Hm… could the world of Darrell Bain’s The Pet Plague be far behind? 😉 Or more seriously, the brain enhancements of Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy, or any of a dozen similar science fiction works?
Scary stuff, but ooh so exciting, too.
“‘Cookie Monster’ Offers Best Explanation Yet for Occupy Wall Street”
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
I’m going on the possibly-naive assumption that most rich people got that way honestly, and deserve everything they’ve earned (though not the ridiculous tax breaks they currently enjoy), and that it’s just a few crooked ones who are using their ill-gotten gains to manipulate the political system and screw the rest of us. Of course, the crooked ones are the ones that stand out, and the ones that need to be pounded into the ground.
“War boffin: Killer cyber attacks *won’t* happen”
Sorry, conservative politicians. You can’t use cyberspace as an excuse to continue your campaign to involve the US in a major war every twenty years or so. But don’t be too disappointed, it wouldn’t kill enough young men to satisfy you, or be very lucrative for your weapon-manufacturing backers, anyway.
“Autism Traits Prove Valuable for Software Testing”
As mentioned previously here, autistic people tend to interpret things as black and white, all-true or all-false, no shades of gray allowed. That’s almost certainly why many of us are drawn to working with computers, because computers “think” the same way.
Nice to see someone recognizing that as a strength and putting it to good use.
“DeLorean goes electric for 2013 roll-out”
Wow, talk about Back to the Future. Though at that price, it’s more like back to the bank’s loan officer… I don’t think I’ll be indulging in this one.
(They’ll either make a mint or lose their shirts, depending on how many people are rich enough — and interested enough — to buy one. But then, that’s always the question in business.)
Light-Fields, Megaray Sensors — Camera 3.0?
A camera that allows you to snap the shot anytime and worry about focusing it later, and that automatically records true 3D-compatible images? It sounds like twenty-first century technology to me. 🙂
In fact, it sounds very much like the 3D imaging technology described in Asimov’s The Caves of Steel, that allowed detective Elijah Bailey to see the critical clue in police recordings of the original murder scene long after the scene itself was cleaned up. All it might take is several of these around the perimeter of the room, and some as-yet-to-be-invented way to project the result and easily focus on whatever you want in it — all things that I suspect are well within our capabilities even today, now that we’ve got a way to record the data.
And once we’ve got that, what’s to stop us from making true 3D movies — not movies you just watch in pseudo-3D, but that are “surround-sight” as well as surround-sound, and truly 3D-interactive?
The future is bright… and easily refocused. 😉
“Porn Then and Now: Welcome to Brain Training”
Some fascinating brain research on how the ready availability of Internet porn has changed things for younger generations — and more importantly, the medical reason why:
[…] Your brain didn’t evolve to handle today’s erotica-at-a-click. It doesn’t just see videos; it perceives endless fertilization opportunities, and it will use its dopamine “whip” to make sure you fertilize as many as possible—whatever the cost to you. Instead of getting off and getting on with life, today’s viewers often continue for as long as they can stay awake—unaware that they may be at risk for addiction or performance problems. […]
The blog (aptly named “Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow: Biology has plans for your love life”) has a lot of other similarly-themed articles too, such as Are You Hooked on Porn? Ask ASAM and Porn-Induced Sexual Dysfunction Is a Growing Problem:
[…] Lots of guys, 20s or so, can’t get it up anymore with a real girl, and they all relate having a serious porn/masturbation habit. Guys will never openly discuss this with friends or co-workers, for fear of getting laughed out of town. But when someone tells their story on a health forum, and there are 50-100 replies from other guys who struggle with the same thing. This is for real. […]
I’ve always been of the opinion that it didn’t hurt anything for teenagers to look at porn. I did, and I know most my friends did too, and almost all of us went on to healthy adult relationships. But my porn was always in small doses, rather than as an endless supply, which apparently makes a big difference:
[…] There’s a kicker though. The capacity of our teen to wire up new sexual associations mushrooms around 11 or 12 when billions of new neural connections (synapses) create endless possibilities. However, by adulthood his brain must prune his neural circuitry to leave him with a manageable assortment of choices. By his twenties, he may not exactly be stuck with the sexual proclivities he falls into during adolescence, but they can be like deep ruts in his brain—not easy to ignore or reconfigure. […]
And then there’s the “Coolidge Effect?”:
[…] What happens when you drop a male rat into a cage with a receptive female rat? First, there’s a sexual frenzy. Then, the male progressively tires of that particular female. Even if she wants more he has had enough. However, replace the original female with a fresh one, and presto! The male revives and gallantly struggles to fertilize her. You can repeat this process with fresh females until he nearly dies of exhaustion. […]
With my interest in both the human brain and feedback systems in general, this stuff fascinates me.
“The Rise of Crime-Sourcing”
The Internet is good for a lot of things… not all of them good.
(Via Schneier on Security)
“8 Reasons Young Americans Don’t Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance”
I’ve often wondered why things were so different in my parents’ childhood books, which I often read as a child myself. Teenagers seemed far freer to do things in those days than what I experienced in my youth, as well as far more willing. While part of that might be poetic license and wishful thinking on the authors’ parts, it was too common across too many different authors to dismiss entirely.
Today I discovered this article, and it helps to explain the differences. And it looks like they’ve gotten even worse since I was a child.
I don’t know what could be done about it, or even if anything should be done. To me it looks like a very bad thing, but it could well turn out to be very good in the long run, through some twist that I can’t see at present. I guess time alone will tell.
“Social net sites do wonders for crooks, spooks and bosses”
Food for thought: “Computers are making people easier to use everyday.”