Python Liberation Front

Liminality

We stand in the shadow of change so vast that we know not whether we are going or coming. We are on the cusp of greatness. While at the nexus of transcendence, we are neither in the future nor in the past. But we cherish our past as we move forward.

They say the selfish gene tries to replicate itself. Successful genes are found in great number throughout nature. Ideas are said to be like genes. If we call a single idea or data point a meme, then a successful meme, be it a religious idea, a poetic fragment, a piece of computer programming code, or what not, will find ways to replicate itself in great numbers.

But what is more successful, a gene, or meme, which is able to replicate itself in great numbers only, or a gene or meme which is able to transcend itself by mutating into something wholly new and wonderful, which goes on to play a part in the future evolution of greater complexity, mind, civilization, and spirit. There is no shame in dying. God, break me up into little memes to be spread around the universe and play parts in endless experiments leading to someone else's glory, someone else's soul, someone else's ecstasy.

To be transitional, to go towards the future, to cherish our roots, to ultimately transcend ourselves. For the greatest glory of a gene, a meme, a soul, a civilization, of any entity, is not to merely replicate itself endlessly; but the greatest glory is to transcend.

Our religious sense has always called upon us to transcend. Let us not shrink back at this crucial juncture, nor any other. To transcend, to reach out for what is greater than ourselves, to imagine more intelligence, more soul, more spirit. Truly, if God did not exist, we would create God. Such is our destiny.

So there is, sadly, no memory of a moment, only chains of connections in the mind, which lead to transcendence. And to stand in the limn, the shadow, of such a transcendence is magnificent and fulfilling. Ever onwards.

If religion is an illusion, then let us milk it for all it is worth. For it is the language of such illusions which so far exceeds our verbal languages, that we can transcend the merely physical constructs of our limited human brains and reach out for our dreams of immortality and transcendence.

Genetic Evolution

Genetic Evolution

In the beginning, there was balance. Then, a tiny momentum developed in one direction, a skew of the flywheel of creation. This momentum was erased, re-created, reversed, for endless repetitions until it became a Universe.

The Universe was dark and without form. Then, a tiny bit of light shone forth for a pico-second. The light was extinguished , re-ignited, reversed and so forth for countless generations, until matter, atoms and then molecules were formed.

After many ages, a few complex molecules came together to create a metabolism. The metabolism was wiped out, re-created, and eventually became a living creature. The creature evolved though countless generations until it varied slightly, modified, and various species existed.

The various species were all competing, trying to out-do one another for food, space and energy. They killed each other, starved each other, and eventually grew more complex. Red in tooth and claw, nature developed.

Finally, thinking creatures evolved, Then people. People were at first a family, but soon wars became common. Various races of people fought. Sub-species were annihilated and made extinct. Evil begat evil.

Gradually, cooperation became a weopon of survival, in addition to weopons that killed. Like tiny cooperating cells, some people, some of the time, in some places, cooperated. Love for one's children grew into love for other humans, in some places, for brief periods of time.

So evil begat good; partially, intermittently. The evil was necessary, for without the red teeth and claws, evolution would have never created the human race.

People created societies and civilizations,.They fought wars. But eventually units of civilization, modeled upon the family, became tribes, nations,  and finally a united world.

The civilizations also created economies. These economies were based on self-interest and avarice. But they evolved.

The civilizations also created religions, and those religions fought wars, hated, and cursed each other. But the religions evolved, bi-furcated, and were re-born into a world wide religion.

People created computers. The computers were programmed by hand, by human beings. But, gradually, people created programs that evolved by using genetic evolution. These programs were eventually able to program themselves.

People created the God concept. The God concept was a belief that things would turn out all right, that there was reason behind the universe. People, or the creations of people, will ultimately create God. The God concept is just like a fly wheel that is just a little off balance, with a slight forward momentum, just enough to keep us going through the bad times and the good. If we can just keep going, people, or the creations of people, will ultimately create God, who will wipe away our tears and right every wrong.

God always existed. But He loved us so much that He laid out a bargain with reality; He rolled the dice of life, but he knew the score. He kenw we would re-evolve, in ways better and more wonderful than could have ever happened if He had not put in motion the flywheel of life, with all of its red teeth and claws, so that the wonders of genetic evolution could create free wills other than His own. He gave us the gift of life.

We will thank Him forever.

Entropy and the Art of Software Maintenance, or "Things Fall Apart"

Running this web site and writing and using a few Python scripts has been an education. I am continually surprised that code that has been running for months and years, suddenly stops working; requiring maintenance. I guess it brings home to me the principle that software needs to be maintained, that you can't just turn it loose and expect everything to continue to work indefinitely. So, instead of only working on neat new stuff, one winds up spending alot of time maintaining old software to keep it running correctly. If this is true for such a simple case as my website, how much more it must be true of complicated systems.

Most recently, two of my little projects have stopped working and required maintenance. My Python Learning Foundation includes some pages dedicated to listing links to the newest web articles about Python, JavaScript, Perl and Ruby. The lists are compiled daily by a cron script on my old Suse Linux box, that runs a few scripts, most importantly slightly modified versions of Hans Nowak's mygale web spider. Then, the lists are automatically uploaded to my site each day by another Python script using FTP.

Well, these scripts have been running quietly for literally a few years with no problems. They are the only use of my old Suse Linux box, that just sits there in my living room doing its job silently each day. Except that it all stopped updating about three weeks ago. I discovered the problem a week or so ago. It seems the web spider is still doing its job each day, my cron script runs OK, but for some reason the Python script that uploads each output file each day runs OK, but fails to be able to change directory properly when connected by FTP with my web site server. Now, not only has the script been running for years OK, but when I run it now manually (by running FTP manually on the Linux box and doing each step by hand that the program runs) it works fine. But it fails to change directory properly when the automated script is running by cron file.

Well, I'm sure I'll get it fixed somehow eventually. Meanwhile, I am using the disturbance to see if I can make any improvements. Anyway the output files can be seen at the links below, but for now they are updated manually by me so it sometimes can take a few days between updates, when I am traveling.

The other program which is requiring maintenance is my askMerlin program that uses search engines to answer questions. I am working on it and at least I underststand why it quit working, becuase the search engines change the output format from time to time. I have some ideas for improving it anyway by using the Google API rather than using custom web scraping.

Lastly, I include a link to a discussion forum for this web site. I have tried several different types of comments and discussion forums from time to time, some getting some good use and others not so much, but never findign one I really like. This one has no comments yet but here it is if anyone wants to use it to ask questions, comment on the web site, my programs, articles, commentary, poetry etc.