Trismestigus

Everyware, All the Time.

inverself — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:52:12 +0000

Imagine a world where everything is hooked up to some kind of computing device, or server. That world is far in the future, right? Wrong. If you live in U-City, South Korea, the future is now. Imagine stores where everything you put in your shopping cart is automatically charged to your credit/debit card when you walk out the door with it. Imagine being able to find your keys by searching for their location with your laptop. In U-City (Ubiquitous City), a series of international corporations have brought together cutting edge technology to create their vision for our future. In a nutshell, ubiquitous computing is the concept of trying to integrate the world of physical things with the digital world. Here is a great article from RINF.com that sums up the whole deal.

For better or worse, these are the kinds of things that future generations will have to adapt to. Yeah, we have computers and webcams. Yeah, we have iPhones and Blackberries. But what about RFID Dust? Do you have any idea what that is? Radio Frequency Identity dust is made of tiny chips that can be scattered about to keep track of things (like you), or embedded in products to deter counterfeiting. I know, I know, it’s just future shock, but some of this stuff seems really intrusive. Like these video surveillance cameras with speakers for cops to shout at drunk people with.

It’s amazing how corporations are selling this stuff. This BBC piece shows how RFID implants (that’s chips surgically implanted under your skin) are being marketed as V.I.P accessories at a popular night club in Barcelona. The V.I.P’s get chipped, then they can pay for drinks without the horrible burden of swiping their credit cards. A wireless RFID reader automatically charges their account by bouncing a signal off the chip EMBEDDED IN THEIR ARMS. That’s hot, right?

What about privacy? what about civil rights? what about human dignity? Even the Amish are fighting RFID tagging in their cattle herds through the courts. They say it’s “The Mark of the Beast”.

I guess privacy, civil rights, and human dignity are commodities to be bought and sold. Now here’s a picture of a kitty!

Ron Eglash on African Fractals

inverself — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:25:15 +0000

This video on TED.com blew my face off. Mathmatician Ron Eglash talks about the fractal mathematics behind construction and art in african civilization. Indigenous peoples of Africa were the ONLY people to use fractal set theory in their social and civil organization! This theory was not fully understood by western academics until only 100 YEARS AGO, but when they did, they developed binary code from it, which is the foundation of all computers!!!! African priests developed random number generators for divination BY HAND.

BLOW-YOUR-FACE-OFF AMAZING!

The Century of the Self

inverself — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:00:32 +0000

This is one of my favorite documentaries by Adam Curtis of the BBC. It tells the story of how the nephew of Sigmund Freud introduced principles of psychology and psychotherapy into the world of business and marketing in the early 20th century. That man’s name was Edward Bernays, the grandfather of public relations. When I watched this documentary for the first time, I started to see myself differently, because I began to realize how suggestible and malleable my own mind was. To this day, I can’t look at advertisments (or any corporate product) the same. One amazing segment is about how cake mix wasn’t selling in the 1950′s to homemakers because to them, it was cheating to make a cake with a pre-mixed powder. Instead, Bernays suggested to leave out the powdered milk and eggs from the formula, and allow these women to add their own milk and eggs, a symbolic act that affirms their femininity and motherhood. After this policy was enacted, the cake mix flew off the shelves. This is the power of the subconscious.

There are four parts to this series on Google Video, and while a little long, it is a fantastic work by Adam Curtis. Here’s Part 1 of 4.