G-8 Protests
Wholeness and Virtual Communities
Global movement meets global movement.
http://de.indymedia.org/en/
Wholeness and Virtual Communities
Earth Portal
The World Right Now
If partisan administrations are going to kill science funding because it conflicts with government goals, maybe web-based networks of scientists will grow in response. This one happens to have angel investors, so no telling yet how sustainable it is. But let a thousand earth-sensing flowers bloom.
The Earth Portal is a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience.
www.earthportal.org
Expanded Awareness
Personal Infrastructure
Connection of sensors to brain areas to shorten the processing loop. Think of ten examples that have nothing to do with killing “targets”.
“The most far-reaching component of the binocs has nothing to do with the optics: it’s Darpa’s aspirations to integrate EEG electrodes that monitor the wearer’s neural signals, cueing soldiers to recognize targets faster than the unaided brain could on its own. The idea is that EEG can spot “neural signatures” for target detection before the conscious mind becomes aware of a potential threat or target…That prefrontal cortex, he explains, allows the brain to pick up patterns quickly, but it also exercises a powerful impulse control, inhibiting false alarms. EEG would essentially allow the binoculars to bypass this inhibitory reaction and signal the wearer to a potential threat. In other words, like Spiderman’s “spider sense,” a soldier could be alerted to danger that his or her brain had sensed, but not yet had time to process.”
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2007/05/binoculars
Mindfulness Expansion
Wholeness and Virtual Communities
I think this is useful questioning. My response is to ask, when one is on the cell phone at the beach, can one be mindful of both places at the same time. My concern with various forms of meditation is that they have equal possibilities of withdrawing from other people, from connectedness in that sense.
“With our mobile phones and wireless palm devices, we are now able to be so connected that we can be in touch with anyone and everyone at any time, and do business anywhere. But have you noticed that, in the process, we run the risk of never being in touch with ourselves?”
http://www.resurgence.org/2007/Zinn241.htm
Neural Interfaces
Personal Infrastructure
Or just jack in. dot.com mania all over again?
“Brainwave signals, eye movements, and other bio-signals are captured and amplified via our patented Dry-Active Sensor technology.”
http://www.neurosky.com/
Toward Better Interfaces
Personal Infrastructure
Here’s one that gets us out of the constricting box of the mouse and click paradigm.
“In this demo, Jeff Han shows off (for the first time publicly) a high-resolution multi-touch computer screen that may herald the end of the point-and-click mouse. The demo, which drew spontaneous applause and audible gasps from the audience, begins with a simple lava lamp, then turns into a virtual photo-editing tabletop, where Han flicks photos across the screen as if they were paper snapshots. (The Apple iPhone, to be released a year later, also does multi-touch — but only with two fingers.)”
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65
Many Eyes
The World Right Now
A complex entity is a complex thing to perceive. This site enables you to roll your own Google Earth, if you have reams of data burning a hole in your pocket.
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/app
Right NOW
The World Right Now
The Well conferencing system used to have a series of topics called “Status”; finally on the Web, on steroids (or Google).
“David Troy, a software developer in Maryland, has created a Web site called Twittervision that superimposes this public timeline on a Google map. Every few seconds, a tweet appears and vanishes somewhere on the globe. It is an absorbing spectacle: a global vision of the human race’s quotidian thoughts and activities, or at least of that portion of the species who twitter.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/business/yourmoney/22stream.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Bionic Review
Personal Infrastructure
An overview of advances in bio-technical interfaces including, yes, the bionic anus.
http://www.doctorsgadgets.com/building-the-bionic-man-from-eye-to-anus.html
Smart Grid
Wholeness and Virtual Communities
Smart Grid – the phrase itself is a condensation of the ideas of Teilhard – a conscious net.
“GridWeek provides the opportunity for organizations focused on grid modernization to hold meetings and participate in collaborative sessions that include leading speakers on smart grid and grid modernization.”
www.gridweek.com