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Wikipedia -- Health management system

'Evolution, according to Nicholas Humphrey, has selected an internal health management system that uses cost benefit analysis upon whether the deployment of a self-treatment aids biological fitness, and so should be activated. The welfare of social animals (including humans) depends upon other individuals (social buffering). The actuarial assessments of the costs and benefits of deploying a self-treatment therefore will depend upon the presence, or not, of other individuals. The presence of helpful others will effect, for example, the risk of predators when incapacitated, and—in those case in which animals do this (such as humans)—the provision of food, and care during sickness. All humans societies use external medications, and some individuals exist that are considered to have special healing knowledge about illnesses and their treatments. Humans are also usually supportive to those in their group. The availability of these things will effect the cost benefits of the body deploying its own biological ones.'

evolution evolutionarypsychology sociobiology shamanism placebo psychobiology psychology
december 2011 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- NOVA: What Darwin Never Knew

'What Darwin Never Knew" offers answers to riddles that Darwin couldn't explain. Breakthroughs in a brand-new science — nicknamed "evo devo" — are linking the enigmas of evolution to another of nature's great mysteries, the development of the embryo. NOVA takes viewers on a journey from the Galapagos Islands to the Arctic, and from the explosion of animal forms half a billion years ago to the research labs of today. Scientists are finally beginning to crack nature's biggest secrets at the genetic level. The results are confirming the brilliance of Darwin's insights while revealing clues to life's breathtaking diversity in ways the great naturalist could scarcely have imagined.'

biology genetics evolution documentaries
october 2010 by adamcrowe

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Wired -- Scientists Create First Self-Replicating Synthetic Life

'“When we look at life forms, we see fixed entities,” said J. Craig Venter, president of the Institute, in a recent podcast. “But this shows in fact how dynamic they are. They change from second to second. And that life is basically the result of an information process. Our genetic code is our software.”'

biology syntheticbiology selfreplication evolution temes
may 2010 by adamcrowe

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Guardian -- Why everything you've been told about evolution is wrong

'The epigenome plays a crucial role in determining which genes actually express themselves in a creature's traits: in effect, it switches certain genes on or off, or turns them up or down in intensity. It isn't news that the environment can alter the epigenome; what's news is that those changes can be inherited. Rather than genes simply "offering up" a random smorgasbord of traits in each new generation, which then either prove suited or unsuited to the environment, it seems that the environment plays a role in creating those traits in future generations, if only in a short-term and reversible way. Relatedly, there is growing evidence, at the level of microbes, of genes being transferred not just vertically, from ancestors to parents to offspring, but also horizontally, between organisms. ...what does it even mean to draw a clear line between one organism and another? Goldenfield: "It's natural to wonder, if the very concept of an organism in isolation is still valid at this level."'

evolution evolutionarypsychology genetics epigenetics environment memes temes species multitude mutualism
march 2010 by adamcrowe

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TreeHugger -- Newly Discovered Wasp Species Enslaves Spiders

'#How the Wasp Enslaves the Spider: A female wasp will target a spider and immobilize it with an unknown venom injected into its mouth--at which point the wasp lays its eggs on the spider's abdomen. When the spider revives, it seems to carry on unaffected as the wasp larvae develop. Over the course of several days, as the larvae grows riding on the spider's body, it releases a chemical that changes the behavior of its host. Instead of its normally orderly web-pattern construction, the spider begins to build a special cocoon for the larvae--controlled by the mysterious substance they emit. As the wasps mature inside their custom-built home, they draw nutrients from the spider who constructed it--eventually devouring it completely when fully developed. So much for gratitude.'

evolution parasitism puppetry
march 2010 by adamcrowe

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Wikipedia -- Blood type diet

'#Blood group O is the hunter, the earliest human blood group. The diet recommends that this blood group eat a higher protein diet. D'Adamo bases this on the belief that O blood type was the first blood type, originating 30,000 years ago. #Blood group A is the cultivator, a more recently evolved blood type, dating back from the dawn of agriculture, 20,000 years ago. The diet recommends that individuals of blood group A eat a diet emphasizing vegetables and free of red meat, a more vegetarian food intake. #Blood group B is the nomad, associated with a strong immune system and a flexible digestive system. The blood type diet claims that people of blood type B are the only ones who can thrive on dairy products and estimates blood type B arrived 10,000 years ago. #Blood group AB, is the enigma, the most recently evolved type, arriving less than 1,000 years ago. In terms of dietary needs, his blood type diet treats this group as an intermediate between blood types A and B.'

evolution diet
february 2010 by adamcrowe

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The Oil Drum -- Status and Curiosity: On the Origins of Oil Addiction

'...the premise [is] that Americans are genetically/culturally more prone to risk taking, impulsivity, novelty-seeking, and therefore addiction... -- The brain has been fooled into ‘thinking’ that achieving [any] high is equivalent to survival... -- If the rush is tied to something that society rewards we call it ambition, if it's attached to something a little scary, then we label the individual a ‘risktaker’ and if its tied to something illegal – then they are an ‘addict’ or substance abuser. So it seems culture has voted on which drugs are 'good' to pursue. -- In order to overcome addictions, it is usually not enough to argue about which year the drug supply is going to begin its decline. It's a better path to understand the addiction, admit it before one hits rock bottom, and either begin the cold turkey process or become addicted to something else. -- ...when an addict (broadly defined) is exposed to higher prices, conventional economic theory will not hold.'

* evolutionarypsychology psychology evolution neurobiology dopamine addiction status risk competition novelty hedonism culture consumerism america energy oil peakoil
february 2010 by adamcrowe

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Google Video -- The Global Brain - Peter Russell 1983

Another Pied Piper piping: How dare you claim to own your body and mind in the coming 'new age of the world order' -- 'Based on the themes in the book The Global Brain, this moving audio-visual presentation explores the idea that the Earth is an integrated, self-regulating living organism and asks what function humanity might have for this planetary being. It suggests that we stand on the threshold of a major leap in evolution, as significant as the emergence of life itself, and the essence of this leap is inner spiritual evolution. Moreover, Peter Russell maintains that it is only through such a shift in consciousness that we will be able to manage successfully the global crisis now facing us. [Praised by educators and politicians, and used by many international corporations' -- (Now if this was about us all becoming 'free' and living in 'harmony' (equality, by the socialist utopian dogma), why would he hype those lot?) NO GATEKEEPERS. NO LEADERS. NO EGOISTS. NO ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT]

evolution emergentism malthusianism gaia religion hivemind propaganda dialectics magick MK documentaries
february 2010 by adamcrowe

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The Onion -- Evolution Going Great, Reports Trilobite

'"It's a wonderful time to be alive," said the tri-lobed creature, its protruding feelers and antennules twitching spasmodically with anticipation. "To be born during this, the Cambrian Explosion—why, I couldn't imagine a better period, really. It's all happening right now! I mean, if things keep going the way they're going, what with evolution taking off and everything, pretty soon we'll have huge, towering reptiles roaming across the earth." "Can you imagine it? Reptiles!" the trilobite added. "I'm not even sure what those are!" -- The trilobite then settled down in his murky lagoon, where for the third straight night he would rest soundly while thoughts of someday becoming a brine shrimp, or perhaps even a crustacean—each of which, he knew, would be just a small part of the beautiful upward arc of life, forever changing, forever moving toward balance and harmony—danced in his tiny, insignificant head.' -- :))

TheOnion evolution life :-)
december 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Onion -- Fire, Setting Everything In Sight On Fire Discovered

'"Fire, and its ability to light any object not currently on fire instantly on fire, completely changed human existence," noted archaeologist and historian Phillip Krensen said. "Not only could man now defend himself from dangerous predators, but he could also cook their meat, then get up from the bonfire, smile briefly to himself, and spend the rest of the evening seeing what else there was around to burn down."'

TheOnion evolution technology temes humanity lulz satire
december 2009 by adamcrowe

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Vimeo -- TEDxAmsterdam: Kevin Kelly

Technology: "Anything useful invented by a mind". Technology is going to become more energy dense.

temes technology evolution selforganisation complexity extropy #extropy #complexity KevinKelly
december 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- George Carlin: Saving the Planet

"Narrow, unenlightened self-interest."

environmentalism ecology nature evolution humanity people narcissism hubris philosophy GeorgeCarlin
november 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- The Most Powerful Force in the World

'Technology is that which is produced by a mind — any mind: animal, machine or alien. When we created the technology of writing, we gladly extended our memory onto paper, making ourselves smarter. But in turn the alphabets we invented changed how our minds worked. Because our inventions can reach back into our brains, and essentially transform our minds into another one of our inventions, our inventions are more powerful than our minds. In this way technology can circle back into its origins, becoming its own child. Whatever progress there is in the world, is passed down generationally via the mechanism of our culture. Whatever changes that literacies ignite in the human brain must be carried forward not in our genes, but in the continuum of technium. This gives the technium incredible power. We don't quite appreciate it yet, but our child, technology, is more powerful than we its parents are.'

memes temes technology literacy culture #storage #processing #bandwidth extensionsofman mind propagation evolution kevinkelly
august 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Progression of the Inevitable

'Once an idea is "in the air" its many manifestation are inevitable. You just need a sufficient number of smart, prolific people to start catching them. Gladwell observes, "The genius is not a unique source of insight; he is merely an efficient source of insight." -- "Inventions are culturally determined. Such a statement must not be given a mystical connotation." warns Kroeber. It means only that when all the required conditions generated by previous technologies are in place, the next technology can precipitate. "Discoveries become virtually inevitable when prerequisite kinds of knowledge and tools accumulate," says sociologist Robert Merton, who studied simultaneous inventions in history. The ever thickening mix of existing technologies in a society create a supersaturated matrix, charged with restless potential. When the right idea is seeded within, the inevitable invention practically explodes into existence...'

ideaspace ideas memes temes techology invention culture #storage #ubiquity selection evolution KevinKelly
august 2009 by adamcrowe

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Realer than Real: The Simulacrum According to Deleuze and Guattari by Brian Massumi

'The simulacrum is less a copy twice removed than a phenomenon of a different nature altogether: it undermines the very distinction between copy and model. The terms copy and model bind us to the world of representation and objective (re)production. A copy, no matter how many times removed, authentic or fake, is defined by the presence or absence of internal, essential relations of resemblance to a model. The simulacrum, on the other hand, bears only an external and deceptive resemblance to a putative model. The process of its production, its inner dynamism, is entirely different from that of its supposed model; its resemblance to it is merely a surface effect, an illusion. A copy is made in order to stand in for its model. The simulacrum affirms its own difference. It is not an implosion, but a differentiation. The resemblance of the simulacrum is a means, not an end.' -- It's simulacra all the way down

philosophy simulation simulacra liminality liminalobjects objects copying representation diffusion replication reproduction evolution realtiy copy
august 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Atlantic -- Get Smarter

'...powerful tools for simulation and visualization that are jump-starting new scientific disciplines, and in the development of drugs that some people (myself included) have discovered let them study harder, focus better, and stay awake longer with full clarity. So far, these augmentations have largely been outside of our bodies, but they’re very much part of who we are today: they’re physically separate from us, but we and they are becoming cognitively inseparable. And advances over the next few decades, driven by breakthroughs in genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, will make today’s technologies seem primitive. The nascent jargon of the field describes this as “ intelligence augmentation.” I prefer to think of it as “You+.” We can call it the Nöocene epoch, from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of the Nöosphere, a collective consciousness created by the deepening interaction of human minds.' -- Last page: On the pharma-co-logic of the casino-capitalism model. Grim.

* technology temes evolution symbiosis cyborg objects selfobjects extensionsofman centralnervoussystem brain cyberbrain cognition intelligence tethered transhumanism #processing #complexity attention filters ADHD continuouspartialattention informationoverload ambientimmediacy collectiveintelligence hivemind conformity groupthink herd competition drugs pharmaceuticals thegamingofeverydaylife
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- Kevin Kelly: Technology is the 7th Kingdom of Life

"The line between the wisdom of the crowd and stupidity of the mob is a very, very fine line. Things can flip over from the being the smart hive mind to being the out of control mob mind, and so there's always that risk. But the thing with technology is, technology is not powerful until it can be powerfully abused." -- "In biology, there's extinction. In technology, we find that ideas and technologies are very hard to extinguish." -- "We are the sex organs of technology." == The temes of technology.

evolution parasitism temes technology collectiveintelligence collectiveunintelligence extensionsofman KevinKelly #specialization #diversity
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Technophilia

'Professor Sherry Turkle has spent her professional life studying (and worrying) about the human propensity towards technophilia. For the past three decades MIT engineers have designed a series of robots that increasingly take on attributes of human personality. The latest one is called Nexi. When Nexi is not on, the researchers pull a curtain around it. One day a student came in late to work on the robot, but found no one else around, so she pulled back the curtain. She was startled and confused to find Nexi blindfolded. What did it mean? As Turkle relates the story: "It raised the question in the mind of the perplexed student, are we protecting the people around the robot, or are we protecting the robot? The blindfold immediately brought up the fantasy of torturing the robot. You know, if it's alive enough to need a blindfold, then maybe it's alive enough to be tortured." We are so eager to love technology that Turkle is worried this love blinds us.'

evolutionarypsychology evolution parasitism temes technology evocativeobjects relationalobjects objects anthropomorphism nurturance love SherryTurkle KevinKelly
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Increasing Ubiquity

'The consequence of self-reproduction in life, as well as in the technium, is an inherent drive toward ubiquity. Technology, too, wants to be ubiquitous. ...the technium favors the type of ubiquity found in open-ended technologies, that is, those technologies that effectively increase the arrival of other effective open-ended technologies. This expansion unleashes cascades of other technologies that spread pervasively. Total ubiquity is the end point all technologies tend toward but never reach. -- '...something strange happens with ubiquity. More is different. When a technology saturates, or even supersaturates, a culture, it unleashes patterns not seen in lone examples of it. A few isolated manifestations of a technology can reveal its first order effects. But it is not until technology fills a vast, thick interacting pervasion do the second and third order consequences erupt. Most of the unintended consequences that so scare us in technology usually arrive in ubiquity.'

technology evolution temes replication propagation selection media themediumisthemessage ubiquity #ubiquity #socialization KevinKelly
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- Ray Kurzweil: A university for the coming singularity

'Ray Kurzweil's latest graphs show that technology's breakneck advances will only accelerate -- recession or not. He unveils his new project, Singularity University, to study oncoming tech and guide it to benefit humanity.' -- The temes are strong with this one.

exponential technology evolution temes transhumanism singularity RayKurzweil
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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Principia Cybernetica Web -- Super- and/or Meta-being(s)

'With communication through the direct connection of nervous systems to machines and to each other, the death of any particular biological component of the system would no longer imply the death of the whole system. Such metasystems will be evolutionary selective, in that they will have advantages for survival in an evolving environment. This is a cybernetic way for an individual human person to achieve immortality. The creative act of free will is the "biological function" of the human being. In the integrated meta- or super-being it must be preserved as an inviolable foundation, and the new qualities must appear through it and because of it. Thus the fundamental challenge that the humanity faces now is to achieve an organic synthesis of integration and freedom. ...the defining principle of the human person will probably stay fixed, as did the defining principle of the gene.'

cybernetics evolution transhumanism posthumanism humanity
june 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Evidence of a Global SuperOrganism

"My hypothesis is this: The rapidly increasing sum of all computational devices in the world connected online, including wirelessly, forms a superorganism of computation with its own emergent behaviors. I define the One Machine as the emerging superorganism of computers. It is a megasupercomputer composed of billions of sub computers. The sub computers can compute individually on their own, and from most perspectives these units are distinct complete pieces of gear. But there is an emerging smartness in their collective that is smarter than any individual computer. We could say learning (or smartness) occurs at the level of the superorganism." -- Escalating set of definitions of the superorganism: "# I: A manufactured superorganism # II: An autonomous superorganism # III: An autonomous smart superorganism # IV: An autonomous conscious superorganism -- My hunch is that the One Machine has advanced through levels I and II in the past decades and is presently entering level III."

temes technology internet evolution sentience emergence consciousness intelligence artificialintelligence collectiveintelligence energy predation parasitism metabolism transhumanism one #socialization #ubiquity #complexity #diversity KevinKelly
may 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Ordained-Becoming

'Adaptive natural selection excels at supremely optimizing a form to a constantly shifting niche. That process is always very specific, very local, and very contingent on tiny historical details and chance. But adaptive optimization presents an ancient conundrum to a species: if they perfect themselves for where they are at present, they can get stuck if the environment shifts quickly which over the span of geological time is certain to happen "frequently." Ideally, a species should seek a balance between optimization of the present and flexibility for the future. Yet, by definition natural selection works only in the present and cannot anticipate the future. The forces behind convergence and emergence, however, keep species near optimal evolvibility, rather than optimal adaptation, and occasionally skip across optimization (good enough is better). Converging on emergent forms, remixing durable ancient subroutines, resisting over-optimization, can keep species primed for the future.'

* technology temes evolution emergence strangeattractors constraints convergence information atoms bits carrierobjects objects #socialization #ubiquity #complexity #diversity KevinKelly
may 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Archdruid Report -- The Unnoticed Technologies

"The industrial system that supports us has been in place long enough that most of us seem to be unable to conceive of circumstances in which it might no longer be there. One of the wrinkles of catabolic collapse – the process by which societies in decline cannibalize their own infrastructure to meet immediate needs, and so accelerate their own breakdown – is that it can trigger abrupt crises by wrecking some essential technology that is not recognized as such. We are already witnessing the early stages of exactly such a crisis. What large trees were to the Easter Islanders and irrigation canals were to the early medieval Middle East, the current form of money economy is to modern industrial society, and the speculative delusions that passed for financial innovation over the last few decades have played exactly the same role as the invading nomads of ibn Khaldûn’s history, by stripping a fragile system of resources in the pursuit of immediate gain."

history ecology technology temes evolution parasitism catabolism #storage #ubiquity #specialization JohnMichaelGreer
may 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- Google Tech Talks: The Next Fifty Years of Science by Kevin Kelly

Deep Science: Simulation : Measurement : Hypothesis

science subjectivity simulation collectiveintelligence evolution #complexity #bandwidth #storage KevinKelly
may 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- Inevitable Minds

"The manipulation, storage, and processing of information is a central theme of life. Learning erupts over and over again in the history of evolution, as if it were a force waiting to be released.Up and down the six kingdoms of life, minds have evolved many times. So many times, in fact, that minds seem inevitable. Yet, as inordinately fond as nature is of minds, the technium, or the seventh kingdom of life, is even more so. The technium is biased to birth minds. All the inventions we have constructed to assist our own minds – our many storage devices, signal processing, flows of information, and distributed communication networks, – all these are also the essential ingredients for producing new minds. And so new minds spawn in the technium in inordinate degrees. Technology is anything a mind makes. Built by minds, the technium is primed to make more minds. Mindedness is what evolution produces. Mindedness is what technology wants, too."

* temes technology biology biomimicry emergence mind intelligence collectiveintelligence serviceecologies evolution gaia #bandwidth #processing #storage KevinKelly
april 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- TED: Bonnie Bassler: The secret, social lives of bacteria

"Bonnie Bassler ["the Bacteria Whisperer"] discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves." -- Life within life.

* bacteria biology behaviours communication coordination organisation feedback propagation swarming collectiveintelligence ecology serviceecologies symbiosis mutualism evolution gaia
april 2009 by adamcrowe

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TED Blog --The secret, social lives of bacteria: Exclusive interview with Bonnie Bassler

"... think about multicellularity on this Earth. Every living thing originally came from bacteria. So, who do you think made up the rules for how to perform collective behaviors? It had to be the bacteria."

bacteria biology behaviours communication coordination organisation feedback propagation swarming collectiveintelligence ecology serviceecologies symbiosis mutualism evolution gaia
april 2009 by adamcrowe

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NYTimes.com -- Generation B: Aging by Megabyte

'AS I reach my late-middle 50s, I am, for the first time, feeling old. ...it comes from within: I’m getting out of date, and I don’t care. Somewhere between the cellphone and BlackBerry, I stopped. I know it is the beginning of my being left behind. And yet — and this is the old part — I’m having trouble making myself care. It’s in my best interest to care, but I don’t. Some progress is progress, but as you get old, you come to feel, a lot is just change; no better, maybe worse. I watched my mother, who died a few years ago at 92, lose interest in the next new thing. She’d been born with radio. TV — particularly color TV — was more than she’d ever expected to see in her lifetime, and I couldn’t get her past that. I thought it was her stubbornness that made me mad, but in retrospect, maybe I was mad she was getting old. Now that I’ve started the process myself, I understand better. As my mother used to say, how much information does one person need?'

technology behaviours temes parasitism propagation evolution age information informationoverload themediumisthemassage media
april 2009 by adamcrowe

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YouTube -- Transcendent Man Film Trailer

'Transcendent Man introduces the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil, the renowned futurist who journeys the world offering his vision of a future in which we will merge with our machines, can live forever, and are billions of times more intelligent...all within the next thirty years.'

technology evolution singularity transhumanism posthumanism philosophy RayKurzweil documentaries
march 2009 by adamcrowe

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The Technium -- The Unabomber Was Right

'Ted Kaczynski was right about one thing: technology has its own agenda. The technium is not, as most people think, a series of individual artifacts and gadgets for sale. Rather, Kaczynski, speaking as the Unabomber, argued that technology is a dynamic holistic system. It is not mere hardware; rather it is more akin to an organism. It is not inert, nor passive; rather the technium seeks and grabs resources for its own expansion. It is not merely the sum of human action, but in fact it transcends human actions and desires. In his own words the Unabomber says: "The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the fault of technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but by technical necessity.' -- Freedom from or freedom to?

technology evolution symbiosis parasitism temes culture civilization freedom ethics primitivism dystopia KevinKelly TedKaczynski
february 2009 by adamcrowe

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Darwin@Home

"Darwin at Home is an open source software project that aims to bring the process of evolution into your computer at home so that you can see it working." -- Video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7989532956224708331 -- "Any shape can learn to move." !!!

evolution software simulation generative mutation movement artificiallife kipple
october 2008 by adamcrowe

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TED.com -- Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web

"The McLuhan reversal: McLuhan was saying 'Machines are the extensions of human senses.' And I'm saying 'Humans are the extended senses of the Machine.' -- Great point on our numbed co-dependence on language and the 'writing machine'. He's really nailed it with this one!

gaia ecology web semantic semanticweb semanticgraph storygraph data cloud spimes selfservers transparency singularity evolution temes technology atoms bits convergence symbiosis techology media liquidmedia networks networkeffects #bandwidth #processing #storage #diversity KevinKelly
august 2008 by adamcrowe

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Vimeo -- Nova Spivack: Semantic Web Talk

Don't be too proud of this ontological terror you've constructed...

symbiosis data applications evolution techology temes semantic web socialgraph semanticgraph storygraph language linguistics cognition context metadata ontology standards readerlywriterly #processing #complexity #specialization
august 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired -- Barely Alive, Seafloor Microbes Might Resemble Exo-Organisms

'... such microbes might account for a whopping 10 percent of the Earth's biomass. "In essence, these microbes are almost, practically dead by our normal standards... They metabolize a little, but not much."

biology microbiology evolution life #storage #specialization
august 2008 by adamcrowe

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The New Yorker -- Game Master (Will Wright)

'“In Will’s games, the objects themselves are encoded to interact with the environment around them. All you have to do is drop the object into the environment and it will make other stuff happen. The objects create ‘verbs,’ as we say.”'

* WillWright spore games gaming programming learning education simulation failure algorithms cellularautomata emergence complexity symbiosis evolution life objects narrativeobjects storytelling narrativeenvironments narrativeacts performance design code
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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Terra Daily -- 'Sims' creator lets people play god in new computer game

'"It is more of a social experiment," Wright said. "Science, economics, sociology, things like that are very fun to simulate in the computer." The game culminates with what Wright describes as a "toy galaxy" for players to explore.'

spore WillWright simulation content evolution
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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GetEXPELLED.com

*sigh*

propaganda creationism religion intelligentdesign evolution science
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired -- Craig Venter's Epic Voyage to Redefine the Origin of the Species

"The great majority of Earth's species are bacteria and other microorganisms. They may also hold the key to generating a near-infinite amount of energy, developing powerful pharmaceuticals, and cleaning up the ecological messes our species has made."

* biology syntheticbiology genetics genomics microbiology bacteria energy ecology health life evolution CraigVenter
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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TED | Talks -- Craig Venter: On the verge of creating synthetic life (video)

'"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" Craig Venter asks. His answer is "yes" -- and pretty soon.'

biology syntheticbiology genetics genomics bioengineering artificiallife digital organisms bacteria energy biofuel exponential evolution life software hardware selfreplication CraigVenter
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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Guardian -- I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

"The new life form will depend for its ability to replicate itself and metabolise on the molecular machinery of the cell into which it has been injected, and in that sense it will not be a wholly synthetic life form."

CraigVenter biology syntheticbiology genetics genomics bioengineering artificiallife organisms energy biofuel evolution life software hardware selfreplication
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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New Scientist -- Five things humans no longer need

Vomeronasal organ: "Pheromones are detected by a pair of structures that nestle in the nasal lining or the roof of the mouth... it is possible that we may still secrete pheromones to influence the behaviour of others without using a VNO to detect them."

scentmarking pheromones senses evolution
june 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired -- The First Genetically Modified Human Embryo: Advance or Abomination?

"... scientists say that modified embryos could be used to research human diseases. They say embryos wouldn't be allowed to develop for more than a few weeks, much less implanted in a woman and brought to term." -- Both. Life continues.

biology genetics modification genetherapy human engineering evolution life ethics
may 2008 by adamcrowe

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CNN.com -- Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says

"Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

storytelling genetics evolution humanity life
may 2008 by adamcrowe

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Kevin Kelly -- Turing'd

"Once you're Turing'd it is much easier to believe other occupations which we humans used to do uniquely, can be done by computers. You tend to be open to disruptive technology in all parts of your life." -- Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

technology tools computing machine automation simulation change metaprogramming atoms bits evolution AlanTuring AdaLovelace KevinKelly HAL
april 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wikipedia - Evolutionary psychology

"Evolutionary psychology is focused on how evolution has shaped the mind and behavior. Though applicable to any organism with a nervous system, most research in evolutionary psychology focuses on humans."

evolutionarypsychology evolution biology cognition brain genetics memes memetics behaviours technology psychology
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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Nikebiz - Nike + iPod Experience Coming To A Gym Near You

"Nike + iPod users will simply plug in their iPod nano into the equipment at the start of their workout to automatically record their progress. Users can then connect their iPod with their computer to upload the workout." -- It breeds!

nike+ nikeplus nike+ipod gym product design symbiosis serviceecologies assimilation diversification progeny species evolution
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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Engadget - Nike's SportBand passes FCC, bypasses Apple

"Nike+ SportBand device wedges its way into a bracelet where it communicates with the standard Nike+ shoe adapter. You then insert the USB device into your PC or Mac..." -- No iPod needed. Bring your own PowerSong.

nike+ nikeplus nike+ipod sportband product design symbiosis mutualism specialisation progeny species evolution synaptics
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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TED - Kevin Kelly: How does technology evolve? Like we did

Video: "What does technology want?" #ubiquity #diversity #specialization #complexity #socialization = "The Infinite Game"

technology tools toys temes mutation hacking species biology evolution life infintegame KevinKelly infinitegame
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired - TED 2008: Humans Are Just Machines for Propagating Memes, Susan Blackmore Says

"... true teme machines are arriving" -- "... it will look like humans are just a minor thing on this planet with masses (of) silicon-based machinery using us to drag stuff out of the ground to build more machines."

temes memes memetics mecha evolution language machinelearning neuralnetworks datamining technology reproduction copy aura ghostinthemachine
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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Kevin Kelly - Lumpers and Splitters

"Eventually, the distinction between living species and technological species will also be primarily one of convenience and habit, as genetically engineered organisms accomplish what machines used to do and machines do what biological organisms used to do"

classification taxonomy technology biology syntheticbiology evolution convergence artificialintelligence species life KevinKelly
march 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired - The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know

"... people with autism spectrum disorder have a number of strengths: a higher prevalence of perfect pitch, enhanced ability with 3-D drawing and pattern recognition, more accurate graphic recall, and various superior memory skills."

neuroscience autism intelligence cognition psychology brain language evolution
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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Spore -- Spore Release September 7 2008

"Maxis today announced that Spore™ will be available at retailers worldwide the weekend of September 7. Spore will be available for the PC, Macintosh, Nintendo DS™, and mobile phones." -- Oh man. Just tell me where to start queuing.

spore games mobile ds content virtualworlds universe simulation evolution
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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BBC Four - Visions Of The Future (3 of 3) The Quantum Revolution

"In this new three-part series, leading theoretical physicist and futurist Dr Michio Kaku explores the cutting edge science of today, tomorrow, and beyond." (Type 0 Civilisation.)

documentaries MichioKaku future science technology physics quantum mechanics antigravity materials manufacturing fabrication mattercompilers space travel consciousness civilization progress energy nuclear fusion nanotechnology health extensionsofman immunesystem immunocules proteins hacking bacteria nanobots micromachines virus selfreplication greygoo weapons war cookiecutters teleportation exponential evolution life code
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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BBC Four - Visions Of The Future (1 of 3) The Intelligence Revolution

"In this new three-part series, leading theoretical physicist and futurist Dr Michio Kaku explores the cutting edge science of today, tomorrow, and beyond."

documentaries MichioKaku future science technology cyberisation transhumanism artificialintelligence everyware virtualworlds ractives psychology avatars identity selfservers conversationalbandwidth emotionalintelligence behaviours singularity robots robotics selforganisation navigation neuralnetworks patternrecognition replicants anthropomorphism secrecy confession storytelling objects narrativeobjects emotion trust cognition uncanny pets emergence evolution symbiosis synaptics depression mood cyberbrain extensionsofman brain implant micromachines wetware penfieldmoodorgan
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired - 3-D Printers Redefine Industrial Design

'some manufacturers of 3-D printers even use their own products to create parts for the next generation of printers. "It's like the Terminator self-replicator machine or something,"... "Machines are making the next-generation machines."'

3d printing design fabrication manufacturing prototyping production selfreplication genotypes phenotypes technology evolution singularity
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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Knitware Blog - The conversation is real-time

Fascinating backstory to the development of Photophlow (indie flickr community tool). It's sooo interesting how features get dropped and then picked up again in the form of new services by new companies. Gawd bless APIs and Software Historians!

* flickr GNE ludicorp photophlow serviceecologies software archaeology api applications evolution IM chat mmorpg narrativeenvironments storytelling objects narrativeobjects
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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russell davies - reskilling for an age of things

"... a knowledge of the thinginess of things is going to be important ... it's an evolutionary response. It's my brain telling me it doesn't know the right things. And my DNA telling me I don't know the right things to pass on to [my son]."

RussellDavies technology evolution skills psychology
february 2008 by adamcrowe

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Wired - Learning From Failure: Apple's Most Notorious Flops

"... to help celebrate 24 years of Mac, we revisit some of Apple's products that just didn't live up to consumer expectations and market demands... flops often get reworked and find successful implementations in later, more successful products."

apple history computers gadgets design techology hardware evolution
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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Kevin Kelly - Believing the Impossible

"I hate to say it but there is a new type of communism or socialism loose in the world, although neither of these outdated and tinged terms can accurately capture what is new about it."

kevinkelly change cognition opensource wikipedia collectiveintelligence hivemind globalvillage evolution hackersvsvectoralists ethics retribalization
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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flOw

Love this (also on PC).

flow games design casualgaming sound playstation evolution artificiallife simulation scale colours JenovaChen
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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Bert Hubert - DNA seen through the eyes of a coder

"... there are pieces of genome that can be read from multiple starting points, and produce useful (but different) results either way. That is what I call a cool hack!" !!! -- God is an über l33t haxX0r! Amazing!

* code coding programming dna rna genetics biology syntheticbiology bioinformatics science algorithms virus forkbomb hacks extraterrestial metaprogramming evolution holycode god
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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Whistle Through Your Comb - Innovation's Algorithm

"The innovation algorithm I laid out above and in my Hacking of Modern Marketing is my attempt to ... create an evolutionary-based human-software program that can solve complex problems." Fascinating.

* innovation planning design evolution ideas software algorithms complexity exogenous endogenous storytelling thinking patternrecognition people risk wrong do
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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Observer - Apple and Google ruled a year to note in your Facebook

"... we may finally discover what the Storm 'botnet' - the colossal network of compromised Windows machines someone has been covertly building over the past year - is for." Hehe. Plug me in!

windows spam trojans botnets distributedprocessing cloud computers networks evolution artificiallife Storm 2008 trojanhorse
january 2008 by adamcrowe

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Guardian -- Moments from astrophysics that should be videogames, part one (of a potentially irregular series)

"Imagine controlling a rogue galaxy as it tumbles through space, taking out planets with a ray of particles travelling at the speed of light... how often do you get to control a galaxy - let alone a death star galaxy?" Cool idea.

games astronomy science spore flOw simulation universe evolution
december 2007 by adamcrowe

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Broader Perspective - The multi-self team

"The multi-self team: An optimal and evolutionarily superior final state would be one's selves coming together in a new entity, a multi-self team, a pool of many nuances of self and abilities, a borg being broader and more capable than any individual."

* extensionsofman brain centralnervoussystem body self selforganisation selfservers collaboration collectiveintelligence competition tactics cyberbrain distributedprocessing decisions metaprogramming evolution
december 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - Humans Evolving More Rapidly Than Ever, Say Scientists

"Driving the changes are environmental fluctuations and population growth. As the number of people swells, so do the number of mutations generated by random chance.-- The study's ultimate message: Whatever changes are happening, they're happening faster."

evolution culture genetics biology environment science
december 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

"Evolution is real and science points to the existence of God." You know that spark that set off the Big Bang and all that stuff? Well, that's God, that is. Yeah, I know! Amazing, huh? Like, totally blows my mind, maan! So cool. God. Bang! High-five, dude

evolution religion god science mythology storytelling anthropomorphism framing scale thinking
december 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - 10 Reasons I'd Rather Marry a Robot

"I can easily see a person sobbing in a robot's arms, wondering why the marriage feels so ... empty."

sex robots relationships evolution transhumanism geeks funny books
november 2007 by adamcrowe

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Kevin Kelly - The Gift of Stuff

"How can technology make a person better? Only in this way: by providing them with chances. A chance to excel at the unique mixture of talents they were born with, a chance to encounter new ideas and new minds, a chance to create something their own."

technology ideas themediumisthemessage change life evolution creativity philosophy people media
november 2007 by adamcrowe

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TED | Talks -- Will Wright: Toys that make worlds

Video: "Will Wright: Toys that make worlds"

video games simulation spore virtualworlds selforganisation storytelling narrativeenvironments evolution thegamingofeverydaylife learning emergence toys
october 2007 by adamcrowe

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Telegraph - Contagious yawning 'shows more empathy with other people's feelings'

'People who yawn when they see someone else yawning are more in touch with the feelings of others. "The theory is we yawn contagiously to show empathy and the evolutionary explanation is it is a warning to the group that we need to be more alert."'

emotionalintelligence evolution groups behaviours people empathy management research
september 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - Three Smart Things You Should Know About Genomics

"Important genes usually exist in multiple copies, in case one iteration gets damaged... deactivated genes from up the evolutionary tree - solid molecular proof that Darwin was right — birds have genes for teeth; humans share genes with gorillas."

genetics evolution
september 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - Space Dust: It's Alive and It's ... Us?

"They can divide, or bifurcate, to form two copies of the original structure... [they] can also interact to induce changes in their neighbours and they can even evolve into yet more structures leaving behind only the fittest structures in the plasma."

life evolution aliens science plasma organisation dna selforganisation
august 2007 by adamcrowe

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Kevin Kelly - The Technium: Every Organism Is a Hack

"Technology breeds hacks, little clever tricks to cheat the rules. Every living organism cheats its way to survival. If life is any guide, then, for every rule we’ll be able to find a technology that has hacked around that rule."

life technology hacks hacking biology syntheticbiology evolution symbiosis change ideas code dna genetics organisms rules systems virus security war encryption cryptography seo voting thegamingofeverydaylife
august 2007 by adamcrowe

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Broader Perspective - Capitalist or Socialist Upload Scenario?

Issues/problems... "The real question is what processing power will become available to digital intelligences post-upload or post-creation and the resulting evolution and goals which may become at odds with those of biological humanity. (?)"

transhumanism posthumanism singularity augmentationistsvsimmersionists internet web extensionsofman centralnervoussystem immunesystem collectiveintelligence selfservers evolution uploading
july 2007 by adamcrowe

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MisEntropy - What blogging does to planners

"the results of this enhanced 'cognitive capacity' might not necessarily lead to increased IQ scores. I do think, however, that they will lead to increased storage and processing abilities."

* blogging cognition evolution synaptics extensionsofman centralnervoussystem brain processing literaryculturevsoralculture upload cyberbrain capacity storage collectiveintelligence selfservers
july 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired - July 20, 1969: One Small Step ... One Giant Leap ...

"That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." (And we've been hopping on the same spot ever since. *sighs*)

space history evolution travel
july 2007 by adamcrowe

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Wired -- Scratch a Space Nut, Find a Starry-Eyed Hippie

"As humans evolve into a space-faring species the experience of viewing our home from afar will force people to finally "think globally" ... the more people we get into space, the closer we get to a united humanity living at peace with itself"

psychology earth space place humanity evolution zen one
july 2007 by adamcrowe

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Broader Perspective - Machine creativity

'Much human creativity comes from "out-of-the-box" thinking: applying knowledge, structure or skills from another domain, and also making mistake... smachines can apply inverse or orthogonal analysis to incorporate human creativity by trial and error.'

creativity knowledge cognition simulation generative selforganisation evolution memetics strangeattractors singularity
july 2007 by adamcrowe

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