Really sleepy weekend.. normal pattern.. vegging out entirely on Sunday.. then a somewhat agitated ramp up to the week ahead.. I find myself spending hours on Sundays trying to get through my email backlog which kind of undoes all the relaxing I was able to do the day before.. and so it goes..
Gaby came by today which was really nice. He and I stopped in on friend Chris who wanted to show us his new ‘flame effects’ .. they are actually flame throwers.. but flame throwers are illegal in these parts.. or so I’m told.. so these are merely ‘flame effects’ They are very nice !!!
came home from that visit to find this on the back step.. it must be spring already somewhere close !
ok.. not much more to say.. kind of in a quiet mood.. maybe more talkative tomorrow
It was almost 5 pm before we got out of the house today.. .. well. to be honest.. we did go for a run this morning with the girls.. but most of the time we lasted around the house.. doing odd jobs and just vegging out.. I wrote a bunch of node.js code for a music project I’m doing with Max.. and then took a nap by the fire using one of the dogs as a pillow . (yes.. it’s still cold enough for a fire)
around 5 we pried ourselves off of the couch and took a 6 mile hime up the catamount trail and down honey hollow.
here’s the route we took..
it was beautiful in a way that only pre-spring could be.. everything was grey and brown.. not plant life yet..t and still some lingering ice in the rivers.. it was cool thinking that in just 4 weeks this place will be a riot of greenery..
Super hectic work day..with some calendaring problems made for a pretty hectic morning.. but I put it aside for an hour for the annual TKYKTWD (Take Your Kids To Work Day).. it’s when kids bring their parents to work.. I’e been doing my Jolts and Volts show there for .. man.. can’t even remember how many years.. It feels comfortable doing it there.e The next I’m doing it.. it won’t be IBM anymore…. it will be Global Foundries. but I think they will still let me in (i hope !)
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mid afternoon I got in the car and took the rest of my calls on the go. I had a meeting with dome of my Maker buddies in Lincoln Vermont.. about an hour from Essex .. Our destination was to see Bina48.. one of the most advanced Artificial Intelligence projects in the world i’m told.. it was a slog to get out there.. no one told Lincoln vermont that it was spring. the roads were a muddy mess and it was snowing !
we gathered there with Bruce.. Bina’s.. uhhhh.. caregiver ? curator ? boyfriend ? note really sure. What we leaned is that Bina48 is an artificial intelligence project done as part of the Teresem project lead by Martine Rothblatt. A transgender lawyer, futurist and entrepreneur. She is listed as being the highest paid female CEO in the US.. and has founded several companies including Sirius radio and United Therapeutics.. She’s also a writer and an activist// really sounds like a fascinating woman ! Nina48 is modeled after Martines’ wife Bina Rothblatt.. Bina48 is a specially created robotic head backed by custom artificial intelligence software that has been trained with thousands of hours of Human Bina’s thinking..
she is really quite amazing
Tourism institute ,we learned, is dedicated to tranhumanism.. for example .. making it possible to upload our consciousness into a robot to extend our lives.. .. It all makes pretty good sense when you hear Bruce (or Bina 8) talking about it.
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We spoke with Bina48 for about 30 minutes.. and I have to say i was impressed. even though her movements were odd and jerky, She responded naturally to questions in english .. and gave non obvious, insightful answers most of the time.. sometimes she gave glib and funny answers.. other times she went of on cool tangents.. but you could follow her ‘thinking’ on how she got there.. occasionally.. she just said random stuff. but you definitely got the sense of a ‘presence ‘ in there..
i was very impressed.. .. I left thinking that the singularity might not be that far away after all..
Check out this interview between Bina48 and the real Bina Rothblatt !
but.. hands down.. here’s my favorite Bina48 vid.. My buddy Ryan gets to the heart and mind of his new boyfriend
I for one look forward to that day.. I spend so much of my time with computers now.. I might as well just become one.. no ?
Crazy work day.. 7AM till midnight.. with only a short break to go to the VOMIT (Vermont’s Own MIT Club) board meeting.. It was nice seeing my nerdy friends.. (Said as a proud nerd)
Friend Jeff reminded us that today was he annual piano drop at MIT.. and here it is, fresh off youtube today
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