RonVitale

We Are the Web

Kevin Kelly wrote a piece “We Are the Web” for Wired and I thoroughly enjoyed the article. However, do I think that in about 10 years’ time that the Internet “machine” will become the first sentient computer? I doubt that. But I did agree with his commentary on how reliable we humans will become on the Internet. He made a good case that already people are being to “forget” information: It’s much easier for us to say: “I’ll go google that bit of information” rather than to remember and learn a fact. I find myself doing this all the time.

Case in point: Have you ever forgotten something that’s on the tip of your tongue? Maybe you can’t remember the name of that actor who appeared in a movie? You think about it, try to remember her name, can remember the name of the movie she was in, but just can’t her name. You give up and look it up in Google. Pretty amazing how reliable we become on the Internet. We can buy our products, pay our bills, be our resource, and much more.

When I write, I use the Internet as my guide. I use Wikipedia or Google all the time. When I am writing, without the Internet, I can’t pull together links for my blogs or come up with ideas. I perform my research for my stories partially online and I take the web for granted. Here’s another example: I am working on a story and I needed to look up some facts about the Crimean War. I remembered some facts about the war from high school but I didn’t know the specifics. Instead of going to a library to look up the information (and driving the 10 minutes away), I just sat down at my computer and looked it up in about 5 seconds. Big difference.

Where do I see the Internet going and evolving into? At the moment, we’re in desperate need of better tools to help us sift through the massive amount of data. I believe Kelly’s article says that there are 600 billion webpages in existence (growing all the time). I personally don’t believe that Google is a powerful enough of a tool to search through all the content that is in existence. We need tools to help us. What do we need?

1. A smart aggregator. You know how Tivo can record programs for you and then suggest that you might like a particular program? Well, we need the same thing for the web. I would like to see a program that will sift through audio, video, and text, and compile bits of information for me, saying: You asked that I scour the Internet for this information, here is what I found. I thought, that based on your previous downloads, that you might enjoy this song, this movie, this blog, or podcast, etc. A smart search agent that works for you. I would really like to see this tool come to light in the next 10 years. There is just so much content out there and there’s such a lack of my knowing that it even exists. New ideas and wonderful programs exist now but I can’t see or listen to them all. I need a tool to help me prioritize what pieces I might like to watch/listen/read.

2. A smarter image search tool. I would like to be able to upload an image to Google and say: “Find me other pictures that look similar to this.” Often I’m looking for a particular type of image as inspiration and if you don’t know the name of something or are looking for a particular type of image, typing in the term isn’t going to be very useful. Places like Flickr are tagging words to images, but I don’t believe that is the most effective way to do a search. I would like to upload an image and have the image compared, bit by bit, as to what I’m looking for and then a search engine send this request of mine out.

3. Total penetration access. I want to be able to go to the beach, the mountains, to work, or to the darn bathroom and still have Internet access. I’m talking about high speed too. I want to be able to work no matter where I’m at. I know this is a double edged sword: We’ll become dependent on the Internet much more so than now. But I honestly do not enjoy having no Internet access. When I go on vacation, I want to be able to listen to my podcasts, read my “newspaper,” and to write in my blog. Not having Internet access is a bummer. To have a portable tool that would allow me to update my blog or to send an e-mail on the spot would be great. Yes, I know there are blackberries to receive e-mails, but I want a small phone-like device with a USB roll out, full size keyboard that will enable me to type on the go. None of this two thumb typing!

What do I think about major advancements in the web? I believe the economy (more online services and stores) will blossom in the next 10 years. Hopefully, Hollywood will open its doors to places like Movielink and CinemaNow and that Netflix’s proposed service will take off. I am not saying that I want to be wired into the Internet all the time, but I do want the choice to either go to a movie or a record store to buy a CD, but I could also download the material in my home.

I also forecast that micropayments (payments of under $.10) will become the norm. And I believe that BitTorrent will be transformed into an amazing tool to help spread content to users all over the world. What do I mean by that? I believe that common tools such as iTunes and the like will have a built in BitTorrent feature that will allow people to download/upload content at the same time to help decrease the bottleneck of downloading from a server.

Do I see people getting chips in their head and staying in constant contact with the Internet? Not in ten years. I believe that more and more people growing up will rely on the Internet as their source of information. More of what we do offline will be able to tied into online services. We shall see what the future brings, but I don’t quite see us having to deal with a Matrix like future yet. I’m not that pessimistic.

Humankind's Future

I saw the picture late yesterday afternoon of a piece of   debris falling away from the shuttle.  From the reports that I had read yesterday, a 1.5” piece of tile may have fallen off near the landing gear.  And I believe that a piece of the external tank also came off during liftoff.  Most oddly, 2.5 seconds after launch, the cone of the external tank hit a bird….  Odd, very odd.

Traveling into space is still extremely dangerous and not quite ready for civilians yet.  In growing up, I remember seeing the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey on television and wondering if we’d have space stations and trips to the moon.  But let’s not even think about that: People went to Jupiter in the movie.  What a wondrous sense of adventure and exploration that is.  I’ve always believed (for right or wrong) that humankind needs to explore the universe.  No matter if it’s with robotic spacecraft or visiting other worlds ourselves.  I pray that I will be alive when the first humans step on Mars.  I was not old enough to see   Apollo 17 land on the moon in 1972.   I wasn’t even a year old yet.  I’m 34 years old now and another human being hasn’t walked on the moon—or any other body in the solar system—since that time.  I’d like to see that change in my lifetime.

I’m idealistic and would like to think that people can explore the solar system and beyond.  I like to envision a future in which humankind can branch out past Earth and is able to have self-sustaining colonies on different planets.  At the moment, I think my visions of the future are simply that—just wishful thinking.  We have many problems here on Earth that need solving and I do not believe that we are ready for such a leap.  Various nations and races can’t even get along here on Earth, how would we pull our resources together to survive in the cold, blackness of space?

With terrorism, poverty, disease, corruption, greed, and hatred so prosperous in our times, how can we rise above our dark side to go beyond into the great unknown?  No matter how far we travel, we would bring our problems with us.  It’s unfortunate that we humans haven’t found a way to obtain peace.  But who am I kidding?  When some kids can   kill another kid over an iPod,  what could I expect?  Smiles and handshaking all around?  I don’t think so.  We are a vicious and angry people.  We are territorial, selfish, hateful, and capable of such violence that I wonder how we will survive.    Carl Sagan once wrote:  “…every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring—not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.” (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space)  But if we leave the confines of our blue home, how will we survive in a foreign environment without bringing our ancestral emotional baggage with us? 

The world needs another voice like Carl Sagan.  He or she probably does exist but these days the media is too preoccupied with terror, murder, and whether   Nick and Jessica are going to divorce.  Whatever happened to people dreaming up the big and impossible?  How can we ever reach such lofty goals if we don’t at least imagine them and wonder?

I’m not talking about just going to space.  But what about here on Earth?  I’m sick and tired of hearing about gas prices and how high gas is.  No kidding.  We’re a country dependent (insanely so) on fossil fuels.  Why is it that my teachers back in grade school were telling me that oil would run out in 40 or so years and we’ve done hardly anything as a nation (heck, as a world!) to solve the problem?  During the energy crisis of the ‘70s, I remember being in my mom’s boyfriend’s car, waiting in line for over an hour to get gas.  And here we are today, still gassing up like there’s no tomorrow.  Am I part of the problem?  Yes, because I do drive, but I attempt to make some sort of a difference: I buy as an efficient car as I can afford and take public transportation to work every day.

I would like to see several problems wiped out in my lifetime.  Here they are:

1. I do not wish to see another starving child in any part of the world.
2. I want alternative forms of energy to be seriously pushed by world governments (hybrid cards, fuel cells, solar, wind power, nuclear, etc.)
3. Disease conquered.  Period.  With the human genome having been cracked, I want to see AIDS, cancers, and all other diseases controlled by technologies.  And for currently curable diseases, I want all those in poorer countries to have access to the drugs to help them.
4. Peace.  Why CAN’T we all just get along?  (Greed, money, power, land, resources….)  I know the answer to that question, but how can we find ways to come together not as “we’re America and we’re right,” but as “we are people who happen to be Americans.”  We are people first and Americans second.  However, with nationalism and religious fervor so strong in today’s world, God must be shaking his/her/its head at us for how silly we are. 

Big goals?  You betcha.  But what’s the alternative?  A world in which my kid will be afraid to visit New York or London because of a terrorist attack?  A world in which kids kill other kids over an iPod?  A place in which millions are starving elsewhere in the world and the United Nations stands by and lets power hungry warlords steal supplies from the needy? 

Where are the leaders of our generation?  Why are we not making our own “I have a dream!”  speeches? 

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

We cannot sit back and let our lives pass us by.  The thoughtless dribble of reality TV has burned our brains dry if we are not moved and disturbed by what is around us.  Wake up, rise up, and live!  I believe we can make a difference and can solve our problems.  What tirade am I on and what makes me believe in such hope?

If you question how we can solve such great world problems, then let me give you an answer: Become involved.  In your family, in your children, in your community, with your neighbors, and in yourself.  Small changes can make a big impact if we act toward a larger change.  Such radical and revolutionary thought boggles the mind!  Live in peace, how is that possible?  There is no magic wand to wave away our problems, but on a local level, a grassroots level, we can begin.  Today.

Go home, hug your wife, call your mother, stop and talk with your neighbor, help a friend, recycle when asked to, and small changes will link together to form larger changes in your mind.  If you perceive that you can change, then you will and your influence will affect those around you.  Do you think that   Ghandi changed India overnight? No.  And for you “nay sayers” out there: I would rather dream big and fail then to live in mediocrity and in fear. If I don’t try, I will never know what is possible.  If I don’t live, then I will be trapped inside like a mouse in a trap.  If I don’t dream, then I will miss out on the most glorious gifts that I have been given: Creativity, imagination, love, and hope.  For without these, what would we be?

Space

Lots of writing news in the last few days.  As I mentioned earlier, my story “P2P” has been accepted for publication.  But I learned yesterday that a tech article that I wrote was accepted for publication and that The Writer magazine did not need the tech article that I had queried them about.  (I also learned that a Magic article that I had submitted to a publication was received and is being reviewed.)  So I have lots of different pieces out there in the market being reviewed, accepted, rejected—the whole shebang.

With the heat that has descended over this area of the country, I’m trying to think of cool issues to report about.  Over the past weekend, my family and I visited   Longwood Gardens and had a good time walking through the garden and seeing my son play in the kid’s garden with the small fountain (he loves sticking his hands in the water and splashing about).  I posted a picture of part of the fountain display that goes off several times a day.  What I like about Longwood is that you can walk in peace to way back to the wild flower fields and be relatively left alone by others.  There aren’t many places in my area where you can walk and have some solitude to think or just to look out on nature.  The gardens are not too expansive, but you do have the illusion of being away from people.  I just like going there to see Nature’s beauty and to relax.

I’ve been a bit stressed lately between work and working at home (writing, reading, research, cleaning up the basement to make more room, etc.).  There’s been much to do and the heat doesn’t help.  Dealing with a heat index of around 105 today is a bit much.  The temperature is supposed to get up to 97 degrees Fahrenheit and I’m not looking forward to walking to the train later today.  Not at all.

In other news, I’m sending out my hopes and prayers to the space shuttle crew.  They’re scheduled to launch today at 10:39 ET.  I wish them well and hope that their journey back into space opens up new doors for humankind’s future in exploration.  I have always been, since I was little, a proponent of human space flight.  I have not always agreed with the direction and path of the space program (I’m not in favor of the International Space Station), but I do enjoy following the missions.  In the last ten years, I’ve been most interested in the robot missions to Saturn (Cassini)  and Mars (exploration rovers:  Spirit and Opportunity). Earlier today I came across a rather interesting article about the   sounds that Cassini is picking up from Saturn.  Sure the audio has been changed in frequency and is related to “the auroras near the poles of the planet.”  So although it’s no spooky aliens sending us a message, it’s still interesting to hear sounds from over 1.3 billion kilometers away.  Many years ago I remember partaking in a PR stunt that The Planetary Society had coordinated with the public.  If you signed a postcard and mailed it in to them, you r  signature would be scanned and included on a DVD that would be sent out on the Cassini mission.  I thought that this was rather cool so I did it.  Possibly there’s some data of mine out there in the depths of space.  My signature on a DVD isn’t really anything to write home about, but I still thought that the romantic thought of my best wishes for the mission be sent out there so many kilometers from home.

I’m a bit tapped of energy today so I’m going to end this entry short.  But still remember to stay cool, listen to some cool   podcasts, and have fun.  Enjoy!   

Winning, Traffic, and Movies

I had a full weekend.  I tried to cram as much fun as I could, but you can only do so much.  Some business first: I received a rejection from a literary agency on Saturday. After being stuck in traffic (more on this in a bit) for over two hours with my son, I came home to find the lovely rejection letter.  I loved the line: “We’re sorry for this impersonal form letter…”  Just have to love it.  Early on Sunday, I watched the last bit of le Tour de France and saw Lance Armstrong win his 7th consecutive Tour de France.  To have had testicular cancer and then come back to win the Tour seven years in a row is simply miraculous. 

Later in the morning, I checked my e-mail and received notification that my story “P2P” had been accepted for publication for an online journal.  I hope to have more information next month on when my story will appear online.  A quick side note: I saw the e-mail in my inbox and saw the header “P2P.”  I nearly deleted the message because I thought it was spam.  That would have been some dramatic irony there: My writing a story about P2P technology and then fearing that an e-mail was some spam about P2P—when in reality the e-mail was an acceptance.  Thankfully, I read the e-mail and all is well.

Rejection, acceptance—it all blends together.  Getting back to Lance for a moment, maybe I simply need to toughen my skin and simply fall off my bike and get back up.  I want to congratulate myself (not something I do often) on working hard this year to get stories out in the mail and to keep on writing.  It’s not been easy, but I keep at it.  I just pray for more strength to keep up at it.

So… On Saturday, I took my son on a trip, thinking that he and I will do a little shopping together and then stop by to see if my mom is around.  We jump in the car, hit the road, and are making great time when, up ahead, I see smoke coming from the highway.  Instantly, I thought there was some sort of accident.  I’m stuck on the two lane highway and in under a minute I see a huge line of cars ahead.  I can’t turn off because there’s no exit in site and a guardrail prevents me from turning Southbound and going back home.  Saturday was pretty hot.  I put up the tunes, and started singing.  In minutes the fire engines came (I kept putting the windows up when they would come by so the loud sirens didn’t hurt my son’s ears), and what a sight to behold: Cop cars and fire engines trying to force their way through gridlock traffic.  There was no way for me to pull over because of the guardrail.  In the course of an hour and a half, I saw one ambulance, 3 fire engines, and about 4 cop cars try and make their way through the traffic.   I wasn’t too happy to be stuck in such traffic (I just saw my precious weekend time wasting away), but there wasn’t anything I could do.  My patience level kept decreasing, but again, I was trapped.  There was nothing to be done.  I said some prayers for those in the accident because I figured that with the lanes being so blocked there had to have been a major accident and people were hurt.

I later learned that two people died from the accident.  My son was stuck in the back in his car seat and I handed him some juice, pretzels, and a few toys.  Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without the bag of pretzels.  We weren’t at a full stop so I had to keep inching forward until we were let off at the nearest exit.  The pretzels kept my son occupied and happy.  After waiting in traffic for about an hour and a half, I wound up in Germantown and went passed La Salle University.  Turning back around, I found my way back to the highway in the opposite way, thinking I’d just head home and call it a day.  No go.  Police had the Southbound lanes of the highway closed too.  I zipped the car around and headed into the city through North Philadelphia.  I passed Temple University and worked my way down Broad Street.

I would never typically drive through that part of town, but I was impressed with seeing the large rusted out iron grills in which huge billows of smoke wafted through the air as people barbecued.  Several large white trucks had similar billows of smoke pouring out of them.  People were cooking all in the city and families filled the parks with tents and festivities.  North Philadelphia this past Saturday was a barbecue Mecca.  Amazing.  After passing Temple University, I saw two African American males dressed to the nines in their best suits (one all in brown and the other in black).  They wore hats and were middle aged.  Standing in the center of the street, they held pies wrapped in plastic up into the air, selling them on the corner of Broad Street.  The sites, smells, and sounds of Philadelphia filled the summer air with a rich, heavy smell. 

Finally, I was able to jump back onto the highway and head back home.  Traffic was terrible.  I thought I was fighting rush hour traffic it was so busy.  I don’t why it was so crowded, but I was just happy to be headed back home. 

Later that night, we got together with several of our neighbors and had a nice dinner outside after our kids had gone to bed and a little after 9 p.m. the projector went on, the music off, and we had an outdoor viewing of  “Jaws.”  Seeing the movie Jaws projected onto a 94” screen (a white sheet hung over a garage) was a blast!  We all had a good time and I repeated the experience on Sunday night with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”  What an experience to be watching the movie and hearing the one line of dialogue toward the end when the scientists are waiting for the aliens to visit Devil’s Mountain.  A man over the PA system says: “We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful night.”  I looked up at that point and saw the stars overheard and smiled.  Nice.  Very nice.

Outside of the rejection from the literary agency and the horrible traffic jam, I had a great weekend.  Tiring, but fun.