Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

...sitting on a boat going round the arbour discussing all the really nasty things that could happen in the next few years with Vernor Vinge and Peter Biddle, all the while watching Navy SEALs jump out of helicopters into the sea, and photographing two generations of stealth ships...

We live in interesting (if extremely scary) times...

An interesting set of concepts out of FiRe and an on-stage discussion with Sam Pitroda (the man who introduced rural digital telephone exchanges to India in the 1980s) on the Indian renaissance of the last 20 years, and the role of the country's Knowledge Commission.

There are four phases of knowledge:

Knowledge concepts - fostered by education
Knowledge creation - coming from research
Knowledge applications - coming from businesses
Knowledge services - changing the role of government

I suspect that this is something I need to think about, as it's a very different set of axioms from the standard Western approach of applying value and costs, rather than considering the overall social impact of something. I suspect it's a much better way of considering the role of information and knowledge in a global context.

As an aside, this is a conference that many of my SF writer friends and acquaintances would love - it's wide ranging, inquisitive and built around conversations on many different themes. Fascinating stuff - and not surprising that two of the speakers are well known SF writers...