Urban planning and technological singularity

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

In the unlikely event that we manage to program machines to improve themselves, they will cumulatively reinforce their own ability to improve themselves. A bird that impales insects on branches for later snacking. Urban planning for a better world. A solution to the many evils of sprawl. Making museums more appealing by immersing people in the reality of history.

The normalisation of horror

Fun-filled distraction for concentration camp staff (pdf). Far-reaching influence of breakfast cereal. "We need to consider that [Osama] bin Laden in launching 9/11, he and his compatriots may have anticipated, and indeed invited American intervention, wishing to draw them into their territory and defeat them like they did with the Soviets", says Afghanistan expert Dan Plasch. Which is exactly what Bin Laden said in 1996 in an interview with then-journalist Abdul Bari Atwan (video).