This weekend, I took advantage of my local supermarkets' "fuel perks" program, that allows you to accumulate reward points worth discounts on gasoline purchases (when you purchase gas at the affiliated gas stations). And I must say, I enjoyed the thrill of paying only $1.25 per gallon (compared to the going rate of around $2.50/gallon here in Pittsburgh).
The sad realization I came to is that, no matter what happens with the current hostility in the middle east, gas prices will never go back down. Sure, they may slow their increases, but consider this... what would happen if, all of a sudden, gas prices dropped to $2.00/gallon? We would be overjoyed! Overjoyed! For $2.00/gallon???
Sure. Because we're used to paying so much more.
Prices continue to rise, but we as consumers continue to purchase SUVs, trucks, and minivans that guzzle fuel. Last week on the radio, they had people calling in to see who had the highest single gas purchase at a time. People called in with stories like, "Well, we usually go to the lake every weekend, so I have to fill up the Suburban and hook up the boat trailer. Costs me about $150 for gas for that day."
The bigger concern, as alluded to by that comment, is that we consumers are not doing anything to alter our fuel consumption habits. We continue to go to the lake every weekend (hey, it's summertime, right?), make quick trips to the grocery store for one or two items instead of one trip for a list of things (yeah, but we're getting low on cheese, and I feel like having nachos tonight), avoid carpooling or public transportation... in short, all we do about rising gas prices is grumble while we fill up.
Can you imagine the message it would send to the oil companies if for ONE DAY across the nation, nobody put gas in their vehicles? Just one single day of zero sales. Sometimes we forget the power we have en masse... demand is the stronger of the two market forces, no matter what the suppliers would have you think.
But it won't happen, because it's easier to complain than to take action. And so, gas prices will continue to rise. And someday we might be excited to be paying only $4.00 a gallon.
Technological singularity (or more commonly, the Singularity) has captured my attention of late. The idea of the Singularity is that there will come a point in the future where super-human intelligence is realized. At that point, all of our models and predictions for the future will break down and become worthless, and technology will progress at a rate beyond the comprehension of humans.
This is not a brand new idea; in fact, it often shows up in Hollywood in the "Intelligent supercomputer/alien intelligence becomes self-aware and attempts to kill off all humans" genre of film. And while this type of story does sell movie tickets, people who study the implications of the Singularity say that, while something like that could happen, it is not necessarily a given. (The idea is that an artificial intelligence can be given a "disposition" towards humans, to treat them with respect as the creators even though they may be inferior.)
The idea of a super-human intelligence becoming self-aware and able to re-program itself (or even reconstruct itself) to continually improve is captivating. I read the online novella The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect and have been awed by the possibilities ever since. (This story has the superintelligent computer able to manipulate any physical object in any way... which may or may not come to pass. But it is an interesting story nonetheless.)
Singularity experts indicate that, on or around the year 2020, there will be computers in common use that match or exceed the computing capacity of the human brain (this assertion is made using detailed information as to how much information a single neuron can process in a timeframe, and comparing that to instructions that microprocessors can perform). By the year 2035 or thereabouts, they expect that the functionality of the entire human brain can be reverse engineered and programmed into a computer. (Portions of the brain that have already been reverse engineered can be programmed with relatively simple algorithms, as I understand.)
The idea that such an event may happen within my lifetime is enough to make me both excited and afraid. It has enormous implications for the physical world, as well as many spiritual/religious overtones.
The overall sentiment, that I agree with, is this: "if the Singularity CAN happen, then it WILL". Unless something massive occurrs to cease technological progress, I believe we will get there.
Communicate.
It's important.
This way, you won't be surprised when "We're borrowing a steam cleaner for a couple spots on the carpet," turns into "I need you to shampoo the entire carpet tonight. And the dining room rug."
I love my wife.
The Dictionary.com website is one I use a lot to do a quick lookup of words while online. What I (finally) got around to doing is setting up a bookmarklet that allows me to highlight text on a web page, then do an automatic lookup from there:
javascript:void(location.href='http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q='+document.getSelection())
This works delightfully well in the Firefox browser... whatever text is selected on the page will be passed via the document.getSelection() method to the dictionary.com lookup page. For IE, the following code should work:
javascript:void(location.href='http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q='+document.selection)
(The method name differs slightly between the two.)
I had intended to add this lookup feature as a context menu item in Firefox, but it looks like that's a much more elaborate process than I had expected. Also would be nice to have the results open in a separate tab or window... but for now, this does what I want it to.