Clipmarks | Djiezes's clips

The George Orwell Diaries

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:59:20 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Published real-time in blog format with a 70 year lag.
http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

Clip Source: orwelldiaries.wordpress.com

THE ORWELL PRIZE

In association with the Orwell Trust, Political Quarterly and Media Standards Trust

Clip Source: orwelldiaries.wordpress.com

The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written.

The diaries are exactly as Orwell wrote them.

For more information, click here.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Though as prolific as any blogger (his collected writings occupy some 20 volumes), Orwell, who died in 1950, never had the chance to spontaneously publish his thoughts to a waiting public. Now — with some lag time — they are being made available that way at orwelldiaries.wordpress.com.

Tags: george orwell, diary, politics, news, history, literature, writer

The Science of Magic: Turning Tricks into Research

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:59:42 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

The Science of Magic

There is a fascinating review in Nature Reviews Neuroscience this month about the cognitive science of magic tricks

The article attempts to list and describe in neuroscientific terms the techniques that magicians use to trick their audiences. The authors break down these into "visual illusions (after-images), optical illusions ('smoke and mirrors'), cognitive illusions (inattentional blindness), special effects (explosions, fake gunshots, et cetera), and secret devices and mechanical artifacts (gimmicks)." The use of visual illusions to study perception is certainly nothing new, but the emphasis on cognitive illusions -- illusions that trick higher order perceptions like attention and judgment -- is novel.

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Attention and awareness in stage magic: turning tricks into research

Box 1 | Pickpockets pick your brain

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects^*

Box 3 | Magic techniques in the choice-blindness paradigm

Tags: science, magic, cognition, illusion, article, visual, neuroscience

Westerners focus on the eyes, East Asians on the nose

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:52:54 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Westerners focus on the eyes, East Asians on the nose

In the image below, the red areas show where the Westerners fixed their stares, while the blue areas were preferred by the east Asians.

Why the difference?

It could be that it's impolite in East Asian cultures to make direct or prolonged eye contact, and focusing on the centre of the face is simply a way of avoiding a social faux-pas. The second and more interesting theory, is that these strategies reflect general differences in the way that Westerners and East Asians view the world around them.

Some psychologists have suggested that Westerners view the world in an analytic way, by focusing on key features, while East Asians have a more holistic perspective where an object's context is just as important as its parts.

Reference: PLoS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003022

Update: Want a different take on this story? Check out Scicurious's excellent work at Neurotic Physiology.

Tags: science, face, western, asian, looking, gazing, culture

Intel's Research on Shape-Shifting Human-Computer Interfaces

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:15:08 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.dailytech.com

Intel Research Projects Narrow Gap Between Humans and Robots

Intel's Jason Rattner gave the keynote at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2008 and shed some light on projects Intel researchers are working on. Rattner said that Intel's research labs are attempting to make significant changes in the human-machine interface.

One example of how Intel is looking at changing the human-computer interface is with computer systems that can be physically altered by the user depending on how the user needs the device to function.

Intel researchers are looking at methods to make tiny micro-robots -- called catoms -- that could be built into materials able to change shape at the will of the user. Using catoms Intel reports that the case, keyboard, and display of a computer would be able to change from an earpiece when used as a phone, to a large and flat screen and keyboard for web surfing.

The catoms would be less than a millimeter across and would combine computational and mechanical components.

Tags: intel, technology, human-computer interface, input device, catoms, nanotechnology

Simulacra & Simulations (by Jean Baudrillard, 1983)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:57:11 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: www.ee.sun.ac.za

Jean Baudrillard

Simulations

1983

The Precession of Simulacra . . . . . . . 1

The Orders of Simulacra . . . . . . . . . 81

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Jean Baudrillard (July 29, 1929 – March 6, 2007) (IPA: [ʒɑ̃ bo.dʁi.jaʁ]^[2]) was a French cultural theorist, sociologist, philosopher, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and post-structuralism.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Simulacra and Simulation (Simulacres et Simulation in French) is a philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard that discusses the interaction between reality, symbols and society.

Tags: baudrillard, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, philosophy, society, simulations, simulacra

Man-Computer Symbiosis (by JCR Licklider, 1960)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:47:51 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: groups.csail.mit.edu

Man-Computer Symbiosis

J. C. R. Licklider
IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics,
volume HFE-1, pages 4-11, March 1960

Clip Source: www.usabilityviews.com

Man-Computer Symbiosis by J C R Licklider (01 Mar 1960)

Article URL: http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/Secondary/Licklider.pdf

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (March 11, 1915 – June 26, 1990), known simply as J.C.R. or "Lick" was an American computer scientist, considered one of the most important figures in computer science and general computing history. ^[1]

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

"Man-Computer Symbiosis" is a key speculative paper published in 1960 by psychologist/computer scientist J.C.R. Licklider, which envisions that mutually-interdependent, "living together", tightly-coupled human brains and computing machines would prove to complement each other's strengths to a high degree:

In Licklider's vision, many of the pure artificial intelligence systems envisioned at the time by over-optimistic researchers would prove unnecessary.

Tags: licklider, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, technology, symbiosis, cybernetics, computers

Computing Machinery and Intelligence (by Alan Turing, 1950)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:15:11 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: loebner.net

COMPUTING MACHINERY AND INTELLIGENCE

By A. M. Turing

Turing, A.M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433-460.

I propose to consider the question, "Can machines think?"

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Alan Turing

is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. Turing provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine. With the Turing test, he made a significant and characteristically provocative contribution to the debate regarding artificial intelligence:

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Computing Machinery and Intelligence, written by Alan Turing and published in 1950 in Mind, is a seminal paper on the topic of artificial intelligence in which the concept of what is now known as the Turing test was introduced to a wide audience.

Clip Source: www.turing.org.uk

Alan Turing's papers

full listing

Mechanical Intelligence has everything related to electronic computing and to Artificial Intelligence

Pure Mathematics

Morphogenesis

Mathematical Logic

Tags: turing, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, technology, computing, computers, ai

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (by John Perry Barlow, 1996)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:07:34 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: homes.eff.org

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

by John Perry Barlow <barlow@eff.org>

February 8, 1996

Davos, Switzerland

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

"A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" was an influential early paper on the applicability (or lack thereof) of government on the rapidly-growing internet. It was written by John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and published online February 8, 1996 from Davos, Switzerland.

The Declaration sets out, in sixteen short paragraphs, a rebuttal to government of the Internet by any outside force, specifically the United States. It states that the United States did not have the consent of the governed to apply laws to the Internet, and that the Internet was outside any country's borders. Instead, the Internet was developing its own social contracts to determine how to handle its problems, based on the golden rule. It does this in language evocative of the United States Declaration of Independence

Tags: barlow, cyberspace, history, future, literature, internet, web, freedom, eff, declaration

An Open Universe (by Kevin Kelly, 1994)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:00:57 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

This is the 17th chapter of Kelly's Book "Out of Control", which is also freely & fully available online. See the included links.

Clip Source: www.kk.org

Out of Control

Chapter 17: AN OPEN UNIVERSE

Clip Source: www.kk.org

Out of Control
Table of Contents

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Kelly's most notable book-length publication, Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World (1994), presents a view on the mechanisms of complex organization. The central theme of the book is that several fields of contemporary science and philosophy point in the same direction: intelligence is not organized in a centralized structure but much more like a bee-hive of small simple components. Kelly applies this view to bureaucratic organisations, intelligent computers, and to the human brain.

Lectures

Speculations On The Future Of Science by Kevin Kelly.

The Next Fifty Years of Science by Kevin Kelly.

What Does Technology Want? by Kevin Kelly

The next 5000 days of the Web by Kevin Kelly

Tags: kelly, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, ai, artificial intelligence, technology, media

TechGnosis: Magic, Memory, and the Angels of Information (by Erik Davis, 1994)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:50:18 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: www.techgnosis.com

TechGnosis

Magic, Memory, and the Angels of Information

by Erik Davis ( techgnosis.com )

Originally appeared in Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberspace, (Duke University Press, 1994), edited by Mark Dery

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Erik Davis (b. 1967 in Redwood City, California) is a North American social historian, cultural critic, essayist and lecturer.

He is noted for his study of the history of technology and society and his essays about the fate of the individual in the dawning posthuman era. Although significant aspects of his work include media criticism and technology criticism, his works span across other disciplines to include a larger social history of art, religion, and science, technology, and politics.

He is also a noted Philip K. Dick scholar. His most recently published research has focused on the history of utopian movements in California. He is known for his lively writing style in a number of genres and on varied subjects.

Clip Source: www.techgnosis.com

( permalink )

Tags: davis, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, internet, web, technology, information

The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis (by Marshall McLuhan, 1964)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:40:11 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

This is the 4th chapter of his book "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man". The book itself is also freely available (chapters 1-7), see the included links.

Clip Source: www9.georgetown.edu

Marshall McLuhan:

4. The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis

Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man

Clip Source: ttul.org

Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan (complete ebook, 39 pages)

Tags: mcluhan, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, internet, web, technology, media

Engines of Abundance (by Eric Drexler, 1986)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:28:32 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source.

This is the 4th chapter of Drexler's book "Engines of Creation", also freely & fully available online (see the included links)

Clip Source: www.e-drexler.com

ENGINES OF ABUNDANCE

e-drexler.com

Clip Source: www.e-drexler.com

Engines of Creation

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Engines of Creation is a seminal molecular nanotechnology book written by K. Eric Drexler in 1986.

Engines of Creation is unique for its style and substance. It makes oblique literary references while delving deep into theoretical science.

Engines of Creation 2.0, which includes more recent papers and publications, was published as a free ebook on February 8, 2007.

Engines of Creation download Free Book (pdf)

Clip Source: www.wowio.com

Read Online Free

Tags: drexler, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, technology, nanotechnology

Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework (by Douglas Engelbart, 1962)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:15:27 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source (or see link to pdf)

Clip Source: www.bootstrap.org

AUGMENTING HUMAN INTELLECT: A Conceptual Framework

By: D. C. Engelbart

October 1962

Abstract

This is an initial summary report of a project taking a new and systematic approach to improvin the intellectual effectiveness of the individual human being. A detailed conceptual framework
explores the nature of the system composed of the individual and the tools, concepts, and methods that match his basic capabilities to his problems. One of the tools that shows the greatest immediate promise is the computer, when it can be harnessed for direct on-line assistance, integrated with new concepts and methods.

I . INTRODUCTION 1

II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 8

III EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION 47

IV RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS 115

V SUMMARY 128

VI CONCLUSIONS 131

REFERENCES 133

This document as PDF File

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Engelbart's philosophy and research agenda is most clearly and directly expressed in the 1962 research report which Engelbart refers to as his 'bible': Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework.

Tags: engelbart, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, internet, web, technology, intelligence

As We May Think (by Vannevar Bush, 1945)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:03:09 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: www.theatlantic.com

As We May Think

July 1945 Atlantic Monthly

by Vannevar Bush

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

As We May Think is an essay by Vannevar Bush, first published in The Atlantic Monthly in July 1945. Bush argued that as humans turned from war, scientific efforts should shift from increasing physical abilities to making all previous collected human knowledge more accessible.

As We May Think predicted many kinds of technology invented after its publication, including hypertext, personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, speech recognition, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia: "Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and there amplified."

The system, which he called memex, was described as based on what was thought, at the time, to be the wave of the future: Ultra high resolution microfilm reels, coupled to multiple screen viewers and cameras, by electromechanical controls.

Tags: bush, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, internet, web, technology, computers

Of the Analytical Engine (by Charles Babbage, 1864)

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:00:50 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Full Text @ Source

Clip Source: www.fourmilab.ch

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher

BY
CHARLES BABBAGE

OF THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE

1864

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

The analytical engine, an important step in the history of computers, was the design of a mechanical general-purpose computer by the British mathematician Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837, but Babbage continued to work on the design until his death in 1871. Because of financial, political, and legal issues, the engine was never actually built. In its logical design the machine was essentially modern, anticipating the first completed general-purpose computers by about 100 years.

Some believe that the technological limitations of the time were a further obstacle to the construction of the machine; others believe that the machine could have been built successfully with the technology of the era if funding and political support had been stronger.

Tags: babbage, cyberspace, history, future, literature, toread, technology, computers, analytical engine, mathematics

Clipmarks | Djiezes's clips

The George Orwell Diaries

THE ORWELL PRIZE

The Science of Magic: Turning Tricks into Research

The Science of Magic

Box 1 | Pickpockets pick your brain

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects*

Box 3 | Magic techniques in the choice-blindness paradigm

Westerners focus on the eyes, East Asians on the nose

Westerners focus on the eyes, East Asians on the nose

Intel's Research on Shape-Shifting Human-Computer Interfaces

Simulacra & Simulations (by Jean Baudrillard, 1983)

Jean Baudrillard

Simulations

Man-Computer Symbiosis (by JCR Licklider, 1960)

Computing Machinery and Intelligence (by Alan Turing, 1950)

Alan Turing

Alan Turing's papers

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (by John Perry Barlow, 1996)

An Open Universe (by Kevin Kelly, 1994)

TechGnosis: Magic, Memory, and the Angels of Information (by Erik Davis, 1994)

The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis (by Marshall McLuhan, 1964)

4. The Gadget Lover: Narcissus as Narcosis

Engines of Abundance (by Eric Drexler, 1986)

ENGINES OF ABUNDANCE

Engines of Creation

Table of Contents

Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework (by Douglas Engelbart, 1962)

Abstract

As We May Think (by Vannevar Bush, 1945)

As We May Think

Of the Analytical Engine (by Charles Babbage, 1864)

OF THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE

1864

Table 1 | Types of conjuring effects^*