Plusquote: You’re not perfect

Even at the Computer History Museum most of the devices on display stopped functioning many years ago. This time, not one of my own but quoted from Ray. Pointing out that it’s not that bad if you fail at having the perfect IT management (systems/operations) in the universe — even if you’d had forever you … Continue reading “Plusquote: You’re not perfect”

Racing humanity against ASI

One thing still amiss in the discussions about the (near?) Future: Whether Singularity/ASI will come before humanity leaving its biological substrate, or the other way around. The first, leading to a dystopian future of humans initially being Machine’s pets but later (?) being discarded as inefficient nuisance. Even if only via Lanier‘s route. The second … Continue reading “Racing humanity against ASI”

In support of TED ..?

A certain, distinguished ( ? ;-| ) R. Kurzweil in The Singularity Is Near has some off the cuff remarks about becoming pets, Ted style. (p.32) Which is a sligh against (later!) sages of the Musk, Gates and Hawkins class — and fully unjustified. Since the ‘Theory of Technology Evolution’ is a quasi(sic)religious circular argument … Continue reading “In support of TED ..?”

Aquariunism

After reading Graeber’s exposé on the confluence of ‘human economy’ and communism (Yes. Though those that foulmouth ‘commies’ are probably too low on the IQ scale to be able to grasp the actual ideas…), I wondered: Where in this spectrum is the original-Greek or -Celtic or -whatwasit idea on Golden Man, Silver Man and even … Continue reading “Aquariunism”

A horse needn’t be a horse off course

Maybe @DARPA can elucidate … Why would anyone need four-legged soldier-helpers ..? First there was robodog, then LS3 that failed so may end up in your next indeterminableoriginmeat-burger. Next, maybe, a fully armoured full exoskeleton. Which might do away with the humanoid innards in the near future (after that), losing some great many pounds of … Continue reading “A horse needn’t be a horse off course”

Software Defined Everything, not your monkey’s business

Lately, we have been reading a lot about Software Defined Everything (haven’t you …?), in particular sw-def networking. As the flexible way to the future. Now, it turns out that humans may have had an edge over monkeys (and apes) by, for quite some time already, having had just that bit more software-defined Brain work … Continue reading “Software Defined Everything, not your monkey’s business”

Na de accountant, de kolenboer

[In Dutch] Nou ja, over de volgorde valt te twisten. Over de beider in één mandje niet. Zoals uiteengezet in dit werk, is beroepsmatig alles eindig. Al zullen rechters (en helaas ook advocaten en vergelijkbare beroepen, en nog veel helazer politici) nog wel een tijdje meegaan, alles kent z’n tijd. Ook de tovenaarsleerlingen-die-eigenlijk-nooit-echt-van-de-grond-zijn-gekomen, de IT-auditors, … Continue reading “Na de accountant, de kolenboer”

Proud to Produce

Ah, the information age! Where we have lost the pride of our production. For several reasons. First, no more physical products come from or through our hands, it’s just bits — they say ..! — somewhere around the world; not necessarily even at the office building we’re at, neatly stacked as intensive farm livestock. What … Continue reading “Proud to Produce”

Chronology of the birth of the information society ..?

A shout-out for pointers; as Chris Anderson noted in Makers, Western society had a breakthrough in the … 18th ..? century when patents were invented. As they signified the realization that intellectual ideas, innovations, are actually things in themselves, existing outside of physical reality. As first step on the road to Singularity. [Oh, philosophers already … Continue reading “Chronology of the birth of the information society ..?”

The First Digital Native

(S)he has been identified: The first Digital Native, as far as we know: of this planet. And it goes by the name of … Watson. Though of course the debate over the term, its definition, and generation identification has been a decade and a half, and some have cleverly found that maybe humans weren’t into … Continue reading “The First Digital Native”

Maverisk / Étoiles du Nord