Wicked Cool PHP

Books on programming are not typically the most enjoyable things to read. However, I can’t help but be very entertained by . I bought this book in combination with one of those giant programming reference books for PHP. But I started reading this one first because I was intrigued by the title.  Now at the end of this book I find that I am getting quite proficient with the PHP language and have not felt the need to even crack open the giant reference. I think I will just put it up on the shelf for future reference. Meanwhile I can see the my copy of Wicked Cool is already dog-eared and showing some wear.

Now for the disclaimer – I am a seasoned programmer and master of many programming languages old and new. So what suffices for me may be different than what might suffice for, as an example, a script kiddie trying to patch a php-based web site.

But even in that scenario, I think the kid could glean some worthwhile insight into the language, its syntax, and how to use it all in the real world. So I think I will add this to BitLizard’s bizarre Bazaar for the consideration of any programmers who find their way here.

Do you like classic science fiction? And no, I’m not talking about 50’s sci-fi B-movies. But stuff like Asimov, Pohl and Heinlein? Well then you will be very well served by John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War novels. These books are set in a not-so-far future with faster-than-light travel, transhuman augmentation, and many different, intelligent (and competitive) alien species. Yet this is a future where you will find a society that is recognizably human, with all that entails.

John Perry, the main character, is a decidedly old guy who is plucked from the Earth, augmented extensively, and made into a soldier for the Colonial Defense Forces. The CDF is in the business of protecting the human’s colonized worlds while also depriving other alien species of their own colonies. What could be more entertaining than that, I ask you?

Scalzi explores some interesting themes in these books – the meaning of war, xenophobia, what super-longevity could bring, etc. However, these topics do not weigh the books down. These are definitely action/adventure stories and great entertainment.

I completed the third book in this series during the visit to see my parents in Kansas City early this week. In The Last Colony John Perry is no longer a soldier but now a colonist and family man. His augmentations have been stripped away and he is now back to being human; but still an old man in a young body. This doesn’t stop him from becoming embroiled in war and political intrigue.

These books are easy to read and their stories are compelling. Also, John Scalzi’s blog is quite fun. Be sure and check it out.

The Singularity refers to a flash-over point, a basic state change, where the rate of change has accelerated to the point where human beings cannot possibly keep up — unless they are wielding some phenomenally capable computing technologies. The Singularity is brought about by advances in software technologies such that we succeed in making software capable of improving itself. This kicks technological progress into high gear giving birth to artificial intelligence (AI). Ultimately this hyperbolic rate of change will result in a hyper-technonological world where unaugmented human beings will have a very hard time keeping up. Enter transhumanism – the augmentation of the human being into a entity who can remain relevant in the wake of the Singularity.

So, winding this back onto the idea of a simulation, you can readily see the motivation for building one. In light of a scenario like the Singularity, a motivation for building a simulation might be an attempt to create a refuge in a universe that’s suddenly become incomprehensible. Another motivation might be a grasp at immortality – a new, non-biological platform on which to run your consciousness. Of course, if we were living in a simulator and then we created a simulation into which we downloaded ourselves, one might begin to wonder how many levels of simulation we are separated from the ultimate reality.

One of my favorite science fiction novels that dances around this theme is Accelerando by Charles Stross. Stross is always an engrossing read but Accelerando seems an especially well expressed story. I can’t imagine the difficulty of trying to create a plausible story around something that is, by definition, so unimaginable. Charles Stross must be augmented somehow. Yeah, that’s it! Hey, where is MY augmentation??? I could especially use a memory enhancement just about now.

So one other idea that I keep thinking about is that if we are living in a simulation, isn’t it nice how just about everything in religious theology kind of finds its place and has a straight forward explanation in this version of “reality”. Hmmmm….. Or, coming at it from the inside-out perspective, could it be that the whole purpose of our simulation is to birth an AI?

Do you want the red pill or the blue pill?