[	Current Location	|	4th Floor Comm Building	]
[	mood	|	excited	]
[	music	|	Evanescense - The Open Door	]

Okay, so I was in a gothic mood and I was looking for haunted things.  I started by typing things into the search button and for the most I got casinos.  That's creepy - a haunted casino.  But here are my finidings.

The first location is Merlin's Lair (Murinata 123, 244, 90).  I was expecting something along the lines of King Arthur motif.  Instead, I found a house that felt like a Dracula location - like his home or something.  There were chairs that told me to relax, I didn't sit in them.  However, I did stir a cauldron with red liquid.  I guess I was contributing to the collective alchemist.  The description mentioned a night club but I never found one.

The second location was much more interesting.  It's called The Haunted Mansion at Wolfhaven (Mullein 232, 23, 401).  This is more like what I was looking for.  It was kind of like a spooky maze.  There were transparent skulls and ghosts lining the walls.  Some of the rooms required solving a puzzle.  For the most part, it was simply walking around and finding the next arrow to point you in the direction until, the forest!  This was weird.  I was suddenly enclosed in a box with some freaky trees.  Then I got a message telling me that there was a way out of the room, I just needed to find it.  Well, the trees seeemed like the only thing to click on, so I tried that.  I also tried flying, but that didn't work either.  I am definitely going to have to return to the Haunted Mansion because I will need to figure out how to escape without cheating and teleporting.

My final stop was at the Devil's Labrynth (Rivata 178, 177, 45).  Now, this place was cool.  Upon landing in the environment, I received a message that requested that I "force midnight."  This was a clever touch.  I was told to walk through the double doors.  The first set I touched, the doors would not open.  Neither would the second.  I decided to just walk into the doors.  Well, I walked right through them.  Really creepy!  These people are creepy.  I was in a room that seemed to be an homage to John Doe from the David Fincher film, Se7en.  Skulls and brains in jars.  Once again, I didnt see a way out of this room so I started walking into walls and I eventually found myself in room with puzzles.  Oh, the description said it was another maze-type place.  This was more than just a walk through.  This was a puzzle solving place.  The motif was interesting.  It felt like the structure was built on a volcano of some sort.

I am going to have to return to the 2nd and 3rd places and see if I can navigate my way through them.  Could be interesting! 

My biggest question with the Friedman piece is whether or not the world can be made "round" again?  Will these new technologies suddenly become obsolete (forcing the world into a new state of round-ness) and the newer technologies will attempt to make the world flat again?  Or will there be some apocalyptic event that puts everyone back in the stone age and we start all over again with a priest, a rabbi, and a minister.
I mean, there has to be some ending point for these technologies right?  Can the technology really keep improving on itself (never mind the rate of improvement)?  Or does technology move into a new direction like detecting a physical manifestation of religion?
I find Friedman's tone to be interesting.  There is really not anything negative about the tone.  There is nothing that would lead the reader to believe that Friedman believes that these technologies are bad for the world.  Sure, he feels kind of jealous at the technological progress of (mostly Eastern) other nations as compared to that of the United States.  Does he feel like these technologies help?  Or are they neutral?  The tone here supports a reading much like that of a history book.  Friedman is just reporting the facts.  These things happened.  Deal with it!
Over the past couple of weeks I have begun to feel like an old soul.  I love communications.  But the field really seems to be moving forward so quickly.   My interest lies in film and the technology (yes, the literal film reels are old, but that is not what I mean) is old.  Film, meaning movies, feels like old hat.  What else is there to explore?

P.S.  There might be a link to my mini-page tomorrow.

Response to Bill Joy

It is interesting that the Unabomber is quoted in this article by Bill Joy.  What does it say that this man, once thought to be a terrorist, is now considered a scholar on the subject The Singularity?  Is Kaczynski a mindless thug who enjoys exploding buildings or is he now considered a learned man looking back and saying, “Hey, I told you so.”  Granted, there are other ways to get one’s message across, but the fact is, he may have been right.  I have a relative who has a titanium hip.  My family used to joke that she was The Terminator.  Is it really a joke anymore?  Perhaps what were once jokes are now black comedy.

I definitely sympathize with Joy.  He seems to really struggle with his role in the development of new technologies.  The struggle is certainly a valid one.  Can a balance be struck between the development of robots and “bettering” humans?

Response to Kurzweil

I feel as if the snowball is already rolling down the hill and there is no way to stop the increasing mechanization of humans.  Already, humans insert mechanical devices in their ear in order to hear better and the technology has been modified to fit a wide array of audible settings.  Are shoes technology?  They provide protection against the elements and support.  Every time I take a pill for a headache, allergies, or any other problem, I am inserting chemicals into my system.  Psychological medications seem to be scarier.  Pills can be taken to alter “chemical imbalances” in the brain.  Once taken, will a brain ever be the same?  Has it been altered forever?  It seems that the debate can come full circle.  Are we not already born with machines inside us?  Is our liver a machine?  Our brain sends signals to the rest of the body much like a computer telling its monitor to display certain images.

Eckersley’s response to Kurzweil confuses me.  He believes that pre-technological humans didn’t necessarily “lead nasty lives and brutish lives.”  Well, that’s all fine and dandy but don’t these people want to better themselves.  It all seems to start pretty innocently.

“Hey Bob, you’re living in the past with that antique bow and arrow.”

“Oh, and I suppose you have a better idea Tom?”

“Well, yes I do: a musket!”

Now, that isn’t necessarily mechanizing one’s body but I believe a slippery slope exists.  It’s like gateway drugs.  Kurzweil’s response seems to be absolutely correct although depressing.

Response to the Einstein letters

These letters are particularly disturbing to me because Einstein seems to make no mention of the potential capability of such a weapon.  True he did say that if a ship sailed into port and the bomb exploded that it might take out the entire harbor.  Perhaps the destructive power is mentioned but nothing in regards to the long lasting biological effects.  Maybe this an age old tune, but it seems we should really know what we are dealing with when investigating pregnant technologies.

Speculation on the next 10 years

Well, geez!  Perhaps this is further down the road, but does anybody remember the advertising technology in Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002).  An advertising “machine” (seems like such a vague term now that I think about it) scans ones eyes and then personalizes the advertising message to your needs.  I thought it was a pretty sweet invention even within a film where technology is being ridiculed and corrupt.  How can technology be corrupt?  Was that just a personification?  ACK!

In ten years the concept of the cell phone will be totally different.  In fact, I believe cell phones will be obsolete.  The device will be completely inner ear.  Dialing would involve some sort of signal sent to a tiny device in your own ear.  I am not sure how it will work.

As I type on this keyboard here I am thinking about what might happen to the keyboard.  Perhaps thoughts will be imported from the brain directly to the computer.  ACK! My head hurts.