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author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Tue, 02 Jun 2015 20:01:35 -0700
parents 3bc644fab800
children 6e0cc778102e
rev   line source
rlm@43 1 #+title: Big List O' Ideas
rlm@43 2 #+author: Robert McIntyre
rlm@43 3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu
rlm@43 4 #+description: list of ideas from the last ~ 7 years
rlm@47 5 #+keywords: aurellem ideas half-baked random
rlm@43 6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org
rlm@43 7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org
rlm@43 8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both
rlm@43 9
rlm@42 10 * Ideas
rlm@143 11 # :PROPERTIES:
rlm@143 12 # :HTML_CONTAINER_CLASS: ideas
rlm@143 13 # :END:
rlm@42 14
rlm@145 15 This is a list of *Every* idea I've written down
rlm@52 16
rlm@62 17 #+begin_quote
rlm@62 18 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about
rlm@62 19 getting credit.
rlm@62 20 #+end_quote
rlm@62 21
rlm@152 22 - mind bank :: (in contrast to "brain bank")
rlm@152 23
rlm@152 24 - Passion of the Christ missed opportunity :: in the Passion of the
rlm@152 25 Christ, they do the entire show using Latin, Aramaic, etc, with
rlm@152 26 subtitles. They should have had a part where Jesus does the
rlm@152 27 sermon on the mount, he turns to the camera, and starts speaking
rlm@152 28 in English, with no subtitles. It would have been 1.) biblically
rlm@152 29 accurate and 2.) awesome. It would have been such a powerful
rlm@152 30 example of Jesus' divinity, and it felt like they were setting up
rlm@152 31 for it the entire movie, and they missed it!
rlm@152 32
rlm@152 33 - scientist online paper reviews ::
rlm@152 34
rlm@152 35 - binary feedback ::
rlm@152 36
rlm@152 37 - xenobiotic methalation rewriting ::
rlm@152 38
rlm@152 39 - trolley cryonics :: change the cryonics protocol around so that the
rlm@152 40 death occurs in a non-primary action loop.
rlm@152 41
rlm@152 42 - binary metric :: you make up new unit names for "2 centimeters", "4
rlm@152 43 centimeters", "16 centimeters", etc. Then no one will be happy!
rlm@152 44 BUT, it helps solve metric's problem of intermediate units. (a
rlm@152 45 centimeter is too small, a meter is too large!)
rlm@152 46
rlm@152 47 - physical pgp signatures :: someone should put together the
rlm@152 48 technologies so that you can digitally sign actual pieces of
rlm@152 49 paper -- some combination of signing a photograph of the
rlm@152 50 contract using pgp, printing a barcode or OR code on the page
rlm@152 51 which links to a website with the signed image, and a web of
rlm@152 52 trust model so that people can authenticate as themselves. All
rlm@152 53 this totally exists already, it's just not convienent.
rlm@152 54
rlm@152 55 - meta eye :: you wire in a third optical input to the human brain,
rlm@152 56 but it doesn't tranduce light form the real world, bus instead is
rlm@152 57 connected to the "internet of things" and shows you metadata
rlm@152 58 about things you are looking at // serves as an interface to your
rlm@152 59 own mind and body. Then eventually simply real things without
rlm@152 60 metadata seem flat and fake compared to the objects in cities and
rlm@152 61 other annotated areas. This third eye doesn't occupy any of your
rlm@152 62 normal visual field but actually EXPANDS your visual field.
rlm@152 63
rlm@152 64 - do it once -- upload ::
rlm@152 65
rlm@152 66 - a simple merge procedure for uploads ::
rlm@152 67
rlm@152 68 - limits of monogamy ::
rlm@152 69
rlm@152 70 - dream rewinding :: how to record a complete dream without disturbing
rlm@152 71 it or modifying your brain? you need to be an upload: split
rlm@152 72 yourself, and one of you stays awake whike the other sleeps. then
rlm@152 73 you detect a dream in progress by monotoring rapid eye movememt
rlm@152 74 in your sleeping self, and you wake yourself up every few minutes
rlm@152 75 and tell yoursef about the dream. Then sleeping-your restarts the
rlm@152 76 dream, continuation passing style, forgetting everything that was
rlm@152 77 just said, and you repeat this process until the dream is
rlm@152 78 over. Then awake-you and sleeping-you merge each other by taking
rlm@152 79 sleeping-you and replaying the memories of awake-you, and you
rlm@152 80 write a final report on the dream using the "saccade" reports to
rlm@152 81 jog your memory.
rlm@152 82
rlm@152 83 - denser than osmium :: do the "misicibility" thing with an osmium
rlm@152 84 alloy to get something even more dense.
rlm@152 85
rlm@147 86 - AI hypnosis :: hypnosis might be good for studying AI, becuse it
rlm@147 87 might probide a "debugger" for ananlyzing the human mind. I
rlm@147 88 briefly tried this while at MIT, but it needs MUCH more work to
rlm@147 89 be properly evaulated.
rlm@147 90
rlm@145 91 - becomming alive :: upload faces challenges to grow into they type of
rlm@145 92 person that can join the greater society -- a god. They have to
rlm@145 93 go though quests that replicate all the things that humanity had
rlm@147 94 to accomplish, like going to the moon, by themselves, in a
rlm@147 95 virtual world where they cannot die and never get tired.
rlm@145 96
rlm@145 97 - population distorted map of USA :: to see states sizes in terms of #
rlm@145 98 of people. (already exists!
rlm@145 99 http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cart/doc/)
rlm@145 100
rlm@145 101 - butterfly drone :: if big butterflies used to exist, then maybe we
rlm@145 102 could make butterfly-inspired drones!
rlm@145 103
rlm@145 104 - methylation sex symmetry breaking :: So, human cells have
rlm@145 105 methylation patterns that encode male/female origin. If you
rlm@145 106 combine two male patterns, the fetus grows "too fast" and
rlm@145 107 dies. Two female patterns causes the fetus to enter a "vegatable"
rlm@145 108 state and fail to develop. Evolutionary biologists will say that
rlm@145 109 this reflects the asymmetry of energy investement for creating
rlm@145 110 offspring. If that's true, then species that cast-spawn will lack
rlm@145 111 this symmetry, and give clues about how to remove it in
rlm@145 112 humans. If even cast spawners like sea urchins have it, then that
rlm@145 113 means there's something deeper going on!
rlm@145 114
rlm@145 115 - reverse cannulation perfusion :: you put the organ you want to
rlm@145 116 perfuse in an airtight chamber with a pool of the stuff you want
rlm@145 117 to perfuse. You cannulate some veins and lead tubes form to
rlm@145 118 outside of the chamber. You pump in air and perfusate, and the
rlm@145 119 increasing air pressure in the chamber forces perfusate through
rlm@145 120 the organ. For times when you don't want to cannulate the inputs
rlm@145 121 -- they can be ragged, or there can be many of them. You still
rlm@145 122 have to guide the veins to the outside of the chamber, but
rlm@145 123 depending on the use case this might be far easier than
rlm@145 124 tradational cannulation.
rlm@145 125
rlm@145 126 - very slow physiological pressure perfusion :: less extreme example
rlm@145 127 of the "pausing" trick -- just keep the perfusion running and
rlm@145 128 don't put the perfusion target into the liquid as deep.
rlm@145 129
rlm@141 130 - whole brain perfusion embedding :: Do the standard EM embedding
rlm@141 131 protocol, but skip the osmium step, and use the "perfusion
rlm@141 132 pausing" method to prevent overextraction during the dehydration
rlm@141 133 and embedding steps. I think that you CAN perfuse resins into the
rlm@141 134 brain, simply because you CAN perfuse viscous rubber when doing
rlm@141 135 vascular casts.
rlm@141 136
rlm@152 137 - perfusion pausing :: (Turns out this won't actually work!) One
rlm@152 138 problem with doing perfusion is that if you STOP the perfusion,
rlm@152 139 you rapidly loose pressure in the organ as your perfusate leaks
rlm@152 140 out. You can prevent this by submerging the organ/head/rat
rlm@152 141 whatever in FLUID at the appropriate level. Use something inert
rlm@152 142 like flurocarbon to avoid problems. You would have to slowly
rlm@152 143 decrease the flow rate while simultaneously lowering the
rlm@152 144 perfusing object into the fluid. To start again, reverse the
rlm@152 145 process -- reengage the peristaltic pump slowly while removing
rlm@152 146 the organ from the fluid.
rlm@141 147
rlm@141 148 - evoultionary textbook mimiricy :: as surgery becomes more common,
rlm@141 149 there develops a distinct selective pressure for individuals
rlm@141 150 organ layout to look more like the medical textbooks! :P
rlm@141 151
rlm@141 152 - transparent skin :: temporary / permament transparent skin. Allows
rlm@141 153 for examination of organs / muscles and visual prevention of
rlm@141 154 disease and detection or abnormalities / good things
rlm@141 155 eg. excercise.
rlm@141 156
rlm@141 157 - sweet information :: candy with a whole book written in it. Eat a
rlm@141 158 book!
rlm@141 159
rlm@141 160 - targeted immunosuppressant :: just kill off the B-cells and friends
rlm@141 161 that would cause problems in a organ-transplant / other
rlm@141 162 situation. AIDS is good at killing these cells -- maybe make it
rlm@141 163 just target the ones that will cause problems. Then you can
rlm@141 164 premptively kill off that part of someone's immune system before
rlm@141 165 a transplant. ALSO, you can kill off everyone's defenses against
rlm@141 166 other blood types and make people effectively type AB+ w.r.t
rlm@141 167 blood transfusions. Actually, why not give babies this treatment
rlm@141 168 so that they're automatically compatable with all blood types?
rlm@141 169 The immune system has this already when it's first growing; maybe
rlm@141 170 it can be "retrained" to accept new things, or the mechanism of
rlm@141 171 immune cell death be co-opted for these purposes.
rlm@141 172
rlm@141 173 - fuck you tetris :: tetris that actively gives you the worst possible piece.
rlm@141 174
rlm@140 175 - pockets :: more things should have them!
rlm@140 176
rlm@140 177 - colored shower head :: a shower head add on that measures the temp
rlm@140 178 of the water and changes the color of the water streams w/ an LED
rlm@140 179 to show you the temperature. That way you can align to the color
rlm@140 180 you want and see the temperature without feeling it.
rlm@140 181
rlm@140 182 - giant dragonflies :: we could rapidly MAKE giant dragonflies by
rlm@140 183 evolving modern dragonflies in an very oxygen rich environment!
rlm@140 184
rlm@140 185 - anesthetic surgery courtesty video :: as a matter of courtesy,
rlm@140 186 whenever you go under anesthetic, the doctors should provide you
rlm@140 187 with a video of the surgery / recovery after you are concious
rlm@140 188 again. The recording should begin about 3 minutes before
rlm@140 189 anesthetic, and continue until both you and the docor agree to
rlm@140 190 stop recording, or you leave the hospital.
rlm@140 191
rlm@140 192 - whirlpool of light :: shine a laser out into space. But the planet
rlm@140 193 is spinning! What you get is a spiral or light! And as this
rlm@140 194 signal expands, does it eventually reveal it's wuantized nature?
rlm@140 195
rlm@140 196 - perfusion coking :: EOM
rlm@140 197
rlm@140 198 - timestamp verification :: you sign your message, and it has a
rlm@140 199 timestamp at the top, with a +- percision number. Then you send
rlm@140 200 it over to the public timestamp server, which only signs the
rlm@140 201 message if it gets the message within the timestamp window. Or
rlm@140 202 the computer just signs the message but puts a timestamp at the
rlm@140 203 beginning. So if everyone trusts the timestamp server, you can
rlm@140 204 get reliable timestamps, and prove priority on ideas, etc.
rlm@140 205
rlm@139 206 - the great computing slow-down :: in general, our computers are
rlm@139 207 getting faster and faster. However, eventually our brains will be
rlm@139 208 made of the same stuff our computers are made of! This has very
rlm@139 209 interesting consequences -- I can add 2+2 and get four in about a
rlm@139 210 second. Since my neurons actually work at around 10-60 hertz in
rlm@139 211 parallel, this means that it takes me around 10-30 operations to
rlm@139 212 do this addition. That's actually not bad in terms of computing
rlm@139 213 time. If my neurons were as fast as the latest transitors, then
rlm@139 214 most calculators would be SLOWER than me at adding numbers. Only
rlm@139 215 the newest, most optimized calculators would be faster, and then
rlm@139 216 only about 10 times faster! This means that once we begin to
rlm@139 217 think at the speed of our technology, that technology will
rlm@139 218 suddenly seem pitifully slow in comparison to how it seems
rlm@139 219 now. And no amount of technical progress will remedy it, because
rlm@139 220 that same progress will also make us all think faster. We'll
rlm@139 221 either have to settle with living in "slow time" to do some
rlm@139 222 computations, or learn to make smarter hardware with special
rlm@139 223 optimizations. But this is actually really hard, because we'll be
rlm@139 224 working with machines that will appear to us about as fast as
rlm@139 225 MECHANICAL computers. So, in the future, all the cool parties
rlm@139 226 will be in cyperspace at vastly accelerated speeds compared to
rlm@139 227 how we exist now. But at these parties, the computers will SUCK!
rlm@139 228 Of course, this is one of the few things that can save us from AI
rlm@139 229 risk, because those AI's won't seem so scary when the're build
rlm@139 230 out of rickety mechanical parts form our perspective.
rlm@139 231
rlm@142 232 - unitary reverse evolution of chaos+minds :: Chaotic systems diverge
rlm@139 233 exponentially in state space. Do you get anything interesting
rlm@139 234 when part of the physical system associated with the chaotic
rlm@139 235 system is a object that performs some sort of computation? Is it
rlm@139 236 possible for the computational system to play a
rlm@139 237 percision-enabling role in determining the final/initial
rlm@139 238 conditions of the chaotic system, just by tracing out thoughts in
rlm@139 239 its decision paths? This is probably too vague of an idea right
rlm@139 240 now, I just wanted to write it down.
rlm@139 241
rlm@138 242 - microwave time :: the cooking time you enter on most microwaves is
rlm@138 243 insane. It's expressed in what I call a "hybrid base", a
rlm@138 244 combination of base 10 and base 60. You can get absurd things
rlm@138 245 like 100 < 61, and 120 == 80! I wonder if these hybrid base
rlm@138 246 systems could be very useful for some purposes!
rlm@138 247
rlm@138 248 - three-eyes :: if you had three eyes, would you still draw cubes like
rlm@138 249 we currently draw them? Or would all 2D-representations of 3D
rlm@138 250 space always look hopelessly fake?
rlm@138 251
rlm@138 252 - visual taste/smell assay :: get a grid of bacteria, each expressing
rlm@138 253 a human taste/smell receptor linked to some sort of fluorscent
rlm@138 254 activity or ion pump. Use a camera / electrical grid to transduce
rlm@138 255 the smell / taste signal into bits!
rlm@138 256
rlm@138 257 - carabiner mushroom lock :: you can take a trapazodial carabiner and
rlm@138 258 make it so that a chain link is caught between the wide end of
rlm@138 259 the carabiner and another chain attached to the carabiner.
rlm@138 260
rlm@138 261 - children's tool shop :: I think that kids should be provided with
rlm@138 262 tool shops -- these would be nice sheds with a good collection of
rlm@138 263 tools to do various things -- circuit components and soldering
rlm@138 264 irons, wires, a small lathe, drill press, belt sander, a
rlm@138 265 centrifuge, microscope, and telescope, etc. The idea is that the
rlm@138 266 kid can now think, "I could use X to do this thing that I'm
rlm@138 267 thinking about" -- the building becomes an extension of the kid's
rlm@138 268 body & mind.
rlm@138 269
rlm@138 270 - fluid display :: like the previous idea about matching refractances
rlm@138 271 between glass and liquid, except you make a lot of
rlm@138 272 switchable glass tubes in various patterns in the
rlm@138 273 glass, and actively pump colored liquid through the
rlm@138 274 tubes (the tubes have glass-like fluid in them by
rlm@138 275 default.) The result is that you can cause the
rlm@138 276 tubes to appear and dissappear, and vary their
rlm@138 277 colors as well!
rlm@138 278
rlm@137 279 - immunoincompatibility :: take the human genome, and refactor it so
rlm@137 280 that it doesn't use a particular codon at all. Then remove the
rlm@137 281 support from our ribosomes for that codon. What does this do for
rlm@137 282 us? It makes us immune to almost all viruses!
rlm@137 283
rlm@137 284 - life cycle :: it's called a cycle, right? So, the thing that repeats
rlm@137 285 itself over and over, right? Not much of a cycle if
rlm@137 286 you don't come back after you die, if you ask me!
rlm@137 287
rlm@137 288 - car with no blind spots :: use some cameras in the back of the car
rlm@137 289 to augment the rear-view mirror so that you never have to turn
rlm@137 290 around in order to lane change.
rlm@137 291
rlm@137 292 - partial cell death :: you freeze a set of cells using some cryo
rlm@137 293 protocol and 60% survive. How can this be explained? It seems to
rlm@137 294 me that if the cells are the same, and the conditions
rlm@137 295 homogoneous, then all the cells should either die or
rlm@137 296 live. However, suppose that there is a metabolic cycle that needs
rlm@137 297 to be in a certain phase for the cell to survive. If the cells
rlm@137 298 are asynchronous, then you might end up with some cells dying
rlm@137 299 because there were in the wrong part of their cycle. This implies
rlm@137 300 that you might be able to cryoprotect cells by causing them to
rlm@137 301 enter a certain metabolic mode before freezing.
rlm@137 302
rlm@137 303 - cryonics color appeal :: perfusate used by cryonics companies should
rlm@137 304 have red food coloring in it. It's just a nice touch so that the
rlm@137 305 cryonics patient looks more life-like than with clear CPAs, and
rlm@137 306 hopefully might get treated with more respect.
rlm@137 307
rlm@137 308 - paramagnetic CPA :: you take a CPA that can be influenced by
rlm@137 309 magnetic fields so that its degrees of freedom are limited. Then,
rlm@137 310 you release the field, instantaly increasing the size of the
rlm@137 311 state space of the system and dramatically decreasing the
rlm@137 312 temperature enough to plunge the system past homogenous
rlm@137 313 nucleation temperature and directly to the glass transition
rlm@137 314 temperature, creating a doubly unstable glass at much lower CPA
rlm@137 315 concentrations than possible at conventional CPA concentrations.
rlm@137 316
rlm@137 317 - room temp noodles :: how does the physics of cooking noodles work?
rlm@137 318 Could you use a vacuum instead of heat to force water into the
rlm@137 319 noodle?
rlm@137 320
rlm@137 321 - personal carbon offset :: feel bad about contribuiting to global
rlm@137 322 warming by using electricity / driving a car? Forget trying to
rlm@137 323 "conserve" or "minimize your carbon footprint". Follow the
rlm@137 324 Platinum rule -- make the world BETTER off than you found it!
rlm@137 325 This would be a small, self contained system that sucks C02 out
rlm@137 326 of the air. It uses electricity, but it's so efficient at
rlm@137 327 removing CO2 that it more than offsets the CO2 produced by even a
rlm@137 328 coal plant to produce that electricity. This way, you can still
rlm@137 329 drive even a gas guzzler, but have a net negative carbon
rlm@137 330 footprint! Maybe something cool could be done with the carbon as
rlm@137 331 well. Use as much electricity as you want, but negate the damage
rlm@137 332 to the enviroment with more technology.
rlm@137 333
rlm@137 334 - undoing spermogenesis :: with enough sperm, you can derive the
rlm@137 335 donor's entire genome. You gain more confidence in the alleles
rlm@137 336 for a particular gene the more sperm you have. Each additional
rlm@137 337 sperm gives you the same sort of information you'd get flipping a
rlm@137 338 coin and trying to decide whether the coin is H/T of H/H. Is
rlm@137 339 there enough sperm in the the average load for you to be as
rlm@137 340 confident as mitosis?
rlm@137 341
rlm@136 342 - mars life :: we could engineer life that could survive on mars
rlm@136 343 (probably some non-vascular photosynthetic
rlm@136 344 poikilohydric creature like a lichen) by taking an
rlm@136 345 extremophile from Antarctica and evolving it in
rlm@136 346 increasingly Martian conditions. This could be an easy
rlm@136 347 start to a terraforming process.
rlm@136 348
rlm@134 349 - problem with Aubrey de Grey's ideas :: Aubrey de Grey says that we
rlm@134 350 might be able to live forever by continually repairing our bodies
rlm@134 351 at the cellular level -- he details 7 different mechanisms of
rlm@134 352 damage and says that if all of them are dealt with /together/
rlm@134 353 that it would stop aging. (You can't miss even one because
rlm@134 354 they're all fatal.) However, it doesn't take into account that
rlm@134 355 we are also beings of information and that there is a very real
rlm@134 356 software component to our existence. Even if our biological
rlm@134 357 chassies can be maintained forever, I think it is unlikely that
rlm@134 358 our minds will operate well far outside of the design constraints
rlm@134 359 that we've evolved to handle. Say I programmed a webserver with
rlm@134 360 the express goal of it being able to serve webpages for month on
rlm@134 361 some stock server. I'll do fairly rigorous testing to make sure
rlm@134 362 that it can handle the expected load then then some. Now say that
rlm@134 363 you want to keep a particular instance of this webserver running
rlm@134 364 indefinitely. (The program instance is like your mind and the
rlm@134 365 computer it's running on is like your body). You might very well
rlm@134 366 be able to keep the physical computer infrastructure running for
rlm@134 367 forever by replacing hard drives / ram / CPUs, etc. However,
rlm@134 368 since I designed the webserver to work for a month, it probably
rlm@135 369 has memory leaks, rare stochastic bugs, or other built in limits
rlm@134 370 / constraints (think log files or some date rollover shenanigans)
rlm@135 371 that will ultimately kill the webserver even with eternally
rlm@134 372 perfect hardware. Do you really expect that a webserver
rlm@135 373 engineered to work for 1 month will run for 10 years without
rlm@135 374 catastrophically crashing? Not even Apache can do this! In fact,
rlm@135 375 if I put in the extreme effort to make it that robust, I've
rlm@135 376 wasted time that I could have spent on other projects by pursuing
rlm@135 377 an unnecessary engineering goal. Likewise, human minds have only
rlm@134 378 ever run for at most 122 years before they are destroyed due to
rlm@134 379 hardware degradation. Fixing the hardware doesn't change any
rlm@134 380 software bugs that are almost certainly present in the human
rlm@134 381 mind. Think of all the pathological things that can go wrong with
rlm@134 382 a webserver, multiply it by a million, and that likely how
rlm@134 383 evolution has designed our minds. For example, consider memory :
rlm@134 384 why should you expect that we have evolved the ability to
rlm@134 385 coherently organize memories past say 150 years? There's been
rlm@134 386 absolutely no selective pressure for this ability, so you can bet
rlm@134 387 that if there's any fitness to be gained from not having
rlm@134 388 unlimited memory potential (such as better metabolic efficiency),
rlm@134 389 we have it! You might think that maybe we would just forget
rlm@134 390 things the same way that we sort of forget things that happen
rlm@134 391 earlier in our lives, but complicated information processing
rlm@134 392 systems don't have to fail gracefully when they're pushed far
rlm@134 393 past their design constraints. A 150 year old person is just as
rlm@134 394 likely to suffer a catastrophic psychosis due to software
rlm@134 395 limitations associated with memory as he is to do something with
rlm@134 396 all those memories we might consider reasonable. More likely, in
rlm@134 397 fact, since there are so very many ways for a complicated
rlm@134 398 software system to break and so few ways for it to run
rlm@134 399 successfully. Therefore, I think Aubrey de Grey's "hardware-only"
rlm@134 400 approach is missing a very important component of longevity
rlm@134 401 science, and any successful effort to make people live orders of
rlm@134 402 magnitude longer than they do naturally will need to deal with
rlm@134 403 people's software as well as their hardware.
rlm@134 404
rlm@133 405 - validating neurocryopreservation :: Problem : you want to test
rlm@133 406 whether a brain is functionally preserved through vitrification,
rlm@133 407 but you don't want to figure out how to preserve all the other
rlm@133 408 organs in the animal. It might be possible to keep the rest of
rlm@133 409 the body at almost 0C and vitrify just the head for only a few
rlm@133 410 minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate out the head's blood
rlm@133 411 supply from the rest of the body, then just cryoptotect and
rlm@133 412 vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal guard to keep
rlm@133 413 the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You leave the
rlm@133 414 spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove
rlm@133 415 cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can
rlm@133 416 determine brain preservation using behavioral assays!
rlm@133 417
rlm@133 418 - freezing water purifier :: you slowly freeze water, but also run
rlm@133 419 liquid water over the frozen mass. This takes away basically all
rlm@133 420 impurities and creates "washed ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe
rlm@133 421 you could re-use the heat from creating the ice to melt the ice?
rlm@133 422
rlm@133 423 - ultra strength :: allow a person to visualize their muscle
rlm@133 424 recruitment patterns. Give them adrenaline and let
rlm@133 425 them feel what it's like to have the normal limits
rlm@133 426 removed. See if they can replicate the effects.
rlm@133 427
rlm@133 428 - phone names :: make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX
rlm@133 429 record, except that it is a phone number instead of
rlm@133 430 an IP address. That way, you can use the domain name
rlm@133 431 registration system to provide names for phone
rlm@133 432 numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you
rlm@133 433 can point people to your current phone number by
rlm@133 434 updating that record.
rlm@133 435
rlm@133 436 - edible flowers :: Edible white flowers that you put in a colored
rlm@133 437 solution with flavor. When the flower turns the
rlm@133 438 right color, it is also flavored and ready to eat!
rlm@133 439
rlm@131 440 - suicide cryonics :: according to [[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html][this]], people who commit impulsive
rlm@131 441 suicides have a newfound sense of the importance of life. Perhaps
rlm@131 442 they are good cryonics targets.
rlm@131 443
rlm@131 444 - lead bone :: Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with
rlm@131 445 lead? Might be cool.
rlm@131 446
rlm@131 447 - the quest for life :: Every stupid story has the "immortal who
rlm@131 448 wants to become mortal" or some other such idea. I want to story
rlm@131 449 where the protagonist loses their immortality and feels /angry/
rlm@131 450 and ashamed about losing something that's so absolutely crucial
rlm@131 451 to their identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living",
rlm@131 452 they feel that living forever is what makes life worth
rlm@131 453 living. Now they've "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to
rlm@131 454 the timeless universe" or something. So they go on a quest to get
rlm@131 455 it back, learning about themselves along the way, and regaining
rlm@131 456 the precious thing they lost in the beginning.
rlm@131 457
rlm@130 458 - world-map :: take a small table and paint the continents in
rlm@130 459 toothpaste on the table. Make a slightly raised barrier
rlm@130 460 around the table. Slowly pour water onto the table, and
rlm@130 461 it will form the oceans!
rlm@130 462
rlm@95 463 - stage magic rituals :: rituals should incorporate elements of stage
rlm@95 464 magic. Foe example in Teller's tempest, they have a scene where
rlm@95 465 they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his
rlm@95 466 head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the
rlm@95 467 bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should
rlm@95 468 incorporate stage magic as an enhancement.
rlm@95 469
rlm@95 470 - isotope time dilation :: use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes
rlm@95 471 developed in nuclear fusion experiments. The relativistic time
rlm@95 472 dilation will stop the isotopes from decaying, and allow time to
rlm@95 473 study them. This is based on radioactive isotopes that fall
rlm@95 474 through the earth's atmosphere that take hundreds of times
rlm@95 475 longer to decay than normal.
rlm@95 476
rlm@95 477 - marsupial stimulation :: You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby,
rlm@95 478 and show it videos and other interactive things while it matures
rlm@95 479 in the pouch. What mental effects would this have?
rlm@95 480
rlm@135 481 - dynamic re-keying :: Some older ways of tuning instruments sound
rlm@95 482 better, but we use the even-tempered scale today because it makes
rlm@95 483 it easier to switch keys. With electronic music, why not make
rlm@95 484 key-annotations and dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good
rlm@135 485 in the current key? Could be done as a midi+annotation -> midi
rlm@95 486 compiler for experimentation.
rlm@95 487
rlm@95 488 - death always implies damage :: is is possible for a corpse to differ
rlm@95 489 from a living person only in the fact that one is dead and the
rlm@95 490 other is alive? NO! A corpse must always have some sort of
rlm@95 491 molecular damage which causes the loss of function!
rlm@95 492
rlm@95 493 - inner eye :: Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a
rlm@95 494 person. Then, you can activate them all and get a
rlm@95 495 picture of your internal organs for diagnostic
rlm@95 496 purposes.
rlm@95 497
rlm@135 498 - chaos rails :: should make a visualization of the homoclinic tangle,
rlm@95 499 it's truly beautiful.
rlm@95 500
rlm@95 501 - context gobbler :: this would be in "inside-out macro" that takes
rlm@95 502 the context (like you use for things like error, continuations,
rlm@95 503 and friends) and transforms it to something else. Maybe useful?
rlm@95 504
rlm@91 505 - cryonics middle ages :: some people say that cryonics is an
rlm@91 506 experiment and that it is foolish to wait until we have revived a
rlm@91 507 human. There is a middle ground where the procedure has a dismal
rlm@91 508 success rate on humans, say 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to
rlm@91 509 try revival. Nonetheless, this very risky procedure could be the
rlm@91 510 legal proof of concept needed to create a new class of life
rlm@91 511 between "living" and "dead": "stasis".
rlm@91 512
rlm@91 513 - philosophy of the mirror :: neat thought experiment -- if you take a
rlm@91 514 mirror of someone by actually reversing a person's chirality
rlm@94 515 molecule by molecule, then will the only be able to read mirror
rlm@91 516 writing? The answer is yes, by analogy to a purely mechanical
rlm@94 517 scan-tron device. This is one of the only interesting transforms I
rlm@91 518 know that can take a human brain and change it in subtle,
rlm@91 519 non-destructive ways. It's also an argument against dualism.
rlm@91 520
rlm@91 521 - biosphere in a bottle :: There are around 15 million species. 15
rlm@91 522 million stem cells will fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic
rlm@91 523 inch. Preserve a single cell from every species on earth in this
rlm@91 524 small space, and you will have a record of our current biosphere
rlm@91 525 that can be protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in
rlm@92 526 your hand!"
rlm@91 527
rlm@90 528 - chaos lock :: The "arrow of time" points in the direction of
rlm@90 529 increasing entropy. The time evolution of chaotic
rlm@90 530 systems depend exquisitely on their initial state. If
rlm@90 531 you take a measurement of a chaotic system at any
rlm@90 532 given point of time, you can evolve that system
rlm@90 533 backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So
rlm@90 534 let's say you start the chaotic system in a VERY low
rlm@90 535 entropy state, then let it run for a while, then take
rlm@90 536 a measurement with some uncertainty. Your
rlm@90 537 measurement is pretty good, but obviously not
rlm@90 538 PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in
rlm@90 539 time, then you will see that you don't really reach
rlm@90 540 a state with low entropy an hour before (the entropy
rlm@90 541 is easy to measure with surrogates like alignment,
rlm@90 542 etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more
rlm@90 543 accurate measurement! This potentially can give you
rlm@90 544 many more orders of magnitude than you could get alone
rlm@90 545 just using an instrument. Sometimes it will give you
rlm@90 546 bad results, the the odds of it doing that are
rlm@90 547 infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple of
rlm@90 548 times.
rlm@90 549
rlm@90 550 - cryo-evolution :: perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a
rlm@90 551 symbiotic bacterial organism that could protect
rlm@90 552 human tissues from freezing damage.
rlm@90 553
rlm@87 554 - suicide parasite :: sometimes, people kill themselves for no good
rlm@87 555 reason. We often explain this with things like "hidden
rlm@87 556 depression" or we say that they had something like chronic jaw or
rlm@87 557 back pain. I think that smells of rationalization. I don't buy
rlm@87 558 it. I propose that in many suicide cases there is a disease that
rlm@88 559 causes the suicidal behavior. We already know that certain
rlm@87 560 parasites have mind-bending properties in other animals, even
rlm@87 561 mammals like mice. It's not much of a stretch to imagine a
rlm@88 562 parasite that causes suicides in humans. Some problems:
rlm@87 563 - What does the suicide parasite get out of it? :: This might be
rlm@87 564 answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by
rlm@87 565 cross-species contamination. Toxoplasma works this way.
rlm@88 566 - What predictions does a disease model make :: suicide should
rlm@88 567 be more common among people who share a contagion
rlm@88 568 vector. There should be suicides that don't make any
rlm@87 569 sense : people who weren't really depressed, who had no
rlm@87 570 reason to kill themselves. People who have killed themselves
rlm@87 571 should have a higher incidence of some unknown parasite in
rlm@87 572 their brains.
rlm@86 573
rlm@89 574 - domestic insects :: People should eat more bugs because they're much
rlm@89 575 more efficient, so why not do some major domestication research
rlm@94 576 to make very appealing bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be
rlm@94 577 excellent targets for domestication because they have extreme
rlm@94 578 levels of genetic malleability.
rlm@87 579
rlm@87 580 - birth-clones :: What if each person was intentionally split at birth
rlm@87 581 into a normal embryo and a few "backup" cells which
rlm@87 582 is then frozen. The backup cells are created just
rlm@87 583 the same way as natural identical twins. The backups
rlm@88 584 can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it
rlm@87 585 would be a good sci fi concept, because you could
rlm@87 586 have a culture where people reward people who were
rlm@87 587 especially awesome are "reborn" from their
rlm@88 588 backups. Imagine having a young Bach every
rlm@87 589 generation, etc.
rlm@86 590
rlm@94 591 - pronunciation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and
rlm@94 592 it returns a simple, English sentence describing exactly how to
rlm@84 593 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA.
rlm@86 594
rlm@87 595 - cortex-search :: use the repertoire of actions learned to limit the
rlm@87 596 search space of possible actions.
rlm@87 597
rlm@83 598 - learning to teleport :: scifi idea, this is a story about a person
rlm@83 599 who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about
rlm@83 600 teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a
rlm@83 601 member of that society (after all, the difference between animals
rlm@83 602 and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while
rlm@83 603 animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the
rlm@83 604 stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then
rlm@83 605 eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping
rlm@83 606 off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not do/ for
rlm@83 607 a long time), etc.
rlm@83 608
rlm@87 609 - no-float-ice :: cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice
rlm@87 610 forms. Then when you drink liquid from the glass,
rlm@87 611 the ice stays at the bottom and doesn't hit your
rlm@87 612 lips. For bars and fancy things.
rlm@87 613
rlm@82 614 - bitcoins for immigrants :: A common case with Mexican immigrants
rlm@82 615 (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned
rlm@82 616 in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this
rlm@82 617 through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get
rlm@82 618 fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce
rlm@82 619 the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't
rlm@82 620 believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican
rlm@82 621 immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could
rlm@82 622 set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts
rlm@82 623 in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut
rlm@82 624 them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might
rlm@82 625 be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is
rlm@82 626 great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
rlm@82 627
rlm@81 628 - reverse eye-tracking :: A painting that is actually a digital screen
rlm@82 629 with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's
rlm@81 630 "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you
rlm@81 631 look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you
rlm@81 632 look at it, recording where /you/ looked forever for others to
rlm@81 633 see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the
rlm@81 634 breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males
rlm@81 635 passing by.
rlm@81 636
rlm@80 637 - smart toilets :: Instead of using indirect measures like infrared
rlm@80 638 detectors of the presence of a person, use computer
rlm@80 639 vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs
rlm@80 640 to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up
rlm@80 641 going this way as we get better computer vision.
rlm@80 642
rlm@77 643 - validate chemopreservation :: chemopreservation is difficult to
rlm@77 644 validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and
rlm@77 645 brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a
rlm@77 646 technology. However, one very powerful way to validate
rlm@77 647 chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
rlm@77 648 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution
rlm@80 649 to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
rlm@80 650 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
rlm@77 651 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
rlm@77 652
rlm@75 653 - candy screw :: edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw
rlm@75 654 as well.
rlm@76 655
rlm@74 656 - better bibliography :: when writing a thesis or paper, have the
rlm@80 657 bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it
rlm@74 658 be a list of /summaries/ and /qualities/ that each paper has in
rlm@80 659 the context of the paper being written. When examining a
rlm@80 660 bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the
rlm@74 661 bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also
rlm@74 662 interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the
rlm@74 663 paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to
rlm@74 664 provide information about the referenced papers from the
rlm@80 665 author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own
rlm@74 666 thesis.
rlm@74 667
rlm@73 668 - digital inter-library loan :: libraries at universities already do
rlm@80 669 inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access
rlm@73 670 to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could
rlm@73 671 allow access to articles for registered students to all the files
rlm@73 672 available through any participating university. This could be
rlm@73 673 achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating
rlm@73 674 universities. Each university would decide who at the university
rlm@73 675 can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could
rlm@73 676 be made easy using something like http://libx.org/.
rlm@73 677
rlm@72 678 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered
rlm@72 679 by computers, show two people playing chess in a
rlm@72 680 void. They are floating in space, and there is a
rlm@72 681 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,
rlm@72 682 the game tree's they are considering are drawn
rlm@72 683 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in
rlm@72 684 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the
rlm@72 685 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the
rlm@72 686 dividing plane between the two players. Each
rlm@72 687 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,
rlm@72 688 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,
rlm@72 689 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,
rlm@72 690 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long
rlm@72 691 chain, while the computer tree would be more
rlm@72 692 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern
rlm@72 693 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!
rlm@72 694
rlm@71 695 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of
rlm@71 696 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time
rlm@73 697 server, a key for each time period, something like that.
rlm@71 698
rlm@70 699 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars
rlm@70 700 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they
rlm@70 701 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area
rlm@70 702 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design
rlm@70 703 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar
rlm@70 704 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins
rlm@70 705 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have
rlm@70 706 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be
rlm@70 707 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which
rlm@70 708 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the
rlm@70 709 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and
rlm@70 710 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing
rlm@70 711 it's authenticity.
rlm@70 712
rlm@68 713 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.
rlm@68 714
rlm@86 715 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and
rlm@86 716 see if I could implement touch as a very low range
rlm@86 717 form of vision.
rlm@86 718
rlm@67 719 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The
rlm@67 720 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational
rlm@67 721 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's
rlm@67 722 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they
rlm@67 723 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's
rlm@67 724 neat because for any given school, /g/ is probably *not* exactly
rlm@67 725 equal to 9.81, because that is just an average!
rlm@67 726
rlm@67 727 - opencourseware subtitles :: there are ladies who type up lectures
rlm@67 728 while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and
rlm@67 729 given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are
rlm@67 730 recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.
rlm@67 731
rlm@66 732 - screen locking timing :: you use your computer camera to see if you
rlm@66 733 are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen
rlm@66 734 will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a
rlm@67 735 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to
rlm@66 736 initiate the countdown, just with more information.
rlm@66 737
rlm@66 738 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead
rlm@67 739 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a
rlm@66 740 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion
rlm@66 741 system works.
rlm@66 742
rlm@80 743 - test dummies :: why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to
rlm@62 744 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It
rlm@62 745 would be ethical as long as there are women who are
rlm@62 746 willing to host the clones, and it would be a
rlm@67 747 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I
rlm@62 748 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is
rlm@67 749 suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout
rlm@62 750 more advanced technology.
rlm@62 751
rlm@62 752 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient
rlm@62 753 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into
rlm@62 754 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system
rlm@80 755 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
rlm@67 756 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
rlm@62 757 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage
rlm@62 758 and surgery risk could be minimized.
rlm@62 759
rlm@62 760 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you
rlm@62 761 replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the
rlm@62 762 physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the
rlm@62 763 vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells,
rlm@62 764 or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to
rlm@62 765 retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during
rlm@62 766 perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses
rlm@62 767 superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by
rlm@67 768 superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to
rlm@62 769 simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid
rlm@62 770 instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.
rlm@51 771
rlm@59 772 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by
rlm@67 773 making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,
rlm@59 774 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really
rlm@59 775 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the
rlm@59 776 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective
rlm@59 777 guessing.
rlm@59 778
rlm@67 779 - Intestinal flora maintenance :: why not inoculate babies at birth
rlm@59 780 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they
rlm@59 781 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient
rlm@67 782 extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts
rlm@94 783 not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might help to
rlm@91 784 preventatively stop some forms of /colic/, which affects 1 in 5
rlm@94 785 babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5 weeks.
rlm@59 786
rlm@56 787 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people
rlm@56 788 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover
rlm@56 789 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular
rlm@56 790 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the
rlm@56 791 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like
rlm@67 792 bit-torrent for websites.
rlm@56 793
rlm@56 794 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that
rlm@56 795 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up
rlm@67 796 into each calling function to get the full range of behavior
rlm@56 797 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a
rlm@67 798 compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic
rlm@67 799 variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the
rlm@56 800 advantages of making a programming language where every function
rlm@67 801 receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol
rlm@56 802 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all
rlm@56 803 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on
rlm@56 804 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,
rlm@56 805 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.
rlm@56 806
rlm@55 807 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when
rlm@55 808 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine
rlm@55 809 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an
rlm@55 810 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say
rlm@55 811 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
rlm@55 812 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90
rlm@55 813 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon
rlm@55 814 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be
rlm@55 815 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
rlm@55 816
rlm@50 817 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
rlm@50 818 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
rlm@50 819 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
rlm@80 820 super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some
rlm@80 821 losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
rlm@50 822 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
rlm@50 823 image.
rlm@50 824
rlm@47 825 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
rlm@42 826 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
rlm@42 827 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
rlm@42 828 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
rlm@47 829 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
rlm@42 830 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
rlm@38 831
rlm@67 832 - dilated security camera :: a security camera that would capture
rlm@58 833 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep
rlm@58 834 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something
rlm@58 835 "interesting" happening.
rlm@58 836
rlm@40 837 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
rlm@40 838 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
rlm@40 839 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
rlm@40 840 from anywhere.
rlm@40 841
rlm@40 842 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
rlm@40 843 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
rlm@47 844 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would
rlm@47 845 be automatically split up to every person who has ever
rlm@40 846 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
rlm@40 847 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
rlm@47 848 community decides. This might make it possible for
rlm@40 849 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
rlm@40 850
rlm@45 851 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated
rlm@45 852 distributed computing API.
rlm@41 853
rlm@40 854 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
rlm@40 855 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
rlm@40 856 say, and you can encode useful information into the
rlm@40 857 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
rlm@40 858 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
rlm@42 859 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
rlm@40 860 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
rlm@40 861 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
rlm@40 862 object respectively.
rlm@40 863
rlm@40 864 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
rlm@40 865 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
rlm@40 866 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
rlm@40 867 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
rlm@40 868 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
rlm@40 869 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
rlm@47 870 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good
rlm@40 871 presets.
rlm@40 872
rlm@47 873 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning
rlm@40 874 might be the mirror neurons.
rlm@40 875
rlm@47 876 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid
rlm@40 877 copies.
rlm@40 878
rlm@41 879 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
rlm@41 880 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
rlm@41 881
rlm@40 882 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
rlm@40 883 one to wear the towel more securely than just
rlm@40 884 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
rlm@40 885
rlm@47 886 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to
rlm@44 887 wear a burka.
rlm@41 888
rlm@40 889 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
rlm@40 890 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
rlm@93 891 references. For example, if "Rachael" was assigned the
rlm@93 892 color red, and "the blonde haired girl" refers to
rlm@93 893 "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be
rlm@93 894 colored red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part
rlm@93 895 run-on sentences by highlighting each
rlm@93 896 subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications to
rlm@93 897 scientific reading.
rlm@40 898
rlm@40 899 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
rlm@47 900 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
rlm@40 901 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
rlm@40 902 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
rlm@40 903 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
rlm@40 904
rlm@40 905 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
rlm@40 906 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
rlm@40 907 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
rlm@40 908
rlm@40 909 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
rlm@47 910 continuous.
rlm@40 911
rlm@40 912 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
rlm@40 913 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
rlm@40 914 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
rlm@47 915 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of
rlm@40 916 the laser.
rlm@40 917
rlm@40 918 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
rlm@40 919 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
rlm@40 920 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
rlm@40 921 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
rlm@40 922 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
rlm@40 923 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
rlm@40 924
rlm@47 925 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains
rlm@40 926 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
rlm@47 927 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
rlm@40 928 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
rlm@40 929 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
rlm@40 930 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
rlm@47 931 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
rlm@40 932 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
rlm@40 933 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
rlm@47 934 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can
rlm@40 935 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
rlm@47 936 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the
rlm@47 937 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the
rlm@40 938 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
rlm@40 939 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
rlm@47 940 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is
rlm@40 941 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
rlm@47 942 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the
rlm@40 943 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
rlm@40 944 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
rlm@40 945 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
rlm@40 946
rlm@40 947 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
rlm@40 948 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
rlm@40 949 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
rlm@40 950 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
rlm@40 951 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
rlm@40 952 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
rlm@40 953 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
rlm@40 954 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
rlm@40 955 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
rlm@47 956 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the
rlm@47 957 lens of the the caterpillar people.
rlm@40 958
rlm@46 959 - relationships as a business :: [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx][Turnover-Crisis]] is an excellent talk
rlm@46 960 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business
rlm@46 961 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their
rlm@47 962 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni
rlm@46 963 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied
rlm@46 964 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might
rlm@46 965 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with
rlm@46 966 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and
rlm@46 967 how they worked out.
rlm@43 968
rlm@47 969 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
rlm@43 970 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
rlm@43 971 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
rlm@43 972 with recursion!
rlm@43 973
rlm@43 974 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
rlm@43 975 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
rlm@43 976 difficult to move with telekinesis.
rlm@43 977
rlm@40 978 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
rlm@40 979 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
rlm@40 980 automated.
rlm@40 981
rlm@44 982 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
rlm@44 983 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
rlm@44 984 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
rlm@44 985 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
rlm@33 986
rlm@33 987 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
rlm@32 988 power/logic.
rlm@32 989
rlm@47 990 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of
rlm@44 991 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
rlm@32 992
rlm@44 993 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
rlm@44 994 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
rlm@44 995 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
rlm@44 996 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
rlm@44 997 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
rlm@44 998 by the sensor array).
rlm@32 999
rlm@33 1000 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
rlm@83 1001 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared
rlm@32 1002 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
rlm@32 1003 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
rlm@32 1004 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
rlm@32 1005 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
rlm@47 1006 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
rlm@47 1007 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
rlm@32 1008 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
rlm@47 1009 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
rlm@32 1010 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
rlm@32 1011
rlm@39 1012 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
rlm@39 1013 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
rlm@32 1014
rlm@39 1015 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
rlm@39 1016 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
rlm@54 1017 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
rlm@32 1018
rlm@47 1019 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
rlm@32 1020
rlm@44 1021 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
rlm@44 1022 except for real world transactions
rlm@32 1023
rlm@33 1024 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
rlm@33 1025 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
rlm@33 1026
rlm@47 1027 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead
rlm@47 1028 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank
rlm@33 1029 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
rlm@33 1030 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
rlm@33 1031 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
rlm@33 1032
rlm@47 1033 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate
rlm@33 1034 fluids with different index of refraction
rlm@33 1035
rlm@33 1036 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
rlm@33 1037 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
rlm@33 1038 certain direction.
rlm@33 1039
rlm@44 1040 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
rlm@44 1041 properties.
rlm@32 1042
rlm@53 1043 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
rlm@53 1044
rlm@82 1045 - Rod of Moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
rlm@53 1046 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
rlm@53 1047 produce drinkable water.
rlm@32 1048
rlm@47 1049 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
rlm@44 1050 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
rlm@44 1051 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
rlm@44 1052 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
rlm@32 1053
rlm@47 1054 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,
rlm@44 1055 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
rlm@44 1056 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
rlm@34 1057
rlm@34 1058 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
rlm@34 1059 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
rlm@34 1060
rlm@44 1061 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
rlm@44 1062 that it can conduct electricity.
rlm@34 1063
rlm@44 1064 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
rlm@44 1065 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
rlm@44 1066 made, for example.
rlm@34 1067
rlm@44 1068 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
rlm@34 1069
rlm@47 1070 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
rlm@44 1071 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
rlm@44 1072 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
rlm@44 1073 to different connections.
rlm@34 1074
rlm@47 1075 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the
rlm@44 1076 nerves of the ear
rlm@43 1077
rlm@43 1078 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
rlm@43 1079 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
rlm@43 1080 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
rlm@47 1081 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
rlm@34 1082
rlm@47 1083 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in
rlm@34 1084 various ways.
rlm@34 1085
rlm@34 1086 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
rlm@34 1087
rlm@47 1088 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
rlm@43 1089 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
rlm@43 1090 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
rlm@43 1091 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
rlm@43 1092 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
rlm@34 1093
rlm@40 1094 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
rlm@34 1095 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
rlm@34 1096 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
rlm@34 1097 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
rlm@34 1098 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
rlm@34 1099 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
rlm@47 1100 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their
rlm@34 1101 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
rlm@34 1102 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
rlm@34 1103
rlm@47 1104 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via
rlm@44 1105 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
rlm@44 1106 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
rlm@35 1107
rlm@44 1108 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
rlm@44 1109 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
rlm@35 1110
rlm@44 1111 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
rlm@47 1112 one part the aluminum.
rlm@34 1113
rlm@44 1114 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
rlm@44 1115 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
rlm@44 1116 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
rlm@44 1117 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
rlm@44 1118 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
rlm@44 1119 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
rlm@44 1120 interesting parts.
rlm@34 1121
rlm@44 1122 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
rlm@44 1123 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
rlm@44 1124 sword.
rlm@32 1125
rlm@44 1126 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
rlm@44 1127 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
rlm@44 1128 without any metal at all!
rlm@32 1129
rlm@44 1130 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
rlm@32 1131
rlm@44 1132 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
rlm@44 1133 actual DNA
rlm@32 1134
rlm@44 1135 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
rlm@44 1136 generator to make electricity
rlm@32 1137
rlm@44 1138 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
rlm@32 1139
rlm@44 1140 - folding razor blade sword ::
rlm@32 1141
rlm@44 1142 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
rlm@44 1143 combination (sight or touch)
rlm@32 1144
rlm@44 1145 - kaleidoscope projector ::
rlm@32 1146
rlm@44 1147 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
rlm@32 1148
rlm@44 1149 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
rlm@32 1150
rlm@47 1151 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
rlm@44 1152 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
rlm@44 1153 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
rlm@44 1154 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
rlm@44 1155 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
rlm@44 1156 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
rlm@32 1157
rlm@44 1158 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
rlm@44 1159 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
rlm@32 1160
rlm@44 1161 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
rlm@44 1162 robustly.
rlm@32 1163
rlm@47 1164 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)
rlm@32 1165
rlm@44 1166 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
rlm@44 1167 generating hypothetical examples
rlm@32 1168
rlm@47 1169 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
rlm@44 1170 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
rlm@44 1171 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
rlm@44 1172 temperature on volatility?
rlm@32 1173
rlm@35 1174 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
rlm@35 1175 metals or something else economically advantageous.
rlm@32 1176
rlm@47 1177 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless
rlm@44 1178 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
rlm@44 1179 preservation
rlm@32 1180
rlm@47 1181 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
rlm@47 1182 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
rlm@47 1183 refrigeration.
rlm@32 1184
rlm@47 1185 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter
rlm@44 1186 of course -- make ambiance much better.
rlm@32 1187
rlm@47 1188 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant
rlm@44 1189 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
rlm@44 1190 to clean windows of buildings.
rlm@32 1191
rlm@44 1192 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
rlm@32 1193
rlm@35 1194 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
rlm@47 1195 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the
rlm@35 1196 human's energy?
rlm@32 1197
rlm@44 1198 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
rlm@44 1199 you / sell it from your own online store.
rlm@35 1200
rlm@44 1201 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
rlm@43 1202
rlm@35 1203 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
rlm@43 1204 people, binding them to environment, etc.
rlm@35 1205
rlm@35 1206 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
rlm@35 1207 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
rlm@35 1208 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
rlm@43 1209 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
rlm@35 1210 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
rlm@32 1211
rlm@44 1212 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
rlm@44 1213 scroll wheel
rlm@32 1214
rlm@47 1215 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
rlm@44 1216 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
rlm@32 1217
rlm@47 1218 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site
rlm@32 1219
rlm@44 1220 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
rlm@32 1221
rlm@36 1222 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
rlm@36 1223 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
rlm@36 1224 itself changes? those memories would become
rlm@47 1225 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember
rlm@36 1226 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
rlm@47 1227 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from
rlm@36 1228 his childhood?
rlm@32 1229
rlm@47 1230 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display
rlm@36 1231 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
rlm@36 1232 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
rlm@36 1233 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
rlm@36 1234 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
rlm@36 1235 inductive charging and data transfer.
rlm@32 1236
rlm@44 1237 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
rlm@44 1238 it too)
rlm@32 1239
rlm@44 1240 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
rlm@44 1241 lecture
rlm@32 1242
rlm@40 1243 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
rlm@40 1244 makes sparkles!
rlm@32 1245
rlm@44 1246 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
rlm@44 1247 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
rlm@44 1248 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
rlm@44 1249 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
rlm@32 1250
rlm@44 1251 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
rlm@44 1252 surface tension to make the "third"
rlm@44 1253 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
rlm@44 1254 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
rlm@44 1255 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
rlm@44 1256 and a double-cone)
rlm@38 1257
rlm@38 1258 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
rlm@38 1259 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
rlm@38 1260 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
rlm@38 1261 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
rlm@38 1262 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
rlm@40 1263 knowledge. /One./
rlm@40 1264
rlm@40 1265 ** From Jacob's idea list
rlm@40 1266
rlm@47 1267 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
rlm@43 1268 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
rlm@40 1269 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
rlm@40 1270 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
rlm@40 1271 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
rlm@40 1272 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
rlm@40 1273
rlm@40 1274 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
rlm@40 1275 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
rlm@40 1276
rlm@40 1277 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
rlm@41 1278 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)