Daily Slow Chat

5 comments

1. Apparently the last veteran of the Battle of Britain died yesterday, aged 105.

   Sometimes I wonder what kind of role WW2 would still play in our culture once the very last WW2 veteran dies – which, by my estimate, will happen some time in the mid to late 2030s (Harry Patch – the last combat veteran of WW1 and a moderate household name in Britain – died in 2009 aged 111). Will everything bad in the world still be compared to Hitler? Will we still make stupid Nazi jokes about people from Germany? Will anti-Semitism still be considered the ultimate evil? Will Kaliningrad or Coventry finally be appreciated for their aesthetic beauty?

   Also, the upcoming generation of old people is going to absolutely suck. At least you could respect the previous generation for having lived through the Blitz and rationing. What does this lot have?

2. Another day, another dessert in Palermo.

   Today is San Giuseppe, which is also Father’s Day in Italy.So best wishes to any fathers out there!

   We have a special cake here on this day,called ‘Sfincia di San Giuseppe ‘.Like many Sicilian sweets, it’s based on ricotta.

3. It is so lovely to open the curtains in the morning, and it is sunny outside! I hate dark mornings so much.

   So… pointless rant incoming. You have been warned.

   I visited a research institute. It was all well and good, but on a wall was the inscription “For the best of all possible worlds”, Wilhelm Leibniz. It seemed like an odd choice for a scientific institute, so I asked . The higher-up who was with me said, you know, it is because we also work for the best of all possible worlds and so on…

   So, the best of all possible worlds (not “for the best of all possible worlds”) is a philosophical argument from Theodicy, where Leibniz (being a mathematician but also a philosopher and theologian) tries to answer the problem of evil, aka why is there so much evil and suffering in the world when god is all mighty. He says that God, being perfect, created the best possible world out of all logically possible ones. This doesn’t mean that the world is free of suffering or evil, but that it has the best overall balance of good and evil. He reasons that some degree of evil might be necessary for the greater good. This was wildly disputed later (especially after the great earthquake in Lisbon) and mocked by Voltaire in Candide. Actually I only know about it because I read Candide, which is short and hilarious. All in all, this is a very theological, philosophical argument and does not really represent what people who put that half quote on the wall out of context seem to think it represents.

   Now, do you have to know all this? Absolutely not. Am I a pedantic, condescending fuck for ranting about this? Maybe! But as a scientific institute, before using tax payer money and writing something, maybe check what it is? Or did they check and come to the conclusion that it does work somehow? Why not just write “For the best of all possible worlds!” and leave it at that without any quote attribute (it is not like it’s something incredibly groundbreaking). What is a religious argument doing on the wall of a scientific institute?

   Anyhow, I spared them my “well, actually” because I am comfortably in my 30s now and growing up also means knowing when to shut the fuck up. So, I rant to you guys instead.

4. I think we should all appreciate the A4 paper standard more. It’s so beautiful.

   On my quest to understand quantum computing, on some level at least, I’m studying quantum algorithms now. So far it’s not that complicated. I mean, it is complicated, but I’m able to somewhat follow it. IBM has some really nuce learning resources on the topic.

5. Anybody watch Culinary Class Wars (on Netflix)?

   The show has been such a success globally, but specially in Korea, that it’s fueling the fine dining industry in the country.