It seemed impossible to me that some of the things from Star Trek could ever be implemented and yet as time goes by it seems that they will become real or are already real. In fact, there are many more fantastic things that are possible than was ever dreamed up as plot mechanisms for Star Trek. I don't know why I never thought about using long range scan locally, and perhaps that is just the fact that I was focused on a different problem. It works just as well on the Earth and is a method to pinpoint the location of virtually everything with some degree of uncertainty that is comparable to GPS, without satellites or any external equipment. It follows from existing technology and the factorial combination of effects creates so many different utilities that they simply can't be enumerated. It requires a selection based on whether they are useful for a person's motives.
The same is true of the software methods. The primitive functions combine to more complex arrangements and ultimately become so complex in their possibilities that unexpected consequence again exposes itself. Since I have a clean interface to select streams from any source and combine them to any output, I will probably do some video sequences of what is taking place inside the machine network. In a distributed network, the older machines are tasked to methods that suit their capabilities. Parallel function creates its own unique dependency issues and synchronization can be messy, but it is a model of the larger system and I hope to solidify it so that it scales smoothly across light distances.
The drop down, or more precisely popup menus , use yellow for integers, blue for float, red and green for boolean, and purple for strings. They are generated on the fly much like wxPython or GTK menus and though they are handy, my purposes require a little closer atomic control of the display than GTK or wxPython allow. At times it is sensible to place the variables in the scene so that they float forward within context and are selected by pick matrix levels.
I remember a Star Trek episode where Kirk was in an alternate universe and had a device (Tantalus device?) that allowed him to be in control of a savage culture. It does seem that such a device is possible, but much like the other possible technology, it doesn't just work within the confines of the plot mechanism. Such a device in many different hands would be utter chaos in a system designed for central domination. If enemies could be picked off at anytime in any place at a whim, it would seem that it would be a license to implement absolute war. Some technology is not compatible with human character. It has many parallels in literature and has been considered with various plot mechanisms behind the scenes. It seems that early movies used magic or angels as a mechanism, but as technology has advanced it has become some device that is the stand in for magic. In French Latin, I think it is "Deus Ex Machina". I always consider consequence, but as things become more complex it isn't always possible to guess what some change in technology will produce. If I were the dark Captain Kirk in a violent competitive universe, I would have the Tantalus device implanted in my brain. Oh wait, it is a violent competitive universe. I really do think that Stephen Hawking is absolutely correct that if people don't get off the blue rock and get some space between them, they have very little chance of surviving their own demons."Le Diable Ex Machina" (oops, got my French and Latin all tangled up.)of the Forbidden Planet. Stephen Hawking always surprises me , and perhaps that means he is smarter than me in many ways.
It does seem that the idea of a drone war would make the people implementing that technology dominant and safe from danger, but it presumes that everything remains the same and technology never advances. It is always a bad bet to assume that the future is exactly like the past. The universe is infinitely and factorial connected, and to function on any other premise is to fail. The presumption that any part of the universe ( including man) is unique to itself and outside the universe is perhaps some old religious delusion that is used to manipulate others through their vanity. IDK. The destruction of others assumes that there is such a unique independent thing as this that and other. It is a messy philosophical problem and I don't really have a good answer to that.
Damn it Spock, I'm an engineer, not a philosopher!
I was studying libav as well as streams and music when I stumbled on this blog and the header is very interesting art.
If Kurzweil and Hawking upload their consciousness to the Internet, I can imagine the virtual conversation. "You got Hawking in my Kurzweil, No!, you got Kurzweil in my Hawking!".
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