Slashdot Mirror
The Year In Ideas
matthewg writes: "This week's New York Times Magazine (free registration required) consists primarily of a special feature, The Year In Ideas. Subtitled 'An encyclopedia of innovations, conceptual leaps, harebrained schemes, cultural tremors, & hindsight reckonings that made a difference in 2001,' the feature describes 80 different "notions, inventions, conceptual swerves and philosophical leaps that mattered this year and may well continue to matter in years to come" in between a couple of paragraphs and half a page. Complete with illustrations which range from informative to whimsical, it covers a lot of interesting ideas, many of which will probably be new to you. The article's subjects include such Slashdot-fodder as software as speech, steganography Goes Digital, and collaborative composition, as well as a plethora of intriguing new ideas, such as new ideas in basic rights and global warming lawsuits. And, of course, the solution to every Slashdotter's woes."
is here: http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/
So a speed date is the answer to all my woes, is it? Pah. Shows what you think of your readers. We're not all socially inept nerds, you know.
The real solution to all my woes is a linux-powered tricorder that scans for single women who like Lego.
This was my favorite. You can read about it here . Apparently in France you now have a right not to exist and can sue for damages. What are those crazy Europeans going to make up next?
It's called telling the truth.
One of the novel concepts of the last year, the truth was recently proposed as a way of more accurately conveying information.
Some naysayers point out that telling the truth necessarily means not being able to tell lies, as has been the custom, but defenders of the truth counter that the lies were never all that attractive in the first place.
Moreover, lies make inefficient use of bandwidth, leading some to suggest that the truth is perhaps the most effective form of data compression available.
Cryptographers have also expressed interest in this new concept, suggesting that since so many people are unaccustomed to hearing the truth they wouldn't be able to understand a message if it were true.
However, leaders on Capitol Hill expressed alarm that the people should have access to such technology. The fear is that were the truth to be used by hostile forces we would be put in a position where we might be forced to respond with the truth. The ramifications of such a exchange are simply too horrible to contemplate.
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
I thought it was was pr0n! This notion of speaking to the opposite sex is outrageous.
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When I think of the last year and ideas that are "conceptual swerves ... that mattered this year and may well continue to matter in years to come", I think of the idea of taking passenger jets, and viewing them as big bombs. They have navigation systems, a destructive payload (mass and jet fuel), and very few places in the world have defences against them.
It sure changed the perspectives of millions of people, lot the least of which includes the thousands in the direct application of the idea.
We shouldn't limit the list of ideas to humanitarian advances.
-benJ