ethernet

Via the intrepid adventurers at Atlas Obscura, we learn that researchers at the University of Zurich have created the largest and most complex virtual universe with the Piz Daint super computer (named after an alpine peak).
The simulation, this meta-cosmos is to be used in conjunction with the Euclid space probe mission, launching in 2020, to scour the skies for signs of dark matter and dark energy. Astrophysicists hope that virtual models seeded with informed guesses as to the composition and arrangement might help them plot out the satellite’s course to maximise the chances of detecting the illusive substance (sort of like using augmented reality as a heuristic tool), which is thought to be the chief component of the Universe and far more prevalent (but weakly interacting) than the matter that we are accustomed to working with.

blind fAIth or rapture-ready

Writing for Æon magazine, contributor Beth Singler of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion explores the alignment problem, which like the zeroth law of Asimov begs what if any morals and norms ought to be imposed on artificial intelligence.
Despite how the technocracy might deride religion and insist that it’s a hindrance to peace and progress (like some interpreting the parable of Eden as justification for abusing the Earth), the optimism, the zealotry, the fire and brimstone and even the language that discussions of the technological and economic singularity are couched in ring very similar to that of the clerics that many try to hold at a distance. What do you think? A synthetic theology and subsequent hope of deliverance and reprieve resulting from an ultra-intelligent machine might be more like contemplating the mind of God than we are ready to admit.

let them eat cake

Via NPR’s The Salt, we learn of a New York City self-taught baker turned social-media vigilante named Kat Thek who has founded a boutique agency called Troll Cakes, where one can not only commission a particularly tone-deaf or mean-spirited comment or critique to be committed to cake-form but the bakery will go one step further on behalf of their customers who were perhaps the target of harassment and do some detective work to determine the identity of the troll and send the cake to them.  The bakery also offers White House specials to give Dear Leader an opportunity to eat his own words—particularly those that have not aged well.

#c0ffee is the colour

The other day, I was wondering what my mobile phone number might spell out—recalling when catchy eight hundred numbers were hot-properties—and being disappointed that there was no encoded, memorable message to be teased out of that string of numbers.
Even when aided by an “algorithm” that surely sells the contact information to marketers of those foolish enough to offer it up, there was nothing to be found. Undaunted and in a similar vein, Waxy brings us a project that parsed an English lexicon to determine what words might be translated into valid hexadecimal, web colours—those marked with a number sign on a cascading style sheet (CSS). Turning letter o’s into zeroes and ones into i’s and s’s to fives, etc. our vocabulary palette is much expanded but even dialling back the interpretation to a stricter setting still returns quite a spectrum. As the hues are defined as either three or six letters in length and the base-16 system only goes up to number F, covefe is unfortunately out of bounds.

6x6

bat-signal: rest in peace, Mister West

lobby card: expansive, international collection of vintage movie posters, via Kottke

stratum: peeling back three decades of graffiti in Nijmegen reveals a chronicle, like the growth rings of a tree

the inklings: exploring the Oxford pub that hosted professors, thinkers and writers, including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis

with the eyes of others: an exhibit introducing audiences to the neo-avant-garde art of Hungary of the 1960s and 70s

weather balloons: the cache of UFO photographs that the US Central Intelligence Agency recently declassified are laughably rubbish

la trahison des images

Via Boing Boing, we are introduced to a pacifying, surrogate social network called Binky that fulfils every compunction, range of motions that one has come to expect from such a platform and delivers the satisfaction of being so engaged and focused on one’s device—except that the application is a meaningless one and the “content” streaming by that one can re-bink or otherwise endorse or scold (it doesn’t matter) is randomly generated before being cycled off into oblivion.
Communication and sharing is important but it’s not necessary to telegraph one’s fidgety compulsion to one’s future selves, perhaps, as indiscriminately as those we feel obligated to do for those in between times. Comment is encouraged but punching keys—deliberately or not—returns auto-complete gibberish for as long as one cares to type. What do you think? Two decades after Bill Gates declared that content was king, we have to wonder what it’s to signal when content becomes wholly optional and perhaps even too taxing sometimes. Meaning can be burdensome, obliviously, and our habits are surreal—ceci n’est pas une pipe.

twitch and tantra

Though I’d venture that the benefits of yoga don’t come in the form of a perfect pose and could even prove harmful (I embrace the fact that I’m an awkward mess and don’t get discouraged), a wearable technology clothier is introducing (with consultation by instructors) a pair of leggings—yoga pants and the athleisure industry comprise a multi-billion dollar market—that has a suite of sensors embedded within the textiles that can detect in conjunction with one’s mobile device the position that one is trying to assume and gives feedback with battery-powered pulses to correct one’s posture and stance. The company is designing other interactive sports apparel (which would be a potential leveller of handicaps for other games) and though I have a few reservations concerning the appropriateness of bionics in yoga, I’ll bet that the system would be beneficial for a beginner without the ability or means to seek out a yogi.