Treat your robot the way you'd want to be treated

The South Korean government is considering drafting the world's first ethics code to protect the rights of robots. The idea is to provide a framework for how human's can use robots as they become much more advanced in the coming years. Here's my favorite quote:

"Imagine if some people treat androids as if the machines were their wives," Park Hye-Young of the ministry's robot team told the AFP news agency.

I know South Korea has quite the traditional culture, but what does that mean? Is he predicting human-robot "relations" in the future? If so, that will be interesting.

The Commodore returns to glory

Commodore is back, baby! The company plans to reinvent itself as the maker of high-end gaming computers. Ah, the nostalgia! I still remember it's enormous floppy drive, three inch-thick keyboard and four function keys. Mice were still rodents you hit with a broom. Someday kids are going to laugh at people who remember computers before they were hooked up to networks (if they aren't already).

30 days in Linux-land

I've often wondered if I could make the transition from Windows XP to a Linux-based system. One writer decided to spend 30 days trying out Ubuntu, a version of Linux, to see how well it worked and how hard the shift over to the open-source OS would be. The results were mixed, but it's a good read for how much detail it goes into about Linux.

Don't report me to the blog police

I know, I know... you want new posts and you want them now! Sorry for the lack of new stuff, but I've been laid up with an awful mid-winter cold that has paralyzed me for the past week or so. On the plus side, all the time spent laying around meant I had a chance to watch Doctor Zhivago on DVD again. Of course, all that merciless snow and ice doesn't exactly make one feel warm and toasty.

Welcome to Font hell

Everyone knows by now that using Comic Sans makes you look like an insane person, but that awful spawn of Microsoft isn't only offender of typographic sins. Check out one blogger's list of the worst offenders: America's Most Fonted. (I particularly enjoyed how she listed which celebrities probably use each of them.)

Watch out for the grey goo

The president of the World Transhumanist Association (what a name!) has a blog entry about the inability to manage various types of hackers in virtual reality worlds such as Second Life. Particularly strange is the saga of the "grey goo," an attack that resulted in items inside the game replicating so fast that they turn into an amorphous blob.

George Dvorsky, the blogger, makes the claim that "the digital life" will simply be so complex and specialized that human efforts to prevent hackers will be impossible:

Moreover, an uploaded society would conceivably face more problems in digital substrate than in the cozy confines of the analog world. We can't 'hack' into the code of the Universe (at least not yet). As a consequence our existence is still very much constrained by the laws of physics, access to resources, and the limits of our information systems (i.e. our accumulated body of knowledge). That said, we do a fairly decent job of soft-hacking into the Universe, which is very much the modus operandi of an intelligent species.

But the soft-hacking that we're doing is becoming more and more sophisticated — something that could lead to over-complexity. We're creating far too many dangerous variables that require constant monitoring and control.

As for the digital realm, it is already complex by default. But like the analog world it too has constraints, though slightly different. Virtual worlds have to deal with limitations imposed by computational power, algorithmic technology and access to information. Aside from that, the sky's the limit. Such computational diversity could lead to complexity an order of magnitude above analog life.

Hackers and criminals would seek to infiltrate and exploit everything under the virtual sun, including conscious minds. Conscious agents would have to compete with automatons. Bots of unimaginable ilk would run rampant. There would be problems of swarming, self-replication and distributed attacks. And even more disturbingly, nothing would be truly secure and the very authenticity of existence would constantly be put into question.

I tend to think he's being a bit too cynical here. Humanity's thousands of years of existence here on Earth (the analog world, natch) have mostly been defined by search for ways to bring order and control to our world. While here in regular life, we can't hack the laws of physics, even in our most orderly and modern societies we're a pretty anarchic and uncontrollable species. Still, we manage, in most cases, to shape a reality that's sustainable. As a tribe, we don't simply run off a cliff like the buffalo.

These virtual reality worlds will find ways of reaching equilibrium that will quickly put a stop to these kinds of attacks. Much in the way that open source software developers fix bugs when they arise and millions of amateur Wikipedia editors fix factual errors, there's no reason to think that for every virtual reality terrorist, there are 100 virtual cops willing to police places like Second Life.

Not all fans are created equal

As a resident of New England, I dread the start of each spring. It's not because of the lovely weather that's sure to arrive shortly, but because it's the start of the worst season of all: baseball season.

I know many genial, intelligent people who happen to be baseball fans. They tend to be swell people. Nevertheless, I can't imagine that there's a mass spectator sport with less ambience in the stadium. Basically, if you like stuffing your face with hot dogs and Budweiser for four hours (yes, it can take that long to play a baseball game), this is your sport.

So I couldn't help but enjoy seeing this photo taken from an Arizona Diamondbacks (baseball) game last season (from Deadspin). It's pretty much the epitome of the dorky, middle-class American sports fan (note the grown man on the right who wears his own baseball glove in the stands):

Now compare that picture with this one taken from the French soccer club OGC Nice's stadium. Which fan base looks more passionate and intense to you?


To give you a bit more context, here are some more shots of baseball fans:

Yankees fans (Are they watching the game? Are they even awake?)
Washington Nationals fans (Notice the complete lack of flags, banners, or even anyone standing)
An unidentified big league ballpark (Crowd is extremely relaxed. With convenient cup holders!)
Baseball "fans" actually knitting inside the stadium (The game is less exciting than knitting?)
Another die-hard fan playing Tetris during the game (Tetris is pretty great, though)

And here are some shots of soccer/football/futbol/calcio fans:

Bayern Munich fans (Could they be more focused on the action?)
Inter Milan fans (Is there a single fan sitting down?)
Polish football fans (This is as close to hell for visiting teams as you can get.)
Argentine fans get a little crazy (A real fan is willing to climb a 20-foot fence for his team.)
Olympique Marseille fans (The best possible use of highway flares.)

Why intelligent design isn't so intelligent

Scientific American has a highly readable article today that serves to rebut the claims of creationists, intelligent design advocates and other "skeptics" who question the primacy of evolutionary theory. I particularly like the way it's organized by the types of arguments raised by the anti-evolution set. There's also a nice little roundup of just why intelligent design is such a specious argument against the overwhelming scientific evidence of evolution:

"Creation science" is a contradiction in terms. A central tenet of modern science is methodological naturalism--it seeks to explain the universe purely in terms of observed or testable natural mechanisms. Thus, physics describes the atomic nucleus with specific concepts governing matter and energy, and it tests those descriptions experimentally. Physicists introduce new particles, such as quarks, to flesh out their theories only when data show that the previous descriptions cannot adequately explain observed phenomena. The new particles do not have arbitrary properties, moreover--their definitions are tightly constrained, because the new particles must fit within the existing framework of physics.

In contrast, intelligent-design theorists invoke shadowy entities that conveniently have whatever unconstrained abilities are needed to solve the mystery at hand. Rather than expanding scientific inquiry, such answers shut it down. (How does one disprove the existence of omnipotent intelligences?)

Intelligent design offers few answers. For instance, when and how did a designing intelligence intervene in life's history? By creating the first DNA? The first cell? The first human? Was every species designed, or just a few early ones? Proponents of intelligent-design theory frequently decline to be pinned down on these points. They do not even make real attempts to reconcile their disparate ideas about intelligent design. Instead they pursue argument by exclusion--that is, they belittle evolutionary explanations as far-fetched or incomplete and then imply that only design-based alternatives remain.

The ultimate mixing bowls

Here are some great photos of massive highway interchanges.

Teacups that look better with age

I don't know whether or not this will ever be practical, but an artist has developed tea cups that form patterns as they age.

The interior surface of the cup is treated so as to stain more in predetermined places. The more the cups are used, the more the pattern is revealed. Over time they will build up an individual pattern dependent on the users personal way of drinking tea.

You know it's bad when even Southerners are opposed to the war

One of the funniest comedic bits I've heard recently is by a comic named Bill Burr (who you might recognize from his appearances on "The Chappelle Show"). He jokes about how Southerners can basically be relied upon to support pretty much any war -- they always want to fight, blow things up and shoot people.

That's why the lack of support for the Iraq war in Virginia and North Carolina is so interesting:

Sixty-four percent of respondents disapproved or strongly disapproved of Bush's handling of the Iraq war - up from 57 percent last year - while 31 percent approved or strongly approved of it, a decrease from 38.5 percent last year.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the story was regarding the opinions of military people (there are more of them in the south than any other part of the country) on the war:

Respondents who were military veterans, retirees, reservists and active duty were vastly more in favor of U.S. involvement in Iraq - but surprisingly, Bacot said, only if Bush's name was not raised.

Almost 61 percent of military respondents said the United States should be in Iraq now, but 53 percent strongly disapproved or disapproved of Bush's handling of the war, compared to 42 percent who approved or strongly approved.

They were nearly split on support for Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, with 49 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. Non-military respondents were 35 percent in favor and 61 percent opposed.

"This has held just about every time we asked it. When Bush is in the equation, (military respondents) don't like it. But when you take Bush out, they're very supportive of their brothers in arms," Bacot said. "The issue's with the commander in chief, not with the war itself."

I think this illustrates why the opinions of military personnel should absolutely not be allowed to steer foreign policy. Not only is it undemocratic and reminiscent of third-world dictatorships -- where the army is essentially the policy apparatus -- but I'm no so sure the remaining support for the war among the military is all that genuine. I wonder how many of those soldiers are expressing solidarity with their fellow troops rather than looking at the long term costs and benefits of the U.S. presence in Iraq.

How Sony blew it on the Playstation 3

While the Nintendo Wii has been a resounding success in the gaming console market, Sony's Playstation 3 hasn't fared so well. Here's a nice little editorial blaming the machine's lackluster sales and high cost on Sony's decision to use synergy to turn the console into a Swiss army knife for gamers. Not surprisingly, Ars Technica thinks it was unsuccessful.

A real woman is hard to find

Check out this high-res picture of an actress. It's not a photo. The image is entirely computer-generated.

Manifest Destiny is alive... and not so well

The New York Review of Books has one of the best articles on American foreign policy I've ever read. William Pfaff deconstructs America's interventionist policies and turns them into a kind of neo-Manifest Destiny. It's a brilliant essay that explains many of the country's missteps, particularly since the Cold War and including the war in Iraq.

Pfaff argues that we inherited a fondness for a kind of messianic belief in our own superiority -- a god-given mission for America to save the world. But that has resulted in us being embroiled in wars and occupations that never should have happened:

Today's major democracies are all advanced societies; in some ways, in social standards, distribution of wealth and opportunity, the provision of universal health care and free or affordable education, and certain technologies and industries, many are more advanced than the United States. They are willing to cooperate with the United States in matters of common concern, as they have for a half-century, but not to subordinate themselves to Washington. They are aware that this administration's effort to establish a system of Central Asian and Middle Eastern client states (the "Greater Middle East") has already produced two ruinous and continuing wars, and worsened situations in Lebanon, Gaza and the Palestinian territories, and Israel.

Michael Mandelbaum of Johns Hopkins recently asked why, if other nations really objected to an American effort to establish a new international hegemony, there has been no effort to build a military coalition to oppose it. He describes the United States as already dominating the world, much as the elephant (in his genial comparison) dominates the African savanna: the calm herbivorous goliath that keeps the carnivores at a respectful distance, while supporting "a wide variety of other creatures—smaller mammals, birds and insects—by generating nourishment for them as it goes about the business of feeding itself."^[6] Everyone knows the United States is not a predatory power, he says, so everyone profits from the stability the elephant provides, at American taxpayer expense.

Elephants are also known to trample people, uproot crops and gardens, topple trees and houses, and occasionally go mad (hence, "rogue nations"). Americans, moreover, are carnivores. The administration has attacked the existing international order by renouncing inconvenient treaties and conventions and reintroducing torture, and arbitrary and indefinite imprisonment, into advanced civilization. Where is the stability that Mandelbaum tells us has been provided by this American military and political deployment? The doomed and destructive war of choice in Iraq, continuing and mounting disorder in Afghanistan following another such war, war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, as well as between Hamas and Fatah, accompanied by continuing crisis in Palestine, with rumbles of new American wars of choice with Iran or Syria, and the emergence of a nuclear North Korea —all demonstrate deep international instability.

George Bush compares himself to George Washington

Slate's Fred Kaplan has a nice little story today picking apart four recent Bush quotes. I particularly enjoyed the reaction to Bush's contention that he is a latter-day Washington and Iraq is his Revolutionary War:

"George Washington's long struggle for freedom has also inspired generations of Americans to stand for freedom in their own time. Today, we're fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life."

On Feb. 19, to celebrate George Washington's birthday, President Bush gave a speech at Mount Vernon comparing himself to the father of our country and the Iraqi war to the Revolutionary War.

In the past, George W. Bush has likened himself to Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Read more.

Not such a good career choice

It might not sound that bad, but selling magazine subscriptions is among the worst jobs in the nation for young people. Today's NY Times has a devastating expose (exposes must always be described as "devastating," btw) about mistreatment of young magazine "crews" that travel around and sell door-to-door.

Some of the stuff in the Times story is incredibly disturbing: beatings, refusing to let crew members quit, drug use, rape, keeping workers in debt to their employers. It's not unlike the situation that immigrant farm workers, especially the tomato pickers in Florida, have found themselves in. The sub-contractors that sell the subscriptions typically find kids who either dropped out or just graduated from high school. They come from poor, rural areas usually and are easily wooed by promises of paychecks that won't ever come.

I guess the lesson from this is: Don't ever buy a magazine subscription from a third party seller. In fact, experts recommend that anyone approached by a seller offer to let them in and make a phone call home or ask them if they need help because the companies that hire them won't let them leave.

The most annoying Vista-isms so far

Here's the first (that I've seen, at least) of articles listing some of the numerous gripes about Windows Vista. The bottom line, really, is that unless you're buying a medium to high-end PC today, it's not worth upgrading from XP. And be glad you're not one of the poor schlubs who bought a $500 nVidia video card and can't get the proper Vista drivers for it.

Plans leaked for Iran bombing

The BBC is reporting that the U.S.'s contingency plans for bombing Iran have been leaked. The government says they will begin bombing the country if evidence of nuclear weapons development is found or if large numbers of U.S. troops are killed by Iranians in Iraq.
One line from the story jumped out at me:

Authorities insist there is no cause for alarm but ordinary people are now becoming a little worried, she says.

It makes me wonder if this "leak" isn't more intended to foment civil unrest in Iran than scare the regime. The bottom line is that U.S. Army is so overwhelmed with the job of playing referee to a sectarian civil war in Iraq that the possibility of a ground invasion of Iran - a far bigger country - is next to impossible.

Juan Cole says the fallacy that bombing alone will work has been tried before... and failed miserably:

(T)he Pentagon is thinking big. Not just surgical strikes on the civilian nuclear energy program, but hitting virtually everything of importance in the country. The Air Force kept telling us they could bomb Vietnam into submission. They couldn't. Then it was shock and awe in Iraq. Didn't work. Just remember, it is always the Army that has to come in and clean up the mess.

The completely walled-off beer garden

A group of state attorneys general (i know it sounds funny) have sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch claiming that the brewer's new online channel Bud.tv isn't doing enough to keep the kiddies from, uh, streaming Budweiser-related content. (Notice the debate is no longer about drinking ages and the possiblity of shady adults buying cases of Miller for teen-agers hiding in the parking lot.)

My favorite line from the letter is "We fail to see how your use of age verification on the Bud.tv site is a genuine attempt to keep youth from accessing the site's content."

In Bud's defense, though, they've put up all kinds of hoops for users to jump through in order to prove their age and the company claims it has probably turned away "tens of thousands" of its legitimate customers because of its age-verification system. Do these prosecutors not realize how hard it is to play Internet cop?

Litterbug sentenced to two years in prison

The wife of a soldier serving his third tour of duty in Iraq has been given two years in prison for the egregious offense of throwing a McDonald's cup at another car during a road rage incident. Even the "victims" (as much as someone can be called a victim of such a petty thing) said they were shocked by the conviction. The pathetic public defender and prosecutor were, shockingly, not available for comment when the reporter called them for comment.