Posts filed under 'Science & Technology'
It seems that everyone in cyberspace has been bumping the news about Craig Venter’s announcement of an artificial cell. So I suppose - given my interest in such things - I should pitch in my two cents worth. It’ll be clear to anyone who’s read Broken Evolution where my concerns lie. But the details from Venter’s own press conference I found truly shocking within the first minute, beyond what I could possibly imagine. Why? The essence of it is this: they have created the first artificial self-proprogating lifeform that … wait for it … replicates its own website address in it’s gene sequence. That kind of speaks for itself, and doesn’t need me to elaborate much. It reminds me of the wacky scientist sketches from The Fast Show that usually ended with the scientist saying “we don’t know why we did this”. They did it because … they can. But is the recent announcement funny? No.
I’m not a luddite. I applaud the technical skill and the long effort to acheive this. They spent 2 years evaluating the risk. The benefits in curing diseases in future could be immense.
But what about ethics?
This is man’s first contribution to the chain of life.
An organism versed in self-promotion from birth. Ready-equipped for the commercial environment. A self-propagating advertisement. A meme made manifest.
What message does that send about what we will do with this ground-breaking new technology? As Mr. Venter cited in his announcement: “See things not as they are, but as they might be.” That cuts both ways. Look ahead … remember how excited Oppenheimer must have been when he started work in his exciting atomic technology … and tread with caution into the future.
Broken Evolution has well and truly begun.
June 2nd, 2010
As I assemble an eReader app for my novel, I get a great sense of deja vu. It was my final year project in college to write an eReader for the PC. The technology hasn’t changed much - got a little smaller. My latest foray into eReading has made me wonder why it is such a popular option now, whereas it never really took off in those “olden days” (15 years ago) when it was limited to just a few curious early adopters.
Oh sure, the old arguments against eReaders are still there: “nobody will read an entire book from a screen.” Those arguments haven’t changed. There are only two factors that have changed in the intervening years, combining to make eReading a viable medium in this era: portability and ubiquity.
No one was ever going to sit down to their PC to tuck into a good book. PCs were for work; the last thing you wanted to see when you felt like a recreational read. Reading was always something to take to a special place, or fit in when and where you had some down-time. Neither of those apply to a PC. But the era of personal portable computing devices has arrived. Like a book, we can take those personal devices around with us; unlike a book, we can even slip a computer into our pocket.
In the olde days, the only way to get the book bits onto an eReader was on a “floppy disk” (look it up), or the very fancy new medium of “Compact Disc”. No USB keys back then. Now we have the ultimate form of digital distribution - the wireless internet. Download any book over-the-air from anywhere. Book access is now ubiquitous, as ubiqutious as the marketing-driven popularity of Amazon’s Kindle or Apple’s iPhone/iPad - the eReading devices that have become de rigueur.
There is nothing new in software technology, only hardware. All the software tools and techniques I use every day were all invented decades ago. But what is new, is this singularity - the creeping convergence of all technical factors to make the right time and the right place for something to just … take off.
Next … eReading moves beyond the constraints of the old medium to which it is currently compared … matures in its own unique aspects … comes of age … and becomes something new.
May 21st, 2010
So the Apple’s long-mooted tablet PC has been unveiled at last today.
It’s a big iPhone. It won’t fit in your pocket. Perhaps being seen wearing an iPouch to carry the thing will be the new fashion statement? But I can’t see many people buying it as a phone.
It is Kindle-esque in its proportions, but with a colour screen. Surely the screen won’t be as easy to read as the Kindle’s eInk screen?
Perhaps it’s aimed at home laptop users … who don’t want a tactile keyboard, don’t need to run more than one app at once, and who are happy to only run iPhone OS apps (not Mac OSX apps).
At first, I’m not sure where Apple intend the market for this. In effect, it’s a technology convergence, portable home-media device, but in a recession it must be hard to justify buying one - it costs more that a Kindle or a Netbook. However, no doubt, early-adopters will throng to it. We’ll just have to see where it really settles at home.
Clearly, Apple do intend it as an eBook reader. The incorporation of the new iBooks* strategy is proof of that. It also runs all existing iPhone apps, as I predicted, so existing iPhone book apps would probably command more downloads now that a larger reading surface is there to entice readers.
So it’s ready to go. Time to package up my book for iPhone/iPad after all? However many or few devices they sell, this can only mean more ebook downloads for authors. However, I would be very curious to know the terms & conditions under which Apple are giving publishers access to sell in the new iBook store. Like the success of the iPad itself … that detail will come out over time.
http://www.apple.com/ipad/
* iBooks appears to be eReader software, using the ePub format, linked to Apple’s own new iBook store.
January 27th, 2010
I thought this was interesting, given my interest in all things genetic. A court has reduced a murderer’s sentence because he tested positive for genes believed linked to agression.
Is this yet another potential change in society that genetic knowledge will foist on us? Will we no longer be responsible for our actions, but merely considered slaves to our genes? A society built on lesser personal responsibility does not bode well.
If science has killed God … now sin is shortly to follow. Broken evolution indeed.
November 5th, 2009
The iPhone has been grabbing my attention. As if to reinforce the now undoubtable shift in the publishing paradigm, it seems that the number of books being published as apps on the iPhone is growing … fast. Book apps releases in the appstore overtook game apps for the first time ever. 20% of the apps released in September were books. It seems publishers and indie authors are not waiting for the mooted Apple eReader, the one that’s easy on the eyes and the batteries (… yada, yada …), but rather are willing to take advantage of another distribution channel for eBooks here are now. And why not? There are, no doubt, more iPhones than eReaders out there. There’s a huge user base who scan the appstore everyday. Sure, there is eReader software like Stanza on the iPhone, but I can see the attraction of a custom app in terms of its attention, customization, regular updates, linked interactive content, options for free/purchase content, etc. I’m not the only one.
There’s early adopter advantage to be had here. After all, where is an Apple eReader likely to get its content? Are they likely to do a content distribution deal with a competitor like Amazon who have their own eReader to shift? I don’t think so. Maybe Google? Or Stanza. Or will they open up a bookstore of their own, just like they’ve done for every device they’ve made recently. Perhaps. The answer might be simpler than that. It wouldn’t surprise me that many of the books will just come from the appstore anyway, and run on the eReader as they would on the iPhone.
Perhaps its time to dust of my programming skills and write my first iPhone app. As I know from writing software for other handhelds, its not trivial — beyond the ken of most authors. Maybe I should make the fruits of that effort available to other authors and publishers too? Well, let’s see where it goes - that’s pretty much the mantra for the whole publishing business right now.
November 3rd, 2009
