Posts this Month

Archived Posts

Categories

Better than life

In the Sci-Fi series ‘Gateway‘ by Frederik Pohl the main character had access to a AI VR system that could stand in for him for phone calls and virtual meetings.  It had sufficient knowledge of his requirements and how he thought so he could be in many places at once and in communication with several people at once.  (and that is before he dies and becomes a multitasking computer program but that’s another story.)

So when I read about this project called LifeLike I could see that they are looking at creating a similar program and that they are right at the start of the project.    I see the visual component coming on in leaps and bounds a bit like the special effects in films where they can actually replace actors like they have done with Oliver Reed where when he died whilst in the middle of  filming he was replaced by a computer generated image in Gladiator.

I’m also fairly confident that they can generate a computer program that thinks like me 95% of the time and can respond to certain stimuli.  Something I could use when chatting on IMs to people about low profile stuff where I could be called to help when it got a bit deep.  What I’m not convinced about is they can create one for business use.   One that would last five minutes in a business like environment without getting me fired and summarily executed.

I still think we are decades and several generations of hardware away from that sort of AI but we are woring towards it.     To be honest it’s also an area I would love to be involved with as AI is one of my interests and things have moved on significantly from when I was looking at it with programs like LISP just to provide chat based systems that provided basic AI functionality.

Methane Power

Not long ago I remember looking at Methane as a replacement for our current gas supply and it appeared that scientists decided it was too dangerous, messy and uneconomical to use.

Now this article seems to be raising the subject again and this time it seems to be viable. Methane is stored in ice and apparently it’s easy to retrieve it and pump it out for use.

As usual though there is still the concern about the CO2 and it seems that is where the ice storage comes in useful. The ice which used to store the methane can also be used to store CO2. So CO2 is pumped in to replace the methane extracted. Sounds like a win win there.

From the article it appears though that our whingy whiney people are still not happy with this and still want to push us back to renewable energy. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the west was to legislate itself back to the stone age while countries like China, Iran etc. may dig their heels in and move to the future with their own fuel supplies guaranteed, cheap and readily available.

Although bear this in mind. Oil, methane and gas are renewable energy. It’s just the timescales that are too long.

Space 1999 revisited

Many many moons ago back in the mid 70′s there was a Sc-Fi series called ‘Space 1999‘, in it a nuclear accident send the moon wandering through space endlessly looking for a new home and finding strange alien life and adventures.   Having grown up a bit and thinking through the science made my transition from believing Sci-Fi to seeing it as entertainment.

So when I read this article about moving the Earth to save it from burning up in the later stages of our sun’s life I was a bit surprised that this was actually a serious scientific article.   It had facts and everything which involved moving the Earth a little bit to keep the sun’s output on the Earth constant so we didn’t burn up.   It looks feasible but very dangerous and there is much that is uncertain but if we put our minds to it we could reduce the risks and clear up the uncertainties.   Although for what purpose I am unclear.   It seems that gaining another 200,000 years is the end point.    Too little too late.

Realistically though when it comes down to it there is only one real option available for moving the Earth and that is to stick a very big engine on it with some sort of stasis field to hold it together.  As you can tell I don’t see this happening for a while and luckily the sun isn’t due to heat up so much for another few billion years.    Long enough to develop such technology.

We could then move the Earth from this solar system and place it in the sweet spot around a younger star.    Much more than 200,000 years available there although I suspect that when we get to that time, if we are still alive, we will have outgrown this planet and have left it a long time ago.

Maybe we will preserve it as a zoo and museum piece for sentimental reasons.   Our home planet Earth.

Africa as a food supplier

Here is a short but interesting article on how Africa alone could supply the world with food.

Now personally I don’t quite see us ever getting to the stage where we all rely on Africa for food.  It may happen but probably not.  What I did find interesting though is the number of people who don’t think it can be done.   In the meantime most people in Africa live off the land and there was a time when Zimbabwe was known as the Bread Basket of Africa.  Before socialists took over of course.  Now they can’t even cater for a summer fete and is now known as one of those basket cases.  Seems there is a mindset that Africa can’t look after itself which is clearly untrue.

I cannot understand why we have not spent some of that otherwise wasted aid money on building the infrastructure to enable more farming in Africa.   Investments in making the land fertile, ensuring it is watered, selecting the right crops and feeding them.    The more we set this up the better for us all and then when they have surplus crops or specialities that we can buy that will help them economically.    It’ll also help us by getting rid of all these charities with CEOs earning 100K and stopping us being taxed to give dictators gold plated AK47s.

Evolution not revolution

Sometimes the simplest things are the things that please us the most.

Here is a new design for the UK 240v plug and it doesn’t even need the sockets changed so no big expensive changes.

Evolution.  Nice, simple and elegant.   About time too.    The next stage of course is to build in a similar size transformer.

Longevity enzymes

Scientists have long shown that a diet close to starvation extends the life of test animals.    Well we know that starvation can’t be the only criteria or Africans would all be living beyond 100.

Now it appears that they have isolated two enzymes when coupled with the dietary requirements can help to extend your life.   Read here.   So looks like we could soon be looking at a new diet and some special enzymes as well as your viagra as part of your keep fit regime.   If you have the energy to move after a starvation diet.

What I find interesting is that when you look at all the people that have lived long lifespans none of them look like they have ever been on the brink of starvation.     Makes you wonder if this is actually taking us down the wrong path.

I hope so.   Because it makes you wonder if starving for decades is actually a good way to gain an extra few years.  There is the balance to be made between enjoying life, and some bacon, and just living.    I’m holding out for something better.   I’m sure it’s out there just waiting for someone to stumble across it and save us.

Nature or Nurture?

Nature or nurture the age old question.

Personally, I don’t think there is any question at all. It’s clearly nurture.

I think at birth we are all a rough hewn piece of wood like a log. Within that wood is the potential for many things but it also has some structure inside. This structure is genetic. As time goes on many things take chunks out of the wood. A bad experience in the water, a good experience on holiday, a death, a good teacher, a bad teacher, other good and bad influences in our lives, all these and more make changes to the basic wood and each make their impact on that persons personality. Good or bad, sometimes a bit of both. Sometimes the structure in the wood changes the cut that an individual is making and unintentional changes are made. The structure makes some people just unable to handle numbers, have word salad, vivid imaginations, short tempers, weak muscles, etc. There are many different structures in the wood and very little you can do to modify them although these structures can actually work out to be positive if the rest of the wood is cut well. As an example a structured mind can be a benefit to a Sherlock Holmes or a Moriarty. A steady hand to an assassin or a surgeon.  Same skill but different morals and intentions.

I believe that most of us do not realise our potentials because we have the wrong teachers, parents or environment to bring out the best from us. Imagine if Michelangelo had not been given the opportunity to practise painting. We may never have heard of him. What about if Gordo had been educated by a decent maths teacher and had a father figure who had a bit of joy in him. It’s unfortunate but its life and all of us have unrealised potential because of our upbringing and circumstances.

Now regarding the statement I made in an earlier post that killers are born not made. We all have a bit of killer in us. It’s part of our sense of survival. However most of us never have to use it. Again imagine Michelangelo not painting. An unrealised potential. Then when a situation arises a person can quickly discover they can kill and they are good at it. Training can also bring out the potential but like everything else if there is no latent skill then there is no potential to unleash.

Everyone has potential. Everyone has capabilities just waiting to be discovered. That is what makes the screwup with education in our countries so sad. How many Michelangelo’s have passed through a pretty uneventful life because they didn’t have the chance to practise art? How many potential Einsteins, Newtons, Franklins, Dickens, Adam Smiths, Tom Paines, etc. etc. have we lost because of our Disney education systems?

On the plus side. How many Dahmers, Mansons, Gordos, Mansons, etc. have been averted by the right people giving them guidance and leading them down different paths?

We all have the potential in each of us to change the world. Let’s not waste it.

Adaptation. Why we are number one

Some research to back up which many of us already suspected.

Our minds adapt to cater for physical changes.  Read here about how use of simple tools changed perceptions on reach etc.

Personally though I believe that when we finally get around to attaching new limbs to our bodies and connecting them via our central nervous system so we can control them we will very quickly learn to use these extra limbs with the same casual abandon we do currently with all of our limbs at the moment.

The human mind is a wonderful tool and we have a long way to go before we find out all it can do.

Unborn and already labelled a criminal

Congratulations my dear.  You are pregnant.  It’s a boy and I think you should know we have just booked a cell for him in 18 years and six months.   Social services will be around in the next fortnight to arrange taking him away when he is born.  Have a nice day.

It seems that scientists have identified a gene that will identify if someone is in a gang or has violent tendencies.    Now clearly unborn babies are not in any gangs unless mummy takes them along for a trip so that statement as it stands can’t be right.    They must mean they can identify from a gene marker that the person is likely to be in a gang and/or has violent tendencies.

Admittedly the scientists say that you can’t draw a straight link between the gene and gangs and violence but for some reason I just don’t see our politicians actually listening to that bit and if the gene is found predominantly in particular areas of our society I actually don’t see them caring either.  You can imagine the sales pitch yourself.

Personally I believe nurture has more of an influence than they imply here.   Brought up well means that that future will not be.  Allow them to be brought up in this dysfunctional society with or without the gene leads to them looking for a new family, the gangs.

I do believe true killers are born.  The others fall into it by misfortune.  True killers are only discovered when the situation reveals their true self.   So this gene just confirms what I have thought all along.   But most of those with it don’t take that step unless fate intervenes.

It’s the wrong time in our history for those with that gene to be born into society.  I can see our lords and masters booking a prison cell for the poor sods 18th birthday and social services planning their lives from birth until the cell is ready.

Guilty before you are born though.   Talk about Pre-Crime.    In today’s climate you would think the scientists would have more sense and have a lot to answer for.

Now this is more like the nature we know

Read here about how the Gaia model we have been calling Mother Earth is not quite accurate and she is more like Medea.   Not much chance of building a retreat in North Wales when we get to this stage though.

Although it is interesting that the trigger for these cataclysmic events is actually a shortage of CO2 according to these scientists.  The same CO2 we seem to be working so hard to get rid of according to politicians and TV engineers.   Mmmm.   Lucky for us they have no chance of meeting their targets.

Having read this it does have the sting of truth.    On the plus side by the time we get there, if we survive that long, we will have developed space travel and be well gone and the Earth will be a safari park which we will visit like we do the zoo nowadays.    I wonder if any of the animals we have on this planet now will actually be still there.    Maybe the cockroaches and that sad polar bear on that small ice floe.   It’ll make a great picture for someone and a rallying cry for the Save the Earth campaign.   Oh!