For years, YouTube got a rap as the place to watch cats on keyboards and stupid people tricks. Funny? Absolutely. Smart? Not so much. However, there are a number of YouTube creators who are now making savvy, entertaining videos about or inspired by science...and I'm not just talking about obvious choices like snippets from the TED Conference.
Over the last several weeks while prepping for the International Academy of Web Televison Awards, which honor the best in online programming, I fell down the rabbit hole of YouTube browsing far too often. Here are just a few of the folks worth checking out. Pieces range from the educational to the wacky to the lovely...
This YouTube channel is from creator Hank Green,who is heavily involved in several different YouTube endeavours, including executive producing The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a sassy online modernized adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Green has a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry and a master's degree in Environmental Studies, and the segments on his SciShow channel explain both basic and more involved scientific concepts. Green's casual, entertaining delivery helps the information he delivers about topics ranging from fracking to dark matter to biofilm go down easy, allowing even the science novice to walk away feeling like he or she understands something new.
This one's for those of you who like pretty pictures. UltraSlo features the work of Emmy Award winner Alan Teitel, who with his UltraSlo Studio, creates cool slow-motion videos of nature, explosions and random things like (false) teeth falling into a glass. Many of the videos have a psychedelic quality to them, such as this one of a humming bird, so this is the channel to check out when you feel like chilling for awhile...
Rhett and Link This
award-winning duo comprised of life-long best friends Rhett McLaughlin
and Link Neal has created or been featured in over 500 web videos,
including sketches, non-scripted reality pieces and music videos. In
2009, they were musical correspondents for the Science Channel's BRINK.
The wrote songs and made music videos for three episodes, including
"Hello (The S.E.T.I. Song)."
I always wanted a science teacher like Steve Spangler. He's done a lot of things - he's a science writer, teacher, and toy designer - but you're probably most familiar with his work with candy. Yep, he's the guy who dropped Mentos into a bottle of soda and created a cultural phenomenon in the early days of online video. Luckily, he's got a whole YouTube channel, as well as a website, dedicated to bringing more wacky experiments to the public.
And if you feel like taking a walk down memory lane, here's the original September 2005 Mentos geyser video:
Looking for something fun for the science lover on your list?
Dvice.com has a neat list of "11 Cheap Gifts Bound to Impress Science Geeks." From plushy microbes to Mars rocks, the list includes items for both adults and kids. My favorites are the Gallium samples and the Aerogel.
GALLIUM As described on dvice.com:
Gallium is a silvery metal with atomic number 31. It's used in
semiconductors and LEDs, but the cool thing about it is its melting
point, which is only about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. If you hold a solid
gallium crystal in your hand, your body heat will cause it to slowly
melt into a silvery metallic puddle. Pour it into a dish, and it freezes
back into a solid.
This video from the Periodic Table of Videos shows how Gallium will melt in the hand, and features a cool experiment called "the beating heart" where the scientists use sulfuric acid to change the surface tension of a gallium sample. Sidenote: Video is also worth watching for the fantastic hair on Scientist #2.
AEROGEL
I had my first experience with Aerogel when I was at the NASA Social for the Mars Curiosity landing at the Jet Propulsion Lab, and we got to see a sample of it. You can get your very own piece of the world's lowesty density solid over at ThinkGeek.com. This QUEST Lab piece gives the basics on the substance, including a little blowtorch demo showing off its insulation properties.
SCI-JEWELRY
GeekSugar's gift suggestions trend more towards the scientific lifestyle, with suggestions ranging from Laboratory Beaker Mugs to the Hungry Scientist Handbook. I'm a girl who likes her jewelry, so I am partial to the DNA Ladder Earrings from NB Designs. The shop on Etsy has a whole bunch of science-themed pieces, including Petri Dish earrings and a Bacterium tie tac.
SCI-SLEEPOVER
If you're looking for something a bit more experiential, Business Insider's suggested gift list features a night at the American Museum of Natural History. Bring your sleeping bag and a flashlight, and get ready to frolic after-hours at the Museum before settling down to slumber beneath the big blue whale.
SETIcon II Just what is it about CA and the 'Cons? VidCon starts on Thursday in Anaheim, Comic-Con is right around the corner in July in San Diego, and this past weekend, the SETIcon II hit Santa Clara. And just what is SETIcon? As explained on the event's website:
SETIcon brings together innovative scientists, science fiction authors, space and science artists, space lovers, and the curious and adventurous everywhere for a 3-day public celebration and exploration of space, real science, technology, imagination, and science education.There is no other event in the world like SETIcon that explores space and the human imagination through the lens of real science, attracting global interest and participation. This is not a science conference with technical lectures (SETI Institute scientists lecture all over the world). Instead we’ll bring together scientists with authors and artists to celebrate science and exchange ideas around space exploration and our place in the cosmos. SETIcon will create a new channel of discussion between Earthlings where real science and imagination will meet.
I'm all for increased discussion amongst Earthlings about that sweet spot where science & creativity meet! Unfortunately, I couldn't go myself, so what's a modern girl to do? Absorb some of the conference vicariously via Twitter, YouTube and the blogosphere.
If you search for #Seticon on Twitter, you'll find some nuggets from the conference. Here are a few that caught my eye:
Jenny Ryan @tubebananas: If I can inspire others to do science thru sci fiction & dreaming, then my work has not been so silly as it seems -Robert Picardo #SETIcon
Camilla Corona @Camilla_SDO: Doug Vakoch: Humans are very visually oriented. What if other life forms rely on other senses? #SETIcon #AlienLanguages
Jeff Foust @jeff_foust: Doug Vakoch: what we read into any extraterrestrial message will say more about us than about them. #SETIcon
Marimikel Charrier @Marimikel: People see space as for rocket scientists & billionaires. We need to change that & show how space affects us all. - @maejemison#SETICon
Now, if all these tweets have got your jonesing for more detailed coverage, take a few minutes to read Rebecca Boyle's post on PopSci about the event, where she uses sentences with more than 140 characters to describe it.
...hundreds of space enthusiasts and science evangelists came together to ask questions, buy and wear awesome T-shirts, and talk with breathless, uninhibited glee about the crazy science that keeps them up at night. Luminaries like Frank Drake and Bill Nye, along with planetary scientists, “Star Trek” actors and educators, filled two days of talks. Topics included antagonistic aliens, panspermia (“planetary spit-swapping happens,” SETI scientist Dale Andersen said), robot rights and the 100-Year Starship. It’s the only convention, as one person said, where people will be glad to tell you which of Saturn’s rings is his favorite, or which extremophile is the best.
She goes on to talk about the abundance of science tattoos; the environment created by the unique mix of science professionals and enthusiasts; and folks who have changed jobs midway through life to make careers out of their curiousity about space exploration.
The Hangover Explained The fact that you missed SETIcon II driving you to drink? Well, if you're going to imbibe, at least do so with the understanding of how the alcohol will affect your body. Y'all know I love creative science vids, so check out this smart-board animation piece from ASAPScience: WHAT CAUSES A HANGOVER?
There's more video fun from creators Mitchell Moffit (@mitchellmoffit) and Gregory Brown (@whalewatchmeplz) on their YouTube channel, including HOW TO SEE OR HEAR THE BIG BANG. They have a fun presentation style, and ridiculously good handwriting.
In addition to the vids, there's an interesting argument in the comments on the BIG BANG piece about the show MINUTE PHYSICS and whether or not ASAPScience is a rip off of it. MINUTE PHYSICS has been on my list o'things to watch for quite awhile now, so I figured this was a particularly appropriate moment to check it out (hey, if I'm actually writing about YouTube videos, then watching them can't be considered procrastination, right?).
There's definitely a shared visual style here. Is it a rip off? An homage? Or as commenter keepcalmcarryon1939 writes of ASAPScience:
Should we shun Neil deGrasse Tyson because Brian Greene was popular for trying to engage the public in science first? Or shun Brian Greene because Bill Nye did it before him? Or maybe we should shun Bill Nye because he liked to talk about science, even though Carl Sagan had his own television show way before Bill Nye did.
It's not about about who did what first. The important thing is that so many people are interested in talking about science. And that, friends, is really spectacular.
The science nerdling in me agrees - the more engaging ways we have to talk and learn about science, the better. However, the artist in me wonders if I might be a bit ticked off if I felt someone had copied or borrowed my unique take on how to explore science...even if the "borrower" explicitly stated that I had been an inspiration for their creation. Would I feel flattered? Or like calling my lawyer? Thoughts?
[Source: Thanks to The Daily Dot for bringing ASAPScience to my attention].
Wellcome Image Awards 2012
OK, this one's not for those with a weak stomach. The Wellcome Image Awards, from the Wellcome Trust, were presented on June 20th in London. The winner is a photo of a living human brain. Robert Ludlow took it during a surgical procedure on a patient with epilepsy. And while I'm usually somewhat squeamish about such things, I found myself gazing at the photo for longer than I would have thought my delicate sensibilities could handle, amazed at its vibrancy. I'm so used to seeing dull, lifeless brains floating around in jars (um, yes, I watch a lot of sci fi)...was incredible to see the living brain captured in all it's glory, looking so JUICY!
So just what are these fancy awards all about? Says the Trust's website:
Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images and a member of the judging panel, said: "The Wellcome Image Awards are unique in that the winners are chosen for their scientific and technical merit as much as for their aesthetic appeal. They offer people a chance to get closer to science and research and see it in a different way, as a source of beauty, as well as providing important information about ourselves and the world around us."
Credit Robert Ludlow,Wellcome Images Intracranial recording for epilepsy. Surface of human brain in situ
You can see the entire collection of photos at WellcomeImageAwards.org, including my two other favorites: a striking shot of caffeine crystals and a very cool pic of connective tissue removed from a human knee.
When one thinks art, "cockroach" isn't the term that usually comes to mind. However, a group of visual artists profiled in THE NEW YORK TIMES article "Of Compost, Molecules and Insects, Art Is Born" find their inspiration in such unlikely, organic subjects. Examples of such art are currently on display in the show “Dead or Alive,” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. Reports Natalie Angier:
The museum recently hosted a round-table luncheon in which scientists
and artists addressed the hardy evergreen issue of how much the arts
and sciences had in common and where they differed. The basic
conclusion: both enterprises are important, difficult, creative, driven
by insatiable curiosity and a desire to solve problems, but artists are
allowed to make stuff up and scientists really shouldn’t.
Helen Altman creates skull-shaped, spice-enhanced sculptures to turn death into a "sweet" thing; this made me think of my trip to Rome in 2008 during which I visited the Capuchin Crypt. The small space features artwork created out of the bones of over 4000 Capuchin friars who died between 1528 and 1870. Though some might find it a bit macabre, I was fascinated by it. Clearly, the bones hadn't just been thrown up on the walls - someone had to sort the bones and design the intricately constructed images I was now looking at, such as that of a skeleton surrounded by angel wings created out of pelvic bones.
As a writer, the Crypty piqued my curiosity about what kind of person would have been able to find the beauty in the bones. Did he or she see him/herself as an artist? As someone sentenced to a horrible task? Did they view it as a service to the dead? Angier's article shows that finding inspiration in such unusual materials is not a lost art.
Perhaps a clue from an inscription in the Crypt:
"Quello che voi siete noi eravamo; Quello che noi siamo voi sarete." What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be."
2. NEANDERTHAL + MODERN HUMAN SITTIN' IN A TREE...K-I-S-S-I-N-G...
Next time someone says you're acting like a Neanderthal, you may be able to reply, "Well, that's because we share DNA." As reported by Chris Stringer in TimesOnline,
In this week’s issue of the journal Science, a truly
international team of more than 50 researchers have published their findings
from a reconstructed Neanderthal genome of more than three billion bits of
DNA coding...Using
massive improvements in DNA recovery techniques and computing power, three
small fragments of bone excavated from the Croatian cave of Vindija have
provided most of the sequence. These three female Neanderthals who died
around 40,000 years ago have been immortalised through their DNA.
The Neanderthal genome was compared to those of 5 modern day humans. Turns out that if you are European, Asian or New Guinean,
the research suggests you may have between 1%-4% in common with the Neanderthal genome. Not so much so if you are from Africa, although researchers only looked at the genomes of a west African and a south African. A mixture would have been more likely to occur in someone from northeast Africa.
For a more in depth look at this story, including video commentary and a timeline of Neandertal-related discoveries, check out Science Magazine's special online feature on the Neandertal Genome.
3. LOS ANGELES EVENTS
If you're looking for something fun & science-y (& free!) to do in Los Angeles on Friday, May 7th, stop by Griffith Observatory for ALL SPACE CONSIDERED, their monthly astronomy update. Topics this month include the first images of the sun from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, volcanoes in the solar system, the May sky report, and birthday celebrations for both Griffith (75!) and the Hubble telescope (20). The event is held in the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater from 7:30-9:15pm
1. Thursday, April 22nd was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, with celebrations of Mother Nature around the globe. The Earth Day 2010 Action Center, a project of the Earth Day Network, has a variety of resources including sections for campaigns, events, petitions, action pledges and organizing tools.
On Sunday, April 25th, the Earth Day Climate Rally will take place in Washington, DC, on the National Mall from 11am - 7pm, with the goal of urging the government to enact comprehensive climate legislation. If you can't make it to DC, the event will be streamed live on EarthDay.org. The line up looks pretty dang impressive, as well as entertaining. According to the Earth Day Network:
The Climate Rally will include notable speakers Reverend Jesse Jackson,
film director James Cameron, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,
Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong, producer Trudie Styler, author
Margaret Atwood, NFL player and television personality Dhani Jones,
environmental photographer Sebastian Copeland and many more.
The rally will also feature live music from Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Jimmy Cliff, Passion Pit and Joss Stone, among others.
Need some inspiration? In a piece at The Huffington Post, Gene Karpinski, President, League of Conservation Voters, urges the public to look at Earth Day as more than just a yearly opportunity to install energy efficient light bulbs.
We can let ourselves once again be inspired to act boldly and think
big. We can rally for new laws to ensure that all Americans can enjoy
the clean air and water we asked for forty years ago. We can demand
legislation that curbs global warming pollution and creates the jobs of
the future. Perhaps most importantly, we can tell our legislators that
the time for action is now. Since January 1st, over one million
Americans have contacted their senators urging them to pass a
comprehensive clean energy and climate bill this year.
National DNA Day is a unique day when students, teachers and the public can learn more about genetics
and genomics! The day commemorates the completion of the Human Genome
Project in April 2003, and the discovery of DNA's double helix.
A moderated chat was held from 8am - 6pm during which NHGRI Director Eric Green,
M.D., Ph.D. and genomics experts from across the institute and around
the nation took questions from students, teachers and the general
public on topics ranging from basic genomic research, to the genetic
basis of disease, to ethical questions about genetic privacy. My favorite li'l tip: when a 9th grader asked the easiest way to remember the complementary base pairs, Sarah Harding, M.P.H. responded:
I'm sure people have different ways to remember, but one option is to
remember that G and C are both curvy letters, so they go together. That
leaves A to pair with T.
3. For a little piece of outer space you can touch, head out to southwestern Wisconsin. If you're lucky, perhaps you can find a bit of debris from the that fireball streaked across the sky on the night of Wednesday, April 14th. As described by Space.com:
A camera mounted to a campus building at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison caught the Wisconsin
meteor's explosive demise. The meteor's sonic boom and explosion were also
seen and heard by numerous witnesses, and sparked frantic 911 emergency calls
across six different states, according to the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
1. The annual TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) took place from February 9-13, 2010, in Long Beach, CA, and videos of talks from the event are slowly rolling out online. Overwhelmed by all the video goodies? GOOD has put together a collection of their 10 favorites so far. Lots of science & medical folk features in their picks, including biochemist and cell biologist Mark Roth, vaccine researcher Seth Berkeley and spider silk scientist Cheryl Hayashi.
2. Y'all know my fondness for well-crafted commercials. In honor of the just-finished Olympics, here's a trippy gem from AT&T of Gretchen Bleiler snowboarding into space set to Lou Reed's "Perfect Day."
3. And speaking of random collisions of space and pop culture, Dancing with the Stars will take on a whole new meaning when this season debuts on March 22nd. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be joining the cast, which also includes the likes of Shannen Doherty, Kate Gosselin and skater Evan Lysacek.
4. I've been keeping an eye on the new interactive series Future States, a project from ITVS (Independent Television Service). Eleven fictional digital shorts explore possible future scenarios through the lens of
today’s global realities. ITVS asked a group of filmmakers to take the current state of affairs in the
United States, and extrapolate them into stories of the nation in the
not-so-distant future. The result is an exploration of social issues, with elements of speculative and science fiction. Along with the shorts, there are also a variety of interactive elements featured on the Future States site, including the usual sharing tools plus a nifty Predict-O-Meter. This allows users to enter their own future predictions, as well as see what others think is in store.
Right now I'm consumed with all things film, as I get ready for the Sundance Film Fest. So here's a special movie edition of the Lush List, highlighting some of the science-related films that will be playing at this year's fest (descriptions courtesy of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Guide).
1. Splice The classic monster film gets a deliciously sadistic twist in Vincenzo
Natali's contemporary dissection of the genetic-engineering dilemma. Clive
and Elsa are young, brilliant, and ambitious. The new animal species
they engineered has made them rebel superstars of the scientific world.
In secret, they introduce human DNA into the experiment. The result is
something that is greater than the sum of its parts: a female
animal/human hybrid that may be a step up on the evolutionary ladder.
They think they may have created the perfect organism—until she makes a
final, shocking metamorphosis that could destroy them—and the rest of
humanity.
In an age where creating life is a near-scientific possibility, the terrifying premise of Splice
takes on hauntingly powerful implications. Sarah Polley and Adrien
Brody deliver nuanced performances, and Natali's lurid special effects
and dazzling visual design create a modern-day horror film that will
make you scream, squirm, and think.
2. Climate Refugees If global warming is our planet’s most pressing issue, large-scale
population displacement is the human consequence. Massive continental
migration is already under way, and diminished natural resources
continue to threaten the lives of millions. The quickly
submerging islands of Tuvalu in the South Pacific, drought-affected
regions of Sudan, storm-susceptible coastlines of Bangladesh, and
rapidly expanding deserts in China are forcing millions to relocate
beyond their borders. Who will accept these refugees, and how will they
impact their adopted homeland?
Filmmaker Michael Nash spent
two years traversing the globe, visiting these and other hot spots
where rising sea levels are threatening millions of people’s survival.
Strong visuals and potent testimony from the victims of climate change,
politicians, scientists, relief organizations, and authors help sound
the alarm for instituting new policies and working together to create
solutions to cope with this imminent crisis. Climate Refugees fervently captures the human fallout of climate change.
3. Space Tourists Anousheh Ansari has dreamt of going into outer space since she was a
child. A number of years and $20 million later, with the help of the
Russian space program, her dream is realized—Ansari becomes the first
female space tourist. In recent years, a number of private citizens
like Ansari have been willing to endure rigorous training in Star City,
Kazakhstan, and part with significant funds to spend time aboard the
International Space Station.
Director Christian Frei (The Giant Buddhas,
Sundance Film Festival 2006) explores the impact of space tourism in
the heavens and on Earth by adeptly weaving together multiple strands:
Ansari’s joyous experience in orbit; the efforts of local villagers to
claim black-market rocket debris; the observations of photographer
Jonas Bendiksen; and the training of the next space tourist in line. Space Tourists examines the intersections of human enterprise and commerce in the final frontier.
4. Cane Toads: The Conquest The cane toads are ba-a-a-ck! But this time those pesky varmints are
coming at you in glorious 3-D. In 1988, filmmaker Mark Lewis had
tongues wagging when he unleashed his celebrated documentary Cane Toads: An Unnatural History,
exposing a bizarre biological blunder. Here, Lewis takes a giant leap
forward as he revs up the technology, once again tracking the
unstoppable march of the cane toad across the Australian continent.
Reviled by many, adored by a few, the toad has gripped Australia's
consciousness, achieving both cult and criminal status. Imported to
save the sugar cane crop, the toad’s spread is considered one of
Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophes. Yet for a world
awakening to the daunting prospect that we have forever altered our
ecosystem, this is a story of global implication. With its tongue not
so firmly in its cheek, Cane Toads: The Conquest is a comic, yet provocative, journey of a species that has already invaded planet Earth.
5. And one final piece of film news that's not Sundance related...Leonardo DiCaprio Gets Spacey
Leonardo DiCaprio will narrate Hubble 3-D, a new Imax film set to be released in theaters on March 19th. According to Variety, the film includes spacewalks by astronauts required to service the telescope. The project brings back the Space Station 3D filmmaking team, led by producer/director Toni Myers; James Neihouse is director of photography and the astronaut crew trainer.
Less posting than usual lately due to the combo of holiday travel, and demands to tie up work projects before the end of the year. I spent Thanksgiving in Chicago with my husband's family, where a highlight was visiting the Museum of Science and Industry with my three-year-old nephew Avery. It was a tie as to who thought the visit was more magical - Avery was amazed by the fake snow (holiday exhibit) and the huge tractor he got to 'drive' in the farm exhibit. I was mesmerized by the Apollo 8 spacecraft in the Henry Crown Space Center. And we both though the Chick Hatchery in the genetics exhibit was pretty rockin', albeit for different reasons. This holiday, I was thankful that there are still places like the Museum that inspire wonder and curiosity...and that I haven't become jaded enough to be immune to their charms.
The chick hatchery at the Museum of Science and Industry
I spent last week frolicking at AFI FEST, the annual film festival produced by the American Film Institute. Normally, I see a ton of movies, but this year I was tasked with covering AFI's DigiFest, a two-day event that showcases the work occurring at the Digital Content Lab, along with a curated presentation of cutting-edge sites, mobile applications and creative experiments in the digital space. For more on that, keep an eye out for my upcoming article on www.documentary.org.
Fortunately, I was able to make some time for movies, including Barry Ptolemy's TRANSCENDENT MAN, a documentary about inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. Made with Kurzweil's cooperation, the film examines the theories of the acclaimed author of THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR (2005), as well as his personal history. In addition to lots of featured screen time for Kurzweil, director Ptolemy has included interviews with a number of scientists, writers and futurists. He's included thoughts from both detractors and supporters of Kurzweil's ideas, including inventor Dean Kamen; Robert Metcalfe, Co-Inventor of the Ethernet; and Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading.
The film opens with a primer on Kurzweil's background and accomplishments. At the age of 17, he appeared on the show I'VE GOT A SECRET, playing music written by a computer he built. Among other devices, he
was the chief inventor of the flat bed scanner, a reading machine for
the blind and the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the
grand piano. He holds numerous patents, as well as 16 honorary
Doctorates, and received the National Medal of Technology from
President Clinton in 1999.
TRANSCENDENT MAN explores Kurzweil's belief that there will be a "singularity," a future period when the pace of technological change is so rapid that humanity will not be able to handle it unless we borrow from the technology we are creating. Kurzweil's basis for this idea comes from mathematical models he constructed of the rates at which technology has evolved over the years, and the observation that information technology is advancing in an exponential – as opposed to linear – fashion. He predicts that the singularity will take place in 2045.
NEWSWEEK did a piece on the film in May 2009 after it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and does a lovely job of explaining exponential growth.
Kurzweil makes predictions based on a notion that he calls "the law of accelerating returns," which holds that technology does not advance in a linear fashion but rather at an exponential rate. It's the difference between 1-2-3-4-5 and 1-2-4-8-16. Go out 10 steps and the linear string has reached 10, while the exponential string is hitting 512. With an exponential progression, at first, when the numbers are small, the progress doesn't look like much. But each new breakthrough enables the next breakthrough to occur more quickly, so the rate of change accelerates. Represented on a graph, the line of progress looks like a hockey stick—it's flat for some years, and then there's a sudden rise, which gets misinterpreted as a sudden breakthrough when really it's just the continuation of an exponential progression, Kurzweil says.
In the film, Kurzweil states that the most important phenomenon in the universe is intelligence, and that developments in three key areas will bring about the singularity. Advances in genetics and biotech will allow us to reprogram our biology away from disease and aging. Developments in nanotechnology will lead to microscopic machines, smaller than blood cells, which will enhance our health from within our own bodies. Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will allow us to go beyond the limits of human intelligence and do li'l things like back up our brains.
Kurzweil makes no secret of the fact that he doesn't accept death, and that he believes that technology is the road to a form of immortality. This is where the film goes beyond being just another talking heads science program. Ptolemy delves into Kurzweil's family history, suggesting that his father's early death is partially responsible for the scientist's fascination with eternal life. Kurzweil was just 22 when his father passed away in 1970. He fully expects to be able to bring his dad – or a very close facsimile – back to "life" one day using a variety of technological advances, DNA information and artifacts from his father's life. Kurzweil may be a genius, but he's also a pack rat, and has boxes and boxes of letters, music, and artifacts from his father's life packed away until they can be applied to Dad 2.0.
So is Kurzweil a crackpot, brilliant...or both? He's got his fair share of supporters, such as Peter Diamandis, chairman and founder of the X Prize Foundation. Diamandis has signed on as Kurzweil's partner in Singularity University, a nine-week summer program which describes itself as an "interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges."
Others, however, take issue with Kurzweil on a number of different fronts. In the film, Dr. Hugo de Garis, a professor at Xiamen University under contract to build China's first artificial brain, says that neuroscience is still determining what intelligence actually is. He doesn't think Kurzweil takes into account the potential negative impact of these developments (something the fans of the The Terminator would probably agree with). This doom-and-gloom attitude doesn't faze Kurzweil; he responds to this criticism that the challenge of the 21st century will be to keep AI's "friendly," reflecting human values.
Supporter Diamandis expresses the idea that people who resist the process of being "upgraded" are actually resisting evolution, and won't survive. For me, this brings up the more philosophical question: at what point do we evolve into something completely different than that which we currently define as human? And is that "different thing" necessarily a bad thing?
After the film, there was a Q&A with Kurzweil and AFI programmer Lane Kneedler. An audience member asked Kurzweil his thoughts about immortality, posing the question: what is the point of creation once there is no death to frame meaning? The futurist answered that all limitations will not be thrown away, as there will always be a boundary of ignorance that we will aspire to conquer. He said, "I think death is a tragedy because it's a great loss. It robs us of what gives life meaning: having relationships...and creating."
Another audience member questioned Kurzweil about the where creativity fits in to his vision of the future, citing the example that an iPhone can download Shakespeare, but can't appreciate it. Intelligence and interpretation are not the same thing.
Kurzweil responded confidently, stating that while emotional intelligence is at the cutting edge of human intelligence, ultimately it's still a process that takes place in the brain. This means that when we complete the reverse engineering of the brain – which Kurzweil believes will happen within the next 20 years – we'll understand how emotional intelligence works just as we will every other activity that takes place in the brain. And once we comprehend those basic principles, we'll then be able to create systems that amplify them. Thus, the fusion of man and machine won't make us less human...we'll just understand much more about the processes that we currently define as human.
Interesting post by Olivia Judson on "The Wild Side" in The New York Times about animal size. While on a trip to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, she became fascinated with the pygmy shrew, a teeny tiny mammal that weighs just a few grams.
In the piece, Judson muses on the potential causes of size differences in animals, such as how it affects the ability to fight, reproduce, and survive cold and heat. I was particularly fascinated by her question about how an animal knows what size it is supposed to be. What tells a creature to stop growing?
I have a personal connection to that question. I hit my grand size of 4'11" when I was 12. And then that was it! Puberty and family history combined to register me in the "petite" category for the rest of my days.
I have no problems being short. I kinda dig it, in fact. I have a feeling I'd be an entirely different person if I knew what it was like to see the tops of people's heads on a regular basis. I enjoy jumping up on counters to reach the stuff on the higher shelves. And I love that I can comfortably curl up in a coach airline seat and take a snooze. The only time it becomes problematic is when I go to concerts...I've pretty much given up on seeing anything where I have to stand and watch. There's always going to be some big dude in front of me blocking the view.
And speaking of guys, for a long time I was one of those girls that tall women hate. I was the short girl who dated tall men. The majority of my boyfriends throughout my life have ranged between 6'0" - 6'3", with an occasional 6'6" giant thrown in for fun. I used to blame it on biology, saying that tall men were attracted to short women because that meant our kids would come out average, and thus have the best chance of survival. Somehow, I don't think that comforted my glamazon lady friends.
To read Judson's full post, which includes a great list of notes/sources at the end, click here.
