Thursday, November 29, 2001
7504593:: 10:06 AM

I just had a thought. For those of you who know me, you probably know that I'm obsessed w/ Gauss (Bjork too, but that's unrelated). :: Gauss was so tremendously smart, that he accomplished 10 times more than the average genius; I think I've started to understand how. Just imagine Gauss's day: every morning he would wake up, and have nothing to do but work on his latest theories ... 8-10 hours of uninterrupted time to think. Imagine that.
Nowadays its just the opposite: its hard to get 8-10 *minutes* of uninterrupted time, and this is mainly due to the interruptive communication technologies that saturate every minute of our waking lives. Its been shown that once someone has been interrupted from concentration it takes ~4 to 15 minutes to regain that intial level of concentration. Now if the mean time between interruptive events is on the order of 10 minutes, its not hard to see that the total amount of time that can be spent in deep concentration is exceedingly low (nearly zero, actually).
I began thinking about this because I was musing over the idea of a neumonic device. Attributed to the middle ages, neumonic devices were "developed" as a means to memorize long passages of verse or abritrary daily facts :: this allowed the transport of news and other information in the time before the printing press. The neumoic device is an amazing thing. It doesn't hone the physical world (like technology), and it doesn't directly chemically effect our brains (caffiene, drugs), but somehow it is able to extend the capabilities of regular people. The parentheses in the last sentence are there because nowadays we seek to improve our world in only 2 ways: the development of a smarter environment through technology, and the stabilization of our internal chemistries through drugs. The irony of technology is that we make our environment smarter while making ourselves progressively dumber.
This gets back to the initial point. The interruptive nature of our current technology makes it much harder to sustain concentration, and we are constantly moving toward greater and greater connectivity (=greater interruptibility). The biggest society-changing technologies in next decade will likely be ubiquitous internet connectivity to a rapidly multiplying base of devices (PDAs, cellphones, handhelds, laptops, etc) which could nearly guarantee that you'll never get those 4 minutes. The beauty of connectivity is that it allows you to look up the answers for a huge range of questions, the drawback is that it removes the reasons to accumulate knowledge in your personal memory.
Take a computing analogy: The storage hierarchy (registers, cache, memory, disk) exists because the closer data is to our processors, the faster we can use and synthesize that data into results. Now: the hierarchy for the human would be (working memory, long-term memory, disk-drive, internet). While its an incredible advantage to have lots of accessible data in your later tiers (this is already happening as the internet gets richer and more reliable), its always good to try to hold as much as possible in the earlier tiers. This allows for more complete interactions between various memes.
As engineers we might need to rethink our approach to technology ... to actively create technology that grows our abilities on the early mind tiers as well as the later ones. Otherwise we will likely become a culture with a 10 second attention span. ...alright. back to work.

Tuesday, November 27, 2001
7463691:: 11:27 PM

Hey. Everyone should go see "Waking Life" :: so good. A serious source of mind-expanding ideas with topics ranging from the limits of language to problems of personal identity :: from evolutionary eschatology to lucid living tips, plus some random self-immolation... oh, and it was shot in Austin, TX. bombs.

Monday, November 26, 2001
7427701:: 6:26 PM

no real posts this week... I'm in super study mode :: but for those who'd rather procrastinate, take the quizzes below. (!)

I AM 62% GEEK.


Nerd, Freak, Geek, Dweeb. Sound familiar? That's okay, cause I will be the richest person at my 15th year high-school reunion. If a "con" isn't happening that weekend.
Take the GEEK Test at Fuali.com!

I am 50% ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET.


I am pretty addicted, but there is hope. I think I'm just well connected to the internet and technology, but it's really a start of a drug-like addiction. I must act now! Unplug this computer!
Take the INTERNET-ADDICT Test at Fuali.com!

Sunday, November 18, 2001
7230289:: 9:03 PM

I was in Tops (the grocery store around the corner) taking a picture of a pizza rotating hypnotically in its infrared heatbox, when the manager came up to me and insisted that I stop, since "photography must be pre-authorized for proprietary reasons." Proprietary reasons? Huh. It reminded me of an argument I had in Prague art gallery :( ... I could go on and on about that insanity, but the real surprise of the day is that everything is legally owned now. Whether its photons bouncing off day-old pepperoni, or pepsi (tm) being mopped up near a rack of cheetos (tm) in tops (tm). There is quite a bit to talk about here, and quite a bit of homework that I must finish first... but soon.

Tuesday, November 13, 2001
7110262:: 11:24 PM

Bjork's Verspertine has filled up my brain. Muted and momentus ... personal, epic. Listening to amazing music usually inspires me, but also occasionally depresses. Its an existence proof of what can be accomplished, and also possibly what I may never accomplish. Still... sounds nice. :p -- I once had the same sort of feeling watching Nick DeFirmian (former US Chess Champion) get thoroughly beaten by a computer :: 11 times in a row. The simultaneous realization that I would never play chess as well as him and that even I if I did, I wouldn't be able to beat that computer ... heavy.

Wednesday, November 07, 2001
6939888:: 7:05 AM

Most of my classes are in a room right next to where they've been blasting with dynamite. I was surprised by the effect a sudden shuddering movement in the earth has. The last five minutes of lecture are instantly dislodged from your brain, and you go into survival mode: ready to push your way out the door in the most disorderly fashion imaginable.

Monday, November 05, 2001
6880380:: 6:00 AM

flurries. oh my.

Sunday, November 04, 2001
6862209:: 1:26 PM

Today I am listening to Belle & Sebastian and doing some web housework. Recently I started learning something about photography so soon I will install a photosection on my frontpage ... perhaps. :: My computer is incredibly hot. Rather it keeps my room around 10 degrees warmer than everyplace else in the house. Not a bad feature for Ithaca, NY.