29.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Would eating heavy atoms lengthen our lives? - Retrotope suosittelee raskasta vettä.
Retrotope is not advocating heavy water as an elixir of youth. Instead, it wants to package up heavy isotopes in what Shchepinov calls "iFood". This method has huge advantages, not least because it allows the heavy isotopes to be targeted to the most vulnerable carbon-hydrogen bonds. Of the 20 amino acids used by humans, 10 cannot be made by the body and must be present in the diet. That means if you supplement your diet with essential amino acids that have already had their vulnerable bonds strengthened, your body's proteins will have these reinforced amino acids incorporated into them. Some of the building blocks of fats and DNA can also only be acquired via your diet, which means they too can be targeted using the iFood approach.
An Infinite Loop in the Brain - Luonnollinen valokuvamuisti ei kelpaa, koska sitä ei voi hallita.
"Starting on Feb. 5, 1980, I remember everything. That was a Tuesday." -- In addition to good memories, every angry word, every mistake, every disappointment, every shock and every moment of pain goes unforgotten. Time heals no wounds for Price. "I don't look back at the past with any distance. It's more like experiencing everything over and over again, and those memories trigger exactly the same emotions in me. It's like an endless, chaotic film that can completely overpower me. And there's no stop button."
Microgripper - Tekokäsi yrittää järjestellä luonnon legopalikoita tarkemmin.

Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking - Videojohdanto kriittiseen ajatteluun.


"Very smart people make very stupid mistakes, and they do it with surprising regularity."
- Anders Sandberg

28.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Introduction to Transhumanism (Finnish Version) - MJSL-2050:n kolmen minuutin esittelyvideo transhumanismista suomeksi käännettynä.

No electricity? Island now energy independent - Dean Kamen muutti saarivaltionsa North Dumpling Islandin energiaitsenäiseksi.

Patternicity: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise
In a September paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, “The Evolution of Superstitious and Superstition-like Behaviour,” Harvard University biologist Kevin R. Foster and University of Helsinki biologist Hanna Kokko test my theory through evolutionary modeling and demonstrate that whenever the cost of believing a false pattern is real is less than the cost of not believing a real pattern, natural selection will favor patternicity.

Researchers identify a potentially universal mechanism of aging
Has universal ageing mechanism been found?
"We then began wondering what would happen if we put more of the sirtuin back into the mice," says Oberdoerffer. "Our hypothesis was that with more sirtuins, DNA repair would be more efficient, and the mouse would maintain a youthful pattern gene expression into old age." - That's precisely what happened. Using a mouse genetically altered to model lymphoma, Oberdoerffer administered extra copies of the sirtuin gene, or fed them the sirtuin activator resveratrol, which in turn extended their mean lifespan by 24 to 46 percent. -- "According to this specific mechanism, while DNA damage exacerbates aging, the actual cause is not the DNA damage itself but the lack of gene regulation that results," says Oberdoerffer. "Lots of research has shown that this particular process of regulating gene activity, otherwise known as epigenetics, can be reversed—unlike actual mutations in DNA. We see here, through a proof-of-principal demonstration, that elements of aging can be reversed."

25.11.08

Oletusarvot kunniaan

Uutta kulttuuria yritetään taas estää vanhan kulttuurin takia. MPAA haluaa sulkea leffojen fanileikkauksia fanittavan Fanedit.orgin. Mutta Internet kiertää estot, fanieditit löytyvät aina jostakin.

The Effort Effect - Fundamental attribution error kohdistettuna itseen.
Students for whom performance is paramount want to look smart even if it means not learning a thing in the process. For them, each task is a challenge to their self-image, and each setback becomes a personal threat. So they pursue only activities at which they’re sure to shine—and avoid the sorts of experiences necessary to grow and flourish in any endeavor. Students with learning goals, on the other hand, take necessary risks and don’t worry about failure because each mistake becomes a chance to learn.
A Short Course in Behavioral Economics - Valinnanvapaus on hyvä, mutta liian suuri määrä vaihtoehtoja lannistaa eikä aina jaksa tehdä kunnon valintoja. Onneksi valintojen tekemisen voi ulkoistaa ammattilaisvalitsijoille. Huonojen vaihtoehtojen valintaa voi tehdä hankalammiksi ja hyvien vaihtoehtojen valintaa helpommaksi.
Who is a choice architect? Everyone in this room is a choice architect. Anyone who designs the environment in which you choose is a choice architect. If you go to a restaurant, there is a menu. Somebody thought about how to structure that menu. In many restaurants you have appetizers, then main courses. In some restaurants the main courses are divided into meat, fish and pasta. In others they are all mixed up. Sometimes they are arranged in order of price. Sometimes there is no apparent order. Everything we know about psychology tells us that all of those things matter. Everything matters. If you start with that as a premise, that everything matters, that all the tiny incidental features of the environment influence what people choose, then the choice architect has control of all of those features that can influence what people do. -- You have to pick something. There is no such thing as neutral choice architecture any more than there is neutral architecture.
Avioero 2.0 – syynä pettäminen virtuaalimaailmassa - Ja eräät kuulemma ottavat avioeron, koska kumppanin koneelta löytyy pornoa. Ne on musta naivia ihmisiä.

24.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Flux Magazine Oct 2008 - Rathenau Instituten julkaisun transhumanismi-erikoisnumero.

Cryonics sets example for emergency medicine
Although progress has slowed considerably in the non-cryobiology research areas over the last 10 years, it is encouraging to observe that some of the procedures that are routine in cryonics stabilization protocol are starting to catch on in mainstream emergency medicine practice as well. For example, contemporary cryonics stabilization protocol has been strongly shaped by the idea that the best strategy to limit brain injury after cardiac arrest is to combine a number of different interventions: cardiopulmonary support, induction of hypothermia, and administration of circulation-supporting and neuroprotective medications.

Can the can
The researchers’ conclusion is that one example of disorder, like graffiti or littering, can indeed encourage another, like stealing. Dr Kelling was right. The message for policymakers and police officers is that clearing up graffiti or littering promptly could help fight the spread of crime

New Suspect in Sports Doping Is, No Joke, Viagra - Mitä jos yhden tehosteen käyttö aiheuttaa sivuvaikutuksena toisen ominaisuuden heikkenemisen, mutta toisen tehosteen käyttö parantaa sekä heikkenemisen että tehostaa samalla kolmatta ominaisuutta?
Some athletes are believed to take Viagra in an attempt to aid the delivery of steroids to the muscles and hasten recovery from workouts. Others take Viagra to counter the effects of impotence brought on by steroid use --

Solar panels on graves - Jotain hyötyä hautausmaistakin.

Japan scientists eye made-to-order bones
The custom-made bones are created from the calcium phosphate powder and a solidifying liquid which is more than 80 percent distilled water, using computer-assisted design. In the same way that an ink-jet printer propels droplets onto a piece of paper, a device squirts the liquid on a 0.1-millimetre-thick layer of the powder to form a desired shape. -- Theoretically, a laboratory in Tokyo could one day use CT data to create a custom-made bone within hours for someone hurt in a car accident halfway across the world.

Hauskaa: the crowbar arrived at CERN, Freeman received it, world saved

TV-nurkkaus: Eleventh Hour on CBS:n sarja FBI:n tiedekonsultista, joka tutkii tiedeaiheisia rikoksia. Eleventh Hour Facts tarjoaa faktoja sarjan aiheisiin liittyen. Fringe-sarjassa sekä tapaukset että tutkimusmetodit menevät sitten selkeämmin fiktion puolelle.

20.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Virtual worlds increasingly generated by software, not made by artists
I'm thinking especially of abandonware worlds where only a few players remain and the gamemasters have stopped paying close attention. What odd maps might be drawn as the die-hards explore the outermost reaches of these worlds?
The Last Viridian Note
The same goes for a working chair. Notice it. Take action. Bad chairs can seriously injure you from repetitive stresses. Get a decent ergonomic chair. Someone may accuse you of "indulging yourself" because you possess a chair that functions properly. This guy is a reactionary. He is useless to futurity. Listen carefully to whatever else he says, and do the opposite. You will benefit greatly. -- Get excellent tools and appliances. Not a hundred bad, cheap, easy ones. Get the genuinely good ones. Work at it. Pay some attention here, do not neglect the issue by imagining yourself to be serenely "non-materialistic." There is nothing more "materialistic" than doing the same household job five times because your tools suck.

Kevin Kellyn pohdiskelussa Max Moren The Pro-Actionary Principle

Linkkivinkki anonyymiltä: Dancing Tongue

Teen lives 4 months with no heart, leaves hospital
The first tissue-engineered trachea (windpipe)

18.11.08

Huono kuski, huono kulkuneuvo, huono maasto

Tuning in to unconscious communication - Ehkä meidän tulisi pukeutua kohtaamispukuihin, puhua synteettisellä äänellä ja olla mahdollisimman eleettömiä pitääksemme tiedostamattoman kommunikaation minimissään ja rationaalisuuden maksimissaan (tosin ihmiset yleensä menevät toiseen suuntaan ja korostavat tietoisesti tiedostamatonta kommunikaatiota meikeillä, vihjailevilla asuilla, tuoksuilla ja niin edelleen). Toinen vaihtoehto olisi tietysti kehittää ihmisen tietoista hallintaa tiedostamattomaan kommunikaatioonsa... mutta silloin ihmiskeho periaatteessa toimisi kuin kohtaamispuku. Aivan, ihmiskeho on huonosti toimiva kohtaamispuku.

Your Body Is Mine - Body-swap illusion. Jos kehon vaihtamisen illuusion saa helposti toimimaan, miksi antautua vaaraan ja lähteä paikan päälle omalla kehollaan? Parempi lähettää pelkkä tyhjä kohtaamispuku ja ohjata sitä telepresenssillä (näin järkevä vorloni toimisi). Mutta jos ei lähde itsenään paikan päälle, miksi yleensä järjestää tapaaminen paikan päällä? Parempi ohjata avataria ja tavata virtuaaliavaruuden virtuaaliasemalla, jossa ei ole reaalimaailmasta johtuvia vaaroja ja logistiikkaongelmia. Aivan, todellisuus on huonosti toimiva virtuaalitodellisuus.

(Jatkona aikaisemmalle merkinnälle.)

16.11.08

Konvergenssikonferenssi

Convergence08-unkonferenssi Kaliforniassa. Sentient Developments livebloggaa. Twitter-hashtag on #converge. Lisäksi myös FastForward Radio Live at Convergence 08.

Gregory Benford on aloittanut Genescientin, joka pyrkii kehittämään hoitoja ikääntymissairauksiin.

Can everyone be an Einstein? - Aivopelejä.

14.11.08

Huomisen mies, 1963

Popular Science, November 1963:

-- In other words, instead of modifying the ship, modify the man. Simple as it sounds, a proposal like this rouses tremendous opposition. We have inherited a tradition of the natural man, the perfect physical specimen impossible to improve. Medicine has in the past confined itself to restoring the patient to this natural state and left it to cults and quacks to offer programs for developing superhuman powers.

Man can be improved. What’s more, people have been working on it for centuries. The only difference now is that science can take a hand and speed up the process.

It isn’t the science-fiction fantasists who are being unrealistic, but conservative scientists.

It we don’t, the Russians will.

13.11.08

Kamera silmään

Call for Engineers: Eye-Cam Wanted - Tanya Vlach menetti toisen silmänsä auto-onnettomuudessa ja haluaa asentaa kameran silmäproteesiinsa. Insinörttien apua kaivataan.

Mistä tulikin mieleeni, että Gloggerin etusivu pyörittää nykyään satunnaisia pätkiä käveleviltä livekameroilta ympäri maailmaa. Koko planeetta on satunnaisesti editoitu Big Brother. Jäämme odottamaan uutisjuttua naisesta, joka talutettiin ulos elokuvateatterista, koska hän nauhoitti elokuvaa muistiinsa.

Human Variome Project on laukaissut sivunsa uudelleen.

Myös Eliezer Yudkowsky on saanut kotisivunsa uusittua.

Low speed limits have opposite effect - Tällä tavalla huonojen lakien säätäminen syö uskottavuutta hyviltäkin laeilta.

Google Flu Trends

12.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

11.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Tulevaisuudentutkija: Superäly lyö ihmisen ennen pitkää - Ray Hammond

All The Cool Kids Wear Air Jordan Prosthetics - Tällaisilta borgiosien pitäisi näyttää, ei roskiksesta kaivetuilta piirilevyiltä.

New Software Will Enable Cars To Make Coordinated Avoidance Maneuvers - Autot tekevät yhteistyötä. Seuraavaksi ne metsästävät laumoissa.

Sniftag - Koirille tämä seurantatagi on tarkoitettu, mutta katu keksii omat käyttötarkoituksensa.

Neuroimaging of Brain Shows Who Spoke To A Person And What Was Said

9.11.08

Mielensä vanki, kehonsa vanki tai ympäristönsä vanki

Cutting off healthy limbs OK, says Dr Christopher Ryan - Pitäisikö poistaa raaja vai poistaa ihmisaivoista halu raajan poistamiseen vai poistaa muiden ihmisten ennakkoluulot siitä, että kyse on ongelmasta? Olipa kyse sitten terveen raajan katkaisemisesta, raajojen pidennyksestä, kielen halkaisemisesta, sukupuolenvaihdoksesta tai mistä tahansa niin vaihtoehtoja on hyvä miettiä. Ihminen on joko mielensä vanki, kehonsa vanki tai ympäristönsä vanki, eikä yhden valitsema ratkaisu välttämättä sovi toiselle. Terraformataanko Mars, marsformataanko ihminen vai voiko Mars tulla puoliväliin vastaan?

Honda Experimental Walking Assist Device - Yksipyöräisen ja eksoskeletonin risteytys.

Mcor Matrix - 3D-paperiprintteri käyttää tavallisia A4-arkkeja. Mutta entä jos ladataan sisään nanopaperia? Turistirihkaman kotikopiointi on taas pari askelta lähempänä.

Cory Doctorow: Why I Copyfight
Because if copying on the Internet were ended tomorrow, it would be the end of culture on the Internet too. YouTube would vanish without its storehouse of infringing clips; LiveJournal would be dead without all those interesting little user-icons and those fascinating pastebombs from books, news-stories and blogs; Flickr would dry up and blow away without all those photos of copyrighted, trademarked and otherwise protected objects, works, and scenes.

8.11.08

Koe-erä

A science without a deadline - Tavanomainen artikkeli kryoniikasta, josta muistui mieleeni, että Teema-kanavalta uusintana tulevassa dokumenttisarjassa Tutkija koekaniinina (Medical Mavericks) oli jakso, jossa käsiteltiin erikoisia ruokavalioita itsellään testanneita tiedemiehiä kuten William Starkia. Mukana oli kalorirajoitteista ruokavaliota noudattava (ja MPrizea rahoittava) David Fisher. Kryoniikka ja kalorirajoitteinen ruokavalio ovat molemmat pitkän aikavälin vapaaehtoisia ihmiskokeita, joiden tulos tiedetään vasta kymmenien tai satojen vuosien kuluttua. Oman kehonsa käyttäminen koekaniinina tällä tavoin vaatii kenties erikoista yhdistelmäluonnetta, jossa riskinsietokyky, itsekuri ja pitkän tähtäimen ajattelu yhdistyvät vahvaan itsesuojeluvaistoon ja/tai haluun hyödyttää ihmiskuntaa sekä tietynlaiseen välinpitämättömyyteen sosiaalisista sopeutumispaineista.

Going to work on Smart Drugs - Terveiden ihmisten tapa käyttää modafiniilia ja muita lääkeaineita on myös samanlaista potentiaalisesti suurta hyötyä tuovaa, mutta riskialtista oman kehon koekäyttöä. Keep your laws of my body ja niin edelleen.
Part of the problem is that there is no regulatory process for the study and approval of cognitive enhancement drugs among healthy individuals. Health agencies in Canada and the U.S., for instance, require that drugs target a specific illness, and feeling like your brain is groggy doesn't count. Once a drug is approved to treat a neurological disease or disorder, though, doctors are then free to prescribe it "off-label" to treat other ailments. This was how Cole obtained his modafinil. After spending a year researching the drug online to ensure it was safe, he says he found a local doctor who prescribed the drug to treat "working-related somnolence." By some estimates, 40 per cent of all prescriptions in the U.S. are now off-label.

Physical Security Maxims
Backwards Maxim: Most people will assume everything is secure until provided strong evidence to the contrary--exactly backwards from a reasonable approach.
You Could’ve Knocked Me Over with a Feather Maxim 1: Security managers, manufacturers, vendors, and end users will always be amazed at how easily their security products or programs can be defeated.
You Could’ve Knocked Me Over with a Feather Maxim 2: Having been amazed once, security managers, manufacturers, vendors, and end users will be equally amazed the next time around.

7.11.08

Kollektiivi rakentaa kollektiivia

Singularity Summit 2008 on ohitse.





MK-677 - The drug, called MK-677, was evaluated for its safety and effectiveness in a study that showed the drug restored 20 percent of muscle mass loss associated with normal aging. In fact, levels of growth hormone (GH) and of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF- I) in healthy seniors who took the drug increased to the levels found in healthy young adults, said Michael O. Thorner, a professor of internal medicine and neurosurgery at the University of Virginia Health System.

Brain Stimulation Improves Dexterity


"Fear can be a good thing. On a bad day, it'll keep you alive."
- John Connor, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

5.11.08

Muistilinkkejä

Transhumanist Tech Is A Boner Pill That Sets Up a Firewall Against Billy Joel
I suppose looking at it in terms of the great lofty visions of transhumanism — longer healthy lifespans, better brains, intelligent machines, cyborg body parts, genomic evolutions and so forth – what once were dreams and small projects are now dreams and well-funded projects and even companies that hope to bring products to market. This means that there has been enough incremental scientific and technological progress to bring it to the point where investors, scientists, engineers and so on are taking this stuff seriously.
Ecologists Say Metabolism Accounts for Why Natural Selection Favors Only Some Species
"Organisms whose designs fit the physiological window have been favored by natural selection across all of life's major kingdoms," he said. "This observed, narrow range might therefore be considered as the preferred, optimal range for the functioning of living matter as a whole." - "Species had to invent diverse tricks to remain near the metabolic optimum, from which the progressive evolutionary increase in body size – from prokaryotes to largest vertebrates and plants – was continually taking them away," Li said.
Self-propelled microbots navigate through blood vessels
Researchers at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, in Canada, led by professor of computer engineering Sylvain Martel, have coupled live, swimming bacteria to microscopic beads to develop a self-propelling device, dubbed a nanobot. While other scientists have previously attached bacteria to microscopic particles to take advantage of their natural propelling motion, Martel's team is the first to show that such hybrids can be steered through the body using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Sperian Anti-Mine Boots

1.11.08

Muistilinkkejä


Interview with Alcor readiness coordinator Regina Pancake
Don’t fall for the “Our Friends from the Future will save us” syndrome. WE are responsible for our own survival and it is up to WE the Living, in the constant “now” to deal with what our pieces of this generational puzzle are. In the film industry there was something similar. During production you’d always hear someone say, “Don’t worry, we’ll fix it in post.” Production people are a somewhat different set from post-production people. Production would assume that the “magic” of Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) would save the day.
Cool Polymers: Toward the Microwave Oven Version of the Refrigerator
“This could be the first step in the development of an electric-field refrigerator”—one with no bulky coils or noisy compressors. Someday chilling a picnic cooler might mean flipping a switch rather than loading up on ice.