Author Archives: Scott C. Lemon

About Scott C. Lemon

I'm a techno futurist, interested in all aspects of humanity, sociology, community, identity, and technology. While we are all approaching the Singularity, I'm just having fun effecting the outcomes of the future!

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Some perspectives on Xybernaut and Wearable Computers …
I wrote this on the Xybernaut thread on SiliconInvestor … a stock and market discussion board. I figured that I would post it here also …

Hello Truthseeker,

> Is this crap paid for? i only ask because xybr has been
> recommended by fraudulent analysts in the past such as
> Donner Corp and Access1Financial/Mark Bergman.

I have no way to speak for anyone but myself … so I can not answer your question about this press release.

I *am* (and have been for quite some time) an advocate of the wearable computer marketplace. I do a lot of research into leading edge trends, and use evolutionary theory to create frameworks for predicting future trends.

I am not sure who the companies are going to be, but I can see that there are some very powerful indications (to me) that wearable computers will become a very fundamental part of being human … in the core industrial and technological communities of the world.

Some of these indications are:

1. Communications, and the devices that facilitate communications, are a fundamental part of an efficient organization of any kind.

2. The ability to effectively organize, communicate, and share information within an organization is directly related to the effectiveness of that organization. This includes effectively “staying in communications” within the organization – hence pagers, cell phones, and demand for “always on” wireless connectivity.

3. Practices, methods, and devices which enhance and extend the human beings ability to organize, communicate, and share information are coming into higher and higher demand … for obvious reasons. These are what transform a human being into what I call a “Humaneural” element within an organization.

4. Devices which can enhance and extend our human capabilities, adding to our abilities to “sense” the world around us, to “remember” more information for future use, and to “augment” our perspective of the world around us are increasingly becoming integral in our daily life experience. The lines between where we end, and these devices end, are going to blur more and more in the coming years. (e.g. think about pacemakers, hearing aids, contact lenses, and now cell phones, and PDAs)

5. Our ability to create more and more powerful computers, in smaller and smaller form factors is nearly limitless … and is only a matter of time.

6. Microsoft, even with all of the criticism, is not going away any time soon. The demands for their products, and their evolutionary process of creation, will only continue until something massively disrupts or shifts the market.

7. Any company, IMHO, creating hardware products which will bring Microsoft software platforms, and Linux software platforms, closer to being tightly integrated into the human experience is on the right track. This includes the core compute platform, along with the peripherals which integrate with the human senses – eyes, ears, mouth, etc.

I believe that over the next 5-10 years we are going to witness some incredible evolution of what it is to be human. We are going to see people who will become more and more dependant on “new” senses which result from a net-connected world.

In the business/organizational world, this means more effective and immediate access to information to react to market conditions, and deliver to customer/employee demands. In the personal world, this means being in communication with the important communities and organizations in ones life on a full time basis … being available to those communities, and having those communities be available … on demand.

I believe that Xybernaut is on the right track when I compare their vision of the future to the PDA and cell phone visions. I can not promise that they will, as a organization, transform from an innovative company to a dominant force in the industry … but I believe that they are heading in the right direction …

This is probably more than you were looking for … but I felt like rambling … 😉

Scott C. Lemon

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As we approach the Singularity … and Gattaca?
These articles are an interesting overview of what the government sees coming … and what is going to be inevitable. The ability to map the genome is now here … the inexpensive way to test for the presence and patterns of genes is coming … and so the scenarios that are presented in the movie Gattaca are not so far away.
What I find amusing about these types of efforts by the government is that they are simply creating delays on what will occur. If the work is not done in the USA, it will be done elsewhere. I can see the day that 7-11 stores are going to have gene-sequencing kiosks to verify the genetic background of your friends, family, and potential mates or employees … 😉

Bush discusses genetic discrimination in radio address. Nando Times Jun 24 2001 9:29PM ET [Genetics news]

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Powerline Networking integrated into charging systems …
It seems to me that powerline networking would be best implemented if it were integrated into the power supplies, and charging systems, of home computers, laptops, and other computing devices. This way they would just work when I plugged in to charge the batteries or power the devices. If all home computers had this, then it would seem to be a valuable service. If the laptop chargers had these networking solutions, then airports, etc. could just provide access via the power in their facilities that is being used by passengers anyhow! This might then offer some competition to other wireless solutions …

Powerline Networks Finally Viable? [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]

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Synchronization … and the future …
In my research into evolutionary theory, and optimal systems development, I have made the observation that replication and duplication of information is a naturally occurring solution. If we look at even our own DNA, we can see that the instructions that define the construction of our own human bodies is replicated and duplicated in every cell in our bodies.
Relating this to my research into identity, I have come to the conclusion that identity information is not going to be accessed by reference, but instead will be synchronized to all of the places that it will be used. This synchronization is key to how identity will be maintained by end-users, and the communities that they belong to.
It’s too bad that Yahoo! is dropping this service now … since they will be putting it back into place if they are going to move forward in the future of identity management …

Yahoo cuts a useful sync service. Up until recently, you could sync your Yahoo Address Book with your desktop, or PDA or mobile phone. You could use the Yahoo Yellow Pages to quickly add local businesses to your address book, and then download the results to carry around with you. It was a fantastic way to fill up your mobile phone with all the local Pizza delivery, Chinese take out, and car repair places. An real example of a online service removing a little bit of drudgery from our lives. [kuro5hin.org]

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The proliferation of the pico-nets …
This is yet another example of how I see high-speed wireless Internet access proliferating. One of the aspects that I think will make this a very difficult business model is that MobileStar is “owning” the infrastructure. As new wireless technologies emerge, they are going to be stuck doing constant upgrades to support the newest technologies … and so I predict their demise, unless they can propose a way of dealing with this!

Network World: Starbucks wireless network a sweet deal for MobileStar. The initiative is a boon to MobileStar Network, the ISP responsible for the wireless LAN connectivity in each Starbucks stores and the backbone network connecting the shops to the Internet. MobileStar expects Starbucks will account for 50% of its network footprint by 2003. [Tomalak’s Realm]

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Hitachi, Shimadzu, Xybernaut and their wearable directions …
This is a very good press release for all of these companies, IMHO. Shimadzu is making some great new hi-res (800×600) color googles, and Hitachi has coupled this with a WinCE machine. Xybernaut is picking up the unit and going to resell it under their name … something that I think will be a good competitor to the Compaq iPaq. Read more about the WIA here …

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Palm vs. iPaq …
I have to say that although I have been using a Palm for some years (a Palm Pro, to a Palm VII, and now a Visor Edge), and hated the early Pocket PCs from Compaq, I am now seeing that we are well on our way towards the full wearable/handheld PC. In watching what I can do with a iPaq, I am now more impressed … not enough to buy one … but at the point of seeing the power of bringing Windows to a handheld.

I am still an avid believer in the coming Wearable Computer revolution, and can see that Windows XP will end up being the predominant operating system of these machines. In the mean time, there are several reasons why I believe that the Palm is limited, and the iPaq is a superior solution. I’ll use some current research as an example of the limitations:

I am currently working on a full time, wireless, presence and instant messaging research project. I would like to incorporate GPS into this solution for sharing my geographic location with friends – full latitude and longitude with altitude. Do create this solution I require the following:

  • a PDA, handheld, wearable, or pocket PC
  • 802.11b wireless communications
  • CDPD wireless communications
  • GPS satellite positioning information

Anyone that is aware of the current Palm PDA and Handspring Visor architectures knows that I can only attach one of the required devices at a time … and I could even live with being able to attach two!

I agree completely with this article … Palm is stagnating and doesn’t understand where to go next …

DataQuest: iPAQ Sales Overtaking Palm. Researcher blames Palm’s lack of innovation. [internetnews.com: Product News]

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The Singularity …
As I have continued my research into evolutionary theory, and have now attended several conferences where Ray Kurzweil has presented, I am in alignment with those who see the Singularity coming upon us. It is not good or bad … it simply is, and will be. To me, the Singularity is a point where the evolution of humanity into a planetary-scale organism occurs. It might sound funny, but it is similar to the “assimilation” that we hear about on Star Trek. It is the creation of a new entity on earth … a new substrate … beyond both the genetic and memetic substrates that exist today. It is the creation of a new form of bond … a new form of communications. I’ll be writing more as I learn more and theorize more! 😉

Singularity – In another 100 years (sans major wars, famines, or diseases) computers will be unimaginably smarter than humans and other advances in sciences like biotech and nanotech will have made our physical bodies irrelevant. This seems like common sense to me. In fact, I don’t argue with the people who say it might happen sooner. This possibility, commonly called singularity, has many followers. In a way, it is as if the whole world is realizing that we’ve already built a tower ten times the size of Babel and God hasn’t woken up yet — and if we can have just a few more minutes, we’ll be able to finally sneak in and see what heaven is like. Of course, even the conservative estimates of singularity would say that a human intellect compared to a cockroach is a charitable comparison when the human intellect is pitted agsinst the computers of singularity. The idea that these computers will even comprehend that humans want the computers to be our servants is perhaps as believable as the guy who talks to cockroaches and knows what they want. In other words, the world of singularity is certainly not a world for humans — at least not humans in any form remotely comprehensible to us today (and if humans morph into transcendental unified trans-bloogified entities, we aren’t really humans anymore, are we?). So there is quite a bit of speculation about whether it will be “good” or “bad” when (if) we get a chance to blow the lid off this thing. I personally don’t see how such distinctions will be possible, any more than a rock can contemplate the “goodness” of the current world. I also know that sitting around speculating about it is not going to do much more than give the crabs a chance to cook up a scheme to pull the tower back down. And one cannot judge harshly those who decided that the tower was the road to hell. If the crab climbs out of the pot, what’s to say that he won’t attract the attention of a hungry predator and get the whole pot gobbled up? Maybe the other crabs are wise to question exactly what it is that seems to be hypnotizing Jonathon Livingston Crab and making him so anxious to leave the safe comfort of the bucket? All vanity, anyway… [Better Living Through Software]