Oil Independence ( Update ).

Sweden has become the second nation to commit to oil independence, after Iceland. Sweden's goal is to be oil free by 2020.

Uses for RSS.

A few clever uses for RSS. I can think of a few other innovative uses as well, such as the Gmail inbox notifier.

Cognitive Enhancement.

Through drugs like Modafinil and new treatments such as deep brain stimulation, it is now becoming possible to alter the brain's default state. This is how Singularity begins.

New Scientist has an article about the potential regulation of such technologies.

Practical data mining.

The buzz-word "data mining" was once the exclusive purview of the scientific and research communities. This is no longer the case. Data mining techniques are spreading, and soon they will be a part of our daily lives. Already, they've come into common usage in the public domain.

In the early nineties, with the explosion of the internet, it became clear that no human could possibly absorb all of the information available. This was a real problem for researchers whose ability to research was being crushed under the staggering weight of information. Enter data mining. How do you find what you're looking for in an endless web of research material? Write a program to find it for you.

In the present day, the search engine is the most common data mining tool available. More complex, more specific tools are coming into popular use. Social bookmarking networks and music recommendation sites are designed to show us new information based on our own preferences. Some would argue that effectiveness of a data mining application depends on the level of artificial intelligence being used. Soon, agent based technologies will be ready for prime time, giving us access to what we ask for with far less trial and error.

That gets us up to the present.

In the future, I imagine that data mining will continue to evolve, but more importantly, I believe that it will become more and more closely integrated into our way of life. Data mining will move away from the desktop and directly into our phones, our clothing and ultimately our brains, becoming an extension of our own thought processes, both conscious and sub-conscious. Our memories will be expanded, our ability to learn increased and our very awareness of our environment enhanced by this technological paradigm.

( see also my earlier post on this subject )

Iceland moves forward.

Iceland will be the first nation to commit to oil independence. When it comes to moving into the future, Iceland leads the way. Sweden is another forward looking nation.

Data Mining.

Have you ever thought of data mining as an extension of the human subconscious? That's exactly what it is, and it's that acceleration of thought which brings the Singularity closer every day.

The Guardian has an interesting article about the National Centre for Text Mining, a British endeavor to assist with the increasing overload of information available to the scientific community.

How long will it be before data mining is an artificially occurring subroutine of our consciousness adding perfectly controlled artificial intelligence to the vast array of psychological tools at our disposal? Will it even be necessary? Perhaps we will instead learn to control our own naturally existing data mining utilities, and apply them to digitally assimilated data without the requirement of reading with comprehension...

One way or another, the ability to filter massive volumes of information on a personal level will become a crucial step in the process of Singularity.

Modafinil.

This article discusses the drug Modafinil. You'll be hearing a lot about this stuff in the near future. I first heard about it six months ago. Now it's everywhere.

The beginning.

This article is the simplest description of the beginning stages of Singularity that I have found to date.

Google PC a reality?

Rumors are running wild about the possible announcement of a Google brand internet based PC which may take place at CES in Las Vegas this week. It is possible that we may soon see the breakup of the localized operating system in favor of pure internet based technologies.

( Update: both Google and Wal-Mart have denied these rumors. Still, something big is in the works, and I'm interested to see what it is. )

RSS is your new surfboard.

It has been brought to my attention that I may need to explain RSS feeds a little better, and provide some information on how to use them to your benefit. RSS ( and its rival format Atom ), like HTML, is an internet language. While HTML is the foundation behind the web pages like this one, RSS and Atom are used in a slightly different way.

What's so special about an RSS feed? Well, for one thing, RSS feed readers use a sort of timer, controlled by user preference, to automatically retrieve information from the internet. Subscribe to a feed, and you will be given automatic updates of information, in short bursts of text or HTML format.

Like HTML, RSS requires a browser, of sorts. Some browsers, like Mozilla Firefox, already support RSS in the form of "bookmarklets", which work very much like bookmarks. I find it more convenient to use an aggregator, such as RSSOwl to sort through feeds in a more intuitive and comprehensive manner.

Simply install RSSOwl, then copy the atom links from the front page of this blog into the URL bar, just as you would in a web browser. If you like the feed, you can bookmark it. This is called "subscribing" in the world of RSS. From then on, RSSOwl will notify you every time I post an update to this blog. That makes it much easier, and more time effective to surf the internet. You won't need to continually check websites for updated information. The RSS feeds will check for you, as frequently or infrequently as you like, then give you the new information.

I use this process for every website that I can, now. All of my friends blogs are on my aggregator. All of my favorite news sites, new movie listings, billboard music ratings and even a dozen or so google searches that I want to check on from time to time can be completely automated with one or two clicks. You'll be amazed at the amount of time you save, and at the fact that you'll never miss anything important on the web again.

The iPod as catalyst.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The iPod represents more than a cheap, simple digital music player. The incredibly rapid adoption of the iPod as a platform for digital music was the culmination of several years of trial and error style failure on the part of electronics developers. Why did the iPod succeed where other mp3 players met with only minimal success? The obvious answer is the simple and intuitive interface. This, however, only touches the surface of the phenomenon. The truth lies in the fact that the Napster generation had achieved gestation, and was prepared for the birth of a complete paradigm shift. This paradigm shift is a process which is far from complete.

One concept which is overlooked, but which is of great importance is the fact that the iPod is laying the groundwork for numerous keystone technologies which will eventually coalesce into an altogether different user experience from that with which we are currently familiar:

• Direct audio input cables are quickly becoming a standard feature in modern cars. This reflects a sea change in the attitude of auto makers. Where before choice was limited to proprietary devices, now the prevailing trend is to modularize the consumer experience, potentially leading us inexorably toward a new culture of rapid innovation.
  
  
• Constant digital feedback is becoming an expectation for an entire generation of young people, which will result in even more rapid evolution of the personal information space.
  
  
• Peripheral devices such as the EyeBud monocle promise to usher in an age of accepted wearable computing, where previous generations of wearable devices have failed. Again, this is due largely to the fact that these devices are designed with a modular end-user experience in mind.
  

Where does all of this lead? Directly to widespread adoption of gargoylism, wearable computing, or ubiquitous computing... one step closer to Singularity.