Shotokan Karate’s Identity Crisis

 

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In the latest copy of Shotokan Karate Magazine (#160) we have one author bemoaning the fact that in contemporary karate classes, people very rarely hit each other - indeed, a whole culture of ‘no-contact karate’ has developed. In a fight, he says, you’re going to be hit and knocked silly; it takes practice and experience to keep your cool, not freeze, and go on to the attack with technique intact. 

Mike Tyson's observation applies.

Another author talks about karate for children spiced with music, fun and games to keep them interested, while elsewhere marshalled ranks of adult students march up and down the dojo hall practising repetitive drills in unison on stentorious command. He thinks that the core of karate - personal development in body and character - which can be done at any age, is being forgotten.

What is karate for?

Traditional Shotokan Karate presents itself as primarily a self-defence art. It doesn’t ignore the spiritual aspects, the self-discipline and ‘correct attitude’ but it’s focused on lethality. In particular it strongly deprecates sport karate where, it thinks, too many compromises have been made to the art precisely to make competitions survivable and indeed, non-disabling.

Traditional Shotokan Karate is, however, spectacularly ineffective.

The obvious reason is that it is self-sabotaging. An effective fighting art requires endless, hyper-realistic practice so that moves are absorbed into automatic, effortless muscle-memory. Outside of elite detachments of the military, it’s hard to conduct such training: it’s just too dangerous.

TSK substitutes ‘empty-air’ drills, kata and choreographed kumite ('sparring'): it looks and sounds impressive but does not even approximate a real fight with someone who’s out to harm you and just doesn’t care about the consequences.

Most thoughtful karate exponents accept that if you really want to prepare yourself against street thugs, you should consider boxing where sparring and competition are at the centre of things. (Recent trends for no-contact boxing - no head attacks - show karate is not alone in being drained of its hard martial edge).

The magazine’s articles are good at identifying problems and even, perhaps, at celebrating the diversity and broad church of contemporary karate. The art does develop confidence, camaraderie and self-discipline. But in today’s modern societies, where fights are not common and most karate practitioners go through their whole lives without ever experiencing a real fight, it seems we just have to accept the hypocrisy of current training norms.

Bottom line: if you really want to defend yourself against seriously-violent bad people, practise an art where sparring and competition are central, and where some semblance of real-world effectiveness of technique still continues. Boxing and Judo are probably a quicker route to effectiveness although with the right club and enough time and practice, karate will get you to a good place in the end - probably.

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Note: I am well aware that it is the aura of controlled, lethal violence surrounding karate - its glamour - which attracts most karate students to train. But I suspect that if clubs actually tried to deliver on that promise by instituting the very tough, very physical, very violent, blood-on-the-walls training methods common in the 1970s across the world then there would be a major exodus: only the hard, fit, aggressive young men would be left (with the occasional young woman who also actually liked inflicting and soaking up physical violence).

On biting the hand that 'protects' you

Clare, picking up the post this morning, said, "Your Ninja Turtle magazine's arrived."

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And here's Clare at the East Somerset Railway station four days ago.

Medical Advice from Gemini (LLM)

Doctor Google is a cliché - so I was interested as to how Gemini would advise me on a hand problem I have. Here is the prompt.

On my left palm I have two, just visually perceptible, circular lumps under the skin, each about one cm in diameter. They are placed horizontally, about two thirds of the way up the palm, roughly aligned with my two middle fingers. They are not painful and do not impede any aspect of hand or finger mobility; they have been very slowly getting more obvious over several months. What would be a possible diagnosis?

Gemini

“Unfortunately, I can't give medical diagnoses, but I can offer some possibilities for what the lumps might be and recommend the best course of action. Here are a few potential explanations:

1. Ganglions: These are fluid-filled cysts that often develop on the back of the wrist or the palm of the hand. They are usually painless and slow-growing, which aligns with your description.
2. Epidermal inclusion cysts: These are noncancerous cysts that form when skin cells get trapped under the surface of the skin. They can appear anywhere on the body, including the palms.
3. Lipomas: These are slow-growing, fatty tumors that are typically benign. They are usually soft and movable, and wouldn't cause pain.

In most cases, these types of lumps are harmless and don't require treatment. However, a doctor can confirm this and recommend monitoring or removal if needed.”

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Note (me)

Back in the 1980s I had such a swelling on the back of my left hand. Under my company's medical plan I was able to see a hand doctor who deployed the standard treatment: he had me put my palm flat on the table, then took a large medical book from his shelf and smashed the spine hard down onto the lump; smashed it.

I had no further trouble.

"Down by the seaside"

 

Thursday May 9th 2024

Burnham-on-Sea is our nearest seaside town. This author-portrait  taken in the recent micro-heatwave. I believe Jeremy Corbyn used to holiday here too; it has a period charm, reminding me of inner-Bristol in the 1950s.

Notebook: Higgs, Gym, Beta-level Simulation

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Higgs field/boson popular science book

I recently read Matt Strassler's book, "Waves in an Impossible Sea" which aims to explain the Higgs field and Higgs boson to non-physicists. It's probably as good as you can expect for such a book. Strassler is a clear writer and doesn't shy away from difficult questions.

For example, he tackles the question of whether light, which travels through a vacuum, needs a (very strange, 'impossible') medium to carry the electromagnetic field. He makes a clear distinction between a medium and a field which is crucial here.

The explanation of the Higgs field "stiffening" quantum fields for particles with mass isn't perfect, but it's perhaps the best analogy available. It encouraged me to revisit the maths - I have some books which are gentler than this.

Exercise Routine

This morning at the gym I continued my aerobic workout: five minutes on the exercise bike, then the stepper, and finally, the treadmill. My goal is to improve my fitness, especially after a bad case of what was likely COVID last June. The breathlessness lingers, but I believe exercise can help. The idea is to use the gym for 15-20 minutes of high-intensity aerobic exercise, complementing my Tai Chi sword form, Tai Chi form and Heian kata (shotokan karate) practice.

With summer approaching I can move some of the latter exercises outdoors, freeing up gym time for equipment-based aerobic work.

Your very own beta-level simulation

An article in The Times recently discussed the use of large language models to create "Grief-Bots" or "Dead-bots" – terms that could use some marketing work! The concept involves feeding a large language model with information about a deceased person, including appearance, voice recordings, conversation samples, and even their style of communication. The system then essentially "reincarnates" the departed, allowing a simulated interaction with a spouse, parent, or other loved one.

One suggestion was to leave such a "beta-level simulation" (as Alastair Reynolds termed it) for your descendants. This could be an alternative to traditional ‘letters cast into the future’, which naturally lack context and specificity.

However, the question arises: what's the purpose of such a simulation? It wouldn't be an information source, as better systems exist and will continue to develop. It wouldn't be the first choice for advice either.

Perhaps it's for emotional support – someone who responds in a way that resembles a spouse, grandparent, or ancestor, acting more like a friend than a resource. Science fiction often explores this theme, sometimes with a Far-Eastern cultural context: ancestor-worship.

While I understand the concept, I suspect most people wouldn't be interested in frequent interaction with such an "archaic entity" when daily life offers so much.

Practically, leaving an operational large language model to your descendants is impossible. Technology advances rapidly, rendering the software outdated and unusable within a year.

A better solution might be to leave training data – biographies, transcripts, and other relevant information. This way, future generations could train a model using the latest software, essentially "reincarnating" you or anyone else.

Forward-thinking individuals might consider this approach for the future. Or perhaps they’ll wonder why on earth they should bother: one’s sprawling digital estate will have all the data any future AI system could ever require, whether you like it or not.