Daily Scribble

Quest for wisdom

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I didn’t take any part time course at SFU this term because I have to adjust my newly wed life and I to work in India for 3 weeks in October. I am going to resume my studies next term. I can only afford to take one course per term, so I am working very very slowly to my philosophy degree. Next term I am taking intermediate ethic theory and political philosophy. The course is in the area of my study interest. I want to prepare myself well equipped to rebuke intellectual attacks from the both end of the political spectrum.

When I went to the bookstore pick up next term’s textbook, I have a habit of browsing textbooks of other courses, to see is there any interesting course I might want to take in the future. I come across many interesting and useful courses outside of the philosophy major. Philosophy is the mother of all subjects, which gives me a good foundation in making connection from knowledge in different fields. But I have to broaden my knowledge outside of philosophy into related areas if I want to survive in battle for the minds.

I observe that many leftists have a social studies background and many right-wingers have a economics background. I often feel kinda dumb when I read the theories quoted from both side to support their claims. Well, I sort of understand the quoted theories, they appears to be quite convincing in their context. However, without more knowledge on related fields, I can’t tell whether the theory really holds up or it is merely an intellectual bluff. I have identified a few other courses to take in the future if I couldn’t find a philosophy course fits my schedule on that term. Here is the list of core courses for my undergrad degree:

PHIL120 – Introduction to Moral Philosophy (done)
PHIL203 – Metaphysics (done)
PHIL220 – Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy (done)
PHIL242 – Philosophy of Art (done)
PHIL280 – Introduction to Existentialism (done)
PHIL300 – Introduction to Philosophy (done)
PHIL144 – Introduction to the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science
PHIL201 – Epistemology
PHIL240 – Philosophy of Religion
PHIL320 – Social and Political Philosophy
PHIL321 – Moral Issues and Theories
PHIL322 – History of Ethics
PHIL341 – Philosophy of Science
PHIL421 – Ethical Theories
SA250 – Introduction to Sociological Theory
SA350 – Classical Sociological Thought
SA351 – Classical Marxist Thought
SA450 – Advanced Sociological Theory
ECON208 – History of Economic Thought
ECON282 – Game Theory
ECON309 – Introduction to Marxian Economics
ECON402 – Advanced Microeconomic Theory
ECON403 – Advanced Macroeconomic Theory

Daily Scribble

Age difference

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People say love should overcome difference in religion, race, age or even gender. There should be no different in religion and race, since those are artificial difference not compatible with modern society. I am always against homosexuals and spent lots of time research into this topic. But I didn’t give much thoughts on the age differences. I found most people accept love relationship with older man and younger woman, even the man is much older. On the other hand, we think older woman and younger man is pretty gross. I am not talking about a merely a few years of insignificant difference. I am talking about real different, probably separate by at least a generation. Older man and younger woman is acceptable in the norm of our society and history. It is easy to understand why a older man wants a younger woman. What puzzles me is why we treat older woman and younger man differently.

When I know a thirty something woman going out with a early twenty boy, my first reflective impression is yuck. I am visualizing a old woman preying on young boys, kinda like how the witches keep themselves forever young in fantasy novels. I can’t rationalize my feeling towards old woman and young boy, technically it should have no difference from old man and young girl, except the gender is reversed. The only reason I can come up with is on reproduction, young girl is fertile but old woman is not. But that is a pretty weak argument, unless I want to condemn all couples choose not to have kids. I definitely won’t go after an old woman, unless she is super rich like “little sweet sweet” and leave her darling boy a fortune worth a few billion dollars.

書評

How Would You Move Mount Fuji – William Poundstone

2 Comments

How would you move mount fuji 不知大家有沒有在見工面試時﹐被問智力IQ題的經驗呢﹖我記得以前在大學應徵見習工時﹐真的在面試時被問如何佔計加拿大有多少間油站。據說這個面試考智力是微軟的傳統﹐因為他們只要挑選最聰明的人當員工﹐後來很多科技公司甚至金融銀行也爭相彷效﹐成為最幾年面試模式的一個潮流。不知這個潮流過氣了沒有﹐現在的公司面試時還會不會問IQ題﹐我也有一段日子沒有面試了。《如何搬走富士山》是一本分析這個現像的書﹐而書名則是來自微軟面試的其中一條問題。

這本書從IQ題的歷史開始說起﹐講述史旦福大學的Lewis Treman如何發明測驗智力的方法。不講不知﹐原來IQ題最初是用來診斷弱智兒童的工具﹐Treman把這些考驗抽象思考能力的問題﹐倒過來用來發掘天材﹐並制定我們今天常用的智力測驗標準。正常人的智力以IQ100分為基礎﹐低於80分屬弱智﹐而高於135分則被視為天材。後來智力測驗亦成為學校判斷學生學習水平和軍隊召募士兵時的標法問題。半導體的發明者William Shockly﹐離開Bell Labs自組晶片公司時﹐Treman大力拉攏他在史旦福附近落腳。Shockly本人十分聰明IQ甚高﹐對員工有相同的要求﹐他聘請的員工統統要通過智力測驗。可惜他不善管理之道留不住人材﹐現今半導體工業的大部份創辦人﹐當年也曾在Shockly旗下工作過﹐當中包括Intel的創辦人Gordon Moore。雖然Shockly的公司最後經營不善倒閉了﹐但看重員工智力卻留下來成為矽谷的企業文化。

有不少人質疑面試問智力問題有沒有用﹐本書嘗試從正反兩個角度去解答這個問題。考智力問題並不是要應徵者答得快而準﹐而是希望藉此觀察他們在壓力環境下﹐處理難題的應變能力。很多時候那些難題是沒有劃一的正確答案﹐而是應者展露邏輯推理能力﹐一步步嘗試找出答案的線索﹐就算最後答不到指定答案也沒有關係。很多時間應徵者踏入門口那一剎那﹐給面試者留下的第一個印象﹐已經足以左右他的聘請決定。在面試中考智力問題﹐可以覆核第一個印象是否準確﹐確保不會因一時疏忽而請錯人。當然面試考智力問題﹐可能拒絕一些有材能力員工﹐但站在公司的立場來看﹐最重要是千萬不要請到一個壞員工。若果有好員工不幸成為濫網之魚 ﹐對公司也不是重大的損失﹐反正又不是請不到足夠的人材。可是壞員工易請難送﹐他們甚至可會影響其他員工的習慣﹐蝕食賴以成功的公司文化。

這本書講面試智力問題﹐書中當然羅列不少例子﹐最後一百頁更有所有問題的詳細答案。答案除了例出計算或推理的步驟﹐最重要是指出問題重點﹐以及類似問題的應對方法。每一條智力問題也有特定的考察目標﹐只要想通了那個特定的線索﹐問題就很輕鬆地迎刃而解。有些問題考數理邏輯能力﹐有些問題考跳出框框的思考能力 ﹐有些問題則考能否小心意會題目用字的含義。書中的智力問題分為高低兩個等級﹐不過其實高等級也不是太難。身為Mensa會員的我﹐﹐差不多兩三分鐘就可以解決一題。最難是海盜分金或紅帽綠帽那類題目﹐因為不能用直線思考﹐要用螺旋循環的思考方法﹐推理隱藏在題目中的線索。這本書除了給應徵者答問題的貼士外﹐也有寫給面試者要注要的事項﹐小心不要把問題淪成為吹水亂答或數學習作﹐如何讓智力問題成為面試中有用的評核工具。

Daily Scribble

The Liberal-NDP-Bloc coup

2 Comments

Canada has a very weird political system. We just had an election 2 months ago, we elected a minority government and the voters are still happy about the Conservative Prime Minister. Then suddenly the other three losing parties try to form a coalition and take over the government with majority seats in the parliament. The coup has became one of the most talked topics in our office. We all puzzled by this weird three parties coalition. The NDP and Liberals has totally different political platforms and they were criticizing each other like crazy in the past election. Yesterday’s enemies become today’s friends, yet the we have no clue what kind of policy their will bring forth. Just the Liberal and NDP is messy enough, then bring in the Bloc Quebecois can only make it messier. Bloc Quebecois is another weirdo political party does not exist in provinces other than Quebec. They have only one agenda, separation of Quebec from Canada. In the parliament, they don’t care about any policies for national good, all they care about is bringing more beef to Quebec. How can we trust the Bloc with power? We feel like cheated by the coalition, we did not vote for this screwed up government.

If the coalition really want to take the power, maybe they should do it fairly and call for election on a common convincing political platform and let the voters decide. I would rather have a Conservative majority government than another government with the leftist NDP and the separatist Bloc. I don’t mind a minority Liberal government if they can win it on their own power though. On a second though, Canada is still part of the common wealth and still ruled by the Queen. Maybe we should just reinstate full monarchy and ask the Queen to be our head of state with real power. I am sure she is more popular and nicer than all of the political party leaders. I may even go so low that I am willing to accept Prince Charles as our King than having the coalition government.

Daily Scribble

Fruit manual

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Pomegranate

Nowadays, even fruit come with a user manual. I went to grocery shopping at Superstores and come across a weird looking fruit, Pomegranate. It is red in color, in the shape of an onion, looks like a decoration ball on a X’mas tree. I have no idea what it is, how it tastes or even how to eat it. To my surprise, the fruit come with a user manual. The food producer printed a nice pamphlet answering all my questions and place them next to the fruit. From the pamphlet, I know pomegranate suppose to be very healthy, it has lots of antioxidants and Vitamin C. There are illustrations in the pamphlet show me how to eat a pomegranate step by step. You are not actually eating the fruit, you are eating the seeds inside fruit. After you cut open the pomegranate, you have to loose the arils (seeds) from the membrane attached to the skin and then pour the arils through a strainer to remove any remaining liquid. We bought one home, but I don’t know it taste yet. I am waiting for Pat to open a pomegranate. I would never buy one if there is no user manual. I feel more comfortable trying new things if I can read some related information first. Maybe all odd looking fruits in the supermarket should have a user manual too, so I know what to try.