Daniel’s Blog

Hi all,

As many of you will know - I’ll be getting married next year. I’m actually in the process of considering my own “stag party”, but it’ll have to be very very me, which is a celebration of my non-married life, and a celebration of my forthcoming married life.

Therefore I am considering something spiritually uplifting. Something really special for me. Potentially a retreat of some kind, which may involve high elements of spiritual exploration. Both London and Glastonbury have come to mind, but it’s the finer details of what I’d like to do if I go there…. potentially: visit various religious services (Christian, Mystic and otherwise), visit masonic meetings (not just craft-masonry) and do some deep meditation.

Its really quite appealing to me, and what I’d do is probably detail what I’d be doing and when and where, so that anybody who is interested and wants to celebrate/explore with me can do so if they so wish.

Any thoughts/ideas about the specifics of what I could do would be appreciated.

I am very pleased to announce that Beki and I are going to get married!!!!

I proposed to Beki at the Cardiff New Year Celebrations (Calennig) 2008/2009, just after midnight. I did indeed provide her with a ring (18ct White Gold and Cluster Diamond).

The wedding is starting to be planned, we have an initial idea of doing it in Summer 2011, but this may become 2010. Interestingly, and depending on whether the Church is happy to do so, we’re planning to have the service streamed over the web… but more on that later! (<- typical geeks!)

I know that all our friends and family who read this blog will be very happy for us both, and thank you to all those who have commented on our new status face-to-face or by phone, text-message, email, facebook-message and instant message.

Merry Christmas 2008 to every one of you.

For those of you who aren’t Christian, please take some time to think about 2008 and think about the forthcoming year 2009…. because Christmas is truly about the turning of the year, the beginnings of new things for you.

For those of you who are Christian, I hope you’ve had a good Midnight Mass/Eucharist/Communion/Service (if you celebrate that in your denomination). Let the symbolic birth of Jesus be a spiritual refreshment within us, and a time to think about new beginnings in our day-to-day life.

Merry Christmas, and Many Blessings. May the light shine on us all.

Daniel

(Let’s note that it’s also Sol Invictus Day, Yule (in some understandings) and the Feast of Saint Anastasia of Sirmium (on the Roman Catholic Calendar))

There exists such people who overly promote a certain religion, whether that be Christianity, Islam or something else. These are the Evangelicals of this religion. You’ll find them in the street advocating their religion, and saying that if you don’t share their faith then some nasty things will happen to you whether that’s in this life or some other. I think that if you want to believe that then fine, but you shouldn’t scare people into believing the same thing as you.

There also exists another kind of person, which is becoming increasingly more common in recent years. These people believe that there is no God (i.e. they are atheist), and they are sometimes pretty extreme about it… often saying things like “if you are religious, then that will eventually lead to pain”.

Surely, this kind of atheism is just as bad as the evangelical religious belief?

It’s really got to me recently, because…

If I see a Christian Street Preacher, then I sometimes stop and talk to him/her, and congratulate them on their spirituality… but then I’ll defend other peoples views (including the atheist and humanist point of view), as everybody has the right to believe in what they want to believe as long as it isn’t hurting themselves or anyone else. I personally have a different understanding of spirituality, religion and the universe to what the Christian Street Preacher has.

When I talk to an atheist extremist, I will also congratulate them on being firm in their understanding of the universe. But I will defend the spiritual and religious way of living, even the ones that I may not agree with. Once again, this is because I feel that everybody has the right to believe in what they want to as long as it isn’t hurting themselves or others.

This hatred is definitely not healthy, whether it’s from a “theist” or an “atheist”. The fact is we are all human, and we have some kind of connection with nature… so instead of arguing all the time, lets just get on with life and try not to hurt people (mentally, physically, spiritually or in any other way).

Bah, seriously irritates me….

(rant over… feel much better now)

A random musing….

Spirituality and Religion are different. Basically, Religion is Spirituality but with dogma and creeds attached. I think everybody has spirituality, and it’s their choice whether to acknowledge that. If they do acknowledge that then they should be free to choose whether or not to explore that through formal means (e.g. at a Church or a Temple etc)… that’s when that person becomes religious.

The problem is spirituality is attached to us, and we (as individuals) grow in person physically and mentally. This kind of growth, or evolution if you like, filters through into the spiritual us. Unfortunately, religion is a collective thing, and so if one person evolves their spirituality, it’s unlikely that the rest of that religious group evolves with him/her. Therefore, that religion may become more of a degrading religion than an upgrading religion to that person… and for fulfilment that person may develop better using other techniques which that group may not be providing.

Unfortunately, the people within religious institutions are sometimes too conservative in their beliefs. Therefore, if you are not in their group, then you have the opposite of their beliefs and become some kind of “nemesis” to them. This is pretty unfair if you take the fact that we’re constantly evolving into consideration, and that we, as humans, are completely equal (no matter of gender, culture or race).

From a personal point of view, I class myself as Christian and I go to a Church of England (Anglican/Episcopal) Church. But I acknowledge my Spirituality, I don’t follow the crowds and I try to make my own mind up on things when I have the knowledge and intellect to do so. This has lead to conversations with other Christians which seem to prove that I have completely different views to them. I was even talking to a atheist (who acknowledges his spirituality) the other day, and he actually related my belief system most similar to Atheism, Humanism or Buddhism…. stating that everything I said even Richard Dawkins would not disagree with (see his online article “Atheists for Jesus“). But this is my current state of spirituality, I feel certain things about the world and I apply them to my understanding of things. I therefore decide to interpret Christian scripture in what may seem like a Humanist/Buddhist fashion, because that is what Christianity speaks to me… and on the other hand I am completely happy to talk to another Christian who thinks otherwise.

I feel that it’s not going to be religion that makes peace on this world, but it’ll be the acknowledgement of spirituality. We are all spiritual people, we are all humans (brothers and sisters if you like), it is very natural to be spiritual, but it doesn’t always fit to be religious.

Yes, I feel like we’re entering a third era which will eventually unite all peoples through acknowledgement of spirituality.

Comments welcome,

Daniel

I believe that everybody is on their own spiritual path and they are also on their own path of wisdom seeking. A lot of people aren’t aware of this journey, and some people ignore it completely. I’ve decided to embrace it, so if I do ask you something rather strange or do something out of the ordinary, then it’s probably me just doing a bit of exploration. I think there is a lot to learn from the past in order to truly progress in this world, and I think the only way to do that is through openness, liberalism, peace and oneness…. which is going to be quite tough for a lot of people.

Anyway…. onward

We’re only one piece in a very very large interconnected puzzle

Watch “Pale Blue Dot“

The short term, medium term and long term futures of the World Wide Web have been brought to my attention recently, and I really want to take a step back from any influences which come from the communities from which I am in.

I think I can see where we are going, and the technologies which are emerging seem like we will be heading in that direction. BUT I have some questions for us all to ponder while trying not to be influenced by the crowd:

1. Is this direction that users really want? If not, then what do they want?
2. Do developers, entrepreneurs and visionaries actually understand what users want… or is it just guess work or developed because they think it’s cool?
3. Do users, developers, entrepreneurs and visionaries understand how far we actually are in our current trajectory?
4. What will a user have to understand when we reach our target, and will it really be worth it?
5. What about society? What is the Web doing to society (aka in real life how has society changed because of the Web (if at all)?)? How has society changed the Web since its creation?
6. What about technology? How many things have failed because the Web is (seen as) “bigger and better” or “the only way to go”? Do we really want interconnected devices, are we actually writing something which could be akin to the knowledge base for the Borg?

These are very crucial questions for all those who deal with developing/evolving the Web further, and we don’t think about them very often from a non-influenced point of view do we?

Question 5 above is the one that is on the tip of my mind today, if we didn’t have the technology we do today then would we be:

• Healthier? (people will need to move about less, there would be less office jobs and more manual work)
• More intelligent? (not intelligence as in “knowledge”, but intelligence as in problem solving, life skills, adaptability… people wouldn’t use wikipedia or google to find something out, nor use any website to calculate an answer to a problem)
• More social? (real life social… many of us who “work the Web” don’t really get out much… many work from home. What happened to the office?)
• Happier? (healthier, more intelligent and more social… of course you’re going to be more happy!)

On a more negative side would we:

• not have such a broad knowledge base for our exploitation? (for example, people go on wikipedia or search google for more information on a subject… which could come from anywhere in the world)
• not have such a broad range of interests or even friends? (for example, thanks to the online communities of which I am a member I could go to various places in the world and be greeted by someone who I have never met in real life before but have met through web-based communications (and this is from a variety of interests))

One thing, which I think is very low in UK society at the moment (but something which I and many have gained from the advancement of Web Technology) is Religion and Spirituality. Since I started playing with the Web many many moons ago I wasn’t particularly interested in religion or spirituality. Thanks to the Web I have found out all kinds of things (and I’ve even been to some events) including Paganism, Greek Philosophy, Tarot, Buddhism, Yoga, Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism, Gnosticism, Sufism, Meditation, Reiki, Freemasonry and Christianity…. all of which have made me grow in spirituality and something which I probably wouldn’t have gained without the Web. However, I still feel that Religion/Spirituality is missing from the modern world, for instance:

• Less people are going to Church (or other place of worship),
• More and more people are becoming anti-religious activists (extremists who follow people like Richard Dawkins),
• More people are intolerant of other peoples beliefs/faiths (aka religious conservative/fundamentalists)
• There are less religion/spirituality programmes on the major TV channels and Radio stations

This is one area of which the Web hasn’t really had any impact on…. and I think it might be because technology has taken over so much that people are experiencing less “me time”.

Hmmmmm. I’ve digressed a little from my original topic. I ask that you please seriously think about the questions at the start of this blog post, feel free to comment if you wish to say anything, or email if you would like to talk in confidence.

Thank you,

Daniel

So just a quick blog post (while my stomach digests my miso-noodles) which I have been thinking about doing for a while.
I wanted to let you know of various who have inspired me and in some way influenced my thoughts and actions. I’ll start with the ones within Computer Science, and then go into other areas.

People who have inspired me in computing (met)

Dr Ravji Pindoria

Dr Ravji Pindoria was one of my tutors at the Further Education College that I went to between 2001 and 2003. He was incredibly inspirational, not just in computing but in the things that he did and said. Ravji taught me the C++ programming language, I will always remember him saying that C++ is “not quite a horse, not quite a donkey” because of its ability to be either Object Oriented or Procedural.

Ravji was a great teacher, and quite academically minded. I think he has influenced me when it comes to the fact that I love teaching, breaking things down into allegory.

Ravji also gave me some spiritual advice, he is a Swaminarayan Hindu and I really admired the peace that he gave off. He was also vegetarian. One of the things that I remember him telling me was that “as long as you have some kind of faith, and some kind of morality then I think you’ll be fine”. I turned out to be a Liberal/Mystic Christian and vegetarian, and fascinated about other religions (particularly of Dharmic/Eastern origin).

(Image above is linked to from RavjiPindoria.com )

Dr Ian Bayley

Dr Ian Bayley was one of my lecturers at the University that I went to for my BSc (Hons) Intelligent Systems and Software Engineering. He taught me a number of things, including the Haskell programming language and Object Oriented Design Patterns.

I consider Ian to be an inspiration, not just because he was a great teacher, but because he knows almost everything… in fact he is one of the British Quiz Playing Champions.
(Image above linked to from QuizPlayers:Ian Bayley . Ian do you have a newer picture somewhere?)

Oli Winks

I met Oliver “Oli” Winks during my work experience year, and we became good friends. We often talked about artificial intelligence & artificial life, and discussed our academic plans for the future. We both stopped working for the same company at about the same time, I went off to do my final year of my undergrad degree and he went off to do his masters (and now his PhD).

He inspires me because I have interests in Symbolic AI and logic based systems/algorithms, whereas he is very connectionist/soft-computing/biologically-inspired. We also used to talk about Buddhism from time to time. I hope to write a paper or two with him in the future.

Also, his brother has a cool band called the Joff Winks Band.

(Image above linked to from Oli’s staff page at the University of Sussex)

People who have inspired me in Computing (not met (yet))

Tim Berners-Lee

Founder of the Web, Head of the W3C, Linked Data Genius, Unitarian Universalist, British.

Tim Berners-Lee is an inspiration, he knows who to do things with best intentions for people, academia and business. There is little more that I can say about Tim, just pure awesomeness.

( Tim’s picture in Wikipedia, taken by Uldis Boj?rs)

Kingsley Idehen

He is my boss, the chief of OpenLink Software. I haven’t met him yet, but I expect that I will do soon.

Kingsley Idehen isn’t any ol’ boss. He really does know what he is talking about when it comes to technology and his own products. Like many of the people already discussed, he is incredibly clever and I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if his head was actually some kind of large knowledge based system.

Kingsley is also a really nice guy, he understand business but has got a clear picture about academia too.

(Photo of Kingsley on Flickr, taken by Henry Story)

Alan Turing

British Computer Science Genius.

Alan Turing knew his stuff! He invented things like the Turing Test and the Turing Machine… and he created many of the theoretical underpinnings of a lot of stuff that I (and many) do today.

(Photo of a statue of Alan Turing, taken by doeth)

Lotfi Zadeh

Probably not a well known name to people outside of artificial intelligence, but Lotfi Zadeh created Fuzzy Logic, Fuzzy Mathematics and Fuzzy Set Theory. A very clever man, who has inspired me to think outside the box. Fuzzy Logic essentially is about the real numbers in between 0 and 1, so its quite different to the traditional binary logic that most computer scientists know and love. Think outside the box!

(Photo of Lotfi Zadeh from Wikipedia)

People not inside Computer Science who have inspired me (not met (yet))

• The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. A great leader, an advocate of peace and a charismatic interfaith dialogue advocate.
• The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Also a great religious leader, and he has a similar view to Christianity as I have (He is quite Liberal and quite Catholic, whereas I would say that I am very Liberal and quite Catholic). Also open to interfaith dialogue. There was a bit of uproar by conservative Christians about Rowan being chosen, and this was because of his liberal stance…. but it takes a liberal person to be accepting enough of the range of people in the Anglican denomination.
• Meister Eckhart. A German Theologian, famous for his mystic ideas. I’ve read up a bit about his work in the past, and consider it to be true. (He died in the early 1300s, so I doubt I’ll meet him)
• There are many more!

People not inside Computer Science who have inspired me (met)

• The Vicar who taught me Christianity, and got me ready for my Baptism and Confirmation: Rev. Andrew Bunch.
• Rev. John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford: Baptised and Confirmed me into Christianity and the Anglican Communion.
• Hazel Hobbs: Reiki master, she attuned me to level one Usui Shiki Ryoko Reiki. She inspired me by showing me eastern chi/ki/qi practices.
• Hazel Appleton: A great friend ever since we met randomly on the web. She has provided me with various bits of advice about life and spirituality.
• My parents and my sister. Obviously a big influence as they are my family!
• My girlfriend, Beki. Has been a fantastic girlfriend and also a support ever since I met her. You know true love by experiencing it!

Something quite amazing is going on, it goes beyond the goodness of any religion or creed, and I saw it in action today in Oxford City Centre.

Its the Free Hugs Campaign, which is a campaign where people out of pure selfless kindness offer hugs (aka cuddles) as a method of support to anyone who approaches. Its truly amazing, as the hugs benefit not only the participants but also the onlookers, who will smile or laugh. Its not only adds support, but its increases happiness. Its a great form of altruism.

Its great because its completely non-religious, but morally altruistic… it does also fulfill so many religious teachings of loving and caring for everybody. I might take part in the future, as its definitely worthwhile.
I am amazed, and very very happy that this movement is happening… maybe there is hope for humanity after all.

Document Web Links

• The (International) Free Hugs Campaign