Yearly Archives: 2002

RAVE Act

Ah yes, once again, the gov’t is after those of us who like to dance. Check out the latest: Reducing American’s Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (RAVE Act Bill# S2633). As i grow older, i’m more and more fascinated by these bills – the large efforts to which members of our government go to in order to stop subcultures before of drug paranoia. And i can’t help but imagine them discussing this bill at the local pub, inhaling yet another gift from Philip Morris, guaranteeing that their liver/lung failures will increase my medical premiums.

I forget who told me that you know that you’ve hit the next stage in your life when you stop being angry about everything you disagree with and start laughing at the absurdity of it. I still waiver between the two, but i’m starting to truly understand what it means to just be stunned stupid because of the hysteria. Ah.. and the word hysteria… i guess my womb is off and running again. ::laugh::

dimensions of people

I’m having a dimensional moment… [yeah, yeah yeah, blame it on the beach.]

Imagine the space of all people, all personalities, all personal characteristics. There are certainly patterns in people, in their behavior, across different people. One can think about stereotypes, about what behaviors result from personality differences. Yet, think about the typography of the space of all people. Imagine that each person is simply a line through all of the dimensions of possibilities, yet along a typography that has plenty of holes such that certain characteristics cannot exist without other characteristics.

People always ask me why i’m obsessed with observing human behavior, why i’m obsessed with the patterns that people form in their actions, why i’m so curious to see the role of stereotypes and expectations. I’m fascinated by the typography of personal existence, of the dimensionality of people. I’m in love with the possibility that a model could be constructed of human existence, yet know that the model still exists in the realm of chaos, beyond our basic understanding. But as i sit and watch people, i am fascinated by the intersections that form, by being able see some of the relationships, see the holes within the space.

Ah, how i still adore the bridge between the sciences and humanity, to see the beauty in human behavior. Thinking about social psychology as a mathematical form, about behavior as a modeling opportunity…

Oh, how i’m itching to be thinking about modeling and dimensionality again. My hypertext roots are aching. After thesis… after thesis… ah, what a mantra.

Well I think we’ve sorted all that out now. If you’d like to know, I can tell you that in your Universe you move freely in three dimensions that you call space. You move in a straight line in a fourth, which you call time, and stay rooted to one place in a fifth, which is the first fundamental of probability. After that it gets a bit complicated, and there’s all sorts of stuff going on in dimensions 13 to 22 that you really wouldn’t want to know about. All you really need to know for the moment is that the Universe is a lot more complicated then you might think. — Douglas Adams, “Mostly Harmless”

burning man & privacy

An interesting lawsuit has emerged. Burning Man folks are suing a company called Voyeur Video for selling videos of naked women at Burning Man. It’s not just my love of BM that makes this interesting, but what it means to be in public/private. Here’s a big big festival on public land run by a private organization with explicit rules that all videos must be registered. CNN and MTV have been banned year after year. Yet, this company took lots of images and are selling them, without the permission of the subjects. Is this a public space? A private space? I can’t help but think about what this might mean for general recording and selling of data…

religion and law

It seems as though religious issues are the topic of the courts today.

In Florida, a Muslim woman’s drivers license was revoked because she refused to do a full facial photograph because it was against her religion. I’m sure she’s going to love the retinal scanners and digital finger prints… Ah, the poor Amish must hate us.

True to my heart, a San Francisco court ruled that the pledge of allegiance was a violation of separation of church and state. Do you realize how many times i had to sit in the hallway because i refused to recite that damn allegiance? And when i did, i made up my own versions that never appeased 6th grade teachers… “One nation, under beaurocracy with violence and hatred for all…”

[cypherpunk login for nytimes: c1ph3rpunk/c1ph3rpunk]

genetalia

While doing research on transgender issues, i ran across a lot of surgery images (like this one). I always saw these images and smiled, because i knew that their owners were finally in a position where they were proud of what they saw in the mirror. But, as most of these folks are going through the Benjamin Standards of Care, they are seeking out genetalia that looks like what is portrayed in their daily images (although not all). Even though i support trans folks in their right to seek a body that reflects who they are, i’ve also always supported ISNA’s fight to let intersex folks keep the genetalia that they are born with. I have a problem with the medical and social normative functions that force young children into outcast roles. Yet, while i had run across tons and tons of research on intersex kids and trans folks, i had never run across such a wide range of genital differentiation as i found in this medical literature. On one hand, i feel badly for many of the owners of these genitals, particularly those that cause other major medical problems. At the same time, it makes me so angry that we live in a society that can’t honor these differences – c’mon now, i can think of a few women that would very much appreciate penile duplication. But again, i do believe in personal choice.. i just wish that society wouldn’t be so full of pressure..

access to websites

Ok… so, i’ve never been a fan of web profiling by corporations for advertising agencies. So, for most sites, i use one of two tricks. Either, i use cypherpunk [most sites can be accessed with cypherpunk/cypherpunk or something similar, allowing you to go in as a group]. The other thing that i tend to do is choose the top choice of all items, with 20500 as my zipcode (White House). So, often i am a male executive in the financial sector, living at 20500 making <$20,000 a year. I don't want their adverts; i will not comply; i am not a sheep. Well, today i heard about another way to get to NYTimes (since i keep having to make new cypherpunk accounts - latest is c1ph3rpunk): random account generator.

Also, on a related note, i really like one of the cypherpunk links, an interesting old research bit on using crowds to create privacy online… If you are part of a group, you’re activities become the conglomerate.

minority report

Although i didn’t make it to opening night, i did get to see Minority Report on opening weekend. Although i am not the biggest Tom Cruise fan and i get quite annoyed by Steven Spielberg, i was quite pleasantly surprised. The digital cinematography was fab – good lighting tricks, great filters, perfect layout, good use of fisheye and smart irregular dropping of frames. The plot was well done, although it had a bit of that A.I., let’s-add-on-extra-30-minutes feel, but this was much more bearable. I was quite psyched by the perfect timing of the release of a surveillance film, particularly with it’s thought-provoking take on how the public feels about it. There was a great homage to Stanley Milgram, where everyone stopped what they are doing to be accounted for – obedience to authority at its best. Given some of the corporate systems for eyescanning and finger printing, the big question is: how long until this is a reality? [The better question is, of course, will people rise up to say that this is unacceptable?]

Plus, of course, i appreciated the use of technology, mostly thanks to John Underkoffler. I have to imagine that Hiroshi was shitting his pants on Friday, watching all of his tangible research be pertified for the screen. Plus, i caught a neat little use of Ben Fry‘s Valence piece in an early scene. Yay for Media Lab work looking fab!

For those who are curious about the ML-related work, check out:
– electronic paper (i.e. the animated newspapers)
– laser wall (using lasers to detect hand motion mid-air)
– tangible media (sensor-based objects like the memory chips and balls, gesture work, etc.)
… there are more but this is what comes to mind… it’s just so great to see the research prettified…

All and all, i was quite entertained! [as was roger ebert]