Monday, June 26, 2006

Heaven or hell

This article from CNN speculates about our possibly exciting, possibly scary near-future. Lots of quotes from Ray Kurzweil, one of the most brilliant futurists out there and one of my favorite authors:


"The pace of change is exponential, not linear," says inventor, entrepreneur, author, and futurist Ray Kurzweil. "So things fifty years from now will be very different. That's pretty phenomenal. It took us fifteen years to sequence HIV, we sequenced SARS in 31 days."

Nanotechnology, genetics and cybernetics will mean that we will become faster, stronger and more beautiful; we will live longer and banish disease; we will be more intelligent and quicker-witted with photographic memories and the ability to go days without sleep.

"We're doubling the power of computers every year for the same cost," says Kurzweil. "In 25 years, they'll be a billion times more powerful than they are today. At the same time we're shrinking the size of all technology, electronic and mechanical, by a factor of a hundred per decade, that's a hundred thousand in 25 years."

Kurzweil argues that the growth of computing power, miniaturization and increased technical prowess will turn the world into an incredible place -- free from the conflicts over resources and wealth that have plagued it and in the last century and almost led to our obliteration in the fires of global thermonuclear war.

That is, if you believe one particular school of thought.

Other, equally eminent, minds believe we are on the cusp of an incredible disaster -- possibly even our own extinction -- as the technology we are so rapidly giving birth to moves beyond us, and self-replicates, casting us aside or even exterminating us.

What kind of future do you envision? Where do we go from here?

Friday, June 16, 2006


Sports season is here in full swing. Lots of exciting stuff happening all around the world that you can tune to.

French Open is over and Rafa ruled all over it, again. Wimbledon is just around the corner. India-WI cricket test series is midway through, India coming very close to winning both the tests, but WI holding on to draws in the end. NBA finals between Dallas & Miami is tied 2-2. And the biggest event of them all, the World Cup of football (the one played with the foot) is well underway. Teams like Spain and Czech Republic are off to dream starts, while pre-tournament favorites like Brazil and Argentina have looked less promising.

So I am gonna make some predictions of my own about whats gonna happen in the next few weeks:
1. Fed-man wins Wimbledon. Neither Rafa nor Roddick make it to the finals. Nadal falls in the 3rd round.
2. India win the test series 1-0. They come close to losing the other test, but hold on.
3. Mavericks win 4-3. It is a tight contest till the very end.
4. Brazil wins!!!! OK so this one is a real toughie, and by the law of averages, Brazil is not winning this year, but hell it's my prediction.

BTW, ICC is considering Hawk-eye for LBW decisions. As I mentioned previously here, Hawk-eye for LBWs will not be exact. But the question we care about is: Will it be more correct that the human umpire?

Update: Spoke too early. Argentina just blasted Serbia and Montenegro 6-0.

Monday, June 05, 2006