Loosely Assembled

Jim Stogdill writes very well about a compelling theme in his article entitled Skinner Box? There’s an App for That. I would have to sum it up as being about the nature of distraction in today’s networked world, and our role in its continuation.

There are a few tantalizing snippets that I just have to share hoping to lure you into reading the whole thing, if you can focus long enough.

• A self licking ice cream cone of the mind
• We’re pre-implant so I plug into the Skinner Borg with fingers and eyes
• The very technology that makes our collective integration possible also distracts us from advancing it

(Via @timoreilly.)

Wonderfully exciting presentation of the way in which our future is really going to change. If this video thrills you, you are aligned with the general values of NINE, that putting the brakes on is not a viable response to our new era.

Ok, the one bit that catches me as being potentially spun is the very last line about illegal downloads (can that stat even be justifiably estimated anyway?).

Thanks Garth

It’s pretty amazing that simply looking outside our own fabricated restrictions can yield something so seemingly innovative. The article also has a video interview with this professor.

The chip is faster than any human-designed radio-frequency spectrum analyzer and also operates at much lower power.
“The cochlea quickly gets the big picture of what’s going on in the sound spectrum,” said Sarpeshkar. “The more I started to look at the ear, the more I realized it%u2019s like a super radio with 3,500 parallel channels.”

Via @mocost.

(Via turbulence.org.)

IF YOU shine a laser on the floor, where does the light go? With the right preparation, some of it might pop out at the other side of the world – an effect that could be exploited to transmit secret messages through the ground.

(Via New Scientist.)

toorcamp

Super efficient when it comes to electricity use and heating/cooling technology.

(Via Remodeling Amory Lovins’ home | Yahoo! Green.)

via: vimeo

“We want to make a computer-generated body feel like your body,” says Ehrsson. The ultimate aim is to make the virtual world feel real.

(Via Body illusions: The virtual body – life – 21 March 2009 – New Scientist.)