Chilled Out Bearded Man

Wolfram Alpha might be the most useful innovation on the internet since Google’s search and page rank algorithms. Wolfram Alpha organizes human knowledge in a computable manner so that you can ask it a question and it will give you the answer. Rather than showing you search results like Google would do, Wolfram|Alpha actually tells you useful answers to your question.

Wolfram|Alpha is being released in May 2009, so we should be able to see it any day now. In the meantime…

See and hear the sneak preview:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2009/04/wolfram

Its coming May 2009. And its lookin’ oh so cool.

Its gonna show you everything you need to know about everything.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

In the movie Zeitgeist, Jacques Fresco says that politicians cannot solve problems because unlike engineers, they are not trained to solve problems. The Venus Project, who is behind Zeitgeist, is a new solution civilization – a redesign of civilization by scientists. Discussing the implications of this is another discussion for another time. The point I want to make right now is that Barack Obama is doing a wonderful job of using technology to communicate with the people.

Just the fact that he is using the internet to send updates to the people (i.e. his weekly addresses) and to receive questions and ideas from the people (i.e. his town hall meeting) is impressive. The idea that he is pushing for innovation in technology is just above and beyond anything we could have asked for in a president. He wants the US to be the leader in renewable energy. That is incredible, forward thinking, respectable, beneficial, and economical.

Every person wants to find a job that they love. In other words, they want the ability to do what they love at the same time that they are winning bread. Use the same actions to create things as to supply yourself with necessities.

Obama is saying, lets improve energy technology, but lets create jobs and fix the economy in the process. Do what we as a country love – innovating, and at the same time do what we need – create jobs, so that people can spend and reinvigorate the economy.

I still believe that Zeitgeist and the Venus Project are wonderful movements with the best intentions of humanity in mind. Unfortunately, the solutions they recommend will take time to implement on a grande scale. In the meantime, it is good to know that we have a leader who is focusing his energy in a positive and innovative direction.

Check out Obama’s Weekly address here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/

I found the RSS feed for the White House Weekly Addresses here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss/speeches.xml

Here is a link to the “experimental” White House Town Hall Meeting:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/26/Wrapping-Up-Open-for-Questions/
(That’s right, an experiment… Its when you try new things – generally because there is a problem with no currently viable solution. And don’t try to tell me that militarily attacking Iraq was a useful experiment.)

The second Zeitgeist Movie, Zeitgeist Addendum gives a full theory of what is the main problem with our Western/American way of life and how we can potentially solve it. It doesn’t attempt to solve our problems with charity or efficiency or any such common solution. Instead, they offer a new solution. It is a revolution of thought. I don’t want to say anymore, because the movie is so much better at explaining it.

I intended to write a full article with my thoughts about the movie, but my notes were sitting around for a few days and I decided it is better to get my thoughts into the world in bullet format rather than to leave them sitting around until some magical free time.

Watch the movie here: “Zeitgeist: Addendum”

Then, let me know what you think. And I would love to hear your feedback on the following thoughts after you watch the film.

what about dumb people? don’t they ruin this type
of society? or is dumbness a side effect of our
current society’s poor education and way of life?

why do rich people commit crimes?

what about the robotic laws? this is a little out there but if you have ever read Isaac Asimov, then you have heard of the Three Laws of Robotics. these robotics seem crucial for a solution like this.

this whole concept seems too far off. too theoretical.
is it really worth thinking about or putting energy into it.
the movie is calling for a revolution of thought
and action. this revolution must come from the
heart. Revolution is a scary word. But in this
case they are calling for a peaceful clever
revolution.

our capitalistic society has also brought about technology

christianity has 34000 subgroups:
that is the nature of humanity – that we
are all different and need to be subgrouped
with the people we relate to. why are subgroups
a bad thing?

our brain chemistry makes us each unique and to
say that we are the same and our minds need the
same inputs is ignoring basic human nature.
people’s understanding and comprehension is different.

This movie answered so many questions that I have been thinking about for so long:
1) Marketing seems useless and somewhat evil
2) Hollow financial system
3) Technology should be able to solve all

How are we supposed to let go of the existence
we have been raised in?

The programming computer world has this concept
partially figured out. The internet makes it
possible.

Who will coordinate things? Who will maintain things? how
do decisions get made in this type of society?

If you have any questions about society, the economy and why things are the way they are, then watch the Zeigeist films. They offer many real world solutions to some of our biggest societal, cultural, and financial issues.

WARNING: This beautiful movie may blow your mind! (At worst, it will get you thinking.)

You can watch the movie for free at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912

If you enjoy the Zeitgeist movie, I would love it if you write a comment with your highlight or your personal commentary on the film.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The average face is apparently the most attractive. This site is for real research, but its tons of fun to play with the faces:
http://www.faceresearch.org/demos/average

Here’s a novel idea. Rather than making batteries last longer, make devices use less battery power.

Make a screen for a laptop that is transreflective, so it isn’t using battery power for the screen:
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/12/23/lg-releasing-sunlight-illuminated-lcd-display/

I want one!

We learned about superconductors in physics at school, but the subject was always deemed esoteric at best. But when we actually looked at the concept it seemed so simple. Its the type of concept that makes you think of inventions.

And here is a great example, with thinking music and all:

superconducting maglev train video

Something to think about… What if you get too close to the tracks of a full size magnetic levitation train with metal on your person? Are you stuck to it, repelled from it, or stuck within a short distance from it… if you’re strong enough to push yourself close to it, that is. Could you lay under a train? That would be a cool trick. If the subways were mag levs would mice still live down there? Would you have to leave the train on all the time, or could you lower slowly by allow it to cool off? Give me answers. I need answers.

I received this email:

NEWS ALERT from The Wall Street Journal Dec. 28, 2006

The FDA, in a decision that could lead to major changes in dairy and meat production, announced today that milk and meat harvested from cloned animals — cows, pigs and goats — and their offspring is safe to eat and doesn’t require any special labeling to alert consumers. The recommendation triggers a 90-day period for public comment, opening the door to what could be a torrent of concern about the nation’s food supply.

Wasn’t it just a few years ago when cloning was a huge debate? And now, its all good. Was it that people were talking without having the facts, as usually happens? Or, were there genuine concerns?

The hot debate going on now is stem cells. Will that be over soon? Are people talking without having the facts?

For all the freedoms that we have allowed ourselves over the generations, we sure are a close-minded people. We’re also pretty stubborn with our traditions and unwilling to listen to the other side of the story.
You can leave a comment for the FDA at:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/dockets/comments/commentdocket.cfm?AGENCY=FDA

Just look into the facts first:

http://www.fda.gov/cvm/cloning.htm

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning

http://www.lib.msu.edu/skendall/cloning/companies.htm

How does Google Page Rank work? Its no mystery. Its got a very simple complicated mathematical explanation.

Every page has incoming and outgoing links. A page is valued by the quantity and quality of incoming links. The quantity is the number of incoming links that link to this page. The quality is the number of incoming links to pages with outgoing links to this page. Its kind of like a genealogical tree where the more living ancestors you have, the more gifts you get and the more you are worth.
Thats it. At least, thats the really basic concept. When you get into the mathematics of it, it starts getting pretty twisted:
http://www.ams.org/featurecolumn/archive/pagerank.html

You can mess around with a PageRank calculator to help you understand the basics of the basic PageRank system:
http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank_calculator.php

The major (nonmathematical) complication comes into play when you try to define the “quality” of an outgoing link:
http://www.uspto.gov/

PageRank on a small number of pages can be quite simple, but on a large scale like Google, Live, MSN, Ask or Yahoo, its a whole new game.
Google’s short explanation: http://www.google.com/technology/