Back from the Phillippines

I always had in my mind, the Philippines, as a pretty slummed down area - third world country that would totally look like some of those old-day kampong villages. Well, I was partially right. There were some areas which looked really, really bad - when the rain came, the sides of the roads would be flooded. The water would be like a quarter of a tyre high and it made walking in the mud a little pain in the ass.

But the developed areas kinda surprised me. Frankly speaking, their economy is far more bustling than Perth. Jeez, they have so many eateries and shops I would say Perth is like a snail to the Philippines, a cheetah.

It's really, really funny though. You'd see the streets looking pretty run-down and all... But when you enter their homes, it can be bigger than your Singaporean HDB flat. When you look at how some of the locals dress up, they have far more fashion sense. They don't look run-down at all man. Then you look at the shops - it's completely comprehensive with so many recognizable brands.

It just "looks" run-down. The people and the homes aren't that run-down... Well, mostly.

Some were pretty bad. I could see leaking roofs when the rain came. Some of the houses were located so damn deep inside foresty areas that I was quite surprised when I realized there was an entire village full of bungalow-looking houses inside.

The scenery isn't bad. It's quite a change from the developed countries where you see industrialization everywhere. I kind of like it there. You'd see rundown stuff... then loads of trees... then mountains... then... gosh it's like they have everything over here. The really nice places can have really blue seas and all. Beautiful.

Another thing that warmed my heart was their culture in the Philippines.

Their culture is really weird for a Singaporean, definitely. They literally treat every single person around them as if they knew them for years. They'd suddenly talk to the person next to them as if they knew them for like 10000 years. They'd just touch another person's arm just to ask her a question. They'd just laugh when they want to, cry when they want to...

Man, that freedom makes me kinda envious.

Contrast that to the "modern" society where people suppress whatever they're feeling and try not to step on each other toes. Secluded from each other. So near to each other yet so bloody far. Eyes stuck on mobile phones and tablets. You're with a friend and he or she is in cyberspace instead.

I don't know, it's not like the Filipinos don't have money to get mobile phones. Some of them do. It's just that they don't get absorbed into technology as much as we do.

Another reason was this...

My dad got a godson, for some reason. I just realized I had a god-bro lol, kinda cool. But yeah, the way they welcomed us in the airport was insane.

Over twenty people just there to welcome us. They showered us with warmth, hugged us despite us not knowing them, and they were just so damn genuine I was questioning my own existence lol. I was questioning what the hell I was living in - a dreadful cold society where each kept to themselves.

These people just held nothing back... They literally spent a few months of their salaries showering us with some gifts. My dad was refusing them, telling them that he felt so bad and he wanted to pay himself, but they just said that they wanted to.

It reminds me of the older culture we had in Singapore, according to my dad. He said that people in the kampong were always together and treated each other as neighbors. They would go as a group, work as a group and everybody was part of this amazing warmth.

Kind of makes me wonder... Is industrialization really helping us?

Industrialization made the Westerners a completely individualistic society. The collectivism of Asian societies are rapidly degrading. I don't know if it's a good thing.

It makes me sad, really, it does. Even at my generation, people no longer seem to have such deep respect for other people any more. They don't seem to be as trusting, as selfless, as warm any more. Not even myself. It sucks, really.

Goal check A

Programming is rather interesting - it's kind of like mathematics only with a clear difference: It has proper syntax and is readable to a computer's processor, a compiler and a human.

Never realized how complicated programming could be until I recently finished a project after tons of pouring through textbooks, lecture notes and videos. Though I can happily say that I'm at the level of a year 2 comp-science student now! I'm kind of glad I can now become more of a lazy bastard and study as efficiently as possible because I don't have to waste time on monotonous tasks or repetitive things.  :)

Milestones achieved: Learnt C, C++, Java programming, literal science behind computers and servers, databases, SQL, etc. :D

Time taken: 10 days.

Reward: A day in USS woohoo

Extension: Code apps for convenience; Code apps/games to sell.

Next goal: Learn marketing to level 2 curriculum within 2 weeks.

Summer Project

Just going to give myself a challenge right now. I've managed to get lectures from several units in my university and I'm super stoked because I really want to learn some of these units. So my current curriculum would be:

1. CITS1001
2. CITS2002
3. MKTG1203
4. MKTG1204
5. MKTG2305
6. PATH2220
7. PHYS1001
8. ANHB3324

I'm pretty sure I can master these subjects way before the end of the month. I mean, no assignments or tests - that'll be so damn easy. All I need is to test myself at the end by devising a similar project based on the metrics given by the lectures.

So many things I want to do, gosh. Not to forget my dorm room project... Maybe I should add in an architecture unit, I always wanted to learn.

Integrated Information Theory: Answer to Consciousness?

Lately since 2012, there has been a theory in development called the Integrated Information Theory which has huge repercussions: That everything in nature has a certain form of consciousness (consistent with several religious philosophies - See Panpsychism). In a way, we might be able to measure the "sentience" of beings - from Artificial intelligence to insects to even the human brain.

This theory was the brainchild of neuroscientist Giulio Tononi and what is really interesting about this theory is that it actually has an extremely close relationship with actual studies - in other words, the theory is proving itself to be verifiable and repeatable.

The theory is pretty complex if I were to spell out all the mathematics, but here's a sum of what I gather from the theory after reading the papers and doing some self-research:

(A) If a system CAN be reduced, consciousness does not exist at that level. 

For example, if you had a brain - but removed the cerebellum, the visual cortex, etc - somehow, patients have shown that you STILL have consciousness. In other words, the whole brain does not equate to consciousness.

(B) Consciousness is measured by an index, Phi ϕ .

This theory states that the more "unified" the system is, the LESS reducible it is. Hence, this correlates with consciousness. The higher Phi is, the "larger" the most-reducible unit of that system. Hence, the system is more capable of a "higher" consciousness.

You don't have to know what this equation means, but basically it is as I've summed up above: The more information being generated at the level of a defined system, the LESS reducible it is. And the more information relative to OTHER systems, a higher phi will show that more information is generated at the least-reducible level.

(C) IIT is based off 5 axioms as of version 3.0.

1. Consciousness exists: The experience exists intrinsically and is not affected by external observation, etc.

2. Consciousness is compositional: It has directions, you can differentiate the different elements within an experience.

3. Experience is differentiated: Whenever we experience something, we generate a "contrast" from our history.

4. Experience is unified: Despite having both a left and right eye, we perceive everything as a SINGLE experience - a unified "one".

5. Consciousness is exclusive: You can take away the sense organs and the brain is still able to generate images from within itself.

(D) IIT is consistent with evolutionary theory.

The current theory is that the more "unified" a system is, the more information can be generated within that level and transferred among its parts. Hence, this "communication" allows for a higher biological fitness (which just means the chance of survival to the point of producing an offspring).

***

Pretty interesting theory from what I've gathered. The only question is how far can we move from a consciousness index? We're still skimming the surface - but what we have now is that the "mind" is like a multi-dimensional mathematical structure that doesn't exist directly within the physical plane. Very hopeful for this theory's development, it sounds very promising.

Building habits that stick

You know the times where I say that I'm a huge self-improvement junkie? I'm certainly not joking. I've read, watched, listened to hundreds of stuff - attended seminars, questioned experts, etc - so you can rest assured that I know what I'm talking about.

The very first principle anybody who tries self-improvement should be this: Consistency. It's obvious and common-sense. If you want something to stick with you, you do it repeatedly until the effort to perform it becomes nullified and effortless. 

Basically, you proceed from...

1. Unconscious incompetency to...
2. Conscious incompetency to...
3. Conscious competency to...
4. Unconscious competency

By the time you reach unconscious competency, if it's a physical activity, your brain would have minimized all the excessive movements you take to perform something and made it optimal and so effortless it's like reciting your ABCs.

Let me prove my point... You know your ABCs, don't you? Now recite your ABCs in reverse - can you do it? Well, not now, since your brain has already optimized the rhyme and song within your head as a forward-moving algorithm.

But let me add to the case of Consistency a few more facts:

1. It takes close to 60 days to form a habit - and you still need to maintain that habit until it becomes subconscious and routined.
2. The higher the variability of reward, the harder it is to unlearn your habit.
3. Form a habit like a statue - slowly build upon it and condition more stimuli to previously neutral stimuli. This is known as the Japanese principle: Kaizen. So for example, day 1, you sweep one tile of the floor. Day 2, you sweep the floor 1 more tile than the previous day, etc.

This is also what a lot of trending articles call Deliberate Practice, a term coined by a psychology professor at Florida State University. Experts break down a task they wish to master and slowly master components of it, often paired with immediate feedback. Once mastered, they test higher and higher grounds until the challenge simmers away.

So what I normally do when I want to learn a skill is to immediately break down what I need to master into components. From these components, I convert them into actionable goals. From these actionable goals, I break them down into actionable milestones within these goals. Then I formulate steps I can take to master them.

To me, it's like a game. For example... Currently, I meditate, do postural exercises, practice martial arts, learn cooking, practice programming, do voice training, workout, etc all in one day. I do vary them around, but it's all plotted into my timetable.

I think a really great mindset to have is this: To grow, you need today to be better than yesterday. If it's worse or the same as yesterday, you're stagnating. Deviating a small degree now can turn it into a huge degree change from the direction that you're heading towards.

Whether you want to be a better parent, a better student, a better employee/boss, a better person as a whole, a better business man or whatever... I think it has to start from this growth mentality.

Just a thought...

How to build a business

This post is for a request from someone I know. But let's just tackle the first question: "Huh? What would you know about business? You're a medicine guy - a doctor-to-be. You don't even have an MBA or a business degree!"

Well, I might not have a business degree but I have 3 businesses already running. I started years ago - and that means while other guys were busy playing LAN games (no offense bros) I was busy figuring out how to tackle stock/forex markets, build a business, etc. I was featured in an article in Forbes magazine along with my mentor, who does 8 figures per year through online/offline businesses. I currently make a decent sum to cover my overseas tuition expenses. I make deals with Americans, Germans, etc. 

If  you think you still know more than me because you have a business degree, well I'll certainly be glad to learn some theory. I'm not going to go through everything a business should ever have - how to license, how to start up, how to get facilities, outsource, etc - but I'll just share a few principles that are absolutely vital if you really want to be a successful entrepreneur.

Principle 1: Hunger defines a niche

Niche is the technical term for a group of people who want to buy a specific group of products and is a sub-section of a market. So for example, there are golf instruction niches, cosmetic niches, football niches, etc. 

The world-famous marketer Gary Halbert once said: "The only advantage I want for a successful business to succeed is... A starving crowd!" You don't want to measure anything else. As long as you have a starving crowd, you can even sell ice cubes in the middle of a desert or tissue paper to a guy stranded in a cubicle after a diarrhea. Easily. But the real question is... How does someone measure hunger level? 

Firstly, you piggyback the efforts of others. Find a niche where people are already buying products and already have subscribed their contact details (emails, etc) into what we call a lead generation database (or a list). Even better if they had already recently purchased a product. Look at what people do, not what they say. Yet even better if you know the list broker and he's an honest bloke.

Principle 2: Sell the sizzle, not the steak

What makes a person buy the steak is not the steak itself - but its experience. The taste, the transition, the atmosphere, the rave, the accompaniment - everything culminates as one. The same steak can be sold at a hawker centre and yet only reach the 15 dollar level, while if presented within a restaurant, it can be sold at 30-50 per plate.

First thing to do is to know your market. Research is everything - because the battle is won even before the fight. Know the psycho-graphics of your niche. What do they like? What is their market language? How do they speak? What do they wake up in the middle of the night wanting? What makes their heart itch?

Every niche is different. For example, in the computer niches, you state your benefits in terms of features and specifications. The higher the specs, the better. Yet within the computer market, you can find other niches such as the design appealers - such as what Apple has delved into. There are niches for gaming. Niches for students. Niches for the housewife who plays Farmville while taking care of her kids.

Principle 3: Understand how a market is structured

A market is like a living organism. It grows, it dies, it changes its mind - just like a human. Within the market, you have different sophistication levels within the minds of your prospects.

Some people are new to the market - they jump on the biggest benefits that you throw to them (eg. Lose 50kg now!). Some have seen some tricks of the trade and they require more convincing (eg. Lose 50kg with this diet!). Some have been in the market as buyers for a while and they know the products, so they require more extension (eg. Lose 50kg with this doctor-approved, Madagascar-jungle-whatever diet!). The smallest portion, yet the most responsive customers, don't even respond anymore to these promises, so the ingenious marketers set up indirect language traps for them (eg. Tired of being always the Bridesmaid, but never the Bride?)

This is probably one of the most powerful principles a businessman can learn. How do you zig when others zag? How do you offer more? How do you find that invisible hot button inside your prospect's mind?

*

Yup, that's really it. Every successful business has had some form of the 3 principles I mentioned above. Remember though - that you should never be a "pioneer" in business, because pioneers always end up dying and others taking the credit. It's absolutely rare - but sometimes you could have a bright idea - but I wouldn't count on it. There are pretty brilliant people out there. When you want to dig yourself a piece of the marketshare, don't compete with the big leaders - instead, RIDE their current and squeeze into their openings and weaknesses. For example, when Nike and Adidas had their sport shoes - Vans squeezed in as "street plimsolls" and had a "street rebel" take on shoes.

The touchscreen phone was already selling, but Apple took it and remodelled it for its niche. That's not new. If you look at the cosmetic industry, you'll see that it has changed a lot - so has its promises. Cars, heck even biscuits have amazing marketing going on. And no, Seth Godin, i don't agree - not all marketers are liars - just like how not all journalists are liars.

im-Perth-fection

I really love Perth (except in summer). But when it's cool - the people, the lifestyle and everything is so laid back it's awesome.

Sometimes when you see pictures, you start imagining how amazing it would be to be there - pictures can say a lot, but it doesn't show the full picture. Living in a place like Perth, after seeing the same things again and again... you might tend to take the beauty for granted.

Like the boat shed I run past nearly every week...

It doesn't always look so glamorous... and when you're running against the wind it's really not a joke.

Heck, even the school looks glamorous:

But ultimately... I really think the people I've made friends with here really shaped my experience. Why do I even sound so nostalgic when I have so many more years to go...

Summer Project 1: "Redesigning my Dorm Room"

I don't post much of the "non-scientific" stuff on my public blog but since it's related to something I really want to do and hold myself accountable for - I'm going to write it down (I really should be studying for my finals but jeez, it's probably okay).

Heard of Feng Shui? The idea is that while an individual has "chi" moving around in his body through "channels" - the same principle applies to everything around the world that we interact with - seasons, weather, the world, forests, countries (like Singapore's Flyer or the Bagua present on our Singaporean 1-dollar coin/road tax tickets) and yes, a dorm room. Just like how Chinese medicine treats the imbalances in the body - excessive or deficient Yin/Yang, heat/cold, acidic/basic, etc - Feng Shui treats the imbalances in an environment. Think about it this way - a tool like a hammer or piano is like an extension of your body. Your living quarters is an extension of your mind and body. Just like how "blockages" in chi or unstable pH levels can cause problems in your body - your environment can directly impact your mood and everything else - your sleep conditions, health, etc.

While there are Feng Shui practices available out there, there are a few problems:

>> There is a lot of crap, made-up advice given out which are not based off the I-Ching

>> Most genuine advice only pertain to houses as a whole - there isn't much advice given to just ONE dorm-room

>> There is a huge mix of Westernized ideas (which are mostly BS because they never had an education in the I-Ching) and original FengShui ideas

This is not going to be a one-off thing, and the project will kickstart while I resume my army disruption to serve my remaining 22 days haha. I'll probably start off with the sketches and some ideas.

Personality Indicator Test

The last time I tried Myers Brigg, it kept flipping around. I know it's the case where these things are based off preferences - such as preferring thinking over perceiving. It's not so much the "strength" - but more of the choice. But yeah, you can't say that choice doesn't correlate with the efficacy of using that "faculty".

This time I took a test from similarminds.com which is based off the Big Five (which is actually the most scientifically agreed indicator test) :

Kind of exciting how accurate the results are?? Hahaha things like "easily talked into doing silly things" and "thinks fun is the most important thing in life" are totally spot on. Give it a try yo.

Social Attitude test

Just did this test: http://slackhalla.org/~demise/test/socialattitude.php

Progressivism 55
Socialism 62.5
Tenderness 65.625

Your test scores indicate that you are a tender-minded cultural centrist; this is the political profile one might associate with a protective parent. It appears that you are accepting of religion, and have a balanced attitude towards humanity in general. Your attitudes towards economics appear socialist, and combined with your social attitudes this creates the picture of someone who would generally be described as a progressive. To round out the picture you appear to be, political preference aside, a considerate idealistic centrist with few strong convictions.

rofl

I should probably do a personality test sometime soon.

A new milestone for myself

Checklist of things I'd like:

• Music: Master piano / play cello well / play guitar well /  play drums well / sing well
• Health: six pack / decent shoulder-waist-ratio / not sick for 1 year / thicker chest / not sick for 5 years / 7% fat level / stamina for a marathon / decent bodyweight strength / teeth occlusion / 50 pull-ups
• Sports: Perfect pin/snake-shot in foosball / dunk a basketball / perfect 3-pointer shot / better wing chun / better Yang-style tai chi / perfect goalkeeper dive
• Self: Style-awareness / Daily self-reflections / Read 50 self-help books / read 100 self-help books / weekly appreciation to family / let parents retire joyfully / fund brother's education
• Skills: Sewing, tailoring / Cook chinese cuisine / Cook fish and chips / Make sushi, onigiri / First-aid / Rollerblading / Bike ride / Ice-skating / Parkour / Chess master level / accounting skills / Self-haircut / Hypnotism / Music-production
• Projects: Invent a gadget / Write a book / Breakthrough thesis in medicine / Produce a musical piece or song / Produce an anime cartoon / Script-write for an award-winning film / Copywriting for at least a 0.5 million direct mail campaign
• Social: Leadership role / find wife ;)  / Make more friends / have a bro with at least 10 years history / Have at least 3 bro-level friends / Know friends from at least 3 nationalities / Know friends from at least 10 nationalities
• Spiritual: Decent meditation / Website, blog / 10 good deeds per month / Meditate to 1st 4 jhanas / Enlightenment
• Career: Medical student / Don the white coat / have a side business / specialize in surgery* / Enough money

It's funny because this list doesn't include material wants like many lists I've seen people do... I frankly don't give a shit about a condo, a Lambo car, a yacht, etc - though it'll be certainly nice to have it. I wouldn't complain if I had a luxurious house. I just never found the practical purpose of owning such a big house even if you can afford it. Wealth is nothing unless you can experience what it means for you. Weighing your existence in something material is the fastest way to make your life seem as meaningless as dust.

The thing I need to do is... Even though I'm "chasing" these stuff... Always enjoy the process instead of the results. Come on, it's really the learning process that matters - the people you meet, the friends you see, the mistakes, the pain, the enthusiasm and enjoyment - Yeah.

I realize how I'm so different from who I am last time, but it's definitely a change for the better.