Can the GOP #TellTheTruth ?
Can the GOP #TellTheTruth
I am a Republican. I canvassed for Richard Nixon before I knew what the word canvassing meant. I believe in the fundamentals of states rights, smaller government and the separation of church and state. I feel that we should have a tax system that taxes everyone fairly and does not allow the wealthy to exploit loopholes and tax shelters that can only be discovered by accountants and lawyers. I believe in a woman’s right to choose, equal rights and that every American citizen should receive a decent education and be healthy enough to take advantage of it. I think it is a crime that even though we are the wealthiest nation on earth we fail to be one of the top 20 nations when it comes to Math, Reading and Science scores.
I am over 50 years old and I know that our nation’s future success will come from the hard work of our youth and the immigrants who come here to find the American dream. I do not support organizations that preach hatred and, while I believe in the importance of our Bill of Rights and the right to bear arms, I do not think this should include the right to carry assault weapons or handguns.
I think marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and I applaud the states that are legalizing it. I believe that with 10% of our population behind bars we have too many, not too few people incarcerated and we need to seriously address this issue and take the profit out of running penitentiaries and courts.
I believe that climate change is real and that it is the result of human activity. I believe we can and need to do something about it now and this does not include drilling or fracking for more petroleum resources. I believe we need to prevent deforestation and other big business actions that enrich the few at the expense of the many.
I believe in all of these things and I believe in science and Evolution. I believe my Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish friends and neighbors have the right to worship their God and the right to keep these activities separate from our local and federal government.
What I do not believe is how most of our current presumed GOP presidential candidates lack the will to state what I have stated, one way or the other, without ambiguity or obfuscation. I think honesty and candor amongst our elected officials should be table stakes. If we are to choose the government we wish to govern, do we not deserve to know what they truly stand for?
Lastly, I think that the Citizens United bill has sold out our political process to the highest bidder and I will not be surprised when big business and the Koch brothers control our future government.
This took me all of 20 minutes to write, and while it may not qualify me for our nation’s top office, at least you know where I stand. I do not think it is asking too much to demand the same candor and honesty from the next man or woman who wishes to be seated in the most powerful office in the world.
All I want is to demand that our political candidates #tellthetruth, is that too much to ask?
Record a Death or Avoid it?
It is certainly sad that Tracy Morgan was injured and tragic that his friend, James McNair (62), was killed by an allegedly sleepy WalMart trucker, Kevin Roper. What is even sadder is that these accidents happen every year and no one seems to pay attention until a celebrity is involved.
NY Senator Charles Schumer, citing the Tracy Morgan accident has pushed for a bill requiring “Black Boxes” to be installed in commercial trucks in order to record driver time and behaviour.
While that serves some purpose it is certainly not the best solution. We now have autos that can consistently avoid uncontrolled lane changes or potentially lethal collisions. Wouldn’t it make more sense to avoid the accident in the first place rather than be able to point fingers at the guilty party post mortem? If we can afford to install these systems in Subaru’s we certainly can afford to install them in Mack’s, Peterbilts and Kenworths.
I think WalMart and other large trucking concerns would save money in the long run by investing in safer transportation systems. They would save lives, save equipment and avoid costly legal battles.
What do you think Chuck? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use technology to prevent disaster rather than record it?
Death By Network – Are Stupid Connected Devices Placing Us At Risk?
We all understand that lack of network security can result in economic loss. In the case of identity theft it can destroy your financial stability and take a serious bite out of your well being. However, did you ever consider that poor network security might result in your death?
I was just reading about car hacking when I stumbled upon the below Motherboard video explaining how car hacking works.
Digg How to Hack a car: http://tinyurl.com/o9ekbu6
I then thought, while it is certainly possible to do, how likely is it too happen? You would really need to upset some very well connected people to have them go to the trouble of digitally stomping on your accelerator at just the wrong time.
That’s when I found the Huff Post article on the untimely demise of journalist Michael Hastings. It seems that his car was speeding out of control at 4:20 AM when it blew through a red light, jumped a median, and exploded after colliding with a palm tree. According to Huff and New York Magazine, Hasting’s had just the type of enemies who could remotely end his life.
Huff Post: http://tinyurl.com/qgoesso
New York Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/lb2q3ps
Since our cars are now largely computer controlled, connected to the wireless network and drive by wire, it is possible to meddle with the serious business of driving your car. While it is comforting to know that OnStar can unlock your car when you leave the keys inside, it is less comforting to think that some evildoer can step on the gas and steer you into a wall.
Like so many innovations, the engineers driving to connect with the automobile remotely did not take the time to seriously consider the potentially negative consequences. We are moving into an era where we are surrounded by the networking of things. While some of these things are fairly harmless and benign others have the power to seriously affect our physical safety.
What people typically worry about when they think about technology gone wrong is the rogue robot or thinking computer turning on us. For this reason any robot builder has reads Asimov’s iRobot and is aware of the three laws of robotics:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
From where I sit it seems that the robot, in fact worse, the un-thinking, ignorant device, is among us. You can be sure that when Google is programming the Google Care they are keeping these things in mind after all this is a true robot. Knowing that the car will self operate with humans on board compels the developers to follow the 3 rules and protect its passengers and fellow travellers and pedestrians at all costs. The Google Car knows the difference between a child in the street and a dog and can act accordingly in microseconds to make the correct choice.
What about Ford, GM, VW, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Toyota and Mercedes? Do they appreciate that they are delivering products that can fall into the control of outsiders? Have they developed safeguards to allow an operator to over-ride external controls? Not to my knowledge.
Now that we are getting in to the Internet of things I think it is time to appreciate that a stupid device can be far more dangerous than an intelligent one. Perhaps it is time that we move the three laws down the computation food chain and applied this thinking at all levels of things networked.
All things networked includes office copiers that can be remotely overheated and set-afire, to deregulating pacemakers that con be accessed from a distance and jump start a failing heart or overstress one to the point of failure. In time our door-locks and thermostats will also be on the net. It is no longer adequate to be concerned with just the behavior or “robotic” things. It is time to think of all aspects of the technology stack and make sure we design in the safeguards to avoid unwanted outcomes.
We may never actually know what happened to Michael Hastings. We do know that the scenario of a remotely controlled auto homicide is plausible and we should take this tragedy as a wake-up call to design safeguards for all things networked and for the well being of all of us interacting with them.
Ps
More details on Hastings Fears:
Hastings brother is not buying the conspiracy theory: http://tinyurl.com/ow8a59q
If you think hacking a car is bad, how about hacking a pacemaker?
More details on Hastings Fears:
Remote controlled Cardioverters: http://tinyurl.com/qd54l3a
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You Need To Be Faster Than Light To Prove Einstein Wrong.
Anyone who has ever taken the time to read Mein Weltbild (My World-view) Albert Einstein (1931), knows that Albert E was a lot more than just a gifted physicist. One person who would never be surprised If Einstein was wrong about quantum physics would be Einstein himself. He was a profoundly thoughtful and self-effacing man and I know he would be thrilled to learn that we are toying with the idea of faster than light communications.
A Brief Histiry of Quantum Mechanics
Physicists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, part of the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, report that they sent quantum data concerning the spin state of an electron to another electron about 10 feet away.
The basic idea is that these electrons are “entangled” albeit at a distance and the effects, or meddling, experienced by one electron will be instantly reflected in the other, what Einstein called “Spooky actions at a distance”. He was unable to prove this activity by arguing that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light.
Well, even Einstein can make a mistake and thank goodness he did. These early experiments will lead to rapid advances in quantum computing where qubits can hold multiple states and computation can take place faster than the speed of light. In addition, we may be looking at data communication that outpaces light and will remove all latency in communications, at least in this solar system.
One day soon when we are enjoying instant holographic conversations between here and Mars without a single glitch you can thank Einstein for leaving the door open.
Source
CNET Article: http://tinyurl.com/l8jsc7j
Get Me to a Google Dealer – Or – Self Drive Saves Lives
I am sure it has been said, but I have not said it here. We need autonomous, self-driving vehicles, now! Here are the reasons why:
Safety – Last I checked, In April 2014, Google announced 700,000 driverless miles with only 2 incidents.
1. Someone, A human no less, rear-ended a Google Car as a Stop Sign.
2. A driver of a Google car placed the car in manual mode so he could successfully crash it. Just kidding I doubt he meant to.
In either case no fault on the part of the car, just the humans.
In 2009 we lost 76,309 people to fatal auto accidents. In 1990 we lost 107,000. The emotional and economic impact of these losses is incalculable but we do know that auto accidents are the 5th largest killer in the US.
1. Money – While most people are staggered by the numbers being bandied about regarding the cost of self driving cars, $150,000-$500,000, these are prototype limited production numbers and they will come down rapidly when we near production. The more important economic factors are what we stand to save save:
2. Insurance, Progressive Insurance will already cut your rates if you agree to install an electronic data recorder (EDR) and drive like your DMV examiner. How low will insurance rates go when we have no more traffic accidents? In the UK insurance companies are using Telematics systems to allow drivers to pay by the mile, further reducing rates for low mileage drivers.
3. Fuel – While we should all look to cut our fuel costs by 80% by going electric, we could also save money by having the computer take over the pedal. Let’s face it, no more racing off the light to catch up with the attractive person in the cabriolet.
4. Time – What is your time worth? How much time do you waste commuting when you could be computing? The average commute in 2011 was 25 minutes. This equates to 100+ hours a year or years worth of work in 20 years of commuting. What would you give for an extra year?
a. The other thing to consider is what happens when all the cars on the highway are autonomous. If computers were doing the driving we could travel at higher speeds and closer together, thus doubling road capacity and virtually eliminating traffic jams.
5. Convenience – Isn’t having a chauffeur driven car the ultimate in luxury? Having one without an attitude surpasses even riding in the finest Maybach. Just think, you call your car and say, “Meet me out front in 5 minutes,” When you reach your destination you tell the car to go pick up the dry cleaning then go park and plug in until called.
a. How about picking up the kids from school?
b. Returning the baby-sitter home at midnight?
c. Picking up fresh bagels on Sunday morning.
d. Taking Grandma to her hair appointment.
e. I could go on forever.
Now before you think I have completely abandoned the thrill of driving let me say I am an avid car nut and I have owned over 30 cars ranging from T-Birds and Mustangs to Porsche’s and Jags. I love cars. I just think that in the future we should draw the line between driving for fun and going to work.
Is this so hard?
My call to action is for everyone to embrace what Google, MobileEye and the major car companies are doing, not just to make a buck, but also to fundamentally impact our planets environment, the lives or our loved ones and our long-term quality of life and peace of mind.
I intend to purchase the first commercially available self-driving car. I will face-time you from the passenger seat and tell you how it is.
Sources:
Reuters: Google Car: http://tinyurl.com/k9w5j3q
Killer Commute http://tinyurl.com/lo4hqvn
Progressive http://tinyurl.com/p2o66g3
MobileEye
A Kick off for the Future – Or – Steve Austin Hits the Strrets
In January of 1974 Astronaut Steve Austin recovered from his tragic test flight to become the world’s first Bionic Man. The only thing more incredible at the time than a man who could run 60 miles an hour, have telescopic vision, and pick up a car with one hand, was the fact that it could be done for a mere 6 million dollars.
As a long time Science Fiction fan that truly believes in Science Reality, I have been waiting and hoping for the first real bionic man to hit the stage. It appears that the dreams of Martin Caidin the author of Cyborg the inspiration for the Six Million Dollar Man, are coming true today.
Raytheon, working on behalf of DARPA, is working on the third generation Cyber Soldier. Here is a video of Gen 2.
While I am thrilled that engineers are developing powerful, light weight limbs and muscle controlled exoskeletons, what really thrills me and gets me tremendously excited are the advanced in brain controlled devices.
After all, if we can control things with our minds we are mere steps away from another substantial evolutionary step in mankind and science.
Using the price tag for the Brain Controlled Prosthetic leg, Steve Austin would more likely be the 32 Million-Dollar Man and this would still not include an improvement on the human eye.
What we are seeing unfold in front of us is truly 40 year-old science fiction coming to life. I believe that if we can dream it and conceive of a path then more than likely we can achieve it. We are all carrying Dick Tracy phones and soon we will be riding in self driving cars the we command with out thoughts instead of our hands and feet.
So this year do not be surprised to see the kick off at the World Cup in Brazil performed by a man who is paralyzed from the waist down, rising from his wheel chair, walking to a soccer ball, and then kicking it into the field.
In the years to come, scientists will improve the bandwidth between the brain and machines. Remember we use to send data 300 bits at a time and now we have networks that communicate at 100 billion bits per second. When we can achieve this type of throughput from our brains to processors or the Internet we can hardly even imagine what will be possible. How far away is this day and what impact will it have on society? Steve Austin would have been even more formidable if he could have tapped into the web, I hope to someday be able to do exactly that.
Dog Gone –
Great news for all of you dog lovers. Whistle.com has announced that you can purchase a dog-friendly GPS for your canine companion. It is a mere $129.00 plus 5$ a month for service. The only problem is you will need to keep a leash on Rex until next year when the Whistle is available.
Of course you could do what I do. Take the free iPhone you get from AT&T when you activate a line, download the app Life360 and give your Lab the ultimate doggy status symbol, his own smart phone!!
Of course, you will need to teach him how to plug it in at night to charge it, and you may want to block international calls in case he attempts to reach out and paw someone. Also texts can become annoying after a while…
PS – Life360 is pretty good at tracking humans too.
Sources
The Age of Context: Mobile, Sensors, Data and the Future of Privacy – Or how 5 Bucks can prepare you for the future
I Just finished Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s new book The Age of Context and for the first time ever I felt compelled to write a review on Amazon. I have done this for 2 reasons. The first is, I like Robert and I think he is one of the most tapped in techno geeks in the country. If you want to know the pulse of the valley and what’s happening or soon to happen in tech, Robert is a great resource. 2. as a marketer and entrepreneur i think that what Scoble and Israel are talking about is highly relevant to anyone looking to succeed in business going forward.
Here is my brief Amazon review:
If you are looking to catch a glimpse of the future and learn how sensors, mobile devices and ubiquitous connectivity will affect your life then you should read Age of Context.
If you have ever enjoyed Heinlein, Clark, or Asimov then you should read Age of Context and appreciate that most of what Scoble and Israel reveal in this work is already happening and the rest most likely will.
If you are in the business of selling anything to anybody then you should read Age of Context because the people that do are going to leave you in the dust.
Simply put, this is a well written concise and timely essay and how technology is already changing our lives, for better or for worse. I applaud both authors for their insight and solid research and hope their epilogue become a reality, on all levels.
Don’t Taze Me Bra!
I am a fan of wearable tech. I fundamentally believe that clever people will discover ways to make our daily lives more convenient and more productive by incorporating sensors and communications technology into our garments. In my family we are all regular UP band users and as a result we all know exactly how many steps and Zzz’s each family member accrues daily. I am sure fitness bands are just the beginning of our experience with wearable tech. So it’s not new to me.
I was however surprised to learn of the Intimacy 2.0 dress. Apparently this Judy Jetson couture detects arousal on the part of the wearer and then turns transparent for the benefit of her companion.
Now as a modern thinker, and a father of a daughter attending college, I would not say no to a fashion conscious woman wishing to wear such a garment, as long as she also wore the:
Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE)
or what I like to call the “Taser Bra”
Yes – three brilliant Indian students have developed a bra capable of delivering 38,000 volts of electricity to an unwelcome groper, as well as contact the authorities and your loved ones that you are being pursued by an undesirable.
Wearing both of these garments may send a confusing message but it is certainly a women’s right to choose who she teases or who she tazes!
Sources
Dress – http://www.dailydot.com/technology/seethrough-dress-sex/
Are You Ready for BIO HACKING
Xnt Chip Implanted
My college-aged son just informed me that his friend just had a Near Field Chip (NFC) implanted into his hand. The early adopter near term objective is to be able to open and start his car and ultimately to make purchases with a wave of his hand. Apparently he is not alone. A quick search turned up the device:
“The xNT is a 2mm x 12mm, fully NFC Type 2 compliant RFID tag encased in a cylindrical Schott 8625 bioglass ampule and sterilized in ethylene oxide gas. It is compatible with all NFC compliant devices such as mobile phones, tablets, etc. and can be used to launch URLs, share contact details, unlock phones, etc. The xNT is also ISO14443A compliant, so it can also be used with several types of commercial readers to unlock doors, start cars, log into computers, and more!”
http://tinyurl.com/ozbofjj
The chip retails for 30$ which seems pretty cheap. The real money will come when you pay to NFC enable your car, home and computer. They are selling this chip with an injection device and they are training piercing experts to perform installs.
To chip or not to chip? That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the indignities of losing ones keys or to implant in our arms the permanent access solution?
I don’t know about you but count me in. While it will take time to retrofit doors, cars and other access devices, I for one look forward to a time when I can come and go without needing to pull out an access device that is more than a thousand years old.
Now this CNET article: http://tinyurl.com/ljesjvu lists a number of things you can do with an NFC but truth be told I do not think I have the patience to run around my life programming individual tags to perform mundane functions such as dimming the lights or putting my phone on Do Not Disturb. What will work is a platform that allows me to control all of the NFC tags in my life from one central location.
I would like: My doors, computers. Phones, and digital wallet to recognize me. Giving someone my business card info or wifi password by touching their phone may also be useful. In time I’d like my hotel room and office doors to also know who I am and let me kn when it is appropriate. If I can avoid going downstairs to rechardge another room key it will be worth the pain of injection and the risk of needing to remove it when it stops working.
One last thing, rhey seem to be working hard on making the chip easy to install. I have not seen any comments on getting it back out again, I suppose a body piercer will not perform this operation.
To learn more about BIO Hacking check out:
http://www.grindhousewetware.com/about.html
Making a Difference 