8.27.2003
FLASHBACK:
Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace
(Full Online Novel) by Douglas Rushkoff
Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace
(Full Online Novel) by Douglas Rushkoff
Rushkoff, a New York-based journalist, goes west to Berkeley for a look inside Cyberia—the emerging countercultural terrain of computer hackers, "smart" drugs, house music, and a range of alternate "cyberpunk" lifestyles and anarchic philosophies.
This largely sympathetic report from the latest frontier will undoubtedly strike many older readers as outrageous, but others (especially those with clear memories of the 60's) may find much of the rhetoric familiar, even nostalgic. In fact, many of the ingredients hark back to the Berkeley scene of nearly three decades ago: the text is full of references to acid trips, pagan rituals, and Grateful Dead concerts, and even Timothy Leary puts in an appearance at a virtual reality demonstration. The most significant new element in the mix is the computer— especially when used to connect with other computer users around the world. Leary advised dropouts to "find the others," and computer networks like the WELL have made it easier than ever for Cyberians to locate those of similar beliefs.
Rushkoff interviews authors, drug dealers, musicians, and hackers; watches two electronic outlaws stealing ATM codes; joins a role-playing game in which he acts the part of a thief; and talks to eco-terrorists and cultists about their beliefs. While some readers might wish the author had kept his nonsense detector more finely tuned, much of the book's value lies in Rushkoff's ability to resist patronizing his subjects. A provocative, wide-ranging survey of the current state of the interface between the longings of youth and the wild potentials of computer technology. —Kirkus Review
This largely sympathetic report from the latest frontier will undoubtedly strike many older readers as outrageous, but others (especially those with clear memories of the 60's) may find much of the rhetoric familiar, even nostalgic. In fact, many of the ingredients hark back to the Berkeley scene of nearly three decades ago: the text is full of references to acid trips, pagan rituals, and Grateful Dead concerts, and even Timothy Leary puts in an appearance at a virtual reality demonstration. The most significant new element in the mix is the computer— especially when used to connect with other computer users around the world. Leary advised dropouts to "find the others," and computer networks like the WELL have made it easier than ever for Cyberians to locate those of similar beliefs.
Rushkoff interviews authors, drug dealers, musicians, and hackers; watches two electronic outlaws stealing ATM codes; joins a role-playing game in which he acts the part of a thief; and talks to eco-terrorists and cultists about their beliefs. While some readers might wish the author had kept his nonsense detector more finely tuned, much of the book's value lies in Rushkoff's ability to resist patronizing his subjects. A provocative, wide-ranging survey of the current state of the interface between the longings of youth and the wild potentials of computer technology. —Kirkus Review
§end8.25.2003
Scientists start work on thinking robot
Scientists have been given the biggest ever grant to build a "conscious robot". The work will not only bring the scores of intelligent, self-aware machines that populate science fiction a step closer, it could also provide valuable clues on how human consciousness develops.
"Consciousness is perhaps the last remaining mystery in understanding what it is to be human," said Owen Holland, who will lead the work at Essex University. "By attempting to build physical systems which can produce a form of artificial consciousness, we hope to learn more about the nature of consciousness."
8.23.2003
Scientists develop microchip for brain
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Scientists have developed the first artificial region of the brain -- a silicon chip that mimics an area that controls memory, mood and awareness.
8.19.2003
DNA sparks a computer revolution
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18 — It almost sounds too fantastic to be true, but a growing amount of research supports the idea that DNA, the basic building block of life, could also be the basis of a staggeringly powerful new generation of computers.
May the astral plane be reborn in cyberspace
"Both cyberspace and magical space are purely manifest in the imagination," Pesce says as he sips java at a cręperie in San Francisco's Mission district. "Both spaces are entirely constructed by your thoughts and beliefs."
In a sense, humanity has always lived within imaginative interfaces - at least from the moment the first Paleolithic grunt looked at a mountain or a beast and saw a god peering back. Over the millennia, alchemists, Kabbalists, and esoteric Christians developed a rich storehouse of mental tools, visual dataspaces, and virtual maps. It's no accident that these "hermetic" arts are named for Hermes, the Greek trickster god of messages and information. One clearly relevant hermetic technique is the art of memory, first used by ancient orators and rediscovered by magicians and Jesuits during the Renaissance. In this mnemonic technique, you construct a clearly defined building within your imagination and then place information behind an array of colorful symbolic icons - by then "walking through" your interior world, you can recover a storehouse of knowledge.
8.18.2003
First game-playing DNA computer revealed
The first game-playing DNA computer has been revealed - an enzyme-powered tic-tac-toe machine that cannot be beaten.
The human player makes his or her moves by dropping DNA into 3 by 3 square of wells that make up the board. The device then uses a complex mixture of DNA enzymes to determine where it should place its nought or cross, and signals its move with a green glow.
The device, dubbed MAYA, was developed by Milan Stojanovic, at Columbia University in New York, and Darko Stefanovic, at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Kobi Benenson, who works on other DNA approaches at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, says the work demonstrates the most complex use of molecules as logic gates to date, and "represents a significant advance in DNA computing."
8.11.2003
