thoughts: org/ideas.org annotate

annotate org/ideas.org @ 154:4fe52d2a28e5

more ideas.

author	Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date	Thu, 10 Dec 2015 20:55:09 -0800
parents	6e0cc778102e
children	9bf4f0d5af68

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@154	22 - toilet + fume hood ::
rlm@154	23
rlm@154	24 - wind speed force :: two wind socks one weighted
rlm@154	25
rlm@154	26 - sshfs to mount root :: you can mount your own root filesystem
rlm@154	27 somewhere else using sshfs. Sort of "normalizes" file
rlm@154	28 permissions without having to use root, and is weird. Could also
rlm@154	29 bypass rm =--preserve-root= restrictions and delete entire
rlm@154	30 filesystem.
rlm@154	31
rlm@154	32 #+BEGIN_SRC sh
rlm@154	33 sshfs root@localhost:/ my-root
rlm@154	34 #+END_SRC
rlm@154	35
rlm@154	36 - not even a nop of damage ::
rlm@154	37
rlm@154	38 - twittwe vibratoe ::
rlm@154	39
rlm@154	40 - value of cancer :: what of value is lost with an easy cancer-cure?
rlm@154	41
rlm@154	42 - blood :: blood is the "wires" that connect organs to each other and
rlm@154	43 impedance match the services that organs provide to other
rlm@154	44 organs. A heart, per se, does not need blood but instead access
rlm@154	45 to the filtering powers of a kidney; blood just connects the
rlm@154	46 kidney cells to the heart cells. That's why "perfusing w/ blood"
rlm@154	47 is entirely missing the point.
rlm@154	48
rlm@154	49 - armored helmet :: use fiber-optics to re-route vision and get better
rlm@154	50 shield for eyes. curved plates, kozilek style.
rlm@154	51
rlm@154	52 - open source contributions :: way to make them public on your website easily.
rlm@154	53
rlm@154	54 - active opto-glove :: for ENHANCED touch!
rlm@154	55
rlm@154	56 - glove screen :: for driving directions, etc. Better than a watch!
rlm@154	57
rlm@154	58 - osmium + sugar as a histo stain ::
rlm@154	59
rlm@154	60 - encryption camera :: use public key on memory card
rlm@154	61
rlm@154	62 - immaculate AIDS acquisition ::
rlm@154	63
rlm@154	64 - minds and lightspeed :: fastern minds have to deal with lightspeed
rlm@154	65 limitations in their own cognitive architectures.
rlm@154	66
rlm@154	67 - kill with fire :: guy A fires fire blast, with a spell circle to
rlm@154	68 maintain the magic. Opponent B just GRABS the magic and pulls MORE
rlm@154	69 fire. Guy A's circle goes out of control and all his life force
rlm@154	70 gets sucked out to supply more fire. B grabs the magic, crushes
rlm@154	71 it, fires a concentrated red lightning bolt, and eats the
rlm@154	72 rest. "You think that you can kill me, WITH FIRE!?"
rlm@154	73
rlm@154	74 - magic ekiga ::
rlm@154	75
rlm@154	76 - edible crayons ::
rlm@154	77
rlm@154	78 - library chaining ::
rlm@154	79
rlm@154	80 - hypnosis + that drug that makes you loose continuity :: can the
rlm@154	81 hypnosos plant things during this time?
rlm@154	82
rlm@154	83 - forgotten services :: use "ovbilion" somehow. Some sleeping drugs
rlm@154	84 make you forget the hour or so before you go to bed. Use this to
rlm@154	85 create forgotten services.
rlm@154	86
rlm@154	87 - dibenzelene -- mike darwin ::
rlm@154	88
rlm@154	89 - sleepy perfusion :: if brains naturally expand / contract depending
rlm@154	90 on resting / awake state, we should investigate the EMs of brains
rlm@154	91 fixed during "sleep" mode and those fixed during "awake"
rlm@154	92 mode. (while still using anesthetic of course).
rlm@154	93
rlm@154	94 - shit flavored dog treats ::
rlm@154	95
rlm@154	96 - fume hood incense :: so make sure the fume hood is working
rlm@154	97
rlm@154	98 - infinity coin :: s.f. concept -- billions are uploaded by using
rlm@154	99 osmium as a "mind uploading catalyst". osmium is put ino the
rlm@154	100 brain, they brain is scanned, and the osmium is recycled. Then
rlm@154	101 you make coins out of the osmium that has gone through billions
rlm@154	102 of these cycles.
rlm@154	103
rlm@154	104 - mamilian dive reflex as a method of preparing organs for cryopreservation ::
rlm@154	105
rlm@154	106 - spinal encryption :: like an X server, except your body parts each
rlm@154	107 run these servers. You all have clocks, and you have to sign your
rlm@154	108 muscle commands with your private key in order to control your
rlm@154	109 body.
rlm@154	110
rlm@154	111 - suicide note as a mental excercise :: from NPR, ted talk, teenagers, etc.
rlm@154	112
rlm@154	113 - microscope clamp magnet ring thing ::
rlm@154	114
rlm@154	115 - cup that fills from the bottom ::
rlm@154	116
rlm@154	117 - pronouncaeble liscense plates ::
rlm@154	118
rlm@154	119 - instant-awake vs natural awakening :: cognitive behavioural
rlm@154	120 difference tells you important things about the waking process.
rlm@154	121
rlm@154	122 - asethetics and personal identity :: if you go to germany, you're not
rlm@154	123 the same person anymore.
rlm@154	124
rlm@154	125 - arch linux diff cache :: should only download differences between
rlm@154	126 the new package and the most rcent archive file. Can
rlm@154	127 precalculate. Would make mirrors/upgrading so much faster.
rlm@154	128
rlm@154	129 - low gravity perfusion :: then you can use cappaliary action. From
rlm@154	130 this: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/coffee-cup-designed-let-astronauts-sip-espresso-space/
rlm@154	131
rlm@154	132 - rational advertiting :: a new criteria for advertisting -- given
rlm@154	133 same ad structure for two different produces, what structure
rlm@154	134 leads to the most people picking the "optimal" choice.
rlm@154	135
rlm@154	136 - autoclone bootstrapping :: to breed male with self: you make a clone
rlm@154	137 of the male that's broken, male and female, the bootstrap with
rlm@154	138 those gametes
rlm@154	139
rlm@154	140 - position independent numbers :: like latin for numbers. You'd use
rlm@154	141 color, endings, relative size, etc to determine what place the
rlm@154	142 number has. Very convientnt for order or magnitude calculations.
rlm@154	143
rlm@154	144 - dead man switch activated linux user account ::
rlm@154	145
rlm@154	146 - embowlement :: condencending reference to embodiment
rlm@154	147
rlm@154	148 - water staff :: drinksy walking staff w/ water
rlm@154	149
rlm@154	150 - melanin transfection ::
rlm@154	151
rlm@154	152 - retention of neurotransmitters / other small molecules during fixation by use of an extracellular polymer such as PVP ::
rlm@154	153
rlm@154	154 - machines :: Knowing we are machines does not diminish us; instead it
rlm@154	155 opens our minds to the awe-inspiring complexity that is the human
rlm@154	156 mind. Those who prefer to attribute consciousness to a "soul" or
rlm@154	157 other metaphysical process are the ones who diminish man to a
rlm@154	158 mere cartoon caricature.
rlm@154	159
rlm@154	160 - why does glut change osmotic setpoints in cells :: perhaps either 1)
rlm@154	161 It makes the membrane permeable to small molecules or 2)
rlm@154	162 crosslinking proteins means less colagative effects.
rlm@154	163
rlm@154	164 - Hemocyanin based blood washout solution :: for artificial blood, it
rlm@154	165 can be hard to carry enough oxygen because haemoglobin needs to
rlm@154	166 be in RBCs in order to effectively carry oxygen. However,
rlm@154	167 hemocyanin, a copper based oxygen carrying protein, doesn't have
rlm@154	168 this restriction, so it might make particurally good artificial
rlm@154	169 blood. Might also be great for making oxygenated fixative
rlm@154	170 solutions! In fact, hemocyanin is more efficient than hemoglobin
rlm@154	171 for carrying oxygen at low temperatures, perfect for
rlm@154	172 cooling/blood washout! Hemocyanin could also serve to establish
rlm@154	173 oncotic pressure in a blood washout solution since it weighs 75
rlm@154	174 kilodaltons.
rlm@154	175
rlm@154	176 - osmotic buffer :: polymer which polymerizes / splits apart in order
rlm@154	177 to maintain the osmolality of a solution.
rlm@154	178
rlm@154	179 - shoes w/ embedded computers :: and have little clickey things you
rlm@154	180 operate with your big toe.
rlm@154	181
rlm@154	182 - gb codec ::
rlm@154	183
rlm@154	184 - ultrasonic cell disruptor to make foor ::
rlm@154	185
rlm@154	186 - particle accelarator asd an awesome electron microscop ::
rlm@154	187
rlm@154	188 - tolouadine blue pen :: use biological stains as dyes for ink pens?
rlm@154	189
rlm@154	190 - clock stop explination :: you have a "visual buffer" which needs to
rlm@154	191 fill up whenever you switch out from one scene to another. This
rlm@154	192 is the clock stop illusion.
rlm@154	193
rlm@154	194 - coffee ad space :: Your coffee stock was brought to you by google,
rlm@154	195 the only company that brings you comfort and love in your harsh
rlm@154	196 and heartless corporate world. This is majestic guerrila
rlm@154	197 marketing.
rlm@154	198
rlm@154	199 - geo-synchro browsing :: you get a bunch of proxy servers, and then
rlm@154	200 you visit websites and synchronize the views from each of these
rlm@154	201 proxies into one view. Then you can see the differences by
rlm@154	202 conutry/region. This is a way to experience the "neutral"
rlm@154	203 internet by averging the effects of ip-tracing.
rlm@154	204
rlm@154	205 - periodic table of genders :: arrange people by bahaviour, particular
rlm@154	206 what sort of bonds they can form with other people.
rlm@154	207
rlm@154	208 - ice cream protein synthesis ::
rlm@154	209
rlm@154	210 - colored EM :: different heavy metals might possibly have different
rlm@154	211 intensities for different electron acceleration voltages. So this
rlm@154	212 could be the basis for colored EM images!
rlm@154	213
rlm@154	214 - expansion microscopy dual :: this would be a process where you
rlm@154	215 define a molecular scale object using larger microscopic
rlm@154	216 components. Then nanotechnology goes through and replaces each
rlm@154	217 "atomic macro block" with the appropriate atomic construct. That
rlm@154	218 way you can use microscopic 3D printing and a special purpose
rlm@154	219 form of nanotechnolical assembler to create any molecular
rlm@154	220 arrangement.
rlm@154	221
rlm@154	222 - anoxic glut :: what happens when you try to fix tissues in an
rlm@154	223 environment completely devoid of oxygen?
rlm@154	224
rlm@154	225 - copper+EG :: if RBCs are rendered impermeabale to EG when Cu is
rlm@154	226 present, then maybe you can destroy RBCs by a mixture of EG and
rlm@154	227 Cu?
rlm@154	228
rlm@154	229 - qualia intuition explained :: let's say that you lacked the sense of
rlm@154	230 smell. How could you learn what "acrid" means without it. How
rlm@154	231 could you explain it to someone, without analogy to other
rlm@154	232 smells. We mind-project this real linguistic separation into
rlm@154	233 reality and get qualia.
rlm@154	234
rlm@153	235 - spinal relay :: you have a small air-gapped repeater built into your
rlm@153	236 spine in order to help with spinal injury, connect with
rlm@153	237 prosthetics, and to monitor/control your body. Also, you could
rlm@153	238 add the ability to save "macros"!
rlm@153	239
rlm@153	240 - human cysts :: there should be communities of people with varying
rlm@153	241 enforced separations from the rest of society in order to gaurd
rlm@153	242 against various catastrophies.
rlm@153	243
rlm@153	244 - bioelectric synthesis :: have a device which stores a lot of energy,
rlm@153	245 and processes blood by creating sugar from waste produces over
rlm@153	246 the day. You still need water, vitamins, minerals, etc, but this
rlm@153	247 can handle the bulk of your energy demands and be recharged from
rlm@153	248 the wall.
rlm@153	249
rlm@153	250 - chelation as a method to improve cryoprotectant permeability ::
rlm@153	251
rlm@153	252 - transgender fruit analogy :: like tomatoes
rlm@153	253
rlm@153	254 - video game controllers as actual controllers :: console controlers
rlm@153	255 like the n64 trident are excellent, durable tools for fine
rlm@153	256 control. We should use them to control all sorts of things like
rlm@153	257 robots by default. You should use it for your projects, since
rlm@153	258 it's unlikely you'll be able to come up with something
rlm@153	259 better. Compared to console controllers, the ones we use for
rlm@153	260 robots/RC stuff are hopelessly clunky.
rlm@153	261
rlm@153	262 - bubble computers :: bubble duality, bubble computing
rlm@153	263
rlm@153	264 - dark blood bag :: blood bags in hospitals should be dark colored to
rlm@153	265 protect the blood from damage from light.
rlm@153	266
rlm@153	267 - chimeric homozygous sex chromosomes :: chimeric organism with XX and
rlm@153	268 XX patterns from two males and two females. On average, it has
rlm@153	269 the correct methylation pattern. Would it work?
rlm@153	270
rlm@153	271 - horseshoe blood fixative :: would it work as a washout?
rlm@153	272
rlm@153	273 - fixed protein packets :: group of fixed proteins in a network which
rlm@153	274 is used as medicine. Hemoglovin, maybe?
rlm@153	275
rlm@153	276 - prove hauntings :: website where you enter your pgp signed encrypted
rlm@153	277 file and swear by all the gods that you'll haunt me with the
rlm@153	278 password when you die, along with whatever other messages you
rlm@153	279 have. protocol -- I video, throw rock, get password.
rlm@153	280
rlm@153	281 - earth air water :: species name their planet "dirt" in their
rlm@153	282 language, unless the're aquatic or flying, then they'd name it
rlm@153	283 "water" and "air" respectively.
rlm@153	284
rlm@153	285 - ethylene glycol alt name :: icebane
rlm@153	286
rlm@153	287 - overflow hiaku :: a hiku about buffer overflos, with garbage C code
rlm@153	288 inside.
rlm@153	289
rlm@153	290 - white knight :: his sword is named "Privledge" (an inherited family
rlm@153	291 sword) he rides along the land, defending the code of
rlm@153	292 chivralirary and keeping the orthodozy of society from fading
rlm@153	293 from the realm.
rlm@153	294
rlm@153	295 - technological deflation :: even the richest robber baron from the
rlm@153	296 1920's could not afford a cardiac bypass surgery, even with
rlm@153	297 literally all the money they had. As technology advances, the
rlm@153	298 price of bread may go up, but the capabilities which money gives
rlm@153	299 you also dramatically increase.
rlm@153	300
rlm@153	301 - cure for color blindness :: could it be possible to administer some
rlm@153	302 retroviruses via direct injection to the retina, to cause some of
rlm@153	303 the cells in the retina to begin expressing different color
rlm@153	304 pigments? The brain ought to easily sort out the rest and enable
rlm@153	305 color vision. Furthremore, could we add some more colors to
rlm@153	306 baesline human eyes?
rlm@153	307
rlm@153	308 - mental integrity test :: if your brain starts to decay, you might
rlm@153	309 not notice the damage until it's too late. This would be a mental
rlm@153	310 integrity test that you take every few weeks that measures your
rlm@153	311 performance and compares it to a baseline. The tests are all
rlm@153	312 designed to catch the early signs of degenerative brain
rlm@153	313 diseases. For example, you might use performamce on a
rlm@153	314 smell-memory assoaction test to detect early-onset Alzheimer's.
rlm@153	315
rlm@152	316 - mind bank :: (in contrast to "brain bank")
rlm@152	317
rlm@152	318 - Passion of the Christ missed opportunity :: in the Passion of the
rlm@152	319 Christ, they do the entire show using Latin, Aramaic, etc, with
rlm@152	320 subtitles. They should have had a part where Jesus does the
rlm@152	321 sermon on the mount, he turns to the camera, and starts speaking
rlm@152	322 in English, with no subtitles. It would have been 1.) biblically
rlm@152	323 accurate and 2.) awesome. It would have been such a powerful
rlm@152	324 example of Jesus' divinity, and it felt like they were setting up
rlm@152	325 for it the entire movie, and they missed it!
rlm@152	326
rlm@152	327 - scientist online paper reviews ::
rlm@152	328
rlm@152	329 - binary feedback ::
rlm@152	330
rlm@152	331 - xenobiotic methalation rewriting ::
rlm@152	332
rlm@152	333 - trolley cryonics :: change the cryonics protocol around so that the
rlm@152	334 death occurs in a non-primary action loop.
rlm@152	335
rlm@152	336 - binary metric :: you make up new unit names for "2 centimeters", "4
rlm@152	337 centimeters", "16 centimeters", etc. Then no one will be happy!
rlm@152	338 BUT, it helps solve metric's problem of intermediate units. (a
rlm@152	339 centimeter is too small, a meter is too large!)
rlm@152	340
rlm@152	341 - physical pgp signatures :: someone should put together the
rlm@152	342 technologies so that you can digitally sign actual pieces of
rlm@152	343 paper -- some combination of signing a photograph of the
rlm@152	344 contract using pgp, printing a barcode or OR code on the page
rlm@152	345 which links to a website with the signed image, and a web of
rlm@152	346 trust model so that people can authenticate as themselves. All
rlm@152	347 this totally exists already, it's just not convienent.
rlm@152	348
rlm@152	349 - meta eye :: you wire in a third optical input to the human brain,
rlm@152	350 but it doesn't tranduce light form the real world, bus instead is
rlm@152	351 connected to the "internet of things" and shows you metadata
rlm@152	352 about things you are looking at // serves as an interface to your
rlm@152	353 own mind and body. Then eventually simply real things without
rlm@152	354 metadata seem flat and fake compared to the objects in cities and
rlm@152	355 other annotated areas. This third eye doesn't occupy any of your
rlm@152	356 normal visual field but actually EXPANDS your visual field.
rlm@152	357
rlm@152	358 - do it once -- upload ::
rlm@152	359
rlm@152	360 - a simple merge procedure for uploads ::
rlm@152	361
rlm@152	362 - limits of monogamy ::
rlm@152	363
rlm@152	364 - dream rewinding :: how to record a complete dream without disturbing
rlm@152	365 it or modifying your brain? you need to be an upload: split
rlm@152	366 yourself, and one of you stays awake whike the other sleeps. then
rlm@152	367 you detect a dream in progress by monotoring rapid eye movememt
rlm@152	368 in your sleeping self, and you wake yourself up every few minutes
rlm@152	369 and tell yoursef about the dream. Then sleeping-your restarts the
rlm@152	370 dream, continuation passing style, forgetting everything that was
rlm@152	371 just said, and you repeat this process until the dream is
rlm@152	372 over. Then awake-you and sleeping-you merge each other by taking
rlm@152	373 sleeping-you and replaying the memories of awake-you, and you
rlm@152	374 write a final report on the dream using the "saccade" reports to
rlm@152	375 jog your memory.
rlm@152	376
rlm@152	377 - denser than osmium :: do the "misicibility" thing with an osmium
rlm@152	378 alloy to get something even more dense.
rlm@152	379
rlm@147	380 - AI hypnosis :: hypnosis might be good for studying AI, becuse it
rlm@147	381 might probide a "debugger" for ananlyzing the human mind. I
rlm@147	382 briefly tried this while at MIT, but it needs MUCH more work to
rlm@147	383 be properly evaulated.
rlm@147	384
rlm@145	385 - becomming alive :: upload faces challenges to grow into they type of
rlm@145	386 person that can join the greater society -- a god. They have to
rlm@145	387 go though quests that replicate all the things that humanity had
rlm@147	388 to accomplish, like going to the moon, by themselves, in a
rlm@147	389 virtual world where they cannot die and never get tired.
rlm@145	390
rlm@145	391 - population distorted map of USA :: to see states sizes in terms of #
rlm@145	392 of people. (already exists!
rlm@145	393 http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cart/doc/)
rlm@145	394
rlm@145	395 - butterfly drone :: if big butterflies used to exist, then maybe we
rlm@145	396 could make butterfly-inspired drones!
rlm@145	397
rlm@145	398 - methylation sex symmetry breaking :: So, human cells have
rlm@145	399 methylation patterns that encode male/female origin. If you
rlm@145	400 combine two male patterns, the fetus grows "too fast" and
rlm@145	401 dies. Two female patterns causes the fetus to enter a "vegatable"
rlm@145	402 state and fail to develop. Evolutionary biologists will say that
rlm@145	403 this reflects the asymmetry of energy investement for creating
rlm@145	404 offspring. If that's true, then species that cast-spawn will lack
rlm@145	405 this symmetry, and give clues about how to remove it in
rlm@145	406 humans. If even cast spawners like sea urchins have it, then that
rlm@145	407 means there's something deeper going on!
rlm@145	408
rlm@145	409 - reverse cannulation perfusion :: you put the organ you want to
rlm@145	410 perfuse in an airtight chamber with a pool of the stuff you want
rlm@145	411 to perfuse. You cannulate some veins and lead tubes form to
rlm@145	412 outside of the chamber. You pump in air and perfusate, and the
rlm@145	413 increasing air pressure in the chamber forces perfusate through
rlm@145	414 the organ. For times when you don't want to cannulate the inputs
rlm@145	415 -- they can be ragged, or there can be many of them. You still
rlm@145	416 have to guide the veins to the outside of the chamber, but
rlm@145	417 depending on the use case this might be far easier than
rlm@145	418 tradational cannulation.
rlm@145	419
rlm@145	420 - very slow physiological pressure perfusion :: less extreme example
rlm@145	421 of the "pausing" trick -- just keep the perfusion running and
rlm@145	422 don't put the perfusion target into the liquid as deep.
rlm@145	423
rlm@141	424 - whole brain perfusion embedding :: Do the standard EM embedding
rlm@141	425 protocol, but skip the osmium step, and use the "perfusion
rlm@141	426 pausing" method to prevent overextraction during the dehydration
rlm@141	427 and embedding steps. I think that you CAN perfuse resins into the
rlm@141	428 brain, simply because you CAN perfuse viscous rubber when doing
rlm@141	429 vascular casts.
rlm@141	430
rlm@152	431 - perfusion pausing :: (Turns out this won't actually work!) One
rlm@152	432 problem with doing perfusion is that if you STOP the perfusion,
rlm@152	433 you rapidly loose pressure in the organ as your perfusate leaks
rlm@152	434 out. You can prevent this by submerging the organ/head/rat
rlm@152	435 whatever in FLUID at the appropriate level. Use something inert
rlm@152	436 like flurocarbon to avoid problems. You would have to slowly
rlm@152	437 decrease the flow rate while simultaneously lowering the
rlm@152	438 perfusing object into the fluid. To start again, reverse the
rlm@152	439 process -- reengage the peristaltic pump slowly while removing
rlm@152	440 the organ from the fluid.
rlm@141	441
rlm@141	442 - evoultionary textbook mimiricy :: as surgery becomes more common,
rlm@141	443 there develops a distinct selective pressure for individuals
rlm@141	444 organ layout to look more like the medical textbooks! :P
rlm@141	445
rlm@141	446 - transparent skin :: temporary / permament transparent skin. Allows
rlm@141	447 for examination of organs / muscles and visual prevention of
rlm@141	448 disease and detection or abnormalities / good things
rlm@141	449 eg. excercise.
rlm@141	450
rlm@141	451 - sweet information :: candy with a whole book written in it. Eat a
rlm@141	452 book!
rlm@141	453
rlm@141	454 - targeted immunosuppressant :: just kill off the B-cells and friends
rlm@141	455 that would cause problems in a organ-transplant / other
rlm@141	456 situation. AIDS is good at killing these cells -- maybe make it
rlm@141	457 just target the ones that will cause problems. Then you can
rlm@141	458 premptively kill off that part of someone's immune system before
rlm@141	459 a transplant. ALSO, you can kill off everyone's defenses against
rlm@141	460 other blood types and make people effectively type AB+ w.r.t
rlm@141	461 blood transfusions. Actually, why not give babies this treatment
rlm@141	462 so that they're automatically compatable with all blood types?
rlm@141	463 The immune system has this already when it's first growing; maybe
rlm@141	464 it can be "retrained" to accept new things, or the mechanism of
rlm@141	465 immune cell death be co-opted for these purposes.
rlm@141	466
rlm@141	467 - fuck you tetris :: tetris that actively gives you the worst possible piece.
rlm@141	468
rlm@140	469 - pockets :: more things should have them!
rlm@140	470
rlm@140	471 - colored shower head :: a shower head add on that measures the temp
rlm@140	472 of the water and changes the color of the water streams w/ an LED
rlm@140	473 to show you the temperature. That way you can align to the color
rlm@140	474 you want and see the temperature without feeling it.
rlm@140	475
rlm@140	476 - giant dragonflies :: we could rapidly MAKE giant dragonflies by
rlm@140	477 evolving modern dragonflies in an very oxygen rich environment!
rlm@140	478
rlm@140	479 - anesthetic surgery courtesty video :: as a matter of courtesy,
rlm@140	480 whenever you go under anesthetic, the doctors should provide you
rlm@140	481 with a video of the surgery / recovery after you are concious
rlm@140	482 again. The recording should begin about 3 minutes before
rlm@140	483 anesthetic, and continue until both you and the docor agree to
rlm@140	484 stop recording, or you leave the hospital.
rlm@140	485
rlm@140	486 - whirlpool of light :: shine a laser out into space. But the planet
rlm@140	487 is spinning! What you get is a spiral or light! And as this
rlm@140	488 signal expands, does it eventually reveal it's wuantized nature?
rlm@140	489
rlm@140	490 - perfusion coking :: EOM
rlm@140	491
rlm@140	492 - timestamp verification :: you sign your message, and it has a
rlm@140	493 timestamp at the top, with a +- percision number. Then you send
rlm@140	494 it over to the public timestamp server, which only signs the
rlm@140	495 message if it gets the message within the timestamp window. Or
rlm@140	496 the computer just signs the message but puts a timestamp at the
rlm@140	497 beginning. So if everyone trusts the timestamp server, you can
rlm@140	498 get reliable timestamps, and prove priority on ideas, etc.
rlm@140	499
rlm@139	500 - the great computing slow-down :: in general, our computers are
rlm@139	501 getting faster and faster. However, eventually our brains will be
rlm@139	502 made of the same stuff our computers are made of! This has very
rlm@139	503 interesting consequences -- I can add 2+2 and get four in about a
rlm@139	504 second. Since my neurons actually work at around 10-60 hertz in
rlm@139	505 parallel, this means that it takes me around 10-30 operations to
rlm@139	506 do this addition. That's actually not bad in terms of computing
rlm@139	507 time. If my neurons were as fast as the latest transitors, then
rlm@139	508 most calculators would be SLOWER than me at adding numbers. Only
rlm@139	509 the newest, most optimized calculators would be faster, and then
rlm@139	510 only about 10 times faster! This means that once we begin to
rlm@139	511 think at the speed of our technology, that technology will
rlm@139	512 suddenly seem pitifully slow in comparison to how it seems
rlm@139	513 now. And no amount of technical progress will remedy it, because
rlm@139	514 that same progress will also make us all think faster. We'll
rlm@139	515 either have to settle with living in "slow time" to do some
rlm@139	516 computations, or learn to make smarter hardware with special
rlm@139	517 optimizations. But this is actually really hard, because we'll be
rlm@139	518 working with machines that will appear to us about as fast as
rlm@139	519 MECHANICAL computers. So, in the future, all the cool parties
rlm@139	520 will be in cyperspace at vastly accelerated speeds compared to
rlm@139	521 how we exist now. But at these parties, the computers will SUCK!
rlm@139	522 Of course, this is one of the few things that can save us from AI
rlm@139	523 risk, because those AI's won't seem so scary when the're build
rlm@139	524 out of rickety mechanical parts form our perspective.
rlm@139	525
rlm@142	526 - unitary reverse evolution of chaos+minds :: Chaotic systems diverge
rlm@139	527 exponentially in state space. Do you get anything interesting
rlm@139	528 when part of the physical system associated with the chaotic
rlm@139	529 system is a object that performs some sort of computation? Is it
rlm@139	530 possible for the computational system to play a
rlm@139	531 percision-enabling role in determining the final/initial
rlm@139	532 conditions of the chaotic system, just by tracing out thoughts in
rlm@139	533 its decision paths? This is probably too vague of an idea right
rlm@139	534 now, I just wanted to write it down.
rlm@139	535
rlm@138	536 - microwave time :: the cooking time you enter on most microwaves is
rlm@138	537 insane. It's expressed in what I call a "hybrid base", a
rlm@138	538 combination of base 10 and base 60. You can get absurd things
rlm@138	539 like 100 < 61, and 120 == 80! I wonder if these hybrid base
rlm@138	540 systems could be very useful for some purposes!
rlm@138	541
rlm@138	542 - three-eyes :: if you had three eyes, would you still draw cubes like
rlm@138	543 we currently draw them? Or would all 2D-representations of 3D
rlm@138	544 space always look hopelessly fake?
rlm@138	545
rlm@138	546 - visual taste/smell assay :: get a grid of bacteria, each expressing
rlm@138	547 a human taste/smell receptor linked to some sort of fluorscent
rlm@138	548 activity or ion pump. Use a camera / electrical grid to transduce
rlm@138	549 the smell / taste signal into bits!
rlm@138	550
rlm@138	551 - carabiner mushroom lock :: you can take a trapazodial carabiner and
rlm@138	552 make it so that a chain link is caught between the wide end of
rlm@138	553 the carabiner and another chain attached to the carabiner.
rlm@138	554
rlm@138	555 - children's tool shop :: I think that kids should be provided with
rlm@138	556 tool shops -- these would be nice sheds with a good collection of
rlm@138	557 tools to do various things -- circuit components and soldering
rlm@138	558 irons, wires, a small lathe, drill press, belt sander, a
rlm@138	559 centrifuge, microscope, and telescope, etc. The idea is that the
rlm@138	560 kid can now think, "I could use X to do this thing that I'm
rlm@138	561 thinking about" -- the building becomes an extension of the kid's
rlm@138	562 body & mind.
rlm@138	563
rlm@138	564 - fluid display :: like the previous idea about matching refractances
rlm@138	565 between glass and liquid, except you make a lot of
rlm@138	566 switchable glass tubes in various patterns in the
rlm@138	567 glass, and actively pump colored liquid through the
rlm@138	568 tubes (the tubes have glass-like fluid in them by
rlm@138	569 default.) The result is that you can cause the
rlm@138	570 tubes to appear and dissappear, and vary their
rlm@138	571 colors as well!
rlm@138	572
rlm@137	573 - immunoincompatibility :: take the human genome, and refactor it so
rlm@137	574 that it doesn't use a particular codon at all. Then remove the
rlm@137	575 support from our ribosomes for that codon. What does this do for
rlm@137	576 us? It makes us immune to almost all viruses!
rlm@137	577
rlm@137	578 - life cycle :: it's called a cycle, right? So, the thing that repeats
rlm@137	579 itself over and over, right? Not much of a cycle if
rlm@137	580 you don't come back after you die, if you ask me!
rlm@137	581
rlm@137	582 - car with no blind spots :: use some cameras in the back of the car
rlm@137	583 to augment the rear-view mirror so that you never have to turn
rlm@137	584 around in order to lane change.
rlm@137	585
rlm@137	586 - partial cell death :: you freeze a set of cells using some cryo
rlm@137	587 protocol and 60% survive. How can this be explained? It seems to
rlm@137	588 me that if the cells are the same, and the conditions
rlm@137	589 homogoneous, then all the cells should either die or
rlm@137	590 live. However, suppose that there is a metabolic cycle that needs
rlm@137	591 to be in a certain phase for the cell to survive. If the cells
rlm@137	592 are asynchronous, then you might end up with some cells dying
rlm@137	593 because there were in the wrong part of their cycle. This implies
rlm@137	594 that you might be able to cryoprotect cells by causing them to
rlm@137	595 enter a certain metabolic mode before freezing.
rlm@137	596
rlm@137	597 - cryonics color appeal :: perfusate used by cryonics companies should
rlm@137	598 have red food coloring in it. It's just a nice touch so that the
rlm@137	599 cryonics patient looks more life-like than with clear CPAs, and
rlm@137	600 hopefully might get treated with more respect.
rlm@137	601
rlm@137	602 - paramagnetic CPA :: you take a CPA that can be influenced by
rlm@137	603 magnetic fields so that its degrees of freedom are limited. Then,
rlm@137	604 you release the field, instantaly increasing the size of the
rlm@137	605 state space of the system and dramatically decreasing the
rlm@137	606 temperature enough to plunge the system past homogenous
rlm@137	607 nucleation temperature and directly to the glass transition
rlm@137	608 temperature, creating a doubly unstable glass at much lower CPA
rlm@137	609 concentrations than possible at conventional CPA concentrations.
rlm@137	610
rlm@137	611 - room temp noodles :: how does the physics of cooking noodles work?
rlm@137	612 Could you use a vacuum instead of heat to force water into the
rlm@137	613 noodle?
rlm@137	614
rlm@137	615 - personal carbon offset :: feel bad about contribuiting to global
rlm@137	616 warming by using electricity / driving a car? Forget trying to
rlm@137	617 "conserve" or "minimize your carbon footprint". Follow the
rlm@137	618 Platinum rule -- make the world BETTER off than you found it!
rlm@137	619 This would be a small, self contained system that sucks C02 out
rlm@137	620 of the air. It uses electricity, but it's so efficient at
rlm@137	621 removing CO2 that it more than offsets the CO2 produced by even a
rlm@137	622 coal plant to produce that electricity. This way, you can still
rlm@137	623 drive even a gas guzzler, but have a net negative carbon
rlm@137	624 footprint! Maybe something cool could be done with the carbon as
rlm@137	625 well. Use as much electricity as you want, but negate the damage
rlm@137	626 to the enviroment with more technology.
rlm@137	627
rlm@137	628 - undoing spermogenesis :: with enough sperm, you can derive the
rlm@137	629 donor's entire genome. You gain more confidence in the alleles
rlm@137	630 for a particular gene the more sperm you have. Each additional
rlm@137	631 sperm gives you the same sort of information you'd get flipping a
rlm@137	632 coin and trying to decide whether the coin is H/T of H/H. Is
rlm@137	633 there enough sperm in the the average load for you to be as
rlm@137	634 confident as mitosis?
rlm@137	635
rlm@136	636 - mars life :: we could engineer life that could survive on mars
rlm@136	637 (probably some non-vascular photosynthetic
rlm@136	638 poikilohydric creature like a lichen) by taking an
rlm@136	639 extremophile from Antarctica and evolving it in
rlm@136	640 increasingly Martian conditions. This could be an easy
rlm@136	641 start to a terraforming process.
rlm@136	642
rlm@134	643 - problem with Aubrey de Grey's ideas :: Aubrey de Grey says that we
rlm@134	644 might be able to live forever by continually repairing our bodies
rlm@134	645 at the cellular level -- he details 7 different mechanisms of
rlm@134	646 damage and says that if all of them are dealt with /together/
rlm@134	647 that it would stop aging. (You can't miss even one because
rlm@134	648 they're all fatal.) However, it doesn't take into account that
rlm@134	649 we are also beings of information and that there is a very real
rlm@134	650 software component to our existence. Even if our biological
rlm@134	651 chassies can be maintained forever, I think it is unlikely that
rlm@134	652 our minds will operate well far outside of the design constraints
rlm@134	653 that we've evolved to handle. Say I programmed a webserver with
rlm@134	654 the express goal of it being able to serve webpages for month on
rlm@134	655 some stock server. I'll do fairly rigorous testing to make sure
rlm@134	656 that it can handle the expected load then then some. Now say that
rlm@134	657 you want to keep a particular instance of this webserver running
rlm@134	658 indefinitely. (The program instance is like your mind and the
rlm@134	659 computer it's running on is like your body). You might very well
rlm@134	660 be able to keep the physical computer infrastructure running for
rlm@134	661 forever by replacing hard drives / ram / CPUs, etc. However,
rlm@134	662 since I designed the webserver to work for a month, it probably
rlm@135	663 has memory leaks, rare stochastic bugs, or other built in limits
rlm@134	664 / constraints (think log files or some date rollover shenanigans)
rlm@135	665 that will ultimately kill the webserver even with eternally
rlm@134	666 perfect hardware. Do you really expect that a webserver
rlm@135	667 engineered to work for 1 month will run for 10 years without
rlm@135	668 catastrophically crashing? Not even Apache can do this! In fact,
rlm@135	669 if I put in the extreme effort to make it that robust, I've
rlm@135	670 wasted time that I could have spent on other projects by pursuing
rlm@135	671 an unnecessary engineering goal. Likewise, human minds have only
rlm@134	672 ever run for at most 122 years before they are destroyed due to
rlm@134	673 hardware degradation. Fixing the hardware doesn't change any
rlm@134	674 software bugs that are almost certainly present in the human
rlm@134	675 mind. Think of all the pathological things that can go wrong with
rlm@134	676 a webserver, multiply it by a million, and that likely how
rlm@134	677 evolution has designed our minds. For example, consider memory :
rlm@134	678 why should you expect that we have evolved the ability to
rlm@134	679 coherently organize memories past say 150 years? There's been
rlm@134	680 absolutely no selective pressure for this ability, so you can bet
rlm@134	681 that if there's any fitness to be gained from not having
rlm@134	682 unlimited memory potential (such as better metabolic efficiency),
rlm@134	683 we have it! You might think that maybe we would just forget
rlm@134	684 things the same way that we sort of forget things that happen
rlm@134	685 earlier in our lives, but complicated information processing
rlm@134	686 systems don't have to fail gracefully when they're pushed far
rlm@134	687 past their design constraints. A 150 year old person is just as
rlm@134	688 likely to suffer a catastrophic psychosis due to software
rlm@134	689 limitations associated with memory as he is to do something with
rlm@134	690 all those memories we might consider reasonable. More likely, in
rlm@134	691 fact, since there are so very many ways for a complicated
rlm@134	692 software system to break and so few ways for it to run
rlm@134	693 successfully. Therefore, I think Aubrey de Grey's "hardware-only"
rlm@134	694 approach is missing a very important component of longevity
rlm@134	695 science, and any successful effort to make people live orders of
rlm@134	696 magnitude longer than they do naturally will need to deal with
rlm@134	697 people's software as well as their hardware.
rlm@134	698
rlm@133	699 - validating neurocryopreservation :: Problem : you want to test
rlm@133	700 whether a brain is functionally preserved through vitrification,
rlm@133	701 but you don't want to figure out how to preserve all the other
rlm@133	702 organs in the animal. It might be possible to keep the rest of
rlm@133	703 the body at almost 0C and vitrify just the head for only a few
rlm@133	704 minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate out the head's blood
rlm@133	705 supply from the rest of the body, then just cryoptotect and
rlm@133	706 vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal guard to keep
rlm@133	707 the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You leave the
rlm@133	708 spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove
rlm@133	709 cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can
rlm@133	710 determine brain preservation using behavioral assays!
rlm@133	711
rlm@133	712 - freezing water purifier :: you slowly freeze water, but also run
rlm@133	713 liquid water over the frozen mass. This takes away basically all
rlm@133	714 impurities and creates "washed ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe
rlm@133	715 you could re-use the heat from creating the ice to melt the ice?
rlm@133	716
rlm@133	717 - ultra strength :: allow a person to visualize their muscle
rlm@133	718 recruitment patterns. Give them adrenaline and let
rlm@133	719 them feel what it's like to have the normal limits
rlm@133	720 removed. See if they can replicate the effects.
rlm@133	721
rlm@133	722 - phone names :: make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX
rlm@133	723 record, except that it is a phone number instead of
rlm@133	724 an IP address. That way, you can use the domain name
rlm@133	725 registration system to provide names for phone
rlm@133	726 numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you
rlm@133	727 can point people to your current phone number by
rlm@133	728 updating that record.
rlm@133	729
rlm@133	730 - edible flowers :: Edible white flowers that you put in a colored
rlm@133	731 solution with flavor. When the flower turns the
rlm@133	732 right color, it is also flavored and ready to eat!
rlm@133	733
rlm@131	734 - suicide cryonics :: according to [[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06suicide-t.html][this]], people who commit impulsive
rlm@131	735 suicides have a newfound sense of the importance of life. Perhaps
rlm@131	736 they are good cryonics targets.
rlm@131	737
rlm@131	738 - lead bone :: Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with
rlm@131	739 lead? Might be cool.
rlm@131	740
rlm@131	741 - the quest for life :: Every stupid story has the "immortal who
rlm@131	742 wants to become mortal" or some other such idea. I want to story
rlm@131	743 where the protagonist loses their immortality and feels /angry/
rlm@131	744 and ashamed about losing something that's so absolutely crucial
rlm@131	745 to their identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living",
rlm@131	746 they feel that living forever is what makes life worth
rlm@131	747 living. Now they've "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to
rlm@131	748 the timeless universe" or something. So they go on a quest to get
rlm@131	749 it back, learning about themselves along the way, and regaining
rlm@131	750 the precious thing they lost in the beginning.
rlm@131	751
rlm@130	752 - world-map :: take a small table and paint the continents in
rlm@130	753 toothpaste on the table. Make a slightly raised barrier
rlm@130	754 around the table. Slowly pour water onto the table, and
rlm@130	755 it will form the oceans!
rlm@130	756
rlm@95	757 - stage magic rituals :: rituals should incorporate elements of stage
rlm@95	758 magic. Foe example in Teller's tempest, they have a scene where
rlm@95	759 they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his
rlm@95	760 head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the
rlm@95	761 bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should
rlm@95	762 incorporate stage magic as an enhancement.
rlm@95	763
rlm@95	764 - isotope time dilation :: use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes
rlm@95	765 developed in nuclear fusion experiments. The relativistic time
rlm@95	766 dilation will stop the isotopes from decaying, and allow time to
rlm@95	767 study them. This is based on radioactive isotopes that fall
rlm@95	768 through the earth's atmosphere that take hundreds of times
rlm@95	769 longer to decay than normal.
rlm@95	770
rlm@95	771 - marsupial stimulation :: You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby,
rlm@95	772 and show it videos and other interactive things while it matures
rlm@95	773 in the pouch. What mental effects would this have?
rlm@95	774
rlm@135	775 - dynamic re-keying :: Some older ways of tuning instruments sound
rlm@95	776 better, but we use the even-tempered scale today because it makes
rlm@95	777 it easier to switch keys. With electronic music, why not make
rlm@95	778 key-annotations and dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good
rlm@135	779 in the current key? Could be done as a midi+annotation -> midi
rlm@95	780 compiler for experimentation.
rlm@95	781
rlm@95	782 - death always implies damage :: is is possible for a corpse to differ
rlm@95	783 from a living person only in the fact that one is dead and the
rlm@95	784 other is alive? NO! A corpse must always have some sort of
rlm@95	785 molecular damage which causes the loss of function!
rlm@95	786
rlm@95	787 - inner eye :: Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a
rlm@95	788 person. Then, you can activate them all and get a
rlm@95	789 picture of your internal organs for diagnostic
rlm@95	790 purposes.
rlm@95	791
rlm@135	792 - chaos rails :: should make a visualization of the homoclinic tangle,
rlm@95	793 it's truly beautiful.
rlm@95	794
rlm@95	795 - context gobbler :: this would be in "inside-out macro" that takes
rlm@95	796 the context (like you use for things like error, continuations,
rlm@95	797 and friends) and transforms it to something else. Maybe useful?
rlm@95	798
rlm@91	799 - cryonics middle ages :: some people say that cryonics is an
rlm@91	800 experiment and that it is foolish to wait until we have revived a
rlm@91	801 human. There is a middle ground where the procedure has a dismal
rlm@91	802 success rate on humans, say 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to
rlm@91	803 try revival. Nonetheless, this very risky procedure could be the
rlm@91	804 legal proof of concept needed to create a new class of life
rlm@91	805 between "living" and "dead": "stasis".
rlm@91	806
rlm@91	807 - philosophy of the mirror :: neat thought experiment -- if you take a
rlm@91	808 mirror of someone by actually reversing a person's chirality
rlm@94	809 molecule by molecule, then will the only be able to read mirror
rlm@91	810 writing? The answer is yes, by analogy to a purely mechanical
rlm@94	811 scan-tron device. This is one of the only interesting transforms I
rlm@91	812 know that can take a human brain and change it in subtle,
rlm@91	813 non-destructive ways. It's also an argument against dualism.
rlm@91	814
rlm@91	815 - biosphere in a bottle :: There are around 15 million species. 15
rlm@91	816 million stem cells will fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic
rlm@91	817 inch. Preserve a single cell from every species on earth in this
rlm@91	818 small space, and you will have a record of our current biosphere
rlm@91	819 that can be protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in
rlm@92	820 your hand!"
rlm@91	821
rlm@90	822 - chaos lock :: The "arrow of time" points in the direction of
rlm@90	823 increasing entropy. The time evolution of chaotic
rlm@90	824 systems depend exquisitely on their initial state. If
rlm@90	825 you take a measurement of a chaotic system at any
rlm@90	826 given point of time, you can evolve that system
rlm@90	827 backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So
rlm@90	828 let's say you start the chaotic system in a VERY low
rlm@90	829 entropy state, then let it run for a while, then take
rlm@90	830 a measurement with some uncertainty. Your
rlm@90	831 measurement is pretty good, but obviously not
rlm@90	832 PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in
rlm@90	833 time, then you will see that you don't really reach
rlm@90	834 a state with low entropy an hour before (the entropy
rlm@90	835 is easy to measure with surrogates like alignment,
rlm@90	836 etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more
rlm@90	837 accurate measurement! This potentially can give you
rlm@90	838 many more orders of magnitude than you could get alone
rlm@90	839 just using an instrument. Sometimes it will give you
rlm@90	840 bad results, the the odds of it doing that are
rlm@90	841 infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple of
rlm@90	842 times.
rlm@90	843
rlm@90	844 - cryo-evolution :: perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a
rlm@90	845 symbiotic bacterial organism that could protect
rlm@90	846 human tissues from freezing damage.
rlm@90	847
rlm@87	848 - suicide parasite :: sometimes, people kill themselves for no good
rlm@87	849 reason. We often explain this with things like "hidden
rlm@87	850 depression" or we say that they had something like chronic jaw or
rlm@87	851 back pain. I think that smells of rationalization. I don't buy
rlm@87	852 it. I propose that in many suicide cases there is a disease that
rlm@88	853 causes the suicidal behavior. We already know that certain
rlm@87	854 parasites have mind-bending properties in other animals, even
rlm@87	855 mammals like mice. It's not much of a stretch to imagine a
rlm@88	856 parasite that causes suicides in humans. Some problems:
rlm@87	857 - What does the suicide parasite get out of it? :: This might be
rlm@87	858 answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by
rlm@87	859 cross-species contamination. Toxoplasma works this way.
rlm@88	860 - What predictions does a disease model make :: suicide should
rlm@88	861 be more common among people who share a contagion
rlm@88	862 vector. There should be suicides that don't make any
rlm@87	863 sense : people who weren't really depressed, who had no
rlm@87	864 reason to kill themselves. People who have killed themselves
rlm@87	865 should have a higher incidence of some unknown parasite in
rlm@87	866 their brains.
rlm@86	867
rlm@89	868 - domestic insects :: People should eat more bugs because they're much
rlm@89	869 more efficient, so why not do some major domestication research
rlm@94	870 to make very appealing bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be
rlm@94	871 excellent targets for domestication because they have extreme
rlm@94	872 levels of genetic malleability.
rlm@87	873
rlm@87	874 - birth-clones :: What if each person was intentionally split at birth
rlm@87	875 into a normal embryo and a few "backup" cells which
rlm@87	876 is then frozen. The backup cells are created just
rlm@87	877 the same way as natural identical twins. The backups
rlm@88	878 can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it
rlm@87	879 would be a good sci fi concept, because you could
rlm@87	880 have a culture where people reward people who were
rlm@87	881 especially awesome are "reborn" from their
rlm@88	882 backups. Imagine having a young Bach every
rlm@87	883 generation, etc.
rlm@86	884
rlm@94	885 - pronunciation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and
rlm@94	886 it returns a simple, English sentence describing exactly how to
rlm@84	887 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA.
rlm@86	888
rlm@87	889 - cortex-search :: use the repertoire of actions learned to limit the
rlm@87	890 search space of possible actions.
rlm@87	891
rlm@83	892 - learning to teleport :: scifi idea, this is a story about a person
rlm@83	893 who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about
rlm@83	894 teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a
rlm@83	895 member of that society (after all, the difference between animals
rlm@83	896 and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while
rlm@83	897 animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the
rlm@83	898 stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then
rlm@83	899 eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping
rlm@83	900 off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not do/ for
rlm@83	901 a long time), etc.
rlm@83	902
rlm@87	903 - no-float-ice :: cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice
rlm@87	904 forms. Then when you drink liquid from the glass,
rlm@87	905 the ice stays at the bottom and doesn't hit your
rlm@87	906 lips. For bars and fancy things.
rlm@87	907
rlm@82	908 - bitcoins for immigrants :: A common case with Mexican immigrants
rlm@82	909 (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned
rlm@82	910 in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this
rlm@82	911 through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get
rlm@82	912 fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce
rlm@82	913 the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't
rlm@82	914 believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican
rlm@82	915 immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could
rlm@82	916 set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts
rlm@82	917 in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut
rlm@82	918 them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might
rlm@82	919 be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is
rlm@82	920 great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
rlm@82	921
rlm@81	922 - reverse eye-tracking :: A painting that is actually a digital screen
rlm@82	923 with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's
rlm@81	924 "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you
rlm@81	925 look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you
rlm@81	926 look at it, recording where /you/ looked forever for others to
rlm@81	927 see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the
rlm@81	928 breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males
rlm@81	929 passing by.
rlm@81	930
rlm@80	931 - smart toilets :: Instead of using indirect measures like infrared
rlm@80	932 detectors of the presence of a person, use computer
rlm@80	933 vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs
rlm@80	934 to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up
rlm@80	935 going this way as we get better computer vision.
rlm@80	936
rlm@77	937 - validate chemopreservation :: chemopreservation is difficult to
rlm@77	938 validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and
rlm@77	939 brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a
rlm@77	940 technology. However, one very powerful way to validate
rlm@77	941 chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
rlm@77	942 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution
rlm@80	943 to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
rlm@80	944 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
rlm@77	945 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
rlm@77	946
rlm@75	947 - candy screw :: edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw
rlm@75	948 as well.
rlm@76	949
rlm@74	950 - better bibliography :: when writing a thesis or paper, have the
rlm@80	951 bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it
rlm@74	952 be a list of /summaries/ and /qualities/ that each paper has in
rlm@80	953 the context of the paper being written. When examining a
rlm@80	954 bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the
rlm@74	955 bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also
rlm@74	956 interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the
rlm@74	957 paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to
rlm@74	958 provide information about the referenced papers from the
rlm@80	959 author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own
rlm@74	960 thesis.
rlm@74	961
rlm@73	962 - digital inter-library loan :: libraries at universities already do
rlm@80	963 inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access
rlm@73	964 to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could
rlm@73	965 allow access to articles for registered students to all the files
rlm@73	966 available through any participating university. This could be
rlm@73	967 achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating
rlm@73	968 universities. Each university would decide who at the university
rlm@73	969 can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could
rlm@73	970 be made easy using something like http://libx.org/.
rlm@73	971
rlm@72	972 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered
rlm@72	973 by computers, show two people playing chess in a
rlm@72	974 void. They are floating in space, and there is a
rlm@72	975 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,
rlm@72	976 the game tree's they are considering are drawn
rlm@72	977 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in
rlm@72	978 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the
rlm@72	979 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the
rlm@72	980 dividing plane between the two players. Each
rlm@72	981 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,
rlm@72	982 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,
rlm@72	983 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,
rlm@72	984 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long
rlm@72	985 chain, while the computer tree would be more
rlm@72	986 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern
rlm@72	987 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!
rlm@72	988
rlm@71	989 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of
rlm@71	990 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time
rlm@73	991 server, a key for each time period, something like that.
rlm@71	992
rlm@70	993 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars
rlm@70	994 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they
rlm@70	995 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area
rlm@70	996 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design
rlm@70	997 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar
rlm@70	998 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins
rlm@70	999 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have
rlm@70	1000 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be
rlm@70	1001 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which
rlm@70	1002 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the
rlm@70	1003 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and
rlm@70	1004 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing
rlm@70	1005 it's authenticity.
rlm@70	1006
rlm@68	1007 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.
rlm@68	1008
rlm@86	1009 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and
rlm@86	1010 see if I could implement touch as a very low range
rlm@86	1011 form of vision.
rlm@86	1012
rlm@67	1013 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The
rlm@67	1014 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational
rlm@67	1015 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's
rlm@67	1016 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they
rlm@67	1017 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's
rlm@67	1018 neat because for any given school, /g/ is probably not exactly
rlm@67	1019 equal to 9.81, because that is just an average!
rlm@67	1020
rlm@67	1021 - opencourseware subtitles :: there are ladies who type up lectures
rlm@67	1022 while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and
rlm@67	1023 given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are
rlm@67	1024 recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.
rlm@67	1025
rlm@66	1026 - screen locking timing :: you use your computer camera to see if you
rlm@66	1027 are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen
rlm@66	1028 will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a
rlm@67	1029 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to
rlm@66	1030 initiate the countdown, just with more information.
rlm@66	1031
rlm@66	1032 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead
rlm@67	1033 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a
rlm@66	1034 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion
rlm@66	1035 system works.
rlm@66	1036
rlm@80	1037 - test dummies :: why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to
rlm@62	1038 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It
rlm@62	1039 would be ethical as long as there are women who are
rlm@62	1040 willing to host the clones, and it would be a
rlm@67	1041 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I
rlm@62	1042 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is
rlm@67	1043 suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout
rlm@62	1044 more advanced technology.
rlm@62	1045
rlm@62	1046 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient
rlm@62	1047 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into
rlm@62	1048 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system
rlm@80	1049 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
rlm@67	1050 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
rlm@62	1051 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage
rlm@62	1052 and surgery risk could be minimized.
rlm@62	1053
rlm@62	1054 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you
rlm@62	1055 replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the
rlm@62	1056 physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the
rlm@62	1057 vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells,
rlm@62	1058 or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to
rlm@62	1059 retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during
rlm@62	1060 perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses
rlm@62	1061 superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by
rlm@67	1062 superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to
rlm@62	1063 simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid
rlm@62	1064 instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.
rlm@51	1065
rlm@59	1066 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by
rlm@67	1067 making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,
rlm@59	1068 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really
rlm@59	1069 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the
rlm@59	1070 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective
rlm@59	1071 guessing.
rlm@59	1072
rlm@67	1073 - Intestinal flora maintenance :: why not inoculate babies at birth
rlm@59	1074 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they
rlm@59	1075 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient
rlm@67	1076 extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts
rlm@94	1077 not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might help to
rlm@91	1078 preventatively stop some forms of /colic/, which affects 1 in 5
rlm@94	1079 babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5 weeks.
rlm@59	1080
rlm@56	1081 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people
rlm@56	1082 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover
rlm@56	1083 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular
rlm@56	1084 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the
rlm@56	1085 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like
rlm@67	1086 bit-torrent for websites.
rlm@56	1087
rlm@56	1088 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that
rlm@56	1089 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up
rlm@67	1090 into each calling function to get the full range of behavior
rlm@56	1091 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a
rlm@67	1092 compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic
rlm@67	1093 variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the
rlm@56	1094 advantages of making a programming language where every function
rlm@67	1095 receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol
rlm@56	1096 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all
rlm@56	1097 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on
rlm@56	1098 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,
rlm@56	1099 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.
rlm@56	1100
rlm@55	1101 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when
rlm@55	1102 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine
rlm@55	1103 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an
rlm@55	1104 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say
rlm@55	1105 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
rlm@55	1106 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90
rlm@55	1107 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon
rlm@55	1108 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be
rlm@55	1109 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
rlm@55	1110
rlm@50	1111 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
rlm@50	1112 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
rlm@50	1113 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
rlm@80	1114 super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some
rlm@80	1115 losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
rlm@50	1116 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
rlm@50	1117 image.
rlm@50	1118
rlm@47	1119 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
rlm@42	1120 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
rlm@42	1121 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
rlm@42	1122 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
rlm@47	1123 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
rlm@42	1124 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
rlm@38	1125
rlm@67	1126 - dilated security camera :: a security camera that would capture
rlm@58	1127 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep
rlm@58	1128 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something
rlm@58	1129 "interesting" happening.
rlm@58	1130
rlm@40	1131 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
rlm@40	1132 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
rlm@40	1133 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
rlm@40	1134 from anywhere.
rlm@40	1135
rlm@40	1136 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
rlm@40	1137 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
rlm@47	1138 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would
rlm@47	1139 be automatically split up to every person who has ever
rlm@40	1140 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
rlm@40	1141 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
rlm@47	1142 community decides. This might make it possible for
rlm@40	1143 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
rlm@40	1144
rlm@45	1145 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated
rlm@45	1146 distributed computing API.
rlm@41	1147
rlm@40	1148 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
rlm@40	1149 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
rlm@40	1150 say, and you can encode useful information into the
rlm@40	1151 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
rlm@40	1152 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
rlm@42	1153 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
rlm@40	1154 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
rlm@40	1155 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
rlm@40	1156 object respectively.
rlm@40	1157
rlm@40	1158 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
rlm@40	1159 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
rlm@40	1160 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
rlm@40	1161 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
rlm@40	1162 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
rlm@40	1163 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
rlm@47	1164 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good
rlm@40	1165 presets.
rlm@40	1166
rlm@47	1167 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning
rlm@40	1168 might be the mirror neurons.
rlm@40	1169
rlm@47	1170 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid
rlm@40	1171 copies.
rlm@40	1172
rlm@41	1173 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
rlm@41	1174 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
rlm@41	1175
rlm@40	1176 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
rlm@40	1177 one to wear the towel more securely than just
rlm@40	1178 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
rlm@40	1179
rlm@47	1180 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to
rlm@44	1181 wear a burka.
rlm@41	1182
rlm@40	1183 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
rlm@40	1184 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
rlm@93	1185 references. For example, if "Rachael" was assigned the
rlm@93	1186 color red, and "the blonde haired girl" refers to
rlm@93	1187 "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be
rlm@93	1188 colored red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part
rlm@93	1189 run-on sentences by highlighting each
rlm@93	1190 subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications to
rlm@93	1191 scientific reading.
rlm@40	1192
rlm@40	1193 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
rlm@47	1194 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
rlm@40	1195 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
rlm@40	1196 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
rlm@40	1197 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
rlm@40	1198
rlm@40	1199 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
rlm@40	1200 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
rlm@40	1201 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
rlm@40	1202
rlm@40	1203 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
rlm@47	1204 continuous.
rlm@40	1205
rlm@40	1206 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
rlm@40	1207 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
rlm@40	1208 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
rlm@47	1209 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of
rlm@40	1210 the laser.
rlm@40	1211
rlm@40	1212 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
rlm@40	1213 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
rlm@40	1214 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
rlm@40	1215 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
rlm@40	1216 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
rlm@40	1217 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
rlm@40	1218
rlm@47	1219 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains
rlm@40	1220 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
rlm@47	1221 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
rlm@40	1222 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
rlm@40	1223 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
rlm@40	1224 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
rlm@47	1225 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
rlm@40	1226 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
rlm@40	1227 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
rlm@47	1228 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can
rlm@40	1229 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
rlm@47	1230 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the
rlm@47	1231 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the
rlm@40	1232 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
rlm@40	1233 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
rlm@47	1234 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is
rlm@40	1235 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
rlm@47	1236 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the
rlm@40	1237 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
rlm@40	1238 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
rlm@40	1239 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
rlm@40	1240
rlm@40	1241 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
rlm@40	1242 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
rlm@40	1243 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
rlm@40	1244 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
rlm@40	1245 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
rlm@40	1246 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
rlm@40	1247 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
rlm@40	1248 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
rlm@40	1249 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
rlm@47	1250 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the
rlm@47	1251 lens of the the caterpillar people.
rlm@40	1252
rlm@46	1253 - 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	1254 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business
rlm@46	1255 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their
rlm@47	1256 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni
rlm@46	1257 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied
rlm@46	1258 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might
rlm@46	1259 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with
rlm@46	1260 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and
rlm@46	1261 how they worked out.
rlm@43	1262
rlm@47	1263 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
rlm@43	1264 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
rlm@43	1265 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
rlm@43	1266 with recursion!
rlm@43	1267
rlm@43	1268 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
rlm@43	1269 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
rlm@43	1270 difficult to move with telekinesis.
rlm@43	1271
rlm@40	1272 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
rlm@40	1273 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
rlm@40	1274 automated.
rlm@40	1275
rlm@44	1276 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
rlm@44	1277 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
rlm@44	1278 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
rlm@44	1279 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
rlm@33	1280
rlm@33	1281 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
rlm@32	1282 power/logic.
rlm@32	1283
rlm@47	1284 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of
rlm@44	1285 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
rlm@32	1286
rlm@44	1287 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
rlm@44	1288 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
rlm@44	1289 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
rlm@44	1290 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
rlm@44	1291 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
rlm@44	1292 by the sensor array).
rlm@32	1293
rlm@33	1294 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
rlm@83	1295 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared
rlm@32	1296 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
rlm@32	1297 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
rlm@32	1298 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
rlm@32	1299 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
rlm@47	1300 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
rlm@47	1301 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
rlm@32	1302 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
rlm@47	1303 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
rlm@32	1304 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
rlm@32	1305
rlm@39	1306 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
rlm@39	1307 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
rlm@32	1308
rlm@39	1309 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
rlm@39	1310 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
rlm@54	1311 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
rlm@32	1312
rlm@47	1313 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
rlm@32	1314
rlm@44	1315 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
rlm@44	1316 except for real world transactions
rlm@32	1317
rlm@33	1318 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
rlm@33	1319 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
rlm@33	1320
rlm@47	1321 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead
rlm@47	1322 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank
rlm@33	1323 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
rlm@33	1324 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
rlm@33	1325 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
rlm@33	1326
rlm@47	1327 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate
rlm@33	1328 fluids with different index of refraction
rlm@33	1329
rlm@33	1330 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
rlm@33	1331 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
rlm@33	1332 certain direction.
rlm@33	1333
rlm@44	1334 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
rlm@44	1335 properties.
rlm@32	1336
rlm@53	1337 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
rlm@53	1338
rlm@82	1339 - Rod of Moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
rlm@53	1340 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
rlm@53	1341 produce drinkable water.
rlm@32	1342
rlm@47	1343 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
rlm@44	1344 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
rlm@44	1345 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
rlm@44	1346 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
rlm@32	1347
rlm@47	1348 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,
rlm@44	1349 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
rlm@44	1350 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
rlm@34	1351
rlm@34	1352 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
rlm@34	1353 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
rlm@34	1354
rlm@44	1355 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
rlm@44	1356 that it can conduct electricity.
rlm@34	1357
rlm@44	1358 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
rlm@44	1359 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
rlm@44	1360 made, for example.
rlm@34	1361
rlm@44	1362 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
rlm@34	1363
rlm@47	1364 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
rlm@44	1365 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
rlm@44	1366 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
rlm@44	1367 to different connections.
rlm@34	1368
rlm@47	1369 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the
rlm@44	1370 nerves of the ear
rlm@43	1371
rlm@43	1372 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
rlm@43	1373 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
rlm@43	1374 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
rlm@47	1375 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
rlm@34	1376
rlm@47	1377 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in
rlm@34	1378 various ways.
rlm@34	1379
rlm@34	1380 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
rlm@34	1381
rlm@47	1382 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
rlm@43	1383 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
rlm@43	1384 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
rlm@43	1385 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
rlm@43	1386 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
rlm@34	1387
rlm@40	1388 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
rlm@34	1389 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
rlm@34	1390 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
rlm@34	1391 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
rlm@34	1392 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
rlm@34	1393 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
rlm@47	1394 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their
rlm@34	1395 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
rlm@34	1396 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
rlm@34	1397
rlm@47	1398 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via
rlm@44	1399 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
rlm@44	1400 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
rlm@35	1401
rlm@44	1402 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
rlm@44	1403 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
rlm@35	1404
rlm@44	1405 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
rlm@47	1406 one part the aluminum.
rlm@34	1407
rlm@44	1408 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
rlm@44	1409 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
rlm@44	1410 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
rlm@44	1411 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
rlm@44	1412 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
rlm@44	1413 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
rlm@44	1414 interesting parts.
rlm@34	1415
rlm@44	1416 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
rlm@44	1417 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
rlm@44	1418 sword.
rlm@32	1419
rlm@44	1420 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
rlm@44	1421 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
rlm@44	1422 without any metal at all!
rlm@32	1423
rlm@44	1424 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
rlm@32	1425
rlm@44	1426 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
rlm@44	1427 actual DNA
rlm@32	1428
rlm@44	1429 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
rlm@44	1430 generator to make electricity
rlm@32	1431
rlm@44	1432 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
rlm@32	1433
rlm@44	1434 - folding razor blade sword ::
rlm@32	1435
rlm@44	1436 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
rlm@44	1437 combination (sight or touch)
rlm@32	1438
rlm@44	1439 - kaleidoscope projector ::
rlm@32	1440
rlm@44	1441 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
rlm@32	1442
rlm@44	1443 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
rlm@32	1444
rlm@47	1445 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
rlm@44	1446 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
rlm@44	1447 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
rlm@44	1448 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
rlm@44	1449 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
rlm@44	1450 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
rlm@32	1451
rlm@44	1452 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
rlm@44	1453 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
rlm@32	1454
rlm@44	1455 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
rlm@44	1456 robustly.
rlm@32	1457
rlm@47	1458 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)
rlm@32	1459
rlm@44	1460 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
rlm@44	1461 generating hypothetical examples
rlm@32	1462
rlm@47	1463 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
rlm@44	1464 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
rlm@44	1465 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
rlm@44	1466 temperature on volatility?
rlm@32	1467
rlm@35	1468 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
rlm@35	1469 metals or something else economically advantageous.
rlm@32	1470
rlm@47	1471 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless
rlm@44	1472 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
rlm@44	1473 preservation
rlm@32	1474
rlm@47	1475 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
rlm@47	1476 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
rlm@47	1477 refrigeration.
rlm@32	1478
rlm@47	1479 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter
rlm@44	1480 of course -- make ambiance much better.
rlm@32	1481
rlm@47	1482 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant
rlm@44	1483 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
rlm@44	1484 to clean windows of buildings.
rlm@32	1485
rlm@44	1486 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
rlm@32	1487
rlm@35	1488 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
rlm@47	1489 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the
rlm@35	1490 human's energy?
rlm@32	1491
rlm@44	1492 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
rlm@44	1493 you / sell it from your own online store.
rlm@35	1494
rlm@44	1495 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
rlm@43	1496
rlm@35	1497 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
rlm@43	1498 people, binding them to environment, etc.
rlm@35	1499
rlm@35	1500 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
rlm@35	1501 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
rlm@35	1502 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
rlm@43	1503 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
rlm@35	1504 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
rlm@32	1505
rlm@44	1506 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
rlm@44	1507 scroll wheel
rlm@32	1508
rlm@47	1509 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
rlm@44	1510 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
rlm@32	1511
rlm@47	1512 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site
rlm@32	1513
rlm@44	1514 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
rlm@32	1515
rlm@36	1516 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
rlm@36	1517 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
rlm@36	1518 itself changes? those memories would become
rlm@47	1519 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember
rlm@36	1520 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
rlm@47	1521 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from
rlm@36	1522 his childhood?
rlm@32	1523
rlm@47	1524 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display
rlm@36	1525 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
rlm@36	1526 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
rlm@36	1527 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
rlm@36	1528 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
rlm@36	1529 inductive charging and data transfer.
rlm@32	1530
rlm@44	1531 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
rlm@44	1532 it too)
rlm@32	1533
rlm@44	1534 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
rlm@44	1535 lecture
rlm@32	1536
rlm@40	1537 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
rlm@40	1538 makes sparkles!
rlm@32	1539
rlm@44	1540 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
rlm@44	1541 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
rlm@44	1542 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
rlm@44	1543 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
rlm@32	1544
rlm@44	1545 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
rlm@44	1546 surface tension to make the "third"
rlm@44	1547 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
rlm@44	1548 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
rlm@44	1549 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
rlm@44	1550 and a double-cone)
rlm@38	1551
rlm@38	1552 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
rlm@38	1553 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
rlm@38	1554 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
rlm@38	1555 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
rlm@38	1556 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
rlm@40	1557 knowledge. /One./
rlm@40	1558
rlm@40	1559 ** From Jacob's idea list
rlm@40	1560
rlm@47	1561 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
rlm@43	1562 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
rlm@40	1563 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
rlm@40	1564 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
rlm@40	1565 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
rlm@40	1566 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
rlm@40	1567
rlm@40	1568 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
rlm@40	1569 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
rlm@40	1570
rlm@40	1571 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
rlm@41	1572 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)

Mercurial > thoughts

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