Short link: Brain laser

Michio Kaku predicts we’ll send our minds into space via laser in this piece.

If we’re capable of that, there more probably will be no ‘us’ or ‘our minds’ anymore. We’ll reach Singularity (have passed the S point) already some time before that; dystopian version.

Oh well, here’s a picture for your viewing delight:
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[Your viewing delight ..!? in Riga]

Shortie: Seth’s money

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[“Greed, for lack of a better word, is passive consumerist entertainment”..!?
   Where’s the ‘real’ money?]

Found some wisdom, by other formulation, on this already somewhat old post of mine, in the post of Seth Godin here.
Had wanted to do a follow-up longform on it, but will have to defer to include Seth’s insights.

Suddenly sees the connection between money and information, once again, over the value connection…!? May want to delve into this, to establish ‘better’ pricing of information… or is it the other way around?

[Update before publishing]
#first here …: Suppose we create some yardstick of how much computing effort it costs to produce one bitcoin (or so) and then derive the dollar value (if we have to, in the first place) – would that lead to some value of Information (or value of computing power / cycles) …!?

Time flies …

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[Oh, say can you see… just out in the waterway]

Has anyone started writing recent history already …? As in. e.g., this article, then this one. And current-day affairs have this and this. There seems to be, again since a long time, the same sort of freshness and happiness in the air. Last time, it was the newness of the technology that won out over the economic gloom (or un-freshness) before it. ‘This time’, it’s the same. Sort of.

So what I miss, is some form of registry in the style of this enormously underrated work, and this same one [do I hear the xyzCoin fans already?]. With a dose of this.

Which I would value, amidst the great big stream of shallow information on what Is and Might Be. Particular the Might Be part is so much fuzz one might get light in the head with the certainty of a big major headache tomorrow. When yet another bright New World will not have materialised. Are we at the edge of another economical breakdown, even before the 99% has recovered at all from the last one ..? Continue reading “Time flies …”

Wired / Tired / Expired, March 2014 edition

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[Up, floating almost free at La Défense]

So, here’s the March edition of my Wired / Tired / Expired jargon watch overviews:

WIRED TIRED EXPIRED
UX Viral versus A/B Lean / Customer Excellence
Current front runner in the Sell theme: User eXperience, that’s what it’s all about. User-centric, user-enjoyment, user-will pay. Desperately trying to be hip and failing, or just giving up and using the old hand methods. Fire all that appear to not add to the customer’s sale, then find out only all the deadwood remained. Unethical idiot.
Caring about people Caring about the Olympics Caring about sports on TV
Whoever, wherever, whenever. Just one-to-one, bottom-up John Doe to John Doe help. Helping out. Because they’re over, again when you read this. Aaaand … they’re forgotten. Ermmm, “TV” anyone? You mean vids on mobile? Why watch others sweat?
Classics Hybrids
(non-full-E)
The business bunch
Take these:
jaguar-xjs-convertible-06
654_436_lotus-esprit-s1
De_Tomaso_Pantera_GT4lamborghini-miura-p400-s_key_17
1967_Maserati_Ghibli_ORCthreeAM
See previous Wired/Tired/Expired. Too bad the GT cabrio, Quattroporte or if all else fails, the new Ghibli aren’t in this class. Mercedes: Sorry, your tail lights are übergay. Volvo (V70 in particular): Ah, builders (qua finesse and estetics) and lumberjacks (qua ethics) pretending to be toffs but falling through by their road (mis)behaviour. Audi: Civil servants of the calcified kind, or salesmen of secondhand wire coat hangers; believing they’re invulnerable in their ‘tanks’ (quod non) because aeons ago their brand made Quattros. BMW: small-time corner drug dealers; ugly rims. VW: Phaeton is OK, as you demonstrate to not care what other people think, the very right way (à la Feynmann). Too bad the GT Coupé’s backside looks like a Frisian thouroughbred.
DIY Apple vs Samsung Mac vs PC
Build your own browser. As in: The many variants of Open Source, or BigCorp’s versions on various platforms.
Or even hipsterer: Build your own device.
The definition of Tired. Still lingering in the background(s) but I don’t want to hear of it. Really? Mac won, and isn’t relevant on the desktop, that isn’t relevant anymore, and the PC’s still around and alive (see The End of XP).
Crypto-systems Phone data trawling et al. Infra/SCADA security
Not only Bitcoin and online voting but also, moreover, DACs. Now that Edward S. is also a threat to Anon, apparently, he might as well get his pardon for realz. Turned out it was just backlog work; still not done, though, by far not enough. Risks remain but aren’t newsworthy.
Really good new bands Bands you love to hate Just in Bleeper
Just for the in-crowd, still. But you wish them the success. E.g., this one. You know you still love them, secretly. Why is Nickleback on that list in the first place …!? Good riddance.
Blogs Tweets White papers
You’re reading this. Blogs have made a triumphant come-back from all the way back in 2003, 2004 or so when they first arrived, then disappeared after only a few got really famous. Now, they’re the medium of choice for all sorts of op-eds, ‘columns’, curated opinions, etc. Still valid currency to pass news and sound bite opinions; not for any serious pertinent information. Haven’t seen too much of these, as they had turned into marketing materials; two-pager flyer-like.
May linger in the background, in the original form of not-refereed-to-death ‘scientific’ articles – and as such, valuable, also for the record of summarising pop-scientific progress as published in allsorts blogs. If for this, should be in the W column…

OK, any suggestions for next month’s edition ..?

Maverisk / Étoiles du Nord