Sunday, January 04, 2004

"... I can imagine a system layered on top of this that said "if you like talkint to this person (being in this group), maybe you'd like talking to these people as well."  -- Julian Bond What a great idea - not sure how it'll work.  So far on LinkedIn and Ryze, you can see degree of connection (e.g. FOAF) and that can lead me to think, gosh, I know someone that I like, and so I'll like their friends.  In fact I have not always found this to be true.  Sometimes I like their friends, sometimes I find that they are USEFUL friends (e.g. business contacts), but sometimes, I just don't understand why someone whose company I truly enjoy is hanging out with people that I find unbearable... So, something that relies on more detailed (self-reported as in Ryze or Friendster or LinkedIn) info could be helpful.  Recently I tried to look through a set of people on Friendster who listed music they listen to.  Geez I am OLD!  But now I have about 10 people I don't know that have ID'd a bunch of bands I don't know.  So by listening a bit, I can get a feel for people who respond to music like I do (at least on a couple dimensions). I have almost zero interest in finding people who respond to political issues as I do.  Probably because I don't always want to here reinforcing information, but instead want to hear and evaluate very different ideas when presented.  So then you want some kind of debate formula.  Or some kind of bridging activity. Finally, the concern with this automatic Amazon-like suggestion process is that it will have a power law effect.  A handful of people will end up as archetypal connectors along some interesting dimension. 70's music, Cyberpunk, Dean bloggers, Re-elect Bush Republicans, Trading-Spaces TV lovers, etc.  Now they may have interesting things to say along these dimensions, and they may be prolific.  But are they really the multidimensional people I want to spend time with.  Are they the one dimensional people I want to spend time with...  Just don't know. 6:56:50 PM     Quick link to the Mars program mission site! Scary thing, watching with my wife and daughters, was that these people (mission manager, program people etc) are my age (or younger!).  Absolutely fantastic. I would love to be there on that team today!  Four years ago - would have been really painful, but it makes today all the sweeter!  Can you imagine what will happen if they actually find life?  I would think abundant (yes a relative term) reserves of water (BTW most 90+% of Earth's water is locked up in ice!) in the polar ice caps, and any kind of microbe or... dare I say... fossilized creature...  I can imagine a push for a manned mission to Mars! Then, what about the religio-philisophical implications of actually finding that we are not the only place in the universe.  Oh, it might feel commonplace enough for all of us blogger types who grew up watching trek and playing with technology, but for most of the population of the earth, this will rattle some foundations. I read a rather interesting bit in Bill Bryson's "Short History of Everything" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0767908171/qid=1073252937//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/103-3070646-8559848?v=glance&;s=books&n=507846) that described the history of life on earth as being as wide as the span of your arms, and that by taking a nail file and making one swipe at your fingernail, you would eliminate the entire history of homo sapiens...  Now with some people believing that the earth was Created  a few thousand years ago, life on Mars would be pretty cool and quite a shock! God, I hope it happens - a few more minds need to be blown into the 21st century! 4:57:38 PM

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