Interesting article over on the New York Times via C|Net (Link) discussing the “dark side” of technology. It focuses on nuclear, biotech, and nanotech, but this quote early in the piece isn’t as limited:

Mix new technologies with the wide variations in how organizations and individuals behave, and you often have “a recipe for explosion,” said Edward Tenner, author of “Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences.”

As most of you have noticed, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about other, related things; specifically behavior, reputation and advertising in relation to virtual spaces and online actitivity. I may check out Mr. Tenner’s book and should probably do some serious research into these areas instead of skimming surfaces via blogs and MSM sites and relying too much on my own professional design experience (worthwhile, but limited in scope).

I’ve not posted many nice product designs lately, so I thought this might help restore some of the balance here. The image is a solar lampion (not sure what a “lampion” is, but it’s a lamp of some sort) designed by Damian O’Sullivan. You can read more over on MoCo Loco (Link) where I found it. I suspect it’s vaporware, but maybe it’s not.

{Image source: MoCo Loco}

Caught a post yesterday on PSFK (Link) referring to an article on the New York Times website authored by Kevin Kelly. It’s called “Scan This Book!” (Link – registration required) and I’ve not yet had time to read it, but the excerpts on PSFK sounded so much like the kinds of things I’ve posted here and elsewhere …

Woody Evans: “Libraries would become self-aware and ubiquitous.”

Me: “The future library could itself be a kirkyan of sorts. Perhaps we need a new definition for something that collects together kirkyan physical instantiations and tracks all their activity?”

… that I intend to make time soon. I suspect there’s plenty of overlap (as I mention in PSFK’s comments).

I wonder how far he explores his comment “the now-fragile model of valuable copies”? Most people still limit their thoughts to intangibles: text, software, music, movies. Are they ever in for a surprise.

{Update: When I wrote this post, I’d intended to point out a related post over on ISHUSH (Link), but in my haste neglected to do so. It’s well worth a read.}

I just posted this on the Second Life forum (thread – Link). I think the idea might be worth pursuing. Here it is without the difficult-to-read “quote” format:

—

Last week I posted something on Blogspotting (Link) that’s been extended by this thread. Let me give you an example.

Let’s say someone posts here on the SL Forum that they hate Metallica and download the band’s music but don’t pay for it (why they’d do that I don’t know, but I’ve seen people post those kinds of comments before). Imagine someone like Turbo thinking “Fine, let’s see how they like it turned around on them.”

How?

Simple. That person either creates or consumes. If they create, it’s easy enough to grab their stuff, copy it, and distribute it for free in ways the Lindens can’t or won’t deal with. If they’re a consumer it’s more interesting; like a reverse “six degrees of separation”.

Let’s say they don’t create anything, but have friends who do. Well, it’s those friends who are targeted instead. Imagine how angry someone would be if the attitude of a “friend” affected their SL business. And when the freebies get released, it would explain this cause-effect chain quite clearly so that the person getting ripped off knows why and because of whom.
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One of the nice things about improving computer graphics is the increasing variety of artistic directions I see in videogames. When polycounts and texture sizes were low, things had a basic similarity forced upon them. Add to that the fact that, as a new medium, the artistic talent in even the most popular games varied widely; many never even had formal training (not saying that’s good or bad; just pointing it out). That’s all changed. And I’m thoroughly enjoying what I see … which includes screenshots from Irrational Games forthcoming effort, “BioShock”. It’s not exactly steampunk, but it has that quality to it. Check out more images over on Next Level Gaming (Link).

{Image source: Next Level Gaming}