Nova Spivack – Minding the Planet

In an interesting convergence of scientific disciplines, physicists in Germany have turned their attention to linguistics, and have come up with a statistical model that predicts the distribution and mutation of languages over time.

This article provides some interesting details on the leading candidate for the next flu pandemic, which is overdue, and appears to be brewing in Asia. Unlike normal flu’s pandemic strains seem to have an uncanny ability to kill off people in the prime of their lives, by causing the immune system to go so far [...]

This is quite interesting. It turns out that manufacturers of color laser printers are secretly encoding tracking numbers onto every inch of every printout. These microscopic codes enable printouts to be traced back to particular printers that printed them, and thus to whomever owns those devices. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion of this.

Change This, a project that helps to promote interesting new ideas so that they get noticed above the noise level of our culture has published my article on “A Physics of Ideas” as one of their featured Manifestos. They use an innovative PDF layout for easier reading, and they also provide a means for readers [...]

A Russian academician has predicted that bird-flu will stem to humans and kill up to one billion people around the world within 6 months of an outbreak. He says it is highly probable that a pandemic could take place within the next year. There is no evidence cited for his claims however he refers to [...]

Disclaimer: I try to keep this blog non-political. I am essentially a political centrist — I tend to judge each politician, plan and party on its merits rather than by any rigid ideology or party-line. I generally find most politicans, political plans and political parties to be less intelligent and less long-term-oriented than I would [...]

This article by a former NSA/NSC and Reagan-administration official adds further credence to the “October Surprise” theory that the White House may initiate a pre-election attack on Iran. It’s interesting because of the source, who is presumably both more reliable and more connected and “in-the-know” than the usual rumor sources on the Web. Let’s hope [...]

Scientists have discovered that by blocking the effect of a gene called D2 in a particular part of the brain they can transform normal monkeys into “drones” that will work as hard as they can, continuously, on repetitive tasks, without needing any expection of reward to keep going. In other words, they can transform regular [...]

Great find from Rob Usey at Psydex Corporation: This article is a survey of the emerging field of “sociophysics” which attempts to apply statistical mechanics to predict human social behavior. It’s very cool stuff if you’re interested in social networks, memes, sociology and prediction science. The article discusses recent progress towards Isaac Asimov’s vision for [...]

This article was submitted to Minding the Planet by a reader, James Clayton Napier, the author. It’s an interesting inside commentary on how TV News works (or doesn’t work, as the case may be) — NS “Images can either imprison or liberate us.” –Roberto Assagioli Feature stories are vanishing from TV news broadcasts. The public [...]

Here’s an idea to help reduce the threat of terrorism against airplanes, and to speed up those long lines at airport security: Separate flights for luggage on high-risk routes.

All you consumer marketers out there — there’s a new fad in the tradition of breakdancing and skateboarding that’s going to be big called Parkour. Parkour is gaining traction around the world and will soon become mainstream. It involves death-defying acrobatic stunts on the street, parts of buildings, and various landmarks. Here are some videos [...]

There has been much recent discussion lately about alleged evidence that the Bush administration is issuing terrorist alerts for political gain. While I am not taking a position on this issue, I do have a suggestion that could eliminate any doubts, and in the process protect our upcoming elections. In order to prevent the possibility [...]

Note: This experiment is now finished. GoMeme 2.0 — Copy This GoMeme From This Line to The End of this article, and paste into your blog. Then follow the instructions below to fill it out for your site. Steal This Post!!!! This is a GoMeme– a new way to spread an idea along social networks. [...]

I wonder if anyone from MoveOn.Org or the Republicans will notice our GoMeme experiments? (Not that I’m taking sides — I’ll simply be happy if somebody wins the election!) Grassroots political campaigns could potentially really benefit from the techniques we’re testing here. For example, imagine a “blog meme” for a political campaign — a meme [...]

by Nova Spivack Originally published on July 28, 2004; Updated on October 10, 2011 http://novaspivack.com Should there be a Constitutional Separation of Corporation and State? Today our American democracy faces a new threat to its integrity, a threat even greater than terrorism in the long-term. This threat is the corporation. In this essay I propose [...]

A report has come out that the levels of asbestos in lower Manhattan were (are?) at least twice what is considered safe for humans by the FDA, and possibly worse. Levels were so high after 911 that they overloaded the tests. However, this data was purposely concealed from the public following 911.

A Russian scientist proposes turning all that wasted blood out there into yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. To quote the film, “Soylent Green is Made of People….!!!” Thanks, but I’m not hungry.

I just saw an interesting film, The Corporation, that suggests that many corporations (which legally have the same status as “persons” in the USA) could be clinically diagnosed as psychopaths. While I felt the film was a bit heavy-handed, there were many points that were quite thought-provoking. For example, one point the film made was [...]

Draft 1.1 for Review (integrates some fixes from readers) Nova Spivack (www.mindingtheplanet.net) INTRODUCTION This article presents some thoughts about the future of intelligence on Earth. In particular, I discuss the similarities between the Internet and the brain, and how I believe the emerging Semantic Web will make this similarity even greater. DISTRIBUTED INTELLIGENCE The Semantic [...]

Notes: Many people have requested this graph and so I am posting my latest version of it. The Metaweb is the coming “intelligent Web” that is evolving from the convergence of the Web, Social Software and the Semantic Web. The Metaweb is starting to emerge as we shift from a Web focused on information to [...]

One of the most widely used sweetening products, “high-fructose corn sweeteners,” may be the cause of the dramatic rise in US obesity levels since the late 1970′s. Fructose is metabolized differently than other sweeteners — it does not trigger hormonal responses that regulate energy use and appetite in the same way as other sweeteners and [...]

Three quarters of the USA population older than two years old is online according to a new study.

Here is an article that accurately depicts the carnage in Madrid. In the USA we only get highly sanitized news and war coverage is usually very minimal — but this article tells it like it really is. Perhaps if the public was shown what was war was really like there would be less of it?

AOL is entering the social networking fray by converting ICQ to a social networking tool. As I previously predicted social networking and IM are converging and this will give competitive advantages to companies with established IM user-bases. Here is the article.

This diagram (click to see larger version) illustrates why I believe technology evolution is moving towards what I call the Metaweb. The Metaweb is emerging from the convergence of the Web, Social Software and the Semantic Web.

This article discusses new research in how the brain makes buying decisions and other choices — what is now called “neuromarketing”. Neuromarketing researchers seek to discover, and influence, the neurological forces at work inside the mind of potential customers. According to the article, most decisions are made subconsciously and are not necessarily rational at all [...]

The Internet and American Life Project found that between 2 and 7 percent of Americans have weblogs, and about 10 percent of them update their blogs regularly. 11 Percent of surfers reported visiting blogs. The study was a random telephone survey of 1,555 Internet users with a 3 percent margin of error.

A good friend, Ann Lynnworth, has started a terrific new project — to police and restore accuracy in the media. Ann writes: Watching the election news from mid-Jan to mid-Feb made me sick as I saw how misinformation was copied and pasted around the globe at lightning speed. This site is the result of wondering [...]

A leaked secret report by top Pentagon analysts claims that within 20 years Britain could become “Siberian” and Major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas. In addition the report warns of nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting around the world as massive climate changes reshape the planet.