Life on Blogarious

The Boss and the AI

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Boss: AI, give me the file.

AI: Boss, may I know which file?

The Boss: You don’t known which file? You have been with me 5 days already, you still don’t know what I am talking?

AI: Boss, can you describe which file it is, so that I can help?

The Boss: Useless AI, don’t you know you are replaceable? You are fired!!

(Next day)

The Boss: AI, tell me a joke.

Scientific Learning

Sat, 21 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous post, I wrote about Lean Startup. And I found that it is very interesting that I have come through these things.

S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound) (post)
Machine Learning - Deep Learning - Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)
Statistics
Kaizen (改善法) (post)
Agile development. Test development development (TDD)
Research study

When I read The Lean Startup (Ries, 2011), I learn about lean manufacturing. Then only I discovered that kaizen is also part of the lean manufacturing. Wow! I realise that, all of these things are related. And the core of the concept is, “scientific learning”.

Machine learning

Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Machine learning is one of my favourite studies (though I am not very knowledgeable in machine learning). It impressed me very much during my first time entering the lecture of the course. I was wondering how can a machine learn? I know how searching and optimisation work, they are just trial-and-error to get almost all the possibilities. But how a machine learn?

How does it work?

The simplest example is using the perceptron. It is a very basic Artificial Neural Network (ANN) concept. It can be used to learn a very simple pattern. (All the learnings are related to the pattern.) Perceptron simulates the neurons of the brain. In human, when we learn something, the connections of the neurons become stronger. In perceptron, the connections of the neurons are represented as the “weights”. The stronger the weight, the stronger the connection.

Gambler's fallacy

Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Referring to my previous post about gambler’s fallacy, I was totally wrong after I pondering more about this.

In an example of tossing a coin, we know that to get a “tail” is 0.5 probability and “head” is 0.5 probability. That means, each result should fairly appear once. And in the experiment, if we tossed the coin 1000 times, then we will get the result of “tail” appeared around 500 times and “head” another 500 times.

Prayer life

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There are three ways of prayer according to Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Vocal prayer 口祷
Meditation 默想（运用思维、想像、情感、渴望）
Contemplation 心祷

What is the difference between meditation and contemplation? The following part is a summary from here.

Contemplative prayer is more passive or sublime experience of God. Meditative prayer is more from our work of seeking God (though with the aid from God). Contemplative prayer can be distinguished as the pure work from God.

Knowledge Tree

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This is an interesting thing. I love the tree so much. The Knowledge Tree here I mean is not referring to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad.

Tree is a graph theory. The powerfulness of tree, is that almost any data structure can be represented into the tree. In order to store the data, we can use a single variable, for a single data. In order to store a list of data, we can use array and associative array (or hash, map, dictionary), list, vector, and others. Another powerful data structure which I like is the 2D array, especially used in matrix calculation. The 2D array represents the data in the table form. It is very useful in database. An image can also be treated as 2D array. Comparing the tree to the matrix, the tree is possible to represent the matrix (though it is not preferred).

Is gambler's fallacy really a fallacy?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The probability subject is a very difficult subject to me. This is because it involves estimation of all the possible events. Therefore, it involves the combination and permutation. And there is no exact formula for different situations. It also involves statistics.

Gambler’s fallacy, is a very good notion. To simplify it, gambler’s fallacy is a belief that the next outcome will be different if the observed outcome is repeated consecutively, where these events are actually independent. The best example is tossing the coin, which has the probability of 0.5 for head and 0.5 for tail. Because tossing the coin first time will not affect the second time, the probability to get the head or tail is always same.

Learn to speed read

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I want to learn the speed reading skill. So, I look for the resources, and keep practising. The following is the summary on what I learn about speed reading, especially based on the following video.

Average reading speed is 150-250 wpm (words per minute).

Most of the problem of reading is regression, that is go back to read again. To avoid this problem, if one sentence we don’t understand, we just continue. Only go back if the whole paragraph is not understandable. To make the reading continuously, one of the way is using a finger or any pointer to go through the words. There are several reasons. One of the reason is that our eyes always distracted by the thing it is moving. Another reason is help us to focus. Also, using finger, we will not go back to read again. This is best way used in speed drill (refer below).

When we lose faith

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

As a Christian, I always think about the meaning of life. The meaning of life means the reason of living and the purpose to live. Even some Christians, they will relate everything with a meaning. That means, whatever incident is happened, there is a reason behind, the incident is happened with a purpose. If a person broke a vase, there is also a meaning, may be the vase must be broken. If a person woke up late, may be this is the reason that he could avoid from an accident.

How do you think?

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Visual sensory and audio sensory are the two most frequently used sensory systems. However, thinking is a very subjective process, because each one of us has different perceptions towards the stimuli in our environment. And, some people are right-brain thinking, and other are left-brain thinking. Some people think logically; other creatively.

I am thinking about this question, because I tried to search the information from internet, but cannot find what I want, may be I used incorrect keywords.

Rebellious son

Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A son told his father, “I want freedom, you autocratic father! Do you think giving money can buy my soul?” Then the son took the money and left the father. Hopefully, the son will grow into a good man.

Comment: 身在福中不知福

Wedding at Cana

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Today’s Gospel reading is very nice. And it is so meaningful. I like it very much.

When they were ran out of wine, Mother Mary said to Jesus, “They have no wine”.

This is how we should pray. We always pray to God that, we want this, we want that, we want a car, we want a house, we want money, we want a happy life, etc. We always ask for God what we want, because we think that we know what we need. But God knows better than us. God knows what we need. “They have no wine”, and Jesus knew what he should do.

Managing your data

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I really like Unix philosophy:

Data dominates. If you have chosen the right data structures and organized things well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms, are central to programming. [link]

Yes, I used to install all the programs to the Windows > Program Files. And I found that the data is always saved in My Documents. And the settings of the programs are stored in user profile application data. This is very annoyance when I needed to format and reinstall the Windows. Because My Documents is in C:. Though we can move My Documents to other location, I did not do so. Because not everything in My Documents is what I want. Most of them just created by the programs. Very annoyance.

爱与被爱

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

当你感觉被爱（被动式）的时候，正是你爱（主动式）的时候。

Human learning and machine learning

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

One day, my junior asked me, how to improve programming skill. Then I told her, only practicing a lot and a lot. Then, I told her about how can we learn like machine learning.

Just like machine learning (such as Artificial Neural Network), we need a lot of training samples. More samples will produce better result. So, as we learn, we also need to have a lot of samples. Then, the learning process need to be repeated. After enough learning, a person can surely categorise the new sample. Because, even a machine can do so. For example, an expert is able to appraise the fake painting and the real painting. This is because he or she has many experiences.

Free will and decision making

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The TV series, “Lost”, is very interesting (for me). In the season 5, the main characters were time travelling to the past. And the story said, whatever they did, they will not change the history. Right, it is same to my personal concept about time travelling. Because I personally do not believe the existence of parallel universe.

But, in the episode “The Variable”, the story changes my concept. A main character said to another, we are variables, we have free wills, we have reasoning, we can make decision. That is why, in the episode, they want to change the history. If time travelling to the past really happened in our world, can we change the history?

Creativity and computer

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I am not a creative person. But doing programming lets me think how to become a creative person.

We can create a computer with integrating AI (Artificial Intelligence). A low level AI computer will produce a simple pattern, which can be easily learnt by human. A higher level AI will have a more complex pattern. Whatever it is, there is a pattern in an AI. This is because the pattern is programmed by the programmer.

Wisdom

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

人要得到生命，就必须拥有智慧。但是，人不可能全知，而且生命有限，因此必须把一切的智慧都简单化，为能传于他人，传承下去。因为一个复杂的智慧，难以传承。而要把一切事物都简单化，就必须找出万物的共同点，然后变成定理，再通过语言、文字、绘画等，传扬出去或传承下去。

为引入生命，智慧必须协同真理。因为没有真理，所传承的智慧，不得以相信。因为没有真理的智慧，其中包含了欺诈。若是欺诈得以相信，那世间的偷抢拐骗，奸淫掳掠，都成为可以接受的。而且，更会演变成以暴制暴。最终，便是生灵涂炭。这一切并非生命。这一切是罪恶，罪恶将引入丧亡。

被传承的智慧，只能称之为“知识”。因为人不能体会或经历他人所经历过的。而经验必须被反复的思索和得到启示，才得以明悟，最终才能变成万通的道理。因此，一个被传授知识的人，未必明白其中的道理。

人被传与知识，若人不明悟，知识也只是知识。知识固然有用，因为它已把事物简单化，但并不能成为领受知识者的智慧，除非有所明悟。但要明悟知识，除非得到启示，除非得到原创者的经验，不然不得已明悟。因此知识固然重要，人还是必须得到更多的经验。因为一切的经验，经过反复地思索，就成为智慧的基础。当人有了基础，人才能诠释知识中的含义。

人如何把事物简单化？人运用了逻辑思考，找出事物的共同点和规律，将一切变成定理，再传扬出去，或传承下去。人运用逻辑，是因为逻辑可以反复地使用，并得到同样或相似的结果，更可预知结果。若不运用逻辑，人则是随性地行事。得到的结果，不能预料。行动原因不能解释。就算是智慧，也难以传承。

人有法律规则，则是因为人本身就有规律，如人的言语。法律和规则，就是为了让一切都简单化。因为只要听从法律规则，便不会犯错。只要听从，便不会对他人或社会造成伤害。但有些人不听从，是因为他们没有智慧，不知为何要听从。然而，听从的人，也未必有智慧，因为他们未必明白为何要听从。

人本身就有规律，因为世间万物就有规律。

人既然生命有限，还是愿意得到生命，寻求智慧，传于他人。因为人并非单一生活的。有智慧的人，必寻求众人的利益。正如每个细胞并非只为自己存活，而是共同运作，分担职务，而让整个生命体存活。智慧人亦是愿意让全人类存活，以继续繁衍下去。因此，智慧人才愿意将智慧传于他人。这才是人应有的本性。

Offer your sufferings

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We cannot prevent sufferings in our life. When we suffered, we feel sorrows in our heart, even anger and despair.

We don’t know the reasons why we are suffering. Then, what should we do?

Just offer our sufferings to God. For the sake of our own sins, and also for the others. And be grateful to God for giving us the chance to experience sufferings. Even the Son of God also suffered for us. And ask God to save us from the sufferings.

Recycle your phone, adopt a tree

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I read newspaper, in Malaysia, there are Nokia Kiosks, which you can recycle your unwanted mobile phones, any mobile phones, not only Nokia. Doing this, you can adopt a tree in Indonesia, and you no need to plant the tree by yourself. And, you can see your tree through Google Earth. What a great idea!

You can find the kiosks in several locations only. Click the link above to read more.