Freedom Evolves

I just finished reading Daniel Dennett's Freedom evolves. I was most curious about the last part, where he went into topics such as the development of ethics and morale, but was also fascinated by the beginning chapters, where he nicely illustrates how determinism does not imply inevitability.

However, I was quite a bit uneasy about the middle part, where he discusses at length various objections voiced to his views. The vocabulary of the arguments is rather reductionistic in nature, and the whole debate reminds me of the pre-heliocentric description of planetary motion in terms of epicycles; Choosing a 'wrong' perspective can obfuscate what is being analysed.

Bossa '09

I'v just come back from this year's Bossa conference, which took place near Porto de Galinhas, Pernambuco, Brazil.

I was invited to talk about Hybrid Programming using Boost.Python.

The conference was interesting, allowing me to look at Free Software as used in embedded mobile devices (read: cell phones).

It was also a great opportunity to socialize, and just have a great time.

From Porto de Galinhas '09

Polyphonies Corses

Last night we went to a concert friends of us gave, together with an invited ensemble from Corsica: Barbara Furtuna.
The concert was amazing. In particular, I noticed the homogeneity of the singers. Their vocal technique gives them an unusually wide range of harmonics, making it easier to adjust the pitch.
One of the singers noted in the concert that they don't actually read music, making a collaboration such as this one particularly challenging.
(How do they communicate to work on pieces performed together with other groups such as Constantinople ?)