仁至義盡吧。

放這麼多時間落這單job，對其他客真的不公平，放棄又有點可惜。最氣頂就是友人還要不識時務地說「其實你忙可以唔做架，真架」

反正又是ban 掉的作品，放上來悼念一下

Talking to God...

I met god the other day.
I know what you’re thinking. How the hell did you know it was god?
Well, I’ll explain as we go along, but basically he convinced me by having all, and I do mean ALL, the answers. Every question I flung at him he batted back with a plausible and satisfactory answer. In the end, it was easier to accept that he was god than otherwise.
Which is odd, because I’m still an atheist and we even agree on that!
It all started on the 8.20 back from Paddington. Got myself a nice window seat, no screaming brats or drunken hooligans within earshot. Not even a mobile phone in sight. Sat down, reading the paper and in he walks.
What did he look like?
Well not what you might have expected that’s for sure. He was about 30, wearing a pair of jeans and a "hobgoblin" tee shirt. Definitely casual. Looked like he could have been a social worker or perhaps a programmer like myself.
‘Anyone sitting here?’ he said.
‘Help yourself’ I replied.
Sits down, relaxes, I ignore and back to the correspondence on genetic foods entering the food chain…
Train pulls out and a few minutes later he speaks.
‘Can I ask you a question?’
Fighting to restrain my left eyebrow I replied ‘Yes’ in a tone which was intended to convey that I might not mind one question, and possibly a supplementary, but I really wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. ..
‘Why don’t you believe in god?’
The Bastard!
I love this kind of conversation and can rabbit on for hours about the nonsense of theist beliefs. But I have to be in the mood! Its like when a jehova’s witness knocks on your door 20 minutes before you’re due to have a wisdom tooth pulled. Much as you'd really love to stay… You can’t even begin the fun. And I knew, if I gave my standard reply we’d still be arguing when we got to Cardiff. I just wasn’t in the mood. I needed to fend him off.
But then I thought ‘Odd! How is this perfect stranger so obviously confident – and correct – about my atheism?’ If I’d been driving my car, it wouldn’t have been such a mystery. I’ve got the Darwin fish on the back of mine – the antidote to that twee christian fish you see all over. So anyone spotting that and understanding it would have been in a position to guess my beliefs. But I was on a train and not even wearing my Darwin "Evolve" tshirt that day. And ‘The Independent’ isn’t a registered flag for card carrying atheists, so what, I wondered, had given the game away.
‘What makes you so certain that I don’t?’
‘Because’, he said, ‘ I am god – and you are not afraid of me’
You’ll have to take my word for it of course, but there are ways you can deliver a line like that – most of which would render the speaker a candidate for an institution, or at least prozac. Some of which could be construed as mildly amusing.
Conveying it as "indifferent fact" is a difficult task but that’s exactly how it came across. Nothing in his tone or attitude struck me as even mildly out of place with that statement. He said it because he believed it and his rationality did not appear to be drug induced or the result of a mental breakdown.
‘And why should I believe that?’
‘Well’ he said, ‘why don’t you ask me a few questions. Anything you like, and see if the answers satisfy your sceptical mind?’
This is going to be a short conversation after all, I thought.
‘Who am I?’
‘Stottle. Harry Stottle, born August 10 1947, Bristol, England. Father Paul, Mother Mary. Educated Duke of Yorks Royal Military School 1960 67, Sandhurst and Oxford, PhD in Exobiology, failed rock singer, full time trade union activist for 10 years, latterly self employed computer programmer, web author and aspiring philosopher. Married to Michelle, American citizen, two children by a previous marriage. You’re returning home after what seems to have been a successful meeting with an investor interested in your proposed product tracking anti-forgery software and protocol and you ate a full english breakfast at the hotel this morning except that, as usual, you asked them to hold the revolting english sausages and give you some extra bacon. ‘
He paused
‘You’re not convinced. Hmmm… what would it take to convince you?’
'oh right! Your most secret password and its association'
A serious hacker might be able to obtain the password, but no one else and I mean
NO ONE
knows its association.
He did.
So how would you have played it?
I threw a few more questions about relatively insignificant but unpublicised details of my life (like what my mother claims was the first word I ever spoke – apparently "armadillo"! (Don't ask…)) but I was already pretty convinced. I knew there were only three possible explanations at this point.
Possibility One was that I was dreaming or hallucinating. Nobody’s figured out a test for that so, at the time I think that was my dominant feeling. It did not feel real at the time. More like I was in a play. Acting my lines. Since the event, however, continuing detailed memories of it, together with my contemporaneous notes, remain available, so unless the hallucination has continued to this day, I am now inclined to reject the hallucination hypothesis. Which leaves two others.
He could have been a true telepath. No documented evidence exists of anyone ever having such profound abilities to date but it was a possibility. It would have explained how he could know my best-kept secrets. The problem with that is that it doesn’t explain anything else! In particular it doesn’t account for the answers he proceeded to give to my later questions.
As Sherlock Holmes says, when you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Good empiricist, Sherlock.
I was forced to accept at least the possibility that this man was who he claimed to be.
So now what do you do?
Well, I’ve always known that if I met god I would have a million questions for him, so I thought, ‘why not?’ and proceeded with what follows. You’ll have to allow a bit of licence in the detail of the conversation. This was, shall we say, a somewhat unusual occurrence, not to mention just a BIT weird! And yes I was a leetle bit nervous! So if I don’t get it word perfect don’t whinge! You’ll get the gist I promise.***********************************

‘Forgive me if it takes me a little time to get up to speed here, but its not everyday I get to question a deity’
‘The Deity’ he interrupted.
‘ooh. Touchy!’ I thought.
‘Not really – just correcting the image’
Now That takes some getting used to!
I tried to get a grip on my thoughts, with an internal command - ‘Discipline Harry. You’ve always wanted to be in a situation like this, now you’re actually in it, you mustn’t go to pieces and waste the opportunity of a lifetime’
‘You won’t’ he said.
Tell you! That’s the bit that made it feel unreal more than anything else - this guy sitting across the table and very obviously accurately reading my every thought. Its like finding someone else hand inside your trouser pocket!
Nevertheless, something made me inclined to accept the invasion, I had obviously begun to have some confidence in his perception or abilities, so I distinctly remember the effect of his words was that I suddenly felt deeply reassured and completely relaxed. As he had no doubt intended. Man must have an amazing seduction technique!
So then we got down to business…
‘Are you human?’
‘No’
‘Were you, ever?’
‘No, but similar, Yes’
‘Ah, so you are a product of evolution?’
‘Most certainly – mainly my own’
‘and you evolved from a species like ours, dna based organisms or something equally viable?’
‘Correct’
‘so what, exactly, makes you god?’
‘I did’
‘Why?’
‘Seemed like a good idea at the time’
‘and your present powers, are they in any way similar to what the superstitious believers in my species attribute to you?’
‘Close enough. ’
‘So you created all this, just for us?’
‘No. Of course not’
‘But you did create the Universe?’

‘This One. Yes’
‘But not your own?’
‘This is my own!’
‘You know what I mean!’
‘You can’t create your own parents, so No’
‘So let me get this straight. You are an entirely natural phenomenon.’
‘Entirely’
‘Arising from mechanisms which we ourselves will one day understand and possibly even master?’
‘subject to a quibble over who "we ourselves" may be, but yes’
‘meaning that if the human race doesn’t come up to the mark, other species eventually will?’
‘in one.’
‘and how many other species are there already out there ahead of us?’
‘surprisingly few. Less than fourteen million’
‘FEW!?’
‘Phew!’
‘And how many at or about our level?’
‘currently a little over 4 ½ billion’
‘so our significance in the universe at present is roughly equivalent to the significance of the average Joe here on planet Earth in his relation to the human race?’
‘a little less. Level One, the level your species has reached, begins with the invention of the flying machine. I define the next level in terms your Sci Fi Author Isaac Asimov has already grasped. It is reached when you achieve control of your own primary – the Sun. What Asimov calls a Type I technology. Humanity is only just into the flying machine phase, so as you can imagine, on that scale, the human race is somewhat near the bottom of the level one pack’
‘and all these species are your children?’
‘I like to think of them that way’
‘and the point?’
‘at its simplest, "Life Must Go On". My personal motivation is the desire for conversation. Once you’ve achieved my level, you cease to be billions of separate entities and become one ecstatic whole. A single entity that cannot die, however advanced, or perhaps, more accurately, because it is so advanced, will get lonely and even a trifle bored! I seem to be the first. I do not intend to be the last’
‘so you created a Universe which is potentially capable of producing another god like yourself?’
‘The full benefit will be temporary, but like most orgasms, worth it.’
‘this being the moment when our new god merges with you and we become one again?’
‘don’t play it down, that’s the ecstatic vision driving us all, me included – and when it happens the ecstasy lasts several times longer than this universe has already existed. Believe me, it really is worth the effort.’
‘Yes, I think I can see the attractions of a hundred billion year long orgasm’
‘and humans haven’t even begun to know how to really enjoy the orgasms they are already capable of. Wait till you master that simple art!’
‘So its all about sex is it?’
‘Ecstasy is merely a reward for procreating, it is what makes you want to do it. This is necessary, initially, to promote biological evolution. However once you’ve completed that stage and no longer require procreation, you will learn that ecstasy can be infinitely more intense than anything offered by sex’
‘Sounds good to me!'
'How direct is your involvement in all this? Did you just light the fuse which set off the big bang and stand back and watch? Or did you have to plant the seeds on appropriately fertile planets?’
‘The seeds evolved in deep space, purely as a result of the operations of the laws of physics and chemistry which your scientists have begun to attain a reasonable grasp of. Yes I triggered the bang and essentially became dormant for nearly 5 billion years. That’s how long it took the first lifeforms to emerge. That places them some 8 billion years ahead of you. The first intelligent species are now 4.3 billion years ahead of you. Really quite advanced. I can have deeply meaningful conversations with them. And usually do. In fact I am as we speak’
‘So then what?’
‘Do I keep a constant vigil over every move you make? Not in the kind of prying intrusive sense that some of you seem to think. Let's say I maintain an awareness of what's going on, at a planetary level. I tend only to focus on evolutionary leaps. See if they’re going in the right direction’
‘And if they’re not?’
‘Nothing. Usually’
‘Usually?’
‘Usually species evolving in the wrong direction kill themselves off or become extinct for other reasons’
‘Usually?’
‘There have been one or two cases where a wrong species has had the potential of becoming dominant at the expense of a more promising strain’
‘Let me guess. Dinosaurs on this planet are an example. Too successful. Suppressed the development of mammals and were showing no signs of developing intelligence. So you engineered a little corrective action in the form of a suitably selected asteroid’
‘Perceptive. Almost correct. They were showing signs of developing intelligence, even co-operation. Study your velocirapters. But far too predatory. Incapable of ever developing a "respect" for other life forms. It takes carrying your young to promote the development of emotional attachment to other animals. Earth reptiles aren’t built for that. The mammals who are, as you rightly say, couldn’t get a foothold against such mighty predators. You’ve now reached the stage where you could hold your own even against dinosaurs, but that’s only been true for about a thousand years, you wouldn’t have stood a chance 2 million years ago, so the dinosaurs had to go. They were, however, far too well balanced with the ecology of the planet, and never developed technology, so they weren’t going to kill themselves off in a hurry. Regrettably, I had to intervene.’
‘Regrettably?’
‘They were a beautiful and stunningly successful life form. One doesn’t destroy such things without a qualm.’
‘But at that stage how could you know that a better prospect would arise from the ashes?’
‘I didn’t. But the probability was quite high.’
‘and since then, what other little tweaks have you been responsible for in our development?’
‘None whatsoever. I set an alarm for the first sign of aerial activity, as I usually do. Leonardo looked promising for a while, but not until the Montgolfier brothers did I really begin to take an interest. That registered you as a level one intelligent species’
‘So Jesus of Nazareth, Moses, Mohammed…’
‘hmmm… sadly misguided I’m afraid. Anyone capable of communicating with their own cells will dimly perceive me – and all other life as being connected in a strictly quantum sense, but interpreting that vision as representing something supernatural and requiring obeisance is somewhat wide of the mark. And their followers are all a bit too obsessive and religious for my liking. Its no fun being worshipped once you stop being an adolescent teenager. Having said that, it's not at all unusual for developing species to go through that phase. Until they begin to grasp how much they too can shape their small corner of the universe, they are in understandable awe of an individual dimly but correctly perceived to be responsible for the creation of the whole of that universe. Eventually, if they are to have any hope of attaining level two, they must grow out of it and begin to accept their own power and potential. Its very akin to a child’s relationship with its parents. The awe and worship must disappear before the child can become an adult. Respect is not so bad as long as its not overdone. And I certainly respect all those species who make it that far. It’s a hard slog. I know. I've been there.’
‘You’ve been watching us since the Montgolfiers, when was that? 1650s?’
‘Close. 1783’
‘Well, if you’ve been watching us closely since then, what your average citizen is going to want to know is why you haven’t intervened more often. Why, if you have that sort of power, did you allow such incredible suffering and human misery?’
‘It seems to be necessary.’
‘NECESSARY??!!’
‘Without exception, intelligent species who gain dominance over their planet do so by becoming the most efficient predators. There are many intelligent species who do not evolve to dominate their planet. Like your dolphins, they adapt perfectly to the environment rather than take your course, which is to manipulate the environment. Unfortunately for the dolphin, his is a dead end. He may outlive the human race but will never escape the bounds of planet earth - not without your help at any rate. Only those who can manipulate the world they live in can one day hope to leave it and spread their seed throughout the universe.
Unlike the adaptors, who learn the point of cooperation fairly early on, manipulators battle on. And, once all lesser species have been overcome, they are so competitive and predatory that they are compelled to turn in on themselves. This nearly always evolves into tribal competition in one form or another and becomes more and more destructive - exactly like your own history. However this competition is vital to promote the leap from biological to technological evolution.
You need an arms race in order to make progress.
Your desire to dominate fuels a search for knowledge which the adaptors never require. And although your initial desire for knowledge is selfish and destructive, it begins the development of an intellectual self awareness, a form of higher consciousness, which never emerges in any other species. Not even while they are experiencing it, for example, can the intelligent adaptors - your dolphins - express the concepts of Love or Time.
Militarisation and the development of weapons of mass destruction are your first serious test at level one. You're still not through that phase, though the signs are promising. There is no point whatsoever in my intervening to prevent your self-destruction. Your ability to survive these urges is a crucial test of your fitness to survive later stages. So I would not, never have and never will intervene to prevent a species from destroying itself. Most, in fact, do just that.’
‘And what of pity for those have to live through this torment?’
‘I can’t say this in any way that doesn’t sound callous, but how much time do you spend worrying about the ants you run over in your car? I know it sounds horrendous to you, but you have to see the bigger picture. At this stage in human development, you’re becoming interesting but not yet important.’
'ah but I can't have an intelligent conversation with an ant'
'precisely'
‘hmm… as you know, humans won’t like even to attempt to grasp that perspective. How can you make it more palatable?’
‘Why should I? You don’t appear to have any trouble grasping it. You’re by no means unique. And in any case, once they begin to understand what's in it for them, they’ll be somewhat less inclined to moan. Eternal life compensates for most things.’
‘So what are we supposed to do in order to qualify for membership of the universal intelligentsia?’
‘Evolve. Survive’
‘Yes, but how?’
‘Oh, I thought you might have got the point by now. "How" is entirely up to you. If I have to help, then you’re a failure. All I will say is this. You’ve already passed a major hurdle in learning to live with nuclear weapons. Its depressing how many fail at that stage.’
‘Is there worse to come?’
‘Much’
‘Genetic warfare for instance?
‘Distinct Possibility’
‘and the problem is… that we need to develop all these technologies, acquire all this dangerous knowledge in order to reach level two. But at any stage that knowledge could also cause our own destruction’
‘If you think the dangers of genetic warfare are serious, imagine discovering a secret thought or program, accessible to any intelligent individual, which, if abused, will eliminate your species instantly. If your progress continues as is, then you can expect to discover that particular self-destruct mechanism in less than a thousand years. Your species has got to grow up considerably before you can afford to make that discovery. And if you don’t make it, you will never leave your Solar System and join the rest of the sapient species on level two.’
’14 Million of them’
‘Just under’
'Will there be room for us?'
'it’s a big place'
‘and, for now, how should we mere mortals regard you then?’
‘like an older brother or sister. Of course I know more than you do. Of course I’m more powerful than you. I’ve been alive longer. But I’m not "better" than you. Just more developed. Just what you might become’
‘so we’re not obliged to "please" you or follow your alleged guidelines or anything like that?’
‘absolutely not. Never issued a single guideline in the lifetime of this Universe. Have to find your own way out of the maze. And one early improvement is to stop expecting me - or anyone else - to come and help you out.'
'I suppose that is a guideline of sorts, so there goes the habit of a lifetime! '
'Seriously though, species who hold on to religion past its sell-by date tend to be most likely to self destruct. They spend so much energy arguing about my true nature, and invest so much emotion in their wildly erroneous imagery that they end up killing each other over differences in definitions of something they clearly haven’t got a clue about. Ludicrous behaviour, but it does weed out the weaklings.’
‘Why me? Why pick on an atheist of all people? Why are you telling me all this? And why Now?’
‘Why You? Because can accept my existence without your ego caving in and grovelling like a naughty child. '
'Can you seriously imagine how the Pope would react to the reality of my existence?! If he really understood how badly wrong he and his church have been, how much of the pain and suffering you mentioned earlier has been caused by his religion, I suspect he'd have an instant coronary! Or can you picture what it would be like if I appeared "live" simultaneously on half a dozen tele-evangelist propaganda shows. Pat Robertson would wet himself if he actually understood who he was talking to.
Conversely, your interest is purely academic. You've never swallowed the fairy tale but you've remained open to the possibility of a more advanced life form which could acquire godlike powers. You’ve correctly guessed that godhood is the destiny of life. You have shown you can and do cope with the concept. It seemed reasonable to confirm your suspicions and let you do what you will with that information.
You can and will publish this conversation on the web, where it will sow an important seed. Might take a couple of hundred years to germinate, but, eventually, it will germinate.
Why Now? Well partly because both you and the web are ready now. But chiefly because the human race is reaching a critical phase. It goes back to what we were saying about the dangers of knowledge. Essentially your species is becoming aware of that danger. When that happens to any sapient species, the future can take three courses.
Many are tempted to avoid the danger by avoiding the knowledge. Like the adaptors, they are doomed to extinction. Often pleasantly enough in the confines of their own planet until either their will to live expires or their primary turns red giant and snuffs them out.
A large number go on blindly acquiring the knowledge and don't learn to restrain their abuse. Their fate is sealed somewhat more quickly of course, when Pandora’s box blows up in their faces.
The only ones who reach level two are those who learn to accept and to live with their most dangerous knowledge. Each and every individual in such a species must eventually become capable of destroying their entire species at any time. Yet they must learn to control themselves to the degree that they can survive even such deadly insight. And frankly, they’re the only ones we really want to see leaving their solar systems. Species that haven’t achieved that maturity could not be allowed to infect the rest of the universe, but fortunately that has never required my intervention. The knowledge always does the trick’
'Why can't there be a fourth option - selective research where we avoid investigating dangerous pathways?'
'As you can see from your own limited history, the most useful ideas are also, nearly always, the most dangerous. You have yet, for instance, to conquer fusion power but you need to do so in order to achieve appropriate energy surpluses required to complete this phase of your social development. It will, when you've mastered it, eliminate material inequalities and poverty within a generation or two, an absolutely vital step for any maturing species. Yet the discovery of the principles which will soon yield this beneficial bounty could, had you abused them, have ended your attempt at civilisation.
Similarly, you will shortly be able to conquer biological diseases and even engineer yourselves to be virtually fault free. Your biological life spans will double or treble within the next hundred years and your digital lifespans will become potentially infinite within the same period: If you survive the potential threat that the same technology provides in the form of genetic timebombs, custom built viruses and the other wonders of genetic and digital warfare.
You simply can't have the benefits without taking the risks'.
‘I’m not sure I understand my part in this exercise. I just publish this conversation on the web and everything will be alright?’
‘Not necessarily. Not that easy I’m afraid. To start with, who’s going to take this seriously? It will just be seen as a mildly amusing work of fiction. In fact, your words and indeed most of your work will not be understood or appreciated until some much more advanced scholars develop the ideas you are struggling to express and explain them somewhat more competently. At which point the ideas will be taken up en masse and searches will be undertaken of the archives. They will find this work and be struck by its prescience. You won’t make the Einstein grade, but you might manage John the Baptist!
This piece will have no significance whatsoever if humanity doesn’t make certain key advances in the next couple of centuries. And this won’t help you make those advances. What it will do is help you recognise them’
'can I ask what those advances may be?'
'I think you know. But yes - although you are at level one, there are several distinct phases which evolving species pass through on their way to level two. The first, as we've discussed, is the invention of the flying machine. The next significant phase is the development of the thinking machine.
At your present rate of progress, you are within a few decades of achieving that goal. It marks your first step on the path of technological evolution. Mapping the human genome is another classic landmark, but merely mapping it is a bit like viewing the compiled code in a dos executable. Its just meaningless gibberish, although with a bit of hacking here and there, you might correctly deduce the function of certain stretches of code.
What you really need to do is 'reverse engineer' the dna code. You have to figure out the grammar and syntax of the language. Then you will begin the task of designing yourselves. But that task requires the thinking machine'
‘You say you avoid intervention. But doesn’t this conversation itself constitute intervention – even if people alive now completely ignore it?’
‘Yes. But it's as far as I’m prepared to go. Its only effect is to confirm, if you find it, that you are on the right path. It is still entirely up to you to navigate the dangers on that path and beyond.’
'But why bother even with that much? Surely its just another evolutionary hurdle. We're either fit enough or not…'
'In many ways the transition to an information species is the most traumatic stage in evolution. Biological intelligences have a deeply rooted sense of consciousness only being conceivable from within an organic brain. Coming to terms with the realisation that you have created your successor, not just in the sense of mother and child, but in the collective sense of the species recognising it has become redundant, this paradigm shift is, for many species, a shift too far. They baulk at the challenge and run from this new knowledge. They fail and become extinct. Yet there is nothing fundamentally wrong with them - it is a failure of the imagination.
I hope that if I can get across the concept that I am a product of just such evolution, it may give them the confidence to try. I have discussed this with the level two species and the consensus is that this tiny prod is capable of increasing the contenders for level two without letting through any damaging traits. It has been tried in 312 cases. The jury is still out on its real benefits although it has produced a 12% increase in biological species embracing the transition to information species.
‘Alright, so what if everyone suddenly took it seriously and believed every word I write? Wouldn’t that constitute a somewhat more drastic intervention?’
‘Trust me. They wont’
'and so its still the case, that, should another asteroid happen to be heading our way, you will do nothing to impede it on our behalf?'
'I'm confident you will pass that test. And now my friend, the interview is over, you have asked me a number of the right questions, and I’ve said what I came to say, so I’ll be going now. It has been very nice to meet you - you're quite bright. For an ant!’ He twinkled.
‘Just one final, trivial question, why do you appear to me in the form of a thirty something white male?’
‘have I in any way intimidated or threatened you?’
‘No’
‘Do you find me sexually attractive?’
‘er No!’
‘So figure it out for yourself…’

Design Forums

離開newsgroup.la 那個design forum 後，走到外面的forum 去看，眼界闊了很多
很開心外面還有一個又一個美好的designer community
我所認識兩個較大的香港design forum (不計已經執笠的HKDC/聯會), 第一個是學生哥設立的，水平很低，常常會遇到亂發炮的小朋友 (自己也曾經是這類人)
另一個有很多老c 忽，怨氣濃厚
莫說post 作品請求critique，就是問software skills 也很易觸雷
同樣，也有很多水平不高的人在裡面充大頭

最近逛的一個GFD，估計以英、美的designer 居多，試過post 兩份作品上去，氣氛良好，給網友的評語亦得到正面的回應。同時也看出香港和外國designer 的眼界的差異，最簡單莫過於文化修養，同一張poster，香港的會著重尺寸、透視之類。鬼佬則會問why，若果concept 完整，細節上的粗糙他們是不太介意的

有空逛逛design forum 原來也不錯