Holy crap... I just finished the Otherland series of novels by Tad Williams (City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass, and Sea of Silver Light), and it was utterly amazing... oh my... I still don't quite know what to say. I don't want to give a summary of the books or anything, but I suppose it would help to at least say what they are about. Otherland is a virtual reality multi-verse created by the Grail Brotherhood, a cartel made of the world's richest, most powerful, and ruthless individuals. It is one of the world's best kept secrets, and it is the thing that dreams are made of. When inside Otherland, it is utterly real. Even the most fantastic settings such as the chessboard land of Alice and Wonderland to the world of Homer's "The Odyssey". And behind this fantastic multiverse is the operating system known as the Other. The Other is an artifical intelligence unlike anything the world has ever known, and I can't really say anything more about it without ruining the story. But anyway... there's this big conspiracy, and thousands of children are trapped online, leaving their bodies in comas, and there are people trying to save them blah blah blah... it's hard to explain. but it is really very good, and if you like science fiction, you'll love these books (especially if you love plots developed from multiple points of view). anyway...
I'm so excited because of the book's take on artificial intelligence. I myself love the field of artificial intelligence and artifical life, so I am always fascinated by how people think of it, be it be contemporary works of fiction (books, magazines, movies, etc.), or informed essays, experiments, or non-fiction books. I'm currently reading a book entitled Evolutionary Robotics by Nolfi and Floreano. it is a book about processes for creating autonomous machines based on Darwinian ideas of survival of the fittest, and modern-day understanding of molecular genetics. It is becoming a vast inspiration for me and the preliminary thoughts behind my senior research project for electrical engineering (I have a whole year to plan it out... then I get to execute it afterwards... ought to be fun
). oh man, i'm blabbering... but suffice it to say, once I put my ideas down on paper, I'll probably talk about it a little in my various web-journals, and a little essay on my website. *sigh* i'm such a dork... lol
ok, i didn't say anything of any import, but i don't care.
I'm so excited because of the book's take on artificial intelligence. I myself love the field of artificial intelligence and artifical life, so I am always fascinated by how people think of it, be it be contemporary works of fiction (books, magazines, movies, etc.), or informed essays, experiments, or non-fiction books. I'm currently reading a book entitled Evolutionary Robotics by Nolfi and Floreano. it is a book about processes for creating autonomous machines based on Darwinian ideas of survival of the fittest, and modern-day understanding of molecular genetics. It is becoming a vast inspiration for me and the preliminary thoughts behind my senior research project for electrical engineering (I have a whole year to plan it out... then I get to execute it afterwards... ought to be fun
). oh man, i'm blabbering... but suffice it to say, once I put my ideas down on paper, I'll probably talk about it a little in my various web-journals, and a little essay on my website. *sigh* i'm such a dork... lol
ok, i didn't say anything of any import, but i don't care.
An old and dear friend of mine combined electronics work with wildlife. He attained a degree in communications with an emphasis in music and video production; and then went on to get a second degree in wildlife biology. Last time I was in contact with him he was making independant science educational videos for schools to use (he was completely disgusted by the videos currently used in schools, with all the damn advertising and biased/ wrong science - though what should we expect from educational science videos made by Exxon).
Perhaps one day you will develop more reliable wildlife radio transmitters, especilly ones geared more for the marine environment...and please, help develop a satellite transmitter small enough to fit on a murrelet!
I currently work for Humboldt State University as a biologist on the Common Murre restoration project, its been about a year. In terms of seabird research I've worked most extensively with Alcids, in particular Marbled Murrelets. I'll definately keep my focus on seabirds through grad school.
You're right, it would be nice if more folks were concerned about concervation. No doubt we'll all be forced to soon enough. Check out the Animal Lovers group, its mostly about pets though I've been trying to start a wildlife encounters thread, its going slow, I could use your input.
Cheers