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merge, and an idea about the power of ice.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Thu, 16 Jan 2014 10:37:11 -0500
parents dfcbbb3d4b9a 0653ed4b00a3
children 8bd81d22ae93
comparison
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84:dfcbbb3d4b9a 85:41741f76b567
29 #+begin_quote 29 #+begin_quote
30 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about 30 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about
31 getting credit. 31 getting credit.
32 #+end_quote 32 #+end_quote
33 33
34 <<<<<<< local
34 - pronuncation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and 35 - pronuncation guide :: a simple webpage where you type in a word and
35 it returns a simpe, English sentence describing exactly how to 36 it returns a simpe, English sentence describing exactly how to
36 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA. 37 pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA.
37 38 =======
39 - learning to teleport :: scifi idea, this is a story about a person
40 who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about
41 teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a
42 member of that society (after all, the difference between animals
43 and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while
44 animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the
45 stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then
46 eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping
47 off a diving board into a pool (which I simply /could not do/ for
48 a long time), etc.
49 >>>>>>> other
50
51 <<<<<<< local
38 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and 52 - touch vision :: inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and
39 see if I could implement touch as a very low range 53 see if I could implement touch as a very low range
40 form of vision. 54 form of vision.
41 55 =======
56 - bitcoins for immigrants :: A common case with Mexican immigrants
57 (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned
58 in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this
59 through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get
60 fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce
61 the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't
62 believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican
63 immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could
64 set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts
65 in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut
66 them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might
67 be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is
68 great demand, and it's a good thing to boot!
69 >>>>>>> other
70
71 <<<<<<< local
72 =======
73 - reverse eye-tracking :: A painting that is actually a digital screen
74 with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's
75 "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you
76 look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you
77 look at it, recording where /you/ looked forever for others to
78 see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the
79 breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males
80 passing by.
81
82 - smart toilets :: Instead of using indirect measures like infrared
83 detectors of the presence of a person, use computer
84 vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs
85 to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up
86 going this way as we get better computer vision.
87
88 - validate chemopreservation :: chemopreservation is difficult to
89 validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and
90 brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a
91 technology. However, one very powerful way to validate
92 chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn
93 something with high complexity such as a number or the solution
94 to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain
95 chemically, slice it up, and read /that specific memory/ from the
96 detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable.
97
98 - candy screw :: edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw
99 as well.
100
101 - better bibliography :: when writing a thesis or paper, have the
102 bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it
103 be a list of /summaries/ and /qualities/ that each paper has in
104 the context of the paper being written. When examining a
105 bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the
106 bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also
107 interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the
108 paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to
109 provide information about the referenced papers from the
110 author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own
111 thesis.
112
113 - digital inter-library loan :: libraries at universities already do
114 inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access
115 to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could
116 allow access to articles for registered students to all the files
117 available through any participating university. This could be
118 achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating
119 universities. Each university would decide who at the university
120 can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could
121 be made easy using something like http://libx.org/.
122
123 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered
124 by computers, show two people playing chess in a
125 void. They are floating in space, and there is a
126 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,
127 the game tree's they are considering are drawn
128 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in
129 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the
130 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the
131 dividing plane between the two players. Each
132 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,
133 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,
134 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,
135 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long
136 chain, while the computer tree would be more
137 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern
138 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!
139
140 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of
141 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time
142 server, a key for each time period, something like that.
143
144 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars
145 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they
146 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area
147 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design
148 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar
149 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins
150 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have
151 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be
152 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which
153 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the
154 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and
155 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing
156 it's authenticity.
157
158 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.
159
160 >>>>>>> other
42 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The 161 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The
43 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational 162 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational
44 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's 163 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's
45 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they 164 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they
46 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's 165 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's
61 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead 180 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead
62 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a 181 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a
63 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion 182 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion
64 system works. 183 system works.
65 184
66 - test dummies :: why don't we clone encephalic humans and use then to 185 - test dummies :: why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to
67 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It 186 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It
68 would be ethical as long as there are women who are 187 would be ethical as long as there are women who are
69 willing to host the clones, and it would be a 188 willing to host the clones, and it would be a
70 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I 189 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I
71 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is 190 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is
73 more advanced technology. 192 more advanced technology.
74 193
75 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient 194 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient
76 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into 195 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into
77 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system 196 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system
78 was coupled with a Baysean model of the layout of the structure, 197 was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure,
79 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the 198 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the
80 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage 199 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage
81 and surgery risk could be minimized. 200 and surgery risk could be minimized.
82 201
83 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you 202 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you
136 some other uses for the EEG data as well. 255 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
137 256
138 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an 257 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
139 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of 258 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
140 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a 259 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
141 super-compressed image file (possibly sccapting some 260 super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some
142 lesses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one 261 losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
143 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the 262 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
144 image. 263 image.
145 264
146 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time 265 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
147 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room 266 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
316 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see 435 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
317 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed 436 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
318 by the sensor array). 437 by the sensor array).
319 438
320 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields 439 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
321 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infared 440 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared
322 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way, 441 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
323 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is 442 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
324 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since 443 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
325 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of 444 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
326 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer, 445 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
360 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial 479 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
361 properties. 480 properties.
362 481
363 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape 482 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
364 483
365 - rod of moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and 484 - Rod of Moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
366 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert -- 485 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
367 produce drinkable water. 486 produce drinkable water.
368 487
369 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so 488 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
370 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes 489 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes