Ok, I know I’ve already overwhelmed you with new posts, but holy shit, you need to see this:
Archive for the ‘news’ Category
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Sunday, March 29th, 2009Death by Tech: Energy Weapons
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Wired has written extensively about the development of military lasers, and since it was recently announced that such lasers have reached what optimists are calling “military strength” I think it only fitting that this week’s Death by Tech focus on the increasingly likely possibility that your insides will be boiled and fried by advancing armies of laser rifle wielding stormtroopers.
"Pew pew"
What is it?
As of right now, military lasers are pretty innocous. The only likely use they will see in the near future is as countermeasures to mortars and rockets, and 105 kilowatts is barely enough power for that particular application. There are significant obstacles to militarization of lasers, mostly in terms of minaturization. Scientists are still working on getting a powerful laser to fit into a small enough space to militarily viable, and powering such a weapon is still difficult. Still, if such obstacles could be overcome, a laser or similiar energy weapon could make its debut on a modern battlefield in a decade or so. But…
Really, modern war is fought and won by treasuries, and if the prevalence of cheap, reliable AK-47s in the hands of militaries around the world tells us anything, it’s that laser rifles are unlikely to be a mainstream weapon of war (if such a weapon is even ever developed) any time in our lifetimes. It is, however, not impossible to imagine that such a weapon could be useful in one relatively untouched theater of war…
Likelihood?
As mentioned before, it is highly unlikely that any of us will be on the recieving end of a military grade laser any time soon. There are just too many reasons not to build one, not when bullets keep doing such a good job of killing us already. Still, if we act on the assumption that longevity treatments are coming, it is not inconcievable that sometime in the more distant future, a larger, planet or starship scale laser will be pointed in your direction. But don’t hold your breath, good old-fashioned projectile weapons have a lot going for them.
Pain Factor?
Depends. If someone pointed one of those 105 kilowatt lasers at you, I guarantee it will hurt like hell, if it even manages to kill you. It will burn your flesh away in tiny increments, which is, as I understand it, pretty damn painful. As the power of such weapons increases the pain factor will probably go down, in fact, and you’ll die a lot faster. At least you have something to look forward to.
Immortality Becoming More Mainstream
Sunday, March 29th, 2009
No, not like that...
Daily Galaxy recently posted an article on longevity and the possibility of living to 1,000. The article is good, but not remarkable, but what is interesting is that this article made it to the front page of digg, a social news site that get upwards of a million visitors a day. For something that a decade ago was considered science fiction to be considered legitimate news is a huge step forward. Here’s what the article said:
“Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has famously stated, “The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries…
…There are many, many different components of ageing and we are chipping away at all of them,” said Robert Freitas at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, a non-profit, nanotech group in Palo Alto, California. “It will take time and, if you put it in terms of the big developments of modern technology, say the telephone, we are still about 10 years off from Alexander Graham Bell shouting to his assistant through that first device. Still, in the near future, say the next two to four decades, the disease of ageing will be cured.”
Actually, even though I said there wasn’t a lot of uniqueness to this article earlier, there is a very interesting of discussion of people who don’t believe longevity is possible or even ethical.
“I just don’t think [immortality] is possible,” says Sherwin Nuland, a professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine. “Aubrey and the others who talk of greatly extending lifespan are oversimplifying the science and just don’t understand the magnitude of the task. His plan will not succeed. Were it to do so, it would undermine what it means to be human.” (Emphasis mine)
This is an important point, and one I think we all need to consider. There is no contention that much of what gives life its meaning is the fact that we die at the end of it - without that constant threat, will we be able to produce such beautiful works of art, and will we even have a desire to live if the threat of death doesn’t drive us to succeed and endure?
Of course, most longevity enthusiasts don’t suggest that they can completely defeat death, only stave it off for longer than previously considered possible. I do have some fear that if this comes to pass, then it will mark an end to an era of human productivity, or worse. Yes, would it not be wonderful if Einstein or Michaelangelo or Shakespeare had lived to work and produce for centuries, but what of Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon? What do we have to fear from an immortal dictator, or an undying tyrant?
In any case, I think this article is a little optimistic - it simplifies the process of defeating aging quite a bit, but it bears consideration. As in all things, I think that this is a supremely ethical act. Humans deserve the right to choose to live or not to, if it is within our power to give them that choice. And more than I fear an end to beauty and productivity, I look forward to a marked shift in the paradigm of human existence that will come about through an end to aging.
Check out the article, it’s definitely worth a read. Link.
Sci-Fi Channel Suffers Collective Brain Anuerism, Passes it Off as Marketing Ploy
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Picard has a message for you SyFy
In a move clearly made by a group of people with more MBAs than brain cells, the Sci-Fi channel has decided to go Web 2.0 all over its core fanbase’s ass and change its name to SyFy. Reasoning?
FTA: “By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider range of current and future imagination-based entertainment beyond just the traditional sci-fi genre, including fantasy, supernatural, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and nonlinear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.”
This means less Battlestar Galactica and Eureka and more Ghost Hunters, ECW, Chase and Mansquito. I am not sure if the people who run the network actually even like science fiction.
Metamaterial Revolution: The New Science of Making Anything Disappear
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
An invisibility device. Sort of.
A new article about the emerging science of metamaterials. The article has an obsessive focus on invisibility, but the applications are far greater than that. These metamaterials (at least in theory) could advance an overwhelming list of technologies, including supermicroscopes, nanotechnology, optical computers, cloaking, and more.
FTA: “…Scientists had long known that they could change the behavior of a material by altering its chemistry. For instance, you can alter the color and hardness of glass by adding lead. But now Pendry saw that he could also alter function by changing a material’s internal structure on a very fine scale, less than a wavelength of whatever he was manipulating…These new, structurally altered materials would soon become known as metamaterials, based on the Greek meta, meaning “beyond.” “We knew we were onto something,” Pendry says.”
‘Vampire’ Discovered in Mass Grave
Friday, March 6th, 2009FTA: “At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by “vampires” which, rather than drinking people’s blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says.”
For the love of God, don’t remove that brick!
Robots!
Thursday, March 5th, 2009Prediction: 2030. Japan now has more robots than people. Cultural oddities remain unmitigated by this fact.
Stross on the future of humanity
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Charles Stross, author of such visionary works as Accelerando and Glasshouse, has recently posted his predictions for the direction of the 21st century. They are bleak, and depressing. Read them here!
Edit: Fixed linkfail
Flagship Post
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009If for some reason you happen to be reading this, here are some notes. This website is (obviously) unfinished, and I am about as skilled at web design as Sylvester Stallone is at speaking, so expect it to stay that way while I bumble aimlessly around in the code. If you find something explicitly wrong or out of place, feel free to e-mail me.
And thanks for coming.
-R
The Singularity and You!
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009You may have heard a little bit about this ’singularity’. You may have asked yourself, ‘what does this singularity have to do with me? What’s all the fuss about’? Well worry not dear reader. I am here to answer all your questions.