] Using the same statistical physics methods they used to
] study complex systems like earthquakes and financial
] markets, Sornette and his colleagues set out to explain
] the book-ranking behavior. They used the Epidemics-Type
] Aftershock Sequence model, which draws on statistical
] techniques for studying how diseases spread through
] populations in order to model earthquake aftershocks.

This model should be applicable to the spread of memes through a population.

Physics model predicts book sales TRN 121504

] Researchers at the Bayesian Inspired Brain and Artefacts
] (BIBA) project are using a novel application of Bayesian
] reasoning to design artefacts (objects produced or shaped
] by human craft) that can learn to act rationally with
] incomplete information.

This seems like a promising approach to building robust intelligent artifacts.

IST Results - Building thinking robotics for the real world

] The Handbook was reprinted (5th printing) in August 2001.
] The publisher made all the various minor changes and
] updates we submitted.

While this reference is a bit more academic then Schneier's book, it is quite useful, and now its available for free online. Enjoy!

Handbook of Applied Cryptography

] Within thirty years, we will have the technological means
] to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the
] human era will be ended.
]
]
] Is such progress avoidable? If not to be avoided, can
] events be guided so that we may survive? These questions
] are investigated. Some possible answers (and some further
] dangers) are presented.

[ I've read this before, but came across it again today and thought it worth memeing. Though a decade old, it's still an interesting read. I wonder how it could be updated today? Vinge is among my favorite writers... one of the greats. -k]

Vernor Vinge on the Singularity

I'm gonna learn the best way to walk
I'm gonna search and find a better way to talk
I'm gonna spit and polish my old rough-edged self
Til I get rid of every single flaw
I'm gonna be the World's best friend
I'm gonna go around shaking everybody's hand
Hey, I'm gonna be the cotton-pickin' Rage of the Age
I'm gonna be a diamond some day

Old Chunk Of Coal

And it's way, way down inside

From the editorial review at Amazon: "Even listeners who don't share the faith expressed in these songs will have trouble resisting the unflinching intimacy of the performances."

ITMS has the standard 30-second samples. Tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are the uptempo gospel songs.

'I've Got That Old Time Religion In My Heart' - Iris DeMent, Lifeline

] DeMarse experimental "brain" interacts with an F-22
] fighter jet flight simulator through a specially designed
] plate called a multi-electrode array and a common desktop
] computer.
]
] "It's essentially a dish with 60 electrodes arranged in a
] grid at the bottom," DeMarse said. "Over that we put the
] living cortical neurons from rats, which rapidly begin to
] reconnect themselves, forming a living neural network
] - a brain."
]
] The brain and the simulator establish a two-way
] connection, similar to how neurons receive and interpret
] signals from each other to control our bodies.

Rat Brain cells in a silicon matrix can fly an airplane simulator. Seriously. What is the line between man and machine. What is the difference between a robot, a work animal, and a slave. These questions may eventually move out of the realm of science fiction.

'Brain' In A Dish Acts As Autopilot, Living Computer

] Americans don't believe the government is doing enough
] with technology to improve homeland security, according
] to a national survey conducted jointly by CNET News.com
] and Harris Interactive.

Americans are correct in this matter

Poll: Antiterror tech plans are flawed | CNET News.com

] The big question, however, isn't whether people become
] more techno than flesh, but whether robots develop some
] form of consciousness - self-aware minds of their own.
]
] Sidney Perkowitz raises this question in "Digital People:
] From Bionic Humans to Androids" (Joseph Henry Press), a
] book that describes how a new generation of robots could
] serve as "the next level of humanity."

Probably soft, but an exemplar of an active and robust meme.

TimesDispatch.com | Mind over Matter

] To be sure, companies have long gathered personal and
] shopping information to better market to customers, often
] with dubious results. Who hasn't received junk mail or
] telemarketing calls that seem to have no connection with
] their lives? But those initiatives are fast improving and
] accelerating as people live more of their lives tethered
] to cell phones, the Internet and the rest of the wired
] world, where trading off personal information is part of
] the price of admission.

Interesting summary (more of a catalog, really) of this trend.

Privacy Eroding, Bit by Byte (washingtonpost.com)