2014 Oscars is already buzzing for Tom Hanks!! Why didn't anyone else think of making a movie on Somalia pirates?
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The New Digital Age
Nicholas Carr (not kidding!) review's The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen:
The New Digital Age opens with a Panglossian overture. The computer revolution, write the authors, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, has “barely left the starting blocks.” Soon we’ll be blessed with “integrated clothing machines” that not only wash, fold and shelve laundry but “algorithmically suggest outfits based on the user’s daily schedule.” Robot barbers will give us haircuts that are “machine-precise.” Nasal implants will alert us to oncoming colds. When we sense that our kids are getting spoiled, we’ll be able to transport them, via holographic projectors, to a Third World slum for a stroll among the destitute.
Those fortunate enough to be among the world’s “super-wealthy” elite will have it even better. Attended by “human-like robots,” they’ll zip overhead in “motion-stabilized automated helicopters” while popping bespoke pharmaceuticals to keep mortality at bay. Should one of their internal organs go bad, a mechanical surgeon will swap it out with a synthetic replacement. Their loafers will be outfitted with “haptic devices” that give their feet a friendly pinch when they’re running late for a meeting.
The New Digital Age opens with a Panglossian overture. The computer revolution, write the authors, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, has “barely left the starting blocks.” Soon we’ll be blessed with “integrated clothing machines” that not only wash, fold and shelve laundry but “algorithmically suggest outfits based on the user’s daily schedule.” Robot barbers will give us haircuts that are “machine-precise.” Nasal implants will alert us to oncoming colds. When we sense that our kids are getting spoiled, we’ll be able to transport them, via holographic projectors, to a Third World slum for a stroll among the destitute.
Those fortunate enough to be among the world’s “super-wealthy” elite will have it even better. Attended by “human-like robots,” they’ll zip overhead in “motion-stabilized automated helicopters” while popping bespoke pharmaceuticals to keep mortality at bay. Should one of their internal organs go bad, a mechanical surgeon will swap it out with a synthetic replacement. Their loafers will be outfitted with “haptic devices” that give their feet a friendly pinch when they’re running late for a meeting.
Quote of the Day
Ownership is not limited to material things. It can also apply to points of view. Once we take ownership of an idea—whether it’s about politics or sports—what do we do? We love it perhaps more than we should. We prize it more than it is worth. And most frequently, we have trouble letting go of it because we can’t stand the idea of its loss. What are we left with then? An ideology—rigid and unyielding.
- Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions
- Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Antibiotic Resistance In Food
The nonprofit Environmental Working Group has done a lengthy analysis of the data from the last NARMS report, titled “Superbugs Invade American Supermarkets.” It should make really striking reading for anyone to whom this issue is new; and even if you’re familiar with the problem, it is a strong addition to the accumulating evidence that farm antibiotic use is making foods a health risk. Excerpting their findings:
- government tests of raw supermarket meat … detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria in: 81 percent of ground turkey, 69 percent of pork chops, 55 percent of ground beef, 39 percent of chicken breasts, wings and things.
- 9 percent of raw chicken samples and 10 percent of raw ground turkey sampled from retail supermarkets in 2011 were tainted with a superbug version of Salmonella bacteria.
- a superbug version of the Campylobacter jejuni microbe was detected on 26 percent of raw chicken pieces. Raw turkey samples contained numerically fewer of these microbes, but 100 percent of those examined were antibiotic resistant.
Quote of the Day
Never buy a product that the owner of the company that makes it doesn’t use (Generalized Skin in the Game).
- Nassim Taleb; this tweet started a "debate" to say the least !!
- Nassim Taleb; this tweet started a "debate" to say the least !!
Monday, May 6, 2013
One Third Of Humanity May Host Toxo - A Mind-Altering Parasite
Biologist Jaroslav Flegr, one of the leading researchers on T. gondii has discerned some very peculiar findings when comparing people with the infection to those without it. Kathleen Mcauliffe reported on this last year in The Atlantic:
...males who had the parasite were more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people's opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. Infected women, on the other hand, presented in exactly the opposite way: they were more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women.
Additionally, people infected with T. gondii display slightly impaired motor skills, undertake more risks, and get into more automotive accidents. Furthermore, 38 studies have linked the parasite with schizophrenia, a fact which fascinates neurologist and Yale assistant professor Steven Novella.
"Some drugs which are typically used to treat schizophrenia actually have anti-toxo effects," Novella said on a recent episode of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. "So they may work because they're actually counteracting toxoplasma, itself."
-More Here
...males who had the parasite were more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to other people's opinions of them, and inclined to disregard rules. Infected women, on the other hand, presented in exactly the opposite way: they were more outgoing, trusting, image-conscious, and rule-abiding than uninfected women.
Additionally, people infected with T. gondii display slightly impaired motor skills, undertake more risks, and get into more automotive accidents. Furthermore, 38 studies have linked the parasite with schizophrenia, a fact which fascinates neurologist and Yale assistant professor Steven Novella.
"Some drugs which are typically used to treat schizophrenia actually have anti-toxo effects," Novella said on a recent episode of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. "So they may work because they're actually counteracting toxoplasma, itself."
-More Here
Quote of the Day
We are transforming a wonderful, complex planet into piles of shit.
- David Waltner-Toews, The Origin of Feces: What Excrement Tells Us About Evolution, Ecology, and a Sustainable Society
- David Waltner-Toews, The Origin of Feces: What Excrement Tells Us About Evolution, Ecology, and a Sustainable Society
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Sam Harris On Meditation
My own experience with meditation brought me unexpected calm and serenity. But I found that it disarmed me analytically, and banished a lot of thoughts that I usually think of as productive. Does meditation conflict with productive thinking?
No. Your mind will be active in any case, no matter how much you meditate. The goal is not to be without thought, but to be aware of the character of your experience in each moment and not suffer unnecessarily. Almost all our suffering is the product of our thoughts. We spend nearly every moment of our lives lost in thought, and hostage to the character of those thoughts. You can break this spell, but it takes training just like it takes training to defend yourself against a physical assault. You are thinking every moment and not aware of it, and the initial experience of anyone who seriously tries to meditate is one of discovering how incessant this cascade of thoughts is.
It's probably true that certain human accomplishments depend upon people's neurotic needs for achievement or their lust for money or power. A lot of art comes from a place of being captivated by selfish illusions. And if a person were to permanently dispel the illusion of the self, he might not write great novels or start the next Apple. Buddhahood might be incompatible with being the next Nabokov or Steve Jobs. Luckily, no one has ever had to choose between becoming a great artist or entrepreneur, or the next Buddha.
The relevant question for me is how neurotic and unhappy and self-deceived do we have to be while living productive lives. I think the general answer is, far less than most of us are.
- Interview with Sam here and check out his tips on how to meditate
No. Your mind will be active in any case, no matter how much you meditate. The goal is not to be without thought, but to be aware of the character of your experience in each moment and not suffer unnecessarily. Almost all our suffering is the product of our thoughts. We spend nearly every moment of our lives lost in thought, and hostage to the character of those thoughts. You can break this spell, but it takes training just like it takes training to defend yourself against a physical assault. You are thinking every moment and not aware of it, and the initial experience of anyone who seriously tries to meditate is one of discovering how incessant this cascade of thoughts is.
It's probably true that certain human accomplishments depend upon people's neurotic needs for achievement or their lust for money or power. A lot of art comes from a place of being captivated by selfish illusions. And if a person were to permanently dispel the illusion of the self, he might not write great novels or start the next Apple. Buddhahood might be incompatible with being the next Nabokov or Steve Jobs. Luckily, no one has ever had to choose between becoming a great artist or entrepreneur, or the next Buddha.
The relevant question for me is how neurotic and unhappy and self-deceived do we have to be while living productive lives. I think the general answer is, far less than most of us are.
- Interview with Sam here and check out his tips on how to meditate
Google’s Self-Driving Car Gathers Nearly 1 GB/sec
“Google’s self-driving car gathers 750 megabytes of sensor data per SECOND! That is just mind-boggling to me. Here is a picture of what the car ‘sees’ while it is driving and about to make a left turn. It is capturing every single thing that it sees moving — cars, trucks, birds, rolling balls, dropped cigarette butts, and fusing all that together to make its decisions while driving. If it sees a cigarette butt, it knows a person might be creeping out from between cars. If it sees a rolling ball it knows a child might run out from a driveway. I am truly stunned by how impressive an achievement this is.” - IdeaLab founder/CEO Bill Gross.
Now what if some elements of all this data also be projected on a special windshield display or on Google Glass for driver override, when needed? Add to that: weather and traffic reports ahead, police-scanner data (to avoid a road chase in progress, let’s say), news reports mentioning local events, oh, and Yelp reports, and Find My Friends or Latitude popup pics, and throw in a live HD action cam and what about a panorama cam and …. OK, you get the idea!
- More Here
Quote of the Day
It's easier for a rich man to ride that camel through the eye of a needle directly into the Kingdom of Heaven, than for some of us to give up our cell phone.
- Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
- Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
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