Friday, March 16, 2012

The Finance Equation


A terrific article, courtesy kurzweilai.net/, offers an interesting and chilling premise:
Will corporations prevent the Singularity?

Given how unenlightened many companies are, the possibly of something like this happening is certainly not impossible though the web, and the connects it engenders, make this happenstance, IMHO, a remote possibility though other factors such as climate change, environment degration and resource depletion could do the deed without corporate assistance. With this in mind, Ben Goertzel's take on finance and the viability of companies in the future is both original and compelling when viewed through the lens of accelerating tech. 



Interestingly enough, the future of finance in the 24th century was intelligently discussed in First Contact when Lily was transported to the Enterprise in order to save her life. During her recovery, Picard explained to her how civilization functions in his time, something very different from Lily's tumultuous year of 2063 marking the end of the second dark age of man thanks to Zefram Cochran's invention of warp drive. Food for thought if you ask me. 




Forever Now


Cronozoom rocks. Time anyone? 13 billion years and counting, it's an interactive offering from Microrsoft Labs and US Berkley. Check it out, CZ is a time killer to the max but at least one can learn some really interesting stuff while doing the deed. :) Enjoy. 

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Transition


Creating physical books as a viable business venture in today's connected world is finished, (Lavish art books remain the lone exception.) a topic BRT has talked about on numerous occasions in the past but the niggling doubt on when the transition would finally occur depended on a device able to render type and images at a resolution equivalent to the printed page in a form factor amenable to reading, something considered to be doable but remained, at the time, to be out of reach, until now. The new iPAD changes all of that and yes, I will get one because the impact of this device goes beyond imagination.

Note: Yours truly is NOT a fanboy of Apple although after seeing this, one never knows, do one? :)

Addendum: I got one. The guesstimate is correct. This is the first of a multitude of devices consigning print to the dustbin of history, a fact yours truly finds both sad and disquieting at the same time.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Catching Some Rays


Catching some rays, a term often used in the late 60's when one wanted to become a lizard and soak up the sun big time, now applies to solar energy whereby imitating how the cochlea works enables metamaterials to absorb light with unprecedented efficiency, an absolute requirement if solar is to become a prime driver in changing how we do business on planet earth.


But it gets better.


For 60 years, man has talked about the brave new world of tech and how it will change everything, a notion always viewed in the abstract, an event always consigned to the future. Well, that concept is forever gone, replaced by the fact tech is changing society in ways unable to be predicted at rates unimagined just a few years ago, something to consider as we move further into the future, don't you think?


Addendum: This terrific animation shows the inner workings of the cochlea and how it's design applies to the saw tooth way of building revolutionary solar tech, which shows, in direct fashion, how acute observation, combined with knowledge and a sense of play, leads to acts of creation that can change the world.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Beauty Is...


When looking at these wonderful pictures of earth from space, one readily sees nature's inherent beauty, something often forgotten when dealing with the uncertain vagaries of life. Enjoy.


Sunday, March 04, 2012

Vorticity


Everybody knows the web is getting really congested, that traffic is predicted to rise 18 fold within the next 5 years, a fact  making everyone nervous as to how the net will be able to handle this increase without blowing up. Well, help is on the way in a form looking like this.





Works for me.

Electronica



How wired we have become. This intense & very cool video, from White Com'Prod,
a French production company, says it all.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Key Words


The words contained in this word cloud is but a small sampling of words being analyzed by The Department of Homeland Security, the "wonderful" government agency given to us by "W", the most esteemed of presidents. Just go to Animal to see the entire list, which theoretically could indite us all given just how extensive the list truly is.

David Brin is right. We want the right to be left alone as privacy is forever gone and one must learn to live with it whether one likes it or not. 

His insightful quote says it all.

Switch: Do you think that the costs involved in maintaining personal privacy are greater (or could become greater), than any utility of maintaining privacy?


David Brin: Depends on whether you mean real privacy or illusory privacy. Many people want the subjective sensation of being left alone. They understand – and don't mind – that governments and corporations know all about them, as long as those forces are polite and don't rub it in. Other people are concerned about actually controlling what is known about them by others. This latter goal can be difficult, costly, and frustratingly impossible.


The third kind of privacy – the kind we may be able to achieve – comes from having an enforceable right to be left mostly alone. This can come only from protecting yourself by knowing more, rather than trying to prevent others from knowing.

And so it goes - KV

Rendered Speechless


The perfect device to control bloviators, whether they be in Congress or in any other discipline where one is deemed a pundit. :)


Ah, the wonders of tech in controlling something needing to be controlled without question. 

Greed is Good


One of the all time greats, Wall Street, a movie showing that Greed is Good, also applies to how the rich deal with ethics and morality.


But it gets better...

In two field studies on driving behavior, upper-class motorists were found to be four times more likely than the other drivers to cut off other vehicles at a busy four-way intersection and three times more likely to cut off a pedestrian waiting to enter a crosswalk. 


Another study found that upper-class participants presented with scenarios of unscrupulous behavior were more likely than the individuals in the other socio-economic classes to report replicating this type of behavior themselves.


Participants in the fourth study were assigned tasks in a laboratory where a jar of candy, reserved for visiting children, was on hand, and were invited to take a candy or two. Upper-class participants helped themselves to twice as much candy as did their counterparts in other classes.

Being entitled has it's perks, just ask the banksters in Wall Street to see why.