The Speculist

Limitless: The Case for Open Source Development

2011-04-10T12:28:57Z

I just saw the movie Limitless over the weekend, having previously read the book on which it is based (The Dark Fields, by Alan Glynn). The premise of the story is that you can take a pill which greatly amplifies and enhances your memory and mental processing--instantly providing what is essentially greater than human intelligence. The movie does a great job of trying to visually convey what this would be like. Of course, for the sake of a good story, there are some drawbacks:

1. It's temporary. After it wears off, you go back to your old level of intelligence, so you gotta keep taking it.

2. It comes with side effects, ranging from forgetting to eat and being bored with your friends to altered behavior, memory gaps, and confusion about elapsed time.

3. Withdrawal sucks--problems like headache, nausea, inability to focus, and sometimes death.

Assuming for the sake of argument that we could avoid the nasty downsides, Phil asked a couple of months ago: Would you take it? My answer is yes, most of us would, if only to avoid being left in the dust by those who did. In his review of the movie, R.U. Sirius gives a summary of some of the likely effects of overstimulating your brain in this way. Even if not physically addicting, it is likely that you would develop a psychological addiction to a substance that could change your life this dramatically. Of course, if you can stay at that level, then it's just a phase-shift to the next level of human intelligence.

The scariest part of the movie though is that guess what: the bad guys are taking it too! So how do you at least keep up, if not step ahead to avoid the kinds of dystopian futures that kind of scenario could bring? Some would argue for restrictive regulation or slowing down of dangerous research into AGI or enhanced human intelligence, but then how will we know when some corporation, criminal organization, or rogue government makes significant progress with these types of technologies? Open source development lets us all keep an eye on the state of the art, perhaps shape the path it takes, and develop the tools to detect and defend against abuse as we go along. It doesn't guarantee a good outcome, but it improves our chances.

That doesn't mean only allowing or supporting open source development--various parties will be pursuing these technologies in parallel, but by sharing the progress of at least some of this development openly, we not only speed the process for all, but are better able to monitor the incremental progress and avoid a big surprise later on.

Friday Videos -- Typical Day at SFO

2011-04-08T16:20:39Z

Just like any other day at San Francisco International. Domestic flights, international flights, big planes, small planes, passenger planes, cargo planes. All very standard stuff.

Oh yeah -- and one spaceship.

FastForward Radio -- the Critical Questions

2011-04-06T22:33:52Z

Phil and Stephen discuss the critical questions that must be answered if we are to make the most of the opportunities that the future represents.

Listen to internet radio with The Speculist on Blog Talk Radio

Ray Kurzweil at the iLabs Singularity Summit in Italy

2011-04-05T20:59:59Z

Stephen Gordon ]]>

Aritificial Intelligence for Investing

2011-04-05T18:49:29Z

Not trading...investing. This requires looking at a lot of data and working in much longer time frames than the AI trading systems we hear so much about.

FastForward Radio this Week

2011-04-04T23:25:27Z

Image via Wikipedia

Three big chances to catch FFR this week.

Monday: FFR 20: Facing the Risks

Phil and Stephen take an optimistic look at the risks we face personally and the risks we face as a civilization. First aired February 10, 2008.

7 PM Pacific / 10 PM Eastern

----

Wednesday: FastForward Radio -- the Critical Questions

Phil and Stephen discuss the critical questions that must be answered if we are to make the most of the opportunities that the future represents.

(Live show.)

7 PM Pacific / 10 PM Eastern

----

Saturday WT 1.5: The Age of the Possible

Phil continues his discussion of the transformations we are witnessing. In a world so radically changed, what truly lies outside the realm of the possible?

8 PM Pacific / 11 PM Eastern

Show's Over, Folks

2011-04-04T13:59:54Z

In light of these developments, we have no choice but shut the Speculist down for a week or two and then re-open as (I'm guessing) a celebrity news and fashion tips site.

It's been a fun ride!

The Most Important Scientific Discovery of the Year?

2011-04-04T03:45:57Z

Image via Wikipedia

Maria Konovalenko says yes:

A paper of extreme importance for fighting aging came out in the Nature journal on Thursday. A research group from Buck Institute lead by Professor Gordon Lithgow was able to prolong life of nematodes by 78% by adding one compound to the worms' diet - a dye Thioflavin T. The authors showed that the effectof the dye was due to activation of stress resistance mechanisms, which lead to significant increase in median (60%) and maximum lifespan (43-78%). Thioflavin T is used to mark the amyloid protein aggregates inAlzheimer's disease. Dr. Lithgow's group showed that this compound regulates protein homeostasis, which leads to life extension in nematodes and improvement of their health later in life.

This article proves the possibility to prolong life by activating stress resistance using chemical compounds simply added to the diet.

Konovalenko points out that the word "stress" here is being used in its technical / biological sense to refer to a broad range of damage. And yet apparently this one agent, Thioflavin T, was effective against stress generally, leading to this significant increases in lifespan.

In principle, a change in diet here brings about a major increase in life span. If there is a something we can add to the human diet that will have anything like the impact that Thioflavin T has on these worms...we're talking about a huge marekt for some ambitious supplement distributor.

Mercury as Seen from Orbit

2011-04-02T02:11:37Z

A new view of the planet closest to the sun.

Spacecraft sends a new view of Mercury

NASA has released the first image ever obtained from a spacecraft in orbit about the solar system's innermost planet, Mercury.

The image was captured at 5:20 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

The dominant rayed crater in the upper portion of the image is Debussy.

The bottom portion of this image is near Mercury's south pole and includes a region of Mercury's surface not previously seen by spacecraft.

Pretty darn cool!

FastForward Radio -- the Future of Publishing with Tobias Buckell

2011-03-30T21:56:02Z

Phil and Stephen welcome Tobias Buckell back to FastForward Radio to hear about his latest project and to discuss the future of publishing.

Listen to internet radio with The Speculist on Blog Talk Radio

About Our Guest

Tobias S. Buckell is a Caribbean-born speculative fiction writer who grew up in Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has published stories in various magazines and anthologies. He is the New York Times Bestselling writer of Halo: The Cole Protocol, as well as a number of other novels. His next book, Arctic Rising, comes out in early 2012.

Little Helicopters Playing Catch

2011-03-29T12:40:37Z

The name says it all.

Book Review: "Wil Wheaton's The Day After and Other Stories"

2011-03-25T12:25:06Z

I've enjoyed Wil Wheaton's writing at his blog, so when I heard he had about this short story collection and that it was only $2.99 in the Kindle eBook format - I grabbed it.

This collection is pretty short - really an afternoon's reading only, but the price is right.

"The Day After" is the longest piece. Excellently written. A hopeless situation at the end of the world. How do people deal with that? This does what good stories with fantastical elements (in this case zombies) always do: give us believable characters to hook ourselves to. This story is very cinematic. I would not be surprised to see this filmed or expanded into novel length at some point.

"Room 302" is spooky. Its not much more than an impression of a story, but my mind filled in a backstory and a resolution. I wonder if what I came up with was similar to where the author was going and what other readers thought? I wish I could share without spoiling the story. Eh, it doesn't matter - you'll come up with your own ending.

"The Language Barrier" is the weaker piece in this collection, but its still a good read. It asks an interesting question: can language BE a barrier?

"Poor Places" is a Poker story. [mild spoiler] This piece has some autobiographical elements in it: the protagonist is formerly famous. He's an ordinary guy now that ordinary people befriend and his past is rarely mentioned. He's keeping himself (barely) fed in an interesting way. Wil communicates, I think, some of the disappointment he's had to deal with - a life that has not quite gone the way he expected it to go when he was younger. I think Wil's also imagining that with just a few easy, bad choices his life could have been much worse. He could have been Charlie Sheen without the money. The story made me happy for how well the author is doing today.

Choose Yourself

2011-03-24T20:30:11Z

Image via Wikipedia

JibberJobber Blog directs us to an inspiring piece by marketing guru Seth Godin, Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself.

Amanda Hocking is making a million dollars a year publishing her own work to the Kindle. No publisher.
Rebecca Black has reached more than 15,000,000 listeners, like it or not, without a record label.
Are we better off without gatekeepers? Well, it was gatekeepers that brought us the unforgettable lyrics of Terry Jacks in 1974, and it's gatekeepers that are spending a fortune bringing out pop songs and books that don't sell.
I'm not sure that this is even the right question. Whether or not we're better off, the fact is that the gatekeepers--the pickers--are reeling, losing power and fading away. What are you going to do about it?

I've written many times about the drivers that enable such magnificent achievements. It begins with de-industrialization, a process whereby capabilities that once belonged only to large companies or government entities are passing increasingly into the hands of individuals. Today anyone who wants to can record a single, produce a TV show, or become a radio talk show host. I referenced this process on last week's Transparency Revolution (one of the two Internet radio shows for which I have picked myself to be host), which I'll just share with you here in case you missed it:

I wrote not long ago about how automation has turned us all into our own travel agents, check-out clerks, and gas station attendants. The same wave of technology is now turning us all into our own gatekeepers. You see, a choose-yourself world isn't all upside. As Seth points out, when there are no gatekeepers telling you "no," what is your excuse for not telling yourself "yes?"

Face it: there is no excuse. That's a scary proposition. If you never give it a try...well, there's no one to blame but you. If you try, you might fail. But surely it's better to fail spectacularly in a choose-yourself world than it is to live in frustrated "safety" in a world where the gatekeeper passed you by--especially if the gatekeeper is you.

(Cross-posted to Transparency Revolution with some organizationy stuff thrown in to make it a little more, you know work-like. Please leave comments on that version as I have closed them here. And thanks for the link, Glenn!)

FastForward Radio -- BIL Recap

2011-03-23T12:39:26Z

It's been called the "poor man's TED," although it describes itself as "an ad-hoc participant powered unconference." It's the BIL conference -- a series of fascinating talks about technology, society, and the future. The most recent BIL took place March 5-6 on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. A panel of four BIL insiders join us to discuss the conference:

Simone Syed
Alexis Bright
Cody Marx Bailey
Reichart Von Wolfsheild

Listen to internet radio with The Speculist on Blog Talk Radio

About Our Guests:

Image by inACtion via Flickr

Simone Syed identifies as a Bio-technoprogressive, Builder of Better Futures, Sustainable Emerging Technolust, Occasional Poet, Full-time Ingenue, Gardener Extraordinaire, Expertly Weird, EcoGeek and co-founder of BIL. Simone is a recent transplant from Tucson, Arizona, where she honed her skills in management and social architecture while practicing as a counselor for people suffering from substance disorders, running three car care enterprises, directing special event, chairing various clubs and organisations on and off campus, and generally finding herself the eye of well directed storms. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona with degrees in Evolutionary Biology and Cognitive Psychology. She was president of the H+ chapter at Tucson, co-organizer of SustainaBIL, a former grease monkey, avid climber, burner, and skeptic.

Image by glennharper via Flickr

Alexis Bright recently accepted a part time position with Voxer.com as office manager, because who doesn't want to work for an awesome startup? It also helps to support her learning addiction. She enjoys learning about the effects of trauma and how to treat it, willpower, self-compassion, and meditation. Her long-term goal is to become a licensed psychotherapist. Currently she has a part-time psychotherapy internship working with trauma survivors. Her hobbies include training for the Tough Mudder run, coordinating events for friends, and spending time with loved ones. She is also a co-founder of BIL, a
founding member of Hike the Geek and lover of bacon.

Image via Wikipedia

Cody Marx Bailey is an advocate and leader in open source, free culture and distributed organizations. His focus on pragmatic approaches to solutions has lead to the creation of The Creative Space, the first coworking office in Texas. He is also a cofounder of the BIL Conference, an egalitarian run unconference held in Long Beach, CA. More recently, he has honed his sense of management and development towards entrepreneurship and culture. His involvement with the revitalizationof Downtown Bryan, TX has been instrumental in the economic, cultural and professional development. He has over a decade and a half of web development and electronic collaboration experience. Cody Marx Bailey began his career working for VA Linux Systems while in High School in South Texas. In his spare time, he is an avid gardener, learner and music producer.

Baron Reichart Von Wolfsheild is Chief Software Architect, CTO, and Co-founder of Qtask, where he specializes in complex platform software architecture, including accelerated cross-platform development, lossless compression technology, encryption, gambling systems, and multi-point real-time communication systems. He has played a key role in the conception and creation of a wide array of entertainment titles including Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Die Hard, Walt Disney World Quest Magical Racing Tour, 102 Dalmatians, Matchbox Caterpillar Construction Zone, Caterpillar Gold Mining, Hot Wheels Crash, Shrek Fairy Tale Freak Down, and Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway among others. Plus he he designed and created the award winning Walt Disney Animation Studio, and the multi-million dollar original video game franchise Return Fire. In addition to lecturing at universities and speaking at industry conferences, Reichart has appeared in magazines such as Time, Life, and Business Week. He has made appearances on MTV, C-Net, and All Games Radio, and has been featured on " Entertainment Tonight." Von Wolfsheild is also a co-organizer BIL conference "The un-conference", and a co-founder international www.HIKEtheGEEK.com.

Speculist Survey: What Sucks the Most?

2011-03-23T02:36:46Z

On Saturday's podcast I posited that the story of humanity is one of human beings confronting and, where possible, overcoming things that suck. Here's the podcast to refresh your memory.

So what are the sucky things that humanity is working on overcoming now? What is the most likely to be fixed? What is the most urgent? And what is the suckiest of them all? ]]>

Results are here.