technology

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technology, computers, internet

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman documentary - quotes & notes

as part of the "Transhumanism, Singularities, and Other Far Out Futures" class with R.U. Sirius at Evolver Academy we watched TechnoCalyps: Transhuman documentary - here are my notes & quotes from viewing the film
note: times mentioned are rough times only

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT_LnUObIf8

- keeping the brain surviving outside of the body - experiments with animals
05:25 - total body transplant. Stephen Hawkings could possibly survive a total body transplant?
06:10 - consciousness can be transplanted. human soul? can be argued that this can be transplanted. they did experiments with monkeys - transplanted the head of one monkey onto another & it lived for 7 days before being rejected

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z257yC2HAlI

01:10 - humanising the pig kidney/liver so it's not rejected by human body, then transplanting these into humans (pigs as donors)

01:35 metamouse - laboratory grown ear on back of a mouse. hasn't Stelarc been growing an ear on his arm? art project?

03:25 - artist - designing future human bodies. 'after all the body is an extension of fashion' -- I think the body was around before fashion...

10:00 - most people think you have to build a brain and a body will fall out of it. but when you look at nature, well over half the species on Earth have no brain to speak of at all yet manage to move around and survive very effectively.

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxBGMGxVCg0

00:00 - scientists have evolved very effective nervous systems. not brains

03:10 - history of humans is that they haven't treated other life that is similar to humans very well. even back to neanderthals when the homosapiens arrived - they didn't live in co-operation, even though they were very similar. even back to 500 years (or this year?) humans haven't treated other humans well (colonization)
won't be pleasant for the losers. -- joseph m rosen

08:30 - highlighted/coloured nerve cells - can see them working

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZShORepzB-g

04:45 - replacing part of the biological brain with microchip. inputs & outputs still work the same

06:45 - using these computer chip-brain replacements now for sound recognition - to recognise sounds of gunshots which make a camera zoom in on the sound - crime stopper cameras in high crime areas. member of the black community says that they are being watched whereas white community areas are not

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQjwhntAG0

01:30 fit onto a cd rom - 600Mb I bet that's all you need to copy a person

03:25 scientists can move a single atom from one place to another

05:50 they want to build nanobots (low number of atoms devices with computers more powerful than today) - inject them into the human body eg bloodstream to kill cancer cells, modify dna, etc

06:15 basic goal of nanotechnology is to build an assembler (auto-assembler) - a very basic device, that can build copies of itself

06:50 molecular nanotechnology is to physical reality what computer programming is to virtual reality. .. bit of an exaggeration, but gives the idea.. whereas computer programmers can program software to do what they want, molecular nanotechnology will allow us to change matter at the most fundamental level. it will allow us to build just about any kind of structure, to our exact specifications by moving individual atoms. ... this sounds like a world of magic(k) where all that we imagined becomes reality but the role of the good fairy is taken over by robots so miniscule that we cannot see them. (background images of Cinderella where pumpkin changes into a coach) and instead of saying the magic word, we program them to grant all our wishes.
>> myths, dreams & fairy tales - the human premonition of what we will one day create. or if not premonition, the imagination of what we want to create?

07:40 the other side of the fairy tale is what is called the "grey goo syndrome" - nanobots programmed for terrorist action or rapidly start reproducing themselves & a chain reaction causes planet to be reduced in 72hours into a grey goo of swarming nanobots

08:00 most scientists think that "grey goo syndrome" is very unlikely - we will have nanotechnology to control nanotechnology.
>> the "watchdog" - who's watching the watchdog??

TechnoCalyps: Transhuman Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Wx3UPyd6U

00:00 this is not the end of history. becoming post-human creates new problems. still have same personality problems as before. you're just going to be "more" than you were before. you'll have more power. with more power comes more responsibility.

tech chix links

http://groups.drupal.org/drupalchix
Drupal Chix

http://groups.drupal.org/node/13312 is the drupalchix thread about conferences

:::

some in Australia / NZ regions
interestingly, most of these seem to be using drupal too!

:::

https://conf.linux.org.au
from their site blurb : "linux.conf.au (LCA) is Australia's national Linux conference, and said to be one of the best in the world. It prides itself on being “seriously fun and seriously technical”. In January 2009 it's being held in Hobart, Tasmania, for the first time. So join us and march south! :)2009 will be the 10th anniversary for LCA. It will run from January 19-24 and end with an open-to-the-public Open Day"
- not strictly women, but I've heard it's a good conference
- they're calling for papers if anyone is interested :
http://freeasinfreedom.modernthings.org/d/doku.php?id=call_for_participa...

:::

http://au.linuxchix.org
AussieChix is the Australian regional chapter of LinuxChix, for women living in Australia, aimed at providing ways for women living in Australia to meet each other, talk about, and get involved in Linux, Free Software and related things. AussieChix welcomes women interested in Linux or Free Software at any level of experience.

:::

http://conf.au.linuxchix.org/2008-microconference-sydney-and-melbourne
AussieChix microconference in Sydney and Melbourne: October 25 2008 (it's tomorrow!)
- they have a list of other events in the calendar on their site
- there's also geekgirl dinners in sydney & melbourne (related to this site)

:::

http://linuxchix.org.nz
LinuxChix NZ is a community for women who like Linux, and for women and men who want to support women in computing. Linuxchix NZ activities will include support forums, mentoring, training courses, social meetups and linux install fests.

:::

other regions :

:::

http://eclectictechcarnival.org
The /ETC is a unique tech skill-share that has been held annually since 2002. The emphasis has always been women sharing their experiences, knowledge and skills around free software, open hardware and universal interoperability of systems in a fun way. The eighth Eclectic Tech Carnival will be held sometime in Septmeber 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.

:::

http://www.genderchangers.org/herstory.html has a list of others (past events, but you could search for them and see when the next ones are being held)
& the links page http://www.genderchangers.org/links.html has more women's groups/events

:::

http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009
OSCON

:::

Cybernetics Serendipity Redux - A moderated discussion on YASMIN

Leonardo/OLATS, co sponsor of YASMIN, is pleased to announce

Cybernetics Serendipity Redux
http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/viewtopic.php?t=4385 (ed: discussion link seems to be broken now 15/02/2009)
http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin_oldarchives - has archive of yasmin mail list
http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin - new Yasmin list

A moderated discussion on YASMIN
Beginning September 1 2008

Discussion On YASMIN, led by Ranulph Glanville.
Moderators Ranulph Glanville, Paul Brown, Paul Pangaro

40 years ago, Jasia Reichart's exhibition "Cybernetic Serendipity" showed that cybernetics, computing and art had arrived.

40 years later, while computers and art remain, cybernetics has nearly vanished, although there is a reviving interest in art.

2007 ANAT emerging technologies mentorship - call for applications

ANAT is calling for applications from young and emerging practitioners working with distributed, portable, online, wearable, mobile and emerging platforms to undertake a three-month mentorship with an established practitioner of their choice.

Managed by ANAT, the mentorship is a part of the Australian Government's Young & Emerging Artists Initiative through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

The mentorship provides an opportunity to explore new artistic directions, to expand technical skills and increase knowledge of networks, debates and business practice. Applicants are invited to select a mentor and develop a program of activity spanning a three-month period. The mentorship may be largely a program of skills, development however applicants are encouraged to explore programs which incorporates critical investigation and dialogue, business skills development as well as marketing and exhibition opportunities. Utilising emerging technologies the mentor may be accessed locally, nationally or internationally. Additionally the successful applicant will maintain a blog for the duration of the mentorship hosted on the ANAT server.

read more or visit the ANAT emerging technologies mentorship website

1st International Congress Art Tech Media

1st International Congress Art Tech Media @ www.artechmedia.net
8-11th may . Madrid. Spain

The First International Art Tech Media Congress - call for submissions

The First International Art Tech Media Congress has been set up in order to reflect upon and analyse questions currently being raised about art and new technological media within an international context.

artechmedia.net is calling on all creatives of the world to participate. Submissions will be accepted from the following categories:

A
- Video art
- Net-art
- 2D & 3D Computer Animation
- Blog, videoblog
- Creation for mobile platforms
- Digital Music
- Videodance

B
- Digital Communities
- Geospatial storytelling
- Artificial Life, Software art, Transgenic art, Generative art

read more for more information or visit www.artechmedia.net

tina 2006 - chat with Richie on sound toys and playful instruments

direct video link
video page on blip.tv

a chat with Richie, from Melbourne band / crew WD40, who builds sound toys and instruments for outdoor parties and festivals - for both kids and adults. he discusses his thoughts on the importance of play. midway through some people walk past and one starts playing a piano down the other end of the room so there was a nice chat about instruments and the piano Richie has at home.

identity 2.0

I've been watching the identity 2.0 presentations from 2005 oscon and web 2.0 conferences. I'd been meaning to watch more of the presentations from these conferences but hadn't got round to it yet. I came across this again via another site, presentation zen blog, which was talking about different styles of presentations - Dick Hardt from sxip.com (pronounced skip) was recommended as having good presentation style. He in turn borrowed this style from Lawrence Lessig, the well known copyright lawyer and advocate. They both use many slides with short phrases or single words, with a scattering of images and are displayed with a fast pace. It does make the presentation more interesting! - well compared to the traditional powerpoint style anyway. This topic has been on my mind recently - not presentations per se, but events and conferences - as the iDC mail list has been having interesting discussions about the different styles of presentations at digital arts / music / new media conferences. Mostly the conversations have been regarding providing remote connections and contributions for people to attend the conferences remotely either during the conference or after it. Discussions on presentation style came up - different ideas, particularly wrt academics presenting papers and just reading them to the audience when they may have been available prior to the conference, then running out of time for questions. Anyway, I find it interesting as I'm not able to attend all the conferences I'd like to, though I try to attend as many as feasible, but it's really handy to be able to watch a video or listen to audio of the presentations after the conference. I find most of the larger IT based American conferences have video lectures / presentations available - perhaps this is because they have deals with ISPs and video production / distribution people. I think videoblogging could help with this as there's many more people recording video these days, but I suppose it won't be videoblogging as such, but using videobloggers to apply their skills to provide documentation and video on the web. Really useful for online education also!

read more for links used in this post

mondo 2000

Finding my old bookmark files has made me nostalgic for the early computing days when everything was new and exciting and full of possibilities. One of my favourite magazines back in the early 90s was Mondo 2000. It was hard to get - only a few places in Brisbane stocked it, actually only two that I recall and even then it was occasional. By the time I got round to subscribing to the magazine it had finished being published and I lost my subscription renewal to the cause so to speak. At the time, it was cutting edge and the full gloss images and interviews with leading thinkers made it a great read. R.U. Sirius who was the editor of the mag has a podcast these days and can be found around mondoglobo.net. Here's a collection of links to mondo 2000 stuff:

mondo articles from the well (link updated : original link broken 25/09/2008 : http://www.well.com:70/1/Publications/MONDO )

holographic data storage

I remember reading about holographic storage / crystalline data storage in the mid 90s but back then they could write the data but couldn't read it back off. seems like they've fixed the problems according to the tests run last november. looking forward to the personal device using these to be available.. they've been doing tests with broadcasters for hdtv and the like. http://www.hiptechblog.com/2005/11/25/maxell-introduces-groundbreaking-h...

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