Mercurial > thoughts

comparison org/ideas.org @ 32:b93ea76ae7fc

Find changesets by keywords (author, files, the commit message), revision number or hash, or revset expression.
Dylan revived my ideas!
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Sun, 21 Apr 2013 03:06:06 +0000
parents
children 834f7a82ce18
comparison
equal deleted inserted replaced
31:baa6194752f4 32:b93ea76ae7fc
1 - remote control wasp -- use computer to drive wings with remote
2 power/logic.
3
4 - public (distributed?) database of email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic
5 encryption.
6
7 - every equivalent creature will see each others eyes as black -- it's
8 universal. Even of the creatures see in radio waves, and their eyes
9 are 2m long pieces of jagged metal, when those creatures look at
10 each other, they will see black, the absence of light and color
11 (since it's being absorbed by the sensor array).
12
13 - intelligent microwave -- it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
14 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infared
15 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
16 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
17 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
18 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
19 the food. Wouldn't need a carasouel, and wouldn't need a timer,
20 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automotically
21 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
22 faster since it can aviod overheating; might have problems with
23 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
24
25 Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
26 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
27
28 Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods and
29 learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been cooked
30 before -- it can get faster the more its used.
31
32 The Big Book of Ideas
33
34 Oct 29, 2009
35
36 brain-aware image compression algorithm
37 Credit card proxy - would be a company which works like paypal except for real world transactions
38 Flesh pillow -- a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
39 super screw -- a screw which has only one or two threads and intead uses compresion to fit into a hole (the whole shank of the screw is split into multiple pieces to accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
40 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
41 light filter (like light tweezers) to mechanically seperate fluids with different index of refraction
42 chalk eraser project -- maybe make a directional eraser, for easy release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a certain direction.
43 don't forget about that mirror in the student center!
44 silver socks
45 UROP: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
46 device to distill urine through evaporation and easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert -- produce drinkable water.
47 UROP: Make the LED in line with the flow for the microinjector, so that it may transmit maximum flow.
48 Motor that changes distance of internal magnet from windings depending on desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
49 web scraper which monitors various lottries, looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
50 Memristiors -- make an evolutionary algorithm to make old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
51 Conductive concrete
52 little bitty melting pot
53 power strip/timer programmable combination
54 algorthms which learn what their inputs are and in what order, and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond to different connections.
55 hear a true pure tone by direct stimultion of the nerves of the ear
56 mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp
57 paper folding device -- make it convienent to fold lots of papers in various ways.
58 concrete epoxy -- epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
59 suspend some ball of material with a high index of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up
60 unlimited quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
61
62 Me: As it is, light wouldn't be trapped forever, since some fraction would always escape through the walls via absorbtion. But, if you minimized that or slowed the light down, it could
63 work.
64
65 Oct 27, 2009
66
67 movie screening. Movies always are too long at first. one way to shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which there are a lot of blinking
68 (average this over multiple people) better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill whih is composed entirely of the parts in whihc opeople
69 had their eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
70 explosive thermite epoxy putty
71 super reading program that teaches people the ideal mental mask to apply during reading so as to read very fast.
72 capture reading of a scientific atricle via screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
73 Me: c.f. attention-tracking machines for user interface evaluation
74
75 Oct 27, 2009
76
77 use the above screen capture routine to make a quiz program tha constructs questions about the content you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf came with embedded questions.
78 Me:
79 automatically generate word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the interesting parts.
80
81 Oct 27, 2009
82
83 Also, a computer which analyzes the word-cloud could learn a lot about what stuff is important to humans on average, and what stuff is important only to few. Maybe make extrapolations, help with its search
84 through solution space.
85
86 make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better sword.
87 use the induction technology used to recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data -- without any metal at all!
88 reading is a form of synsethesia
89 Me: imagination is [targeted] self-stimulation of sensory inputs in the CNS?
90 dreaming too?
91
92 Oct 27, 2009
93
94 A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into actual DNA
95 Me: a machine which can build a constructor of amino acids with R-chains that do not naturally occur.
96 a machine which attempts to create constructors of various compounds via biological algorithms in micro-lab instances.
97
98 Oct 27, 2009
99
100 ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro generator to make electricity
101 Me: Combine with remote charging by induction
102
103 Oct 27, 2009
104
105 alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
106 folding razor blade sword
107 learn perfect pitch using another sense in combination (sight or touch)
108 kaleidoscope projector
109 razor blade de-sharpener (for guilt free disposal)
110 bricks filled with luminescent plant material
111 metal grids with seeds inside, which grow together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
112 Me: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
113 conducting extracellular matrix
114
115 Oct 27, 2009
116
117 cross-modal memory hashing
118 flossing thimble-gaurds
119 integrate lattice learning with rules by generating hypothetical examples
120 wooden refridgerator to give food a better taste
121
122 Me: like barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of temperature on volatility?
123
124 Oct 27, 2009
125
126 radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule -- create precious metals or something else economically advantageous.
127 innolculate food with tons of harmless bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of preservation
128 pasteur - style holding jar with siphon as a way to store liquids ar room temperature indefinately w/o refridgeration.(7/26/2009)
129 Throw rude people out of resturant as a matter of course -- make ambiance much better.
130 make something that mixes soap with firehydrant water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it to clean windows of buildings.
131 make an ocarina out of pure silver
132 fire pen -- pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing any ink. Is ther a way to make it runnable from the human's energy?
133
134 Me: like kinetic flashlights, shake to generate energy (magnet through a solenoid is how they do it, i think)
135
136 Oct 27, 2009
137
138 website to design your own soda, and label, and have it mailed to you / sell it from your own online store.
139 Me: like CAD online only with flavor extracts, other ingredients.
140 Have a set of modular machinery [BAKE, SMASH, PULVERIZE, ...] and ingredients. Requests?
141
142 Oct 27, 2009
143
144 solar panels that float on the ocean
145 handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) -- great for daisy chaining prisoniers, binding them to environment, etc.
146 vector based SOUND files. --- like the pictures but with SOUND.
147
148 Me: Essentially a MIDI file?
149
150 Oct 27, 2009
151
152 even better than PREVIOUS -- codify sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech to text or smtg.
153 Me: Build off of IPA?
154 Need to encapsulate nonsense sounds produced by babies
155
156 Oct 27, 2009
157
158 Mouse with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical scroll wheel
159 logic maintance system for big institutions to make sure the things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
160 Me: For a starting point, crawl public domain regulations sites looking for retardation.
161
162 Oct 28, 2009
163
164 http://www.regulations.gov/
165
166 genetically engineered glowing fruit -- sell seeds?
167
168 Me: Fruits whose skins store sunlight in luminscent flesh => useful?
169
170 Oct 27, 2009
171
172 memory slide -- IF memories are encoded using particular sensory impressions, what happens if the sensory organ itself changes? those memories would become unaccessable. maybe this is why we can't
173 remember much from our childhoods. also, could this happen throught life as well? Could S remember stuff from his childhood?
174 make a completely indestructable phone -- no moving parts or display you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal interface - never gets
175 too hot, and can be dropped into water. no holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to inductive charging and data transfer.
176 Me: Start with "military" phones (like Mr. Hawley has) with field-effects interface additions and additional hardcore streamlining.
177
178 Oct 27, 2009
179
180 midi to ocarina "tabs" program (online website? buy ocarinas from it too)
181 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) -- like the 8.03 lecture
182 lighter flint on spring --- make hot and it makes sparkles!
183 put a plane on a treadmill, to help it do a vertical takeoff.
184 Use a nondeterministic sentence parser to understand sentences with multiple meanings. Perhaps use statistical language as a filter against unintended (or rather, uninteresting) interpretations.
185 Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational campaign and public debate forum to enforce its transparent and open nature. France needn't be the world leader in nuclear energy.
186 Me: Standardized, modular nuclear plants?
187
188 Oct 29, 2009
189
190 Textbook whose content can be varied continuously---alter
191 Me: well, actually varied over a countable "dense" set.
192
193 Oct 29, 2009
194
195 level of difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from knowledge base,
196 Me: Or, initially, interpolated over all pre-existing books.
197
198 Oct 29, 2009
199
200 along with questions that are moreover altered to guide knowledge acquisition.
201 Motivation: One book of knowledge. One.
202 Engineer a material which has both ductility and high surface tension to make the "third" minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are cylindrical catenary
203 curve, two separated half-bubbles, and a double-cone)
204
205 Tags:
206
207 Me: Color-coded lid-cup pairs.
208
209 Dec 3, 2009
210
211 Me: Dry soap (like for pets) but for cars
212
213 Dec 3, 2009
214
215 Next w ave
216
217