“I used to admire the ability of people to work on many things at once or in succession, but these days I’m much more excited by people who focus intently on just one thing for a long time. It’s not the quantity of things you do, but whether the parts work together to create a good whole.”
From CNN:
He’ll be back… if the script is right.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has given Hollywood agency CAA approval to discuss a potential new Terminator movie with studios, a source close to the star confirms to EW, but until Schwarzenegger sees a script and specifics about the project, he will not fully commit to it.
Director Justin Lin (who helmed this weekend’s “Fast Five”) is reportedly attached to direct the film, but it does not yet have a screenwriter.
random 5:13 pm
Is there any reason why it wouldn’t work?
BCI and random and technology 4:32 pm
Raising giant insects of unravel ancient oxygen
The electronics for smart implants
SENS Foundation post on how resveratrol does not extend lifespan
Brian Wang reports on Zyvex progress in nanotechnology
How 3-D printing is transforming the toy industry
“Skin printer” could help heal battlefield wounds
Self-assembly revolutionizes metamaterial manufacture
Transgenic worms make tough fibers
Magnetic test reveals hyperactive brain network responsible for involuntary flashbacks
Controlling individual cortical nerve cells by human thought
Learning the truth not effective in battling rumors about NYC mosque, study finds
Fingers detect typos even when conscious brain doesn’t
‘Wireless’ humans could form backbone of new mobile networks
Optical technique reveals unnexpected complexity in mammalian olfactory coding
Carbon nanotube thermopower achieving high specific power over seven times higher than lithium batteries
George Dvorsky: Why life extensionists need to be concerned about neurological diseases
random 12:47 am
Robin Hanson is really on fire now with his analysis of farmer vs. forager psychology. Whether consciously or not, he’s extending the farmer model given by Cochran and Harpending in The 10,000 Year Explosion. Cochran and Harpending’s model is interesting in the way it points out the disappointing truth about humanity’s self-domestication. To put it in crude terms, we’ve naturally selected ourselves into a bunch of conformist townie wussies.
My default model of Homo sapiens is four-layered — our primate-mammalian background from 80 mya, the Homo sapiens EEA (environment of evolutionary adaptiveness) pan-species bedrock, post-African diaspora/farming/Neolithic Revolution selection pressures, and the modern world. Rich data is available to update the model at all four levels, but in my opinion #3, the farming revolution, is most neglected. I hazard to guess it’s the most neglected because the particulars of it make distinctions between different groups of existing humans.
Another neglected area, as far as my reading goes, is the mystical/mythical side of the time period intermediate between the EEA and farming. The period of time when all our elaborate myths were invented, perhaps 10-20,000 years ago. The Golden Bough provides powerful evidence of the content of this entire area (hint: it involves burning lots of effigies), but what scholarly work exists on mythological origins prior to all trendy modern traditions? The Golden Bough was published 120 years ago. Anyone know more recent material?
random 12:23 pm
From TechCrunch:
Thiel is starting a new initiative that will offer grants of up to $100,000 for kids to drop out of school. Yes, you read that right. Though that’s not how Thiel puts it. Instead, he calls it “stopping out of school.”
The basic gist is that he will fund up to 20 kids under the age of 20 who apply for this grant. His hope, obviously, isn’t to ruin their lives, but instead to find the best minds thinking about big things early in life. This is where true disruption comes from, Thiel believes.
And it also solves another problem that many young people face today: crippling debt. Because going to college is so much more expensive than it was even when Thiel was in school, he notes that a lot of kids come out of school having to worry about debt rather than just focusing on doing great things. Thiel hopes to change that.
He’ll be accepting applications for this grant through the end of the year for enrollment in 2011.
The problem with age is that people often become more materialistic, less idealistic, and more conformist. The average 24 bright year old is much more intellectually conformist than the average bright 19 year old. The slightly older folks see the existing systems, they fight against them a bit, then give up. With huge debt, they have no choice but to play it safe in work and life. True independent thought is lost.
What courage Thiel is displaying, going against an established order that makes it seem as if no one can accomplish anything without a degree.
random 11:49 am
I like Jamais Cascio. I think he’s funny. I completely disagree with many of his ideas, but at least he’s a futurist with personality.
random 10:26 am
Fab Lab bill before Congress
Full-bore transhumanist advocacy for brain implants in MIT Technology Review
Current decisions shape your future preferences
Lifelong exercising yields sensational results
Nano antenna increases light capacity 1000 fold
Technology Review: Artificial Ovary Could Help Infertile Women
Technology in the extreme — radio transmitters that can survive 900 °C (1652 °F)
Carbon nanotubes twice as strong as once thought
random 5:15 pm
Self-taught rocketeer’s backyard is Jetson-like reality
Artificial skinlike material 1000 times more sensitive than human skin
Advanced Space Launch System would use railgun, scramjet, and rockets
Big Think: The Singularity’s Branding Problem
10 minutes could prevent one-third of road deaths
American women are happier going to church than shopping on Sundays
MJSL2050: Good reasons to hire transhumanists
Moral Machines: Survey on Attitudes Regarding Unmanned Systems
Telomere breakthrough at Sierra Sciences
Katja Grace: Ignorance of non-existent preferences
CounterPunch: “If Only Glenn Beck Were a Cyborg”
Synthetic Pathogens Might Pose Bioterror Threat, Scientists Warn
