(via aifaustus)
May
13
2013
May
12
2013
A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.
Apr
11
2012
Talented Are the Nerds, For They Will Inherit the Earth.
By Gaius Reynolds for Gaius Hears Voices
The Earth: this magical place that we are simultaneously apart of yet feel so disconnected from. It’s easy to feel like the world we live in is too large to have an attachment to actions and events thousands of miles away on the other side of the globe. Yet when compared to the size of the Solar System, Galaxy, and of course Universe, it is even easier to see how close we all really are. In the entirety of the massive and seemingly endless Universe that we all inhabit, all of us are confined (so far) to the same pale blue dot.
This creates a variety of problems for us as human being trapped on the same speck of dust floating in space. Resource exhaustion, over-population, and natural disasters (terrestrial or cosmological) all threaten to end the human race as we know it. There have been estimations, predictions, and warnings alike concerning humanities end for a very long time now; and while some are far-fetched and baseless, others that are more serious and dire are not given the attention they deserve. It is again this perspective of how large yet how small our planet and species are that deceives people when it comes to the true nature of our own fragility.
Does this mean that we are doomed to failure and extinction? No, I do not believe so. There is one growing aspect of society that perhaps might save us from the brink of destruction; and that is the growing popularity of the nerd. Read more…
Mar
24
2012
In our TEDx talk, we mention that using social media to replace government would begin to happen sooner than expected and this would be more likely to lead to ‘win-win’ outcomes to any citizen choosing to use it. We mention Wikipedia as an example of Israel and Palestinian citizens using...(read more)
Jan
19
2012
The PIRATE BAY’s response to SOPA/PIPA
Posted in full from Reddit.
INTERNETS, 18th of January 2012. PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.
Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would “do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”. He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture.
Because of Edisons patents for the motion pictures it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North american east coast. The movie studios therefor relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent. There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them - like Fantasia, one of Disneys biggest hits ever.
So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immaterial rights. They copied (or put in their terminology: “stole”) other peoples creative works, without paying for it. They did it in order to make a huge profit. Today, they’re all successful and most of the studios are on the Fortune 500 list of the richest companies in the world. Congratulations - it’s all based on being able to re-use other peoples creative works. And today they hold the rights to what other people create. If you want to get something released, you have to abide to their rules. The ones they created after circumventing other peoples rules.
The reason they are always complainting about “pirates” today is simple. We’ve done what they did. We circumvented the rules they created and created our own. We crushed their monopoly by giving people something more efficient. We allow people to have direct communication between eachother, circumventing the profitable middle man, that in some cases take over 107% of the profits (yes, you pay to work for them). It’s all based on the fact that we’re competition. We’ve proven that their existance in their current form is no longer needed. We’re just better than they are.
And the funny part is that our rules are very similar to the founding ideas of the USA. We fight for freedom of speech. We see all people as equal. We believe that the public, not the elite, should rule the nation. We believe that laws should be created to serve the public, not the rich corporations.
The Pirate Bay is truly an international community. The team is spread all over the globe - but we’ve stayed out of the USA. We have Swedish roots and a swedish friend said this: The word SOPA means “trash” in Swedish. The word PIPA means “a pipe” in Swedish. This is of course not a coincidence. They want to make the internet inte a one way pipe, with them at the top, shoving trash through the pipe down to the rest of us obedient consumers. The public opinion on this matter is clear. Ask anyone on the street and you’ll learn that noone wants to be fed with trash. Why the US government want the american people to be fed with trash is beyond our imagination but we hope that you will stop them, before we all drown.
SOPA can’t do anything to stop TPB. Worst case we’ll change top level domain from our current .org to one of the hundreds of other names that we already also use. In countries where TPB is blocked, China and Saudi Arabia springs to mind, they block hundreds of our domain names. And did it work? Not really. To fix the “problem of piracy” one should go to the source of the problem. The entertainment industry say they’re creating “culture” but what they really do is stuff like selling overpriced plushy dolls and making 11 year old girls become anorexic. Either from working in the factories that creates the dolls for basically no salary or by watching movies and tv shows that make them think that they’re fat.
In the great Sid Meiers computer game Civilization you can build Wonders of the world. One of the most powerful ones is Hollywood. With that you control all culture and media in the world. Rupert Murdoch was happy with MySpace and had no problems with their own piracy until it failed. Now he’s complainting that Google is the biggest source of piracy in the world - because he’s jealous. He wants to retain his mind control over people and clearly you’d get a more honest view of things on Wikipedia and Google than on Fox News.
Some facts (years, dates) are probably wrong in this press release. The reason is that we can’t access this information when Wikipedia is blacked out. Because of pressure from our failing competitors. We’re sorry for that.
THE PIRATE BAY, (K)2012
Dec
18
2011
Thorium can change the world. Spread the word.
http://ThoriumRemix.com/act/ - Thorium is readily available & can be turned into energy without generating transuranic wastes. Thorium’s capacity as nuclear fuel was discovered during WW II, but ignored because it was unsuitable for making bombs. A liquid-fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR) is the optimal approach for harvesting energy from Thorium, and has the potential to solve today’s energy/climate crisis. LFTR is a type of Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (Th-MSR). This video summarizes over 6 hours worth of thorium talks given by Kirk Sorensen and other thorium technologists.
Nov
20
2011
I’m writing this post from Liberation Square, the heart and center of the Egyptian revolution.
If you dont know it already we’re rising against military ruling in the same way we have risen against Mubarak’s regime, we’ve taken our protests to the streets in main cities since the dawn of the 19th of November, I’ve been away from my home for about 28 hours now.
We’ve been hit extensively with rubber bullets and tear gas. Also some explosives that explode mid-air spreading thousands of metallic particles that pop protesters’ eyes and burns a lot on impact, I dont know why the police keep using the same old mentality that we’re supposed to have changed.
The sole purpose of this Egyptian rise is to end the military ruling and recognize the army as a vital structure of our country but not above the law.
Edit: You can check my past AMAs since the rise of the Egyptian revolution here and here
I’m open to any questions you might have, if I dont answer for a while I’ll be probably heading for an indoor shelter away from all this suffocating tear gas. AMA
Edit: I’ll be heading to some place to charge my laptop and cellphone and probably get some medical supplies to help those who are injured, I’ll be back as soon as I can.
EDIT: (5pm Cairo time) I have to go now the army is officially attacking protesters here I cant be sure when I’ll be back
Edit: (5:30pm Cairo time) The military police violently cleared liberation square, torching all cars and motorcycles in the vicinity, I’m wounded in my neck and knee by some of those metallic explosives, it’s not so bad though, I’m going home to shower and regain strength and go back in a couple of hours. I wont be able to answer any questions for a couple of hours, wish us luck.
Nov
11
2011
In our talk “Google Consciousness”, we use the metaphor #googcon as a symbol of collective intelligence re-organizing society using nothing more complex than available social media tools such as wiki’s, Google labs and feeds such as Twitter and Facebook.
This idea appears to be picking up more…
Nov
05
2011
Nov
01
2011
By Rome Viharo for Google Consciousness
Back in April, when Maf Lewis and I were giving our TEDx talk on Google Consciousness - we playfully mentioned the possibilities of ‘Reddit Consciousness’ and suggested that these sorts of phenomenon would emerge to produce systems of social administration that would eventually replace government.
A few days ago on Reddit, user ‘Humans, Inc’ posted a thread that sat at the top of Reddit for days, title “Reddit can enable “occupy” movements to permanently shift power from corporations to the people and move the world into a new era”
Offering to provide financial support to build such an engine, redditors flooded Humans, Inc with suggestions and helpful advice on moving forward.
A few years ago, such a suggestion would have been laughed or trolled off the internet, now it is a serious contender for problem solving.
As someone who has worked on creating such an ‘elegant discussion algorithm’ for almost 9 years now, I look at this as very exciting change and confirmation that the emergence of “Google Consciousness”, our metaphor for collective intelligence restructuring the world, is closer than many of us think or are prepared for.
Sep
19
2011
A range of genetic disorders will be identified at birth, or even conception, and tiny, preprogrammed viruses will be sent into the body to penetrate compromised cells and correct the damage. Changing the adult body at the first signs of illness will be just as easy, he predicts. There’s no reason, Prof Church says, why people won’t be able to live to be 120, and then 150.
Continue reading the main storyread more via the BBC
Sep
12
2011
Creepy genetic engineering technology makes species auto destruct.
These soldiers are the first of a new kind of creature - “autocidal” maniacs genetically modified to wipe out their own kind without harming other creatures. The first animals being targeted with these “living pesticides” are disease-carrying mosquitoes and crop-munching caterpillars, but the approach should work with just about any animal - from invasive fish and frogs to rats and rabbits. If it is successful, it could transform the way we think about genetically engineered animals.
Aug
14
2011
Are Spirits just metaphors for memes or are Memes just metaphors for spirits? via googleconsciousness:
futurism/social media architecture/curiosities/ flirtations/shenanigans.
