http://www.blog.derekharter.com The newborn Meta-Cortex of Derek Harter Sat, 30 May 2009 03:32:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Finished reading Daniel  Suarez's The Daemon, in between getting grants and writing papers and such, this semester.  This is maybe the best book I have read about technology, and its threats (as well as promises) in our immediate future, in the past year or two (and that is saying much ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2009/05/29/suarezs-the-daemon/ Lots of interesting content on Edge on the question of "What will change everything?"   I especially like Kelly and Hillis's responses, which probably would not surprise those of you who know or read me. But I was also fascinated by Sherman's response, discussing energy, environment and economics.  These issues, more ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2009/01/04/energy-consumption-and-social-organization/ Ever since reading a wonderful essay a long time ago by SF author David Brin, extolling the virtues of the progressive rationalist vision of Rodenberry's Star Trek universe over the elitist world view of Lucas's Star Wars, I knew here was a thinker after my own heart. Brin recently published a ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/12/23/the-pragmatic-middle/ Just finished this delightful little book, Rapture for the Geeks, by Dooling (see MacLeod's Fall Revolution series for the origin of the expression of his title).  A fun little book, and a bit different from what I was expecting.  It is about the singularity, of course, but it also ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/10/17/rapture-of-the-nerds/ Just finished Stephenson's Anathem this week.  Initial impressions: I definitely liked it a lot, though it may not end up being my favourite Stephenson (still probably Cryptonomicon followed by the Baroque trilogy).  It is a fun easter-egg hunt of the major philosophical and intellectual milestones  of western civilization. What other modern  ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/10/09/finished-anathem/ Just a snippet from a  grant we are submitting for a new cluster computing instrument for TAMUC, that I was a bit proud of writing.  Perhaps undergraduate and graduate students might get a better feel for some of the current and near term work you might be involved with me ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/09/18/a-definition-and-perspective-on-computational-sciences/ In this blog I have talked quite a bit about two of my current favorite SF authors, Charlie Stross and Vernor Vinge, but I don't think I've mentioned Neil Stephenson. Possibly because he's been a bit quiet lately. Of course, when you churn out books that are 1000+ ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/09/02/anathem-cant-wait/ I have become more and more convinced that trying to teach beginning programming using a production language like C++ or even Java is really just a horrible horrible mistake. I am just wrapping up teaching our Programming II course this summer. We use C++ for our intro courses ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/08/07/how-to-think-like-a-computer-scientist/ Not my title, but that of an article in most recent Chronicle of Higher Education here. As an educator and scientist in higher education I see what the author is talking about first hand all the time. I have little luck in convincing the American undergraduates I work with of ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/08/06/how-our-culture-keeps-students-out-of-science/ I have recently been exploring social networking sites and collective intelligence algorithms. I suppose I am of the generation that just missed out on the Facebook/MySpace phenomenon. But I have always found recommendation engines from places like Amazon and Netflix quite useful. They provide an indirect ... http://www.blog.derekharter.com/2008/07/22/collective-intelligence-and-web-20/