After the Fun & Games

Folks,

More thoughts are flowing on Human/Computer interactions as things like neural prosthesis and gizmos like IBM's Watson actually do seem to be truly intelligent to our species.

When do we get to the point that a Human asks himself when it is okay to hit the OFF button on a machine… and the machine tells that person that it would be wrong, that it is aware of what is about to happen to it? We haven't even gotten to that point, many of us, in our treatment of our own. We needn't look to history. We have see it on this morning's news.

IBM's Watson's answering questions placed in puns on a TV quiz show is pretty cool, but we are a long way from perfecting our own morality, let alone "programming" such rules into computers. Yet, we are not far away from creating devices that detect and respond to and mimic Human emotions. Watson is perhaps the great grandfather of such mechanical critters.

Things are going to get very weird, perhaps even wonderful, if we Humans clear a few hurdles that are not really technical.

S

After the Fun & Games

From Mars. With Love…

Folks,

We see all sorts of patterns in nature, terrestrial and beyond. Our Human minds are pattern recognition engines built to see shadows moving in the woods, and to know whether they are just leaves falling, not the spots on a hungry Tiger. We see angels and bunny rabbits in the clouds, and gods dancing in the stars, faces and pyramids on Mars, humanoid skulls in the meteorite battered rocks within a shadowed crater on the Moon. We see our dreams and fears everywhere we look.

Now, here's a good one, appropriate for this day descended from a licentious Bacchanal long ago by the folks that brought us in the north west hemisphere of Terra the names and forms of those gods and critters we see above. Those cat's would no doubt get a kick out of actually seeing the heart of their God of War.

S

From Mars with Love on Valentines Day

Folks,

I just watched Cornel West on Bill Maher's "Real Time". The show was altogether fine and dandy, but that West fellow, crazy ass brilliant hope fiend professor that he is… well, he was just right on top the situation, speaking to the moment that we all live in with a clever tongue and agile mind. The guy lays down fire in extemporaneous rhetoric like Coltrane wailed on his horn. Brilliant!

Start with the Wiki links above, and proceed deeper into this guy's mind and work. Learn. He's a good man to have on The Team.

S

Our Obligations as World Citizens?

Folks,


The following is an excellent commentary that poses a profound question as to our obligations and capacities to be Human and humane in a networked world.


S

Are We Ready To Watch Over The World?

More Geeky Goodness…

Folks,

Imagine a humanoid robot that was controlled not by a joy stick, punching keys, or limited to an onboard brain about as clever as a cockroach. Imagine if you could control it by simply moving your own body as you wish the robot to move. Through its mechanics, with its sensors, you could walk through fire to save an orphan, venture into the caldron of an active volcano, or work a mine on an asteroid. You might even chuck your Human form and map your motions into those of a crab to walk the deepest craters of our Luna. You might find it handy to be an Octopus to touch and taste the floor of the oceans of a Jovian moon.

Microsoft may have actually produced its most useful technology in Kinect, and with the help of hackers and roboticists, helped introduce something to Humanity that will be much more influential than their crappy software.

S

Hacking Kinect Into a Full Body Prosthesis

More Lyrical Doodling…

Folks,

More lyrical drivel from the digital desk drawer. This one actually does scan and time and again even rhymes. I hear mandolins and harmonica, beat up old guitars, a stand up bass, a drummer drunk with subtlety, and some old guy that can hardly sing backed by a small chorus of angels… but, I'll leave it to my friends actually possessing some talent with music to make such decisions. Then, I'll just sit back and be amazed that my thorny words got turned into some part of something like roses, something like music for us kids to dance to.

S

Anything, Anytime © Solomon, 2008/2011

Puzzle pieces in memory

Oh, they do speak to me

Yeah, I  have been shown that real clear

that you are a fine melody

a secret to be told just to me

Oh, and you sure ain’t so easy

and neither so am I

but you are easy to love

you are somebody to love

right here now and for every time

Anything, anytime

Let me tell you real nice

count our change and roll the dice

You got my credit on the line

I’ll watch your back if you watch mine

I am with you all of the time

You are sure ain’t noway real easy

Well, kid, neither am I

but you are easy to love

you’re so sure easy to love

not just today but all the time

Now, tell me all of your secrets

Do part the brilliant clouds

and, then please show me everything

about all what you think you know

all your mysteries and shadows

Anything, anytime

Let me tell you real nice

count our change and roll the dice

You got my credit on the line

I’ll watch your back if you watch mine

I am for you all the time

We got a good peace of heaven

and a thread through the clouds

We got each other, not much else

and we have been born to love 

born to love for all time always

Anything, anytime

Let me tell you real nice

count our change and roll the dice

You got my credit on the line

I’ll watch your back if you watch mine

I am with you all the time

Folks,


Something a bit off the charts, but a bit that I needed to share. This came from an blessed interchange with a lady that I have never met, will likely never meet in the flesh, but does pretty well get to my heart. Thus I try to speak to her own and my own heart. Here is my note to her, with a few emendations.


S


I spent a solid four decades as a stone drunk and true professional able to handle any substance thrown at me, or that I eagerly sought out. All the while, I functioned high and made a good living, living high.

All that came to halt about a decade ago. That had to happen along the path, and I'm actually grateful for that turn. I'm also grateful to notice a few other things.

There are folks more hard up than me. If you are inclined to pray, include Colleen, Sherri, Sonny, Bongo, Free, and my long suffering Mom in those heavenward offers. Hey, throw those offers any and everywhere! I am not a religious sort, but I have noticed that prayer does not hurt anything.

I also lately noticed that things take surprising turns in Human terms. Now and again, we meet a good heart who is a real friend. That is nourishment for the soul, and you know who I'm talking about.

Then there are these strange swirls in the tides in the stream. Nothin' much turns out the way that it seems to tend. I look over my shoulder and see the shadow of a millionaire. I look ahead and can see good reason for despair.

Whatever. I'm about to step into another puddle, maybe a pond, maybe an ocean… but if I make my connection, I know that I'll go toward good friends, and I do know how to swim.


With Love,


S