Weird Vector

[flano]

Does ayone know any strange or querqy facts about vectors. What strange vectors are there? Any funny/weird explanations would be very helpful thank you.

[MargeB]

Not sure what you're aiming at here.

[Clanad]

Looking for information on vectors I ran across this unusual use of vectors in an entirely unrelated field:

Computers are being used more and more to heal the wounds of the psyche and the spirit. Despite the constant discovery of new miracle drugs during the 2000s and 2010s, the 2020s are the decade of computer-based therapies for mental illnesses. Some experts predict that drugs for treating mental illness will be a thing of the past before the end of this century.

The latest marvel in the high-tech arsenal against mental illness is CyBil, a program that helps schizophrenics to integrate their diverse selves. CyBil was developed by GetPsyched!, one of the leading companies in the exploding field of computer-based therapies for the mind and the soul. GetPsyched! president, Betsy Orlando, explained how CyBil works in a teleview conversation with this reporter.

Contd.

[Clanad]

Contd.

"The first stage of treatment involves documenting the selves that inhabit the tortured mind of the schizophrenic," Dr. Orlando explained. "This is done automatically, by computer. The computer interacts with the patient as different personalities emerge, recording facts and characteristics of the various personalities. The program creates a model of each personality, so that the computer can simulate that personality, playing it back to the patient so that the patient can become aware of its characteristics as an objective reality.

"Once we have identified the various personalities, we run a special program that creates a new, integrated personality, from the diverse personalities that we found. The goal of therapy is to get the patient to take refuge in this computer-generated personality, adopting it as his or her own, genuine personality. The integrated personality is a composite of the diverse, unhealthy personalities."

Dr. Orlando explained that the construction of the integrated personality is extremely sophisticated, utilizing the new mathematics of personality spaces. A personality space is what mathematicians call a vector space. Each personality is represented by a unique vector in that space. The integrated personality that we compute is a weighted average of all of the vectors that represent the diverse personalities, sort of like the patient's center of gravity. We have found that the personality that we compute in this manner is indeed an integrated personality, that is, a personality that can function normally in our society. Just as important, it is a personality that the patient can truly claim as his or her own." (Source - http://www.cs.wcupa.edu/~epstein/schizo.htm)

[MargeB]

Very interesting, Clanad.

I'm working on a similar intervention, but it targets Post Traumatic Stress.

[Clanad]

Best of luck with that, MargeB ...

[landie]

Vectors are just a diagramatic notation of a force acting in a direction

Two equal vectors acting in opposition will cancel each other out, whereas if they act in the same direction the effect is one vector equating to the sum of the forces.

Vectors can act 3 dimensinally, which slightly increases the complexity.