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Posted on May 30th, 2008 by Bijan.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, History & Politics, Science & Technology.
One Man, One Earth?
Needless to say, man is no longer confined to the planet Earth. Just last Sunday , the US completed its 6th successful landing on the surface of Mars. So the “one Earth” part is now obsolete.
But what about the “one Man” part? Just today, CNN released photos taken by The National Indian Foundation, part of the Brazilian government, of a tribe in the Amazon that is one of many small civilizations classified as “uncontacted tribes.” Such tribes have had very little or no contact with the outside world, which is immediately evident in the mere 6 photos that were released. The tribesmen are painted head to toe – some in an orange paste and a few completely black. It’s not surprising that the images conjure up thoughts of pre-human Neanderthals, covered in fur and more reminiscent of a “Planet of the Apes” character than a human being. Perhaps the most moving part of the photos is the fact that the tribesmen are aiming their weapons (most likely bows and arrows) at the low-flying aircraft and are shying back in utter confusion and fear. Its remarkable that while on one side of the planet, we sit casually at computers sporting some of the world’s most sophisticated technology, with cellular phones in our pockets running on microchips the size of a fingernail, while there are civilizations that are still living in virtually the same ways that pre-human beings did. Yet we are all still “one Man.” Or are we…?
By all means, it is fascinating to zoom out and trace back the ancestry of Homo Sapiens, watching the evolution of monkey to man. Under five broad classifications beginning with Early Australopithecus, Mid Australopithecus, and ending in Early, Mid and Late Homo, there are seventeen distinct, identifiable genus’ of so called “early human.” But a few scientists are getting bored with that. They want to go forward in time, and see where man is yet to go.
A six-page article by msnbc titled Human Evolution at the Crossroads questions whether or not evolutionary theory includes the possibility of such “spin-off” human species to develop in the future. The natural argument against this theory is the fact that, as illustrated by Darwin’s Finches , evolution dictates that change is the result of divergence of traits – a reaction to variety. In today’s day and age, we’re seeing more and more convergence of human characteristics as the daily life of an average human being becomes more and more homogenized. But Evolution never ends. From images of humans with mildly different genetic capabilities or traits to the idea of completely alien beings capable of wandering freely through space, the possibilities are endless. Sure, it may sound like a bad Spielberg flick, but who knows? These guys think they have an idea…
Scientists, evolutionary biologists and anthropologists alike have formulated a few predictions about the future of the human race. In particular, there are 5 distinct categories that they have created:
Unihuman (~ 1m yrs) – The Unihuman is the result of the eventual “assimilation of the world,” resulting from the breakdown of racial divides and prejudices, and the creation of a single, homogenous race.
Survivalistian (~1.9m yrs) - Survivalistian is the result of a global catastrophe. Be it nuclear war or an asteroid colliding with the earth, the uniform Unihuman race will be once again dispersed and forced to adapt to their new, hostile environment.
Numan (~2.6m yrs) – Spawned from small, germ-like genetic modifications, the Numans are a small “mini-species” with advanced capabilities and features. Numan hybrids and natural humans differ in genetic alteration beliefs and most likely encounter more conflict than harmony.
Cyborg (~3m yrs) – As the name suggests, the cyborgs are born from the eventual acceptance of physical robotic enhancements. Though not physically inheretable themselves, the robotic enhancements reduce the body’s natural immune system leading to ever more dependency on robotics and even the spawn of AI (artificial intelligence) races that compete with their human creators.
Astrian (~4.1m yrs) – This is the Alien. A result of millions of years of genetic and robotic enhancements, the Astrian can literally pause its vital systems and endure millennia-long journeys to other galaxies, only to re-awaken once they arrive.
Click here for an interactive chart of our past and our future.
Again, a Spielberg flick. But hey, who’s to say we can’t imagine? The ancestors of humans such as Homo Heidelberger who lived only 400,000 years in the past could never even fathom what the future of their race would eventually be (although they could fathom that a rock at the end of a stick could make a pretty effective hammer; lucky for us.) Either way, I think it is important for us to note that not only is the universe very, very, very young, but we are merely a glimmer in the vast scope of time. Man is just the beginning of what is to come and as soon as we begin to forget this, we’re only preparing ourselves for a more intense rude awakening.
Posted on May 28th, 2008 by Myk.
Categories: Media & Entertainment, Business & Finance, Science & Technology.
I’d again like to use True Romance, the best movie ever filmed as a heuristic to help us us understand the realities of life. In once scene, Christian Slater (Clarence Worley) is convincing Michael Rappaport (Dick Richie) to help him unload a suitcase of cocain. Dick tell Clarence, “It’s difficult because you’re sellin’ it to a particular group. Big shots. Fat cats. Guys who can use that kind of quantity. Guys who can afford two hundred thousand. Basically, guys I don’t know. You don’t know. And, more important, they don’t know you.”
That’s the topic of interest. We’ve grown up with the phrase “it’s who you know.” Many of most successful individuals are trained to be networkers–I mean one of the most valuable assets of a top-tier MBA program is the oppotunity to meet the “right” people. To know them so that later in life, so that you’re plugged in. That works I suppose, but I’d drill down on something that was stated so elegantly by Dick Richie. It’s not who you know…it’s who knows YOU. The direction of information flow is of paramount importance.
In our world these days, with all the information cruising the ether, it is increasing easy to gain information on people. You already know this. You might even have Googled yourself to see what you can find. Most likely, you find the first link is to some silly paper that you wrote in college or your MySpace profile. That’s not good and I’d like to bring your attention to that fact.
We all spend an-increasing large portion of our lives browsing content online to uncover relevant information. You should probably be thinking about spending a little bit of that time managing YOUR information–ie what others who are searching see about you. I don’t mean taking down those pictures of you doing body shots with god- knows-who (probably a good idea but uninterstingly obvious) but actually creating relevant content that you would like people to know and making it easy to access. Why? Because you want to control the information flowing from you to others. It is a fact that the internet allows others to begin to “know you” (and make assessments about you) without your active knowledge. This can help you or hurt you but it’s also something you have complete control over. When you think about it, it makes sense–do what you have to do to own your information.
This post is a reflection on several recent encounters where someone found content about me online (specifically this blog and our corporate website). In both cases I was able to skip a few steps in the lets-get-to-know-each-other game. In both cases I got points for information that I had shared. And in both cases I was stoked that Phil and I write VM. I know that we’ve been taught it’s who you know, but it’s becoming pretty apparent that who knows me is no less important.
Posted on May 26th, 2008 by Bijan.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, Science & Technology, Arts & Literature.
You don’t have to look hard to find people who will tell you that humans only use 10% of their brains. You also don’t have to look hard to find a physician or scientist who would laugh at such a claim. Yet even though this claim is far from factual, there is a hint of truth to its meaning. Savant syndrome, defined by savantism expert Darold A. Treffert, is “the presence of unusual intellectual and/or artistic abilities in otherwise impaired individuals.” Usually suffering from Autism, savants (previously known in the medical profession as “idiot savants”) have mildly to severely impaired social or behavioral traits. Despite their impairment, however, savants have abilities called “splinter skills” – incredible mental capabilities that are far beyond the capabilities of a normally functioning brain.
Take, for instance, George Widener. Born with a condition called Asperger’s Syndrome, George has perhaps one of the most powerful memories in the world. Not only able to recall almost any piece of information after processing it only once, George can tell you the day of the week on any date you can name, both in the past or thousands of years in the future. If you ask him to list numbers to the power of 2, he can go on and on – to numbers over 20 digits long.
Derek Paravicini was born 15 weeks premature. Because of the oxygen treatment he received after birth, he became blind and developed a learning disorder along with autism. Derek has a splinter skill called “absolute pitch.” Put quite simply, he can hear any piece of music and play it back exactly – having never even heard it before.
So why is it, then, that some people have such extraordinary abilities yet are impaired in some of the most basic areas of human functionality? And further, do these remarkable abilities that savants exhibit mean that all humans have such capacities? Allan W. Snyder, a PhD and scientist has, along with an interest in very funky hats, a theory: Our brain can be most generally divided into two hemispheres: the right and the left. The left hemisphere controls all of our daily functions such as reasoning, speech monitoring and logic, to name a few. The right side is the more creative, intuitive and imaginative side of the brain, used for artistic or musical expression. Developmental disorders such as autism, Asperger’s Syndrome or even brain damage at any point in one’s life, can interrupt pathways in the left side of the brain, inhibiting its normal function. Snyder’s theory is that the right side compensates for the interrupted pathways in the left side of the brain, causing a savant to pay much closer attention to the particular details of an object or situation, as opposed to translating the individual parts into a whole, cohesive perception.
Dr. Treffert made a reference to this theory in an interview:
“Some savants, because of prenatal, perinatal or postnatal central nervous system damage, from a variety of genetic, injury or disease processes have substituted right brain capacity in a compensatory manner for left brain dysfunction and limitation. Simultaneously, because of those same injurious factors, these savants have come to rely on more primitive cortico-striatal (procedural or habit) memory rather than higher level cortico-limbic (semantic or declarative) memory. This combination of right brain skills coupled with procedural memory produces the constellation of abilities and traits that is savant syndrome.”
So now its clear: maybe we don’t use 100% of our brains. Maybe there is the potential in all of us to have the gift of conditions like hyperlexia without the burden of a mental impairment. Dr. Snyder wants to know for sure.
In an ongoing study of brain usage activity, Snyder uses a process called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to temporarily inhibit the small electric charges released within the synapses of a person’s brain during the firing of axons. His theory, quite simply, is that the right hemisphere of the brain will compensate for the temporary disablement of the left. And his results? Amazing. Forty percent of all of Snyder’s test subjects have exhibited newfound talents or skills after only 10 minutes of TMS. “You could call this a creativity-amplifying machine,” says Snyder. “It’s a way of altering our states of mind without taking drugs like mescaline. You can make people see the raw data of the world as it is. As it is actually represented in the unconscious mind of all of us.” In particular, subjects have seen tremendous increases in drawing and artistic ability. One subject, a New York Times writer, found that his graphical depiction of a cat went from a stick figure to a cat so detailed it had facial expressions. The article describes his whole experience.
And now we arrive at the whole reason for this post: There is clearly a wealth of compelling evidence that there are certain dimensions to the human brain that not every person can experience or explore. In all of us, there lies a hidden arsenal of extraordinary capabilities that we simply can’t access. Our brain, in an effort to synthesize and categorize every bit of sensory input that we absorb, in essence, dumbs us down. We lose sight of the simplest, most finite details, to the point where a cat becomes just a stick figure. And if these talents exist in all of us, who’s to say that there aren’t more? Just where exactly does the true capability of the human brain end?
I’ll leave you with an interesting observation by Dr. Treffert:
We know from centuries of medical history, including the emergence of various medical oddities over the years, that certain components in every brain are equipped with incredible technical capabilities — capabilities normally suppressed by other components so that the brain can do its main job, which is to balance out function and help a person lead a normal life. For example, in my book The Forgetting, I discuss the famous Russian patient “S” who literally remembered every detail he came across in his entire life. He could recite verbatim conversations or random number lists decades after the fact. Sounds cool, but this was actually a huge liability — remembering every detail makes it impossible to form intelligent summaries of details, which is the basis of all intelligent thought and communication. The ability to forget — get rid of sensory detail — turns out to be just as important in the brain as the ability to form new memories.
So maybe we need to limit ourselves in some ways just to function in others. Maybe ridding our memories of mundane sensory details to view the larger picture is actually more efficient. But maybe, just maybe, we have a whole different set of incredible skills that we don’t even know about, and those that we do know about only use…say…10% of our brains.
Posted on May 25th, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Sports & Health, Definitions.
I’m not even going to go into how this topic came up or who provided me with some of the following info, other than to make a quick reference to Spanky’s Wine Bar and leave it at that. The topic is what our UK crew affectionately refers to as “wanking”, aka “flogging the dolphin”, aka masturbation.
We all do it, and we all have at one point pretended that we don’t do it. But what of the history of this proud tradition? Well take your hand out of your pants and read on…
People have glad-handed themselves since the beginning of mankind. Adam hopped behind a tree to take care of business shortly after spotting Eve. Animals do it in the wild. In some ancient cultures it was praised and even used in ceremonial rituals. In the past few hundred years, however, the acceptance has been much more limited.
In Victorian medicine, masturbation was widely touted as an almost universal cause of everything from insanity to hair loss. A man named Dr. Reveille Parise was quoted in 1823 as saying “In my opinion neither the plague nor war has had more disastrous effects for mankind than this miserable habit of masturbation.” The Graham Cracker believe it or not was invented by Mr Sylvester Graham as a cure for masturbation. Dr. John Kellogg, founder of the now immense food product company, in particular made it his quest to end “self harm” in young men. Graham and Kellogg both believed that a simple, bland diet would help stave off the urges. That doesn’t speak well for their products, and didn’t do a damn thing to slow anyone down. Keep in mind of course, that this was also a period of time when they thought the cure for a lot of things was to get rid of the ‘bad blood’ using leeches.
Some interesting facts for you:
- There are competing arguments over the etymology of the word. My favorite is based on the Latin manu stuprare, meaning literally “to defile with the hand”.
- Alfred Kinsey’s studies have shown that 92% of men and 62% of women have masturbated during their lifespan. Similar results have been found in a British national probability survey. It was found that 95% of men and 71% of women masturbated at some point in their lives. (I expect that the other 5-8% of men and 29-38% of women were lying their asses off.)
- It is held in many mental health circles that masturbation can relieve depression, stress and lead to a higher sense of self-worth.
- Masturbation has been shown to be particularly useful in relationships where one partner wants more sex than the other – providing a balancing effect and creating a more harmonious relationship.
- In a 1640s law code for the Puritan colony of New Haven, Connecticut, “blasphemers, homosexuals and masturbators” were eligible for the death penalty.
Posted on May 22nd, 2008 by Myk.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, Business & Finance, Science & Technology, Arts & Literature.
In the 1960s, a sociologist named Robert K. Merton wrote an essay on scientific discovery, where he wrote that ”a scientific genius is not a person who does what no one else can do; he or she is someone who does what it takes many others to do. The genius is not a unique source of insight; he is merely an efficient source of insight.” Malcom Gladwell, author of the Tipping Point, references this in his recent New Yorker article on innovation titled In the Air. First off, it’s a very nice read, as generally are all articles in the NYorker. In addition, it’s just a fascinating topic.
There are a number of fun parts of the article and I’d like to comment on a couple. In 1999, one of Microsofts giants, a dude named Myhrvold, launched a firm called Intellectual Ventures. He raised 100s of millions of dollars and hired brilliant people to work there. What’s really interesting is that IV is not a venture capital firm. “Venture capitalists fund insights—that is, they let the magical process that generates new ideas take its course, and then they jump in. Myhrvold wanted to make insights—to come up with ideas, patent them, and then license them to interested companies.” Thus, IV’s job was ideation–which is really the coolest thing I can think of. By bringing together a team of brains, he hoped to pave the way for creativity and therefore discovery.
From the article:
The original expectation was that I.V. would file a hundred patents a year. Currently, it’s filing five hundred a year. It has a backlog of three thousand ideas. Wood said that he once attended a two-day invention session presided over by Jung, and after the first day the group went out to dinner. [T]he next day the attorney comes up with eight single-spaced pages flagging thirty-six different inventions from dinner. Dinner.”
Gladwell writes about the value created when bringing really smart people together to facilitate scientific discovery. There can be remarkable insights created even over chit-chat at dinner. The traditional theory of scientific genius as a solitary experience is challenged, with Gladwell offering examples that indicate discoveries are often made by multiple people nearly simultaneously–what science historians call “multiples.”
In 1922, William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas, found a hundred and forty-eight major scientific discoveries that fit the multiple pattern. Newton and Leibniz both discovered calculus. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace both discovered evolution. Three mathematicians “invented” decimal fractions. Oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley, in Wiltshire, in 1774, and by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, in Uppsala, a year earlier. Color photography was invented at the same time by Charles Cros and by Louis Ducos du Hauron, in France. Logarithms were invented by John Napier and Henry Briggs in Britain, and by Joost Bürgi in Switzerland. Four independent discoveries of sunspots by Galileo in Italy, Scheiner in Germany, Fabricius in Holland and Harriott in England occured in 1611.
The law of the conservation of energy, so significant in science and philosophy, was formulated four times independently in 1847, by Joule, Thomson, Colding and Helmholz. They had been anticipated by Robert Mayer in 1842. There seem to have been at least six different inventors of the thermometer and no less than nine claimants of the invention of the telescope. Typewriting machines were invented simultaneously in England and in America by several individuals in these countries. The steamboat is claimed as the “exclusive” discovery of Fulton, Jouffroy, Rumsey, Stevens and Symmington.
Compelling data right? Scientific discoveries appear to be in many cases inevitable. If not one person, then another…or another. So, what happens when a company like IV brings together intellectual heroes (over dinners at conference tables) that might otherwise be laboring seperately? As IV’s patents have been proving, a lot. Maybe these thinkers would have breakthrough ideas by themselves…but it looks like thinking together accelerates the process. There are efficencies in scientific cooperation that ought to speed scientific progress.
Maybe this appears obvious and in some ways counter-intuitive to how things practically work. Groups of people generally involve politics and egos and other impediments that hamper productivity. But if a team can get away around those obstacles (and from the article one gets the impression that IV’s participants love knowledge more than egos–c’mon they’re GEEKS), shared creativity results in productivity.
But not in all cases. A fun thought provoking note is that the same cooperation between artistic geniuses does not make for better art. Producers of science and art are different beasts. Hmmm….
A work of artistic genius is singular, and all the arguments over calculus, the accusations back and forth between the Bell and the Gray camps, and our persistent inability to come to terms with the existence of multiples are the result of our misplaced desire to impose the paradigm of artistic invention on a world where it doesn’t belong. Shakespeare owned Hamlet because he created him, as none other before or since could. Alexander Graham Bell owned the telephone only because his patent application landed on the examiner’s desk a few hours before Gray’s.
Sort of like 1000 monkeys couldn’t write Hamlet–it takes a very special SINGULAR monkey to do that. this note is just my reflection on the story. Read it and lemme know your thoughts. It’s inspiring stuff to know though, huh?
Posted on May 22nd, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Food & Wine, Sports & Health.
I seem to find myself talking about water a lot lately. A recent post of mine addressed the issue on a global scale. Now its time to get personal.
You are not just what you eat; you are what you drink. Water is the basis of all life, and that includes your body. The muscles that move your body are 75% water; the blood that transports nutrients throughout your body is 82% water; your lungs are 90% water; your brain is 76% water; even your bones are 25% water. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to see that water is critical to your health. In fact, many common degenerative diseases can be prevented and treated by increasing water intake on a regular basis.
Some examples:
Heartburn
Heartburn is a signal of water shortage in the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract. It is a major thirst signal of the human body. The use of antacids or tablet medications in the treatment of this pain does not correct dehydration, and the body continues to suffer as a result of its water shortage. Not recognizing heartburn as a sign of dehydration and treating it with antacids and pill medications will, in time, produce inflammation of the stomach and duodenum, hiatal hernia, ulceration, and eventually cancers in the gastrointestinal tract, including the liver and pancreas.
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Arthritis
Rheumatoid joint pain - arthritis - is a signal of water shortage in the painful joint. It can affect the young as well as the old. The use of pain-killers does not cure the problem, but exposes the person to further damage from pain medications. Intake of water and small amounts of salt will cure this problem.
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Back Pain
Low back pain and ankylosing arthritis of the spine are signs of water shortage in the spinal column and discs - the water cushions that support the weight of the body. These conditions should be treated with increased water intake - not a commercial treatment, but a very effective one. Not recognizing arthritis and low back pain as signs of dehydration in the joint cavities and treating them with pain-killers, manipulation, acupuncture, and eventually surgery will, in time, produce osteoarthritis when the cartilage cells in the joints have eventually all died. It will produce deformity of the spine. It will produce crippling deformities of the limbs. Pain medications have their own life-threatening complications.
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Angina
Heart pain - angina - is a sign of water shortage in the heart/lung axis. It should be treated with increased water intake until the patient is free of pain and independent of medications. Medical supervision is prudent. However, increased water intake is angina’s cure.
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Migraines
Migraine headache is a sign of water need by the brain and the eyes. It will totally clear up if dehydration is prevented from establishing in the body. The type of dehydration that causes migraine might eventually cause inflammation of the back of the eye and possibly loss of eye sight.
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Asthma
Asthma, which also affects 14 million children and kills several thousand of them every year, is a complication of dehydration in the body. It is caused by the drought management programs of the body. In asthma free passage of air is obstructed so that water does not leave the body in the form of vapor - the winter steam. Increased water intake will prevent asthma attacks. Asthmatics need also to take more salt to break the mucus plugs in the lungs that obstruct the free flow of air in and out of the air sacs.
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High Blood Pressure
Hypertension is a state of adaptation of the body to a generalized drought, when there is not enough water to fill all the blood vessels that diffuse water into vital cells. As part of the mechanism of reverse osmosis, when water from the blood serum is filtered and injected into important cells through minute holes in their membranes, extra pressure is needed for the “injection process.” Just as we inject I.V. “water” in hospitals, so the body injects water into tens of trillions of cells all at the same time. Water and some salt intake will bring blood pressure back to normal!
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Cholesterol
High cholesterol levels are an indicator of early drought management by the body. Cholesterol is a clay-like material that is poured in the gaps of some cell membranes to safeguard them against losing their vital water content to the osmotically more powerful blood circulating in their vicinity. Cholesterol, apart from being used to manufacture nerve cell membranes and hormones, is also used as a “shield” against water taxation of other vital cells that would normally exchange water through their cell membranes
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So when you’re done reading this, go grab a nice tall glass of H20, and toast to your health.
Posted on May 19th, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Consumer Products.
Any of you with a fetish for fashion, a fetish for the freaky, but most of all, a fetish for feet, ought to find this fascinating.
The latest rage in Japanese footwear is a bit of a throwback to the days of the geisha, but today its all about height more then miniaturization. Check out the new goods:
Definitely much more overtly sexual these days, as would be expected. One commonality is that they are about as hard to walk in as the old shoes were - which makes it hard for the girls to move very fast (is, to run away). I suppose the main underlying commonality is that they really suck to wear, but not nearly as much as the old school geisha garb. Look at what these women had to do to themselves:
Posted on May 15th, 2008 by Myk.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, Science & Technology, Humor & Pop Culture.
In a recent post on VM, I wrote about how many people we can realistically be intimate with…and that technology enables us to maintain relations with more people than we can hold dear. In a tangential topic, I’d like to highlight an article I recently read in the Economist Special Report on Global Nomads. It is called Family Ties and I wish it were publicly available but it isn’t (so I hope they won’t mind me taking a few exerpts to share). It speaks to the effect of mobile technology on how I interact with you. And you with me.
It starts with an introduction of the concept of strong vs. weak ties. From the article:
In the 1970s Mark Granovetter became one of the most influential sociologists of that decade with a paper titled “The Strength of Weak Ties”. Mr Granovetter argued that society needs not only healthy “strong ties” between relatives and friends but also ample and fluid “weak ties” between casual acquaintances. Far from trivial, these weak ties are the “bridges” between “densely knit clumps of close friends” and thus the conduits for ideas, fads and trends. “Social systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent,” Mr Granovetter argued. Any erosion of weak ties is therefore to be deplored. Most sociologists “agree that nomadic technology, far from isolating people, brings them closer to their families, friends and lovers—their strong ties. But they still disagree on what that means for weak ties with strangers, and thus society at large.
In other words, “weak ties” are the glue that hold together society. We need them or it inhibits our socialization. The article suggests that, thanks to technology, we are losing that glue as we increasingly communicate with our closest friends throughout the day. With mobile phones more and more people call, text, and e-mail persons close to them. Exchanges are frequent and short. Now, we expect less content (”hey baby let’s raise hell!”) but maintain a feeling of perpetual connectivity, making us feel as if we are together during the entire day although we are apart. Great for maintaining relationships (I personally have to thank my cell provider for enabling a cross-continent relationship to last as long as it did) with light touches. However,
The potential problem with connected presence is that it usually excludes other people who may be physically present. In situations that might once have been an opportunity to talk to a stranger—waiting for a bus or boarding an aeroplane, say—people now fill the time with a few messages to parents, lovers or friends. This strengthens the strong ties, but weakens, or even cuts, the weak ties in society.
Hmmm…so texting your mom might keep you from meeting Mr. Right right next to you on the airplane. Your loss babycakes!
At the end of the day, I love examining my own conclusions. In the last note, I wrote that technology makes it easier to know more people and thus easier to replace them. This note is about technology moving us towards communicating with those close to us to the detriment of meeting others. The notes are some ways in opposition to each other…but really, they’re about the changing nature of relationships between each of us. The most important thing to keep in mind is the phrase “you and I have a relationship” is changing. Really. Write that down (because it’s true). The fun part is that we’ll discover together the mechanics of it all–of technology and you and me.
Posted on May 14th, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Consumer Products, Business & Finance.
Here’s the scenario… A bad hairy smelly man steals your identity. He ends up in the hospital and pretends to be you. His medical history becomes a part of your MIB identity (Medical Information Bureau). You get in a car accident, show up unconscious and on the medical bureau as having a herion addition and advanced diabetes, and they kill you trying to save you with the wrong method and medicines.
Does this really happen? Not so much. But identity theft is becoming a huge problem, and netting more than $50 billion annually for the crooks and leaving the victims with no end of headaches. With enough information about you, a criminal can get credit cards, cell phones, apartments and, yes, even medical care in your name, leaving you to deal with the collectors and credit bureaus when the perp skips on the bills.
But what exactly is Identity Theft?
Computer Crime
Data theft by spyware, viruses, e-mail and hackers, and during online transactions, accounts for only 12 percent.
Personal Betrayal
Friends, relatives, employees and others who’ve managed to get access to your data account for more than 20 percent
Document Loss
Stolen wallets, checkbooks or credit cards, stolen mail and paper records retrieved from your trash account for 39 percent.
Business Leaks
Consumer files lost or breached in the past six months at ChoicePoint, LexisNexis and elsewhere now top 2.4 mil.
Banks, credit-card companies and data brokers are pushing two basic kinds of identity protection: insurance plans that reimburse you for some out-of-pocket expenses from theft, and credit monitoring services that alert you when certain new information about you pops up at one of the three major credit bureaus. There are also sexed-up versions of monitoring that can come with all sorts of frills. You can spend hours clicking through different Web site offers and promotions just trying to figure out which products are being sold at what prices (from $50 to $500 a year or more) and what all these things are supposed to accomplish.
An American Express telemarketer might tell you that one in four U.S. households has been a victim of ID theft. (The Web site for Equifax puts the number at around 10 million Americans a year, which works out to more than 4 percent of adults.) But these numbers must be based on a very broad definition of identity theft. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, most ID cases are basic credit-card fraud: Someone steals your card or your number and goes shopping. Report such frauds promptly and it’s typically a nuisance at worst: The law limits your costs to $50, and the major card networks offer zero liability.
Another slice of the ID theft pie involves non-credit-card fraud, like someone tapping your bank account. That’s frightening, but credit monitoring can’t detect most of this. You detect it by watching your accounts regularly. The kind of identity theft that’s most dangerous is called new-accounts fraud. That’s when someone actually gets credit cards and other accounts in your name, sullying your credit report as they go. In a year, this happens to a tad fewer than one out of 100 people.
That’s still millions. But most of them end up on the hook for little or none of that debt. Indeed, less than 20 percent of new-account victims surveyed in 2004 reported out-of-pocket financial losses greater than $500.
What you can do:
1) There’s a lot you can do that’s cheap or free. Guard your Social Security number jealously. Read and pay your bills online. Buy a paper shredder for your home. Don’t leave your mail sitting around in the mailbox for very long. Check your credit report at least once every four months by getting the free report you’re entitled to once a year from each of the big three reporting agencies. And if you think you’ve been a victim, place a free 90-day fraud alert with one bureau, which must then notify the others.
2) Sign up for a service that monitors your accounts, and provided some protection. For anywhere from $50-500 a year, you can get various layers of protection. (Be warned, some companies purporting to provide protection are perfidious perps looking to pillage your personal nest egg)
3) Print your name, address, birth date, and Social Security # on a t-shirt and wear it out around town.
Your decision really turns on how much uncertainty you’re willing to live with. I like rolling the dice personally, and if someone wants to steal my identity, they better be ready to help with things like washing my dogs and taking out the trash.
Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: History & Politics, Business & Finance.
According to the Kuwaiti Finance Minister, Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency’s decline stoked inflation across the region. What that means in short is that the dollar will be less relevant in the world, and less transactions will be done in dollars. Ultimately, oil and gas transactions that total trillions of dollars per year, could no longer be handled in dollars.
Inflation is running close to 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., while Qatar’s consumer prices rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter. The Kuwaiti dinar has appreciated 7.9 percent against the dollar since the nation in May became the only Gulf Arab state to drop its peg to the U.S. currency. Worked for them, so others are seriously considering the move.
More so, all of the GCC states, apart from Oman, are planning to form a single Gulf currency by 2010. The group’s central bank governors will meet in June in an attempt to get the project back on schedule. My guess is that all of this will take some time to really fall into place, but sooner than later, the dollar will be out and the Gulf will have an EU style currency of its own. One of many signs that the US is becoming less important in the world, and other regions are growing in power, autonomy and relevance.
