The Edge of Logos

Day 1 of my adventures took me up to LA to visit Sharon. Turns out by coincidence she had a party that evening, so I caught up with a bunch of other friends in LA, and made a few new ones, which was great. But the plan was never to go no further than LA, so the following morning I needed to decide where to next. Sharon suggested: why not Big Sur? She’d done a ton of research on the area for a trip she’d taken earlier and knew where I could get a little cabin with no advance reservation. I made a few phone calls that morning, and voila. All set. I’m here till the 17th.

The Big Sur drive from LA would be over 6 hours factoring traffic, according to the Google, so I needed to get moving if I wanted to get there at a reasonable time that night. I quickly reloaded the van and after goodbyes, headed up the 101.

The rain was torrential, as expected. Traffic existed but wasn’t as bad as it could have been. As I got distance from LA, the scenery got better and better. I happened to time driving through Pismo Beach just as the clouds broke briefly and a gorgeous sunset emerged.

Darkness came on fast thereafter, and the rain got heavier and the road windier. There had been many little rockslides and rocks ranging from golf ball to beach ball sizes were on the northbound lane of the US 1, sometimes in both lanes. In the dark rain they came on fast, and I dodged. I hit one with a wheel. It was about the size of a tennis ball and when the van hit, it made an impressive WHAM. Rocks, not mud. Got it.

Weaving and meandering, and rediscovering the value of high beams, which are really awesome on the van now with the new composite beam headlamps, I got to the cabin. I was running on about 4 hours of sleep, so I basically conked out once I took possession.

And onto today. It’s really pretty out here and the cabin is just what I wanted, primarily: quiet. I’ve been incredibly productive writing all day; the words are just flowing out of me and I feel more confident about the success of this project than ever before. I made particular progress on the chapters applying semiotics to computer science and on the Antikythera mechanism. I’ve got a very good start on the outline of the book, so the overall structure and flow is coming along too.

I’ve been having trouble communicating out here; phone service is mostly nonexistent–I get a feeble bar of 2G once in a while–and WiFi is only in the cafe, closes at 2pm. I found a restaurant nearby that has WiFi now, which is cool. At the moment I’m eating dinner at the Fernwood.

Been missing Heather though. Being alone is just what I wanted and neededfor this phase of the trip, but I still do.

friends, nature, philosophy, technology, travel, writing

It turns out that solar power is keeping the BLM busy lately. Since 2006 a tremendous land rush in the deserts of the Southwest has developed, and it’s taking a very novel form. Rather than following the ancient tradition of looking for valuable resources in or on the land–ore, petroleum, water, etc.–they’re looking for value coming toward the land. That is, photons blasting towards it from the Sun. The land is just a place to stick the panels or mirrors that’s flat and preferably conveniently near a road and a transmission line. Whether the land is physically like the moon or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is irrelevant. In one sense, land on the more moon-like end of the spectrum is better. If it lacks alternate value, there’s less competition for it.

Except for one other form of competition: other solar prospectors. Here the competition is very intense. It’s interesting that Goldman Sachs is buying up a lot of this desert through an investment subsidiary called Solar Investments. Obviously these bankers aren’t about to put on hard hats and gloves and get busy building solar plants. Nor are they barefoot eco-hippies looking to save the world. They’re East Coast speculators. And the fact that the “smart money” (ahem) is moving in to buy huge swathes of desert suggests that solar power is finally real. It also suggests a big-ass bubble is inflating. It recalls a folksy piece of wisdom: the pioneers get the arrows, the settlers get the land. The presumed first mover advantage may ultimately destroy a lot of wealth. This is the essence of speculation.

It is happening now, and it will be transformative. It is the harbinger of major economic and cultural change. This virtually worthless land has abruptly become a hot commodity. I just went camping in Monument Valley and drove through desert all the way there and back. I can tell you, there is a lot of room for solar plants, and not just on BLM land. Some of these dusty little towns are going to get flush. And I wonder if the Navajo, Hopi or other tribes that got screwed out of the then valuable land in the 19th century, and literally force-marched into the deserts to eke out a marginal living, will suddenly find themselves sitting on prime real estate. That would be an incredible historical irony and a super business opportunity, one that’s healthier and a lot classier than casinos.

economics, energy, technology

This robot, built by Boston Dynamics and funded by DARPA, is called BigDog. This is eye-popping:

I am not a roboticist, but I am in part an engineer, and I have an eye for excellence in design and construction. I’d say this is most impressive. BigDog is about a meter long and can carry over 300lbs. That buzzing sound in the video is its ordinary little gasoline engine. That’s all that powers this extraordinary four-legged metal beast of burden through forest and snow.

Just making an autonomous robot that can manage in the real world at all is a true challenge. Most efforts I’ve seen have the lamest limitations, like being unable to climb stairs or becoming as helpless as a flipped-over turtle if knocked over or if it just stumbled. Walking is hard. Even on all fours.

But this is an entirely different order of robot from the classic image of the clumsy, hobbling, tippy-toppy robots of–well–a couple years ago, or even today. Just look at how gracefully it recovers from that sudden, brutal shove! I would have fallen myself. And it goes plowing through the dirt and ice just fine, if a touch gingerly, as if tentative about its judgments of its environment. Of course there is much uncertainty and chaos in an environment of ice, dirt, rock, hills and trees. But this is just a research model, and I’m sure as its design is refined, so will its body language become more confident. But it seems to work pretty damn well already.

Its applications are as clear as the technical revolution it signals. Just as the robotic drones that now rain death from the sky, this sort of ‘heavy load-carrying over very rough terrain’ machine offers profound new capabilities to the military. Ask any soldier trudging through the wilderness with a backpack that weighs one third as much. Military funding is a mixed blessing, but such is how advanced technology is often originated (and incidentally, the work I do in computer science is a response to similar pressures). But having a machine that can carry heavy stuff pretty much anywhere you care to go (or direct it to) has countless death-free possibilities as well. Even quite the opposite. Consider what a few hundred of these things could have done in Fargo recently. The prospect of fully automated sandbagging supply lines is easily a game changer for any flooding emergency. Imagine it replacing a wheelchair. Or hell, why not an ATV?

I have to admit, despite the obvious coolness factor, the thing comes across a little creepy. It buzzes like a hornet and looks like some kind of huge headless beetle. And I think anyone would find a large, heavy, powerful robot operating autonomously in their vicinity disquieting at least. Perhaps roboticists themselves would be most cautious. Eric Gradman has more than a few hilarious stories about robots going amok, exploding in his face or driving headlong into a crowd of bystanders. That is symptomatic of the current infantile state of robotics. But the baby is learning to walk. You can watch it yourself.

cool, mind-stretching, robots, technology

Tomorrow Heather and I head up to LA for a very full weekend. Saturday evening we’re going to Shoghi and Lily’s wedding work party, just to give them a hand. They’re such a great couple, and their wedding will be a very happy day.

But what dominates the weekend is the BIL conference. The conference runs all day Saturday and Sunday. We’re driving up to Long Beach early morning tomorrow, and I’m psyched about it. If you don’t know about it, it’s a counterpoint to the more famous TED conference, which is happening at the same time–right now–and is similar, save the choosy attitude about speakers and the $6000 attendance fee. It’s about sharing cool ideas.

BIL is free to attend, volunteer-driven, very DIY; anyone with something to say can volunteer to speak. Not to mention the calls for the more quotidian, things like drinks and snacks, folding chairs, etc. They use a wiki to track things, which (of course) anyone can edit. The participatory flavor reminds me of Burning Man.

I just printed out the schedule and there are plenty of interesting talks. But the best part for me is that I know so many people there! At least seven speakers and one of the organizers are friends of mine, and I know I’ll see other familiar faces in the crowd. It’s practically a reunion, and interestingly, most of these folks I have encountered on the playa. Anyway I’m looking forward to reconnecting and hearing out some interesting ideas.

experience, friends, los angeles, technology

Silent, zero emission, Ducati styling, wickedly fast. Yes.

Pure electric, 150mph top speed, 150 miles per charge… I want.

cool, technology