May Masthead
New month, new masthead. Taken from this photo of a flower market in Paris, taken by me in May, 2006.
New month, new masthead. Taken from this photo of a flower market in Paris, taken by me in May, 2006.
“Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, “I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.”…” Christopher Hitchens interview at NY Magazine
As long as there is new technology, there will be people to hack that new technology. (And thank goodness for that).
A team of researchers has, for the first time, hacked into a network protected by quantum encryption.
Quantum cryptography uses the laws of quantum mechanics to encode data securely. Most researchers consider such quantum networks to be nearly 100% uncrackable. But a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge was able to ‘listen in’ using a sort of quantum-mechanical wiretap.
[...]
Their apparatus destroys the photon by measuring its momentum. So in this setup, the detector has to measure both polarization and momentum simultaneously, giving one bit of information to the eavesdropper and the other bit to the receiver. This means both people have to be sitting in the same room, using the same photon detector, notes Lo. That might just give the eavesdropper away.
To grab the information en-route would require a ‘quantum non-demolition box’ — a theoretically possible but as-yet-unbuilt device that could measure the photon and pass it along.
Sometimes I’m glad the future is still here.
“You’re an American girl, red headed eyes blank. Living in a freckle on the face of the world. Another dying kid that learned too much too soon… New Jersey ain’t the whole world.” Red House Painters.. at Amazon.com
May 11-13th, NYC.
The 2007 conference “Human Rights for the 21st Century: Rights of the Person to Technological Self-Determination” will focus on (a) human rights in the context of bodily autonomy as well as reproductive and cognitive liberties, (b) emerging biotechnologies which may contribute to the exercise of such rights, and (c) challenges to the ideas of human identity underlying some rights discourse.
I had hoped to attend (and even speak) at this conference, but I’m speaking at a conference with Mark Johnson the same day, so I had to withdraw. It looks like a fantastic group, almost a continuation of what was begun at Stanford Law last year. And I just realized that one of my old Rutgers professors is even speaking – he was all logic and philosophy of mind when I last saw him, but he seems to be doing some bioethics now. (I find myself in the same boat, and I think there’s a logical progression that’s being followed).
Go, listen, report back.
“After all, it does sound preposterous to propose “thinking toilet paper” (no matter how long the roll might be, and regardless whether pebbles are thrown in for good measure), or “thinking beer cans,” “thinking Tinkertoys,” and so forth. The light-hearted, apparently spontaneous images that Searle puts up for mockery are in reality skillfully calculated to make his readers scoff at such notions without giving them further thought – and sadly, they often work”… Douglas Hofstadter.. at Powells.com
Via Pharyngula:
Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley when they could not match it with anything known previously to science.
Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral’s chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in literature – albeit fictional literature.
“Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral’s chemical formula – sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide – and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.
Just as I always suspected: comic book writers really are from the future. (I’m pretty sure Warren Ellis’ new book, Doktor Sleepless, is going to confirm that for me)
“For the first time, the faces of students at the Turner County High School prom were both white and black. Each year, in spite of integration, the school’s white students had raised money for their own unofficial prom and black students did the same to throw their own separate party, an annual ritual that divided the southern Georgia peanut-farming county anew each spring”… Integration in 2007 at CNN.com
Richard Dawkins Versus Bill O’Reilly.
Richard Dawkins will be interviewed by conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly on Monday, April 23, at 8.00pm EST on FOX. The program will be rebroadcasted at 11.00pm. Check your local listings for times.
I’m not sure I’m going to have the stomach for this.
If you are in the Pennsylvania area, you might want to attend some of these fantastic talks at Bucknell University this weekend.
From the Brain to Human Culture: Intersections Between the Humanities and Neuroscience
(Since I’m speaking on cyborgs, I expect there to be Haraway-related questions I can’t necessarily answer. J. suggested I put Dale on speed dial and ask to use my Life Line when those questions arise… I think he might be on to something!)