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@42
|
11
|
rlm@43
|
12 This is a list of all the ideas I've had that I felt like writing down
|
rlm@90
|
13 for the past ~ 8 years. Some of them could be practical inventions and
|
rlm@47
|
14 are "just" waiting the that 95% perspiration to bring them to
|
rlm@47
|
15 fruition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are simple
|
rlm@48
|
16 observations. Some are really only for my own personal notes and are
|
rlm@48
|
17 not meant to be comprehensible. They are arranged roughly in reverse
|
rlm@48
|
18 chronological order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the
|
rlm@48
|
19 list. The ones at the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my
|
rlm@48
|
20 time at MIT.
|
rlm@43
|
21
|
rlm@43
|
22 If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on
|
rlm@43
|
23 them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from
|
rlm@43
|
24 you. You can email me at ideas@aurellem.org.
|
rlm@43
|
25
|
rlm@52
|
26 If you want to use one of these ideas as your own and run with it,
|
rlm@52
|
27 please feel free. I'd love to hear about it if you do.
|
rlm@52
|
28
|
rlm@62
|
29 #+begin_quote
|
rlm@62
|
30 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about
|
rlm@62
|
31 getting credit.
|
rlm@62
|
32 #+end_quote
|
rlm@62
|
33
|
rlm@133
|
34 - validating neurocryopreservation :: Problem : you want to test
|
rlm@133
|
35 whether a brain is functionally preserved through vitrification,
|
rlm@133
|
36 but you don't want to figure out how to preserve all the other
|
rlm@133
|
37 organs in the animal. It might be possible to keep the rest of
|
rlm@133
|
38 the body at almost 0C and vitrify just the head for only a few
|
rlm@133
|
39 minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate out the head's blood
|
rlm@133
|
40 supply from the rest of the body, then just cryoptotect and
|
rlm@133
|
41 vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal guard to keep
|
rlm@133
|
42 the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You leave the
|
rlm@133
|
43 spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove
|
rlm@133
|
44 cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can
|
rlm@133
|
45 determine brain preservation using behavioral assays!
|
rlm@133
|
46
|
rlm@133
|
47 - freezing water purifier :: you slowly freeze water, but also run
|
rlm@133
|
48 liquid water over the frozen mass. This takes away basically all
|
rlm@133
|
49 impurities and creates "washed ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe
|
rlm@133
|
50 you could re-use the heat from creating the ice to melt the ice?
|
rlm@133
|
51
|
rlm@133
|
52 - ultra strength :: allow a person to visualize their muscle
|
rlm@133
|
53 recruitment patterns. Give them adrenaline and let
|
rlm@133
|
54 them feel what it's like to have the normal limits
|
rlm@133
|
55 removed. See if they can replicate the effects.
|
rlm@133
|
56
|
rlm@133
|
57 - phone names :: make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX
|
rlm@133
|
58 record, except that it is a phone number instead of
|
rlm@133
|
59 an IP address. That way, you can use the domain name
|
rlm@133
|
60 registration system to provide names for phone
|
rlm@133
|
61 numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you
|
rlm@133
|
62 can point people to your current phone number by
|
rlm@133
|
63 updating that record.
|
rlm@133
|
64
|
rlm@133
|
65 - edible flowers :: Edible white flowers that you put in a colored
|
rlm@133
|
66 solution with flavor. When the flower turns the
|
rlm@133
|
67 right color, it is also flavored and ready to eat!
|
rlm@133
|
68
|
rlm@131
|
69 - suicide cryonics :: according to [[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html][this]], people who commit impulsive
|
rlm@131
|
70 suicides have a newfound sense of the importance of life. Perhaps
|
rlm@131
|
71 they are good cryonics targets.
|
rlm@131
|
72
|
rlm@131
|
73 - lead bone :: Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with
|
rlm@131
|
74 lead? Might be cool.
|
rlm@131
|
75
|
rlm@131
|
76 - the quest for life :: Every stupid story has the "immortal who
|
rlm@131
|
77 wants to become mortal" or some other such idea. I want to story
|
rlm@131
|
78 where the protagonist loses their immortality and feels /angry/
|
rlm@131
|
79 and ashamed about losing something that's so absolutely crucial
|
rlm@131
|
80 to their identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living",
|
rlm@131
|
81 they feel that living forever is what makes life worth
|
rlm@131
|
82 living. Now they've "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to
|
rlm@131
|
83 the timeless universe" or something. So they go on a quest to get
|
rlm@131
|
84 it back, learning about themselves along the way, and regaining
|
rlm@131
|
85 the precious thing they lost in the beginning.
|
rlm@131
|
86
|
rlm@130
|
87 - world-map :: take a small table and paint the continents in
|
rlm@130
|
88 toothpaste on the table. Make a slightly raised barrier
|
rlm@130
|
89 around the table. Slowly pour water onto the table, and
|
rlm@130
|
90 it will form the oceans!
|
rlm@130
|
91
|
rlm@95
|
92 - stage magic rituals :: rituals should incorporate elements of stage
|
rlm@95
|
93 magic. Foe example in Teller's tempest, they have a scene where
|
rlm@95
|
94 they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his
|
rlm@95
|
95 head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the
|
rlm@95
|
96 bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should
|
rlm@95
|
97 incorporate stage magic as an enhancement.
|
rlm@95
|
98
|
rlm@95
|
99 - isotope time dilation :: use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes
|
rlm@95
|
100 developed in nuclear fusion experiments. The relativistic time
|
rlm@95
|
101 dilation will stop the isotopes from decaying, and allow time to
|
rlm@95
|
102 study them. This is based on radioactive isotopes that fall
|
rlm@95
|
103 through the earth's atmosphere that take hundreds of times
|
rlm@95
|
104 longer to decay than normal.
|
rlm@95
|
105
|
rlm@95
|
106 - marsupial stimulation :: You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby,
|
rlm@95
|
107 and show it videos and other interactive things while it matures
|
rlm@95
|
108 in the pouch. What mental effects would this have?
|
rlm@95
|
109
|
rlm@95
|
110 - dynamic re-keying :: Some older ways of tuning insturments sound
|
rlm@95
|
111 better, but we use the even-tempered scale today because it makes
|
rlm@95
|
112 it easier to switch keys. With electronic music, why not make
|
rlm@95
|
113 key-annotations and dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good
|
rlm@95
|
114 in the current key? Coule be done as a midi+annotation -> midi
|
rlm@95
|
115 compiler for experimentation.
|
rlm@95
|
116
|
rlm@95
|
117 - death always implies damage :: is is possible for a corpse to differ
|
rlm@95
|
118 from a living person only in the fact that one is dead and the
|
rlm@95
|
119 other is alive? NO! A corpse must always have some sort of
|
rlm@95
|
120 molecular damage which causes the loss of function!
|
rlm@95
|
121
|
rlm@95
|
122 - inner eye :: Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a
|
rlm@95
|
123 person. Then, you can activate them all and get a
|
rlm@95
|
124 picture of your internal organs for diagnostic
|
rlm@95
|
125 purposes.
|
rlm@95
|
126
|
rlm@95
|
127 - chaos rails :: should make a visulazation of the homoclinic tangle,
|
rlm@95
|
128 it's truly beautiful.
|
rlm@95
|
129
|
rlm@95
|
130 - context gobbler :: this would be in "inside-out macro" that takes
|
rlm@95
|
131 the context (like you use for things like error, continuations,
|
rlm@95
|
132 and friends) and transforms it to something else. Maybe useful?
|
rlm@95
|
133
|
rlm@91
|
134 - cryonics middle ages :: some people say that cryonics is an
|
rlm@91
|
135 experiment and that it is foolish to wait until we have revived a
|
rlm@91
|
136 human. There is a middle ground where the procedure has a dismal
|
rlm@91
|
137 success rate on humans, say 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to
|
rlm@91
|
138 try revival. Nonetheless, this very risky procedure could be the
|
rlm@91
|
139 legal proof of concept needed to create a new class of life
|
rlm@91
|
140 between "living" and "dead": "stasis".
|
rlm@91
|
141
|
rlm@91
|
142 - philosophy of the mirror :: neat thought experiment -- if you take a
|
rlm@91
|
143 mirror of someone by actually reversing a person's chirality
|
rlm@94
|
144 molecule by molecule, then will the only be able to read mirror
|
rlm@91
|
145 writing? The answer is yes, by analogy to a purely mechanical
|
rlm@94
|
146 scan-tron device. This is one of the only interesting transforms I
|
rlm@91
|
147 know that can take a human brain and change it in subtle,
|
rlm@91
|
148 non-destructive ways. It's also an argument against dualism.
|
rlm@91
|
149
|
rlm@91
|
150 - biosphere in a bottle :: There are around 15 million species. 15
|
rlm@91
|
151 million stem cells will fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic
|
rlm@91
|
152 inch. Preserve a single cell from every species on earth in this
|
rlm@91
|
153 small space, and you will have a record of our current biosphere
|
rlm@91
|
154 that can be protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in
|
rlm@92
|
155 your hand!"
|
rlm@91
|
156
|
rlm@90
|
157 - chaos lock :: The "arrow of time" points in the direction of
|
rlm@90
|
158 increasing entropy. The time evolution of chaotic
|
rlm@90
|
159 systems depend exquisitely on their initial state. If
|
rlm@90
|
160 you take a measurement of a chaotic system at any
|
rlm@90
|
161 given point of time, you can evolve that system
|
rlm@90
|
162 backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So
|
rlm@90
|
163 let's say you start the chaotic system in a VERY low
|
rlm@90
|
164 entropy state, then let it run for a while, then take
|
rlm@90
|
165 a measurement with some uncertainty. Your
|
rlm@90
|
166 measurement is pretty good, but obviously not
|
rlm@90
|
167 PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in
|
rlm@90
|
168 time, then you will see that you don't really reach
|
rlm@90
|
169 a state with low entropy an hour before (the entropy
|
rlm@90
|
170 is easy to measure with surrogates like alignment,
|
rlm@90
|
171 etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more
|
rlm@90
|
172 accurate measurement! This potentially can give you
|
rlm@90
|
173 many more orders of magnitude than you could get alone
|
rlm@90
|
174 just using an instrument. Sometimes it will give you
|
rlm@90
|
175 bad results, the the odds of it doing that are
|
rlm@90
|
176 infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple of
|
rlm@90
|
177 times.
|
rlm@90
|
178
|
rlm@90
|
179 - cryo-evolution :: perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a
|
rlm@90
|
180 symbiotic bacterial organism that could protect
|
rlm@90
|
181 human tissues from freezing damage.
|
rlm@90
|
182
|
rlm@87
|
183 - suicide parasite :: sometimes, people kill themselves for no good
|
rlm@87
|
184 reason. We often explain this with things like "hidden
|
rlm@87
|
185 depression" or we say that they had something like chronic jaw or
|
rlm@87
|
186 back pain. I think that smells of rationalization. I don't buy
|
rlm@87
|
187 it. I propose that in many suicide cases there is a disease that
|
rlm@88
|
188 causes the suicidal behavior. We already know that certain
|
rlm@87
|
189 parasites have mind-bending properties in other animals, even
|
rlm@87
|
190 mammals like mice. It's not much of a stretch to imagine a
|
rlm@88
|
191 parasite that causes suicides in humans. Some problems:
|
rlm@87
|
192 - What does the suicide parasite get out of it? :: This might be
|
rlm@87
|
193 answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by
|
rlm@87
|
194 cross-species contamination. Toxoplasma works this way.
|
rlm@88
|
195 - What predictions does a disease model make :: suicide should
|
rlm@88
|
196 be more common among people who share a contagion
|
rlm@88
|
197 vector. There should be suicides that don't make any
|
rlm@87
|
198 sense : people who weren't really depressed, who had no
|
rlm@87
|
199 reason to kill themselves. People who have killed themselves
|
rlm@87
|
200 should have a higher incidence of some unknown parasite in
|
rlm@87
|
201 their brains.
|
rlm@86
|
202
|
rlm@89
|
203 - domestic insects :: People should eat more bugs because they're much
|
rlm@89
|
204 more efficient, so why not do some major domestication research
|
rlm@94
|
205 to make very appealing bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be
|
rlm@94
|
206 excellent targets for domestication because they have extreme
|
rlm@94
|
207 levels of genetic malleability.
|
rlm@87
|
208
|
rlm@87
|
209 - birth-clones :: What if each person was intentionally split at birth
|
rlm@87
|
210 into a normal embryo and a few "backup" cells which
|
rlm@87
|
211 is then frozen. The backup cells are created just
|
rlm@87
|
212 the same way as natural identical twins. The backups
|
rlm@88
|
213 can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it
|
rlm@87
|
214 would be a good sci fi concept, because you could
|
rlm@87
|
215 have a culture where people reward people who were
|
rlm@87
|
216 especially awesome are "reborn" from their
|
rlm@88
|
217 backups. Imagine having a young Bach every
|
rlm@87
|
218 generation, etc.
|
rlm@86
|
219
|
rlm@94
|
220 - pronunciation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and
|
rlm@94
|
221 it returns a simple, English sentence describing exactly how to
|
rlm@84
|
222 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA.
|
rlm@86
|
223
|
rlm@87
|
224 - cortex-search :: use the repertoire of actions learned to limit the
|
rlm@87
|
225 search space of possible actions.
|
rlm@87
|
226
|
rlm@83
|
227 - learning to teleport :: scifi idea, this is a story about a person
|
rlm@83
|
228 who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about
|
rlm@83
|
229 teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a
|
rlm@83
|
230 member of that society (after all, the difference between animals
|
rlm@83
|
231 and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while
|
rlm@83
|
232 animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the
|
rlm@83
|
233 stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then
|
rlm@83
|
234 eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping
|
rlm@83
|
235 off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not do/ for
|
rlm@83
|
236 a long time), etc.
|
rlm@83
|
237
|
rlm@87
|
238 - no-float-ice :: cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice
|
rlm@87
|
239 forms. Then when you drink liquid from the glass,
|
rlm@87
|
240 the ice stays at the bottom and doesn't hit your
|
rlm@87
|
241 lips. For bars and fancy things.
|
rlm@87
|
242
|
rlm@82
|
243 - bitcoins for immigrants :: A common case with Mexican immigrants
|
rlm@82
|
244 (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned
|
rlm@82
|
245 in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this
|
rlm@82
|
246 through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get
|
rlm@82
|
247 fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce
|
rlm@82
|
248 the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't
|
rlm@82
|
249 believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican
|
rlm@82
|
250 immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could
|
rlm@82
|
251 set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts
|
rlm@82
|
252 in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut
|
rlm@82
|
253 them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might
|
rlm@82
|
254 be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is
|
rlm@82
|
255 great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
|
rlm@82
|
256
|
rlm@81
|
257 - reverse eye-tracking :: A painting that is actually a digital screen
|
rlm@82
|
258 with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's
|
rlm@81
|
259 "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you
|
rlm@81
|
260 look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you
|
rlm@81
|
261 look at it, recording where /you/ looked forever for others to
|
rlm@81
|
262 see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the
|
rlm@81
|
263 breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males
|
rlm@81
|
264 passing by.
|
rlm@81
|
265
|
rlm@80
|
266 - smart toilets :: Instead of using indirect measures like infrared
|
rlm@80
|
267 detectors of the presence of a person, use computer
|
rlm@80
|
268 vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs
|
rlm@80
|
269 to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up
|
rlm@80
|
270 going this way as we get better computer vision.
|
rlm@80
|
271
|
rlm@77
|
272 - validate chemopreservation :: chemopreservation is difficult to
|
rlm@77
|
273 validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and
|
rlm@77
|
274 brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a
|
rlm@77
|
275 technology. However, one very powerful way to validate
|
rlm@77
|
276 chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
|
rlm@77
|
277 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution
|
rlm@80
|
278 to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
|
rlm@80
|
279 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
|
rlm@77
|
280 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
|
rlm@77
|
281
|
rlm@75
|
282 - candy screw :: edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw
|
rlm@75
|
283 as well.
|
rlm@76
|
284
|
rlm@74
|
285 - better bibliography :: when writing a thesis or paper, have the
|
rlm@80
|
286 bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it
|
rlm@74
|
287 be a list of /summaries/ and /qualities/ that each paper has in
|
rlm@80
|
288 the context of the paper being written. When examining a
|
rlm@80
|
289 bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the
|
rlm@74
|
290 bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also
|
rlm@74
|
291 interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the
|
rlm@74
|
292 paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to
|
rlm@74
|
293 provide information about the referenced papers from the
|
rlm@80
|
294 author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own
|
rlm@74
|
295 thesis.
|
rlm@74
|
296
|
rlm@73
|
297 - digital inter-library loan :: libraries at universities already do
|
rlm@80
|
298 inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access
|
rlm@73
|
299 to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could
|
rlm@73
|
300 allow access to articles for registered students to all the files
|
rlm@73
|
301 available through any participating university. This could be
|
rlm@73
|
302 achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating
|
rlm@73
|
303 universities. Each university would decide who at the university
|
rlm@73
|
304 can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could
|
rlm@73
|
305 be made easy using something like http://libx.org/.
|
rlm@73
|
306
|
rlm@72
|
307 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered
|
rlm@72
|
308 by computers, show two people playing chess in a
|
rlm@72
|
309 void. They are floating in space, and there is a
|
rlm@72
|
310 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,
|
rlm@72
|
311 the game tree's they are considering are drawn
|
rlm@72
|
312 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in
|
rlm@72
|
313 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the
|
rlm@72
|
314 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the
|
rlm@72
|
315 dividing plane between the two players. Each
|
rlm@72
|
316 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,
|
rlm@72
|
317 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,
|
rlm@72
|
318 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,
|
rlm@72
|
319 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long
|
rlm@72
|
320 chain, while the computer tree would be more
|
rlm@72
|
321 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern
|
rlm@72
|
322 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!
|
rlm@72
|
323
|
rlm@71
|
324 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of
|
rlm@71
|
325 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time
|
rlm@73
|
326 server, a key for each time period, something like that.
|
rlm@71
|
327
|
rlm@70
|
328 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars
|
rlm@70
|
329 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they
|
rlm@70
|
330 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area
|
rlm@70
|
331 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design
|
rlm@70
|
332 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar
|
rlm@70
|
333 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins
|
rlm@70
|
334 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have
|
rlm@70
|
335 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be
|
rlm@70
|
336 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which
|
rlm@70
|
337 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the
|
rlm@70
|
338 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and
|
rlm@70
|
339 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing
|
rlm@70
|
340 it's authenticity.
|
rlm@70
|
341
|
rlm@68
|
342 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.
|
rlm@68
|
343
|
rlm@86
|
344 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and
|
rlm@86
|
345 see if I could implement touch as a very low range
|
rlm@86
|
346 form of vision.
|
rlm@86
|
347
|
rlm@67
|
348 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The
|
rlm@67
|
349 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational
|
rlm@67
|
350 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's
|
rlm@67
|
351 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they
|
rlm@67
|
352 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's
|
rlm@67
|
353 neat because for any given school, /g/ is probably *not* exactly
|
rlm@67
|
354 equal to 9.81, because that is just an average!
|
rlm@67
|
355
|
rlm@67
|
356 - opencourseware subtitles :: there are ladies who type up lectures
|
rlm@67
|
357 while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and
|
rlm@67
|
358 given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are
|
rlm@67
|
359 recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.
|
rlm@67
|
360
|
rlm@66
|
361 - screen locking timing :: you use your computer camera to see if you
|
rlm@66
|
362 are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen
|
rlm@66
|
363 will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a
|
rlm@67
|
364 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to
|
rlm@66
|
365 initiate the countdown, just with more information.
|
rlm@66
|
366
|
rlm@66
|
367 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead
|
rlm@67
|
368 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a
|
rlm@66
|
369 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion
|
rlm@66
|
370 system works.
|
rlm@66
|
371
|
rlm@80
|
372 - test dummies :: why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to
|
rlm@62
|
373 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It
|
rlm@62
|
374 would be ethical as long as there are women who are
|
rlm@62
|
375 willing to host the clones, and it would be a
|
rlm@67
|
376 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I
|
rlm@62
|
377 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is
|
rlm@67
|
378 suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout
|
rlm@62
|
379 more advanced technology.
|
rlm@62
|
380
|
rlm@62
|
381 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient
|
rlm@62
|
382 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into
|
rlm@62
|
383 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system
|
rlm@80
|
384 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
|
rlm@67
|
385 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
|
rlm@62
|
386 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage
|
rlm@62
|
387 and surgery risk could be minimized.
|
rlm@62
|
388
|
rlm@62
|
389 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you
|
rlm@62
|
390 replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the
|
rlm@62
|
391 physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the
|
rlm@62
|
392 vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells,
|
rlm@62
|
393 or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to
|
rlm@62
|
394 retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during
|
rlm@62
|
395 perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses
|
rlm@62
|
396 superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by
|
rlm@67
|
397 superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to
|
rlm@62
|
398 simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid
|
rlm@62
|
399 instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.
|
rlm@51
|
400
|
rlm@59
|
401 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by
|
rlm@67
|
402 making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,
|
rlm@59
|
403 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really
|
rlm@59
|
404 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the
|
rlm@59
|
405 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective
|
rlm@59
|
406 guessing.
|
rlm@59
|
407
|
rlm@67
|
408 - Intestinal flora maintenance :: why not inoculate babies at birth
|
rlm@59
|
409 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they
|
rlm@59
|
410 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient
|
rlm@67
|
411 extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts
|
rlm@94
|
412 not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might help to
|
rlm@91
|
413 preventatively stop some forms of /colic/, which affects 1 in 5
|
rlm@94
|
414 babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5 weeks.
|
rlm@59
|
415
|
rlm@56
|
416 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people
|
rlm@56
|
417 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover
|
rlm@56
|
418 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular
|
rlm@56
|
419 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the
|
rlm@56
|
420 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like
|
rlm@67
|
421 bit-torrent for websites.
|
rlm@56
|
422
|
rlm@56
|
423 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that
|
rlm@56
|
424 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up
|
rlm@67
|
425 into each calling function to get the full range of behavior
|
rlm@56
|
426 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a
|
rlm@67
|
427 compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic
|
rlm@67
|
428 variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the
|
rlm@56
|
429 advantages of making a programming language where every function
|
rlm@67
|
430 receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol
|
rlm@56
|
431 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all
|
rlm@56
|
432 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on
|
rlm@56
|
433 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,
|
rlm@56
|
434 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.
|
rlm@56
|
435
|
rlm@55
|
436 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when
|
rlm@55
|
437 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine
|
rlm@55
|
438 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an
|
rlm@55
|
439 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say
|
rlm@55
|
440 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
|
rlm@55
|
441 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90
|
rlm@55
|
442 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon
|
rlm@55
|
443 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be
|
rlm@55
|
444 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
|
rlm@55
|
445
|
rlm@50
|
446 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
|
rlm@50
|
447 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
|
rlm@50
|
448 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
|
rlm@80
|
449 super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some
|
rlm@80
|
450 losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
|
rlm@50
|
451 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
|
rlm@50
|
452 image.
|
rlm@50
|
453
|
rlm@47
|
454 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
|
rlm@42
|
455 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
|
rlm@42
|
456 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
|
rlm@42
|
457 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
|
rlm@47
|
458 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
|
rlm@42
|
459 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
|
rlm@38
|
460
|
rlm@67
|
461 - dilated security camera :: a security camera that would capture
|
rlm@58
|
462 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep
|
rlm@58
|
463 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something
|
rlm@58
|
464 "interesting" happening.
|
rlm@58
|
465
|
rlm@40
|
466 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
|
rlm@40
|
467 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
|
rlm@40
|
468 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
|
rlm@40
|
469 from anywhere.
|
rlm@40
|
470
|
rlm@40
|
471 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
|
rlm@40
|
472 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
|
rlm@47
|
473 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would
|
rlm@47
|
474 be automatically split up to every person who has ever
|
rlm@40
|
475 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
|
rlm@40
|
476 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
|
rlm@47
|
477 community decides. This might make it possible for
|
rlm@40
|
478 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
|
rlm@40
|
479
|
rlm@45
|
480 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated
|
rlm@45
|
481 distributed computing API.
|
rlm@41
|
482
|
rlm@40
|
483 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
|
rlm@40
|
484 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
|
rlm@40
|
485 say, and you can encode useful information into the
|
rlm@40
|
486 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
|
rlm@40
|
487 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
|
rlm@42
|
488 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
|
rlm@40
|
489 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
|
rlm@40
|
490 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
|
rlm@40
|
491 object respectively.
|
rlm@40
|
492
|
rlm@40
|
493 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
|
rlm@40
|
494 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
|
rlm@40
|
495 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
|
rlm@40
|
496 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
|
rlm@40
|
497 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
|
rlm@40
|
498 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
|
rlm@47
|
499 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good
|
rlm@40
|
500 presets.
|
rlm@40
|
501
|
rlm@47
|
502 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning
|
rlm@40
|
503 might be the mirror neurons.
|
rlm@40
|
504
|
rlm@47
|
505 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid
|
rlm@40
|
506 copies.
|
rlm@40
|
507
|
rlm@41
|
508 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
|
rlm@41
|
509 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
|
rlm@41
|
510
|
rlm@40
|
511 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
|
rlm@40
|
512 one to wear the towel more securely than just
|
rlm@40
|
513 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
|
rlm@40
|
514
|
rlm@47
|
515 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to
|
rlm@44
|
516 wear a burka.
|
rlm@41
|
517
|
rlm@40
|
518 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
|
rlm@40
|
519 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
|
rlm@93
|
520 references. For example, if "Rachael" was assigned the
|
rlm@93
|
521 color red, and "the blonde haired girl" refers to
|
rlm@93
|
522 "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be
|
rlm@93
|
523 colored red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part
|
rlm@93
|
524 run-on sentences by highlighting each
|
rlm@93
|
525 subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications to
|
rlm@93
|
526 scientific reading.
|
rlm@40
|
527
|
rlm@40
|
528 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
|
rlm@47
|
529 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
|
rlm@40
|
530 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
|
rlm@40
|
531 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
|
rlm@40
|
532 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
|
rlm@40
|
533
|
rlm@40
|
534 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
|
rlm@40
|
535 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
|
rlm@40
|
536 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
|
rlm@40
|
537
|
rlm@40
|
538 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
|
rlm@47
|
539 continuous.
|
rlm@40
|
540
|
rlm@40
|
541 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
|
rlm@40
|
542 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
|
rlm@40
|
543 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
|
rlm@47
|
544 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of
|
rlm@40
|
545 the laser.
|
rlm@40
|
546
|
rlm@40
|
547 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
|
rlm@40
|
548 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
|
rlm@40
|
549 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
|
rlm@40
|
550 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
|
rlm@40
|
551 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
|
rlm@40
|
552 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
|
rlm@40
|
553
|
rlm@47
|
554 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains
|
rlm@40
|
555 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
|
rlm@47
|
556 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
|
rlm@40
|
557 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
|
rlm@40
|
558 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
|
rlm@40
|
559 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
|
rlm@47
|
560 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
|
rlm@40
|
561 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
|
rlm@40
|
562 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
|
rlm@47
|
563 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can
|
rlm@40
|
564 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
|
rlm@47
|
565 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the
|
rlm@47
|
566 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the
|
rlm@40
|
567 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
|
rlm@40
|
568 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
|
rlm@47
|
569 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is
|
rlm@40
|
570 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
|
rlm@47
|
571 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the
|
rlm@40
|
572 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
|
rlm@40
|
573 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
|
rlm@40
|
574 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
|
rlm@40
|
575
|
rlm@40
|
576 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
|
rlm@40
|
577 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
|
rlm@40
|
578 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
|
rlm@40
|
579 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
|
rlm@40
|
580 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
|
rlm@40
|
581 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
|
rlm@40
|
582 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
|
rlm@40
|
583 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
|
rlm@40
|
584 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
|
rlm@47
|
585 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the
|
rlm@47
|
586 lens of the the caterpillar people.
|
rlm@40
|
587
|
rlm@46
|
588 - 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
|
589 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business
|
rlm@46
|
590 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their
|
rlm@47
|
591 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni
|
rlm@46
|
592 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied
|
rlm@46
|
593 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might
|
rlm@46
|
594 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with
|
rlm@46
|
595 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and
|
rlm@46
|
596 how they worked out.
|
rlm@43
|
597
|
rlm@47
|
598 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
|
rlm@43
|
599 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
|
rlm@43
|
600 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
|
rlm@43
|
601 with recursion!
|
rlm@43
|
602
|
rlm@43
|
603 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
|
rlm@43
|
604 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
|
rlm@43
|
605 difficult to move with telekinesis.
|
rlm@43
|
606
|
rlm@40
|
607 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
|
rlm@40
|
608 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
|
rlm@40
|
609 automated.
|
rlm@40
|
610
|
rlm@44
|
611 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
|
rlm@44
|
612 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
|
rlm@44
|
613 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
|
rlm@44
|
614 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
|
rlm@33
|
615
|
rlm@33
|
616 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
|
rlm@32
|
617 power/logic.
|
rlm@32
|
618
|
rlm@47
|
619 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of
|
rlm@44
|
620 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
|
rlm@32
|
621
|
rlm@44
|
622 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
|
rlm@44
|
623 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
|
rlm@44
|
624 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
|
rlm@44
|
625 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
|
rlm@44
|
626 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
|
rlm@44
|
627 by the sensor array).
|
rlm@32
|
628
|
rlm@33
|
629 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
|
rlm@83
|
630 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared
|
rlm@32
|
631 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
|
rlm@32
|
632 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
|
rlm@32
|
633 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
|
rlm@32
|
634 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
|
rlm@47
|
635 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
|
rlm@47
|
636 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
|
rlm@32
|
637 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
|
rlm@47
|
638 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
|
rlm@32
|
639 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
|
rlm@32
|
640
|
rlm@39
|
641 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
|
rlm@39
|
642 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
|
rlm@32
|
643
|
rlm@39
|
644 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
|
rlm@39
|
645 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
|
rlm@54
|
646 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
|
rlm@32
|
647
|
rlm@47
|
648 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
|
rlm@32
|
649
|
rlm@44
|
650 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
|
rlm@44
|
651 except for real world transactions
|
rlm@32
|
652
|
rlm@33
|
653 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
|
rlm@33
|
654 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
|
rlm@33
|
655
|
rlm@47
|
656 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead
|
rlm@47
|
657 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank
|
rlm@33
|
658 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
|
rlm@33
|
659 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
|
rlm@33
|
660 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
|
rlm@33
|
661
|
rlm@47
|
662 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate
|
rlm@33
|
663 fluids with different index of refraction
|
rlm@33
|
664
|
rlm@33
|
665 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
|
rlm@33
|
666 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
|
rlm@33
|
667 certain direction.
|
rlm@33
|
668
|
rlm@44
|
669 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
|
rlm@44
|
670 properties.
|
rlm@32
|
671
|
rlm@53
|
672 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
|
rlm@53
|
673
|
rlm@82
|
674 - Rod of Moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
|
rlm@53
|
675 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
|
rlm@53
|
676 produce drinkable water.
|
rlm@32
|
677
|
rlm@47
|
678 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
|
rlm@44
|
679 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
|
rlm@44
|
680 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
|
rlm@44
|
681 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
|
rlm@32
|
682
|
rlm@47
|
683 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,
|
rlm@44
|
684 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
|
rlm@44
|
685 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
|
rlm@34
|
686
|
rlm@34
|
687 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
|
rlm@34
|
688 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
|
rlm@34
|
689
|
rlm@44
|
690 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
|
rlm@44
|
691 that it can conduct electricity.
|
rlm@34
|
692
|
rlm@44
|
693 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
|
rlm@44
|
694 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
|
rlm@44
|
695 made, for example.
|
rlm@34
|
696
|
rlm@44
|
697 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
|
rlm@34
|
698
|
rlm@47
|
699 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
|
rlm@44
|
700 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
|
rlm@44
|
701 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
|
rlm@44
|
702 to different connections.
|
rlm@34
|
703
|
rlm@47
|
704 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the
|
rlm@44
|
705 nerves of the ear
|
rlm@43
|
706
|
rlm@43
|
707 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
|
rlm@43
|
708 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
|
rlm@43
|
709 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
|
rlm@47
|
710 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
|
rlm@34
|
711
|
rlm@47
|
712 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in
|
rlm@34
|
713 various ways.
|
rlm@34
|
714
|
rlm@34
|
715 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
|
rlm@34
|
716
|
rlm@47
|
717 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
|
rlm@43
|
718 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
|
rlm@43
|
719 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
|
rlm@43
|
720 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
|
rlm@43
|
721 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
|
rlm@34
|
722
|
rlm@40
|
723 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
|
rlm@34
|
724 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
|
rlm@34
|
725 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
|
rlm@34
|
726 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
|
rlm@34
|
727 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
|
rlm@34
|
728 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
|
rlm@47
|
729 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their
|
rlm@34
|
730 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
|
rlm@34
|
731 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
|
rlm@34
|
732
|
rlm@47
|
733 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via
|
rlm@44
|
734 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
|
rlm@44
|
735 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
|
rlm@35
|
736
|
rlm@44
|
737 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
|
rlm@44
|
738 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
|
rlm@35
|
739
|
rlm@44
|
740 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
|
rlm@47
|
741 one part the aluminum.
|
rlm@34
|
742
|
rlm@44
|
743 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
|
rlm@44
|
744 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
|
rlm@44
|
745 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
|
rlm@44
|
746 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
|
rlm@44
|
747 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
|
rlm@44
|
748 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
|
rlm@44
|
749 interesting parts.
|
rlm@34
|
750
|
rlm@44
|
751 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
|
rlm@44
|
752 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
|
rlm@44
|
753 sword.
|
rlm@32
|
754
|
rlm@44
|
755 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
|
rlm@44
|
756 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
|
rlm@44
|
757 without any metal at all!
|
rlm@32
|
758
|
rlm@44
|
759 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
|
rlm@32
|
760
|
rlm@44
|
761 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
|
rlm@44
|
762 actual DNA
|
rlm@32
|
763
|
rlm@44
|
764 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
|
rlm@44
|
765 generator to make electricity
|
rlm@32
|
766
|
rlm@44
|
767 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
|
rlm@32
|
768
|
rlm@44
|
769 - folding razor blade sword ::
|
rlm@32
|
770
|
rlm@44
|
771 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
|
rlm@44
|
772 combination (sight or touch)
|
rlm@32
|
773
|
rlm@44
|
774 - kaleidoscope projector ::
|
rlm@32
|
775
|
rlm@44
|
776 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
|
rlm@32
|
777
|
rlm@44
|
778 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
|
rlm@32
|
779
|
rlm@47
|
780 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
|
rlm@44
|
781 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
|
rlm@44
|
782 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
|
rlm@44
|
783 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
|
rlm@44
|
784 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
|
rlm@44
|
785 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
|
rlm@32
|
786
|
rlm@44
|
787 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
|
rlm@44
|
788 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
|
rlm@32
|
789
|
rlm@44
|
790 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
|
rlm@44
|
791 robustly.
|
rlm@32
|
792
|
rlm@47
|
793 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)
|
rlm@32
|
794
|
rlm@44
|
795 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
|
rlm@44
|
796 generating hypothetical examples
|
rlm@32
|
797
|
rlm@47
|
798 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
|
rlm@44
|
799 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
|
rlm@44
|
800 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
|
rlm@44
|
801 temperature on volatility?
|
rlm@32
|
802
|
rlm@35
|
803 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
|
rlm@35
|
804 metals or something else economically advantageous.
|
rlm@32
|
805
|
rlm@47
|
806 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless
|
rlm@44
|
807 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
|
rlm@44
|
808 preservation
|
rlm@32
|
809
|
rlm@47
|
810 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
|
rlm@47
|
811 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
|
rlm@47
|
812 refrigeration.
|
rlm@32
|
813
|
rlm@47
|
814 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter
|
rlm@44
|
815 of course -- make ambiance much better.
|
rlm@32
|
816
|
rlm@47
|
817 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant
|
rlm@44
|
818 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
|
rlm@44
|
819 to clean windows of buildings.
|
rlm@32
|
820
|
rlm@44
|
821 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
|
rlm@32
|
822
|
rlm@35
|
823 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
|
rlm@47
|
824 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the
|
rlm@35
|
825 human's energy?
|
rlm@32
|
826
|
rlm@44
|
827 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
|
rlm@44
|
828 you / sell it from your own online store.
|
rlm@35
|
829
|
rlm@44
|
830 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
|
rlm@43
|
831
|
rlm@35
|
832 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
|
rlm@43
|
833 people, binding them to environment, etc.
|
rlm@35
|
834
|
rlm@35
|
835 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
|
rlm@35
|
836 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
|
rlm@35
|
837 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
|
rlm@43
|
838 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
|
rlm@35
|
839 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
|
rlm@32
|
840
|
rlm@44
|
841 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
|
rlm@44
|
842 scroll wheel
|
rlm@32
|
843
|
rlm@47
|
844 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
|
rlm@44
|
845 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
|
rlm@32
|
846
|
rlm@47
|
847 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site
|
rlm@32
|
848
|
rlm@44
|
849 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
|
rlm@32
|
850
|
rlm@36
|
851 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
|
rlm@36
|
852 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
|
rlm@36
|
853 itself changes? those memories would become
|
rlm@47
|
854 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember
|
rlm@36
|
855 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
|
rlm@47
|
856 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from
|
rlm@36
|
857 his childhood?
|
rlm@32
|
858
|
rlm@47
|
859 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display
|
rlm@36
|
860 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
|
rlm@36
|
861 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
|
rlm@36
|
862 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
|
rlm@36
|
863 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
|
rlm@36
|
864 inductive charging and data transfer.
|
rlm@32
|
865
|
rlm@44
|
866 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
|
rlm@44
|
867 it too)
|
rlm@32
|
868
|
rlm@44
|
869 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
|
rlm@44
|
870 lecture
|
rlm@32
|
871
|
rlm@40
|
872 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
|
rlm@40
|
873 makes sparkles!
|
rlm@32
|
874
|
rlm@44
|
875 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
|
rlm@44
|
876 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
|
rlm@44
|
877 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
|
rlm@44
|
878 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
|
rlm@32
|
879
|
rlm@44
|
880 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
|
rlm@44
|
881 surface tension to make the "third"
|
rlm@44
|
882 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
|
rlm@44
|
883 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
|
rlm@44
|
884 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
|
rlm@44
|
885 and a double-cone)
|
rlm@38
|
886
|
rlm@38
|
887 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
|
rlm@38
|
888 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
|
rlm@38
|
889 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
|
rlm@38
|
890 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
|
rlm@38
|
891 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
|
rlm@40
|
892 knowledge. /One./
|
rlm@40
|
893
|
rlm@40
|
894 ** From Jacob's idea list
|
rlm@40
|
895
|
rlm@47
|
896 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
|
rlm@43
|
897 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
|
rlm@40
|
898 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
|
rlm@40
|
899 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
|
rlm@40
|
900 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
|
rlm@40
|
901 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
|
rlm@40
|
902
|
rlm@40
|
903 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
|
rlm@40
|
904 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
|
rlm@40
|
905
|
rlm@40
|
906 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
|
rlm@41
|
907 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)
|