Waiting for a technological singularity
After switching web hosts I was too lazy to immediately port my blog over. Since then I have really missed the ability to blog, now the situation is remedied! Also upgraded my OpenID server to support version OpenID v2 which nobody cares about except me! Now I can start forgetting passwords and enjoy controlling my own digital keys again.
This should be everyone’s inspiration.
Liking the Wordpress app for iPhone
This is new for me. I don’t think I have ever posted an official political or religious stance on my blog before. I suppose some quick political opinion and other notes are in order for some perspective:
So obviously I don’t fit into either party. Unless there was a Hunter S. Thompson party, I would totally register with them.
I was up in the air about who to vote for until recently when I hit a mental wall at 300mph. I realized that of all the things I care about technology is truly important to me. I mean this blog’s tag-line is “Waiting for a technological singularity.” I have deep discussions with friends about how do we do ethics in the era of nanotechnology and are we human if we upload?
Now the U.S.A. is a true democracy where whoever is president doesn’t matter in the sense that in some crappy 3rd world country the president could have a life or death impact on the population. Our system is robust enough to suffer the occasional fool (re: George W. who I voted for). In the end it really is a values decision for the voter. The country won’t implode but what is the right direction? What is the extra awesomesauce we can apply to our nation?
The correct answer is: Barack Obama. Now before you say anything else I am not an Obama cheerleader. He has a positive and inclusive message but perhaps a bit naive in some areas. I disagree with many of his views on expensive government programs (my tax dollars want to be elsewhere). Regardless, this is the mental wall I hit:
McCain: Town Hall Meeting 12/29/07
Holy crap, McCain hates bloggers? He was probably referring to the liberal bloggers right? Cuz nobody who is not a liberal blogs right? I’m still getting a weird feeling, holdon…
John Mccain Admits He Cant Use a Computer
Oh God, at 0:33 the old bastard says he doesn’t know how to use a computer, he actually says it. My grandmother is older than McCain and she checks her email every week. If a bill were to be introduced on his desk as president regarding technology he would have NO FUCKING CLUE what it said. Like a nanotechnology restriction bill. Or a 4th amendment (amendment) to privacy of electronic data. As much as I hate swing issues I think I finally understand how important they are. Thus there is no way I can consider voting for McCain unless I see him demonstrate intelligently under debate conditions that he can hack it in the post-1960 technology space.
edit: John Scalzi (brilliant author) has some interesting posts 1 2
Just in case you missed the internet buzz, it’s offical.
Diablo III will feature old standards such as the quotable Deckard Cain, as well as a new version of Tristram and a fresh class dubbed the Witch Doctor. The jungle-born warrior will use ancient tribal magic to cast disease and mind control spells, in addition to utilizing pets such as locust swarms and mongrels.
The game will also include several control improvements, including full zoom capability and a hotbar to easily access skills. Players will be able to quickswap between skills using the mouse wheel or tab key.
Armor will now be class-specific, designed to provide each character a unique look. Classes themselves are more diverse, as it was noted that there will be female versions of both the Barbarian and Witch Doctor.
In a demo of the Barbarian class, the company noted that less of an emphasis will be placed on potions for health. Instead, red orb-like items will drop that immediately recover health once the player picks them up.
Environmental destruction was also shown off, with a character at one point busting through a solid wall. The environment can also be used to kill enemies, as in the case of objects that fell from a wall, killing a group of monsters.
Enemies were shown to be larger in scale than in past games, with giant evil trees and a massive demon called a Siegebreaker.
via ShackNews
So unbelievably lame! I am paying for the 16 MBit down / 2MBit up internet pipe and for the entire day my internet access is capped at a modem-esque (well not really, but close enough) 200KB/s!
All of a sudden at 10pm, my bandwidth magically improves! The real giveaway is in the Azureus Network Status Monitor which is clearly showing the insane rate of TCP resets which Charter is performing on my connections.
My internet provider sucks, can we have FIOS please?
After a fourth week of nonstop storage vendor selection, discussions of how long to capitalize hardware, and disk array feature sets my brain officially gave up. Ladies and gentlemen, I humbly present.. the Fail Whale:
For those who keep asking for the link to the Android platform “augmented reality” app, here is the video and related article.
Apple is going to be hating the competition once everyone has these as an open platform… too bad they are 2 years ahead of everyone else 
An in-depth look at the “the crowning achievement of religious stupidity” and the anti-science ideology behind it. Includes lots of crazy pics and videos.
Best fucking article ever. The title says it all: “The Singularity“.
Across cultures, classes, and aeons, people have yearned to transcend death.
Bear that history in mind as you consider the creed of the singularitarians. Many of them fervently believe that in the next several decades we’ll have computers into which you’ll be able to upload your consciousness—the mysterious thing that makes you you. Then, with your consciousness able to go from mechanical body to mechanical body, or virtual paradise to virtual paradise, you’ll never need to face death, illness, bad food, or poor cellphone reception.
Now you know why the singularity has also been called the rapture of the geeks.
The singularity is supposed to begin shortly after engineers build the first computer with greater-than-human intelligence. That achievement will trigger a series of cycles in which superintelligent machines beget even smarter machine progeny, going from generation to generation in weeks or days rather than decades or years. The availability of all that cheap, mass-produced brilliance will spark explosive economic growth, an unending, hypersonic, technoindustrial rampage that by comparison will make the Industrial Revolution look like a bingo game.
Lobster’s, here we come! (a reference to Accelerando by Charles Stross)
via BoingBoing (of course)
For those of who have not seen Wine Library TV, Gary Vaynerchuk is the high energy personality that powers the “thunder show”. His likability, success, and chutzpah stem from his motto:
Be a RAT.
There is a nice writeup on Gary doing a book signing in Austin over at hooversbiz.com. The post has a much better rundown of the RAT philosophy:
His deepest message, though, was about the necessity of being “RAT” — Real, Authentic, and Transparent — which he sees as an absolute necessity in the era of pervasive social media, when secrets are much harder to hide.
Before the event, someone on the Grape Vine Market staff had asked him if he would be disappointed with a thin turnout; he answered that he would have been grateful to have one person show up to talk to him. He calls his approach “Expectation Zero,” and said, “This Expectation Zero game is amazing — you’ll love it” because it removes the likelihood you’ll be disappointed.
That is the essence of social media and crowdsourcing today. People want the real story, from real people, and told in an honest fashion. Essentially this means you will not succeed unless you can operate in this space. The Diggnation video podcasts are a good example of this (Kevin Rose is also a friend of Gary’s) where the owner of Digg runs a show in a totally RAT manner and thus gains a dedicated following, digg.com customers, and a whole lot of social capital as well.
Follow Gary on Twitter: @garyvee
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