Switching radio stations

My car radio used to be tuned to Class 95FM. Recently, the Flying Dutchman, a local DJ, switched from Class 95FM to Gold 90.5FM. I was on Class 95FM for about 10min, then I switched over to Gold 90.5FM. The switch was almost subconscious.

A colleague asked if I switched stations because of the Flying Dutchman. At first, I don't know. But now, I guess so. At first, I thought the selection of songs on both stations were about the same. But upon listening carefully, I guess Gold 90.5FM plays older songs.

I guess I switched stations because I can click better with the older DJ (the Flying Dutchman) and the songs there.

I guess I am getting old...

Road to disaster - Japan's military spending

Yahoo News Japan has an article that talks about recent developments in Japan's military. The acquisition of amphibious vehicles (the AAV7), buying Osprey helicopters, and modifying the Osumi-class LPDs to operate these new additions. Plus adding command post capabilities to JS Izumo (an LHA that will be replacing one of the older DDHs).

All these are not cheap. Yet Japan continues to spend heavily on defence even though its public debt is now twice it's annual GDP. And this is at a time in which the aging population requires more money in healthcare.

At the rate things are going, China's threat to Japan will bankrupt Japan. There is no need for any Chinese troops to land on Japanese soil; just the threat of doing so will eventually destroy Japan. We have seen how the arms race between the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War eventually resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Japan would do well to remember this lesson from history and think about other ways to counter what it perceives as the Chinese threat, instead of heading down the path towards bankruptcy.

Indifference

Indifference is a fearsome thing.

It is one thing to be incompetent. When someone is incompetent, things are not done because the person can't get it done. But when someone is indifferent, things are not done either because:
1) The person think it doesn't make a difference (he doubts his own ability).
2) The person think it doesn't matter (he doesn't care).

When one can make a difference but doesn't want to, it is a sad thing. It means he has given up, either on himself, or on the people around him. He has stopped trying.

He has given up hope.

And if there is no hope, why do we even exist?

Times have changed

Just for laughs, but I can't help but want to share this.
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Nowadays, when we have a new junior officer (JO) come in, the executive officer (XO) would usually talk to him like this:

JO: Hi sir.
XO: Hello . Have your been making meaningful progress in your learning? Are the rest of the officers and crew treating you well? Are you getting used to the life onboard? ... (and the questions go on and on...)

In the past, the same situation would likely be:

JO: Hi sir.
XO: Hi your head, you think I am your friend? BMT never taught you how to greet officer is it? Cannot even greet people correctly, go take X (where X can be any number up to 7).

The next day...
JO: Morning sir!
XO: Of course morning lah! If not evening meh? You think I cannot see it is morning ah? Think I stupid? Go take X.
JO: ...

The next day...
JO: Good morning sir!
XO: What good is there to this morning? The morning so good meh? So hot walk here already sweat so much. You think it is good, you go and jog in this weather now lah.
JO: ...
XO: What you waiting for? Change into PT kit and go and run!

The next day...
JO: Good day sir!
XO: What good day? How you know it is going to be a good day? You prophet? See you already bad start to the day, what good day is there? Spoil my day.
JO: ...
XO: Dumb already? Cannot say anything? I thought you prophet? Now nothing to say?

Those were the "good" old days...

How artificial is "artificial intelligence"?

This one is going to be quite interesting...

"Artificial" means something made by humans. "Artificial intelligence" is thus intelligence that is man-made. We see this in computers and this is a term used to describe computer programs written to exhibit signs of intelligence.

But just what is intelligence? If intelligence is what human beings have, what really is intelligence? It is ultimately a series of behaviour that humans exhibit. But science tells us that humans are biological creatures made up of chemical building blocks observing physical rules. Deep in our roots, we are just complex machines following nature's laws. Our behaviours are thus manifestations of biological machines.

Given that humans are made by humans, subsequent humans that exhibit what we call "intelligence" are then man-made... and thus, should that not be "artificial intelligence" as well? What is the difference then, between "intelligence" exhibited by a biological machine compared to that shown by a mechanical/electronic one? Both are machines exhibiting behaviours governed by nature's laws. Both are complex machines exhibiting complex behaviours. And both are ultimate machines made by humans.

So what separates us humans from computers?

Interesting point about chess and weiqi

I am reading Henry Kissinger's book, On China, and came across this interesting point about the difference between chess and weiqi 圍棋 (also known as go 碁 in Japan and the rest of the world).

Chinese chess (象棋) is a game with in which the objective is the capture of the enemy's general. This is similar to chess, in ends with the capture of the enemy's king. In weiqi, however, the objective is not about capturing the enemy's pieces. Instead, it is about gaining as much territory as possible. While capturing enemy pieces may happen during the game, it is part of the process of gaining territory. Unlike chess, which has a specific end state (the capture of the enemy's king/general), there is not specific end state to weiqi; it ends when both players agree that there is no further benefit to be gained from playing on.

Chess pieces have their own strengths and weaknesses, and thus a key to winning in chess is to be able to exploit those strengths and weaknesses of the different pieces. In weiqi, however, each piece is the same. The key to winning then becomes how one is able to exploit the situation. It is about choosing where to develop one's base, where to pick one's fights.

So chess is about how to win single objectives, while weiqi is about recognising how to achieve long-term goals. Both, I would say, as good mental exercises for the military man, for the politician, even for the businessman.

My thoughts on command responsibility

Command responsibility. That's the responsibility that a commander has to the people under his charge. It means that he answers for everything under his command, even if he is not directly or indirectly involved. It means that by virtue of his appointment, he has significant influence that could have shaped things differently, in big ways and small, and thus, whatever the outcome, it had been influenced by him.

It is a recognition of the amount of power that a commander holds in his hands. Yes, he may not be directly involved. He may not have given the orders and thus indirectly contributed. But somewhere along the line, if he had done something different, said something different, it would have influenced someone, somewhere along the chain, and resulted in a different outcome. His behaviour shapes the people under him. His daily behaviour could have influenced the people who were directly involved, such that they thought differently and acted in a different manner, or made a different decision.

And thus, even if he is not on scene, the commander is always responsible. That is command responsibility. It means being able to recognise the influence that he holds, and being willing to shoulder the results of any outcome that happens under his command. He can't say "It's not my fault." "I wasn't there." "I wasn't told." (the list goes on...) When faced with a problem, he stands up and faces the problem and brings his team to solve it. When something bad happens, he stands up and faces the music. When something good happens, he smiles and pulls up the guy who made it happen and says, "That's him, he's the one who made it happen."

It is about being humble and being willing to say, "It's my fault." and not letting your own ego get the better of you. It means being willing to accept the failures of others as your own failures. It means being willing to accept failures and then move on, without letting pride stand in the way.

It means a lot of things, so much of which is hard to pen down. This short article is but the tip of the iceberg, and it doesn't even get close to describing exactly what command responsibility is. But I do hope it sets people thinking about the command responsibility that they have, because each and every one of us is a commander. Why? Because even if we don't have command over others, we are always in command of ourselves.

Mao Zedong and the God Emperor Leto Atreides II

Those who have read the Dune series will know Leto Atreides II as the name of the God Emperor, part human, part sandworm. It was he who set humanity on the Golden Path, a painful yet necessary path to prevent humanity's destruction. His death eventually triggered widespread suffering and a diaspora known as the Scattering, but eventually, those people returned as Honored Matres and brought renewed strength to the Bene Gesserit, forming the new Sisterhood. There is the clash of humanity with their old machine lords, eventually resulting in a new peace in which man and machine live together in peace.

So what does this have to do with Mao Zedong, the leader of Communist China that led the Chinese Communist Party to victory over the Nationalists?

Mao led Communist China through a series of hardships, designed to continually challenge the Chinese people in order to keep the spirit of revolution alive. He put them through the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, the Great Leap Forward and then the Cultural Revolution. Through his campaigns, the entire Chinese society was turned upside down. But through all these trials, the Chinese society actually emerged stronger, surviving the ordeals. It reminds me of Leto's Golden Path and the suffering it brought to humanity. We see the Scattering in China too, where some Chinese left China for better lives outside China. And now, these people are returning to China, infusing China with new blood, with new ideas, new technology, bringing new energy to China.

And what of the clash between man and machine? The machines of Dune were the old masters, much like the West were the old colonial masters. Maybe we will see an eventual clash between man and machine, a clash between the East (the oppressed man) and the West (the machine lord), symbolised by a clash between China and the United States. But eventually, we will emerge into a new peace in which we learn to live with one another.

Mao had set China onto its own Golden Path, it now remains to see where that path will bring China.

Happy 48th birthday Singapore!

Today marks the 48th anniversary of Singapore's independence.

The last time I was able to spend time at home watching the National Day Parade was in 2009. It is good to be able to watch the parade this year.

Off to catch the parade in front of the TV.

Happy birthday Singapore!

Inkling: "Clausewitz vs Sun-Tzu" on war

Clausewitz tells us that war is an instrument of policy, that war is policy by other means. He doesn't discuss the justifications for war; to him, war is about achieving a political aim. He does not debate the morality of the political aim, nor the morality of using war to achieve that aim. War is a tool; we use the right tool at the right time to get the job done.

Sun-Tzu, however, talks about the impact that going to war has on the public. He advises not to go to war unless absolutely necessary, citing the resources needed and thus the burden on the people that war brings. He advocates winning without fighting. Implicitly, he is saying that war is not good, that the wise ruler should not go to war; instead, he uses other methods to achieve his aims. But he does not outlaw war, because war is sometimes needed, and in those cases, he advocates a swift victory.

Could this provide some insight into our cultural views on war? Could it be that the West uses force to force their wills on others, while the Chinese uses force to awe others into submission? One uses force to achieve aims and objectives that are easy to understand, to grasp, while the other seems to be using force more at the psychological level than the physcial. Something to think about and expand on when I have the time.

My neighbourhood, past and present

My neighbourhood was in the papers. I have lived in this neighbourhood for more than 22 years (still less than Sumiko Tan, who has been in this neighbourhood for more than 40 years). But I still remember the old market (shown in black-and-white) and the huge tree behind it.

Brings back lots of memories about this place.

Calligraphy piece - 飲

At the request of a colleague, I wrote this. He likes to drink, so this word, 飲, can be said to be a good word to describe him.

Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine

In today's context, when we talk about modern medicine, we are talking about Western medicine, which is based on the scientific method and gradually moving in the direction of evidence-based medicine. Through hypotheses, experiments and observations, modern medicine has a well developed system for diagnosis and treatment.

Traditional Chinese medicine (sometimes shorten to TCM) is usually looked upon as an alternative method of treatment. It is commonly mistaken as something based on folk wisdom, without as compelling a foundation as Western medicine. And therefore, it is mistaken as being not as effective as Western medicine. I think we cannot be more wrong. TCM has a well developed system too, and it is similarly based on experiments. A lot of knowledge accumulated inside the TCM system is from trial-and-error (which is a form of large-scale, long-term experiment) over the generations. All that knowledge is then encapsulated inside a system which is unfamiliar to Western medicine practitioners but that doesn't mean the system is wrong or ineffective. It is just a different system. Just like we have different cuisines, that doesn't mean one type of food is better than another, since they all fulfil the purpose of filling our stomachs.

In fact, the amount of empirical testing for TCM may even out-number that of Western medicine, given the long history of TCM, and the size of the population over which it was practised in. A treatment that has worked for the past few thousand years can't be that ineffective, right?

In fact, even in science, there can be different theories explaining the same thing. And as long as both theories are able to explain and predict the same outcomes, there is actually no "better" theory. Since both Western medicine and TCM are able to classify illnesses (in their own classification system) and have more than enough examples of successful treatment, there shouldn't be a "better" system. They just happen to be different systems that work.

Who knows, maybe one day, when the pendulum of time swings towards the East, TCM may become mainstream medicine, and Western medicine delegated to "alternative method of treatment"?

Many teachers, many styles

There are many teachers, many styles out there. What is important is to find a style that suits yourself, and a teacher that suits yourself. It is not easy to find a good teacher, someone who possesses the knowledge that you seek, someone who can point you onwards when you exceed what he has to impart.

But even more difficult is to find a student that is willing to put in the hard work to learn what you have to pass on.

Finding a good teacher is difficult, finding a good student is even more difficult.

I am blessed to have good teachers for both taiji and calligraphy. I hope I am putting in enough hard work for them to feel that I am a good student worth teaching.