Sand #1
I've been mulling over the concept of free-flowing, stream-of-consciousness writing for a while now. I used to use an app in Fedora approximately 2 years back, which had a "Hemingway" mode that let me write but not redact anything. This is exactly like in real life. We say things but can never retrace what we've said. This is true entropy in expression, and I think it's profound.
I don't want to dwell on consciousness and what it all means, since this isn't the focus of this blog. Rather, I want to understand how entropy rules over the spoken word and how we've cheated our way around with writing. Consider this blog right now. As I'm writing it, I'm trying my best to write every word exactly and not delete anything, but in this sentence alone I've had to do that more than 15 times now. And counting. It is incredibly hard to make sure every sentence on paper (or screen) is complete and error-free, and even though I've been trying to embody Dirac's principle of "completeness in expression", it hasn't been successful so far. Over the years this effort has helped me with the clarity of my thoughts, but I'm still far from touching base with the desired entropic system of expression.
When we speak, every word and note goes out exactly once and it's never retraceable. I had an argument with my girlfriend last night and I can't take anything back now, neither can she. So we now build everything up with this ugly entropic base where erroneous expressions are not weeded out. However as I write this, I have the freedom to select every word as it comes out and more after it does, by conveniently using the backspace. This is time-travel on the keyboard, but with an unsaid clause of entropy behind the curtain. Entropy exists. It keeps working regardless of the taps on the backspace, and this carpet of expressions barely conceals it. To ensure that our expressions are exactly entropic, some sort of constraint is needed. Similar to how that app placed strict rules on "no backspace", life must be built around the irreproachability of expression (I'm unsure if that's even a word, but I'll roll with it).
To build entropic systems is crucial, since it leads to a rigorous clarity of thought and leak-proof systems of expression. Consider the issue of GenAI. Today a segment of artists are leveraging AI to churn out artwork, and another segment is vehemently opposed to it. I personally am opposed to it, since it allows a leeway to "extropic" communication (again, a made-up word). To build a safer, clearer and more productive society, we must embrace entropy and hard-code it into every system of expression. In CS, this is slowly becoming the norm with strongly-typed languages like Rust & Haskell. It is critical for us to maintain entropy at all levels, and the roadmap on how to achieve it is something that needs urgent work. I shall keep writing more on this, and will concurrently reduce the "backspace workaround" to zero.