http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/ This is a book in progress. I'm thinking and writing aloud. The origins and objective of the book are detailed here; please read this background before commenting. Since my posts are often long, only two will show on the front page. The rest I move quickly off to the side archive. There is no order to the postings; I'm just exploring here. Comments on particular posts welcomed. Copyright 2007 Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:27:06 +0000 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss There used to be rule of thumb that said: for every dollar you’ll spend on gasoline for your car, you will also spend a dollar on repairs and maintenance. For instance if you drive 10,000 miles a year, and you... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/being_is_all_ma.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/being_is_all_ma.php Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:27:06 +0000 The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke made his living sketching out the plausible consequences of future inventions. He once said that imagining the automobile was very easy because everyone could imagine a horseless carriage. What was hard –... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/expected_and_un.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/expected_and_un.php Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:53:20 +0000 I claim that technology has its own agenda. What is the evidence that technology as a whole, or the technium as I call it, is autonomous? Because without autonomy, one could argue, how can something have its own agenda? I... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/humans_are_the.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/humans_are_the.php Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:25:11 +0000 The variety of potential minds in the universe is vast. As we explore the species of animal minds on earth with increasing respect, we have discovered that we already know many kinds of intelligences. Someday we will meet other intelligences... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/a_taxonomy_of_m.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/a_taxonomy_of_m.php Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:35:39 +0000 Of all things made, there is one creation most paradoxical: the pot that outshines its maker – that is, the creation which exceeds its creator. Such a marvel seems logically impossible. How can matter unleash matter, or mind unleash mind,... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_paradox_of.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_paradox_of.php Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:00:12 +0000 I get a new computer every couple of years. I go through digital cameras even faster. My desktop software updates itself every month or so. There’s almost nothing in my entire house older than I am.  We take the... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/surprising_cont.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/surprising_cont.php Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:11:06 +0000 There is no human-created description of God that is without contradiction. Any minimal definition of God we can conjure up entails multiple infinities, such as omnipotence, omniscience, or eternal existence. However when a being is “infinite in all directions” the... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_evolutionar.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_evolutionar.php Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:15:51 +0000 No sane person can ignore the heaps of ills on this planet. The ills of the environment, of inequality, of war and poverty and ignorance, and the ills of body and soul of many billion inhabitants are inescapable. Nor can... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_evidence_of.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/02/the_evidence_of.php Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:51:14 +0000 Even person is born a star. Every person develops a unique combination of latent abilities, nascent insights and potential experiences that no one else shares. Even twins -- who share a common DNA -- don’t share the same life potential.... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/01/technology_the.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2007/01/technology_the.php Wed, 31 Jan 2007 08:05:08 +0000 In April 2000, Douglas Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach) organized a conference at Stanford University to discuss the question; “Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity by 2100?” Among the participants were Bill Joy, Ray Kurzweil, Hans Moravec, John Holland, and myself. The... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/will_spiritual.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/will_spiritual.php Wed, 15 Mar 2006 21:17:33 +0000 Civilizations are creatures. They are organisms that live very long and that spread very wide over the surface of the earth. Civilizations are beings that consume energy and produce ideas. These ideas materialize as cities, institutions, laws, art, books, and... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/civilizations_a.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/civilizations_a.php Tue, 14 Mar 2006 21:15:00 +0000 Science will continue to surprise us with what it discovers and creates; then it will astound us by devising new methods to surprises us. At the core of science’s self-modification is technology. New tools enable new structures of knowledge and... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/speculations_on_1.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/speculations_on_1.php Fri, 03 Mar 2006 20:32:02 +0000 Hour by hour technology continues to demassify, to shrink in size while expanding in power, and to obsolesce earlier measures of excellence. Through the rear view mirror we spy the manufactured stuff of yesterday and are generally happy to have... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/the_myth_of_lea.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/the_myth_of_lea.php Fri, 03 Mar 2006 14:20:30 +0000 When gramophone recording equipment reached the Indonesian archipelago in the 1900s, the gamelan orchestras being recorded by musicologists like John B. Smoot were perplexed. Locally popular tunes circulated in the villages at a half-life of a few weeks. Why copy... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/the_rise_and_fa.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/the_rise_and_fa.php Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:43:22 +0000 When communication technologies become ubiquitous and employed by powerful institutions they can scare us because they appear to be technologies of control – of us. Global positioning information is very handy but might also be used to follow us at... http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/02/symmetrical_and.php http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/02/symmetrical_and.php Tue, 28 Feb 2006 21:37:18 +0000