There is now an interactive app for the iPad with detailed maps and information of Ankh-Morpork. At $13.99 it’s a fair bargain, considering print maps sold for around that price.
Category: Ideas (Page 2 of 5)
The current trend of all phone and computer interface toward touch screens may end up being replaced by voice and gesture recognition. I’m not sure how many people will talk to their phone in a crowded subway or to their computer in a cubicle farm, but computers will become more part of human life, that’s a given.
Despite so-called stated intentions, politics finds a way to insert itself into science.
Over at the New Yorker a long and complex essay on utopianism of language. An invented language emerges from the mind of one person into Russian consciousness, and expands. Similarity to a Heinlein idea is noted:
An article titled “The Speed of Thought” noted remarkable similarities between Ithkuil and an imaginary language cooked up by the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein for his novella “Gulf,” from 1949. Heinlein’s story describes a secret society of geniuses called the New Men who train themselves to think more rapidly and precisely using a language called Speedtalk, which is capable of condensing entire sentences into single words. Using their efficient language to communicate, the New Men plot to take over the world from the benighted “homo saps.”
More than 900 languages have been invented since the 12th century, according to the article. Many have as their goal making language more precise, much like the 20th century views of the Logical Positivists, who thought language needed to be codified by their rules into a common language. Thus, like many utopian ideas, language inventors believe their visions needs to be imposed upon everyone. However, John Quijada’s invented language, Ithkuil, isn’t one that he wants to impose, even though he created it because he believed “natural languages are adequate, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimal.”
The problem with invented language is they tend to be overly complex, mentally burdensome, and only a handful of enthusiasts bother to learn them. That, and humans might actually prefer ambiguity, as it allows them degrees of freedom and individuality that preciseness and rules prevent. Interestingly, some of the most ardent Eastern European fans of Ithkuil mentioned in the article lean toward authoritarian ideals.
Another view on the forthcoming rapture of the nerds, over at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. The gloomy conclusion: “Singularitarians are selling snake oil, just in a shinier container with more free gadgets. The singularity, and advanced intelligences, will not and cannot be a panacea for the systemic oppression and exploitation inherent in capitalism, and as such will never benefitall of humanity.” In other words, capitalism bad, and all bad things in the world caused by capitalism.
Finishing a book started by her noted historian Paul Avrich, Karen Avrich covers the lives of noted anarchist Emma Goldman and her lover/semi-fellow thinker Alexander Berkman.
Tragic tale of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, and his wife; the former resides in prison, the latter isolated under house arrest. The rule of law is often synonymous with liberty, but that is far from the case here. As once Chinese official said, “China is a country under the rule of law. Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to imprisonment by China’s judicial authorities for violating the law.” Law is what people make it.
Showing that free expression remains elusive in certain areas of the world, a Qatar poet recently was sentenced to life in prison for his poetry, which apparently insulted rulers.
The debate ranges, long before robots achieve their rumored takeover.
I’ll admit my bias up front: I’m a Mac user and I find any Windows OS baffling and user-unfriendly. Apparently Microsoft has ratcheted up their level of un-usability with Windows 8, at least on the desktop.
Read the original article for some fantastic quotes, like “having two environments on a single device is a prescription for usability problems.”
