"YOUR THOUGHTS REFLECTED HERE"

Message on sign:

YOUR

THOUGHTS

REFLECTED

HERE

[in mirror image]

March 29 - March 30, 2011

Opinions expressed:

- the sign is a work of art

- the sign is an aesthetic, ironic, introspective call to reflect on one's thoughts. Because the letters are written in Husky colors, the thoughts you should reflect on are those learned at the university. Because the letters are written in mirror image, everything you learned at the university you have backwards.

- you should come up to the man standing by the sign and express a thought to him, after which he will give you a counter-argument to what you've said, as if your thoughts are related back to you in reverse.

- wherever you may be, your perception of that place and the experiences you have there will be colored by what your own thoughts about it are

- maybe people walking by will think: "How can that guy know my thoughts well enough for them to be reflected there?"

- one girl took the time to come up and let me know my sign was backwards

The "original" idea:

Language is not "owned" by any one person alone. All speakers of that language change the meanings of the words and other composite elements of that language. It is therefore impossible to compose a phrase which would be completely unambiguous. Whatever meaning I might intend the message on a sign to have, the meaning the perceiver infers will depend on his or her own thoughts about the subject of the sign.

Other signs on the Quad: about 20 signs of the American Cancer Society were up with different messages on each side, e.g. "Parents who smoke can be role models by quitting."; for the first two hours two men handed out flyers and held a sign reading: "Invisible Children Help Silent War Tonight 7:00 Kane 120 TONY [advertising a film about children abducted in West Africa and forced to fight in wars]"; from 1:15-2:00 the Lyndon Larouche people stood by a table with their literature and signs reading: "END BRITISH OCCUPATION DUMP OBAMA" and "IS CALIFORNIA NEXT? [referring to earthquakes]"

For a complete transcript of discussions with people about this sign (or at least as complete as memory would allow), see here, March 29-30.

"YOU ARE NOT FREE"

Message on sign:

YOU ARE

NOT FREE

March 28, 2011

Opinions expressed:

- one man angrily and loudly asserted while walking by: "YOU are not free. Who are you to tell me I'm not free? I'm free. I'm FREE!"

- "The sign is true. Society sets all sorts of rules it expects us to follow. I want to be free and do what I want all the time."

- "We are not free because we are raised to have certain perceptions of the world which color what we see and dictate how we behave. Most people are not capable of thinking for themselves. They are not free."

- "The sign is true and not true. I can go to class if I want, but I have to do what my parents tell me to do."

- "Yes, we're not free. We're all being tracked all the time. We all have to pay taxes..."

- "We are freer politically than people in many other countries but maybe less free than we used to be. But we have free will, so we are free."

- "I've been reading the book 'What the Buddha Taught' and it says we have no free will. How can we have free will when everything is relative, bound by the before and the after?"

- "I don't understand why people would agree to give up their freedoms to the state? They don't even know they are doing it. They do so with the best of intentions and under the banner of doing good for others, but they don't realize they're giving their freedoms away."

- "Goethe said: 'None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.' It's ironic that if people knew they weren't free, that knowledge would free them."

- one guy walking by said: "Not yet..."

Surprisingly, no one interpreted the sign to mean that no one is free in the sense that each person has some monetary value or worth, or that anyone can be bought, but only at a price.

Other signs on the Quad: about 20 signs of the American Cancer Society were up on the Quad with different messages on either side, e.g. "Parents who smoke can be role models by quitting." Near the George Washington statue there were people with signs reading: "STOP CRUELTY TO ANIMALS".

For a complete transcript of discussions with people about this sign (or at least as complete as memory would allow), see here, March 28.

"THERE IS NO TIME"

Message on sign:

THERE IS

YESTERDAY IS STILL HERE...

NO TIME

TOMORROW IS ALREADY

March 14 and 17, 2011

This week was final exam week, so traffic on the Quad was very light. Many of those who spoke with me were Christians (members of the group Navigators) from other universities spreading the gospel and doing good works during their spring break. Therefore many discussions touched on the theological implications of the sign.

Answers to the question, "What does the sign mean?":

- there isn't much time left because final exams are soon

- time is merely a figment of our imagination

- given the increasing incidence of phenomena such as birds falling from the skies dead in droves, earthquakes, financial crises, revolutions, etc., we seem to be entering a time of rapid and dramatic change

- it is a reference to something spiritual, specifically the idea that the end--the Apocalypse--is near, hence the phrase "tomorrow is already [here]". But what then would "yesterday is still here" refer to? 

- it is a reference to something spiritual, specifically the idea that there is a God who is an extra-temporal entity. Thus in the Bible we read "I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the end." From God's point of view, all of time exists simultaneously ("already").

- it's important to be completely in the moment, to free oneself from the constraints of memory of the past and planning for the future in order to step outside of the confines of time itself

- there is unfinished business we have left over from the past; and the seeds of future events are being sown now, in the present

- "yesterday is still here" means that the memory we have of what has happened preserves the past, and thus it is still with us in that form

- it means "seize the day"; tomorrow could bring us death, and the past should not keep us from experiencing the present moment fully

- one guy was reminded of the George Carlin quote: "There's no present. There's only the immediate future and the recent past."

Theological and theoretical discussions:

- How do we reconcile the idea that God granted us free will with the notion that God is omniscient? If He--from His position outside of time--knows everything that will happen, is not then everything in our lives predestined? There is a solution to this paradox which would find support from some physicists and in the esoteric literature. If it is true that each time we weigh several alternative courses of action, a portion of ourselves creates an alternate, parallel universe (not unimaginable if one accepts the notion of the infinite nature of God and His creation), everything that could possibly happen already has happened. Where our free will comes in is in our ability and opportunity to choose, from among the infinite possibilities that have occurred, that one which we desire to experience.

- Time is not what we have traditionally thought it to be. There is evidence that it is not an absolute, objective, external phenomenon, but its apparent duration can be altered by our subjective perception if we free ourselves from the societally inculcated habit of retroactively bringing our memory of lived events into conformity with clock time. For example, the passage of time seems interminably slow when a man is waiting for his girlfriend to arrive, and then regrettably seems to pass all too rapidly when he is with her.

- There exists the theory that all moments of time--past, present and future--exist "simultaneously" in some way we cannot yet fathom.

Other signs on the Quad: on March 14 a single-engined plane flew above the campus for about ten minutes in the afternoon trailing a banner that read: "SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC"

For a complete transcript of discussions with people about this sign (or at least as complete as memory would allow), see here, March 14-17.

Shameful graffiti seen in restroom on UW campus

Below I have documented--with remorse and shame--what I was forced to see while a captive of biological necessity in a stall in a men's restroom on the campus of the University of Washington.

Drawings:

- two drawings of penises urinating (or ejaculating--hard to make out clearly) next to one of which was written: "UDICK" [a clumsy pun on "U-DUB"?]

- a drawing of a guy smoking a joint

- the word "México" inside a "forbidden" sign

Text:

"NOFX"

"The world sucks"

"USA" [written--apparently by a real patriot--in big letters with stars in them]

"They get the dollar,

I get the dime,

That's why I shit,

On my company's time."

"Smoke weed all day everyday!"

"But do you need to pay tuition?" [with an arrow drawn to the previous message]

"Do a barrel roll"

"Wilco is a very, very good band"

"Neggers" [or: "Naggers" (disgracefully illegible)]

"Oh my god, my shit is fat,

When I said hi,

It said hey right back."

Below I have recorded a chain of graffiti messages that refer one to the other in sequence, but which were arranged visually in a way I cannot recreate using only a text editor.

1. "Weed makes me NOT poop"

2. "therefore potheads

in addition to being grafittists are also

full of shit" [with an arrow drawn to #1]

3. "Hypocritical" [with an arrow drawn to #2]

4. "Coffee makes me poop

Tobacco makes me poop"

5. "on a related note,

drinking coffee makes

my pee smell like

coffee" [with an arrow drawn to #4, specifically the sentence: "Coffee makes me poop"]

6. "This is very true. Actually the reason

why I'm pooping right now." [with an arrow drawn to #4, specifically the word "tobacco"]

7. "FACT" [with an arrow drawn to #4, specifically the word "tobacco"]

8. "(also) pretentious" [with an arrow coming from #7 and drawn to #2]

9. "Smoke salvia"

Numbers 7 through 9 were collectively referenced by an inclusive circle cum arrow to #2.

But by far the most egregious--and freshest--message was:

"Attention grafittists!

You are quoted here:

signsonthequad.blogspot.com"

Postscript


Sometime between March 14 and April 1, the graffiti described here was erased, leaving only this now invaluable record for future historians and sociologists...

A discussion about the signs on reddit.com and the blog Metacognitive Potential

Here is an interesting discussion about the signs on reddit. Here is a post on the blog Metacognitive Potential.

"WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOU AND ME?"

Message on sign:

WHAT IS THE

DIFFERENCE

BETWEEN

YOU AND ME?

March 2 - March 3, 2011

Credits: adapted from an idea created by Vitaly Ivanov

The weather was terrible these two days so few people came up to talk.

Ideas expressed:

- the difference between you and me is: all of reality. Perception of the world is entirely subjective and your world is therefore completely different from mine. However, if you asked me to answer the opposite question--how are we alike-- my answer would be: "less than you might think." What people want most out of life varies very little even across cultures, races, nations and other divisions.

- one guy spoke of how different his life was before he established a personal relationship with Jesus Christ a year ago

- how do I know you exist and are not dreamed by me; or that I exist and am not being dreamed by you?

Ways mentioned that people can be different:

- bearing

- demeanor 

- age

- experience

- height

Other signs on the Quad: there was a rally near the state of George Washington when I arrived. People held up signs: "UW to UW Wisconsin Solidarity", "Freedom of Assembly"; there was a giant inflatable "fat cat" with a diamond ring on its pinky choking a construction worker. For coverage of the rally go here.

The fat cat choking the construction worker looked like this:

For a complete transcript of discussions with people about this sign (or at least as complete as memory would allow), see here, March 2-3.

"DOES THE INTERNET KNOW MORE THAN YOU?"

Message on sign:

DOES THE

INTERNET

KNOW MORE

THAN YOU?

FEBRUARY 28 - MARCH 1, 2011

Other signs on the Quad: "Please Give Blood"; a man handed out flyers: "Judgment Day! May 21, 2011/The End of the World October 21, 2011/Does GOD Love You?"; a woman stood on the Quad collecting signatures for a petition to expand Mt. Rainier National Park

Credits: the idea for this sign grew out of discussions with Vitaly Ivanov

Some ideas discussed and thoughts expressed:

- many people smiled when they saw the sign; some shook their heads "No", apparently in response to the question

- some people said the internet does know more than they do. They said they go to sites like wikipedia to get information they need to write papers

- some said they wouldn't want computers to know (or seem to know) more than we do as then we would rely on them too much; for example, a computer might be programmed to catch criminals before they commit crimes (like in the film Minority Report) but make mistakes we would overlook and send innocent people to jail; overreliance on computers could also make us even lazier about learning than we already are; for example, with so much information at our fingertips it becomes too easy to learn

- one person said his answer to the question would depend on whether the "internet" was understood as the connective devices between people or the people themselves contributing to it

- one person said the internet could theoretically know as much as a human being could if we constructed a mechanical model which replicated all the neurological connections in the brain

- one person said the internet knows more than he does, but the individual person who answers his question on Yahoo Answers maybe knows less

- some said the answer to the question would depend on what was meant by "know"; he said the internet could store a lot of information like a library, but that it could not make use of it because it did not have the necessary will, desire or intention 

- most people said the internet does not know more than they do; even if it could contain more information, it could not put its knowledge together with experience to acquire what human beings possess, namely wisdom

- one person made the point that a computer could not know love since love is an emotion impossible to describe; but then again, if a computer did acquire sentience and came to know love, it might be equally (as we are) unable to describe the feeling so we could not know whether the computer had truly learned to experience it

- one person made the point that it is possible to have knowledge about something, or even to be able to do something, like solve a mathematical equation, but that does not necessarily mean that a person understands what they are doing; so there is knowledge and there is Knowledge...

- in any case, the issue is an important one. If computers acquire the ability to take on the tasks carried out by, say, lawyers and doctors, why do we overemphasize rote learning, erudition and the more mechanical intellectual tasks to the detriment of developing the the imagination, creative abilities, the intuition and the ability to apply ethical principles?

For a complete transcript of discussions with people about this sign (or at least as complete as memory would allow), see here, February 28-March 1.