- Want to solve a complex problem? Applied math can help
- Inadequate compensation for lost or downgraded protected areas threatens global biodiversity: Study
- Only 5 women have won the Nobel Prize in physics—recent winners share advice for young women in the field
- Madagascar's mining rush has caused no more deforestation than farming, study finds
- Scientists explore microbial diversity in sourdough starters
Live blog: Ethical Issues in Synthetic Biology
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 12:20The Woodrow Wilson Center is hosting an event at 12:30PM EST today on synthetic biology. Event home.
Open Government Directive, Phase III
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 10:08|
The third phase enacting the President's Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government continues through Sunday. Prior phases centered on brainstorming and discussion. From the Phase III home at Mixedlink: |
Centerfold Future
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 18:28|
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The current issue of Playboy Magazine features a collection called "Future Tense: A Symposium On the New American Landscape." It includes comments extrapolating on the future implications of current technological ramifications. It avoids any prescriptions save reflection, and it even questions the future's potential for alteration. Playboy asks, “Nobody has ever experienced anything like 2009. So what lies ahead? Is the future in your hands?” Though Playboy claims to aggregate answers “from some of our foremost thinkers,” some of the writing is disappointingly poor. Even the more thoughtful contributions, by T. Boone Pickens and Martin Rees, lack novelty. Two pieces do stand out: |
![[Cover image of Playboy's current issue]](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cqvQosDKKWk/Sjqqg62XSPI/AAAAAAAABEw/PR-r8WKrtQE/s400/olivia-munn-playboy.jpg)
Is technology a democratizing force?
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 17:42Does technology favor democracy? MSNBC's The Rachel Maddown show covers the role of social networking in the developing Iranian situation:
A Cosmist Blogifesto
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 09:06Thanks to Michael Anissimov for the news: Dr. Ben Goertzel just published the working draft of a new book, A Cosmist Manifesto, accessible here for free as a series of blog posts. I treat Dr. Goertzel's perspectives most seriously, and encourage everyone to check his writings and speeches. I have yet to read this work, and will provide feedback there, as I encourage others to do. That Dr. Goertzel, whom I hold in the highest esteem, is choosing to use this medium provides an opportunity to communicate with him constructively on his ideas.
Google Seizes the Day, Yet Again
Submitted by Varun Sharma (not verified) on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 02:34Last night was a sad night indeed as sad as any night could be for a very sad night. It turned out that months of hard labor proved to be ineffective against that which binds us all and holds us captive in mind - the media. Communications control the 'hive mind' in the sense that popular media such as television and the Internet have an extremely powerful influence in our perception, and therefore thought. Creigh Deeds won the 2009 Democratic Virginia Governors' Primary.
The Open Source Sensing Initiative
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 23:42Today, the Foresight Institute's VP Chris Peterson launches a new project "with the goal of bringing the benefits of a bottom-up, decentralized approach to sensing for security and environmental purposes."
If we're gonna own GM, let's *own* it
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 10:21Jaime Kitman of ForeignPolicy.com asks, "what kind of car company are we trying to build?" No matter your politics, that we now own General Motors is fact. If our interest is to hold or sell, it is stll in our best interest, as American taxpayers, to ensure GM's success.
We must think innovatively about this development as an opportunity. How can we create value for our investment, given the novel stake we each share?
Why Teme is (Potentially) Very Scary
Submitted by Katherine Freeman (not verified) on Sat, 05/30/2009 - 00:44PLEASE ENJOY THIS NOW.
When I was in high school, I thought that George Orwell was a genius. But now I kind of think that Alduous Huxley is the more insightful one. And that's why I'm scared of Teme.
Why our 'amazing' science fiction future fizzled
Submitted by Paul Tiffany (not verified) on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 21:04CNN's John Blake writes today about our attitudes, over time, toward technology and the future. The article makes an interesting read for two reasons:
