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] "Arnold Kling, in his article, Content is Crap, writes,
] 'While there are many Net-heads who share Dan Gillmor's
] [and Larry Lessig's] enthusiasm for Creative Commons, I
] do not. It has little or no significance, because it is
] based on a strikingly naive 60's-retro ideological view
] of how content intermediaries function.'

I recommend this for two reasons. First, and a minor observation, here Slashdot attempts to assemble a thread between a number of bloggers. If all of these people were using MemeStreams, the thread would already be organized and would be much easier to follow. :)

Second, Kling is wrong for all the right reasons. He argues that the Creative Commons License is useless because its simply a way to end run around the publishing industry, and the publishing industry is very important as a filter for the the mass of information available to us. However, and it is probably well understood by the readers of this site, the publishing industry is not a very good filter. They don't find the content we really want, because its too risky or too expensive or because it threatens them in some fundamental way.

We need to put the power to filter in the hands of the people, as we have put the power to elect a government in the hands of the people, and for exactly the same reasons.

And with the power to filter in the hands of the people there is a need, a requirement, for looser copyright restrictions. Artificial Scarcity, in this environment, it what prevents people from getting a hold of your ideas, not the thing that incents you to make those ideas available. And for this reason I think systems like Creative Commons may be quite important.

You're not selling artifically scarce "copy" for cash. You are giving copy away for reputation. Reputation is attention, and you can turn attention in cash.

Slashdot | Carping Over Creative Commons

] -----summary of contents-----
] Walrus is a tool for interactively visualizing large
] directed graphs in three-dimensional space. By employing
] a fisheye-like distortion, it provides a display that
] simultaneously shows local detail and the global context.

Grrr.. This is so close to what I need.

Walrus - Graph Visualization Tool

] "GeoURL is a location-to-URL reverse directory. This will
] allow you to find URLs by their proximity to a given
] location. Find your neighbor's blog, perhaps, or the web
] page of the restaurants near you."

This site is slashdoted to hell, but I think that ultimately this sort of thing will be extremely important. Espeically with respect to mobile devices. You will want to be able to attach a blog entry to a geographic location, and the reputation system will find blog entries of interest to you as you walk around town... This will allow you to share information about businesses in the area, history, etc...

GeoURL ICBM Address Server

] Science fiction often depicts robots of the future as
] machines that look like people and feel, or at least
] hanker after the ability to feel, human emotions.
] A team at Vanderbilt University is turning this notion on
] its head by developing a robotic assistant whose goal is
] not to develop emotions, but rather respond to the moods
] of its human master.

Wired News: Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It

This article, from the Associated Press, gives a good intro to Agile Radio, both in terms of what it is, and what political climate it faces, which is surprisingly promising. Overall, it is cast in a good light, with no reference to evil hackers, etc... author must have a clue. :-)

Mainstream Agile / Software Radio article

] "In his experiment, Potter places a droplet of solution
] containing thousands of rat neuron cells onto a silicon
] chip that's embedded with 60 electrodes connected to an
] amplifier. The electrical signals that the cells fire at
] one another are picked up by the electrodes which then
] send the amplified signal into a computer. The computer,
] in turn, wirelessly relays the data to the robot.

Yes, you read that correctly.

This is good. Bio/computer integration is progressing at an acceptable rate. If things go according to my great plan, when my body is too frail to continue living, I will be able to implant my brain into a giant robot body with photon blasters and shit. Kind of like RoboCop, only not lame. I'm not thining human profile here. Being able to fly would be good, but not with some dorky jetpack like at the end of RoboCop 3, that was st00pid. Maybe like a transformer or something. Yeah.. And don't worry, none of that shit that happened at the beginning of RoboCop 2 would be an issue.. I will be _happy_ as a giant robot. I will roam the streets of America fighting corrupt corporations. And help old ladies cross the street and shit. Really.. I can code, so I will be able to preform improvments on myself. I can see this working out..

Technology Review - Rat-Brained Robot

(3) the social environment in which thoughts originate and evolve, and mindsets develop.

MemeStreams is not Yet Another Web Site.

Beyond 'Couch Potatoes' | First Monday

] "It's wrong because it's a crime."

This is quite an essay. First the guy presents three reasons that people don't think copying an MP3 is morally equivelent to stealing a CD. None of them are the real reason. (Are these people really so stupid that they don't GET this.) Instead, he lists the reasons why people don't like the media industry. He simply claims that these reasons are unfounded. He gives the media industry credit for the VCR. I guess he doesn't recall their fighting tooth and nail to ban VCRs. He claims the media industry isn't really negotiating for every dollar. I guess he didn't read Hillery Rosen when she said "this is about money."

Then, he basically admits, that the media industry is using its political influence to hold the entire technology industry and the economy in general hostage, until they get what they want.

Then he delivers a threat: Do what we want or you can't have your economy back.

I hope they booed him off stage. But, knowing the kind of people that usually show up for Comdex, they probably applauded, because thats what they were supposed to do.

News Corp's Peter Chernin on 'the problem with stealing.'

this is elonka's talk on steganography from phreaknic. elonka is a bad ass cypher freak. the slides are well worth 15 minutes of your time. some reasonable thought about the likelyhood that al-q actually used stegaNography in images tO conceal Their plans for 911. jonnyx's goggled face offers clear evidence that universities that have searched for stego on the web and not found it simply have not tried hard enough. the reader is left to ponder the possible.

Rattle: I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for inadvertently distrupting Elonka's panel. There was a little stir when several people realized that I had hijacked the wireless network as I was watching Elonka speak.

Elonka.Com - Steganography