Category Archives: random

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 …

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.

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

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

I was honored to see that the creator of WordPress, the very software this blog runs on, plugged my page “Why Intelligent People Fail” yesterday. Definitely a page worth seeing if you haven’t yet.

Patrick Millard’s ongoing coverage of Biosphere 2 Anders Sandberg: Seeing the World Indiana Law Interfering With Citizens’ Free Speech Rights Found Unconstitutional RepRap blog: Open Source Scanning Tunneling Microscope Category: Mendel Development at RepRap Wiki Open Source Ecology Jim Von Ehr says Zyvex will Achieve Digital Matter from Building Blocks by 2015 and Rudimentary Molecular Manufacturing by 2020 Whole Brain Emulation: the Logical Endpoint of Neuroinformatics Protein Computing, Bio-based Quantum Computing and Nano-sized biolasers from ExQor Technologies Eurekalert: Eating processed meats, but not unprocessed red meats, may raise risk of heart disease and diabetes ‘Fountain of youth’ steroids could protect against heart disease Want to Get Smarter, Faster? Sleep 10 Hours: NPR 6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning eWeek: Who’s Afraid of the Singularity? TIME — Tastes Like Chicken: the Quest for Fake Meat ABC Science: Cyborg rights “need debating now” YouTube: iRobot 710 …

The above magazine allegedly got the meme of molecular nanotechnology really going in 1986, according to Eric Drexler. He pointed out that nanotechnology is not really meant to “mimic life”. Anyway, molecular nanotechnology sure is scary! I hope it isn’t developed anytime soon.

Here are a number of links I’ve been meaning to share. A disproportionate amount are from Singularity Hub, a site that’s been increasing in quality lately. They don’t really post about the Singularity (high technology in general and the Singularity are not equivalent, sorry), but it’s still interesting news.

Nanotechnology artificial leaves for hydrogen production Rutgers 2010 Singularity course Company to sell ‘world’s first practical jetpack’ for $75,000 (w/ Video) How to see through opaque materials How to Reboot Your Corpse (pathetically poorly researched article from IEEE… a publication whose reputation is rapidly falling among tech enthusiasts) Robot Gymnast Performs Again! fMRI read the images in your brain — we know what you’re looking at Adam the Robot …

My friend Tom McCabe has uploaded several essays and papers that may interest Accelerating Future readers:

Failure and Success in AGI Projects Optimization of Rockets with Variable Exhaust Velocity Singularity FAQ, with Kaj Sotala Sales in Startups How Gold and Glory Led the Roman Republic to Greatness A Unified Theory of Success An Alternative Theory of Startups

There is also a short essay by Michael Vassar:

Changes in Class Well-Being Over the Past Century

Scientific research indicates human athletic performance has peaked Corporations, agencies infiltrated by botnet Dolphin cognitive abilities raise ethical questions, says Emory neuroscientist Synchronized flying robots could paint pictures in the sky (w/ Video) Millimeter-scale, energy-harvesting sensor system developed Nanodiamonds Produce ‘Game Changing Event’ for MRI Imaging Sensitivity The Onion: U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion CNN: Bill Gates and the “Nuclear Renaissance” Telegraph: Christians to debate impact of high-profile atheist scientists Michael Graham Richard: Science is the Only News

Source: “A Century of Change: Trends in UK statistics since 1900″.