Brain works more like internet than 'top down' company

The brain appears to be a vastly interconnected network much like the Internet, according to new research.

That runs counter to the 19th-Century "top-down" view of brain structure.

via bbc.co.uk

In more brain news... here we have new research that likens brain structure to a network rather than something top-down.

I'm a bit surprised that the top-down model has survived for so long in neuroscience...

Tagged artificial intelligence brain

Playing at being a brain

It was interesting to read Jaron Lanier, in the New York Times, referring to Clay Shirky talking about twitter as a kind of global mind...

In one recent example, Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, has suggested that when people engage in seemingly trivial activities like “re-Tweeting,” relaying on Twitter a short message from someone else, something non-trivial — real thought and creativity — takes place on a grand scale, within a global brain. That is, people perform machine-like activity, copying and relaying information; the Internet, as a whole, is claimed to perform the creative thinking, the problem solving, the connection making. This is a devaluation of human thought.

That reminds me of my somewhat provocative talk at the Twitter Developers Nest last year: You are a Neuron, which was a thought experiment and chat about our individual messaging of short messaging on twitter adding up to the beginnings of a global mind of sorts.

I'm thinking I need to go deeper with that talk, specifically to tease out some of the interesting aspects of how we learn to work together in a connected social system to do things like share and filter links for each other.   At an individual level, sharing a few links with followers seems simple enough, but can we express that as some kind of intelligent filtering function.

But enough of that.  Jaron Larnier's article is well worth a read; as a part of the ongoing discussion about what is Artificial Intelligence. And especially to red about the unsettling thought (or rumour) that Google is scanning all those books not just for human search, but to feed to a big artificial intelligence...

Tagged artificial intelligence google neuron speaking

Great Scrum Master training in Brighton

Many, many thanks to Mat Walker  for organising Certified Scrum Master training in Brighton that I just did.  

It was two full days of interesting material, ideas and practical activities, skillfully presented by Nigel Baker of Agile Bear, who kept it alive and fun.  Scrum is intriguing, I was expecting something a lot more technical and exact, but Scrum comes across as human scale, pragmatic and full of common sense.  These must be the right things for managing projects full of change.

Left me with a lot to think about and a desire to find a team and a project and try it all out. 

And, good news, Mat is thinking about organising another course in Brighton.  Sign up here for more information.

It was run at the new Skiff location in Gloucester Street, off the north lanes. Fantastic place.

Oh, yes, and I'm now a Certified Scrum Master.

 

 

Tagged brighton methodology scrum

Caroline Lucas' Maiden Speech

Here's our new MP's maiden speech in the house of commons.

[edit:  just removed the bbc embedded player as it never seemed to work..]

Instead, have a look at the video over at Caroline Lucas' website for video and text of the speech.

 

 

Tagged brighton politics

DEBill - The bad and the ugly and the good

So The Digital Economy Bill was rushed through the house of commons last night.  The fact that it was rushed through wasn't remarkable in itself. That's the mode of parliament at the moment as the government try to tidy up a bit before the elections, to satisfy the party bosses egos "we really did something"  and appease the business interests and lobbyists that are looking for a outcome before the election.  Given the size and scale of government, I'd expect things to get rushed towards the end and be a bit about appeasement of donations and stuff like that.  Which doesn't mean I like it, I just expect it.

So, in some ways, passing the DEBill wasn't remarkable at all.  But in other ways, it marks a change.   Some people (us digital natives) with no direct experience of parliamentary process got to see the process at its worst.   The commons looks old, opaque, traditional, flawed and broken.  It looks like mob rule where good ideas get eaten to feed party bosses egos.  Yep, that's about right in my estimation.  It became clear that it wasn't a debate at all, but a railroading exercise.   What would you expect from this government?

I've been political enough in my life to not be surprised or outraged by parliamentary process. It is a great big old traditional system, built a couple of ages ago.   But bad law is bad law. And the DEBill is bad law.  I spent my time  in student politics fighting hard to avoid prevent overly broad, stupid, weak, vague and confusing laws from being made.  And here's a perfect example of how to do it wrong.

So.. Now what?

Well, the new government will go and make regulations and so forth and work out how to administer this mess of laws and will come up with something unworkable and foolish, I bet.   And that will make lots of newspaper headlines when the wrong person, family in need, etc get disconnected.  And then when the music industry dies or transforms into something new as it must, these provisions will quietly disappear.  So, i'm not so worried, especially taking the long view.  It won't result in any reduction in illegal file sharing, it will simply drive VPN technologies into the hands of more people, including those that will use encryption to harm others (like potential terrorists).

For those of us digital natives, we've now got a rallying point to change how lawmaking and consultation works.  We've seen it done badly, now let's work out a modern, better way.  I think it's time to put the tweet board in the commons.

And let's not forget the Tom Watson and the other brave MPs that tried to vote down the bill under great pressure to conform.  Cheers to you lot.  We noticed. And we owe you.  And how good it is to feel represented.

What can you do:

Join the Open Rights Group and engage in the debate.  The ORG forum is the place to work out what local (MP) actions can be taken.
Tagged DEbill opinion politics

I'm heading back to UK from March 15th

I'm heading back to the UK after a month and a bit in Australia, so will be back coworking and hanging out in the usual Brighton places, and looking forward to catching up with folk after this unexpected trip.

There are a few blog posts to add in here, they are queued up in development.  I've been making notes but not really getting into finishing stuff off.  They will come in their own good time.

 

Tagged brighton me travel

buzz-ing

I'm having a play with Google buzz. Come and join the fun over at:

http://www.google.com/profiles/grasuth

 

I'm in Australia for most of Feb

I'm in Australia (Perth) for the next few weeks, due to family illness.      I've swapped out my UK mobile for an Australian one, as I did over Christmas.  That number is 0416 655 902.   That's +61 416 655 902 in international 'plus' form.

Most likely I'll be here in Perth until the end of Feb or thereabouts, and then back in Brighton.

 

 

noise plus filters

Just thinking about twitter being all noise.  It is kind of a human noise making machine.  People pour out their noise.

However, if you think about sound synthesis, often you start with a noise generator, and applying some filters, make some interesting, complex and beautiful sounds from noise and filtering.

This makes me want to make a kind of mini-moog twitter filter and feedback things with knobs on it.  Who knows what interesting things might be produced.

Copenhagen climate change talks are last chance, says Gordon Brown | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Gordon Brown today warned that the world is on the brink of a "catastrophic" future of killer heatwaves, floods and droughts unless governments speed up negotiations on climate change before vital talks in Copenhagen in December.

This applies to the US as much as anyone, he said, adding that "there is no plan B", and that agreement cannot be deferred beyond the UN-sponsored Copenhagen conference.

via guardian.co.uk