Must Watch

Feel bad that I had to wikipedia "Louis CK." Clearly I've been out of the country too long. But damn funny and a critical reminder of how the world really is around us.

New social boundaries

Another TED presentation, this one from Seth Godin, talking about how new social groups and movements spring up from commonly held values and leaders who can tap into them. The idea of "tribes" is particularly interesting as traditional social demarcations fade away -- nationality, religion, ethnicity... not as important. In a global, connected world we get to find our own tribes. Lots of freedom, and a lot of upheaval along with it.

In case you were wondering, this is the future of computers

Twenty years from now, artificial intelligence will consist of machines constructed to imitate the flexibility and learning capabilities of the human mind. This synopsis of a TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference presentation last week describes how researchers from IBM and elsewhere are beginning to engineer computers based on the architecture of the brain.