RSS continues to grow and be recognized …
This is a cool little application that was created to support RSS new feeds. It allows a user to specify a set of feeds to monitor, and then gathers the new articles and provides an interface that can launch a web browser to read the full article.
This is yet more information indicating the growing interest and support for RSS format publishing.
HotSheet 0.90 alpha. A cross-platform RSS news reader with a friendly GUI. [freshmeat.net]
It’s all about replication … genetics is a good example!
When looking at the classic argument about centralized control and storage vs. distributed approaches, it’s easy to fall into the “trap” about the supposed benefits of the centralized approach. People will often talk about the “single copy” and “only one play to go for access”. They will also talk about “having to manage all of those copies” as though this is an issue.
What is interesting is that there are many lessons around us that show the disadvantages of centralized approaches … from the former Soviet Union to stories about the companies that centralized all of there computer data in the World Trade Center … backing it up to the other tower.
In looking at this situation I often reflect on the biological evolved systems all around us … and I have to say that one of the most sophisticated of these indicates that replication and copies is a valuable implementation … the Human Body!
Where does your body store the “blueprint” for the body? In one centralized place? No … it stores this in the genetic material in every single cell. Storing a copy of this critical information in every cell in the body could be looked at as inefficient, wasteful, and potentially dangerous. Another way to look at this is that it offers the most effective way to empower any cell to become anything that contributes to the whole. It prevents the cells from having to reference some “central authority” to determine their purpose.
To me … synchronization and replication are the way to go … and some folks at MIT seem to agree that the net is mirroring this direction.
MIT Technology Review: Super Sync. Instead of ubiquitous connectivity to centralized databanks, we are instead building an infrastructure that’s optimized for data replication. The same information is getting copied to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of places throughout the world… [Tomalak’s Realm]
The place for finding syndication …
This is a very cool site that has a focus on gathering and categorizing RSS syndicated content. It’s a cool concept, and they are setting up the structures to be very successful. I wonder when Google might catch on and do something in this space …
Syndic8.Com is kickin butt. It’s great to see a community develop around this stuff.
[Scripting News]
From mail to e-mail … from travel to e-travel?
I too agree that these anthrax mail scares are going to make people think about mail and “junk” mail. One of the areas that I wondered are what new lawsuits might erupt from this whole affair?
One area will be companies that “force” a person to accept mail. For example, if you receive bills for services from a vendor – say your credit card bill, or electric bill – and they do not offer an alternative e-mailed e-bill, then are they potentially endangering your life by “forcing” you to accept potentially lethal mail?
E-mail a savior amid anthrax scare. Use of e-mail could skyrocket as an ever-widening anthrax investigation turns “snail mail” into a suspicious and potentially lethal form of communication. [CNET Tech News]
But what about privacy when speaking to your devices?
One of the things that I have found using wearable computers and various devices is that there are times that you want privacy. Using voice recognition is difficult in a loud place filled with other conversations and most of the current systems are not the best at discriminating a voice, unless it is by the loudness. There are, in addition, times that I want to be able to interact with my computer privately without others being aware. For example, I might be working on business applications, wanting to call someone and keep the name private, or I might want to be making “notes” to my computer while interacting with another person.
All of these, IMHO, indicate that computer interaction can be by voice, but only for a small segment of the interaction that I want to have.
Speaking of Voice Recognition. Intel, Microsoft and other top technology companies form a group to develop speech-enabled software that will allow communication without pushing buttons. Elisa Batista reports from Mountain View, California. [Wired News]
Richard Dawkins on the programming of humans …
Richard Dawkins is am amazing man, and the creator of the term “meme” in his book “The Selfish Gene”. In this article he discusses some perspectives about humans and the September 11th attack on the United States.
Although I disagree with his perspectives on “religion” as a whole, I do believe that there are a variety of ways that organizations create stories which assist in furthering their intentions. He does a great job of explaining a scenario in which the humans who committed the terrorist acts, and died in the process, might have been convinced to do this.
The area that I do disagree is the requirement of some “religous-like” practices which I believe were culturally evolved to provide forms of memetic maintenence. I think that there are numerous distinct aspects of a “religion” and that several of them might provide valuable contributions to an effective organization or society. It seems that every race and culture has developed some sort of “wise man”, “guru”, or “religion” of some kind … or the converse is that it seems that communities that do not have some sort of “religion” no longer seem to exist.
I plan on writing more on this subject in the future …
Richard Dawkins: “Testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next.” [Scripting News]
Amazing vision! An Identity Management solution that is well thought out …
This is a very cool find … it appears that Mr. McCandless was working on the same ideas at the same time as our team at Novell! When we were working on digitalme we realized that identity was something that had to be collected in a “Personal Directory” (e.g. Novell’s Personal Directory – Leading Edge Downloads #138) to be an effective solution. Although Novell has not done anything with this since, we now have a new project that will demo in January. We will be releasing our “FreeID” agent as a tool for automating the collection, distribution, and coordination of identity information.
I’ll have to get in touch with Mr. McCandless to see what he thinks!
Very cool declaration for Cyberspace …
I have to admit that I am a fan of John Perry Barlow after hearing him speak at conferences a couple of times. This is a very good beginning of a new declaration … describing new times.
We have all been living through a “survival of the fittest” community/government era, and the Internet now begins to transcend the physical limits of these battles. The the Internet creates a whole new substrate … a new medium … for societal and cultural development.
This is a very good beginning …
The storage of Memes …
We are reaching the point of being able to witness the storage of objects in the brain … this is a very cool article!
Enslavement of the Human Race?
I really like the direction that Hawking is taking with his views about the evolution of the computer world and technology. At the end of this brief article, there is a sentence which includes a comment about the “enslavement of the” human race. This is a common perspective of how the future might evolve, however it is not one that I agree with and see as unlikely.
What Hawking talks about is the use of genetic engineering, and other new technologies, to provide more and more man-machine integration … to reduce the boundary between humans and the networks that we use to communicate and generate business. This is exactly where I believe the world is heading … towards a synthesis of humans and the non-human … the extending of human abilities with human created extensions.
One of core creations of evolution that is missed in most discussions is community and organizations … and particularly the modern versions of these. As humans we strive to create effective communities and organizations, and communications is the bond with which these are created and held together. All of the work in communications and computer technologies are oriented towards the improved effectiveness of communications, and the automation of human infrastructure tasks.
The “closer” that we can get to the network – that we created – the more effective we can be in the communities and organizations that we are a part of. The integration of technology with humans is the “natural” path that we are moving down. We are closing the “gap” between our intelligence, and the collective intelligence that we are creating.