Tuesday, August 20, 2013

ai: 1. brazil

my koan from pascha 2012, 'what is life? ', has been rolling around in my pocket ever since, and since life and intelligence are sometimes related,  it seemed like a potentially helpful idea to take advantage of being an old fart and take an a.i. course at the university of arkansas. this post was to be called brazil at first becaue of the architecture of the j. b. hunt center, where the class will be held. and it was going to be an encouragement to me to blog more regularly. not that the unexamined life isn't worth living; more that the examined life can be fascinating.

but, I have spent rwo afternoons roaming the walks and halls of the university of arkansas with sheets of paper (!) in my hand, more or less--well, always less actually--like the form that generates the ploy of terry gilliam's movie. I had thought I could register for the class on monday. wrong, it was friday, I was told by lady at desk a. but if I gave class information to lady at window a, she would probably just enter it early. lady window a said my course has a prerequisite, and I must take form 00-67582/3 to professor for signature, and that the computer engineering department could take care if the whole rest of my registration.

that's when I discovered the brazilian architecture of the j. b. hunt building. said professor was not in office. so I emailed him, and he said if I left form 00-67582/3 with department secretary at desk b, all would be well. lady desk b said all would be well, but form 00-67582/3 was all wrong, and 'generated form 00-67585/4 for me to sign. and, what was my student number?

. . .

cut to the end of the chase. back and forth, with trips to the card room finally found me in front of a huge apple screen re-registering. now I await email confirmation. but, I at least have an application number.