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'Gone Home'

This journal is now a memorial to a wonderful, gentle loving man who left this world on Friday, 07th November 2008.

It will continue to be lovingly maintained by Vivienne [info]caersidi.

9th-Jun-2008 01:56 pm - Monday morning update
Eidolon
09:29: Well I have finished all my ‘normal duties’ for a Monday morning at work, so now I shall try and do an LJ Update

Weekend was very relaxing, but missed Viv.

Basically I did nothing apart from Watch telly, eat and sleep.

Well, actually I did trim the bush outside the front. I did a little of the back two. But stopped when I discovered that a giant sized black and white cat (By the name of Robin) has the ability to blend in perfectly to green grass! I still haven’t quite worked out how yet. But me with a battery powered Hedge Trimmer (I cannot be trusted with a mains powered one!) and invisible cats is far to much risk. So I abandoned my gardening. (Yay)

I also mowed my head.

Missed Viv at night but made up for it by not going to bed until I was falling asleep.

Watched a movie called Forest of the Damned that was.. okay in a ‘this is rubbish’ kind of way. Also was interesting to see a cameo by Shaun Hutson (Being eaten to death by naked female fallen angels. As you do.)

Apart from that I was mostly watching Most Evil

And of course Big Brother .

BB this year? Well. No twins, so not as good as last year. But definitely some ‘interesting’ characters this year. It is rather scary to think that these are ‘the best of the best’ after a rigorous auditions. Very scary.

I am in two minds about Big Brother. Part of me loves to watch it, to see the interaction between these people (I use the word loosely) in a enclosed micro environment. It really can be quite fascinating. And it is obvious that BB choose these people not on their merits as people, but on their ‘freak’ value.

Yes. Freak. I know that may sound unfair, especially considering two on the housemates have what some would call physical disabilities, as well as several with obvious mental ones.

Is it right to put these people on show like some Victorian freak show?

My first thought would be no. It’s a terrible and demeaning thing to do, not humane or civilised.

But…

The most important difference between Big Brother and some seedy freak show is that all the ‘housemates’ are volunteers. And not just volunteers not knowing what to expect. But knowing full well that are going into the BB house to be ridiculed and laughed At and not necessarily with. Some of them may be brave individuals willing to take that risk and Some may be wanting fame so badly they are willing to do anything. The ones I worry about are those who seem to have mental problems.

To me, watching Big Brother is like having a room full or 4 to 12 year olds and watching them interact (Without the obvious Pword connotations) Playing Guess the mental age of the housemate can be fun.

Hopefully BB have done their job right and not put anyone who is at risk in there.

Anyway. BB rant over.

Watched Doctor Who after Viv came back.

Wow.

Major Wow.

Read Padfoot_uk for a perfect review.

It was a very ‘Transhumanist’ story, complete with Cyber Heaven.

Is it me, or does the world seem to be heading for a Seldon Crisis?

The three main Sciences (Biological, Physics and Technological) are all on the threshold of world changes discoveries.

And the Oil is apparently running out.

The big question is: Will the singularity (in whatever form it could be) occur before civilisation collapses in on itself?

Time will tell.

It’s 11:55 now and I’ll send this update to Viv to post.
28th-Mar-2008 12:35 pm - The Technological Singularity
Eidolon
This is the article that introduced the idea of The Singularity. The original version of this article was presented at the VISION-21 Symposium sponsored by NASA Lewis Research Center and the Ohio Aerospace Institute, March 30-31, 1993. A slightly changed version appeared in the Winter 1993 issue of Whole Earth Review.


The Technological Singularity by Vernor Vinge
29th-Feb-2008 12:52 pm - Another fasinating Article
colossus
Could the Web emerge as a superintelligence?

This planet-sized computer is comparable in complexity to a human brain. Both the brain and the Web have hundreds of billions of neurons (or Web pages). Each biological neuron sprouts synaptic links to thousands of other neurons, while each Web page branches into dozens of hyperlinks. That adds up to a trillion "synapses" between the static pages on the Web. The human brain has about 100 times that number—but brains are not doubling in size every few years. The Machine is.
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