Musing | Kenkyuu

Archive for the ‘Musing’ Category

The amazing power of software

Posted in Musing, Technology, tagged create, software, world on 9 July 2013| Leave a Comment »

Against any law of physics, you can create entire worlds out of nothing!

Google Glass and the Black Mirror

Posted in Musing, Technology, tagged black mirror, glass, Google, information overload, society on 6 April 2013| Leave a Comment »

In the future, thanks to the Grain, a chip which can be implanted on a hard drive in the brain,every single action that a person makes is recorded and may be played back. Liam, a lawyer, married with a child, suspects that his wife Fi is having a fling with the brash Jonas,whom they meet at a dinner party. After playing clips from his own ‘Grain’ his suspicions are confirmed, and he gets drunk and attacks Jonas, forcing the guilty pair to show him what is in their memory banks. In fact the affair has been going on for months and Liam attacks Jonas, demanding that he erase all memories of Fi from his brain. This, however, does not result in marital reconciliation.

The more I look at videos about Google Glass the more it reminds me of the Grain from “The Entire History of You”, Black Mirror s1e3.

I am not sure I share the enthusiasm with which Google speaks about its project. It’s definitely a technological wonder, but how will it affect personal relationship and society in general? What about split attention? Will we be able to handle the constant information flow?

Sometimes entrance barriers and usage fees (in terms of effort and time in this case) are useful. See for example the tragedy of commons. How will the ability to check Facebook every second of your waking time change your life?

Read Full Post »

Research makes you feel stupid

Posted in Fun, Musing, PhD, Research, tagged phd, research on 1 March 2013| Leave a Comment »

If it doesn’t, you’re not doing it right.

And on why research is not like sex.

Read Full Post »

Quote of the day

Posted in Musing, tagged fear, quote on 24 December 2012| Leave a Comment »

Face your fears or they will climb over your back.

Frank Herbert

Read Full Post »

Quote of the day

Posted in Musing, tagged attitude, philosophy, problem, quote on 7 November 2012| Leave a Comment »

The problem is not the problem.
The problem is your attitude about the problem.
Got that?

Anonymous

Read Full Post »

Democracy in the USA

Posted in Musing, tagged democracy, election, politics, USA, voter turnout, voting on 7 November 2012| Leave a Comment »

People usually think the USA are the epitome of democratic republic.

Two things that might be not so known in Europe:

Election mechanism. People do not elect the president in USA, the electoral college does. The electoral college is just a bunch of people nominated by the party. You need 270 votes to become president. Each state has a number of members of the college allotted and they go to the party that wins the state.
For Italians, this is not dissimilar from our “proportional” system, but a bit more messy. Basically, a candidate can win by popular vote (number of people voting the candidate) but lose by electoral college because of how votes are quantized, and a person voting in California has not the same voting power as a person voting in Alaska.
Turnout. In the last 40 years, the voter turnout for presidential elections in USA has always been between 50% and 60%. I repeat, it has always been less than 60%. In Italy we went from 95% in the ’70s to 80% in the last elections, and we are terribly worried about abstention. Have a look at some voter turnout statistics and be ready for a surprise.

Something to think about next time you speak about democracy.

Read Full Post »