view org/ideas.org @ 61:072f65145ec0

more brainstorming.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Tue, 20 Aug 2013 17:51:44 -0400
parents 600bd4667993
children b838bd76b081
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1 #+title: Big List O' Ideas
2 #+author: Robert McIntyre
3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu
4 #+description: list of ideas from the last ~ 7 years
5 #+keywords: aurellem ideas half-baked random
6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org
7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org
8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both
10 * Ideas
12 This is a list of all the ideas I've had that I felt like writing down
13 for the past ~ 7 years. Some of them could be practical inventions and
14 are "just" waiting the that 95% perspiration to bring them to
15 fruition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are simple
16 observations. Some are really only for my own personal notes and are
17 not meant to be comprehensible. They are arranged roughly in reverse
18 chronological order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the
19 list. The ones at the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my
20 time at MIT.
22 If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on
23 them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from
24 you. You can email me at ideas@aurellem.org.
26 If you want to use one of these ideas as your own and run with it,
27 please feel free. I'd love to hear about it if you do.
29 /There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about
30 getting credit/
32 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by
33 makeing a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,
34 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really
35 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the
36 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective
37 guessing.
39 - Intestinal flora maintainence :: why not innoculate babies at birth
40 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they
41 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient
42 extraction capabilities. Might also be abot to make their farts
43 not stink for life, too.
45 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people
46 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover
47 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular
48 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the
49 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like
50 bittorrent for websites.
52 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that
53 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up
54 into each calling function to get the full range of behaviour
55 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a
56 compromize involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic
57 variables to configure runtime behaviour. What would be the
58 advantages of making a programming language where every function
59 recieves one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol
60 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all
61 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on
62 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,
63 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.
65 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when
66 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine
67 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an
68 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say
69 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an
70 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90
71 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon
72 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be
73 some other uses for the EEG data as well.
75 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an
76 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of
77 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a
78 super-compressed image file (possibly sccapting some
79 lesses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one
80 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the
81 image.
83 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time
84 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
85 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
86 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
87 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
88 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
90 - dialated security cmaera :: a security camera that would capture
91 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep
92 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something
93 "interesting" happening.
95 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
96 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
97 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
98 from anywhere.
100 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
101 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
102 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would
103 be automatically split up to every person who has ever
104 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
105 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
106 community decides. This might make it possible for
107 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
109 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated
110 distributed computing API.
112 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
113 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
114 say, and you can encode useful information into the
115 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
116 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
117 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
118 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
119 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
120 object respectively.
122 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
123 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
124 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
125 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
126 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
127 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
128 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good
129 presets.
131 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning
132 might be the mirror neurons.
134 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid
135 copies.
137 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
138 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
140 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
141 one to wear the towel more securely than just
142 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
144 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to
145 wear a burka.
147 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
148 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
149 references. For example, if "Rachael" as red, and "the
150 blonde haired girl" refers to "Rachael", then "the
151 blonde haired girl" would he colored red. Also, you
152 could disambiguate multi part run-on sentences by
153 highlighting each subcomponent. Maybe would also have
154 applications to scientific reading.
156 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
157 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
158 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
159 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
160 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
162 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
163 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
164 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
166 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
167 continuous.
169 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
170 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
171 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
172 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of
173 the laser.
175 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
176 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
177 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
178 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
179 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
180 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
182 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains
183 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
184 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
185 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
186 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
187 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
188 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
189 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
190 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
191 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can
192 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
193 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the
194 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the
195 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
196 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
197 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is
198 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
199 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the
200 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
201 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
202 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
204 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
205 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
206 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
207 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
208 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
209 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
210 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
211 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
212 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
213 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the
214 lens of the the caterpillar people.
216 - relationships as a business :: [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx][Turnover-Crisis]] is an excellent talk
217 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business
218 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their
219 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni
220 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied
221 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might
222 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with
223 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and
224 how they worked out.
226 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
227 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
228 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
229 with recursion!
231 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
232 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
233 difficult to move with telekinesis.
235 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
236 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
237 automated.
239 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
240 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
241 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
242 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
244 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
245 power/logic.
247 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of
248 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
250 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
251 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
252 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
253 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
254 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
255 by the sensor array).
257 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
258 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infared
259 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
260 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
261 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
262 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
263 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,
264 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically
265 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
266 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with
267 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
269 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
270 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
272 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
273 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
274 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.
276 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
278 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
279 except for real world transactions
281 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
282 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
284 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead
285 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank
286 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
287 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
288 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
290 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate
291 fluids with different index of refraction
293 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
294 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
295 certain direction.
297 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
298 properties.
300 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape
302 - rod of moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and
303 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --
304 produce drinkable water.
306 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so
307 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
308 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
309 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
311 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,
312 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
313 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
315 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
316 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
318 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
319 that it can conduct electricity.
321 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
322 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
323 made, for example.
325 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
327 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
328 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
329 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
330 to different connections.
332 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the
333 nerves of the ear
335 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
336 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
337 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
338 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
340 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in
341 various ways.
343 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
345 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
346 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
347 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
348 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
349 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
351 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
352 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
353 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
354 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
355 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
356 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
357 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their
358 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
359 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
361 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via
362 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
363 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
365 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
366 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
368 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
369 one part the aluminum.
371 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
372 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
373 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
374 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
375 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
376 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
377 interesting parts.
379 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
380 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
381 sword.
383 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
384 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
385 without any metal at all!
387 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
389 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
390 actual DNA
392 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
393 generator to make electricity
395 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
397 - folding razor blade sword ::
399 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
400 combination (sight or touch)
402 - kaleidoscope projector ::
404 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
406 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
408 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
409 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
410 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
411 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
412 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
413 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
415 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
416 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
418 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
419 robustly.
421 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)
423 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
424 generating hypothetical examples
426 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
427 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
428 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
429 temperature on volatility?
431 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
432 metals or something else economically advantageous.
434 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless
435 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
436 preservation
438 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
439 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o
440 refrigeration.
442 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter
443 of course -- make ambiance much better.
445 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant
446 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
447 to clean windows of buildings.
449 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
451 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
452 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the
453 human's energy?
455 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
456 you / sell it from your own online store.
458 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
460 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
461 people, binding them to environment, etc.
463 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
464 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
465 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
466 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
467 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
469 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
470 scroll wheel
472 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
473 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
475 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site
477 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
479 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
480 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
481 itself changes? those memories would become
482 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember
483 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
484 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from
485 his childhood?
487 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display
488 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
489 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
490 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
491 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
492 inductive charging and data transfer.
494 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
495 it too)
497 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
498 lecture
500 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
501 makes sparkles!
503 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
504 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
505 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
506 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
508 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
509 surface tension to make the "third"
510 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
511 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
512 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
513 and a double-cone)
515 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
516 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
517 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
518 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
519 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
520 knowledge. /One./
523 ** From Jacob's idea list
525 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
526 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
527 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
528 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
529 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
530 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
532 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
533 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
535 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
536 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)