And Slaters Go Plop

These are fairly old but I only just stumbled upon them. Some good insights from David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Richard Leakey and Jane Goodall on the environment and the future of our planet.

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Dwan Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore throughout the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.
He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe — ninety-six billion planets — into the supercircuit that would connect them all into one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then after a moment’s silence he said, “Now, Dwar Ev.”
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. “The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.”
“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question which no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of a single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut.

In 1973 the BBC released a TV documentary series in 13 episodes by mathematician Jacob Bronowski called The Ascent Of Man. 35 years later I purchased it as a DVD box set on the recommendation of a fellow science documentary aficionado.

It’s extremely good! And I’m not just saying that in the context of the era in which it was produced. Sure, some of the music grates on the nerves and some of the graphics don’t compare to what we are capable of these days but overall it’s got a depth that is often missing from the kind of documentaries found on the Discovery Channel. Actually, I take back my comment about the music; it features music from Meddle - my second-favourite Pink Floyd album - which, for me, redeems a multitude of musical sins.

Bronowski is thoughtful, poetic and very deliberate in every sentence. He gives you the feeling that he is treating you, the viewer, as an equal throughout and he conveys a sense of awe that is impossible to resist.

Most moving for me was a scene where Bronowski is visiting a Nazi concentration camp where many of his relatives were murdered. According to the interview with Attenborough in the bonus material the entire scene was spontaneous and filmed in a single take:

Bronowski died a year later of a heart attack at the age of 66.

I’m not sure whether this experiment has been done before but I was watching some videos on YouTube and noticed that with some speakers/shouters my heart rate seemed to increase. I’m not sure whether this is because I agree or disagree strongly with what they are saying or whether it is some kind of natural human response to emotion or a particular pitch in voices (sort of like the urge to cry when seeing someone else cry or laugh when you hear laughter).

An interesting experiment would be to play a series of audio clips of various speakers to people whilst monitoring their heart rates. It would be handy to have them also rate the clips on how strongly they agree or disagree with the speaker.

Once the results were in I then wonder if you could use software to analyse the audio and make predictions as to how strongly a person is likely to respond on an emotional level to a particular style of speech.

• Adolph Hitler
• Todd Bentley
• Richard Dawkins
• NT Wright
• EO Wilson
• GW Bush
• David Lange

Today I managed to see The King of Kong which was showing as part of the film festival.

Best. Film. Ever. Sorry, the most entertaining film I’ve seen in a long time (it must have been the endorphins talking with that original statement).

You probably have to have seen it to understand but today was the last showing so keep an eye out for it if it ever makes it to other cinemas or your local video shop.

I see that Apple are deigning to release the new iPhone in New Zealand soon. I’ve had an iMate Jam for almost three years now and only use it as a phone and an MP3 player (since moving to Linux I’ve been unable to sync my calendar and emails). I’m not going to be rushing out to get the new iPhone either. Why? Because I already know what I want in a device and I just know I’m going to be deeply dissatisfied with anything for the next ten or twenty years.

Here’s my specs for the ultimate device:

• Small enough to be worn on the wrist (perhaps twice the size of a watch but more fitted)
• An in-built or pull-out screen that suffices and has a minimum 800×600 resolution
• A universal docking port.
• Open source software AND hardware
• Phone
• Good quality camera (~4 megapixels + optical zoom)
• Audio and Video playback
• Desktop-equivalent processor + 4gb ram (to replace current PC but can be hotplugged into screen, keyboard, mouse and other devices wherever I happen to be)
• At least 160GB storage.
• Bottle opener
• Assorted knives, saws, scissors and picky things (air travel issues here)
• GPS
• Heart rate and other physiological monitors
• IR and radio remote control and key control for car, TV and house
• Credit card built in
• Solar panel on the back in case I can’t get near a power point
• Emergency beacon
• Tape measure
• Minesweeper and solitaire (isn’t that obligatory?)
• Total lockdown of sensitive information

And that’s all I can think of right now. Anything less is just not going to blow my socks off.

When my iMate finally dies I’m probably going to go back to my trusty Nokia 8210 which pretty much does everything I currently need a phone to do.

Just picked mine up today. Gotta love Nintendo’s innovation eh? You Xboxers and PS3ers can have your gun-thumbs; I’m going to start training for the Auckland Half Marathon in my lounge!

(and, no, that’s not me with the bowl haircut although I once sported a monstrosity similar to that but that was the 70s and it was, like, far out and almost choice)

Goodbye and thank you.

Here’s a message from him from last December after his 90th birthday: