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author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Sat, 18 Apr 2015 13:49:58 -0700
parents f5a56e2241fb
children 111bd9aa499a
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@147 22 - AI hypnosis :: hypnosis might be good for studying AI, becuse it
rlm@147 23 might probide a "debugger" for ananlyzing the human mind. I
rlm@147 24 briefly tried this while at MIT, but it needs MUCH more work to
rlm@147 25 be properly evaulated.
rlm@147 26
rlm@145 27 - becomming alive :: upload faces challenges to grow into they type of
rlm@145 28 person that can join the greater society -- a god. They have to
rlm@145 29 go though quests that replicate all the things that humanity had
rlm@147 30 to accomplish, like going to the moon, by themselves, in a
rlm@147 31 virtual world where they cannot die and never get tired.
rlm@145 32
rlm@145 33 - population distorted map of USA :: to see states sizes in terms of #
rlm@145 34 of people. (already exists!
rlm@145 35 http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cart/doc/)
rlm@145 36
rlm@145 37 - butterfly drone :: if big butterflies used to exist, then maybe we
rlm@145 38 could make butterfly-inspired drones!
rlm@145 39
rlm@145 40 - methylation sex symmetry breaking :: So, human cells have
rlm@145 41 methylation patterns that encode male/female origin. If you
rlm@145 42 combine two male patterns, the fetus grows "too fast" and
rlm@145 43 dies. Two female patterns causes the fetus to enter a "vegatable"
rlm@145 44 state and fail to develop. Evolutionary biologists will say that
rlm@145 45 this reflects the asymmetry of energy investement for creating
rlm@145 46 offspring. If that's true, then species that cast-spawn will lack
rlm@145 47 this symmetry, and give clues about how to remove it in
rlm@145 48 humans. If even cast spawners like sea urchins have it, then that
rlm@145 49 means there's something deeper going on!
rlm@145 50
rlm@145 51 - reverse cannulation perfusion :: you put the organ you want to
rlm@145 52 perfuse in an airtight chamber with a pool of the stuff you want
rlm@145 53 to perfuse. You cannulate some veins and lead tubes form to
rlm@145 54 outside of the chamber. You pump in air and perfusate, and the
rlm@145 55 increasing air pressure in the chamber forces perfusate through
rlm@145 56 the organ. For times when you don't want to cannulate the inputs
rlm@145 57 -- they can be ragged, or there can be many of them. You still
rlm@145 58 have to guide the veins to the outside of the chamber, but
rlm@145 59 depending on the use case this might be far easier than
rlm@145 60 tradational cannulation.
rlm@145 61
rlm@145 62 - very slow physiological pressure perfusion :: less extreme example
rlm@145 63 of the "pausing" trick -- just keep the perfusion running and
rlm@145 64 don't put the perfusion target into the liquid as deep.
rlm@145 65
rlm@141 66 - whole brain perfusion embedding :: Do the standard EM embedding
rlm@141 67 protocol, but skip the osmium step, and use the "perfusion
rlm@141 68 pausing" method to prevent overextraction during the dehydration
rlm@141 69 and embedding steps. I think that you CAN perfuse resins into the
rlm@141 70 brain, simply because you CAN perfuse viscous rubber when doing
rlm@141 71 vascular casts.
rlm@141 72
rlm@141 73 - perfusion pausing :: One problem with doing perfusion is that if you
rlm@141 74 STOP the perfusion, you rapidly loose pressure in the organ as
rlm@141 75 your perfusate leaks out. You can prevent this by submerging the
rlm@141 76 organ/head/rat whatever in FLUID at the appropriate level. Use
rlm@141 77 something inert like flurocarbon to avoid problems. You would
rlm@141 78 have to slowly decrease the flow rate while simultaneously
rlm@141 79 lowering the perfusing object into the fluid. To start again,
rlm@141 80 reverse the process -- reengage the peristaltic pump slowly while
rlm@141 81 removing the organ from the fluid.
rlm@141 82
rlm@141 83 - evoultionary textbook mimiricy :: as surgery becomes more common,
rlm@141 84 there develops a distinct selective pressure for individuals
rlm@141 85 organ layout to look more like the medical textbooks! :P
rlm@141 86
rlm@141 87 - transparent skin :: temporary / permament transparent skin. Allows
rlm@141 88 for examination of organs / muscles and visual prevention of
rlm@141 89 disease and detection or abnormalities / good things
rlm@141 90 eg. excercise.
rlm@141 91
rlm@141 92 - sweet information :: candy with a whole book written in it. Eat a
rlm@141 93 book!
rlm@141 94
rlm@141 95 - targeted immunosuppressant :: just kill off the B-cells and friends
rlm@141 96 that would cause problems in a organ-transplant / other
rlm@141 97 situation. AIDS is good at killing these cells -- maybe make it
rlm@141 98 just target the ones that will cause problems. Then you can
rlm@141 99 premptively kill off that part of someone's immune system before
rlm@141 100 a transplant. ALSO, you can kill off everyone's defenses against
rlm@141 101 other blood types and make people effectively type AB+ w.r.t
rlm@141 102 blood transfusions. Actually, why not give babies this treatment
rlm@141 103 so that they're automatically compatable with all blood types?
rlm@141 104 The immune system has this already when it's first growing; maybe
rlm@141 105 it can be "retrained" to accept new things, or the mechanism of
rlm@141 106 immune cell death be co-opted for these purposes.
rlm@141 107
rlm@141 108 - fuck you tetris :: tetris that actively gives you the worst possible piece.
rlm@141 109
rlm@140 110 - pockets :: more things should have them!
rlm@140 111
rlm@140 112 - colored shower head :: a shower head add on that measures the temp
rlm@140 113 of the water and changes the color of the water streams w/ an LED
rlm@140 114 to show you the temperature. That way you can align to the color
rlm@140 115 you want and see the temperature without feeling it.
rlm@140 116
rlm@140 117 - giant dragonflies :: we could rapidly MAKE giant dragonflies by
rlm@140 118 evolving modern dragonflies in an very oxygen rich environment!
rlm@140 119
rlm@140 120 - anesthetic surgery courtesty video :: as a matter of courtesy,
rlm@140 121 whenever you go under anesthetic, the doctors should provide you
rlm@140 122 with a video of the surgery / recovery after you are concious
rlm@140 123 again. The recording should begin about 3 minutes before
rlm@140 124 anesthetic, and continue until both you and the docor agree to
rlm@140 125 stop recording, or you leave the hospital.
rlm@140 126
rlm@140 127 - whirlpool of light :: shine a laser out into space. But the planet
rlm@140 128 is spinning! What you get is a spiral or light! And as this
rlm@140 129 signal expands, does it eventually reveal it's wuantized nature?
rlm@140 130
rlm@140 131 - perfusion coking :: EOM
rlm@140 132
rlm@140 133 - timestamp verification :: you sign your message, and it has a
rlm@140 134 timestamp at the top, with a +- percision number. Then you send
rlm@140 135 it over to the public timestamp server, which only signs the
rlm@140 136 message if it gets the message within the timestamp window. Or
rlm@140 137 the computer just signs the message but puts a timestamp at the
rlm@140 138 beginning. So if everyone trusts the timestamp server, you can
rlm@140 139 get reliable timestamps, and prove priority on ideas, etc.
rlm@140 140
rlm@139 141 - the great computing slow-down :: in general, our computers are
rlm@139 142 getting faster and faster. However, eventually our brains will be
rlm@139 143 made of the same stuff our computers are made of! This has very
rlm@139 144 interesting consequences -- I can add 2+2 and get four in about a
rlm@139 145 second. Since my neurons actually work at around 10-60 hertz in
rlm@139 146 parallel, this means that it takes me around 10-30 operations to
rlm@139 147 do this addition. That's actually not bad in terms of computing
rlm@139 148 time. If my neurons were as fast as the latest transitors, then
rlm@139 149 most calculators would be SLOWER than me at adding numbers. Only
rlm@139 150 the newest, most optimized calculators would be faster, and then
rlm@139 151 only about 10 times faster! This means that once we begin to
rlm@139 152 think at the speed of our technology, that technology will
rlm@139 153 suddenly seem pitifully slow in comparison to how it seems
rlm@139 154 now. And no amount of technical progress will remedy it, because
rlm@139 155 that same progress will also make us all think faster. We'll
rlm@139 156 either have to settle with living in "slow time" to do some
rlm@139 157 computations, or learn to make smarter hardware with special
rlm@139 158 optimizations. But this is actually really hard, because we'll be
rlm@139 159 working with machines that will appear to us about as fast as
rlm@139 160 MECHANICAL computers. So, in the future, all the cool parties
rlm@139 161 will be in cyperspace at vastly accelerated speeds compared to
rlm@139 162 how we exist now. But at these parties, the computers will SUCK!
rlm@139 163 Of course, this is one of the few things that can save us from AI
rlm@139 164 risk, because those AI's won't seem so scary when the're build
rlm@139 165 out of rickety mechanical parts form our perspective.
rlm@139 166
rlm@142 167 - unitary reverse evolution of chaos+minds :: Chaotic systems diverge
rlm@139 168 exponentially in state space. Do you get anything interesting
rlm@139 169 when part of the physical system associated with the chaotic
rlm@139 170 system is a object that performs some sort of computation? Is it
rlm@139 171 possible for the computational system to play a
rlm@139 172 percision-enabling role in determining the final/initial
rlm@139 173 conditions of the chaotic system, just by tracing out thoughts in
rlm@139 174 its decision paths? This is probably too vague of an idea right
rlm@139 175 now, I just wanted to write it down.
rlm@139 176
rlm@138 177 - microwave time :: the cooking time you enter on most microwaves is
rlm@138 178 insane. It's expressed in what I call a "hybrid base", a
rlm@138 179 combination of base 10 and base 60. You can get absurd things
rlm@138 180 like 100 < 61, and 120 == 80! I wonder if these hybrid base
rlm@138 181 systems could be very useful for some purposes!
rlm@138 182
rlm@138 183 - three-eyes :: if you had three eyes, would you still draw cubes like
rlm@138 184 we currently draw them? Or would all 2D-representations of 3D
rlm@138 185 space always look hopelessly fake?
rlm@138 186
rlm@138 187 - visual taste/smell assay :: get a grid of bacteria, each expressing
rlm@138 188 a human taste/smell receptor linked to some sort of fluorscent
rlm@138 189 activity or ion pump. Use a camera / electrical grid to transduce
rlm@138 190 the smell / taste signal into bits!
rlm@138 191
rlm@138 192 - carabiner mushroom lock :: you can take a trapazodial carabiner and
rlm@138 193 make it so that a chain link is caught between the wide end of
rlm@138 194 the carabiner and another chain attached to the carabiner.
rlm@138 195
rlm@138 196 - children's tool shop :: I think that kids should be provided with
rlm@138 197 tool shops -- these would be nice sheds with a good collection of
rlm@138 198 tools to do various things -- circuit components and soldering
rlm@138 199 irons, wires, a small lathe, drill press, belt sander, a
rlm@138 200 centrifuge, microscope, and telescope, etc. The idea is that the
rlm@138 201 kid can now think, "I could use X to do this thing that I'm
rlm@138 202 thinking about" -- the building becomes an extension of the kid's
rlm@138 203 body & mind.
rlm@138 204
rlm@138 205 - fluid display :: like the previous idea about matching refractances
rlm@138 206 between glass and liquid, except you make a lot of
rlm@138 207 switchable glass tubes in various patterns in the
rlm@138 208 glass, and actively pump colored liquid through the
rlm@138 209 tubes (the tubes have glass-like fluid in them by
rlm@138 210 default.) The result is that you can cause the
rlm@138 211 tubes to appear and dissappear, and vary their
rlm@138 212 colors as well!
rlm@138 213
rlm@137 214 - immunoincompatibility :: take the human genome, and refactor it so
rlm@137 215 that it doesn't use a particular codon at all. Then remove the
rlm@137 216 support from our ribosomes for that codon. What does this do for
rlm@137 217 us? It makes us immune to almost all viruses!
rlm@137 218
rlm@137 219 - life cycle :: it's called a cycle, right? So, the thing that repeats
rlm@137 220 itself over and over, right? Not much of a cycle if
rlm@137 221 you don't come back after you die, if you ask me!
rlm@137 222
rlm@137 223 - car with no blind spots :: use some cameras in the back of the car
rlm@137 224 to augment the rear-view mirror so that you never have to turn
rlm@137 225 around in order to lane change.
rlm@137 226
rlm@137 227 - partial cell death :: you freeze a set of cells using some cryo
rlm@137 228 protocol and 60% survive. How can this be explained? It seems to
rlm@137 229 me that if the cells are the same, and the conditions
rlm@137 230 homogoneous, then all the cells should either die or
rlm@137 231 live. However, suppose that there is a metabolic cycle that needs
rlm@137 232 to be in a certain phase for the cell to survive. If the cells
rlm@137 233 are asynchronous, then you might end up with some cells dying
rlm@137 234 because there were in the wrong part of their cycle. This implies
rlm@137 235 that you might be able to cryoprotect cells by causing them to
rlm@137 236 enter a certain metabolic mode before freezing.
rlm@137 237
rlm@137 238 - cryonics color appeal :: perfusate used by cryonics companies should
rlm@137 239 have red food coloring in it. It's just a nice touch so that the
rlm@137 240 cryonics patient looks more life-like than with clear CPAs, and
rlm@137 241 hopefully might get treated with more respect.
rlm@137 242
rlm@137 243 - paramagnetic CPA :: you take a CPA that can be influenced by
rlm@137 244 magnetic fields so that its degrees of freedom are limited. Then,
rlm@137 245 you release the field, instantaly increasing the size of the
rlm@137 246 state space of the system and dramatically decreasing the
rlm@137 247 temperature enough to plunge the system past homogenous
rlm@137 248 nucleation temperature and directly to the glass transition
rlm@137 249 temperature, creating a doubly unstable glass at much lower CPA
rlm@137 250 concentrations than possible at conventional CPA concentrations.
rlm@137 251
rlm@137 252 - room temp noodles :: how does the physics of cooking noodles work?
rlm@137 253 Could you use a vacuum instead of heat to force water into the
rlm@137 254 noodle?
rlm@137 255
rlm@137 256 - personal carbon offset :: feel bad about contribuiting to global
rlm@137 257 warming by using electricity / driving a car? Forget trying to
rlm@137 258 "conserve" or "minimize your carbon footprint". Follow the
rlm@137 259 Platinum rule -- make the world BETTER off than you found it!
rlm@137 260 This would be a small, self contained system that sucks C02 out
rlm@137 261 of the air. It uses electricity, but it's so efficient at
rlm@137 262 removing CO2 that it more than offsets the CO2 produced by even a
rlm@137 263 coal plant to produce that electricity. This way, you can still
rlm@137 264 drive even a gas guzzler, but have a net negative carbon
rlm@137 265 footprint! Maybe something cool could be done with the carbon as
rlm@137 266 well. Use as much electricity as you want, but negate the damage
rlm@137 267 to the enviroment with more technology.
rlm@137 268
rlm@137 269 - undoing spermogenesis :: with enough sperm, you can derive the
rlm@137 270 donor's entire genome. You gain more confidence in the alleles
rlm@137 271 for a particular gene the more sperm you have. Each additional
rlm@137 272 sperm gives you the same sort of information you'd get flipping a
rlm@137 273 coin and trying to decide whether the coin is H/T of H/H. Is
rlm@137 274 there enough sperm in the the average load for you to be as
rlm@137 275 confident as mitosis?
rlm@137 276
rlm@136 277 - mars life :: we could engineer life that could survive on mars
rlm@136 278 (probably some non-vascular photosynthetic
rlm@136 279 poikilohydric creature like a lichen) by taking an
rlm@136 280 extremophile from Antarctica and evolving it in
rlm@136 281 increasingly Martian conditions. This could be an easy
rlm@136 282 start to a terraforming process.
rlm@136 283
rlm@134 284 - problem with Aubrey de Grey's ideas :: Aubrey de Grey says that we
rlm@134 285 might be able to live forever by continually repairing our bodies
rlm@134 286 at the cellular level -- he details 7 different mechanisms of
rlm@134 287 damage and says that if all of them are dealt with /together/
rlm@134 288 that it would stop aging. (You can't miss even one because
rlm@134 289 they're all fatal.) However, it doesn't take into account that
rlm@134 290 we are also beings of information and that there is a very real
rlm@134 291 software component to our existence. Even if our biological
rlm@134 292 chassies can be maintained forever, I think it is unlikely that
rlm@134 293 our minds will operate well far outside of the design constraints
rlm@134 294 that we've evolved to handle. Say I programmed a webserver with
rlm@134 295 the express goal of it being able to serve webpages for month on
rlm@134 296 some stock server. I'll do fairly rigorous testing to make sure
rlm@134 297 that it can handle the expected load then then some. Now say that
rlm@134 298 you want to keep a particular instance of this webserver running
rlm@134 299 indefinitely. (The program instance is like your mind and the
rlm@134 300 computer it's running on is like your body). You might very well
rlm@134 301 be able to keep the physical computer infrastructure running for
rlm@134 302 forever by replacing hard drives / ram / CPUs, etc. However,
rlm@134 303 since I designed the webserver to work for a month, it probably
rlm@135 304 has memory leaks, rare stochastic bugs, or other built in limits
rlm@134 305 / constraints (think log files or some date rollover shenanigans)
rlm@135 306 that will ultimately kill the webserver even with eternally
rlm@134 307 perfect hardware. Do you really expect that a webserver
rlm@135 308 engineered to work for 1 month will run for 10 years without
rlm@135 309 catastrophically crashing? Not even Apache can do this! In fact,
rlm@135 310 if I put in the extreme effort to make it that robust, I've
rlm@135 311 wasted time that I could have spent on other projects by pursuing
rlm@135 312 an unnecessary engineering goal. Likewise, human minds have only
rlm@134 313 ever run for at most 122 years before they are destroyed due to
rlm@134 314 hardware degradation. Fixing the hardware doesn't change any
rlm@134 315 software bugs that are almost certainly present in the human
rlm@134 316 mind. Think of all the pathological things that can go wrong with
rlm@134 317 a webserver, multiply it by a million, and that likely how
rlm@134 318 evolution has designed our minds. For example, consider memory :
rlm@134 319 why should you expect that we have evolved the ability to
rlm@134 320 coherently organize memories past say 150 years? There's been
rlm@134 321 absolutely no selective pressure for this ability, so you can bet
rlm@134 322 that if there's any fitness to be gained from not having
rlm@134 323 unlimited memory potential (such as better metabolic efficiency),
rlm@134 324 we have it! You might think that maybe we would just forget
rlm@134 325 things the same way that we sort of forget things that happen
rlm@134 326 earlier in our lives, but complicated information processing
rlm@134 327 systems don't have to fail gracefully when they're pushed far
rlm@134 328 past their design constraints. A 150 year old person is just as
rlm@134 329 likely to suffer a catastrophic psychosis due to software
rlm@134 330 limitations associated with memory as he is to do something with
rlm@134 331 all those memories we might consider reasonable. More likely, in
rlm@134 332 fact, since there are so very many ways for a complicated
rlm@134 333 software system to break and so few ways for it to run
rlm@134 334 successfully. Therefore, I think Aubrey de Grey's "hardware-only"
rlm@134 335 approach is missing a very important component of longevity
rlm@134 336 science, and any successful effort to make people live orders of
rlm@134 337 magnitude longer than they do naturally will need to deal with
rlm@134 338 people's software as well as their hardware.
rlm@134 339
rlm@133 340 - validating neurocryopreservation :: Problem : you want to test
rlm@133 341 whether a brain is functionally preserved through vitrification,
rlm@133 342 but you don't want to figure out how to preserve all the other
rlm@133 343 organs in the animal. It might be possible to keep the rest of
rlm@133 344 the body at almost 0C and vitrify just the head for only a few
rlm@133 345 minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate out the head's blood
rlm@133 346 supply from the rest of the body, then just cryoptotect and
rlm@133 347 vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal guard to keep
rlm@133 348 the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You leave the
rlm@133 349 spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove
rlm@133 350 cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can
rlm@133 351 determine brain preservation using behavioral assays!
rlm@133 352
rlm@133 353 - freezing water purifier :: you slowly freeze water, but also run
rlm@133 354 liquid water over the frozen mass. This takes away basically all
rlm@133 355 impurities and creates "washed ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe
rlm@133 356 you could re-use the heat from creating the ice to melt the ice?
rlm@133 357
rlm@133 358 - ultra strength :: allow a person to visualize their muscle
rlm@133 359 recruitment patterns. Give them adrenaline and let
rlm@133 360 them feel what it's like to have the normal limits
rlm@133 361 removed. See if they can replicate the effects.
rlm@133 362
rlm@133 363 - phone names :: make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX
rlm@133 364 record, except that it is a phone number instead of
rlm@133 365 an IP address. That way, you can use the domain name
rlm@133 366 registration system to provide names for phone
rlm@133 367 numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you
rlm@133 368 can point people to your current phone number by
rlm@133 369 updating that record.
rlm@133 370
rlm@133 371 - edible flowers :: Edible white flowers that you put in a colored
rlm@133 372 solution with flavor. When the flower turns the
rlm@133 373 right color, it is also flavored and ready to eat!
rlm@133 374
rlm@131 375 - suicide cryonics :: according to [[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html][this]], people who commit impulsive
rlm@131 376 suicides have a newfound sense of the importance of life. Perhaps
rlm@131 377 they are good cryonics targets.
rlm@131 378
rlm@131 379 - lead bone :: Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with
rlm@131 380 lead? Might be cool.
rlm@131 381
rlm@131 382 - the quest for life :: Every stupid story has the "immortal who
rlm@131 383 wants to become mortal" or some other such idea. I want to story
rlm@131 384 where the protagonist loses their immortality and feels /angry/
rlm@131 385 and ashamed about losing something that's so absolutely crucial
rlm@131 386 to their identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living",
rlm@131 387 they feel that living forever is what makes life worth
rlm@131 388 living. Now they've "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to
rlm@131 389 the timeless universe" or something. So they go on a quest to get
rlm@131 390 it back, learning about themselves along the way, and regaining
rlm@131 391 the precious thing they lost in the beginning.
rlm@131 392
rlm@130 393 - world-map :: take a small table and paint the continents in
rlm@130 394 toothpaste on the table. Make a slightly raised barrier
rlm@130 395 around the table. Slowly pour water onto the table, and
rlm@130 396 it will form the oceans!
rlm@130 397
rlm@95 398 - stage magic rituals :: rituals should incorporate elements of stage
rlm@95 399 magic. Foe example in Teller's tempest, they have a scene where
rlm@95 400 they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his
rlm@95 401 head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the
rlm@95 402 bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should
rlm@95 403 incorporate stage magic as an enhancement.
rlm@95 404
rlm@95 405 - isotope time dilation :: use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes
rlm@95 406 developed in nuclear fusion experiments. The relativistic time
rlm@95 407 dilation will stop the isotopes from decaying, and allow time to
rlm@95 408 study them. This is based on radioactive isotopes that fall
rlm@95 409 through the earth's atmosphere that take hundreds of times
rlm@95 410 longer to decay than normal.
rlm@95 411
rlm@95 412 - marsupial stimulation :: You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby,
rlm@95 413 and show it videos and other interactive things while it matures
rlm@95 414 in the pouch. What mental effects would this have?
rlm@95 415
rlm@135 416 - dynamic re-keying :: Some older ways of tuning instruments sound
rlm@95 417 better, but we use the even-tempered scale today because it makes
rlm@95 418 it easier to switch keys. With electronic music, why not make
rlm@95 419 key-annotations and dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good
rlm@135 420 in the current key? Could be done as a midi+annotation -> midi
rlm@95 421 compiler for experimentation.
rlm@95 422
rlm@95 423 - death always implies damage :: is is possible for a corpse to differ
rlm@95 424 from a living person only in the fact that one is dead and the
rlm@95 425 other is alive? NO! A corpse must always have some sort of
rlm@95 426 molecular damage which causes the loss of function!
rlm@95 427
rlm@95 428 - inner eye :: Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a
rlm@95 429 person. Then, you can activate them all and get a
rlm@95 430 picture of your internal organs for diagnostic
rlm@95 431 purposes.
rlm@95 432
rlm@135 433 - chaos rails :: should make a visualization of the homoclinic tangle,
rlm@95 434 it's truly beautiful.
rlm@95 435
rlm@95 436 - context gobbler :: this would be in "inside-out macro" that takes
rlm@95 437 the context (like you use for things like error, continuations,
rlm@95 438 and friends) and transforms it to something else. Maybe useful?
rlm@95 439
rlm@91 440 - cryonics middle ages :: some people say that cryonics is an
rlm@91 441 experiment and that it is foolish to wait until we have revived a
rlm@91 442 human. There is a middle ground where the procedure has a dismal
rlm@91 443 success rate on humans, say 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to
rlm@91 444 try revival. Nonetheless, this very risky procedure could be the
rlm@91 445 legal proof of concept needed to create a new class of life
rlm@91 446 between "living" and "dead": "stasis".
rlm@91 447
rlm@91 448 - philosophy of the mirror :: neat thought experiment -- if you take a
rlm@91 449 mirror of someone by actually reversing a person's chirality
rlm@94 450 molecule by molecule, then will the only be able to read mirror
rlm@91 451 writing? The answer is yes, by analogy to a purely mechanical
rlm@94 452 scan-tron device. This is one of the only interesting transforms I
rlm@91 453 know that can take a human brain and change it in subtle,
rlm@91 454 non-destructive ways. It's also an argument against dualism.
rlm@91 455
rlm@91 456 - biosphere in a bottle :: There are around 15 million species. 15
rlm@91 457 million stem cells will fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic
rlm@91 458 inch. Preserve a single cell from every species on earth in this
rlm@91 459 small space, and you will have a record of our current biosphere
rlm@91 460 that can be protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in
rlm@92 461 your hand!"
rlm@91 462
rlm@90 463 - chaos lock :: The "arrow of time" points in the direction of
rlm@90 464 increasing entropy. The time evolution of chaotic
rlm@90 465 systems depend exquisitely on their initial state. If
rlm@90 466 you take a measurement of a chaotic system at any
rlm@90 467 given point of time, you can evolve that system
rlm@90 468 backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So
rlm@90 469 let's say you start the chaotic system in a VERY low
rlm@90 470 entropy state, then let it run for a while, then take
rlm@90 471 a measurement with some uncertainty. Your
rlm@90 472 measurement is pretty good, but obviously not
rlm@90 473 PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in
rlm@90 474 time, then you will see that you don't really reach
rlm@90 475 a state with low entropy an hour before (the entropy
rlm@90 476 is easy to measure with surrogates like alignment,
rlm@90 477 etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more
rlm@90 478 accurate measurement! This potentially can give you
rlm@90 479 many more orders of magnitude than you could get alone
rlm@90 480 just using an instrument. Sometimes it will give you
rlm@90 481 bad results, the the odds of it doing that are
rlm@90 482 infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple of
rlm@90 483 times.
rlm@90 484
rlm@90 485 - cryo-evolution :: perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a
rlm@90 486 symbiotic bacterial organism that could protect
rlm@90 487 human tissues from freezing damage.
rlm@90 488
rlm@87 489 - suicide parasite :: sometimes, people kill themselves for no good
rlm@87 490 reason. We often explain this with things like "hidden
rlm@87 491 depression" or we say that they had something like chronic jaw or
rlm@87 492 back pain. I think that smells of rationalization. I don't buy
rlm@87 493 it. I propose that in many suicide cases there is a disease that
rlm@88 494 causes the suicidal behavior. We already know that certain
rlm@87 495 parasites have mind-bending properties in other animals, even
rlm@87 496 mammals like mice. It's not much of a stretch to imagine a
rlm@88 497 parasite that causes suicides in humans. Some problems:
rlm@87 498 - What does the suicide parasite get out of it? :: This might be
rlm@87 499 answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by
rlm@87 500 cross-species contamination. Toxoplasma works this way.
rlm@88 501 - What predictions does a disease model make :: suicide should
rlm@88 502 be more common among people who share a contagion
rlm@88 503 vector. There should be suicides that don't make any
rlm@87 504 sense : people who weren't really depressed, who had no
rlm@87 505 reason to kill themselves. People who have killed themselves
rlm@87 506 should have a higher incidence of some unknown parasite in
rlm@87 507 their brains.
rlm@86 508
rlm@89 509 - domestic insects :: People should eat more bugs because they're much
rlm@89 510 more efficient, so why not do some major domestication research
rlm@94 511 to make very appealing bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be
rlm@94 512 excellent targets for domestication because they have extreme
rlm@94 513 levels of genetic malleability.
rlm@87 514
rlm@87 515 - birth-clones :: What if each person was intentionally split at birth
rlm@87 516 into a normal embryo and a few "backup" cells which
rlm@87 517 is then frozen. The backup cells are created just
rlm@87 518 the same way as natural identical twins. The backups
rlm@88 519 can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it
rlm@87 520 would be a good sci fi concept, because you could
rlm@87 521 have a culture where people reward people who were
rlm@87 522 especially awesome are "reborn" from their
rlm@88 523 backups. Imagine having a young Bach every
rlm@87 524 generation, etc.
rlm@86 525
rlm@94 526 - pronunciation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and
rlm@94 527 it returns a simple, English sentence describing exactly how to
rlm@84 528 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA.
rlm@86 529
rlm@87 530 - cortex-search :: use the repertoire of actions learned to limit the
rlm@87 531 search space of possible actions.
rlm@87 532
rlm@83 533 - learning to teleport :: scifi idea, this is a story about a person
rlm@83 534 who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about
rlm@83 535 teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a
rlm@83 536 member of that society (after all, the difference between animals
rlm@83 537 and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while
rlm@83 538 animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the
rlm@83 539 stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then
rlm@83 540 eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping
rlm@83 541 off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not do/ for
rlm@83 542 a long time), etc.
rlm@83 543
rlm@87 544 - no-float-ice :: cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice
rlm@87 545 forms. Then when you drink liquid from the glass,
rlm@87 546 the ice stays at the bottom and doesn't hit your
rlm@87 547 lips. For bars and fancy things.
rlm@87 548
rlm@82 549 - bitcoins for immigrants :: A common case with Mexican immigrants
rlm@82 550 (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned
rlm@82 551 in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this
rlm@82 552 through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get
rlm@82 553 fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce
rlm@82 554 the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't
rlm@82 555 believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican
rlm@82 556 immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could
rlm@82 557 set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts
rlm@82 558 in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut
rlm@82 559 them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might
rlm@82 560 be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is
rlm@82 561 great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
rlm@82 562
rlm@81 563 - reverse eye-tracking :: A painting that is actually a digital screen
rlm@82 564 with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's
rlm@81 565 "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you
rlm@81 566 look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you
rlm@81 567 look at it, recording where /you/ looked forever for others to
rlm@81 568 see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the
rlm@81 569 breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males
rlm@81 570 passing by.
rlm@81 571
rlm@80 572 - smart toilets :: Instead of using indirect measures like infrared
rlm@80 573 detectors of the presence of a person, use computer
rlm@80 574 vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs
rlm@80 575 to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up
rlm@80 576 going this way as we get better computer vision.
rlm@80 577
rlm@77 578 - validate chemopreservation :: chemopreservation is difficult to
rlm@77 579 validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and
rlm@77 580 brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a
rlm@77 581 technology. However, one very powerful way to validate
rlm@77 582 chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
rlm@77 583 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution
rlm@80 584 to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
rlm@80 585 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
rlm@77 586 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
rlm@77 587
rlm@75 588 - candy screw :: edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw
rlm@75 589 as well.
rlm@76 590
rlm@74 591 - better bibliography :: when writing a thesis or paper, have the
rlm@80 592 bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it
rlm@74 593 be a list of /summaries/ and /qualities/ that each paper has in
rlm@80 594 the context of the paper being written. When examining a
rlm@80 595 bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the
rlm@74 596 bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also
rlm@74 597 interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the
rlm@74 598 paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to
rlm@74 599 provide information about the referenced papers from the
rlm@80 600 author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own
rlm@74 601 thesis.
rlm@74 602
rlm@73 603 - digital inter-library loan :: libraries at universities already do
rlm@80 604 inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access
rlm@73 605 to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could
rlm@73 606 allow access to articles for registered students to all the files
rlm@73 607 available through any participating university. This could be
rlm@73 608 achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating
rlm@73 609 universities. Each university would decide who at the university
rlm@73 610 can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could
rlm@73 611 be made easy using something like http://libx.org/.
rlm@73 612
rlm@72 613 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered
rlm@72 614 by computers, show two people playing chess in a
rlm@72 615 void. They are floating in space, and there is a
rlm@72 616 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,
rlm@72 617 the game tree's they are considering are drawn
rlm@72 618 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in
rlm@72 619 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the
rlm@72 620 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the
rlm@72 621 dividing plane between the two players. Each
rlm@72 622 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,
rlm@72 623 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,
rlm@72 624 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,
rlm@72 625 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long
rlm@72 626 chain, while the computer tree would be more
rlm@72 627 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern
rlm@72 628 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!
rlm@72 629
rlm@71 630 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of
rlm@71 631 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time
rlm@73 632 server, a key for each time period, something like that.
rlm@71 633
rlm@70 634 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars
rlm@70 635 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they
rlm@70 636 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area
rlm@70 637 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design
rlm@70 638 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar
rlm@70 639 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins
rlm@70 640 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have
rlm@70 641 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be
rlm@70 642 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which
rlm@70 643 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the
rlm@70 644 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and
rlm@70 645 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing
rlm@70 646 it's authenticity.
rlm@70 647
rlm@68 648 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.
rlm@68 649
rlm@86 650 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and
rlm@86 651 see if I could implement touch as a very low range
rlm@86 652 form of vision.
rlm@86 653
rlm@67 654 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The
rlm@67 655 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational
rlm@67 656 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's
rlm@67 657 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they
rlm@67 658 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's
rlm@67 659 neat because for any given school, /g/ is probably *not* exactly
rlm@67 660 equal to 9.81, because that is just an average!
rlm@67 661
rlm@67 662 - opencourseware subtitles :: there are ladies who type up lectures
rlm@67 663 while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and
rlm@67 664 given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are
rlm@67 665 recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.
rlm@67 666
rlm@66 667 - screen locking timing :: you use your computer camera to see if you
rlm@66 668 are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen
rlm@66 669 will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a
rlm@67 670 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to
rlm@66 671 initiate the countdown, just with more information.
rlm@66 672
rlm@66 673 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead
rlm@67 674 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a
rlm@66 675 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion
rlm@66 676 system works.
rlm@66 677
rlm@80 678 - test dummies :: why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to
rlm@62 679 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It
rlm@62 680 would be ethical as long as there are women who are
rlm@62 681 willing to host the clones, and it would be a
rlm@67 682 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I
rlm@62 683 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is
rlm@67 684 suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout
rlm@62 685 more advanced technology.
rlm@62 686
rlm@62 687 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient
rlm@62 688 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into
rlm@62 689 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system
rlm@80 690 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
rlm@67 691 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
rlm@62 692 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage
rlm@62 693 and surgery risk could be minimized.
rlm@62 694
rlm@62 695 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you
rlm@62 696 replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the
rlm@62 697 physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the
rlm@62 698 vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells,
rlm@62 699 or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to
rlm@62 700 retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during
rlm@62 701 perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses
rlm@62 702 superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by
rlm@67 703 superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to
rlm@62 704 simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid
rlm@62 705 instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.
rlm@51 706
rlm@59 707 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by
rlm@67 708 making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,
rlm@59 709 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really
rlm@59 710 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the
rlm@59 711 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective
rlm@59 712 guessing.
rlm@59 713
rlm@67 714 - Intestinal flora maintenance :: why not inoculate babies at birth
rlm@59 715 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they
rlm@59 716 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient
rlm@67 717 extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts
rlm@94 718 not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might help to
rlm@91 719 preventatively stop some forms of /colic/, which affects 1 in 5
rlm@94 720 babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5 weeks.
rlm@59 721
rlm@56 722 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people
rlm@56 723 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover
rlm@56 724 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular
rlm@56 725 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the
rlm@56 726 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like
rlm@67 727 bit-torrent for websites.
rlm@56 728
rlm@56 729 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that
rlm@56 730 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up
rlm@67 731 into each calling function to get the full range of behavior
rlm@56 732 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a
rlm@67 733 compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic
rlm@67 734 variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the
rlm@56 735 advantages of making a programming language where every function
rlm@67 736 receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol
rlm@56 737 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all
rlm@56 738 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on
rlm@56 739 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,
rlm@56 740 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.
rlm@56 741
rlm@55 742 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when
rlm@55 743 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine
rlm@55 744 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an
rlm@55 745 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say
rlm@55 746 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
rlm@55 747 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90
rlm@55 748 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon
rlm@55 749 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be
rlm@55 750 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
rlm@55 751
rlm@50 752 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
rlm@50 753 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
rlm@50 754 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
rlm@80 755 super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some
rlm@80 756 losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
rlm@50 757 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
rlm@50 758 image.
rlm@50 759
rlm@47 760 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
rlm@42 761 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
rlm@42 762 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
rlm@42 763 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
rlm@47 764 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
rlm@42 765 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
rlm@38 766
rlm@67 767 - dilated security camera :: a security camera that would capture
rlm@58 768 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep
rlm@58 769 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something
rlm@58 770 "interesting" happening.
rlm@58 771
rlm@40 772 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
rlm@40 773 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
rlm@40 774 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
rlm@40 775 from anywhere.
rlm@40 776
rlm@40 777 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
rlm@40 778 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
rlm@47 779 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would
rlm@47 780 be automatically split up to every person who has ever
rlm@40 781 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
rlm@40 782 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
rlm@47 783 community decides. This might make it possible for
rlm@40 784 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
rlm@40 785
rlm@45 786 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated
rlm@45 787 distributed computing API.
rlm@41 788
rlm@40 789 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
rlm@40 790 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
rlm@40 791 say, and you can encode useful information into the
rlm@40 792 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
rlm@40 793 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
rlm@42 794 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
rlm@40 795 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
rlm@40 796 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
rlm@40 797 object respectively.
rlm@40 798
rlm@40 799 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
rlm@40 800 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
rlm@40 801 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
rlm@40 802 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
rlm@40 803 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
rlm@40 804 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
rlm@47 805 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good
rlm@40 806 presets.
rlm@40 807
rlm@47 808 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning
rlm@40 809 might be the mirror neurons.
rlm@40 810
rlm@47 811 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid
rlm@40 812 copies.
rlm@40 813
rlm@41 814 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
rlm@41 815 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
rlm@41 816
rlm@40 817 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
rlm@40 818 one to wear the towel more securely than just
rlm@40 819 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
rlm@40 820
rlm@47 821 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to
rlm@44 822 wear a burka.
rlm@41 823
rlm@40 824 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
rlm@40 825 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
rlm@93 826 references. For example, if "Rachael" was assigned the
rlm@93 827 color red, and "the blonde haired girl" refers to
rlm@93 828 "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be
rlm@93 829 colored red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part
rlm@93 830 run-on sentences by highlighting each
rlm@93 831 subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications to
rlm@93 832 scientific reading.
rlm@40 833
rlm@40 834 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
rlm@47 835 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
rlm@40 836 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
rlm@40 837 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
rlm@40 838 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
rlm@40 839
rlm@40 840 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
rlm@40 841 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
rlm@40 842 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
rlm@40 843
rlm@40 844 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
rlm@47 845 continuous.
rlm@40 846
rlm@40 847 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
rlm@40 848 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
rlm@40 849 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
rlm@47 850 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of
rlm@40 851 the laser.
rlm@40 852
rlm@40 853 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
rlm@40 854 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
rlm@40 855 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
rlm@40 856 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
rlm@40 857 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
rlm@40 858 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
rlm@40 859
rlm@47 860 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains
rlm@40 861 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
rlm@47 862 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
rlm@40 863 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
rlm@40 864 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
rlm@40 865 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
rlm@47 866 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
rlm@40 867 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
rlm@40 868 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
rlm@47 869 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can
rlm@40 870 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
rlm@47 871 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the
rlm@47 872 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the
rlm@40 873 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
rlm@40 874 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
rlm@47 875 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is
rlm@40 876 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
rlm@47 877 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the
rlm@40 878 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
rlm@40 879 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
rlm@40 880 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
rlm@40 881
rlm@40 882 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
rlm@40 883 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
rlm@40 884 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
rlm@40 885 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
rlm@40 886 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
rlm@40 887 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
rlm@40 888 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
rlm@40 889 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
rlm@40 890 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
rlm@47 891 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the
rlm@47 892 lens of the the caterpillar people.
rlm@40 893
rlm@46 894 - relationships as a business :: [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx][Turnover-Crisis]] is an excellent talk
rlm@46 895 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business
rlm@46 896 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their
rlm@47 897 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni
rlm@46 898 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied
rlm@46 899 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might
rlm@46 900 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with
rlm@46 901 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and
rlm@46 902 how they worked out.
rlm@43 903
rlm@47 904 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
rlm@43 905 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
rlm@43 906 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
rlm@43 907 with recursion!
rlm@43 908
rlm@43 909 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
rlm@43 910 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
rlm@43 911 difficult to move with telekinesis.
rlm@43 912
rlm@40 913 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
rlm@40 914 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
rlm@40 915 automated.
rlm@40 916
rlm@44 917 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
rlm@44 918 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
rlm@44 919 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
rlm@44 920 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
rlm@33 921
rlm@33 922 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
rlm@32 923 power/logic.
rlm@32 924
rlm@47 925 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of
rlm@44 926 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
rlm@32 927
rlm@44 928 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
rlm@44 929 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
rlm@44 930 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
rlm@44 931 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
rlm@44 932 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
rlm@44 933 by the sensor array).
rlm@32 934
rlm@33 935 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
rlm@83 936 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared
rlm@32 937 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
rlm@32 938 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
rlm@32 939 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
rlm@32 940 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
rlm@47 941 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
rlm@47 942 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
rlm@32 943 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
rlm@47 944 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
rlm@32 945 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
rlm@32 946
rlm@39 947 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
rlm@39 948 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
rlm@32 949
rlm@39 950 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
rlm@39 951 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
rlm@54 952 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
rlm@32 953
rlm@47 954 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
rlm@32 955
rlm@44 956 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
rlm@44 957 except for real world transactions
rlm@32 958
rlm@33 959 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
rlm@33 960 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
rlm@33 961
rlm@47 962 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead
rlm@47 963 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank
rlm@33 964 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
rlm@33 965 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
rlm@33 966 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
rlm@33 967
rlm@47 968 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate
rlm@33 969 fluids with different index of refraction
rlm@33 970
rlm@33 971 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
rlm@33 972 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
rlm@33 973 certain direction.
rlm@33 974
rlm@44 975 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
rlm@44 976 properties.
rlm@32 977
rlm@53 978 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
rlm@53 979
rlm@82 980 - Rod of Moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
rlm@53 981 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
rlm@53 982 produce drinkable water.
rlm@32 983
rlm@47 984 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
rlm@44 985 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
rlm@44 986 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
rlm@44 987 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
rlm@32 988
rlm@47 989 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,
rlm@44 990 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
rlm@44 991 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
rlm@34 992
rlm@34 993 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
rlm@34 994 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
rlm@34 995
rlm@44 996 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
rlm@44 997 that it can conduct electricity.
rlm@34 998
rlm@44 999 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
rlm@44 1000 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
rlm@44 1001 made, for example.
rlm@34 1002
rlm@44 1003 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
rlm@34 1004
rlm@47 1005 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
rlm@44 1006 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
rlm@44 1007 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
rlm@44 1008 to different connections.
rlm@34 1009
rlm@47 1010 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the
rlm@44 1011 nerves of the ear
rlm@43 1012
rlm@43 1013 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
rlm@43 1014 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
rlm@43 1015 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
rlm@47 1016 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
rlm@34 1017
rlm@47 1018 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in
rlm@34 1019 various ways.
rlm@34 1020
rlm@34 1021 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
rlm@34 1022
rlm@47 1023 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
rlm@43 1024 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
rlm@43 1025 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
rlm@43 1026 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
rlm@43 1027 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
rlm@34 1028
rlm@40 1029 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
rlm@34 1030 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
rlm@34 1031 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
rlm@34 1032 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
rlm@34 1033 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
rlm@34 1034 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
rlm@47 1035 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their
rlm@34 1036 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
rlm@34 1037 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
rlm@34 1038
rlm@47 1039 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via
rlm@44 1040 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
rlm@44 1041 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
rlm@35 1042
rlm@44 1043 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
rlm@44 1044 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
rlm@35 1045
rlm@44 1046 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
rlm@47 1047 one part the aluminum.
rlm@34 1048
rlm@44 1049 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
rlm@44 1050 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
rlm@44 1051 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
rlm@44 1052 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
rlm@44 1053 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
rlm@44 1054 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
rlm@44 1055 interesting parts.
rlm@34 1056
rlm@44 1057 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
rlm@44 1058 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
rlm@44 1059 sword.
rlm@32 1060
rlm@44 1061 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
rlm@44 1062 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
rlm@44 1063 without any metal at all!
rlm@32 1064
rlm@44 1065 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
rlm@32 1066
rlm@44 1067 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
rlm@44 1068 actual DNA
rlm@32 1069
rlm@44 1070 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
rlm@44 1071 generator to make electricity
rlm@32 1072
rlm@44 1073 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
rlm@32 1074
rlm@44 1075 - folding razor blade sword ::
rlm@32 1076
rlm@44 1077 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
rlm@44 1078 combination (sight or touch)
rlm@32 1079
rlm@44 1080 - kaleidoscope projector ::
rlm@32 1081
rlm@44 1082 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
rlm@32 1083
rlm@44 1084 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
rlm@32 1085
rlm@47 1086 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
rlm@44 1087 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
rlm@44 1088 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
rlm@44 1089 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
rlm@44 1090 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
rlm@44 1091 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
rlm@32 1092
rlm@44 1093 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
rlm@44 1094 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
rlm@32 1095
rlm@44 1096 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
rlm@44 1097 robustly.
rlm@32 1098
rlm@47 1099 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)
rlm@32 1100
rlm@44 1101 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
rlm@44 1102 generating hypothetical examples
rlm@32 1103
rlm@47 1104 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
rlm@44 1105 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
rlm@44 1106 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
rlm@44 1107 temperature on volatility?
rlm@32 1108
rlm@35 1109 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
rlm@35 1110 metals or something else economically advantageous.
rlm@32 1111
rlm@47 1112 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless
rlm@44 1113 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
rlm@44 1114 preservation
rlm@32 1115
rlm@47 1116 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
rlm@47 1117 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
rlm@47 1118 refrigeration.
rlm@32 1119
rlm@47 1120 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter
rlm@44 1121 of course -- make ambiance much better.
rlm@32 1122
rlm@47 1123 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant
rlm@44 1124 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
rlm@44 1125 to clean windows of buildings.
rlm@32 1126
rlm@44 1127 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
rlm@32 1128
rlm@35 1129 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
rlm@47 1130 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the
rlm@35 1131 human's energy?
rlm@32 1132
rlm@44 1133 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
rlm@44 1134 you / sell it from your own online store.
rlm@35 1135
rlm@44 1136 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
rlm@43 1137
rlm@35 1138 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
rlm@43 1139 people, binding them to environment, etc.
rlm@35 1140
rlm@35 1141 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
rlm@35 1142 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
rlm@35 1143 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
rlm@43 1144 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
rlm@35 1145 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
rlm@32 1146
rlm@44 1147 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
rlm@44 1148 scroll wheel
rlm@32 1149
rlm@47 1150 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
rlm@44 1151 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
rlm@32 1152
rlm@47 1153 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site
rlm@32 1154
rlm@44 1155 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
rlm@32 1156
rlm@36 1157 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
rlm@36 1158 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
rlm@36 1159 itself changes? those memories would become
rlm@47 1160 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember
rlm@36 1161 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
rlm@47 1162 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from
rlm@36 1163 his childhood?
rlm@32 1164
rlm@47 1165 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display
rlm@36 1166 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
rlm@36 1167 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
rlm@36 1168 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
rlm@36 1169 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
rlm@36 1170 inductive charging and data transfer.
rlm@32 1171
rlm@44 1172 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
rlm@44 1173 it too)
rlm@32 1174
rlm@44 1175 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
rlm@44 1176 lecture
rlm@32 1177
rlm@40 1178 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
rlm@40 1179 makes sparkles!
rlm@32 1180
rlm@44 1181 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
rlm@44 1182 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
rlm@44 1183 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
rlm@44 1184 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
rlm@32 1185
rlm@44 1186 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
rlm@44 1187 surface tension to make the "third"
rlm@44 1188 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
rlm@44 1189 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
rlm@44 1190 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
rlm@44 1191 and a double-cone)
rlm@38 1192
rlm@38 1193 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
rlm@38 1194 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
rlm@38 1195 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
rlm@38 1196 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
rlm@38 1197 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
rlm@40 1198 knowledge. /One./
rlm@40 1199
rlm@40 1200 ** From Jacob's idea list
rlm@40 1201
rlm@47 1202 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
rlm@43 1203 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
rlm@40 1204 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
rlm@40 1205 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
rlm@40 1206 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
rlm@40 1207 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
rlm@40 1208
rlm@40 1209 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
rlm@40 1210 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
rlm@40 1211
rlm@40 1212 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
rlm@41 1213 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)