

The Meaning Code
Karen Wong
Mapping the universe through discussions about physics, art, economics, philosophy, and more. The search for meaning through connections from one domain of knowledge to another. Finding the code that connects the substructures of the universe. For video recordings of these podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgp_r6WlBwDSJrP43Mz07GQ Find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/klwong43 View my art here: https://karenwongartcom
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 4, 2023 • 1h 27min
The Evil in Your Own Heart is the Evil that Will Destroy You
Karen met Allyn Engle at the Chino "Quest for a Spiritual Home" conference. He is a comedian and writer working in advertising in New York City. Timestamps: 00:00. Introduction and Setting the Stage 09:29 Allyn Engle's Childhood and College Experience 15:25 The "dream" and the decision to change his life 28:35 The Importance of Traditions and Community 39:25 The "dawning" of evil and the Supernatural Experience 44:00 Finding the Meta Goal 50:50 Humbling oneself to pursue higher principles Faith RX and Experiences with Church Communities 59:25 Importance of Community and Participation 1:09:00 This Little Corner isn't enough for full communion Humble yourself 1:15:30 Understanding true identity The Power of Writing and Creativity

Aug 1, 2023 • 1h 36min
Daniel Toma's Three Levels of Perfection with Ted Stiritz: Life as Liturgy
Ted Stiritz returns to discuss Reality, Knowledge, Hierarchy, Narrative in Daniel Toma, part 2. This is also a YouTube video and timestamps are at the link:https://youtu.be/31IV0iNjUK8

Jul 22, 2023 • 1h 24min
Sevilla, Quest for a Spiritual Home and A Quality Existence
I had the great opportunity to meet Sevilla of A Quality Existence during the Quest for a Spiritual Home conference in Chino Hills, California. Here, we get together and talk about what were for us, the highlights of the weekend.

Jul 18, 2023 • 1h 8min
Animating Principles, Narrative Arc and Elevating Stories with Kendelle Hoyer
Kendelle is an artist in the story department of an animation studio. We discuss her career, her work as a storyboard artist and the overlap of the principles of art and narrative in the making of compelling stories. Links discussed follow the time stamps. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 01:00 Kendelle's experience at the Chino Estuary conference 08:20 The Intersection of Storytelling and Internet Culture 16:00 This little corner of the internet 20:00 Paul VanderKlay causes the whole world to settle down 20:45 The Artistic Process and Limitations 24:15 The perspective of the grand story Discovering Justin Wells and his series on narrative and plot 29:30 Collaborative Filmmaking Process 35:00 The Process of Creating Animated Films 55:00 Everything has relationship The Importance of Story Structure and Relationship in Film and Art 1:01:00 How art shows up in science and science shows up in art. Discussion on Art and Synthesis of Disciplines If you're interested in more information about the Bastions of Beauty, make a comment and I'll get you the appropriate contact information.

Jul 15, 2023 • 1h 32min
Playing with Ideas until the Rules Become Apparent: The Relationship of Machines, Ideas and Emotions
Nolan joins again for another romp through the space of ideas. Hold on. It's a wild ride.

Jul 14, 2023 • 1h 23min
The Source, The Conductor and The Flow: The Coding of Stories for Perpetuity with Error Correction
Nolan Manteufel is an electrical engineer with interesting ideas about how the world works. Links mentioned by Nolan follow the notes. How did the ancients take what they could see so clearly and put it in a story so that the "coding" could be protected over time" Can we "over analyze" or "under analyze"? What is the "correct" amount of analysis? The proper "level" of analysis? The games we play can actually have the structure of generalized formulas. Every story we tell (or game we play) about a system seems to have a source potential, a conductor and a flow through the conductor because of the source. This is the story of electricity and magnetism, at least since Ohm. Another way to see the same story would be that Knowledge is a source, energy/matter/space/time is a conductor, and emotional state(s) equals flow. Another permutation might be that Ideas x real space + emotion space. The circular notion of identity. Force = Ability x Ambition (If my ambition to do something is zero, my force is zero no matter how much ability I might have to accomplish the task. Note from Nolan: "Hans Camenzind is the electrical engineer that i mentioned during our conversation. He's a recent historical character that i admire. He also wrote a book on religion, but i don't remember reading it. Much Ado About Almost Nothing, http://www.historyofelectronics.com/Much-Ado-About-Almost-Nothing.pdf Designing Analog Chips, http://www.designinganalogchips.com/ Another living hero of mine is Forrest Mims III. His books inspired my love of electronics. Also, he was 50% partner in the venture that created the opportunity that inspired Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard! The stories that can be told are crazy."

Jul 10, 2023 • 1h 22min
Computation is the Covenant Between Truth and Language
Glen and Karen discuss how language and computation are tied together, that multiple languages can be used to create a symphony of choices to express something logically and emotionally. Links follow timestamps. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:40 The halting problem, Joscha Bach on Godel’s incompleteness theorem, and the connection between language and computation. 04:24 “There is no deeper notion of truth than proof.” Joscha Bach Patterns 06:20 “There. Is a covenant between Truth and Language.” 15:33 Euclid’s fifth postulate is not decidable Decidability and the equivalence of the halting problem to other problems. Wolfram’s computational irreducibility Rule 110 in cellular automata. 22:30 The concept of computation relates to heuristic rule sets. Computation as a physical process that can be based on formal languages or logic, probabilities, or heuristic rule sets. Example: a recipe. 26:00 Computation is a sequence of choices guided by a set of rules. Undecidability. Computational Systems 39:26 Language, an alphabet of symbols, Russell's Paradox, Incompleteness Theorem, a project to reduce mathematics to a formal system, doomed to failure with Kurt Godel's Incompleteness Theorem. Russell and Whitehead left mathematics and became philosophers. Glen also explains the Barber Paradox, which is related to Russell's Paradox, and how it can be solved by adding new rules. 45:46 The concept of truth relates to language. Glen suggests that truth can be determined by stepping outside of the system and asking questions, Language is a key factor in our ability to ask questions and understand truth. Truth is not just a statement about math and formal systems, but also about people and their ability to ask questions. 56:25 The problem with a lock is that it needs an outside agent. Computation is a group phenomena. Can’t analyze a computational system in isolation. Exploring the Relationship Between Computation, Consciousness, and Agency Alignment of AI/LLM to humans1:07:09 Archetypes are a proof in a non-formal language, a story with a punch line. The Relationship Between Language, Computation, and Truth. Truth can be found in both formal and non-formal languages. The concept of alignment, and how large language models can be hacked by flooding the learning set with false statements. 1:16:50 A symphony of choices. Exploring the Possibility of Creating a Symphony of languages to express emotional joy. Could this be used to solve the alignment problem in Artificial Intelligence?Interact with Glen on Twitter, @wildiris Up and Atom on The Halting Problem: https://youtu.be/t37GQgUPa6k The three body problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-body_problem#:~:text=There%20is%20no%20general%20closed,repeating%2C%20except%20in%20special%20cases Undecidability, Part I: https://youtu.be/nsZsd5qtbo4 Part 2: https://youtu.be/FK3kifY-geM Part 3: https://youtu.be/lLWnd6-vSGo Joscha Bach on TOE, start at 58:03: https://youtu.be/bhSlYfVtgww Michael Levin, Richard Watson, Mark Solms, 30:00 to 50:00 https://youtu.be/gjArtj5PIU8

Jul 10, 2023 • 1h 41min
Dr. Jim: Boundary Conditions Set the Edges of the Problem
Dr. Jim joins The Meaning code to talk about his life, the Chino conference, the intersection of history and the western tradition, and the importance of context. F=MA and E=MC^2 But it's NOT the same M. What is the purpose for running the experiment? The meanings of things.

Jul 6, 2023 • 1h 33min
Aim, Purpose and Maximizing True Freedom: Austrian Economics, Bitcoin and Biological Development
Lucas Van Os joins to tell us about the differences between Austrian Economics and Keynesianism, as well as a journey into the world of bitcoin, and how this all lines up with a life of personal responsibility and the freedom to do what's best. Videos and books mentioned: The Dao of Capital by Mark Spitznagel Human Action by Ludwig von Mises Metaphysics of Quality, Maps of Meaning and Austrian Economics: https://youtu.be/B-fviFKFsw4 Money and Reality: The Natural Order of Money w Ira and Brad https://youtu.be/Uwsz4q4Ufk4 Robert Breedlove and Mike Hill series on Metaphysics of Quality: https://youtu.be/pEgpNGfS6XM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuBqB1FCPCs&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwU1zilQagA&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqO3KIq9LYc&t=0s https://www.youtube.com/@drmichaellevin Levin, Watson, Fields: Harmonics and Resonance https://youtu.be/RkkqQF_ulYo Levin, Watson, Solms: https://youtu.be/pMTuWL2vDoY Levin, McGilchrist, Watson #4 https://youtu.be/nWgzWYt5c88 Levin, McGilchrist, Watson #3 https://youtu.be/jdrfx7Z5oo4 Levin, McGilchrist, Watson #2 https://youtu.be/fgnQBD0CjMo Levin, McGilchrist, Watson #1 https://youtu.be/ynHfrfpTH18

Jul 4, 2023 • 1h 15min
Seeking Power in all the Wrong Places: The Unpalatable Dilemma of Alcoholism
Chad the Alcoholic tells his story and we discuss his unexpected homecoming. The mask is to adhere to the "11th tradition" of Alcoholics Anonymous, to protect him from his own ego, and to protect AA from his ego.Paul Vander Klay speaks of Chad here: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxIRyw_wg-PyZ3Biegxx6b69ZuvIABLJuW Chad's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefridaymorningnameless7623 The basic tenets of AA - Seek God and Help Others. If one helps another, sobriety is possible. Receive help, then give help. The dilemma: the choice between two undesirable options, alcoholic suffering? or seek spiritual help? Why do some choose life, and some don't? We feel powerless, looking for something to connect us to the world, to feel like a person. Addiction is a misdirected use of power, a spiritual malady, a separation between me and my fellows. Alcohol is one of the options to fill that hole, but leads to despair for alcoholics. Misery, deliverance, gratitude. The alcoholic sees a need for help (a recognition of misery) , seeks God (deliverance) and then helps others (out of gratitude).