Category Archives: The Future

The Mister Burns Problem

Okay. This is another strange essay brought on by, in equal measures, pop-tarts, the death of Jerry Falwell, reading odd websites and doing laundry in the small hours of the morning. As stated elsewhere on this site, I believe that … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on The Mister Burns Problem

Utopia?

I believe some pretty sketchy things: I believe that the premise of strong AI is sound. I believe that artificial life is already here. I believe the premise of molecular nanotechnology is sound. I believe the premise of cryonics. I … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on Utopia?

Education Stinks

Why is it that education seems so resistent to technological improvement?
Continue reading

Posted in Books, Science and Engineering, The Future | Comments Off on Education Stinks

Yes, more stuff about accessibility

By way of Amor Mundi, I found a link to this really interesting site called, the Open Prothesthics Project. This is nifty to me on several levels. It ties into accessibility and assistive technology. It ties into open source engineering. … Continue reading

Posted in Games, Science and Engineering, The Future, Webmastering | Comments Off on Yes, more stuff about accessibility

The Emergence of Sapience from the Internet

A week ago I read a short story by Tad Williams about the spontaneous emergence of sapience from the Internet. It wasn’t really that good. Arthur Clarke did it many decades earlier and did it much better. Anyway, uninformed amateur … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on The Emergence of Sapience from the Internet

We'll muddle through

After swapping out the power supply and CPU fan with higher quality models, one of my desktops is finally quiet enough to contribute to the SETI at Home. This project is a small way I can contribute to science without … Continue reading

Posted in Personal, The Future | 5 Comments

Bill and Ray call for security by obscurity

About a week or so ago Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy condemned the publication of the genome of the virus responsible for the flu epidemic of 1918. Kurzweil in particular called for the genome to be censored. I’m not an … Continue reading

Posted in Science and Engineering, Security and Privacy, The Future | Comments Off on Bill and Ray call for security by obscurity

Thinking about labor and education

Well it’s more than a month since I’ve said anything. Mostly this was writer’s block and other preoccupations. But to resume: It’s common now for labor to outsourced from countries with high living standards and strong regulation to countries with … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | Comments Off on Thinking about labor and education

The Bet

And before you get the idea that it’s all glowing wonders and rose-tinted glasses here at the mighty, mighty Farlops Industries, let me say few words about an essay I read over at Worldchanging the other day. This planet is … Continue reading

Posted in The Future | 2 Comments

Fashion modeling and athletics are doomed

We pay some people very good money because their bodies have certain talents in running around in a field chasing a ball or jumping through hoops or some such nonsense. We pay others very good money simply because certain aspects … Continue reading

Posted in Science and Engineering, Science Fiction, The Future | Comments Off on Fashion modeling and athletics are doomed