Category: observation

Our Descendants will be the Pets of a Future Singularity

Man-Machine Merger Arriving Sooner Than You Think on the Singularity. Mind expanding stuff. Vernor Vinge and Cory Doctorow. Originally posted on BoingBoing Vernor Vinge and Cory on the Singularity on NPR

This stuff gets my mind going in different directions. Augmented humans, instant access to information. Our children’s lives will be shaped by how to access, not having to burden themselves with having to immediately know.

When in society has this been different anyway? The young ones always know more than the oldies. My adage is simple: There is always someone younger and smarter than you. However, youth is no match for experience

Our Brain Wiring is Evolving

Talking to the great Michael Stoddart (Stod) around the proverbial water cooler, he stated that under-25’s don’t learn the same way as us Generation-X and cusp-Baby Boomers.

Rather than learn by rote the ins-and-outs of a “new thing”, the Generation-Y’s remember the tags and “where to access” the information – knowing that if they ever need the information in the future, they’ll use the “tags” to grab the info.

Also, Generation-Y are experienced with the media-savvy breadth of info, and know how to “filter” out the noise.

Last week, Uncle Mike asked about my “take” on tags.

Now I get it – “tags” are a memory access method, a digital mnemonic.

Rote learning just doesn’t work in a stream-of-media world.

I’d love to get into the understanding of Learning; time doesn’t permit so I’ll tag it, and move on.

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Defining Event for Australia

90 years ago today, a very young nation sent its men onto an obscure beach in another new country. Australia’s (and NZ’s) soldiers stormed the wrong beach on Gallipoli Peninsula. At the behest of Britain’s High Command, on the idea of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill; soldiers from multiple nations were attempting to take control of a bottleneck of control to the Black Sea and Russia. Turkey, also on the cusp of becoming a nation, defended and defeated the invaders.

It is paradoxical that Australia considers a major defeat-of-arms as the official day of rememberance and national holiday �(rather than November 11th). This goes to the heart of Australia’s laconic nature to thumb its nose at convention in this manner. After the 8 months of battle, where many thousands of soldiers died for no strategic gain; they left the peninsula without casualty.

To those who gave their lives for future generations; either by never returning to their families or those who returned changed men – the debt is difficult to measure.