Some random items of interest (I put today's date on yesterdays links, so I'm just going to continue to add to them today, sorry for any duplication):
- Here's some big picture thinking: If the top poker player in the world treats the competition as a 'video' game -- why can't we reengineer complex economic activity inside a 'video' (or more properly an MMO) game. I think it is not only possible, but probable. This could be the basis of the ultimate 'start-up' (at least it has been an entrepreneurial dream of mine for a decade): a complete, self-referencing real world economic system that operates as an online game. From zero to a multi-million player 'economy' in a couple of years.
- Male employment in the US. See graph. Lowest on record. Global financial capitalism has engineered a massive 'put' on western wages/lifestyles in anticipation of rapid and prolonged decline (down to global norms) -- unexpectedly, it may turn into a 'call' on a plethora of new parallel systems (many of which could be evolutionarily superior to the status quo).
- Quote that sums it up. Yves (one of the smartest analyst/insider of the financial markets I've found that actually owns a moral compass): I am not sure whether Potemkin reform is worse than no reform at all, except the latter makes it abundantly clear that America is in the hands of a corrupt plutocratic elite.
- Here's a press release from an IT security firm that incidentally has some good analysis on hacking trends. "There is a clear definition of roles within the hacking community developing, forming a supply chain that starkly resembles that of drug cartels: 1) Botnet growers / cultivators whose sole concern is maintaining and increasing botnet communities 2)Attackers who purchase botnets for attacks aimed at extracting sensitive information (or other more specialized tasks), 3) Cyber criminals who acquire sensitive information for the sole purpose of committing fraudulent transactions."
- IEEE Spectrum podcast. Big government IT projects are failing around the world. Not only are the big government contractors mediocre providers of IT services, the size of the big systems (or systems of systems) envisioned aren't workable. The only way to handle systems of that scale is through an organic, decentralized approach (that loosely interconnects) using simple standards.
- COIN dynamics (TPM). A systems analysis of American COIN strategy. Absolutely hilarious (click on chart below for larger view). Simply, confused military theory (I've found groups that do futures work in the US DoD, but nobody that does military theory) yields confused strategy.
- American Apocalypse. A fictional description of D2 (the second great depression). If the author, "nova," sends me a copy, I'll give it a review here since it looks interesting. Why is it interesting? When resilient communities (RCs) finally arrive, their emergence will be sporadic not ubiquitous (everywhere), since there won't be a government mandate nor a global market dictate (instead, we can expect opposition from these quarters). As a result, I suspect that RC growth will likely be very dispersed geographically, as individuals and small groups opt-in in -- starting with a trickle. Stories like "American Apocalypse" are useful in describing the economically broken environment within which they will emerge. UPDATE: Book is en route! Thanks Nova.
- Techcrunch on Google goggles. This is early augmented reality that you will be able to use soon. Basically, if you have an Android phone, you can load an application that will match pictures that you take with the phone to similar objects found by Google's search engine. Click the link for a better explanation.