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moar ideas.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Thu, 27 Jun 2013 14:46:25 -0400
parents 4f03d858ab4e
children 1676052a2257
comparison
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39:4f03d858ab4e 40:11b6f711bc99
1 * Good Ideas 1 * Good Ideas
2
3 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
4 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
5 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
6 from anywhere.
7
8 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
9 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
10 so that you could donate a panny to "emacs" and it would
11 be automitacally split up to every person who has ever
12 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
13 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
14 community decides. This might make it posibe for
15 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
16
17 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
18 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
19 say, and you can encode useful information into the
20 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
21 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
22 absent." USE Meetings shall be presided over by the
23 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
24 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
25 object respectively.
26
27 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
28 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
29 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
30 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
31 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
32 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
33 immediately change the paramaters of the DSP using good
34 presets.
35
36 - predestined body learning :: a good example of pre destined learning
37 might be the mirror neurons.
38
39 - resturant reciept :: use a carbon copy reciept instead of two stupid
40 copies.
41
42 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
43 one to wear the towel more securely than just
44 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
45
46 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
47 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
48 references. For example, if "Rachael" as red, and "the
49 blonde haired girl" refers to "Rachael", then "the
50 blonde haired girl" would he colored red. Also, you
51 could disambiguate multi part runon sentences by
52 highlighting each subcomponent. Maybe would also have
53 appliations to scientific reading.
54
55 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
56 coated plasic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
57 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
58 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
59 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
60
61 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
62 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
63 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
64
65 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
66 continous.
67
68 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
69 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
70 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
71 into a laser cone, perserving most of the energy of
72 the laser.
73
74 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
75 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
76 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
77 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
78 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
79 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
80
81 - Caterpillar people :: A race of catepillar like creatures gains
82 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
83 catepillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
84 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
85 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
86 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
87 the catepillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
88 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
89 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
90 necessary to propogate the species, as only the butterflies can
91 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
92 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posess the
93 memories or personality of the original catepillar. Some see the
94 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
95 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
96 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the catepillar's mind is
97 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
98 tradgedy and argue that the catepillars should try to stop the
99 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
100 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
101 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
102
103 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
104 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
105 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
106 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
107 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
108 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
109 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
110 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
111 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
112 pain and death is made to look like the tradegy it is through the
113 lense of the the caterpillar people.
114
115 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
116 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
117 automated.
2 118
3 - don't forget about that mirror in the student center!, it's two 119 - don't forget about that mirror in the student center!, it's two
4 mirrors at right angles, like staring at a corner of a room. The 120 mirrors at right angles, like staring at a corner of a room. The
5 light reflects so that it shows you what you actually look like, 121 light reflects so that it shows you what you actually look like,
6 instead of your mirror image. 122 instead of your mirror image.
10 126
11 - public (distributed?) database of email->private-key pairs, to 127 - public (distributed?) database of email->private-key pairs, to
12 enable automatic encryption. 128 enable automatic encryption.
13 129
14 - every equivalent creature will see each others' eyes as black -- 130 - every equivalent creature will see each others' eyes as black --
15 it's universal. Even of the creatures see in radio waves, and their 131 it's universal. Even if the creatures see in radio waves, and their
16 eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged metal, when those creatures look 132 eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged metal, when those creatures look
17 at each other, they will see black, the absence of light and color 133 at each other, they will see black, the absence of light and color
18 (since it's being absorbed by the sensor array). 134 (since it's being absorbed by the sensor array).
19 135
20 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields 136 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
97 shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would the light stay trapped 213 shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would the light stay trapped
98 forever? Could you build up unlimited quantities of light inside the 214 forever? Could you build up unlimited quantities of light inside the
99 sphere (which could then be released slowly by frustrated internal 215 sphere (which could then be released slowly by frustrated internal
100 reflection? 216 reflection?
101 217
102 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. one way to 218 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
103 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the 219 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
104 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which 220 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
105 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people) 221 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
106 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I 222 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
107 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill 223 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
236 too) 352 too)
237 353
238 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) -- like the 8.03 354 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) -- like the 8.03
239 lecture 355 lecture
240 356
241 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot and it makes sparkles! 357 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
242 358 makes sparkles!
243 - Use a nondeterministic sentence parser to understand sentences with
244 multiple meanings. Perhaps use statistical language as a filter
245 against unintended (or rather, uninteresting) interpretations.
246 359
247 - Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational campaign and 360 - Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational campaign and
248 public debate forum to enforce its transparent and open 361 public debate forum to enforce its transparent and open
249 nature. France needn't be the world leader in nuclear 362 nature. France needn't be the world leader in nuclear
250 energy. (Dylan) 363 energy. (Dylan)
259 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain 372 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
260 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from 373 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
261 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to 374 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
262 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of 375 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
263 knowledge. /One./ 376 knowledge. /One./
377
378 - relationships as a business ::
379 http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx
380 is an excellent talk about the "culture of quitting," which is about
381 better business by letting people go instead of keeping them around
382 past their "apex". Focouses on information transfer. Cool idea of an
383 alumni network, which for relationships would be a group of
384 satisfied ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and
385 who might consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time
386 away with new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of
387 this and how they worked out.
388
389 - coffe with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
390 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
391 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
392 with recursion!
393
394 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
395 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
396 difficult to move with telekinesis.
397
398
399
400 ** From Jacob's idea list
401
402 - Roommate-cancelling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
403 noise cancellation alg in your headzphones (would this
404 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
405 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
406 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
407 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
408
409 - Browser based graphics-card accelerated distributed computing API.
410
411 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
412 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
413
414 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
415 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards