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iterations
KnowledgeWall®
Display - Third Quarter 2000
The KnowledgeWall display provides a forum for iterations to communicate some results from our Weak Signal® Research activities to the rest of the Value Web®. This page documents materials that have spent some time on the KnowledgeWall display, which is physically located upstairs at the Palo Alto knOwhere® Store. Items are organized in chronological order of when it was added to the wall, not necessarily when it was published. All items are physically archived in the iterations KnowledgeWall Archive, part of the iterations library. Where possible, the url for the item will also be included on this page. Anchors have been placed before each entry on this page to enhance linking capabilities and create a yet another emergent path through our website. Anchors are named with the first two words of the article (not including "the", "an", "of", etc., or initials), and the date of Knowledge Wall entry. For example, the anchor for The Plan to Save Fallingwater, entered on August 25, 2000 is: #plan_save_08.25.00 Other Knowledge Wall pages can be accessed from the Site Index page.
Back from the Brink, by Andrew Gigon, New Scientist, September 23, 2000. "Conservation isn't all gloom and doom. There are plenty of success stories like the bald eagle, and we need to hear more about them." An important counter point to the article posted earlier this week about the extinction of the Red Colobus monkey. http://www.newscientist.com/nlf/0923/back.html
Crawling out of the Swamp, by Duncan Graham-Rowe, New Scientist, September 23, 2000. "A walking, swimming salamander comes alive, inside a computer." "According to Ijspeert, the salamander was an ideal choice because it has many similarities with humans, but on a simpler scale. 'It's a living fossil of one of the first vertebrates that made the transition onto land,' he says. He believes his research will help us learn more about our own control mechanisms. " http://www.newscientist.com/nlf/0923/crawling.html
A Good Month for Asteroids, from NASA Science News, September 20, 2000. "This has been a good month for astronomers studying Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). No fewer than five sizable space rocks have flown past our planet since the beginning of September -- three of them in the last four days. There was no danger of a collision at any time, say researchers. All of the asteroids missed our planet by comfortable margins of 11 to 75 lunar distances. Still, by cosmic standards, they were close at hand." Perhaps its time to expedite our efforts to remove Earth from the "single point of failure" category! http://www.spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast20sep_1.htm
Habitrail for Humanity, by Jennifer Hillner, WIRED, August, 2000, pg. 58. A paragraph and photo of a prototype for M-vironment system, developed by artist Michael Jantzen. "I'm rethinking the whole notion of living space" says Jantzen. (contributed by Apollo Sun Harden)
Knowledge Based Economies Fail to Reverse Pollution, Waste, by Brian Hansen, from the Environment News Service, September 22, 2000. Discouraging news ... "The resource savings that the United States and other industrial nations have seemingly realized from their shift towards knowledge based economies have been completely negated by the output of wastes and pollutants, the World Resources Institute says in a new report." http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep2000/2000L-09-20-15.html
Neurocomputers, by Mark Sincell, Discover, October 2000, pg. 28. From the Future Tech column, "What's beyond silicon and fiber optics? Would you believe microprocessors with living brain tissue?" http://www.discover.com/current_issue/index.html (contributed by Apollo Sun Harden)
Putting a Darwinian Spin on the Diesel Engine, by Bruce Schechter, New York Times, September 19, 2000. More than a metaphor ... "To engineers, the silent machinery of a living cell is a humbling reminder of the crudeness of their own designs. So engineers have begun to imitate nature, by letting a computerized version of Darwinian natural selection guide their design processes." http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/19/science/19DESI.html
The Tube Worm Turns, by Roel Snieder, Nature, Vol. 406, August 31, 2000, pg. 939. "Science needs a new breed of Renaissance man and woman" "Since the middle of the millennium, science has become increasingly specialized. These days, a scientist is a physicist, a biologist, a sociologist or other special-ist who focuses primarily on her or his own field of interest. Homo universalis has become virtually extinct." "Our challenge is to transform the scientific community from a collection of tube worms into an interacting web, resembling a diverse and rapidly evolving ecosystem where each member brings its own specialization to the party. This requires the resurrection of Homo universalis in a form appropriate for the twenty-first century." http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)
Twenty Things That Will Be Obsolete in Twenty Years, by Eric Haseltine, Discover, October, 2000, pg. 84. A look at what will be swept away, from coronary bypass procedures to plastic wraps. http://www.discover.com/current_issue/index.html (contributed by Apollo Sun Harden)
Art Form for the Digital Age, Viewpoint by Henry Jenkins, Technology Review, September/October 2000, pg. 117. Video games shape our culture. It's time we took them seriously Warming up for the next EA DesignShop® Event ... "Games represent a new lively art, one as appropriate for the digital age as those earlier media were for the machine age. They open up new aesthetic experiences and transform the computer screen into a realm of experimentation and innovation that is broadly accessible." http://www.techreview.com/articles/oct00/viewpoint.htm
In Search of Webs Past; Survival of the Hittest Leaves a Precious Record Crumbling, by Nick Montfort, Technology Review Newsletter, August 28, 2000. The documentation of the Web, and in fact all things digital, presents many challenges. As an organization that is very concerned with adequate documentation, this is someting we should all be thinking about. http://www.imakenews.com/techreview/e_article000005758.cfm
Management by Web, by John A. Byrne, Business Week Online, August 28, 2000 issue. "To thrive in this new century, companies are going to need a whole new set of rules." "Sparked by new technologies, particularly the Internet, the corporation is undergoing a radical transformation that is nothing less than a new Industrial Revolution. This time around, the revolution is reaching every corner of the globe and in the process, rewriting the rules laid down by Sloan, Henry Ford, and other Industrial Age giants. The 21st century corporation that emerges will in many ways be the polar opposite of the organizations they helped shape." While there isn't anything in this article that Matt and Gail and others haven't been talking about for the past 20 years (link to come), this is an interesting reference point for the organization. What are we talking about now that is 20 years out? http://www.businessweek.com/common_frames/bws.htm?http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_35/b3696011.htm
NANO@HOME Project Proposal, Robert J. Bradbury Found on the Nanodot page, September 15, 2000. A very interesting proposal that suggests how nanotechnology development could benefit from a SETI@HOME model. Seems to me this is something to follow closely and perhaps get involved with. http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/Proposals/NanoAtHome.html
Technology Cases Raise Issues of Competence, by Michael Brick, New York Times, September 11, 2000. Another thread picked up from Nanodot, September 15, 2000. The article discusses the work of a recent legislative task force in Maryland that is wondering if today's technology issues are too complex for a typical judge to judge. This topic is along the lines of the "Fact Forums" discussed by K. Eric Drexler in Engines of Creation. For more information on this idea, look at an essay written by Arthur Kantrowitz, the "father of the Science Court." http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/11/business/11JUDG.html
Where Have You Gone, Miss Waldron's Red Colobus?, by R. John Davenport, ScienceNOW, September 13, 2000. "Scientists report the extinction of a monkey once common in West Africa. Miss Waldron's red colobus--first discovered in 1933 and named after the female companion of its discoverer--is the first primate subspecies to become extinct in several hundred years, and researchers warn that the loss may mark the beginning of the demise of many other threatened animals in West Africa." The "Infometric Bottleneck" is becoming very real. http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/913/
Ants Welcome at Caterpillar Picnics, by Jeanne Erdmann, ScienceNOW, September 7, 2000. Material to enrich our metaphors ... "Most caterpillars avoid ants out of self-preservation. But some strike a deal with their predators. In exchange for receiving nectar droplets, ants groom the caterpillars and fend off other predators. Now researchers have shown that such symbiotic relationships also come with a twist: Lycaenid caterpillars, when threatened, increase their production of nectar to entice the ants to stick around in a crisis" http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/907/3
Audacious & Outrageous: Space Elevators, from NASA's Space Science Headline News Look out Willy Wonka, inspired partly by science fiction, NASA scientists are seriously considering space elevators as a mass-transit system for the next century. http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_1.htm?list
Dull Trout, Science, Vol. 289, August 25, 2000, pg. 1285. A very short piece discussing the fact that "anglers have long noted that hatchery-raised trout and salmon don't seem very bright compared to their wild kin. Now scientists report that captive-bred trout have smaller brains." Nothing surprising here, but the results do have important implications for captive rearing. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol289/issue5483/r-samples.shtml#289/5483/1285d (subscription required - see note)
Father Earth, an Interview with James Lovelock, Michael Bond, New Scientist, September 9, 2000. "James Lovelock has risked reputation, livelihood, everything by going it alone. What has this meant for the man behind the still-controversial Gaia? Was it all worth it? And will the forthcoming autobiography of this passionate individualist reveal all? Michael Bond got a sneak preview at his Devon hideaway" http://www.newscientist.com/nlf/0909/father.html
Put that Silicon Where the Sun Don't Shine, by Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon, September 7, 2000. Soon you can have a tracking chip implanted in your body. Is this a great technological breakthrough -- or Big Brother's last laugh? http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/09/07/chips/index.html (Also see the articles posted on September 5th, below.)
Say Ah!, by Robert A. Freitas Jr., The Sciences, July/August 2000. Nanorobots the size of bacteria might one day roam people's bodies, rooting out disease organisms and repairing damaged tissue. http://www.nyas.org/membersonly/sciences/sci0007/freitas_body.html
From the pages of The Transparent Society by David Brin come two articles from the San Jose Mercury News (9/3/00, pg. 1E): Pets can be tracked with chips under their skin. Why not childeren? Ethical and practical questions are raised by the idea of tracking humans with implaned electronic chips or similar technology. It's a Good Idea: I would do it in a minute as a way to protect my child, by Mike Langberg http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/langberg03.htm It's a Bad Idea: Electronic leash would undermine our values, by Dan Gillmor http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg09032000.htm
Wired town still tends to cling to slow ways, by Anick Jesdanun, San Jose Mercury News, September 3, 2000, pg. 23A. "Small Glasgow, Kentucky, has had fast lines since '94, but Net boom hasn't come" http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/wired03.htm
Aping Biology, Computer Guides Automated Evolution of a Robot, by Kenneth Chang, New York Times, August 31, 2000, front page. "For the first time, computer scientists have created a robot that designs and builds other robots, almost entirely without human help." This article is no longer available for free from the NY Times, so check out: http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000831/000831-8.html and From Robot Dreams to Reality, by Rodney Brooks, Nature, Vol. 406, August 31, 2000, pg. 945. Automatic Design and Manufacture of Robotic Lifeforms, by Hod Lipson and Jordan B. Pollack, Nature, Vol. 406, August 31, 2000, pg. 974. http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)
Dolphins Echo Each Other's Whistles, by Mari N. Jensen, Science NOW, August 24, 2000. "This is some of the first information about how dolphins are communicating in natural, wild populations." And it may not be just simple call and response, he adds. "I don't think dolphins just go around saying, 'peanut butter,' 'peanut butter;' 'rhubarb,' 'rhubarb;' 'jelly,' 'jelly.'" Instead, Clark considers whistle-matching a prelude to more complicated conversation." http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/824/2 also see Dolphins Whistle a Signature Tune, by Peter L. Tyack, Science, August 25, 2000, pg. 1310. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/289/5483/1310 (subscription required - see note)
Flip-Flopping Quasicrystals, by Mark Sincell, Science NOW, August 25, 2000. Great potential as a new metaphor category, quasicrystals have some pretty interesting characteristics ... http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/825/1
The Last Computer, by Marcus Chown, New Scientist, September 2, 2000. "SETH LLOYD has seen the future of computing, and it's bright. Blindingly bright. For, according to Lloyd, the ultimate computer will be nothing like an IBM ThinkPad and everything like a "billion-degree piece of the big bang". "Admittedly, it might be a bit inconvenient putting a nuclear fireball on your desk. But that is only the most ordinary, conventional kind of ultimate computer--the alternative could be something stranger still." As Apollo commented, "The real advance will be when this kind of computing power is built into ourselves, and the distinction between 'our' thought processes and those of the box on the desk comes to an end." http://www.newscientist.com/features/features.jsp?id=ns225415 Also see: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/830/1
Taking Control, Great Moments in Megaengineering, by Gregory Benford, Nature, Vol. 406, August 3, 2000, pg. 462. Another essay from Nature's Futures column, Benford reports on Earth Stewardship, New Atmospheres, The Supernova Catastrophe, and others. http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)
Wanted: Contents of Your Brain, by Farhad Manjoo, WIRED News, September 1, 2000. "Chris McKinstry doesn't just want to pick your brain. He wants to harvest it. With the facts he finds inside you, McKinstry will produce the "ultimate average person." And then he'll rent out this fellow -- to do your thinking for you." http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,38466,00.html
You Have Twenty Seconds To Comply, by Ian Sample, New Scientist, September 2, 2000. "Robocop looks like a pushover compared with a robotic security guard that shoots at will." "It's been sixty years since writer Isaac Asimov dreamed up his laws governing robot behaviour. But the message still hasn't sunk in. Researchers in Thailand have developed a robot security guard that comes armed with a gun, and has no qualms about whom it shoots." Combine this story with the first for today, do some extrapolating and ... are you worried yet? http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns225425 August 30, 2000 Computer Industry Giants to Back Linux Lab, by Therese Poletti, San Jose Mercury News, August 30, 2000. "Some of the giants of the computer industry are teaming up to form a non-profit laboratory aimed at broadening the corporate use of the alternative Linux operating system. Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and NEC Corp. will announce today the Open Source Development Lab -- a physical place where members of the far-flung open source development community can test their software on a wide range of computer equipment." http://www.mercurycenter.com/business/top/012034.htm
The Media Lab at a Crossroads, by David H. Freedman, Technology Review, September-October 2000. "Fierce competition, radical expansion, a dubious funding model and maybe even a new director spell the end of an era. Can a trailblazing enterprise survive and thrive?" Straight out of the Stages of an Enterprise Model, MIT's Media Lab pushes the Entrepreneurial Button. http://www.techreview.com/magazine/sep00/freedman.asp
August 28, 2000 Seed Bank Saves Up Plant Diversity, by Michael Hagmann, Science Now, August 25, 2000. "A modern-day Noah's Ark for plant species, the Millennium Seed Bank in southern England is ready to embark on a mission to collect and preserve the seeds of about 10% of the world's seed-bearing plants. The project opens for banking business on 26 August." http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2000/825/2 and the Millennium Seed Bank itself at: http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/seedbank/msb.html
Code Name: Mainstream; Can 'Open Source' Bridge the Software Gap?, by Steve Lohr, New York Times, August 28, 2000, pg. C1. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/28code.html (registration required)
Whose Intellectual Property Is It, Anyway? The Open Source War, by Peter Wayner, New York Times, August 24, 2000. http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/circuits/articles/24free.html (registration required)
Techno-Utopianism, a full page advertisement, sponsored by the Turning Point Project, in the New York Times, August 28, 2000. "Our society has placed all its bets on technology, but it may be time to reconsider: Far from paradise-on-earth, we're nearer ecological collapse. Now, a terrifying new generation of technologies - from eugenics to robotics - is raising the stakes. Here's the question: When did we okay these? In a democracy shouldn't there be a national debate, and referenda, before such profound commitments?" While this advertisement raises a variety of important questions, it does little to advance the discussions that need to take place. Yes, there should be public debate (national and international) on the implications of these powerful new technologies, but the debates must be balanced and well reasoned, not based on neo-Luddite propaganda. The advertisement (and the others in the series) are available as pdf files on the Turning Point Project website, A good counter point to the article can be found in Reason Online: http://www.reason.com/hod/rb082900.html An article on the Turning Point Project from Salon.com can be found at: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/09/20/technoutopia/index.html
August 25, 2000 One Hundred Years of Quantum Physics, by Daniel Kleppner and Roman Jackiw, Science, Vol. 289, August 11, 2000, pg. 893. Contributed by Jeff Johnston An interesting look at the process of scientific progress. "An informed list of the most profound scientific developments of the 20th century is likely to include general relativity, quantum mechanics, big bang cosmology, the unraveling of the genetic code, evolutionary biology, and perhaps a few other topics of the reader's choice. Among these, quantum mechanics is unique because of its profoundly radical quality. Quantum mechanics forced physicists to reshape their ideas of reality, to rethink the nature of things at the deepest level, and to revise their concepts of position and speed, as well as their notions of cause and effect." "Although quantum mechanics was created to describe an abstract atomic world far removed from daily experience, its impact on our daily lives could hardly be greater. The spectacular advances in chemistry, biology, and medicineÑand in essentially every other scienceÑcould not have occurred without the tools that quantum mechanics made possible. Without quantum mechanics there would be no global economy to speak of, because the electronics revolution that brought us the computer age is a child of quantum mechanics. So is the photonics revolution that brought us the Information Age. The creation of quantum physics has transformed our world, bringing with it all the benefitsÑand the risksÑof a scientific revolution." http://www.sciencemag.org (subscription required - see note) This article is also available at Britannica.com in the Pathways of Discovery Archive.
The Plan to Save Fallingwater, by Robert Silman, Scientific American, September 2000, pg. 88. Contributed by Jeff Johnston "This breathtaking house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was in danger of collapse until an engineering firm mound a way to stop it from falling down." (Unfortunately, this article isn't on the Scientific American website. Let me know if you would like me to mail you a photocopy.)
August 22, 2000 Simple Methods Found to Vastly Increase Crop Yields, by Carol Kaesuk Yoon, New York Times, August 22, 2000. Contributed by Jeff Johnston Metaphors: "In a stunning new result from what has become one of the largest agricultural experiments ever, thousands of rice farmers in China have doubled the yields of their most valuable crop and nearly eliminated its most devastating disease -- without using chemical treatments or spending a single extra penny. ... Researchers say the study's implications extend to prairies, rainforests and other natural ecosystems." http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082200sci-gm-rice.html (registration required) Also see: Crop Strength Through Diversity, by Martin S. Wolfe, Nature, Vol. 406, August 17, 2000, pg. 681. Genetic Diversity and Desease Control in Rice, by Youyong Zhu et al., Nature, Vol. 406, August 17, 2000, pg. 718. http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)
August 10, 2000 Circles of Trust, How Vouching for Users Beats Encryption Alone in Maintaining Privacy, by Wendy Grossman, Scientific American, August 2000, pg. 34. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.sciam.com/2000/0800issue/0800cyber.html
Gene Machine, By Philip Ball, Nature Science Update, August 10, 2000. Nanotech/Molecular Manufacturing: "In his novel The Monkey's Wrench, Italian chemist and writer Primo Levi fantasized about a pair of tweezers that would allow chemists to pick up molecules and atoms and arrange them how they liked. Levi would surely have delighted in the molecular-scale tweezers now reported in Nature." "These finest-of-fine tools have been made by Andrew Turberfield and co-workers at Lucent Technologies in New Jersey, USA. They can be opened and closed at will, and are built from the fabric of genes: DNA. The researchers call their DNA construction a machine, because the opening and closing of the pincers is driven by a kind of fuel -- which also consists of DNA." Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000810/000810-10.html Also see: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/08/biztech/articles/10dna.html (registration required)
The Lotus Beaters, by David Adam, Nature Science Update, August 7, 2000. Biomimicry: "Japanese researchers have now developed artificial, water-repellent films that mimic lotus leaves self-cleaning abilities ..." Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000810/000810-4.html
The Patter of Sticky Feet, by Henry Gee, Nature Science Update, June 8, 2000. Bioengineering: Discusses a recent article in Nature that explains how atomic energy and billions of submicroscopic hairs called 'setae' help geckos climb across the smoothest surfaces. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000608/000608-11.html
Social Shortcuts, by Mark Haw, Nature Science Update, August 10, 2000. Patchworks and percolation: "To most people, 'percolation' suggests only the coffee machine burbling away in the corner of the kitchen. To physicists, it means a lot more: 'social percolation' theory can explain how information travels or 'percolates' through simple communities. Updated percolation models now shed light on how everything from disease to gossip spreads in more realistic situations - and offer advice for budding politicians." Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000810/000810-8.html
Issues Aside, How Napster Works and What It Really Matters, by Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, August 5, 2000. "To understand why Napster and its clones may be the most significant development in software since the graphical Web browser, you have to forget about music, copyright and piracy." "Napster is a giant step toward turning the Web into what it was always supposed to be -- a multi-directional medium that gives consumers of information an easy, powerful way to be producers too." Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg080600.htm
Putting Napster's Technology to Other Uses, by Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, August 8, 2000. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg080900.htm
Music Software to Come to Genome Aide?, by Declan Butler, Nature, Vol. 404, April 13, 2000, pg. 694. A discussion of how bioinformaticists envision using a Napster like application to help them annotate genomic data. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.nature.com/nature (subscription required - see note)
August 3, 2000 All is Not Lost, By Resurrecting Extinct Infodiversity, We May Save Our Own Culture, by Scott Westerfeld, Nature, Vol. 406, July 20, 2000, pg. 241. Another piece from the "Future" column, writing from the perspective of 200 years in the future ... "Much has been written about the mass extinctions at the beginning of the third millennium. Indeed, in the two-century period of the Great Die-Off, the world lost approximately 65% of its species, with tropical rainforest biomes particularly hard hit. But global infometrics posits that this biotic die-off was merely one aspect of a generalized large-scale information loss that marked the end of the millennium, the so-called Infometric Bottleneck. ..." How can we work to minimize this bottleneck? Contributed by Jeff Johnston Click here for a pdf of this essay. http://www.nature.com/nature/ (subscription required - see note)
Online Agreement Near for Writers' Group, A Clearinghouse Aims to Secure Payment or Rights of Ownership, by Felicity Barringer, The New York Times, August 3, 2000. Contributed by Todd Johnston http://www.nytimes.com (registration required)
Tuberculosis Bacteria Joins the UN, WHO Proposes to Include Disinfectant Under the Geneva Convention, by Joan Slonczewski, Nature, Vol. 405, June 29, 2000, pg. 1001. From the weekly "Future" feature in Nature. Anybody care to play 'Spoze? Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.nature.com/nature/ (subscription required - see note)
August 1, 2000 Body Shop, Maxim, July 2000, pg. 46. Contributed by Todd Johnston We have the technology: Scientists are on their way to building the first bionic man.
The World's Tiniest Bearings, by A. Hellemans, ScienceNOW, July 31, 2000. "Researchers have developed yet another component of what could one day become a futuristic set of machines hardly bigger than a few molecules. ..." Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org (subscription required - see note) July 31, 2000 Car-sharing Programs Spread into Bay Area, by Tracey Kaplan, San Jose Mercury News, July 30, 2000. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.mercurycenter.com/local/center/carshare0731.htm
Farmer Reaps Rewards Sowed on Internet, by Michael Dorgan, San Jose Mercury News, July 30, 2000. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/chinawired30.htm
R. Buckminister Fuller: The History [and Mystery] of the Universe (program for the play), Written and Directed by D. W. Jacobs, from the life, work and writings of R. Buckminister Fuller, Performed by Ron Campbell. Contributed by Todd Johnston http://www.foghouse.com/current_shows/index.html
July 28, 2000 Feed Me; Could the Future of Robotics be a Toy Train With a Taste for Flesh?, by D. Graham-Rowe, New Scientist, July 22, 2000. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.newscientist.com/news/news_224823.html
The Value of Nature and the Nature of Value, by G. C. Daily, et al., Science, Vol. 289, July 21, 2000, pg. 395. Contributed by Jeff Johnston A Policy Forum on ecology discussing the importance placing adequate value on our natural resources. http://www.sciencemag.org (subscription required - see note)
July 26, 2000 Inspiration for Optimization From Social Insect Behavior, by E. Bonabeau, M. Dorigo, and G. Theraulaz, Nature, Vol. 406, July 6, 2000, pg. 39. Contributed by: Jeff Johnston "Research in social insect behavior has provided computer scientists with powerful methods for designing distributed control and optimization algorithms. Thes techniques are being applied successfully to a variety of scientific and engineering problems. In addition to achieving good performance on a wide spectrum of 'static' problems, such techniques tend to exhibit a high degree of flexibility and robustness in a dynamic environment." http://www.nature.com/nature/ (subscription required - see note)
Light Pulses Flout Sacrosanct Speed Limit, by P. Weiss, Science News, Vol. 157, June 10, 2000, pg. 375. Contributed by: Jeff Johnston Discusses the recently well publicized results suggesting that (by some interpretations) light can travel faster than c. The explanation for this bizarre behavior seems to lie in the recursiveness of a packet of photons. Recursion lies at the heart of our System and Method, so this seems like an appropriate metaphor for us.
Microbots for Micrometer-Size Objects in Aqueous Media: Potential Tools for Single-Cell Manipulation, by E. W. H. Jager, O. Inganäs, and I. Lundström, Science, Vol. 288, June 30, 2000, pg. 2335. Contributed by: Jeff Johnston The march towards molecular manufacturing. http://www.sciencemag.org (subscription required - see note)
Physics: The Missing Links, by Phillip Ball, from the Nature Science Update, July 27, 2000. Contributed by: Jeff Johnston "The Internet and the World-Wide Web pay a price for their unusual robustness against random connection failures. They are highly susceptible to planned, intelligent attack, a group of physicists in the USA now reveal in Nature. ..." Wondering what implications this has for our PatchWorks™ Designs. http://helix.nature.com/nsu/000727/000727-9.html
Spider Manipulation by a Wasp Larva; A parasitic wasp forces its host to weave a special web for its own ends, by W. G. Eberhard, Nature, Vol. 406, July 20, 2000, pg. 255. Contributed by Jeff Johnston http://www.nature.com/nature/ (subscription required - see note)
Stress-prone? Altering the Diet May Help, by J. Raloff, Science News, Vol. 158, July 8, 2000, pg. 23. Contributed by: Jeff Johnston Results from a study showing what stressed out knowledge workers should be fed.
A note on access: Jeff Johnston has a personal subscription to the journals listed above with the note "subscription required". Please contact Jeff if you would like help getting copies of these articles. In addition to providing you with a copy of the article, this will inform us about how useful these particular items are to the Value Web ® and whether or not we should pursue getting an institutional subscription to these journals. |
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