Mercurial > thoughts
view org/ideas.org @ 72:ace7f097eb6c
add chess idea.
author | Robert McIntyre <rlm@mit.edu> |
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date | Sat, 09 Nov 2013 03:18:26 -0500 |
parents | dc521fea9219 |
children | 135fabc13f8a |
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1 #+title: Big List O' Ideas2 #+author: Robert McIntyre3 #+email: rlm@mit.edu4 #+description: list of ideas from the last ~ 7 years5 #+keywords: aurellem ideas half-baked random6 #+SETUPFILE: ../../aurellem/org/setup.org7 #+INCLUDE: ../../aurellem/org/level-0.org8 #+babel: :mkdirp yes :noweb yes :exports both10 * Ideas12 This is a list of all the ideas I've had that I felt like writing down13 for the past ~ 7 years. Some of them could be practical inventions and14 are "just" waiting the that 95% perspiration to bring them to15 fruition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are simple16 observations. Some are really only for my own personal notes and are17 not meant to be comprehensible. They are arranged roughly in reverse18 chronological order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the19 list. The ones at the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my20 time at MIT.22 If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on23 them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from24 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 #+begin_quote30 There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about31 getting credit.32 #+end_quote34 - chess visual :: to show the vast size of the game trees considered35 by computers, show two people playing chess in a36 void. They are floating in space, and there is a37 simple chess board between them. Then, as they play,38 the game tree's they are considering are drawn39 behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in40 their heads or whatever they use to think, and the41 tree grows out from behind, never crossing the42 dividing plane between the two players. Each43 player's tree is a different color. As they grow,44 there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually,45 they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings,46 etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long47 chain, while the computer tree would be more48 uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern49 laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers!51 - time verification :: some standard way to verify that some piece of52 data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time53 server, a key for each time period, something liek that.55 - tamper proof gold bars :: [[http://www.tungsten-alloy.com/gold-plated-tungsten-alloy-bar.html][this site]] offers gold plated tungsten bars56 as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they57 are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area58 to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design59 because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar60 could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins61 have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have62 hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be63 implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which64 can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the65 pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and66 people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing67 it's authenticity.69 - aurellem shirt :: I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt.71 - high school science :: this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The72 goal is to calculate /g/, the local gravitational73 acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's74 /exactly/ 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they75 doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's76 neat because for any given school, /g/ is probably *not* exactly77 equal to 9.81, because that is just an average!79 - opencourseware subtitles :: there are ladies who type up lectures80 while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and81 given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are82 recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles.84 - screen locking timing :: you use your computer camera to see if you85 are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen86 will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a87 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to88 initiate the countdown, just with more information.90 - mirror toilet :: a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead91 or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a92 wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion93 system works.95 - test dummies :: why don't we clone encephalic humans and use then to96 test /in vivo/ human organ systems and drugs? It97 would be ethical as long as there are women who are98 willing to host the clones, and it would be a99 tremendous resource for studying the human body. I100 see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is101 suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout102 more advanced technology.104 - X-ray telepresence :: given that a doctor is operating on a patient105 via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into106 the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system107 was coupled with a Baysean model of the layout of the structure,108 and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the109 model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage110 and surgery risk could be minimized.112 - superfluid vascular system :: I wonder what would happen if you113 replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the114 physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the115 vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells,116 or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to117 retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during118 perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses119 superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by120 superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to121 simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid122 instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human.124 - projective guessing :: I think that we read and see things by125 making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see,126 and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really127 doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the128 image from first principles, but most stuff is projective129 guessing.131 - Intestinal flora maintenance :: why not inoculate babies at birth132 with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they133 naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient134 extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts135 not stink for life, too.137 - server culture : mirrors :: make a distributed system where people138 can mirror the websites of people they like -- essentially cover139 the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular140 websites run at no cost. The system would require that the141 mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like142 bit-torrent for websites.144 - map programming :: one problem with functional programming is that145 in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up146 into each calling function to get the full range of behavior147 from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a148 compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic149 variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the150 advantages of making a programming language where every function151 receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol152 bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all153 subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on154 the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults,155 etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea.157 - rest nest :: a small EEG device you would attach to your head when158 you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine159 your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an160 alarm clock that you could give a time range, say161 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an162 ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90163 min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon164 waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be165 some other uses for the EEG data as well.167 - image compression :: use a library like gimp or opencv to process an168 image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of169 those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a170 super-compressed image file (possibly sccapting some171 lesses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one172 to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the173 image.175 - fixed cryopreservation :: why not use a fixative to buy enough time176 to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room177 temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and178 vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the179 fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures180 do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage.182 - dilated security camera :: a security camera that would capture183 full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep184 only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something185 "interesting" happening.187 - bitcoin wallet :: Part of "server culture", this would be something188 like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as189 your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins190 from anywhere.192 - libpay :: this would be a free library which would enable193 micro-donations to software projects and other projects,194 so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would195 be automatically split up to every person who has ever196 contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of197 community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the198 community decides. This might make it possible for199 programmers to live entirely off of free programming.201 - distributed graphics :: Browser based graphics-card accelerated202 distributed computing API.204 - pronouns :: use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve205 pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to206 say, and you can encode useful information into the207 choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings208 shall be presided over by the president, unless she is209 absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the210 president, unless P is absent." We already use this a211 little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and212 object respectively.214 - phone DSP :: software app that inserts an audio DSP between the215 input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious216 and configurable, and can allow men to make their217 voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear218 your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how219 their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to220 immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good221 presets.223 - predestined body learning :: a good example of predestined learning224 might be the mirror neurons.226 - restaurant receipt :: use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid227 copies.229 - anti google glass :: glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision230 that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them.232 - wearable towel :: towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows233 one to wear the towel more securely than just234 wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best.236 - crossdressing :: Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to237 wear a burka.239 - book-mode :: intelligent color highlighting for books and240 articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved241 references. For example, if "Rachael" as red, and "the242 blonde haired girl" refers to "Rachael", then "the243 blonde haired girl" would he colored red. Also, you244 could disambiguate multi part run-on sentences by245 highlighting each subcomponent. Maybe would also have246 applications to scientific reading.248 - Handheld light Rain measurement :: this would be a clear, teflon249 coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would250 be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of251 accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by252 using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops.254 - Big Brother Farming :: This would be a vision system that would255 individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure256 maximum/uniform growth for each plant.258 - Discrete Faucet :: A faucet with discrete ticks instead of259 continuous.261 - Laser Circle :: take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one262 end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect,263 large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam264 into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of265 the laser.267 - Invisible Glass :: Take a container of liquid and embed a268 glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index269 of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be270 totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed271 when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy272 wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass.274 - Caterpillar people :: A race of caterpillar like creatures gains275 intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These276 caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large277 butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the278 caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal,279 dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person280 the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and281 religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as282 good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and283 necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can284 mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person285 because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the286 memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the287 butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the288 butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big289 deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is290 actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible291 tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the292 metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important293 members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to294 prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves.296 This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being297 something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds,298 something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that299 hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains300 now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic301 legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a302 compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second303 gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes304 homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of305 pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the306 lens of the the caterpillar people.308 - relationships as a business :: [[http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Up-or-Out-Solving-the-IT-Turnover-Crisis.aspx][Turnover-Crisis]] is an excellent talk309 about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business310 by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their311 "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni312 network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied313 ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might314 consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with315 new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and316 how they worked out.318 - coffee with tea :: /rlm-tea/ contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20%319 dylan coffee. /dylan coffee/ contains 5% sugar,320 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings321 with recursion!323 - psychic crystal :: in a science fiction story, this would be an324 object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely325 difficult to move with telekinesis.327 - http://betsofbitco.in/ :: what a great place for an AI/person to328 prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be329 automated.331 - true reflection :: don't forget about that mirror in the student332 center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a333 corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what334 you actually look like, instead of your mirror image.336 - remote control wasp :: use computer to drive wings with remote337 power/logic.339 - encrypted email phone book :: public (distributed?) database of340 email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption.342 - universal eye color :: every equivalent creature will see each343 others' eyes as black -- it's universal. Even if the creatures344 see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged345 metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see346 black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed347 by the sensor array).349 - intelligent microwave :: it learns where the hot nodes of its fields350 are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infared351 camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way,352 you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is353 still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since354 the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of355 the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer,356 just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically357 defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much358 faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with359 heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too.361 + Would be much cleaner than other microwaves, since food would362 "sputter" and splash liquid much less.364 + Throw in some SIFT+R processing to match previously cooked foods365 and learn the exact heating profiles for things that have been366 cooked before -- it can get faster the more it's used.368 - compression :: brain-aware image compression algorithm370 - Credit card proxy :: would be a company which works like paypal371 except for real world transactions373 - Flesh pillow :: a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete374 with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat.376 - super screw :: a screw which has only one or two threads and instead377 uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank378 of the screw is split into multiple pieces to379 accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle380 bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in.382 - light filter :: (like light tweezers) to mechanically separate383 fluids with different index of refraction385 - chalk eraser project :: maybe make a directional eraser, for easy386 release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a387 certain direction.389 - silver socks :: socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial390 properties.392 - UROP :: magnet gear/metal teeth tape394 - rod of moses :: device to distill urine through evaporation and395 easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert --396 produce drinkable water.398 - UROP :: Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so399 that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes400 distance of internal magnet from windings depending on401 desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency.403 - lottery scraper :: web scraper which monitors various lotteries,404 looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x405 winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value...407 - Memristiors novel design :: make an evolutionary algorithm to make408 old stuff using all four basic circuit elements.410 - Conductive concrete :: concrete that has embedded metal fibers so411 that it can conduct electricity.413 - little bitty melting pot :: might be useful for some types of414 manufacturing/3D printing -- how small can an induction melter be415 made, for example.417 - power strip/timer programmable combination :: meh419 - algorithms :: which learn what their inputs are and in what order,420 and can adapt to changing circumstances -- they421 remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond422 to different connections.424 - true pure tones :: hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the425 nerves of the ear427 - mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp :: would be an object428 with two levers -- you pull on one lever and the other moves the429 same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This430 analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people.432 - paper folding device :: make it convenient to fold lots of papers in433 various ways.435 - concrete epoxy :: epoxy with sand/ some other solid material.437 - light capacitor :: suspend some ball of material with a high index438 of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck -- would439 the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited440 quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be441 released slowly by frustrated internal reflection?443 - movie screening :: Movies always are too long at first. One way to444 shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the445 move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which446 there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people)447 better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I448 got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill449 which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their450 eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their451 eyes off of? Just take those parts out!453 - optimize an article :: capture reading of a scientific article via454 screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the455 article better. like the movie-pruning idea.457 - super reading program :: teaches people the ideal mental mask to458 apply during reading so as to read very fast.460 - explosive thermite epoxy putty :: one part would contain the rust,461 one part the aluminum.463 - reading comprehension :: use the above screen capture routine to464 make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content465 you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf466 came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate467 word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help468 others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the469 interesting parts.471 - hard sword :: make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of472 martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better473 sword.475 - close range wireless :: use the induction technology used to476 recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data477 without any metal at all!479 - reading :: is a form of synsethesia481 - DNA printer :: A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into482 actual DNA484 - black generator :: ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro485 generator to make electricity487 - alcohol battery :: alcohol/fluid flow powered battery489 - folding razor blade sword ::491 - perfect pitch :: learn perfect pitch using another sense in492 combination (sight or touch)494 - kaleidoscope projector ::496 - razor blade de-sharpener :: for guilt free disposal498 - bricks :: filled with luminescent plant material500 - bio metallic structure :: metal grids with seeds inside, which grow501 together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal502 substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?)503 Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical504 interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled505 photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures.507 - conducting extracellular matrix :: to allow better control of508 organic systems and an enhanced nervous system.510 - cross-modal memory hashing :: a way to retrieve memories more511 robustly.513 - flossing thimble-guards :: (these actually exist)515 - rules + lattice learning :: integrate lattice learning with rules by516 generating hypothetical examples518 - wooden refrigerator :: to give food a better taste Dylan: like519 barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor520 planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of521 temperature on volatility?523 - radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule :: create precious524 metals or something else economically advantageous.526 - crowd preservation :: inoculate food with tons of harmless527 bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of528 preservation530 - old school preservation :: Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon531 as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o532 refrigeration.534 - restaurant policy :: Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter535 of course -- make ambiance much better.537 - clean windows :: make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant538 water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it539 to clean windows of buildings.541 - ocarina :: make an ocarina out of pure silver543 - fire pen :: pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing544 any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the545 human's energy?547 - website to design your own soda :: and label, and have it mailed to548 you / sell it from your own online store.550 - solar panels :: that float on the ocean552 - handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?) :: great for daisy chaining553 people, binding them to environment, etc.555 - vector based SOUND files :: like the pictures but with SOUND. codify556 sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe557 everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech558 to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the559 wavefront encoded as a vector image.561 - Mouse :: with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical562 scroll wheel564 - logic maintenance system for big institutions :: to make sure the565 things they are thinking about doing are not retarded567 - http://www.regulations.gov/ :: cool site569 - genetically engineered glowing fruit :: sell seeds?571 - memory slide :: IF memories are encoded using particular sensory572 impressions, what happens if the sensory organ573 itself changes? those memories would become574 inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember575 much from our childhoods. also, could this happen576 throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from577 his childhood?579 - make a completely indestructible phone :: no moving parts or display580 you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will581 just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal582 interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no583 holes -- uses field effects for everything from the buttons to584 inductive charging and data transfer.586 - midi to ocarina "tabs" program :: (online website? buy ocarinas from587 it too)589 - 3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns) :: like the 8.03590 lecture592 - lighter flint on spring :: make hot, throw it at something, and it593 makes sparkles!595 - nuclear energy :: Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational596 campaign and public debate forum to enforce its597 transparent and open nature. France needn't be the598 world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan)600 - bubbles :: Engineer a material which has both ductility and high601 surface tension to make the "third"602 minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended603 between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are604 cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles,605 and a double-cone)607 - Textbook whose content can be varied continuously :: alter level of608 difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain609 other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from610 knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to611 guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of612 knowledge. /One./615 ** From Jacob's idea list617 - Roommate-canceling headphones: uses roommate's laptop mic to seed618 noise cancellation alg in your headphones (would this619 work?). -Update on sound canceling headphones that take feed from620 tv: how about ones that cancel people talking on the phone by621 receiving the phone signals and playing inverse sound622 waves. #signalprocessing ~jcole@mit.edu624 - ClackerAlert -- tells if you slam the keys too hard using sound data625 (and speed/jerkiness data)!.Prevents RSI ~jcole@mit.e627 - Panic Pin :: separate pin that you can tell someone if forced to628 identify your PIN (idea from idea about credit cards)