view org/ideas.org @ 44:596399a9563f

added short descriptions for all ideas.
author Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu>
date Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:22:14 -0400
parents 7d00e0dbdddb
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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 ramdom
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% persperiation to bring them to
15 furition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are simple
16 observations. There are arranged roughly in reverse chronological
17 order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the list. The ones at
18 the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my time at MIT.
20 If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on
21 them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from
22 you. You can email me at ideas@aurellem.org.
24 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixitave to buy enough time
25 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room
26 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and
27 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the
28 fixitaves are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures
29 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.
31 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something
32 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as
33 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins
34 from anywhere.
36 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable
37 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,
38 so that you could donate a panny to "emacs" and it would
39 be automitacally split up to every person who has ever
40 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of
41 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the
42 community decides. This might make it posibe for
43 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.
45 - Browser based graphics-card accelerated distributed computing API.
47 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve
48 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to
49 say, and you can encode useful information into the
50 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings
51 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is
52 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the
53 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a
54 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and
55 object respectively.
57 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the
58 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious
59 and configurable, and can allow men to make their
60 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear
61 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how
62 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to
63 immediately change the paramaters of the DSP using good
64 presets.
66 - predestined body learning :: a good example of pre destined learning
67 might be the mirror neurons.
69 - resturant reciept :: use a carbon copy reciept instead of two stupid
70 copies.
72 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision
73 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.
75 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows
76 one to wear the towel more securely than just
77 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.
79 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise onself as a woman is to
80 wear a burka.
82 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and
83 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved
84 references. For example, if "Rachael" as red, and "the
85 blonde haired girl" refers to "Rachael", then "the
86 blonde haired girl" would he colored red. Also, you
87 could disambiguate multi part runon sentences by
88 highlighting each subcomponent. Maybe would also have
89 appliations to scientific reading.
91 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon
92 coated plasic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would
93 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of
94 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by
95 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.
97 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would
98 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure
99 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.
101 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of
102 continous.
104 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one
105 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,
106 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam
107 into a laser cone, perserving most of the energy of
108 the laser.
110 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a
111 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index
112 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be
113 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed
114 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy
115 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.
117 - Caterpillar people :: A race of catepillar like creatures gains
118 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These
119 catepillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large
120 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the
121 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,
122 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person
123 the catepillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and
124 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as
125 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and
126 necessary to propogate the species, as only the butterflies can
127 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person
128 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posess the
129 memories or personality of the original catepillar. Some see the
130 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the
131 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big
132 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the catepillar's mind is
133 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible
134 tradgedy and argue that the catepillars should try to stop the
135 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important
136 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to
137 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.
139 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being
140 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,
141 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that
142 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains
143 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic
144 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a
145 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second
146 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes
147 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of
148 pain and death is made to look like the tradegy it is through the
149 lense of the the caterpillar people.
151 - relationships as a business ::
152 http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx
153 is an excellent talk about the "culture of quitting," which is about
154 better business by letting people go instead of keeping them around
155 past their "apex". Focouses on information transfer. Cool idea of an
156 alumni network, which for relationships would be a group of
157 satisfied ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and
158 who might consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time
159 away with new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of
160 this and how they worked out.
162 - coffe with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%
163 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,
164 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings
165 with recursion!
167 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an
168 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely
169 difficult to move with telekinesis.
171 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to
172 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be
173 automated.
175 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student
176 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a
177 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what
178 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.
180 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote
181 power/logic.
183 - encrypted email phonebook :: public (distributed?) database of
184 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.
186 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each
187 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures
188 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged
189 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see
190 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed
191 by the sensor array).
193 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields
194 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infared
195 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,
196 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is
197 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since
198 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of
199 the food. Wouldn't need a carasouel, and wouldn't need a timer,
200 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automotically
201 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much
202 faster since it can aviod overheating; might have problems with
203 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.
205 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would
206 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.
208 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods
209 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been
210 cooked before -- it can get faster the more its used.
212 - compresion :: brain-aware image compression algorithm
214 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal
215 except for real world transactions
217 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete
218 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.
220 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and intead
221 uses compresion to fit into a hole (the whole shank
222 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to
223 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle
224 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.
226 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically seperate
227 fluids with different index of refraction
229 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy
230 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a
231 certain direction.
233 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial
234 properties.
236 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape device to distill urine through
237 evaporation and easily dispose of urea crystals for use in
238 desert -- produce drinkable water.
240 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the microinjector, so
241 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes
242 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on
243 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.
245 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lottries,
246 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x
247 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...
249 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make
250 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.
252 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so
253 that it can conduct electricity.
255 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of
256 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be
257 made, for example.
259 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh
261 - algorthms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,
262 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they
263 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond
264 to different connections.
266 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimultion of the
267 nerves of the ear
269 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object
270 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the
271 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This
272 anlogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.
274 - paper folding device :: make it convienent to fold lots of papers in
275 various ways.
277 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.
279 - light capacator :: suspend some ball of material with a high index
280 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would
281 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited
282 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be
283 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?
285 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to
286 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the
287 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which
288 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)
289 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I
290 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill
291 whih is composed entirely of the parts in whihc opeople had their
292 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their
293 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!
295 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific atricle via
296 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the
297 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.
299 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to
300 apply during reading so as to read very fast.
302 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,
303 one part the alumimum.
305 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to
306 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content
307 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf
308 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate
309 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help
310 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the
311 interesting parts.
313 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of
314 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better
315 sword.
317 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to
318 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data
319 without any metal at all!
321 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia
323 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into
324 actual DNA
326 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro
327 generator to make electricity
329 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery
331 - folding razor blade sword ::
333 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in
334 combination (sight or touch)
336 - kaleidoscope projector ::
338 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal
340 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material
342 - bio metalic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow
343 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal
344 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)
345 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical
346 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled
347 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.
349 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of
350 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.
352 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more
353 robustly.
355 - flossing thimble-gaurds :: (these actually exist)
357 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by
358 generating hypothetical examples
360 - wooden refridgerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like
361 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor
362 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of
363 temperature on volatility?
365 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious
366 metals or something else economically advantageous.
368 - crowd preservation :: innolculate food with tons of harmless
369 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of
370 preservation
372 - old school preservation :: pasteur - style holding jar with siphon
373 as a way to store liquids ar room temperature indefinately w/o
374 refridgeration.
376 - resturant policy :: Throw rude people out of resturant as a matter
377 of course -- make ambiance much better.
379 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with firehydrant
380 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it
381 to clean windows of buildings.
383 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver
385 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing
386 any ink. Is ther a way to make it runnable from the
387 human's energy?
389 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to
390 you / sell it from your own online store.
392 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean
394 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining
395 people, binding them to environment, etc.
397 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify
398 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe
399 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech
400 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the
401 wavefront encoded as a vector image.
403 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical
404 scroll wheel
406 - logic maintance system for big institutions :: to make sure the
407 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded
409 - http://www.regulations.gov/
411 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?
413 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory
414 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ
415 itself changes? those memories would become
416 unaccessable. maybe this is why we can't remember
417 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen
418 throught life as well? Could S remember stuff from
419 his childhood?
421 - make a completely indestructable phone :: no moving parts or display
422 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will
423 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal
424 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no
425 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to
426 inductive charging and data transfer.
428 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from
429 it too)
431 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03
432 lecture
434 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it
435 makes sparkles!
437 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational
438 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its
439 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the
440 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)
442 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high
443 surface tension to make the "third"
444 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended
445 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are
446 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,
447 and a double-cone)
449 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of
450 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain
451 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from
452 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to
453 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of
454 knowledge. /One./
457 ** From Jacob's idea list
459 - Roommate-cancelling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed
460 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this
461 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from
462 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by
463 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound
464 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu
466 - Browser based graphics-card accelerated distributed computing API.
468 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data
469 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e
471 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to
472 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)