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Archive for future

Run, Barry RUN!

April 15, 2015 future, Videogames, Writing Comments Off on Run, Barry RUN!

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/bionic-boots-help-you-run-25-mph

Augmentation is a funny thing.  In science fiction you tend to see integration, bionics, different and intimate ways of meshing machines with humanity.  Superhero fiction and Steampunk tends to be where you find the true gadgeteering.

Experimenting on live people tends to be frowned upon, so oftentimes you see these technologies developing not only in parallel, but there is a certain amount of reinventing the wheel.  The end result seen in these bionic boots mimics the result seen in the “kangaroo” boots that are already on the market. Is the engineering that creates this effect exactly the same?  Probably not, but the end result (that we as the potential user experiences) is very similar.

You see the same kind of thing happening in “bionics” (I’m defining this as “limb replacement” for the purposes of this blog).  There are a half-dozen solutions for getting a replacement hand to close on an object.  Some are simple, mechanical levers and dials operated by the off-hand, some are directly hardwired into the muscles, some use a conductive surface to “read” impulses under the skin, but they all have a very similar end result.

 

Not today, but tomorrow.

April 12, 2015 future, Writing Comments Off on Not today, but tomorrow.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-08/jpmorgan-algorithm-knows-you-re-a-rogue-employee-before-you-do

 

Pre-crime is coming.  Actually, pre-crime has been here for half-a century, but nobody’s really noticed yet (and, truth be told, a great many people will still never notice until it bites them in the *ss).

Take credit scores, as an example.  Your score is based on your history.  They look at your reliability, your f*ckups, your open credit lines, your possible debt (if you go all hog-wild and blow your remaining open balance on thousand dollar whiskey and strippers, for example).  They analyse your past behavior to determine your future behavior.  Because people tend to fall into a rut.  We fall into a pattern.

The JP Morgan algorithm is doing much the same thing.  It’s looking, not for a single f*ckup, but for a pattern of behavior (which is funny, since “Past performance is not a guarantee or indicator of future performance.” is typed neatly at the bottom of every brokerage account statement for every brokerage firm *everywhere*).  Those patterns of behavior used to be the purview of the managers, the Branch Admins who’s job it was to keep an eye on all the transactions that went in and out.  Once upon a time, it was a big job.  Once the internet became a THING it became an almost impossible job.

And for those among you, who is not going to feel better knowing that their banker or broker has another layer of control on them to make sure they don’t blow all your savings on a trip to Tahiti?

And how many of you, who held your hand up just now, are going to complain when those same algorithms are applied to YOUR jobs?  In retail, in concessions, in any company where you have a lot of employees and a lot of opportunities, this thing is going to find a home.

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