nStuff Podcast: Recent Episodes
Rob Prince and Christen Bouffard
Every week Rob Prince and Christen Bouffard talk about whatever topics they find fascinating without fear of stepping on each other’s toes. Whether it’s tech, futurism, pop culture, science, ‘n stuff, we aim to help you see life on earth in fresh, new ways. Any topic is up for grabs as long as it’s full of fascinating questions and implications for human life on earth. Recorded weekly in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Are these cameras gimmicky or are they something more? Things That Blew Us Away Rob: At the time of recording, the Omicron variant of Coronavirus has an “R” value of 10. We can’t find that video now and what we can find all point to an R value of 2 or 3. Christen: Core 77’s Best of Cool Tools Spotted in 2021 Next time: An autonomous vacuum that has a camera built into it. Clean your house and take your next video call on your vacuum.
Now that we’re into the long-tail adoption of the internet, how does technology influence how we interact with information related to conspiracies? Can AI get better at locating radicalizing content? At what point should speech be censored?
Is there a conspiracy that you believe in, or something you believe in so much that your mind could not be changed no matter how much evidence to the contrary? Is this something we can know about ourselves?
Rob thinks humanity is doomed, but he may be swayed.
Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Wishcycling is when people try to recycle something that cannot be recycled.
Christen: Nermal (Nims) Purja climbs 14 of the tallest peaks in the world in under six months. Check out the documentary, 14 Peaks, on Netflix.
Our end-of-year episode reflects on podcasts – what has been and what we’ve enjoyed. Rob’s been podcasting since 2016 and we chat about origins and inspirations.
If you’ve not listened to Dark Winter Nights, True Stories from Alaska, we highly recommend it.
Our Favorites Christen
- Mission to Zyxx
- King Falls AM
- Oligies
- And That’s Why We Drink
Rob
- Dark Winter Nights
- Car Talk
- Duolingo Podcasts
- Bubbly Sesh
We’ll catch everyone in the new year!
Things That Blew Our Minds Christen: Ultra-compact cameras that are the size of a grain of salt.
Rob: Gunpowder was discovered by Chinese Taoists searching for the elixir of immortality.
Storing and managing all the photos we take with our phones is a perennial challenge. This week we talk about what we do, and all our good intentions.
Storage we talk about (prices at the time of recording)
Google Photos
- 100GB for $1.99/mo
- 200GB for $2.99/mo
Apple Crapple (iCloud)
- 50GB: $0.99
- 200GB: $2.99
- 2TB: $9.99
Flickr
- Crickets $6.99/mo – Some breaks for annual pricing
Dropbox
- Sure
Smugmug
- $7/mo for unlimited, full-res storage
Adobe Cloud Storage
- Adobe for teams – cloud storage 100GB
Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Most people have an above average number of legs.
Christen: That time former Russian president Gorbachev made a Pizza Hut commercial.
Next episode we will podcast about podcasting!
We’ve been thinking about the possible costs of files we leave orphaned up in our online storage. Someone pays to maintain it up in the cloud, on a computer in the sky somewhere. What impacts do all the resources going to maintain the files we never go back to access have on the environment?
First, when we talk about cloud computing, we have in mind services similar to:
- Google Drive
- Microsoft 360
- Dropbox
- Netflix (to name a few)
It’s a long list, and we aren’t even getting into video storage and streaming.
In research conducted by MIT, Perdue, and Yale, streaming video makes an impact on the environment in terms of land usage, carbon emissions, and water usage. Turning your video off during a web meeting reduces your environmental impact by 96%.
“To store and transmit all of the data powering the internet, data centers consume enough electricity to account for 1 percent of global energy demand — which is more than the total consumption for many countries”
Reduce the Environmental Impact of your Next Virtual Meeting
Additional reading on the topic and studies by Microsoft and Google are linked below.
There’s also a link to the Arctic Circle Data Center (ACDC) in development, Kolos, which appears to still be raising capital. Their aim is for more sustainable data storage.
Uncovering the Environmental Impact of Cloud Computing
This article, above, states that digital technologies might seem like less of an impact but they are responsible for 4% of global CO2 emissions. Organizations like MightyBytes attempt to steer companies toward more sustainable solutions.
The Cloud isn’t Inherently More Sustainable
Lucivero, F. Big Data, Big Waste? A Reflection on the Environmental Sustainability of Big Data Initiatives. Sci Eng Ethics 26, 1009–1030 (2020).
Google is messaging about this as well
The Environmental Impact of Keeping Files Online
So what do we do about it? Check out the Digital Cleanup Day website to learn more about how people are creating mindful practices with their digital assets.
Things That Blew Us Away
Have you ever been in a bad meeting? When did you realize it was going off the rails? Do you purposefully sabotage meetings that are floundering? This week we talk about meetings because we’ve been sucked into and stuck in so many that this episode turns into a bit of therapy. We also have been meeting facilitators, and understand that sometimes work must be accomplished – but how do we get there?
Meeting Tips Are you leading a meeting? Some questions to ask before your meeting:
- Does every person need to be there?
- Who ISN’T represented there?
- Avoid long introductions about dogs. Maybe do them in chat or via email beforehand
- Have the courage to shove the car out of the mud
- What is the goal of this meeting?
- Creative meetings vs. informative meetings
- Meetings are not the solution to people not reading email, unless it’s a safety thing.
- Meetings are not therapy sessions – BUT SOMETIMES THEY ARE
Zoom Meetings * Know how to mute everyone * Have people raise their hands * Don’t ask a question to the whole group if it’s over six people * Have them raise hands or call on people * Set people up for success in the meeting. If you want to accomplish something in the meeting, let people know ahead of time so that they can think ahead.
Meetings are Like Dinner Parties * Invite meeting attendees into the meeting as guests. * Set expectations * Invite people into conversations who seems to be hanging back. * Set the table. Even just the presence of food can help grease the wheels. * Followup afterward with notes and actions to keep everyone on track.
What Some Smart People Have to Say About Meetings Interesting thoughts on meetings by people that do them prolifically and study them – Meeting Facilitation by Doug Ferguson. They alsotTalk about what to do after the meeting and how to talk about what was accomplished. Suggested Tools: Google Docs, MURAL, Miro, Figma
Why Meetings Go Wrong (HBR) includes some controversial strategies like, banning the mute button. They also suggest that if you’re using an agenda, write it in the form of questions to invite people to think deeply about the points.
Things That Blew Us Away Rob: A family that walks on all four limbs
Christen: Social loafing! The phenomenon that people working in a group exert less effort when working on a goal together. When is it loafing and when is it letting others run with an idea?
We sat down to watch this visual extravaganza of a movie from 2017, and to chat about what we liked about it. The movie didn’t receive much acclaim on its release, but there’s so attention paid to the world building that one can’t discount there is much to see and love about this space opera – yes, space opera. Who doesn’t love a good space opera?
The movie was based on a French graphic novel (Valerian and Laureline 1967-2010), and was directed by Luc Besson. If that name sounds familiar it’s because it should. He has also directed the cult classic The Fifth Element – I know you’ve seen it. On top of having visionary director and a whole lot of independent capital, the cast touts some big names like Ethan Hawke, Rianna, John Goodman, Clive Owen, Herbie Hancock (really?).
This movie tries to cover a whole lot of ground in a very short amount of time. The scope of world-building is momentous and the visuals are good enough that the movie pulls it off.
If you’re someone who watches this movie without any background on the original story, your expectations should be framed in that way. It’s still very enjoyable to watch, fast-paced, and written like a comic book. Don’t expect neatly polished narrative, academic exposition, or a spiritual deeper meaning. It’s fun, there is something interesting to look at every second of this movie, there’s not a bunch of gore or outright violence, and it can hold a kid’s attention.
Lots of visual touchstones that make the world look familiar and believable for people who have watched lots of scifi (Fifth Element, Roger Rabbit, Avatar, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek franchise, etc). You might even notice minor characters such as the Dogan Daguis are very much styled in a manner similar to the Ferengis of the Deep Space Nine series.
What’s Bat-shit Crazy * Cute little armadillo guinea pigs that can poop pearls * Valierian cannot stop proposing to his coworker. * After thousands of years of peace in the Universe, agents Valerian and Lauraline have 10 hours to find the thing disturbing this peace. * BIG MARKET! * There’s a HUGE space station, Alpha, that’s a cultural melting pot in space. * An entire planet and race are erased from historical records by a military officer. * Ethan Hawke is Rhianna’s pimp (who ever thought that would be a sentence we would ever write?). * Rhianna’s Glamopod dance * Laureline contracts an ancient space captain and his space submarine to steal a jellyfish from the blowhole of a giant sea creature, then she puts her head into that jellyfish to retrieve some memories. * A seemingly tribal race leaves their planet and learns sufficient technology to build their own spacecraft within a single generation.
Technology in This Movie * Something like a Star Trek Holodeck * Virtual playlists of former lovers * Communicators * BIG MARKET! AR/VR for the shoppers and for the soldiers (one of them “hacks” into one of the guards and controls it as part of their mission to recover the Mül converter) * Mül converter * Alpha space station * Spider bots that can fit in your mouth * “Evil” imperial robots
Looking for more voices in this conversation? The Verge has a great write up of this movie.
Things That Blew Us Away Christen: In keeping with the recent Halloween holiday, the Smithsonian Magazine has a story about what might be the first depiction of a ghost, datin
Rob read a book by Jean Twenge, who makes a case that GenZ should really be named iGen. In this episode, we spend some time talking about this generation, how it is different from our own generation, GenX, and what generations really are.
Formally named generations are a relatively new idea, along with the rise of social sciences. Note that generations are also dependent on cultural contexts. If we look back, earlier generations include:
- The Lost Generation, 1883-1900
- The Greatest Generation, 1901-1927
- The Silent Generation, 1928-1945
- Baby Boomers (Generation W), 1946-1964
- Gen X, 1965-1980
- Millennials, 1981-1996
- Generation Z, 1997-2012
- Generation Alpha, 2010-2021
Timeline of generations in the Western world with notable events by CMG Lee. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Twenge has a TEDx talk Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Research suggests that the east side of cities are statistically the more economically depressed because it was historically the stinky side of the towns.
Christen: The movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, have you seen it? If not, it is really fantastic and has flown under the mainstream radar since it was released. The movie does such a fabulous job of world building on an epic scale in the length of one movie, I just want to live there.
Next episode we are going to talk about this movie and the technologies depicted.
This week we talk about Rob’s childhood charge to become famous. What is the draw to fame and why do some seek it, while others do not?
Val Kilmer Documentary – Watch on Prime
Things That Blew Us Away Rob: Latrophobia is the fear of healers, or put another way, doctors. Why be afraid of someone who is interested in helping you?
Christen: Despite driving in snow at least half of the year, why are drivers often confounded at the first few snowfalls that obstruct lines on the road?
Breathing techniques have been used by humans across history to access the parasympathetic nervous system for various benefits – meditation, healing, mitigating stress, free diving. For background on different techniques look into Qi Gong, breath of fire, box breathing, Wim Hoff method (not new and like pranayama). Beyond that, breathing through the nose as opposed to breathing through the mouth, helps condition the air coming into the body and it brings in more oxygen. Mouth breathing contributes to a 40% loss of moisture compared to nose breathing.
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor – The impact of switching from mouth to nose breathing.
CO2 therapy for controlling chronic anxiety – Dr. Justin Feinstein is overseeing research going on right now, funded by the NIH in Tulsa, OK. Introducing CO2 into patients to help them become more tolerant to the condition.
Katarina Schroth (born 1894) developed a therapy for correcting scoliosis by using breathing techniques. More background
The Future of Breathing – A presentation given at The Interval, venue for talks hosted by The Long Now Foundation. This talk is also by James Nestor (see book referenced above).
Vice documentary on Wim Hoff
Wim has broken many records for sitting in cold, running in heat without water, and has battled sickness with his breathing techniques and cold therapy.
More about Morozko Forge, cold thermogenesis and breathing.
Inhaling 2nd hand stress – This article discusses this phenomenon.
NPR’s article on the benefits of breathing – Breathing promotes relaxation and research supports that claim. It’s not a new idea.
Things that Blew Us away Rob: Easterland paradox
Christen: Copped out and said breathing blew her away – pun intended.
Next week: Fame
Float tanks – sometimes referred to as isolation tanks, sensory deprivation tanks, and restricted environmental sensory therapy (REST). It seems to be that people choose to use these for both physical recovery and mental self care. In the context of physical recovery, it ranks up there with cryotherapy and infrared saunas. Does it really help recover the nervous system? Does it help lower blood pressure and cortisol?
Float tanks have occasionally made appearances in popular culture: Altered States (1980), Stranger things, Tanis (podcast), and we can’t forget the ever hyping Joe Rogan, of course.
Vice documentary on floating
Research Therapeutic Potentialities of Sensory Deprivation Procedures. Adams, H.B.
Virtual Reality Games in Sensory Deprivation Tanks. Mann, Steve. Hao, Max Lv. Warner, Jeremy
Things That Blew Our Minds Rob: Opening a bottle of wine with a shoe
Christen: Ready-to-wear mushroom leather, coming to clothing near you.
Next time: Breath work + cryotherapy
Welcome to Season 2! We are kicking off the new season with a comparison of Archive (2020) the movie, and Upload (2020) the series on Amazon Prime. Both productions deal with issues that might arise when and if humans devise a way to extend posthumous consciousness digitally. What’s interesting is that they imagine a digital afterlife very differently. BE WARNED: There are spoilers in this article and in the episode.
Archive (2020) This story is set in the near-future of 2038 and hinges on the development of artificial intelligence, jealousy, and a huge plot twist right at the end.
George’s wife did NOT want to be archived, so it’s conceivable this all may be happening without her consent.
This bleak vision of the afterlife is terrifying, where it seems that George is being suspended in death at the behest of his employer to finish out his contract to develop an advanced AI. This fact is revealed at the VERY end of the movie, but alludes to the twist throughout the entire story. George’s daily routine never deviates outside the bounds of the compound, save for a single meeting with the Risk Assessor. He is, essentially, a prisoner in his afterlife AND of his memories.
Upload (also 2020) A much more uplifting and comedic vision of a digital afterlife that manages to introduce many really deep questions that arise when considering artificially delaying death such as:
- Class divisions (the 2Gigs and less enhanced, cheaper afterlife platforms)
- Practical aspects of using self-driving cars
- Wearables and mobile tech (also how are they making phone calls to the uploaded?)
- Tech support for those enjoying their afterlife
- The “deceased” must obey the rule that they are not permitted to work.
There is MUCH more diversity in this cast, but there are also just more people in the cast.
Things that Blew Our Minds Rob: Pascal’s wager – the idea that it is better to bet on God and be wrong, than it is to not believe at all.
Christen: A company, named Sila, has found a way to pack more energy into a lithium ion battery. The technology is being released in the upcoming Whoop 4.0 release. The company has been able to reduce the size of the wearable device, while still being able to hold a charge for 5 days.
Join us next time for a conversation about float tanks.
This week we reminisce about Google Glass as it enters its next generation beta, and we get a glimpse of the items Rob is adding to his 80s museum.
Google Glass was another example of tech we wore on our faces, but the hype fizzled out. We decide to revisit them, though, since the next generation of Glass is entering beta. Google isn’t giving up on the augmented/mixed reality spaces with Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft vying for those spaces as well.
Things That Blew Us Away Rob – Tactical Framing is a strategy where someone talks about how people are reacting to an issue, rather than talking about the issue itself.
Christen – Why is there nowhere to buy a bathing suit in Fairbanks?!
Today we review the 2013 movie, “Her”. It isn’t a new movie, but it’s an emotional rollercoaster that ends in a technological singularity of which we only see the briefest of glimpses. At the end of the rollercoaster this movie dumps us into a post-singularity future that we can only imagine. Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched it yet!
Some of the notes we collected while watching:
- Samantha is purchased as an object.
- Theodore works for a company that emulates hand-written notes.
- Samantha evolves into a post-human, something that is part object, AND that transcends a post-singularity consciousness.
- Ultimately she realizes that not having a body is advantageous beyond the limitations of humanity.
- Is it true that the more one loves, the more capacity they have for love? What about children?
- Theodore begins to question the relationship when he’s challenged by other’s perspectives and cracks continue to form in the relationship until he thinks to ask if she is in love with others and learns that not only is she talking to thousands at the same time she talks with him, she loves over 600 of those individuals.
- OS Not Found scenes – Has he lost his lover, his data and organization, his control – all of the above? Is this a power imbalance?
Things That Blew Our Minds Rob: Veblen Goods, products for which demand increases as the price increases.
Christen: Dire Straights is a totally different band than Christen thought and they sing, “Money for Nothing”.
Another episode where we find ourselves talking about something we have put on our heads! It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last. This week, Rob shares what it was like to wear Echo Frames, Amazon’s smart glasses product that connects with Alexa. Christen wonders what life might be like when companies vertically integrate their smart technologies to the point that they are able to detect when we need health services, provide medication through a pharmacy, and recommend health interventions.
Things That Blew Our Minds Rob watched a TED Talk on what is referred to as the Empathy Gap. Humans have trouble feeling empathy for people we can see, who are physically distant, or who do not exist yet – including our future selves!
Christen found a project that is using a biopolymer made from orange peels to 3D print objects. Find more information about 3D printing with orange peels on the Core 77 website and check out the project’s Kickstarter.
Do these glasses make us look nerdy? If you could do anything in mixed reality, what would that thing be? Today we share our first impressions of the Hololens, we talk about what we are interested in doing with it, and we also post the unboxing video. Rob makes lots of faces while he watches Christen experience the set up process.
Unboxing Video
Microsoft’s Hololenses come in Corporate and Developer versions. We have the Corporate version.
What’s new in the world of underwater drones and how might they be used in the future? This week we look at how underwater drone propulsion is changing, and Rob shares his experience with Finding Dory – the drone, not the forgetful fish.
A video about DARPA’s Manta project
A video featuring 7 incredible drones – first is the dolphin drone
A video on drones gathering data about the oceans
Things That Blew Our Minds Rob hates mosquitoes and remains disgusted that no one is trying to eradicate mosquitoes as quickly as he would like.
Christen is amazed at Google’s incoherent messaging over their many many messaging apps, which all do different things.
We’re back! Took us about 7 minutes for us to get caught up on the latest of Rob’s Delorean drama before we got back into the groove, but today we are talking about two very different technologies today.. So what are hyperloops and would you ride on one?
A hyperloop overview
Virgin’s vision for hyperloop
Did you know Rob has a hoverboard? He brings it to work occasionally. The movie, Back to the Future, gave us a glimpse of what the future might like, but is that hoverboard really better than these?
Things That Blew Our Minds Rob gets into the Momentum Effect – If you buy something cheap, you’re more likely to buy something that’s more expensive at the same time
Christen learns there’s a new BCI typing record that has been recently set. The previous record had been approximately 40 characters a minute. The new record is about 90 characters per minute.
Finally, if you heard us wondering during the episode about the radiation we are exposed to when we fly. We found what the CDC has to say about cosmic radiation and our exposure to it when we fly.
Where do you store your drone – in the drone drawer? Would you keep a drone in your pocket to take selfies? This week, we remember the early RC airplanes, Rob admits flying his drone too high, and he also explains how to crash a drone while landing.
A drone light show (video)
Drones rescue swimmers in distress (video)
Things that Blew Our Minds Rob: A body of a man is found in a metal dinosaur. He accidentally dropped his phone into the Dino’s leg and died trying to retrieve it. Do phones need to be ultra-expensive, precious objects?
Christen: Considering antimicrobial coatings for glass, antimicrobial/antiviral textiles, AND antimicrobial UV-C lights – how are these technologies affecting healthy living? Do they kill microbes that benefit us? Are they contributing to the rise of “super bugs”?
Would you ride in a self-driving car? What would our lives be like if ride sharing and vehicle sharing were more pervasive? This week Rob and Christen have a conversation exploring how self-driving cars might impact how we think about our vehicles and the roles they play in our lives. To explore these ideas further we recommend watching Malcom Gladwell’s documentary, “Autonomy”.
Things that Blew Our Minds Rob imagines a day when the Earth and the Moon are both tidally locked. He also learns that our Moon raises the surface of the Earth 12 inches as it passes above.
Christen takes a peek at the technical mastery of the glass lenses made by Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek through the sorcery of neutron tomography. She continues to mis-remember Vermeer’s name, incorrectly calling him VanDermeer. Regardless, at the same time in the Netherlands, Vermeer was painting amazing likenesses of individuals. Experts hypothesize that is because of the quality of the glass lenses a handful of individuals were beginning to product the time. Was he influenced by Leeuwenhoek?
Are you a minimalist when it comes to survival skills, or are you into the latest and greatest tech to keep you safe? Is there survival tech (things that require power) that you think is worth carrying? This week Rob and Christen realize there’s very little future tech in their go bags.
Beacons and Sat Messengers Make Our List (video)
Drones Rescue swimmers (video)
3-in-1 Power Generator Water/Wind/Kinetic (video)
Things that Blew Our Minds Rob shares the terrifying knowledge of ground resonance
Christen can’t stop watching videos of animated spiders and sandpipers.
Piper the Sandpiper: https://youtu.be/jprSALDoYX8
This week Rob shares his experiences with life logging from the perspective of a documentarian and a father. Life logging provides a way to record and remember the mundane. What are the unanticipated situations a wearable camera brings?
Are you inclined to nostalgia?
What gets captured in the moments when it’s not appropriate to pull out your phone to snap a picture?
Cameras mentioned in this episode:
- Narrative Clip (Started on kickstarter, can’t buy anymore)
- Google Clip (Defunct $75)
- iON Camera 1046 Lite SnapCam Lite ($18)
Things that Blew Our Minds Nothing blew our minds this week, can you believe it? We’ll have more to share next episode.
What would you do if you lost your cellphone on a trip? You’re in a strange city with no tablet or computer to fall back on. In the span of a human generation, smartphones have changed the way most of us interact with each other and the world.
Do you remember your first smartphone? How has it changed your life? This week, Rob and Christen reminisce over early smart devices, wonder at the madness smartphones have brought amongst humanity, and imagine what the future holds for smartphones.
Some videos referenced:
Miya Ponsetto Accuses Teen of Stealing Her Phone
Kids Are Not Growing Horns from Being on Their Cellphones Too Much
Are Expanding Displays the Future of Smartphones?
Things that Blew Us Away Rob: The US government is paying hackers to back doors and not telling companies. (video)
Christen: Researchers say our universe is learning. “If laws can evolve, then they can do more: We consider the notion that only a universe that learns its laws can be expected to engender novel phenomena like life and physicists.”
We might be dating ourselves referring to Hot or Not, but that got us thinking. Are we too old for online dating? What are your thoughts on letting an algorithm suggest potential matches for you? This week, Rob shares some embarrassing stories and Christen spends so much time vetting dating apps that she has no energy left to look for a date. There’s no shortage of dating apps to be found, from the very inclusive to the very exclusive. Are they the future of online dating, particularly considering the impact of the pandemic?
In 2020 before the pandemic, the Pew Research Center published numbers that showed 30% of adults had tried online dating. What’s surprising is that 71% of those individuals believe that people are more likely to lie about their attractiveness and desirability. Sharon Stone was even kicked off Bumble because no one believed it was really her.
NPR catches us oldies up on the fresh dating lingo.
Rob considers why there are so few options for those who are biformat, like himself and wonders if the stigma against human + AI relationships will ever go away.
Things that Blew Us Away Rob thinks about the implications of the water on Earth arriving on meteors.
Christen learns more about cicadas now that Brood X is scheduled to emerge this year. A cicada-ologist talks about all the wonders of cicadas, and Radiolab interviews a musician who discovers meaning amongst cicada calls.
Rob and Christen try to imagine a technological singularity, something they have zero experience with, and that might be a good thing! By definition, what lies beyond the singularity is unknowable. We aren’t even sure how it comes to pass, but there are some smart people out there that have thoughts on how it may happen. How do you think it might go down?
Verner Vinge, in his 1993 essay, imagines 4 scenarios in which the singularity comes to pass.
Ray Kurzweil has also spent a good deal of time thinking on what the singularity might be like. He’s written some books on it such as the Age of Spiritual Machine and The Singularity is Near.
Other visions in which humanity can upload consciousness to digital spaces include Upload, the series, is a positive take on a world where humans are able to upload themselves into virtual worlds. In contrast, the movie Archive is a sci-fi thriller that imagines a much darker world where people are “stored” after death and can communicate with their loved ones. How many other shows and movies can you list that imagine humanity after a singularity? Is it dark like The Matrix? Do you think they imagine far enough?
In another glimpse, Neil Stephenson imagines a new origin story/Genesis in his book Fall: or Dodge in Hell.
Things That Blew Our Minds Christen can’t believe that as of the 8 April 2021 update, Google has removed satire as recommended content from its Discover app. How does an algorithm recognize satire if humans cannot and how many real news stories will be culled out of the feed as a result?
Rob thinks that a year of quarantine has been an aggravating factor in conspiracy theories over the past year.
This week Rob installs smart blinds, tries VR exercise, programs NFC chips, flies an FPV drone, and tries to make a snowplow, and Christen falls out of her shower. They also look at some interesting applications for additive manufacturing, aka 3D printing.
Would you eat a 3D printed steak? Watch this video to see how it’s made.
Christen shares how she used 3D printed forms in a traditional lost “wax” casting technique.
Rob shares some projects he’s created like, Xmas light hooks, a custom remote holder, a DeLorean vent blade, and prototypes for his Scratchband designs. If you’re interested in starting a 3D printing hobby, Rob recommends Ender 3 Pro, tinkercad, and thingiverse
Finally, 3D printers can print using biodegradable printing material.
Unconventional things artists are 3D printing
- Neri Oxman and 3D printed glass (2015), (also 3D printed architectural forms through co-fabrication, in coordination with silkworms and bees). Oxman et al are also experimenting with printing chitosan (water-based additive fabrication of biodegradable materials)
- Diemund Strebe, bioartist, 3D-printed a living replica of Van Gogh’s severed ear (2015).
- Coiled earthen architecture
- Yael Arkirev creates 3D printed conductive material
Are 3D printed guns a concern for our future? This YouTuber fires a 3D printed firearm.
Things that Blow Our Minds Rob: Still hoping there is a greater-than-zero chance for life in this universe other than on Earth, he discovers an article hypothesizing that tidally locked planets which orbit red dwarfs might have areas that are conducive to supporting life.
Christen: Discovers research developing medicine from Baltic amber to fight drug-resistant bacteria.
“Abietic acids and their derivatives are potentially an untapped source of new medicines, especially for treating infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria, which are increasingly becoming resistant to known antibiotics.”