The Singularity.

I keep talking about the Singularity. For a decent definition of the Singularity itself, check out the wikipedia.org article on the subject. In some ways, this article doesn't do the concept justice. I really think it's gonna get a whole lot weirder than anything that's been represented in fiction. The best example of Singularity fiction that I can think of is 'Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom', by Cory Doctorow of boingboing fame, though his variation of the singularity doesn't really account for exponential artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence, artificial enhancement.

The military has always been one of the great sources of funding for tech research. Lately, DARPA has been very open about their goals, even going so far as to offer public rewards for specific technological advances. One example of this is the DARPA Grand Challenge, a race held in the Nevada desert by full sized robotic vehicles. The challenge is for an entirely automated vehicle to cross 300 miles of desert without any human intervention within a specific time limit.

Last years Grand Challenge was the first such event. Sadly, not one entrant actually finished the course last year. This year, however, no less than four vehicles made their way across the finish line. There's a really good article on Wired today about the efforts of the winning team

Also, DARPA is working on a prototype exoskeleton which will allow soldiers to pack around 200 pounds of gear, while feeling only five pounds of that. Having personally engaged in such activities as marching with a duffel bag and walking with stilts, I can only think about how much this rig must chafe.

Whatever objections you may have about the use of this technology, it is this type of integration technology which will move us one step closer to the Singularity. The article about the Grand Challenge talks about the way that commercial implementation of this technology will gradually move the driver away from the act of driving, and into the role of a navigator for the autopilot. Will there come a day when people view "human driven" cars as a hobbyists vehicle, similar to the way that manual transmission vehicles are seen by some today?

Google and RSS.

So, I read an analysis recently which stated that Google plans to become a full fledged, web based operating system. Sweet. Some of the potential of the internet unleashed at last. That at least gets us up to the 21st Century.

So, I just discovered a Google tool that I didn't know about earlier: Google Reader, an RSS feed aggregator on the web. It's still in beta, but then, so is Gmail. If you're not yet familiar with RSS/Atom, here's a great place to start. RSS and Atom have really come to dominate my surfing lately, and I'm using them to do as much as I can these days. This has really improved my overall efficiency on the net.

The best thing about Google Reader is that it, like all of Google's many tools, is API based. This means that if you don't like Google's reader, you can build one of your own... and I'm sure that many people will.

Gargoyle.

I want to be a Gargoyle. Not a grey block of wrought gothic stone in the shape of a demon, rather, I want to be a self-contained calculation dvice, a man living simultaneously in the realm of the so-called "real" and that of the "digital" or "cyberspace". A new mp3 player uses methanol fuel cells as a power source, rather than conventional batteries. While still not terribly efficient, methanol batteries have the potential to store considerably more battery power in a smaller space than lithium-ion. This brings us one step closer to the level of portability required for Gargoyle style devices, such as those described in Snow Crash.

I want to be a Gargoyle. Soon.

The definition of life...

There is a new project at the University of British Columbia devoted to the creation of synthetic life.

This poses an interesting question: How exactly does one define "life"? IMHO, the word life is far too general to really be used in scientific terms. Would you use the term "creating love"? Anyway, this certainly has interesting implications for the world of genetic engineering if they can pull it off.

Moving toward the Singularity.

This blog will be a place for me to share technological events that I deem to be of significant merit. A companion blog to my Qnotes blog, this will prevent me from ranting about tech/geek stuff on my primary blog.

What is the Singularity?

The singularity is a hypothetical convergence point in the near future for all forms of technology, during which we may find a tremendous leap forward in the evolution of the human race.

Bruce Sterling and Ray Kurtzweil will tell you.