Oh my am I loving this lecture from the royal institute and Daniel Dennett. It is bringing to life so many of the thoughts and ideas I have had over the years of learning how humans work. How the brain works is just such a fascinating topic and Daniel has taken a unique and engaging approach to presenting his ideas. …
Gene Experiment
Here is another approach to exploring horizontal gene transfer If you have created some simple bacteria in a virtual world like Unity3d. They don’t have to be complex, just cells or even just spheres. Get them to move around a petri dish. They could have a nucleus and inside that they have genes as scripts. Each script has an effect like: glow in …
The Plague and the benefits of Horizontal Gene Transfer
How do you express the concept of Horizontal Gene Transfer in a way most people could understand and also see where it could be useful? In fact I have several related concepts and questions I think I can express in one idea: Is  horizontal gene transfer natures software update? Can viruses can do good? Can programming teach you about biology? Is biology …
Build a Virtual Body: Bacteria communicate with their hosts
This article Communication between bacteria and their hosts is the kind of thing I look for to support my dream of a virtual body. It builds on the finding that Bacteria communicate with each other. My interpretation is essentially simple. I consider bacteria and viruses to be to the human body like plugins are to software. The body is an entire organism but …
Learning is Innate: How the changing world can help you adapt better
My view is that learning is innate and the changing world can improve education. What this means for competition is exciting. I see ways to vastly improve the process of understanding your opponent even before you have met them. Moving competition to a whole new realm. I’ll introduce my ideas for an ideal education experience later. Here I just wanted …
Learning is innate. How the changing world can help education
The evolution of learning is a fascinating topic. Learning is my strength because I was brought up to think that learning is innate and every challenge is surmountable. In fact learning is never really changing, only the tools and processes we use to learn will change. The education industry has been struggling to figure out how these new tools can …
Spore: Why it didn’t work
A dream of mine is to create a game or piece of software incorporating evolution and cellular development. So I was very excited to read Spore: My view of the Elephant written by someone who actually worked on the game Spore. It is a highly worthwhile read. Capturing both the complexity of the task and also the lessons learned that doomed …
Life: A self fulfilling prophecy
Just a short note on a basic principle. I have heard it said that life is actually an inevitable consequence of the universe. I can think of one reason why and thought I would share. Producing offspring to continue the cycle is the key because by definition anything that does not reproduce itself will not continue. So it isn’t really …
Education: New Rules
Lifelong learning is a topic close to my heart. I’m very frustrated that mainstream education is only provided for the young rather than for every age. That was appropriate in the last century. Not this. It supports a culture where if you don’t take your opportunities when you’re young then you miss out. So I’m interested in the discussion I …
Why only drinks that stimulate thirst are profitable
So I’ve had this niggling question for quite a while now. ‘Why do most drinks available not quench your thirst?’. for along time I’ve been ordering a separate glass of water with any drink at a restaurant. In a club or bar I just accept that each drink is going to make me want another. But why is this the …
Adapt: Is there evolution in business?
For me the answer is a definitive yes. The more I apply evolutionary principles in thinking about business the more I see it fits and the more I feel I understand business. It’s why I like capitalism. It’s a very harsh approach, which I don’t like, but then is’n’t natural selection. Natural selection is about competing for energy and essential …
Neural Darwinism: is this how we learn?
I’m excited to have just discovered Neural Darwinism through an interview with Gerald Edelman on all in the mind. The idea that our brain constantly adapts to our environment using the same evolutionary principles described by Darwin is what I’ve been coming to believe. It’s clear that we create and remove connections every day during sleep and that our brains are constantly evolving from the …
On the origin of life: An energy cycle
I’ve had this idea floating in my head for weeks now. So I’m finally getting round to putting down into words. I’m excited to finally express it but I hope I do it justice. Here goes. We’re all aware of the theory of evolution. It makes perfect sense to me how pressure for resources has lead to so much diversity in …
Learning: What would Facebook do?
Just listening to Free: the future of a radical price by Chris anderson of the long tail. Making me consider how paid for education fits in with a market based on giving away most things for free. I assume I’m not the first to consider this. Just thought I’d log a few of the models that come to mind. Provide and …
Tech Is Too Cheap to Meter: It’s Time to Manage for Abundance, Not Scarcity
Just came across this excellent post by Chris Anderson of long tail fame. I particularly like the references to nature and evolution. I can’t help but see that us humans are playing out evolution through what we produce. Scarcity leading to abundance seems a part of that.http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/mf_freer?currentPage=1
Evolution of knowledge as E = mc2
I’m really excited because I just realised I can explain evolution using Einsteins theory of relativity applied to knowledge. I can then apply it to Googles drive for speed and show how they will drive our own knowledge far beyond known limits. Einsteins theory of special relativity expressed in the equation e=mc2 simply means that the energy in matter relates …
Evolution is everywhere
I’m quickly coming to the realisation that darwins description of evolution does not just apply to the natural world of eco systems but to the man made world too. So much so that it turns out I’ve written that evolution is among us before. ENERGY FLOW Every aspect of human life seems to reflect and embody evolution. I see this in financial …
Evolution among us
To explain the things happening around us I like to learn from history. I feel so many lessons of past ages can still be applied today and tomorrow if you yake the time to apply them properly. What older lesson is there than that of evolution. It’s always applied to the context of biology and how we have arrived at …
Living a healthy life. It’s survival of the fittest
I’ve spent my life learning how to balance lifestyle with health. Everything I learn points to being active on a mental, physical and spiritual level. The activity forces you to grow. The lack of it leaves you to decay.I’ve been struggling with the common assumption that health comes from what you eat not what you do. It’s the message you …
Innovation in learning
Working at a university is, for me, a dream. Don’t get me wrong. The places I’ve worked before have been great but I’m a born learner and I love teaching when I get the chance. To be clear about it my degree and a levels centre around education, physical education but education all the same. So I spend my days …
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