“A future society will very likely have the technological ability and the motivation to create large numbers of completely realistic historical simulations and be able to overcome any ethical and legal obstacles to doing so. It is thus highly probable that we are a form of artificial intelligence inhabiting one of these simulations. To avoid stacking (i.e. simulations within simulations), the termination of these simulations is likely to be the point in history when the technology to create them first became widely available, (estimated to be 2050). Long range planning beyond this date would therefore be futile.” [via mises]
Category: Politics
Lovely photos at Flickr tagged with “GuyFawkesNight”. Oooooo. Aaaahhh.
National security employees have been using a wiki to share and update information. I think it’s notable that that they describe it as not just a pure issue of organizational communication, it also involves generational work trends. There’s a need to pass along old wisdom and adjust to the competencies of a younger workforce:
Not all U.S. intelligence analysts have embraced the new tool, but many younger analysts have, said Michael Wertheimer, DNI’s deputy director of analysis and chief technology officer. Half of all U.S. intelligence analysts have one to five years of experience, he noted. “This is how they do their work,” he said. “This is how they like to work.”
The Americans with Disabilities Act could apply to access to websites. Uh-oh. As if net neutrality and copyrights weren’t enough to worry about. [via findability]
The Worldchanging book was released today. After a bit of nicely coordinated purchase-bombing, the Amazon rank bumped up to #14.
Since the tumult over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial back in the 80s, Maya Lin has disengaged from ideological discussions, taking a turn towards soft environmentalism. [via greg]
Design Observer discusses the pluralist European Union anniversary logo. Here are the top placements in the logo design competition (no, seriously). I think it’s fascinating that the “improve by including” tendency is such a natural human inclination. But synergy can backfire. Thinking more broadly, I wonder if this is a side effect of democratization, the political culture filtering down to applied arts. Anyone know any good resources about design and politics?
BoingBoing tells us that you can search through all of Enron’s e-mails with the Enron Explorer. Most of it is what you’d expect–memos, corporate talk, weekend plans. But there are some gems: “why the heck am I getting all the crap on this one….I’m not the one who came back to the table with puke on myself.”
The friendly folks over at Worldchanging have a shiny new book coming out in a couple weeks: Worldchanging: A User’s Guide.
By the way, I completely forgot to mention Banned Books Week, which happened last month when I was in hyper-focused GRE-prep mode. I invite you to celebrate intolerance by reading something other people don’t want you to. I chose Lysistrata, and it’s hilarious.
Have you ever wondered what exactly the difference is between the United Kingdom and Great Britain? Or how exactly does Wales fit in there? And what’s up with Northern Ireland? What you need is a helpful Venn Diagram. [via monkeytime]
The Law (review: 5/5)
Frederic Bastiat was an economist and writer in France in the early 1800s. His short book/ long essay The Law is one of the best pieces of political science writing I’ve read in a while. I loved this book. The Law is about the purpose and place of law in society, and Bastiat makes his case so clearly it brings me to tears.
One of the sections I particularly enjoyed was his critiques of other well-known French political theorists like Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Condillac. He examines the pessimistic worldview that informs their visions of society, in the end saying,
Oh, sublime writers! Please remember sometimes that this clay, this sand, and this manure which you so arbitrarily dispose of, are men! They are your equals! They are intelligent and free human beings like yourselves! As you have, they too have received from God the faculty to observe, to plan ahead, to think, and to judge for themselves!
I also thought Bastiat’s critical look at classical education to be pretty perceptive. The case he makes is this: that classical education necessarily focuses on ancient thought, and that “antiquity presents everywhere Äî in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome Äî the spectacle of a few men molding mankind according to their whims, thanks to the prestige of force and of fraud”. Learning about these ancient societies is not a problem per se. The problem arises when thinkers and teachers “offered them for the admiration and imitation of future generations… They took for granted the grandeur, dignity, morality, and happiness of the artificial societies of the ancient world.”
Some other great moments: the tired, dangerous notion of the “great man”; that “a science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated”; and some relevant, challenging words in light of our misadventures in Iraq and elsewhere:
I defy anyone to say how even the thought of revolution, of insurrection, of the slightest uprising could arise against a government whose organized force was confined only to suppressing injustice.
Read this book.
—Here are some links & photos to some of the worst-named government documents. I’m particular fond of “Distinguishing Bolts from Screws,” and would gladly recommend “Everything you always wanted to know about shipping high-level nuclear wastes.”
–The age-old “medical honey” trick is proving itself superior to many antibiotic wound treatments.
–An interview with Paul Buckley, book cover designer for the Penguin Group.
–Now you can goof off on the internet at work peacefully and free from anxiety. WorkFRIENDLY makes websites look like Microsoft Word documents.
–Paul Graham on “Good and Bad Procrastination.”
–I’ve always liked the Georgia font, especially those dropped numerals (1234567890). Lately it has become the “in” font for websites. One student finds that Georgia helps him get better grades.
–Steve Pavlina lists “10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job“. I’ve enjoyed his website quite a bit, minus the more out-there, new-agey essays (for example).
–I just love this political cartoon with Al Gore. The set-up (so perfectly in character), the wit, the cynicism… Gets me every time. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to read his book or see the movie yet. Though I’ve heard that his lecture circuit presentation is a barnburner.
–Composer Philip Glass and IBM teamed up with IBM to create the Glass Engine. I absolutely love the interface used to explore the range of music, allowing you navigate by title, year, style, emotional content, and more. I’d really like to see stand-alone software with the same functionality. I’d add in the ability to customize and create your own categories, and of course personalize the metadata for each of those. My other idea for this would be to run the software through a wall-sized touchscreen…
Mark Larson 