New to the site? Welcome!
You might be interested to know that there's two different kind of posts on this blog: "Thought of the Day" and "Normal". The "Thought of the Day" category is a once-a-day random tidbit, usually a funny video or picture, and the "Normal" is just what you'd expect from a blog like this:
Unicorn-Butterfly Soup.
--Kyle
p.s. the subscription options to the left (psst! <---- that way) reflect the same content options
This is my first guest post on a “real” blog… “The Rise of Skynet” on The Inquisitr.
Excerpt:
The reality is that Skynet is quickly becoming a reality, whether we like it or not. And since I haven’t heard of Sarah Connor blowing up buildings, killing people, or traveling through time to avoid robots… I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about it.
If you’re reading this, then chances are you know about Amazon.com’s Kindle, an e-book reader… kind of like an iPod for books. And you also probably know that it’s getting major criticism for everything from it’s battery life to it’s product design to if it’s even useful.
But one major market is being overlooked here, without anyone thinking about the potential effect it may have: students.
Expensive As Hell
Textbooks are super expensive, and it gets even worse when you go to college. $350 for a textbook? And it’s not made of silver? The biggest excuse for the price of textbooks (even if you buy them used online, they’re still very expensive) is the printing. Hardback + many many pages + color + nice and glossy pages = high printing cost.
I guess that makes sense. So why don’t you not print at such a high standard, and lower the prices a little bit, eh? BECAUSE YOU WANT MY MONEY!
Are you spanking for money? Or the money?
Heavy
Most high schoolers (at leas the ones that actually want to go to college) carry a backpack full of textbooks to and from school everyday. Not one of those laptop backpacks, but a super-size LL Bean backpack that is made of that funny material that’ll stretch, but not easily rip.
Doctors and parents complain this is ruining their children’s backs. College kids refuse to bring books to class because it’s so difficult to make that 30min walk across campus with 15 books in their bag, totaling the entire weight of a large hobbit.
Why don’t we use less textbooks then? Oh, maybe because there’s usually 2 books required, if not more, for the average college class, and rumor has it those “Barnes and Noble Campus Bookstore” places highly encourage the use of multiple books, especially when they’re new…
Remember Laptops?
Remember when laptops were going to revolutionize the learning process, about 10 years ago? How parents were fighting for their kids to be able to use laptops in the high school classroom? And colleges were promising to make the texts available via computer?
What happened to that? I know I haven’t ever used a digital textbook in college, and I don’t know of anyone else that does either. But the ones I do hear about are usually clunky: you have to install special software, only install once… sounds like something Microsoft would create, right?
Solution
So here’s my solution. Since publishers are apparently incapable of publishing full-color textbooks in PDF format, and selling them iTunes-style (not through iTunes, but the same idea of online distribution)… which would considerably cut costs, since not only is the book not physically printed, but it’s not shipped anywhere either… why don’t we take advantage of the “I want to be popular” technology of the moment?
“The Solution”
E-book readers like the Kindle (there are others, but this is the one to get the most coverage so far) could be the easy solution. Try this out on college campuses, where the kids have money to spend, and actually might want to learn:
“Oh but what if it breaks?!?!?!” Easy answer. I’m pretty sure that if you have to pay anywhere between $100-300 every now and then, even if it’s every year, to get your textbooks for a fraction of the cost ($30 Physics books anyone?), no-one is going to complain. So don’t give me that IT crap as an excuse.
Conclusion
Maybe e-readers are not going to be very popular in general population for another decade or two. I mean, seriously, a digital library of books isn’t going to impress anyone… no-one’s iPod or iTunes library is of any interest either, right?
I personally would have chose “Textbook Monopolies Suck”. Whatever.
But at least target the market that would benefit the most: poor college students who hate paying for textbooks every semester. College textbooks have been a problem since probably the dawn of time, and now here’s a way to alleviate the pain.
If you’re a geek/nerd/social-recluse-with-a-penchant-for-technology, chances are you either have a huge bookshelf, or you are known on a first name basis at the library, especially in the SciFi/Fantasy areas. I myself have recently started building a “library” of books for myself. I started with all the greats I’ve read over the years (Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, etc.), and then have been slowly plodding through more currently respected authors (Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Raymond Feist, etc). And all of this has got me thinking…
The Goal
What am I talking about? I’ll make it simple: I want to start a foundation, raise funds, and eventually construct a brick-and-mortar library that stores only Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, to be located somewhere in Silicon Valley. This is obviously something like 10 years down the road for it to come to fruition, but you have to get started somewhere.
Why?
It’s simple: I love these kinds of books, and almost everyone I’ve met in the geek/nerd category does too. And what is Silicon Valley, if not a bunch of geeks and nerds (maybe they call themselves ‘engineers’ or ’scientists’, but it’s the same thing)? I want to make all the books that we (that’s ‘geeks/nerds’ collectively) have read and love easily available to the upcoming generations of children who don’t read as much.
If the “Millennials” read less than “Generation X”, then whatever they’re labeling the current 10-yr olds as read even less. My generation was wrapped up in TV, video games, and the computer… but with a large helping of the, say it with me now, real world. Many of today’s children are growing up glued to their MMORPGs on either XBOX or the PC, and don’t even realize that the games they spend their lives on (World of Warcraft is a perfect example) started out as a way to visually interact with some books that people read.
How?
This is a big one. I’m not really sure yet, but I’m basing my plans for this off of a South Park episode:
But instead, it looks like:
I’m hoping to appeal to all the inner readers of Silicon Valley that I’m sure are out there. I’d like to get interest, and money, from anyone who wants to donate, but the big proponents would be Presidents/CEOs, rich people [aka. Venture Capitalist's), entire corporate sponsorships, etc.
When?
As I mentioned, this is super-long term. I'm going to start figuring out the paperwork early this year (January/February) and go from there... but I'm assuming that short of some magic happening, 10 years is a good estimate. In this estimate I'm including what I hope will be a custom constructed building whose appearance will match the high flying ideals of this.
Ok...?
I just wanted to put my thoughts out there to the general public. If you're interested in helping, feel free to contact me. I'm also thinking about names for this foundation, and the eventual library, so "[post] ‘em if you got ‘em”.
It probably wasn’t widely covered, but this blog (and the first I’ve heard of it) that gorillas have been seen using “weapons” for the first time in combat recently. Hmm… didn’t we (humans) have a similar moment in time? Other articles have suggested that certain groups of apes/chimpanzees/etc. are developing higher level intelligence through advanced usage of “tools”, hand/signal-based communication, etc.
Pretend With Me
We all evolved from some form of ape, right? Unless you’re one of the few staunch believers in “creationism” as being a realistic idea of how we currently exist (along with the dragons and made up stories), this is the general idea of our history. So, let’s pretend that a species of ape is currently in the midst of “evolving up” (a phrase I just made up to become fully sentient and highly advanced… let’s go with chimpanzees.
Since these chimps are currently (in pretend) making the slow-but-eventual leap towards a stature like ours, you can only assume that at one point they will be physically interacting with us, in an exploratory way, with language. Let’s also pretend that the year that happens is 2020.
What Happens Now?
As wonderful humans, we have the luxury of being the only sentient and advanced (as far as we know) species on the planet. Dolphins are credited with being highly intelligent, but we’ve yet to be able to communicate with them… maybe when we do, they’ll turn out to be like the dolphins in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Anyways, we only have to deal/interact/argue with ourselves. What happens when you add another species to the mix?
Not a podcast, but you get the idea.
In general, humans have been waiting for the appearance of another life form to appear from the skies for hundreds of years… always assuming they will be of higher intelligence and with more advanced technology, waiting to greet us with open arms. Are we prepared to deal with a still-developing species?
Interaction
When the chimpanzees first approach humanity, what will their language be like? Will they still have all that body hair, or will that have been “evolved out”? Will they understand how alike our two species are, or will they see humanity as a strange foe?
I’d like to think that we could live in a peaceful harmony, but something named “history” tells me otherwise. Assuming we come to an understanding on a language basis… what then? Do we let them integrate into our culture and society, if that’s what they want? Or do we try and keep them removed from us so they can develop on their own? Do we provide them with human knowledge, or do we keep them in the dark from even the most basic of things?
Actuality
In truth, chances are that any newly-arrived species that comes from Earth will be directly affected by humans, whether we want to be involved or not. Human rights activists will probably be fighting to “help” them, while others argue against it. But either way, they will see how we are dressed, how we act, and how we live… and it will effect the course of history forever.
Fast Progress
Given everything I’ve said/created/pretended so far, it all adds up to one eventuality: a super-fast hyper-evolution. One day, these chimpanzees will walk out of the forest and communicate with us… another day, not too long from that, they will be our equals. Why? It took us an astronomical amount of time to get to where we currently are, but that was without any outside help (assuming no aliens came down and showed us things). These new super-chimps will have the benefit of human knowledge and experience, and be able to come to a very quick equalization with humans in a fraction of the time it took us.
What if these were the same creatures you saw in a zoo? What then?
Prepare Now
I think this is something that truly needs to be addressed in the scientific community, now. Everyone likes to talk about how “cute” and “humanlike” chimpanzees and other apes are, but I’ve yet to see or hear thoughts on when and how we deal with the eventuality of another branch of evolution (except Planet of the Apes… and that doesn’t count). It may be 200 years or 1000 years, or maybe only 20… who knows?
But it’s going to happen. Think about your grandchildren… do you want them at war with a new species? Or do you want them to learn and interact with this new species for the benefit of everyone?
A random article suggests that anger/rage may be a genetic trait. While the article is pretty short, and doesn’t link directly to the study, if it’s true, it could mean a few things in the future…
It’s like an angry Picasso…
Baby Killing
Want a Utopian society? Well, if this rage gene is truly a “rage gene”, and can be detected early on, who’s to say that “the government” at the time (a world government?) doesn’t ban babies with these genes from being born? “Baby Killing” would be extreme, because we all know abortion is around, but either way it amounts to the same thing.
Super Soldiers
You know all of those movies where there’s a race of super soldiers? That could easily become a reality if “the government” decides not to prevent these rageaholic infants from being born, but rather makes sure to …acquire… all of them for early , and life-long, military training.
Segregation
Pretend that a bunch of these super-ragers figured out their genetic secret, and started banding together. You could very easily end up with a segregated, or “caste” if you prefer, world: the super angry in control of the world, and the rest of us “normals” living in subhuman colonies.
Feel the anger, my child…
Bleak?
I realize I painted a pretty bleak picture, and there’s obviously ways this could never happen (like, if it’s not real), but it’s always fun to try and figure out how apocalyptic movie scenarios can happen in real life, don’t you think?
This is definitely filed under “Coolest News This Week”: it is apparently now theoretically possible to create ‘wormholes’ (ala Star Trek or Stargate) on Earth, and use them as point-to-point relays.
Oh Yeah!
Not Exactly…
If you read into the article, you may get highly disappointed. Let me save you from the trouble: we’re not talking about the ability for people to “teleport” or anything. It was made clear that the most practical application would be in the medical world, moving or inserting very small objects into certain places, or for computers’ calculation processes.
Yeah, But
Who cares, right? The fact that you could do something like this would, itself, be awesome, regardless of whether people could go through it or not. Let’s pretend that, as the article mentions, computer components could be “sent” through such a wormhole…
Instant Delivery
If every household had a small portal, or wormhole device, it would have endless uses. The most obvious? The destruction of traditional mail services! No longer would you have to wait 5-7 days for a letter to come from your grandma! No longer would you have to wait for “somewhere around the 15th of the month” for that electricity bill to show up! It would be instantaneous. Maybe even package delivery too, so you could get your shipment of steroids from Mexico faster…
Other Applications
Here’s some other applications I see coming from this:
Not The Space-Time Kind, But The EMF Kind
A Long Ways Away
Anything like this is a long ways away, much like quantum computing or that invisibility cloak, but it’s cool to think about anyways. But it’d be even better if it had uses like human transportation, or interstellar space travel…
Recently, I came across a release from Harvard University that’s titled “Engineered weathering process could mitigate global warming”. I was pretty interested, so I read on.
The Basics
I won’t get into all the details, since you can read for yourself, but it’s “simple” to understand, at least in a broad concept (I have no idea how it’s actually done). Long story short, the title is a little misleading, because this is not a way to control weather, but rather to manipulate our environment to slow/reverse global warming. How?
Burn, baby, burn.
It involves a topic that has been discusses many times: the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this case, they claim to be able to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and permanently transfer it to the ocean (a pool of water in a lab?), by some complicated process. Apparently, this happens naturally, and they are only replicating this process on a faster time-table.
The Benefits
The benefits of such a process, were it to be implemented, should be pretty obvious. A slowdown of global warming (”if it exists!”), or even a reversal, would be highly lauded around the world… especially by greedy corporations, and China, who have a large footprint, yet don’t care to do anything about it unless forced.
Hello, Exxon.
The Negatives
In other research projects / thought-experiments on such processes, there have been a few “problems” with such a process [Note: I won't link to any specific one, but if you Google it, you'll find many valid results]. The biggest one? It should be the most obvious… the effect on oceanic life.
It’s common knowledge that fish take oxygen out of the water to breathe, right? What happens when you add an over-abundance of CO2 to the same water? Many scientists claim you’ll end up hurting, if not killing, many fish and other ocean-based creatures, as well as making shrimp questionable to eat (because of poisoning).
The Answer?
I’m not sure there really is an answer to this, as to whether or not humanity should inflict it’s problems on other life-forms of the same planet, but I do know this: out of global warming “control” / “reversal”, it’s quite possible that we will see complete weather control, ala “Weather” in Frank Herbert’s Dune books.
Not really what I had in mind…
Why? If you can control the amount of CO2 in the air, it then follows that you can directly control the temperature. (If you didn’t follow that: global warming is occurring because we are trapping excess heat within our atmosphere due to gases. If you remove those gases, less heat is trapped.) This, at least to me, would seem to be the first step in weather control.
Now if only we could figure out how to make hurricanes disappear…
I’ve been purposely avoiding writing anything about Google’s new OpenSocial project. Why? Because it had the potential to go in a few different directions and be used different ways, and I wanted the hype to die down before seeing what it’s actually worth. (If you’re totally in the dark, read this and this, and about how it was hacked.)
The Hype
If you believe all the hype, this new initiative may be the end of “walled” social networks, meaning that users would put their data in a centralized location, and then distribute it as they wish to other networks and services.
Hello, Michael Arrington.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is a good idea in principle. Places like Ning, 37Signals, and LinkedIn (despite the fact that I hate Ning) are among the first major supporters of this, and are lauding it’s praises as if it’s the best thing since sliced bread. And the blog network (aka TechCrunch, Mashable, RW/W, etc.) is falling over themselves with self-promotional joy, except for the always-straight-shooting O’Reilly.
The Problem
Here’s the central problem: the hype is about “open data”, and yet OpenSocial is being used to create “applications” that can exist on any social network platform, not de-privatizing data. Who really cares if you can SuperCrotchPunch all your friends across 131 different social networks? No-one (except preteens and frat boys).
Also, these applications have apparently been hacked. It’s unclear as to whether this was Google’s fault or the individual network’s, but it is a problem nonetheless. I know I don’t want my data screwed with by some guy who figured out how the system works… do you?
How about “I VampireStabbed Your Mom”?
The Future
If you poke around the Google Code pages for OpenSocial, you’ll find something called “Data API”, which is labeled as “not released” and only provides documentation. But it gives insight into the true intentions of Google…
It appears that sometime in the near future, this “set of APIs” will be used for what everyone thinks it will (cross-network data), or at least be available for use. The companies/services that had access to these APIs before the general public may already be integrating the next release, but nothing’s been said.
The Final Countdown
Here’s how it breaks down: as it stands, OpenSocial is pretty worthless. Most of the “applications” on these social networks are stupid, childish, and totally worthless, so there’s no need to port them to other systems. In the event that Google does what it claims to be doing, aka “tear down [these] wall[s]“, then chances are it will be successful…
Um, yes?
But the question is will this be done with the lack of enthusiasm as other Google releases, or with the fervor of a true PR engine? The fate of the Internet’s data and Google’s dominance over search may depend on their next few dance steps.
Oh, and Facebook needs to be involved for this to be 100% successful. Which remains doubtful.
Mozilla recently released an early version of a new project called “Prism”… not at catchy or anthropomorphic as their other projects… What does it do? It’s quite elementary, my dear Watson: it brings the internet home.
Explain, Please…
Until now, using the internet has been restricted to two methods: through a browser, or in a desktop-based widget. The futurists of technology love to say that the browser is the new OS, but here’s a newsflash: you can’t run the browser by itself. It does, and always will, need some sort of operating system to run on top of. Period.
Keep it up, Mozilla, and you’ll rule the world…
But with the release of Prism, desktop and web integration come one step closer… web applications that run and appear as if they are desktop applications.
Why Is This Important?
This is huge, not only because it’s ‘cool’, but also because of a certain technological wonder: threading. As Uncov loves to point out, the main problem with using a web browser to run applications (ignoring the obvious programming limitations) is process threading. For the uninitiated, the basic concept is that a computer processor allots memory/time/resources to every program… but if you’re trying to do things that step outside the bounds (say, edit video from within a browser), your video editing lags because it has to go through the browser before it gets to the processor. Long story short, if everything’s locked in a browser (especially if you’ve noticed Firefox’s memory leaks), you get screwed in the end because of memory issues.
Right, But…
You still don’t see it? How about this example…
[example]
Gideon Wanker (”Giddy” for short) users Gmail for all email, Google Calendar for his scheduling, Google Documents for his word processing, and Google Reader for news. Why? Because he likes that he can access all of this from anywhere with an internet connection, and avoid data storage/transfer problems. But the problem is that he has to keep a tab open for all of these if he wants to multitask, which probably creates noticeable lag time after a while.
And then Giddy installs Prism, which allows web applications to run independently. Suddenly each one of his favorite tools become separate entities, each running a different instance… response times are faster, it’s more akin to the “desktop environment” everyone is used to, and most importantly he can now Alt+Tab between the different windows!
[/example]
…Ok, that last one was a joke.
Yeah, this doesn’t really apply here.
The End Game
Do you see where this leaves the “future of the Internet”? Despite how much I hate the idea of doing stupid things like editing video through some web service, or other such nonsense… it gives the ability for people to actually create products that might have some impact because they can be used in the manner intended.
This is the point where you go “ahhh! I see!” and tell your buddies about how you realize that the OS will never go away, and that a “Web OS” is even more pointless… but you like the idea of using web applications in a desktop environment.
The BBC seems to think that America is experiencing a “phase” of Atheism, and that we are supposedly the “most religious country in the world.” There’s a few things wrong here…
The BBC
Does it seem weird to anyone else that the BBC, a most-definitely non-American news source, is reporting on one of the hardest things to track… inside America? Something tells me their Canadian/British point of view might have skewed things a little bit, especially considering we kicked the Union Jack to the ground a long time ago…
Religion
American Duality
I’m not going to assume that the rest of the world knows this, but within America people are more than aware of the dual nature of things, and the ability to create smoke-and-mirrors like no other culture, country, or organization. Why is this important? All children are brought up in America knowing the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the phrase “One Nation, Under God”, and seeing the phrase “In God We Trust” on our currency. And yet, these same children are also taught of the innate separation of Church and State, and the importance of that dynamic.
Many Americans pride themselves on being able to say one thing, and do another… this is a perfect example. While we claim that America is not affiliated with any religion, think about the religious preferences and other characteristics of our current and past Presidents. One phrase comes to mind: “WASP” (or a slight permutation of it).
Religion
There are more religions inside the boundaries of America than I can even count; some of them aren’t even real (*cough* Scientology *cough*). With so many choices, it would be hard to pin a certain religion to any group of people, especially when you consider that many Americans “believe in God” but don’t associate themselves with a specific church or religion, and may not attend any services/gatherings.
Difference of Generation
It’s widely known that today’s younger generations (15 - late 20’s), across the world, have been radically changing behaviors and ideas that were previously accepted the de facto standard. Asia is a good example of this, with the lessening importance on their past culture and a greater focus on Americanization.
Now, consider statistics you may find on atheism/agnosticism. What you should discover is that there exists the typical pockets of “non-believers” in the science/engineering/academic sectors, but that there is an interesting correlation … today’s teenagers and young adults believe in God (or some equivalent) substantially less than previous generations.
Why?
(There are no real reasons you can define for this, so I’ll just provide my own personal speculations, which may or may not be valid.)
With the advent of technology and a greater awareness of science, those involved statistically don’t believe in a higher being. Considering the rate of adoption for technology in the younger age groups, this is a valid point to consider. Does an understanding of how a computer works lead to a disbelief in God? Or does the understanding of DNA, and the science behind evolution?
Not only does science/technology seem to play a great role in this, but perhaps a mere factor of “time” as well. Between video games, school, the Internet, friends, sports, etc. an American’s time is very much divided… and sitting with a group of people in a room or building being, for all intents and purposes, silent may be seen as a waste of time, or not an efficient use. Church is no longer just “boring” but it “doesn’t fit” into their schedules.
Evolution has long since outpaced Creation.
Future
I’m not arguing that religion has disappeared from America’s horizons, but instead suggesting that it may do so in the near future. Analysts have suggested that when my generation matures in 20 years there may be significant changes in things currently taken for granted… can religion be one of these? We all expect to have computers implanted in our heads, cellphones in our ears, and other such technological advancements.
Where is the room for a belief in a controlling supernatural force?
