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(2008 Update) It's been three years since I updated these
notes. Everything I mentioned below
remains an interest – but my interests have broadened. For anyone keeping score, you can add to the
list:
•
Radio-frequency identification (RFID tags), data
mining, and the associated threats to our privacy.
•
Nanotechnology and especially medical nanotech.
•
Molecular and cellular biology.
You may have encountered hints of
these new interests in my more recent writing – and, if not, consider them
hints what to expect.
=== End of 2008 Update ===
I'm fascinated by the technological and socio-political
implications of a few REALLY BIG CONCEPTS.
The Internet has gone from a research project to a juggernaut in just a
few years ... what will the 'Net be like when it grows up?
The universe is an awfully big place ... I can't imagine that we're all
alone. So who is out there, how might we meet them, why haven't we met
them already, and what will happen when we finally do?
Computing technology keeps getting smaller, faster, and cheaper. Ditto
comm networks. That would suggest that we're nearing an age of
information immersion, to be characterized by both ubiquitous computing
(computers built into everything) and ubiquitous networking
(information applied to most any decision). My guess is that we're only
at the beginning of this process.
Maybe we'll meet other intelligences right here in Earth ... perhaps
because we created them. That is, at least, a plausible (and
intriguing) possible
convergence of progress in artificial intelligence research (remember
Big
Blue beating grandmaster Gary Kasparov at chess?) and the computing
trends I've already mentioned.
Aliens, AI, ubiquitous computing, the evolution of the Internet
... technological and socio-political implications of these ... that's
a
WHOLE lot to think about. Now consider the various permutations and
combinations. I do believe I'll have things to write about for quite
some time ...
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