Friday, 28 November 2008


Consciousness has clearly been a major factor in the human race becoming so advanced. It has changed us from passive animals, living within the confines of nature, to active sentient beings, controlling it.

As we think of the future, when we will learn to control more and more of nature, it is obvious that consciousness is a component of the universe that is cataclysmic. Whether given to us deliberately or not, the conscious mind has the potential to become a major active component of the universe. It is for this reason, that I believe consciousness is more than just a driving force, it is inevitable.

By this, I mean that consciousness is not just something that evolves, but is actually a component of the universe's existence. I've believed for some time that consciousness is an attribute that's been missing from our science, that perhaps it is another "dimension", like space and time, another contributing factor that has been left out of scientific equations and rendering them incomplete.

How do we incorporate consciousness into scientific experiments? First we need to understand more about the human mind, and perhaps how it differs from animal minds - if indeed it does. Memories, dreams, deja vu, and meditation are all phenomena that we are yet to fully understand. There is much that happens in the mind on the subatomic level, that which is subject to quantum mechanics, and these conditions make it extremely difficult to set up legitimate scientific experiments.

For a couple of hundred years, science has been objective, but it's becoming obvious as we learn more about quantum physics that the observer is a vital element of such experiments. Perhaps it's time to think about bringing the subjective back to science.

Further reading:

Thursday, 20 November 2008

Turning VR Inside Out

This video shows how RFID can help improve control over stock inventory both in real world and virtual world situations. With the current state of virtual reality, it's unlikely that virtual supermarkets will take off. They're just too...clunky. However, one distinct possibility is a reversal. Computer controlled reality.

RFID will play a large part in this. The data it will provide will change the way we look at reality. By reporting and recording our locations and activities, it will digitise us - turning us into real life avatars.


Real life benefits will get us to adopt the data collection methods without question. Contact lenses or eventually brain modifications of some kind could provide us with a computer interface while in the real world. In the meantime, we'll have to make do with the iPhone. Right click a person on the street to see that person's shared details - subscribe to their Twitter feed or download their blog. Perhaps they could, from time to time, broadcast from their own eyes, allowing you to essentially inhabit their body. Extreme sports participants could make a fortune out of this, especially once physical sensations can be shared.

The information recorded about us will then take a similar shape to credit card records of the present, only far more in depth. This is not conspiracy paranoia, this is based purely on the corporations' desires (and our own) to record our data. Our purchases already provide a profile of us. In the future, our travel could be logged to provide "statistical data" for the authorities. Our work history and qualifications could be recorded in new and interesting ways. An extremely in-depth analysis of our health could be recorded on a continual basis and shared with our doctor. With enough information about enough of our actions, and the profile that is put together could eventually create some serious possibilities. What if our past could be mapped out so accurately that our future could be predicted?


But you don't need me to tell you about this. Isaac Asimov's been talking about it for years. I just don't think he imagined we'd make it so easy.

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

The Future of Tele-Coverage

I noticed with interest the difference between:

Michael Anissimov's review of how Second Life and IRC affected Transvision 06
George Dvorsky's comments on Twitter's impact on Convergence 08.

There appears to be a number of advantages and disadvantages to each medium. While Second Life allows those not in attendance to interact with the conference, it requires a lot of commitment. Resources need to be invested in an account, downloaded client software, a powerful computer with a lot of hard drive space, and a good net connection. Even if those things are not an issue, Second Life requires your full attention, you have to control your avatar, its camera, and inventory. Even for a seasoned veteran, the interface is extremely clunky (albeit powerful).

Twitter on the other hand provides a very casual way to stay in touch both in and at the conference. It can be accessed in many different ways, including RSS reader, phone, browser or desktop client, as well as the webpage. It's simple and it gives the user a choice, with little commitment. By all accounts it also provided a great feel to the event.

So, is this the future? Are we no longer interested in fully immersed virtual worlds, instead content with streams of text? What has the world come to?

It certainly seems to be the case. Look at the rise of RSS over the past year. We want our information without the frills. And we want it personalised.

The generic virtual world has failed to evolve with the rest of the internet.
It's lagging behind and dooming itself to extinction.

There's talk on the net of the next generation of virtual worlds being server generated. There will be no need to download clunky software, a simple browser is all it will take to have photo-realistic graphics. Ease of use and low commitment are desperately needed to keep virtual reality alive. However, the most desperate requirement is a larger step away from reality.

That's not to say that the worlds themselves should become less realistic, but the interfaces and the features need to be brought more in line with current trends. The closest Second Life comes to what I'm talking about is the mini browser within it. There should be far, far, far more integrated services. RSS feeds, interaction with blogs and forums, and data inputs should be a given. A necessity is improved interaction. The reason Second Life is losing so much ground at the moment is because it's so hard to use, and more casual virtual worlds are emerging. Creating simple objects or performing simple gestures should be easy.

You should have access to your virtual world account and everything about it without having to invoke the virtual senses. In other words, you could be present in the virtual world without an avatar, and without being able to see the world where your presence is residing, but you will still be able to interact with the conversations in that area, make transactions, and perform actions relating to your virtual account.

So what, in that case, would be the point of the virtual world? Well, the interface still offers a level of interaction not found in text based communication. It transmits body language, atmosphere, and imagination. It allows the user to be anything, and to do anything, and to go anywhere. Technically, it has the potential to provide a rich environment to interact with remote events, but it's currently falling desperately short.

Perhaps VR still has a part to play in tele-coverage and communication, but at the moment it's just taking a break, waiting for both the technology and the people behind the software to come up with new and innovative virtual concepts.

Saturday, 15 November 2008

Technology - Will it set us Free?








Tuesday, 11 November 2008

$10K Prize for Virtual Innovation

It looks like Linden Labs need some publicity, offering a $10K prize for innovation "that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world."

Has anyone told Tad Williams?

Sunday, 9 November 2008

Lest We Forget

Today I went to church.

Now before you all hurl your computers out the window in disgust, allow me to explain.

I'm currently living in Sweden where, due to 200 years of neutrality and peace (which according to the priest can be attributed to their secularism, a strange admission), they don't commemorate Remembrance day. However, being British, I wanted to pay my respects to the service men and women who have fought and died for me in wars past and present, so I went along to the Remembrance day service at a small English Anglican church.

I haven't been to church for a very long time, I only set foot in them when family members deem it necessary to host weddings, christenings and funerals. When I do, anger sets in as I think of all the suffering they have caused, the money they have wasted, and the stupidity they continue to spread through our societies. My anger increases as priests misconstrue the facts in order to justify their existence, manipulating their flock with emotional button pressing. And when we were told how much we had sinned and how we should commit to being more faithful and responsible, it was all I could do not to storm out in disgust.

The congregation were a keen bunch, praying enthusiastically, and overflowing the collection baskets with large notes. I felt pity and shame for them, their need for faith, hope, and community fulfilled by parasitical authority, their trust and honesty abused in the name of ancient lies.

But I wasn't there to get annoyed by religion. I was there to remember those who have fought, suffered, and died for me. To thank them, not god. That their lives have been taken by ignorance, that we are still manipulated into fighting for irrelevancies such as race, religion, or country, is of little consequence. That those truly responsible for their suffering, the authorities of government and religion, not only continue to get away with it but profit from the suffering, matters not.

The fact is, they did what they thought was right for the good of mankind. Their bravery and selflessness has given us the freedom so that one day we might never have suffering again. My gratitude is exceeded only by my resolve to ensure they did not suffer in vain.

At the going down of the sun,
and in the morning,
we will remember them.

Saturday, 8 November 2008

New Virtual World for Casual Gamers

Israel-based Funtactix have just officially launched Moondo. Moondo is not quite a virtual world per se, but it allows users to carry a single identity and inventory across multiple 3D online games. Although the future of a fully portable avatar looks unlikely, this is certainly one way of achieving some degree of portability. And we all know how big casual gaming can potentially be.

“Many mainstream gamers do not have the time to invest in MMO games or the budget for a high-end console,” Funtactix CEO Sam Glassenberg said. “The beauty of Moondo is that anyone can jump into one of its free online games and experience 3D visually intense, action-packed game sessions unlike any other casual game on the web. We welcome any gamer who feels they have skills to check out this exciting new universe of games.”

Thursday, 6 November 2008

The End of the World Wide Web?

I now have a very organised and efficient way of working online, thanks to a few great companies coming together and integrating their services.

First of all, I use the magnificent Firefox to access the world at large. I had a go with Google Chrome, but found it hard to live without the vast array of Plug-ins Firefox provides. And the less said about Internet Explorer the better.

Firefox allows me to display my favourite bookmarks along a bar beneath my toolbar, for quick and easy access to my main websites. One such button is the "Share on Facebook" link, allowing me to share any page I find of interest instantly and easily. The whole toolbar is invaluable, although it's not a benefit exclusive to Firefox.

I am a slave to the Google Corporation. Google allows me to store and work on all my documents ONLINE, meaning I rarely have to use Open Office again. (Anyone who is still paying for Micro$oft Office needs their head seeing to...)

Google also provides Google Reader. This allows me to see all the latest news feeds from all of my favourite sites, in one place. They can be categorised, shared, stared for later, and notes added. Needless to say Google reader also displays rich content such as pictures and videos.

Next I installed the Add-on. (Which I recently learnt is owned by Yahoo, sorry Google!) This is a great add-on that takes over my bookmarks menu, giving me a lot more power over my bookmarked sites. Now all my sites are stored online, shared with friends, and I get to see what they share. Also, using the buttons on Firefox make it much faster than using a Bookmark Toolbar button. And one more sexy option, right clicking on any link allows me to instantly bookmark it. So easy...

A Twitter tool called TwitterFox pretty much turns Twitter into an Instant Messenger (albeit not a very private one), showing me the latest Twitted items and letting me post Twits without having to go to the Twitter page. And the Delicious add-on also lets me know when new items are shared in my network.

Finally, all of these awesome features are integrated into my iGoogle page.

What conclusion can be drawn from this integration of systems? Well they've got me thinking - why have web pages at all? We're now finding that what we want from the web is content, not fancy designed websites. The tools needed for dealing with this content can theoretically, all be integrated into our browsers, allowing us to never even visit a normal website the whole time we're online. Or websites containing applications such as iGoogle could retrieve and distribute all the data we need for our online activities.

Every interaction I now have with websites involves me either reading or inputting, for one reason or another. Text, images, or video being the main forms of data.

Google Chrome tried to strip away the tools of the browser, giving us direct access to websites. This will only be successful if all websites take the approach of having a generic layer of tools integrated into them. This may well be happening with the growth of AJAX powered web applications. But if it doesn't, then we're going to need those tools integrated into our browsers. Either way, these tools are going to shift the focus away from website presentation, and towards content delivery.

Could this mean the end of the WWW as we know it, or the Browser?

Monday, 3 November 2008

Virtual Going Out is the New Going Out

A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain:

It seems that in these times of economic decline, people don't want to forgo the luxuries that they've grown accustomed to over the years, so are choosing to indulge themselves in a virtual manner instead. There's certainly a lot to be said for staying home surrounded by cheap entertainment compared with going out and being ripped off and mugged. Could this be the future? As Virtual Reality improves, we'll be finding it replacing more and more of the "Real Life" things we currently take for granted.

Why travel on dangerous, expensive, and environmentally unfriendly airlines when you can immerse yourself in a Virtual holiday? Google Earth and Google Street, not to mention other "virtual sightseeing" options have recently taken a lot of big steps towards this. Although virtual reality interfaces have a long way to go before we can experience all the delights of a trip to somewhere beautiful, in the next few years it will be possible to walk down a foreign street on your computer screen, with the realism of a TV documentary. You'll be able to go into a real shop, select a real item from a real shelf, and make real purchases from the shops on this street, to be delivered to your door. In Second Life, you can already wander around the accurately recreated streets of Dublin and other major cities. Primitive as it is now, we'll soon be taking it for granted.


If you don't think that this will happen, that people will always travel, that we can never get a real sense of what a place is like without actually going there, ask yourself if you would go to the Antarctic. Or the Sahara. Or down to the bottom of the ocean. More likely, you'll be satisfied with your experiences of these places thanks to today's Virtual Reality device, the TV. Needless to say, some people will still seek out the real deal, but the majority of people will radically reduce the amount they travel.

It's not just long distance travel that will reduce, either. Why risk getting beaten up by drunken teenagers when you can sit in a virtual pub, chatting to people with similar interests from all over the world? Why go to the cinema to put up with some idiot crunching popcorn in your ear when you can stay at home and download the latest movie to watch on your 100 inch TV? Why go to the theatre when the performance can be streamed to said 100 inch TV? Why not sit in a virtual stadium to watch your favourite band, where, in the safety of your own home, you can take all the drugs you like without fear of being arrested? Why waste money on fuel to watch your favourite sports team play, when you could stay at home, viewing the action from any camera you wish?

The key is that stay-at-home entertainment will become better than going out, not to mention cheaper, safer, and better for the environment. A culture change on a massive scale is beginning, leading to many unknown implications. What business opportunities might this present?

Not only will replacements of the things we do in real life be options, but we'll enjoy altogether new forms of entertainment. Instead of a virtual pub, you could be having a drink with some like minded friends on the other side of the world...whilst building a city on a nearby planet. Or racing in the Grand Prix. Or slaying dragons. Massively Multiplayer Online Games already make these scenarios reality for millions of people, and they have the potential to become far more than just games. For many people these alternative realities are already more appealing than real reality - and this is while they are still merely primitive computer games. What about when they become fully immersive virtual reality environments, supplemented with complex life imitating software?

Why unplug?