Orgasms: a real 'turn-off' for women
"'At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings,' says Gert Holstege of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands." (Via NTM!)
So basically, any woman who's experienced sexual ecstasy has spent a small portion of her life as an android. This is highly reminiscent of the brothel in William Gibson's short-story "Burning Chrome," in which prostitutes can wire themselves to computers that render them unconscious and control their movements.
Philip K. Dick foreshadowed Gibson's "meat puppets" with the androids of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" Dick's synthetic humans are effectively indistinguishable from the real thing, but they lack our capacity for empathy. Not to say that humans are necessarily empathic. John Shirley's novel "In Darkness Waiting" explores a hypothetical syndrome he calls "empathy suppression." The book is way-out horror/science fiction, but empathy suppression seems to be both real and pervasive, as witnessed by atrocities such as the Holocaust. Shirley suggests there's a neural mechanism that can switch off a person's usual capacity for empathy -- probably an adaptation for "fight or flight" situations. But sometimes, for whatever reasons, suppression takes hold and empathy never switches back on . . . Empathy suppression syndrome might, in fact, help explain some sexually oriented crimes, such as serial rape.
Dick and Shirley see empathy as a defining human trait. As a proponent of uploading human minds into computers (for purposes ranging from intellectual exploration to space migration), I suggest we elect to keep empathy instead of editing it out of our mentational repertoire -- not because it's "natural" but because it's useful.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Monday, June 20, 2005
And I thought Sedona, Arizona was Mars-like . . .
(See amazing pictures of your host on top of a very tall rock and seated between two "craters.")
Mile-high cellphones may block ET's call
"'It could be a disaster for us,' says Michael Davis, of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. 'We have incredibly sensitive radio telescopes - even a single cellphone on a plane 100 miles away could cause pretty serious damage.' That is partly because cellphone signals from the sky could be in a telescope's direct line of sight, unlike signals from phones on the ground."
Another good reason to ban the goddamned things.
"'It could be a disaster for us,' says Michael Davis, of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. 'We have incredibly sensitive radio telescopes - even a single cellphone on a plane 100 miles away could cause pretty serious damage.' That is partly because cellphone signals from the sky could be in a telescope's direct line of sight, unlike signals from phones on the ground."
Another good reason to ban the goddamned things.
New Science and a Revolutionary Energy Breakthrough
"Although still not widely known, increasing numbers of scientists and engineers are working with this truly revolutionary energy technology. This fact heralds the beginning of a profound transition, leading beyond dependence on oil, gas, coal, uranium, and other fuels. Great numbers of new jobs will emerge, as will a major stimulus to the world economy. Energy independence is likely to be realized by all countries, large and small, rich and poor. Reversing air pollution, and slowing of global warming, is inherent in the achievement. To the surprise of many, this is likely to be a near-term event."
Not if certain people can help it . . .
"Although still not widely known, increasing numbers of scientists and engineers are working with this truly revolutionary energy technology. This fact heralds the beginning of a profound transition, leading beyond dependence on oil, gas, coal, uranium, and other fuels. Great numbers of new jobs will emerge, as will a major stimulus to the world economy. Energy independence is likely to be realized by all countries, large and small, rich and poor. Reversing air pollution, and slowing of global warming, is inherent in the achievement. To the surprise of many, this is likely to be a near-term event."
Not if certain people can help it . . .
"Either we are alone or we are not. Either possibility is fascinating." --Arthur C. Clarke
Few Planets Will Have Time to Form Complex Life
"Since four billion years is almost half the anticipated life-time of our sun, life on other planets orbiting short-lived suns may not have had sufficient time to evolve into complex forms. This is because levels of oxygen will not have had time to develop sufficiently to support complex life, before the sun dies. Professor Catling said: 'This is a major limiting factor for the evolution of life on otherwise potentially habitable planets.'"
Few Planets Will Have Time to Form Complex Life
"Since four billion years is almost half the anticipated life-time of our sun, life on other planets orbiting short-lived suns may not have had sufficient time to evolve into complex forms. This is because levels of oxygen will not have had time to develop sufficiently to support complex life, before the sun dies. Professor Catling said: 'This is a major limiting factor for the evolution of life on otherwise potentially habitable planets.'"
Sunday, June 19, 2005
I've been blogging so much I've been neglecting my website, Mac Tonnies Visual Industries (MTVI). I bet you didn't even know I had one. Go ahead; click the picture . . .
There are a bunch of new links to add, and probably a bunch to delete as well. So much "dead media," so little time.
I especially want to redo the fiction section (such as it is) so that it reads more like an online e-book than a crude HTML paste-up job (which is exactly what it is at the moment). If anyone has any cool ideas, let me know.
(By the way: You can now get a perfectly readable used copy of "After the Martian Apocalypse" for less than half-price at Amazon.com. That ain't bad.)
There are a bunch of new links to add, and probably a bunch to delete as well. So much "dead media," so little time.
I especially want to redo the fiction section (such as it is) so that it reads more like an online e-book than a crude HTML paste-up job (which is exactly what it is at the moment). If anyone has any cool ideas, let me know.
(By the way: You can now get a perfectly readable used copy of "After the Martian Apocalypse" for less than half-price at Amazon.com. That ain't bad.)
Imitation makes digital characters more lifelike
"Jeremy Bailenson and Nick Yee of Stanford University in California have found that viewers are more strongly influenced by avatars that mimic their own body movements. They asked 70 students to don a virtual reality headset to watch an avatar deliver a 3-minute argument about the benefits of a university ID card. The students paid more attention to avatars that copied their own head movements compared with avatars making pre-programmed movements, and found them significantly more likeable and convincing."
This reminds me of a (justifiably unpublished) short-story I wrote years ago. It was a depressing, first-person account of a guy whose "girlfriend" is an augmented reality construct.* She looks perfectly real to the narrator (and even appears to interact with her real-world environment) but she's invisible to everyone else.
Rethinking the concept a bit, there's no reason "she" should only be seen and heard by the narrator; imagine a networked augmented reality milieu (call it "ARM" for short . . .) in which all participants -- real and virtual -- can interact with one another in a social context. I plan on using this plot device to much better purpose in a future story, with some added phildickian weirdness thrown in just for fun.
*I might as well admit there was an autobiographical thread** running through this. I attempted to justify the character's need for a virtual companion by postulating a dystopian future where everyone lives underground after an unspecified disaster.
**Hey -- I just realized I'm a transrealist!
"Jeremy Bailenson and Nick Yee of Stanford University in California have found that viewers are more strongly influenced by avatars that mimic their own body movements. They asked 70 students to don a virtual reality headset to watch an avatar deliver a 3-minute argument about the benefits of a university ID card. The students paid more attention to avatars that copied their own head movements compared with avatars making pre-programmed movements, and found them significantly more likeable and convincing."
This reminds me of a (justifiably unpublished) short-story I wrote years ago. It was a depressing, first-person account of a guy whose "girlfriend" is an augmented reality construct.* She looks perfectly real to the narrator (and even appears to interact with her real-world environment) but she's invisible to everyone else.
Rethinking the concept a bit, there's no reason "she" should only be seen and heard by the narrator; imagine a networked augmented reality milieu (call it "ARM" for short . . .) in which all participants -- real and virtual -- can interact with one another in a social context. I plan on using this plot device to much better purpose in a future story, with some added phildickian weirdness thrown in just for fun.
*I might as well admit there was an autobiographical thread** running through this. I attempted to justify the character's need for a virtual companion by postulating a dystopian future where everyone lives underground after an unspecified disaster.
**Hey -- I just realized I'm a transrealist!
Neanderthal love: Scientists split over how much mating occurred
"Is it bestiality? The debate over modern-human/Neanderthal interbreeding is part quest to chart the origins of the human race, part academic feud over old bones, and part family soap opera: Did some of our ancestors go to bed with creatures commonly thought of as less than human?" (Via The Anomalist.)
This reminds me of a certain Robert J. Sawyer novel I've been wanting to read.
"Is it bestiality? The debate over modern-human/Neanderthal interbreeding is part quest to chart the origins of the human race, part academic feud over old bones, and part family soap opera: Did some of our ancestors go to bed with creatures commonly thought of as less than human?" (Via The Anomalist.)
This reminds me of a certain Robert J. Sawyer novel I've been wanting to read.
You know the "checkerboard" patterns you sometimes see when you rub your eyes? I just realized they look almost exactly like cellular automata. (Rudy Rucker's probably already had this epiphany, but it was new for me.)
Saturday, June 18, 2005
I worked on the new book tonight. There's no lack of subject matter; it's a matter of finding unexpected parallels and knowing what to exclude. And of course knowing how to tell it without sounding lofty or abstract.
The gist of it: Biology -- as we're used to it -- is very likely a transitional stage in the evolution of intelligence. Since the dawn of consciousness, humans have sought to utilize their environment to enhance themselves. We're now on the brink of dissolving the line between "tool" and "user" as we merge more and more intimately with our creations . . . and as our creations acquire creative faculties of their own. Extrapolating from this trend, it's possible to envision our not-so-distant descendents defying today's quaint distinction between "organic" and "inorganic."
But no extrapolation of the human future is complete without addressing alternative routes, and in this respect the prospect of extraterrestrial intelligence is extraordinarily useful -- and not simply as a thought experiment. Evidence suggests that, far from a novel event to expect in some unimaginable future, alien visitation is taking place now, albeit in a cybernetic context that's proven elusive to the dominant SETI paradigm.
"The Postbiological Cosmos" argues that the UFO enigma reveals an unexpectedly consistent "signature" once we dispense with the prevailing wisdom that reduces extrasolar visitors to flesh-and-blood "astronauts" visiting us in the form of metallic spacecraft analogous to those used by our own manned space program. Instead, we find something that's at once infinitely stranger and far more portentous.
The gist of it: Biology -- as we're used to it -- is very likely a transitional stage in the evolution of intelligence. Since the dawn of consciousness, humans have sought to utilize their environment to enhance themselves. We're now on the brink of dissolving the line between "tool" and "user" as we merge more and more intimately with our creations . . . and as our creations acquire creative faculties of their own. Extrapolating from this trend, it's possible to envision our not-so-distant descendents defying today's quaint distinction between "organic" and "inorganic."
But no extrapolation of the human future is complete without addressing alternative routes, and in this respect the prospect of extraterrestrial intelligence is extraordinarily useful -- and not simply as a thought experiment. Evidence suggests that, far from a novel event to expect in some unimaginable future, alien visitation is taking place now, albeit in a cybernetic context that's proven elusive to the dominant SETI paradigm.
"The Postbiological Cosmos" argues that the UFO enigma reveals an unexpectedly consistent "signature" once we dispense with the prevailing wisdom that reduces extrasolar visitors to flesh-and-blood "astronauts" visiting us in the form of metallic spacecraft analogous to those used by our own manned space program. Instead, we find something that's at once infinitely stranger and far more portentous.
Give me that old-time religion . . .
Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'
"A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said."
Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'
"A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said."
Ultra-Lifelike Robot Debuts in Japan
"Internal sensors allow the android to react 'naturally.' It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, 'unconscious' movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans." (Via Variable Gravitas Content.)
Don't miss the photos; I only wish there were more of them. As far as I know, this is the closest we've come to "Nexus-Six" workmanship. You know you're getting close to the real thing when journalists and onlookers use words like "eerie" and "subtle."
Gaby Wood
For a damned good read about our fascination with simulacra and robots, I recommend Gaby Wood's "Edison's Eve" (originally published as "Living Dolls").
I started reading Keith Thompson's "Angels and Aliens." Maybe the comparison is unfounded, but for the record I wrote the "Memespace" chapter in "After the Martian Apocalypse" before cracking this book's cover.
I'm really jazzed up about Nick Herbert's "quantum tantra." In fact, I think it's possible to experience a limited version of his "rapprochement" without technological assistance -- which, depending on your perspective, might sound a bit like accessing the Internet without a computer. If nothing else, Herbert has outlined a paradigm for a genuine quantum parapsychology.
What's playing:
1.) Monster (R.E.M.)
2.) Automatic for the People (R.E.M.)
3.) More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
4.) Reality (David Bowie)
5.) The Essential Simon and Garfunkel (disc one)
"Internal sensors allow the android to react 'naturally.' It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, 'unconscious' movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans." (Via Variable Gravitas Content.)
Don't miss the photos; I only wish there were more of them. As far as I know, this is the closest we've come to "Nexus-Six" workmanship. You know you're getting close to the real thing when journalists and onlookers use words like "eerie" and "subtle."
Gaby Wood
For a damned good read about our fascination with simulacra and robots, I recommend Gaby Wood's "Edison's Eve" (originally published as "Living Dolls").
I started reading Keith Thompson's "Angels and Aliens." Maybe the comparison is unfounded, but for the record I wrote the "Memespace" chapter in "After the Martian Apocalypse" before cracking this book's cover.
I'm really jazzed up about Nick Herbert's "quantum tantra." In fact, I think it's possible to experience a limited version of his "rapprochement" without technological assistance -- which, depending on your perspective, might sound a bit like accessing the Internet without a computer. If nothing else, Herbert has outlined a paradigm for a genuine quantum parapsychology.
What's playing:
1.) Monster (R.E.M.)
2.) Automatic for the People (R.E.M.)
3.) More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
4.) Reality (David Bowie)
5.) The Essential Simon and Garfunkel (disc one)
Friday, June 17, 2005
No paradox for time travellers
"Some solutions to the equations of Einstein's general theory of relativity lead to situations in which space-time curves back on itself, theoretically allowing travellers to loop back in time and meet younger versions of themselves. Because such time travel sets up paradoxes, many researchers suspect that some physical constraints must make time travel impossible. Now, physicists Daniel Greenberger of the City University of New York and Karl Svozil of the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have shown that the most basic features of quantum theory may ensure that time travellers could never alter the past, even if they are able to go back in time."
Finding this story headlining at The Anomalist came as something of a synchronicity, since I just finished reading a chapter about the quest to avoid causality violation in Jenny Randles' "Breaking the Time Barrier." The article indicates that waves sent into the past will self-destruct, ensuring causality, but what about physical objects?
So far the best "explanation" I've heard is the "principle of least action," which allows for time travel but requires infinite energy in order to change something that would threaten the time traveler's own (future) existence. Maybe.
Then there's the Many Worlds take, in which you can endlessly "violate" causality because you're not even in the same universe you came from and, presumably, anything goes; you're just a blip in the quantum ocean, one of potential trillions of doppelgangers.
"Some solutions to the equations of Einstein's general theory of relativity lead to situations in which space-time curves back on itself, theoretically allowing travellers to loop back in time and meet younger versions of themselves. Because such time travel sets up paradoxes, many researchers suspect that some physical constraints must make time travel impossible. Now, physicists Daniel Greenberger of the City University of New York and Karl Svozil of the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have shown that the most basic features of quantum theory may ensure that time travellers could never alter the past, even if they are able to go back in time."
Finding this story headlining at The Anomalist came as something of a synchronicity, since I just finished reading a chapter about the quest to avoid causality violation in Jenny Randles' "Breaking the Time Barrier." The article indicates that waves sent into the past will self-destruct, ensuring causality, but what about physical objects?
So far the best "explanation" I've heard is the "principle of least action," which allows for time travel but requires infinite energy in order to change something that would threaten the time traveler's own (future) existence. Maybe.
Then there's the Many Worlds take, in which you can endlessly "violate" causality because you're not even in the same universe you came from and, presumably, anything goes; you're just a blip in the quantum ocean, one of potential trillions of doppelgangers.
The following is from an anonymous Amazon review of John Carter's "Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons":
"According to Thelemic legend, in 1918 Aleister Crowley came into contact with a interdimensional entity named Lam, who by the way is a dead ringer for the popular conception of the 'alien grey ' depicted on the cover of Whitley Strieber's Communion. From this purported encounter, some have inferred that the industrious Mr. Crowley intentionally opened a portal of entry--through the practice of a magick ritual, The Amalantrah Working--which allowed the likes of Lam and other 'alien greys' a passageway onto the Earth plane."
The review goes on to mention the possibility that atomic blasts may have allowed the "Grays" access to our universe by creating a rift between dimensions. Far-out? You bet. But I've always been intrigued that the first flying saucer wave coincided with the onset of the Cold War and bomb-testing in the Southwest.
One possibility is that the UFO intelligence in some sense originates here on Earth and felt threatened by us, thus the decision to "go public" . . . if fleetingly. They might be here to save us from ourselves -- a message drilled into innumerable contactees and abductees -- but it's perhaps just as likely that the "aliens" want to preserve the planet for themselves.* This suggests a hierarchy of unseen intelligences very much like John Keel's "superspectrum."
*Although just maybe atomic weapons were (and are) a direct threat to our invisible neighbors. If some "aliens" indeed originate from the nether-regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, hard radiation from nuclear blasts (such as gamma rays) could pose a grave physical threat. This might help explain accounts of UFOs interfering with ICBM silos and other military installations. Could it be that they're actually afraid of us, despite their evident superiority?
"According to Thelemic legend, in 1918 Aleister Crowley came into contact with a interdimensional entity named Lam, who by the way is a dead ringer for the popular conception of the 'alien grey ' depicted on the cover of Whitley Strieber's Communion. From this purported encounter, some have inferred that the industrious Mr. Crowley intentionally opened a portal of entry--through the practice of a magick ritual, The Amalantrah Working--which allowed the likes of Lam and other 'alien greys' a passageway onto the Earth plane."
The review goes on to mention the possibility that atomic blasts may have allowed the "Grays" access to our universe by creating a rift between dimensions. Far-out? You bet. But I've always been intrigued that the first flying saucer wave coincided with the onset of the Cold War and bomb-testing in the Southwest.
One possibility is that the UFO intelligence in some sense originates here on Earth and felt threatened by us, thus the decision to "go public" . . . if fleetingly. They might be here to save us from ourselves -- a message drilled into innumerable contactees and abductees -- but it's perhaps just as likely that the "aliens" want to preserve the planet for themselves.* This suggests a hierarchy of unseen intelligences very much like John Keel's "superspectrum."
*Although just maybe atomic weapons were (and are) a direct threat to our invisible neighbors. If some "aliens" indeed originate from the nether-regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, hard radiation from nuclear blasts (such as gamma rays) could pose a grave physical threat. This might help explain accounts of UFOs interfering with ICBM silos and other military installations. Could it be that they're actually afraid of us, despite their evident superiority?
Study shows big-brained people are smarter
"The study, published on line June 16, could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Ever since German anatomist and physiologist Frederick Tiedmann wrote in 1836 that there exists 'an indisputable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man,' scientists have been searching for biological evidence to prove his claim."
This makes me feel a little bit better about my bulging forehead.
"The study, published on line June 16, could settle a long-standing scientific debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence. Ever since German anatomist and physiologist Frederick Tiedmann wrote in 1836 that there exists 'an indisputable connection between the size of the brain and the mental energy displayed by the individual man,' scientists have been searching for biological evidence to prove his claim."
This makes me feel a little bit better about my bulging forehead.
From "Holistic Physics - or - An Introduction to Quantum Tantra" (by Nick Herbert):
"Many primitive peoples organized their lives around a doctrine we call 'animism', the belief that every object possesses sentient 'insides' like our own. The quantum consciousness assumption, which amounts to a kind of "quantum animism" likewise asserts that consciousness is an integral part of the physical world, not an emergent property of special biological or computational systems. Since everything in the world is on some level a quantum system, this assumption requires that everything be conscious on that level. If the world is truly quantum animated, then there is an immense amount of invisible inner experience going on all around us that is presently inaccessible to humans, because our own inner lives are imprisoned inside a small quantum system, isolated deep in the meat of an animal brain. We may not need to travel into outer space to inhabit entirely new worlds. New experiential worlds of inconceivable richness and variety may already be present 'at our fingertips'--worlds made up of strangely intelligent minds that silently surround and interpenetrate our own modes of awareness."
I think Herbert's "quantum tantra" is an eminently useful tool in understanding the phenomenon we call "alien contact." More on this possibility later.
"Many primitive peoples organized their lives around a doctrine we call 'animism', the belief that every object possesses sentient 'insides' like our own. The quantum consciousness assumption, which amounts to a kind of "quantum animism" likewise asserts that consciousness is an integral part of the physical world, not an emergent property of special biological or computational systems. Since everything in the world is on some level a quantum system, this assumption requires that everything be conscious on that level. If the world is truly quantum animated, then there is an immense amount of invisible inner experience going on all around us that is presently inaccessible to humans, because our own inner lives are imprisoned inside a small quantum system, isolated deep in the meat of an animal brain. We may not need to travel into outer space to inhabit entirely new worlds. New experiential worlds of inconceivable richness and variety may already be present 'at our fingertips'--worlds made up of strangely intelligent minds that silently surround and interpenetrate our own modes of awareness."
I think Herbert's "quantum tantra" is an eminently useful tool in understanding the phenomenon we call "alien contact." More on this possibility later.
"Monsters" in Kanas Lake?
"When they stopped near Sandaowan for a photo, they suddenly spotted two dark objects, very large in size, springing out of the water, breaking a wave one meter high. They leapt forward one following the other, headed swiftly towards the middle of the lake and disappeared from sight in about two minutes. Then peace reigned again." (Via The Anomalist.)
Too bad it's a lake in Kanas and not Kansas. Maybe the monsters would eat all of the fucking Creationists.
"When they stopped near Sandaowan for a photo, they suddenly spotted two dark objects, very large in size, springing out of the water, breaking a wave one meter high. They leapt forward one following the other, headed swiftly towards the middle of the lake and disappeared from sight in about two minutes. Then peace reigned again." (Via The Anomalist.)
Too bad it's a lake in Kanas and not Kansas. Maybe the monsters would eat all of the fucking Creationists.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Face on Mars: Why People See What's Not There
"The ability to take in visual cues and basically fill in the blanks allows humans to process information very quickly, but new research shows that it also can lead to misperceptions -- like seeing things that are not there."
I'm going to take a more methodical stab at this fluff-science piece later, but I think it's worth noting right away that the image cited in the article is none other than the original uncorrected Viking frame (shown above) that prompted Vincent DiPietro and Greg Molenaar to hunt out a second photo of the Face that confirmed a bilaterally symmetrical facial resemblance.
Of course, this second image isn't mentioned as it devastates the article's premise. Nor is any mention given to digital processing that shows the Face to be the most non-fractal object in the region; as I stress elsewhere, the odds of a formation appearing strange to humans and impartial computers alike, while not proof of anything in particular, should at the least sound some alarm bells and indicate the "seeing faces" argument might be lacking.
In fitting with its "what I don't know, don't tell me" theme, the article also excludes mention of predicted secondary facial characteristics that have since been confirmed by high-resolution images. Foremost among these is a frankly unmistakable eye, complete with pupil, on the Face mesa's western half.
I could go on. I could, for example, point out that some people have a neurological predisposition to not recognize facial forms even when they're real. Or I could point out that a debunker's tendency not to see anything odd when confronted with the Face on Mars is just as subjective as a "believer's" tendency to perceive a humanoid face.
But why spoil the fun when there are straw men to burn?
"The ability to take in visual cues and basically fill in the blanks allows humans to process information very quickly, but new research shows that it also can lead to misperceptions -- like seeing things that are not there."
I'm going to take a more methodical stab at this fluff-science piece later, but I think it's worth noting right away that the image cited in the article is none other than the original uncorrected Viking frame (shown above) that prompted Vincent DiPietro and Greg Molenaar to hunt out a second photo of the Face that confirmed a bilaterally symmetrical facial resemblance.
Of course, this second image isn't mentioned as it devastates the article's premise. Nor is any mention given to digital processing that shows the Face to be the most non-fractal object in the region; as I stress elsewhere, the odds of a formation appearing strange to humans and impartial computers alike, while not proof of anything in particular, should at the least sound some alarm bells and indicate the "seeing faces" argument might be lacking.
In fitting with its "what I don't know, don't tell me" theme, the article also excludes mention of predicted secondary facial characteristics that have since been confirmed by high-resolution images. Foremost among these is a frankly unmistakable eye, complete with pupil, on the Face mesa's western half.
I could go on. I could, for example, point out that some people have a neurological predisposition to not recognize facial forms even when they're real. Or I could point out that a debunker's tendency not to see anything odd when confronted with the Face on Mars is just as subjective as a "believer's" tendency to perceive a humanoid face.
But why spoil the fun when there are straw men to burn?
Various paperbacks sitting on my shelves just waiting to be read:
1.) Singularity Sky (Charles Stross)
2.) The Scar (China Mieville)
3.) Saucer (Stephen Coonts)
4.) The Risen Empire (Scott Westerfield)
5.) Master of Space and Time (Rudy Rucker)
6.) Hammered (Elizabeth Bear)
7.) City of Pearl (Karen Traviss)
8.) The Bloody Crown of Conan (Robert E. Howard)
1.) Singularity Sky (Charles Stross)
2.) The Scar (China Mieville)
3.) Saucer (Stephen Coonts)
4.) The Risen Empire (Scott Westerfield)
5.) Master of Space and Time (Rudy Rucker)
6.) Hammered (Elizabeth Bear)
7.) City of Pearl (Karen Traviss)
8.) The Bloody Crown of Conan (Robert E. Howard)
AI developed for Mars explorers
"The cyborg astrobiologist consists of a 667MHz wearable computer, a tablet display with stylus or visor, a colour video camera and tripod.
"It would provide 'augmented reality', allowing astronauts on future Mars missions to narrow down their search for targets relevant to life processes on the Red Planet."
I think augmented reality has at least as many possibilities as "pure" virtual reality; it's easy to imagine a future where everyone takes part in AR for a considerable fraction of each day, kind of like cellphone use now. Much has been made of the narcotic effects of email and instant-messaging. Eventually, taking one's senses offline might be unbearable to the point of psychotic breakdown.
Of course, some eccentrics with eschew AR and live relatively Puritan lifestyles, content only with GPS gear, plasma TVs, PDAs and broadband Internet.
"The cyborg astrobiologist consists of a 667MHz wearable computer, a tablet display with stylus or visor, a colour video camera and tripod.
"It would provide 'augmented reality', allowing astronauts on future Mars missions to narrow down their search for targets relevant to life processes on the Red Planet."
I think augmented reality has at least as many possibilities as "pure" virtual reality; it's easy to imagine a future where everyone takes part in AR for a considerable fraction of each day, kind of like cellphone use now. Much has been made of the narcotic effects of email and instant-messaging. Eventually, taking one's senses offline might be unbearable to the point of psychotic breakdown.
Of course, some eccentrics with eschew AR and live relatively Puritan lifestyles, content only with GPS gear, plasma TVs, PDAs and broadband Internet.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
World first: brain cells grown in laboratory
"The findings, in effect, show it is possible to construct an assembly line for manufacturing unlimited quantities of human brain cells, or neurons, Dr Scheffler said. 'We can basically take these cells and freeze them until we need them. Then we thaw them, begin a cell-generating process and produce a ton of new neurons.'"
"The findings, in effect, show it is possible to construct an assembly line for manufacturing unlimited quantities of human brain cells, or neurons, Dr Scheffler said. 'We can basically take these cells and freeze them until we need them. Then we thaw them, begin a cell-generating process and produce a ton of new neurons.'"
Heat wave fries Central Canada
"Toronto's woes were compounded by air pollution from coal-fired power plants and vehicle emissions, which made it oppressive for people with breathing problems."
"Toronto's woes were compounded by air pollution from coal-fired power plants and vehicle emissions, which made it oppressive for people with breathing problems."
Here's a typical UFO news story; it just so happens it's recent as well.
Man sees UFO two nights running
The main witness (there were at least two) has the following to say about his sighting:
"It became bright, then moved up and down and made weird shapes in the sky."
Interesting. Later we're treated to more details suggestive of something genuinely strange:
"Peacock said the object continued its apparently random movement across the sky almost until dawn, when it disappeared.
"He dismissed it as a strange phenomenon until he saw it reappear yesterday morning."
But finally reality becomes manageable again thanks to some rote debunkery:
"Experts were unable to identify the object but said it could have been a satellite burning up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere."
Ignoring for the moment that there's no damned way this was satellite debris, who are these "experts"? "Journalism" does us a grave injustice when it's content to give the last word to people who, for all I can tell, may not even exist.
Man sees UFO two nights running
The main witness (there were at least two) has the following to say about his sighting:
"It became bright, then moved up and down and made weird shapes in the sky."
Interesting. Later we're treated to more details suggestive of something genuinely strange:
"Peacock said the object continued its apparently random movement across the sky almost until dawn, when it disappeared.
"He dismissed it as a strange phenomenon until he saw it reappear yesterday morning."
But finally reality becomes manageable again thanks to some rote debunkery:
"Experts were unable to identify the object but said it could have been a satellite burning up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere."
Ignoring for the moment that there's no damned way this was satellite debris, who are these "experts"? "Journalism" does us a grave injustice when it's content to give the last word to people who, for all I can tell, may not even exist.
Kansas School Official Calls Evolution 'Fairy Tale'
"A member of Kansas' State Board of Education who's involved in writing new public school science standards calls evolution a 'fairy tale' that's sometimes defended with 'anti-God contempt and arrogance.'
"A newsletter written by board member Connie Morris said students should be taught 'criticism of Darwinism alongside the age-old fairy tale of evolution.'
"In her newsletter, Morris said she's a Christian who believes that the creation account in the Book of Genesis is literally true."
Kansas. Neurotoxins in the air or something. Gotta be.
"A member of Kansas' State Board of Education who's involved in writing new public school science standards calls evolution a 'fairy tale' that's sometimes defended with 'anti-God contempt and arrogance.'
"A newsletter written by board member Connie Morris said students should be taught 'criticism of Darwinism alongside the age-old fairy tale of evolution.'
"In her newsletter, Morris said she's a Christian who believes that the creation account in the Book of Genesis is literally true."
Kansas. Neurotoxins in the air or something. Gotta be.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
As the RRRGroup has pointed out, the discourse at UFO UpDates has taken an unexpected trend toward the speculative, with the usual talk about nocturnal lights and daylight discs replaced by what metaphysician Charles Upton has called "postmodern demonology."
Suddenly ufology's usual suspects -- who commonly hail from the "nuts and bolts" school -- are competing with the likes of occultist John Keel ("The Mothman Prophecies") and astrophysicist Jacques Vallee ("Passport to Magonia"). Since I've forwarded some of my recent thought experiments on the psychodynamic aspect of the phenomenon to the list, I suppose I bear part of the blame for the metamorphosis.
In a recent post to the list, esteemed ufologist Larry Hatch expressed his conviction that religion and UFOs were mutually exclusive -- an idea I can't agree with, if only because so many "high-strangeness" UFO encounters impinge on the witnesses' consciousness in a manner that can best be described as "spiritual." Conversely, the UFO evidence contains a parade of apparent religious experiences that, when examined with more than passing curiosity, fall quite easily into the close encounter paradigm (of which the "Fatima miracle" is an example).
One of the first questions to come to mind is also one of the simplest: How are we to tell for sure if religious effects are by-products of the encounter experience or a central component?
Theorists have proposed that contact with nonhuman intelligence, if and when it occurs, will be exceptionally strange. Could this very strangeness be limiting our perception of an unfolding phenomenon of crucial importance?
If we're to seriously advance a "new" ufology, we must maintain the theoretical flexibility to ask questions that may seem far removed from the extraterrestrial connotations that presently contaminate the issue (however well-meaning their adherents).
Suddenly ufology's usual suspects -- who commonly hail from the "nuts and bolts" school -- are competing with the likes of occultist John Keel ("The Mothman Prophecies") and astrophysicist Jacques Vallee ("Passport to Magonia"). Since I've forwarded some of my recent thought experiments on the psychodynamic aspect of the phenomenon to the list, I suppose I bear part of the blame for the metamorphosis.
In a recent post to the list, esteemed ufologist Larry Hatch expressed his conviction that religion and UFOs were mutually exclusive -- an idea I can't agree with, if only because so many "high-strangeness" UFO encounters impinge on the witnesses' consciousness in a manner that can best be described as "spiritual." Conversely, the UFO evidence contains a parade of apparent religious experiences that, when examined with more than passing curiosity, fall quite easily into the close encounter paradigm (of which the "Fatima miracle" is an example).
One of the first questions to come to mind is also one of the simplest: How are we to tell for sure if religious effects are by-products of the encounter experience or a central component?
Theorists have proposed that contact with nonhuman intelligence, if and when it occurs, will be exceptionally strange. Could this very strangeness be limiting our perception of an unfolding phenomenon of crucial importance?
If we're to seriously advance a "new" ufology, we must maintain the theoretical flexibility to ask questions that may seem far removed from the extraterrestrial connotations that presently contaminate the issue (however well-meaning their adherents).
I was telling Patrick Huyghe about my tentative ambition to compile a website devoted to the myriad book cover paintings for Wells' "The War of the Worlds." Then he sends me this link. Evidently someone had exactly the same idea. 169 and counting!
Boy, 4, Dies After Riding Epcot Attraction
"A 4-year-old boy died after passing out aboard Walt Disney World's 'Mission: Space,' a ride so intense that it has motion sickness bags and several riders have been treated for chest pain."
Hey, that's the breaks. No one ever said space travel was safe.
"A 4-year-old boy died after passing out aboard Walt Disney World's 'Mission: Space,' a ride so intense that it has motion sickness bags and several riders have been treated for chest pain."
Hey, that's the breaks. No one ever said space travel was safe.
"The Original EcoSphere® is the world's first totally enclosed ecosystem - a complete, self-contained and self-sustaining miniature world encased in glass. Be wary of inferior and lower quality imitations. Easy to care for, an EcoSphere is an incredible learning tool that can provide powerful insights about life on our own planet... and provide a glimpse of technology that's shaping the future of space exploration."
Needless to say, I want one.
(Coincidentally, last night I dreamed about Sea-Monkeys.)
The Ethics of Creating Consciousness
"Traditionally human beings have reserved words like 'reasoning,' 'self-awareness,' and 'soul' as their exclusive property. But with the stirring of something akin to electronic consciousness -- some argue that human beings need to give up the ghost, and embrace the machine in all of us."
Good bumper-sticker there: "EMBRACE THE MACHINE."
"Traditionally human beings have reserved words like 'reasoning,' 'self-awareness,' and 'soul' as their exclusive property. But with the stirring of something akin to electronic consciousness -- some argue that human beings need to give up the ghost, and embrace the machine in all of us."
Good bumper-sticker there: "EMBRACE THE MACHINE."
"Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."
--H.G. Wells, "The War of the Worlds"
It's tempting to wonder how accurately Wells' psychological portrait of greedy Martians will apply to us as we discover more and more terrestrial-type planets orbiting other stars. When we find oases of life glimmering far beyond the reach of contemporary spacecraft, chances are we'll view them with fierce pangs of jealousy.
In the meantime, we're readying for the effective end of the world as we know it by invading Iraq in a bid for geopolitical autonomy. To many thousand civilian Iraqis, who've witnesses their families and friends mowed down by U.S. forces, it's likely Bush's war machine looks something like the Martian blight envisioned by Wells.
Wells' Martians and the current stock of homo sapiens are linked by desperation and the delusion of righteousness; we appear to think that our mutual plight somehow deserves sympathy, that our fevered quest for resources in the midst of an under-reported planet-wide mass extinction is innately just.
The invading Martians in "The War of the Worlds" were ultimately killed by germs. I think Wells was onto something with that.
--H.G. Wells, "The War of the Worlds"
It's tempting to wonder how accurately Wells' psychological portrait of greedy Martians will apply to us as we discover more and more terrestrial-type planets orbiting other stars. When we find oases of life glimmering far beyond the reach of contemporary spacecraft, chances are we'll view them with fierce pangs of jealousy.
In the meantime, we're readying for the effective end of the world as we know it by invading Iraq in a bid for geopolitical autonomy. To many thousand civilian Iraqis, who've witnesses their families and friends mowed down by U.S. forces, it's likely Bush's war machine looks something like the Martian blight envisioned by Wells.
Wells' Martians and the current stock of homo sapiens are linked by desperation and the delusion of righteousness; we appear to think that our mutual plight somehow deserves sympathy, that our fevered quest for resources in the midst of an under-reported planet-wide mass extinction is innately just.
The invading Martians in "The War of the Worlds" were ultimately killed by germs. I think Wells was onto something with that.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job'
"'It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas A&M. 'If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings.'"
Regardless of whether 9/11 was an "inside job," I think it's darkly comic that most Americans don't seem to realize a third building was involved; if nothing else, it's an alarming example of how simple it is for a select few to manage the facts surrounding even a massively public catastrophe.
"'It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas A&M. 'If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings.'"
Regardless of whether 9/11 was an "inside job," I think it's darkly comic that most Americans don't seem to realize a third building was involved; if nothing else, it's an alarming example of how simple it is for a select few to manage the facts surrounding even a massively public catastrophe.
Maybe this helps explain (if only roughly) some paranormal phenomena. (I'd like to see a competent illustrator have a go at those diagrams.)
Astronomers find most Earth-like planet yet
"The world's preeminent planet hunters have discovered the most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet: a possibly rocky world about 7.5 times as massive as the Earth. This hot 'super-Earth,' just 15 light years away, travels in a nearly circular orbit only 2 million miles from its parent star, Gliese 876, and has a radius about twice that of Earth."
"The world's preeminent planet hunters have discovered the most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet: a possibly rocky world about 7.5 times as massive as the Earth. This hot 'super-Earth,' just 15 light years away, travels in a nearly circular orbit only 2 million miles from its parent star, Gliese 876, and has a radius about twice that of Earth."
New NASA chief begins major shake-up
"Senior NASA officials and congressional and aerospace industry sources said yesterday that Griffin wanted to clear away entrenched bureaucracy and build a less political and more scientifically oriented team to implement President Bush's plan to return humans to the moon by 2020 and eventually send them to Mars."
"Senior NASA officials and congressional and aerospace industry sources said yesterday that Griffin wanted to clear away entrenched bureaucracy and build a less political and more scientifically oriented team to implement President Bush's plan to return humans to the moon by 2020 and eventually send them to Mars."
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