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aurellem.org

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Ideas

rlm@141:

rlm@141: This is a list of all the ideas I've had that I felt like writing down rlm@141: for the past ~ 8 years. Some of them could be practical inventions and rlm@141: are "just" waiting the that 95% perspiration to bring them to rlm@141: fruition, some are ideas for science fiction, and some are simple rlm@141: observations. Some are really only for my own personal notes and are rlm@141: not meant to be comprehensible. They are arranged roughly in reverse rlm@141: chronological order, with the most recent ideas at the top of the rlm@141: list. The ones at the bottom of the list are heavily influenced by my rlm@141: time at MIT. rlm@141:

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rlm@141: If you find some of these interesting and would like to collaborate on rlm@141: them with me or discuss them in more detail, I'd love to hear from rlm@141: you. You can email me at ideas@aurellem.org. rlm@141:

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rlm@141: If you want to use one of these ideas as your own and run with it, rlm@141: please feel free. I'd love rlm@141: to hear about it if you do. rlm@141:

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There's no end to what a man can accomplish if he doesn't care about rlm@141: getting credit. rlm@141:

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the great computing slow-down

In general, our computers are rlm@141: getting faster and faster. However, eventually our brains will be rlm@141: made of the same stuff our computers are made of! This has very rlm@141: interesting consequences – I can add 2+2 and get four in about a rlm@141: second. Since my neurons actually work at around 10-60 hertz in rlm@141: parallel, this means that it takes me around 10-30 operations to rlm@141: do this addition. That's actually not bad in terms of computing rlm@141: time. If my neurons were as fast as the latest transitors, then rlm@141: most calculators would be SLOWER than me at adding numbers. Only rlm@141: the newest, most optimized calculators would be faster, and then rlm@141: only about 10 times faster! This means that once we begin to rlm@141: think at the speed of our technology, that technology will rlm@141: suddenly seem pitifully slow in comparison to how it seems rlm@141: now. And no amount of technical progress will remedy it, because rlm@141: that same progress will also make us all think faster. We'll rlm@141: either have to settle with living in "slow time" to do some rlm@141: computations, or learn to make smarter hardware with special rlm@141: optimizations. But this is actually really hard, because we'll be rlm@141: working with machines that will appear to us about as fast as rlm@141: MECHANICAL computers. So, in the future, all the cool parties rlm@141: will be in cyperspace at vastly accelerated speeds compared to rlm@141: how we exist now. But at these parties, the computers will SUCK! rlm@141: Of course, this is one of the few things that can save us from AI rlm@141: risk, because those AI's won't seem so scary when the're build rlm@141: out of rickety mechanical parts form our perspective. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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unitary reverse evolution of chaos+minds

Chaotic systems diverge rlm@141: exponentially in state space. Do you get anything interesting rlm@141: when part of the physical system associated with the chaotic rlm@141: system is a object that performs some sort of computation? Is it rlm@141: possible for the computational system to play a rlm@141: percision-enabling role in determining the final/initial rlm@141: conditions of the chaotic system, just by tracing out thoughts in rlm@141: its decision paths? This is probably too vague of an idea right rlm@141: now, I just wanted to write it down. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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microwave time

the cooking time you enter on most microwaves is rlm@141: insane. It's expressed in what I call a "hybrid base", a rlm@141: combination of base 10 and base 60. You can get absurd things rlm@141: like 100 < 61, and 120 == 80! I wonder if these hybrid base rlm@141: systems could be very useful for some purposes! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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three-eyes

if you had three eyes, would you still draw cubes like rlm@141: we currently draw them? Or would all 2D-representations of 3D rlm@141: space always look hopelessly fake? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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visual taste/smell assay

get a grid of bacteria, each expressing rlm@141: a human taste/smell receptor linked to some sort of fluorscent rlm@141: activity or ion pump. Use a camera / electrical grid to transduce rlm@141: the smell / taste signal into bits! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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carabiner mushroom lock

you can take a trapazodial carabiner and rlm@141: make it so that a chain link is caught between the wide end of rlm@141: the carabiner and another chain attached to the carabiner. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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children's tool shop

I think that kids should be provided with rlm@141: tool shops – these would be nice sheds with a good collection of rlm@141: tools to do various things – circuit components and soldering rlm@141: irons, wires, a small lathe, drill press, belt sander, a rlm@141: centrifuge, microscope, and telescope, etc. The idea is that the rlm@141: kid can now think, "I could use X to do this thing that I'm rlm@141: thinking about" – the building becomes an extension of the kid's rlm@141: body & mind. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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fluid display

like the previous idea about matching refractances rlm@141: between glass and liquid, except you make a lot of rlm@141: switchable glass tubes in various patterns in the rlm@141: glass, and actively pump colored liquid through the rlm@141: tubes (the tubes have glass-like fluid in them by rlm@141: default.) The result is that you can cause the rlm@141: tubes to appear and dissappear, and vary their rlm@141: colors as well! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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immunoincompatibility

take the human genome, and refactor it so rlm@141: that it doesn't use a particular codon at all. Then remove the rlm@141: support from our ribosomes for that codon. What does this do for rlm@141: us? It makes us immune to almost all viruses! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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life cycle

it's called a cycle, right? So, the thing that repeats rlm@141: itself over and over, right? Not much of a cycle if rlm@141: you don't come back after you die, if you ask me! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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car with no blind spots

use some cameras in the back of the car rlm@141: to augment the rear-view mirror so that you never have to turn rlm@141: around in order to lane change. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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partial cell death

you freeze a set of cells using some cryo rlm@141: protocol and 60% survive. How can this be explained? It seems to rlm@141: me that if the cells are the same, and the conditions rlm@141: homogoneous, then all the cells should either die or rlm@141: live. However, suppose that there is a metabolic cycle that needs rlm@141: to be in a certain phase for the cell to survive. If the cells rlm@141: are asynchronous, then you might end up with some cells dying rlm@141: because there were in the wrong part of their cycle. This implies rlm@141: that you might be able to cryoprotect cells by causing them to rlm@141: enter a certain metabolic mode before freezing. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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cryonics color appeal

perfusate used by cryonics companies should rlm@141: have red food coloring in it. It's just a nice touch so that the rlm@141: cryonics patient looks more life-like than with clear CPAs, and rlm@141: hopefully might get treated with more respect. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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paramagnetic CPA

you take a CPA that can be influenced by rlm@141: magnetic fields so that its degrees of freedom are limited. Then, rlm@141: you release the field, instantaly increasing the size of the rlm@141: state space of the system and dramatically decreasing the rlm@141: temperature enough to plunge the system past homogenous rlm@141: nucleation temperature and directly to the glass transition rlm@141: temperature, creating a doubly unstable glass at much lower CPA rlm@141: concentrations than possible at conventional CPA concentrations. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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room temp noodles

how does the physics of cooking noodles work? rlm@141: Could you use a vacuum instead of heat to force water into the rlm@141: noodle? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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personal carbon offset

feel bad about contribuiting to global rlm@141: warming by using electricity / driving a car? Forget trying to rlm@141: "conserve" or "minimize your carbon footprint". Follow the rlm@141: Platinum rule – make the world BETTER off than you found it! rlm@141: This would be a small, self contained system that sucks C02 out rlm@141: of the air. It uses electricity, but it's so efficient at rlm@141: removing CO2 that it more than offsets the CO2 produced by even a rlm@141: coal plant to produce that electricity. This way, you can still rlm@141: drive even a gas guzzler, but have a net negative carbon rlm@141: footprint! Maybe something cool could be done with the carbon as rlm@141: well. Use as much electricity as you want, but negate the damage rlm@141: to the enviroment with more technology. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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undoing spermogenesis

with enough sperm, you can derive the rlm@141: donor's entire genome. You gain more confidence in the alleles rlm@141: for a particular gene the more sperm you have. Each additional rlm@141: sperm gives you the same sort of information you'd get flipping a rlm@141: coin and trying to decide whether the coin is H/T of H/H. Is rlm@141: there enough sperm in the the average load for you to be as rlm@141: confident as mitosis? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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mars life

we could engineer life that could survive on mars rlm@141: (probably some non-vascular photosynthetic rlm@141: poikilohydric creature like a lichen) by taking an rlm@141: extremophile from Antarctica and evolving it in rlm@141: increasingly Martian conditions. This could be an easy rlm@141: start to a terraforming process. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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problem with Aubrey de Grey's ideas

Aubrey de Grey says that we rlm@141: might be able to live forever by continually repairing our bodies rlm@141: at the cellular level – he details 7 different mechanisms of rlm@141: damage and says that if all of them are dealt with together rlm@141: that it would stop aging. (You can't miss even one because rlm@141: they're all fatal.) However, it doesn't take into account that rlm@141: we are also beings of information and that there is a very real rlm@141: software component to our existence. Even if our biological rlm@141: chassies can be maintained forever, I think it is unlikely that rlm@141: our minds will operate well far outside of the design constraints rlm@141: that we've evolved to handle. Say I programmed a webserver with rlm@141: the express goal of it being able to serve webpages for month on rlm@141: some stock server. I'll do fairly rigorous testing to make sure rlm@141: that it can handle the expected load then then some. Now say that rlm@141: you want to keep a particular instance of this webserver running rlm@141: indefinitely. (The program instance is like your mind and the rlm@141: computer it's running on is like your body). You might very well rlm@141: be able to keep the physical computer infrastructure running for rlm@141: forever by replacing hard drives / ram / CPUs, etc. However, rlm@141: since I designed the webserver to work for a month, it probably rlm@141: has memory leaks, rare stochastic bugs, or other built in limits rlm@141: / constraints (think log files or some date rollover shenanigans) rlm@141: that will ultimately kill the webserver even with eternally rlm@141: perfect hardware. Do you really expect that a webserver rlm@141: engineered to work for 1 month will run for 10 years without rlm@141: catastrophically crashing? Not even Apache can do this! In fact, rlm@141: if I put in the extreme effort to make it that robust, I've rlm@141: wasted time that I could have spent on other projects by pursuing rlm@141: an unnecessary engineering goal. Likewise, human minds have only rlm@141: ever run for at most 122 years before they are destroyed due to rlm@141: hardware degradation. Fixing the hardware doesn't change any rlm@141: software bugs that are almost certainly present in the human rlm@141: mind. Think of all the pathological things that can go wrong with rlm@141: a webserver, multiply it by a million, and that likely how rlm@141: evolution has designed our minds. For example, consider memory : rlm@141: why should you expect that we have evolved the ability to rlm@141: coherently organize memories past say 150 years? There's been rlm@141: absolutely no selective pressure for this ability, so you can bet rlm@141: that if there's any fitness to be gained from not having rlm@141: unlimited memory potential (such as better metabolic efficiency), rlm@141: we have it! You might think that maybe we would just forget rlm@141: things the same way that we sort of forget things that happen rlm@141: earlier in our lives, but complicated information processing rlm@141: systems don't have to fail gracefully when they're pushed far rlm@141: past their design constraints. A 150 year old person is just as rlm@141: likely to suffer a catastrophic psychosis due to software rlm@141: limitations associated with memory as he is to do something with rlm@141: all those memories we might consider reasonable. More likely, in rlm@141: fact, since there are so very many ways for a complicated rlm@141: software system to break and so few ways for it to run rlm@141: successfully. Therefore, I think Aubrey de Grey's "hardware-only" rlm@141: approach is missing a very important component of longevity rlm@141: science, and any successful effort to make people live orders of rlm@141: magnitude longer than they do naturally will need to deal with rlm@141: people's software as well as their hardware. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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validating neurocryopreservation

Problem : you want to test rlm@141: whether a brain is functionally preserved through vitrification, rlm@141: but you don't want to figure out how to preserve all the other rlm@141: organs in the animal. It might be possible to keep the rest of rlm@141: the body at almost 0C and vitrify just the head for only a few rlm@141: minutes. Induce hypothermia, then separate out the head's blood rlm@141: supply from the rest of the body, then just cryoptotect and rlm@141: vitrify the head. Might need some sort of thermal guard to keep rlm@141: the outer head / neck from becoming too cold. You leave the rlm@141: spinal cord intact! Then you devitrify to 0C, remove rlm@141: cryoprotectant, and then reattach the blood supply. You can rlm@141: determine brain preservation using behavioral assays! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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freezing water purifier

you slowly freeze water, but also run rlm@141: liquid water over the frozen mass. This takes away basically all rlm@141: impurities and creates "washed ice" then you melt the ice. Maybe rlm@141: you could re-use the heat from creating the ice to melt the ice? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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ultra strength

allow a person to visualize their muscle rlm@141: recruitment patterns. Give them adrenaline and let rlm@141: them feel what it's like to have the normal limits rlm@141: removed. See if they can replicate the effects. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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phone names

make a PX record for domain names that's like the MX rlm@141: record, except that it is a phone number instead of rlm@141: an IP address. That way, you can use the domain name rlm@141: registration system to provide names for phone rlm@141: numbers. Then, as long as you control the domain, you rlm@141: can point people to your current phone number by rlm@141: updating that record. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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edible flowers

Edible white flowers that you put in a colored rlm@141: solution with flavor. When the flower turns the rlm@141: right color, it is also flavored and ready to eat! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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suicide cryonics

according to this, people who commit impulsive rlm@141: suicides have a newfound sense of the importance of life. Perhaps rlm@141: they are good cryonics targets. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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lead bone

Could you fill in all the empty spaces in a bone with rlm@141: lead? Might be cool. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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the quest for life

Every stupid story has the "immortal who rlm@141: wants to become mortal" or some other such idea. I want to story rlm@141: where the protagonist loses their immortality and feels angry rlm@141: and ashamed about losing something that's so absolutely crucial rlm@141: to their identity. A reverse of "death makes life worth living", rlm@141: they feel that living forever is what makes life worth rlm@141: living. Now they've "lost their sunrise" or their "connection to rlm@141: the timeless universe" or something. So they go on a quest to get rlm@141: it back, learning about themselves along the way, and regaining rlm@141: the precious thing they lost in the beginning. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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world-map

take a small table and paint the continents in rlm@141: toothpaste on the table. Make a slightly raised barrier rlm@141: around the table. Slowly pour water onto the table, and rlm@141: it will form the oceans! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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stage magic rituals

rituals should incorporate elements of stage rlm@141: magic. Foe example in Teller's tempest, they have a scene where rlm@141: they levitate a crown in front of someone, then put it on his rlm@141: head. They also have a wedding ceremony where they levitated the rlm@141: bride as well. Actual weddings and other ceremonies should rlm@141: incorporate stage magic as an enhancement. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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isotope time dilation

use a cyclotron to speed up rare isotopes rlm@141: developed in nuclear fusion experiments. The relativistic time rlm@141: dilation will stop the isotopes from decaying, and allow time to rlm@141: study them. This is based on radioactive isotopes that fall rlm@141: through the earth's atmosphere that take hundreds of times rlm@141: longer to decay than normal. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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marsupial stimulation

You take a freshly pouched marsupial baby, rlm@141: and show it videos and other interactive things while it matures rlm@141: in the pouch. What mental effects would this have? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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dynamic re-keying

Some older ways of tuning instruments sound rlm@141: better, but we use the even-tempered scale today because it makes rlm@141: it easier to switch keys. With electronic music, why not make rlm@141: key-annotations and dynamically re-tune the piece to sound good rlm@141: in the current key? Could be done as a midi+annotation -> midi rlm@141: compiler for experimentation. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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death always implies damage

is is possible for a corpse to differ rlm@141: from a living person only in the fact that one is dead and the rlm@141: other is alive? NO! A corpse must always have some sort of rlm@141: molecular damage which causes the loss of function! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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inner eye

Surgically install a bunch of tiny cameras inside a rlm@141: person. Then, you can activate them all and get a rlm@141: picture of your internal organs for diagnostic rlm@141: purposes. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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chaos rails

should make a visualization of the homoclinic tangle, rlm@141: it's truly beautiful. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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context gobbler

this would be in "inside-out macro" that takes rlm@141: the context (like you use for things like error, continuations, rlm@141: and friends) and transforms it to something else. Maybe useful? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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cryonics middle ages

some people say that cryonics is an rlm@141: experiment and that it is foolish to wait until we have revived a rlm@141: human. There is a middle ground where the procedure has a dismal rlm@141: success rate on humans, say 1 in 20, so that you'd be a fool to rlm@141: try revival. Nonetheless, this very risky procedure could be the rlm@141: legal proof of concept needed to create a new class of life rlm@141: between "living" and "dead": "stasis". rlm@141: rlm@141:
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philosophy of the mirror

neat thought experiment – if you take a rlm@141: mirror of someone by actually reversing a person's chirality rlm@141: molecule by molecule, then will the only be able to read mirror rlm@141: writing? The answer is yes, by analogy to a purely mechanical rlm@141: scan-tron device. This is one of the only interesting transforms I rlm@141: know that can take a human brain and change it in subtle, rlm@141: non-destructive ways. It's also an argument against dualism. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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biosphere in a bottle

There are around 15 million species. 15 rlm@141: million stem cells will fill only a tiny size, far less than a cubic rlm@141: inch. Preserve a single cell from every species on earth in this rlm@141: small space, and you will have a record of our current biosphere rlm@141: that can be protected. "Hold the genetic data of all species in rlm@141: your hand!" rlm@141: rlm@141:
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chaos lock

The "arrow of time" points in the direction of rlm@141: increasing entropy. The time evolution of chaotic rlm@141: systems depend exquisitely on their initial state. If rlm@141: you take a measurement of a chaotic system at any rlm@141: given point of time, you can evolve that system rlm@141: backwards or forwards based on your measurement. So rlm@141: let's say you start the chaotic system in a VERY low rlm@141: entropy state, then let it run for a while, then take rlm@141: a measurement with some uncertainty. Your rlm@141: measurement is pretty good, but obviously not rlm@141: PERFECT. If you evolve the chaotic system back in rlm@141: time, then you will see that you don't really reach rlm@141: a state with low entropy an hour before (the entropy rlm@141: is easy to measure with surrogates like alignment, rlm@141: etc). So use this technique to SEARCH for a more rlm@141: accurate measurement! This potentially can give you rlm@141: many more orders of magnitude than you could get alone rlm@141: just using an instrument. Sometimes it will give you rlm@141: bad results, the the odds of it doing that are rlm@141: infinitesimal, and you can just measure a couple of rlm@141: times. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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cryo-evolution

perhaps there would be a way to rapidly evolve a rlm@141: symbiotic bacterial organism that could protect rlm@141: human tissues from freezing damage. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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suicide parasite

sometimes, people kill themselves for no good rlm@141: reason. We often explain this with things like "hidden rlm@141: depression" or we say that they had something like chronic jaw or rlm@141: back pain. I think that smells of rationalization. I don't buy rlm@141: it. I propose that in many suicide cases there is a disease that rlm@141: causes the suicidal behavior. We already know that certain rlm@141: parasites have mind-bending properties in other animals, even rlm@141: mammals like mice. It's not much of a stretch to imagine a rlm@141: parasite that causes suicides in humans. Some problems: rlm@141: rlm@141:
What does the suicide parasite get out of it?
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This might be answered by the whole thing being a glitch caused by cross-species contamination. Toxoplasma works this way. rlm@141:
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What predictions does a disease model make
suicide should rlm@141: be more common among people who share a contagion rlm@141: vector. There should be suicides that don't make any rlm@141: sense : people who weren't really depressed, who had no rlm@141: reason to kill themselves. People who have killed themselves rlm@141: should have a higher incidence of some unknown parasite in rlm@141: their brains. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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domestic insects

People should eat more bugs because they're much rlm@141: more efficient, so why not do some major domestication research rlm@141: to make very appealing bugs? Beetles, in particular, seem to be rlm@141: excellent targets for domestication because they have extreme rlm@141: levels of genetic malleability. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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birth-clones

What if each person was intentionally split at birth rlm@141: into a normal embryo and a few "backup" cells which rlm@141: is then frozen. The backup cells are created just rlm@141: the same way as natural identical twins. The backups rlm@141: can be used to regenerate organs. etc. Also, it rlm@141: would be a good sci fi concept, because you could rlm@141: have a culture where people reward people who were rlm@141: especially awesome are "reborn" from their rlm@141: backups. Imagine having a young Bach every rlm@141: generation, etc. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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pronunciation guide

a simple webpage where you type in a word and rlm@141: it returns a simple, English sentence describing exactly how to rlm@141: pronounce the word. For people who don't want to learn IPA. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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cortex-search

use the repertoire of actions learned to limit the rlm@141: search space of possible actions. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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learning to teleport

scifi idea, this is a story about a person rlm@141: who is struggling with his/her society's ideas about rlm@141: teleportation. It's considered a fundamental part of being a rlm@141: member of that society (after all, the difference between animals rlm@141: and humans is that humans are creatures of pure information while rlm@141: animals are burdened with base matter, "that's how you travel the rlm@141: stars, etc") Humans are born normally, grow up, and then rlm@141: eventually transcend via destructive upload. Analogies to jumping rlm@141: off a diving board into a pool (which I simply could not do for rlm@141: a long time), etc. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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no-float-ice

cup that has cross beams at the bottom where ice rlm@141: forms. Then when you drink liquid from the glass, rlm@141: the ice stays at the bottom and doesn't hit your rlm@141: lips. For bars and fancy things. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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bitcoins for immigrants

A common case with Mexican immigrants rlm@141: (illegal or not) is that they want to send money they've earned rlm@141: in the US back to their families in Mexico. They currently do this rlm@141: through things like Money Gram or Western Union, and they get rlm@141: fleeced in the process with fees. Bitcoin could greatly reduce rlm@141: the cost of sending money from America to Mexico, but I don't rlm@141: believe that it's currently used for that among Mexican rlm@141: immigrants currently due to lack of knowledge. I bet you could rlm@141: set up physical locations like those obnoxious Western Union huts rlm@141: in places like Texas, Arizona, etc, and greatly undercut rlm@141: them. Or, perhaps some educational seminars about bitcoin might rlm@141: be in order. There's some money to be made there because there is rlm@141: great demand, and it's a good thing to boot! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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reverse eye-tracking

A painting that is actually a digital screen rlm@141: with a camera. It records people's eye tracks permanently. It's rlm@141: "artistic" because paintings are normally these things that you rlm@141: look at without changing, but this one is changed the second you rlm@141: look at it, recording where you looked forever for others to rlm@141: see. Make it be a painting of a woman and see the trolling as the rlm@141: breasts and groin area light up with interest from all the males rlm@141: passing by. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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smart toilets

Instead of using indirect measures like infrared rlm@141: detectors of the presence of a person, use computer rlm@141: vision to directly measure whether the toilet needs rlm@141: to be flushed. I think a lot of things will end up rlm@141: going this way as we get better computer vision. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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validate chemopreservation

chemopreservation is difficult to rlm@141: validate because it destroys the functionality of a brain, and rlm@141: brain simulation will take a long time to mature as a rlm@141: technology. However, one very powerful way to validate rlm@141: chemopreservation would be to have a person/animal learn rlm@141: something with high complexity such as a number or the solution rlm@141: to a maze, or a flashbulb memory. Then you preserve their brain rlm@141: chemically, slice it up, and read that specific memory from the rlm@141: detailed brain scan. Much more difficult, but much more doable. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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candy screw

edible candy screw with candy nuts that you can screw rlm@141: as well. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

better bibliography

when writing a thesis or paper, have the rlm@141: bibliography not just be an opaque list of resources, but have it rlm@141: be a list of summaries and qualities that each paper has in rlm@141: the context of the paper being written. When examining a rlm@141: bibliography, I want to know if reading the papers in the rlm@141: bibliography are worth my time, and I also am probably also rlm@141: interested in exactly the things that are being discussed in the rlm@141: paper I'm reading. The bibliography is the perfect place to rlm@141: provide information about the referenced papers from the rlm@141: author's perspective. I will use this biographic form in my own rlm@141: thesis. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

digital inter-library loan

libraries at universities already do rlm@141: inter-library loans for books, so why not do the same for access rlm@141: to stupid paywalled digital papers? All the universities could rlm@141: allow access to articles for registered students to all the files rlm@141: available through any participating university. This could be rlm@141: achieved by sending requests through proxies at participating rlm@141: universities. Each university would decide who at the university rlm@141: can access the proxy network. Access to the proxy network could rlm@141: be made easy using something like http://libx.org/. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

chess visual

to show the vast size of the game trees considered rlm@141: by computers, show two people playing chess in a rlm@141: void. They are floating in space, and there is a rlm@141: simple chess board between them. Then, as they play, rlm@141: the game tree's they are considering are drawn rlm@141: behind him. The root of the tree starts centered in rlm@141: their heads or whatever they use to think, and the rlm@141: tree grows out from behind, never crossing the rlm@141: dividing plane between the two players. Each rlm@141: player's tree is a different color. As they grow, rlm@141: there are animations for pruning, etc. Eventually, rlm@141: they look like the hemispheres of a brain, wings, rlm@141: etc. A human's tree might occasionally have a long rlm@141: chain, while the computer tree would be more rlm@141: uniform. You could compare deep blue and a modern rlm@141: laptop. Use actual data when fighting two computers! rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

time verification

some standard way to verify that some piece of rlm@141: data was recorded at a specific time. Might involve a time rlm@141: server, a key for each time period, something like that. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

tamper proof gold bars

this site offers gold plated tungsten bars rlm@141: as "novelty" items. One reason to prefer coins is because they rlm@141: are much harder to counterfeit because there is less surface area rlm@141: to mass ratio. However, gold bars are still a great design rlm@141: because they can hold a lot of value in a small space. A gold bar rlm@141: could be given the same protections (and more) that gold coins rlm@141: have to offer by changing it into a "gold book", which would have rlm@141: hundreds of "pages" of gold bound together. This could be rlm@141: implemented with multiple steel rods going through the book which rlm@141: can be removed, or some more classier mechanism for holding the rlm@141: pages. The point is that the bar can be EASILY subdivided (and rlm@141: people would perform this test before buying), thus guaranteeing rlm@141: it's authenticity. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

aurellem shirt

I should make an aurellem star symbol tee-shirt. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

touch vision

inspired by GelSight, I want to reexamine cortex and rlm@141: see if I could implement touch as a very low range rlm@141: form of vision. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

high school science

this is a lesson in scientific ethics. The rlm@141: goal is to calculate g, the local gravitational rlm@141: acceleration. The students are told that the textbook says it's rlm@141: exactly 9.81 before they start the experiment. See how they rlm@141: doctor their results to get closer to the textbook value. It's rlm@141: neat because for any given school, g is probably not exactly rlm@141: equal to 9.81, because that is just an average! rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

opencourseware subtitles

there are ladies who type up lectures rlm@141: while they are being given. These recordings should be kept and rlm@141: given to OCW for subtitles. If the timestamps of keys are rlm@141: recorded, then it is easy to make subtitles. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

screen locking timing

you use your computer camera to see if you rlm@141: are sitting in front of the computer. If you are, then the screen rlm@141: will never lock. If you are, then the screen will lock with a rlm@141: 30-40 second timeout. It's an extension of using inactivity to rlm@141: initiate the countdown, just with more information. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

mirror toilet

a toilet with a square basin made or mirror instead rlm@141: or porcelain. That way, you can see how good of a rlm@141: wipe job you have done / watch how your excretion rlm@141: system works. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

test dummies

why don't we clone anencephalic humans and use then to rlm@141: test in vivo human organ systems and drugs? It rlm@141: would be ethical as long as there are women who are rlm@141: willing to host the clones, and it would be a rlm@141: tremendous resource for studying the human body. I rlm@141: see nothing wrong with it morally, since no one is rlm@141: suffering, and it stands to save many lives throughout rlm@141: more advanced technology. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

X-ray telepresence

given that a doctor is operating on a patient rlm@141: via telepresence, one cool things you can do is shine X-rays into rlm@141: the patient to view the insides during real time. If the system rlm@141: was coupled with a Bayesian model of the layout of the structure, rlm@141: and the x-rays were only fired whenever the uncertainty of the rlm@141: model reached a certain threshold, then the radiation damage rlm@141: and surgery risk could be minimized. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

superfluid vascular system

I wonder what would happen if you rlm@141: replaced the blood in a human with a superfluid. What would the rlm@141: physical dynamics be? Would the superfluid flow through the rlm@141: vasculature, or would it ignore it and travel through the cells, rlm@141: or something else entirely. Since superfluids need to be cold to rlm@141: retain their superfluidity, how would the dynamics change during rlm@141: perfusion of a superfluid, where the fluid gains and looses rlm@141: superfluidity as it goes deeper into the body and is cooled by rlm@141: superfluid from upstream. In summary there are two things to rlm@141: simulate 1.) replace all blood in human with superfluid rlm@141: instantly. 2.) perfuse superfluid into human. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

projective guessing

I think that we read and see things by rlm@141: making a really good guess about what we're expecting to see, rlm@141: and then searching for our guess in what we see. If it really rlm@141: doesn't match, then we start to make more guesses / analyze the rlm@141: image from first principles, but most stuff is projective rlm@141: guessing. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Intestinal flora maintenance

why not inoculate babies at birth rlm@141: with "ideal" gut flora instead of whatever bullshit they rlm@141: naturally get, thus giving them optimal digestive/nutrient rlm@141: extraction capabilities. Might also be able to make their farts rlm@141: not stink for life, too. MORE IMPORTANTLY, might help to rlm@141: preventatively stop some forms of colic, which affects 1 in 5 rlm@141: babies and causes constant screaming and pain for about 5 weeks. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

server culture : mirrors

make a distributed system where people rlm@141: can mirror the websites of people they like – essentially cover rlm@141: the server costs of favored websites. This could make popular rlm@141: websites run at no cost. The system would require that the rlm@141: mirrored content be the same as the official source. Sort of like rlm@141: bit-torrent for websites. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

map programming

one problem with functional programming is that rlm@141: in order to remain functional, you have to pass up arguments up rlm@141: into each calling function to get the full range of behavior rlm@141: from the lower level functions. Normally people come to a rlm@141: compromise involving abstraction and sparing use of dynamic rlm@141: variables to configure runtime behavior. What would be the rlm@141: advantages of making a programming language where every function rlm@141: receives one argument, a map, which contains all the symbol rlm@141: bindings it would ever need? This map is passed on to all rlm@141: subordinate functions. This way, you could replace functions on rlm@141: the fly, and arrange for there to be sensible defaults, rlm@141: etc. Might cause more harm than good but is an interesting idea. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

rest nest

a small EEG device you would attach to your head when rlm@141: you go to sleep at night. ML algorithms would determine rlm@141: your particular sleep cycles. This would mostly be an rlm@141: alarm clock that you could give a time range, say rlm@141: 7:00AM - 7:15AM, and it would wake you up during an rlm@141: ideal time corresponding to then end of one of your 90 rlm@141: min sleep cycles. You would feel much more rested upon rlm@141: waking up, and would wake up faster. There might be rlm@141: some other uses for the EEG data as well. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

image compression

use a library like gimp or opencv to process an rlm@141: image to make it have less entropy, then store the reverse of rlm@141: those operations along with the compressed simpler image as a rlm@141: super-compressed image file (possibly accepting some rlm@141: losses). Trades file size for decompression time, and allows one rlm@141: to cheat by using information in gimp/opencv to compress the rlm@141: image. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

fixed cryopreservation

why not use a fixative to buy enough time rlm@141: to ramp up cryoprotectants to an acceptable level at room rlm@141: temperature? Then, the whole system can be rapidly cooled and rlm@141: vitrified. This method "severs the biological link" in that the rlm@141: fixatives are highly toxic, but current vitrification procedures rlm@141: do this anyway since there can be a lot of freezing damage. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

dilated security camera

a security camera that would capture rlm@141: full video footage of everything at 60fps but then decide to keep rlm@141: only every 1 frame every 5 seconds unless there's something rlm@141: "interesting" happening. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

bitcoin wallet

Part of "server culture", this would be something rlm@141: like "coin.your-domain.com" which would serve as rlm@141: your personal trusted access to your own bitcoins rlm@141: from anywhere. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

libpay

this would be a free library which would enable rlm@141: micro-donations to software projects and other projects, rlm@141: so that you could donate a penny to "emacs" and it would rlm@141: be automatically split up to every person who has ever rlm@141: contributed to emacs in proportion to the amount of rlm@141: community esteem, code quantity, bugs fixed, whatever the rlm@141: community decides. This might make it possible for rlm@141: programmers to live entirely off of free programming. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

distributed graphics

Browser based graphics-card accelerated rlm@141: distributed computing API. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

pronouns

use capital letters A-Z instead of pronouns. They solve rlm@141: pronoun referents and gender neutrality, are short to rlm@141: say, and you can encode useful information into the rlm@141: choice of letter. For example, instead of "Meetings rlm@141: shall be presided over by the president, unless she is rlm@141: absent." USE "Meetings shall be presided over by the rlm@141: president, unless P is absent." We already use this a rlm@141: little, since I and U are reserved for the subject and rlm@141: object respectively. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

phone DSP

software app that inserts an audio DSP between the rlm@141: input to a phone and the output. The DSP is delicious rlm@141: and configurable, and can allow men to make their rlm@141: voices deeper, etc. The app would allow you to hear rlm@141: your own voice as others hear it. Most people hate how rlm@141: their own voice sounds. The app would also allow one to rlm@141: immediately change the parameters of the DSP using good rlm@141: presets. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

predestined body learning

a good example of predestined learning rlm@141: might be the mirror neurons. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

restaurant receipt

use a carbon copy receipt instead of two stupid rlm@141: copies. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

anti google glass

glasses with mounted lasers and computer vision rlm@141: that targets the cameras in google glass and destroy them. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

wearable towel

towel with clasp, velcro, whatever, that allows rlm@141: one to wear the towel more securely than just rlm@141: wrapping it tightly and hoping for the best. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

crossdressing

Easiest way to disguise oneself as a woman is to rlm@141: wear a burka. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

book-mode

intelligent color highlighting for books and rlm@141: articles. It would disambiguate pronouns and involved rlm@141: references. For example, if "Rachael" was assigned the rlm@141: color red, and "the blonde haired girl" refers to rlm@141: "Rachael", then "the blonde haired girl" would be rlm@141: colored red. Also, you could disambiguate multi part rlm@141: run-on sentences by highlighting each rlm@141: subcomponent. Maybe would also have applications to rlm@141: scientific reading. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Handheld light Rain measurement

this would be a clear, teflon rlm@141: coated plastic disk with a camera underneath the disk. You would rlm@141: be able to hold the device out and it would measure the rate of rlm@141: accumulation of water droplets from fine mists and light rain by rlm@141: using computer vision to measure the diameters of the drops. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Big Brother Farming

This would be a vision system that would rlm@141: individually monitor each plant and turn on water, etc to ensure rlm@141: maximum/uniform growth for each plant. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Discrete Faucet

A faucet with discrete ticks instead of rlm@141: continuous. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Laser Circle

take a glass microfiliment and shine a laser at one rlm@141: end at an oblique angle. It will make a perfect, rlm@141: large circle on the wall, converting a laser beam rlm@141: into a laser cone, preserving most of the energy of rlm@141: the laser. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Invisible Glass

Take a container of liquid and embed a rlm@141: glass sculpture made out of glass that has exactly the same index rlm@141: of refraction and color of the liquid. Then the sculpture will be rlm@141: totally invisible in the container, and will only be revealed rlm@141: when the liquid is drained. The container might be a fancy rlm@141: wine/spirit bottle or an hourglass. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Caterpillar people

A race of caterpillar like creatures gains rlm@141: intelligence after eons of predation by birds, etc. These rlm@141: caterpillar creatures still undergo metamorphosis into a large rlm@141: butterfly-like creature. The metamorphosis process turns the rlm@141: caterpillar's brain into mush and reforms it into a minimal, rlm@141: dumb, truly insect-like mind, completely destroying the person rlm@141: the caterpillar was. The society develops all sorts of customs and rlm@141: religious interpretations of the metamorphosis. It is viewed as rlm@141: good and natural by some since it is part of their life cycle and rlm@141: necessary to propagate the species, as only the butterflies can rlm@141: mate. Some think that the butterflies are still the same person rlm@141: because they have the same soul, even they no longer posses the rlm@141: memories or personality of the original caterpillar. Some see the rlm@141: butterfly form as the "true form" of the species, since the rlm@141: butterflies can fly, mate, and are beautiful. Many make a big rlm@141: deal out of the fact that 1-2% of the caterpillar's mind is rlm@141: actually preserved in the butterfly. Some see it as a terrible rlm@141: tragedy and argue that the caterpillars should try to stop the rlm@141: metamorphosis by technology. Practically, some very important rlm@141: members of society undergo hormone therapy and/or surgery to rlm@141: prevent metamorphosis so that they can live longer as themselves. rlm@141: rlm@141:

rlm@141: This is a continuation of Marvin Minsky's ideas about pain being rlm@141: something that preserves our bodies while destroying our minds, rlm@141: something that is a remnant from our too harsh animal days that rlm@141: hasn't caught up to the fact that we have very complex brains rlm@141: now. It's a worst-case scenario about a maladaptive genetic rlm@141: legacy. Also, it's inspired by "There She Is!!!", which makes a rlm@141: compelling point about homosexuality by introducing a second rlm@141: gender characteristic (bunny/cat, male/female), which makes rlm@141: homophobia look very silly. Here, our own biological legacy of rlm@141: pain and death is made to look like the tragedy it is through the rlm@141: lens of the the caterpillar people. rlm@141:

rlm@141:
rlm@141:

relationships as a business

Turnover-Crisis is an excellent talk rlm@141: about the "culture of quitting," which is about better business rlm@141: by letting people go instead of keeping them around past their rlm@141: "apex". Focuses on information transfer. Cool idea of an alumni rlm@141: network, which for relationships would be a group of satisfied rlm@141: ex-lovers, who would recommend new people your way, and who might rlm@141: consider coming to you again, refreshed from their time away with rlm@141: new stories/experiences. I should look for examples of this and rlm@141: how they worked out. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

coffee with tea

rlm-tea contains 2% sugar, 10% cream, and 20% rlm@141: dylan coffee. dylan coffee contains 5% sugar, rlm@141: 20% cream, and 10% rlm-tea. Start your mornings rlm@141: with recursion! rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

psychic crystal

in a science fiction story, this would be an rlm@141: object that is very easy to move physically but is extremely rlm@141: difficult to move with telekinesis. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

http://betsofbitco.in/

what a great place for an AI/person to rlm@141: prove themselves as a good predictor. I wish this could be rlm@141: automated. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

true reflection

don't forget about that mirror in the student rlm@141: center!, it's two mirrors at right angles, like staring at a rlm@141: corner of a room. The light reflects so that it shows you what rlm@141: you actually look like, instead of your mirror image. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

remote control wasp

use computer to drive wings with remote rlm@141: power/logic. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

encrypted email phone book

public (distributed?) database of rlm@141: email->private-key pairs, to enable automatic encryption. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

universal eye color

every equivalent creature will see each rlm@141: others' eyes as black – it's universal. Even if the creatures rlm@141: see in radio waves, and their eyes are 2m long pieces of jagged rlm@141: metal, when those creatures look at each other, they will see rlm@141: black, the absence of light and color (since it's being absorbed rlm@141: by the sensor array). rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

intelligent microwave

it learns where the hot nodes of its fields rlm@141: are, and uses them to evenly heat any food item. It has an infrared rlm@141: camera or something to keep track of how hot the food is. That way, rlm@141: you don't get bowls where the edges are boiling, while the center is rlm@141: still frozen. Requires a little bit of intelligence/vision, since rlm@141: the exact pattern of heating totally depends on the exact shape of rlm@141: the food. Wouldn't need a carousel, and wouldn't need a timer, rlm@141: just a desired temperature. Could also detect ice, and automatically rlm@141: defrost the parts which are frozen. Might be able to work much rlm@141: faster since it can avoid overheating; might have problems with rlm@141: heating the insides of thick things, might need a weight sensor too. rlm@141: rlm@141: rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

compression

brain-aware image compression algorithm rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Credit card proxy

would be a company which works like paypal rlm@141: except for real world transactions rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Flesh pillow

a pillow like the arm or torso of a human, complete rlm@141: with simulated temperature, bones, and heartbeat. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

super screw

a screw which has only one or two threads and instead rlm@141: uses compression to fit into a hole (the whole shank rlm@141: of the screw is split into multiple pieces to rlm@141: accomplish this; the tip is a point, then the middle rlm@141: bulges out and gets compressed when screwed in. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

light filter

(like light tweezers) to mechanically separate rlm@141: fluids with different index of refraction rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

chalk eraser project

maybe make a directional eraser, for easy rlm@141: release of chalk dust, like fur, and how it likes to rest in a rlm@141: certain direction. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

silver socks

socks laced with silver for the antimicrobial rlm@141: properties. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

UROP

magnet gear/metal teeth tape rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Rod of Moses

device to distill urine through evaporation and rlm@141: easily dispose of urea crystals for use in desert -- rlm@141: produce drinkable water. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

UROP

Make the LED in line with the flow for the micro injector, so rlm@141: that it may transmit maximum flow. Motor that changes rlm@141: distance of internal magnet from windings depending on rlm@141: desired speed so as to obtain maximum power efficiency. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

lottery scraper

web scraper which monitors various lotteries, rlm@141: looking for "special" gimmick changes in the rules (like 4x rlm@141: winnings on Wednesdays) and computes expected value… rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Memristiors novel design

make an evolutionary algorithm to make rlm@141: old stuff using all four basic circuit elements. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

Conductive concrete

concrete that has embedded metal fibers so rlm@141: that it can conduct electricity. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

little bitty melting pot

might be useful for some types of rlm@141: manufacturing/3D printing – how small can an induction melter be rlm@141: made, for example. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

power strip/timer programmable combination

meh rlm@141:
rlm@141: rlm@141:

algorithms...

which learn what their inputs are and in what order, rlm@141: and can adapt to changing circumstances – they rlm@141: remember previous arguments and adapt so as to respond rlm@141: to different connections. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

true pure tones

hear a true pure tone by direct stimulation of the rlm@141: nerves of the ear rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

mechanical analogue to the electrical op-amp

would be an object rlm@141: with two levers – you pull on one lever and the other moves the rlm@141: same way, no matter what's in the way or what it is driving. This rlm@141: analogy could be useful to teach op amps to people. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

paper folding device

make it convenient to fold lots of papers in rlm@141: various ways. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

concrete epoxy

epoxy with sand/ some other solid material. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

light capacitor

suspend some ball of material with a high index rlm@141: of refraction and shine light into it so it gets stuck – would rlm@141: the light stay trapped forever? Could you build up unlimited rlm@141: quantities of light inside the sphere (which could then be rlm@141: released slowly by frustrated internal reflection? rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

movie screening

Movies always are too long at first. One way to rlm@141: shorten them ``scientifically" is to record blink rate during the rlm@141: move and then remove / shorten the frames of the parts in which rlm@141: there are a lot of blinking (average this over multiple people) rlm@141: better yet, put it online and do it across thousands of people. I rlm@141: got this from youtube in which there is an episode of kill bill rlm@141: which is composed entirely of the parts in which people had their rlm@141: eyes closed. slogan: want to make a movie people can't take their rlm@141: eyes off of? Just take those parts out! rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

optimize an article

capture reading of a scientific article via rlm@141: screen capture while people read it, then use it to make the rlm@141: article better. like the movie-pruning idea. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

super reading program

teaches people the ideal mental mask to rlm@141: apply during reading so as to read very fast. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

explosive thermite epoxy putty

one part would contain the rust, rlm@141: one part the aluminum. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

reading comprehension

use the above screen capture routine to rlm@141: make a quiz program that constructs questions about the content rlm@141: you seemed to gloss over while reading. could be easy if the pdf rlm@141: came with embedded questions. Dylan: automatically generate rlm@141: word-cloud about the parts you found most interesting; help rlm@141: others who read the same stuff by drawing attention to the rlm@141: interesting parts. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

hard sword

make a samurai sword, but use osmiridum instead of rlm@141: martensite for the cutting part; it should be a better rlm@141: sword. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

close range wireless

use the induction technology used to rlm@141: recharge electric toothbrushes with no metal links to send data rlm@141: without any metal at all! rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

reading

is a form of synsethesia rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

DNA printer

A machine which translates the text eg, "ACTGAC" into rlm@141: actual DNA rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

black generator

ferro-fluid magnetic field suspended micro rlm@141: generator to make electricity rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

alcohol battery

alcohol/fluid flow powered battery rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

folding razor blade sword

rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

perfect pitch

learn perfect pitch using another sense in rlm@141: combination (sight or touch) rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

kaleidoscope projector

rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

razor blade de-sharpener

for guilt free disposal rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

bricks

filled with luminescent plant material rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

bio metallic structure

metal grids with seeds inside, which grow rlm@141: together and form a durable biological matrix. The metal rlm@141: substrate delivers water. (maybe use plastic instead of metal?) rlm@141: Dylan: enrich plants with inorganic compounds; electrical rlm@141: interfaces in cellular plant matter => remote-controlled rlm@141: photosynthetic/bioluminescent structures. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

conducting extracellular matrix

to allow better control of rlm@141: organic systems and an enhanced nervous system. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

cross-modal memory hashing

a way to retrieve memories more rlm@141: robustly. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

flossing thimble-guards

(these actually exist) rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

rules + lattice learning

integrate lattice learning with rules by rlm@141: generating hypothetical examples rlm@141: rlm@141:
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wooden refrigerator

to give food a better taste Dylan: like rlm@141: barrels for wine, or planks for salmon. Maybe just have "flavor rlm@141: planks" for your pre-existing fridge. Need to mitigate effect of rlm@141: temperature on volatility? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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radioactive transmutation molecule by molecule

create precious rlm@141: metals or something else economically advantageous. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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crowd preservation

inoculate food with tons of harmless rlm@141: bacteria so that there's no room for bad bacteria as a method of rlm@141: preservation rlm@141: rlm@141:
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old school preservation

Pasteur - style holding jar with siphon rlm@141: as a way to store liquids at room temperature indefinitely w/o rlm@141: refrigeration. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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restaurant policy

Throw rude people out of restaurant as a matter rlm@141: of course – make ambiance much better. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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clean windows

make something that mixes soap with fire hydrant rlm@141: water (and reduces the pressure a bit) and use it rlm@141: to clean windows of buildings. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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ocarina

make an ocarina out of pure silver rlm@141: rlm@141:
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fire pen

pen which burns words on to the page, thus never needing rlm@141: any ink. Is there a way to make it runnable from the rlm@141: human's energy? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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website to design your own soda

and label, and have it mailed to rlm@141: you / sell it from your own online store. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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solar panels

that float on the ocean rlm@141: rlm@141:
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handcuffs with more than two cuffs (3?)

great for daisy chaining rlm@141: people, binding them to environment, etc. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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vector based SOUND files

like the pictures but with SOUND. codify rlm@141: sound in a language with enough symbols so that it can describe rlm@141: everything and encode it in that. would be like going from speech rlm@141: to text or smtg. Could also store sound as an image of the rlm@141: wavefront encoded as a vector image. rlm@141: rlm@141:
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Mouse

with a horizontal scroll wheel in addition to the vertical rlm@141: scroll wheel rlm@141: rlm@141:
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logic maintenance system for big institutions

to make sure the rlm@141: things they are thinking about doing are not retarded rlm@141: rlm@141:
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http://www.regulations.gov/

cool site rlm@141: rlm@141:
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genetically engineered glowing fruit

sell seeds? rlm@141: rlm@141:
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memory slide

IF memories are encoded using particular sensory rlm@141: impressions, what happens if the sensory organ rlm@141: itself changes? those memories would become rlm@141: inaccessible. maybe this is why we can't remember rlm@141: much from our childhoods. also, could this happen rlm@141: throughout life as well? Could S remember stuff from rlm@141: his childhood? rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

make a completely indestructible phone

no moving parts or display rlm@141: you should be able to slam it around all you want, and it will rlm@141: just work. brutally simple. aerogel around the battery, minimal rlm@141: interface - never gets too hot, and can be dropped into water. no rlm@141: holes – uses field effects for everything from the buttons to rlm@141: inductive charging and data transfer. rlm@141: rlm@141:
rlm@141:

midi to ocarina "tabs" program

(online website? buy ocarinas from rlm@141: it too) rlm@141: rlm@141:
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3d printing with sound pulses (or just patterns)

like the 8.03 rlm@141: lecture rlm@141: rlm@141:
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lighter flint on spring

make hot, throw it at something, and it rlm@141: makes sparkles! rlm@141: rlm@141:
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nuclear energy

Rebranding New+Clear Energy with informational rlm@141: campaign and public debate forum to enforce its rlm@141: transparent and open nature. France needn't be the rlm@141: world leader in nuclear energy. (Dylan) rlm@141: rlm@141:
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bubbles

Engineer a material which has both ductility and high rlm@141: surface tension to make the "third" rlm@141: minimal-surface-energy solution to a bubble suspended rlm@141: between two equal-diameter rings. (Solutions are rlm@141: cylindrical catenary curve, two separated half-bubbles, rlm@141: and a double-cone) rlm@141: rlm@141:
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Textbook whose content can be varied continuously

alter level of rlm@141: difficulty, rigor, diction, emphasize crossover with certain rlm@141: other discipline, etc. Content generated dynamically from rlm@141: knowledge base, along with questions that are moreover altered to rlm@141: guide knowledge acquisition. Motivation: One book of rlm@141: knowledge. One. rlm@141:
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1.1 From Jacob's idea list

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Date: 2015-02-04 23:52:02 EST

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Author: Robert McIntyre

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