TED: Dan Dennett - Dangerous Memes and Inoculations

This isn't a new idea. Neal Stephenson went on and on about it in Snow Crash. Ideas are memetic infections--and they can be dangerous. However, I came to a realization that I hadn't thought of until the end of Dan Dennet's TED talk: Ideas like the Flying Spaghetti Monster are a form of viral inoculation. It's like a flu shot to prepare you for the next idea--a more dangerous one--but, having experienced the vaccine, your mind is capable of fighting off real diseases. We must make satire in order to fully develop our minds around ideas and work out any kinks that may be laughable--but that may not be apparent, which without discovering leaves the unwitting to suffer the agony of believing in half-baked information.

From TED:

"Starting with the simple tale of an ant, philosopher Dan Dennett unleashes a devastating salvo of ideas, making a powerful case for the existence of memes -- concepts that are literally alive."

TED: Joachim de Posada - Eating Marshmellows

The research concept behind this is quite old but you've got to see the hilarious little girl in his experiment video. You'll know which one. Tell me if you piss yourself.

TED: Joachim de Posada - Eating Marshmellows

TED: Hans Rosling

I can't believe I haven't posted Hans Rosling's TED talks yet. He has the most awesome data visualization in the world. Check it out:

Hans Rosling Shows the Best Stats You've Ever Seen



Hans Rosling Shows Incredible HIV Data




Hans Rosling Revealing New Insights on Poverty

Library of Human Imagination \m/

OK, so jealous... I want my little girl to grow up in a house with a library like this one:






Read the
Wired Article

Watch the TED talk:

Malcolm Gladwell in Seattle

We left Code Name Alice at a friend's house tonight so we could see Malcolm Gladwell talk about his new book, Outliers--and talk generally about social sciences and some very interesting studies.

He actually talked about a lot more than his new book and it was a great presentation. I recommend seeing him if he comes to your area.

One of the great revelations was that our daughter's birthday will, potentially, dramatically change how well she does in school. This is because she was born in May. The cut off age for acceptance into school for the fall is a birthday in June. This means that if we put her in school at the socially proper age, she will be one of the youngest children in her class, which means she will be less mature, potentially not do as well in performing compared to older children (who have up to 11 months maturity on her) in the class and likely be told by her teachers (indirectly) that she isn't as good as the other kids (who happen to be older--an observation that nobody seems to make in the comparison). Conversely, if we wait and put her school the following year, she will be one of the oldest kids (if not the oldest) in class, which will make her the most mature kid in the class. This doesn't sound necessarily good at first, given that it's never fun to be the smartest person in the room (without much to learn from your peers). However, the teachers will treat her with more respect and think of her as more intelligent, thereby providing her with the healthy mentality that she can do anything if she puts her mind to it.

I am, of course, paraphrasing in a slightly awkward sickly thought process. His new book sounds like it's worth the read (although, I'm not sure any of his educational research is in there). Now I'm going to go curl up with a warm blanket and drink ancient Ninja healing elixir to ward off this fever.

Here he is on TED.com, with a very interesting anecdote about spaghetti sauce:

Haiku: Sick Wife + TED Talk of the Day

Wife is feeling sick
Must put the baby to sleep
No time to write now

Today is brought to you by the letter &, the color cheese and this TED talk:

Writing & Rives

Sometimes, I just want to write what comes to mind but I find that no language could express it. I just want to garble and blurb, pound my hands against the keys so you can hear it. I long for the future that promises a decanter for mental imagery. Is that cheating? Just to pour out your thoughts through some electrical wiring and onto a hard drive, or maybe let it float up into the ether so it can dance and meld with other people's thoughts? An open mental space... that's what I want, someday.

Today, I just want you to take a minute to listen to my favorite contemporary stand-up poet, Rives, as he tells you what it would be like if he controlled the internet:

Gever Tulley: 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

For those of you with children (or thoughts of children) who will not be going to ninja training camps, Tinkering School is a nice alternative. It allows your children to be subjected to danger, while training them on proper handling of deadly weapons... er... tools.

However, if you are planning to enroll your child in ninja training for future placement in the Ninjalympics, I recommend getting familiar with what it takes: