A new article on SciDevNet explores the possibilities associated with Africa developing on its own, wholly new terms. It's certainly thought-provoking.
- N
9.8.08
Imagine if you will...
...a world with Africa at the forefront of scientific development. An Africa uninhibited by the economic restraints imposed by the west. A continent in dire need of medical and technological advances and free from the baggage of industrial infrastructure (and its associated mindset) could certainly become any early home for the birth of the singularity.
23.7.08
The Computer is in Your DNA
Kate,
I often think that post-singularity, computers will become a part of the human body on a completely fundamental level. Computing systems that can integrate completely with the bits and pieces of us will be commonplace. Effectively turning everyone into an entire network worth of computing activity.
Well, leave it to Japan to take the first steps towards this reality:
The researchers involved see the technology they are pioneering as a way to create low-energy computers with fake DNA strands and enzymes. But what if we were to harness the computational power of our very real DNA to run applications in wetware? A million thoughts for the potential here come to mind. Certainly it's not a wholly novel idea, but it does bear some consideration.
- N
3.7.08
The Singularity's Garden
Kate,
These "plants" by a Korean roboticist and installation artist are almost certainly something you'd expect to find in a technologically transcendent future, no? Choe U Ram has created walls of "vines" that respond to human presence by manipulating the air, gorgeous flowers that communicate with one another with LEDs other intricate creations that seem to exist as artifacts from a future where organic and electronic have merged.
I'm most reminded of the purpose built organisms that clean the air and seas in The Diamond Age like the trees near Source Victoria and the Smart Coral. Creations of a world full of nanotech, those. I'm also put in mind of the Raman biots created by Clarke in Rendezvous with Rama - a whole biosphere synthesized from organic building blocks to carry out exploration and maintenance tasks for an arguably living spaceship.
Sorry...tangents. Make sure to watch Choe's video portfolio clips. Stunning, no?
- N
These "plants" by a Korean roboticist and installation artist are almost certainly something you'd expect to find in a technologically transcendent future, no? Choe U Ram has created walls of "vines" that respond to human presence by manipulating the air, gorgeous flowers that communicate with one another with LEDs other intricate creations that seem to exist as artifacts from a future where organic and electronic have merged.
I'm most reminded of the purpose built organisms that clean the air and seas in The Diamond Age like the trees near Source Victoria and the Smart Coral. Creations of a world full of nanotech, those. I'm also put in mind of the Raman biots created by Clarke in Rendezvous with Rama - a whole biosphere synthesized from organic building blocks to carry out exploration and maintenance tasks for an arguably living spaceship.
Sorry...tangents. Make sure to watch Choe's video portfolio clips. Stunning, no?
- N
1.7.08
I knew Dresden Codak was a good link...
Kate,
I know it's a bit literal for envisioning what the singularity might actually look like, but Aaron Diaz cuts RIGHT to the point in this (what's becoming monthly) installment of Dresden Codak. Do take a look.
- N
I know it's a bit literal for envisioning what the singularity might actually look like, but Aaron Diaz cuts RIGHT to the point in this (what's becoming monthly) installment of Dresden Codak. Do take a look.
- N
29.6.08
The Singularity is here. So am I.
Dear Nick,
Wow, this blog is awfully dark. Seems rather appropriate. It looks like space - like dark empty airless space. Our words are the stars.
Kate
26.6.08
The One Machine
Kate,
You were busy writing a paper last night while I was reading Wired last night next to you so I didn't want to interrupt you. However, there was the most amazing little article in the "Infoporn" section of the magazine about what the author, Kevin Kelly, is calling "The One Machine." Basically, all of the computing power in the world is becoming completely accessible from anywhere through devices like my iPhone or your XBox 360. While not everything is completely linked, we are, in effect building synapses in a giant, electronic brain. "By 2040, the planetary computer will attain as much processing power as all 7 billion human brains on Earth."
Crazy!
Kelly continues by talking about how the humans that program and access this global brain are really important components because we provide the input, the data, the raw materials that this One Machine needs for its prime objective: processing. The article finishes this: "We are headed toward a singular destiny: one vast computer composed of billions of chips and billions of brains, enveloping the planet in a single sphere of intelligence. "
It's not said, but doesn't this smack of the singularity? It's everywhere...
- N
P.S. Even weirder than the article is the appearance of an excerpt from the article spontaneously in my first draft of this post. WTF?
You were busy writing a paper last night while I was reading Wired last night next to you so I didn't want to interrupt you. However, there was the most amazing little article in the "Infoporn" section of the magazine about what the author, Kevin Kelly, is calling "The One Machine." Basically, all of the computing power in the world is becoming completely accessible from anywhere through devices like my iPhone or your XBox 360. While not everything is completely linked, we are, in effect building synapses in a giant, electronic brain. "By 2040, the planetary computer will attain as much processing power as all 7 billion human brains on Earth."
Crazy!
Kelly continues by talking about how the humans that program and access this global brain are really important components because we provide the input, the data, the raw materials that this One Machine needs for its prime objective: processing. The article finishes this: "We are headed toward a singular destiny: one vast computer composed of billions of chips and billions of brains, enveloping the planet in a single sphere of intelligence. "
It's not said, but doesn't this smack of the singularity? It's everywhere...
- N
P.S. Even weirder than the article is the appearance of an excerpt from the article spontaneously in my first draft of this post. WTF?
23.6.08
A Better Topic Could Not Have Been Made
Right before I registered the blog, I found this awesome special report on the singularity by IEEE Spectrum. I mean, really, could a better feature have been created for kicking off our blog about the singularity? I don't think so...no, not at all.
Here's the link (Kate, I know you've looked at some of this already, of course):
The gang's all here, so to speak. Kurzweil, Lanier, Vinge, Minsky. (Where are the women of the singularity, I ask you?) Check out the helpful PDF chart to find out which researchers are looking into which topics. Read about predictions for the actual date of change, watch video interviews with luminaries from all over the map. Spectrum really hits this survey course in singularity studies out of the park.
I personally thought that Vernor Vinge's video clip was the most intriguing, but I'm curious what you both think.
Yours,
- N
22.6.08
The First Post Is Now
Kate (& Dusty, I hope):
Well, here it is. A harebrained idea from a few months back, The Singularity Is Now is online and ready to take on a life of its own. Kate, you've assured me that epistolary blogs are few and far between. I hope this is the case, because I think this style is not only going to make the blog more interesting to read, but also offer the most possibilities for exploring the topics we post about in a connected, conversational way. It's going to take deep connections to put together the pieces of the singularity puzzle and I think that the two (or three!) of us are up to the task.
But it's not all so serious of course. We should look at this as a chance to post things that are just gob smackingly nifty. And comics. Like Dresden Codak...I mean, it's all the man talks about! So, if you find anything that's just spectacularly cool, post it up. The popular media surrounding our present - on the verge of major change - is just as telling of our progress as articles about technical advancements. Maybe even more so?
I'm really excited to get started (as if you couldn't tell from my multitude of exclamation points.) So, "Hello, world!" and welcome to the birth of the singularity!
- N
But it's not all so serious of course. We should look at this as a chance to post things that are just gob smackingly nifty. And comics. Like Dresden Codak...I mean, it's all the man talks about! So, if you find anything that's just spectacularly cool, post it up. The popular media surrounding our present - on the verge of major change - is just as telling of our progress as articles about technical advancements. Maybe even more so?
I'm really excited to get started (as if you couldn't tell from my multitude of exclamation points.) So, "Hello, world!" and welcome to the birth of the singularity!
- N
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