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1 #+title: Big List O' Ideas
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2 #+author: Robert McIntyre
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3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu
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4 #+description: list of ideas from Robert McIntyre
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5 #+keywords: aurellem ideas half-baked random
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6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org
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7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org
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8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both
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9 #+HTML_HEAD_EXTRA: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/ideas.css" />
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10 #+OPTIONS: num:nil
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11
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12 * Ideas
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13 # :PROPERTIES:
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14 # :HTML_CONTAINER_CLASS: ideas
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15 # :END:
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16
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17 This is a list of all the good ideas I've had that I felt like writing
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18 down for the past ~ 10 years. Some of them could be practical
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19 inventions and are "just" waiting for that 95% perspiration to bring
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20 them to fruition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are
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21 simple observations. They are arranged roughly in reverse
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22 chronological order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the
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23 list. The ones at the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my
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24 time at MIT, the ones at the top, by my time at 21st Century Medicine.
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25
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26 If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on
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27 them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from
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28 you. You can email me at ideas@aurellem.org.
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29
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30 If you want to use one of these ideas as your own and run with it,
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31 please feel free. I'd love to hear about it if you do.
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32
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33 #+begin_quote
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34 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about
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35 getting credit.
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36 #+end_quote
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37
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38
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39 #+BEGIN_HTML
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40 <hr/>
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41 #+END_HTML
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42
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43 ** Cure for Color Blindness
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44
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45 Could it be possible to administer some retroviruses via direct
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46 injection to the retina, to cause some of the cells in the retina
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47 to begin expressing different color pigments? The brain ought to
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48 easily sort out the rest and enable color vision. Furthremore,
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49 could we add some more colors to baesline human eyes? Theory --
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50 people who are color blind have better color spatial accuity for
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51 the colors they can see, because this it the tradeoff here involved
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52 with the retrovirus therapy. Re-purposing color detectors to see
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53 new colors at the expense of spatial acuity for the old set of
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54 colors.
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55
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56 ** Passion of the Christ Missed Opportunity
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57
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58 In the Passion of the Christ, they do the entire show using Latin,
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59 Aramaic, etc, with subtitles. They should have had a part where
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60 Jesus does the sermon on the mount, he turns to the camera, and
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61 starts speaking in English, with no subtitles. It would have been
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62 1.) biblically accurate and 2.) awesome. It would have been such a
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63 powerful example of Jesus' divinity, and it felt like they were
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64 setting up for it the entire movie, and they missed it!
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65
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66 ** Xenobiotic Chimeric Methalation Rewriting
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67
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68 You make chimeric sea urchins with human reproductive stem cells,
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69 so that the sea urchins produce sea urchin like HUMAN sperm and
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70 eggs. Then you can have two males / females reproduce without the
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71 methylation problem, by using the sea urchins as intermediades. And
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72 the normal problems of human chimeras are avoided because the sea
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73 urchins are too simple.
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74
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75 ** Physical PGP Signatures
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76
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77 You punch into your phone "I want to sign a contract" It gives you
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78 a gensym (or you enter a name) like:
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79 https://contracts.example.com/car-insurance-2015-09-26
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80
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81 Then you sign your name, date, and include the link on the contract
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82 under "PGP sig". Then you take a picture with your phone and enter
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83 your signing password. It gets uploaded to your website and the
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84 image gets PGP signed with your key. Now you have a timestamped
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85 archive of the contract, and anyone can verify it by looking at the
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86 physical contract itself!
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87
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88 ** The Digital Third Eye
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89
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90 You wire in a third optical input to the human brain, but it
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91 doesn't tranduce light form the real world, bus instead is
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92 connected to the "internet of things" and shows you metadata about
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93 things you are looking at // serves as an interface to your own
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94 mind and body. Then eventually simply real things without metadata
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95 seem flat and fake compared to the objects in cities and other
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96 annotated areas. This third eye doesn't occupy any of your normal
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97 visual field but actually EXPANDS your visual field.
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98
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99 ** Ultimate Limits of Monogamy
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100
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101 Let's say that you're immortal and monogamous. The longer you live
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102 with your partner, the more you build an internal model of them,
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103 and they you. Eventually these models may become complete, and then
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104 you two are actually one single recursive entity which references
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105 itself. As you offload more processing to the other (such as old
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106 couples actually do -- "remember when we were at that place,
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107 what-was-his-name honey?"), then computationally you are a single
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108 mind distributed across two bodies. (There's a reason why old
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109 couples often die as a pair). You might decide to actually merge
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110 bodies eventually. But then, you were both monogamous, so the
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111 combined person will be monogamous (and lonely because it lacks a
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112 partner). So you get married again, rinse, wash, repeat. All the
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113 monogamous people within a certain "compatability group" eventually
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114 become one. Our "social center of mass" doesn't lie within our own
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115 bodies!
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116
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117 ** Dream Rewinding
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118
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119 How to record a complete dream without disturbing it or modifying
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120 your brain? you need to be an upload: split yourself, and one of
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121 you stays awake whike the other sleeps. then you detect a dream in
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122 progress by monotoring rapid eye movememt in your sleeping self,
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123 and you wake yourself up every few minutes and tell yoursef about
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124 the dream. Then sleeping-your restarts the dream, continuation
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125 passing style, forgetting everything that was just said, and you
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126 repeat this process until the dream is over. Then awake-you and
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127 sleeping-you merge each other by taking sleeping-you and replaying
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128 the memories of awake-you, and you write a final report on the
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129 dream using the "saccade" reports to jog your memory.
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130
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131 It would really let you directly test theories of memory because
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132 you can test a person every second if you want to. I see a couple
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133 ways this could play out: you could report a dream that follows a
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134 linear narrative, with the story advancing a little bit each time
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135 (the "storytelling" hypothesis), you might say something totally
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136 different each time (the "garbage memory access" hypothesis), or
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137 something even weider like where you report exactly the same thing
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138 between seconds 0-20, then something totally different during
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139 seconds 20-40, etc.
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140
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141 ** Denser than Osmium
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142
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143 Do the "misicibility" thing with an osmium alloy to get something
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144 even more dense. Basically osmium + something else might be denser
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145 then pure osmium.
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146
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147 ** AI Hypnosis
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148
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149 Hypnosis might be good for studying AI, becuse it might probide a
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150 "debugger" for ananlyzing the human mind. I briefly tried this
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151 while at MIT, but it needs MUCH more work to be properly
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152 evaulated. Also, things you can do under hypnosis provide
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153 constraints on what the mind's capabilities are. Also, hypnosis
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154 iteslf is a worthwhile thing to study in its own right.
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155
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156 ** The Ocean Becomes a Drop
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157 Upload faces challenges to grow into the type of person that can
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158 join the greater society -- a god. They have to go though quests
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159 that replicate all the things that humanity had to accomplish, like
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160 going to the moon, by themselves.
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161
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162 ** Butterfly Drone
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163 If big butterflies used to exist, then maybe we could make
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164 butterfly-inspired drones!
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165
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166 ** Methylation Sex-Symmetry Breaking
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167 Human sex cells have methylation patterns that encode male/female
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168 origin. If you combine two male patterns, the fetus grows "too
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169 fast" and dies. Two female patterns causes the fetus to enter a
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170 "vegatable" state and fail to develop. Evolutionary biologists say
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171 that this reflects the asymmetry of energy investement for creating
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172 offspring. If that's true, then species that cast-spawn will lack
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173 this asymmetry, and give clues about how to remove it in humans. If
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174 even cast spawners like sea urchins have it, then that means
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175 there's something deeper going on!
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176
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177 ** Homosexual Reproduction
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178 You take genetic material from two males and put it into an egg
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179 cell that has had all genetic material removed. Or, you take the
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180 genetic material from one egg and put it in another egg. This would
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181 allow homosexual couples to genetically reproduce. One technical
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182 challenge blocking this technique is that human gametes have
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183 methylation patterns that encode male/female origin, and only a
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184 male+female pattern gives rise to viable offspring. You could
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185 "recondition" male / female gametes to give them the opposite
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186 pattern, perhaps by incubating them in the appropriate
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187 environment. You also could try taking stem cells and making them
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188 form the appropriate structures in vitro.
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189
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190 ** Poly-Vitrification
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191 Large molecules such as PVP are able to vitrify at around -20C, and
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192 at farily small concentrations. IF they could be introduced into
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193 cells, they would be quite useful as vitrification agents. However,
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194 it's difficult to get them in because they are so big. So instead,
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195 use smaller agents which combine together into polymers at low
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196 temperature. In particular, Fructose, trehalose, and glycerol seem
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197 to have the desired properties (though you need to make versions of
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198 fructose and trehalose that can penetrate).
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199
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200 ** Whole Brain Perfusion Embedding
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201 Do the standard EM embedding protocol, but skip the osmium step,
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202 and use the "perfusion pausing" method to prevent overextraction
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203 during the dehydration and embedding steps. I think that you can
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204 perfuse resins into the brain, simply because you can perfuse
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205 viscous rubber when doing vascular casts.
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206
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207 ** Very Slow Physiological Pressure Perfusion
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208 Less extreme example of the "perfusion pausing" trick -- just keep
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209 the perfusion running and don't put the perfusion target into the
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210 liquid as deep.
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211
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212 ** Perfusion Pausing
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213 One problem with doing perfusion of heads / organs where the veins
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214 freely leak fluid is that if you STOP the perfusion, you rapidly
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215 loose pressure in the organ as your perfusate leaks out. You can
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216 prevent this by submerging the organ/head/rat whatever in fluid at
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217 an appropriate deepness. You would have to slowly decrease the flow
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218 rate while simultaneously lowering the perfusing object into the
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219 fluid. To start again, reverse the process -- reengage the
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220 peristaltic pump slowly while removing the organ from the fluid.
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221
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222 ** Textbook Mimiricy Evolution
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223 As surgery becomes more common, there develops a distinct selective
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224 pressure for individuals' organ layouts to look more like the
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225 medical textbooks!
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226
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227 ** Transparent Skin
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228 Temporary / permament transparent skin. Allows for examination of
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229 organs / muscles and visual prevention of disease and detection or
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230 abnormalities / good things eg. excercise optimization.
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231
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232 ** Sweet Information
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233 Candy with a whole book written in it. Eat a book!
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234
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235 ** Targeted Immunosuppressant
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236 Just kill off the B-cells and friends that would cause problems in
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237 a organ-transplant / other situation. AIDS is good at killing these
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238 cells -- maybe make it can be modified to just target the ones that
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239 will cause problems. Then you can premptively kill off that part of
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240 someone's immune system before a transplant. ALSO, you can kill off
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241 everyone's defenses against other blood types and make people
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242 effectively type AB+ w.r.t blood transfusions. Actually, why not
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243 give babies this treatment so that they're automatically compatable
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244 with all blood types? It would be like a blood transfusion
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245 vaccine. The immune system does this already when it's first
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246 growing; maybe it can be "retrained" to accept new things, or the
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247 mechanism of immune cell death be co-opted for these purposes.
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248
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249 ** Fuck-you Tetris
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250 Tetris that actively gives you the worst possible piece.
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251
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252 ** Pockets
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253 More things should have them! Chairs, tables, cups, hats,
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254 trashcans, basically anything is better with a pocket.
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255
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256 ** Colored Shower Head
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257 A shower head add-on that measures the temp of the water and
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258 changes the color of the water streams w/ an LED to show you the
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259 temperature. That way you can align to the color you want and see
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260 the temperature without feeling it.
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261
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262 ** Giant Dragonflies
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263 We could rapidly MAKE giant dragonflies by evolving modern
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264 dragonflies in an very oxygen rich environment!
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265
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266 ** Whirlpool of Light
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267 Shine a laser out into space. But the planet is spinning! What you
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268 get is a spiral of light! And as this signal expands, does it
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269 eventually reveal it's quantized nature?
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270
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271 ** Perfusion Cooking
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272 You do cardiac bypass on an animal like a pig, then pump in tasty,
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273 tasty perfusate (like marinade) into the animal's
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274 vasculature. Then, you switch out to saline and increase the
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275 temperature of the saline to rapidly and uniformly cook the
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276 animal. It could be the tastiest meat ever!
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277
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278 ** Timestamp Verification
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279 You sign your message, and it has a timestamp at the top, with a +-
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280 percision number. Then you send it over to the public timestamp
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281 server, which only signs the message if it gets the message within
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282 the timestamp window. Or the computer just signs the message but
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283 puts a timestamp at the beginning. So if everyone trusts the
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284 timestamp server, you can get reliable timestamps, and prove
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285 priority on ideas, etc.
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286
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287 ** The Great Computing Slow-Down
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288 In general, our computers are getting faster and faster according
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289 to Moore's law. However, eventually our brains will be made of the
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290 same stuff our computers are made of! This has very interesting
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291 consequences -- I can add 2+2 and get four in about a second. Since
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292 my neurons actually work at around 10-60 hertz in parallel, this
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rlm@145
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293 means that it takes me around 10-30 operations to do this
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rlm@145
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294 addition. That's actually not bad in terms of computing time. If my
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rlm@145
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295 neurons were as fast as the latest transitors, then most
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rlm@145
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296 calculators (made with earlier transistors) would be SLOWER than me
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rlm@145
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297 at adding numbers. Only the newest, most optimized calculators
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rlm@145
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298 would be faster, and then only about 10 times faster! This means
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rlm@145
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299 that once we begin to think at the speed of our technology, that
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rlm@145
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300 technology will suddenly seem pitifully slow in comparison to how
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rlm@145
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301 it seems now. And no amount of technical progress will remedy it,
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rlm@145
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302 because that same progress will also make us all think
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rlm@145
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303 faster. We'll either have to settle with living in "slow time" to
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rlm@145
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304 do some computations, or learn to make smarter hardware with
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rlm@145
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305 special optimizations. But this is actually really hard, because
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rlm@145
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306 we'll be working with machines that will appear to us about as fast
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rlm@145
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307 as MECHANICAL computers. So, in the future, all the cool parties
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rlm@145
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308 will be in cyperspace at vastly accelerated speeds compared to how
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rlm@145
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309 we exist now. But at these parties, the computers will SUCK! Of
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rlm@145
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310 course, this is one of the few things that can save us from AI
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rlm@145
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311 risk, because those AI's won't seem so scary when the're build out
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rlm@145
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312 of rickety old mechanical parts form our perspective.
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313
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rlm@145
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314 ** Unitary Reverse Evolution of Chaos+Minds
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rlm@145
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315 Chaotic systems diverge exponentially in state space. Do you get
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rlm@145
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316 anything interesting when part of the physical system associated
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rlm@145
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317 with the chaotic system is a object that performs some sort of
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rlm@145
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318 computation? Is it possible for the computational system to play a
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rlm@145
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319 percision-enabling role in determining the final/initial conditions
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rlm@145
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320 of the chaotic system, just by tracing out thoughts in its decision
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rlm@145
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321 paths? This is probably too vague of an idea right now, I just
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rlm@145
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322 wanted to write it down.
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rlm@145
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323
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rlm@145
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324 ** Microwave-Time
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rlm@145
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325 The cooking time you enter on most microwaves is insane. It's
|
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rlm@145
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326 expressed in what I call a "hybrid base", a combination of base 10
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rlm@145
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327 and base 60. You can get absurd things like 100 < 61, and 120 ==
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rlm@145
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328 80! I wonder if these hybrid base systems could be very useful for
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rlm@145
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329 some purposes!
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rlm@145
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330
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rlm@145
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331 ** Three Eyes
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rlm@145
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332 If you had three eyes, would you still draw cubes like we currently
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rlm@145
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333 draw them? Or would all 2D-representations of 3D space always look
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rlm@145
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334 hopelessly fake?
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rlm@145
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335
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rlm@145
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336 ** Digital Taste/Smell Assay
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rlm@145
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337 Get a grid of bacteria, each expressing a human taste/smell
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rlm@145
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338 receptor linked to some sort of fluorscent activity or ion
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rlm@145
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339 pump. Use a camera / electrical grid to transduce the smell / taste
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rlm@145
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340 signal into bits! Inspired by gel-sight from MIT.
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rlm@145
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341
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rlm@145
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342 ** Childrens' Tool Shop
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rlm@145
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343 I think that kids should be provided with tool shops -- these would
|
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rlm@145
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344 be nice sheds with a good collection of tools to do various things
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rlm@145
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345 -- circuit components and soldering irons, wires, a small lathe,
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rlm@145
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346 drill press, belt sander, a centrifuge, microscope, and telescope,
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rlm@145
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347 etc. The idea is that the kid can now think, "I could use X to do
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rlm@145
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348 this thing that I'm thinking about" -- the building becomes an
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rlm@145
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349 extension of the kid's body & mind.
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rlm@145
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350
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rlm@145
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351 ** Fluid Display
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rlm@145
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352 Like the previous idea about matching refractances between glass
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rlm@145
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353 and liquid, except you make a lot of switchable glass tubes in
|
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rlm@145
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354 various patterns in the glass, and actively pump colored liquid
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rlm@145
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355 through the tubes (the tubes have glass-like fluid in them by
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rlm@145
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356 default.) The result is that you can cause the tubes to appear and
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rlm@145
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357 dissappear, and vary their colors as well!
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rlm@145
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358
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rlm@145
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359 ** Immunoincompatibility
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rlm@145
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360 Take the human genome, and refactor it so that it doesn't use a
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rlm@145
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361 particular codon at all. Then remove the support from our ribosomes
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rlm@145
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362 for that codon. What does this do for us? It makes us immune to
|
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rlm@145
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363 almost all viruses! There is at least one bacteria that already
|
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rlm@145
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364 does this to great effect.
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rlm@145
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365
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rlm@145
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366 ** Life Cycle
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rlm@145
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367 It's called a cycle, right? So, the thing that repeats itself over
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rlm@145
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368 and over, right? Not much of a cycle if you don't come back after
|
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rlm@145
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369 you die, if you ask me!
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rlm@145
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370
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rlm@145
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371 ** Car with no Blind Spots
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rlm@145
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372 Use some cameras in the back of the car to augment the rear-view
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rlm@145
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373 mirror so that you never have to turn around in order to lane
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rlm@145
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374 change.
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rlm@145
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375
|
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rlm@145
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376 ** Metabolic Windows and Freezing
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rlm@145
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377 You freeze a set of cells using some cryo protocol and 60%
|
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rlm@145
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378 survive. How can this be explained? It seems to me that if the
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rlm@145
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379 cells are the same, and the conditions homogoneous, then all the
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rlm@145
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380 cells should either die or live. However, suppose that there is a
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rlm@145
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381 metabolic cycle that needs to be in a certain phase for the cell to
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rlm@145
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382 survive. If the cells are asynchronous, then you might end up with
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rlm@145
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383 some cells dying because there were in the wrong part of their
|
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rlm@145
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384 cycle. This implies that you might be able to cryoprotect cells by
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rlm@145
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385 causing them to enter a certain metabolic mode before freezing.
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rlm@145
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386
|
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rlm@145
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387 ** Cryonics Color Appeal
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rlm@145
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388 Perfusate used by cryonics companies could have red food coloring
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rlm@145
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389 in it. It's just a nice touch so that the cryonics patient looks
|
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rlm@145
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390 more life-like than with clear CPAs, and hopefully might get
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rlm@145
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391 treated with more respect.
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rlm@145
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392
|
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rlm@145
|
393 ** Paramagnetic CPA
|
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rlm@145
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394 you take a CPA that can be influenced by magnetic fields so that
|
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rlm@145
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395 its degrees of freedom are limited. Then, you release the field,
|
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rlm@145
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396 instantaly increasing the size of the state space of the system and
|
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rlm@145
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397 dramatically decreasing the temperature enough to plunge the system
|
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rlm@145
|
398 past homogenous nucleation temperature and directly to the glass
|
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rlm@145
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399 transition temperature, creating a doubly unstable glass at much
|
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rlm@145
|
400 lower CPA concentrations than possible at conventional CPA
|
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rlm@145
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401 concentrations. A major technical limitation facing this technique
|
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rlm@145
|
402 is that it's a very minor effect -- you can only get about 0.1C
|
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rlm@145
|
403 with most systems that have been studied so far.
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rlm@145
|
404
|
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rlm@146
|
405 ** Room Temp Ramen
|
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rlm@146
|
406 How does the physics of cooking noodles work? Could you use a
|
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rlm@146
|
407 vacuum instead of heat to force water into the noodle?
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rlm@145
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408
|
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rlm@146
|
409 ** Personal Carbon Offset
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rlm@146
|
410 Feel bad about contribuiting to global warming by using electricity
|
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rlm@146
|
411 / driving a car? Forget trying to "conserve" or "minimize your
|
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rlm@146
|
412 carbon footprint". Follow the Platinum rule -- make the world
|
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rlm@146
|
413 BETTER off than you found it! This would be a small, self
|
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rlm@146
|
414 contained system that sucks C02 out of the air. It uses
|
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rlm@146
|
415 electricity, but it's so efficient at removing CO2 that it more
|
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rlm@146
|
416 than offsets the CO2 produced by even a coal plant to produce that
|
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rlm@146
|
417 electricity. This way, you can still drive even a gas guzzler, but
|
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rlm@146
|
418 have a net negative carbon footprint! Maybe something cool could be
|
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rlm@146
|
419 done with the carbon as well. Use as much electricity as you want,
|
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rlm@146
|
420 but negate the damage to the enviroment with more technology.
|
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rlm@145
|
421
|
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rlm@146
|
422 ** Undoing Spermogenesis
|
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rlm@146
|
423 With enough sperm, you can derive the donor's entire genome. You
|
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rlm@146
|
424 gain more confidence in the alleles for a particular gene the more
|
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rlm@146
|
425 sperm you have. Each additional sperm gives you the same sort of
|
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rlm@146
|
426 information you'd get flipping a coin and trying to decide whether
|
|
rlm@146
|
427 the coin is H/T of H/H. Is there enough sperm in the the average
|
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rlm@146
|
428 load for you to be as confident as mitosis?
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rlm@145
|
429
|
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rlm@146
|
430 ** Mars Life
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rlm@146
|
431 We could engineer life that could survive on mars (probably some
|
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rlm@146
|
432 non-vascular photosynthetic poikilohydric creature like a lichen)
|
|
rlm@146
|
433 by taking an extremophile from Antarctica and evolving it in
|
|
rlm@146
|
434 increasingly Martian conditions. This could be an easy start to a
|
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rlm@146
|
435 terraforming process.
|
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rlm@145
|
436
|
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rlm@146
|
437 ** Problem with Aubrey de Grey's Ideas
|
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rlm@146
|
438 Aubrey de Grey says that we might be able to live forever by
|
|
rlm@146
|
439 continually repairing our bodies at the cellular level -- he
|
|
rlm@146
|
440 details 7 different mechanisms of damage and says that if all of
|
|
rlm@146
|
441 them are dealt with /together/ that it would stop aging. (You can't
|
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rlm@146
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442 miss even one because they're all fatal.) However, it doesn't take
|
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rlm@146
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443 into account that we are also beings of information and that there
|
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rlm@146
|
444 is a very real software component to our existence. Even if our
|
|
rlm@146
|
445 biological chassies can be maintained forever, I think it is
|
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rlm@146
|
446 unlikely that our minds will operate well far outside of the design
|
|
rlm@146
|
447 constraints that we've evolved to handle. Say I programmed a
|
|
rlm@146
|
448 webserver with the express goal of it being able to serve webpages
|
|
rlm@146
|
449 for month on some stock server. I'll do fairly rigorous testing to
|
|
rlm@146
|
450 make sure that it can handle the expected load then then some. Now
|
|
rlm@146
|
451 say that you want to keep a particular instance of this webserver
|
|
rlm@146
|
452 running indefinitely. (The program instance is like your mind and
|
|
rlm@146
|
453 the computer it's running on is like your body). You might very
|
|
rlm@146
|
454 well be able to keep the physical computer infrastructure running
|
|
rlm@146
|
455 for forever by replacing hard drives / ram / CPUs, etc. However,
|
|
rlm@146
|
456 since I designed the webserver to work for a month, it probably has
|
|
rlm@146
|
457 memory leaks, rare stochastic bugs, or other built in limits /
|
|
rlm@146
|
458 constraints (think log files or some date rollover shenanigans)
|
|
rlm@146
|
459 that will ultimately kill the webserver even with eternally perfect
|
|
rlm@146
|
460 hardware. Do you really expect that a webserver engineered to work
|
|
rlm@146
|
461 for 1 month will run for 10 years without catastrophically
|
|
rlm@146
|
462 crashing? Not even Apache can do this! In fact, if I put in the
|
|
rlm@146
|
463 extreme effort to make it that robust, I've wasted time that I
|
|
rlm@146
|
464 could have spent on other projects by pursuing an unnecessary
|
|
rlm@146
|
465 engineering goal. Likewise, human minds have only ever run for at
|
|
rlm@146
|
466 most 122 years before they are destroyed due to hardware
|
|
rlm@146
|
467 degradation. Fixing the hardware doesn't change any software bugs
|
|
rlm@146
|
468 that are almost certainly present in the human mind. Think of all
|
|
rlm@146
|
469 the pathological things that can go wrong with a webserver,
|
|
rlm@146
|
470 multiply it by a million, and that likely how evolution has
|
|
rlm@146
|
471 designed our minds. For example, consider memory : why should you
|
|
rlm@146
|
472 expect that we have evolved the ability to coherently organize
|
|
rlm@146
|
473 memories past say 150 years? There's been absolutely no selective
|
|
rlm@146
|
474 pressure for this ability, so you can bet that if there's any
|
|
rlm@146
|
475 fitness to be gained from not having unlimited memory potential
|
|
rlm@146
|
476 (such as better metabolic efficiency), we have it! You might think
|
|
rlm@146
|
477 that maybe we would just forget things the same way that we sort of
|
|
rlm@146
|
478 forget things that happen earlier in our lives, but complicated
|
|
rlm@146
|
479 information processing systems don't have to fail gracefully when
|
|
rlm@146
|
480 they're pushed far past their design constraints. A 150 year old
|
|
rlm@146
|
481 person is just as likely to suffer a catastrophic psychosis due to
|
|
rlm@146
|
482 software limitations associated with memory as he is to do
|
|
rlm@146
|
483 something with all those memories we might consider
|
|
rlm@146
|
484 reasonable. More likely, in fact, since there are so very many ways
|
|
rlm@146
|
485 for a complicated software system to break and so few ways for it
|
|
rlm@146
|
486 to run successfully. Therefore, I think Aubrey de Grey's
|
|
rlm@146
|
487 "hardware-only" approach is missing a very important component of
|
|
rlm@146
|
488 longevity science, and any successful effort to make people live
|
|
rlm@146
|
489 orders of magnitude longer than they do naturally will need to deal
|
|
rlm@146
|
490 with people's software as well as their hardware.
|
|
rlm@145
|
491
|
|
rlm@146
|
492 ** Validating Neurocryopreservation
|
|
rlm@146
|
493 Problem : you want to test whether a brain is functionally
|
|
rlm@146
|
494 preserved through vitrification, but you don't want to figure out
|
|
rlm@146
|
495 how to preserve all the other organs in the animal. It might be
|
|
rlm@146
|
496 possible to keep the rest of the body at almost 0C and vitrify just
|
|
rlm@146
|
497 the head for only a few minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate
|
|
rlm@146
|
498 out the head's blood supply from the rest of the body, then just
|
|
rlm@146
|
499 cryoptotect and vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal
|
|
rlm@146
|
500 guard to keep the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You
|
|
rlm@146
|
501 leave the spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove
|
|
rlm@146
|
502 cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can
|
|
rlm@146
|
503 determine brain preservation using behavioral assays!
|
|
rlm@145
|
504
|
|
rlm@146
|
505 ** Freezing Water Purifier
|
|
rlm@146
|
506 You slowly freeze water, but also run liquid water over the frozen
|
|
rlm@146
|
507 mass. This takes away basically all impurities and creates "washed
|
|
rlm@146
|
508 ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe you could re-use the heat from
|
|
rlm@146
|
509 creating the ice to melt the ice?
|
|
rlm@145
|
510
|
|
rlm@146
|
511 ** Ultra Strength
|
|
rlm@146
|
512 Allow a person to visualize their muscle recruitment patterns. Give
|
|
rlm@146
|
513 them adrenaline and let them feel what it's like to have the normal
|
|
rlm@146
|
514 limits removed. See if they can replicate the effects.
|
|
rlm@145
|
515
|
|
rlm@146
|
516 ** Phone Names
|
|
rlm@146
|
517 Make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX record, except
|
|
rlm@146
|
518 that it is a phone number instead of an IP address. That way, you
|
|
rlm@146
|
519 can use the domain name registration system to provide names for
|
|
rlm@146
|
520 phone numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you can
|
|
rlm@146
|
521 point people to your current phone number by updating that record.
|
|
rlm@145
|
522
|
|
rlm@146
|
523 ** Edible Flowers
|
|
rlm@146
|
524 Edible white flowers that you put in a colored solution with
|
|
rlm@146
|
525 flavor. When the flower turns the right color, it is also flavored
|
|
rlm@146
|
526 and ready to eat!
|
|
rlm@145
|
527
|
|
rlm@146
|
528 ** Lead Bone
|
|
rlm@146
|
529 Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with lead? Might
|
|
rlm@146
|
530 be cool!
|
|
rlm@145
|
531
|
|
rlm@146
|
532 ** The Quest for Life
|
|
rlm@146
|
533 Many stories that have immortal characters have the "immortal who
|
|
rlm@146
|
534 wants to become mortal" trope. I want to story where the
|
|
rlm@146
|
535 protagonist loses their immortality and feels /angry/ and ashamed
|
|
rlm@146
|
536 about losing something that's so absolutely crucial to their
|
|
rlm@146
|
537 identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living", they feel
|
|
rlm@146
|
538 that living forever is what makes life worth living. Now they've
|
|
rlm@146
|
539 "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to the timeless universe"
|
|
rlm@146
|
540 or something. So they go on a quest to get it back, learning about
|
|
rlm@146
|
541 themselves along the way, and regaining the precious thing they
|
|
rlm@146
|
542 lost in the beginning. Which, it they can actually gain their
|
|
rlm@146
|
543 immortality back, means that they never lost it in the first place!
|
|
rlm@145
|
544
|
|
rlm@146
|
545 ** World Map
|
|
rlm@146
|
546 Take a small table and paint the continents in toothpaste on the
|
|
rlm@146
|
547 table. Make a slightly raised barrier around the table. Slowly pour
|
|
rlm@146
|
548 water onto the table, and it will form the oceans!
|
|
rlm@145
|
549
|
|
rlm@146
|
550 ** Stage Magic Rituals
|
|
rlm@146
|
551 Rituals should incorporate elements of stage magic. For example in
|
|
rlm@146
|
552 Teller's rendition of Shakespeare's Tempest, they have a scene
|
|
rlm@146
|
553 where they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his
|
|
rlm@146
|
554 head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the
|
|
rlm@146
|
555 bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should
|
|
rlm@146
|
556 incorporate stage magic as an enhancement to the gravitas!
|
|
rlm@145
|
557
|
|
rlm@146
|
558 ** Isotope Time Dilation
|
|
rlm@146
|
559 Use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes developed in nuclear
|
|
rlm@146
|
560 fusion experiments. The relativistic time dilation will stop the
|
|
rlm@146
|
561 isotopes from decaying, and allow time to study them. This is based
|
|
rlm@146
|
562 on radioactive isotopes that fall through the earth's atmosphere
|
|
rlm@146
|
563 that take hundreds of times longer to decay than normal.
|
|
rlm@145
|
564
|
|
rlm@146
|
565 ** Marsupial Stimulation
|
|
rlm@146
|
566 You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby, and show it videos and
|
|
rlm@146
|
567 other interactive things while it matures in the pouch. What mental
|
|
rlm@146
|
568 effects would this have?
|
|
rlm@145
|
569
|
|
rlm@146
|
570 ** The Dynamically Well-Tempered Clavier
|
|
rlm@146
|
571 Some older ways of tuning instruments sound better, but we use the
|
|
rlm@146
|
572 even-tempered scale today because it makes it easier to switch
|
|
rlm@146
|
573 keys. With electronic music, why not make key-annotations and
|
|
rlm@146
|
574 dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good in the current key?
|
|
rlm@146
|
575 Could be done as a midi+annotation -> midi compiler for initial
|
|
rlm@146
|
576 experimentation.
|
|
rlm@145
|
577
|
|
rlm@146
|
578 ** Death Always Implies Damage
|
|
rlm@146
|
579 is is possible for a corpse to differ from a living person only in
|
|
rlm@146
|
580 the fact that one is dead and the other is alive? NO! A corpse must
|
|
rlm@146
|
581 always have some sort of molecular damage which causes the loss of
|
|
rlm@146
|
582 function!
|
|
rlm@145
|
583
|
|
rlm@146
|
584 ** Inner Eye
|
|
rlm@146
|
585 Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a person. Then,
|
|
rlm@146
|
586 you can activate them all and get a picture of your internal organs
|
|
rlm@146
|
587 for diagnostic purposes.
|
|
rlm@145
|
588
|
|
rlm@146
|
589 ** Chaos Rails
|
|
rlm@146
|
590 The homoclinic tangle (which I call the "rails of chaos") is very
|
|
rlm@146
|
591 beautiful. We couldn't even visualize it before computers because
|
|
rlm@146
|
592 it's so complicated! Someone should make a visualization of
|
|
rlm@146
|
593 it. Here's my inital stab at it: [[../images/rails-of-chaos.png][The Rails of Chaos]]
|
|
rlm@145
|
594
|
|
rlm@146
|
595 ** Cryonics Middle Ages
|
|
rlm@146
|
596 Some people say that cryonics is an experiment and that it is
|
|
rlm@146
|
597 foolish to wait until we have revived a human. There is a middle
|
|
rlm@146
|
598 ground where the procedure has a dismal success rate on humans, say
|
|
rlm@146
|
599 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to try revival. Nonetheless, this
|
|
rlm@146
|
600 very risky procedure could be the legal proof of concept needed to
|
|
rlm@146
|
601 create a new class of life between "living" and "dead": "stasis".
|
|
rlm@145
|
602
|
|
rlm@146
|
603 ** Minds and Mirrors
|
|
rlm@146
|
604 Neat thought experiment -- if you take a mirror of someone by
|
|
rlm@146
|
605 actually reversing a person's chirality molecule by molecule, then
|
|
rlm@146
|
606 will the only be able to read mirror writing? The answer is yes, by
|
|
rlm@146
|
607 analogy to a purely mechanical scan-tron device. This is one of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
608 only interesting transforms I know that can take a human brain and
|
|
rlm@146
|
609 change it in subtle, non-destructive ways. It's also an argument
|
|
rlm@146
|
610 against dualism.
|
|
rlm@145
|
611
|
|
rlm@146
|
612 ** Biosphere in a Bottle
|
|
rlm@146
|
613 There are around 15 million species. 15 million stem cells will
|
|
rlm@146
|
614 fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic inch. Preserve a
|
|
rlm@146
|
615 single cell from every species on earth in this small space, and
|
|
rlm@146
|
616 you will have a record of our current biosphere that can be
|
|
rlm@146
|
617 protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in your hand!"
|
|
rlm@145
|
618
|
|
rlm@146
|
619 ** Chaos Lock
|
|
rlm@146
|
620 The "arrow of time" points in the direction of increasing
|
|
rlm@146
|
621 entropy. The time evolution of chaotic systems depend exquisitely
|
|
rlm@146
|
622 on their initial state. If you take a measurement of a chaotic
|
|
rlm@146
|
623 system at any given point of time, you can evolve that system
|
|
rlm@146
|
624 backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So let's say you
|
|
rlm@146
|
625 start the chaotic system in a VERY low entropy state, then let it
|
|
rlm@146
|
626 run for a while, then take a measurement with some
|
|
rlm@146
|
627 uncertainty. Your measurement is pretty good, but obviously not
|
|
rlm@146
|
628 PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in time, then you
|
|
rlm@146
|
629 will see that you don't really reach a state with low entropy an
|
|
rlm@146
|
630 hour before (the entropy is easy to measure with surrogates like
|
|
rlm@146
|
631 alignment, etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more
|
|
rlm@146
|
632 accurate measurement! This potentially can give you many more
|
|
rlm@146
|
633 orders of magnitude than you could get alone just using an
|
|
rlm@146
|
634 instrument. Sometimes it will give you bad results, the the odds of
|
|
rlm@146
|
635 it doing that are infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple
|
|
rlm@146
|
636 of times.
|
|
rlm@145
|
637
|
|
rlm@146
|
638 ** Cryo Evolution
|
|
rlm@146
|
639 Perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a symbiotic
|
|
rlm@146
|
640 bacterial organism that could protect human tissues from freezing
|
|
rlm@146
|
641 damage.
|
|
rlm@145
|
642
|
|
rlm@146
|
643 ** Suicide Parasite
|
|
rlm@146
|
644 Sometimes, people kill themselves for no good reason. We often
|
|
rlm@146
|
645 explain this with things like "hidden depression" or we say that
|
|
rlm@146
|
646 they had something like chronic jaw or back pain. I think that
|
|
rlm@146
|
647 smells of rationalization. I don't buy it. I propose that in many
|
|
rlm@146
|
648 suicide cases there is a disease that causes the suicidal
|
|
rlm@146
|
649 behavior. We already know that certain parasites have mind-bending
|
|
rlm@146
|
650 properties in other animals, even mammals like mice. It's not much
|
|
rlm@146
|
651 of a stretch to imagine a parasite that causes suicides in
|
|
rlm@146
|
652 humans. Some problems:
|
|
rlm@151
|
653
|
|
rlm@146
|
654 *What does the suicide parasite get out of it?* : This might be
|
|
rlm@146
|
655 answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by cross-species
|
|
rlm@146
|
656 contamination. Toxoplasma works this way.
|
|
rlm@145
|
657
|
|
rlm@146
|
658 *What predictions does a disease model make* : suicide should be
|
|
rlm@146
|
659 more common among people who share a contagion vector. There should
|
|
rlm@146
|
660 be suicides that don't make any sense : people who weren't really
|
|
rlm@146
|
661 depressed, who had no reason to kill themselves. People who have
|
|
rlm@146
|
662 killed themselves should have a higher incidence of some unknown
|
|
rlm@146
|
663 parasite in their brains.
|
|
rlm@145
|
664
|
|
rlm@146
|
665 ** Domestic Insects
|
|
rlm@146
|
666 People should eat more bugs because they're much more efficient, so
|
|
rlm@146
|
667 why not do some major domestication research to make very appealing
|
|
rlm@146
|
668 bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be excellent targets for
|
|
rlm@146
|
669 domestication because they have extreme levels of genetic
|
|
rlm@146
|
670 malleability. Remember that lobster was once seen as an animal only
|
|
rlm@146
|
671 fit for prisoners to consume!
|
|
rlm@145
|
672
|
|
rlm@146
|
673 ** Birth-Clones
|
|
rlm@146
|
674 What if each person was intentionally split at birth into a normal
|
|
rlm@146
|
675 embryo and a few "backup" cells which are then frozen. The backup
|
|
rlm@146
|
676 cells are created just the same way as natural identical twins. The
|
|
rlm@146
|
677 backups can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it would be a
|
|
rlm@146
|
678 good sci-fi concept, because you could have a culture where people
|
|
rlm@146
|
679 reward people who were especially awesome are "reborn" from their
|
|
rlm@146
|
680 backups. Imagine having a young Bach every generation, etc.
|
|
rlm@145
|
681
|
|
rlm@146
|
682 ** Pronunciation Guide
|
|
rlm@146
|
683 A simple webpage where you type in a word and it returns a simple,
|
|
rlm@146
|
684 English sentence describing exactly how to pronounce the word. For
|
|
rlm@146
|
685 people who don't want to learn IPA.
|
|
rlm@145
|
686
|
|
rlm@146
|
687 ** Learning to Teleport
|
|
rlm@146
|
688 This is a story about a person who is struggling with his/her
|
|
rlm@146
|
689 society's ideas about teleportation. It's considered a fundamental
|
|
rlm@146
|
690 part of being a member of that society (after all, the difference
|
|
rlm@146
|
691 between animals and humans is that humans are creatures of pure
|
|
rlm@146
|
692 information while animals are burdened with base matter, "that's
|
|
rlm@146
|
693 how you travel the stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up,
|
|
rlm@146
|
694 and then eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to
|
|
rlm@146
|
695 jumping off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not
|
|
rlm@146
|
696 do/ for a long time), etc.
|
|
rlm@145
|
697
|
|
rlm@146
|
698 ** No-Float-Ice
|
|
rlm@146
|
699 Cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice forms. Then when
|
|
rlm@146
|
700 you drink liquid from the glass, the ice stays at the bottom and
|
|
rlm@146
|
701 doesn't hit your lips. For bars and fancy things.
|
|
rlm@145
|
702
|
|
rlm@146
|
703 ** Bitcoins for Immigrants
|
|
rlm@146
|
704 A common case with Mexican immigrants (illegal or not) is that they
|
|
rlm@146
|
705 want to send money they've earned in the US back to their families
|
|
rlm@146
|
706 in Mexico. They currently do this through things like Money Gram or
|
|
rlm@146
|
707 Western Union, and they get fleeced in the process with
|
|
rlm@146
|
708 fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce the cost of sending money from
|
|
rlm@146
|
709 America to Mexico, but I don't believe that it's currently used for
|
|
rlm@146
|
710 that among Mexican immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I
|
|
rlm@146
|
711 bet you could set up physical locations like those obnoxious
|
|
rlm@146
|
712 Western Union huts in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly
|
|
rlm@146
|
713 undercut them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin
|
|
rlm@146
|
714 might be in order. There's some money to be made there because
|
|
rlm@146
|
715 there is great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
|
|
rlm@145
|
716
|
|
rlm@146
|
717 ** Reverse Eye-Tracking
|
|
rlm@146
|
718 A painting that is actually a digital screen with a camera. It
|
|
rlm@146
|
719 records people's eye tracks permanently. It's "artistic" because
|
|
rlm@146
|
720 paintings are normally these things that you look at without
|
|
rlm@146
|
721 changing, but this one is changed the second you look at it,
|
|
rlm@146
|
722 recording where /you/ looked forever for others to see. Make it be
|
|
rlm@146
|
723 a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the breasts and groin
|
|
rlm@146
|
724 area light up with interest from all the males passing by. Then
|
|
rlm@146
|
725 watch as the painting turns into a commentary on perception and
|
|
rlm@146
|
726 popularity -- a sort of eigenvector of perception! Will all
|
|
rlm@146
|
727 paintings turn into the same thing eventually?
|
|
rlm@145
|
728
|
|
rlm@146
|
729 ** Smart Toilets
|
|
rlm@146
|
730 Instead of using indirect measures like infrared detectors of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
731 presence of a person, use computer vision to directly measure
|
|
rlm@146
|
732 whether the toilet needs to be flushed. I think a lot of things
|
|
rlm@146
|
733 will end up going this way as we get better computer vision.
|
|
rlm@145
|
734
|
|
rlm@146
|
735 ** Validate Chemopreservation
|
|
rlm@146
|
736 Chemopreservation is difficult to validate because it destroys the
|
|
rlm@146
|
737 functionality of a brain, and brain simulation will take a long
|
|
rlm@146
|
738 time to mature as a technology. However, one very powerful way to
|
|
rlm@146
|
739 validate chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
|
|
rlm@146
|
740 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution to
|
|
rlm@146
|
741 a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
|
|
rlm@146
|
742 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
|
|
rlm@146
|
743 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
|
|
rlm@145
|
744
|
|
rlm@146
|
745 ** Candy Screw
|
|
rlm@146
|
746 Edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw as well.
|
|
rlm@145
|
747
|
|
rlm@146
|
748 ** Better Bibliography
|
|
rlm@146
|
749 When writing a thesis or paper, have the bibliography not just be
|
|
rlm@146
|
750 an opaque list of resources, but have it be a list of /summaries/
|
|
rlm@146
|
751 and /qualities/ that each paper has in the context of the paper
|
|
rlm@146
|
752 being written. When examining a bibliography, I want to know if
|
|
rlm@146
|
753 reading the papers in the bibliography are worth my time, and I
|
|
rlm@146
|
754 also am probably also interested in exactly the things that are
|
|
rlm@146
|
755 being discussed in the paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the
|
|
rlm@146
|
756 perfect place to provide information about the referenced papers
|
|
rlm@146
|
757 from the author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in
|
|
rlm@146
|
758 my own thesis!
|
|
rlm@145
|
759
|
|
rlm@146
|
760 ** Chess Visual
|
|
rlm@146
|
761 To show the vast size of the game trees considered by computers,
|
|
rlm@146
|
762 show two people playing chess in a void. They are floating in
|
|
rlm@146
|
763 space, and there is a simple chess board between them. Then, as
|
|
rlm@146
|
764 they play, the game tree's they are considering are drawn behind
|
|
rlm@146
|
765 him. The root of the tree starts centered in their heads or
|
|
rlm@146
|
766 whatever they use to think, and the tree grows out from behind,
|
|
rlm@146
|
767 never crossing the dividing plane between the two players. Each
|
|
rlm@146
|
768 player's tree is a different color. As they grow, there are
|
|
rlm@146
|
769 animations for pruning, etc. Eventually, they look like the
|
|
rlm@146
|
770 hemispheres of a brain, wings, etc. A human's tree might
|
|
rlm@146
|
771 occasionally have a long chain, while the computer tree would be
|
|
rlm@146
|
772 more uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern laptop. Use
|
|
rlm@146
|
773 actual data when fighting two computers!
|
|
rlm@145
|
774
|
|
rlm@146
|
775 ** Tamper Proof Gold Bars
|
|
rlm@146
|
776 [[Http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][This site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars as "novelty" items. One
|
|
rlm@146
|
777 reason to prefer coins is because they are much harder to
|
|
rlm@146
|
778 counterfeit because there is less surface area to mass
|
|
rlm@146
|
779 ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design because they can
|
|
rlm@146
|
780 hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar could be given the
|
|
rlm@146
|
781 same protections (and more) that gold coins have to offer by
|
|
rlm@146
|
782 changing it into a "gold book", which would have hundreds of
|
|
rlm@146
|
783 "pages" of gold bound together. This could be implemented with
|
|
rlm@146
|
784 multiple steel rods going through the book which can be removed, or
|
|
rlm@146
|
785 some more classier mechanism for holding the pages. The point is
|
|
rlm@146
|
786 that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and people would perform
|
|
rlm@146
|
787 this test before buying), thus guaranteeing it's authenticity.
|
|
rlm@145
|
788
|
|
rlm@146
|
789 ** High School Science
|
|
rlm@146
|
790 This is a lesson in scientific ethics. The goal is to calculate
|
|
rlm@146
|
791 /g/, the local gravitational acceleration. The students are told
|
|
rlm@146
|
792 that the textbook says it's /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the
|
|
rlm@146
|
793 experiment. See how they doctor their results to get closer to the
|
|
rlm@146
|
794 textbook value. It's neat because for any given school, /g/ is
|
|
rlm@146
|
795 probably *not* exactly equal to 9.81, because that is just an
|
|
rlm@146
|
796 average!
|
|
rlm@145
|
797
|
|
rlm@146
|
798 ** Opencourseware Subtitles
|
|
rlm@146
|
799 There are people who type up lectures at MIT while they are being
|
|
rlm@146
|
800 given, so that hearing impared students can follow along. These
|
|
rlm@146
|
801 recordings should be kept and given to OCW for subtitles. If the
|
|
rlm@146
|
802 timestamps of keys are recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.
|
|
rlm@145
|
803
|
|
rlm@146
|
804 ** Screen Locking Timing
|
|
rlm@146
|
805 You use your computer camera to see if you are sitting in front of
|
|
rlm@146
|
806 the computer. If you are, then the screen will never lock. If you
|
|
rlm@146
|
807 are, then the screen will lock with a 30-40 second timeout. It's an
|
|
rlm@146
|
808 extension of using inactivity to initiate the countdown, just with
|
|
rlm@146
|
809 more information.
|
|
rlm@145
|
810
|
|
rlm@146
|
811 ** Mirror Toilet
|
|
rlm@146
|
812 A toilet with a square basin made of mirror instead of
|
|
rlm@146
|
813 porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a wipe job you have
|
|
rlm@146
|
814 done / watch how your excretion system works.
|
|
rlm@145
|
815
|
|
rlm@146
|
816 ** X-ray telepresence
|
|
rlm@146
|
817 given that a doctor is operating on a patient via telepresence, one
|
|
rlm@146
|
818 cool things you can do is shine X-rays into the patient to view the
|
|
rlm@146
|
819 insides during real time. (This doesn't expose either the doctor or
|
|
rlm@146
|
820 patient to chronically damaging amounts of X-rays) If the system
|
|
rlm@146
|
821 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
|
|
rlm@146
|
822 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
823 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage and
|
|
rlm@146
|
824 surgery risk could be minimized.
|
|
rlm@145
|
825
|
|
rlm@146
|
826 ** Superfluid Vascular System
|
|
rlm@146
|
827 I wonder what would happen if you replaced the blood in a human
|
|
rlm@146
|
828 with a superfluid. What would the physical dynamics be? Would the
|
|
rlm@146
|
829 superfluid flow through the vasculature, or would it ignore it and
|
|
rlm@146
|
830 travel through the cells, or something else entirely. Since
|
|
rlm@146
|
831 superfluids need to be cold to retain their superfluidity, how
|
|
rlm@146
|
832 would the dynamics change during perfusion of a superfluid, where
|
|
rlm@146
|
833 the fluid gains and looses superfluidity as it goes deeper into the
|
|
rlm@146
|
834 body and is cooled by superfluid from upstream. In summary there
|
|
rlm@146
|
835 are two things to simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with
|
|
rlm@146
|
836 superfluid instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.
|
|
rlm@145
|
837
|
|
rlm@146
|
838 ** Projective Guessing
|
|
rlm@146
|
839 I think that we read and see things by making a really good guess
|
|
rlm@146
|
840 about what we're expecting to see, and then searching for our guess
|
|
rlm@146
|
841 in what we see. If it really doesn't match, then we start to make
|
|
rlm@146
|
842 more guesses / analyze the image from first principles, but most
|
|
rlm@146
|
843 stuff is projective guessing.
|
|
rlm@145
|
844
|
|
rlm@146
|
845 ** Intestinal Flora Maintenance
|
|
rlm@146
|
846 Why not inoculate babies at birth with "ideal" gut flora instead of
|
|
rlm@146
|
847 whatever bullshit they naturally get, thus giving them optimal
|
|
rlm@146
|
848 digestive/nutrient extraction capabilities. Might also be able to
|
|
rlm@146
|
849 make their farts not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might
|
|
rlm@146
|
850 help to preventatively stop some forms of /colic/, which affects 1
|
|
rlm@146
|
851 in 5 babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5
|
|
rlm@146
|
852 weeks.
|
|
rlm@145
|
853
|
|
rlm@146
|
854 ** Server Culture -- Mirrors
|
|
rlm@146
|
855 Make a distributed system where people can mirror the websites of
|
|
rlm@146
|
856 people they like -- essentially cover the server costs of favored
|
|
rlm@146
|
857 websites. This could make popular websites run at no cost. The
|
|
rlm@146
|
858 system would require that the mirrored content be the same as the
|
|
rlm@146
|
859 official source. Sort of like bit-torrent for websites.
|
|
rlm@145
|
860
|
|
rlm@146
|
861 ** Map Programming
|
|
rlm@146
|
862 One problem with functional programming is that in order to remain
|
|
rlm@146
|
863 functional, you have to pass up arguments up into each calling
|
|
rlm@146
|
864 function to get the full range of behavior from the lower level
|
|
rlm@146
|
865 functions. Normally people come to a compromise involving
|
|
rlm@146
|
866 abstraction and sparing use of dynamic variables to configure
|
|
rlm@146
|
867 runtime behavior. What would be the advantages of making a
|
|
rlm@146
|
868 programming language where every function receives one argument, a
|
|
rlm@146
|
869 map, which contains all the symbol bindings it would ever need?
|
|
rlm@146
|
870 This map is passed on to all subordinate functions. This way, you
|
|
rlm@146
|
871 could replace functions on the fly, and arrange for there to be
|
|
rlm@146
|
872 sensible defaults, etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an
|
|
rlm@146
|
873 interesting idea.
|
|
rlm@145
|
874
|
|
rlm@146
|
875 ** Rest Nest
|
|
rlm@146
|
876 A small EEG device you would attach to your head when you go to
|
|
rlm@146
|
877 sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine your particular sleep
|
|
rlm@146
|
878 cycles. This would mostly be an alarm clock that you could give a
|
|
rlm@146
|
879 time range, say 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
|
|
rlm@146
|
880 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90 min sleep
|
|
rlm@146
|
881 cycles. You would feel much more rested upon waking up, and would
|
|
rlm@146
|
882 wake up faster. There might be some other uses for the EEG data as
|
|
rlm@146
|
883 well.
|
|
rlm@145
|
884
|
|
rlm@146
|
885 ** Image Compression
|
|
rlm@146
|
886 Use a library like gimp or opencv to process an image to make it
|
|
rlm@146
|
887 have less entropy, then store the reverse of those operations along
|
|
rlm@146
|
888 with the compressed simpler image as a super-compressed image file
|
|
rlm@146
|
889 (possibly accepting some losses). Trades file size for
|
|
rlm@146
|
890 decompression time, and allows one to cheat by using information in
|
|
rlm@146
|
891 gimp/opencv to compress the image.
|
|
rlm@145
|
892
|
|
rlm@146
|
893 ** Aldehyde-Stabalized Cryopreservation
|
|
rlm@146
|
894 Why not use a fixative to buy enough time to ramp up
|
|
rlm@146
|
895 cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room temperature? Then,
|
|
rlm@146
|
896 the whole system can be rapidly cooled and vitrified. This method
|
|
rlm@146
|
897 "severs the biological link" in that the fixatives are highly
|
|
rlm@146
|
898 toxic, but current vitrification procedures do this anyway since
|
|
rlm@146
|
899 there can be a lot of freezing damage.
|
|
rlm@145
|
900
|
|
rlm@146
|
901 ** Dilated Security Camera
|
|
rlm@146
|
902 A security camera that would capture full video footage of
|
|
rlm@146
|
903 everything at 60fps but then decide to keep only every 1 frame
|
|
rlm@146
|
904 every 5 seconds unless there's something "interesting" happening.
|
|
rlm@145
|
905
|
|
rlm@146
|
906 ** Bitcoin Wallet
|
|
rlm@146
|
907 Part of "server culture", this would be something like
|
|
rlm@146
|
908 "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as your personal trusted
|
|
rlm@146
|
909 access to your own bitcoins from anywhere.
|
|
rlm@145
|
910
|
|
rlm@146
|
911 ** Libpay
|
|
rlm@146
|
912 This would be a free library which would enable micro-donations to
|
|
rlm@146
|
913 software projects and other projects, so that you could donate a
|
|
rlm@146
|
914 penny to "emacs" and it would be automatically split up to every
|
|
rlm@146
|
915 person who has ever contributed to emacs in proportion to the
|
|
rlm@146
|
916 amount of community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
|
|
rlm@146
|
917 community decides. This might make it possible for programmers to
|
|
rlm@146
|
918 live entirely off of free programming.
|
|
rlm@145
|
919
|
|
rlm@146
|
920 ** Pronouns
|
|
rlm@146
|
921 Use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve pronoun
|
|
rlm@146
|
922 referents and gender neutrality, are short to say, and you can
|
|
rlm@146
|
923 encode useful information into the choice of letter. For example,
|
|
rlm@146
|
924 instead of "Meetings shall be presided over by the president,
|
|
rlm@146
|
925 unless she is absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
|
|
rlm@146
|
926 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a little, since
|
|
rlm@146
|
927 I and U are reserved for the subject and object respectively.
|
|
rlm@145
|
928
|
|
rlm@146
|
929 ** Phone DSP
|
|
rlm@146
|
930 Software app that inserts an audio DSP between the input to a phone
|
|
rlm@146
|
931 and the output. The DSP is delicious and configurable, and can
|
|
rlm@146
|
932 allow men to make their voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you
|
|
rlm@146
|
933 to hear your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
|
|
rlm@146
|
934 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to immediately
|
|
rlm@146
|
935 change the parameters of the DSP using good presets.
|
|
rlm@145
|
936
|
|
rlm@146
|
937 ** Restaurant Receipts
|
|
rlm@146
|
938 Use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid copies.
|
|
rlm@145
|
939
|
|
rlm@146
|
940 ** Crossdressing
|
|
rlm@146
|
941 Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to wear a burka.
|
|
rlm@145
|
942
|
|
rlm@146
|
943 ** Book-Mode
|
|
rlm@146
|
944 Intelligent color highlighting for books and articles. It would
|
|
rlm@146
|
945 disambiguate pronouns and involved references. For example, if
|
|
rlm@146
|
946 "Rachael" was assigned the color red, and "the blonde haired girl"
|
|
rlm@146
|
947 refers to "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be colored
|
|
rlm@146
|
948 red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part run-on sentences by
|
|
rlm@146
|
949 highlighting each subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications
|
|
rlm@146
|
950 to scientific reading.
|
|
rlm@145
|
951
|
|
rlm@146
|
952 ** Handheld Light Rain Measurement
|
|
rlm@146
|
953 This would be a clear, teflon coated plastic disk with a camera
|
|
rlm@146
|
954 underneath the disk. You would be able to hold the device out and
|
|
rlm@146
|
955 it would measure the rate of accumulation of water droplets from
|
|
rlm@146
|
956 fine mists and light rain by using computer vision to measure the
|
|
rlm@146
|
957 diameters of the drops.
|
|
rlm@145
|
958
|
|
rlm@146
|
959 ** Big Brother Farming
|
|
rlm@146
|
960 This would be a vision system that would individually monitor each
|
|
rlm@146
|
961 plant and turn on water, etc to ensure maximum/uniform growth for
|
|
rlm@146
|
962 each plant.
|
|
rlm@145
|
963
|
|
rlm@146
|
964 ** Discrete Faucet
|
|
rlm@146
|
965 A faucet with discrete ticks instead of continuous.
|
|
rlm@145
|
966
|
|
rlm@146
|
967 ** Laser Circle
|
|
rlm@146
|
968 Take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one end at an
|
|
rlm@146
|
969 oblique angle. It will make a perfect, large circle on the wall,
|
|
rlm@146
|
970 converting a laser beam into a laser cone, preserving most of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
971 energy of the laser.
|
|
rlm@145
|
972
|
|
rlm@146
|
973 ** Invisible Glass
|
|
rlm@146
|
974 Take a container of liquid and embed a glass sculpture made out of
|
|
rlm@146
|
975 glass that has exactly the same index of refraction and color of
|
|
rlm@146
|
976 the liquid. Then the sculpture will be totally invisible in the
|
|
rlm@146
|
977 container, and will only be revealed when the liquid is
|
|
rlm@146
|
978 drained. The container might be a fancy wine/spirit bottle or an
|
|
rlm@146
|
979 hourglass.
|
|
rlm@145
|
980
|
|
rlm@146
|
981 ** Caterpillar people
|
|
rlm@146
|
982 A race of caterpillar like creatures gains intelligence after eons
|
|
rlm@146
|
983 of predation by birds, etc. These caterpillar creatures still
|
|
rlm@146
|
984 undergo metamorphosis into a large butterfly-like creature. The
|
|
rlm@146
|
985 metamorphosis process turns the caterpillar's brain into mush and
|
|
rlm@146
|
986 reforms it into a minimal, dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely
|
|
rlm@146
|
987 destroying the person the caterpillar was. The society develops all
|
|
rlm@146
|
988 sorts of customs and religious interpretations of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
989 metamorphosis. It is viewed as good and natural by some since it is
|
|
rlm@146
|
990 part of their life cycle and necessary to propagate the species, as
|
|
rlm@146
|
991 only the butterflies can mate. Some think that the butterflies are
|
|
rlm@146
|
992 still the same person because they have the same soul, even they no
|
|
rlm@146
|
993 longer posses the memories or personality of the original
|
|
rlm@146
|
994 caterpillar. Some see the butterfly form as the "true form" of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
995 species, since the butterflies can fly, mate, and are
|
|
rlm@146
|
996 beautiful. Many make a big deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
997 caterpillar's mind is actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see
|
|
rlm@146
|
998 it as a terrible tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try
|
|
rlm@146
|
999 to stop the metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very
|
|
rlm@146
|
1000 important members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery
|
|
rlm@146
|
1001 to prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as
|
|
rlm@146
|
1002 themselves.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1003
|
|
rlm@146
|
1004 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
|
|
rlm@146
|
1005 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
|
|
rlm@146
|
1006 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
|
|
rlm@146
|
1007 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
|
|
rlm@146
|
1008 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
|
|
rlm@146
|
1009 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
|
|
rlm@146
|
1010 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second gender
|
|
rlm@146
|
1011 characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes homophobia
|
|
rlm@146
|
1012 look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of pain and death
|
|
rlm@146
|
1013 is made to look like the tragedy it is through the lens of the the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1014 caterpillar people.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1015
|
|
rlm@146
|
1016 ** Relationships as a Business
|
|
rlm@146
|
1017 [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx][Turnover-Crisis]] is an excellent talk about the "culture of
|
|
rlm@146
|
1018 quitting," which is about better business by letting people go
|
|
rlm@146
|
1019 instead of keeping them around past their "apex". Focuses on
|
|
rlm@146
|
1020 information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni network, which for
|
|
rlm@146
|
1021 relationships would be a group of satisfied ex-lovers, who would
|
|
rlm@146
|
1022 recommend new people your way, and who might consider coming to you
|
|
rlm@146
|
1023 again, refreshed from their time away with new
|
|
rlm@146
|
1024 stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and how
|
|
rlm@146
|
1025 they worked out.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1026
|
|
rlm@146
|
1027 ** Psychic Crystal
|
|
rlm@146
|
1028 In a science fiction story, this would be an object that is very
|
|
rlm@146
|
1029 easy to move physically but is extremely difficult to move with
|
|
rlm@146
|
1030 telekinesis.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1031
|
|
rlm@146
|
1032 ** True Reflection
|
|
rlm@146
|
1033 There's a "true mirror" in the MIT student center -- it's two
|
|
rlm@146
|
1034 normal mirrors at right angles, like staring at a corner of a
|
|
rlm@146
|
1035 room. The light reflects so that it shows you what you actually
|
|
rlm@146
|
1036 look like, instead of your mirror image.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1037
|
|
rlm@146
|
1038 ** Remote Control Wasp
|
|
rlm@146
|
1039 Use computer to drive wings with remote power/logic.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1040
|
|
rlm@146
|
1041 ** Encrypted Email Phone Book
|
|
rlm@146
|
1042 Public (distributed?) database of email->private-key pairs, to
|
|
rlm@146
|
1043 enable automatic encryption.
|
|
rlm@146
|
1044
|
|
rlm@146
|
1045 ** Universal Eye Color
|
|
rlm@146
|
1046 Every equivalent creature will see each others' eyes as black --
|
|
rlm@146
|
1047 it's universal. Even if the creatures see in radio waves, and their
|
|
rlm@146
|
1048 eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged metal, when those creatures look
|
|
rlm@146
|
1049 at each other, they will see black, the absence of light and color
|
|
rlm@146
|
1050 (since it's being absorbed by the sensor array).
|
|
rlm@146
|
1051
|
|
rlm@146
|
1052 ** Intelligent Microwave
|
|
rlm@146
|
1053 It learns where the hot nodes of its fields are, and uses them to
|
|
rlm@146
|
1054 evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared camera or something
|
|
rlm@146
|
1055 to keep track of how hot the food is. That way, you don't get bowls
|
|
rlm@146
|
1056 where the edges are boiling, while the center is still
|
|
rlm@146
|
1057 frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1058 exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1059 food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer, just a
|
|
rlm@146
|
1060 desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
|
|
rlm@146
|
1061 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
|
|
rlm@146
|
1062 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
|
|
rlm@146
|
1063 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor
|
|
rlm@146
|
1064 too.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1065
|
|
rlm@151
|
1066 *+* Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
|
|
rlm@151
|
1067 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1068
|
|
rlm@151
|
1069 *+* Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked
|
|
rlm@151
|
1070 foods and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have
|
|
rlm@151
|
1071 been cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1072
|
|
rlm@146
|
1073 ** Flesh Pillow
|
|
rlm@146
|
1074 A pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete with simulated
|
|
rlm@146
|
1075 temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1076
|
|
rlm@146
|
1077 ** Light Filter
|
|
rlm@146
|
1078 Works like light-tweezers to mechanically separate fluids with
|
|
rlm@146
|
1079 different indexes of refraction.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1080
|
|
rlm@146
|
1081 ** Silver Socks
|
|
rlm@146
|
1082 Socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial properties.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1083
|
|
rlm@146
|
1084 ** Rod of Moses
|
|
rlm@146
|
1085 Device to distill urine through evaporation and easily dispose of
|
|
rlm@146
|
1086 urea crystals for use in desert -- produce drinkable water and live
|
|
rlm@146
|
1087 an extra few days!
|
|
rlm@145
|
1088
|
|
rlm@146
|
1089 ** Lottery Scraper
|
|
rlm@146
|
1090 Web scraper which monitors various lotteries, looking for "special"
|
|
rlm@146
|
1091 gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x winnings on Wednesdays) and
|
|
rlm@146
|
1092 computes expected value...
|
|
rlm@145
|
1093
|
|
rlm@146
|
1094 ** Memristiors Novel Design
|
|
rlm@146
|
1095 Make an evolutionary algorithm to make old stuff using all four
|
|
rlm@146
|
1096 basic circuit elements.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1097
|
|
rlm@146
|
1098 ** Conductive Concrete
|
|
rlm@146
|
1099 Concrete that has embedded metal fibers so that it can conduct
|
|
rlm@146
|
1100 electricity.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1101
|
|
rlm@146
|
1102 ** Little Bitty Melting Pot
|
|
rlm@146
|
1103 Might be useful for some types of manufacturing/3D printing -- how
|
|
rlm@146
|
1104 small can an induction melter be made, for example.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1105
|
|
rlm@146
|
1106 ** True Pure Tones
|
|
rlm@146
|
1107 Hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the nerves of the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1108 ear. Like when Adelson "saw green".
|
|
rlm@145
|
1109
|
|
rlm@146
|
1110 ** Mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp
|
|
rlm@146
|
1111 would be an object with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1112 other moves the same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is
|
|
rlm@146
|
1113 driving. This analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1114
|
|
rlm@146
|
1115 ** Light Capacitor
|
|
rlm@146
|
1116 Suspend some ball of material with a high index of refraction and
|
|
rlm@146
|
1117 shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would the light stay
|
|
rlm@146
|
1118 trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited quantities of light
|
|
rlm@146
|
1119 inside the sphere (which could then be released slowly by
|
|
rlm@146
|
1120 frustrated internal reflection?
|
|
rlm@145
|
1121
|
|
rlm@146
|
1122 ** Reading Comprehension
|
|
rlm@146
|
1123 use the screen capture routine to make a quiz program that
|
|
rlm@146
|
1124 constructs questions about the content you seemed to gloss over
|
|
rlm@146
|
1125 while reading. could be easy if the pdf came with embedded
|
|
rlm@146
|
1126 questions. Dylan: automatically generate word-cloud about the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1127 parts you found most interesting; help others who read the same
|
|
rlm@146
|
1128 stuff by drawing attention to the interesting parts.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1129
|
|
rlm@146
|
1130 ** Optimize an Article
|
|
rlm@146
|
1131 Capture reading of a scientific article via screen capture while
|
|
rlm@146
|
1132 people read it, then use it to make the article better. like the
|
|
rlm@146
|
1133 movie-pruning idea.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1134
|
|
rlm@146
|
1135 ** Movie Pruning
|
|
rlm@146
|
1136 Movies always are too long at first. One way to shorten them
|
|
rlm@146
|
1137 ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the move and then
|
|
rlm@146
|
1138 remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which there are a lot
|
|
rlm@146
|
1139 of blinking (average this over multiple people) better yet, put it
|
|
rlm@146
|
1140 online and do it across thousands of people. I got this from
|
|
rlm@146
|
1141 youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill which is composed
|
|
rlm@146
|
1142 entirely of the parts in which people had their eyes
|
|
rlm@146
|
1143 closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their eyes
|
|
rlm@146
|
1144 off of? Just take those parts out!
|
|
rlm@145
|
1145
|
|
rlm@146
|
1146 ** Explosive Thermite Epoxy Putty
|
|
rlm@146
|
1147 One part would contain the rust, one part the aluminum.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1148
|
|
rlm@146
|
1149 ** Concrete Epoxy
|
|
rlm@146
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1150 Epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
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rlm@145
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1151
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rlm@146
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1152 ** Hard Sword
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rlm@146
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1153 Make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of martensite for
|
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rlm@146
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1154 the cutting part; it should be a better sword.
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rlm@145
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1155
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rlm@146
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1156 ** Close Range Wireless
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rlm@146
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1157 use the induction technology used to recharge electric toothbrushes
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rlm@146
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1158 with no metal links to send data without any metal at all!
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rlm@145
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1159
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rlm@146
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1160 ** Perfect Pitch
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rlm@146
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1161 Learn perfect pitch using another sense in combination (sight or
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rlm@146
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1162 touch).
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rlm@145
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1163
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rlm@146
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1164 ** Bio Metallic Structure
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rlm@146
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1165 Metal grids with seeds inside, which grow together and form a
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rlm@146
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1166 durable biological matrix. The metal substrate delivers
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rlm@146
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1167 water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?) Dylan: enrich plants
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rlm@146
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1168 with inorganic compounds; electrical interfaces in cellular plant
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rlm@146
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1169 matter => remote-controlled photosynthetic/bioluminescent
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rlm@146
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1170 structures.
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rlm@145
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1171
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rlm@146
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1172 ** Conducting Extracellular Matrix
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rlm@146
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1173 To allow better control of organic systems and an enhanced nervous
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rlm@146
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1174 system.
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rlm@145
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1175
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rlm@146
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1176 ** Cross-Modal Memory Hashing
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rlm@146
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1177 A way to retrieve memories more robustly.
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rlm@145
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1178
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rlm@146
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1179 ** Greener than Green
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rlm@146
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1180 If you stare at a red light, then you get a green after-image. If
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rlm@146
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1181 you immediately look at something green while still seeing the
|
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rlm@146
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1182 green after-image, you will experience a Green like none you've
|
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rlm@146
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1183 ever seen before -- color so intense it's beyond the range of
|
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rlm@146
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1184 anything that exists in the world.
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rlm@145
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1185
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rlm@146
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1186 ** Wooden Refrigerator
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rlm@146
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1187 To give food a better taste Dylan: like barrels for wine, or planks
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rlm@146
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1188 for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor planks" for your pre-existing
|
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rlm@146
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1189 fridge. Need to mitigate effect of temperature on volatility?
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rlm@145
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1190
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rlm@146
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1191 ** Radioactive Transmutation Molecule by Molecule
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rlm@146
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1192 Create precious metals or something else economically
|
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rlm@146
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1193 advantageous. Best transmutation I can come up with is mercury into
|
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rlm@146
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1194 gold, but it's not economically viable.
|
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rlm@145
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1195
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rlm@146
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1196 ** Preservation Via Crowding
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rlm@146
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1197 Inoculate food with tons of harmless bacteria so that there's no
|
|
rlm@146
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1198 room for bad bacteria as a method of preservation
|
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rlm@145
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1199
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rlm@146
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1200 ** Old-School Preservation
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rlm@146
|
1201 Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon as a way to store
|
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rlm@146
|
1202 sterilized liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
|
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rlm@146
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1203 refrigeration.
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rlm@145
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1204
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rlm@146
|
1205 ** Restaurant Policy
|
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rlm@146
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1206 Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter of course -- make
|
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rlm@146
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1207 ambiance much better.
|
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rlm@145
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1208
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rlm@146
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1209 ** Clean Windows
|
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rlm@146
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1210 Make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant water (and reduces
|
|
rlm@146
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1211 the pressure a bit) and use it to clean windows of buildings.
|
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rlm@145
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1212
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rlm@146
|
1213 ** Ocarina
|
|
rlm@146
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1214 Make an ocarina out of pure silver. Might have really good acoustic
|
|
rlm@146
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1215 properties.
|
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rlm@145
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1216
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rlm@146
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1217 ** Fire Pen
|
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rlm@146
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1218 Pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing any
|
|
rlm@146
|
1219 ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from body heat?
|
|
rlm@145
|
1220
|
|
rlm@146
|
1221 ** Website to Design Your Own Soda
|
|
rlm@146
|
1222 and label, and have it mailed to you / sell it from your own online
|
|
rlm@146
|
1223 store.
|
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rlm@145
|
1224
|
|
rlm@146
|
1225 ** Ocean Power
|
|
rlm@146
|
1226 Solar panels that float on the ocean.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1227
|
|
rlm@146
|
1228 ** Handcuffs with More Than Two Cuffs (3?)
|
|
rlm@146
|
1229 Great for daisy chaining people, binding them to environment, etc.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1230
|
|
rlm@146
|
1231 ** Vector Based SOUND Files
|
|
rlm@146
|
1232 Like the pictures but with SOUND. codify sound in a language with
|
|
rlm@146
|
1233 enough symbols so that it can describe everything and encode it in
|
|
rlm@146
|
1234 that. would be like going from speech to text or smtg. Could also
|
|
rlm@146
|
1235 store sound as an image of the wavefront encoded as a vector image.
|
|
rlm@145
|
1236
|
|
rlm@146
|
1237 ** Genetically Engineered Glowing Fruit
|
|
rlm@146
|
1238 They have some animals that can glow, but glowing fruit that you
|
|
rlm@146
|
1239 eat would be AWESOME!
|
|
rlm@145
|
1240
|
|
rlm@146
|
1241 ** The Body as a Key to Memory
|
|
rlm@146
|
1242 IF memories are encoded using particular sensory impressions, what
|
|
rlm@146
|
1243 happens if the sensory organ itself changes? those memories would
|
|
rlm@146
|
1244 become inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember much from
|
|
rlm@146
|
1245 our childhoods. also, could this happen throughout life as well?
|
|
rlm@146
|
1246 Could S remember stuff from his childhood?
|
|
rlm@145
|
1247
|
|
rlm@146
|
1248 ** Lighter Flint on Spring
|
|
rlm@146
|
1249 Make hot, throw it at something, and it makes sparkles!
|
|
rlm@145
|
1250
|
|
rlm@146
|
1251 ** Rare Bubbles
|
|
rlm@146
|
1252 Engineer a material which has both ductility and high surface
|
|
rlm@146
|
1253 tension to make the "third" minimal-surface-energy solution to a
|
|
rlm@146
|
1254 bubble suspended between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
|
|
rlm@146
|
1255 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles, and a
|
|
rlm@146
|
1256 double-cone)
|
|
rlm@146
|
1257
|
|
rlm@146
|
1258 ** Magic Textbook
|
|
rlm@146
|
1259 whose content can be varied continuously alter level of difficulty,
|
|
rlm@146
|
1260 rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain other discipline,
|
|
rlm@146
|
1261 etc. Content generated dynamically from knowledge base, along with
|
|
rlm@146
|
1262 questions that are moreover altered to guide knowledge
|
|
rlm@146
|
1263 acquisition. Motivation: One book of knowledge. /One./
|
|
rlm@145
|
1264
|
|
rlm@145
|
1265
|
|
rlm@145
|
1266 #+BEGIN_HTML
|
|
rlm@145
|
1267 <p class="end"> Still want more? Visit the <a href="./ideas.html">Raw
|
|
rlm@145
|
1268 Ideas</a> page, but prepare for extreme half-bakedness. </p>
|
|
rlm@145
|
1269 #+END_HTML
|
