Mystical experiences aren’t special because everyone has them or has the potential to have them. Mystical experience is just brain activity driven by internal feedback (Trance, prayer, meditation, obssession and so on.) or environmental factors (Drugs, starvation, fatigue, pain and so on.). This means we all have the potential to turn into prophets. Since we [...]
I’ve been watching the transhumanist movement from afar for many years now. I think they can be viewed as a facet of a growing paradox. The technology that allows us to completely engineer human beings into new species is driven into being from the needs and urges to heal human beings. The luddites, religious conservatives [...]
Many of my friends have been on Internet for years and years. They have the knowing of the Way of the Machine. And they know what to do when it comes to keeping their mail accounts free of spam, worms, viruses, trojans and other bad mojo. But some of my friends do not. Now I [...]
Using a process called thermal depolymerization, a pilot project in Philadelphia turns garbage (Ground up computers, old tires, animal carcasses and sewage.) into oil. The company that built the plant has managed to recreate and greatly accelerate the natural processes that convert minerals and organic matter into oil. Said company claims this will extend the [...]
People with motor impairment can now steer wheelchairs with their thoughts thanks to a skullcap lined with tiny electrodes that sense brainwaves. Neurology has advanced to a point were we can write software that recogonizes specific patterns and locations in human brain activity. These patterns correspond to specific commands like turning, breaking or acceleration.
Marshall Brain (Damn, I wish I had a name like that!) predicts that new strides in robotics and automation will eventually lead to massive unemployment. Of course, this subject has been raised before, and so far, nothing has come of it. But this time Brain thinks it’s serious.
Ziff pointed to the site of the band he plays bass in, The Moonlighters. They go for that retro, latin, swing, jazz feel and include stuff from the neo-swing revival. As an old school ska and punk fan, I agree, pop music needs a lot more horns and accordians.
A little fireworks java applet for ya! Courtesy of da Lawman!
By way of MetaFilter, I found a 17MB movie about the future of global law enforcement. In several ways, this had a greater impact on me than Matrix Reloaded or T3.
If I had a 100 dollars for every rant I’ve seen on the Internet condemning that same network, I’d be a rich man. Yes, the Internet is full of shit. Yawn. Tell us something we don’t know already. Sturgeon said that 90% of everything is crap. This is hardly news. And I’ve been just as [...]