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Showing posts with the label modern times

Scary Books

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I'm not a fan of the undead or vampires or cars with minds of their own. The "scary" books I like to read concern cutting edge science: where we're heading, what we will soon be able to do. Here are some examples from a scary book I'm currently reading. We'll soon have lie detectors that can't be fooled. Brain activity shows up in different places when we lie than it does when we tell the truth. I'm not much of a liar (my face turns red and my eyes water, so my lies are easy to spot) but the idea that lies can be seen on MRIs or whatever is scary. Scientists can also "watch" the movies in your head now and recreate what you were thinking about. It's pretty crude at present, but the computer reads brain activity, runs it through millions of possibilities, and figures out that that's a car, that's a person, etc. Once it has enough examples stored in its memory banks, it will be able to figure out what we're thinking from o

I Need a Light

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It could be our advancing age, but John and I both want a source of light--or extra light--everywhere these days. His purchases tend to be battery-operated lanterns of many sizes and BIG flashlights. Mine are little and cute, and it's nice if they're attractive too. Saturday I found a six-pack of 3-inch Maglites in pretty colors, and I've been stashing them everywhere ever since. The one I set next to my chair in the living room paid for itself almost immediately when I came in from a walk, felt a tick on my leg, and tried to catch it. It jumped onto our mottled beige carpet and went invisible--until I searched with my tiny light. There he was, and there he went! There's a light next to the computer so I can see where the cords plug in. I hung a light on my key chain so I can see to open the door when I come home late. I set a light beside my bed for when I get up in the night. I bought a lighted magnifier for reading the fine print they put on product packaging (sm