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How the Internet Shapes our Minds
January 12th, 2010
“When I do long division or even multiplication I don’t try to remember the intermediate numbers. Long ago I learned to write them down. Because of paper and pencil I am “smarter” in arithmetic. In a similar manner I now no longer to try remember facts, or even where I found the facts. I have learned to summon them on the Internet. Because the Internet is my new pencil and paper, I am “smarter” in factuality.
But my knowledge is now more fragile. For every accepted piece of knowledge I find, there is within easy reach someone who challenges the fact. Every fact has its anti-fact. The Internet’s extreme hyperlinking highlights those anti-facts as brightly as the facts. Some anti-facts are silly, some borderline, and some valid. You can’t rely on experts to sort them out because for every expert there is an equal and countervailing anti-expert. Thus anything I learn is subject to erosion by these ubiquitous anti-factors.”—
“We don’t really know what dreams are for, only that they satisfy some fundamental need. Someone watching me surf the Web, as I jump from one suggested link to another, would see a day-dream. Today, I was in a crowd of people who watched a barefoot man eat dirt, then the face of a boy who was singing began to melt, then Santa burned a Christmas tree, then I was floating inside mud house on the very tippy top of the world, then Celtic knots untied themselves, then a guy told me the formula for making clear glass, then I was watching myself, back in high school, riding a bicycle. And that was just the first few minutes of my day on the Web this morning. The trance-like state we fall into while following the undirected path of links may be a terrible waste of time, or like dreams, it might be a productive waste of time. Perhaps we are tapping into our collective unconscious in a way watching the directed stream of TV, radio and newspapers could not. Maybe click-dreaming is a way for all of us to have the same dream, independent of what we click on.”
-Kevin Kelly
Read the rest of Kevin Kelly’s fascinating look at how the internet is changing our minds on his website kk.org
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Rooftopsmusic.net
January 13th, 2010
Rooftopsmusic.net has launched! This is my first full design for Wordpress and I’m really happy with the results. I definitely gave up some control that I had with Django, but in the end all the built in functionality of Wordpress saved me hours and hours. Go check out the site and the band, especially if you like mathy pop rock.
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Apple’s Tablet a game console?
January 19th, 2010
Apple Tablet conceptWith Apple’s tablet ready to be announced this Wednesday, I thought I would put in my thoughts. The tablet is sure to revolutionize the way we read, watch, and communicate, but unless they do something truly special I don’t know many people that will spend $800 or up on what will likely be their third or fourth gadget (next to their iMac, MacBook, iPod, etc.)
I’d like to take a look at a potential feature that isn’t getting a lot of recognition and that might explain how Apple is going to make the tablet as big as the iPhone. The tablet is likely to be considerably faster compared with even the next-gen iPhone and it’s graphics core should be able to output high definition video and graphics. This seems to me an ideal platform for a game console. Just hook it up to your HDTV and connect to the tablet via your iPhone or iPod Touch. If you don’t have an HDTV, that’s fine, just set your tablet in a dock and it becomes the display. The phone that you’ve been using for a year or two has suddenly become the ultimate game controller with far more features than a Wiimote. And with rumors that the 4G iPhone will have a touch sensitive back casing, your fingers won’t even get in the way of the screen.
Imagine the possibilities: Trivia, board games, emulators, and my personal favorite D&D. The dungeon master holds the tablet and sets up all the rooms and monsters, and each member of the party controls their actions via iPhone. These are just off the top of my head so it’s not a stretch to imagine that game developers are going to really blow our minds. And it was revealed today that Apple has already invited many members of the gaming industry to it’s Wednesday the 27th event.
Even if my speculation is incorrect, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a major gaming push from Apple. Several blogs will be live-blogging the media event including Gizmodo and Mac Rumors . So if you share my mind numbing affinity with all things Apple, I’ll see you in cyberspace next Wednesday.
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Encyclopedia Galactica #002 v.2
January 23rd, 2010
Version 2. I’m getting these printed this week so they’ll be available in the shop soon.
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