I watched an episode of 'The Big Bang Theory' a little while ago, in which Sheldon refused to leave his room and instead interacted with the world through a 'digital presence machine'.. basically just a monitor, webcam and speakers hooked up to a wi-fi connection and a tread system for movement. It got me thinking about how easy it would be to make a similar transition.
I live most of my life in a digital world anyway... very little of what I deal with on a day to day basis has any sort of physical reality attached to it (and if you're reading this blog, then that's probably true for you too): At work I deal with information and how to store and access it... all of it digital; I get payed in money, which hasn't been based on anything physical since the world stopped using a gold standard; I spend a lot of my leasure time in Azeroth... running around in a virtual world; and for a long time most of the interaction with my friends happened in a digital medium.
Now with Japanese coming up with holographic pop-stars (Thanks for the link Jonathan), and robotic actors (see the news section). I'm wondering if maybe we're all loosing track of the physical world...
Probably not.... but still it's something to keep an eye on.
In The News:
Gold nano-particles could transform trees into street lights - this is possibly the best looking piece of tech I've seen all year.
Robot actor makes debut in Japan - ... or should it be actress? what's the correct mode of address for a robot?
Stuxnet bot may have been targeted at nuclear programs - Fascinating! I knew digital warfare was happening, but I didn't know it could have this sort of physical effect... wow... I wonder which country started this off?
Video games can enhance visual attention - told you they were good for you ^^
LHC scientists create and capture anti-matter - they've proved it possible with anti-hydrogen... this could be the first step in a massive jump in energy science.
Word of the Week:
Intangible (adjective)
1. not tangible; incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch; as incorporeal or immaterial things; impalpable
2. not definite or clear to the mind: intangible arguments.
3. (of an asset) existing only in connection with something else, as the goodwill of a business.
Thanks to all who read this blog. If you liked it, then please tell your friends to stop by. Post a comment if you have any opinion, comment or argument ^^
-Odd
"There are intangible realities which float near us, formless and without words; realities which no one has thought out, and which are excluded for lack of interpreters."
-Natalie Clifford Barney
If you inhaled anti-helium would you speak in a deeper voice? :-)
ReplyDeleteI have not yet seem the movie surrogates, but I think that it might be similar to what you are talking about. There is also a graphic novel by that name, but I am unsure if the two are related.
Don't know if they're related... saw the movie though.. good sci-fi... great investment if you've got a couple hours to spare.
ReplyDeleteAnti-matter could be a great energy resource... but think of the car-crashes...
I really don't know much about anti-matter.
ReplyDeleteI like the holographic performer!
ReplyDeleteinteresting dude i totally think that in this day and age we could definitely start to think about a full robotic system which you could use to interact with people anywhere in the world , its exiting !
ReplyDeleteWhy full robotic, way to much maintenance, moving parts, etc.
ReplyDeletePut the stories together, why not control a hologram...
Hahaha, i can see it now... Real life, where the men are men, the woman are men, and the children are FBI agents.
then it will go to the next level. We will all live in a second life.
The mall will be an 3D online chatroom we use an avatar ro navigate.
Who cares if we don't have a real presence there, or the place doesn't even really exist. We can still interact with other people who are "there".
If we buy anything a robot (not an android, just an arm thing) puts it into a truck, which drives its self to your house.
Just thinking the Truck would need to work out what route to take to get to your house, and everyone else's house as well. Odd has probably included this in one of his news pieces, but did you see that thing were the scientists were watching bees and they could figure out the best route to go between flowers, just naturally, and sophisticated computer algorithms are not able to figure it out, and if they do it takes a long time.
THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!
ReplyDeletePLEASE USE THE NEW URL:
http://oddthoughtsblog.wordpress.com/
Thank you,
-Odd