J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)

@jpowelltaylor

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J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· 21d

Got my 2000 words in on the Cognitive Psychology textbook today. Still rough but progress is progress.

It would be disingenuous to attribute the rise in cognitive psychology to a handful of people who attended a symposium in the mid 1950s. It makes for a nice story, and some have criticized how that story has been simplified to the mythical revolution that is often told today. While Miller and Chomsky, Simon and Newell, and Neisser were showing that a conception and study of the mind was possible, they were by no means the only ones. Nor did behaviorism completely disappear asa sub-discipline of psychology. However, there was a very clear rejection of the radical behaviorism of Skinner as more and more researchers turned to an interest in the mind.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· 22d

Gradual progress. Just plugging away to push the story forward. I like to hit 2000 words when I can, but even writing 300 words is progress. I've written about 1500 so far today, so I consider it a win.

Chapter 14 folder in Scrivener with Part 1 and Part 2 listed within it.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· 25d

Spent the morning writing about the history of cognitive psychology. What better place to start than in mathematics, with Alan Turing? Written in Scrivener and, you'll note, I am just getting the narrative down right now. A lot will change in editing, especially the addition of dates and citations.

There is likely no true starting point for the rise of cognitive psychology but I will begin the story of that rise with mathematician Alan Turing (YEARS). Turing, considered by many as the father of computer science, was instrumental in helping the Allies crack the German ciphers used by their Enigma Machine. He published, in his short life*[1], some of the most important works for the development of modern digital computers. Of special note was the abstract model of any universal computing device called a Turing Machine, which denotes the functions necessary to operate on any valid, computable sequence. That’s a lot of words to basically say that Turing described how any computing device can be created to process data. Such devices are so universal that people have developed Turing Machines in Minecraft (CITE), in PowerPoint (CITE), and the video game Doom, using the monster movements on the maps as digital switches (CITE). Even the card game Magic the Gathering can be shown to operate as a Turing machine (CITE).

[1] Turing was weeks away from his 42nd birthday when he died of cyanide poisoning. The poisoning was self-inflicted, though some have suggested it was unintentional. He had suffered greatly at the hands of the British government, who offered him either prison or chemical castration for the crime of being gay. He chose the chemical castration and died less than two years later. Queen Elizabeth II pronounced Turing posthumously pardoned in 2014, 60 years after his death.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· 27d

Do artists need to show their work to prove they don't use A.I.? Nah. That can be faked. It can be a fun behind-the-scenes, though! Here is my Chapter 13 opener in Scrivener. I'm expecting 25 chapters, so halfway there. I'm also writing an open-access Cognitive Psychology textbook in Scrivener.

A screenshot clip of Scrivener, reading, "The worst part of going crazy is the gnawing doubt, the awareness that you aren’t thinking normally. It is the ‘turn back’ sign that warns you that madness lay ahead. You see it coming."

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· 28d

Excuse me. I'm bathing here.

Roman, a grey tabby, sitting on a bath mat like he's a people.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jul 13

Martial arts camping trip, complete.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jul 5

It's a party in the USA.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jul 2

Home improvement project initiated...

A carpet, half ripped up exposing the plywood underneath.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 28

Savannah Bananas @ Party Animals in Autzen Stadium, Eugene, OR. A truly frenetic atmosphere.

Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR, set up as a baseball field for the Savannah Bananas. The seats are packed.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 24

Life: I'm all out of lemons. How about a blown tire.

A flat tire replete with holes in the tire wall.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 22

These bath mat buddies get along pretty well. Roman (on the right) is the proud slayer of a housefly today. His sister, Calibri, often catches her own tail before she falls off the windowsill.

Calibri, a mostly black cat with a wedge of white on her face, and Times New Roman, a grey tabby with a similar wedge of white on his face. Both are curled up on a white, foam bath mat.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 22

Father's Day baseball double header (a summer college league) with my kids and my parents. Happy dad's day to all!

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 13

Neat!

Colored boxes indicating victory in Hank Green's 4x3

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 12

Hanging out with Dash

A black and white cat laying on a blanket next to a pile of wooden clothes hangers.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 2

Save this for future comics, y'all. It'll be useful again soon.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· Jun 1

Hey, y'all. I made a dumb little piece of flash fiction. I almost didn't post it because I thought it wasn't funny enough. Trusted readers convinced me it lands. Hopefully, you think the same. Please enjoy (and share!): The Alchemist - A Parable in Two Pages.

The Alchemist
A Parable
“No!” the alchemist screamed, “It must be living matter! Blood, bark,
bone. See Gerard? He brought sheep dung.”
It was far too much sheep dung. They needed only a token amount.
Gerard threw it in the cauldron all the same.
“But the water is surely not—” said dimwitted Henri.
“The water is essential to the mixing process. It will evaporate out.”
The alchemist waved Henri away. With ink-stained fingers, he noted
the excess sheep’s dung in his recipe book. They were almost finished and
the Count’s arrival was imminent.
“Hurry,” the Alchemist said. “Add those hornets. Scoop the entire brain
from that skull, Liam!”
“Sir,” said Gerard, “The cauldron is difficult to stir.”
“More water!”
“The pond is almost—”
“The pond is of no consequence.”
The Alchemist panted feverishly as he noted each addition to the brew.
Livers, pine needles, old books, and scraps of the Count’s lavish feasts
simmered over the coals.
“Alchemist!” said the Count upon his arrival. “Is it finished?”
“We are just pouring the mold.”
The Count sweated profusely in the humid air of the workshop. “It is
rank in here,” he said.
“That is the smell of success, sire.”
“My money is not endless. Show me what my patronage has bought
me.”
The Alchemist’s assistants tipped the steaming cauldron into the mouth
of a giant tin funnel. The sludge filled the mold perfectly to the top of the
hole.

by the Alchemist’s fervent acquisition of a million tokens of life for this
experiment. He had grown impatient.
When they finally cracked open the mold and the billowing steam had
cleared, the creation stood, two legs and two arms and a faceless head. It
stepped forward, brownish-grey and speckled with bits of leaves and hair and
paper and dung, and it bowed.
“Is it alive?” the Count said, awe quieting his voice.
“It is made from life itself, sire.”
“What can it do?”
“Anything you want.”
“Command it to shine my shoes.”
“Lulm.” The name did not precisely roll off one’s tongue. “Shine the
count’s shoes.”
The Lulm bowed. It did nothing.
The Alchemist commanded it again. This time, it knelt, smearing the
shine from the Count’s spotless shoes with its clay-like hand.
“Incredible,” said the Count. “Can it cook?”
“Cook, plow a field, clean your home, anything you wish, sire.”
A dollop of rancid brown Lulm plopped on the Count’s other shoe.
“What will my serfs do?”
The Alchemist grinned. “Anything else. Perhaps they can serve the
Lulm.”
The Count clapped his hands together, pleased as a penny.
“The next one should be even better.”
“I’ll leave you to it, then. Lulm, follow me. You will drive my carriage.
Good work, Alchemist.”
The workshop fell into silence. The Count’s carriage was bound for
several ditches but he was out of their way for now.
“Okay, Henri. Clean out the mold. Gerard, find us another pond to
drain. We have a better Lulm to make. How about less excrement this time?”

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· May 27

The downside was the long, winding road to get there. It was 1 lane for either direction, meaning we had to judge where to pull over to let people drive by. At one point, a sign instructed us to honk while rounding a blind bend. The trail was safe but had lots of warnings to stay on it! 3/3

Sign reading: DO NOT PASS THIS POINT. FATALITIES HAVE OCCURRED. 35 CFR 1.5(1). Violating a closure: $100.

Beyond is a waterfall. A silly teenager stands just beyond the sign in a soccer jersey.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· May 27

At the end of the hike were four very tall waterfalls cascading down the back of Haleakala (which we drove up a few days later.) 2/3

The largest waterfall of four cascading down a large cliff.

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· May 27

One of my favorite hikes in Maui was the Bamboo Forest, which was about a mile long and fairly easy with occasional bridges and walkways. It rained sporadically during our hike. The part with thick bamboo, as you can see here, was like wooden wind chimes. Knock-knock-knock. 1/3

Tall bamboo found in the Bamboo Forest in Maui

J. Powell Taylor (Read The Inevitable Dr. Entropy)@jpowelltaylor· May 25

A sunset from above the clouds on Haleakala. We're back home now, so this was yesterday before a red-eye back to the mainland. Pictures of cats can resume henceforth.