My novel Gu takes a slightly different approach to telepresence avatars: “gupes,” duplicates of yourself in programmable matter, which can be and act anywhere in the world as if you were physically present.
But VR telepresence and telepresence robots are interesting steps, for sure.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
“In my mind, a hyperconnected, borderless world will be a more creative, lucrative, healthy and, frankly, exciting one.”
TIL that Jack London’s last book was spec-fic.
Originally shared by The Public Domain Review
New Essay — “Astral Travels with Jack London” — http://buff.ly/2f36caZ
On the centenary of Jack London’s death, Benjamin Breen looks at the writer’s last book to be published in his lifetime, The Star Rover — a strange tale about solitary confinement and interstellar reincarnation, which speaks to us of the dreams and struggles of the man himself.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Digitized. Deceptive. Disruptive. Demonetized. Dematerialized. Democratized.
Just noticed that this is on sale for $1.99. It’s worth picking up, because a) Ursula Le Guin, and b) it’s a decent intro to writing craft with some features I haven’t seen elsewhere, including some good material on the use of language in fiction. (UKLG is, after all, a poet.)
Just noticed that this is on sale for $1.99. It’s worth picking up, because a) Ursula Le Guin, and b) it’s a decent intro to writing craft with some features I haven’t seen elsewhere, including some good material on the use of language in fiction. (UKLG is, after all, a poet.)
Having billions more people, in very different cultural and economic circumstances, online will change the Internet in significant and unpredictable ways, as well as changing the lives of people who now have access to information about markets, the ability to transact remotely, and many other new abilities that nobody has even thought of yet.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
The race for global Internet coverage is heating up between SpaceX, Google, and Facebook? Take the poll to let us know who you think should win.
Originally shared by Rob Jongschaap
Lip-reading is notoriously difficult, depending as much on context and knowledge of language as it does on visual clues. But researchers are showing that machine learning can be used to discern speech from silent video clips more effectively than professional lip-readers can.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602949/ai-has-beaten-humans-at-lip-reading/
Originally shared by Yonatan Zunger
There’s an old Soviet joke: “Don’t think. If you think, don’t speak. If you speak, don’t write. If you write, don’t sign. If you sign, don’t be surprised.” While it may encode some good advice for keeping out of Siberia, the realities of living in an autocracy are somewhat more subtle. The most important rules aren’t about not attracting the notice of the secret police – they’re about how to keep track of your sense of reality, when you are subject to a continuous and concerted effort to redefine it.
I was reminded of this just a few days ago by my Peruvian mother-in-law, who described how Fujimori would engage in elaborate public shuffles of his cabinet, making “who’s in and who’s out” the center of all media attention, whenever he was up to something particularly nefarious behind the scenes. The media is hungry; if you feed it, it will eat.
Behind here is an essay by Masha Gessen, who grew up in Russia under Brezhnev, about what you need in order to survive. She gives six slightly different rules: “1. Believe the autocrat; 2. Do not be taken in by small signs of normality; 3. Institutions will not save you; 4. Be outraged; 5. Don’t make compromises; 6. Remember the future.”
There’s a great deal of subtlety behind each of these, especially the first three. The art of surviving in an autocracy, whether it be the USSR or a tinpot banana republic, is the art of recognizing when you are being told the simple, unvarnished truth, and when you are being treated to a spectacular song-and-dance designed to distract you from what’s really going on.
What’s particularly important here, and why you should read Gessen’s essay, is that the instincts you have developed for understanding democracies will lead you exactly astray when trying to understand autocracies – the instincts to search for a rationalization when you hear something extreme, or to treat “small signs of normality” like stock market stability or a “normal” news story like a cabinet reshuffle as a sign that things really are normal, for example. In a democracy, this habits are frequently correct; to an autocrat, this tendency of people to assume that everything is normal is a basic part of operations.
There are many good books on the theory of propaganda, but Gessen’s essay is perhaps one of the most concise and useful introductions. You will likely find it very useful when understanding anything you see or hear from a dictatorship anywhere in the world.
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
Originally shared by Alan Stainer
Deforestation and upcycling
This is a really good idea to combat illegal logging in the rainforest.
http://www.natgeoexplorer.com/article/old-cell-phones-used-save-rainforest/
Hat tip Jayson Gurney
http://www.natgeoexplorer.com/article/old-cell-phones-used-save-rainforest/
Sharing to read later.
Originally shared by Maria Rich
OH WOW! This is soo hillarious! I hope I never get on this list. lol An interesting “what not to do” for anyone writing any kind of love scene. And even if you don’t ever want to write one, read it for the laughs. I teared up at the last quoted passage!
What was the worse love scene you’ve ever read?